Hottentot people

“ They are a stout and powerful people, very dirty in their habits, and seldom remain long in one locality, being pastoral, cultivating no corn, and always at war with the Berg Damaras, being of a different tribe, using the Hottentot language. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Barrow, who was with the English General Vandeleur, near Algoa Bay, when this Hottentot chief came, with a large body of his countrymen, to claim the protection of the British.” “We had little doubt,” says Mr. Barrow, “that the greater number of the Hottentot men who were assembled at425 the bay, after receiving favourable accounts from their comrades of the treatment they experienced in the British service, would enter as volunteers into this corps; but what was to be done with the old people, the women and children? Klaas Stuurman found no difficulty in making provision for them. ”

“ Language is still meager in power of expression, but the Hottentot kraal or village community represents a much higher stage of social life than is found among the Pygmies or the Bushmen. Religiously, too, the Hottentot is on a higher plane than the related tribes. ”

“ And what but the divine blessing upon their sincere and humble endeavours to promote the happiness of their fellow creature, could give that power, authority, and stability to their society, which they evidently possess? Neither having, nor wishing for the means of coercion, their influence over their flock is founded on love; and the fear of that love being withdrawn, is the only but effectual restraint by which the Hottentot is kept from infringing the rules of the society. ”

“ She feels that she is to some extent responsible for him, not only in the home, but in the outer world: to the wise fairy who orders his domestic interior she adds the character of interpreter whose aim is to reveal his promising social exterior to a possibly unappreciative audience, much in the manner that a bilingual Hottentot, producing a white man before his tribe, would give them to understand that he came in95 every way up to the best Hottentot standards of good manners and capability. ”

“ It is universally agreed upon, that no one, unadorned with this virtue, can go into company without giving a manifest offence. The easier or higher any one's fortune is, this duty rises proportionably. The different nations of the world are as much distinguished by their cleanliness, as by their arts and sciences. The more any country is civilized, the more they consult this part of politeness. We need but compare our ideas of a female Hottentot with an English beauty, to be; satisfied with the truth of what hath been advanced. ”

“ The position of the slaves was, in my opinion, infinitely superior, merely from the self-interest of the owner, who would not kill or risk the life of a creature for whom he had paid two or three hundred rixdollars; whereas, the Dutch boors, or planters, thought little of the life of a Hottentot. If the cattle were to be watched where lions were plentiful, it was not a slave who had charge of them, but a Hottentot, as he had cost nothing, and the planter could procure another. ”

“ While he was in this condition he encountered a white family, who, having endured signal misfortunes in the world, had succeeded in snapping asunder the links which ordinarily bind men to society, and were now, with a few Hottentot servants, and a wagon which contained all their worldly possessions, proceeding towards Namaqua-land in search of a better fortune than they had hitherto met with. ”

“ It is remarkable, by the way, that the pleasing liveliness for which the Hottentot youth are notable departs together with youth, the demeanor of the men and women being sedate and almost gloomy.
Around the loins is fastened a much larger apron without any decoration. This is of variable size and shape, but the usual form is that which is shown in the illustration. Its name is “musesi,” and, like the “staart-rheim” of the men, is not thought to be a necessary article of clothing, being put on more for ceremony than for use. ”

“ They know "nothing of the corruptness and faithless arts of Europe." "They live in great tranquillity and are seldom at war with their neighbours." They are "all kindness and goodwill to one another.. One of the greatest pleasures of the Hottentots certainly lies in their gifts and good offices to one another." "The integrity of the Hottentots, their strictness and celerity in the exercise of justice, and their chastity, are things in which they excel all or most nations in the world." ”

“ If a Hottentot proved a trifle unruly, he was thrashed, while his master, looking on with a gluttonous eye, smoked a fixed number of pipes; and the wreathing smoke and the writhing Hottentot brought balm unto his soul.
And now to this hell of hypocrisy and villainy came the first apostle to the natives. As the famous Halle missionary, Ziegenbalg, was on his way to the Malabar Coast he touched at Cape Town, heard something of the abominations practised, was stirred to pity, and wrote laying the case before two pastors in Holland. ”

“ Many of them lived as voluntary dependents of the settlers, and constituted a sort of movable slave class which associated with the permanent slaves and were treated much as they were, while retaining the nominal right to transfer their services. Children born of unions between Hottentot women and the imported slaves constituted a body of apprentices whom the farmers had the right to keep for a certain number of years, and who then became free. ”

“ There is not, in fact, in the whole district of Graaff Reynet, a single horde of independent Hottentots, and perhaps not a score of individuals who are not actually in the service of the Dutch. These weak people—the most helpless, and, in their present condition, perhaps the most wretched of the human race,—duped out of their possessions, their country, and their liberty, have entailed upon their miserable offspring a state of existence to which that of slavery might bear the comparison of happiness. ”

“ Don't you see how behind the times you are? Because fifty years ago the labourers were underpaid, it doesn't mean they're not all right to-day. Just you wait till your cold's quite better, and you can have a look at my people in Anderby."
"It's not I who am behind the times, Mrs. Robson, it's you," he responded hotly. "You've just acknowledged the evils of a benevolent despotism, and now you deny that your rule is a despotism because it's benevolent. Why, what hope is there for social stability when the happiness of men is a matter of philanthropy, not of right? ”

