The early Cape Hottentots

[p. 6]

Kaffrarie of lant der Kaffers, anders Hottentots genaemt.

Het gewest of lant van Kaffrarie, of, volgens Marmol, Quefrerie, wort alzoo na de Kaffers genaemt: 's lants inboorlingen, die by d'onzen, om hunne belemmerheit en wanhebbelijkheit van tale, met den naem van Hottentoos of Hottentots gemeenlijk bekent zijn, en zonder eenige wetten van Godtsdienst leven.^*

Het gewest van Kafrarie, hoewel in gene byzondere of ten minste bekende koningrijken verdeilt, wort echter bewoont by verscheide ingeboorne volken; daer van eenige door koningen en andere door oversten bestiert worden, en zommige zonder opperhooft in 't wilt hene leven. 'k Zal eenigen dezer volken, benevens hun zeden, bestiering, gods-dienst en wat des meer zy, zoo veel als t'onzer kennis uit bericht van eenige onlangs overgezonden schriften, door luiden, die zich een wijle aen dien oort hebben opgehouden, gekomen is, ten tone stellen.

De voornaemste volken dan, die d'onzen in dit Zuiderlijkste gedeelte van Afrika tot noch toe ontdekt hebben, zijn de volgende: de Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas, Goringhaikonas, Kochoquas, grote en kleine Karichuriquas, Hosaas, Chainouquas, Kobonas, Sonquas, Namaquas, Heusaquas, Brigoudijns, en Hankumquas; d'acht eerste leggen dicht aen de kaep, en de verre gelegenste niet boven vijftigh mijlen daer van af, maer d'andere dieper te landewaerts in.

* This opening paragraph is obviously derived from Hondius, who says: ‘Caffraria heeft desen naam bekomen van weghen het volk, om dat sy sonder Wet ofte Gods-dienst leven; en dieshalven Caffres ofte Cafres heeten, ende het Land naar haar Caffraria, ... ende by Marmol genaamd Quefrerie.’ (Klare Besgryvinge van Cabo de Bona Esperanca, reprinted in Het Zuid-Afrikaansche Tijdschrift, 1880-81, p. 489.)

[p. 7]

Kaffraria or Land of the Kafirs, otherwise named Hottentots.

The country or land of Kaffraria (or, according to Marmol,¹⁾ Quefrerie) is so named after the Kafirs, its native inhabitants. They are commonly known to our countrymen as Hottentoos or Hottentots, because their language is so clumsy and difficult;²⁾ and they live without any laws of religion.

The land of Kaffraria, although not divided into any special kingdoms of which we know, is nevertheless inhabited by different indigenous peoples. Some of them are governed by kings and some by chiefs, while others live in the wilds without any leader at all. I shall describe several of these peoples, together with their customs, government, religion and other characteristics, as far as these have come to our knowledge from some reports recently sent over by men who have dwelt in those parts for some time.³⁾

The principal peoples, then, whom our countrymen have up till now discovered in this southernmost portion of Africa, are the following:⁴⁾ the Gorachouquas, Goringhai-

1) Description general de Affrica, by Luis del Marmol Caravajal. 3 vols. Granada and Malaga, 1573-99. (French trans., Paris, 1667.)

2) See below, p. 71.

3) On Dapper's sources of information, see above, p. 2.

4) In the Cape records of this period the names of the Hottentot tribes and clans are spelt in a variety of different ways. All, however, are obviously so inaccurate that the correct versions according to Hottentot pronunciation are no longer obtainable, now that the tribes concerned have ceased to exist. The names as given above are all written without the clicks, and most of them have the suffix for the third masc. plur. (-qua, -kwa, or -gwa) or, sometimes, for the common plur. (-na). The forms given by Dapper are for the most part identical with those used by van Riebeeck in the ‘Instructions’ he left for his successor (Leibbrandt, Precis of the Cape Archives: Letters Despatched, 1652-1662, vol. iii, 239-42), except that k has been uniformly substituted for c. Van Riebeeck in his list (loc. cit.) describes briefly the following tribes: Goringhaiconas, Goringhaiquas, Gorachouquas, Cochoquas, Little (and Great) Chariguriquas, Namaquas, Chainouquas, Heusaquas, and Hancumquas; and mentions also the Chamaquas, Omaquas, Atiquas, Houtunquas, and Chauquas. ‘After these is said to begin ... another race of men, called ... Choboqua or Chobona.’ Wagenaar, in a similar memorandum written four years later (1666), mentions only the first nine of these (Moodie, The Record, Part I, 291).

[p. 8]

De drie eerste volken, als de Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas en Goringhaikonas, leggen meest al dicht aen de Kaep, niet boven vier of vijf uuren gaens van het Fort van goeder hope, inzonderheit de Goringhaikonas of Watermans, die maer een vierendeel uur gaens verre afgelegen zijn.

Goringhaikonas

De Goringhaikonas, of watermans, staen onder eenen oversten, genaemt by hen Demtaä, en by d'onzen Klaes Das, om dat hy eens op het Dassen eilant gevangen en gebannen zy geweest, over zekeren misdaet, aen de Neerlanders gepleeght; maer is naderhant, door zich zelven wel te dragen, ontslaekt, en in zijne oude heerschappye gestelt. Zy hebben een leger slechts van vier of vijf huizen, zijn omtrent vijftigh zielen, met vrouw en kinderen, in getale sterk, en de armste onder alle de Hottentots.

Gorachouquas

De Gorachouquas, by d'onzen genaemt Tabaks-dieven, ter oorzake zy op zekeren tijt daer te lande al de Tabaks-planten van zekeren vryen lantbouwer van het velt hebben wegh-gestolen, en noch heden daer in volharden, zijn ontrent drie of vier hondert weer-bare mannen sterk, behalve vrou en kinderen, en erneren zich met schoon vee van schapen en koe-beesten.

[p. 9]

quas, Goringhaikonas, Great and Little Karichuriquas, Hosaas, Chainouquas, Kobonas, Sonquas, Namaquas, Heusaquas, Brigoudyns, and Hankumquas. The first eight are close to the Cape, the remotest of them being not more than fifty miles away, but the rest lie further inland. The Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas and Goringhaikonas are almost always found very near to the Cape, not more than four or five hours' journey from the Fort of Good Hope: the Goringhaikonas or Watermen, especially, are only a quarter of an hour away.

Goringhaikonas.

The Goringhaikonas or Watermen⁵⁾ are under a chief, whose native name is Demtaä, but our countrymen call him Klaas Das,⁶⁾ because, having at one time committed some offence against the Dutch, he was taken prisoner and banished to Dassen Island. He was afterwards released owing to good behaviour and restored to his former position. They have a camp of only four or five huts, number about fifty souls with women and children, and are the poorest of all the Hottentots.

5) In Van Riebeeck's ‘Dagverhaal’ (henceforth referred to as D.) and other contemporary records the name also appears in the forms Goringycona, Goeringaycona, Goringhaicoina, etc. Wuras (Bantu Studies, iii, 289) interprets it as ‘children (or descendants)’ of the Goringhaiqua (q.v.), from whom they had broken away. Van Riebeeck (Letters Despatched, iii, 239) refers to them as beachrangers and fishermen; exclusive of their wives and children, they did not number more than eighteen; they had no cattle, but lived by fishing and collecting, and by doing various menial services for the Dutch. Theal says they were the only permanent inhabitants of the Cape Peninsula at the time when the Dutch settlement was founded in 1652 (History of S. Afr. before 1795, ii, 13).

6) In the first years of the Cape settlement the accepted leader of the Goringhaikona was the famous Herry or Harry (see below, p. 16n); after his death in 1663 they were nominally under the government of Jan Cou (Theal, op. cit., 157), whose Hottentot name was ‘Khamy’ (D. July 8, 1658). I have been unable to find any evidence in the official records to corroborate Dapper's statement that Klaas Das was the chief of this group. This man with some other Hottentots had ‘of their own accord’ accompanied the seal hunters to Dassen Island in 1654, and been kept there to be taught Dutch, ‘which he understands pretty well’ (D. Oct. 12, 1654); in Sept. 1655, during the absence of Herry, he acted as interpreter for the Dutch at the Fort (D. Sept. 15, 1655). There is no record of his having been ‘taken prisoner and banished,’ as stated by Dapper. His native name is given in van Riebeeck's journal as Khaik Ana Makouka (June 8, 1658) or Khaikana Makoukoa (July 5, 1659).

Gorachouquas.

The Gorachouquas⁷⁾ our countrymen called the Tobacco Thieves, because they once stole away all the tobacco plants

7) Also referred to in the early records as Chorachouquas, Ghorachouquas, Goerachouqua, Gorachouna, etc. They are generally held to have been the ancestors of the modern Korana division of Hottentots (for a detailed and non-committal analysis of this theory see Maingard, Bantu Studies, vi, 106-114), and to have been named after their first chief !Kora (i.e. Chora); their tribal name as given in the records would therefore mean ‘men of !Kora’ (-choqua or khwekwa, men. Maingard, op cit., 111).

[p. 10]

Zy staen onder eenen overste, met name Chora, die eenen broeder heeft, geheten Gaking, beide gaende in besmeerde vellen, dat grote rijkdom van vee in heeft.

Goringhaiquas

De Goringhaiquas, by d'onzen Kaepmans genaemt, om dat zy het naeste altijts van al de Hottentots aen de kaep van goeder hope gewoont hebben, en zich die plaets als eigen toe-schrijven, zoo lang d'onzen daer geweest zijn, mogen in volkrijkheit tegen de Gorachouquas op, en beide ontrent duizent weerbare mannen uitmaeken, bewonende ontrent vijf-en-tnegentigh huizen of hutten, met matten overdekt.

De Goringhaiquas staen onder eenen overste, by hen genaemt Gogosoa, maer by d'onzen de dikke kapitein, om zijn overgroten dikken en neerhangenden buik, zulx zijn naem met het wezen en gestalte des lijfs wonder wel over een komt.

Hy was in 't jaer zestien hondert en twee-en-zestigh, na het overschrijven der genen, die zich toen aldaer bevonden, wel hondert jaer out, en had twee zonen, de oudste genaemt Osinghaikanna, en d'andere Otegnoa, welke hunnen vader, inzonderheit de oudste, altijts hebben zoeken t'overheren, en geheel meester te spelen, met aenwendingh van alle middelen om dezen ouden Gogosoa, hunnen vader, van kant te helpen, en door dit middel de heerschappye vervolgens op den oudste, en voorts op den tweden te laten komen.

[p. 11]

from the fields of some free farmers over there;⁸⁾ and even to-day they still keep up this practice. They comprise about three or four hundred men capable of bearing arms, apart from women and children;⁹⁾ and subsist upon prime sheep and cattle. They are subject to a chief named Chora, who has a brother called Gaking; both go about in greasy skin cloaks, which are amongst them a sign of great wealth in livestock.

8) The incident is mentioned in van Riebeeck's journal, March 11, 1657. In the list of tribes given to van Riebeeck by the Hottentot girl Eva, the ‘Chorachouqua’ are first identified as ‘the tobacco thieves, the fellows who stole the tobacco out of the freemen's gardens’ (D. Oct. 31, 1657).

9) Dapper's information is wrong; van Riebeeck says that ‘exclusive of women and children these Gorachouquas number from six to seven hundred men capable of bearing arms’ (Letters Despatched, iii, 240).

Goringhaiquas.

The Goringhaiquas¹⁰⁾ our countrymen term Capemen, because ever since we have been there they have always lived the nearest of all the Hottentots to the Cape of Good Hope, claiming the place as their own. They exceed the Gorachouquas in numbers, both together totalling about one thousand able-bodied men,¹¹⁾ and inhabit some ninety-five mat-covered huts. They are subject to a chief whose native name is Gogosoa; but our countrymen call him the ‘Fat Captain,’ which, owing to his enormous fatness and protruding paunch, is remarkably apt.¹²⁾. In 1662 he was, according to the accounts of men already there, quite a hundred years old. He had two sons, the older named Osinghaikanna and the other Otegnoa.¹³⁾ They both, especially the former, always tried to overrule their father, old Gogosoa, and to play the part of master, attempting by every possible means to do away with him, and so obtain the chieftainship first for the elder and then for the younger.¹⁴⁾

10) Also mentioned in the records as Choeringaina, Goeringaiqua, Goringhoina, etc., a name which Wuras (op cit., 288) translates as ‘those who dip water out of fountains,’ but which Maingard (op. cit., 111) suggests with more probability as being equivalent to !kurin //aikwa, or ‘proud people,’ one of the later Korana tribes. Together with the Goringhaikona and Gorachouqua they constituted a single tribe, of which their leader Gogosoa was the principal chief; but it is evident enough from the early records that these different sections were continually bickering and fighting amongst themselves.

11) van Riebeeck (Letters Desp., iii, 239) gives their numbers as ‘about 300 men capable of bearing arms.’ Dapper's mistake is easily understood if we assume that he or his informant confused the Goringhaiqua and the Gorachouqua in this respect.

12) In van Riebeeck's journal he is often referred to as ‘the fat captain,’ ‘the fat old man,’ ‘the thick fat captain,’ etc.

13) van Riebeeck's journal mentions three sons of Gogosoa, viz. Oringhkhimma (elsewhere Osinghkamma), called Schacher by the Dutch; Khuma, alias Jan; and Otegno, alias Peter (D. Sept. 26, 1658).

14) van Riebeeck says of them in this connexion: ‘They are a bad lot, who do not respect their own chief Gogosoa, the old man, more than a child. By birth the latter was their true chief ... Yea! they sometimes ignored him altogether as a beggar. This had also become evident to us, so that we had daily fed him well as a poor man. That they still retain him is more for the sake of appearance than reality, as Osinghkamma, his eldest son, is playing the chief, and cared too little for his father’ (D. Dec. 1, 1661).

[p. 12]

Des jaers zestien hondert en negen-en-vijftigh, ontstont tusschen de volken Goringhaiquas of Kaepmans, en d'onzen daer te lande een heftigh oorlogh, over de bezitting en toe-eigeningh van het lant ontrent de kaep, daer de Kaepmans d'onzen trachten uit te stoten; met voorwenden van aller eeuwen her dat bezeten te hebben. In dien oorlog boden hen de Gorachouquas of Tabaks-dieven doorgaens bystant, en velden velen van ons volk, daer kans viel om hen te bespringen, met asagayen ter neer, en bragtenze jammerlijk om den hals: t'effens beroofden zy den onzen ook van beesten, gerechtelijk voor koopmanschappen aen hen geruilt, die zy hen zoo snellijk ontjaeghden, dat zy niet te beschieten waeren; nemende al meest hun slaegh waer, by ongestuimigh en regenachtigh weder; wel bewust dat dan met het geweer zeer weinigh konde uitgerecht worden.

Deze treken en wetenschap hadden zy bekomen uit berecht van eenen van hun eigen volk by hen genaemt Nommoä, en by d'onzen Doman, die te Batavie, (derwaerts overgevaren, met een schip van de Kompanjie,) zich vier of vijf jaren had opgehouden, en den omgangh der Neerlanders wel bezichtight, ook zelfs geen kleen gedeelte daer van ingezogen. Doman, dan, met de schepen, (herwaerts na Hollandt verordent,) weer aen de Kaap gekomen, hielt zich een lange wijle in Neerlantsche kleding by d'onzen, maer begaf zich eindelik weder onder die Kaepmans, maekende hen het doen en den omgang der Neerlanders, en de maniere van hun geweer volkomelijk bekent.

Hy, t'effens met noch een anderen strijdtbaren krijghsknecht, geheten by de Hottentots Garabinga, en by de Neerlanders Plat-neus, zijn altijts de voor-vechters geweest, en hebben altijts het spits in het aenvallen voor afgebeten, zonder dat zy oit, van wegen hunne overgrote raddigheit, door heimelijke wachten van ruiterye of voet-knechten t'achterhalen waren.

[p. 13]

In 1659 there arose between the Goringhaiquas or Capemen and our countrymen who were there a violent struggle over the occupation and ownership of the land about the Cape.¹⁵⁾ The Capemen attempted to expel us, alleging that they had held this land from time immemorial. In this war the Gorachouquas (Tobacco Thieves) gave them continual support; and whenever an opportunity occurred of attacking our people they struck down many with assegais and killed them tragically. In addition, they plundered our countrymen of cattle lawfully bartered from them with merchandize, driving away the beasts so rapidly that they could not be fired upon, for they availed themselves mostly of opportunities when the weather was unsettled and rainy, knowing well that little could then be effected against them with firelocks.

The knowledge of this trick they had obtained from one of their own people, known to them as Nommoä and to our countrymen as Doman.¹⁶⁾. He had spent four or five years in Batavia, where he had been taken in one of the Company's ships; and had closely observed the habits of the Dutch, even acquiring no small part of them himself. Returning again to the Cape in the ships directed for Holland, he remained for some time in European dress amongst our countrymen, but finally went back to the Capemen, making them fully acquainted with the habits and customs of the Dutch and the nature of their weapons. He and another doughty warrior, called Carabinga by the Hottentots and Flat-Nose by the Dutch,¹⁷⁾ were always outstanding in battle. They took the lead in all the attacks, and owing to their remarkable agility could never be caught, not even by secret watches of men on horse or on foot.

15) For a summary description of this ‘war,’ see Theal, op cit., 92-101. Van Riebeeck, in the memorandum he prepared for his successor, says of the Goringhaiqua: ‘They are those who pretend that this Cape land has during all the centuries been their own, and seeing that we had permanently established ourselves here as agriculturists, according to their own statement, made war against us in 1659, in consequence of the rude behaviour towards them of some of the freemen’ (Letters Desp., iii, 239).

16) He belonged to the group of Capemen, and was called Doman or Dominie by the Dutch, ‘because he was such a very simpleminded man’ (D. Nov. 12, 1655). He had lived with the Dutch for some time, and was believed to be attached to them and faithful to their interests. In April 1657 he accompanied van Goens, afterwards Governor-General of Netherlands India, to Batavia, whence he returned in March 1658, rejoicing in the name of Anthony (D. March 21, 1658; May 19, 1659); altogether, therefore, he was away less than a year, and not ‘four or five years’ as stated by Dapper. On his return he was employed as an interpreter, but one night early in Feb. 1659 he disappeared from the Fort, and the next that was heard of him was that he had been recognized as the leader of a party of plunderers (D. Feb. 7, 1659; May 19, 1659; Theal, op. cit., 92). After the end of the war he came back to live at the Fort, and is mentioned in 1661 as an official interpreter once more (e.g. D. May 16, 1661). He died Dec. 12, 1663, ‘for whose death’, says Wagenaar, ‘none of us will have cause to grieve, as he has been, in many respects, a mischievous and malicious man towards the Company’ (Moodie, op. cit., 272).

17) Mentioned by van Riebeeck (D. Aug. 5, 1659) as one of those ‘who as a rule gave us the most trouble, having always been present everywhere as the principal champions in the war against us’.

[p. 14]

Na dat 't oorlog reets drie maenden geduurt had, is in Zomermaent des jaers zestien hondert negen-en-vijftigh, op een morgenstont, wanneer vijf Hottentots (een der welke de voorzeide Doman was,) doende waren om zekeren vryman twee beesten afhandigh te maken, een felle schermutsing met vijf ruiters van d'onzen tegen deze vijf Hottentots, die in het vluchten met het vee achterhaelt wierden, aengevangen. Dan zy stelden zich als brave krijghs-luiden ter weer, naerdien zy geen middel zagen van wegh te kunnen vluchten, nochte geen lijfs-gena begeerden; zulx zy twe ruiters quetsten, d'eene door den arm en onder die korte ribben, en den anderen in 't rugge-been; doch bleven d'onzen hen dat niet schuldigh, maer schoten drie van de vijf onder de voet, en staken twee met hun eigen geweer, dat zy neerleiden, door 't lijf. Een der drie ter neergeschoten, Eykamma genaemt, die door den hals geraekt, en 't been aen stukken was, met een zwaren houw in den kop, wiert op een peert in 't Fort gebracht; maer Doman, met een anderen, ontsprongen den dans, door het overduiken eener reviere van acht voeten breet, waer na het vluchten hun beste geweer en behoudenis was.

