350 HOTTENTOT PLACE-NAMES. 



" (b) -qiias Group." — ^Tlie termination -qua appended to 

 tribal names has the meaning- of people or nation — e.g., Nama- 

 qua, the Nama people; Koracgw«, the Kora people (Koranas) ; 

 Brigua, the herih or goat people. The place-names Attaquas 

 Kloof, Hessequas Kloof, Outeniqua Mountains, Sonqvos Drift, 

 etc., refer to features of the respective territories occupied by 

 the tribes or peoples specified; while Xdi/iaqiialand, Griqt/a- 

 land, speak for themselves. 



" (c) -(IS Group."— Why does Kingon include in this group 

 of " Aboriginal place-names " Malagas (Eiland) and Mocras 

 River? Moeras is the Dutch word meaning marshy or boggy; 

 Ten Hhvne calls it: " Paludosum (Moeras rivier)," which is 

 given in Churchill's "Voyages" (IV., p. 831, 1704) as 

 " Fenny River." While Malagas was the name given to the 

 island in Saldanha Bay because of the large number of a certain 

 sea-bird which was found there, Valentyn (V., II., p. 2, 1726) 

 mentions a sort of bird " die wij doorgaans den naam van 

 Mallegazen, Jan van Genten leen soort van witte meeuwen en 

 zou van Jacob van Nek genaamt) en niaJIe meeuwen geven.'" 

 These two place-names can scarcely be desisnated " Ahoriginal 

 place-names." But perhaps the h^++nv is a misprint for the 

 Malgas of tlie Tsomo di'^trict, which may have another 

 derivation. 



III. — Teanslated Hottentot Place-names. 



Translated Hottentot place-names continue sometimes 

 side by side with the older name but not infrequently the older 

 name is crowded out altogether by the new name. Buff els 

 Rivier (sometimes in early days called also the 7Aind Rivier, a 

 name eminently appropriate to it as it appeared on the occasion 

 of my first and last visit to it a few years ago) is the Dutch 

 name of a river in Little Xamaqualand, but it is a translation 

 of the Hottentot name IGaosih (Hot. I gaoh. a buffalo), which 

 has already been mentioned under its corrupted form Koussie. 

 The Fish River in Great Xamaqualand is known to the ISTama- 

 quas by the name I lOuh, whi(h appears on our map in the 

 form 'x-i?/6, and means fish, the name has simply been trans- 

 lated by Europeans for their purpose ; the Namaquas retain 

 and use their own name. The Fish River of the Cape Province 

 has not been so fortunate, its Hottentot name is now never 

 used, and but very few are aware that it ever had one. Sparr- 

 man (II., p. 190, 1785) has, however, preserved it for us in 

 the form " V Kau-t'' Kai," the fk in each' case representing a 

 dilferent click (Hot. I loiih, a fish; !ah, river), the former part 

 of the word, it will be noticed, repeats the name of the Nama- 

 qualand river; it was translated by the Dutch Viscli. Rivier, 

 and then later by English colonists FisJi River. The Hart 

 Rivier, a tributary of the Vaal, is known to the Korannas as 

 the XGaoh IGarib (Hot. tgaoh, the heart). Here again the 

 Dutch name is a translation in the first part of the Hottentot 

 word; the second part of the name, Kjarih. we know as the 

 Hottentot name of the Orange River, that is the river of the. 



