[1] The sultan of Bagiemi, in Central Africa, in 1906 sent his nephew
to undergo military training with a squadron of Spahis, and at the
same time to serve as a guarantee of his fidelity to the French
(_Bulletin du Comite de l'Afrique francaise_, Oct. 1906).
[2] Article 50 of the Hague War Regulations lays it down that "no
general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, can be inflicted on the
population on account of the acts of individuals for which it cannot
be regarded as collectively responsible." The regulations, however,
do not allude to the practice of taking hostage.
HOSTE, SIR WILLIAM (1780-1828), British naval captain, was the son of
Dixon Hoste, rector of Godwick and Tittleshill in Norfolk. He was born
on the 26th of August 1780 at Ingoldsthorpe, and entered the navy in
April 1793, under the special care of Nelson, who had a lively affection
for him. He became lieutenant in 1798, and was appointed commander of
the "Mutine" brig after the battle of the Nile, at which he was present
as lieutenant of the "Theseus." In 1802 he was promoted post captain by
Lord St Vincent. During all his active career, he was employed in the
Mediterranean and the Adriatic. From 1808 to 1814 he held the command of
a detached force of frigates, and was engaged in operations against the
French who held Dalmatia at the time, and in watching, or, when they
came out, fighting, the ships of the squadron formed at Venice by
Napoleon's orders. The work was admirably done, and was also lucrative;
and Hoste, although he occasionally complained that his exertions did
not put much money in his pocket, made a fortune of at least L60,000 by
the capture of Italian and Dalmatian merchant ships. He also made many
successful attacks on the French military posts on shore. His most
brilliant feat was performed on the 13th of March 1811. A
Franco-Venetian squadron of six frigates and five small vessels, under
the command of a French officer named Dubourdieu, assailed Hoste's small
force of four frigates near the island of Lissa. The French officer
imitated Nelson's attack at Trafalgar by sailing down on the English
line from windward with his ships in two lines. But the rapid
manoeuvring and gunnery of Hoste's squadron proved how little virtue
there is in any formation in itself. Dubourdieu was killed, one of the
French frigates was driven on shore, and two of the Venetians were
taken. After the action, which attracted a great deal of attention,
Hoste returned to England, but in 1812 he was back on his station, where
he remained till the end of the war. During the peace he did not again
go to sea, and he died on the 6th of December 1828. He married Lady
Harriet Walpole in April 1817, and left three sons and three daughters.
In 1833 his widow published his _Memoirs and Letters_. See also
Marshall, _Roy. Nav. Biog._ vol. iii., and James, _Naval History_.
HOSTEL, the old name for an inn (see HOSPITAL, ad init.); also employed
at Oxford and Cambridge to designate the lodgings which were in ancient
times occupied by students of the university and to a certain extent
regulated by the authorities. In some English public schools what is
known as the "hostel" system provides for an organization of the lodging
accommodation under separate masterships.
HOSTIUS, Roman epic poet, probably flourished in the 2nd century B.C. He
was the author of a _Bellum Histricum_ in at least seven books, of which
only a few fragments remain. The poem is probably intended to celebrate
the victory gained in 129 by Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (consul and
himself an annalist) over the Illyrian Iapydes (Appian, _Illyrica_, 10;
Livy, _epit._ 59). Hostius is supposed by some to be the "doctus avus"
alluded to in Propertius (iv. 20. 8), the real name of Propertius's
Cynthia, according to Apuleius (_Apologia_ x.) and the scholiast on
Juvenal (vi. 7), being Hostia (perhaps Roscia).
Fragments in E. Bahrens, _Fragmenta poetarum Romanorum_ (1884); A.
Weichert, _Poetarum Latinorum reliquiae_ (1830).
HOSUR, a town of British India, in the Salem district of Madras, 24 m.
E. of Bangalore. Pop. (1901) 6695. It contains an old fort, frequently
mentioned in the history of the Mysore wars, and a fine castellated
mansion built by a former collector. Close by is the remount depot,
established in 1828, where Australian horses are acclimatized and
trained for artillery and cavalry use in southern India.
HOTCH-POT, or HOTCH-POTCH (from Fr. _hocher_, to shake; used as early as
1292 as a law term, and from the 15th century in cookery for a sort of
broth with many ingredients, and so used figuratively for any
heterogeneous mixture), in English law, the name given to a rule of
equity whereby a person, interested along with others in a common fund,
and having already received something in the same interest, is required
to surrender what has been so acquired into the common fund, on pain of
being excluded from the distribution. "It seemeth," says Littleton,
"that this word _hotch-pot_ is in English a pudding; for in a pudding is
not commonly put one thing alone, but one thing with other things
together." The following is an old example given in Coke on Littleton:
"If a man seized of 30 acres of land in fee hath issue only two
daughters, and he gives with one of them 10 acres in marriage to the man
that marries her, and dies seized of the other 20; now she that is thus
married, to gain her share of the rest of the land, must put her part
given in marriage into hotch-pot; i.e. she must refuse to take the
profits thereof, and cause her land to be so mingled with the other that
an equal division of the whole may be made between her and her sister,
as if none had been given to her; and thus for her 10 acres she shall
have 15, or otherwise the sister will have the 20." In the common law
this seems to have been the only instance in which the rule was applied,
and the reason assigned for it is that, inasmuch as daughters succeeding
to lands take together as coparceners and not by primogeniture, the
policy of the law is that the land in such cases should be equally
divided. The law of hotch-pot applies only to lands descending in
fee-simple. The same principle is noticed by Blackstone as applying in
the customs of York and London to personal property. It is also
expressly enacted in the Statute of Distributions (S 5) that no child of
the intestate, except his heir-at-law, who shall have any estate in land
by the settlement of the intestate, or who shall be advanced by the
intestate in his lifetime by pecuniary portion equal to the distributive
shares of the other children, shall participate with them in the
surplus; but if the estate so given to such child by way of advancement
be not equivalent to their shares, then such part of the surplus as will
make it equal shall be allotted to him. It has been decided that this
provision applies only to advancements by _fathers_, on the ground that
the rule was founded on the custom of London, which never affected a
widow's personal estate. The heir-at-law is not required to bring any
land which he has by descent or otherwise from the deceased into
hotch-pot, but advancements made to him out of the personal property
must be brought in. The same principle is to be found in the _collatio
bonorum_ of the Roman law: emancipated children, in order to share the
inheritance of their father with the children unemancipated, were
required to bring their property into the common fund. It is also found
in the law of Scotland.
