liAXTL" PLACE- NAMES IN Al'kK A. 269 



used to g-ct numbers of Masai to l)e doctored, and tlie\ and their 

 eongeners occupied much territory to the west of us, and to the 

 south-east of Victoria Nyauza ; indeed, on its east side it was 

 only the shores of that lake that were occupied by Hantu. till 

 we reach the solid Bantu sphere at its southern i)oint. 



Not only do P)antu and Hamites overhi]) in Kast Africa, 

 like llamites (^the Hottentot) and Bantu in South Africa, but 

 some Arab names are naturally found in their settlements as 

 far south as wSofala.* The number of these names is. however, 

 remarkably few. and even these have often Bantu terminations 

 or prefixes, as Saada-ni, or alternative Bantu names, as Unguja 

 for Zanzibar (or Zangue-bar. i.e.. the coast of the Zeng, or l)lack 

 folk). So, too, the latter part of the name of Songo-.Minara 

 Island is Arabic for tower or lighthouse { )itiiiarct } . I)ar es 

 Salaam is. of course, ]nire Arabic: " Mome of I'eace," a little 

 inappropriate lately. 1 do not hnd any other originally Arab 

 name but those mentioned, on this coast. 



To turn to the Portuguese. These are usuallv obvious ; thev 

 commemmorate famous men. such as Lorengo Alartiues, Bar- 

 tholomew Diaz, Fernao Velloso, northward to Almeida Bay, w-ith 

 many more on the old maps. The Waldseemtillers (early i6th 

 Century) seem almost tcj exhaust Portuguese royalty, not to say 

 -the Saints of the Calendar, in naming rivers and capes. The 

 festivals on which places were disco\ered, were often used for 

 naming, as is well known, so much so, that these names are of 

 considerably value for the chronology of the voyages. Natal. 

 S. Lucia, and northward. Cape S. Sebastian and S. Antonio are 

 of this class. Porttiguese names like Beira. C'onducia (Bay), 

 (Cape) Burra (and Btirra Falsa, so called from its likeness to the 

 former). Cape Corrientes, Caldeira Island, and Cape Delga'do and 

 Angoxa B. are again sut^ciently obvious. These are mostlx" 

 features noted from the sea, and therefore useful in naviga- 

 tion. On landing, the Portuguese adapted native names, which 

 would more easily be spelt in a southern European language than 

 in English or Dutch. Imt one does wish that our own race were 

 not quite so anxit)us to blot out often (|uite beautiful native 

 names, for the sake of an English name, rei>resenting some 

 narrow or even private association of their (nvn, not in an\- 

 degree descriptive of the place named. ( )ur own community 

 farm is an illustration. The native name is Pass of Lions, which 

 is descriptive, historical and romantic. The Dutch must need- 

 call it Modderpoort, which is at least too descri])tive, unfor- 

 tunately, but so unpoetic. that a brass in Bloemfontein Cathedral 

 translates it as Moederpoort, Matris Porta, which would have 

 been delightful, if genuine. We are saved the last degradation 

 of some English name, describing aptly enough some village in 

 England, but here perhaps totally ina]ii)ropriate philologically to 

 the geographical situation. 



* WaldseemulleT spells it Zafalo. Is it old Bantu?' Some suppose a 

 chiefs name and cf. Xosa .?()— prefix ; but the Arabs spell it with sad. 

 and ZuKi names in ,s- with sin. 



