438 SOUTH AFRICAN PLACE-NAMES. 



1916, i., p. 26), having had access to the original document in 



the Kolonial Archieftes' Gravenhage, gives the origin thus: 



"Drie Kolonisten waren buiten weten van de Kommandeiir ' omtrent 15 

 uyren gaens meest snyden te landewaerts in geweest.' Hottentotten, 

 omgeveer 5 a 600 zielen, troffen ze aan in een vruchtbare streek. ende 

 noemende deze gemelte plaatse, als zijnde seer vette weyden, haer Hol- 

 land!, offte Vaderlandt om d'onze te better te verstaen te geven de 

 volheyt van spijse ofFte treffelijcke weyden voor haer bestial, daar 

 gelegen."— " Kaaps Dag- register," 6 June, 1657. 



A question has arisen as to who gave the name Cape of 

 Good Hope, or, in its Portuguese form, Cabo de Bona Esperanza, 

 to our promontory. Who really gave this name to our Cape? 

 Tradition has it that when first discovered by Diaz, i486, he 

 gave to this Cape the name "Cabo Tormentoso," because he 

 was unable to weather it on account of the heavy storms that 

 prevailed there ; subsequently, however, he doubled it without 

 being aware of it at the time. Tradition says further that King 

 John II of Portugal, seeing in this doubling of the Cape the 

 promise cf a new route to the wealthy Orient, changed the 

 name to " Cabo de Bona Esperanza." But Pigafetta (p. 190) 

 says : 



" It is called the Cape of Good Hope because all such that saile that 

 way, as well in going forth as in returning home, doo especially and 

 principally ayme at this marke, that they may pass and get be^'onde this 

 Promontorie, which when they have done they account themselves to be 

 out of all daunger, and as it were to have performed their journey. And 

 upon this their generall desire they give it the name of the Cape of 

 Good Hope.'' — " A Report of the Kingdom of Congo," etc., 1597. 



It is of interest to remember here that Pigafetta acknow- 

 ledges " Odoardo Lopez a Portingall " to be the source of 

 his information. But, in addition to tlie dcubt which Pigafetta's 

 statement would seem to cast upon this particular story, the 

 following- remarks by Ravenstein (" Geographical Journal." 

 1900, p. 641) make it still more dubious as an historical f act : 



"We fancy that this (the changing of the name by King John) is one 

 of those pretty legends frequently associated with great events, and 

 Barros appears to be responsible for the same. Pachaco, a contem- 

 porary, says that it was Diaz who gave the Cape its present name, and 

 Christopher Columbus, who was present when Diaz made his report to 

 the King, says the same." 



In 1605, nearly 50 years before Riebeeck landed at Table 

 Bay (1652) 'and proclaimed the country Dutch territory, Sir 

 Edward Michelbourne gave the name Coney Island to the island 

 that is now known as Dassen Island — in each instance the name 

 has reference to the same small animal. Hyrax capcnsis. In the 

 Journal of Sir Edward Michelbourne's Voyage contained in 

 Purchas ("His Pilgrimes," i., iii., 133) we read: 



"Upon the said island is abundance of great Conies and Scales, where- 

 upon we called it Cony Island." 



It is amusing to read what Sir Thomas Herbert has to say 

 some 60 years after as to the origin of this name (" Some Years' 



