The End

An anguished fuck.



Leaving South Africa.

earth, and the rock that speaks

A few days ago i visited the Iziko South African Museum of Natural History to look and educate myself. I won't go on about it too much, but just say that if you are ever in Cape Town it is well worth the visit. What most interested me was the rock art of the |xam people, the first-known inhabitants of the lands of southern Africa. I transcribed an oral account given by ||kaboo, a |xam bushman from the 19th century, giving an explanation of these rock paintings and engravings.

"The !Gwe: of the |xam people are in/inside their bodies.
They (the !Gwe:) talk, they move,
They make their (the |xam's) bodies move.
They (the |xam) order silence to them (the other |xam);
The man is altogether still/quiet,
Because he feels that
His body/flesh is tapping (inside).
A dream is that which deceives,
It is that which cheats;
The |k"umm is that which speaks truly,
It is the one
With which a |xam person is wont to perceive meat;
Because it (the |k"umm), was that which stirred/tapped/quivered.
The |xam people do perceive the people coming,
With it, by means of it."
- Testimony of ||kaboo

The |k"umm that is spoken of can be translated roughly as "presentiment" and the term for !Gwe: is a bit hazy, as the definition given is "resembles the letters/symbols which take a message or account to another place," as the rock paintings are intended to do. The "other place," though, might forever remain a mystery.