THE PORTUGUESE IN SOUTH AFRICA FROM 1505 TO 1701.

CHAPTER II.

THE HOTTENTOTS, TERMED BY THE BANTU OF THE EASTERN COAST AMALAWU, AND BY THE BANTU OF THE SOUTH-WESTERN COAST OVASERANDU.

The next section of the human species that claims the attention of a student of South African history is the people known to us as Hottentots. Long considered and termed aborigines by many writers, the not very remote ancestors of these people are now known to have been colonists in the same sense that the Dutch and English are, that is they came from another country and settled in those parts where they were found by the first European visitors, which localities had previously been occupied by earlier inhabitants. That this circumstance long remained unknown is a matter easy of explanation. Neither the Portuguese, nor the Dutch, nor the early English settlers took any trouble to make the necessary investigations, they were wholly occupied with other affairs, they found the Hottentots in the country, and that seemed sufficient for them to know.

Then, long before any real research was commenced, the Hottentots in those parts occupied by Europeans lost their own language and customs, and the blood of most of them became mixed with that of other races. Their traditions were forgotten, and no information of any value was to be obtained from them. At length the eminent philologist Dr. Bleek, by comparing the language of those who lived in secluded localities and retained their ancestral tongue, with the speech of sections of the inhabitants of Northern Africa, pronounced them to have close affinities. The question then arose how could the Hottentots, who differ as much from the present black inhabitants of Central Africa as they do from Europeans, have found their way to the south ? Various answers were suggested, but as every one who attempted to solve this question regarded the black race as having occupied the whole of Central Africa from the most remote times, none were conclusive or satisfactory. The mystery remained unsolved, like that which veils from our knowledge the cause and the manner of the early migrations of our own race.

A satisfactory answer, however, has now been given, at least to part of what is implied in the question. Mr. George W. Stow, who spent many years in research among the Korana clans, the purest Hottentots now existing — if some small sections of the Namaqua be excepted, — and who was aided in his investigations by missionaries and other inquirers, learned from the traditions of those clans that their ancestors had indeed moved down from the north, and that too at no very remote time. This and the account of the route followed he was able to confirm by other evidence, so that now all doubt upon the matter is dispelled.

The Hottentots and the Bushmen were originally of the same stock, but where the remote ancestors of both resided is quite uncertain. No investigation that has yet been made takes us back to this cradle of a race differing greatly from the Caucasian and the negro, assimilating more nearly to the Mongolian than to any other, but differing even from that in having the head clothed with short wiry wool instead of long coarse hair. The Bushmen spread first over Central and then Southern Africa, and in some of those migrations were followed after a great lapse of time by the Hottentots. That interval was so great that the language had become as different as English is from Greek, and had developed largely in grammatical form, though its mode of structure remained in general the same and four of the many clicks used by the Bushmen were retained. It was so great that the Hottentots had advanced from the hunter to the pastoral stage, and perhaps owing to a more constant and plentiful supply of food, or perhaps — which for various reasons seems highly probable — from an infusion of blood by some other light coloured race, — very likely Hamitic, most certainly not Bantu, — had increased in stature and even acquired a different form of skull. In that long interval also the character and habits of the Hottentots had greatly changed, and they had lost much of the energy and alert- ness which distinguished the Bushmen, because their mode of existence no longer required the exercise of these qualities. Further, they had gained a knowledge of the art of smelting copper and iron, and thus of making more effective weapons than those of stone. They had lost, on the other hand, the taste for painting and engraving on rocks, if indeed this had been common to their ancestors and those of the Bushmen, and was not acquired by the latter after their departure from the original home.

How, where, and when their advance towards civilisation was made, whether they increased in knowledge slowly of themselves or obtained it from other races, cannot now be ascertained, though most likely the latter was the case. The first glimpse that is had of them through the medium of their traditions takes us back only to a time less than a thousand years ago, when they were living somewhere in the neighbourhood of the great lakes, not far from the equator. That was certainly not their earliest home, and it is not even likely that they had long resided there. They were then in possession of herds of oxen and flocks of large-tailed sheep, but had neither the camel, the horse, the ass, the hog, or in all probability the goat, nor had they a domesticated bird of any kind. At one time or other in their earlier wanderings they must have known of the existence of some or all of these animals, but the ox, the sheep, and the dog were then their only stock.

A wave of war rolled over the land, as had been the case often before, and has been often since. There is never peace for many years together when society is in its rude and barbarous stage, for no right is recognised but the right of the strong, even as men observe it to be among the lower animals. The weak must flee or be despoiled and exterminated. The Hottentots — or more probably a remnant of them that survived the shock — fled towards the southwest, which would indicate that the invaders of the territory they had occupied came from the opposite direction. In migrations such as this, the line of least resistance is of course followed, but in the present instance that had to be determined by more than the usual considerations. It was not only the absence of enemies more powerful than themselves, and the physical features of the country to be traversed, its mountains and rivers, that the Hottentot fugitives had to take into account. The question was complicated to them by the existence of the tsetse fly in a broad belt of land to the south, which barred their retreat with cattle in that direction. That insect alone, whose sting is fatal to domestic animals, would have prevented them from crossing the Zambesi until they had travelled very far to the westward. In their course, for a considerable distance at least, the land they passed through may have been possessed by Bantu tribes at an earlier date, but if that be so, those tribes must have perished in some terrible devastation like that caused by Tshaka and Moselekatse in the distant south at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for they could not have travelled with their women and children, much less have driven their flocks and herds, through a country held by people stronger than themselves and ever eager for spoil. It is probable also that they did not commence their journey in a solid body, but in several detachments following one another, which would make them more liable to attack and destruction.

