THE BAYEYE. 477 



in their present abode for a long period. Formerly, and be- 

 fore their subjugation by the Bechuanas, they must have pos- 

 sessed a large territory, and even now the country they oc- 

 cupy is of considerable extent, consisting, as I believe, of one 

 continued plain, intersected by rivers, with extensive marshes. 

 The banks of the rivers are, in general, very low, but wher- 

 ever they rise a few feet above the level of the water the}- 

 are shaded by a rank and wild vegetation. The trees are of 

 a o-icrantic size, havins; their stems and branches interwoven 

 with beautiful parasitical plants and creepers. 



In person, feature^ and complexion the Bayeye appear close- 

 ly allied to the Ovambo and the Hill-Daniaras. 



The language of the Bayeye bears considerable resemblance 

 to the Ovaherero, and has, moreover, some affinity with the 

 dialects of the East Coast, though two or three " klicks" would 

 seem to indicate a Hottentot origin.* 



The Bayeye are of a merry and cheerful disposition, and, 

 like my friends the Damaras, are the happiest of creatures, 

 provided they have a pot full of flesh and a pipe. These ele- 

 ments of human felicity are not, however, peculiar to savages, 

 as may be seen in the following stanza of an old song, often 

 chanted by our English rustic forefathers : 



" What more can any man desire, 

 Nor sitting by a good coal fire, 



* As perhaps many of my readers are interested in philology, I may 

 mention that in the " Geographical Journal" of this year I have intro- 

 duced a short vocabulary of the Bayeye language. The words, though 

 necessarily few in number, have been selected with a view to their 

 utility, and consist chiefly of those denoting family relations, names 

 of the different parts of the body, familiar objects, numerals, &c. I 

 have, at the same time, given the corresponding terms in the Otjihe- 

 rero (Damara) and the Chjlimanse (a tribe inhabiting the countrj' 

 west of the Portuguese settlement on the East Coast) to show the strik- 

 ing analogy existing between these languages. The nations here men- 

 tioned occupy a narrow strip of territory extending obliquely across 

 the continent from the West Coast almost to that of the East. 



