|
| |
38 Georg Meister
(See also item 68.) Translated from his ‘Orientalisch-Indisch ... Gärtner ...’, published at Dresden in 1692. In 1675 from Thuringia as Gardener at the court of the Duke of Saxony. Thence in 1677 to Amsterdam, where he was taken on as a Cadet*. Embarked in Ternate at Texel: the Admiral* set up ‘a little tub-garden aft on the Campagne [Poop*] where the flagstaff stands, over the cabins of the Mates’, and put him in charge of it. Sailed May 18, 1677 (but Hague codex 4389 folio 69 as May 26), with five other ships. Northabout*. Two watches only. Messing. Lice. Mention of the ‘Dutch flag’ as ‘red, blue and white’. ‘Abriholos’, the usual thanksgiving and extra ration of wine. Equator. Sighted Cape Verde Islands.
After about 14 days we reached the long-desired Caput bonae spei or Cape of Good Hope, the outermost corner of Africa. For about 100 miles* before this some hundreds of Land-gulls (the so-called Seelen-Verkauffers*) gave us assurance of its nearness....
| |
| |
Also we met with an incalculable number of seadogs here, which swam in hundreds around our ship until we entered the harbour. At 3 p.m. on September 14, 1677 [dr 17/9] we dropped anchor, thanking the most gracious God that he had shielded us and brought us thus far. After this the Mates must lower the mainyard and topmasts because of the strong south-east wind, which always begins to blow exactly at noon, so that this fierce blusterer could do our ship no damage. We found here the ships of the Vice- and Rear-Admirals, and the others of our fleet at anchor in the roads when we arrived [sic: dr 19/9, 20/9], which had arrived safely the previous day by God's help, and undamaged. Then our sick, about 30 in number, were set ashore somewhat to refresh themselves. By the Admiral's wishes I went ashore with him, like an inquisitive man, where we were welcomed in state with the firing of the cannon and the thunder of the cannon-royal [‘Carthaunen’] from the Fort. During the 3 weeks that we lay here I looked all around the place, but especially visited the famous Garden, and as far as possible noted down the most remarkable things, which I will set out truly, as follows:
The Dutch were building this Fort*, which lies close to the seashore, for over twenty years, from 1668 to 1680 [sic: 1666-1676] when it was completed. It has 5 strong bastions made of excellent dressed stone, thick walls, and a good moat towards the Table Mountain on the landward side, so that with a garrison of 3 to 400 men it can boldly look any enemy in the face. Inside the fort there are no high buildings, as with us in Europe, since here all barracks, offices, the fine Church*, and even the dwellings of the Governor and all other officials have flat roofs like the palaces in Persia and Italy. On the outermost corner towards the roads and the open sea [Katzenellenbogen] there stands a large ship's-mast with a crow's-nest, and about it a topmast on which the great Sea-Flag of the Company is hoisted when ships come from the Fatherland or from the East Indies. The fort is well provided with excellent cannon, and towards the Water-Pass has many metal* cannon-royal [‘Carthaunen’], and also sufficient provisions and munitions. We leave this for the present, and pass to the great Garden* of the East India Company, to enjoy ourselves therein. This is rich in fruits and flowers, and lies on a fine flat between the Castle and the hills, between the Table Mountain and the Lion Hill. By eye-measurement (since I had no time or opportunity to measure it exactly) it is about 1000 roods [sic: read ‘yards’, cf. item 55] long and 300 broad, taking the rood as 12 feet. It is protected around with thick quickset hedges, beside which a wall a rood high and a moat half a rood wide were under construction while I was there, on the side of the so-called Devils Peak, which will in time be continued all around. Inside the Garden were many fine double laurel hedges a good pike's-length high and 2 to 3 ells thick, which are diligently kept to their shape year in, year out with shears or other sharp cutting-irons on long
handles. As regards pleasure-pavilions, grottoes and ornamental water-devices, it can readily be supposed that the previous Governors were not particularly fond of such, although it may also well be that the necessary buildings such as the Castle, the offices and such-like, were considered more important. But I can say with truth that I have seen hardly any other place where God and Nature have granted finer and better con- | |
| |
ditions than in this region; and although one may say what one will of the ornamental waters many miles long built at exceptional expense by the Kings of France at the famous Versailles, yet here the loveliest and most healthful water from the cloud-threatening and most renowned Table Mountain could with very low costs be led for about 3 to 400 paces and then watermains and fountains could be made as high as the highest towers. Nevertheless I saw nothing here but little canals led here and there along the main avenues. The squares were divided and bounded, in part with rosemary which is cut at the due season like our current-bushes, in part with hyssop and sage, which I thought an oddity in this so large and long garden. Besides these the most excellent and never-sufficientlypraised tree- and ground fruits are to be seen there, brought from the Indies, to which I myself (to tell it without boasting) much contributed when I was in Batavia with my master Andrea Cleyer, since he sent many to it. For example there is the tea-tree which I brought from Japan, grown only from seeds, which no traveller has found anywhere else in Africa: it well endures the climate and weather here, since the alternation of Summer and Winter is the same as in Japan, the geographers reckoning that Japan and the Cap bon Esperance lie at the same latitudes from their poles. This Garden also received the true camphor-tree from us, and the Guava, the Cambuse grande, the Banana, Pineapple, and many others such, which on my return journey I
personally handed over to the Governor, as are listed by name in the specifications below [not in his book]. Of the fruits of their own country, there were in the aforesaid Garden all sorts of fine pears and apples, also a special sort of large chestnut-tree, large quinces, almonds, grapes, watermelons, and all sorts of root-crops in great abundance, which there is no need to list here.
