1888.] Lore of the South Africa7i Natives. 307 



spring," another meaning given to them is *' those who spring or 

 shoot off from one stem, a cluster." Both these meanings will be 

 found in various Bantu dialects as will be seen below. 



The i^Az^^zz^^e/z were daughters of Tsui \Goab, the Dawn or Sky 

 God. It is related of them that they once said to their husband, - 

 '* Go and shoot those three Zebras for us, but if you fail to shoot, do not 

 return !" The husband w^ent with one arrow, and shot with his bow. 

 He did not hit and sat because his arrow had missed the Zebras. On 

 the other side sat the Lion, and watched the Zebras and prevented the 

 man from picking up his arrow, and because his wives had cursed him 

 he could not return, and then he sat in the cold night shivering and 

 suffering from thirst and hunger. 



And the Khunuseti said to the other men : " Ye men, do you think 

 that you can compare yourselves to us and to our equals ? There 

 now ! We defy our husband to come home because he has not 

 killed game." 



This legend has been pictured in the Sky by the Namaqua. The 

 husband of the Khunuseti or Pleiads is Aldebaran ; his bow is tt^ irf -k^ 

 Orionis ; his arrow three other stars in the same constellation, pro- 

 bably the sword ; his sandals are e and h of the Hyades, his kaross 

 is ^ and y Hyadum ; the Zsbras are ^f- and I Orionis, or the three 

 Stars in the Belt and the Lion is a Orionis (Betelgueuse) or in another 

 version Sirius. 



This fact would seem to show that the Hottentot differs from the 

 Bushman in his method of naming the Stars ; not the period of their 

 appearance and its connection with the seasons seem to have suggested 

 the names given to the stars above mentioned, but their relative 

 position towards each other by which they illustrate the legend. 



This tradition, we may remark in passing, appears to show that in 

 early times the Hottentot women had enlightened views as to the 

 position of their sex. 



BANTU. 

 ' Far different to the conceptions entertained by the yellow races 

 of South Africa of the heavenly bodies are the notions held respecting 

 them by the dark skinned Bantu. 



The Kaffir knows and names Sun, Moon and Star, but he has no 

 legends as to their creation. " These things," to adopt Tiyo Soga's 

 words, " seem to have baffled his imagination." With few exceptions, 

 such as the Morning and Evening Star and the Pleiads, he has no 

 distinctive epithet for the more conspicuous stars. He never lifts 