HOTEL-DE-VILLE, the town hall of every French municipality. The most
ancient example still in perfect preservation is that at St-Antonin
(Tarn-et-Garonne) dating from the middle of the 12th century. Other fine
town halls are those of Compiegne, Orleans, Saumur, Beaugency and St
Quentin. The Hotel de Ville in Paris built in the 16th century was burnt
by the Commune in 1871 and has since been rebuilt on an extended site,
the central portion of the main front being a reproduction of the old
design. There is only one town hall in a French town, those erected for
the mayors of the different arrondissements in Paris being called
_mairies_.
HOTEL-DIEU, the name given to the principal hospital in any French town.
The Hotel-Dieu in Paris was founded in the year A.D. 660, has been
extended at various times, and was entirely rebuilt between 1868-1878.
One of the most ancient in France is at Angers, dating from 1153. The
Hotel-Dieu of Beaune (Cote-d'Or), founded 1443, is one of the most
interesting, as it retains the picturesque disposition of its courtyard,
with covered galleries on two storeys and large dormer windows; and the
great hall of the Hotel-Dieu at Tonnerre, Yonne (1338), nearly 60 ft.
wide and over 300 ft. long, is still preserved as part of the chief
hospital of the town.
HOTHAM, SIR JOHN (d. 1645), English parliamentarian, belonged to a
Yorkshire family, and fought on the continent of Europe during the early
part of the Thirty Years' War. In 1622 he was made a baronet, and he was
member of parliament for Beverley in the five parliaments between 1625
and 1640, being sheriff of Yorkshire in 1635. In 1639 he was deprived by
the king of his office of governor of Hull, and joining the
parliamentary party refused to pay ship-money. In January 1642 Hotham
was ordered by the parliament to seize Hull, where there was a large
store of munitions of war; this was at once carried out by his son John.
Hotham took command of Hull and in April 1642 refused to admit Charles
I. to the town. Later he promised his prisoner, Lord Digby, that he
would surrender it to the king, but when Charles appeared again he
refused a second time and drove away the besiegers. Meanwhile the
younger Hotham was taking an active part in the Civil War in Yorkshire
and Lincolnshire, but was soon at variance with other parliamentary
leaders, especially with the Fairfaxes, and complaints about his conduct
and that of his troops were made by Cromwell and by Colonel Hutchinson.
Soon both the Hothams were corresponding with the earl of Newcastle, and
the younger one was probably ready to betray Hull; these proceedings
became known to the parliament, and in June 1643 father and son were
captured and taken to London. After a long delay they were tried by
court-martial, were found guilty and were sentenced to death. The
younger Hotham was beheaded on the 2nd of January 1645, and in spite of
efforts made by the House of Lords and the Presbyterians to save him,
the elder suffered the same fate on the following day. Sir John Hotham
had two other sons who were persons of some note: Charles Hotham
(1615-c. 1672), rector of Wigan, a Cambridge scholar and author of _Ad
philosophiam Teutonicam Manuductio_ (1648); and Durant Hotham
(1617-1691), who wrote a _Life of Jacob Boehme_ (1654).
HOTHAM, WILLIAM HOTHAM, 1st Baron (1736-1813), British Admiral, son of
Sir Beaumont Hotham (d. 1771), a lineal descendant of the above Sir John
Hotham, was educated at Westminster School and at the Royal Naval
Academy, Portsmouth. He entered the navy in 1751, and spent most of his
midshipman's time in American waters. In 1755 he became lieutenant in
Sir Edward Hawke's flagship the "St George," and he soon received a
small command, which led gradually to higher posts. In the "Syren" (20)
he fought a sharp action with the French "Telemaque" of superior force,
and in the "Fortune" sloop he carried, by boarding, a 26-gun privateer.
For this service he was rewarded with a more powerful ship, and from
1757 onwards commanded various frigates. In 1759 his ship the "Melampe,"
with H.M.S. "Southampton," fought a spirited action with two hostile
frigates of similar force, one of which became their prize. The
"Melampe" was attached to Keppel's squadron in 1761, but was in the main
employed in detached duty and made many captures. In 1776, as a
commodore, Hotham served in North American waters, and he had a great
share in the brilliant action in the Cul de Sac of St Lucia (Dec. 15th,
1778). Here he continued till the spring of 1781, when he was sent home
in charge of a large convoy of merchantmen. Off Scilly Hotham fell in
with a powerful French squadron, against which he could effect nothing,
and many of the merchantmen went to France as prizes. In 1782 Commodore
Hotham was with Howe at the relief of Gibraltar, and at the time of the
Spanish armament of 1790 he flew his flag as rear-admiral of the red.