As regards the country itself and the high African mountains, I will pass over these in silence, since they have been so fully described and shown in engravings in so many books of travels. I will however mention that the Castle overlooks the roadstead, and lies against three main hills, the Devil's Hill; the Table Mountain, so-called because on its top it is quite flat and level; and the Lion Hill, because it presents the shape of a lion towards the shore and to seafarers. The Dutch with great toil have brought up to the top of this Lion Hill some small field-pieces, 6-pounders, and indeed to its highest peak, together with a flagstaff (such as was mentioned at the Castle), and this so that when those on watch up there sight a ship at sea, they may fire so many rounds as there are ships in sight, and hoist the flag: if it is a Dutch ship, a Dutch flag, if however French or English or Danish the flags corresponding, so that those in the Castle may act accordingly, and if it is an enemy be prepared against it. Somewhat more will be told of the incomparably lovely rivers, plants and other things in our return journey, where there will be time and opportunity. Now we will describe the ‘spotless’ natives of the land, the Hottentots.
This outermost part of Africa, where these bestial men dwell, lies over against Asia Major, and is called the Cap de bon Esperance, for the reason that it was first discovered in the life and reign of King Emanuel of Portugal by that nation in the year A.D. 1498, according to Petrus du Valls' General Description of the World. These regions have also had other names, such as Des Tornements, the Promontory of Storms, and such like.
| |
[pagina 200-201]
[p. 200-201] | |
[28] the fort good hope, the company's garden, and some public and private buildings near them. Scale of Rhineland roods. Cape Archives Map 2/17: about 1678/9.
The captions read in abbreviated translation: Shore of the Table Bay. A, New Fort: a, Storehouses already built; b, Official residences; c, Slaves' quarters; d [in bastion], Guard-house, already built; e, Well [not shown]; f, Further residences, projected [not shown]. B, Projected new Church, of which the foundations have been laid [9/4/78, but again 26/12/1700]. C, Churchyard, of which the foundations for the surrounding wall have already been laid for the most part. D, Projected Slave-house, of which the foundations have almost been completed [in use 23/11/79]. E, Part of the outwork of the old Fort, still standing, to be demolished and the materials used for D. F, Living-quarters of the old Fort, to be demolished and the materials used for a residence for senior officials arriving in outward and homeward fleets, or for an Orphanage. G, Site for this last [never built]. H, Jetty. I, Ramp for water-casks. [K, illegible on plan.] L, Watertank. M, Water-pipe. N, Tannery. O, Corn-mill [location doubtful]. P, Hospital [van Riebeeck's first hospital near shore]. Q, Company's Stables. R, Company's old Brick-kiln. S, Company's new Brick-kiln. T, Company's Garden. V, Gardenhouse [not in Garden]. X, Brewery. Y, New Burgher-houses, replacing those demolished as too near the new Fort. [Z, illegible on map.] t, Main Avenue of the Garden, planted with lemon-trees [letter illegible on map].
