Namaquas

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They cut up and dress the hides of their cattle, sharpen and mount smallarms, and make wooden bowls for holding milk and spring-water. Constantly moving about in search of good pasturage, the Great Namaquas are grouped in separate clans, each with its own chief and council of twelve elders. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Namaquas have great faith in amulets and charms of various kinds, the strangest of which is a rather curious one. When a chief dies, cattle are sacrificed, in order to furnish a great feast. One of the sons of the deceased succeeds his father in the chieftainship, and, in recognition of his new rank, the fat and other choice portions are brought to him as they had been to his father in his lifetime. The young chief places the fat on his head, and allows it to remain there until the fat has been melted out of it by the sun’s rays, and only the enclosing membrane remains, dry and shrivelled. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Though the affair was afterward made up between the chiefs, Jonker, in his heart, never forgave Kahichenè’s attack upon him, which he looked upon as a breach of faith.
In all the attacks of the Namaquas the most atrocious barbarities were committed. The men were unmercifully shot down; the hands and the feet of the women lopped off; the bowels of the children ripped up, &c.; and all this to gratify a savage thirst for blood. Many poor creatures have I myself seen dragging out a miserable existence that had thus been deprived of limbs or otherwise cruelly mutilated. ”

“ From the number of bleached bones of rhinoceroses, giraffes, and other wild beasts scattered about, it was evident that game had at one time been abundant in these parts; but the introduction of fire-arms among the Namaquas had either put an end to the animals, or scared them away to less peopled haunts. With the exception of hyænas and jackals, beasts of any size were scarce. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Altogether, the character of the Bechuanas does not seem to be an agreeable one, and even the missionaries who have gone among them, and naturally are inclined to look on the best side of their wild flocks, have very little to say in their favor, and plenty to say against them. They seem to be as heartless toward the infirm and aged as the Namaquas, and if one of their number is ill or wounded, so that he cannot wait upon himself, he is carried outside the camp, and there left until he recovers or dies. ”

“ There is a large body of gnoos and quaggas under that small hill to the westward; but there are better animals for the table when we get a little further to the northward."
"Which are those?"
"The eland, the largest of the antelope species, and sometimes weighing more than a thousand pounds; moreover, they are very fat, and very easy to run down. They are excellent eating. When I was in the Namaquas' land, we preferred them to any other food; but I see another variety of game on the plain there." ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ Little Namaqualand forms part of Cape Colony (q.v.) , and Great Namaqualand is the southern portion of German South-West Africa (q.v.) . The people of Namaqualand are the purest surviving type of Hottentots, and number some twenty to thirty thousand. ”

“ North of Great Namaqualand is Damaraland, whence too have come tokens of copper and whisperings of gold. Even to these hard hot unfertile sandy regions Dutch farmers have trekked in order that they might live solitary, unseen, and independent. We need not, however, follow them at present to a country which is almost rainless and almost uninhabited, and for which we are not as yet responsible. Little Namaqualand, south of{321} the Orange River, is one of the electoral divisions of the Cape Colony, and to that I will confine the few remarks which I will make as to this uncomfortable district. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ My arrival at the island caused no little commotion among the young bloods, each of whose chances of gaining the girl of his heart, and being united to her by the local Samoan missionary teacher, depended in a great measure upon his ability to provide sustenance for her from the sea; for Nanomaga, like the rest of the Ellice Group, is but little more than a richly-verdured sandbank, based upon a foundation of coral, and yielding nothing to its people but coconuts and a coarse species of taro, called puraka. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Along the coast of Great Namaqualand there are several small rocky islands upon which sea birds congregate in vast flocks; and as there is but little rain in that region, the guano is of considerable value. These islands became dependencies of Cape Colony a good many years ago. The men employed to gather the guano are their only inhabitants.
Farther north on the same coast is Walfish Bay, the only port through which access can be had to Great Namaqualand and Damaraland. The country around it is a dreary waste of sand, and a more uninviting spot can hardly be imagined. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While the Apaches and Navahoes are of the same stock, there have always been marked differences between them so long as they have been under the observation of the white men. When the Spaniards entered the country, the Navahoes were more distinctly an agricultural people than the Apaches. They had large patches of land under cultivation, kept their crops and lived in houses underground. Cultivated lands necessitated settled residences, and after the Spaniards introduced sheep, it was not long before the Navahoes were extensive sheep raisers. ”

“ The heart of Manabozho swelled within him. He was fairly on fire, and an unconquerable desire for further adventures seized upon him. He had destroyed the powerful Pearl Feather, killed his serpents, and escaped all his wiles and charms. He had prevailed in a great land fight, his next trophy should be from the water.
He tried his prowess as a fisherman, and with such success that he captured a fish so monstrous in size and so rich in fat that with the oil Manabozho was able to form a small lake. ”