Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/323

311 HOTTENTOTS 311 every one participated in the bridal fe^.st. The nuptial ceremony was concluded by the priest besprinkling the happy pair. Among the colonial Hottentots these ancient usages have long been set aside ; but they are still con tinued among some of the surviving tribes north of the Orange river. Polygamy was practised, but not to any great extent. Divorce was much more common. Family names were perpetuated in a peculiar manner the sons took the family name of the mother, while the daughters took that of the father. Thus if the father s and mother s names were respectively Hagub and Daimus, the sons would be called, according to their age, Daimub geib (big one), Dainmb ! naga mab (of lower standing), and Daimub I Kham (younger) ; and the daughters, Hagu-geis (eldest), Hagu ! nagamas (second), and Hagu J Kliams (younger). The children were very respectful to their parents, by whom they were kindly and affectionately treated. Yet the superannuated or aged father or mother was sometimes exposed and left to die. Xamaquas say this was done by very poor people if they had no food for their parents. But even when there was food enough, aged persons, especially women, who were believed to be possessed of the evil spirit or devil were placed in an enclosure of bushes with some meat and water, intended to be their last nourishment. The Hottentots had neither warlike nor pastoral songs, and their musical instruments were but few and simple. One named the &quot; go rah &quot; was formed by stretching a piece of the twisted entrails of a sheep along a thin hollow stick about three feet in length in the manner of a bow and string. At one end there was a piece of quill fixed into the stick, to which the mouth was applied, and the tones were produced by inspiration and respiration. Another, the &quot; ramkee,&quot; was constructed on the same principle as a guitar, with three or four strings stretched over a piece of hollow wood. The &quot;rommel-pot&quot; was a kind of drum. Eeeds several feet long were likewise made use of as flutes. 1 The system of government was patriarchal. Each tribe had its hereditary &quot; khu-khoi&quot; or &quot;gao-ao&quot; or chief, and each kraal or encampment its captain. These met in council whenever any great matters affecting the privileges of the people had to be decided. They had no salary, but their persons were held in great reverence, and they were installed in office with solemnities and feasting. In certain tribes the hind part of every bullock which was slaughtered was sent to the chief, and this he distributed among the males of the village. He also collected sufficient milk at the door of his hut to deal out amongst the poor. A part of every animal taken in hunting was exacted by the chief, even though it was in a state of putrefaction when brought to him. The captains assisted by the men of each kraal attended to the settlement of disputes regarding property and to the trial of criminals. A murderer was beaten or stoned to death ; but if one escaped and was at large for a whole year, he was allowed to go unpunished. Adultery seldom occurred ; if any one found parties in the act and killed them he was no murderer, but on the con trary received praise for his deed. Women found offend- 1 These were always played at the reed-dance, which was commenced &quot;by a leader blowing on his reed, with head bent forwards, ami stamping his feet violently on the ground to beat time. He was fol lowed by the other musicians, who, forming a circle, also stooped forward and stamped. The women first ran round the circle of reed- players, clapping their ha-nds and singing, and giving their bodies various odd twists. Then they got into the circle, and the men stamped and blew the reeds around them, and thus they continued frequently a whole night with but little interruption. On some occa sions the performers described with appropriate action any incident of late occurrence, and in doing so the utmost poetical licence, as well as perfect freedom of speech, was permitted. ing were burnt. Theft, especially cattle-stealing, was severely punished. 2 The religious ideas of the Hottentots were very obscure. Yaillant says they had &quot; neither priests nor temples, nor idols, nor ceremonials, nor any traces of the notion of a deity.&quot; Kolben, Tachart, and others, however, assure us that they believed in an invisible deity or &quot; Great Captain,&quot; whom they named Tik-guoa (Tsu-yoab), a good man who did them no harm, and of whom therefore they need not be afraid. They also spoke of other captains of less power, and of a black captain named Gauna, who was the spirit of evil. The moon was a secondary divinity, supposed to have the disposal of the weather ; and on eacli occasion of the appearance of the crescent moon in the sky they assembled from night till morning, dancing, clapping hands, and singing their hymns. 3 Schmidt, the first mis sionary to the Hottentots, says they also celebrated the anniversary of the appearance of the Pleiades above the eastern horizon. Hahn states that at the present day the Topnaars of Sandwich Harbour and of the ! Khomab moun tains worship a being whom they name Tusib, the rain gorl. He also reports that he heard an old Namaqua saying, &quot; The stars are the souls of the deceased,&quot; and mentions a form of imprecation, &quot; Thou happy one, may misfortune fall on thee from the star of my grandfather.&quot; Their notion of the supreme being and their relations to a life hereafter also took the form of ancestor- worship. The deified hero was named Heitsi-Eibib ; and of him endless stories are told. The one most generally accepted is that he was a notable warrior of great physical strength, who once ruled the Khoi-Khoin, and that in a desperate struggle with one of his enemies, whom he finally overcame, he received a wound in the knee, from which event he got the name of &quot; the wounded knee.&quot; He was held in high repute for extraordinary powers during life, and after death he continued to be invoked as one who could still relieve and protect. According to the tradition still preserved among the Namaquas, Heitsi-Eibib came from the east. There fore they make the doors of their huts towards the east, and those who possess waggons and carts put their vehicles alongside the mat-house with the front turned towards the east. All the graves are in true west-easterly direction, so that the face of the deceased looks towards the east. The spirit of Heitsi-Eibib is supposed to exist in the old burial places, and, whenever a heathen Hottentot passes them, he throws stones on the spot as an offering, at the same time invoking the spirit s blessing and protection. Hahn asserts that there are many proofs which justify the con clusion that, to the minds of the Khoi-Khoin, Heitsi-Eibib and Tsu gonb (the supreme being) were identical. Both were higher powers who took great care of men. Both were believed to have died and risen again. They killed the bad beings and restored peace on earth ; they promised men immortality, understood the secrets of nature, and could foretell the future. The Heitsi-Eibega are to be found all over South Africa. 4 Various ceremonies were practised to ward off the evil influence of ghosts and spectres, and charms were freely 2 The thief was bound hand and foot, and left on the ground with out food for a long time ; then, if his offence was slight, lie received some blows with a kerrie or stick, but if the case was an aggravated one, he was severely beaten, and then unloosed and banished from the kraal. The family of even the woist criminal suffered nothing on his account in reputation, privilege, or property. 3 An interesting notice of this form of worship occurs in the journal of an expedition which the Dutch governor, Ryk van Tulbagh, sent to the Great Namaquas in 1752, which reached as far as the Kainob or Lion river (about 27 S. lat.). 4 On the religion and antiquities see TIahn s papers, &quot; Graves of the Heitsi-Eibib, in Cape Monthly Mar/dzine, 1879, and &quot;Per Hottentotische Zai-goab und der Griechische Zeus,&quot; in Zeitschr. fur dco jr., Berlin, 1870.