In November 1869 there appeared a paper in “Once a Week” called “Ethnological Curiosities from South Africa.” From whom it was supplied to that periodical neither do I know,--nor does the gentleman by whom the body of the paper was written. The assumed name of “Leyland” is there given to that gentleman, without any authority for the change, and it is told that he had contributed the narrative to the Ethnological Society and had called it a visit to the Cannibal Caves. This is true; but the name of the gentleman was Mr. Bowker who was the first Government Agent in Basutoland. He was not at all sorry to see his paper reappearing in so respectable a periodical, but has never known how it reached “Once a Week,” or why he was called Mr. Leyland. This is not of much general interest; but he goes on to describe how he, and a party with him, were taken by guides up the side of a mountain, and by a difficult pathway into a cave. The date is not given, but the visit occurred in 1868. The cavern is then described as being black with the smoke of fires, and the floor as being strewn with the bones of human beings,--chiefly those of women and children. “The marrow bones were split into small pieces, the rounded joints alone being left unbroken. Only a few of these bones were charred by fire, showing that the prevailing taste had been for boiled rather than for roast meat.” Again he says, “I saw while at the cavern unmistakeable evidence that the custom has not been altogether abandoned, for among the numerous bones were a few that appeared very recent. They were apparently those of a tall bony individual with a skull hard as bronze. In the joints of these bones the marrow and fatty substances were still evident, showing but too plainly that many months had not elapsed since he met his fate.” This was as late as 1868. Again. “There are still a good many old Cannibals in existence. On the day that we visited the cavern I was introduced to one of them, who is now living not very far from his former dwelling-place. He is a man of about sixty, and, not to speak from prejudice, one of the most God-lost looking ruffians that I ever beheld in my life. In former days when he was a young man dwelling in the cavern, he captured during one of his hunting expeditions three young women. From these he selected the best-looking as a partner for life. The other two went to stock his larder.”