Namaqualand

“ Various tribes of Namaqua Hottentots roamed over the southern portion of South-West Africa for many years prior to the German occupation. They had an abundance of horned cattle, sheep, and goats, and most of their rather frequent tribal conflicts were about flocks and herds. [Pg 161] Their descendants have shown themselves capable of adopting civilised habits of life, and they have learned to cultivate the soil, and even to act as rough handicraftsmen. More pure Hottentots are found in Great Namaqualand to-day than in any other part of South Africa. ”

“ Great Namaqualand terminates about this point, and Damaraland begins.
From the sea-coast for many miles inland the country is barren and poor; as the highlands are reached vegetation improves. The Desert of Tans extends a long distance inland, nearly to Mitchell’s Mount, which is a lofty hill of 6000 feet, commanding most extensive views in every direction. On the tributaries of the Great Fish river, and the river itself, most of the natives live in small wherfs, at the mission stations belonging to the Rhenish Mission Society, Bethany, Bethesda, Reheboth, and others. ”

“ At the same instant the Namaqua raised a loud native battle-cry, and brandished his assegai. The effect was electrical. The hostile tribe broke up in wild panic at once. They cried in their own tongue that the Namaquas were down upon them, under English guidance: and, quick as lightning, they dispersed as if by magic, to hide themselves about in the thick bush jungle.
Two seconds later, Guy was wringing Granville’s hand in a fervour of gratitude. Each man had saved the other’s life. ”

“ Great Namaqua-land is characterized by immense sandy plains, traversed by hill and rock, and thickly strewn with quartz, which reflects a dazzling and perplexing light. Two to three days' journey south of Rehoboth, the dense thorny bush, so peculiar to Damara-land, ceases, and with the exception of a few mimosas along the water-courses, and occasional ebony-trees, the arboreous vegetation is scanty and stunted. For more than six months of the year it is scorched by an almost vertical sun. The rains, which are always accompanied by heavy thunder, are periodical and very partial. ”

“ So great was the terror of both Namaquas and Bushmen at the name of Africaner, that, though a present was to accompany the letter, and payment to be given to the bearer of it, a considerable time passed before a person could be found of sufficient courage to undertake it. Indeed, for a long time after these Namaquas had fled to Pella, across the Orange River, from the dread of Africaner, the least rising of dust or sand at a distance frightened them very much, and they were sure it was Africaner eoming after them. ”

“ The sole arms of the Namaquas of the present day are guns. Their original weapons, which consisted of the bow and arrow, the assegai, and an immense shield (made out of an entire, single-folded ox-hide) , are now rarely seen.
The Namaquas are an excessively idle race. They may be seen basking in the sun for days together in listless inactivity, frequently almost perishing from thirst or hunger, when, with very little exertion, they may have it in their [324] power to satisfy the cravings of nature. If urged to work, they have been heard to say, “Why should we resemble the worms of the ground?” ”

“ Notwithstanding the Namaquas would not hesitate to shoot any of their slaves for the smallest offense, they consider such an act on the part of one of the subjected race against his master to be of so atrocious a character that they would undoubtedly have torn the lad to pieces had I not been present. As it was, they rose to a man, and swore they would have his life. ”

“ But there will be no bananas, no oranges, no mangoes, granadillas, pineapples, yam, taro or ti root, bread-fruit or maupei chestnuts, as in the fertile volcanic islands. Manahiki is a coral island, pure and simple, and has no soil at all, nothing but sand and white gravel, out of which the cocoa-palm and a few small timber trees spring, in a manner that seems almost miraculous to those accustomed to the rich, fertile soil of Raratonga or Tahiti. Cocoanut and fish are the food of the Manahikian, varied by an occasional gorge of turtle-meat, and a feast of pig and fowl on very great occasions. ”

“ The Namaquas had, as usual, been pillaging the Damaras, and were dealing death and desolation around them. It was no longer considered safe even for white men to remain. Indeed, the Namaquas had already attacked Richterfeldt. Early one morning a horde of these marauders suddenly appeared, and carried off all the cattle belonging to the people of the station. ”

“ The consequences which ensue among some peoples from breaking this taboo also point to its very ancient and totemistic origin. Thus the Namaqua, if he eats hare's flesh after attaining manhood, "is not unfrequently banished from his werft, though on paying a fine he may again be admitted to the community." ”

“ Of the Namaqua, one of the Hottentot tribes, he says, that the state of women is not so bad as among most South African tribes. The men assist their wives in the hard work; moreover a class of servants or slaves exists here. “This lowest class of people—one might object to our calling them “slaves”, as there is no established law distinguishing slaves from freemen—among the Namaqua mainly consists of individuals belonging to the despised tribes of Mountain-Damara and Bushmen. ”

“ The “Buli” of Namosi had sent messengers on in front to give notice of my approach, and at each village they had the inevitable hot yams ready to eat, which Masirewa made the most of. At the entrance to each village there was usually a palisade of bamboo or tree-fern trunks, and here a crowd of girls and children would often be waiting, and on my approach they would set up loud yells and scamper off, till I began to think that I must look a very ferocious kind of “papalangai.” [48] At Dellaisakau the natives looked a very wild lot. ”

“ Generally speaking, if they have a chance of obtaining cattle, the Namaquas are not at all nice as to whether they rob friend or foe. On this particular occasion, however, they were supposed to have had an old grudge against Kahichenè and his tribe. Once, as Jonker and a large party of his followers were on the way to Walfisch Bay, their provisions failed them, and hearing that Kahichenè, with whom they were then on friendly terms, was in the neighborhood, they bent their steps toward his kraal. ”

