HOTTENTOT PLACE-NAMES. 339 



burg, Griqualand West, where the original Hottentot name 

 .'Awes, the vaalbosch, TarconantJnis ccunpJioratus, has been 

 corrupted into Koppies. Ganfomv, spelt Carulauw in " Het 

 Dagverhaal van Plettenberg's Landryse," is a fair European 

 reproduction of the two Hottentot words IKani, the eland; 

 daos, a poort, of which this name of a poort in the Hottentot 

 Holland mountains is composed, and by which it was known in 

 early days, " He Cloof van het Gebergte die door de Hottentots 

 Gantouw werd gen* en door ons Elandspat " (" Dagverhaal " 

 of Hartogh's cattle-trading expedition, 1707). Karas Moun- 

 tains is the name given by Alexander (I., p. 276, 1838) to that 

 range of mountains in Great l^amaqualaud. which was for 

 m.any years the headquarters of the Bondelzwart-Hottentots. 

 It was here that for two years they defied the Germans, by 

 whom, however, they were subjugated in 1908. Tindall (" Two 

 Lectures on Great Namaqualand," p. 16, 1856) gives us this 

 name in the form " Xgharas." It is said lo be from the 

 Hottentot !a-as, sharpening, whetting, and to refer to the 

 sharp character, or the sharpening character, of its loose stones. 

 The chief mountain of the range was named by Alexander 

 " Lord Hill " ; the Germans recognising, apparently, the 

 appropriateness of the Hottentot name, called it " Scharf en- 

 stein." A curious hybrid place-name is furnished by Robert 

 Moffat (" Journey from Colesberg to 8teinkopf in 1854-5," 

 p. 155, 1858) in the name 'Noxigat Pass, in which no less than 

 three diiferent languages are represented, viz., Hottentot, 

 Dutch and English. /nouh is the Hottentot name for the 

 ochre with which, mixed with fat, the Hottentots smeared 

 themselves ; gat (hole) is the Dutch word for the cave from 

 which this material was obtained ; and Pass, of course, is 

 English. This is the name of a pass at the northern end of 

 the Doornberg range, near Prieska, C.P. 



PriesJia is mentioned last in this class because it affords an 

 opportunity of dealing with one or two points in connection 

 with this name raised by Kingon in his fine paper on 

 " Aboriginal Place-names " (South African Journal of 

 Science, vol. xv, p. 758). 



The early printed form of this place-name as it aooears in 

 the account of H. van de Graaif' s " Journey to Beihuana- 

 land," in 1805. is Prisliah, said there to be the Koranna name 

 of a drift in the Orange River. Robert Moffat (" Journev 

 from Colesberg to Steinkopf in 1854-5," p. 155. 1858) gives us 

 " Brieschapr and Burchell (I., p. 307, 1822) spells it 

 " Brleslap " (Hot. herih, a he-g-oat ; herds, a she-goat; ga, to 

 be dead, to be lost). Thorough analyses of the word show many 

 interesting points, especially if taken letter by letter. 



P. — Why is the initial letter written by some F , and by 

 others B? Because the Hottentot pronunciation of these letters 

 was scarcely to be distinguished. Campbell {" Travels .... 

 Second Journey," II., p. 305, 1822), speaking of the Great 

 River, says that the " Corannas call (it) tlie Gareep or Gareeh, 

 it being difficult to distinguish which. This mav account for 

 the fact that Dr. Bleek (" Comp. Gram, of the South African 



