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[Page 19]
17
children and old people. As an instance of the
latter, for many years Bolim fed and supported his father,
a helpless cripple, and on their many migrations,
carried the old fellow pick-a-back from camp to camp
and neither complained nor grumbled about his filial
responsibilities. Dogs they would never kill, not even
superfluous puppies, the consequence being that these
animals became so numerous that there was rarely
enough food about the camps to feed them properly so
that they usually looked half starved. But they were
never cruelly beaten or maltreated in any way.
In conclusion may I say that critics may perhaps be
inclined to think that my "records and recollections" of a
fast vanishing race are too favourable and too rose-coloured.
That I may have forgotton stories that have been told and
written about certain "cave-man" habits and customs
which were once prevalent amongst the aboriginies.
When, for instance, his laws forbad him to choose a wife
from his own tribe because of consanguinity his only
alternative was to take one from some other tribe, and
should the chosen one prove reluctant force was necessary
to enable the would be bridegroom to achieve his purpose.
This generally took the form of a tap or two over the skull
with a nullaah thus partially stunning the prospective