The creeping plants of the desert serve, moreover, a double purpose; for, besides their use as food, they fix, by means of their extensive ramifications, the constantly shifting sands—thus rendering similar services to those of the sand-reed (Ammophila arundinacea) on the dunes along the sandy coasts of the North Sea.
The Mesembryanthemums are another family of plants admirably adapted to the Kalahari, as their seed-vessels remain firmly shut while the soil is hot and dry, and thus preserve the vegetative power intact during the highest heat of the torrid sun; but when rain falls, the seed-vessel opens and sheds its contents, just when there is the greatest likelihood of their vegetating. This is the more wonderful, as in other plants heat and drought cause the seed-vessels to burst and shed their charge.
One of this family possesses a tuberous root, which may be eaten raw; and all are furnished with thick, fleshy leaves, with pores capable of imbibing and retaining moisture from a very dry atmosphere and soil; so that if a leaf is broken during the greatest drought it shows abundant circulating sap.
The peculiar and comparatively abundant vegetation of the arid plains of South Africa explains how these wastes are peopled by herds of herbivorous animals, which in their turn are preyed upon by the lion, the panther, or the python. Hundreds of elands (Boselaphus oreas) gemsbucks, koodoos, (Strepsiceros capensis), or duikers (Cephalopus mergens), may often be seen thirty or forty miles from the nearest water. These, having sharp-pointed hoofs well adapted for digging, are able to subsist without water for many months at a time, by living on moist bulbs and tubers; while the presence of the rhinoceros, of the buffalo and gnu (Catoblepas Gnu), of the giraffe, the zebra, and pallah (Antilope melampus), is always a certain indication of water being within a distance of seven or eight miles.
KOODOO.
The tribes of the Kalahari consist of Bushmen, probably the aborigines of the southern part of the continent, and of Bakalahari, the remnants of an ancient Bechuana emigration.
The diminutive Bushman occupies nearly the lowest degree in the scale of humanity. Equalled in size by the Chimpanzee, far surpassed by the Gorilla, and with as little prominence of the nasal bone as in those highest of the Simiæ, he nevertheless walks erect, and by the equal and uninterrupted series of his comparatively small teeth, by his well-developed great toe and the large opposable thumb, by his plantigrade foot and prehensile hand, vindicates his claim to the genus man. Inhabiting the arid deserts of South Africa, from the confines of the Cape Colony to the banks of the Zambesi, or possibly even as far north as the valley of the Nile, he is the only real nomad in South Africa, as the scanty means of subsistence the land affords compel him to a life of constant wandering. He never cultivates the soil excepting perhaps for the sake of a little dacha or wild hemp for smoking, nor rears any domestic animal save wretched dogs. As a hunter he rivals the American Indian in his intimate acquaintance with the habits of the game, and the skill he evinces in their capture. He follows them in their migrations from place to place, and proves as complete a check upon their inordinate increase as the other carnivora. When game is scarce, he manages to live on bulbs, snakes, lizards, termites, ants’ eggs, locusts, and any other garbage he can get. Inured to every privation, he equals the camel in his endurance of hunger and thirst, and will remain for days without tasting a drop of water, except such as is contained in the pulp of succulent plants. His refuge at night is some natural cave or self-made burrow, or the shelter of a bush, where, covered with the skin of a sheep or antelope, he rests like a wild animal in his lair.
It may naturally be supposed that a life like this must act unfavourably on his physical development; but, though apparently weak, his meagre body is capable of great exertion. His sight and hearing are remarkably acute, as he is constantly practising them in the pursuits of the chase; but it would almost seem as if he were devoid of taste, smell, and feeling, for he expresses no disgust at the most loathsome food, and is quite insensible to all changes of temperature.
When each individual only seeks the momentary gratification of his first animal wants, without any thought of the future, the ties of society must necessarily be very slack. Thus, the whole nation is subdivided into small hordes or families, and even these are frequently forced to separate as the same place does not afford sufficient nourishment for all. There is no distinction of hereditary rank; bodily strength is the only quality conferring superiority, and enables its fortunate possessor to tyrannize over his weaker companions.