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BESSIN. 



BETCHOUANA. 



1070 



herdamiu to any agricultural employment. The Russian part of the 

 population is a far more active aal industrious class of men ; numbers 

 of them uavti settled in the Baljik Steppes, where thsy employ them- 

 selves in fishing, rearing bees, and making jord ige, sail-cloth, &c. The 

 Greeks are principally established in the towns as merchants and 

 dealers. The Russo-Greek is the predominant religion of the province; 

 its ee : esiastical affairs are superintended by a bishop, who resides at 

 Kisc i.-neff. The farmer or peasant pays the landowner a portion of 

 his produce, and twelve days' labour in the course of the year. 



There are no manufactures of importance in Bessarabia. Leather, 

 candles, soap, brandy, and linens and woollens are made on a small 

 scale. The situation of the country, with reference to the Turkish, 

 Russian, and Austrian markets, and the facilities of communication 

 which the Danube, Pruth, and Dniester afford, give it great natural 

 advantages for the exportation of its produce ; this consists of wines, 

 principally sent to Russia, dried plums, ox-hides, sheep-skins, wool, 

 wax and tallow, maize, fish, and salt. 



(Berghaus'n Annals ; Cannabich's European Rwaia ; Frontier Lands 

 of the ''hriitian and Turk, London, 1853.) 



1 N , a district in the former province of Normandie in France. 

 It was divided into Bessin Proper, of which Bayeux was the capital, 

 the Bocage, and the Plain of Caen. It had an area of 50 square miles, 

 which is now included in the department of Calvados. [CALVADOS.] 



BETCHOUA'NA, or BETJUANA, is the general name of a nation 

 or race f peoplr consisting of many tribes who inhabit the interior 

 of Southern Africa, north of the Gariep, or Great Orange River, and 

 between 23 and 29 E. long. A wide desert separates them to the 

 westward from the Namaqua Hottentots, and from the Dammara 

 Kaffirs, who live farther north-west near the Atlantic. To the east- 

 ward a range of mountains, which runs parallel to the coast of the 

 Indian Ocean, and at the distance of sixty or eighty miles from it 

 separates the Betchouanas from the maritime Kaffirs of Dalagoa 

 Bay, aud from the dominions of the chief of the Vatwahs, or 

 Zoolus. To the south, they extend to between the 27th and 28th 

 parallel, where they border on the Koranna Hottentots (who inhabit 

 the northern bank of the Gariep), the Griquas, or Bastard Hottentots 

 of Klaarwater, and the Bosjesmen who roam along the upper or 

 eastern course of the Gariep. The limits of the Betchouaua to the north 

 and north-east are not known. Most of the rivers of the Betchouana 

 country as yet known, such as the Moloppo, the Kuruman, &c., 

 appear to be affluents of the Garit p River ; but those of the Moorootzee 

 flow towards the north-east, and they are supposed to be affluents of 

 King George's River that runs into Dalagoa Bay. The country itself is a 

 vast table-land stretching across the middle of the continent, and the 

 ridge of mountains above mentioned divides the waters that run 

 westward into the Gariep from those which flow by the Mapoota and 

 English rivers into Dalagoa Bay. The Betchouana are Kaffirs, and 

 they resstnble the southern Kaffirs, or the Amakosa aud Amatymba 

 tribes, who border on the colony of the Cape. They are copper 

 coloured, and some are of a bronze hue, but in general they are not 

 BO swarthy as the southern Kaffirs ; they are well made, have not 

 unpleasant features, and are equally distinct in their appearance aud 

 - from the Hottentots as from the negro tribes. Like the other 

 Kalfirs, they practise circumcision, are polygamists, and have no form 

 of worship. The Betchouaua, or Sichuaua language, as it is called by 

 some, seems to be spoken by all their tribes, and although different 

 from the Amakosa, or southern Kaffir dialect, it appears to have con- 

 siderable affinity to it. The Dammara, who are also a tribe of Kaffirs, 

 are said to speak the Betchouana language. Its sounds are said to be 

 full toned and soft, and without the unpleasant clattering of the 

 Hottentot tongue. 



The Betchouana tribe best known to us is that of the Machappee or 

 Machlapeo, whose chief town, Lattakoo, has been occasionally visited 

 by travellers since the beginning of the present century. The country 

 of the Machlapee lies north of that of the Griquas, where is the 

 missionary settlement of Klaarwater, north of the Great Orange 

 Kivor. About seventy miles from Klaarwater northward, is a rauge 

 of hilU called Kamhanni. Having passed these, one enters the 

 country of the Betchouana. The old town of Lattakoo lay in a plain 

 about fifty miles to the north-east of these hills, in 27 10' S. lat., 

 24 40' E. long. But previous to 1823 the people removed to a new 

 site, five mile* to the north-east of old Lattakoo, on the further or north 

 bauk of the Lattakoo River. Lattakoo is said to contain 1500 houses, 

 and between 7000 and 8000 inhabitants. The houses are built in 

 clusters, irregularly grouped, each cluster being under the authority 

 of an elder or chief, subordinate to the king. The houses are circular 

 and divided into several apartments; the partition walls are made of 

 sticks, neatly plastered over with a composition of sandy clay and the 

 fresh mnnure of cattle-pounds, and grass cut into small pieces, which 

 appear to make a very tenacious kind of cement. The roof U conical, 

 and runs up to a point; it is made of straw or reeds, and it projects 

 over on every side, the eaves being supported at the height of four or 

 five feet from the ground by posts made of the rough stems of trees, 

 of between them and th<; <mt,.-r wall of the house a sort of 

 verandah. In tho larger houses the roof covers a space of ground of 

 about twenty-six feet in diameter. The house ia situated in the 

 ' of a much larger area or court, inclosed all round by a strong 

 circular fence, from five to seven feet high, and two and a half feet 



.hick at the bottom, gradually diminishing in thickness to about one 

 bot at the top. This feuoe, which is mad3 of straight twigs and 

 small branches carefully interwoven, forms a close and firm defence. 