De gewonde Eykamma in 't Fort gebraght, en gevraeght, uit wat oorzake zy luiden den onzen den oorlog hadden aengedaen, en met moorden, roven en branden trachten overal afbreuk te doen, gaf, by na door de pijne der grote en zware wonden overwonnen, tot antwoort; waerom zy Neerlanders hun lant om ploeghden, en koorn op hun landen zaiden, daer zy hun beesten moesten ter weide drijven, en hen daer door het broot uit den mont zochten t'ontrekken? met byvoegen, van noit andere nochte beter weyde gehad te hebben. Weshalve geschiede zulx, voeghde hy daer op, uit geen anderen inzichte, als zich over het

[p. 15]

One morning in June 1659, after the war had already lasted three months, five Hottentots (including this Doman) were overtaken by five of our horsemen as they were running off with two cattle which they had stolen from a certain free burgher. A sharp skirmish ensued. The Hottentots, seeing no possible means of flight nor desiring any mercy, defended themselves valiantly. They wounded two of the horsemen, one through the arm and under the lower ribs, and the other in the spine. But our countrymen repaid the debt by wounding three of them with the gun, and stabbing the other two dead with their own weapons. One of the three who were shot, a man named Eykamma, was taken to the Fort on a horse, with his neck pierced, his leg shattered, and a severe wound in the head; but Doman, with the other, escaped by jumping over a stream eight feet wide, after which flight proved their best weapon and salvation.¹⁸⁾

The wounded Eykamma, brought into the Fort, was asked why his people had made war against our countrymen, and tried to cause damage everywhere by killing, plundering and burning. Well-nigh overcome by the pain of his severe wounds, he replied by asking why the Dutch had ploughed over the land of the Hottentots, and sought to take the bread out of their mouth by sowing corn on the lands to which they had to drive their cattle for pasture; adding that they had never had other or better grazing grounds. The reason for all their attacks, he continued, was nothing else than to revenge themselves for the harm and injustice done to them: since they not only were commanded to keep away from certain of their grazing grounds, which they had always possessed undisturbed and only allowed us at first to use as a refreshment station, but they also saw their lands divided out amongst us without their knowledge by the heads of the settlement, and boundaries put up within which they might not pasture. He asked finally what we would have done had the same thing happened to us. Moreover, he added, they observed how we were strengthening ourselves daily with fortifications and bulwarks, which according to their way of thinking could have no other object than to bring them and all that was theirs under our authority and domination.¹⁹⁾ To this our men replied:

18) Dapper's version of this episode, while substantially accurate, does not agree in every particular with the official records. All five Hottentots were wounded by shooting; Doman, and probably another, managed to escape; two others, after being shot down, were stabbed or slashed by the Dutch, but ‘must have been dragged away’ afterwards by their fellows, for when some men were soon after sent from the Fort ‘to fetch their heads’ they could not be found; and only the fifth was brought back, ‘mortally wounded, but somewhat alive still’. (D. July 19, 1659; Letters Desp., iii, 128.)

19) This paragraph is evidently based on van Riebeeck's despatch of July 29, 1659, to Batavia. He says there: ‘The prisoner, one of the Capemen, who could speak Dutch fairly well, having been asked the reason why they caused us this trouble, declared for no other reason than that they saw that we kept in possession the best lands, and grazed our cattle where theirs used to do so, and that everywhere with houses and plantations we endeavoured to establish ourselves so permanently as if we intended never to leave again, but take permanent possession of this Cape land (which had belonged to them during all the centuries) for our sole use; yea! to such an extent that their cattle could not come and drink at the fresh water without going over the corn lands, which we did not like them to do’, etc. (Letters desp., iii, 128.)

[p. 16]

leet en ongelijk, hen aengedaen, te wreken: naerdien zy niet alleen verbodt kregen zich t'onthouden van deze en gene wey-plaetzen voor hun vee, daerze die van alle eeuwen her onbemoeit bezeten, en ons in den beginne maer toegelaten hadden, de landen te gebruiken tot een ververschplaetse; maer zagen ook hun landeryen, zonder hen te kennen, onder d'onzen door d'opperhoofden wierden uitgedeelt, en hen palen gestelt, binnen de welke zy niet mogten weiden; vragende eindelijk of ons zulx geschiede, hoe wy ons in dat stuk zouden dragen? vernamen daer en boven, hoe wy ons dagelix van vest en bolwerken versterkten, het welk, huns bedunkens, tot geen ander einde te zullen strekken, dan om hen en 't hunne allengs onder gebiet, en de voet op den nek te krijgen. Zy hadden, gaven d'onzen weer tot antwoort, dit lant ontrent de kaep, door den oorlogh nu t'eenemael verloren, en noit derhalve hunne gedachten daer over te laten gaen het zelve by vrede of oorlog te zullen weder krijgen.

De laetste rede van dezen Eykamma, die ten zesten daghe quam t'overlijden, was, dat hy slechts een gering perzoon was, maer men zijnen overste daer over aen het Fort t'ontbieden hadde, en met die de zaken t'overleggen, om elk het zijn te herstellen, of zoodanigh, als het beste konde gevonden worden, tot staken van het onderling schade en hinder doen. Dit dan voor goet gekeurt, wierden twee of drie Neerlanders uitgezonden, met verslag aen den Overste Gogosoa om in het Fort te komen, en onder elkandre een verdragh van vrede op te rechten. Dan alles wiert vergeefs aangewent: want schoon onder hen door den voorverhaelden aenslag, wel een schrik gebragt was, zy voeren echter, daer zy kans zagen, met de wapenen even heftigh voort, zulx men geen middel wist te beramen, om dit geschil ten oorbaerste te beslechten. Weinigh holp ook het stellen

[p. 17]

‘your people have now once for all lost the land around the Cape through war, and you must accordingly never dwell on the idea of getting it back again through peace or through war.’²⁰⁾

Eykamma died on the sixth day.²¹⁾ His last words were that he was only an insignificant person, but that he thought we should summon his chief to the Fort and discuss with the latter the possibility of restoring to each what was his, or of making whatever arrangement might be found best to put an end to the reciprocal damage and inconvenience. This being approved, two or three Dutchmen were sent to request Chief Gogosoa to come to the Fort, so that a mutual treaty of peace could be established. But the attempt was all in vain; for although the blow mentioned above had scared them, they nevertheless carried on fighting with the same vehemence wherever they saw a chance, so that we could think of no means of bringing this dispute to the most suitable close. It also helped but little to place good guards everywhere among the free farmers living about an hour or two from the Fort, since these Hottentots, owing to their great agility and swiftness, were able to drive away from our countrymen the cattle and sheep which went out to graze by day, and to carry them off without ever being overtaken.

This war, in which our countrymen were killed, plundered and robbed by the savages, had already lasted ten or eleven months before the dispute was settled in the following way. A certain Hottentot of importance, known to our countrymen as Harry and to his own people as Kamcemoea,²²⁾ had been banished to Robben Island for some offence committed against us. One dark night, after a stay of three months

20) This statement was actually made not to Eykamma but to the Capemen when they came to sue for peace. Van Riebeeck says: ‘They pressed this point so hard that their lands should be evacuated by us, that we were finally compelled to say, that in consequence of the war made against us, they had completely forfeited their rights, and that we were not inclined to restore them, as the country had become the property of the Company by the sword and the rights of war’ (Letters desp., iii, 166; cf. D., April 5, 1660.)

21) Once more Dapper is inaccurate. Eykamma was captured on July 19, and died in the Fort on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1659 (cf. D, ut cit.).

22) This famous character, whose Hottentot name is always given by van Riebeeck as Autoehamao, had been with the English to Bantam before the establishment of the Dutch settlement at the Cape, had picked up some ‘broken English’, and later also learned some words of Dutch from the sailors of the wrecked ‘Haarlem.’ In consequence, van Riebeeck used him as an interpreter in the cattle trade, but as be obviously served his own interests rather than those of the Dutch, he soon gave rise to dissatisfaction. He deserted the Fort in Oct. 1653, after a Dutch shepherd had been murdered by some of his Hottentots, and did not reappear until June 1655, when for reasons of policy he was received back into favour. Once more his interference led to a disruption of the cattle trade, and the signs of his complicity in cattle thefts from the Dutch became so evident that at last, in July 1658, he was banished to Robben Island and all the cattle which he had appropriated for himself confiscated. He was brought back the following year to guide the Dutch to the camps of the enemy Hottentot tribes, but failed to do so, and was sent back to the island, whence he subsequently escaped. After the war he again frequented the Fort, and died soon after van Riebeeck left the Cape, some time in 1663. (D. passim; cf. Bosman, ‘Uit die Biografie van 'n Hottentot,’ Tydskrif vir Wetenskap en Kuns, x, 143-51.)

[p. 18]

van goede wachten over al by de vrye lantbouwers van d'onzen, die ontrent een of twee uuren van het Fort wonen, gemerkt deze Hottentots de beesten en schapen, die by dagh ter weide gingen, den onzen door hunne uitnemende radigheit en snelheit wisten t'ontjagen, en wegh te voeren, zonder oit achterhaelt te worden.

Tien of elf maenden had dien oorlogh, met moorden, roven en stelen, door de wilden aen d'onzen gepleegt, geduurt, als wanneer de twist in dezer voege bygeleit wiert.

Zeker Hottentot van aenziene, by d'onze genaemt Herry en by hen Kamcemoea, op 't robben-eilant gebannen, om zekeren misdaet, gepleegt aen ons volk, was by donkeren nacht, na een verblijf van drie maenden op dit eilant, t'effens met eenen anderen Hottentot, in een lek visch-schuitje, voorzien met twee riemen, de wind hen juist dienende, te lande gevaren, daer zy hun Negeryen van de Gorachouquas en Goringhaiquas, weer op vonden. Het ontvluchten dezer twee wilden, den Gouverneur Riet-beek, na eenige dagen door zekeren vryman van de Saldanhabay, die van daer quam gezeilt, aengedient, schikte hy des anderen daeghs zes Duitschen te landt uit, om zoo verre langs het strant te zoeken, tot dat het schuitje of eenigh teiken van dien by hen zoude gevonden zijn. Waer op deze, verzien met vorraet van eetwaren, voor vier of vijf dagen, uitgingen, en vonden des anderen daeghs, ruim elf mijlen van het Fort, in een fraie kleine zant-bay, het schuitje, hoog op droog gezet, met de riemen daer by, en wat gras daer in, of het scheen zy daer hun nacht-rust in genomen hadden, maer zagen geen menschen daer ontrent, nochte Hottentots op de gehele reize; doch niet zonder reinosters, olifanten, en ander wilt-gedierte genoegh te vernemen. Na een uitreize van vier dagen, quamen eindelijk de voorzeide zes perzonen onverrichter zake weer aen het Fort, met tijdinge aen den Gouverneur van hun wedervaren.

Ten lange lesten komt de voorzeide Herry of Kamcemoea, des jaers zestien hondert en zestigh, in Sprokkelmaent, aen het Fort, met den oversten van de negerye, genaemt Chore, verzelt met een getal van dertien schone vette beesten, en ruim hondert andere wilden, doch alle wapenloos, met verzoek van de vette beesten tot een erkentenis van vriendschap te willen aenvaerden, en hun het komen en gaen tot d'onzen, gelijk te vore, weer vergunnen. Daer en boven stonden zy den onzen toe, 't lant drie uuren gaens in de ronde, met koren en ander zaet te mogen bezaien, doch met dien besprek van geen meer lant om te ploegen, als 'er alree was omgeploeght. Zoo dra dit verdragh ter weder-zijde mondelingh besloten was,

[p. 19]

on the island, he and another Hottentot²³⁾ managed to make land in a leaky fishing-skiff provided with two oars, the wind favouring them. They found the settlements of their fellow Gorachouquas and Goringhaiquas again erected in the vicinity. The flight of these two savages was reported to Governor Riebeeck after a few days by a certain free burgher of Saldanha Bay,²⁴⁾ who came sailing from there. On the following day the Governor sent out six Dutchmen to go seeking along the shore until they came across the skiff or any sign of it. The men set out, with provisions of food for four or five days, and on the next day, just about eleven miles from the Fort, found the skiff lying high and dry in a pretty little sand bay, with the oars by it and some grass inside, as if someone had slept there at night. But they saw no people thereabouts, nor any Hottentots on the whole trip, although rhinoceros, elephants and other wild beasts were observed often enough. After a trip of four days, these six men at last came back to the Fort, without having achieved their object, and told the Governor of their adventure.²⁵⁾

At long last, in the month of February, 1660, the aforesaid Harry or Kamcemoea came to the Fort with the Chief Chore, accompanied by thirteen fat cattle and more than a hundred other savages, all unarmed.²⁶⁾ They entreated that we should be willing to accept these fat cattle as a token of friendship, and that they should again be permitted to visit us as before. In addition they agreed to let us plough the land within three hours' journey of the Fort with corn and other seed, but on condition that we did not plough up any more land than was already under cultivation. As soon as this compact had been concluded on both sides by word of mouth, the Hottentots were regaled in the Fort with bread, tobacco and brandy, from which they made themselves dead drunk. The others, as soon as they learned that the dispute was settled, also came running

23) This man was a Gorachhouqua spy captured July 12, 1659, and used without success to guide Harry and the Dutch to the camping-places of his people. He was sent to Robben Island on Oct. 3, where Harry followed him in Oct. 20 (D. ut cit.).

24) D., Dec. 8, 1659. The escape had taken place ‘8 or 10 days’ before.

25) Cf. D., Dec. 9-13, 1659.

26) Dapper's information is incorrect. The first pact was concluded on April 5-6 with the Capemen and their chief Gogosoa (D., ut cit.). Chore, ‘with a retinue of about 100 men, among them the eldest and principal of the tribe, bringing with them 13 head of cattle fairly old and young,’ did not come to sue for peace until a month later (D., May 5, 1660).

[p. 20]

wierden deze Hottentots een goet onthael van broot, tabak, met brandewijn, daer zy zich stom in dronken, binnen het Fort aengedaen: daer op d'andere, zo dra zy van 't byleggen des twiste verwittigt waren, weer met vrouw en kinderen uit hunne negeryen quamen gelopen, zoo dat zich wel twee of drie hondert, zoo mans als vrouwen en kinderen, in en ontrent het Fort bevonden.

Na een klene wijle komt zelf de overste der Goringhaiquas, of Kaepmans, met name Gogosoa, met versoek van mede de wapenen te willen nederleggen, neffens d'overste Chore, waer door het Fort zoo vol wiert, dat er naulix ruimte om te staen was. Toen wiert 'er uit bevel van den Gouverneur Rietbeek, een gantsche baly vol brandewijn, met een houte kopje daer in, te midden onder hen allen neer gezet, daer een iegelijk begon goede çiere te maken, en zijn hert, met lustigh te drinken, niet weinigh te vervrolijken en op te halen. Desgelijks zwolgen de vrouwen, die alle nevens hun kinderen op de hurken neerzaten, den brandewijn als water in; hoewel eenigen uit eenvoudigheit, niet met allen, en andere slechts een weinig dronken.

Wanneer den mannen het hooft begon te draien, en de benen te wagelen, dikwils met vallen ter neder op d'aerde, wierden 'er ontrent twee of drie hondert stukjes tabaks, elk van een duim breet, by handen vol te grabbel gesmeten, waer op onder hen zulk een groot getier en geschreeuw ontstont, datze het gehoor by na verdoofden, en het geluit den ooren nauwlix verdragelijk was; desgelijx bedreven zy geen minder gewelt, wanneer daer na het zelfste met brood gedaen wiert. Na het eindigen van al deze grabbelingen, ging het by hen, wanneer zy gantsch vol gedronken, en de herssenen met den wijn bestoven waren, geduurigh op een danzen en springen, met zonderlinge grepen, en op een vreemde wijze, bijna even eens gelijk de bakkers hier te lande hun deegh met de voeten in den troch bewerken, te weten, al stampende, nu met d'een, en dan met d'andere voet, met uitstekende billen, en met hooft al hangende geduurigh na d'aerde, op een zelve zijde. Geen minder vrolijkheit bedreven de vrouwen, geduurende het danzen der mannen, met klappen in de handen, en geduurigh een zelven zang van ha, ho, ho, ho, wel twee uuren aen den anderen te zingen. Welk geraes van zingen en klappen in de handen der vrouwen, wel een scheut weeghs van het Fort gemakkelijk gehoort wiert. De wijze van dus luitruchtigh te schreeuwen en geluit te maken, wort by hen ook op het vernemen en de komste van eenigh wilt gedierte, 't zy leeuw of tyger, by nacht onderhouden, waer door het dier, uit schroom voor dien ongehoorden toon, wegh wijkt.

[p. 21]

out of their villages with their women and children, until there were about two or three hundred of them, men, women and children, in and about the Fort.

After a short while Gogosoa himself, chief of the Goringhaiquas (Capemen), came with the request that he too wished to lay down his weapons together with Chief Chore. And now the Fort became so crowded that there was scarcely room to stand.²⁷⁾ Then at the command of Governor Riebeeck a whole cask full of brandy, with a wooden cup in it, was put down in the midst of all the Hottentots. Everyone now began to make good cheer, and to enjoy himself by drinking heartily. The women, too, who were all squatting down with their children, swilled down the brandy like water; although some, out of innocence, drank nothing at all, and others only a little.

When the men began to get giddy and their legs to stagger, so that often they fell to the ground, about two or three hundred pieces of tobacco, each an inch wide, were flung amongst them by handfuls to be scrambled for. Whereupon there ensued such a great clamour and din amongst them that they almost drowned all hearing, and the ringing of the ears became scarcely tolerable. Their uproar was no less violent when after that the same thing was done with bread. After all this scrambling was over, and they had drunk themselves full and were tipsy with the wine, they began to dance and jump about continuously with strange gestures and in a peculiar manner, almost like the bakers over here work the dough in the trays with their feet, by stamping, now with the one foot and then with the other, their buttocks sticking out, and the head always inclined on the one side to the ground. The women were no less jolly during the dancing of the men, clapping their hands and all along singing the self-same song of ha, ho, ho, ho, for wellnigh two hours on end. The sound of this singing and handclapping of the women could easily be heard a gunshot away from the Fort. They shout loudly and make an uproar in the same way at night, whenever they observe the approach of some wild beast like the lion or leopard, so that the beast, terrified by the unfamiliar din, slinks away.

27) The description that follows agrees fairly closely with the account given in D., May 6, 1660.

[p. 22]

Na het befrijven van al deze vrolijkheden, wierden d'oversten met rode kralen, kopere stokken, en platen, en elk daer en boven met een rolletje tabak beschonken; maer de gemene Hottentots moesten zich met het voorzeide onthael vernoegt houden: waer op zy alle gezamentlijk, na dat een parthye dien nacht in het Fort geslapen had, weder vertrokken, uitgezeit, de voornoemde Herry, die noch drie of vier daegen daer verbleef.

De zelve Herry spreekt mede een weinigh Engelsch, geleert door het verkeren met d'Engelschen in Bantam in Indiën, daer d'Engelschen een vastigheit hebben, derwaerts hy van de kaep met een Engelsch schip over gevaren was; maer komende naderhant met een schip weer aen de kaep, begaf hy zich weder onder zijn volk.

Cochoquas of Saldanhars.

De Kochoquas of Saldanhars, alzo by d'onzen genoemt, om dat zich altijts meest ontrent en in de dalen van de Saldanhabay hebben onthouden, gelegen achtien mijlen Noord-westwaerts van de kaep, leggen in vijf of zestien negeryen verdeilt, elk ontrent een vierendeel uurs van elkandre, en bewonen met hun allen ontrent vier hondert, of vier hondert en vijftigh huizen. Ieder negerye bestaet uit dertig, zes-en-dertig, veertig en vijftig huizen, meer en minder, alle in 't ronde gezet, en een weinig van elkandre, daer binnen, versta binnen ieder negerye, de Saldanhars hun vee in bewaringh stellen.

Zy bezitten een groote menighte van schone beesten, wel over de hondert duizent, en ontrent twee hondert duizent schapen, die geen wol, maer langachtigh gekleurt hair op 't lijf hebben.

Al de Kochoquas, of Saldanhars, staen onder eenen overste of koning, met den tijtel van Koehque, dat gezeit is, een koning van 't Hottentots geslacht, die op ontrent vijftigh mijlen van de kaep wonen, als de Gorachouquas, of Tabaks-dieven, desgelijx de Goringhaiquas of Kaepmans,

[p. 23]

After the conclusion of all these festivities, the chiefs were presented with red coral beads, copper sticks and copper plates, and each one in addition with a roll of tobacco. But the common Hottentots had to remain content with the entertainment just described. Then, after some had slept for the night in the Fort, they all again went away together, except for the above-named Harry, who remained there for another three or four days. This Harry also speaks a little English, which he learned through intercourse with the English at Bantam in India, where they have a fortress to which he sailed from the Cape in an English ship;^28a) but returning again later on to the Cape, he once more rejoined his people.

28a) Bantam forms the western end of Java. An English station was established there as early as 1602, but the Dutch ultimately gained the upper hand and took possession of the district in 1643. If Herry accompanied an English ship there, it must have been nearer 1640 than 1650.

Cochoquas or Saldanhars.

The Kochoquas^28b) are called Saldanhars by our countrymen, because they have always dwelt mostly near and in the valleys of Saldanha Bay, eighteen miles north-west of the Cape. They are settled in fifteen or sixteen different villages, about a quarter of an hour's distance from one another, and all told inhabit four hundred or four hundred and fifty huts. Each village consists of thirty, thirty-six, forty or fifty huts, more or less, all placed in a circle a little distance apart. The Saldanhars for safety keep their cattle in the centre of the village (at night). They own a large collection of cattle, well over a hundred thousand in number, and about two hundred thousand sheep, which instead of wool have longish coloured hair on the body.

All the Kochoquas or Saldanhars are under a chief or king with the title of koehque, which means a king of the nation of Hottentots living up to within about fifty miles from the Cape, such as the Gorachouquas or Tobacco Thieves, together with the Goringhaiquas or Capemen,

28b) Also mentioned in the records as Cochonas, Kochehoqua, etc., a name which Wuras (op. cit., 289) interprets as ‘sheep owners’. Van Riebeeck says of them that ‘the tribe consists of some thousands of men, and generally occupies the country in the middle, opposite to us, at the foot of the African Mountain range, extending from about False Bay to Saldanha Bay. They, however, do not always remain in one spot, but move about from one place to another for a change of pasture’ (Letters desp., iii, 240). Elsewhere he speaks of them as having ‘cattle like grass on the field’ (Letters desp., iii, 93). They consisted of two divisions, one under Oedasoa, the other under Gonnoma; and it is evident from the records that on occasion these divisions acted independently of each other (e.g.D., June 20, 1659). Oedasoa claimed to be ‘paramount chief’ of the Kochoquas, Chariguriquas, and the Peninsula tribes already mentioned (D., Dec. 1, 1661). The main headquarters of Oedasoa was near Mosselbank River, on the west of Paardeberg, and that of Gonnoma on the Berg River near the modern Riebeeck Kasteel; but they often wandered far away, even much beyond the pasturelands of the tribe next to them (Maingard, S. Afri. J. Sci., xxviii, 495).

