Hottentot

“ 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. ”

“ Alice Ducher! . . . Oh, Peter! A soubrette from the Variétés in a blameless English girls’ school! Ye stately homes of England! Give me air!”
He took from his pocket the Hottentot Venus and contemplated her severely. “I don’t know which of you is worse, darling,” he said. “You or Mlle Ducher. What are you at, anyway? Lord, I wouldn’t have thought she had anything to do with palæolithic dolls! What’s the connection, darling?” The Hottentot Venus was naturally silent.
Reggie sighed and put her away, and began to contemplate the beauties of nature. ”

“ None of these wizards that have charms to subdue the beasts can tell you anything about it. A Hottentot will smell the air and say what cattle are near, but if you bid him tell you how he does it, he giggles like a fool and is ashamed.
"'I do not know if anything can be done,' the yellow man repeated. 'I cannot promise the baas, but I can try.'
"'Well, try then,' ordered Shadrach, and went away to make the necessary arrangements to have the young Kafirs in the fields that night. ”

“ Using my own eyes and my own idea of what a Hottentot is, I should have said that the bulk of the population of the Western Province of the Cape Colony is Hottentot. The truth probably is that they have become so mingled with other races as to have lost much of their identity; but that the race has not perished, as have the Indians of North America and the Maoris. ... The last half of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century saw the gradual progress of the Dutch depôt,—a colony it could hardly be called,—going on in the same slow determined way, and always with the same purpose. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Something, as she looked at the Hottentot and his absurd clothing and the dark stain of blood, told Alida Van Zyl that all this was God’s or the Devil’s truth she was listening to. But, like most of her race, she was a strong-minded woman, bred through long generations of ancestors to a life of rough toils and many dangers. She was horror-stricken, but not in the least likely to faint. Suddenly she half rose, stretched up her hand to the side of the waggon and took down from the hooks on which it rested a loaded carbine which Karel Van Zyl always left for her protection. ”

“ As this work treats only of the normal habits and customs of the various parts of the world, and has nothing to do with the modifications of civilization, the account of the Hottentot will be necessarily brief.
In shape the Hottentots alter strangely according to their age. When children, they are not at all agreeable objects—at least, to an unaccustomed eye, being thin in the limbs, with an oddly projecting stomach, and a corresponding fall in the back. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Nearly all the people in this village are Dutch. There is one Malay tailor here, but he is obliged to be a Christian at Caledon, though Choslullah told me with a grin, he was a very good Malay when he went to Capetown. He did not seem much shocked at this double religion, staunch Mussulman as he was himself. I suppose the blacks ‘up country’ are what Dutch slavery made them—mere animals—cunning and sulky. The real Hottentot is extinct, I believe, in the Colony; what one now sees are all ‘Bastaards’, the Dutch name for their own descendants by Hottentot women. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Conn says, "There is a greater difference between a Newton and a Hottentot, than between the Hottentot and the orang-outang." He fails to notice, or state, that the first is a difference of degree only, and the latter a difference of kind. It would be possible to develop a Hottentot into a philosopher, but no attempt is ever dreamed of, to change an orang-outang into a Hottentot. ”

“ We will give a few of the facts they collected about the inhabitants.
The Hottentots are as tall as Europeans, their hands and feet are small, and their colour a brownish yellow. They have not the thick lips of the Kaffirs and natives of Mozambique. Their hair is black and woolly, curly, but not thick. They rub the entire body with fat and soot. A Hottentot who paints himself looks less naked, and more complete, so to say, than one who only rubs himself with grease. ”

“ I would have taken my Emile, if he had been a Hottentot! and now he is always fretting over the supposed unhappiness of his dear Waldemar. He seriously believes that that personage has a heart like other human beings, which I, for one, emphatically deny."
"Gretchen!" said the Professor again, this time with an attempt to look severe, in which laudable effort he signally failed.
"Emphatically!" repeated his young wife. "When a man has a grief at his heart, he shows it one way or another. ”

“ It is now nine o’clock; let us yoke and push on as far as we can.”
“I agree with you, Major,” said Alexander; “what do you say, Swinton?”
“I am convinced that it will be the best plan, so let us rouse up the people at once. There is the roar of a lion at some distance, and we have no fires to scare them off.”
“The creaking of the waggon-wheels will be better than nothing,” replied the Major.
The Hottentots were roused, and the orders given to yoke: the poor fellows were all sound asleep; for a Hottentot, when he hungers or thirsts, seeks refuge from all his miseries in sleep. ”