Some time later he was made vice-admiral. As Hood's second-in-command in
the Mediterranean he was engaged against the French Revolutionary navy,
and when his chief retired to England the command devolved upon him. On
March 12th, 1794 he fought an indecisive fleet action, in which the
brunt of the fighting was borne by Captain Horatio Nelson, and some
months later, now a full admiral, he again engaged, this time under
conditions which might have permitted a decisive victory; of this
affair Nelson wrote home that it was a "miserable action." A little
later he returned to England, and in 1797 he was made a peer of Ireland
under the title of Baron Hotham of South Dalton, near Hull. He died in
1813. Hotham lacked the fiery energy and genius of a Nelson or a Jervis,
but in subordinate positions he was a brave and capable officer.
As Hotham died unmarried his barony passed to his brother, Sir Beaumont
Hotham (1737-1814), who became 2nd Baron Hotham in May 1813. Beaumont,
who was a baron of the exchequer for thirty years, died on the 4th of
March 1814, and was succeeded as 3rd baron by his grandson Beaumont
Hotham (1794-1870), who was present at the battle of Waterloo, being
afterwards a member of parliament for forty-eight years. He died
unmarried in December 1870 and was succeeded by his nephew, Charles
(1836-1872), and then by another nephew, John (1838-1907). In 1907 his
cousin Frederick William (b. 1863) became the 6th baron.
Other distinguished members of this family were the 2nd baron's son, Sir
Henry Hotham (1777-1833), a vice-admiral, who saw a great deal of
service during the Napoleonic wars; and Sir William Hotham (1772-1848),
a nephew of the 1st baron, who served with Duncan in 1797 off Camperdown
and elsewhere.
See Charnock, _Biographia navalis_, vi. 236.
HOTHO, HEINRICH GUSTAV (1802-1873), German historian of art, was born at
Berlin in 1802, and died in his native city on Christmas day 1873.
During boyhood he was affected for two years with blindness consequent
on an attack of measles. But recovering his sight he studied so hard as
to take his degree at Berlin in 1826. A year of travel spent in visiting
Paris, London and the Low Countries determined his vocation. He came
home delighted with the treasures which he had seen, worked laboriously
for a higher examination and passed as "docent" in aesthetics and art
history. In 1829 he was made professor at the university of Berlin. In
1833 G. F. Waagen accepted him as assistant in the museum of the
Prussian capital; and in 1858 he was promoted to the directorship of the
print-room. During a long and busy life, in which his time was divided
between literature and official duties, Hotho's ambition had always been
to master the history of the schools of Germany and the Netherlands.
Accordingly what he published was generally confined to those countries.
In 1842-1843 he gave to the world his account of German and Flemish
painting. From 1853 to 1858 he revised and published anew a part of this
work, which he called "The school of Hubert van Eyck, with his German
precursors and contemporaries." His attempt later on to write a history
of Christian painting overtasked his strength, and remained unfinished.
Hotho is important in the history of aesthetics as having developed
Hegel's theories; but he was deficient in knowledge of Italian painting.
HOTI-MARDAN, or MARDAN, a frontier cantonment of British India in the
Peshawar district of the North-West Frontier Province, situated 15 m. N.
of Nowshera. Pop. (1901) 3572. It is notable as the permanent
headquarters of the famous corps of Guides, and also contains a cavalry
brigade belonging to the 1st division of the northern army.
HOTMAN, FRANCOIS (1524-1590), French publicist, eldest son of Pierre
Hotman, was born on the 23rd of August 1524, at Paris, his family being
of Silesian origin. His name is latinized by himself Hotomanus, by
others Hotomannus and Hottomannus. His father, a zealous Catholic, and a
counsellor of the parlement of Paris, destined him for the law, and sent
him at the age of fifteen to the university of Orleans. He obtained his
doctorate in three years, and became a pleader at Paris. The arts of the
barrister were not to his taste; he turned to the study of jurisprudence
and literature, and in 1546 was appointed lecturer in Roman Law at the
university of Paris. The fortitude of Anne Dubourg under torture gained
his adhesion to the cause of Reform. Giving up a career on which he had
entered with high repute, he went in 1547 to Lyons, and thence to Geneva
and to Lausanne, where, on the recommendation of Calvin, he was
appointed professor of belles-lettres and history, and married Claudine
Aubelin, a refugee from Orleans. On the invitation of the magistracy,
he lectured at Strassburg on law in 1555, and became professor in 1556,
superseding Francois Baudouin, who had been his colleague in Paris. His
fame was such that overtures were made to him by the courts of Prussia
and Hesse, and by Elizabeth of England. Twice he visited Germany, in
1556 accompanying Calvin to the Diet at Frankfort. He was entrusted with
confidential missions from the Huguenot leaders to German potentates,
carrying at one time credentials from Catherine de Medici. In 1560 he
was one of the principal instigators of the conspiracy of Amboise; in
September of that year he was with Antoine of Navarre at Nerac. In 1562
he attached himself to Conde. In 1564 he became professor of civil law
at Valence, retrieving by his success the reputation of its university.
In 1567 he succeeded Cujas in the chair of jurisprudence at Bourges.
Five months later his house and library were wrecked by a Catholic mob;
he fled by Orleans to Paris, where L'Hopital made him historiographer to
the king. As agent for the Huguenots, he was sent to Blois to negotiate
the peace of 1568. He returned to Bourges, only to be again driven away
by the outbreak of hostilities. At Sancerre, during its siege, he
composed his _Consolatio_ (published in 1593). The peace of 1570
restored him to Bourges, whence a third time he fled, in consequence of
the St Bartholomew massacre (1572). In 1573, after publishing his
_Franco-Gallia_, he left France for ever with his family, and became
professor of Roman law at Geneva. On the approach of the duke of Savoy
he removed to Basel in 1579. In 1580 he was appointed councillor of
state to Henry of Navarre. The plague sent him in 1582 to Montbeliard;
here he lost his wife. Returning to Geneva in 1584 he developed a kind
of scientific turn, dabbling in alchemy and the research for the
philosopher's stone. In 1589 he made his final retirement to Basel,
where he died on the 12th of February 1590, leaving two sons and four
daughters; he was buried in the cathedral.
Hotman was a man of pure life, real piety (as his _Consolatio_ shows)
and warm domestic virtues. His constant removals were inspired less by
fear for himself than by care for his family, and by a temperament
averse to the conditions of warfare, and a constitutional desire for
peace. He did much for 16th-century jurisprudence, having a critical
knowledge of Roman sources, and a fine Latin style. He broached the idea
of a national code of French law. His works were very numerous,
beginning with his _De gradibus cognationis_ (1546), and including a
treatise on the Eucharist (1566); a treatise (_Anti-Tribonien_, 1567) to
show that French law could not be based on Justinian; a life of Coligny
(1575); a polemic (_Brutum fulmen_, 1585) directed against a bull of
Sixtus V., with many other works on law, history, politics and classical
learning. His most important work, the _Franco-Gallia_ (1573), was in
advance of his age, and found favour neither with Catholics nor with
Huguenots in its day; yet its vogue has been compared to that obtained
later by Rousseau's _Contrat Social_. It presented an ideal of
Protestant statesmanship, pleading for a representative government and
an elective monarchy. It served the purpose of the Jesuits in their
pamphlet war against Henry IV.
See Bayle, Dictionnaire; R. Dareste, _Essai sur F. Hotman_ (1850); E.
Gregoire, in _Nouvelle Biog. generale_ (1858). (A. Go.*)
HOT SPRINGS, a city of Arkansas, U.S.A., the county-seat of Garland
county, at the easterly base of the Ozark mountains, 55 m. by rail
W.S.W. of Little Rock. Pop. (1880) 3554; (1890) 8086; (1900) 9973, of
whom 3102 were of negro descent and 561 were foreign-born; (1910 census)
14,434. The transient population numbers more than 100,000 annually. Hot
Springs is served by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Little Rock
& Hot Springs Western, and the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern
railways. The city lies partly in several mountain ravines and partly on
a plateau. A creek, flowing through the valley but walled over, empties
into the Ouachita river several miles from Hot Springs. The elevation of
the surrounding hills is about 1200 ft. above the sea and 600 above the
surrounding country. The scenery is beautiful, and there is a remarkable
view from a steel tower observatory, 150 ft. high, on the top of Hot
Springs mountain. The climate is delightful. The average rainfall for
the year is about 55 in. The springs are about forty-four in number,
rising within an area of 3 acres on the slope of Hot Springs mountain.
They are all included within a reservation held by the United States
government, which (since 1903) exercises complete jurisdiction. The
daily flow from the springs used is more than 800,000 gallons. Their
temperature varies from 95 deg. to 147 deg. F. The waters are tasteless
and inodorous, and contain calcium and magnesium bicarbonates,
combinations of hydrogen and silicon, and of iodides, bromides and
lithium. The national government maintains at Hot Springs an army and
navy hospital, and a bath-house open gratuitously to indigent bathers.
The business of Hot Springs consists mainly in caring for its visitors.
Fruit-raising and small gardening characterize its environs. There are
sulphur, lithia and other springs near the city, and an ostrich farm and
an alligator farm in the suburbs. The finest of the novaculite rocks of
central Arkansas are quarried near the city. The total value of its
factory product in 1905 was $597,029, an increase of 213.1% since 1900.
The Springs were first used by the itinerant trappers. They were visited
about 1800 by French hunters; and by members of the Lewis and Clark
party in 1804 under instructions from President Thomas Jefferson. The
permanent occupation of the town site dates only from 1828, though as
early as 1807 a temporary settlement was made. In 1876 Hot Springs was
incorporated as a town, and in 1879 it was chartered as a city. In 1832
Congress created a reservation, but the right of the government as
against private claimants was definitely settled only in 1876, by a
decision of the United States Supreme Court. The city was almost
destroyed by fire in 1878, and was greatly improved in the rebuilding.
HOT SPRINGS, a hamlet and health-resort in Cedar Creek District, Bath
county, Virginia, U.S.A., 25 m. by rail (a branch of the Chesapeake &
Ohio railway) N. by E. of Covington and near the N.W. border of the
state. It lies in a narrow valley, about 2200-2500 ft. above the sea,
with rugged mountains on either side. Pop. of the district (1900) 1761;
(1910) 2472. The mean summer temperature is only 69 deg. F., and the
summer nights are always cool. There is a good golf-course. Mineral
waters (with magnesia, soda-lithia and alum) issue from several springs,
some at a temperature as high as 106 deg. F., and are used both for
drinking and for bathing. The Warm Sulphur Springs (about 98 deg. F.)
are 5 m. N.; Healing Springs (85 deg. F.) are 2(1/2) m. S. of Hot
Springs; and a few miles to the S.E., in Rockbridge county, are
Rockbridge and Jordan Alum Springs.
HOTTENTOTS, an African people of western Cape Colony and the adjoining
German territory, formerly widely spread throughout South Africa. The
name is that given them by the early Dutch settlers at the Cape, being a
Dutch word of an onomatopoeic kind to express stammering, in reference
to the staccato pronunciation and clicks of the native language. Some
early writers termed them Hodmadods or Hodmandods, and others Hot-nots
and Ottentots--all corruptions of the same word. Their name for
themselves was Khoi-Khoin (men of men), or Quae Quae, Kwekhena,
t'Kuhkeub, the forms varying according to the several dialects. Early
authorities believed them to be totally distinct from all other African
races. The researches of Gustav Fritsch, Dr E. T. Hamy, F. Shrubsall and
others have demonstrated, however, that they are not so much a distinct
or independent variety of mankind as the result of a very old cross
between two other varieties--the Bantu Negro (containing a distinct
Hamitic element) and the Bushman. Hamy calls them simply "Bushman-Bantu
half-breeds," the Bushman element being seen in the leathery colour,
compared to that of the "sere and yellow leaf"; in the remarkably
prominent cheekbones and pointed chin, giving the face a peculiarly
triangular shape; and lastly, in such highly specialized characters as
the _tablier_ and the _steatopygia_ of the women. The cranial capacity
is also nearly the same (1331 c.c. in the Bushman, 1365 c.c. in the
Hottentot), and on these anatomical grounds Shrubsall concludes that the
two are essentially one race, allowing for the undeniable strain of
Bantu blood in the Hottentot. This view is further strengthened by the
vast range in prehistoric times of the Hottentot variety, which, since
the time of Martin H. K. Lichtenstein (1800-1804), was known to have
comprised the whole of Africa south of the Zambezi, and has since been
extended as far north as the equatorial lake region.
Fritsch divides the Hottentots into three bodies; the Cape Hottentots,
from the Cape peninsula eastward to Kaffraria, the Koranna, chiefly on
the right bank of the Orange river, but also found on the Harts and the
Vaal, and the Namaqua in the western portion of South Africa. Of these
all save the last mentioned have ceased to exist in any racial purity.
The name which the Namaqua give to themselves is _Khoi-Khoin_, and this
name must be distinguished from that of the Berg-Damara or _Hau-Khoin_,
since the latter are physically of Bantu origin though they have
borrowed their speech from the Hottentots. While the Namaqua preserve
the racial type and speech, the other so-called Hottentots are more or
less Hottentot-Dutch or Hottentot-Bantu half-breeds, mainly of debased
Dutch speech, although the Koranna still here and there speak a moribund
Hottentot jargon flooded with Dutch and English words and expressions.
When the Cape Colony became a part of the British empire the protection
given to the natives arrested the process of extermination with which
the Hottentots were then threatened, but it did not promote racial
purity. Sir John Barrow, describing the condition of the Hottentots in
1798, estimated their number at about 15,000 souls. In 1806 the official
return gave a Hottentot population of 9784 males and 10,642 females. In
1824 they had increased to 31,000. At the census of 1865 they numbered
81,589, but by this time the official classification "Hottentot"
signified little more than a half-breed. The returns for 1904 showed a
"Hottentot" population of 85,892. Very few of these were pure-bred
Hottentots, while the official estimate of those in which Hottentot
blood was strongly marked was 56,000.
_Customs and Culture._--The primitive character of the race having
greatly changed, the best information as to their original manners and
customs is therefore to be found in the older writers. All these agree
in describing the Hottentots as a gentle and friendly people. They
held in contempt the man who could eat, drink or smoke alone. They
were hospitable to strangers, even to the point of impoverishing
themselves. Although mentally and physically indolent, they were
active in the care of their cattle and, within certain limits, clever
hunters. They were of a medium height, the females rather smaller than
the men, slender but well proportioned, with small hands and feet.
Their skin was of a leathery brown colour; their face oval, with
prominent cheekbones; eyes dark brown or black and wide apart; nose
broad and thick and flat at the root; chin pointed and mouth large,
with thick turned-out lips. Their woolly hair grew in short thick
curly tufts and the beard was very scanty. Amongst the women abnormal
developments of fat were somewhat common; and cases occurred of
extraordinary elongation of the _labia minora_ and of the _praeputium
clitoridis_.[1]
Their dress was a skin cloak (kaross) worn across the shoulders and a
smaller one across the loins. They wore these cloaks all the year
round, turning the hairy side inward in winter and outward in summer;
they slept in them at night, and when they died they were buried in
them. They had suspended around their necks little bags or pouches,
containing their knives, their pipes and tobacco or dakka (_Cannabis_,
or hemp), and an amulet of burnt wood. On their arms were rings of
ivory. Sometimes they wore sandals and carried a jackal's tail
fastened on a stick, which served as handkerchief and fan. The women
wore, besides the kaross, a little apron to which were hung their
ornaments; and underneath this one or two fringed girdles; and a skin
cap. Both sexes smeared themselves and even their dress with an
ointment made of soot, butter or fat, and the powdered leaves of a
shrub called by them _bucchu (Diosma crenata)_.
