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r6 ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES. 



got accustomed, by much contact with the white man, to use 

 only the three chcks specified. It is, therefore, not surprising 

 to find subtle differences in the clicks as enunciated in different 

 areas, and perhaps it was this fact which largely contributed to 

 the making of mistakes in the writing of place-names. 



A case in point is that of the Inxu River. For a consider- 

 able time I made efforts to find out the meaning of the name, all 

 without result, until one day, in looking at the map, I saw that 

 the river was named Wildebeeste, the Dytch name for the white- 

 tailed gnu. Thinking it possible that the pioneers had taken 

 over the Kaffir name by the simple process of translation, I 

 found my expectations realised, for the Kaffir word for this 

 ]K-irticular antelope is i-Nqu. Yet in all ofiicial documents the 

 old and incorrect spelling is perpetuated. 



Illustrative of the misuse of the c click is the place-name 

 Ngcele, only a mile or two from the Inqu river. Possibly the 

 same man who perpetuated the Inxu error was responsible for 

 Ngcele. Situate on the top of the mountains above Somerville 

 Alission, subject to extremely severe frosts, it is quite clear to 

 nie that the name was intended for i-Ngqclc, meaning frost, 

 cold. With these examples before us, the matter of errors in 

 regard to clicks is seen to be a consideration for the purposes of 

 our study. The significance of certain letters in si-Xosa has also 

 been responsible for some confusion. The c, being pronoimced 

 more like the English short a, is rightly used, especially at the 

 termination of names, but other folk, hearing the English a 

 sound, will persist in writing a, forgetting that they are handling 

 a Kaffir word. In this way we get Bokotwa and Bokotwe, 

 Cegcutvana and Cegcuzuane, and others ; while other series of 

 names illustrating the same point of difiiculty in determining 

 specific soimds are to be found in Kaboli. Kabolc, and Kobole; 

 also Oobosheaneng, Qhobosheaneng, and Onoboshcancng, all 

 taken from official publications. 



The Forest Department's efforts, it should be stated, are 

 always indicated in my list by the abbreviation Fsf after the 

 name. 



A large group of se-Suto place-na-mes are obviously distin- 

 guished by their pronounced characteristics, and the ortho- 

 graphical differences are sometimes indicated by the same name 

 appearing in si-Xosa garb alongside the se-Suto original. Illus- 

 trating this class are Ranihlakwajia, and RamotJilakoana, in 

 which the contrast, together with contraction, is shown; and 

 other names, such as Seghobong, Oobosheaneng, and Povtseng. 



lo. — Arrangement. 



In the arrangement of an alphabetical list of place-names 

 the question naturally arises as to how the classification is to be 

 effected. How are we to decide upon the initial letter of the 

 name, for in most names there is quite a choice? Thus, for 

 example, we have the small stream in the Umtata District named 