Naturally, all details of the long journey have been lost, the only circumstance preserved by tradition being the point from which it commenced. That it must have been very slow, after the danger of immediate pursuit was over, seems certain, however. Cows and sheep cannot be transferred hastily from one kind of pasture to another without heavy loss, and there could have been no motive for hurrying on when only Bushmen were in the neighbourhood. Probably many years were spent at each favourable halting place, though the design of a continued advance, once initiated, was never entirely lost sight of.

At length the shore of the Atlantic was reached, and then the wave of migration turned to the south. In some parts of this course, after the twentieth parallel of latitude is passed, the pasture is better at a distance inland than on the margin of the sea. The rainfall along the coast, owing to the prevailing winds being offshore, is trifling compared with that of the thunderstorms in the interior, and the sandy soil does not long retain moisture. It is an arid, sterile belt of land, destitute of running streams and fountains, where in places the sand hills blown about by the wind are constantly changing their form. It is traversed with difficulty even by those who are acquainted with the localities where scanty pasture and a little water are to be found. Here therefore the migrating horde, which must have been broken up into many small parties moving on slowly at long intervals, turned inland for a short distance and then kept on towards the south, but as soon as possible it moved westward again and pursued its course along the terrace bordering on the ocean. Did the wanderers expect that the shore would somewhere turn and lead them to a fairer land, where they could rest at last ? No one can tell. Perhaps they themselves did not know of an object in view, but were merely impelled onward by a ruling desire for change. They were not now driven forward by enemies stronger than themselves, but still they advanced. Leaving a section behind in the territory now termed Great Nama- qualand, they crossed the Orange river and entered the present Cape Colony.

Along their line of march they must have had constant conflicts with the Bushmen, the only earlier inhabitants of the land, who could not look on unmoved while the country was thus invaded. These puny savages were capable of causing much mischief, though they could not prevent the strangers from either advancing or taking possession of the choicest pastures along the shore. The Hottentots did not regard them as human beings having rights, but simply as noxious animals to be got rid of as quickly as possible. In one respect, however, this was not the case. Young girls of Bushman blood, when captured, were detained and incorporated as inferior members of the families of those who slew their kindred without the slightest feeling of remorse. In this manner, probably from the very first contact of the two peoples, a mixture of blood took place, which, though slight in the beginning, was considerable by the time the intruding horde reached the Cape promontory. On the other hand, there was no intercourse between Bushmen and Hottentot women, either before or after this period. Their arrival at the southern shore of Africa must have preceded that of the first Portuguese explorers by only a very few centuries, probably not more than two or three at most.

At different stages between the mouth of the Orange river and Table Bay sections of the horde were left behind, each of which took a tribal name, and thereafter carried on war with its nearest neighbours on its own account. As the majority of the Bushmen who had previously lived at these localities were either exterminated or forced to retreat farther inland, the incorporation of girls necessarily almost ceased, so that each tribe of Hottentots from north to south was of purer blood than the next in advance.

When the southern point of the continent was reached, the migratory movement did not end, but, turning eastward, a portion of the horde continued its march, still keeping close to the shore of the sea. At no point except the one mentioned on the long journey, which may have occupied several centuries, was any attempt made to penetrate the interior country. Yet these people did not possess the skill to make even a rough canoe, and only when they were without cattle resorted to catching fish for food. It was therefore not from any attachment to the ocean or from any benefit derived directly from it that they continued their course along its margin, but from the pastures, owing to the greater rainfall, being more luxuriant in its neighbourhood than farther inland.

The character of the country had now entirely changed. The south-east wind sweeping over the Indian ocean reached the land laden with moisture, which was deposited in abundance on the lowest terrace, in decreasing quantities on each succeeding plateau, and least of all on the vast plain in the interior. The farther to the north-east one proceeds the more is this perceptible, until the rich vegetation of the shore forms a striking contrast to the desert belt in the same latitudes on the Atlantic side.

As band after band was thrown off along the southern and south-eastern coast, and Bush girls were continually incorporated, the most advanced party at length probably contained more Bushman than pure Hottentot blood. It was so gradually absorbed, however, that it was assimilated, for these little tribes preserved the Hottentot customs and mode of living, and carried on hostilities with the Bushmen just as if they were wholly unconnected with those savages. Along this coast the Hottentots were never so numerous as along the shore of the Atlantic south of the Orange river. There were wide gaps between the various tribes or distinct bands, which were occupied solely by the aboriginal hunters. At the beginning of the sixteenth century of our era the Hottentots extended thus in a thin line, or rather a series of dots at varying distances from each other, from Walfish Bay on the western coast round to the mouth of the Umtamvuna river on the south-eastern, beyond which there is no indication that they ever advanced.