1-9, New house-sites to be occupied. 10, Houses of the Burghers. 11, Private gardens. 12, Streams flowing from the hills. 13, Pool of still water. 14, Zee-straat. 15, Heere-straat [parallel with 14]. 16, Oliphant-straat [ditto]. 17, Thuyn-straat [ditto]. 18, Berg-straat [illegible on map]. 19, Kerk-straat [illegible on map]. 20, Steen-straat [ditto].
| |
| |
Others have called it the Lion of the Sea, others again the Head of Africa. It lies on 35 [sic] degrees, below the Tropic of Capricorn, with a healthy and temperate climate, enjoying alternately little Winter and more Summer. It is a country full of many terrible wildernesses, high rocks and mountains, and not less full of lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceroses, and other terrible beasts. But since I do not propose to describe the country, already sufficiently depicted by other writers, but the natives of it, the Hottentots, we leave it there and make a beginning on them.
The wild Africans living in this outermost seacoast are called bestial or animal-like for two reasons: their bestial life, and their equally bestial deaths, as will be seen from the following description. [Most of what follows is taken from Schreyer, but the vividness of Meister's writing, and his accounts of personal experiences warrant its inclusion.]
The men are tall and strong, the women much shorter. Both are of a yellow-brown colour of skin, like the wandering Tartars or Gypsies. The hair of their heads is black, thin, short and curly.... They have thick protruding lips and wide, bent-in noses. The women are of finer form and well-made. These people, both men and women, come into the world with almost white skins, like the Europeans, but, since they much prefer a black colour to white, they make use of an entirely loveable and charming cosmetic. This consists of sheep's dung mixed with soot, and with it they smear themselves and their children thoroughly, by the fire or in the hot sun, and indeed so repeatedly that neither the body nor the limbs nor the hair is free from this sweet-smelling balsam. The clothing of both sexes, men and women, is like the rain-cloaks which the Germans wear, but instead of cloth they wear a raw and undressed sheepskin with the hair turned inwards, hanging from the shoulders. Similarly they cover with a small skin that which God in Nature has ordained to be kept hidden, and this they fasten with a thong around the body. With this clean and stately clothing they go around in Winter and Summer, for the most part barefoot. Guts are their ornaments, and their costly arm-bands and ear-rings are of iron, brass and ivory. The ear-rings are often a quarter-pound in weight, and stretch their ears outwards and downwards like those of a hunting-dog, often so widely and so long that they hang almost to their shoulders, which is held to be an exceptional ornament in the eyes of these poor and simple folk. In addition to these ear-rings and armbands (which better resemble parts of a Turkish slave-chain than anything else) the women wrap the guts of sheep around their arms and legs, with all the dung in them, so that they look more like elephant-legs than human legs because of their thickness. When now these lovely daughters of the land, thus beautifully ornamented, come towards you, and the
guts are not yet dry, they stink horribly, worse than a hundred polecats-I mean those that live in the knackers' yards.
At times the Dutch slaughter fully 100 sheep and some cattle for the refreshing of their ships coming from the Fatherland (since, as we have said, they have set up a Government here and erected a strong Castle, ‘The Good Hope’, on the shore): then these Hottentots assemble in great numbers and make for the slaughterhouse, and take the guts of these slaughtered cattle which otherwise would be thrown away. Then they make a
| |
| |
little fire, and let them just get warm, and so devour them with such appetite as if they were the best cervelat-sausage from Italy, without removing the dung which is still in these tripes. When they are really hungry they eat the guts raw and uncooked, as also they do when the butcher or slaughterer throws them a piece of raw meat, as if to a dog: such they take, and lay it on a stone and beat it with another stone until somewhat soft, and then tear it and eat it, as a hungry wolf devours dead carrion in a severe Winter, as I myself saw in the year 1677 with my own eyes. As soon now as these delicate folk have well filled their hungry bellies, they bow most humbly, and give thanks in their language, and go off two by two in their leather cloaks like the merchants of the Exchange in Amsterdam or Hamburg in their silken ones, back to the seashore and their holes there. Otherwise their usual food is roots* of all kinds, which they dig up at certain seasons of the year and make into a side-dish, which the Dutch call Hottentot bread.
Just as no French modiste should come here to earn money from these bestial people, so also they give no work to carpenters and masons to build their houses, but like pregnant she-bears gather together all sorts of bushes and roots from the forest, and along the seashore below the hills make hollows like round bake-ovens for their nests, instead of houses, and such old bushes are their tapestries and paintings. In these they live with their whole families, great and small, male and female together; and when one passes by such cleanly dwellings such an unusual smell of ambergris and musk is perceived (as may well be supposed) from these tripe-eaters, that one must cover up one's mouth and nose.
