But one of them
enters the pen at a time; and, after chasing the terrified animals round
the inclosure, is relieved by one of his companions. In this way
the hunters take their turns, relieving each other, and keeping up a
continued pursuit by relays, without fatigue to themselves. The poor
antelopes, in the end, are so wearied down, that the whole party of men
enter and dispatch them with clubs; not one escaping that has entered
the inclosure. The most curious circumstance in this chase is, that an
animal so fleet and agile as the antelope, and straining for its life,
should range round and round this fated inclosure, without attempting to
overleap the low barrier which surrounds it. Such, however, is said to
be the fact; and such their only mode of hunting the antelope.
Notwithstanding the absence of all comfort and convenience in their
habitations, and the general squalidness of their appearance, the
Shoshokoes do not appear to be destitute of ingenuity. They manufacture
good ropes, and even a tolerably fine thread, from a sort of weed found
in their neighborhood; and construct bowls and jugs out of a kind of
basket-work formed from small strips of wood plaited: these, by the aid
of a little wax, they render perfectly water tight. Beside the roots on
which they mainly depend for subsistence, they collect great quantities
of seed, of various kinds, beaten with one hand out of the tops of the
plants into wooden bowls held for that purpose.
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