The First Bushman's Path - Stories, Songs and Testimonies of the /Xam of the Northern Cape (AFRICANA

The First Bushman's Path - Stories, Songs and Testimoniesof the /Xam of the Northern Cape (AFRICANA OUT OF PRINT NEW)

Alan James

The "First Bushmen", or the"First-there-sitting-People", established the path along which alldead people and animals would travel to get to their final holding place, agreat hole in the ground. And it was these First Bushmen who had been theoriginal occupants of the land in which the /Xam lived, and about whom storieswere told. So declared //Kabbo, one of the last of the /Xam San to narrate thestories and oral traditions which had helped to make the /Xam who they were,and to construct their land and make it livable.;In these poems, Alan James hasproduced considered versions of a selection of the /Xam narrations transcribedin the late 19th century, including many which have thus far received little,if any, literary or critical attention. The poems are supplemented byexplanatory notes, helpful in particular to those who are unfamiliar with /Xam historyand culture. This title is an accessible and informative re-presentation of awide range of the oral testimonies of /Xam culture, whose riches continue toclaim the attention of those who have succeeded the /Xam in their land.