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The Illustrated London Reading Book by Various
page 88 of 485 (18%)
although the colonists very much dread the effects of the Bushman's
arrow, they know how to elude its range; and it is after all but a very
unequal match for the fire-lock, as the persecuted natives by sad
experience have found. The arrows are usually kept in a quiver, formed
of the hollow stalk of a species of aloe, and slung over the shoulder;
but a few, for immediate use, are often stuck in a band round the head.

A group of Bosjesmans, comprising two men, two women, and a child, were
recently brought to this country and exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, in
Piccadilly. The women wore mantles and conical caps of hide, and gold
ornaments in their ears. The men also wore a sort of skin cloak, which
hung down to their knees, over a close tunic: the legs and feet were
bare in both. Their sheep-skin mantles, sewed together with threads of
sinew, and rendered soft and pliable by friction, sufficed for a garment
by day and a blanket by night. These Bosjesmans exhibited a variety of
the customs of their native country. Their whoops were sometimes so loud
as to be startling, and they occasionally seemed to consider the
attention of the spectators as an affront.

[Illustration: BUSHMEN.]

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CHARACTER OF ALFRED, KING OF ENGLAND.


The merit of this Prince, both in private and public life, may with
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