Stories That Float from Afar ― Ancestral Folklore of the San of Southern Africa

In this unique and enthralling collection of folk stories that float to us from afar, the voices of long-dead Bushmen’, or San people, of southern Africa speak of their poignant myths and beliefs. We hear them speak of their tormented lives as the early colonist expanded into the semi-arid interior.

All these stories have lain hidden since they were first collected more than a hundred years ago by a remarkable family in Cape Town who devoted their lives to recording the life-ways of the Xam San before their disappearance. Today there is a need for us to listen to these voices from the past. They fill in one of the tragic blanks in South Africa’s history. Suddenly a people who have spoken only through other’s voices, now speak out and come alive on the pages of this book.

DAVID-LEWIS WILLIAMS recently retired as Professor of Cognitive Archaeology and Director of the Rock Art Research Unit as the University of the Witwatersrand. He is an author of several books, including The Shamans of Prehistory (Harry Abrams, 1998) and many learned articles, and is widely regarded as the doyen of rock art research in South Africa.