"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 recognise 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 may be 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 conclusions 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 waggons; everybody appears fast asleep except us three." Such was not, however, the case; for they had not been half an hour on their mattresses, before they were awakened by loud cries of "help," which made them seize their guns and jump out of the waggons without waiting for their clothes. The Hottentots and Caffres were so full of hippopotamus-flesh, that the noise did not awake but a small portion of them, and these only turned round and stared about without getting up, with the exception of Bremen, who was on his feet and, with his gun in his hand, running in the direction of the cries. He was followed by our travellers, and they soon came up with the object of their search, which proved to be no other than Big Adam, the Hottentot; and as soon as they perceived his condition, which they could do by the light of the fires still burning, they all burst out laughing so excessively, that they could not help him.