The cause of their being so thinly scattered along this line was their depending almost entirely upon milk for subsistence. They needed a large number of cows and ewes, and consequently a great extent of pasture for each separate community, as the cattle belonging to all the families composing it were herded together for reasons of safety, and were driven from place to place according to the state of the grass. As soon as a community became so large that this was impossible or even inconvenient, a swarm was of necessity thrown off, and moved to a distance in order to acquire a new pasture of sufficient extent for its use. The offshoot might for a time consider itself a dependency of the parent band, or a clan of the tribe, but the tendency would soon be towards perfect independence. There was no other way of extension, for a party moving needed to be strong enough to protect itself and its cattle from Bushmen and ravenous animals. For a single family, or even two or three families together, to attempt to settle separately on the pasture of a tribe and to keep up connection with the main body was not possible. Each Hottentot community was thus compact, but limited in number to a few hundred or at most to a couple of thousand souls. It occupied a single village, or kraal as now generally termed.

From the neighbourhood of the kraal the Bushmen were cleared off as far as possible, but in many instances they still occupied the mountains and seized every opportunity to plunder cattle from the intruders and to put any stray individual of either sex to death. The feeling between the two peoples was in general one of intense animosity, though there were occasional instances of a kind of compact between a Hottentot tribe and the Bushmen in its neighbourhood, under which the former provided food in times of great distress, and the latter acted as scouts and gave warning of any approaching danger. This was only the case, however, when the Bushmen were so reduced in number as to be incapable of carrying on war.

The great interior of the country was undisturbed by the intruders, but it did not always offer an asylum to the dispossessed people. Each little band of Bushmen had there its own recognised hunting grounds, and resented intrusion upon them as much by individuals of kindred blood as by strangers. Then they were strongly attached to the localities in which they had lived from childhood, and in many instances preferred to die rather than abandon them. Still there were some who, under exceptional circumstances, made their way to localities far distant from the tracts they had lost, and established themselves anew on a wild mountain or an arid plain, perhaps dispossessing previous occupants as they had themselves been dispossessed of their former abode.

Such was the manner of the occupation of the South African coast by the Hottentots, and such were the effects of the invasion upon the earlier inhabitants.

The Hottentots termed themselves Khoikhoi, men of men, as they prided themselves upon their superiority over the savage hunters, and in fact they were considerably more advanced towards civilisation than the Bushmen, though a stranger at first sight might not have seen much difference in personal appearance between the two. A little observation, however, would have shown that the Bushmen were not only smaller and uglier, but that their faces were broader, their eyes not nearly as full and bright, their lobeless ears rounder in shape, and their chins less prominent. Their wild expression also was not observed in the Hottentot face.

The investigations of the late Dr. Bleek have shown that the languages of these two classes of people were not only different in the words, but that in some particulars they varied in construction. That spoken by the Hottentots — except in cases where there was a mixture of Bushman blood — was free of deep guttural sounds, and though it was accompanied by much clapping of the tongue, the clicks, which were four in number, were not so extensively used as in Bushman speech. It was inflected in a regular manner to indicate number, gender, and case, by means of affixes only, which placed it in contrast with the language of the Bantu, as this was without gender and was inflected chiefly by prefixes. It had three numbers, singular, dual, and plural. Its system of notation was decimal, and was perfect, at least up to a hundred, though it does not follow that every individual could count. In many instances the same monosyllabic word had different significations, according to the tone in which it was pronounced, when the context did not indicate its meaning. Some words were composites, but most were monosyllables, as were all the roots, which ended with a vowel. The liquid consonant I was wanting. There were almost as many dialects as there were tribes, but these did not vary more than the forms of English spoken in different counties before the general diffusion of education from books. This is a proof that the occupation of the country by these people and their spreading out along the coast must have been very recent. Unwritten languages change rapidly, especially in the vowel sounds, and tribes having no communication with each other, as for instance the Namaqua and the Gonaqua, in the course of only eight or ten generations would have developed differences far greater than were found to exist.

No difficulty has been experienced hy European missionaries in reducing this language to writing, and some religious literature has been printed in it. Words to express ideas unknown before were formed from well-known roots according to its grammatical structure, and were at once understood by every one, just as meekness and meekly would be understood by any Englishman who had only heard the word meek used before. This is sufficient to show that the language was of a high order. It is now, however, rapidly dying out, as the descendants of the people who once used it have long since learned to converse in Dutch, and by force of circumstances nearly all have forgotten their ancestral speech. A large admixture of blood — European, Asiatic, and particularly negro — that took place during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, contributed to this result, as well as the state of servitude to which many of these people were reduced.

The manner in which the various Hottentot tribes were formed has already been explained. They usually took their distinctive titles from the name of their founder, by adding to it the affix qua, which signified those of or the people of, thus the Cochoqua were the people of Cocho, the Gonaqua the people of Gona. Sometimes, however, they called themselves after some animal, as the springbucks, the scorpions, or from some accidental circumstance, as the honey-eaters, the sandal wearers. Many of the tribes consisted of several clans, more or less loosely joined together, though all tending to become independent in course of time. The tribes were almost constantly at war with each other, the object being to obtain possession of the cattle and girls of the opponent, and often the weaker ones were reduced to great poverty and distress. New combinations would then be formed, and the victors of one year frequently became the vanquished of the next. These internecine quarrels were not attended with much loss of life. There was never a slaughter of the whole of the conquered people, as was the case when a band of Bushmen was surrounded and overpowered.

