HITTITES IN AFRICA. 40/ 



people who inhabited Rhodesia 3,000 years ago, is in Rhodesia 

 itself. It is not as if Rhodesia were a particularly inaccessible 

 country where, for instance, as in the Caucasus, the remnants of 

 Archaic tribes might remain secluded thousands of years after 

 their relatives in the surrounding country had been submerged 

 or swept away. 



It seems to me doubtful, in fact, if 3,000 years ago there were 

 many Bantu south of the Zambesi at all, and I think that if we 

 would find the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of Rhodesia 

 we must look for them to the south and west, beyond the limits 

 flooded by the tide of Bantu migration. This of course suggests 

 the Hottentots. 



Now in the Hottentots we have a race that occupies a pecu- 

 liarly isolated position, one whose aflfinities it is very difficult to 

 ascertain. When South Africa was first discovered by Europeans 

 the Hottentots were confined to the south and west of the con- 

 tinent, but there is evidence to show that in earlier times they 

 extended much further to the north and east. It has often been 

 surmised that the Hottentots are a mixed race and are descended 

 from Bushman women and males of some unknown, but higher 

 race, but there has been no agreement in the suggestions put 

 forward as to the race to which these males belonged. There is a 

 similarity in some of the grammatical peculiarities of their 

 language to Berber and othei North African dialects, and Berber 

 is very possibly or rather probably related to the ancient pre- 

 Arvan languages of the Mediterranean and Southern Europe. 



The Hottentots are a dolichocephalic people, but their 

 physiognomy is often suggestive of the Mongolian type, and if 

 we turn to the Hittites, we find, in addition to the nroto-Greek 

 type from Western Asia Minor and the Semitic type from Pales- 

 tine, a type which is distinctly mongoloid, characterised by a 

 definite pigtail, oblique eyes, high cheek bones ; in short a recog- 

 nisable Tartar type. The Hittites themselves, that is the dominant 

 tribe, the Hatti of the Assyrian inscriptions, are commonly iden- 

 tified with another type characterised by a long head, long nose 

 and receding forehead, deep set eyes obliquely placed and yellow 

 wrinkled skin. 



The traces of moon worship among the Hottentots, their 

 ancestor-worship, their superstitions, their belief in omens, 

 amulets, etc., all suggest the possibility of some relationship with 

 the peoples of Central Asia, and even possibly with the Hittites 

 and the peoples related to them. The reputation of the Etruscans, 

 for instance, for divination is well known. The evidence brought 

 to light by excavation on the sites of Hittite cities tends to show 

 a relationship of the Hittites with the early inhabitants of 

 Turkestan. The early and constant association of the Hittites 

 with the horse is also worth noting. 



It is interesting to notice that amongst the Hottentots 

 " women were more nearly the equal of men, and were per- 

 mitted to exercise much greater freedom of speech in domestic dis- 

 putes than among most savages. They were mistresses within the 

 huts, the stores of milk were under their control, not under that of 

 their husbands, as was the case with the Bantu tribes. The men 

 tended the cattle, but their daughters milked the cows." 



c 



