274 1;Ai\TU I'LACE-.XAMES IN AFRICA. 



Diialaj, south-east towards the coast, and southward to the bridge 

 betweenTanganyika and Nyassa. This last Hue branched south- 

 ward and westward, the hitter direction to avoid the Kalahari, 

 whicli runs ahnost to the Falls, with its Bushmen. Whether the 

 Bechoana crossed the Zambesi after this trek I cannot say, but 

 should think it probable. The main partitions are, therefore, the 

 line Albert — Tanganyika — Bangweolo, and along the Northern 

 Rhodesia railway track and Zambesi to the Kalahari. 



All Bantu, then, except those who may have crept along the 

 coast from Somaliland, found themselves inevitably, in their 

 southward trek, on the plateau of the Great Lakes. This falls 

 gradually from the shore of X'ictoria Nyanza, at near 4,000 feet, 

 westward to the Congo forest basin, eastward by the coast rivers, 

 southward ultimately to the Zambesi. 



In turning at last to the ])lace-names, let us remind ourselves 

 of more familiar ones and their characteristics. Towns get their 

 names either from those of men, or from more natural features 

 (r/., Edin-borotigh, Der-by, i.e., the abode of deer or wild beasts). 

 Usually the names are connected, even in constricted England, 

 with the experiences of travel, with waterways and landways. It 

 is remarkable that out of the few English shires no less than five 

 (named, of course, from the cotmty town) contain the word 

 " ford" — of the Staft", Ox, Hart. Here, i.e.. Army. 



In Ford and Ham, in Ley and Ton, 

 The most of English sttrnames rtin — 



and names of places, therefore, also, from wdiich surnames are 

 mostly derived. Out of the four types, two are natural features, 

 two man-made abodes, th.e " town " and " home "' being ])receded 

 by the names of the peo])le whose home they were, thus Notting- 

 ham, of the Sons of Snot. These ])lace-names correspond to 

 those after ])eople, chiefs, etc., in Bantu. \\> shall therefore note 

 and set aside this class in .\frica, and confine ourselves to those 

 marking natural featm^es, since in these alone can we usuall}' 

 hope to find mtich connection with names in other dialects. 



The place-names of Dutch Africa are, likewise, either per- 

 sonal names, as Reitz, or derived from stich, as Maritzburg, Pre- 

 toria, Potchefstroom (from I*otgieter), Orange River (froni 

 the Prince); or qualified otherwise, as I^)laauw-l)erg (Blue 

 Mountain ) or sometimes uncjualified, as Bank ; sometimes con- 

 tracted, as Rand, for Witwatersrand. I'ut the majority of names, 

 even of towns, that are not merely borrowed from older coun- 

 tries, are called after natural, not man-made, features. Thus, in 

 the exhaustive list of Dutch geographical elements with which I 

 began my ])aper, against ])laats. dor]), and burg, the man-made 

 elements, there are berg, koj), kloof, bank, klij), hoek, poort, nek, 

 gat, bult, kuil, connected with high ground; vlei, vlakte, laagte, 

 with low; and spruit, fontein. rivier. draai, dam connected with 

 water ; there remains bosch, and names of trees. 



