Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/146

122 in nature in a way that no Bantu ever did, and their ideas on these subjects, though seemingly absurd, at least bore evidence of a disposition to think. They had names for many stars and groups of stars, which they believed were endowed with life. They were excellent story-tellers. Seated round fires of an evening, they repeated tales of the doings of men and of animals—usually the baboon or the jackal—which produced boundless mirth. These stories often contained coarse and obscene expressions, or what Europeans would regard as such, but their sense of delicacy in these matters was naturally low. Specimens will be given in the next chapter, and a sufficient number to fill several volumes might still be easily collected, for they have survived the loss of the language in which they were originally told, and have probably not undergone more alterations than were necessary to make them pass current in new surroundings.

The evening with the Hottentots, as probably with all barbarians, was the time for enjoyment. What could be more cheerful than the dance in the bright moonlight or listening to a merry tale by a fire under a starry sky? Then the young men tried their strength in wrestling matches, or in lifting others lying at full length on the ground, while the young women looked on and applauded the successful competitors. Then, too, they played games which, though apparently suited to the capacities of little children only, afforded them much amusement. The commonest of these games, very similar to one practised by the Bushmen, was adopted by the Bantu on the eastern border of the Cape province when they conquered the Hottentots there, and is performed by adults among them to-day, though the people with whom it originated have long since forgotten it.

It was played by two persons or any number exceeding two. The players sat on the ground, and each had a pebble so small that it could easily be concealed in a folded hand. If there were many players they formed themselves into sides or parties, but when they were few in number one