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68 Georg Meister
(Plates 52, 53 & 54)
(See also item 38.) He sailed in Waalstrom from Batavia on ‘December 1’, 1687 (actually December 11 by Valentyn I: note the apparent use of Old Style* dating as in Vogel), with Vogel in the same ship, in the fleet as detailed in item 67. Storm in Sunda Strait as there.
On March 18 only the ship Seeland [Zalland] was with us, and that afternoon we sighted Cap Falsch. A couple of hours later we saw the Table Mountain of the Cap de bon Esperance.... This Table Mountain, which is the furthest corner of Africa [sic], lay before us to the right, to starboard about 8 miles* North-East by North. There was little wind, and towards evening it fell entirely; and on the next day there was again a fog, so that we were again compelled to fire guns and beat drums so that the other ship Seeland could hear, since the wind again rose somewhat. Towards evening about 4 o'clock it was a little clearer and a dead calm, and we found ourselves close under the Lion Hill, within pistol-shot. On the other side of this hill lie the Castle and the Town and the large Garden of the East-India Company, so that we must go to the right, but since there are many unseen rocks hidden below water we must first stand somewhat out to sea.... On this Lion Hill or Head stands a little hut where 2 or 3 Dutchmen are set, and they have high up on the hill four small cannon [‘Printzen-Stückgen’] and a high mast, on which they hoist the flag when foreign ships [sic: Dutch also] arrive, and fire so often as they see ships, and observe closely what flags the ships have, Dutch, English, French or Portuguese, so that the Governor in the Castle and those in the Town may know how many ships there are and of what nations. This Lion's Head is much higher [sic] than the Table Mountain, and difficult to climb. I dug out many bulbs on this hill, also the watchman brought me some, for which I paid in Dutch money. One of them must always be on the watch with his telescope, while the other goes down to the Castle (which lies on the harbour) and brings food and drink. Up at the flagstaff there is fastened a thick rope,
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[52] Hottentot Woman at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. From item 68. The earthenware (or ? metal) cooking-pot with handle is improbable, and the ? roots cannot be identified.
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which hangs down the rock: it is about 4 fingers thick, and with it they must haul themselves up and everything they need. There are clouds almost every day on this hill, but often it stands up above them. Beside the Table Mountain many clouds also go up and down. When with great toil one reaches the top of it one finds large pools of water in the rocks. It is mostly flat on top, and Nature has formed it with many large and small stones. On it there stand here and there rocks shaped like pyramids, but by the great damp and rain of so many hundred years they are quite worn through, and many would not credit that clouds and rain could thus make holes in stone. There are also innumerable unknown herbs there. When one climbs down again through the [Platteklip] gorge, which lies almost at the centre, one finds there also many rocks which in the long years have been holed by the rain. From this gorge there issues fine sweet water, which flows to the Garden in the town, and thence out to sea. Its source is so high that there is in Germany no tower so elevated but that it could not be led above it: even if the Tower at Strassburg stood in the East-India Company's Garden or near the Castle, the water could be carried to the top of it.
Meanwhile however to return to our journey: the Admiral* was to the north of us, and on the 19th we came under the Lion's Tail so that we could see the roads. Next day, March 20th [dr 30/3] we raised anchor and sailed with the ship Seeland in a gentle breeze into the harbour or roads of the Cap de bon Esperanza. Here we anchored, our Admiral having already anchored the night before, arriving early in the morning under the Robben Island. He however now also weighed anchor, and in the afternoon came to anchor near us. We had the most gracious God to thank in that He had mercifully shielded us in our journey from Batavia to here, and to pray that He would aid us in the coming journey to Holland.
The gay thunder of our cannon-royal, and the happy echo from the Castle, were the pleasing signs of joy in our fortunate well-being: on March 22 we went ashore with the shallops*; and that afternoon Sion, Einhorn and Brill, the ships which had been with us in the fleet, also came to anchor.