“ Without his wife's permission a Hottentot does not drink a drop of milk, and should he dare to do so, the women of his family will take away the cows and sheep and add them to their flocks. A girl has the right to punish her brother if he violates the laws of courtesy. The oldest sister may have him chained and punished, and if a slave who is being castigated implores his master by the name of his (the master's) sister to desist, the blows must cease or else the master is bound to pay a fine to the sister who has been invoked. ”

“ Hancock broke in, “that a Hottentot is as good as a white man?”
“Now the South speaks, Aaron,” Dick retorted with a smile. “Prejudice, not of birth, but of early environment, is too strong for all your philosophy to shake. It is as bad as Herbert Spencer’s handicap of the early influence of the Manchester School.”
“And Spencer is on a par with the Hottentot?” Dar Hyal challenged. ”

“ I know it and can prove it by writings, which I promise to produce, that that people, as well as ours, abhor pensions. Who maintain them? Some great families, who live by them."--"It will come to this," replied Hans Escher, "we must first put questions everywhere; the councils of leaders are no longer of any account; one has just as much to say as another; squire and knight, common man and captain; now, let all, for my sake, cry out at once; then at least we will be done with the matter; if we ourselves cannot strike because of discord, then let the others strike." ”

“ A Hottentot is naturally among the most sociable of beings; Gert Gemsbok was no exception to the rule of his race in this respect. He had, however, made no friends among his own race at Namies. He could not visit the scherms of the other Hottentots; all were in the service of Trek-Boers, and the boycott against him was strict. As a protest against Max’s unheard-of conduct in keeping such a man in his service, all the Boers had given strict injunctions to their servants to have nothing to do with the informer against Willem Bester. ”

“ For several generations, the Hotchpots had verified their names, by making mixture of all moral doctrine. And the air of a county, where the world is flat and oozy, may have helped to bring high and low to one dead level. ”

“ However, you'll have a fair trial; I'll be the judge myself. What have you to say for yourselves?"
"We were seeking your assistance against Grater," said Hortense. "That is why we came to you."
The King shuddered, and all the Little People standing near by turned pale.
"He is never to be mentioned in my presence," said the King. "The penalty is ten years' imprisonment. Besides, how can you know so much about—him—unless you are his servants? It stands to reason that you are not telling the truth."
"Oh dear!" said Hortense. "How unfair you are!" ”

“ In the dialogue, which is humorously described as ‘A Battle Royal between Three Cocks of the Game,’ Higden and Hoadly are very cleverly played off against each other, and Hottentot, who stands for man in the supposed state of nature, against both. It was also while at White Waltham that Leslie published the ‘Vindication of the Short and Easy Method with the Deists,’ and ‘The Truth of Christianity demonstrated,’ which are dated ‘from my Tusculum, All Saints, 1710.’ He remained there disguised in regimentals until April 1711, when he made his escape to St. ”

“ Hortense turned a stiff little back upon her precious candy pile, most of it saved with provident forethought to eat in the following days when amusements would run low. Could she?
She swallowed very hard an obstacle in her throat, said no in big letters to her own small mind, then ran over to George Edward, both hands full of sweets, and said in an odd little way all her own: "There, that's to make the poor people sick." A shout greeted her; but her mother kissed her, and Hortense was satisfied.
The baby of the group must not shame them all. ”

“ Who but a Hottentot man, may we ask, can admire one of their ridiculous-appearing steatopygous women? Yet the men of that race can see beauty in no other form, and the idea of a woman lacking any development in the gluteal region is, to them, absolutely loathsome. ”

“ I should not like my rights, I know.”
“Ah, you mean your deserts, Aunt,” said Hatty. “But rights are not just the same thing, are they?”
“Let us look it in the face, girls, if you wish,” saith my Aunt Kezia. “I hate seeing folks by side-face. If you want to see anybody, or understand anything, look right in its face. What are rights? They are not always deserts,—you are right there, Hatty,—for none of us hath any rights as regards God. Rights concern ourselves and our fellow-men. ”

“ With the Tuileries for her city residence, Malmaison for her rural retreat, Napoleon for her father, Josephine for her mother, Eugene for her brother; with the richest endowments of person, mind, and heart, with glowing health, and surrounded by admirers, Hortense seemed now to be placed upon the very highest pinnacle of earthly happiness. ”

“ Those who will recognise no law but force, must take their first lesson under that law. A savage has to learn that he must respect the rights and feelings of others. That is the foundation of all social order. Until he has learned it, you cannot civilise him.”
“Granted. But the means you take are not the right ones. In the first place, who gave the Dutch settlers the right to the land or the cattle? They found the Hottentot and Bushman in possession. What equivalent did they give them for their land? They were savages, you will say, and could not appreciate its value. ”

“ It was probably a lack of discretion on his part, and a pernicious habit of speaking out his thoughts, that brought Horton into disrepute with respectable people when he chanced to stop among them. For men and women do not like to have people—especially poor and dependent people—set up in the thinking business for themselves, while so much labor and money has been expended to have their thinking done for them ”

“ The new generation knocks at your door—a generation of men, independent, not patronized, enjoying their own rights, not the philanthropy of their exploiters, respecting themselves, not their so-called superiors. You can't stop them, but they may stop you. You can't shut them out, but they may shut you in." He swept his hand round with a dramatic gesture, that brought it into unpremeditated contact with one of Mary's china jugs on the mantelpiece. ”

“ One is that the class should be intelligent enough to know its own interests. The theory that Hottentots or any other uneducated, altogether unintelligent class is fitted for self-government at once or to take part in government is a theory that I wholly dissent from—but this qualification is not applicable here. ”