AUOKIGINAL PLACE XAMES, JI" 



to a large extent, and missionary statesmanship and scholarship 

 should be equal to the task. 



As the tide of invasion flowed from the west in an easterly 

 direction, we should naturally expect to find the most inaccura- 

 cies and the greatest diversities m those regions where contact 

 Avas lirst established, and our expectations are fulfilled, for the 

 spelling difficulties are best exemplified by the names we find 

 in the Ciskei, especially because some recur in the Transkei, and 

 comparisons are possible. Thus the Dutch pioneers, hearing 

 the aboriginal place-names, expressed the aboriginal sounds in 

 the equivalents of the Dutch alphabet. In this way Ramka and 

 Ramtoos became damka and damtoos. Kinira became Kenesrha. 

 and Coega and Coerney remain to puzzle us to this day. 



There are also numerous cases in which the click has been 

 mistaken, and to this day the mispelling jjerpetuated. These, 

 however, are all points w'hich w^ill find exemplification in the 

 course of our study, so that we are content for the present to 

 merely indicate in a preliminary way a few of the perplexities 

 to be borne in mind. 



As a first instalment of these spelling difiiculties, we mention 

 in brief a few illustrative instances at this stage, reserving 

 a fuller discussion of the points raised until we deal with the 

 important -ra group of the H-B place-names. Bearing in mind, 

 then, what has already bten said, it will be realised that the early 

 spellers went wrong, not merely over the clicks, but in the vowel 

 sounds, if our modern usage is to be accepted, for in both such 

 Vv^ords as Coega and Coerney, already mentioned, one vowel is 

 sufficient in the middle syllables, and the use of the Kaffir u in 

 the case of Kasoiiga; for if -ga is the Dutch equivalent for -ra, 

 ou certainly is not the Dutch equivalent for the sound intended,. 

 oe (as in Dutch, koe, a cow) being the correct form. Thus the 

 least we might have expected was the more consistent rendering 

 Kasoega — and significantly enough the oc is retained, as we have 

 seen in Coega, showing the strength of ni}- contention. As a 

 matter of fact, I think that probably the English settlers of 1820 

 w^ere responsible for perpetuating, perhaps even altering the 

 Dutch oe to the English o^l in the word, and so kasouga remains 

 a double hybrid, while Coega in a Dutch area retained tlie 

 evidence of a single hybridisation. Either name would have 

 been correctly rendered with the English u simpliciter. 



As a guide, then, to important principles required in the 

 determination of the original spelling of corrupted place-names, 

 this small group of words is seen to be of some importance. 



But errors in spelling may also arise through an inaccurate 

 apprehension of specific clicks. It is well known that many 

 clicks have been lost — some designedly, others accidentally — and 

 while it is usual to accept only three of these, c, q, and x, in 

 si-Xosa, yet many more are in general use amongst the natives 

 themselves, especially in the backward areas. There is, of course, 

 the very large class of natives educated in our ways who have 