All the following dates etc. are confused, and should be checked with the DR. March 30 and 31 arrived the return-ships from Coromandel, Ceylon and Bengal, to sail to Holland with his fleet; also towards evening a French (L'Oiseau) and an English frigate* (Princess Mary); ‘and each foreign ship which comes to the roads must pay 500 guilders for her anchorage*’. April 3 arrived outward-bound Java (Admiral*), Zusammenschlag, Hanslardyck, with news of general peace in Europe, except between the Empire and the Venetians against the Turks. April 5 arrived Bambus, also for the Indies. April 7 arrived two French ships (Le Dromadaire, Les Jeux) from Siam, with Ambassadors to the King of France, also those sent by him to the King of Siam [sic]. April 9 the first French frigate to arrive sailed for France; and that evening the flute* Langewyck anchored. April 10 the English frigate sailed for England. April 11 in the evening arrived two more French frigates from Siam (Le Gaillard, La Loire). April 12 (DR 21/4) ‘the ship Guldenstein (in which I travelled
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to Japan for the first time with my patron, Herr Cleyer) arrived from Batavia or Unrust: she had been damaged in the Sunda Strait and repaired at Unrust near Batavia, and our other ships now must hasten to assist her, and take water and firewood to her, so that she should sail onwards with us to Holland.’ April 13 another French frigate sailed (Les Jeux, dr 23/4) and the flute Spierdick arrived from Holland. April 15 (DR 25/4) arrived Osterland, three months out from Holland, bound for the East-Indies. April 18 (DR 26/4) arrived the yacht Sillida from Holland, also for the Indies.
While we lay in the roads I always enjoyed myself ashore in the Garden*. After I had handed over my Indian plants to H.E. the Governor Simon von der Stelle in pretty good condition, I visited the well-cultivated land, which was so well planted with all sorts of crops such as rye, barley, and various sorts of cabbage that it is almost indescribable. Especially I pass over in silence the many and lovely vineyards which the Dutch inhabitants have set along the hills in a few years of untiring diligence, and have extended little little. There is indeed only one harvest a year, which is in the month of March (since here Winter is reversed, that is when it is Winter in Europe they have their Summer here at the Cap bon Esperance). It is pleasant in taste, somewhat resembling the Spanish wine, but much of it is exported to Batavia and to Holland itself, and sold to the ignorant as the best French wine. I say but little of the lovely green meadows and fields adorned with a thousand strange colours and flowers, where God and friendly Nature combine to show a masterpiece; and this since not only are the Servants or Farmers of the beloved Company ignorant of the most strange language of the wild Africans and Hottentots, but also the lack of time did not allow me to ascertain their names, and far less to investigate their properties: thus at this time I can tell nothing specific regarding them. But this is certain: if there is anywhere in the world where Nature plays incomparably with the rare and lovely colours of her flowers and herbs, it is on this extreme point of Africa [sic], the Cap bon Esperance.
[Again on Hottentots, and again mostly second-hand.] They come at a certain time each year to the Castle, or the place where the Dutch live near the Cap bon Esperance, driving along great herds of beasts ... which are their greatest wealth. These consist for the most part of oxen, sheep, and goats [sic], and he who has the most of them is the richest among them; and it is easy to distinguish him, since he has the greasiest, foulest skin on his body. [As regards the sheep], stupid and bestial as are these Hottentots, they have learned much in many years, and there are special folk among them who can cut off the tails of the ewes quite neatly (so that the rams may better play with them) and heal them again so that seldom one of them dies. These tails are also very tasty, being nothing but fat, and one of them suffices for fully 16 to 20 men. They do not willingly kill their fit oxen and cows, but let them die of age and sickness. When one of their sick cows dies it is cut up by them while still warm, and the guts and intestines taken out and cut into small pieces: they do not cook them but eat them quite raw and warm, even when they are not cleansed of the dung. This can be seen almost every day when ships are lying at
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[pagina 344-345]
[p. 344-345] | |
[53] From item 68. For the apparent crater on Table Mountain cf. plates 21 (Dapper) and 65 (Bogaert). The Fort-tower and flag are fictitious, but the flags on the Katzenellenbogen bastion and Lions Head are correct. ‘D’ marks the Jetty.
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the Cape, namely where the Company has its slaughter-house at the long jetty* in front of the Castle, which the prevent Governor von der Stelle has caused to be built [sic: dr 17/1/58]. This jetty is built of wood and planks, and there is a barracks next to the slaughter-house, where soldiers are on guard when ships are in the roads. The Governor has caused [re-sic] the water-course from the hills to be led to this jetty: in front stands a rectangular water-house into which the water flows, and when the sailors come from the ships they can let it run into their casks ... This jetty stretches far out to sea, and is very convenient for the shallops* and longboats [‘Sluppen und Boots’].
To return to the said Hottentots: when the Dutch kill cattle at the jetty, many of them assemble, and squat on their heels here and there all around, like black ravens on a refuse-heap; and since otherwise the Dutch would throw the guts into the sea, instead they throw them before the Hottentots, with the dung and all in them (wherewith some are accustomed to smear or paint their face and body), and it seems that these tidbits are very pleasing to them, since they gobble them up greedily.
