316 MYTHOLOGY RELIGION. 



boughs, are packed on oxen. Their household utensils, such 

 as calabashes, milk-pails, pots, &c., are suspended to the 

 bouo-hs, and in the midst of all this confusion is often seated 

 the good dame of the house, surrounded by her promising 

 offspring. 



It has been asserted by travelers and others that the 

 Namaquas have not the slightest idea of a Superior Being, 

 or of a life hereafter. Yet they believe in Heitjeebib, or 

 Heitjekobib, whom they consider to have the power to grant 

 or withhold them success and prosperity. But whether Heit- 

 jeebib is a deity, a goblin, or merely a deified ancestor, I 

 shall not presume to say. At all events, they affirm ho 

 exists in the graves of all deceased people ; and whenever a 

 Hottentot passes a burial-place, he invariably throws a stone, 

 a bush, or other token of offering and affection on the tomb, 

 pronouncing the name of Heitjeebib, and invoking his bless- 

 ing and protection in his undertakings. From being thus 

 constantly added to, these heaps often attain a great size. 

 They are found throughout the country (I have observed 

 them even in Damara-land), and frequently in situations per- 

 fectly "stoneless," from which may be inferred that the na- 

 tives carry the materials a long distance. Captain Harris 

 mentions having seen similar heaps among the Matabili, but 

 was unable to account for their presence. The Hottentots 

 have an indistinct notion that they came from an easterly 

 direction, and it is possible that the stone tumuli found by 

 the traveler may have something to do with this tradition. 



The natives in these parts have a strange tale of a rock in 

 which the tracks of all the different animals indigenous to 

 the country are distinctly visible ; moreover, that man and 

 beast lived here together in great amity ; but one day, from 

 some unknown cause, their Deity appeared unexpectedly and 

 dispersed them. I never had the good fortune to obtain a 

 sight of this marvelous rock. Mr. Moffat, who makes men- 

 tion of a similar story prevailing among the Bechuanas, was 