[p. 24]

en de Goringhaikonas of Watermans, groote en kleine Karichuriquas en Hosaas. Tot zijne hulp heeft hy eenen onder-koning, en noch eenen ander, de derde perzoon in 't Rijk. De Koehque of Koning der Saldanhars die des jaers zestien hondert en een-en-zestig regeerde, was genaemt Oldasoä, zijn onderkoningh Gonnomoä, en de derde perzoon in 't rijk Koukosoä. d'Onder-Koning Gonnomoä wort by d'onzen aen de kaep, de zwarte kapitein geheten, ter oorzake hy altijts zwarter en vuilder in 't aenzicht is bestreken, dan d'andere: is een grof en zwaerlijvig perzoon, getrout aen drie vrouwen, by de welke hy vele kinderen gewonnen heeft; daer nochtans de Koehque of Koningh Oldasoä, die des jaers zestien hondert en een-en-zestigh, aen een langdurige en quijnende ziekte is komen t'overlijden, noit niet meer dan een eenige vrouwe heeft gehad. Deze Oldasoä was een perzoon, frai van leest, welgestelt van leden, en zeer zedigh, die ook noit den onzen de wapenen heeft aengeboden; desgelijx is de derde perzoon in 't rijk tamelijk frai van aenzicht en zedigh van manieren. Koning Oldasoä liet eene dochter na, met name Namis, goelik en zeer schoon van gedaente, uitgezondert dat zy wat plat van neuze is, gelijk al deze volken zijn.

Grote en kleine Karichuriquas en Hosaas.

De grote en kleine Karichuriquas en Hosaas leggen meest in de dalen en daer ontrent van de Saldanha-Bay. Zy

[p. 25]

the Goringhaikonas or Watermen, Great and Little Karichuriquas, and Hosaas. To help him he has a subordinate king, and still another man, the third by rank in the kingdom. The koehque or king of the Saldanhars who reigned in the year 1661 was named Oldasoä, his subordinate king Gonnomoä, and the third lord of the kingdom Koukosoä.²⁹⁾ The subordinate king Gonnomoä our countrymen call the ‘Black Captain,’ because he always smears his face blacker and dirtier than the others. He is a coarse and corpulent man, married to three wives, by whom he has begotten many children.³⁰⁾ On the other hand the koehque or king Oldasoä, who died in 1661 after a long and lingering illness,³¹⁾ never had more than a single wife. He was a man of fine stature and build, and very modest, who also never lifted arms against our countrymen. So, too, the third lord of the kingdom is of fairly good appearance and courteous in manner. King Oldasoä left behind a daughter named Namis, winning in appearance and with a very beautiful figure,³²⁾ except that her nose is somewhat flat, as in all these people.

29) For ‘Oldasoä’ (in the records his name is always spelt Oedasoa) and ‘Gonnomoä’ (whose name also appears as Gonnoma, Ngonnoma, etc.), see above, n. 28. Koukosoa van Riebeeck speaks of as ‘the chief of Oedasoa's kraals’ (D., Dec. 1, 1661), or as ‘the secunde of his army’ (D., Nov. 3, 1660), or as his ‘chief councillor’ (D., Nov. 16, 1661), etc.

30) Van Riebeeck refers to him as ‘a niggardly and beggarly fellow, who has most extraordinarily trained his men for the begging business,’ whereas Oedasoa, ‘though of smaller stature, is a more stately and commanding man’ (D., Nov. 7, 1658). In the first years of contact with the Kochoqua, Gonnoma was believed to be the great chief, and Oedasoa his inferior (D., Oct. 21, 1658; Nov. 7, 1658), but by the middle of the following year their true relationship had been recognised (D., June 28-29, 1659).

31) Dapper is mistaken here. Oedasoa did not die until 1689 or 1690 (Theal, op. cit., 355); it was his wife who died in 1661 (Letters desp., iii, 240).

32) Van Riebeeck calls her ‘a beautiful, well-shaped girl, not darker than an ordinarily white Mestiso’ (D., Nov. 3, 1660).

Great and Little Karichuriquas and Hosaas.

The Great and Little Karichurlquas and Hosaas³³⁾ live mostly in and about the valleys of Saldanha Bay. They

33) Also referred to in the early records as Charingurina, Chariquas, Charinguriqua, Chariguriqua, Gregeriqua, etc. The real name of the tribe, according to Vedder (Native Tribes of S.W.A., 114) was ≠Kari-huriqua, i.e. the small (≠kari) tribe which lives at the sea (-hurib, sea). Van Riebeeck says of them: ‘They chiefly dwell between Saldanha Bay and midway between Robben and Dassen Islands, about 4 or 5 hours' walk away from the coast inland. They had been subjects of Oedasoa, but had rebelled against him. They used to be his cattle herds, but afterwards they appropriated all the animals to themselves. For that reason all the other tribes of Hottentoos refuse to acknowledge them as a people who have a Choeque or Hunque, i.e. a hereditary king or chief’ (Letters desp., iii, 240; cf. D., Apr. 20-23, 1661). This group, after receiving a strong infiltration of white blood, moved away to the north about the middle of the eighteenth century, and established itself at the Kamiesberg in Little Namaqualand under the leadership of Adam Kok. Here it gradually was joined by other half-breed Hottentots, or ‘Bastards’, a name by which these people now began to call themselves. From the Kamiesberg they moved on to Pella on the Lower Orange, and then to the Middle Orange Valley, where they were found in 1813 by the missionary John Campbell, who induced them to resume their old but almost forgotten and now mutilated name of Griqua. In the years that followed, the Griqua, under a succession of able leaders, played an important part in the political history of South Africa, but all their power has now vanished, although they still survive as a strong community (Schapera, Khoisan Peoples, 46). The name Hosaas appears in Valentyn's map of South Africa (1726) as that of a tribe lying just north of the Berg R., between the Kochoquas and the ‘Little Grigriquas’; but van Riebeeck (Letters desp., iii, 93-4) speaks only of the ‘Little Chariguriquas called Hosamans,’ which would suggest that Hosa was the name of the Little Chariguriqua chief or leader.

[p. 26]

erneren zich, nevens de Kochoquas of Saldanhars, mede met zeer schoon vee, hun eenigste hoop en betrouwen, gemerkt zy in den drogen zomertijt niet anders hebben, dan van hun vee te leven.

Dus verre van de Hottentots, genaemt Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas, Goringhaikonas, Kochoquas, grote en kleine Karichuriquas en Hosaas, die dicht aen de kaep gelegen zijn; de verre te landwaerts in gelegen, zijn de Chainoquas, Kobonas, Sonquas, Namaquas, Heusaquas en Hankumquas, hoewel eenige de Kobonas niet onder de Hottentots rekenen.

Chainouquas.

De volken, genaemt in de lant-tale Chainouquas, zyn tegenwoordigh wel drie maenden reizens te lande in geweken, met huis, hof, vrouw, kinderen en vee, en wonen, na het zeggen van d'andere wilden, zeer na by de Kobonas lant; doch zijn niet boven de vier hondert menschen in getale, maar rijk van schoon vee.

De Chainouquas staen onder eenen overste, genaemt Sousoä, een out man: heeft twee vrouwen gehad doch beide doot: heeft eenen zoon genaemt Goeboe, dien zijn rechter been van eenen olifant te pletteren is getrapt, en kan het zelve tegenwoordigh door de verdorvenheit niet ter werelt gebruiken. Wanneer de Chainouquas met hunne negerye opbreken, moet deze Goeboe op een os zitten, en daer op en afgetilt worden. Zyn vrouw is genaemt Kamisoä.

De kleding van dezen overste Sousoä, is een schoon luipertsvel, met de bevlekste en schoonste zijde na binnen gekeert, en d'onzienlijke vleeschzijde, wel vet besmeert, na 's lant-maniere, na buiten.

[p. 27]

subsist, close to the Kochoquas or Saldanhars, upon very fine cattle, their only hope and trust, considering that in the dry summer time they have nothing else upon which to live.

So much of the Hottentots named Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas, Goringhaikonas, Kochoquas, Great and Little Karichuriquas and Hosaas, who are found close to the Cape. Further inland are the Chainouquas, Kobonas, Sonquas, Namaquas, Heusaquas and Hankumquas, although some do not include the Kobonas among the Hottentots.³⁴⁾

34) See below, s.v. Kobonas (p. 28).

Chainouquas.

The people named Chainouquas³⁵⁾ in the local vernacular are at present withdrawn fully three months' journey inland, huts, women, children, cattle and all; and dwell, according to the statements of the other savages, very near to the country of the Kobonas. They do not number more than about four hundred people, but are rich in cattle.

The Chainouquas are under a chief named Sousoä, an old man, who had two wives, both now dead. He has a son, Goeboe, whose right leg was stamped upon and crushed by an elephant, with the result that owing to putrefaction he cannot now use it at all. When the Chainouquas break up their villages, this Goeboe has to ride on an ox, on to and down from which he must be lifted. His wife is named Kamisoä. The clothing of Chief Sousoä is a fine leopard skin, with the spotted and more attractive side turned in, while the unsightly fleshy surface, well greased according to local custom, faces outwards.

35) Also mentioned in the early records as Chaynunqua, Chaynouqua, Chainouna. Wuras (op. cit., 289) interprets their name as ‘those who are swollen or puffy in the face’. The Dutch first came into contact with them in Sept. 1660, when ‘a certain new tribe, which had never before seen our people or ships, came down to us; their language, but not their clothing, differs somewhat from the Hottentoos dwelling in our neighbourhood. They are called the Chainouquas’, and the name of their chief was Sousa (Letters desp., iii, 183). The latter had ‘such power, and was so dreaded, that neither Oedasoa nor any of his subjects nor others would dare to come to us to trade, as long as these Chainouquas were in the neighbourhood; but they would all make way for them, and come to greet the king with presents of cattle, etc., to show the obedience they owed to him’ (D., Sept. 21, 1660). About 1666 the Chainouqua began to be called Soeswas, Soesequas, Soeswaquas, etc., by the Europeans, though the old chief Sousoa, from whom the new name was derived, had died in 1664 (Theal, op cit., 155; D., Feb. 25, 1664). In 1672 two leading men of this tribe, ‘on behalf of their minor chief Dhouw’, ceded to the Dutch ‘the district of Hottentots Holland adjoining the Cape, with all its lands, streams and forests, together with False Bay ... in return for merchandize amounting in value to £800. The goods actually transferred were worth no more than £6 16s. 4d. (Theal, op. cit., 200-201). The principal Chainouqua centres were at Knofflock's Kraal R., a tributary of the Palmiet R., at Bot R., and at Tigerhoek (Maingard, S. Afr. J. Sci., xxviii, 495-6).

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Kobonas.

De Kobonas, aen wiens lant de Chainouquas na by gelegen zijn, is een heel zwart volk, met zulk lang hair, dat hen over de ruch speelt, en tot op d'aerde neerhangt.

Deze zijn rechte mensch-eters: want zoo zy eenen Hottentot of ander mensch kunnen bekomen, dien braden zy levendigh en eten hem op. Zy hebben ook vee, dan niet zoo veel als andere volken, en planten kalbassen, daer zy zich mede erneren.

Zy hebben, na het verhael der Hottentots van de Kaep, rare maekselen, die zy uit het geberghte weten te vinden, en meer andere rariteyten. Noit heeft eenigh Neerlander van de Kaep by deze volkeren geweest, ter oorzake van de verre te lande in.

Voor zeven of acht jaren, te weten des jaers zestien hondert negen-en-vijftigh, was een van des Chainouquas volk, genaemt Chaihantimo, ontrent de Kabonas-lant geweest, en had van daer, met hulp van zijn by-hebbende volk, een hunner vrouwen, uitgestreken met allerlei fraie dingen, wegh gestolen en geschaekt, en na zyne negerye gevoert, om voor zyne eigen vrouwe aen te nemen.

d'Onzen met begeerte ontsteken, om dit vreemt slagh van menschen te zien, (want zy had, volgens het zeggen van den gemelden schaker Chaihantimo, die zich toen aen de kaep bevont, hair op 't hooft, dat haer, los-gemaekt of ontvlochten, op de aerde nasleepte,) verzochten op Chaihantimo, deze vrouwe aen het Fort van goeder hope te willen ontbieden, waer in hy, op belofe van genot, hen te wille was, en schikte derwaerts eenigen van zyn volk af, om dezelve, met al wat zy had, te halen, en te zeggen dat haer jonghst getroude man haer ontboden hadde by een volk, genaemt Duitsman, dat vol klederen gingh behangen, en by deze vrouwe, noch noit by gene van de hare gezien was.

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Kobonas.

The Kobonas,³⁶⁾ near whose land the Chainouquas dwell, are a very dark people, with hair so long that it flows over the back and hangs on to the ground. They are real cannibals, for if they can get hold of a Hottentot or any other person they roast him alive and eat him. They also have cattle, although not so many as other tribes, and plant gourds upon which they live. According to the reports of the Cape Hottentots, they have curious objects which they know how to get from the mountains, and still other rarities. No Hollander at the Cape has ever been to this tribe, owing to its remoteness.

About seven or eight years ago, in 1659, one of the Chainouquas, named Chaihantimo, was near to the land of the Kobonas, from which, assisted by his companions, he stole and carried off one of their women, decorated with all sorts of beautiful objects, and took her to his village to be his own wife.

Our countrymen, stirred with curiosity to see such strange people (who, according to the tale of this abductor Chaihantimo, then present at the Cape, had hair on the head which, when loose or unbound, dragged behind them on the ground), requested him to summon his wife to the Fort. To this he agreed, on promise of some reward, and accordingly sent several of his people to fetch her with all that she possessed. They were to tell her that her newlymarried husband had summoned her to a people named Dutchmen, who went about fully covered with clothes, and whom neither she nor any of her people had ever seen.

36) Mentioned in van Riebeeck's list (Letters desp., iii, 242) under the name of ‘Choboquas or Cobonas.’ In reality they were not Hottentots, but the name by which the Hottentots spoke of the Bantu (AmaXhosa). Van Riebeeck, on hearsay, speaks of them as ‘another race of men, who live in permanent dwellings made of wood, clay and other material, and also subsist on cattle and wear clothes’ (loc. cit.). They are first mentioned by him in Oct. 1657, when he heard from the girl Eva a marvellous tale of ‘an emperor or king, who ruled over all the Cape natives, and called them Chobona. He lives far inland, and is rich in gold, which is taken out of sand. They also know how to coin and stamp the coins, which they make as big as, or even bigger than, the palms of the hands. They have large houses of stone and beams, sowing with rice and planting all kinds of vegetables. They also wear clothes and speak another language than those nearer the Cape’ (D., Oct. 31, 1657). But Harry, a fortnight later, when van Riebeeck insisted that the Chobonas were the supreme rulers of the Hottentots, retorted angrily that his informants were ‘mad’ (D., Nov. 15, 1657); he had seen some of them among the Chainouquas, although he had never been in their country, and describes them accurately as ‘black Caffres, like the Guinea and Angola slaves, dressed in calf and sheep skins, of which they have many’ (D., Dec. 16, 1660). Van Riebeeck, however, haunted by the thought of their great wealth (in 1659 he speaks of them as ‘dwelling in towns and castles, and rich in gold and ivory’), sent out several expeditions to the north-east in search of them, ‘who found no Chobona and no gold, but plenty of Nama and abundance of copper’ (Maingard, op. cit., 490, where the official records are summarized). It was not until 1702 that the settlers first came into contact with them overland, when a party of freebooters ‘made a drive into the country of the Chabuquas, called the Great Caffres’ (Maingard, op. cit., 494).

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De vrouwe, eensdeels uit onderdanigheit tot haren man, anderdeels mede nieuwsgierigh om vreemde volken in ander gewaet te zien, begeeft haer na een dagh of twee toestellens, uitgestreken in haer beste gewaet, op reize; onder een gelei van dertigh of veertigh Chainouquas, tot bystant en beschermingh tegen andere, inzonderheit tegen de Kochoquas, met wien de Chainouquas te dier tijde in 't oorlogh waren. Maer na een wyl reizens wiert zy door de voorzeide Kochoquas in een groot bosch besprongen, en doot geslagen, en al haer çieraet, kostelijkheit en gewaet met voeten getreden, en haer byhebbend volk op de vlucht gedreven, die, met achterlaten van twee of drie mannen, zich na de kaep by Chaihantimo begaven, om aen hem tijding van dit ongeval te doen; waer op dees aenstonts met zijn volk van daer na zijn lant vertrok, om zich door de wapenen, over dezen hoon aen de Kochoquas of Zaldanhars te wreken; maer was veel te zwak van volk tegen de Saldanhars.

Sonquas.

De Sonquas is een volk, dat zijn woonplaets in heel machtigh hoogh gebergte heeft, en eenige duizenden sterk is.

Het is een heel klein volk, beide mannen en vrouwen, hebben geen vee, maer leven op hun pijl en boge, daer zy wonder vaerdigh mede weten om te gaen, met schieten van dassen, die hun schuilplaetzen onder de klippen hebben, en op 't heetste van den dagh daer boven komen opsitten, en zich bakeren en wentelen, daer dan de Sonquas dezelve in grote menigte met hunne pijlen treffen, en ter neer schieten. Zy gaen ook op de jacht van grof en groot wilt vee, inzonderheit van wilde paerden en muil-ezels.

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The woman, partly through submissiveness to her husband, partly because equally curious to see strange people of a different garb, started out on the journey after a day or two of preparation, dressed in her best garments. She had an escort of thirty or forty Chainouquas for company and for protection against others, especially against the Kochoquas, with whom the Chainouquas were then at war. But while on the way she was attacked unawares by the Kochoquas in a big wood and killed. Her ornamentation, valuables and garments were all trodden under foot, and her escort put to flight. Leaving behind two or three men, they made for the Cape and Chaihantimo, to whom they reported the news of the tragedy. Thereupon he departed instantly to his own country with his people, in order to revenge himself in war against the Kochoquas for this outrage; but he was far too weak in numbers against them.³⁷⁾

37) Dapper's version of this episode is not quite accurate. Chaihantima had visited the Fort several times during 1657 and 1658, and told van Riebeeck that one of his wives had lived in the house of the Chobona and been educated there, and that she was covered with many ornaments of gold and pearls (D., Oct. 31, 1657). This woman was not a ‘native Chobonar, but had been taken by them from one of the rebel tribes of Hottentots.’ In Dec. 1658 van Riebeeck heard from Eva that Chaihantima, ‘in consequence of our continuous requests, had been induced to visit us ... with a large number of cattle and men, as well as with his wife (who had very long hair falling down to her feet) whom he wished to introduce to us; but having approached the Fort at a distance of 4 or 5 days journey, he was met there by the Cochoquas, and as shortly before there had been some differences between them, he was attacked by the latter who were very strong, and lost the battle. His wife fell into the hands of the enemy, and with a lot of men was killed. All her property and jewels were considered by the Hottentots as dirt, and were scattered and lost. Chaihantima saved himself by flight and returned to the great chief of the Chainuquas, who is said with his army to have gone to Chobona to ask for justice in the face of this insult, and assistance to revenge it’ (Letters desp., iii, 92-3; D., Dec. 31, 1658). Chaihantima appeared again at the Fort in 1661, when van Riebeeck drily remarks: ‘this is the same who had told us such stories about his wife having been brought up at the court of the Chobonas, having worn many jewels, and afterwards been killed by the Cochoquas. Though he still adheres to them, we can no longer believe him’ (D., Aug. 3, 1661).

Sonquas.

The Sonquas³⁸⁾ are a people dwelling in massive mountainous country. They number several thousands, and are very small in size, both men and women. They have no cattle, but live by shooting rock-rabbits^38a) with the bow and arrow, which they use with remarkable skill. The rock-rabbits have their retreats under the rocks, on top of which they come to bask and play about during the heat of the day; the Sonquas then hit and shoot them down in great numbers with their arrows. They also go out hunting

38) Sonqua, Souqua, Sanqua, etc., is the name applied by the Hottentots to the Bushmen, and according to Hahn (Tsuni-//Goam, 3) is derived from the root sa (plur. san), meaning ‘aborigines or settlers proper’. It is significant that van Riebeeck does not mention them at all in the list of tribes prepared for his successor, although they figure often enough in his journal. He says of them: ‘They are robbers, subject to none, and depending upon their arrows and assagays, treacherously robbing their neighbours of their cattle and their wives’ (D., Oct. 31, 1657); and again: ‘The Soaquas, a tribe without cattle, dwelling beyond, among the mountains of Africa, and mostly robbers’ (D., Nov. 8, 1660).

38a) Hyrax capensis, still commonly known in S. Africa as ‘dassies.’

