The World and Its People Part 23

In addition to these divisions there are various dependencies, as British Bechua.n.a.land, the British Protectorate, the German Protectorate, the British Chartered Company Territory, the Portuguese Possessions, and Swaziland.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

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 ap.r.o.n. 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 cla.s.ses 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 hara.s.sing 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 p.r.o.nouncing 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 t.i.tle "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 b.u.t.tons 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 a.s.sociate 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 st.u.r.dy 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 pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.s 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.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

A VIEW OF CAPE COLONY.

The original colony was settled by the Dutch as early as the middle of the seventeenth century. Near the beginning of the nineteenth century it pa.s.sed into the hands of the British. The laws, customs, and names of places remained essentially Dutch, and the language spoken is, to a great extent, that of the first settlers.

The old colony comprised the section that occupies the most southern part of the continent of Africa, and borders the Atlantic and Indian Ocean on either side. Griqualand West has been so recently received into the family of Cape provinces that it is hardly as yet recognized as being included in the colony.

The physical features of the country are peculiar. Though intersected by many rivers, yet the Cape is, practically speaking, a dry country. None of the rivers are navigable, and the rainfall is scant and fitful over a large part of the colony.

Generally speaking, the climate of the country is temperate. In most of the hot valleys, however, the temperature is ovenlike in summer. We must not forget that the summer season at the Cape occurs during our winter.

On the higher grounds the average temperature in the warmest months equals that of Italy. In winter the temperature often falls below the freezing point. Then the air is clear, fresh, and invigorating.

Fevers and epidemics--scourges of most of the sections of Africa--are here unknown. On the east coast and in the extreme south there is an abundant fall of rain. The province of Natal is especially fortunate in this respect.

In the interior of the colony there is less rainfall, while in the vicinity of the Orange River there are only a few light showers. It has been a.s.serted that towards the mouth of the river there have been periods when no rain has fallen for many years.

One writer records the curious fact that the westerly winds which prevail in the winter season, from April to October, bring rain to the southeast maritime regions, while on the eastern coast the rainy season is in the summer, from September to April.

The highest mountain ranges are covered with snow for several months. In the inland sections frequent thunderstorms occur; these bring brief but copious falls of rain.

If we should start from the southern portion of the Cape and travel northward, we should find the country rising in a series of terraces.