 One doorway only, wide enough for a single person, leads into the 

 court, and is closed at night by a rude wicker-door. A smaller house 

 'or servants and a horse-room are often found within the inclosure, 

 detached from the family house. Much neatness and iugenuity are 

 displayed in the building of these dwellings, which are kept remark- 

 ably clean, as well as the streets or spaces between the various houses. 

 The task of building, inclosing, roofing, &e., devolves chiefly upon the 

 women. The houses of the poor are made in the same form, only 

 smaller ; sometimes they consist of only a conical roof resting on the 

 floor, without any opening for windows. All Betchouaua towns are 

 built after the same manner. Kuruman, which is about 35 miles 

 S.W. from Lattakoo, is stated to contain from 8000 to 10,000 inhabit- 

 ants, and is built in the same manner as Lattakoo. The river Kuru- 

 man runs through the country in a south-west direction, and joins the 

 Gariep ; but during the greater part of the year it is almost dry, aud 

 its water loses itself in the sands, like most of the streams in the 

 Betchouana country. In June, 1823, Lattakoo was invaded by the 

 Mautatees, a roving tribe, or rather collection of fugitives coming 

 from the eastward, who having been driven two years before by the 

 Zoolus from their own country near the banks of the Mapoota River, 

 croased the ridge of mountains where the Gariep has its sourcas, and 

 threw themselves upon the Betcliouana country. They took first a 

 northern direction, and attacked the Moorootzee, a numerous Bet- 

 chouaua tribe, about 200 miles N.E. of Lattakoo, and sacked and 

 burnt their capital Kurrechaue, in 25 20' S. lat., 27 E. long. 

 Kurrechane is said to have been a much larger and more populous 

 town than Lattakoo. The Mautatees after this attacked the Vankeetz, 

 called also Nuaketsee by Burchell and others, a powerful and warlike 

 tribe, west of ihe Moorootzee, and whose capital Melita is placed about 

 25 10' S. lat., 26" E. long. But Makabba, the king of the Vaukeetz, 

 fell by surprise upon the Mantatees and drove them away from his 

 territory. They then turned to the south-west, and fell upon another 

 Betchouana tribe called Barolongs, who live near the banks of the 

 Mashow River. 



After devastating the country of the Barolongs, the Mantatees fell 

 upon their next neighbours the Machlapee, who fled in terror from 

 Lattakoo. After plundering Lattakoo, the invaders were attacked by 

 a small party of Griquas mounted aud armed with muskets, who, 

 having come to the assistance of their neighbours the Machlapee, fell 

 upon the Mautatees, killed a great number of their best warriors, and 

 so terrified them by their tire-arms, that they retreated eastward 

 again, after setting fire to Lattakoo. 



The Betchouaua wear a covering round the middle, and occasionally 

 cloaks made of skins neatly sewn together. They wear caps of the 

 same materials. The women wear several aprons one above the other, 

 bracelets of copper, and beads. The Betchouana work copper and iron; 

 they make spades, awls, bodkins, knives, spears, &c. The most skilful 

 smiths are said to be at Melita in the Vaukeetz tribe : the Lattakoo 

 people are very inferior to them in handicraft. The Moorootzee ure 

 also very skilful in several kinds of handicraft. It would appear that 

 arts, industry, and social order, are found to increase progressively as 

 we advance north-eastward beyond the Machlapee country. They get 

 the iron and copper from some distant tribes to the northward. 

 They sow millet and beans, and other vegetables. They also dry and 

 preserve several kinds of fruit ; but their cattle constitutes their chief 

 property. 



The Betchouana seem to have remained for a long time past 

 stationary in then- half-civilised condition. They have an idea of a 

 Supreme Being, but sv;em to have no distinct notion of his attributes ; 

 and they confound the principle of good with the evil principle. 

 They believe in sorcery, and wear amulets. With regard to industry, 

 the Moorootzee seem far superior to the more southern and west ern 

 tribes. They cultivate tobacco and the sugar-cane ; they paint their 

 houses ; they smelt and alloy copper, and make wire and chains 

 of it ; they make wooden bowls, spoons, &c. : aud they build walls of 

 masonry. The Machlapee are orderly and decent in their outward 

 behaviour, but they are addicted to lying and thieving. Murder, 

 although not a very common occurrence, does not appear to be looked 

 upon as criminal. Their want of humanity was exhibited after the 

 defeat of the Mantatees, when they butchered the women aud children 

 that the invaders had left behin I. Before the action they showed a 

 want of courage, and had it not been for the assistance of the Griquas, 

 the Mantatees would have found no difficulty in overrunning the 

 whole country. The Machlapee, upon the whole, seem to be inferior 

 in bravery, honesty, and humanity to the southern Kaffirs, though 

 superior to them in ingenuity and industry. Their women appear to 

 be modest, mild, and domestic ; but they are treated harshly, and 

 are looked upon aw inferior beings : most of the hard labour at home 

 and in the fields falls upon them. The men go often out upon great 

 hunting parties, and sometimes also in marauding parties against 

 their neighbours. There) is however no slave trade among the 

 Bjtchouana, but the prisoners they make are kept as domestic servants. 

 Both men and women rub their bodies with grease mixed up with a 

 red mineral powder, which gives their skin a shining and glittering 

 appearance. 