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Men heeft by hen wilde paerden en muil-ezels, die beide zo schoon uit de natuur in 't wilt voorttelen, dat geen schilder de kunst by hem heeft, om die met alle hare verruwen na 't leven af te tekenen. De paerden hebben billen buiten gewoon geappeit, en zijn overal buiten de billen, zoo wel onder als boven, gestreept met geel, zwart, root, en zuiver hemels blaeu. Desgelijks zijn de muil-ezels mede gestreept, maer niet geappelt, met wit en kastanjebruin, buiten gemeen schoon.

De Sonquas braghten des jaers zestien hondert en twee-en-zestigh een huit van een dezer beesten aen de kaep van goeder hope, die d'onzen van hen ruilden, tegen tabak en andere dingen, en te pronk, met hoi opgevult, als lets raers en ongemeens, gelijk het ook is, op de voor-zael van het Fort ophingen, om van het volk der aenkomende schepen bezichticht te worden.

Het dassen-vlees verstrekt den Sonquas een aengename spijze, daer by, en by zekere worteltjes, die in d'aerde wassen, zy voornamelijk leven. Zy houden ook zeer vele jacht-honden, die op de dasse-jacht wel zijn afgerecht, en de dassen uit de holen weten te slepen, 't welk hun meeste spijze is.

Het zijn ongemene grote rovers en stropers; want zy stelen van andere Hottentots al het vee, dat zy kunnen krijgen, en vluchten daer mee aenstonts in het geberghte, zonder van iemant, zelf van geen andere Hottentots, in die schuilhoeken en verhole gaten te kunnen gevonden worden.

Hunne huizen, slechts van takken te gader gevlochten, zonder gebreide matten, en alleenlijk met biezen overdekt, zijn ettelijke duizent in getale, naerdien zy van d'eene in d'andere trekken, en nooit die opbreken, maer op gelegene plaetzen noch al meer andere opzetten.

Hun mantelkens zijn gemaekt van t'zamen genaide vellen der wilde ossen, die zich op de klippen onthouden. De vrouwen hebben voor de hitte en het branden der stekende zonne-stralen, een quitazol, of zonne-scherm van struisveren, aen en om het hooft vast gemaekt.

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big game, especially wild horses and mules. There are in those parts wild horses and mules, both so beautifully bred out by nature that no painter is skilful enough to paint them true to life with all their colouring. The horses have buttocks extraordinarily dappled, and over the rest of the body are striped yellow, black, red and pure sky blue. The mules are also striped, white and chestnut brown, but not dappled, and are uncommonly beautiful.³⁹⁾ The Sonquas in 1662 brought the skin of one of these beasts to the Cape, which our countrymen bartered from them for tobacco and other things. It was then filled with straw and hung up for show in the hall of the Fort, as something curious and uncommon, which it also is, to be seen by the people of the incoming ships.⁴⁰⁾

The meat of the rock-rabbits constitutes a pleasant food for the Sonquas, who live principally on it and on certain roots growing in the ground. They also keep many hunting dogs,^40a) trained to hunt the rock-rabbits which are their principal food, and knowing how to drag these animals out of their holes.

They are extremely great plunderers and marauders. They steal from other Hottentots all the cattle they can get, with which they then flee immediately to the mountains, where they cannot be found in their retreats and hidden caves by anybody, not even by other Hottentots.

Their huts, made only of branches twined together, without woven mats, and covered solely with rushes, are several thousand in number; for they move about from one place to another, and never break up the huts, but erect still others wherever they camp.

Their little cloaks are sewn together from the skins of the wild oxen which live on the rocks. The women have a quitazol or sunshade of ostrich feathers, tied on and about the head, to protect themselves from the heat and burning of the sun's piercing rays.

39) Dr. W.J. Leyds, quoted by Godée-Molsbergen (Reizen in Zuid-Afrika, i, 47 n.), suggests that the ‘horses’ were zebras and the ‘mules’ quaggas, which seems consistent enough with the description.

40) On Nov. 8, 1660, the Sonquas ‘brought in 2 or 3 stuffed heads, which were extraordinarily beautifully striped, but with ears as long as those of asses. The rest of the head is exactly, as regards head and mouth, that of a horse’ (D., ut. cit.). In the entry for Dec. 14, 1660, it is said that ‘one of our people... had shot a wild horse below the mane in the neck. This horse was very beautifully gray dappled over its whole body, except behind from the back over the buttocks and along the legs which were flame-coloured, with white, sky blue and reddish brown stripes, wonderfully beautiful ... It had small ears like a horse. The stuffed heads and pieces of skin which the Hottentots sometimes brought to us belong evidently to another sort, as they have long ears, though extraordinarily, curiously and beautifully flame-coloured in white and chestnut brown.’

40a) Dogs were the only domestic animals kept by the Bushmen. They were generally lean, hungry-looking mongrels, half starved and savage tempered, but excellent assistants in the chase, for which they were mainly employed.

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Namaquas.

De Hottentots, genaemt Namaquas, leggen tegenwoordigh ontrent tachentigh of tnegentigh mijlen oost-noord-oostwaerts van de kaep van goeder hope, maer zeer verre te landewaerts in.

Des jaers zestien hondert en een-en-zestigh, wierden door het Opperhooft van 't Nederlants Fort, de Heer Rietbeek, dertien Neerlanders, verzien met vier draegh ossen, om te vernemen of by hen geen gout of eenige andere rare kostelijkheden te vinden waren, derwaerts gezonden. Zy vonden hen ontrent tachtigh of negentigh mijlen noord-oost-waerts van de kaep te lande in, en wierden, by hen komende, met tekenen van alle vrientschap en een bly gelaet ontfangen, en met schapen vereert. Desgelijx wert hun aenkomste begroet met een ongemeen en raer musijk, van ontrent hondert muzikanten, die alle, ieder met een riet, doch van ongelijke lengte, in de hant, in een kring. (daer een man in 't midden met een stok de maet sloegh,) stonden, en daer uit met blazen, een zulk heerlijk grof en fljn geluit deden voortkomen, als of ieder riet een trompet de marine waer geweest. Na het eindigen des gespels, 't welk twee of drie uuren duurende, en in groote vrolijkeit toeging, wierden d'onzen op 's koninghs-verzoek in zijn huis gebraght, en daer met melk en schapen-vleesch onthaelt, daer en tegen d'onzen den koning met wat koper, en kralen, brandewijn en tabak vereerden, die de koning noch de Namaquas noit hadden zien suigen, maer leerden zulx alle in korten wijle, tot vrouwen en kinderen toe. Eindelijk wiert hen door den koning een plaets even buiten hun leger aengewezen, om nacht en dagh-rust te houden.

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Namaquas.

The Hottentots named Namaquas⁴¹⁾ live at the present time about eighty or ninety miles east-north-east of the Cape, but very far inland. In 1661 the commander of the Dutch fort, Heer Riebeeck, sent thirteen men there, with four pack oxen, to see if no gold or other valuable objects were to be found amongst them.⁴²⁾ They came across the Namaquas about eighty or ninety miles inland north-east of the Cape, and on going up to them were received with every sign of friendship and welcome, and presented with sheep. Their arrival was also greeted with an uncommonly curious musical performance. About one hundred musicians, each with a hollow reed of different length from the others, stood in a ring, in the centre of which a man beat time with a stick; and by blowing on these reeds produced as pleasant a harmony as if each reed were a trumpet of the marines. After the end of this performance, which lasted two or three hours and passed off with considerable gaiety, our men were at the king's request brought into his hut, and there entertained with milk and sheep's flesh. In return they presented the king with some copper, red beads, brandy and tobacco, which neither he nor his people had ever seen smoked, but they all learned this in a short time, even the women and children. Finally the king showed them a spot just outside his camp where they could rest and sleep.⁴³⁾

41) First mentioned, under the name Namana, in the list of tribes given to van Riebeeck by Eva (D., Oct. 31, 1657). Further information was obtained from Harry (D., Oct. 31, 1657) and Soeswa (D., Dec. 16, 1660), but the Dutch did not actually come into contact with them until 1661, when they were encountered by Cruythoff's expedition (D., March 11, 1661). Van Riebeeck's notes on them, written in 1662 for his successor (Letters desp., iii, 241, 243-4), are consequently far more accurate than what he has to say about them in a letter written to the Chamber of Seventeen in 1659 (Letters desp., iii, 93). In later years the Dutch learned to distinguish two groups: the Little Namaqua, living in what is now Little Namaqualand south of the Orange River, and the Great Namaqua, living north of the Orange River in the southern parts of what is now South West Africa. Both groups at times visited the settlement at Table Bay, and the area over which they wandered seems to have been very wide. Hottentots of Little Namaqua stock are still found in fairly considerable numbers in Little Namaqualand, but their tribal cohesion and culture have been completely destroyed by contact with the whites, and they have also absorbed a good deal of white blood. A few of the older people still know their own language, but the great majority now speak only Afrikaans, which is the regular medium of intercourse even amongst themselves. In South West Africa also the whole culture and power of the Naman has been hopelessly broken down, although for the most part they still retain their own language; and here too all of them have a good deal of mixed blood, brought into them first by their own relatives from the south, and then by mixture with the Germans and other whites (cf. Schapera, Khoisan Peoples, 48-9).

42) This was the expedition under Pieter Cruythoff, which left the Fort on Jan. 30, 1661, and returned on March 10. Its Journal, written by P. van Meerhoff, is appended to the Dagverhaal of van Riebeeck (entry of March 11, 1661, with additional remarks obtained orally from the travellers), and reprinted verbatim in Godée-Molsbergen, op. cit., i, 46-63.

43) Their reception by the Namaqua is fully described by Meerhoff in his journal of the expedition, upon which Dapper's informant has evidently drawn.

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Des zelven jaers wierden ten zelfsten einde weer dertien lief-hebbers uitgezonden, die den viertienden van Slachtmaent uit-trokken, en des volgenden jaers, den dertienden van Sprokkel-maent, met hun twaelfven, (want een was 'er verminkt, en jammerlijk om hals geraekt door eenen olifant) wederkeerden, met verslagh, van over de hondert mijlen in 't lant geweest te zijn, zonder eenige Namaquas te kunnen vinden; maer wel, ontrent de woon-plaets der Namaquas van verlede jaer, een negerye van de Hottentots, genaemt de grote Karichuriquas, die hen wisten te zeggen, dat de Namaquas heel verre, en diep te lande waren ingetogen, en dezen jare geen kans waer dezelve t'onderhalen. Zulx deze en voorige lant-tocht om gout, vruchteloos quam uit te vallen.

De Namaquas, volgens ondervinding der onzen, zijn luiden groot van gestalte, byna als halve reuzen, sterk van volk en rijk van kinderen.

Daer zijn vele bokken, van een zelve gedaente, gelijk hier in Hollant, desgelijx schapen, die zy van de Brygoudijs handelen, daer zy by duizenden zijn.

Men heeft 'er ook veel groote kalbassen in 't wilt, daer zy hun melk in bewaren.

Het vrouvolk is schoon van leest, en welgestelt van leden.

Zij gaen alle met bereide beeste-vellen om 't lijf geslagen, doch niet zoo smerigh, gelijk na by de kaep.

Deze vellen zijn verçiert met vele en glaze Kambaysche kralen, die zy van de Portugesen diep in 't lant, ontrent de plaetsen van Monomotapa, Kortada, Bellugarins, &c. tegen hun vee verruilen.

De mans-perzonen hebben een plaet, gemaekt zeer kunstigh van olifants tanden, voor hunne schamelheit gebonden, en een ronde ringh van de zelve tanden, aen den eenen arm, desgelijx veel kopere ringen.

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In the same year thirteen volunteers were again sent out for the same purpose.⁴⁴⁾ They set out on the 14th November, and on the 13th February in the following year twelve of them returned, for one was unfortunately mutilated and killed by an elephant. They reported that they had been over a hundred miles inland, without being able to find any Namaquas; but that, near where the Namaquas had camped the previous year, they had come across a settlement of the Hottentots named Great Karichuriquas, who told them that the Namaquas had trekked very far inland, and that there was no chance this year of reaching them. Both this and the previous expedition for gold thus turned out to be fruitless.

The Namaquas, according to the discoveries of our countrymen,⁴⁵⁾ are people of big stature, not far from gigantic; strong in numbers, and with many children. They own many goats, of the same appearance as here in Holland, as well as sheep, which they barter from the Brygoudys, who have them in thousands.⁴⁶⁾ There also many large gourds are found growing wild, in which they store their milk.

The women are beautifully formed and with well-proportioned limbs. They all go with dressed animal skins fastened round the body, although not so greasy as at the Cape. These skins are decorated with many Cambayan glass beads, bartered for cattle from the Portuguese far inland in the districts of Monomotapa, Kortada, Bellugarins, etc.⁴⁷⁾ The men bind a plate, very artistically made of

44) Soon after the return of Cruythoff's expedition, another party under van Meerhoff was sent out to induce the Namaqua to come and trade at the Fort. It left on March 21, 1661, and returned on April 23, having gone beyond the limit attained by its predecessor but failing to reach the Nama chief (D., April 23, 1661). A further expedition was accordingly sent out on Nov. 14, 1661, under Pieter Everaerts, which, as mentioned by Dapper, returned Feb. 13, 1662. The journal of this expedition is appended to the Dagverhaal entry of the latter date, and is obviously the basis of Dapper's brief account of its progress.

45) Dapper's description is based mainly on Meerhoff's journal of the first successful expedition, but has some additional details probably obtained orally from other members of the party.

46) Van Riebeeck says: ‘Their king had sent the commander (of the expedition) a small goat, the first that we had ever seen in this country, regarding which goat they had spoken a great deal whisperingly before they gave it’ (D., March 11, 1661). Van Meerhoff simply says: ‘Towards evening the king's son brought us another sheep and a young goat, which we were obliged to accept.’ It is evident from van Riebeeck's statement that none of the Cape Hottenots at this time possessed goats. The Naman obtained their goats (not their sheep, as stated by Dapper) through barter with the BaThlaping, a Chwana (Bantu) tribe, whom they called Birina (Biriqua, Briqua, Bryckje, etc.), i.e. goat people (from biri-, goat).

47) In the ‘Instructions’ drawn up for the party which left for ‘Monomotapa’ on Nov. 11, 1660, under Jan Danckerts occur the names: ‘Cortado, on the river Infante, situated about 40 Dutch miles from the sea shore, and about 110 in a north-easterly direction overland from this ... thence, further N by E, about 40 miles further, is situated, besides other places on either side, a town named Belugaris, on the river St. Lucia’ (D., ut cit.). The idea that the Namaqua traded with the Portuguese was suggested to van Riebeeck by a message from the chief of the Great Charichuriqua sent through Meerhoff (D., April 23, 1661); there is no concrete evidence to support it. Cambay, the chief town of the State of Cambay, province of Gujárat, Bombay Presidency, was in the 17th century a noted centre for the manufacture of agate cups, beads, etc.

[p. 38]

De vrouwen gaen moeder-naekt, en hebben niet dan een klein velleken, gelijk dicht aen de kaep, voor haar schamelheit gebonden, en dragen aen een stok op het hooft, gelijk de Sonquas vrouwen, voor het steken der zonne, des zomers zonne-schermen van struis-veren.

Ieder Namaquas heeft altijts een klein licht en frai stoeltje, gemaekt van hout en tou, zonder yzer of koper, aen den arm hangen, dat zy overal by zich draeght, om daer op te zitten.

De bestiering staet aen eenen koning, geheten Akambia, die drie zonen heeft van een ongemene lengte.

Brygoudys.

Noch verder te lande in, dan de Namaquas leggen, woont een ander volk, genaemt Brygoudijs, daer af weinigh by onkunde te schrijven valt, naerdien zy noit by d'onzen gevonden zijn.

Het is, 't geen d'onzen, die noit deze volken hebben kunnen vinden, aen de kaep, uit den mont der Namaquas hebben, een talrijk volk, en zoo magtigh en rijk van vee, als alle de Hottentots ontrent de kaep van goeder hope.

De Namaquas en de Brygoudijs, voeren tegen elkandre sterke oorlogen.

Heusaquas.

De Hottentots, genaemt Heusaquas, leggen ontrent noord-west-waerts van de kaep van goeder-hope, zeer verre en diep te lande-waerts in. Weinig kennis hebben d'onzen aen de kaep tot noch toe van den wandel en omgangh dezer volken bekomen, en niet dan uit den mondt van andere Hottentots; aengezien noit iemant hun woonplaetsen gevonden heeft, nochte noit zijn meer dan drie van hen aen het Fort van goeder hope geweest, die met

[p. 39]

ivory, in front of their private parts,⁴⁸⁾ and wear a bracelet of the same material on the one arm, as well as many copper rings. The women go about stark naked, having nothing but a small bit of skin tied in front of their pudenda, just like those at the Cape. In the summer they wear on the head, like the Sonqua women, a sunshade of ostrich feathers tied to a stick to protect them against the rays of the sun. Every Namaqua always has hanging from his arm a light and pretty little stool made of wood and cord, without iron or copper, which he carries with him everywhere to sit on.⁴⁹⁾ The government is in the hands of a king named Akambia, who has three unusually tall sons.

48) Van Riebeeck says more accurately: ‘Ivory also seems to be more abundant among them than among the Cape Hottentoos, as may be observed from the very thick arm rings which they wear of it on their arms, as well as from the rare plates of the same article on a beautifully pleated and prepared skin worn like a little apron before their private parts’ (Letters desp., iii, 244).

49) Van Meerhoff merely says: ‘The king sat on his chair a little distance off. This chair is a round piece of wood three or four fingers thick, beautifully ornamented with beads, and is generally carried with them wherever they go’. This one can hardly interpret, as Dapper does, to imply that every man had a stool of this sort.

Brygoudys.

Still further inland than the Namaquas live another people named Brygoudys,⁵⁰⁾ of whom but little can be written owing to lack of knowledge, as they have never been found by our countrymen. But according to what our people at the Cape have heard from the Namaquas, they are a numerous people, and as powerful and rich in cattle as all the Hottentots at the Cape. The Namaquas and Brygoudys wage strenuous wars against one another.⁵¹⁾

50) See above, n. 46. Van Riebeeck gives the name first as Bryckje (March 10, 1661) and later as ‘Brygoudys, ere this wrongly mentioned as Brichje’ (Apr. 23, 1661).

51) Both expeditions to the Namaqua in the early part of 1661 came back with news that the former were on hostile terms with the ‘Brygoudys’ (D., 10/3/61; 23/4/61).

Heusaquas.

The Hottentots named Heusaquas⁵²⁾ lie approximately northwest of the Cape, very far into the interior. Hitherto our countrymen at the Cape have found out but little about their mode of life and customs, and that only from the descriptions of other Hottentots; for no one has ever come across their settlements, nor have more than three of them

52) Also referred to as Hessaqua, Hassequa, Essaqua, etc. First mentioned in the Dagverhaal (Sept. 27, 1660) when Eva told Riebeeck of ‘a certain other tribe called Hesaquas, which we had never before heard mentioned, regular dagga makers of the Hancumquar ... Their language differed greatly from that of the Saldanhars, so that they could not understand each other, except through an interpreter.’ Van Riebeeck mentions them in his final list of tribes, but only to say that they had not yet been at the Fort, except for an emissary from their chief (Letters desp., iii, 241; cf. D., Feb. 11, 1661). Their name survives in Hessequas Kloof, in the district of Swellendam, where they appear to have had their grazing grounds, moving gradually further east (See Maingard, op. cit., 496, who also suggests that their name may mean ‘the men of the woods’, from heib, tree, -se, adj. ending, -qua).

[p. 40]

den overste van de Chainouquas daer eenige beesten en schapen quamen verhandelen, gaende aenstonts weder met hem naer hunne woonplaetsen.

De Heusaquas zijn vee-rijk: dan deze alleen erneren zich ook met 't planten (want geen onder al de daer te lande gevonden Hottentots planten of zaien, dan alleen de Heusaquas,) van zekeren krachtigen wortel, dien zy dacha noemen, en eten om dronken te worden; hoewel zy den zelven bywijlen ook met water mengen, om te drinken. Wanneer het eten en drinken des wortels dacha hen de hersenen bedwelmt en bevangen heeft, stellen zy zich, met het bedrijven van vreemde grepen en wonderlijke grillen, als dolle en uitzinnige menschen aen; onder welk krioel en gewoel, de vrouwen komen, en zeker fijn geklopt en gewreven kruit, genaemt boggoa, op hun hooft stroien. Dit kruit, dat geel en sterk-riekend is, wast op het hoogh geberghte, met klompen of klaeuwen aen de klippen, in groten overvloet, en wort van de mans opgezocht, en van de vrouwen bereit.

Ontrent de Heusaquas leggen de vee en volkrijke Hankumquas, doch zijn noit by d'onzen aen het Fort geweest.

De Heusaquas zijn byzonder vaerdigh met jonge en oude leeuwen om te gaen, die zy in strikken weten te vangen, en te temmen, met een bant aen den hals, als een hont. Zy trekken ook wel met leeuwen, die zy lang gehad, en heel tam gemaekt hebben, ten oorloge, en kunnen daer mee den vyant, zonder moet van eenige tegenstant te bieden, in de route op de vlucht drijven; 't geen velen vremt wil voorkomen, en echter in 'er daet onder hen gepleeght wort.

[p. 41]

ever been at the Fort. They came there with the chief of the Chainouquas to barter some cattle and sheep, and then immediately went back home with him.

