Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/152

 114 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. closely relat<}d, notwithstanding the vi le ureii over which are scatteied the various branches of this ethnical family. Those spoken by the Namaqnas appear to bo most free from foreign influences. In the districts where the Hottentots have become assimilated in speech and social usages to the Piuropean proletariate classes, they dwell in the so-called an, or hamlet, which the Dutch colonists call kraal from the Portuguese carral, that is, a fold, jwn, or cattle enclosure. These kraals are mere collections of spherical or semicircular huts, which from a distance present the appearance of huge mush- rooms clustering in circular groups on the grassy plain. They are constructed compactly enough to keep out the rain, but serve no purpose except as a shelter against the wea'ther. Their occupants cannot even stand upright in them, the ordinary elevation of the roof not exceeding four feet four inches. The Hottentot costume consists mainly of a leathern apron, somewhat larger and more ornamental for the women than for the men, and a sheepskin cloak worn with the woolly side in or out according to the season. Amongst the rich this kaross, as it is called, is embellished round the neck and shoulders with embroidery and fur trimmings. The ordinary diet consists for the most part of milk and butter, meat being eaten only on special occasions. But when they decide on a feast of this sort they gorge themselves to repletion, and then to aid digestion roll on the ground and go through a process of " massage." On their hunting or foraging expeditions they provide themselves with wallets filled with meat, first dried and then powdered. They are passionately fond of tobacco or hemp (dak/ia), the smoke of which is swallowed. But it sometimes happens that either to punish themselves for some fault or to render the fates propitious to their supplications, they condemn themselves to abstain from these narcotics for a certain period. The flesh of the. hare, pig, and fowl is regarded by them as unclean. Till recently very little time or attention was paid by the Hottentots to the supernatural world, hence observers free from all prejudice on this subject could frankly assert that these aborigines had no religion at all. Nevertheless, they are endowed with an extremely excitable nervous temperament, thanks to which the Wesleyan missionaries have often succeeded in throwing them into a frenzy of religious excitement. According to Bleek, the still uticonverted pagan Hottentots recognise at least two supreme or higher beings, one of whom is perhaps a per- sonification of the moon, for he dies and revives periodically. Charms, amulets, and fetishes, although rare, nevertheless do exist, and are associated for the most part with the worship of the dead. The Hottentots attribute to their ancestry great power for good or for evil, invoking them on all serious occasions. The term Tsu-Goab, adopted by the missionaries as the nearest equivalent of the Christian " God," is probably the name of some hero of the olden time handed down by tradition. Burials are per- formed with much solemnity, and cairns, or heaps of stones, are raised above the tomb of the dead, who is usually deposited either in a cave or by preference in a porcupine's lair. Thanks to these lofty cairns and to the prepared stone imple- ments used by the Hottentots, explorers have been able to follow their migrations