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Goliath, watch my calves. And later he gave me a shirt to cover my body and then I went to work for another master, who gave me a goat, and then I worked for my last master, who paid me shillings. But I am leaving here too because in South-West Africa they pay better. ” The day Tami left, I walked over the veld toward a road to say good-bye to him, and when I got halfway there I found that he had come halfway to say good-bye to me. He was holding his goat by the horns, and behind him his wife, wearing a horrid rag of a European dress, was standing with the baby inside the front of the dress.

Perhaps the employer will add a set of clothing—that is, a pair of cast-off pants and a shirt—and perhaps a blanket every year, but occasionally they pay their labor in cast-off clothing and omit the ten shillings altogether. European clothing is esteemed among Bushmen, for it is symbolic to them of a people mightier than themselves, and also because, made of cloth instead of leather, it is more clinging, therefore warmer and more comfortable, and dries faster when wet. It is sought after and desired, it is got through employment; yet, even so, Bushmen hesitate to seek employment because they believe that they will be badly treated (as they sometimes are) and they often find the customary wage and food ration to be inadequate for anyone who must support a family.

Usually in the hot months only small winds blow, leaving a whisper of dry leaves and a ripple of grass as though a snake has gone by, but occasionally there is a windy day when all the low trees of the veld are in motion, swinging and dipping, and the grass blows forward and back. When there is no wind, heat accumulates in the air and rises in thick, shuddering waves that distort everything you see, the temperature rises to 120° Fahrenheit and more, and the air feels heavy, pressing against you, hard to breathe.