The Heusaquas are rich in cattle. Moreover they alone (for none of the other Hottentots in this country plant or sow the ground) also support themselves by planting a certain powerful root which they name dacha⁵³⁾. This they eat to become drunk, although they also sometimes mix it with water for drinking. Whenever the eating or drinking of this root affects their brains and makes them giddy, they behave like crazy and senseless people, performing all sorts of strange gestures and wonderful grimaces. In the midst of this hullaballoo the women come and strew over their heads a finely-stamped and ground herb named boggoa⁵⁴⁾. This herb, which is yellow and has a powerful odour, grows in great abundance in clusters on the rocks of the mountains. It is gathered by the men and prepared by the women.

Close to the Heusaquas are the Hankumquas⁵⁵⁾, rich in people and cattle. They have however never been to our countrymen at the Fort.

The Heusaquas are especially clever in handling young and old lions, which they know how to catch in snares and tame, like dogs, with a collar round the neck. They even set out for war with lions which they have long had and completely tamed, and in this way are able to set the enemy to flight without encountering any resistance. This may seem strange to many readers, but is nevertheless actually the practice amongst them⁵⁶⁾.

53) Leonotis leonurus, whose leaves are still smoked by the S.A. natives like those of Indian hemp, producing a similar stupefying effect. Dapper is wrong in stating that the Hessequa cultivated this plant. Van Riebeeck terms them ‘regular dagga makers of the Hancumquas’ (Sept. 27, 1660), but says of the latter (from hearsay evidence also) that ‘they plant and dry a certain plant dacha, which they bruise and eat, and which makes them very silly’ (Letters desp., iii, 242; cf. D., Dec. 16, 1661). Maingard, after discussing all the evidence, concludes that these Hottentots never cultivated dagga, but that they traded in it, which probably gave rise to the legend (op. cit., 493).

54) More correctly buchu, a common name to this day in S. Africa for various species of Barosma and Diosma, much used by natives as a sweet-smelling powder.

55) First mentioned, as Chancumqua, in the list of tribes given by Eva (D., Oct. 31, 1657), supplemented later by the statement that they cultivated dagga (D., June 21, 1658). Soeswa told van Riebeeck that the chief of these ‘Hamcumquas’ was ‘the chief lord of all the Hottentoo tribes’ (D., Sept. 21, 1660). All that was known of them in 1662 is summarized by van Riebeeck as follows: ‘These Hancumquas, as we have always been able to understand, must be the greatest and most powerful of all the dirty Hottentoo tribes, living like all the others in huts of matting, but of a much larger size. They live permanently on the same spots, where they plant dacha. The chief of the tribe seems to be the paramount chief over all the Choequees or Kings’ (Letters desp., iii, 242). Later explorers did not succeed in discovering the Hancumqua, unless, says Maingard, we are prepared to identify them with the Inqua, ruled over by Hykon, ‘who might, by inaccurate reporters, have been quite conceivably given the name of Hykonqua, or the men of Hykon’ (op. cit., 492). (On the Inqua, cf. Schryver's Journal, ed. by E.E. Mossop. V.R.S. 12.)

56) Another exaggeration. The official records speak merely of ‘a certain nation, of whom the Emissary from the Heusaquas said that they keep the lions so tame and use them as we do dogs’ (Letters desp., iii, 242). This emissary, when questioned by van Riebeeck, ‘told us many wonderful things which he would make us believe, but time will be our best teacher’. Nothing is said about the use of lions in war. (D., Feb. 11-12, 1661.)

[p. 42]

Wat voorders belanght de ... zeden, spijze, kleding, wapenen, tale, bestiering en gods-dienst dezer volken in 't algemeen, die hebben zich in dezer wijze; doch staet aen te merken, dat al het geen ons daer van te verhandelen staet, voornamelijk van de Hottentots, dicht aen de kaep gelegen, te verstaen sy, als zy de Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas, Goringhaikonas, Kochoquas, of Saldanhars, grote en kleine Karichuriquas en Hosaas; aengezien men van d'andere, te landewaerts in gelegen Hottentots, als de Vanouquas (sic), Kobonas, Sonquas, Namaquas, Heusaquas, Brigoudys, Hankumquas, tot noch toe weinigh berichts, door de verre gelegenheit, heeft bekomen, dan alleen 't geen te voore by ieder is verhaelt; hoewel zy ook meest in alles, zoo veel de onzen uit hooren zeggen, en navorschen, hebben kunnen vernemen, met de voorzeide naest aen de kaep gelegen Hottentots over een komen.

Wezen der Kaffers of Hottentots.

Wat belanght het wezen en stal des lichaems der Hottentots, als de Goringhaiquas, Goringhaikonas en Gorachouquas, dat zijn de Watermans, Kaepmans en Tabaks-dieven, die ontrent en na by de kaep van Goeder Hope wonen, is een volk van middelbare gestalte of grote, doch rang, door den bank, en lelijk van lichaem, en onaengeziene van perzone; van verruwe geelachtigh, gelijk Mulaten, of geelachtige Javanen; maer die ontrent de vleesch-bay zijn wat kleender, als de luiden hier te lande, bruin-ros van verruw, doch d'een meer dan d'ander.^*

Het hair des hoofts is hen allen, ontrent de kaep, gelijk lammeren wol, kort gekrult, doch het vrou-volk heeft dat dikker, dan het man-volk; inzonderheit de Kobonasvrouwen.

Het voorhooft hebben zy redelijk breet, maer gerimpelt; zeer schone en zwarte oogen, en zoo klaer en zuiver als een valk; doch alle, zoo mans, vrouwen als kinderen, platachtige neuzen, hoewel niet alle even plat: daer by meest alle de lippen dik, inzonderheit de bovenste, die op en uitstekend staet. De mont is wel gefatsoeneert, en heeft zijn behoorlijke grote in alle manieren, met zeer schone en zuivere witte tanden, als ivoir, daer beneven hart, waer door het gebit hen zeer stijf is.

* This description is obviously derived from Hondius (op. cit., 560): ‘Omtrend de Tafel-Bay zijnze middelbaar van grootte, Mager van lighaam, Gelue van kouleur gelijk Moulaten, ofte Geel-agtigh als Javanen. Omtrend de Vlees-bay zijnze wat kleiner als de Nederlanders, Bruyn-ros van kouleur dogh d'een meer als d'ander. Beyde deezen Natien zijn zeer lelijk van Aangezicht.’

[p. 43]

Further, as regards the manners, food, clothing, weapons, languages, government and religion of these tribes in general, they are as follows. But it should be noted that everything we are going to describe must be taken as referring especially to the Hottentots close to the Cape, i.e. the Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas, Goringhaikonas, Kochoquas or Saldanhars, Great and Little Karichuriquas, and Hosaas; since, owing to the remoteness of the other, more inland, Hottentots, like the Chainouquas, Kobonas, Sonquas, Namaquas, Heusaquas, Brigoudys and Hankumquas, we have so far received little report of them other than what has already been related in connexion with each. Nevertheless, as far as our countrymen could judge from hearsay and investigation, they agree in almost every respect with the Hottentots living nearest to the Cape.

Build of the Kafirs or Hottentots.

In build and shape of the body the Hottentots, such as the Goringhaiquas, Goringhaikonas and Gorachouquas (Watermen, Capemen and Tobacco Thieves) living at and near the Cape, are on the average people of medium stature, but slender, with ill-formed bodies and insignificant appearance, and yellowish in colour, like mulattos or yellowish Javanese. But those round Vleesch Bay⁵⁷⁾ are somewhat smaller than people here at home, and brownishred in colour, although to a varying extent.

The hair on the head is, among all those at the Cape, short and curly, like the wool of lambs, but thicker in the women than in the men, especially among the Kobona women. The forehead is reasonably broad, but wrinkled; the eyes beautifully black, and as clear and pure as those of the hawk. But men, women and children all have flattened noses, more marked in some than in others; and in addition their lips are almost always thick, especially the upper, which is turned up and out. The mouth is well shaped and of normal size and proportions, with teeth beautifully clean and white, like ivory, and hard, so that the bite is firm.

57) Vleesch Bay (Flesh Bay), close to the mouth of the Gouritz River, near Mossel Bay, was so named by the Dutch in 1601 because here they bought a large quantity of cattle and sheep from the natives in exchange for iron (Godée-Molsbergen, Reizen in Zuid-Afrika, i. 7).

[p. 44]

De hals is van tamelijke lengte, met smalle schouderen en langachtige armen, doch voor na de handen heel mager en dun. De handen zijn van goeden maeksel; de vingeren lang, daer zy nagelen laten aenwassen als arents-klaeuwen, by hen voor een çieraedt geacht.

Byna hen allen is de buik dun en rang, met uitstekende billen, ter oorzake het lichaem, van gewaet ontbloot of in 't los gewaet gekleet, niet in evenwicht of pranginge gehouden wort. Zy zijn frai en frisch van benen, doch velen dun van kuiten, maer hebben, inzonderheit het vrou-volk, zeer fraie en kleine voeten. Zijn vluch te voet, en zoo sterk, dat eenigen eenen stier, in vollen loop, gemakkelijk kunnen tegen houden, en doen stil staen. Begaeft boven gemeen met een grote mannelijkheit.

Het vrou-volk is klein van stal, inzonderheit onder de Kochoquas of Saldanhars, en worden daer eenigen zoo besneden van troni gevonden, (waer toe niet weinigh helpt, dat zy gene maselen, nochte kinder-pokken onderwarigh zijn,) als met een penzeel zoude kunnen afgetrokken worden, behalve dat zy wat platachtigh van neuze vallen. Dan vallen boven mate, versta de getroude, groot van boesem, ook zoo groot, dat zy de borsten, die zy los en bloot hebben hangen, den kinderen van achteren over de schouderen, daer zy die gemeenlijk op dragen, in den mont kunnen te zuigen geven; doch de ongetroude wederom niet. Het schijnt als of haer de voeringe los is, alzoo haer op zommige plaetsen wat uithangt.

Al de Kaffers of Hottentots, is een volk, berooft van alle wetenschap, en letteren; zeer plomp, en in verstant meer den beesten als menschen gelijk; hoewel eenigen, door het gestadigh verkeeren met d'onzen, de vonken van hunnen menschelijken aerdt allengs doen te voorschijn komen; gelijk zommigen ook aen 't Fort de Duitsche tale beginnen te begrijpen.

[p. 45]

The neck is moderately long, shoulders narrow, and arms rather long but quite slender and lean at the wrists. The hands are of good shape, and the fingers long, for they regard it as ornamental to let their finger nails grow like eagles' claws⁵⁸⁾. The belly with almost all of them is lean and slender and the buttocks protrude, with the result that the body, when stripped or lightly clad, is not evenly balanced. Their legs are fine and shapely, although often with slender calves; but the women especially have very pretty small feet. They are fleet-footed and so vigorous that some of them can easily keep up with a bull in full gallop and run it to a standstill⁵⁹⁾. They are endowed with male organs of more than usual size⁶⁰⁾.

The women are small in build, especially among the Kochoquas or Saldanhars. Some are found with features so regular (due in no small measure to the fact that they are not subject to measles or small-pox) that they could have been drawn with a pencil, except that they are somewhat flat in the nose. The married women, however, have exceedingly big bosoms, so big that their breasts, which hang loose and uncovered, can be passed back over the shoulders to suckle the children whom as a rule they carry there⁶¹⁾. But this does not hold for the unmarried ones. The lining of the body appears to be loose, so that in certain places part of it dangles out⁶²⁾.

All the Kafirs or Hottentots are people bereft of all science and literature, very uncouth, and in intellect more like beasts than men. Some, however, through steady intercourse with our countrymen, gradually let the sparks of their human nature come to light, just as several at the Fort are also beginning to grasp the Dutch language.

58) I have been unable to find any evidence in confirmation of this statement.

59) The swiftness of the Hottentots is mentioned by most of the early observers as being particularly noteworthy, and the ease with which they generally managed to flee from their pursuers is often commented upon. Fritsch, however, remarks with justice that their scanty clothing and their familiarity with the country inevitably gave them a considerable advantage over the fully-dressed Dutch with their heavy footwear, and adds that in his experience he found nothing to confirm the idea that the Hottentots were exceptionally fleet-footed (Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrikas, 304).

60) An exaggeration; there is nothing unusual in size about the genital organs of the male Hottentots.

61) Among the Hottentots a child was suckled till it was two or three years old. The mother, when going out on her daily occupations, carried it with her on her back in a lambskin passed under her arms and knotted over the breast. Dapper's reference to the mother's breast being pushed up over her shoulder so that the baby can suck while still on her back is confirmed by several later writers (cf. Schapera, Khoisan Peoples, 268).

62) This very discreetly worded sentence refers to the wellestablished fact that among Hottentot women the labia minora are sometimes considerably elongated, and may project as much as 60 mm. beyond the rima pudendi. This hypertrophy, the so-called ‘Hottentot apron’, has been regarded by some writers as artificially produced by manipulation, but Schultze, who has studied it carefully, maintains that it is a natural physiological characteristic (Zur Kenntnis des Körpers der Hottentotten, 185).

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Dan schoon deze land-aerds onbeslepen van herssenen, vuil en rouw van leven zijn, bewijzen echter de wet der volken zoo wel ongeschonden onder hen in onderhout te zijn, als onder de gemanierste volken van Europa: want behalven zy dat in meenige voorvallen hebben doen blijken, kan tot een stael, of proefstuk, daer van dienen, 't geen de Goringhaiquas of Kaepmans, die des jaers zestien hondert en negen-envijftigh met d'onzen in twist en oneenigheit vervallen waeren, op de vraegh, wat reden zy hadden om den onzen de onlusten aen te doen, en de beesten weg te roven, tot antwoort gaven, te weten, uit gene andere inzichten zulx te geschieden, als om hun leet en ongelijk te wreken, over het wegh-nemen en bezaien van hunne zailanden door d'onzen, gelijk alree vooren verhaelt is.

In milt en trouheit tegen hun naesten, schijnen zy de Neerlanders te beschamen, en ten aenziene als d'een wat heeft, dat den ander gewillighlijk zal mede delen: ja, al waert noch zoo klein, zoo trachten zy altijts met elkandre broederlijk te parten en te delen: want het stelen geschiet zomtijts onder hen, door 't eten van den wortel dacha, dien zy met water mengen, en indrinken, en daer door dronken worden, en hen dan onwetende te buiten gaen; anderen, geperst door armoede, zoeken wel hier en daer wat achterom te halen, doch moeten zulx, in 't licht gekomen, dier met de huit betalen. Dan zijn onbeschaemt, en laten om een klein stukje broot of tabak, al zien wat zy hebben.

Daer schijnt nochtans by hen ook een vonk van hovaerdye te zijn: want alsze by d'onzen aen het Fort van goeder hope komen, dan hangen zy hunne vuilste besmeerste en stinkenste vellen om, en hebben d'ooren en hals verciert, met rode en kopere gele kralen, achtende zich dan wonder prachtigh gestoffeert en uitgestreken te zijn.

Daer wort onder hen, in hoe slechten en armelijken staet zy leven, evenwel een hoog-hertigheit gevonden; gemerkt d'eene negerye tegen d'andere niet wil zwichten, en voor elkandre buigen; maer zullen veel liever den oorlogh aenzeggen. De geen, die de zege bevecht, speelt niet alleen heer en meester voor die reize, maer altijts braveert hy over zijnen overwonnen vyant.

[p. 47]

Dull-witted, dirty and coarse as these people are, they yet seem to preserve the law of nations as inviolate amongst them as it is among the most polished nations of Europe. Apart from the fact that they have shown this in several incidents, we can take as an example the answer given by the Goringhaiquas or Capemen, who in 1659 had fallen into strife and discord with our countrymen, to the question why they were troubling us and stealing away our cattle: they replied that they were doing so for no other reason than to avenge the suffering and injustice they had experienced at our taking away and sowing their lands, as has already been described⁶³⁾.

In generosity and loyalty to those nearest them, they appear to shame the Dutch. For instance, if one of them has anything he will willingly share it with another; no matter how small it may be, they will always endeavour to share and divide it amongst themselves in a brotherly manner⁶⁴⁾. It is true that stealing does sometimes occur among them, owing to their consumption of the root dacha, which they mix with water and drink, thereupon becoming drunk and unwittingly driven to excesses. Others, hard pressed by poverty, also try to smuggle away something here and there; but if discovered they must pay for this with their lives. They are, however, unashamed, and for a small piece of bread or tobacco will expose themselves entirely to your gaze⁶⁵⁾.

There appears nevertheless to be also a spark of dignity among them: for when they come to our countrymen at the Fort, they put on their most greasy and foul-smelling skins, and decorate their ears and throat with red and brasscoloured beads, deeming themselves then most beautifully arrayed.

They also possess a keen sense of pride, no matter in how bad and wretched a state they live; for one village will not yield or bow to another, but would far rather offer it war instead. The victor not only plays the part of lord and master on this occasion, but invariably also conducts himself arrogantly towards his conquered enemy.

63) See above, p. 13.

64) Many observers have commented favourably upon the liberality and hospitality of the Hottentots. A man in possession of food, tobacco, and other objects of common use, shares, and is expected to share, them with others, and greediness in this respect renders him an object of public scorn (Schapera, op. cit., 320).

65) Sir Thomas Herbert, writing in 1638, says of them: ‘I cannot commend their modesty, the women (upon receipt of anything) returning her gratitude by discovering her shame, a curtesie taught them by some ill-bred Boore, our men I hope have more civility’ (Some Yeares' Travel into Asia and Afrique, 16.) Cf. also Ten Rhyne (below, p. 115).

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Kleding der Mannen

De kleding of draght der Kaffers of Hottentots, is zonderlingh slordigh, slecht en van kleen belangh. De meesten, versta de mannen, hebben slechts een schapevacht of robben-vel of dassen-huit, of het vel van eenigh ander gedierte, op de maniere van een mantel onder geront, om de schouderen, en het boven en onder-lijf geslagen, tot aen de billen, met het ruich of hair gemeenlijk na buiten, of na binnen, en onder de kin toegebonden.

Dusdanige een mantel bestaen uit drie stukken, zeer net met zenuwen van beesten, in stede van garen, aen elkandre genait, gelijk by hen in plaetse van stale of yzere naelden, een hert scherp dorentje gebruikt wort, daer zy zich, by mangel van stale, byzonder mede weten te behelpen.

De Heusaquas gaen een weinigh anders gekleet, als de Hottentots aen de kaep van Goeder hope, te weten, hun manteltjes, gemaekt van vellen, zijn vol streepjes, en met riemtjes benait en behangen.

Behalve deze kleding, de gewoonlijke draght, hebben zy, wanneerze uit of op de reize gaen, noch een ander schapen vel, met de wol of ruichte na buiten, over de voorzeide onderste vacht hangen.

Het hooft-deksel is een muts, gemaekt van een jong lammeren vel, met het ruigh na binnen, en boven met een knopje, die zy des nachts, of als het regent, op-zetten.

De schoenen zijn gemaekt van een reinosters of neushorens vel daer by geen verslijten aen is, en bestaan uit een gantsch platten lap, achter en voor even hoogh, met een kruis van twee lere riemen op de ruch der voet vast gemaekt, en achter met een hielbant, gelijk de Kapucijnen dragen.

De schamelheit wort bedekt, en behangen met een klein velletje van een wilde bos-kat of bonten tyger, of jakhals, achter met twee neerhangenden riemtjes toegebonden.

Kleding der vrouwen.

De dracht der vrouwen is mede een mantel, gemaekt gemeenlijk van schapen vellen, over het boven lijf, met de wol na binnen; doch dragen die wat langer als de mans, en hebben daar beneven een vel om het onder-lijf gebonden, tot bedekking van hare naekte billen, en een vierkant velleken voor hare schamelheit.

Op 't hoof dragen zy mede een wel hoge en wijde muts, gemaekt van een schapen, dassen of robben vel, die zy met een brede schapen vellen riem om 't hooft toebinden, by na op een zelve maniere, gelijk de Vriesche of Molquerer vrouwen een lakensche wijde muts of lap dragen, met een

[p. 49]

Clothing of the Men.

The clothing of the Kafirs or Hottentots is singularly sordid and mean, and of little interest. Most of the men have only a sheep's fleece or sealskin or rock-rabbit hide, or the skin of some other animal, rounded below in the shape of a cloak. This is tucked over the shoulders, covering the upper and lower parts of the body down to the buttocks, and is fastened under the chin. The furry or hairy side is commonly turned either outwards or inwards. A cloak of this kind consists of three portions, cleverly stitched together with animal sinews instead of thread (just as instead of steel or iron needles they use a hard and sharp little thorn, with which they can manage very well in the absence of steel). The Heusaquas go about dressed somewhat differently from the Hottentots at the Cape; their little skin cloaks are full of leather strips sewn on and dangling down.

Apart from this, their customary garment, they wear on journeys still another sheepskin, which hangs with its woolly side outwards over the skin already mentioned.

The head is covered with a cap made from the skin of a young lamb, with the hairy side turned in, and with a little pommel on top. They put this on at night or when it rains. Their shoes consist of quite flat and uniformly level patches of tough rhinoceros hide, which cannot be worn out, fastened to the ridge of the foot by two leather cross-strips, and at the back by a heel-band, similar to that worn by the Capuchin friars. The genitals are covered over with a tiny bit of wild bush cat, spotted leopard or jackal skin, fastened at the back with two little dangling riems.

Clothing of the Women.