Regarding their work and doings, it could almost be doubted whether the daily work and toil laid by God on our forefathers and on us after them ‘In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread’ (Genesis I), can apply also to these bestial folk, since they live like the dumb beasts without care, from one day to the next. Their chief work is nothing more than to dig up and eat the roots* at certain seasons (as with us in Autumn the pigs eat the acorns). When they are satiated they lie down without a care, and cover themselves with their Spanish cloaks, I mean the sheepskins, under which they can pull in their body like a snail into its shell or an African tortoise under its carapace, and thus lie and sleep, as I have seen them; although they are much plagued by those many-footed Lusitanian beasties, the lice, of which they have an incredible number under their skin mantles, and therefore enjoy but little repose. The men use a very sharp flint to shave the hair of their beards, as the Jews are said to do in their circumcisings, with which they can smooth their chins as neatly as if they had the best razors. Such stone knives as used for shaving they use also on occasion for castrating young bulls, which they can do exceptionally well. One thing concerning these stupid folk is worthy of praise: that they know how to make fine lances from an old scrap of iron or an old ships' nail*, without hammer or tongs, to be used in their wars as shall be told. These they make thus: they take the said piece of iron, lay it on a stone (as hard as those black stones found near Stolpen in Saxony, used there by the gold-beaters and book-binders), and tirelessly beat it with another stone as if with a hammer, until the said ships' nail or old piece of iron takes the
| |
| |
shape of a lance [head]. Then they go to a rock, and sharpen it so neatly that many Europeans would think that it had been made by a regular German sword-smith. This I myself have often seen, and not without astonishment that such stupid folk could be thus skilled, and can make such beautiful lances without any tools, without fire, hammer, tongs, anvil or bellows.
As regards their speech, this is in no way whatever to be compared with any other language, but when they speak together of some serious matter, it sounds no otherwise than as the gobbling of angry turkeys. They click and smack with their tongues as French dancing-masters click with their castanets when teaching women to dance. Further, these bestial folk know nothing of letters, still less of reading and writing, so that no one of another nation can learn their speech, although in my time this was much endeavoured for the sake of trade.
It is also noteworthy that the men have a member surprisingly longer than that of Europeans, so that it more resembles the organ of a young bull than that of a man. So also the females are something exceptional in this respect, and by many are taken for hermaphrodites, because of a supra membrum genitale [see ‘Apron*’], a hanging flap a quarter ell long, like the wattle of a turkey's beak. The reader must not take it amiss that I reveal such secrets of Nature, nor ask how I could examine them so closely, since this is contrary to polite usage: be it known, therefore, that these spotless mountain-nymphs are so shameless, that even in the presence of Europeans they pass their maidenly water, and are accustomed even thus to relieve themselves, not to mention that these bestial folk perform their marital duty like dogs in the street, although even dumb beasts are ashamed to couple thus, as the naturalists write of the elephant. Since also they are extreme lovers of the noble weed Nicotine or tobacco, these charming females will show an inquisitive and salacious amateur everything that he may ask, for a pipeful of tobacco.
Although the Hottentots or wild Africans who live inland have their greatest wealth in cattle and sheep, on the other hand those at the Cape (with whom alone we have dealt with until now) assemble like thieves and robbers on the seashore (like the Shore-swallows, birds of prey that fly to and fro in great flocks), and wander out through the great wildernesses, driving off whole herds of sheep and cattle from their nearest neighbours. When they come safely to the port they bring many hundred head to sell to the Dutch, bartering them for things of small value such as rolls of tobacco [false: the cattle were brought in by the tribes owning them]. This is carried out as follows: These bringers of oxen and sheep must sit down in the Castle in a circle, as when the Germans play ‘Schuhes*’. Then an officer, or a junior accountant of the Trade-Office goes into the centre of the ring, and gives [? each] a piece of tobacco according to whether the cattle and sheep were many or few. With this they go off to their dwellings, as happily and with such a shout of joy as if they had received the richest booty of some tons* of gold. This then is the profit and excellent gains of these poor folk for the many kinds of great danger to which they have been exposed before they can bring these stolen beasts (beasts bringing beasts) through the great wildernesses. From this one might almost deduce that these
| |
| |
savages have some agreement with the Devil, since they can safely bring this cattle hither without any fear of harm from their enemies, the many terrible beasts such as lions, elephants, leopards, tigers, bears [sic], rhinoceroses and such like. On the contrary, a few years ago the Dutch sent out with great costs some men through these wastes to obtain information of the country and help forward these barterings, well provided with stores and arms; but because of the said beasts they must seek their way back to the Cape, without success and indeed only by compass-bearing, as I was told by one who himself had been with their vain expedition* [there were many such].