Every tribe had its own hereditary chief, whose authority, however, was very limited, as his subjects were impatient of control. The succession was from father to son, and in the absence of a son to brother or nephew. The several heads of clans not long formed recognised the supremacy in rank of the head of the community from which they had branched off, who was accounted the paramount chief of the tribe, but unless he happened to be a man of more force of character than the others, he exercised no real power over them. The petty rulers, or heads of clans, were commonly jealous of each other, and only united their strength in cases of extreme danger to all. The government was thus particularly frail, and a very slight shock was sufficient to break any combination of the people into fragments. The powerful religious sentiment which binds the people of a Bantu tribe so strongly to their ruler was altogether wanting in a Hottentot community. The chief was not regarded as a divinity or the descendant of a divinity, but as a mere man like any of his followers. Riches commanded more respect than rank, and a man possessed of many cattle exercised as much influence as the nominal ruler, for the right of individuals to hold property apart from the community was recognised.

There were customs which had the same force as laws in civilised societies, and any one breaking them was subject to punishment. In such cases the whole of the adult males of the kraal discussed the matter and decided what was to be done, the chief, unless he happened to be a man of unusual strength of character, having little more to say tban any one else. The moral code and the proportion of criminality ascribed to misdeeds were naturally very different from those of European nations.

The principal property of the Hottentots consisted of horned cattle and sheep, of which large numbers were possessed by some of the wealthiest tribes. They had great skill in training oxen to obey certain calls, as well as to carry burdens, and bulls were taught not only to assist in guarding the herds from robbers and beasts of prey, but to aid in war by charging the enemy on the field of battle. The milk of their cows was the chief article of their diet. It was preserved either in skin bags or in vessels made by hollowing a block of wood, and after coagulation formed healthy and nutritious food. The vessels used were commonly in a filthy state, as indeed was everything else in and about the huts, for in this respect the Hottentots were only slightly superior to Bushmen. They did not kill horned cattle for food, except on occasions of feasting, but they ate all that died a natural death.

Their usual method of cooking meat was to cut it in long strips, which were thrown upon embers and heated through, then one end was taken into the mouth, and it was gradually drawn in and devoured. The intestines of animals, after hardly any cleansing, were consumed in the same manner. Sometimes, however, flesh was boiled in clay pots, though it was not much relished in this way.

The ox of the Hottentot was an inferior animal to that of Europe. He was a gaunt, bony creature, with immense horns and long legs, but he was hardy and well adapted to supply the wants of his owner. He served instead of a horse for carrying burdens and for riding purposes, being guided by a riem or thong of raw hide attached to a piece of wood passed through the cartilage of his nose.

The sheep possessed by the Hottentots were covered with hair instead of wool, were of various colours, and had long lapping ears and tails three or four kilogrammes in weight. The tails were composed almost entirely of fat, which could be melted as easily as tallow, and which was relished as a dainty. Animals possessing such appendages were of courke hardier than European sheep, and could exist much longer on scanty herbage in seasons of drought. The milk as well as the flesh was used for food. Children were taught to suck the ewes, and often derived their whole sustenance from this source.

The only other domestic animal was the dog. He was an ugly creature, his body being shaped like that of a jackal, and the hair on his spine being turned forward ; but he was a faithful, serviceable animal of his kind.

In addition to milk and the meat of oxen and sheep, of which they rejected no part except the gall, the food of the Hottentots consisted of the flesh of game obtained in the chase, locusts, and various kinds of wild plants and fruits. Agriculture, even in its simplest forms, was not practised by them. Like the Bushmen, they knew how to make an intoxicating drink of honey, of which large quantities were to be had in the season of flowers, and this they used to excess while it lasted. Like those savages also, they were acquainted with that powerful intoxicant, dacha or wild hemp, and whenever it was procurable they smoked it with a pipe made of the horn of an antelope. That its effects were pernicious was admitted by themselves, still they could not refrain from making use of it.

Their women were better clothed than those of the Bushmen, but the men were usually satisfied with very little covering, and had no sense of shame in appearing altogether naked. The dress of both sexes was made of skins, commonly prepared with the hair on. When removed from the animal, the skin was cleansed of any fleshy matter adhering to it, was then stretched and dried, and was afterwards rubbed with grease and worked between the hands till it became soft and pliable. The ordinary costume of a man was merely a piece of jackal skin suspended in front, and a little slip of prepared hide behind. In cold weather he wrapped himself in a kaross or mantle of furs sewed together with sinews. The women wore at all times a headdress of fur, an under apron, and a wrapper or a girdle of leather strings suspended from the waist. In cold weather, or when carrying infants on their backs, they added a scanty kaross. Children wore no clothing whatever. Round their legs the females sewed strips of raw hide like rings, which, when dry, rattled against each other, and made a noise when they moved.

Both sexes ornamented their heads with copper trinkets, and hung round their necks strings of shells, leopards' teeth, or any other glittering objects they could obtain. Ivory armlets were worn by the men. From earliest infancy their bodies were smeared with grease and rubbed over with clay, soot, or powdered buchu, and to this partly may be attributed the stench of their persons. The coat of grease and clay was not intended for ornament alone. It protected them from the weather and from the vermin that infested their huts and clothing.

