Cape-Dutcii. 447 



frequent occurrence of family names amongst the Boers which are 

 clearly of FRENCH origin (e.g. : Viljoen, Joubert. Marais, du Toit, 

 Beranger. Rousseau, de Villiers. Ciliers. du Plessis, Cronje, etc.. etc.) 

 points at the reason for the many names which axe as evidently 

 German (Schreiner. Reitz, Steyn, Kriiger. Hofmeyr, etc.). 



Quoting from Theal's Histor)- (Vol. II) he gives the latter's 

 statistics of immigrants, classified according to nationalities as 

 follows : 



1657-1675 .. 



1675-1700 .. 



1 700-1 725 .. 



17-5-1750 •■ 



1750-1775 •■ 



1775-1795 •■ 



745 434 72(?) ^75 



Amongst these " others "" there are 34 Swiss. 



Dr. M. then points out that whilst undoubtedly the Hollanders 

 formed the decided majority of the settlers, — [about 2/3 of the white 

 population.] — the other 1/3 consisted of GERMANS and FRENCH, 

 with a, very various but unimportant admixture of comparatively few 

 others of all kinds of nationalities. 



All these elements soon disappeared, and even the Germans who 

 immigrated in such considerable numl)ers were not able to maintain 

 their separate national character. Two things are to l)e remembered 

 in this connection : First : that most of these immigrants, generally 

 soldiers or sailors, had led before landing here a life of adventure 

 and varied experiences : having been in contact with all kinds of 

 peoples and in all kinds of places. Secondly : that most of these 

 representatives of the various nationalities were men, whilst the 

 female population was recruited almost exclusively from Holland or 

 France. The men of other nations therefore had either to die with- 

 out offspring or marr\- those women, and be absorbed b\ //leir 

 nationality. 



The white population then at first spoke Dutch, which they had 

 as it were " brought with them '" or acquired soon after landing. 



It is Dr. Hesseling's merit to have explained how it was that 

 their language has developed so rapidly and in so peculiar a fashion 

 to what we now find it. 



1 have no doubt that Prof. Viljoen was right when he asserted 

 that practically all the peculiarities of Cape-Dutch existed before the 

 people came into closer contact with the English, and that the in- 

 fluence of the English language has been considerably over-estimated. 

 But Dr. H.'s work shows, and he proves by quotations from his 

 sources and authorities, that this .statement does scarcely go far 

 enough and that 



(a) Cape-Dutch, even that of two centuries ago. differed largely 

 from all Dutch dialects, and 