Regarding the Policy of these folk, they live like the dumb beasts from day to day, since they know nothing of God, His holy revealed Word, or any of His Laws, and far less are able to regulate or arrange their life by it. Among other customs, they have this - that those who have the most cattle and are thus the richest in their manner must be served by the others as if their serfs; yet this is to be understood only of those who live inland, and not of the hungry gut-gobblers of the seashore at the Cape. Also since war, enmity, hate and envy are the first children of the Devil, as is to be seen from Cain's brother-killing in the Bible, he has also not forgotten to sow these among this folk. As regards their weapons, these are arranged according to their intelligence, so that for the common soldiers they are sticks and stones, but for the officers the aforesaid lances, as also bows* and arrows. As to the former, sticks and stones, the Hottentots are so skilled with these that they can hit a nail at almost a hundred paces, or even more. For their defence they always carry sticks* with them, and with these they parry, turn aside, or hit away whatever is thrown at them, with unequalled skill and speed, just as a perfect fencer parries the thrusts. Similarly they also throw very exactly with the lances and shoot with the bows and arrows, since they exercise themselves from youth therein.... It is also worthy of note that these men run as fast as an African horse [? Quagga], so that no European, however good a runner, could scape from their clutches thus, if it came to that. Their war-assembly, consisting of certain bands or hordes, is made with no order, discipline or array: nevertheless those chosen to be their leaders or heads must first have proved themselves by one or other test of unusual bravery in their fashion. Although it is true that in their encounters no hundreds are left on the field, let alone thousands as (alas!) in our wars, yet it is seen how these
heroes attack each other with their stones and sticks, until they force their enemy to flee or bring him under their feet.
These miserable folk remain until now in the darkness of heathen atheism, since they neither believe in nor fear a God in Heaven or a Devil in Hell, and far less hope for another life after this one; but they revere certain created things, such as the moon when it is full, which they worship as a god, and in this manner: They come together in a green field by hundreds or often more, men and women, towards evening when the moon rises. Then they take each other by the hands, and now stand in a row, now make a closed circle, and sing and shriek bravely, and dance until daybreak, with such a terrible noise that the nearest hills give back an awful echo in the silent night. When now the lions or other beasts prophesy a change of weather or a south-east storm by their frightful howling,
| |
| |
and at the same time these pleasing nightingales add their tenor and bass, the hellish noise is to be compared with nothing else but itself, since it is a union of all that is horrible.
Further, as regards their propagation, one of our folk tried to convince me that a proper Hottentot never takes to bed more than one wife, and in token of a chaste fidelity and permanent memory in love the man lets a joint of a finger* of his left hand be cut away, but the woman of her right hand.... It was also told me that when a man or woman is caught with another woman or man, the adulterer or adultress is subject to the death-penalty, by stoning before all the folk as in the Law of Moses. But since I heard much in my time of such doings and of their courtesies with other women and men, but saw none of either stoned, I cannot confirm this. This I freely admit to have seen, how more than one family dwelt all together in a hollow or cave like swine in a pigsty, young and old, male and female; and since their whole life is bestial their is no doubt that herein also they lay no bridle or barrier of chastity to their affections. And thus far briefly of their life.
Be it far from me that, although I call these wild Africans bestial, I should either damn them to Hell or promise them Heaven. God has them in His Judgment, to which they may rightly be left. Yet there is to some extent a difference between the Turks, Jews, West- and East-Indians and these Hottentots, in that those others have yet a spark of knowledge of God and of His Will, and are therefore as far from these savages as is the Sun from the Moon. What the Turks and the Jews believe is sufficiently known to everyone who has even a little grounding in the Christian religion: the West- and East-Indians also believe that there is a God, Creator of all things; and, further, they regard Him as the highest Goodness when they say that He is by nature a good and gentle being, welldoing beyond measure and never harming any; that on the contrary the Devil is entirely evil, and in order that he shall do no harm to them, their children, or their crops, they must appease him with offerings and the like.... [Lengthy pious passage omitted.]
Sailed ‘after three weeks’ (DR 30/9). Batavia, where he was employed as gardener, and later as steward (majordomo) to Cleyer, and with him made two voyages to Japan. |
|
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd