NATIVES OF SOUTH AFRICA.
The aborigines of South Africa have been described as savages of a very
degraded type. "They were pigmies in size, yellowish-brown in color,
hollow-backed, and with skins so loose that in times of famine their
bodies were covered with wrinkles and flaps. On their heads were rows of
little tufts of wiry hair hardly larger than peppercorns, and leaving
the greater portion of the surface bald.
"Their faces were broad in a line with the eyes, their cheeks were
hollow, and they had flat noses, thick lips, and receding chins. They
anointed their bodies with grease when any was obtainable, and then
painted themselves with soot or colored clay.
"The clothing of the males was the skin of an animal hung loosely over
the shoulders; that of the females was little more than a small leathern
apron. To the eye of a European, no people in any part of the world were
more unattractive.
"These savages were thinly scattered over every part of the country from
a very remote period; for implements, such as arrowheads and perforated
stones similar to those which they had in use when white men first met
them, have been found in positions where the overlying materials must
have been undisturbed for an incalculable time."
Such were the Bushmen, as the Europeans have named these pigmies. "They
had no domestic animal but the dog, and they made no effort to cultivate
the soil. They lived by the chase and upon wild plants, honey, locusts,
and carrion.
"They had no government other than parental. This they ceased to
acknowledge when able to care for themselves. They had feeble frames,
wholly unfitted for toil, yet they possessed very keen vision and could
detect objects at a great distance. They were fleet of foot, and could
endure great hardships in the chase. Their only weapon was a frail bow.
The arrowhead was coated with a poison so deadly that even the slightest
wound was mortal."
In addition to the Bushmen, the first settlers on South African soil
found a people much superior. They belonged to the race now known as the
Hottentots, and must have occupied the soil long before the advent of
the white man. Several points of resemblance can be traced between these
two peoples, yet there are many essential differences in the shape of
the head and face; for instance, the ear of the Bushman is lobeless, a
marked contrast to that of the Hottentot.
The Bushmen and Hottentots were constantly at war with each other. The
Hottentots lived in communities, each with its own chief. They depended
mainly upon the milk of cows and ewes for food; for they did not
practice agriculture. They had horned cattle, gaunt and bony, and sheep
covered with hair in place of wool. These sheep had fatty tails of great
weight. With the exception of the dog, these were the only domestic
animals. The men lived in indolence; their only occupation was moving
from place to place with their herds and flocks, as pasturage failed. If
the supply of milk became short, the women gathered bulbs and roots of
nutritious properties to eke out an existence. These people slept in
huts, which consisted of slender wooden frames covered over with
matting, and which could be easily taken down at a moment's notice, and
set up again on a new camping ground almost as quickly as tents.
Such were the people with whom Europeans had to deal, when the first
settlements were made in South Africa. There was another branch of the
human family that began to invade South Africa even before it was
settled by the white man. It formed a part of the great Bantu family,
which occupies all of Central Africa extending from the Atlantic to the
Indian Ocean.
They were a stalwart people, versed in agriculture and working in metal.
They had a strict government and a well-defined system of law. They were
a people of mixed ancestry, doubtless; some individuals displaying all
the physical features and mental peculiarities of the negro, others
showing marked Asiatic features and the quick mental powers of a
superior race. The Bantu tribes were healthy and vigorous, but they were
rarely at peace.
The three classes of people who occupied South Africa before its
settlement by the white man "enjoyed the lives they were leading quite
as much as Europeans enjoy their lives, though their pleasures were of a
lower kind. Given freedom from disease and a slain antelope, and there
could be no merrier creature than a Bushman. He was absolutely devoid of
harassing cares.
"A Hottentot kraal, in the clear moonlight of Africa, with men, women,
and children dancing to the music of reeds, was a scene of the highest
hilarity.
"The Bantu woman, tending her garden by day and preparing food in the
evening, which she may not partake of herself until her husband and his
friends have eaten, is regarded as an unhappy drudge by her European
sister. In her own opinion her lot is far more enviable than that of the
white woman, whom she regards as being always in a state of anxiety."
As with most of the tribes of Africa, the chief element of disturbance
in their lives was war. The hand of the Bushman was usually against
every man, and every man's hand was against him. The Hottentot tribes
were constantly robbing one another of cattle, and on their eastern
border were struggling in vain against the advancing Bantu. Most of the
time every Bantu clan was at war with its nearest neighbors, whoever
these might be.
Various reasons have been given for the origin of the term Hottentot.
One writer declares, and doubtless he is correct, that the name arose
from the peculiarity of the language spoken by this people. It is "much
broken, full of monosyllables, uttered with strong aspirations from the
chest, and a guttural articulation which it is difficult to acquire."
In conclusion he says, "It is as if one heard nothing from them but _hot
and tot_." A peculiar sound, called the "click," is made in pronouncing
words. This is done by pressing the tongue up against the palate and
suddenly removing it.
All early records of the Dutch settlers praise the good traits of the
Hottentots. The tribes were all distinguished by the title "good men."
One writer states that during the first fifty years of the colony not a
single instance of theft from the colonists was known.
Later, a waistcoat decorated with silver buttons was stolen. This was
hard to conceal, and was soon discovered in the possession of a
Hottentot who belonged on a kraal a short distance from Cape Town.
The thief was no sooner discovered by his fellows than he was taken by
them to town and delivered into the hands of the magistrates. So great
a disgrace did they deem his offense, that they demanded that he be
punished in order to wipe out the stain of his evil deed. Nor was their
sense of justice satisfied even when he had received a severe flogging,
for they banished him from his clan as unworthy to associate with it.
It is sad to relate that the injuries inflicted on the Hottentots by the
colonists have had a very bad influence upon their characters. In the
past one hundred and fifty years they have, like the red man, been
driven from the lands of their forefathers, and have lost the sturdy
independence of which they had reason to be proud.
The Hottentots, before subjugation, usually arranged their encampment
about a kraal, or cattle fold, in the shape of a half-moon. The
encampment consisted of the cabins, or huts, which, with their covering
of mats, looked more like overturned baskets than dwelling places. If
possible, the encampment ground was chosen so that a hedge of thorn
completed the circle of which the huts formed a part. Thus were the
natives and their cattle secure against the wild beasts prowling around
the camp.
In sections where lions were numerous, the natives built a curious kind
of house, or cabin, on the top of poles or branches, sometimes ten or
twelve feet above the ground. This was to protect the children, who soon
learned to climb the poles to their airy cabins and to feel secure from
harm.
The Hottentots have a curious manner of drinking water. It is thrown
into the mouth by means of the right hand, which is seldom brought
nearer than a foot's length from the mouth. So quickly and dexterously
is this done that thirst is soon quenched.
The Hottentots are very skillful in breaking in their oxen for riding
purposes. This they do when the animals are about a year old. They first
pierce the nose to receive the bridle. This is done by making a slit
through the cartilage between the nostrils. This slit is large enough to
admit a finger. Into this hole a long stick from which the bark has been
stripped is thrust. At one end of the stick is a forked branch. This is
to prevent its passing through. To each end is then fastened a thong of
hide long enough to reach around the neck. These thongs serve as reins.
A sheep skin on which the wool still remains is placed across the back
of the animal. Another is folded and bound on with a rein long enough to
pass around the body several times. This serves for a saddle. Sometimes
a pair of stirrups is added. These consist merely of a thong with a loop
at each end, slung across the saddle. Very often these loops are
distended by a piece of wood to form an easier rest for the foot.
Before the nose of the animal has healed, the Hottentot mounts him and
puts him in training. In a week or two he becomes very obedient to his
master. "The facility and adroitness with which the Hottentots manage
the ox has often excited the traveler's admiration; it is made to walk,
trot, or gallop, at the will of its master.
"Being longer legged and rather more lightly made than the English ox,
it travels with greater ease and speed, walking three or four miles in
an hour, trotting five, and, on an emergency, galloping seven or eight.
"The ox in South Africa seems little inferior to that most sagacious of
all quadrupeds, the dog. Among the Hottentots these animals are their
domestics, and the companions of their pleasures and fatigues. While the
sheep are grazing, the faithful _backley_, as this kind of ox is called,
stands and grazes beside them. Still attentive, however, to the looks of
its master, the _backley_ flies round the field, obliges the flocks of
sheep that are straying to keep within proper limits, and shows no mercy
to robbers who attempt to plunder, nor even to strangers who come near.
"It is not the plunderers of the flock alone, but even the enemies of
the nation, that these oxen are taught to combat. Every army of
Hottentots was furnished with a proper herd of these creatures, which
were let loose against the foe. Thus sent forward, they overturned all
before them, and often procured their masters, even before they had
struck a blow, an easy victory."
If a driver loses one of his oxen, he shows much patience and
perseverance in searching for it, even though suffering from the
oppressive heat of the sun. He will continue the search for days,
scanning the ground carefully for footprints, until he comes upon the
track of the wanderer. Regardless then of fatigue, hunger, or thirst, he
presses on until the lost has been found.