ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES. 721 



" The names of the different rivers to the eastward of this 

 point (Butterworth) are purely Kaffir; whereas those to the 

 westward are ahiiost all distinguished by terms of Hottentot 

 origin. This fact renders it more than probable that the different 

 divisions of the Hottentot tribe were, at one period or other, 

 scattered over the face of the country, as far as the Kae, at 

 least. Indeed, numbers of this class are still everywhere met with 

 amongst the Kaffirs ; who, however, generally look down upon 

 them with a degree of contempt." (P. 268.) 



We now know that, as a matter of fact, certain Hottentot 

 tribes — the Gonaqua certainly, and also a large part of the 

 Damaqua — were assimilated into the Kaffir tribes. The lighter 

 colour and other. Hottentot characteristics, apparent in the 

 Kaffirs in certain areas, remain as evidence to that fact even in 

 our own day. 



Moreover, the very derivation of the name Kciskama (ori- 

 ginally i-Xesi) indicates an agreement arrived at, as between the 

 Kaffirs and Hottentots, by which the fourth river from the Kei 

 was to be the dividing line between the races. Perhaps it was 

 this fact which gave rise to the generally received idea that the 

 Kei marked the eastern limit of Hottentot-Bushman advance. 



Nevertheless, Kay needs to be corrected. It cannot be said 

 that " the names of the dift'erent rivers to the eastward of this 

 point are purely Kaft'er," for they are not. It is true to say that 

 the great rivers east of the Kei are all purely Bantu, but a 

 glance at the following list of the rivers, arranged in order, will 

 at once prove the necessity of qualifying the statefhent to which 

 exception is taken. 



Rivers West of Kei. Rivers East of Kei. 



Great Kei River Great Kei (Nciba) 



Kwelegha Gxara 



Gonubie (i-Gqunube) Qobonqaba 



Nahoon (i-Nxaruni) Nxaxa 



Buffalo Qora 



Chalumna (i-Tyolomnqa) Jujura 



Keiskama (Ixesi) Qwaninga 



•Beka (i-Bira) Shixini 



• Nqabara 



Bashec (Bashe) 



Great Fish (^Inxuba) Nthlongane 



Xora 



• Mncwasa 



Kowie (Icawa) Ntshontini 



Kasouga IMapuzi 



Kareiga Um-tata 



Bushmans (Iqora) Umdumbi 



Sundays (Inqweba) Umtakatyi 



Coega Mneno 



Zwartkops Sinangwana 



