what comments he might deem fit on the preceding paper by Mr. Orpen, and he has been kind enough to favour us with the following: (Ed. C. M. M.)
We must be greatly obliged to Mr. Orpen for this very interesting paper of original research, which throws a good deal of new light upon the subject of Bushman mythology, and upon the vastness of the legendary lore of this highly curious people. The principal figure in the Bushman myths given by the !king or !ing (as in our orthography the name of Mr. Orpen's informant would have to be written) is not only the same as the chief mythological personage in the mythology of the Bushmen living in the Bushmanland of the Western Province, but his name has evidently the same pronunciation. Mr. Orpen's Cagn or Ctkaġġn (c the dental click of Kafir orthography = / of Lepsius's alphabet) must have exactly the same sound as /kaggen, the Mantis, the most prominent subject of the mythological tales collected by us. His wife's name also, Coti, according to Mr. Orpen, may be identical with the beginning of one of the names given to us by the Mantis' wife, /húnntu! (k)att !(k)ạtten, the first syllable of which word (/hunn) indicates a "dasse" (hyrax); but this is not certain, and it is little more than guess-work if we compare the names of the elder son, as given by Mr. Orpen, Cogaz to /kwammanga, the husband of the porcupine (!xo) who is the adopted daughter of the Mantis; and if we identify the younger son, Gcwi, with the Ani or Ichneumon (the son of /kwámmanga and the porcupine) who is the constant adviser and admonisher of his grandfather, the Mantis.
Although the general character of the myths by Mr. Orpen is mainly the same as that of those collected by us, yet there is not one of his myths which is exactly identical with any one of ours. Of course it is possible that this is a proof of an especially fertile genius for myth formation, inherent in the Bushman mind, which had given rise to different circles of myths round the same central figure among different Bushman tribes. Yet it would be rash to say that none of the myths narrated by !(k)ing were known to our Bushman informants or their tribe. On the contrary, it may well be that even most of these myths are the common property of the Bushmen of Western Bushmanland, as well as of those of the Malutis. In fact, though our collection of Bushman Folk-lore is far more extensive than our most sanguine expectations at the beginning might have led us to hope for, yet, from their own internal evidence and from glimpses which they allow us to get of myths and legends still untold, we had already become convinced that we have to look upon them as containing, as yet, only a very small portion
