influence on this poor persecuted race. These missionaries cultivate
gardens and fields in the neatest manner, and are themselves engaged
in various mechanical trades. The Hottentots by kindness and punctual
wages are induced to come and work for them, and the good fathers are
ever ready to instruct them in agriculture and the mechanical arts.
In 1824, nearly two thousand Hottentots lived in small huts, under
the protecting influence of the missionaries, each one cultivating a
little patch of ground to raise vegetables for his family. Some of them
employed their leisure moments in making mats and brooms, while others
obtained a comfortable subsistence by the sale of poultry, eggs, and
cattle.
Three hundred of their children attended Sunday school; and they
contributed five hundred six dollars to the missionary establishment
by voluntary subscriptions. Under the fostering care of true-hearted,
humble Christians, their habits of indolence and filth disappeared, and
they became distinguished for industry and cleanliness. By the last
accounts, about sixty Hottentots were communicants of the church.
Barrow, who visited the establishment in 1798, says: “Early one morning
I was awakened by the noise of some of the finest voices I ever heard,
and looking out saw a group of female Hottentots sitting on the ground.
It was Sunday, and they had assembled thus early to chant the morning
hymn. They were all neatly dressed in printed cotton gowns. A sight
so different from what we had hitherto observed, with regard to this
unhappy class of beings, could not fail of being most grateful.”
“On Sundays, they all regularly attend divine service, and it is
astonishing how ambitious they are to appear at church neat and clean.
Of the three hundred, or thereabouts, that composed the congregation,
about half were dressed in printed cottons. Their deportment was truly
devout. One of the fathers delivered a discourse replete with good
sense, and well suited to the occasion; tears flowed abundantly from
the eyes of those to whom it was particularly addressed. The females
sung in a plaintive and affecting style; and the voices were in general
sweet and harmonious.”
The Dutch had always excused their own tyranny by saying that their
unfortunate victims could not possibly be raised above the level of
brutes; and they manifested extreme jealousy of the influence of the
Gospel, because it bringeth light and freedom. The same spirit, which
always led them to place the poor Hottentot in the worst possible
point of view, likewise induced them to represent the amiable and
generous Kaffers as a savage, treacherous, and cruel tribe. Yet they
knew perfectly well that the Kaffers had shown a remarkable degree of
moderation toward the white colonists; and that in the midst of a war,
into which they had been driven by a series of iniquitous persecutions,
they spared the lives of all the Dutch women and children that fell
into their hands, though their own wives and children were murdered by
the Dutch without mercy.
In 1828 the British government relieved the Hottentots from their
grievous thraldom, and at once bestowed upon them all the privileges of
citizens. The change from slavery to freedom produces the effect that
would naturally be expected by any one who had observed human nature
attentively. This long oppressed race are fast improving in health,
cleanliness, industry, and respectability.
The Bojesmans, or Bushmen, are wild Hottentots, who have always
preserved their independence, though under circumstances of the
extremest misery and want. In personal appearance they very much
resemble the Hottentots, but are more diminutive and ugly. The
colonists call them Chinese Hottentots, on account of the peculiar
position and formation of the eyes and eyelids. Their customs and modes
of life bear a general resemblance to those of their more submissive
brethren; but, unlike them, they are very cheerful, active, and
industrious. Both men and women spring from rock to rock, like wild
antelopes, and their motions are so swift that a horseman finds it
impossible to keep up with them on uneven ground. Although their scanty
subsistence is earned with great danger and fatigue, they are always
merry.
The deadly animosity of the Dutch settlers makes it necessary for
them to remain concealed in their hovels among the rocks all day;
but on moonlight nights, they come out and dance from the setting of
the sun to its rising. They consider the first thunder storm as a
sure indication that winter has passed away, and testify their joy by
tearing off their sheep-skin coverings, and tossing them high up in the
air. On these occasions, they dance for several successive nights. The
circular places trodden around their huts indicate their fondness for
this amusement.
The women usually wear a piece of antelope’s skin cut into filaments,
after the manner of the other Hottentots; and like them they are
entirely unconscious of any shame in being without even this scanty
covering. Some of them wear caps made of ass’ skin, and bits of copper
or shells suspended in the neck from their little tufts of hair. It
is customary for elderly men to have two wives, one old and the other
young. These poor creatures have such a dread of white men, that Mr.
Barrow could hardly tempt the little children to come down the rocks
toward his party, to receive the biscuits he held out to them. The
mothers, finding their little ones were treated kindly, ventured to
approach; and when they had received a few trifling presents, forty
or fifty women and girls came down without any symptoms of fear. But
the women went backward and forward a dozen times, with invitations
and presents of tobacco, before one man could be prevailed upon to
descend; and when he did, he half cried, half laughed, and trembled
like a frightened child.
The Gonaquas are a tribe of unsubdued Hottentots, taller than the
Bojesmans, but resembling them in personal appearance. The women
generally paint the whole body with compartments of red and black.
The red is an ochrey earth, the color of brick-dust, and the black
is either soot or charcoal, mixed with grease. To finish this
embellishment in approved style is a tedious process. Some content
themselves with merely painting the cheeks. These colors are always
perfumed with a powder called _boughou_, the smell of which is very
disagreeable to those who are unused to it; but the Hottentots are so
fond of it, that they will sometimes give a lamb for a thimble full of
_boughou_. The men paint only the upper lip; by means of which they
continually inhale the fragrance. When young girls consent to perform
this office for their lovers, it is considered a very endearing proof
of affection. These women are very fond mothers. Their principal
occupations are cooking, taking care of their children, and making
garments and vessels of the skins of animals sewed with sinews. Their
aprons and cloaks are usually made of calf skins, and are longer and
larger than those worn by other Hottentots. As soon as milk is taken
from the cow, it is put in a leather sack with the hairy side inwards,
and suffered to ferment; for, like the Arabs, they have a dislike to
sweet milk.
The Dutch women at the Cape are excessively ignorant, tyrannical, lazy,
and fat; the inevitable consequence of having slaves to do every
species of labor, while they themselves indulge in great profusion of
animal food. An old Dutch African woman is said to be as laughable a
figure as an old Hottentot; one being as large and uninterruptedly
round as a hogshead, and the other characterized by uncouth projections
of the body. The young Dutch girls at the Cape are said to be much
superior to their clumsy, awkward brothers. They are generally small
and well formed, with social, unaffected manners. A few of the higher
class are tolerable proficients in music, French, and English, and have
considerable skill in lace and various kinds of needle-work. They copy
with much eagerness the English fashions that are brought to them, from
time to time, by ladies bound for India.
Sons and daughters share equally in the paternal inheritance, and an
entire community of property, both real and personal, takes place
at the marriage of two persons, unless provided against by a formal
contract before the wedding.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[7] A kind of pudding made of millet.
[8] A black Mohammedan priest.
[9] Black traders who go from the coast to the interior for articles of
merchandise, of which slaves constitute a large portion.
Transcriber’s Note
A few minor punctuation and spelling errors have been silently
corrected. All other creative spellings were left per the original.