Their dwellings were constructed by planting long pieces of supple undressed wood in the ground, and bending the upper ends inward, where they were attached by thongs to short pieces laid horizontally, so that the whole frame resembled approximately a rough hemisphere. Withes were then twisted round the structure and tied on outside, and the whole was covered with rush mats. The huts were so low that a tall man could not stand upright inside, and they had but one small opening through which the inmates crawled. In cold weather a fire was made in a cavity in the centre. The huts of a kraal were arranged in the form of a circle, the space enclosed being used as a fold for cattle. They could be taken to pieces, placed on pack-oxen, removed to a distance, and set up again, with very little labour and no waste. The furniture within them consisted merely of mats to sleep on, skins, weapons, cooking utensils, wooden milk dishes, and ostrich egg-shells used for carrying and containing water. Unlike the Bushman, who coiled himself to sleep on a little grass, the Hottentot stretched himself at full length on a mat in his hut.

The weapons used by the Hottentots in war and the chase were bows and arrows, sticks with clubbed heads, and assagais. Mr. Stow asserts that at the time of their arrival in South Africa they were unacquainted with the use of poison, but if that be correct, they certainly acquired a knowledge of it shortly afterwards. It was not used by them so extensively, however, as by the Bushmen. The bow was larger and the arrow longer than those of the primitive inhabitants, still without poison the weapon would have been useless against large game. The assagai of the Hottentots was a light javelin, which could be hurled with precision to a distance of thirty or forty metres. The knobkerie, or clubbed stick, was almost as formidable a weapon. It was rather stouter than an ordinary walking cane, and had a round head six or eight centimetres in diameter. Boys were trained to throw this with so accurate an aim as to hit a bird on the wing at twenty or thirty metres distance. It was projected in such a manner as to bring the heavy knob into contact with the object aimed at, and antelopes as large as goats had their legs broken or were killed outright with it.

The Hottentots were acquainted with the art of smelting iron, but were too indolent to turn their knowledge to much account. Only a few assagai and arrow heads were made of that metal. Horn and bone were ready at hand, were easily worked, and were commonly used to point weapons. Stone was also employed by some of the tribes for this purpose, but not to any great extent, though weights for digging-sticks were formed of it by them as by the Bush-men. Masses of almost solid copper were obtained in Namaqualand, and this metal was spread over the neighbouring country by means of barter and war, but was not used for any other purpose than that of making ornaments for the person.

At different places occupied by the Hottentots along the coast a very few polished stone implements have been found. They consist of arrow heads whose points have been ground, and disks like quoits with sharp edges, which are supposed to have been held in the hand and used in combat. No European has ever seen a Hottentot in possession of such implements, or ever heard them spoken of, and any remarks concerning them can only be founded on conjecture. But few as is the number of such ground stones as yet dis- covered, they are evidence that individuals, if not tribes, were in the neolithic stage of progress, though iron was in use at the same period.

The Hottentots manufactured earthenware pots for cooking purposes, which, though in general clumsily shaped and coarse in appearance, were capable of withstanding intense heat. This art was lost soon after Europeans came in contact with them, and before observations upon their habits were made correctly and placed on record, so that it is only from specimens of their handiwork recently found that an opinion can be formed of the quality of such wares. Pots were useful at times, but were not much needed by people who seldom ate boiled food, nor were earthenware drinking vessels required where ox horns served that purpose. This may account for the small quantity and the coarse description of the utensils manufactured. Some of the pots found in recent shell heaps along the sea-shore have a number of holes neatly drilled in them, often near the bottom, probably in order to make them serve as strainers.

Some small and weak clans of Hottentots who had lost their cattle in war or by disease depended for existence chiefly upon the produce of the sea. They had neither boats nor hooks, but they managed to catch fish by throwing light assagais from rocks standing out in deep water, and by making weirs in favourable situations along the shore enclosing considerable spaces which were left nearty dry at low tide. Shell-fish also formed a portion of their food, and occasionally a dead whale would drift ashore and furnish them with a feast. Shell and ash heaps made by these people bearing signs of being quite modern, that is dating back only two or three hundred years, are found in many places along the coast from Walfish Bay to Natal.

The heaps contain ordinary Hottentot implements, in rare instances human skeletons, and generally bones of animals obtained in the chase, always broken in order that the marrow might be extracted. The perforated stone weights for digging-sticks found in them are usually of the shape of compressed spheres, nearly resembling in form those of Scotland referred to on a previous page, which has given rise to the supposition that those made by Hottentots were always of a distinct type from those made by Bushmen. This is, however, not certain, though only spherical weights are picked up in South Africa in tracts of country that were exclusively occupied by Bushmen, and compressed spheres wherever Hottentots lived, where also a few stones have been found that have first been perforated and then chipped into a convenient shape for use.

Hottentots were found living in the manner here indicated when Europeans first came to the country, and on the coast of Namaqualand there were some existing in a similar state after the middle of the nineteenth century. As far as food, clothing, and lodging were concerned, they were in no better condition than Bushmen, though there was always the hope before them of acquiring cattle by a successful raid, in which case they would at once revert to the ordinary mode of living of their kindred. The whole of the recent shells heaps on the South African coast, however, were not made by impoverished Hottentots. Some were made by Bushmen, as is proved by the paintings on rocks overhanging the deposits, and these may be taken as forming a connected series with the most ancient mounds.

