The Koi-Koin Language.

457

one another, and even the feeble development of the mammary glands is strikingly similar in male and female Bushmen.9

It

The Bushmen and Koi-Koin form a single race; they are, as Theophilus Hahn observes, the children of the same mother. is true that in language they have in common only the clicking sounds, which are produced by applying the tongue to the teeth, or to various parts of the gums, and suddenly jerking it back. One of these sounds is used by Europeans to express annoyance, and another by drivers as an encouragement to their horses. Except the clicking sounds, and a few words which have been interchanged, there is no resemblance between the San and the Koi-Koin languages." The dialects of the Bushmen differ widely from one another, as is usual in all hunting tribes, although a certain kinship is always recognizable; 12 but we are as yet totally without information respecting the system pursued in their formation of words.13

10

The Koi-Koin language, on the contrary, is of great ethnological interest. 14 Dr. Moffat was the first to discover in it a resemblance to the language of ancient Egypt. This was also the opinion of Lepsius, and was also acknowledged by Pruner Bey, 15 Even Max Müller has sustained the assertion, 16 and Whitney has repeated it.17 Lastly, Bleek admits that, in the phonetic signs for the genders, the Hottentot language agrees more closely with ancient Egyptian or Coptic than with other languages, but that it also contains traces of Semitic forms. 18

9 Fritsch, Eingeborne Südafrika's, pp. 407, 415.

10 Theophilus Hahn in the Globus. 1870.

"Fritsch, Drei Jahre in Südafrika, pp. 253, 254.

1 Theophilus Hahn, VI. and VII. Jahresbericht des Dresdener Vereins für Erdkunde.

13 A description of the manners of the Bushmen has already been given. See p. 146.

14 S. G. Morton, Types of Mankind, p. 253. 1854.

15 L'origine de l'ancienne race egyptienne.

d'Anthropologie, Aug. 1, 1871, p. 430.

16 Science of Language, vol. ii. p. 2.

"Language and the Science of Language, p. 347.

Mémoire lue à la Société

18 Reineke Fuchs in Afrika. Weimar, 1870. Bleek still clings to the common origin of the Hottentot and Hamito-Semitic languages.

Von Gabelentz, Pott, Friedr. Müller, and Theophilus Hahn have pronounced against the relationship, and we should not have recurred to this old dispute, did it not plainly show that the dialects of the Koi-Koin must be very highly developed, and, in fact, so highly that Martin Haug supposes that their higher and more refined constituents have been acquired by contact with a civilized people. It is impossible to say whether this people is the same as the ancient Egyptians. 19 Not a single fact, however, speaks in favour of any such contact. Hence, until strict proofs are adduced for these conjectures, we must persist in maintaining that languages may be raised and polished by nations which have been unjustly called savages. The social condition of our forefathers at the time of Tacitus was little better than that of the Koi-Koin, but their language was even then Aryan in dignity.

The Nama and other dialects of the Koi-Koin attach highly abraded phonetic forms to the end of the roots. From koi human being, comes koi-b man, koi-s woman, koi-gu men, koi-ti women, koi-i person, koi-n people. We select this example that we may add that from koi, human being, is derived koi-si kindly, koi-si-b philanthropist, koi-si-s humanity.20 As many anthropologists reproach primitive nations with the assertion that their languages contain no expressions for abstract ideas, or no word for God or morality, we take this opportunity of pointing out that the Hottentots, who were once placed in the lowest grade, possess this said word for kindliness.

As they have already been in communication with Europeans. for several centuries, we shall obtain the best information respecting their manners and customs from the older descriptions, of which the most valuable is undoubtedly that given by Kolbe in the first decade of last century.

At the time when the Portuguese first saw them, the Hottentots were said to be cattle-breeders, but not given to agriculture,

21

19 Anthropologisches Correspondanzblatt, p. 21. 1872.

20 Nama Grammatik von Th. Hahn in the VI. and VII. Jahresbricht of the Dresden Vereins für Erdkunde, p. 32.

21 The Angra dos Vaqueiros, or the landing point, of Bartolomeo Dias (Barros, Da Asia) was the present Bay of Algoa. Peschel, Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p. 94.