When they wish to kill cattle in their fashion, this is done with the following ceremonies: they tie fast the two front legs of the ox with long grass or thongs, throw it down and hold it fast, and cut open the belly while it is still alive, taking out all the guts and intestines; and when the blood has run together in the body they take mussels or pieces of broken pots and scoop it out into skins or pots, this being the best part of the women's share, due to them by right, with which they must content themselves. Thereafter they set it on the fire, and let it thus get warm and coagulate, and eat it without salt or lard. Their Lords and Masters are meanwhile very busy with hewing and cutting apart the flesh in the skin: the fattest and tastiest pieces are set in a pot on the fire, without salt, which they do not like. Around the fire and the pot the guests sit on the ground on their heels in their manner, each provided with a sharp little wooden hooklet. When the meat has cooked in the pot for a while, and the fire is bravely stoked and the meat half-boiled, each takes a bit for himself out from the pot with his little hook, onto his dirty cloak, and tears and claws from it what is ready, and puts the rest back into the pot, then taking another piece with his hook and in the same way clawing off from it what he likes.
Meanwhile also, all sorts of discussions are usually carried on by them (which however no one can understand), and at times these feasts last for a pretty long time, many of them in the streets under the open sky, or in the low bushes. Meanwhile their little children, boys and girls, amuse themselves with the guts and intestines; and after they have turned the same inside out and shaken out the dung they throw the guts on the ashes or embers. As soon as it is warm and only half-roasted, it is torn apart with their teeth and swallowed with good appetite and liking. Their plates, napkins and tablecloths are the skins hanging around them, which become bravely greasy therefrom, so that those of us who see them pretty well lose their appetite. In front of the Craal or house [sic] of the generous person who gave the ox on the previous day 4 to 6 stakes are set in the ground, to hang on them the left-over meat, the head, skin, feet and other parts which could not be eaten the day before. The shameless guests then come together again, and
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after much gabbling make a hole in the earth, and throw down into it a layer of pebbles. On this they make a fire, and when the stones are bravely heated they take this fire away and lay the meat on them, and above the meat they again throw on stones, and then wood and glowing embers and thus let it roast. When now in their opinion the meat is cooked they drag it from the fire and ashes with their hooks, and eat it without more ado. The skin they take off and dry, which must then serve them for cutting from it small and large thongs, with which they tie together all their possessions and household gear. They make the skins soft by rubbing them with their hands, with lime made from shells; but when they are attacked by a keen appetite or by hunger they use them also as food: namely they cut them into small pieces, singe off the hair in the fire, and throw them onto the embers, and when it shrinks together they take it and beat it on the stones so long as they think fit, and chew it up quite small with their steel-hard teeth and so swallow it. When they are satiated they lie in the sun on the hills and sleep without care, drawing up their legs close to them and lying like tortoises with their leather cloaks, and with the long stick [kirri] which they always carry in their hands, and which remains also with them while they sleep; and if the sun shines warmly, they turn the rough side [of the cloak] outwards, and by night wrap themselves in the rough cowskin, and so forth. When the full moon appears they smear their black-baked skin with soot and fish-oil, thinking themselves the better as they are the greasier. When they come towards one, before they are seen they give off such a disgusting smell that one is entirely sickened by it. When we came from Batavia to anchor in front of the Castle, and our longboat went ashore to fetch fresh water, it brought also 4 such old rogues back to the ship, who at once danced before the Chief Mate so that he should give
them rice. Then they went below in the ship to the Steward, to beg for strong arrack or brandy, which they greatly love. Meanwhile they went also to the Cook, who gave them cooked rice. Then a marvel was to be seen, how they painted themselves and smeared themselves with soot and fat from the pots in the galley, and thought themselves to be the fairest folk on earth. They began to devour the rice they had begged, with fat bacon which they had got from the Steward with the arrack, and squatted on the main hatch below and guzzled. When the arrack had somewhat gone to their heads it began to have its effect, and then there was a lovely table-talk. What a gabbling together there was! Dogs and cats would have burst from it, until at last our Bos'n could not bear to listen to it any longer, even if he were referee [a complicated pun on Schiedsman and Schieman*]. Then were heard all manner of things, such as ‘You damned dogs, can't you be at peace with each other? You beasts, the devil take you [“dat u de wint schitt”], you devil's claws!’ etcetera. However much these folk eat they never become fat or even stout like other heathen, but remain always slim like greyhounds. In their youth the left testicle* is cut away, so that they may run, fight and hunt the better, also that they may not beget many children: no one has more than 4, at the most. At a certain place in the body of the girls short hanging thongs are cut [see Apron*], the reason for this being unknown to us. Those who dwell near the sea live altogether miserably: they have no boats or canoes so that they could catch fish, but live
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[54] ‘Hottentots [sic] at the Cape of Good Hope’. From item 68: the hills are reversed right to left.
