HOTTENTOTS. 



319 



MMtcnuct. twisted into a cord. The arrows are short, and consist 

 ^^V^*" of a reed about a foot in length, with a piece of solid 

 polished bone at one end about five inches long, the 

 top of which is sometimes pointed to serve as the head, 

 but generally cut square, and provided with a small 

 sharp piece of iron in the shape of an equilateral tri- 

 angle. This is bound tight to the bone with threads, 

 along with a bit of pointed quill, turning to the oppo- 

 site end of the arrow by way of barb, and intended at 

 once to increase the difficulty of extracting the weapon 

 from the wound, and by tearing the flesh to make the 

 poison mix more readily with the blood. The poison 

 is frequently taken from bulbous roots, or the most 

 venomous serpents ; but is also prepared by macerat- 

 ing the leaves or branches of poisonous plants, and 

 thickening the juices, by boiling on the fire or evapora- 

 tion under the beat of the sun. This preparation, in 

 the consistence of varnish, is laid with a brush over 

 the thread which binds on the tip of the arrow. When- 

 ever an animal u killed with these arrows in hunting, 

 the flesh around the wound is instantly cut away, and 

 the blood squeezed out of the flesh. The quiver is 

 made of a piece of wood hollowed out, frequently of 

 the stem of an aloe, with a lid of skin or leather ; and 

 generally contains a dosen arrows, a brush for laying 

 on the poison, and a sand stone to whet the points of 

 the weapons. 



Ans of life. The Hottentots may be said to be entirely ignorant 

 of arts and manufacture*, except the formation of coarse 

 earthen ware, the sewing of sheep skins for their winter 

 garments, the preparation of poisons, and the making 

 of bows and arrows. 



They discover venr little taste for music ; but a few 

 instruments of sound have been observed among them. 

 One is a kind of guitar with three strings stretched 

 upon a piece of hollow wood, which has a long handle, 

 and U called in their language g^abottte. Another con- 

 sists of a piece of sinew or intestine, twisted into a small 

 cord and fastened upon a hollow stick about three met 

 lone, by a piece of quill at one end fixed into the stick, 

 and by a small peg at the other, which is made to turn 

 for the purpose of stretching the string to the degree 

 required. This "'*"-" M called the goirra, end is 

 played by applying the month to the quill, and pro- 

 ducing faint murmuring notes, by giving a vibratory 

 motion to the string. A sort of flute made of the turk 

 of tre,< i. aU. u-r.i am ,rv :' , 



The physical knowledge of the Hottentots is ex- 

 treacly limited. All then- astronomy consists in hav- 

 ing a name for the sun, another for the moon, and a 

 third for the stars. Their reckoning of time scarcely 

 extends beyond the period of a day, and expresses 

 events pa*t only by saying, that they were before or 



time of the day when any thing happened, by point- 

 ing to die place in the heavens where the em then 

 was ; and the seasons of the year by the number of 

 moons before or after the time when the roots of the 

 irii esMs (once a roneirlrrabli article of their suste- 

 nance) are ready for use. None of those whom Mr 

 Barrow saw iu the more distant parts of the colony 

 could reckon beyond the number five, or put two num- 

 bers together without the help of their fingers. 



The language of the Hottentots it perhaps one of the 

 most extraordinary forms of speech in use among human 



Its principal peculiarity is a 

 the tongue, in uttering every monosyllable, and every 

 leading syllable of larger words. This sound is form- 

 ad by suddenly retracting the tongue from the teeth 



or palate, according to the signification of the word to Hottentot* 

 be uttered, and in some measure answering the part ^ "Y~~* 

 of inflexions, &c. The sound of the dental clack is 

 said to be exactly the same as that, which is sometimes 

 u=c<l to express impatience; and that of the palatial 

 stroke is more full and sonorous, not unlike the cluck- 

 ing of a hen to her chickens. These sounds are thrown 

 out at the same moment with the syllable, so that they 

 cannot be said to precede or follow, but rather to ac- 

 company it. Though the difficulty of uttering and ap- 

 propriating these sounds appear to Europeans extreme, 

 yet it is not insurmountable ; and most of the Dutcli 

 colonists are able to apeak the Hottentot language with 

 great fluency. Many vocables in the language seem 

 to have been originally exact imitations of nature, and 

 many of the names of animals, especially, are obviously 

 suggested by their distinguishing cry ; such as, traat, 

 a frog ; mnoo, an ox ; mean, a cat ; hahac, a horse ; 

 hurroo, the sea ; taboo, a gun. This last word parti- 

 cularly is so pronounced as to imitate the report of a 

 musket. The syllable ka is thrown out with a strong 

 palatial stroke of the tongue expressing the stroke of 

 the flint ; while the last syllable 609 is uttered with a 

 full mouth, outstretched lips, and prolonged sound, 

 descriptive of the report. We add a few of the com- 

 mon vocables ; and a Hottentot version of the Lord's 

 prayer, as a slight specimen of the language. 



NUMERALS, 



A. !, 

 (.../, 

 //.'.:;, 

 COM, 



Two. 

 Three. 

 Four. 

 Five. 



tia 

 in 



Ciia tip . me nanoop 

 Our father - the heaven 



anoote - ta loop ha 

 hallowed be thy kingdom come 

 hoop ri - me mamoop ma 

 on - the heaven in 

 bertp state - meet 



daily bread give us > this day - 

 toorootiioo ooltkata - cila 



debts forgive us - our 



anioo cilre oobeka 



mi n we forgive 



ta n n-a Iceikala 



not temptation lead in us 

 dp ga - o ta me 

 evil from for thine the 



teip i de iia - i 

 power - and the glory - in 



/i> ft .: 



*a out 

 thy name 

 ta ri i - 

 thy will be done - 

 koommi - cila 

 as - our 

 i cita 

 and our 

 toorooti 

 indebted 



i 



and 

 eorela 

 deliver us 



gairc 

 but 



koon ice - i de 

 kingdom is - and the 



amo. 

 eternity. 



Few ancient usages are retained among the scattered Ciutcmi 

 tribes of the Hottentots; and all traces even of their 

 religion, if they ever had any knowledge or obser- 

 vances on the subject, are now lost. No particular ce. 

 remonies are observed either at their marriages or fu- 

 ncraJs; and they are more like a people, who have never 



