HOTTENTOT PLACE-NAMES . 33T 



trough, ill which the rain-water is collected. It is from this circiim- 

 stanc-e that the spot derives its name — Gouhits in the Bushman (!) 

 language, signifying Trough Fountain." 



Tlie extensive limestone plateau in Giiqualand West, now 

 known as the Campbell Rand, is known to the Korannas as the 

 Xliah, this word has been europeanised into 'Kaap, it means 

 a large plain. In the centre of Great Namaqualand there is an 

 extensive plain marked in Alexander's map (long-. 17, lat. 25) 

 which he calls " the KeUaip or Great Flat " (I., p. 91, 1838) ; 

 here again we get the Hottentot word %liah, a large plain, 

 preceded by the adjective (jei, great. This name must not be 

 confounded with that of a river in Great Namaqualand known 

 as the Keikap — another instance in which similarity of printed 

 appearance could easilv mislead. This latter Keikap means in 

 English " The Witcli Kiver " (cf. the Hex Eivier of the Cape 

 Province); it is formed from the two Hottentot words Igeih, 

 sorcery, wizardry; fab, a river. " Ka/iiop, or Lion River," is 

 the name given by iVlexander (I., p. 227, 1838) to the river 

 south of Keetmanshoop, which, forty odd years earlier, Le 

 Vaillant (" New Travels," II., p. 259, 1796) gives in the form 

 '' Gamma River " ; it is derived from the Hottentot word 

 xami, a lion, a word which enlers into the composition of many 

 other place-names both in Great Namaqualand and elsewhere 

 in South Africa, as Kliam lasas, the lion's well; Kham, daoK, 

 Lion Poort, already mentioned; Kliamis, Lion Valley; 

 ('Jiamika, the Lion River, the name of the river near Union- 

 dale, now known as the Potjes River. We shall refer to 

 Gavika later on. 



The name of the river on which the township of Avontuur 

 stands is given by Sparrman and Paterson (see their respective 

 maps, the latter a reproduction, apparently, of the former) 

 as the Kukoi, with reference to which Sparrman says 

 (I., p. 305, 1785) : " or as it is pronounced, t^ Ku f'Koi. This 

 name signifies head or master." Later (II., p. 257, 1785) he 

 uses the term in tlie same sense: " When they saw that in 

 order to get tobacco nothing more was necessary than to be a 

 captain, they presented to me several others of the party as 

 being likewise t'Ku-t\Koi, or captains." The name appears to 

 be derived from the two words IKJnih. master; Khoih, a man. 

 In the two Hottentot names (Tofjami and O'okiep, the first 

 syllable in each represents the Hottentot word In, saltish, 

 brackisli : in the former (the name of a water-place near Angra 

 Peguena), the latter part of the name is I Igami, water; in the 

 latter name O'okiep (which, until quite recently, was the centre 

 of the copper mining industiy of Little Namaqualand) the 

 latter syllable represents the Hottentot gei, to be great. 

 Tradouw, the name of the pass in the Swellendam district. 

 C.P., running through the Langebergen, from Zuurbrak to 

 Barry dale, is formed from the two Hottentot words, taras, a 

 woman; and daos, a poort. (Cf. Traka, from taras, a woman; 

 and /ah, a river.) 