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on roots* and on dead whales cast ashore in storms, which they nobly enjoy; but those who live further inland consider themselves somewhat superior, calling themselves Solthaniman. These carry out much cattle-breeding, from which they live. Their land is also very fertile, but they are altogether too lazy to cultivate it, preferring rather to suffer hunger than to labour. It best pleases them to live in their savage fashion, and they will not willingly abandon it. Shortly before my time it happened, as was told me, that the Dutch took a young Hottentot along to Batavia [? Doman, but the details do not tally], and clothed him, and instructed him in everything, to see if he would give up his bestial ways. So long as he was at Batavia not much amiss was to be noticed, but when he came back to his fatherland at the Cape his compatriots told him to take off his Dutch clothes, or they would stone him to death. He did not hesitate for long, but quickly threw off that clothing and put round him again a greasy, dirty skin in the fashion of the country, and perhaps in his own mind this better pleased him. They are well exercised in the throwing of lances and stones: when they are given a dubbeltje* or a stiver they can hit a marked target or a nail[-head] at about 100 paces.
In their marriages they use wonderful ceremonies: namely, when the boy has spoken with the father and mother and with the bride, and it is agreed to, the near friends of the bridegroom come together, and then he throws a thick, greasy cow-gut around the neck of his sweetheart instead of lovely pearls and golden chains, and this is the true bond of love, which is worn until it falls off of itself: and such is their coupling. At night about 8 or 9 o'clock the dance begins, not far from their houses and under the open sky, and is done in good order: namely, the men stand in a long row with bent-down bodies, and throw their heads from one shoulder to the other. On the other side the women stand in a long chain [‘rinken’], about 3 paces away, and stamp, and sing their usual song ho/ho/ho, which lasts through the whole night until full daylight, so that one cannot sleep because of it when they do it below the Lion Hill. When now they are in good health, and the full moon shines clear, they take their greatest pleasure, which is also their full-moon religious observation. They have so painted their faces with red earth and fat that it is disgusting to see. The women and girls clap their hands with an unusual movement, and make a peculiar soft noise between the teeth and through the nose, which accords pretty well with the song of the men. By their continued dancing they stamp out large and deep holes in the grass or earth.
Then again, while the dance continues a man comes stamping from one row and a woman from the other, and when they meet in the centre the man butts with his head like a goat towards the woman, and then they go back humming and singing, each to his or her place; and this continues by turns until the end. At times there may be a fine girl in the row who is by nature proud, and if she does not like the cavalier opposite her she does not come so near to him, but at once returns to her place. They have also their musicians to these joyous feasts, who are old women with a pot and over it a goatskin tied fast with the sinews or guts of sheep, and on this they beat with fingers and hands. Also they stretch a dry goat-gut on a bow, and take [a quill on] this in their teeth, as do
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the Caffers in the Indies. Their conductor beats the earth with his long stick [Kirri], and then he strikes the earth with his cane [‘Rakel’] with the word ‘Satisso*’ then all suddenly fall silent; and when they have paused for a long or short period, standing still, they again begin their former endless song of ho/ho/ho/ho with a loud shout. Such then are their acts of betrothal and of marriage. Those who have many cows are the richest, and may take 3 or 4 wives, as many as he can support. If one runs away from him, as often happens, and joins another man in another Craal, then if this becomes known and her former husband learns of it, great warfare between them begins, with their Hasagayen or throwing-spears, until at last one party must yield; but the rancour from this lies on their hearts for long, and since they have no judges they have also no advocates who could cause the case to be compounded. Such great warfare also begins among them when some secretly drive off and steal the cattle of others.
Of Hottentot milking: They take the cow, tie the hind legs fast with a leather thong, and give the calf the teat in its mouth, and when the cow lets the milk flow they take the teat from its mouth and milk into a pot or dirty skin. As soon as the cow perceives this she gives no more milk, and then a man must come and blow into her Vitumel through a reed about a span in length, and then she must let the milk flow again: otherwise she will give no more even if beaten to death. Many also thus blow into her without a reed-pipe, pulling the Posteriora wide apart and blowing into it, as is to be seen in the drawing which I brought home with me [Plate 53].
