IV.] THE AFRICAN NEGRO: II. 123 



River. The same indications may be traced right across the 

 continent to the Atlantic, where nearly all the coast streams even 

 in Hereroland, where the language has long been extinct have 

 the same ending 1 . 



On the west side the Bushmen are still heard of as far north 

 as the Cunene, and in the interior beyond Lake Ngami nearly to the 

 riorht bank of the Zambesi. But the Hottentots are now confined 



O 



mainly to Great and Little Namaqualand. Elsewhere there 

 appear to be no full-blood natives of this race, the 

 Koraquas, Gonaquas, Griquas &c. being all Hotten- disappearing. 

 tot-Boer or Hottentot-Bantu half-castes of Dutch 

 speech. In Cape Colony the tribal organisation ceased to exist 

 in 1 8 10, when the last Hottentot chief was replaced by a 

 European magistrate. Still the Koraquas keep themselves some- 

 what distinct about the Upper Orange and Vaal Rivers, and 

 the Griqu-as in Griqualand East, while the Gonaquas, that is. 

 " Borderers," are being gradually merged in the Bantu populations 

 of the Eastern Provinces. There are at present scarcely 180,000 

 south of the Orange River, and of these the great majority are 

 half-breeds. 



Despite their extremely low state of culture, or, one might 

 say, the almost total lack of culture, the Bushmen are dis- 

 tinguished by two remarkable qualities, a certain sense of pictorial 

 or graphic art 2 , and a rich imagination displayed 

 in a copious oral folklore, much of which, col- Bushman 



Folklore 



lected by Bleek, is preserved in manuscript form Literature. 

 in Sir George Grey's library at Cape Town. The 

 materials here stored for future use, perhaps long after the 

 race itself has vanished for ever, comprise no less than 84 thick 

 volumes of 3600 double-column pages, besides an unfinished 

 Bushman dictionary with 11,000 entries. There are two great 

 sections, (i) Myths, fables, legends and poetry, with tales about 

 the sun and moon, the stars, the Mantis and other animals, 

 legends of peoples who dwelt in the land before the Bushmen, 

 songs, charms, and even prayers; (2) Histories, adventures of 



1 Such are, going north from below Walvisch Bay, Chuntop, Kuisip, 

 Swakop, Ugab, Huab, Uniab, Hoanib, Kaurasib, and Khomeb. 

 - Eth. p. 249. 



