1812. 
ON THE WORDS, BICHUANA AND BACHAPIN. 
803 
accustomed to the diminutive figure of Bushmen, appeared at this 
time remarkably tall. 
Having been used to regard a well-greased skin as a proof of 
being well-fed, we viewed their dry bodies as a certain indication 
of poverty and want ; which their disinclination to talk, and the 
depression of their countenances, sufficiently confirmed. They in- 
formed us, that they were Bachapins * and had been herdsmen to 
the late chief Mulihaban ; that at present their only means of support 
was hunting, or digging up wild roots : and in this employment, it 
was unnecessary for them to say, that they had not lately been very 
successful. They informed us that it is the law of the country, that 
whenever men of their class kill any game, within a reasonable 
distance of the town, the best piece, particularly the breast, must 
be sent to the chief The engraving at page 291. will give an idea 
of the general appearance of a poor Bachapin herds?nan. 
These two men stopped with us as long as we remained at this 
station ; and were of some use in assisting us to cut the meat in 
pieces for drying. I ordered the Hottentots not only to feed them 
* It may not be useless here to explain, that the word Bichuana is used when speak- 
ing generally of those tribes of the Caffre race, who speak a language which they call 
Sichuana, and inhabit the countries comprised in the northernmost part of the map ; and 
that by the word Bachapin (Bachapeen) or the Hottentot word Briqna (Breequa, signi- 
fying Goat-men) is intended that particular tribe only, which is governed by Mattlvi, 
and the chief town of which, is Litakun. 
Bichuana (Beechuarna) is the plural form of the word Muchuana ( Moochuarna) ; but 
as it has not been thought necessary in the journal to preserve this distinction, the first 
has been adopted for both cases. The root of the word seems to be, chuana which, 
however, cannot correctly be used, as it is never spoken without the adjunct. 
It is the singular property of the Sichuana language, to apply as prefixes, those par- 
ticles which, in similar cases in other languages, are employed as terminations. Tlius, as 
an example, in the names of the Bichuana nations, the syllable Ba, with which most of 
them begin, corresponds with the qua which terminates many Hottentot names : both of 
them answering to the English word man, as compounded in German, Norman. This re- 
mark is exemplified in the names Bachapin, BamaJcwin, Batammaha, (sometimes called 
Tammaka) &c. ; and in Numaqua (sometimes, but less correctly, pronounced Namaqua) 
Briqua, Mokurraqua, Dammardqiia (which Hottentots substitute for Dammara), Auten'iqiia 
Gonaqua (often called Gonaqua, or Gonah), &c. By attending to this, it will be easy to 
distinguish many Hottentot and Sichuana names on the map, and to discover their nature. 
