Notes on the Bushmen of Basutoland. 441 



such clicks, and sometimes six, namely, a labial, 'dental, palatal, 

 lateral, cerebral, and guttural. The first is produced by a sharp 

 sucking of the lips. The second by pressing the tongue against 

 the front teeth and rapidly withdrawing it, a sound not very unlike 

 what many English people employ to express disgust or disappoint- 

 ment. The third against the palate. The fourth by pressing the 

 tongue against the side of the mouth and rapidly withdrawing it, a 

 sound not unlike what a jockey uses to urge on a horse. The last 

 two are almost impossible to describe, and I am disposed to beheve 

 that at least one of them' is only a harsh palatal click. 



Most philologists consider these chcks, at least in Kafir and 

 Sesuto, are only harsh k sounds. Of these clicks the palatal occurs 

 in a large number of Sesuto words, but there is no evidence that the 

 words themselves were derived from Bushman. At the same time 

 it is interesting to note that primitive Sesuto had no clicks. These 

 clicks could have been derived from Zulu and Xosa, two branches of 

 the language commonly called Kafir. In Kafir itself there are three 

 clicks — dental, palatal, and lateral — represented by c, q, and x. 

 They occur in an immense number of words, the palatal click 

 predominating. Those Kafir tribes which have^'^been longest in 

 contact with Hottentots and Bushmen have the largest number 

 of words in which clicks occur. It is quite possible, as the Eev. 

 J. L. Dohne, a distinguished Kafir scholar, has shown, that these 

 clicks could have arisen independently in Xosa and allied dialects. 



No Bushman dictionary has ever been published, so that it is 

 impossible to decide the question. The MS. of a Bushman dictionary 

 of 20,000 words is said to be in possession of 'Miss Lloyd, of Char- 

 lottenburg, a sister-in-law of Dr. W. H. J. Bleek, of Cape Town, who 

 published before his death three parts of a comparative grammar of 

 South African languages, containing Bushman forms. A short 

 grammar of Bushman was also issued by Frederick ^Muller, of 

 Vienna, but it is too meagre to be of much service. 



The Basuto call the Bushmen Baroa, the meaning of which is 

 uncertain. It may mean **men of the south" (boroa). I am 

 inclined to think from further reflection that the^Sesuto appellation 

 " boroa," to the south, or south, really comes from the name Baroa. 



The Kafirs call the Bushmen;Abatwa, manifestly the same name, 

 as the Sesuto prefix Ba becomes ]in^ Kafir 'Ama or Aba. • ^^ Amongst 

 themselves the Bushmen were called 'San, and it is a mistake to say 

 they called themselves Khuai, which is the " designation of the 

 Hottentots. 



The chief of each little clan was all-powerful, and his word was 

 law and must be obeyed. He was looked upon as the father of the 



