The Kalahari, as we know, has no running water. It is, for the most part, a dry, sandy region. It is not wholly lacking in vegetation, for it has tufty grass and creeping plants, together with deeply buried bulbous roots, except in the most central section.
The Bushmen are the nomads, or wandering tribes of the desert. They are of low figure, very thin and wiry. They make no attempt to cultivate the land and have no regular homes. Their chief occupation is to chase the herds of antelopes from place to place, and to lie in wait for them with their bows and poisoned arrows, in readiness to shoot them.
The Bushmen are sallow rather than black in color, and in their features and coloring are said to resemble the Chinese more than any other people. They may in reality be termed the children of the desert; for, owing to the march of civilization and colonization, they have sought refuge from the haunts of white men in the wastes and barren mountain ravines.
The locusts, which may well be looked upon as a scourge to any land, are hailed with joy by the Bushmen, for they form an important article of food with them.
The wild Bushman, happy in his nomadic life, sings a song, the words of which may thus be interpreted:—
"I plant no herb, nor pleasant fruits,
I toil not for my cheer,
The desert yields me juicy roots,
And herds of bounding deer.
"Yea, even the wasting locusts' swarm,
Which mighty nations dread,
To me nor terror brings nor harm,
I make of them my bread."
The Bushmen are not fastidious in their tastes; for they eat many plants and bulbs which other people would despise as food. Grasshoppers and other insects, and even serpents, are eaten by them with much relish.
Their huts are very inferior to those of other tribes. They are usually mere holes in the ground. They sometimes serve the purpose of a bed. They are only a few inches deep, of rather an oval form, and no more than five or six feet wide.
In extremely cold weather these people gather twigs and earth, till they have a mound heaped up as a protection on the windward side of the hole. In summer they seek the beds of rivers and, lying under the shade of the mimosas, they draw down the branches to shield themselves from the glare of the sun.