Their villages were usually on meadow grounds. They never entirely
exhausted the grass but kept moving from one pasture to another. The
huts were in circles, the area of which varied with the pastoral
wealth of the community. In the centre of the huts a hole served for a
fire-place, and at each side of this small excavations an inch or two
deep were made in the ground in which both sexes, rolled up in their
karosses, slept. A few earthen vessels, well-made bowls of wood,
tortoise shells for spoons and dishes, calabashes, bamboos and skins
for holding milk and butter, and mats of rushes interwoven with bast,
were all their furniture. Their weapons were primarily bows and
arrows, but they also possessed assegais, and knob-kerries. To women
much respect was shown; the most sacred oath a Hottentot could take
was to swear by his sister or mother; yet the females ate apart from
the men and did all the work of the kraal with the exception of the
tending of cattle and of the curing of the hides; the men, however,
assisted in the erection of the framework of the huts. The usual food
of the Hottentots was milk, the flesh of the buffalo, hippopotamus,
antelope or other game, and edible roots and bulbs or wild fruits. On
the coast fish captured by hooks and lines or spears were also eaten.
Cows' milk was commonly drunk by both sexes, but ewes' milk only by
the women, and when cows' milk was scarce the women were obliged to
keep to ewes' milk or water. Milk was drunk fresh, and not allowed to
turn sour as among the Bantu. Meats were eaten either roasted or
boiled, but for the most part half raw, without salt, spices or bread.
From some meats they carefully abstained, such as swine's flesh. Hares
and rabbits were forbidden to the men, but not to the women; the pure
blood of beasts and the flesh of the mole were forbidden to the women,
but not to the men.
In occupation they were essentially cattle-breeders, and showed great
skill in this pursuit, especially the Namaqua, who were capable of
training the horns of their cattle so that they grew in spirals. Their
social pleasures consisted in feasting, smoking, dancing and singing.
Dances were held every first quarter of the moon and lasted all night,
often for eight days in succession. Every signal event of life, and
every change of abode and condition was celebrated with a feast. On
the formation of a new kraal an arbour was constructed in the centre,
and the women and children adorned and perfumed it with flowers and
branches of trees and odoriferous herbs. The fattened ox was killed
and cooked, and the men ate of it in the arbour, while the women
sitting apart regaled themselves with broth. Upon such occasions the
only intoxicant was tobacco or dakka.
Circumcision, which is common to the Kaffir tribes, was unknown to the
Hottentots, but when a youth entered upon manhood a ceremony was
performed. One of the elders, using a knife of quartz, made incisions
in the young man's body, afterwards besprinkling them with urine. When
a man killed his first elephant, hippopotamus or rhinoceros, similar
marks were made on his body, and were regarded as insignia of honour.
Finger mutilation was common, especially among women; this consisted
in the removal of one or two joints of the little finger, and,
sometimes, the first joint of the next. The reason for this is
doubtful; it may have been a sign of mourning, or, especially in the
case of children, it may have been regarded as magically protective.
Marriages were by arrangement between the man and the girl's parents,
the consent of the girl herself being a matter of little
consideration. If accepted, the suitor, accompanied by all his
kindred, drove two or three fat oxen to the house of his bride. There
her relations welcomed the visitors; the oxen were slain, and the
bridal feast took place. The nuptial ceremony was concluded by an
elder besprinkling the happy pair. Among the southern Hottentots these
ancient usages have ceased; but they are continued among some tribes
north of the Orange river. Polygamy was allowed: divorce was common.
Family names were perpetuated in a peculiar manner--the sons took the
family name of the mother, the daughters that of the father. The
children were very respectful to their parents, by whom they were
kindly and affectionately treated. Yet the aged father or mother was
sometimes put in the bush and left to die. Namaqua says this was done
by very poor people if they had no food for their parents. But even
when there was food enough, aged persons, especially women, who were
believed to be possessed of the evil spirit, were so treated.
The Hottentots had few musical instruments. One named the "gorah" was
formed by stretching a piece of the twisted entrails of a sheep from
end to end of a thin hollow stick about 3 ft. in length in the manner
of a bow and string. At one end there was a piece of quill fixed into
the stick, to which the mouth of the player was applied. The
"rommel-pot" was a kind of drum shaped like a bowl and containing
water to keep the membrane moist. Reeds several feet long were used as
flutes.
_Government and Laws._--The system of government was patriarchal. Each
tribe had its hereditary "khu-khoi" or "gao-ao" or chief, and each
kraal its captain. These met in council whenever any great matters had
to be decided. The post was honorary, and the councillors were held in
great reverence, and were installed in office with solemnities and
feasting. In certain tribes the hind part of every bullock slaughtered
was sent to the chief, and this he distributed among the males of the
village. He also collected sufficient milk at the door of his hut to
deal out amongst the poor. A part of every animal taken in hunting was
exacted by the chief, even though it was in a state of putrefaction
when brought to him. The captains, assisted by the men of each kraal,
settled disputes regarding property and tried criminals. A murderer
was beaten or stoned to death; but if one escaped and was at large for
a whole year, he was allowed to go unpunished. Adultery seldom
occurred; if any one found parties in the act and killed them he was
no murderer, but on the contrary received praise for his deed. Women
found offending were burnt. Theft, especially cattle-stealing, was
severely punished. The thief was bound hand and foot, and left on the
ground without food for a long time; then, if his offence was slight,
he received some blows with a stick, but if the case was an
aggravated one, he was severely beaten, and then unloosed and banished
from the kraal. The family of even the worst criminal suffered nothing
on his account in reputation, privilege or property. The duel was an
institution. If any one was insulted he challenged his enemy by
offering him a handful of earth. If the latter seized the hand and the
dust fell to the ground, the challenge was accepted. If it was not
accepted, the challenger threw the dust in his foe's face. The duel
took place by kicking, with clubs, or with the spear and shield.