The clothing of the women is also a cloak, usually of sheep skin, which is worn over the upper part of the body, with the woolly surface inwards, and is somewhat longer than that of the men. In addition, they have another skin tied round the lower part of the body, to cover the naked buttocks, and a small rectangular bit of skin in front of the pudenda. On the head they also wear a fairly high and wide cap, made from the skin of a sheep, rock-rabbit or seal. They tie this to the head with a broad strip of

[p. 50]

brede zelfkant los toegebonden. Zijn anders van de mannen in kleding niet te onderscheiden, gelijk haer schoenen mede van een zelfste maeksel en stoffe zijn, als die van de mans. Gelijk hun kledingn slecht en slordigh is, zoo bestaet mede het optoisel en çieradje des lichaems meer in een slordige, dan nette zinnelijkheit.

Çieraedjen.

De mans hebben het hair verçiert met kopere plaetjes, duite, witte horentjes en grote kralen, en scheren dat op zommige plaetsen wat af, en laten dat hier en daer wat staen, byna op een zelve wijze, gelijk hier te lande de waterhonde geschoren worden.

De mans plukken al het hair om de kin uit, en beschilderen of bestrijken het aenzicht met zwarte verruwe, om zich zwart te maken, 't welk by hen voor een grote çieraet gehouden wort; desgelijx besmeren zy hun lichaem en aenzicht met smeer en vet; zoo dat zy in alles beestachtig, wilt, ruig, en vuil van leven zijn^*; en daer uit zien als ofze noit gewassen waren. De strantlopers, dat zijn de Hottentots, die dicht aen de kaep op strant wonen, en gewoon zijn aen de schepen der Neerlanders te komen, vervoegen zich datelijken by de koks ketel, en besmeren en bestrijken zich met het vet en het zwart van de ketel; gelijk ook zelfs de oversten, dus uitgestreken te zijn, voor een çieraet houden.

De zommigen hebben tot çieraet hun eigen huit met kerven en sneden doorhakkeit, daer zy eenigh vet of ongel insteken, waer door zy zeer komen te stinken, en zulk een bange en sterke ruik van zich te geven, dat men hun aenkomste op honderd treden gewaer wort.

Vee-rijke luiden, beide mannen en vrouwen, hebben de buitenste zijde hunner manteltjes, desgelijx de mutzen, wel vet en zacht besmeert, 't welk een teken van vee-rijkheit in heeft: aangezien noit geen Hottentot, een byzonder persoon, en arm van vee, met een bezmeert manteltje gezien wort, maer draegt dat mager en onbezmeert, gelijk al de Goringhaikonas of Watermans, die geheel en al geen vee hebben, en zeer arm zijn, schrale en onbesmeerde manteltjes aen hebben; uitgezondert hun overste, met name Choro, die, nevens zijnen broeder, met besmeerde vellen om 't lijf behangen gaet. Desgelijx gaen byna al d'oversten en koningen, 's konings dochters, als de koningh der Kochoquas, onder ander, zijn onder-koningh, en derde

* cf. Hondius (op. cit., 562): ‘zoo dat zij in alles zeer ongeregeld zijn en in alles beestachtigh, wild, Ruyg ende vuyl van leven.’

[p. 51]

sheepskin, almost in the same manner as the Friesland or Molquerer women wear a broad linen cap or clout, loosely tied with a wide band. In other details of clothing they cannot be distinguished from the men. Their shoes also are made in the same way and of the same material as those of the men.

Ornamentation.

Just as their clothing is sordid and mean, so too their bodily adornment and decoration is slovenly in style rather than tidy. The men have their hair decorated with small copper plates, doits, small white horns and big coral beads. From some spots they shave it off altogether, leaving patches here and there, just like spaniels are shaven here at home. They pluck out all the hair from the chin, and paint or smear the face to make themselves black, which is held to be a great decoration amongst them. So, too, they smear their bodies and faces with grease and fat, so that altogether they are beastly, savage, coarse and dirty in habit, and consequently look as if they never wash. The Beachrangers, or Hottentots living along the shore of the Cape, are accustomed to come to the ships of the Dutch, when they make at once for the cook's kettle, to smear and streak themselves with the grease and soot upon it. Even the chiefs deem it a decoration to be done up all over like this. Some have for decoration chipped their own skins with notches and cuts,⁶⁶⁾ into which they put some fat or grease, with the result that they come to stink excessively, giving out such a fearfully strong odour that you are aware of their approach a hundred yards away.

Men and women with many cattle smear the outer sides of their cloaks and caps soft with fat. This is a sign of wealth; for no common Hottentot, poor in cattle, is ever seen with a greasy cloak, wearing his instead dry and unsmeared. Thus the Goringhaikonas or Watermen, none of whom have any cattle and who are consequently very poor, all wear dry, unsmeared cloaks; except for their chief Choro,⁶⁷⁾ who, like his brother, has greasy skins

66) Scarification seems to have been employed amongst the Cape Hottentots, and still is among the Naman, not for decoration but in connexion with many different ceremonies, such as the boys' puberty rites, hunting rites, remarriage, etc. The person officiating makes a number of small cuts on the body of the individual concerned, and the wounds are rubbed with ashes, producing slight permanent scars (Schapera, op. cit., 72).

67) Sic. Choro was the chief of the Gorachouquas, not of the Goringhaikonas.

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perzoon in 't rijk, en zijne dochter Namis, met een zeer vet besmeert schapen-vel omhangen.

De beide ooren zijn hen verçiert met grote bossen kralen, hun voornaemste çieraet en rijkdom, die zy van d'onzen tegen beeste handelen, daer onder zommige bossen, negen, tien, en elf strengen dik zijn, ieder streng wel een vierendeel ponts zwaer.

Vee-rijke Hottentots, inzonderheit, hebben den hals verçiert met rode en gele kopere krale kettingen, die zy daer zelfs maken; en dragen om de armen een elpenbenen ringh, en voor na de hand ringen van koper, (want hun voornaemste çieraed en pronk is meê koper) of van een stoffe tusschen gout en zilver, die zoo dicht daer op sluiten, dat d'armen daer van smerten, en bywijlen zich tot zweren zetten; zonder evenwel die af te leggen. Zy dragen mede tot çieraet darmen van eenige beesten, met vet met al, versch en stinkend, twee of driemael in elkandre gevlochten, zoo wel des daeghs als des nachts, wanneer zy slapen, om den hals; desgelijks hebben beide mannen en vrouwen, de benen vol gedrooghte darm-ringen hangen, eensdeels om voor het scherp steken der doornen bevrijd te zijn, anderdeels om, wanneer zy met danzen vreught bedrijven, wat geschals en geraes daer door te maken. De mans verbergen in de darmen, die zy om den hals hebben, tabak, pijpen en andere snuiseryen, in plaets van een zak.

Zommigen hebben om den hals ook eenige worteltjes hangen, die zy diep uit het lant, uit den gront der rivieren halen, en onder het reizen op eenige gevaerlijke plaetsen van leeuwen, luiperden, of wolven, by het vuur (ontsteken, ter plaetze, daer zy vernachten, tot af-keering van dit wilt gedierte) kauwen tot kleine stukjes en brokjes; welk kauwzel zy dan rontom uit den mont blazen en spuwen, met vast betrouwen, dat daer zulk een kracht by is, dat geen dier die reuk en smaek, (hoewel deze wortelen reuk en smakeloos zijn,) kan verdragen, nochte kracht hebben, om op hen aen te komen, zoo dat zy alle des nachts daer op gerustelijk gaen nederleggen.

In het uitgaen hebben zy gewoonlijk een vogel-struis-veer, of een stokje, met een wilde katten-stert, zou in hun tale genoemt, overtogen, in de een hant, om daer mede in plaets van een neusdoek het stof en zant, en de vliegen, daer het

[p. 53]

hanging round his body. So, too, almost all the chiefs and kings, and the daughters of the kings, go about wearing very greasy sheepskins, like the King of the Kochoquas, among others, his subordinate king, the third lord of his kingdom, and his daughter Namis.

They adorn both ears with big bunches of coral beads, their principal ornament and wealth, which they barter from our countrymen with cattle. Some of these bunches contain nine, ten or eleven strings, each string weighing about a quarter of a pound. Wealthy Hottentots, in particular, adorn their necks with chains of red and yellow copper beads, which they make themselves. They also wear an ivory bracelet round the arm, and on the wrists hang rings of copper (their principal ornament and display) or of a metal between gold and silver.⁶⁸⁾ They carry so many of these rings that their arms ache and at times begin to fester, but still they do not remove them. Another decoration worn round the neck, both by day and at night when they are asleep, is the guts of certain animals, with fat and all, fresh or stinking, twisted two or three times about each other. Both men and women also have their legs hung full of rings of dry gut, partly as protection against the sharp jabs of thorns, but partly also to produce a rattling sound when they amuse themselves by dancing. The men carry tobacco, pipes and other trinkets in the rings of gut round their necks, instead of in a bag.

Some also hang certain roots round the neck, which they fetch far inland from river soil. On a journey, when they camp at places dangerous because of lions, leopards or hyenas, they sit round the fire (kindled wherever they rest for the night, in order to keep off the wild beasts), and chew these roots to small pieces and fragments. These they then blow and spit out around them, firmly believing that no animal can withstand the smell and taste of the roots (which actually are odourless and tasteless), nor be able to come up to them, so that they can lie there peacefully all night through.⁶⁹⁾

When going about, they usually have in the one hand an ostrich feather, or a stick with the tail of a wild cat

68) Hondius, from whom this sentence seems to have been lifted, merely says: Zy hebben ook Arm-ringen van een stoffe tussghen Goud en Koper gelykt (‘they also have arm-rings of a material which looks like something between gold and copper’). In all probability the reference is to raw native copper.

69) The use of amulets by the Hottentots was by no means uncommon, and protective rites such as that described by Dapper have persisted down to the present day (cf. Schapera, op. cit., 394).

[p. 54]

lant wonder vol af is, uit neus en oogen te vegen en af te keren; en in d'andere hant een slechte asagaye.^*

De vrouwen gaen noit uit, zonder een lere vierkante zak, daer onder aen elk einde een bosch quasten by neerhangt, op den ruch te hebben; altijts opgevult met d'eene of d'andere kleinigheden of snuizeryen; zomwijlen noch wel een kint daer by, tot grote belemmering van haren gang en wandel.

* Cf. Hondius, op cit., 563: ‘Sommighe hebben in d'een hand een sgherp stokjen...zijnde een soorte van haar assagayen. In d'ander hand hebben zy een kleyn stokjen daar een vossen of katten-steert of diergelijkke overtogen is, ofte in plaats van dien hebben zy Pluymen van Struys-vogels, 't welk zij voor een neusdoek gebruyken om 't Sweet daar mede af te veegen, ofte om de vliegen daarmede af te keeren, daar het Land tot verwonderens toe vol af is.’

Wapenen.

De wapenen dezer volken bestaen in pijl en boge, en schichten of slechte asagayen, welke zijn stokjes van drie, vier, en vijf voeten lang, op het een einde met een breet yzer beslagen, doch voor scherp, dat zy zelfs weten te smeden, en daer te maken. Tamelijk weten zy die te hanteren en daer mee te werpen; en hebben gewoonlijk in het uitgaen, in d'eene hant zulk een asagaye, en in d'andere een stokje met een katten steert overtogen, gelijk aenstonts gezeit is. Schiet-geweer is tot noch toe by hen in geen gebruik.

Spijze.

Wat hun spijze belanght; zy eeten weinigh groente, dan alleen zeker slagh van ronde worteltjes, hun dagelix voetzel, van grote als aerd-ekelen, die de vrouwen dagelix uit de revieren, en andere plaetzen gaen graven, en dan gekookt of gebraden, na de lust strekt, op eeten. Zy slachten geen vee om t'eeten, of moet door krankheit, ouderdom, of verleemtheit onbequam zijn, om den trop te volgen; desgelijx geene schapen, uitgezondert, wanneer twee in den echten staet vereenigen. Zy weten hun voedzel, gelijk andere wilden, niet te bereiden, noch toe te maken, maer vallen op de gestorve beesten gelijk honden, en eten dezelve met het ingewant en darmen, de drek ten ruigsten daer uit geschut, of met de tanden uitgeduwt, raeuw op, en zelden gekookt.^**

** Another plagiarism from Hondius, who says: ‘Zy weten haar voedsel, gelijk veel andre wilden niet toe te maakken of te bereyden, maar vallen op de gestorven beesten gelijk de Honden,... Alle Gedierte eten zij met het Ingewand met al op, de darmen alleen wat uit-gesghut sonder wassen soo als het geslagt of gevonden is eeten sy al rauw met vellen met al op’ (op. cit., 561).

[p. t.o. 54]

How the Hottentots treat New-born Babes.
(Notice in the background the child exposed to death in the grass, and another being buried alive in the side of a mound.)
[After Kolb.

[p. 55]

tied to it (called zou in their language). They use this instead of a handkerchief to wipe the dust and sand out of their nose and eyes, and to keep off the flies of which that land is marvellously full. In the other hand they carry a crude assegai.

The women never go out without having on the back a rectangular skin bag, at the bottom of which a bunch of tassels hangs down at each end. It is always filled with various small trinkets and trifles. Sometimes they also carry a child as well, to the great hindrance of their movements.

Weapons.

The weapons of these people consist in bows and arrows, and darts or crude assegais⁷⁰⁾. The latter are sticks three, four and five feet long, covered at one end with a broad but sharp-pointed iron head, which they are able themselves to forge and shape. They handle and throw these rather well. Usually when they go out they have in the one hand an assegai of this sort, and in the other a small stick to which is attached a cat's tail, as has just been stated. Firearms they do not as yet use.

70) Maingard, in a careful historical study, decides that the Hottentots did not originally know the bow and arrow, but borrowed these weapons from their Bushman neighbours, probably at a time subsequent to the arrival of the Europeans in South Africa (South African Journal of Science, xxix, 712 f., 721.) It must be remembered that when Dapper wrote no clear distinction was made at the Cape between Bushmen and Hottentots, who were regarded as people of the same race and culture.

Food.

As far as their food is concerned, they eat little by way of vegetables, except for certain species of bulbs, as big as ground nuts. This is their daily provender, which the women go every day to dig from the rivers and other places and then eat cooked or roasted, according to taste. They slaughter no cattle for food, except those which owing to sickness, old age or lameness are unable to follow the herd; nor any sheep, except when two people get married. Like other savages, they do not know how to prepare or dress their food⁷¹⁾, but fall on the dead beast like dogs, eating it

71) Dapper scarcely does the Hottentots justice. The description he gives may be true of the poverty-stricken and wretched beachranging Hottentots, but the others not only cooked, roasted or baked their food in various different ways, but also, when plenty of meat was available, would cut it into thin strips, which were salted and dried in the air, and could then be preserved for a considerable time, a practice from which the Boer method of making ‘biltong’ is probably derived. (See Schapera, op. cit., 238).

[p. 56]

Wanneer zy geen dode beesten vinden, zoeken zy de dode visch by strant, desgelijx klip-kousen en alikruiken en mosselen. Zy vinden ook grote smaek in 't vleesch van zeehonden of robben, die zy 's nachts (want dan komen deze beesten by duizenden aen strant, en blaten als kalven,) met stokken dootslaen, en raeu, of half gaer en ongewassen in 't vuur gebraden op eeten; gelijk zy mede niet vreemt van het spek van walvisschen en andere zee-gedrogten zijn, die zoo nu en dan komen te stranden. Het is gebeurt, dat zy de traen van een gestrande walvisch, aen de zoute reviere, door de zon daer uit gebraden, met hele handen vol daer uit schepten, en zoo in slorpten, en stukken daer uit sneden, en onder het zant begroeven, om naderhant te eeten. By wijlen rukken zy stukken van hun herde schapen of robbevellen mantels, met hun tanden, en eeten die, slechts een weinigh op kolen gebraden, op. De Strant-lopers, dat zijn de Hottentots, die dicht aen het strant, en de kaep van Goeder hope wonen, en aen de schepen der Neerlanders komen, vervoegen zich aenstonts by de koks-ketel, en nemen, zoo zy kunnen, het vet, dat boven op de vleesch-ketel drijft, met hele handen vol daer af, en slingeren dat zonder broot in 't lijf. Grote smaek hebben zy in ons broot, daer zy willig beesten aen verruilen. De Saldanhars of Kochoquas, en andere ontrent gelegen Hottentots, leven in den drogen zomer-tijt by hun vee, maer des winters by zekeren worteltjes, die in den regen tijt in d'aerde groeien. De honingh, die daer in de bosschen valt, eeten zy met wasch met al, gelijk op. Hunnen kranken geven zy gemeenlijk kools, witte kees, en mostaerts bladen, met een weinigh geklopt spek daer onder gekookt, t'eeten.

Hun drank is water, of melk van hun beesten; dan snakken en zijn zeer gretigh na brandewijn en Spaenschen wijn, desgelijx na tabak; doch worden van een weinigh zat en smoor dronken; als wanneer zy groot misbaer met schreeuwen en ratelen bedrijven.

Hantwerk.

Zy bemoeien zich byna met geen hantwerken en kunsten, dan met biezen te bereiden, daer van sy matten maken, om hun huizen te bedekken;^* en met de veehoedery van koe-beesten en schapen. Zoo veel echter hebben zy den onzen afgekeken, dat zy het scherp van hun flitzen en asagayen van oudt yzer, dat zy hier en daer van d'onzen verworpen vinden, zelfs kunnen smeden; dan gebruiken daer toe niet, als een steen tot een ambeelt, en een hamer, en maken het yzer smijdig met houts-kolen.

* Cf. Hondius (563): ‘Wat haar Hanteringe belanghd zoo is haar voornaamste Werk Biezen te bereyden, daar van zy matten maken om haar Huyzen te bedekken.’

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raw, and seldom cooked, with entrails and guts as well, first however, pressing out the excrement backwards or squeezing it out with the teeth.

When they find no dead animals, they look along the shore for dead fish, and for limpets, periwinkles and oysters. They also delight in the flesh of sea-dogs or seals, which they kill at night with sticks when these beasts come by thousands to the beach and bleat like calves. The meat they consume raw, or roasted in the fire half done and unwashed. They are likewise no strangers to the blubber of whales and other sea monsters which are now and then washed up on shore. It has happened that they scooped out by handfuls, and gulped down like that, the sun-dried blubber of a whale stranded in the Salt River, also cutting out pieces which they buried under the sand to eat later⁷²⁾. At times they tear pieces with their teeth out of their hard sheepskin or sealskin cloaks, and eat these only slightly roasted on coals. The Beachrangers, or Hottentots living along the shore at the cape, come to the ships of the Dutch, and betake themselves at once to the kitchen, where, if they can, they remove whole handfuls of the fat floating on top of the meat kettle, and toss it into their mouths withous bread. They are very fond of our bread, for which they willingly exchange cattle. The Saldanhars or Kochoquas and other neighbouring Hottentots live in the dry summer time on their cattle, but in the winter on certain roots growing in the ground during the rainy season. The honey which collects on the bushes they eat with wax and all. Their sick people they usually feed on cabbage, mallow and mustard leaves, cooked with a little stamped blubber.

They drink water or the milk of their cattle, but also hanker very greedily after brandy and Spanish wine, as well as tobacco; although they become sated and drunk from only a little, when they create a tremendous tumult of shouting and babbling.

72) The incident is referred to in van Riebeeck's Dagverhaal, March 1-6, 1654.

Industry.

They trouble themselves with hardly any handicrafts or industries, other than preparing rushes from which to make mats for covering their huts, and herding their cattle and sheep. By watching our countrymen, however, they have learned to forge for themselves the points of their darts and assegais from bits of old iron, which they find thrown away by us here and there.⁷³⁾ They use nothing more than one stone as an anvil, and another as a hammer, and make the iron malleable with charcoal.

73) Wagenaar, in the memorandum left for the information of his successor, says in this connexion: ‘To sell them thin square bar iron, as the Cochoquas would have recently wished, is by no means advisable, as they know how to beat it into pickysers, or sharp points for their arrows and assegais, and to harden it very tolerably; so, that, should they come again to ask for this iron, you should, upon one pretence or another, decline supplying it.’ (Moodie, Record, 291.)

[p. 58]

Ernering.

De Goringhaikonas of Watermans, die dicht aen de kaep wonen, erneren zich met visch te vangen, (naerdien zy geen vee gelijk d'anderen hebben,) die zy uit armoede aen d'onzen voor broot en tabak verhandelen. Al de meeste anderen hebben geen kennis van visch te vangen, noch eenige vaertuigh om de zee te gebruiken; zulx al hun reizen, te lande, te voet geschiet, wanneer zy van plaets willen verwisselen, of hun mede-makkers bezoeken. In stede van peerden hebben zy grote ossen, daer op zy hunne omslagh en goederen van d'eene plaets tot d'andere doen vervoeren, en leiden en bestieren dezelve door middel van een hout, door de neus gedaen, als met een toom.

De Kochoquas of Saldanhars erneren zich alle met de vee-hoedery, en hebben over de hondert duizent beesten, alle even schoon, en wel eens zoo veel schapen, niet met wol, maer met langachtigh gekleurt hair. De kleine en grote Karichuriquas en Hosaas erneren zich mede, geltjk hunne gebuur-volken, de Kochoquas of Saldanhars, met zeer schoon en meenighvuldigh vee, hun eenighste hope en vertrouwen; want deze volken hebben in den drogen zomer-tijt niet anders, dan van hun vee te leven; maer 's winters, gelijk gezeit is, in den regentijdt, groeien daer zekre worteltjes in d'aerde, hun gewoonelijke spijze. Geen onder al de Hottentots zaien of planten, dan alleen de Heusaquas, die zich met het planten van den wortel dacha erneren.

