44^ SOUTH AFRICAN PLACE-NAMES. 



ricean or lake was a perplexity, until it was unravelled for me 

 a few years ago by a friend who had lived many years in that 

 j)art of the country. The owner of the farm upon which the 

 township was laid out was surnamed Gietze, and the place- 

 name was formed by ap[>ending rust (rest) to the last syllable 

 of the surname. This derivation appears to be supported by 

 th'.- fact that on Jeppe's map of the Transvaal ("Journal cf the 

 Royal rieographical Society," 1877, p. 217J the name Coetzec 

 is inserted immediately Ix-neath the name Zeerust. 



As late as 191 1 the old fort, with deep loop-holes, built 

 by the Voortrekkers at this sfXJt, was still standing, but to some- 

 one's lasting discredit this old building, with its interesting his- 

 toric associations, had to make way for a magistrate's oflfice. 

 Want of imagination discovers itself in a great variety of ways, 

 and in South .Africa the utilitarian appears to have precedence 

 nearly always and nearly everywhere. 



But perhaps nowhere is the lack of imaginative insight mere 

 c<<nspicuous than in some of our place-names. To give one 

 example only: Wolraad Woltemade, with his noble horse, suc- 

 ceeded in saving 14 men from the wreck of de Jonr/e Thomas 

 rluring a heavy storm in Table Bay. June ist, 177.V Seven times 

 he swam his horse through the breakers to the wreck, and seven 

 times he returnerl with two of the wrecked people, losing his 

 own life on his eighth effort to save more. The application cf 

 this hero's name to a succession of cemeteries just outside Cape 

 Town is only one instance, among many, of the utterly incon- 

 gruou in our South .Vfrican place-naming. These cemeteries, 

 until a few years ago known as the .Maitland Cemeteries, be- 

 cause of their proximity to the village of that name, are now 

 known as the Woltkmaim: Cemeteries. Why this change appears 

 to be beyond guessing; for the hero of as noble and self-sacri- 

 ficing an instance of life-saving as our Cape history can chrcnicle 

 to be honoured (!) by having his name attached to the place of 

 the dead seems to reveal an almost unpardonable lack of the 

 sense of congruity. 



There are other South African j)lace-names that one w< uld 

 like to discuss, but they must wait another opp<jrtunity, and, 

 sf^me of them, further enquiry. .\ great deal of sifting of evi- 

 dence is needed in many cases before anything like satisfactory 

 conclusions can Ije reached: for early writers are too, often 

 unsound in their derivations of our place-names, and local 

 authorities are, nearly as fre(|Uently. uncertain in theirs. But 

 the work of research is r\(fi without its adequate compensations. 



i KA.NSLATION OF CENTRAL AFRICAN FOLK-LORP: 



TALES. 



By J. McLakk.s, M.A. 

 (Title otilx. ) 



