“How very curious!”

“Little Bushman knows this as well as the Hottentots, and hearing that they were going out in search of honey he went before them into the wood, concealing himself, and imitating the note of the bird so exactly, that the Hottentots went on following it for several miles, wondering how it was that the bird should lead them such a distance, but unwilling to give up the pursuit.  About sunset, he had brought them back to the very edge of the wood from whence they had started, when he showed himself about one hundred yards ahead of them, dancing, capering, and tumbling so like Begum, that they thought it was her before them, and not him.  He gained the caravan again without their knowing who played them the trick; but he told Swanevelt, who speaks his language, and Swanevelt told Bremen.”

“Capital!” said the Major; “well, he is after some trick now, depend upon it.”

“He has a great talent for drawing,” observed Alexander.

“A very great one; I have given him a pencil and occasionally a piece of paper, and he draws all the birds, so that I can recognize them; but you must know that all the Bushmen have that talent, and that their caves are full of the sketches of all sorts of animals, remarkably characteristic.  The organ of imitation is very strongly developed in the Bushmen, which accounts for their talents as draftsmen, and Omrah’s remarkable imitative powers.”

“Do you then believe in phrenology, Swinton!” said Alexander.

“I neither believe nor disbelieve in that and many more modern discoveries of the same kind; I do not think it right to reject them or to give blind credence.  Not a day passes but some discovery excites our wonder and admiration, and points out to us how little we do know.  The great fault is, that when people have made a discovery to a certain extent, they build upon it, as if all their premises were correct; whereas, they have, in fact, only obtained a mere glimmering to light them to a path which may some future day lead to knowledge.  That the general principles of phrenology are correct maybe fairly assumed, from the examination of the skulls of men and animals, and of different men; but I give no credence to all the divisions and subdivisions which have, in my opinion, been most presumptuously marked out by those who profess, and of course fully believe, the full extent of these supposed discoveries.”

“And mesmerism?” said Alexander.

“I make the same reply; there is something in it, that is certain, but nothing yet sufficiently known to warrant any specific conclusion to be drawn.”

“There is a great deal of humbug in it,” said the Major.

“So there is in all sciences; when truth fails them and they are at fault, they fill up the hiatus with supposition; which is, as you term it, humbug.”

“Well, I vote that we return to our wagons; every body appears fast asleep except us three.”