THE NEW THEATRE IN HOTTENTOT SQUARE. 
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 
i 
BOORS RETURNING FROM HUNTING. 
N° 10. 
N° 12. 
1 he plate to which this refers is a view of part of the Table Mountain taken from 
Hottentot Square in Cape Town, at the time of an incipient South-easter. These 
strong gales of wind are first indicated by a small fleecy cloud stretching along the 
summit of the mountain which, gradually falling over the edge, in the course of a 
few hours envelopes half the mountain, rising also to a considerable height above 
it, whilst every other part of the hemisphere is perfectly cloudless. This irregular 
appearance is well known to seamen by the name of the Devil's Table Cloth. The 
principal building in the Square is a new Theatre, which was erected during the 
government of Sir George Young for the amusement of the inhabitants, there be- 
ing hitherto no place of public entertainment where the English and the Dutch 
inhabitants had any opportunity of associating together ; and although it may not 
possess any extraordinary degree of architectural beauty, it is nevertheless superior 
to most, if not to all, of the buildings of Cape Town in solidity as well as in design. 
This Square is the common resort of all the waggons that arrive in Cape Town with 
the different products of the interior parts of the Country, and seldom a day elapses 
without waggons arriving here, containing whole families, attended by groupes of 
Hottentots and Kaffers, in their native dresses of sheep skins, and sometimes al- 
most wholly naked. From this circumstance it derived its name, which, however, 
was only applied to it by the English, the Dutch invariably calling it the Boor's 
Plain. 
This animal, the Hippopotamus of the ancients, the Hippopotamus Amphibius of 
Linnaeus, and the Sea Cow of the Dutch, and probably the Behemoth of the scrip- 
tures, was formerly met with in all the larger rivers of southern Africa, but since 
the Cape has been colonized by the Dutch, and the introduction of fire-arms, they 
gradually retired into the interior of the country, and are now not to be found 
within the limits of the Colony, except a few in the Berg river, which have been 
protected by the government. In the Orange river, not yet much frequented by 
the Dutch, they are most abundant, appearing sometimes in herds, consisting of 
fifteen or twenty. On the first appearance of men they rise with the head above 
the surface, and seem to eye them with attention ; but after the first discharge of a 
musquet, though they must, at intervals, peep out of the water for the purpose of 
respiration, they sink instantaneously on seeing the flash ; but when severely 
wounded they are more frequently upon the surface : yet so very sly are they in 
this respect that, when disturbed in holes of the river that are bounded by shallows, 
they will creep into the tall reeds near the margin, and lie in them with the nose 
just above the water for two or three days together without moving, if the cause of 
their disturbance should not be removed. The usual way of taking them by the 
Bosjesmans is by digging deep pits in their track; but the K ora Hottentots on the 
banks of the Orange river generally use the following method: the animal by night 
quits the river to seek its food, which consists of bushes, reeds, and coarse grass, 
and the noise it makes in cutting and masticating these substances with its grinders 
first gives notice to the hunters of its situation; but the dread of the animal 
thus out of its element, or its natural instinct, induces it to stop and listen at 
the interval of every four or five minutes; the Hottentots take advantage of this ; 
while the animal pauses they stop, and when he eats they push forward till within 
a few yards distant, when they dart their Hassagais into him; after which, al- 
though he may get to the river, he generally becomes their prey. The one from 
which the annexed Portrait was taken, being alarmed by the hunters, concealed 
itself among the reeds in a deep morass for two days; compelled at last by hunger 
to make towards the land, it was perceived by one of the party, who fired a shot 
which entered the head, and twenty or thirty more shots quickly following, the 
animal appeared io be much wounded ; but darkness coming on prevented any fur- 
ther pursuit that evening: in the night, however, the poor creature eluded the 
vigilance of the men who had been set on the watch to prevent its escaping, and 
got more than two miles from the morass, and was at last killed by the Hottentots, 
who found it lying under a tree almost exhausted by the wounds it had before re- 
ceived. It is somewhat remarkable that this animal, in his course from the morass 
in the night, was discovered by the track in the sand to have gone between a wag- 
gon and a tent, which were not above three yards apart, and very fortunately for 
the hunters who were sleeping in them, without running against the one, or entan- 
gling himself in the ground lines of the other. The largest of the species that we 
killed, and from whence the annexed Drawing was taken, measured from the snout 
to the root of the tail eleven feet, and height six feet six inches ; but it was a 
female. Its skin is of a dirty brown colour, approaching to black, reticulated, and 
entirely divested of hair, except on the thick tumefied lips which are coveted with 
pencils of bristly hair. The flesh, and especially the lard, with which it is covered, 
and the head and hoofs, are esteemed as great delicacies both by the Hottentots 
and the Dutch, and the flavour is not unlike pork. 
N° 11. 
The Boors, who inhabit the interior districts of the Colony, have scarcely any 
other source of amusement than that of hunting, which is attended with profit as 
well as pleasure. An excursion of this kind requires a very considerable equipage, 
and continues for several days on such occasions. The Boor is attended by his 
waggons, his horses, his oxen, and his Hottentots, beside a numerous train of doo-s 
and is seldom so unsuccessful as to return home without a full freight. In his wag- 
gons he takes out with him some empty casks and a supply of salt, in order to 
preserve the flesh of the larger animals, such as Buffalos, Gnoos, Elands, and 
Hartebeests ; the smaller kind, as the different species of deer, the Spring-bok, the 
Steen-bok, the Ilee-bok, (one of which in the print is slung behind the Boor,) 
hares, &c. are brought home whole. The animal carried by the Hottentot is the 
Cape Jerboa, usually called in the Colony the Spring-haas, or leaping hare, and 
sometimes the Berg-haas, or Mountain hare. Although in general a Dutch Boor 
is inclined to be extremely indolent, yet on the slightest hint from a stranger or 
visitor he enters warmly into any plan for ajagtpartij, or hunting party. In chasing 
the different kinds of game, he rides in full gallop till within gunshot, when, throw- 
ing the bridle upon the mane, the horse at once stops short, stands firm, and he 
fires from his back. The horses are small and generally poor, and a tall Boor, sit- 
ting almost upright on the saddle, just upon its shoulders, has a very whimsical 
appearance. Their musquets are large, aukward, and unwieldy ; but, though they 
generally fire with ball, they seldom miss their object. Indeed, to fire at a mark, 
to drive an ox waggon, and crack and manage an enormous whip, are the prin- 
cipal and essential parts of their education. They are extremely hospitable to 
strangers ; but all their good qualities are obscured by their cruel and inhuman 
treatment of the poor Hottentots, who are forced into their employ. 
