Note 301 — Chapter IV · A BOAR-HUNT.

“As soon as the evening breeze begins to blow, the song resounds throughout all the land. It cheers the despondency of the wanderer through the desert; it enlivens the social meeting; it inspires the dance, and even the lamentations of the mourner are poured forth in measured accents. Their poetry does not consist in studied and regular pieces, such as, after previous study, are recited in our schools and theatres: they are extemporary and spontaneous effusions, in which the speaker gives utterance to his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows. Specimens are wanting of the African verse; yet, considering that its effusions are numerous, inspired by Nature, and animated by national enthusiasm, they seem not unlikely to reward the care of the collector. The few examples actually given favour this conclusion. How small a number among our peasantry could have produced the pathetic and affecting lamentation, which was uttered in the little Bambarra cottage over the distresses of Park! These effusions, handed down from father to son, contain all that exists among them of traditional history. From the songs of the Jellemen of Soolimani, Major Laing was enabled to compile the annals of this small kingdom for more than a century.”—Discovery and Adventure in Africa, p. 350.