Velen, inzonderheit de Goringhaiquas, of Kaep-mans, erneren zich met den jacht, die by hen in dezer wijze geschiet; wanneer zy by nacht eenigh wilt gedierte vernemen, 't zy olifanten, elanden, reinosters, leeuwen, tigers, bokken of peerden, dan springen alle weerbare mannen uit, en maken luitruchtigh een groot geschreeu en geluidt, waer door het dier uit vreze wijkt; maer zoo by daghe eenigh verscheurend wilt-gedierte verschijnt, dan springht al uit wat wapenen kan voeren, wel ten getale van twee of drie hondert, elk verzien met twee of drie asagaien, en vervoegen zich alle in 't ronde, om het gedierte, met schrikkelijk te roepen en schreeuwen, zoo lange tot dat het wilt zich uit de ruichte op de vlucht begeeft: als dan past ieder wat te raken, om niet gequetst of vernielt te worden, gelijk zulx bywijlen wel gebeurt, en het wilt te treffen. In

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Subsistence.

The Goringhaikonas or Watermen close to the Cape do not have cattle like the rest, and accordingly live by catching fish, which through poverty they trade to our countrymen for bread and tobacco. Most of the others do not know how to fish, nor have they any vessels to use on the sea. Similarly all their journeys by land take place on foot when they wish to change their camp or visit their friends. Instead of horses they have big oxen, on which they transport their shelters and goods from one place to another. They lead and guide the oxen by means of a small stick passed through the nose like a bridle.⁷⁴⁾

The Kochoquas or Saldanhars all maintain themselves by animal husbandry. They have over a hundred thousand horned cattle, all fine beasts, and about as many sheep again, which instead of wool have longish coloured hair. The Little and Great Karichuriquas and Hosaas, like their neighbours the Kochoquas, live on an abundance of fine cattle. This is their one hope and trust, for all these people have nothing else than their cattle on which to live in the dry summer time; but in the winter, which as already mentioned is also the rainy season, certain little roots, their usual food, grow in the ground. Nome of all the Hottentots cultivate the soil, save only the Heusaquas, who support themselves by planting the root dacha.

Many of the Hottentots, especially the Goringhaiquas or Capemen, hunt as a means of livelihood. Hunting among them is conducted as follows: whenever at night they hear any wild animal, be it elephant, eland, rhinoceros, leopard, buck or horse, then all the able-bodied men rush out, shouting or clamouring loudly, so that the animal retreats out of fear. But if any beast of prey appears in the daytime, then all who can bear arms, even as many as two or three hundred, each armed with a couple of assegais, rush out shouting and screaming violently, and proceed to surround the animal. They keep this up until it attempts to flee back out of the undergrowth, when everyone must

74) Even within quite recent times young oxen were trained by the Hottentots to carry burdens or to be ridden. The packoxen were used for carrying the mats and poles of the huts, together with a few household utensils, bound on securely with riems. The riding-oxen were generally guided by a bridle of raw hide, attached to a piece of wood or leather passed through the cartilage of the nose and serving as a bit (Schapera, op. cit., 297).

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dezer wijze trekken de Kaep-mans, inzonderheit op den wilt-vangst der voornoemde dieren.

Echt.

Wanneer een perzoon door liefde op d'eene of andere dochter ontsteken is, verzoekt hy aen zijnen vader, om dezelve te mogen trouwen, en gaet dan, na bekomen verlof, by den vader en de moeder van de dochter, met zeer ernstelijk versoek van d'eere te mogen genieten, om met haere dochter in den huwelijken staet te treden. Zoo wanneer nu d'ouders in dien voorslag des minnaers bewilligen, bevint de dochter haer genootzaekt, 't zy met wil of onwil, hem in liefde aen te nemen, en geeft haer bruidegom in plaets van een goude keting een vetten koedarm om den hals, dien hy zo lang moet dragen, tot dat dezelve door slijtinge komt af te vallen; 't welk so veel als de bevestinge der trou is.

Dan worden twe der vetste schapen uit de gehele negerye gezocht, en voor dit nieuw ge-echte paer geslacht, en eensdeels gezoden, anderdeels gebraden op-gedischt: daer ook niemant dan deze twee luiden en de ouders mogen van eten; gemerkt anders het huwelijk niet voor bondig en wettigh gehouden en aengenomen worden. De vellen, aen kleine stukken gesneden, en 't hair daer afgeschraept, worden op hete kolen gelegt, en dan, doch eerst op een steen geklopt, by hen met grote zmaek opgegeten. De bruilof duurt niet langer, dan dien eenen dagh, nochte geene andere plechtelijkheden worden onder trouwen of bruiloft houden gebruikt.

Aengaende de trouhertigheit en liefde tusschen getrouwde en ongetrouwde, die is, gelijk hier te lande, verscheide. Men vint 'er mannen, die naulix hun vrouwen een half jaer gehadt hebben, of zien niet eens meer daer na om, en laten haer lopen voor 't geen dat zy zijn: zulx d'onderlinge genegentheit daer door t'eenemael komt af te sterven. Anderen in tegendeel dragen zulk een grote liefde tot de vrouwen, als by eenigen Neerlander gevonden kan worden, van gelijken de vrouwen weer tot hare mannen. Tot bewijs van onderlinge trouhertige minneliefde onder deze wilde menschen, dienen twee merkwaardige stukken, gebeurt aldaer voor eenige weinigh jaren; het een van een weduwe, die door droefheit en rouwe over de doodt van haren man, in een kuil vol hout en in brant gestoken, sprong, en haer zelve verbrande; het ander van een jonge dochter, die haer uit mistroostigheit van eenen steenrots te bersten liet vallen, ter oorzake de ouders haren vryer, over het beslapen van deze dochter, in hun wederwil, strengelijk met doornen doen gezelen hadden.

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try to hit it, lest he be wounded or destroyed, as does actually happen at times. That is how the Capemen set out especially to hunt the animals just mentioned.

Marriage.

Whenever a man falls in love with some girl or other, he asks permission from his father to marry her. This granted, he goes to the girl's father and mother, with the earnest request that he may have the honour of marrying their daughter. Should the parents then favour his suit, the girl finds herself, willynilly, obliged to accept him in love. She puts the fatty gut of a cow round the neck of the bridegroom, instead of a golden chain, and this he must wear until it rots away of its own accord. This in effect is a confirmation of the marriage.

Two of the fattest sheep in the whole village are then sought out and slaughtered for this newly-married couple, and dished up partly boiled, partly roasted. No one but these two people and their parents may eat of this meat, lest the marriage be not considered or accepted as binding and lawful. The skins of the sheep, cut to small pieces and the hair all scraped off, are laid on hot coals, and then, after being pounded on a stone, are eaten with great relish. The wedding does not last longer than one day, nor are any other ceremonies celebrated in connexion with marriage⁷⁵⁾.

The attachment and love between married, as between unmarried, people varies, just as it does with us. One finds men who have scarcely been married for half a year before they no longer care for their wives or even trouble about them, so that their mutual affection soon dies away. Others on the contrary have as great a love for their wives as can be found among any of the Dutch, and so too have the women for their husbands. As instances of true mutual love among these savages, we may mention two remarkable episodes which happened there a few years ago. In the one a widow, through sadness and grief at the loss of her husband, sprang into a pit full of wood which had been set alight, and burned herself to death. In the other, a young girl, rendered disconsolate because her parents had severely whipped her lover on finding that he had slept with her against their will, threw herself down from a rock and was smashed to pieces.

75) Dapper's description of Hottentot marriage ceremonies, while confirmed in the main by the writings of other observers, is by no means complete. A far more detailed account is given by Grevenbroek (see below, p. 201).

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Onder de getrouden wort gantsch weinigh jaloersheit bespeurt, niet tegenstaende wel een paert by donker in een onrechte stal komt te raken. Dan grotelix wort d'overtreder, indien zulx in 't licht komt, uit bevel van den overste gestraft.

Overlijden.

De Kaffers of Hottentots zijn zeer lang-levend; want de meeste, zoo mans als vrouwen, bereiken den trap van tachtig, tnegentig, hondert, hondert tien, twintig, en meer jaren.

De gestorvene Hottentots worden al zittende, moedernaekt en zonder eenigh gewaet aen, in een diepe put gezet, daer na aerde over 't hooft gestolpt, met een grote hope stenen daer boven op, om door het wilt gedierte niet uit het graf (want zy willen de lijken niet verslonden hebben) gehaelt te worden.

Wanneer een man of vrouw overleden, en het lijk ter aerde is besteet, dan moeten al de vrienden, tot wel in den derden graet, schoon het maer een kint van een vierendeel jaers was, volgens een oud gebruik, de pink der linken hant af-kappen, om in 't graf by den doden gelegt te worden: dan zoo d'overleden by zijn leven veerijk zy geweest, en eenige vrienden nalaet, op wie dit vee zoude komen te versterven, het zy d'eene zuster van d'andere; de moeder van de groot-moeder; de dochter van de moeder (want dit maer alleenlijk aen het vrouw-volk gepleegt wort,) moeten dezelve van ieder pink een lit verliezen, eer zy het vee, zonder uitterste wille, mogen na zich nemen: want de kranke vermagh niet het minste op zijn doodt-bedde wegh te schenken, als aen den genen, die het erffelijk toekomt.

Dan niet geerne zien zy, dat iemant komt te sterven, en doen, zoo dra iemant in eene krankheit stort, eenen heel-meester halen, die, geheel en al geen gereetschap, nochte de minste zalve by zich heeft, als een scherp aen wederzijde snijdend mesje, met een lang yzertje, voor met een kopje. Dees dan komt den kranke bezoeken, en met het mesje in den ruch ader-laten; en doet op d'armen, met

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Very little jealousy is found amongst the married people, even although a man sometimes takes himself to the wrong bed at night. The transgressor, if this comes to light, is then punished severely at the command of the chief.

Death.

The Kaffirs or Hottentots are very longlived, for most of them, both men and women, reach the ages of eighty, ninety, one hundred, one hundred and ten, one hundred and twenty years and even more⁷⁶⁾.

Dead Hottentots are placed in a sitting position and stark naked⁷⁷⁾ into a deep pit, which is then filled in with earth. On top of this is piled a great heap of stones, so that the corpse may not be dug out of the grave by wild beasts and devoured.

When someone has died, even if it was only a child three months old, and the corpse has been interred, all the relations up to the third degree must, according to old usage, have the little finger of the left hand chopped off to be laid in the grave with the dead person⁷⁸⁾. If the deceased had during her lifetime possessed many cattle which she bequeathed to some relative such as a sister or daughter, the latter (for this applies only to women) must remove a joint from the little finger of each hand before she may take over the cattle in the absence of a last testament; for a sick person may not give away the slightest thing on his deathbed except to those who would lawfully inherit it.

They are loath to see anybody die, and whenever someone falls ill they accordingly fetch a healer. The latter, apart from a sharp double-bladed little knife and a long bit of iron with a small knob at the end, has absolutely no equipment, not even the least bit of ointment. He comes to the patient, whom he bleeds in the back with his knife; he then applies the glowing bit of iron to the patient's

76) The apparent longevity of the Bushmen and Hottentots is still a matter of popular comment in newspapers, but while it is true that individuals may occasionally reach a ripe old age, there is actually no reason to believe that longevity is a general characteristic of the people. It should also be noted that among them the skin, owing to paucity of adipose tissue, readily forms into deep wrinkles and folds, especially on the face, even in fairly young and well-nourished people, so that individuals may often look much older than they really are. Cf. Ten Rhyne's remarks on the same topic, p. 123, below.

77) This statement is contradicted by most other writers on the burial customs of the Hottentots. As a rule the dead person was wrapped and tied up in the kaross he wore during life, and then buried (Schapera, op cit., 360 ff.)

78) The practice of finger mutilation by the Hottentots is confirmed by many later writers, but not in all the details mentioned by Dapper. It appears from the available information to have been observed (a) by women who had lost their husbands, and were wishing to remarry, (b) on children whose immediate predecessors had died young, and whose mothers then performed the operation on them as a protective rite against a similar fate (Schapera, op cit., 72).

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het gloeyend yzertje gebrant, eenigh kruit, daer te lande wassende, met versch gekookte zoete melk druipen. Deze meesters zijn kennelijk aen hunne veelvoudige worteltjes, leurtjes, en veel andere snuizeryen en kleinigheden, die zy om den hals hebben hangen, van gelijken ook de meestressen.

Straffen der Misdaden van Diefstallen.

De genen, die zich over eenige diefstallen misgrijpen, en elkandre eenige beuzelingen, leuren of snuizeryen ontnemen, worden, daer op betrapt, door hunne koning of choeque zelven, met een stok geslagen, zonder eenige zwaerder straffe den zelven aen te doen. Dan die elkandren grof en groot bestelen, te weten des nachts in den slaep elkandren den rijkdom (die by hen in kralen bestaet) van den hals en uit d'ooren nemen, worden, zoo by hun de dieverye en d'aenrechter in 't licht koomt, zwaerder straffe aangedaen; desgelijx lijden de genen, die den eenen of den anderen zijne beesten of schapen af-stelen, en die weder aen anderen verhandelen, dezelve straffe, als over den diefstal der kralen, in volgender wijze. De misdadige wort eerstelijk eenen dagh, handen en voeten vast gebonden, zonder eten of drinken gelaten: dan gaen des anderen daegs eenigen der outsten aen de choeque, om te vragen, of met het recht ('t welk geschiet zonder eenig verdoeming of verwijzinge, hoewel niet zonder bewijs, doch zonder een letter op 't papier te stellen) zal voort gevaren worden: waer op de koning met een groot gevolgh van volken, die hem als lijfswachten, doch zonder wapenen, verselschappen, ontrent eenen boom verschijnt, daer hy dan gebiet den misdadigen voor hem te brengen. Dees wort dan aen den boom gebonden, en wel strengelijk gegeselt over 't gantsche lijf, te weten, van achteren, dat hem 't bloet by zijn lijf tappelings op de voeten komt te lopen. Aenstonts na dus gegeselt te zijn, wort hy anders om, met het gezicht na den koning wel vast gebonden, en zeker slagh van ziedende hete gom of hers, in een pot gesmolten, over zijn blote lijf van den hals over het herte gegoten, dat hem het vel zoo datelijk van 't naekte lichaem gaet, en met lappen daer by hanght. Na dit gedaen is, wort hy weder los gemaekt, en wat etens gegeven, en dan weder handen en voeten gebonden, en drie dagen zonder eeten gelaten, en eindelijk, na het uitstaen van al deze smerten, zomtijts noch wel gebannen, en uit de negerye verstoten, zulx hy als een slaef van eenen ander moet leven.

Wanneer iemant in overspel wort bevonden, dan worden zy beide (als elkandre niet in bloede bestaen) gegeselt, en zoo voorts met een straffe afgeleght: maer bevinden

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arms, afterwards dripping on to them a certain local herb mixed with freshly-cooked sweet milk. These healers, male or female, can be recognized by the numerous roots, trinkets and other odds and ends which they have about their necks⁷⁹⁾.

79) For a fuller account of Hottentot medical practices, see Ten Rhyne and Grevenbroek, pp. 149, 241 below.

Punishments of Theft.

Hottentots who go wrong by stealing trinkets or trifles from their fellows are, if caught, beaten with a stick by their king or choeque himself, and not punished more severely. But if they steal on a larger scale, for instance by removing at night the valuable coral beads from the necks and ears of their sleeping companions, they are, when the theft is discovered and brought home to them, made to suffer a much heavier penalty. So, too, those who steal cattle or sheep from one and trade them to another receive the same punishment as is meted out for the theft of beads. The culprit, bound hand and foot, is first left a whole day without food or drink. The following day some of the elders go to the choeque and ask if the law should be carried out (which is done without any condemnation or sentence, but not without proof, although nothing is recorded on paper). Thereupon the king, with a large following of men who though not armed accompany him as bodyguards, appears close to a tree, where he orders the culprit to be brought before him. The latter is then tied to the tree, and thrashed pretty severely all over the back, so that the blood streams down his body on to the ground. Immediately afterwards he is fastened the other way about, facing the king, and a certain kind of hot gum or resin, melted in a pot, is poured over his naked body from the throat down to the heart, so that his skin at once falls away and hangs down in strips. Then he is again released and given some food. His hands and legs are now again bound together, and he is left for three days without any food at all. Finally, after enduring all these sufferings, he is sometimes banished as well and expelled from the village, so that he must live like a slave to someone else.

When people are caught in illicit intercourse, they are both whipped (if not related by blood), and let off with this punishment. But if the parents of two such lovers find that they are of similar status in rank and wealth, then they are permitted to marry each other. In case this does not take place, they wait to see if the girl becomes pregnant.

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d'ouders van zulke twee verliefde minnaers, dat ze elkandre van staet en rijkdom wel gelijken, dan wort toegestaen, hen beide met den bant des huwelix te binden; ingevallen zulx niet geschiet, wort zoo langh gewacht, of de dochter ook mochte bevrucht zijn; want zoo de dochter zwanger is moet het huwelijk, schoon de vryer noch zulk een slecht perzoon was, evenwel zijnen voortgang hebben, tot herstelling van d'eere des dochters; naerdien het daer een groot afzien geeft, een onecht kint te hebben, hoewel zulx zomtijts noch wel gebeurt.

Bloetschande.

Wanneer een perzoon, hoe rijk of arm hy zy, komt bloetschande te begaen, 't zy een zoon met zijn moeder, of broeder met de zuster, of vader by de dochters, of anderzints elkandre in bloede bestaende, wort zulx heel buiten gewoon zwaer by hen opgenomen, en rekenschap gemaekt, dat zulke twee luiden niet te zwaer kunnen gestraft worden, aengezien het, na hun zeggen, een onvergeefelijke zake is, hoewel zy niet weten, dat daer eenige zonde begaen is, of Godt (dien zy niet kennen) vertoornt is; maer hebben alleenlijk d'ingeboorne kennis, dat zulx een grote mislagh en qualik gedaen is. d'Overtreders dan worden met de volgende straffe ter doot gebraght.

Eerstelijk wort de man, de handen en voeten alle vier met een strik aen elkandre getrokken, in eenen kuil gewentelt, tot 's anderen daeghs, en de vrouw daer by gezet. Dan wort de man 's anderen daegs daer uit gehaelt, en, noch even vast geknevelt, onder eenen boom gezet, en aen den hals by eenen sterken tak, dien eenigen naer beneden halen, en neer houden, vast gemaekt, en als dan weer geslaekt, en lit voor lit afgesneden, tot dat het lichaem, na het uitstaen van zoo veel martelens, gantsch doot is en geen mensch meer gelijkt. Daer na latenze den voorzeiden tak weer om hoogh springen, met het geknotte lichaem daer aen, dat ten spiegel en kenteken van andere quaetdoenders dus blijft hangen.

Na de man in dezer wijze ter doot gebraght is, wort de vrouwe ook daer uit gehaelt, en in een ronte van meenighten droge kreupel-bosschen, wel bewerkt, de handen en voeten mede vast by elkandre gebonden, te midden in gezet, en tot assche verbrant. Weshalve kan hier aen bespeurt worden, dat deze blinden heidenen noch weten, dat zulke lijfstraftbare zaken ten hoogsten strafbaer zijn, niet tegenstaende by hen geen onderdanigheit kan bespeurt worden, als aen eenen 's Humma, gelijk hier na gezeit zal worden.

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Once she is pregnant, the marriage must be hastened on, no matter how bad a person the lover is, in order to restore the honour of the girl; for it is a great scandal there to have an illegitimate child, although sometimes it does actually occur.

Incest.

Should anybody, however rich or poor he may be, commit incest, be it a son with his mother, a brother with his sister, a father with his daughter, or any other pair of relatives, they regard this as extremely serious indeed, and hold that these two people cannot be punished too severely. According to them it is an unforgivable offence, although they are not aware that any sin has been committed, or that God (whom they do not know) has been angered; only they have the inborn knowledge that a great wrong and evil has here been done. The offenders are killed in the following manner: -

The man, his hands and feet all drawn together and knotted fast, is first plunged into a pit, and the woman also put there. On the following day he is taken out, still fastened up, and put under a tree. He is tied by the neck to a strong branch, which some men pull and hold down. His bonds are then slackened, and his limbs cut off one by one; until the body, after enduring so many tortures, is completely dead and no longer looks human. Then they let the branch fly up again into the air with the truncated body attached to it, to remain hanging there as a sign and warning to other evildoers.

After the man has been done to death in this way, the woman is also taken out of the pit, her hands and feet tied fast to one another. She is placed inside a wellarranged circle of many dry bushes, and there burned to ashes. From this can be deduced that these blind heathen yet know that such mortal offences must be punished to the utmost, even although no veneration can be observed amongst them save to a certain 's Humma, as will be related below.

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Ontrent over vijf jaren is 't gebeurt, dat zeker perzoon, een grote vrient en na-maeghschap van den Koehque of Koning van de Saldanhars, in bloetschande was vervallen, doch deed evenwel, zonder aenschou op zijnen perzoon, recht over den zelven, maer raekte nogtans door grote voorspraek met een roede geeseling, en ontnemen van al zijne beesten, en ballingschap vry, en begaf zich by de Goringhaikonas, by het Fort van goeder hope, verlaten van al zijne vrienden, met belofte echter, dan zoo hy zich als te voore weder wilde dragen, al dan weder in genade zoude aengenomen worden. Een teken van noch eenige tucht onder deze wilden.