contenting themselves with wild fruits and roots, which latter, however, it was unlawful to dig up until the ripe seeds were shed.22 For shelter they used a low dome-shaped framework made of sticks, which were sunk into the ground, bent and lashed together, and then covered with rush-mats. Their clothing consisted of leathern aprons and cloaks; they wore sandals, and both sexes— the women from feelings of modesty-covered their heads with fur caps. Spears, darts (kiri), and shields for parrying blows were their weapons; and for hunting purposes they carried bows and poisoned arrows. Like all Africans, they knew the arts of smelting iron ore and of working the metal.23 They were in the habit of training oxen for riding purposes in very early times. Cooking was done in earthen vessels. From honey they made an intoxicating drink; and, owing to their strong tendency to such beverages, brandy drinking has become a national vice among them. In addition to this they, in common with the Bantu negroes, had long indulged in the pernicious practice of smoking Dacha, or hemp. The contempt with which they are regarded by Europeans is perhaps principally due to their uncleanliness. The custom, incredible as it sounds, that, on the conclusion of a marriage, the Shaman defiles the bridal pair with his urine, is said actually to continue among the Nama tribes. Yet, let us not forget that, notwithstanding their uncleanliness, the Neapolitans and Irish, as well as the gipsies, are members of the Aryan family; and also that the drinking of the urine of oxen was enjoined on the Brahminical Hindoos as a purification from all manner of iniquities. Revenge, slight respect for parents, and the custom of exposing the aged and decrepit in deserts, are also flaws in the character of the Hottentots. Their love of freedom-or rather of indolencehas greatly diminished their number, and their total extinction is almost inevitable. They lived in tribes under chiefs, who shared their dignity with the elders of the community. Occasionally the single tribes concluded treaties of defence against common enemies. The Kei-xous, or "red people," still call themselves a royal

22 Kolbe, Vorgebirge der guten Hoffnung, p. 460.

23 Kolbe, p. 453. Theophilus Hahn, VII. Jahresbericht der Dresdner Geogr. Gesellschaft. p. 9.

tribe, from which it may, perhaps, be inferred that the Koi-Koin were formerly, if only for a short time, united into a nation by some skilful ruler. Polygamy is allowed, but is seldom practised. Kolbe states that a woman is never ill-used, but more recent observers do not confirm his assertion. It may be that the better customs of old times have been corrupted by the bad example of the Boors. Like the neighbouring Bantu negroes, the Koi-Koin exhibit skill in all forensic arts on the occasions of public judicial proceedings. The duties of the vendetta are not quite extinct, but the infliction of fines is generally held to be sufficient.

Great obscurity still prevails as to the religious ideas of this remarkable people. It is only certain that the Koi-Koin worship the moon, which is regarded as of the masculine gender. Their belief in a life after death is proved by the custom of giving to the corpse at its burial the same attitude as in the maternal womb, and they also break up their kraals after every case of death to avoid the proximity of the grave. Ancestor worship has been proved to exist among the Korana tribe, who worship a great chief of former times under the name of Tsui-xoab.24 It is much more difficult to decide whether the Hottentot Heitsi-Eibib was an historical hero. Stones are piled on tumuli in his memory, and dances are executed in his honour, so that the Namaqua, in speaking of the members of their tribe, say "they still dance," or "they dance no more," to express their persistence in paganism or their conversion to Christianity. Little light is afforded by the fables told of the death and deeds of this enigmatical being. He is said to have died and been born again more than once, so that many consider him identical with the moon-god.25 There were also Shamans among the Hottentots, who exercised power over rain and sunshine, and cast out the spirits of disease. Of course, belief in charms existed also, but the persecution of witches did not produce such evil consequences as among the Bantu negroes.

Any one who is capable of valuing the development of their

24 Bleek, Reineke Fuchs, pp. 59-64.

25 Theophilus Hahn, Die Nama-Hottentotten; Globus, vol. xii. p. 276.

Resemblances to Papuans.

461

language, is also able to appreciate the fact that Hottentots readily learn foreign languages and speak them correctly. Any one who in the examples given in Bleek's Reineke Fuchs admires their power of remodelling fables of animals of foreign derivation, so as to suit African understanding, will no longer allow that the Koi-Koin are among the lowest of human races, but will rather attribute to them a very high position among the semi-cultured nations. They undoubtedly possessed every disposition for social improvement, but the dearth of water in South Africa, which always compels its inhabitants to renew their wanderings, has prevented them from becoming stationary, and has at the same time precluded any density of population.

Before concluding this brief sketch, we must call attention to a remarkable coincidence of specific resemblances between the Koi-Koin and the Papuans of Fiji. Not only are the tufted matting of the hair and the narrow shape of the skull common to both, but in women of the Papuan race there is also a tendency to steatopygy.26 We must attribute less importance to the point that in both races men and women eat apart, from the fact that this practice is not uncommon elsewhere. It is more remarkable that the Fijian women when mourning for the dead cut off joints of their fingers, and that the same mutilation is practised by the Koi-Koin as a rule, especially among women, more rarely among men. But the direct coincidence of the legends concerning the mortality of man is very strange. Two gods, the Fijians relate, disputed whether eternal life should be conferred upon mankind. Ra-Vula, the moon, wished to give us a death like his own; that is to say, we were to disappear and then return in a renewed state. Ra-Kalavo, the rat, however refused the proposal. Men were to die as the rats die, and Ra-Kalavo carried the day. According to Anderson, the Koi-Koin have transformed the legend in the following way. The moon sent the hare on an embassy to man to say, "As I die and am born again, so shall ye die and come to life again." But the hare gave the message wrong, for he used

26 At least among the people dwelling on the shores of the Utenata River, in New Guinea. Natuurliche Geschiedenis der nederlandsche Bezittungen. Saloman Müller.