_Religious Ideas._--The religious ideas of the Hottentots were very
obscure. Francois le Vaillant says they had "neither priests nor
temples, nor idols, nor ceremonials, nor any traces of the notion of a
deity." Other authorities state that they believed in a benevolent
deity or "Great Captain," whom they named Tik-guoa (_Tsu-goab_). There
were other "captains" of less power, and a black captain named Gauna,
the spirit of evil. The moon was a secondary divinity, supposed to
govern the weather; and its appearance each month was hailed with
dancing and singing.[2] George Schmidt, the first missionary to the
Hottentots, says they also celebrated the annual appearance of the
Pleiades above the eastern horizon. As soon as the constellation
appeared, all the mothers ascended the nearest hill, carrying their
babies, whom they taught to stretch their arms towards the friendly
stars. Some of the tribes are said to worship a being whom they name
Tusib, the rain god. An old Namaqua was once heard to say "The stars
are the souls of the deceased," and a Hottentot form of imprecation is
"Thou happy one, may misfortune fall on thee from the star of my
grandfather."
Such as it was, the Hottentot religion was largely ancestor-worship.
Their deified hero was named _Heitsi-Eibib_; and of him endless
stories are told. The one most generally accepted is that he was a
notable warrior of great physical strength, who once ruled the
Khoi-Khoin, and that in a desperate struggle with one of his enemies,
whom he finally overcame, he received a wound in the knee, from which
event he got the name of "Wounded knee." He had extraordinary powers
during life, and after death he continued to be invoked as one who
could still relieve and protect. According to the tradition preserved
among the Namaqua, Heitsi-Eibib came from the east. Therefore they
make the doors of their huts towards the east, and those who possess
waggons and carts put their vehicles alongside the mat-house with the
front turned towards the east. All the graves are in true
west-easterly direction, so that the face of the deceased looks
towards the east. The spirit of Heitsi-Eibib is supposed to exist in
the old burial places, and, whenever a heathen Hottentot passes them,
he throws stones on the spot as an offering, at the same time invoking
the spirit's blessing and protection. Johann Georg von Hahn asserts
that there are many proofs which justify the conclusion that
Heitsi-Eibib and Tsu-goab (the supreme being) were identical. Both
were benevolent. Both were believed to have died and risen again. They
killed the bad beings and restored peace on earth; they promised men
immortality, understood the secrets of nature, and could foretell the
future.[3]
Various ceremonies were practised to ward off the evil influence of
ghosts and spectres, and charms were freely employed. If a Khoi-Khoi
went out hunting his wife kindled a fire, and assiduously watched by
it to keep it alive; if the fire should be extinguished her husband
would not be lucky. If she did not make a fire, she went to the water
and kept on throwing it about on the ground, believing that thereby
her husband would be successful in getting game. Charms, consisting of
bones, burnt wood, and roots of particular shrubs cut into small
pieces, were generally worn round the neck. There was also a belief
that in every fountain there was a snake, and that as long as the
snake remained there water would continue to flow, but that if the
snake was killed or left the fountain it would cease. Offerings were
sometimes made to the spirit of the fountain. In common with the
Bushmen, the Hottentots venerated the _mantis fausta_, a local variety
of the insect known as "the praying mantis" (_mantis religiosa_). P.
Kolbe saw sacrifices made in its honour when it appeared inside a
kraal; to kill it was strictly forbidden. The Hottentots had great
faith in witch-doctors, or sorcerers. When called to a sick-bed these
ordered the patient to lie on his back, and then pinched, cuffed, and
beat him all over until they expelled the illness. After that they
produced a bone, small snake, frog or other object which they
pretended to have extracted from the patient's body. If the treatment
did not succeed, the person was declared incurably bewitched. If death
occurred, the corpse was interred on the day of decease. It was wrapt
in skins, and placed in the ground in the same position it once
occupied in the mother's womb. Death was generally regarded in a very
stoical manner.
_Language._--The existence of a fundamental connexion between the
language of the Hottentot and that of the Bushman was suggested by Dr
Bleek and is supported by further evidence advanced by Bertin.
The Hottentot language was regarded by the early travellers and
colonists as an uncouth and barbarous tongue. The Portuguese called
the native manner of speaking stammering; and the Dutch compared it to
the "gobbling of a turkey-cock." These phonetic characteristics arose
from the common use of "clicks,"--sounds produced by applying the
tongue to the teeth or to various parts of the gums or roof of the
mouth, and suddenly jerking it back. Three-fourths of the syllabic
elements of the language begin with these clicks, and combined with
them are several hard and deep gutturals and nasal accompaniments. The
difficulty a European has in acquiring an accurate pronunciation is
not so much in producing the clicking sound singly as in following it
immediately with another letter or syllable. The four recognized
clicks, with the symbols generally adopted to denote them, are as
follows: dental = |; palatal = #; lateral = ||; cerebral = !.
According to Tindall, one of the best grammarians of the language, the
dental click (similar to a sound of surprise or indignation) is
produced by pressing the top of the tongue against the upper front
teeth, and then suddenly and forcibly withdrawing it. The palatal
click (like the crack of a whip) is produced by pressing the tongue
with as flat a surface as possible against the termination of the
palate at the gums, so that the top of the tongue touches the upper
front teeth and the back of the tongue lies towards the palate, and
then forcibly withdrawing the tongue. The cerebral click (compared to
the popping of the cork of a bottle of champagne) is produced by
curling up the tip of the tongue against the roof of the palate, and
withdrawing it suddenly and forcibly. The lateral click (similar to
the sound used in stimulating a horse to action) is articulated by
covering with the tongue the whole of the palate and producing the
sound as far back as possible; Europeans imitate it by placing the
tongue against the side teeth and then withdrawing it. The easiest
Hottentot clicks, the dental and cerebral, have been adopted by the
Kaffirs; and it is a striking circumstance, in evidence of the past
Hottentot influence upon the Kaffir languages, that the clicking
decreases amongst these tribes almost in proportion to their distance
from the former Hottentot domain.