The Hottentots, as observed before, did not form a continuous line of settlement, but a series of dots, in some instances far apart, and between these Bushmen still lived. This will account for shell mounds being formed by both people at the same time. Very likely many of the impoverished members of the pastoral tribes were those who had Bushman mothers, and who would not be regarded as legitimate children or inherit cattle from their fathers. They would therefore be able to accommodate themselves more easily than others to the mode of living that has just been described. Some, however, were certainly not of this class, as entire and distinct clans, though small and weak, were forced by abject poverty to seek for sustenance on the sea shore, being unable to exist in any other manner. As hunters they were far surpassed by the Bushmen, and on wild plants alone life could not long be maintained.

The Hottentots were a superstitious people, who placed great faith in the efficacy of charms to ward off evil. They even besought favours from certain pieces of root so used, and if their wishes were successful, they praised and thanked the charms. This superstition might in time have developed into idolatry, but it was arrested before it reached that stage. They believed that certain occurrences foreboded good or ill luck, that a mantis alighting on a hut brought prosperity with it, and many other absurdities of a like nature. They lived in dread of ghosts and evil spirits, but with no more conception of the nature of such shadowy beings, or of the mode of receiving harm, than little children have. They invoked blessings from the moon, the harbinger of their festivities, to whose praise they sang and danced when it appeared as new. In later times those who had come in contact with Bantu prayed for blessings from dead ancestors, to whose shades sacrifices were offered by priests on important occasions, but this was evidently a custom of foreign origin. Generally they implored protection and favour from a mythical hero named Tsui-goab or Heitsi- eibib, who was believed by them to have lived on the earth and to have died and risen again many times, and whose worship consisted in throwing a bit of wood or an additional stone upon a cairn at a place where he was supposed to have been once buried. Tales of the wonderful deeds of this Heitsi-eibib were commonly narrated by old men, and were implicitly believed by every one who heard them. All the actions ascribed to him were those of a man, but of one endowed with supernatural power.

Dr. Theophilus Hahn, the son of a missionary, who spent his youth among the Namaqua and learned to speak their language as soon as he did that of his parents, in his Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoihhoi, published in London in 1881, states that the Namaqua believe Tsui-goab, or Heitsi-eibib as otherwise called, to be a powerful and beneficent being, who lives in the red sky. There is also a powerful evil being, named Gaunab, who lives in the black sky and does harm to men, who on that account fear and worship him. In a series of combats with Gaunab, Tsui-goab was repeatedly overcome, but after every struggle grew stronger, until at last he killed Gaunab by a blow behind the ear. He was, however, wounded in the knee, and has been lame ever since, whence his name, the wounded knee. At early dawn the Namaqua look towards the east, and implore blessings from him.

Dr. Hahn asserts his belief that this myth originated in the apparent conflict between light and darkness at dawn, and he gives the reasons that led him to this conclusion, which are mainly philological. If this be correct, the myth had an origin as lofty in ideal as that of many of the Aryans ; but other inquirers are inclined to attribute it to the existence of some prominent man in olden time, whose exploits became magnified and distorted in legends. As they believe the moon dies and comes to life again, they may very easily have imagined this great man of their race to have done the same, or the deeds of different individuals at different times may have become blended under one name, as in some Bantu traditions. Tsui-goab was also believed to have been the ancestor of the whole Hottentot race, and likewise to be the moon, for these people, with childlike simplicity, could not comprehend that such various suppositions were incapable of being reconciled with each other. In the corrupted form of Utixo, the first missionaries to the Bantu used the word Tsui-goab to signify God, and it is so employed to the present day.

Many cairns of considerable size, formed of small stones capable of being carried by one individual, have been found in various parts of South Africa, but only a few of these were raised by Hottentots at places where they supposed Heitsi-eibib to have been buried. The Bushmen erected cairns over some of their dead, and it is not unlikely that the Hottentots merely enlarged such of these as they found where they settled. The Bantu — in addition to. the heaps of stones to be mentioned in another chapter — also erected cairns over the bodies of their chiefs, but these are more massive and are well known, so that they cannot be con- fused with the graves of Heitsi-eibib. The adding a stone to such a heap, at first regarded merely as a mark of respect to the dead who lay there, might easily in course of time come to be considered as an act of worship.

The system of religion of the Hottentots could not be explained by themselves, what they understood being little more than that the customs connected with it had come down to them from their ancestors. They had not the faintest expectation of their own resurrection, or conception of a heaven and a hell.

A more improvident, unstable, thoughtless people never existed. Those among them who had cattle were without care or grief, and usually spent the greater part of the day in sleeping. They delighted, however, in dancing by moonlight to music, which they produced from reeds similar to those used by the Bushmen, but superior in tone and effect. Active in this exercise and in hunting, in all other respects they were extremely indolent. The labour of collecting wild plants and of building and removing huts was performed by the women. Their filthiness of person, clothing, and habitation was disgusting. They enjoyed eating food that would have turned the stomach of the least delicate of Europeans, for the sense of smelling with them — as with all people of a low type — was extremely dull. Still they were not without good qualities. Their tempers were in general mild, and their hospitality to peaceable strangers as well as to individuals of their own clan was unbounded. Even in the direst extremity of famine, cannibalism was never resorted to by people of their race.