“ Like most of the tribes in Southern Africa, the Namaquas have great faith in amulets, which consist, as usual, of the teeth and claws of lions, hyænas, and other wild beasts, pieces of wood, bone, dried flesh and fat, roots of plants, &c.
When a chief died, it was formerly customary to call the whole tribe together, and to give a grand feast in honor of the occasion. The fat, and all the choice parts of the slaughtered animals, were preserved for the son of the deceased, who was to succeed his father in the chieftainship. ”

“ Like other Hottentots, the Namaquas are fond of wearing European apparel, and, as usual in such cases, look very bad in it. The men are merely transformed from respectable savages into disreputable vagabonds, and to them it is not so very unsuitable, but to the women it is peculiarly so, owing to the odd manner in which they paint their faces. A girl, dressed in her little skin apron and ornamented with coils of leathern thongs, may paint her face as much as she pleases without appearing grotesque. ”

“ We soon arrived at Namosi. It is a large town situated between two steep walls of rock, and was by far the prettiest place I had seen in Fiji, and that is saying a good deal. The town is on both banks of the Waiandina River, with large “ivi” and other beautiful trees overhanging the water; brilliant coloured crotons, dracænas, and other fine plants imparted a wealth of colour to the scene, and many of the grand old trees were heavily laden with ferns and orchids. During many years’ wanderings all the world over, I do not think I have ever come across a more beautiful and ideal spot. ”

“ Meantime it may readily be imagined that settlers have not hitherto been very numerous in a region where both water and arable land are deficient, and where travellers run the risk of perishing from hunger and thirst. In many of the Namaqua districts the explorer may travel for weeks together without meeting a single group of cabins. But the population is naturally somewhat denser in the northern territory, where the mountain ranges are more elevated, the slopes more grassy, the fluvial beds not quite so destitute of runninq ”

“ The area of Damara-land is about 29,000 English square miles. ↑ When speaking of the moon, the Namaquas do not say, like ourselves, that it rises and sets, but that "it dies and is born again." ↑ It is a practice among the young Namaquas to hold a goat between the knees, and draw the milk directly from the teats of the animal into their own mouths. ”

“ The naturally fertile Namuli uplands are almost uninhabited. Amongst these tribes spirit- worship is universal, and in certain villages, notably at Mpassu, on the route between Quelimane and Blantyre, every cabin has its trophy of offerings to the local genii. Before all the villages are piled up heaps of presents, such as food and merchandise, which are expected to secure the favour of tutelar deities. On the southern slope of the Namuli mountains and the banks of the Lukugu River there is a Makua tribe, recently visited by Last, whose warriors still eat human flesh. ”

“ Manabozho was living with his grandmother near the edge of a wide prairie. On this prairie he first saw animals and birds of every kind. He there also saw exhibitions of divine power in the sweeping tempests, in the thunder and lightning, and the various shades of light and darkness, which form a never-ending scene of observation. Every new sight he beheld in the heavens was a subject of remark; every new animal or bird an object of deep interest ”

“ There is no such thing as a general or prevailing Navaho type. The people vary much in feature and stature. Every variety of Indian face and form may be seen among them,—tall men with aquiline noses and prominent features, such as we find among the Crows and Dakotas; dwarfish men with subdued features, such as we see among the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, and every intermediate variety. ”

“ The Namaquas are fond of ornamenting their persons profusely with brass, iron, and copper, but more especially with small beads of various colors. A kind of black, dull bead, manufactured by themselves, is particularly esteemed. ”

“ About the period of the conquest alluded to a small tribe of Namaqua-Hottentots had pitched their tents on the banks of the Orange River, under the rule of Jonker Afrikaner, [32] who was then a chief of only secondary importance; yet, as his people were possessed of horses and fire-arms, he soon became formidable to his enemies. The territory lying between him and the Damaras was occupied by various tribes of Namaquas, who, on finding themselves hard pressed by the Damaras sent to Jonker to demand his assistance. ”

“ I showered questions on Nambu. Generally speaking, the passage of any of white person through the interior of New Guinea leaves a wake as big as that traced by a white elephant in an English village. It seemed unthinkable, first, that any white woman should have penetrated to those formidable fastnesses ”

“ On one side is the beautiful lake, sixty miles long and thirty miles wide, surrounded by volcanoes, and on the other are fertile slopes, on which are coffee plantations and cocoa groves, both yielding prodigious crops. The peons of the city work upon the estancias when there is anything to be done, travelling five or six miles each day in going to and returning from the scene of their labor. The country about Managua must have been densely populated by the aborigines, and is full of most curious and puzzling relics of a prehistoric{169} race, which the natives regard with great veneration. ”

“ The guinea-fowl represents the pheasant tribe, and these fine sporting birds are very numerous in North Damaraland and parts of Ovamboland. The so-called Namaqua pheasant is really a francolin partridge, while the well-known Namaqua partridge is a sand grouse, Pteroclurus namaquus. Soon after sunrise the sand grouse are seen high in the air in immense flocks, coming from all parts of the compass to gather around the vlies or pans where they drink. When hunted in the veld they rise well to the dog and provide excellent sport. ”

“ The Nahua migrations are more numerous and their accounts somewhat obscure. It is not improbable that while few in number the Nahuas arrived on our north-western coast, where they found a home until they had become a tribe of considerable proportions. Crossing the watershed between the sources of the Columbia and Missouri Rivers, a large portion of the tribe probably found its way to the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, where it laid the foundations of a wide-spread empire, and developed a civilization which reached a respectable degree of advancement. ”

“ The first settlers who came to the delta from the higher reaches of the river were the ancestors of the people of Nandoi, driven down by internal commotion among the tribes that inhabited the mountains. They found, at first, no land fit to grow yams or plantains, but the little islands in [Pg 371] the mangrove swamp were excellently adapted for defence, and they planted swamp via and taro, digging for the purpose trenches with banks on either side. The floods came and filled the trenches with silt. ”