SOUTH AFRICAN PLACE-NAMES. 433 



as " Boter Rivicr," which name it also bears on the " Kaart 

 ■\veg-ens de Landtocht van de Caap de Goede Hoop, na de 

 Amaquas, alsmede van de Caap voorn, na de Caap das Anguilhas 

 in den jare 1682 " ; that is a hundred years earlier still. There 

 we find William Ten Rhyne, who visited South Africa in 1673, 

 gives this river the name " Butyrosum " ('' Bcter River"). 

 Thus Boter Rivier would seem to be the earliest form of the 

 •name now contracted to Bot Rivier. 



But why Boter Rivier? There can be little doubt that this is 

 the Dutch rendering of the earlier Hottentot name of the river 

 Gouga (Hot. gou, to be fat; ga == xa, the adjectival ending- indi- 

 cating abundance, quantity). 



Whence the name of the small bay within Saldanha Bay, 

 known as Hoetjes Bay? In an early map of " De Baai vom 

 Agoa de Saldanha," in the collection of Mr. van Gijn, Dordrecht, 

 Holland, showing the position of the Dutch Fleet, under Admiral 

 Lucas, in Saldanha Bay, when captured by Admiral Elphinstone 

 (1796), the name of this bay is given as " Odjens Baai."* 

 Earlier, on Bowen's map (1744), the name appears as " Oetiens 

 Bay." 



* See Molsbergen and Visscher, " South African History told in 

 Pictures," 1913, p. 58, where the map is reproduced. 



Then en a map reproduced by Molsbergen (" Reizen in Zuid- 

 Afrika in de Hollandse Tijd," 1916, i., p. 26) this bay is marked 

 " Oedekens Baey of Hoetjes Baey." Are these various spellings 

 of the name of the Bay so many corruptions of the family name 

 of the " Oetgens van Waveren te Amsterdam," in honour of 

 whom Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel changed the name 

 " Rocdezand " to that of " Waveren " for the South-Western 

 division of the Cape Province, now known as Tulbagh? If 

 not, what does the name "Hoetjes" mean? 



A mountain gorge in the Caledon district, through which 

 road and rail pass between Cape Town and Caledon, is now 

 known as Houwhoek. But the name has appeared in several 

 forms in the past, each having a different meaning. Thunberg 

 ("Travels," 1795, i., p. 217) gives the name the form " Hout- 

 hoek " ; Lichtenstein ("Travels in Southern Africa," 1815, ii., 

 p. 120) has the form " Houhoek," which he renders " the Halt- 

 ing-place " ; Burchell ( " Travels in the Interior of South Africa," 

 1822, i., p. 92, n.) says: 



■■ This word has been spelt in various ways, according to its sup- 

 posed etymon : Houwhoek, implying ' Hewing-corner," Houdhoek, ' Hold- 

 fast-corner,' or Houthoek, ' Wood-corner.' " 



There he leaves the matter without any suggestion as to the 

 correct form, which appears to be still a moot point. It would' 

 be interesting to know what wev& the reasons, if any, that in- 

 duced the Government to adopt the present accepted spelling 

 of the name, the earliest form of which appears to have been' 

 "Houthoek" — so, at least, Molsbergen ("Reizen in Zuid- 



