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population groups which later appeared in the Makgabeng area. The San’s
ways of life made it impossible for them to grow in number. People were left
to die when they were too old to walk, and twins and other children were
killed when they were too numerous to carry 153 . Death rate among children
by other causes seemed to have been very high. When successive stronger
groups encroached on the land which the San occupied, their physical
presence disappeared. Where did the San go?
There are various – and sometimes conflicting – theories and explanations
on the whereabouts of the San in the Makgabeng area – and other parts of
the world such as southern Africa - today. Views range between the
extinction of the San; their assimilation; and their continued existence.
Among the scholars who advocated the extinction theory of the San is W. J.
Sollas (1924) who wrote:
We have spoken of the Bushmen in the past tense,
for they are practically extinct; a miserable remnant of
inferior character still lingers on in the Kalahari desert,
but even this is slowly dwindling away under the
terrible hardships of an unfavourable environment” 154 .
The Reverend S. S. Dornan (1925) supported this view, “They [the San] are
a dwindling race and in a comparatively short space of time, they will have
153 L. Thompson, A History of South Africa, p. 33.
154 W. J. Sollas, Ancient hunters and their modern representatives, pp. 489 – 490.
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