6l6 SOME PLAC]:-XA.MI".S OF TSdU). 



nat)\es were called /;;//;/, with the [;hiral [)retix aiiia. Thus the 

 ])lace where the Boers settled was referred to simply as Amabiilu, 

 the initial a being elided, and so giving the name. 



Uvete. — Then, again, the distant motmtains being covered 

 with snow, the whiteness would be constantly referred to by the 

 Boers, and zvittc would be altered by the natives in their own 

 characteristic way to the name uvcte. 



IX. — Names zvliosc Dcrn'ation is Remote and not vet Traeed. 



This section is the largest of all, and we may expect many 

 points of interest and value to emerge in the elucidation of the 

 origin, or possible origins of these names. It is probable that 

 many new words — and when we speak of new words we mean 

 words still unknown to us — will be found as a result of efiforts 

 to ascertain the correct derivation of these names. Perhaps it is 

 necessary to remind ourselves that the natives are very ignorant 

 of their own language; that just as our uneducated white people 

 know only a limited number of English words, so the vast mass 

 of illiterate heathen natives have only a small vocabulary ; that 

 the language is still in process of being reduced to grammar, and 

 words are still being collected, this work of developing the 

 language being almost wholly in the hands of the missionaries, 

 who are writing the grammar, and producing a literature for 

 the natives. Indeed, some of our missionaries know far more 

 about the Kaffir language than do the natives themselves I 



Over and over again, in tracing out the meanings of place- 

 names, fully qualified native teachers have given me conflicting 

 information, or have confessed that they did not know the 

 meanings of the Kaftir words about which 1 was encpiiring. 



Fmihermore, different tribes have difi'ereni names for the 

 same thing, and different usages of words, and this sometimes 

 produces confusion of thought. But the relative ignorance of 

 the native, even when '* educated." emphasises the need of making 

 KafHr a se])arate subject, as well as the medium of instruction up 

 to a high standard, in the native school curriculum ; and in 

 ])assing 1 wish once more to lay stress upf)n this imjiortant point. 



The following is the list of names in this class : — 



Bedlaiia. Gxebe Hill. 



Binta. Magutywa. 



I>ovul)e Hill. Malepelepe. 



Ccbencc Stream. Mbango. 



Cengaiu- Hill. Mbidlana. 



Ceka Forest. .Mgwakwa. 



Duba. Mkununge. 



Esinxaku (or Esinxago). JMnccma. 



Esicjuiigqvvini. .Mncwangele. 



Celani. .Mqobiso. 



Gemfana. Mqunyc. 



Congo. Mtobisi. 



Gqaqala. Myezwcni 



(iung(|\vaiie. Xcakiil)oni .\[oinit. 



(liin^uliilu. Xcaml)cK- 



