434 SOUTH AFRICAN PLACE-NAMES. 



Africa.'" ii., p. 20) spells it in his account of Jan Hartogh's 

 landtocht in 1707. 



The name given by Vasco da Gama to the coastal country 

 immediately south of Delagoa Bay — Terra dos Fumos — is 

 usually derived from Portuguese fumo, smoke ; and is explained 

 as referring to the grass-fires which the early voyagers saw as 

 they sailed along the coast, by which the natives destroyed the 

 old' and dry grass. But in the Journal of Vasco da Gama's 

 Voyage there is no reference at all to such grass-fires. There 

 is. however, a reference to the " many chiefs " found among the 

 peoples occupying this territory; and, according to Bleek (" Lan- 

 guages of Mozambique," published at D'Urban, Port Natal. 

 23rd May. 1855), the Tette, Sena, and Quilimane name for a 

 chief, or headman, is still the word funw, and the Maravi name 

 for a king is nifumo. Ravenstein (" A Journal of the First 

 Voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499/' p. 17, 1898), referring 

 to the remark in the Journal : 



" This country seemed to us to be densely peopled. There are many 

 chiefs," 



has the following footnote : 



'■ Hence called ' Terra dos Fumos,' or, more correctly, ' Mfumos,' the 

 ■ land of petty chiefs.' . . . The appellation has nothing to do with 

 cither 'smoke' (fumo) or 'moisture' (humor)." 



On Blaen's map, 1665, this territory, the present Amatonga- 

 land, is thus designated. On Bowen's map, 1744, the name is 

 given to all the coast country from Natal to Delagoa Bay. 



There is a river which runs through the Aliwal North and 

 Barkly East districts which is marked on our maps as the 

 Kraai (D. crow) River. This name is, however, a corruption 

 of the English name Grey's River, which was given to it by 

 Colonel Collins in 1809, as appears from the following: 



" As no colonist had been here before, and the country was destitute of 

 inhabitants from whom we could learn the name of the river, if it had 

 any, we honoured it with that of Grey's River.'' — " Journal of a Tour to 

 the North-Eastern Boundary, etc., by Colonel Collins in 1809." See 

 Aloodie, " The Record," Part v., p. 3. 



" In a few hours after leaving the Stormberg, we found our course 

 intercepted by a strong stream, then rendered impassable by the heavy 

 and continued thunder-storms. To this stream the Commissioner gave 

 the name of Grey's River (since corrupted into Kraai River), after 

 General Henry George Grey, then commanding the troops, and after- 

 ward Acting Governor of the Colony." — Stockenstroom, " Autobio- 

 graphy," i, p. 41, 1887. 



Stockenstrom, it may be remembered, accompanied Colonel 

 Collins on his tour as Commissioner-General in the capacity of 

 interpreter and secretary. In the map in Stockenstrom's first 

 volume the name of the river is given as Gray River, and this 

 is how it is spelt by Gibson (" A Manual of the Geography of 

 British South Africa," 1852, p. 43). Kraai Rivier has now 

 entirely superseded the earlier name, and at one time gave its 

 name to the district. 



