ABSTRACT
In practice, legal niceties were largely ignored when it came to dealing with Bushmen. The district commander of Outjo complained that seized Bushmen placed with farmers merely deserted. In one survey listing thirty-two Bushmen, fifteen had died within a year, one had syphilis and another was said to be suffering from scurvy. Von Zastrow was exceptional, both in his liberal championing of the rights of Bushmen and in his knowledge of them. Von Zastrow proposed to deal with Bushmen by issuing identity discs and to reward Bushmen with food and tobacco if they kept these discs for extended periods. Depsite von Zastrow's policy of discourage the infliction of corporal punishment on Bushmen. The Bushmen live a nomadic existence because their diet changes with the seasons and the area. "It appears," wrote Sergeant Coetzee from Steinhausen, "that farmers who consistently chase the Bushmen from their farms are the only people who have trouble with them".