Of their delicate butter-making: With such clean labour and toil as they use in their milking they make also their butter, namely they have ready a long sack sewn up from a cowskin, with a little opening below it which they stop up. Into this they throw the milk onto the rough hair, and tie up the sack with thongs, and two of them take one end each and throw the sack to and fro until they can tell that the butter is in it. Then they open the little tap and let the buttermilk flow out. After that they open the sack, and indeed many would lose his appetite when he looks at this butter, both from its lovely smell as from the many cow-hairs that are mixed in it. But it does not disgust them, since it is natural and in-born to them, just as is the eating of lice. When the sun shines warmly they sit on the hills or by the seashore, and take a little stick, and beat their rough Carosses or cloaks: the lice then fall out like hemp-seeds, but they do not leave these lying, but pick them up and bite them open with their teeth, and spit out the skins. The women, who have them pretty thick in the guts on their legs, dig them out from these with a little piece of wood, and at once take them in their mouths as aforesaid. When they are asked, Why they do this? they say in their broken Dutch ‘that beast bite us, we bite it again, it sucks our blood, we suck our blood again’. Such cleansing can be seen every day at the Cabo de bon Esperance, at the Lion Hill where their houses stand, [or] below at the Lions Tail near the town where the Dutch have their houses. Just as the Hottentots can neither read nor write, nor have any religion, so also most of the labour of the men is merely to laze and sleep, unless hunger forces them from their holes and they carry things to and fro for the Dutch. After they have done the task they are given a piece of tobacco or
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biscuit, or rice, or money with which they buy bread. If they are given the agreed-on pay in advance they run off and leave the work standing. They are very agile in leaping, as some of us saw. Two of them came to us in our inn, and could drink down large glasses of wine, as also of punch [‘Schamrade’] made from Brunswick Mumme*. which much amused us; and when this drink went to their heads, and we played them Dutch tunes on viols, there was to be seen a wonderful dancing and leaping. Also they asked us (and were themselves amused by it) to throw our canes at them; they bent down quite crooked on their heels, and whistled hoarsely through their noses, and when a cane was thrown quite hard at them they were never hit, since they leapt away like lightning, and themselves enjoyed it. The men can also have such amusement*, sitting by the water with the children and throwing stones into it; or they make lumps of mud and throw these in, and when there is a good splash they have their pastime and enjoyment therefrom. Those who live inland go out hunting, and what they catch with great toil they eat all together. They [the men] may not eat hares, and their women may not eat any fat oxen: thus it is fixed by their customs.
To mention also the red Baboons which dwell in the high crags and rocks there on the Table Mountain: when there is no wind at night and one goes into the Garden of the Company, they are to be heard calling to each other with the sound of hu/hu/hu. If anyone wishes to climb up to them they throw down large stones, and thus defend themselves better than any man. These large apes or Baboons are as large of body as a large dog. The Freemen say that they are very lustful, and a few years ago encountered a Dutch woman in the hills, and threw her down and held her, and one after another had his will of her; and at last they let her go, which otherwise seldom happens, since they would rather tear the human to pieces after such action. Also, as the gardener told me, they often came into the Garden by night towards dawn, and that when the Bomasinen or melons, guavas, sweet potatoes and other fruits are ready and ripe the black slaves must keep watch. When now they wish to steal, they set themselves one behind another, some standing on the hedges or trees, and throw the fruits one to the other, catching them perfectly; and if they see anything amiss the Baboon on watch calls out hu/hu/hu/hu, and then they run off with the stolen fruit from there, without looking behind them, to the Table Mountain. For the rest, they eat roots and wild almonds, as also the figs* of which there are many in the grass ... and these they share with the Hottentots. Now let us turn our eyes again to our ships.
After we had lain here for a month, and well provided all our ships anew with wood and water, we weighed our anchors on April 20 [dr 30/4] and set sail in God's Name. I was entrusted by H.E. the Governor with the following, and took charge of them at the Cape: 3 chests for H.R.H. the Prince of Orange; 5 chests for H.E. Caspar Fageln, Pensionary of Holland; and 9 chests of such trees, flowers and garden-plants for the Medical Garden at Amsterdam, in all 17 chests with soil and all sorts of plants. We bade adieu in ship's fashion with the firing of some cannon, as we had done on arrival, and the echoes from the hills joined with the inhabitants to wish us success in our journey...
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Sargasso. Punishment by triple ducking from the mainyard, weighted to sink ‘fully two fathoms deep’. Master of Silberstein died, oaken coffin with a 100-pound ball, weft hoisted, bells rung, coffin carried thrice around the top deck; but a soldier or sailor merely sewn up in sheet, bells rung but no gun fired. Northabout*. Met by 26 warships at Shetlands, also by Cruisers* with refreshing. Arrived August 12, 1688. 1689 in service of Elector at Dresden. |
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