ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES. 773 



Mhokotivana. — The rounded stones used as grindstones by 

 the natives are called i-Mbokoto, and the place-name is the 

 diminutive form. As a matter of fact, a doleritic outcro]) in the 

 neighbourhood has produced numerous hard dolerite nodules, and 

 this has given the place its name. 



Mdihanisiveni comes from um-dibamso n.6., meaning a colli- 

 sion, or battle, and indicates, no doubt, the place of some early 

 conHict. 



Mhlakido, a place evidently shaped like a hoe, or spade. 



Ngadla, a place taking its name from some natural feature 

 in the vicinty, resembling " a lancet." 



Ngcele, a misspelling for Ngqele, meaning frost, and given 

 to an intensely cold place above the Matiwana Range, at the head 

 of the Ntywenka Pass. It reappears in the locative form as 

 Ngqeleni, appropriately known to us as Coldstream. 



Nkungzvini is evidently a place subject to much fog, or mist, 

 from in-kungii, and is quite a Hkely name anywhere along the 

 first coastal ridge, where mist is so frequently experienced at 

 certain seasons. 



Nkwoikzi/ecl is a refreshing reference to the heavenly bodies, 

 of which there are all too few in the place-names. The word 

 means " a star." 



Oanda refers to the rock shapes in the vicinity, which repre- 

 sent amaqanda, or eggs. I am not sure that the reference is not 

 to some one single hump thus shaped. 



Qiti, again, indicates an open space in the midst of a forest. 



Qoqa refers to some natural feature representing, or thought 

 to represent, a particular kind of assegai. 



7.^afileni brings us back again to the idea of a flat tableland. 



Tyeni, better still Etycni, signifies " at the stones," and prob- 

 ably refers to some historical event, or to some special stone. 



Lukalaiw, from ulukalo, alternative form of Inkalo, a gap, 

 or neck, in tlie mountain ridge. 



Maqufywa " is a passive noun from the verb guba, with its 

 Zulu meaning of ' scoop out.' It is * the country scooped out by 

 dongas.' " This is an explanation sent on by Mr. Godfrey, and 

 obtained from a native source. The same explanation had pre- 

 viously been given me by the same man. 



Xanka indicates a stony mountain, difficult to climb, perhaps 

 including a refuge in the inaccessible mountain. 



XohO also carries with it the idea of a desolate rocky region. 



Xwexzveni, related to civecivc, carries with it the same idea 

 of flatness as of a table, and is of course in the locative. 



Many other names included in this class may be given, but 

 these examples are sufficient for the present ])urposes of illustra- 

 tion. 



///. — Named after Trees or Planis. 



Dakana, the name for the white pear tree, Apodytes dinir 

 diata, Mey., is necessarily a name of comparatively recent date. 



