HEAVENLY BODIES IN S.A. MYTHOLOGY. 437 



origin of the Hottentots anything to do with their worship of the- 

 moon ? It has been held that the Hottentots are of mixed Hamitic 

 and Bushman descent, and originated in the following manner: — 

 Some Egyptian or Sudanese Hamites fled up the Nile to Abyssinia 

 or Somaiiland, and took Bushman wives. In this manner the 

 racial and linguistic affinities of the Hottentots are explained. It 

 is presumed that amongst these fugitives there would be some 

 priests familiar with moon worship, for we must remember that 

 in the earliest periods of Egyptian culture the heavens had been 

 mapped out and names given to the various celestial bodies, and 

 even maps made of the stars. It must be admitted, however, that 

 star worship is rarely alluded to on the monuments, although the 

 Dog Star was the soul of Isis, and Orion the soul of Horus.* I 

 doubt very much if there is any connection between the Hotten- 

 tots and the Hamites or Egyptians in the manner thus suggested. 

 In the April issue of the "Geographical Journal" for 1921 

 there is a review of a German publication on East Africa by Sir 

 H. H. Johnston, in which he says: — "The Iraku, Fiomi, Wasi, 

 and perhaps the Mbulunge tribes, who are distantly allied to the' 

 Hamites in speech and partly so in physique (that is to say related 

 to the Galla and Somali); and lastly, the Sandawi and Kindiga,. 

 whose languages abound in clicks and offer a slight resemblance in 

 word-roots to Hottentot, and in phonology to Bushman. "| I do 

 not know his authority for this statement, but in any case it is 

 most interesting. It confirms what my own researches amongst 

 the Bushman tongues have led me to, that the Bushmen and Hot- 

 tentots are ethnologicallv and linguistically one people, but the 

 separation took place so long ago that thev are now at any rate 

 in language quite distinct. I look upon the Hottentots as more 

 civilised Bushmen, and their language further advanced in 

 development, due to their greater civilisation. Johnston in the 

 same article further says: — "Here seemingly we have the birth- 

 place of the Hottentot race, and perhaps a former home of the 

 Bushmen and Strandloopers. There are traces of the Congo 

 Pygmy embedded in such tribes as the Kindiga, who are living 

 under the most primitive conditions, without agriculture or 

 domestic animals, and, until recently, without clothing." This 

 throws much light on the origin and migrations of both Bushmen 

 and Hottentots. The star worship of both peoples would simplv 

 be part of their original religious beliefs, which thev brought with 

 them when they were driven out of their ancestral home, probably 

 by invasions of Bantu or Hamites. It would seem to prove that 

 their worship of the heavenly bodies was indigenous and not 

 borrowed . 



* Erman, "Life in Ancient Egypt," p. 349. 



t Johnston, " The Geographical Journal," April, 1921. p. 286. 