“ The keen-eyed old Hottentot gave it as his opinion, that no body of Kafirs was concealed within, as the birds were swaying in the branches of the taller trees, and the ground showed no sign of fresh spoor (track, footmarks) . From the spot at which the party halted, only a portion of the vley was visible, and Mr Daveney was beginning to consider at which point they were to commence their reconnoitring operations, when Ormsby’s bloodhound dashed into the copse, and came back whining and importunate. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They were awaiting the arrival of the doctor, who had loitered behind to take leave of Omatoko, and make sure that he had set off on his return to the Hottentot kraal. Frank had had very great difficulty in parrying the importunity of the Hottentots, who were fully convinced that the prosperity of the tribe would be secured for ever, if he would but consent to take upon himself the chiefship, from which they were prepared to eject Umboo without further ceremony. ”

“ Never were people more contented or more grateful for the treatment they now receive. We have upwards of three hundred, who have been with us nine months. It is therefore with the opportunity of knowing them well, that I venture to pronounce them an intelligent race of men. All who bear arms exercise well, and understand, immediately and perfectly, whatever they are taught to perform. Many of them speak English tolerably well. Of all the qualities that can be ascribed to a Hottentot, it will little be expected I should expatiate upon their cleanliness ”

“ A few may occasionally be seen employing themselves in making neat little camp-stools and in repairing guns, for which they have a certain aptitude. Jonker Afrikaner—be it said to his honor—is by far the most industrious Hottentot that I have yet seen.
They are excessively fond of diversions, more especially music and dancing. They do not, however, distinguish themselves by grace in their movements, nor do they even possess that dexterity and flexibility of limb that the Ovambo ladies—at the expense of our peace of mind—exhibited at King Nangoro’s court ball. ”

“ Within the boundaries of the Dutch settlements are many different nations of Hottentots, differing from each other in custom very materially. Some are far superior to others in arts. In general, however, all live peaceably with each other, seldom fighting, except those who live to the eastward, who are much annoyed by people called by the Dutch Boschmen. The latter live entirely upon plunder, stealing the cattle of the Hottentots, but not openly attacking them. ”

“ I got the effect all right, for turning, I saw Gert, who had my short Martini carbine and was watching the Hottentots, almost doubled up with laughter, and the Hottentots running towards the rocks as fast as their legs would carry them. And in the rocks they stayed, and when the hour came for us to trek, there was neither Hottentot nor pack-cow. Gert went and parleyed with the women in the pondhoeks, but they could do nothing except demand coffee and tabaki, and the gentlemen up in the rocks evidently thought they had the whip hand, as we could go no farther without the cow. ”

“ I saw Corporal Saleh hastening across the square with a piece of stout cocoa-nut rope, such as is used by carriers to tie up their loads, in his hand. Before I could look round he had seized a young man standing before Knudsen and bound his arms tightly behind his back. The culprit submitted quietly, but a deafening outburst of talk arose when Saleh, throwing the rope like a lasso, fastened the other end round the waist of a young woman standing by, who chiefly attracted my attention by the truly Hottentot development of her figure about the hips. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Time was no object, so I meant to travel northward in a leisurely manner, resting whenever I felt inclined to, or when my cattle required to pick up in point of condition. Being a handy man with tools I knew I could repair my wagon or guns should they require it. I spoke Dutch well, and I took a lot of stuff for the purpose of trading with the Boers for food.
“Always a solitary man, I did not feel the need of a companion, but I took two servants with me—an old Hottentot named Danster and his grandson, a lad of sixteen. ”

“ He fell on his face with a gurgling groan, and died, clutching wildly at the grass.
Four “I sprang out of the wagon, ran to the top of the dune and shouted to old Danster, who, to my astonishment, emerged from under a bush a few yards off. He had stolen back after leaving the oxen, replete and happy, lying down about a quarter of a mile away. The old Hottentot was filled with savage delight at little Slinger’s death having been so completely avenged. He had his gun ready to shoot Piet had I fallen. Soon afterwards he brought up the oxen at a run, and we tied them to the yokes. ”

“ After the French and Germans, a small proportion, and the few Malays now left, comes the Hottentot—the Aborigine. With them [216] are enumerated the other colored races, as having the mark of degradation stamped by the Almighty upon the first-born of mankind. The "emancipated slaves," having, with a few exceptions, originally sprung from that race, have been but little raised in the scale of humanity, during their term of servitude to the Dutch.
Wished much to have visited the celebrated Observatory, but understood its interior had been destroyed by fire, a few weeks before. ”