They were in the habit of abandoning aged and helpless persons as well as sickly and deformed children, whom they allowed to perish of hunger. But they regarded this as mercy, not as cruelty. Better that a helpless wretch or a cripple should give up life at once than linger on in misery. For the same reason, when a woman giving suck died, the child was buried with its dead parent.

The Hottentots were polygamous in the sense that their customs admitted of a wealthy man having more wives than one, but the practice was by no means general. There were many kraals in which there was not a single case of polygamy. It was customary with some, perhaps with all, to take their wives not from their own but from another clan. The marriage customs required that cattle should be given by the bridegroom to the nearest relatives of the bride, but temporary unions were common, and indeed a system almost as bad as that of free love prevailed, for chastity on both sides was very lightly regarded. One of the principal objects in their wars with each other was to take females as prisoners, who were generally regarded as mere concubines, but were sometimes raised to the dignity of wives. The difference from a European point of view may seem obscure, but it involved a right over the distribution of the milk, and upon it depended the inheritance of the children. Female captives of Bushman blood occupied the lower position. There was no religious or moral scruple in operation against conduct of this kind, for they had no idea that it was in any way wrong. It was simply the natural right of the strong to take from the weak.

The women — excepting of course such captives as have been described — were more nearly the equals of the men, and were permitted to exercise much greater freedom of speech in domestic disputes, than among most barbarians. They were mistresses within the huts. The stores of milk were under their control, not under that of their husbands, as was the case with the Bantu. The men or their sons tended the cattle, but their daughters milked the cows.

Among some — not all — of the Hottentot clans there was a custom which, though described by many early observers, has within the nineteenth century without sufficient investigation been regarded by most writers as so utterly incredible that they have not noticed it. Yet it is practised at the present day by people who are certainly not of Hottentot blood, but who must have derived their language as well as many of their customs from Hottentot conquerors in bygone times. It stands to them in the same relation that circumcision does to many Bantu clans, that is among them a youth cannot enter the society of men or take to himself a wife until he has become a monorch. A custom so extraordinary shows what force habit and superstition have among barbarians.

With all their degrading habits, the Hottentots possessed large powers of imagination. They speculated upon objects in nature in a way that no Bantu ever did, and their ideas on these subjects, though seemingly absurd, at least bore evidence of a disposition to think. They had names for many stars and groups of stars, which they believed to be endowed with life. They were excellent story-tellers. Seated round fires of an evening, they repeated tales of the doings of men and of animals — usually the baboon or the jackal — which produced boundless mirth. These stories often contained coarse and obscene expressions, or what Europeans would regard as such, but their sense of delicacy in these matters was naturally low. A specimen, one which with slight variants is told by Hottentots all over South Africa, is here given, to illustrate what may be termed the literature of the race. It was taken down and translated by the late Mr. Thomas Bain, and was first published in the Folklore Journal of July 1879.

"There was a great drought in the land, and the lion called together a number of animals, that they might devise a plan for retaining water when the rains fell. The animals which attended to the lion's summons were the baboon, the leopard, the hyena, the jackal, the hare, and the mountain tortoise. It was agreed that they should scratch a large hole in some suitable place to hold water ; and the next day they all began to work, with the exception of the jackal, who continually hovered about in that locality, and was overheard to mutter that lie was not going to scratch his nails off in making water-holes.

"When the dam was finished, the rains fell, and it was soon filled with water, to the great delight of those who had worked so hard at it. The first one, however, to come and drink there was the jackal, who not only drank, but filled his clay pot with water, and then proceeded to swim in the rest of the water, making it as muddy and dirty as he could. This was brought to the knowledge of the lion, who was very angry, and ordered the baboon to guard the water the next day, armed with a huge knobkerie. The baboon was con- cealed in a bush close to the water ; but the jackal soon became aware of his presence there, and guessed its cause. Knowing the fondness of baboons for honey, the jackal at once hit upon a plan, and marching to and fro, every now and then dipped his fingers into his clay pot, and licked them with an expression of intense relish, saying in a low voice to himself, 'I don't want any of their dirty water when I have a pot full of delicious honey.' This was too much for the poor baboon, whose mouth began to water. He soon began to beg the jackal to give him a little honey, as he had been watching a long time and was very hungry and tired.

"After taking no notice of the baboon at first, the jackal looked round, and said in a patronising manner that he pitied such an unfortunate creature, and would give him some honey on certain conditions, viz. that the baboon should give up his knobkerie and allow himself to be bound. He foolishly agreed, and was soon tied in such a manner that he could not move hand or foot. The jackal now proceeded to drink of the water, to fill his pot, and to swim, in the sight of the baboon, from time to time telling him what a foolish fellow he had been to be so easily duped, and that he (the jackal) had no honey or anything else to give him, excepting a good blow on the head every now aud then with his own knobkerie. The animals soon appeared, and found the poor baboon in this sorry plight, looking very miserable. The lion was so exasperated that he caused the baboon to be severely punished and to be denounced as a fool.

"The tortoise hereupon stepped forward and offered his services for the capture of the jackal. It was at first thought that he was merely joking, but when he explained in what manner he proposed to catch him, his plan was considered so feasible that his offer was accepted. He proposed that a thick coating of the sticky black substance found on beehives should be spread all over him, and that he should then go and stand at the entrance of the dam, on the water level, so that the jackal might tread upon him and stick fast. This was accordingly done, and the tortoise posted there.