Straffe der Dootslagen en Quetsure.

Wanneer iemant den eenen of den anderen, door gramschap of toornigheit, komt doot te slaen of te steken, zulx wort by hen mede voor een gewichtige zake opgenomen, inzonderheit indien een perzoon van aenziene, redelijk van wijsheit, staet en rijkdom, zulx gepleeght heeft; overmits zy zeggen, zulk een perzoon, met meer verstant als een ander, beter behoorde te weten, en eenen anderen met goede exempelen, (aengezien hy mede een vonnis-wijzer is) wijzelijk voor te gaen. Weshalve wort zulk eenen de hals aen eenen boom toegeworght, en doot in het zelfste graf by den doden gelegt; daer in tegendeel andere onnozele byzondere luiden 't zelven door vee, en geringer straffe beter kunnen afmaken, dan een grote wijze (of, zoo gemeent wort) raetgever. Zommigen misdadigen, die de doot verdient hebben, worden de knien doornagelt en met een yzere penne aen de schouderen vast gehecht, en dus met een langzame doot gestraft.

Huizen.

Wat hunne huizingen belangt, zy leven als d'Arabers op 't velt, in hutten, gemaekt van enkele krom gebogen stokken, in 't ront gezet, en met bies-matten, die zy zelfs zeer net en aerdigh weten te vlechten, overdekt; de zommigen zijn wel zoo groot, dat bequamelijk tien of twintigh man, met vrou en kinderen, daer in hun verblijf kunnen houden;

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It happened about five years ago that a certain man, a great friend and kinsman of the koehque or King of the Saldanhars, sank so low as to commit incest. But justice was done upon him as well, without regard for his person. He managed nevertheless by pleading hard to get off with a whipping, the confiscation of all his cattle, and exile; and betook himself to the Goringhaikonas at the Fort, deserted by all his friends, but with the promise that if he should conduct himself as before then he would again be taken into favour. This shows again that even to these savages discipline is not unknown.

Punishment of Homicide and Assault.

They also regard it as a serious offence when anybody, through anger or passion, beats or stabs someone else to death, especially when it has been done by a man of reputed wisdom and important status and wealth. They say that such a man, gifted with more understanding than others, ought to know better, and should set them a good example, considering that he is also a judge. He is in consequence strangled on a tree, and then laid dead in the grave. The less sophisticated common people, on the other hand, can get off more lightly for the same offence by paying cattle, and so have a lighter punishment than important and reputedly wise councillors. Some illdoers who have merited death have their knees pierced through and attached by an iron peg to the shoulders, and thus are punished by a lingering end.⁸⁰⁾

80) Dapper's account of Hottentot legal procedure and methods of punishment is much fuller than that of most other observers, so that its accuracy cannot be easily estimated. From such other information as is available, however, it seems that offences such as murder, manslaughter, treason, theft, incest, adultery and sodomy were all regarded as crimes punishable by death, and were tried by the chief and his council. The court sat in a circle, with the accused in the centre, where he could hear all that was said and himself be heard by everybody around. The accuser stated his case, producing all his proofs and witnesses. The accused in return put forward whatever defence he could, and the matter was then thoroughly discussed by the councillors, the verdict being arrived at by the decision of the majority. If the accused was acquitted, a few head of cattle from the herds of his accusers were adjudged to him as compensation. But if he was found guilty, and the chief, in whose hands the final sentence lay, pronounced in favour of death, the sentence was immediately executed. The chief, as principal executioner, rushed upon the criminal and felled him to the ground with a heavy blow of the kirri; all the other men present then followed up the attack, until the man was beaten to death. There is no mention of the more elaborate methods of killing referred to by Dapper. (Schapera, op cit., 399 ff.)

Dwellings.

As regards their dwellings, they live, like the Arabs of the desert, in huts, made of some sticks bent over crooked and ranged in a circle, and covered over with reed mats, which they can weave very nicely. Some of these huts

[p. 70]

hoewel ook veel kleinder, door den bank, en eenigen zoo klein, dat zy die zelfs kunnen opnemen, en daer mede weglopen.^* Het vuur of de haert-stede leit in 't midden van 't huis, doch maken geen schoorsteen, daer de rook optrekt, 't welk de huizen altijts vol rook maekt.

Vuur weten zy met zonderlinge behendigheit te maken, namelijk een houtje, daer een klein holletje in is, onder de voet te leggen, en dan met een ander houtje in dat holletje zoo stijf en langduurigh te draien, tot dat het vonkt.

* Cf. Hondius (op cit., 563): ‘Ende wat haar Huysinge aan gaat, zy leven als de Arabiers in 't veld, in Hutten dewelke staan twintigh of meer in 't ronde, als kleine verkens kotten; zijnde van gedaante als een Bakkers oven boven rond, en met matten van Biezen bedekt, ende zij zijn zoo groot dat zij de zelve konnen op nemen en daar mede wegh konnen loopen.’

Tale.

Al deze Hottentots, inzonderheit d'aen strant-gelegen, spreken een en dezelve tale of sprake, die t'eenemael belemmert, en by d'onzen om de moeielijkheit der uitsprake niet te leren is, tot merkelijk nadeel van het verder opspeuren der gelegentheit des lants, en handeling met deze volken. Hun sprake gaet geduurigh met klokken, als de kalkoensche hanen, klappende, of klatzende over het ander woort op hun mont, gelijk of men op zijne duim knipte, zoo dat hun mont byna gaet als een ratel, staende en klatsende met de tonge overluit; zijnde elk woort een byzondere klats.

Zommige woorden weten zy niet dan met heel zwaere moeite te uiten, en schijnen die als van achteren uit de kele op te halen, gelijk een kalkoensche haen, of als de luiden in Duitslant aen d'Alpes doen, die door het drinken van sneeuwater krop-zwellen aen den hals krijgen: waer over d'onzen hen ten opmerke van deze belemmering, en ongehoorde hakkeling van tale den naem van Hottentots gegeven hebben, gelijk dat woort in dien zin gemeenlijk schimpswijze, tegen iemant, die in het uiten zijner woorden hakkelt en stamelt, hier te lande gebruikt wort. Zy noemen nu ook zich zelfs met den naem van Hottentot, en zingen by d'onzen al danzende, Hottentot brokwa, Hottentot brokwa: waer mede zy willen zeggen, geef Hottentot een brok broot. Wijders, kahou, is in hunne tale te zeggen, zit

[p. t.o. 70]

How the Hottentots honour the Moon.
[After Kolb.

[p. 71]

are so big that ten or twenty men, with women and children, can live in them comfortably. But on the average they are much smaller, and some are so small that they can simply be picked up and carried away. The fire-hearth is in the middle of the hut, but as they make no chimneys to draw up the smoke their dwellings are always full of it. They make fire with remarkable dexterity, by placing under the foot a bit of wood in which there is a small hollow, and then firmly and continuously twisting another piece of wood into this hollow until the sparks come out.

Language.

All these Hottentots, especially those along the shore, speak one and the same language. This is at once a hindrance, for owing to the difficulty of pronunciation it cannot be learned by our countrymen, to the great detriment of further exploration of the country and of dealing with these people. Their speech is full of clucks like those of the turkey-cocks; they clap or clack each word in the mouth, as if a man were snapping his thumb, so that their mouth goes almost like a rattle, continuously clapping aloud with the tongue, each word with a different clap. Some words they can only utter with considerable difficulty, seeming to fetch them up from the back of the throat, like a turkey-cock, or like the people on the German Alps do, who through drinking ice-water get swellings at the neck. Because of this our countrymen, observing this impediment and extraordinary stuttering in speech, have given them the name of Hottentots, in the same sense as that word is commonly used here at home as a taunt against anybody who stutters and stammers in uttering his words.⁸¹⁾ They now also call themselves by the name Hottentot, and in the presence of our countrymen dance and sing: Hottentot brokwa, Hottentot brokwa, by which they mean to say,

81) Dapper's theory about the origin of the name ‘Hottentot’ has been adopted by most later writers. It is discussed in detail by Prof. du Plessis (S. Afr. J. Sci., xiv, 189-93; xxix, 660-67), who comes to the conclusion, after a careful review of the relevant literature, that this name was not bestowed upon the Cape natives by early travellers, as suggested by Dapper, but rather was derived from their use of some such word as hautitou (whence Hottentoo) in their dancing songs, and so found its way into Dutch and other European languages. The problem is still a matter of controversy, but the authorities quoted by du Plessis seem to bear out his contention. It may be added that the Hottentots, although they now acknowledge this name as well, originally called themselves kxoikxoin (‘Khoi-Khoin’), or ‘real people’, a name which they still retain for themselves in their own language.

[p. 72]

neder, bou een os, ba een schaep, een kori yzer.^* Alle of de meeste Hottentots, te weten, die dicht aen het Fort van goeder hope wonen, als de Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas, en Goringhaikonas, spreken door het daghelix verkeren met d'onzen de Duitsche tale, gelijk eenigen, die by d'Engelschen in Bantam zijn geweest, wat gebroken Engelsch stamelen.

* This famous passage is for the most part a direct copy from Hondius, whose actual words are: ‘Alle deze volkeren is haar spraake zeer belemmerd, klokkende als kalkoensche Hanen, ofte als de lieden in Duydsland bij de Alpes doen, die door de Hardigheyd van het Sneeu water dat zij drinken de kroppen krijgen, het welke geheel vremd is, klappende over d'ander woord op haar mond gelijk oft men op syn duym knipte, soo dat haar mond gaat als een ratel, slaande met haar Tonge overluyd. Waar over men haar ter opmerkinge van haar Taal den naam van Hottentot geeft. Zy noemen nu ook haar selven Hottentot, singen ook al danssende, Hottentot Brokwa, Hottentot Brokwa, &c. Waar mede zy willen zeggen, Geeft Hottentot een brok broot: en voorders is bij haar te zeggen kahow kahow zit neder, Bou een os, Ba een Sghaap, ende Cori Yzer, &c.’ (op. cit., 561.)

Handel

Tot eenige handelinge hebben zy geen grote genegentheit, nochte houden geen gemeenschap met eenige vreemde volken. Linnen, wollen, spiegels en bellen wierden voorhene by hen niet geacht, maer wel yzer, en by die aen de tafelbay liever koper, hun voornaemste çieraet^**. d'Onzen, op de schip-vaert na Indien, onder het opper gezagh van Jan Jansz. Molenaer, des jaers vijftien hondert vijf-ennegentigh, verruilden aen deze volken voor een quaet houmes, een schonen os; voor een staef yzers van zeventigh pont, in vijven gebroken, twee ossen en drie schapen; voor een krom mes, een bijl, een schop, een korte yzere bout, en zommige stukjes yzer, drie ossen, vijf schapen, een voor een mes een schaep. Dan houden heden, als wijzer geworden, door het verkeren met d'onzen, ten andere door den overvloet dier dingen derwaert gevoert, hun vee op veel hoger prijs; zulx by hen niet meer die voorige eenvoudigheit te vinden is.

De liefste en begeerste waren, daer tegen zy hun vee heden 's daeghs willen verruilen, is tabak, brandewijn, krael-werk en koper; dat zy zeer gerne hebben, doch hoe geelder hoe liever. Voor vier stukjes koper, ieder zoo groot als de palm van een hant, ruilt men noch twee koe-beesten, doch moet ten huidigen daghe, tot een toegift, gemeenlijk een stukje tabak daer by gedaen worden.

** Of. Hondius: ‘Linnen, wollen, Spiegels en Bellen wierden by haar niet geaght, maar 't Yser wel, en by die aan de Tafel-bay liever het Koper, dogh voornamelijk de Tabak, ende Brandewijn de liefste dingen van allen’ (p. 561).

[p. 73]

‘give Hottentot a crust of bread’. In their language, also, kahou means ‘sit down’; bou, an ox; ba, a sheep; and kori, iron. All or most of the Hottentots living close to the Fort, like the Gorachouquas, Goringhaiquas and Goringhaikonas, now also speak Dutch, owing to their daily intercourse with our countrymen, just as some who have been with the English in Bantam can stammer out some broken English.

Trade.

They have no great inclination towards trade, nor do they have any traffic with other foreign peoples. Linen, wool, mirrors and bells were formerly not valued by them, but iron was, while those at Table Bay preferred copper, their principal ornament. Our countrymen who journeyed to India in 1595 under the leadership of Jan Jansz. Molenaer bartered from these people a fine ox for a bad bill-hook; two oxen and three sheep for an iron staff weighing 70 lbs., broken into five pieces; three oxen and five sheep for a crooked knife, an axe, a shovel, a short iron bolt, and some pieces of iron; and one sheep for a knife⁸²⁾. But today, grown wiser through intercourse with us, and led to this also by the abundance of such articles, they value their livestock far more highly; so that the old simplicity is no longer found amongst them. The favourite and most desired articles for which they are now willing to exchange their cattle are tobacco, brandy, beadwork and copper. The latter they particularly want, and the more yellow it is the more desirable. One can still obtain two cows for four pieces of copper, each as big as the palm of the hand; but nowadays there must also be added a little gift, generally a piece of tobacco.

The principal wealth of the Kafirs or Hottentots lies in their cattle, and in the beadwork which they barter from our people with cattle. The Kochoquas or Saldanhars are said to have more than a thousand head of cattle and as many sheep again^82a), all with coloured hair instead of wool.

82) See De eerste Schipvaart der Nederlanders naar Oost-Indië onder Cornelis de Houtman 1595-1597. I. D'eerste Boeck van Willem Lodewycksz, p. 8. (Werken uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging, VII. 's Gravenhage, 1915.) Dapper's list of articles is copied verbatim from this source.

82a) Sic. Elsewhere Dapper gives the figures as 100,000 cattle and 200,000 sheep (see above, p. 23).

[p. 74]

De meeste rijkdom der Kaffers of Hottentots bestaet in hun vee en kraelwerk, dat zy van d'onzen tegen beesten handelen. De Kochoquas of Saldanhars worden gezeit over de duizent stuk vees te hebben en wel eens zoo veel schapen, alle met gekleurt hair in plaets van wol.

Bestieringh.

De Kaffers of Hottentots worden bestiert zommigen door koningen, als de Kochoquas of Saldanhars; anderen door oversten, als de Gorachouquas of Tabaks-dieven, Goringhaikonas of Watermans, grote en kleine Karichuriquas en Hosaas. d'Andere Hottentots, dieper te landewaerts in gelegen, worden mede bestiert of door eenen overste, als de Chainouquas, of leven zonder opperhooft in 't wilt, als de Sonquas; of staen onder een koning, als de Namaquas en Heusaquas.

Godsdienst.

By al de Kaffers of Hottentots of strantlopers, heeft noit iemant, hoe nau ook onderzocht, een teken van eenigen godtsdienst kunnen bespeuren: nochte dat zy Godt of den duivel eenige eere bewijzen; niet tegenstaende zy wel weten, dat 'er een is, die zy 's Humma noemen, die de regen op d'aerde doet neerkomen, de winden waien, en hitte en koude geeft, zonder evenwel hem aen te bidden: want waerom, zeggen zy, zouden zy dezen 's Humma aenbidden, die den eenen tijt dubbele drooghte, en den anderen tijt dubbel water geeft, naerdien zy het liever matigh en van pas zagen: dat het gras, zeggen zy, behoorlijk kon groeien, en hunne beesten en schapen rijkelijk en weligh ter weide gaen. Ten anderen beelden zy zich zelfs in, de regen te kunnen doen ophouden, en de wint van gelijken; 't welk zy in dezer wijze trachten uit te voeren. Eerstelijk, om regen te doen ophouden, leggen zy een klein kooltje vuur op een spaentje in een klein kuiltje, in d'aerde gegraven, en op dat kooltje een klein vlokje hairs uit het hooft getrokken, en dekken de kuil, als 't begint te stinken, met zant weder toe: waer over zy dan hun water maken, en lopen met groot geschreeu alle wegh. Om de wint te doen neerleggen en stillen, houden zy een der besmeerste vellen op een lange stok om hoogh in de wint,

[p. 75]

Government.

Some of the Kafirs or Hottentots are governed by kings, like the Kochoquas or Saldanhars, and others by chiefs, like the Gorachouquas or Tobacco Thieves, the Goringhaikonas or Watermen, the Great and Little Karichuriquas and the Hosaas. The other Hottentots living further inland are for the most part either governed by a chief, like the Chainouquas, or, like the Sonquas, live in the wilds without a leader; or, like the Namaquas and Heusaquas, are under a king⁸³⁾.

83) On the political organization of the Hottentots, see Introduction, p. vi.

Religion.

No one, however thoroughly he has inquired, has ever been able to find among all the Kafirs or Hottentots or Beachrangers any trace of religion, or any show of honour to God or the Devil. They know nevertheless that there is a being, named by them 's Humma⁸⁴⁾, who sends rain on earth, makes the winds blow, and produces heat and cold. But they do not pray to him; for why, say they, should they pray to this 's Humma, who at one time gives excessive drought, and at another excessive rain, when they would rather see it fall moderately and conveniently, so that the grass should grow nicely and their cattle and sheep graze abundantly and luxuriously. Moreover they imagine that they can themselves restrain the rain as well as the wind. This they try to do in the following manner^84a). First in order to keep away the rain, they lay a small burning coal on a chip of wood in a small hole dug in the ground, and on top of the coal a small tuft of hair pulled out of the head. When it begins to stink they fill in the hole with sand, and then urinate over it, after which they all go away shouting loudly. To make the wind subside and be still, they hold one of their most greasy skins on a long stick

84) This word is identified by Hahn (Tsuni-//Goam, p. 37) with the Nama /homi, heaven, and is not the name of any particular supernatural being, although the attributes with which Dapper credits 's Humma are those of the rain god Tsui-//goab. His delightful account of Hottentot scepticism is not confirmed by later writers, who show that actually the Hottentots had a welldeveloped system of ritual in connexion with the powers of nature.

84a) The two rites which Dapper here describes are not mentioned by other writers. The Naman until within recent times had elaborate rain-making ceremonies, and possibly Dapper may have intended to describe a similar ceremony here, for it is unlikely that any South African tribe should have wished to deprive themselves of the all-important source of the water supply upon which they are all so dependent.

[p. 76]

tot dat de wint het vel van boven neder heeft gewait; en als dan menen zy ydelijk dat de kracht van de wint op dat vel is gestuit.

Het schijnt evenwel dat zy eenigh waengeloof aen d'opkomende nieuwe mane zouden hebben: want wanneer die begint gezien te worden, zullen zy gemeenlijk met hele troepen t'haerwaerts keren, en den gehelen nacht met groot gejuich, zoo met dansen, springen, zingen en kloppen in de handen, als prevelen binnen 's monts, overbrengen.

Zy hebben dan ook een pot, met een velleken stijf overtrokken, van fatsoen gelijk hier te lande de vastel-avont rommelpotten, daer geduurig met de eene hant op geslagen wort. Daer is by hen noch een ander speeltuig in gebruik, met een snaer, op de wijze van een boog, met een gespleten penneschaft aen het een einde, daer zy dan mede op blazen, en klank geeft zonder strijkstok, doch geen hart geluit, niet tegenstaende zy sterk genoech met hunnen adem uitblazen en weder van gelijken ophalen: desgelijx ziet man by wijle vrouwen en kinderen voor opgerechte stenen knielende neerbuigen. Dan hebbende gene kerken, nochte houden de minste vergaderingen.

[p. 77]

high in the breeze, until the skin is blown down from above; and then they foolishly believe that the force of the wind has been checked on this skin.

They also appear to have some superstition about the new moon; for when this is first seen, they all turn towards it in groups, and make merry the whole night, dancing, jumping, singing and clapping their hands, and also murmuring in their mouths⁸⁵⁾.

They also have a pot tightly covered with a small bit of skin, and similar in appearance to the rommelpot used here at home on Shrove Tuesday, on which they beat continuously with one hand. They also use another musical instrument with a string, after the manner of a bow, attached to a split peg at one end, on which they blow. It produces a sound without a fiddlestick, but not a loud one, although they puff out their breath and inhale again with some force⁸⁶⁾. So, too, one also at times sees women and children kneeling before erected stones, to which they bow⁸⁷⁾. They have no churches, nor any sort of congregation.

85) This custom is discussed more fully below, p. 138.

86) The musical bow to which Dapper refers is the famous !goura, an ordinary bow, in which one end of the string, instead of being fastened to the stave itself, is attached to a flexible piece of quill spliced to the end of the stave. This quill is held against the lips, and made to vibrate by strong expirations and inspirations of the breath, thus producing the effect of a stringed wind instrument. It is fully described by Kirby, Bantu Studies v, 89-109, illus. The ‘rommelpot’ is the instrument known to the modern Korana. as /khais, a drum used as a rhythmic accompaniment to the songs sung during certain dances. It is fully deseribed by Kirby, Bantu Studies, vi, 183-185.

87) This statement is probably derived from an observation made by Corporal Muller in 1655 when going on an expedition to False Bay. His party came to a certain great stone alongside the road, when the Hottentot women with them each gathered a green twig in her hand and all went to lie down on the stone, at the same time uttering some words which the Europeans could not understand. ‘Being asked what it meant, they said “hette hie,” pointing upwards as if they intended to say it is a sacrifice.’ (D. Oct. 5, 1655.)