yy^ ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES. 



dignity of their simplicity. Shazvbury is also a worthy memorial. 

 Many of the saints' names are met with, such as St. Cuthbert's, 

 St. Bartholomew's, and others, and of conrse there are many other 

 European names of both Dutch and British origin, whicn we ao 

 i^ot propose to enlarge upon here, as they fall under Section VII. 



Certain names, however, have come to us by corruption, such 

 as Engesenges. It appears that this name embodies something 

 of a tragedy. By special arrangement, a detachment of troops 

 had been sent up to aid Matiwane, then hard pushed by his 

 enemies, and the soldiers, coming upon Matiwane's men, mistook 

 them for the enemy, and launching an attack, dispersed them 

 with heavy losses. Portions of old cannon still remain on the 

 mountain-side, and the natives call the place Engesenges, an 

 attempt at the cry of the people in terror and dismay, " English ! 

 EngHsh !" It is a little incident not recorded in our history 

 books, and had much to do with the undoing of Matiwane, who 

 shortly after crossed the Qathlamba Mountains into Basutoland, 

 and eventually returned to Natal, where he died. Mbazvelanga, 

 high up on the mountain-side, catching the first rays of the rising- 

 sun, and meaning literally " the way of the sun," is the place 

 where he was reputed, and quite mistakenly, to have been killed. 



Lutshintsho, another corruption, is the place where the post- 

 cart horses were usually changed, the name being the Kaffir 

 attempt to say our English word " change." 



Uvete, again, is an efi^ort after the Dutch word zvitle, applied 

 to the snow-capped mountains as an indication of their whiteness. 



Two other names cannot be left out of this surve)', on 

 account of their historic interest, these being Kaffraria and No- 

 mansland. In the earliest days Caffraria was the name given to 

 the area in which, by special treaty, Caffres were to dwell. Later, 

 it came to be extended from British Caffraria (as opposed to 

 Cafifre Cafl'raria ) to the whole Cafifraria, and then the spelling, 

 probably to prevent confusion with the c click, hardened into k, 

 and one f was eliminated, in sympathy with the Arab Kafir. The 

 name is now frequently spelt Kafraria, though we have adhered 

 throughout to the longer form distinctive of South Africa. 



Nonumsland, a name which has of late come, in the great 

 war, to have such tragic content, was once applied to tlie northern 

 portion of Faku's Pondo Dominions. The intense cold of the 

 inland plateau made it uninhabitable, and for long the region 

 was a desolation, until Adam Kok's Griquas were settled there in 

 1863, or thereabouts, and so Nomansland came to be called E.ast 

 Griquaiand. 



Tsakana, a tributary of the Indwe, derives its name from 

 one of the early pioneers who lived thereabouts a century ago. 



Seplan, another tributary of the Indwe, derived its name, 

 from Sybrandt, another member of the same party. 



Ilubisi and i-Bisi come from a third member of the same 

 party, one named Lewis. All three of these pioneers were dis- 