"The next day, when the jackal came, he approached the water very cautiously, and wondered to find no one there. He then ventured to the entrance of the water, and remarked how kind they had been in placing there a large black stepping-stone for him. As soon, however, as he trod upon the supposed stone he stuck fast, and saw that he had been tricked, for the tortoise now put his head out and began to move. The jackal's hind feet being still free, he threatened to smash the tortoise with them if he did not let him go. The tortoise merely answered, 'Do as you like.' The jackal thereupon made a violent jump, and found with horror that his hind feet were now also fast. 'Tortoise,' said he, 'I have still my mouth and teeth left, and will eat you alive if you do not let me go.' 'Do as you like,' the tortoise again replied. The jackal, in his endeavours to free himself, at last made a desperate bite at the tortoise, and found himself fixed both head and feet. The tortoise, feeling proud of his successful capture, now marched quietly up to the top of the bank with the jackal on his back, so that he could easily be seen by the animals as they came to the water. They were indeed astonished to find how cleverly the crafty jackal had been caught, and the tortoise was much praised, while the unhappy baboon was again reminded of his misconduct when set to guard the water.

"The jackal was at once condemned to death by the lion, and the hyena was to execute the sentence. The jackal pleaded hard for mercy, but finding this useless he made a last request to the lion (always, as he said, so fair and just in his dealings) that he should not have to suffer a lingering death. The lion inquired of him in what manner he wished to die ; and he asked that his tail might be shaved and rubbed with a little fat, and that the hyena might then swing him round twice and dash his brains out upon a stone. This being considered sufficiently fair by the lion, was ordered by him to be carried out in his presence. When the jackal's tail had been shaved and greased, the hyena caught hold of him with great force, and before he had fairly lifted him from the ground, the cunning jackal had slipped away from his grasp and was running for his life, pursued by all the animals. The lion was the foremost pursuer, and after a great chase the jackal got under an overhanging precipice, and standing on his hind legs with his shoulders pressed against the rock, called loudly to the lion to help him, as the rock was falling and would crush them both. The lion put his shoulders to the rock, and exerted himself to the utmost. After some little time the jackal proposed that he should creep slowly out, and fetch a large pole to prop up the rock, so that the lion could get out and save his life. The jackal did creep out, and left the lion there to starve and die."

The evening with the Hottentots, as probably with all barbarians, was the time for enjoyment. What could be more cheerful than the dance in the bright moonlight or listening to a merry tale by a fire under a starry sky ? Then the young men tried their strength in wrestling matches, or in lifting one another from the ground, while the young women looked on and applauded the successful competitors. Then, too, they played games which, though apparently suited to the capacities of little children only, afforded them much amusement. The commonest of those games, very similar to one practised by the Bushmen, was adopted by the Bantu on the eastern border when they conquered the Hottentots there, and is performed by adults among them today, though the people with whom it originated have long since forgotten it.

It was played by two persons or any number exceeding two. The players sat on the ground, and each had a pebble so small that it could easily be concealed in a folded hand. If there were many players they formed themselves into sides or parties, but when they were few in number one played against the rest. This one concealed the pebble in either of his hands, and then threw both arms out against his opponent, at the same time calling that he met or that he evaded. His opponent threw his arms out in the same manner, so that his right hand was opposite the first player's left, and his left opposite the first player's right. The clenched hands were then opened, and if the pebbles were found to meet, the first player won if he had called out that he met, or lost if he had called out that he evaded. When there were many players, one after another was beaten until only two were left. These two then played against each other, when the one who was beaten was laughed at and the winner was applauded. In playing, the arms were thrown out very quickly, and the words were rapidly uttered, so that a stranger might have fancied there was neither order nor rule observed. Young men and boys often spent whole nights in this childish amusement, which had the same hold upon them as dice upon some Europeans.

Probably, if intellectual enjoyment be excluded, the Hottentots were among the happiest people in existence. They generally lived until old age without serious illness. They did not allow possible future troubles to disturb them, and a sufficiency of food was all that was needed to make them as merry and light-hearted as children at play.

They were capable of adopting the habits of Europeans, though the process required to be so gradual that the training of two centuries and a half has been insufficient to complete it. They have learned to cultivate the ground, to use the same food as white people, to wear European clothing, and to act as rough handicraftsmen, but there is no instance on record of one of them having ever attained a position that required either much intellectual power or much mechanical skill. Since they came in contact with Europeans and African slaves, however, their blood has been so mixed that, except in Great Namaqualand and along the banks of the Vaal and Orange rivers near their junction, very few pure Hottentots are in existence now, and every successive generation sees the number become smaller.

Note. — The Geikhauas (the Cauquas of the early Dutch records) claim to be the oldest of the Hottentot tribes, and to be in a sense paramount over all the others. Dr. Theophilus Hahn asserts that this claim is well founded, and that it was recognised as correct by a clan of the Koranas not many years ago. The Geikhauas were living only two clays' journey from Capetown at the close of the seventeenth century, but about 1811 as many of them as were left removed to Great Namaqualand to preserve their independence. They are the people who lived at Gobabis under the chief Amraal until his death in 1865, and later under the chief Andries Lambert.

CHAPTER III.

THE DARK-SKINNED PEOPLE TERMED BY EUROPEANS BANTU.