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  It was impossible to keep Cupido Cockroach of Praying Mantis (2005) from making a reappearance in this novel. In many respects his story paved the way for this book.

  The scene in the voorhuis of the Berrangés’, with the slave boy chasing the flies, is based on an illustration from Sir John Barrow’s An Account of Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa (1801–04). The extravagant size of Lady Anne’s chameleon was enough motivation for reincorporating the familiar Khoe myth about death and the chameleon so prominently.

  For the cosmology of the Khoekhoen and other early inhabitants of Africa I am once again indebted to L. Schapera’s The Khoisan Peoples of Southern Africa (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1930) and, obviously, to the Bleek-Lloyd collection at the University of Cape Town, as well as to Lady Ademola’s three-part African Proverbs (Ibadan: Bookcraft, 2008), while much of our human existence between the natural and the supernatural has been inspired by the Occitan writer Max Rouquette, whose beautiful Vert Paradis (Paris: Le Chemin vert, 1980) has accompanied me on many a voyage, geographically and in the mind.

  The writing of this book is, in itself, an acknowledgement and an expression of deep gratitude, to Jan Rabie and Marjorie Wallace, for a friendship of nearly fifty years.

  In a very special way, and like so often before, my editor and dear friend Geoff Mulligan was indispensable in shaping the final version of this book.

  Cape Town, February 2012

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