The language in its grammatical structure is beautiful and regular. Dr
Bleek describes it as having the distinctive features of the
suffix-pronominal order or higher form of languages, in which the
pronouns are identical with and borrowed from the derivative suffixes
of the nouns. The words are mostly monosyllables, always ending, with
two exceptions, in a vowel or nasal sound. Among the consonants
neither _l_, nor _f_ nor _v_ is found. There are two _g_'s, _g_ hard
and _g_ guttural, and a deeper guttural _kh_. Diphthongs abound. There
is no article, but the definite or indefinite sense of a noun is
determined by the gender. In the fullest known dialect (that spoken by
the Namaqua) nouns are formed with eight different suffixes, which in
nouns designating persons distinguish masc. sing. (-_b_), masc. plur.
(-_ku_), masc. dual (_kha_), fem. sing, (-_s_), fem. plur. (-_ti_),
com. sing. (-_i_), com. plur. (-_u_), com. dual (-_ra_). The adjective
is either prefixed to a noun or referred to it by a suffixed pronoun.
This grammatical division of the nouns according to gender led to the
classification of the language as "sex-denoting," thus suggesting its
relationship, in original structure, with the Galla and others.
There are four dialectical varieties of the language, each with
well-marked characteristics: the Nama dialect, spoken by the Namaqua
as well as by the Hau-Khoin or Hill Damara; the Kora dialect, spoken
by the Koranna, or Koraqua, dwelling about the middle and upper part
of the Orange, Vaal and Modder rivers; the Eastern dialect, spoken by
the Gona or Gonaqua on the borders of Kaffirland; and the Cape
dialect, now no longer spoken but preserved in the records of early
voyagers and settlers. Of the Nama dialect there are three grammars:
Wallmann's (1857) and Hahn's in German, and Tindall's (1871) in
English, the last being the best; and the four Gospels, with a large
amount of missionary literature, have been published in it.
The vocabulary is not limited merely to the expression of the rude
conceptions that are characteristic of primitive races. It possesses
such words as _koi_, human being; _khoi-si_, kindly or friendly;
_koi-si-b_, philanthropist; _khoi-si-s_, humanity; # _ei_, to think; #
_ei-s_, thought; _amo_, eternal; _amo-si-b_, eternity; _tsa_, to feel;
_tsa-b_, feeling, sentiment; _tsa-kha_, to condole; _ama_, true;
_ama-b_, the truth; _anu_, sacred; _anu-si-b_, holiness; _esa_,
pretty; _anu-xa_, full of beauty.
_Literature and History._--Much traditionary literature--fables, myths
and legends--existed amongst the Hottentots,--a fact first made known
by Sir James Alexander, who in his journeyings through Great
Namaqualand in 1835 jotted down the stories told him around the camp
fire by his Hottentot followers. These Hottentot tales generally have
much of the character of fables; some are in many points identical
with northern nursery tales, and suggestive of European origin or of
contact with the white man; but the majority bear evidence of being
true native products. Bleek's _Reynard the Fox in South Africa_ (1864)
contains a translation of a legend written down from the lips of the
Namaqua by the Rev. G. Kronlein, which is regarded as an excellent
specimen of the national style. Another legend relating to the moon
and the hare conveys the idea of an early conception of the hope of
immortality. It is found in various versions, and, like many other
stories, occurs in Bushman as well as in Hottentot mythology.
The earliest accounts of the Hottentots occur in the narratives of
Vasco da Gama's first voyage to India round the Cape in 1497-1498. In
1510 the Portuguese viceroy, Francisco d'Almeida, count of Abrantes,
met his death in a dispute with the natives. Till the 17th century
they were believed to be cannibals, but with the occupation of the
Cape by the Dutch, in 1652, more accurate knowledge was obtained. A
century of Dutch rule resulted in the Hottentots becoming a nation of
slaves and in serious danger of extermination, and thus the arrival of
the English in 1795 was welcomed by them. In 1828 an ordinance was
passed declaring "all Hottentots and other free persons of colour"
entitled to all and every right to which any other British subjects
were entitled. (See CAPE COLONY: _History_; and SOUTH AFRICA.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--A. de Quatrefages, _Les Pygmees_ (1887); G. W. Stow,
_The Native Races of South Africa_ (1905); E. T. Hamy, "Les Races
negres," in _L'Anthropologie_ (1897), pp. 257 et sqq.; F. Shrubsall,
"Crania of African Bush Races," in _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._ (November
1897); W. H. J. Bleek, _A Comparative Grammar of South African
Languages_ (1862); and "Die Hottentotten Stamme," in _Petermanns Mit._
(1858), pp. 49 et sqq.; G. Fritsch, _Die Eingebornen Sud-Afrikas_
(1872), and "Schilderungen der Hottentotten," in _Globus_ (1875), pp.
374 et sqq.; G. Bertin, "The Bushmen and their Language," in _Jour. R.
Asiat. Soc._ xviii., part i., and reprint; P. Kolbe or Kolben,
_Present State of the Cape of Good Hope_; Sir John Barrow, _Travels in
South Africa_ (1801-1804).