ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES. /1 5 



such names (all those in our list ending with an apostrophe s) 

 are given by way of illustration, though with the exception of 

 the three already given, and perhaps a few more, they may be 

 regarded as temporary place-names. Sometimes circumstances 

 have focussed our attention on some Kaffir chief and given him 

 undue prominence in our minds; and too often in our British 

 way we have admired the heroism or the good lighting of some 

 dusky warrior, and have i)erpetuated his memory rather than 

 that of some greater chief who had caused us less trouble. But, 

 be that as it may, we may generalise safely and say that those 

 few place-names which are obviously direct personal names 

 have usually been the result of European influence, though by 

 constant usage they are now gradually becoming fixed amongst 

 the school natives, and in time will be accejjted. no doubt, by the 

 mass of the people. 



This does not, however, niean that the natives are entirely 

 without remembrances of their great, and, by now, long-departed 

 heroes. As a matter of fact, in their native way. their own 

 native name for the individual is i)erpetuated with or without 

 adaptation, and so serves the same purpose. A typical example 

 of this is to be found in Umgungundhlovu, which means the 

 ])lace of the elephant. Both Tshaka and Dingane were called the 

 elephant, and so the place where each dwelt in turn came to be 

 Called " the place of the elephant." Umgungundhlovu is to-day 

 the native name for that city which perpetuates the name of two 

 Dutch South Africans, Pieter Retief and Gert Maritz. and is 

 known to the white man as Pietermaritzburg. To the native 

 mind the memories of Tshaka and his brother are enshrined 

 Avithin the name. No doubt some of those names which refer to 

 the lion, the tiger, the bull, the wolf, and other animals having 

 characteristics that could be applied with acceptance to primitive 

 men (as indicative of power, courage, tenacity, cunning, and 

 other qualities in which primitive men are wont to take pride) 

 indicate not so much the fact that the particular animal was to 

 be found in that locality, as might be imagined, but rather that 

 some individual lived there who w-as characterised by the name 

 of one of these animals. In most cases, however, the sense 

 clearly determines the intention ; thus " Ntabengwe " means " the 

 ridge of the tiger"; " Isincuka/' "the home of the wolves"; 

 " Ndzche." " the antelope." This last is a name that bafified me 

 for years, and everv inquiry on the spot consistently gave a 

 negative result, until quite recently I found in Kay's " CafTra- 

 rian Researches" (published in 1833, p. 201) a reference made 

 to the tzcbe. Allowing for differences between the old spelling 

 and the present form of the word, there can be no doubt that 

 this place-name hides a word hitherto not recorded in our Stan- 

 dard Dictionary. 



The name of that beautiful animal, the springbok {Antelope 

 pygarga), is f::ebe in the Amakosa tongue; and it is a curious fact 

 that the very same word is used in Hebrew to denote an antelope 



