Appendix. A Few ǃKuŃ Texts. The Doings of ǀΧUé Are Many

The works of ǀχué are many, and were not one, but many; and my father’s father, Karu, told me about ǀχué’s doings, for ǀχué’s works are numerous.

Various Transformations of ǀΧUé. 1. ǀΧUé as ǃNĂΧAne

(When) the sun rose, ǀχué was ǃnăχane; the birds ate ǀχué; ǀχué was ǃnăχane. The sun set, (and) ǀχué was ǀχué; and lay down and slept. The night fell, and ǀχué lay down, (he) slept; the place was dark; and the sun rose, and ǀχué was another (kind of) ǃnăχane, a large (kind of) ǃnăχane, which is a tree. And the night fell, (and) ǀχué was not a tree, and was ǀχué, and lay down.

2. Further Changes of Form

The sun rose, and ǀχué was a duí;* and the sun set, and ǀχué was an Omuhereró, and lay down; and the sun rose, and ǀχué was ǀχué, and went into another country, and was a shéé;† and the sun set, and ǀχué was a Makoba, and lay down; and the sun rose, and ǀχué was a ǃnăχane.*

3. ǀΧUé as a ǁGuí Tree and as a Fly

The sun set, and ǀχué was ǀχué, and lay upon the ground, and slept, was alone, and lay upon the ground and slept. And the sun rose, and ǀχué awoke and... and stood up, and saw the sun,—a little sun,—and was ǁguí, and was a tree.

And his wife saw the ǁguí, and went to the ǁguí, and went to take hold of a ǁguí fruit, and the ǁguí vanished; and ǀχué was a fly. And his wife laid herself upon the earth, and cried about the ǁguí, and died. And ǀχué was a fly, and settled upon the grass.† And his wife lay down upon the earth, and cried about the ǁguí.†

4. ǀΧUé as Water and as Other Things. In His Own Form, He Rubs Fire and Dies

ǀχué was water; and the water was (in) the shadow of the tree. And the wood pigeons ate

ǃnăχane is a tree. The ǃnăχane are numerous. The fruit of the tree ǃnăχane is yellowish. The fruit of the tree ǃnăχane is large; and the ground ǃnăχane fruit is small, and resembles the ǀkũï fruit, is red, is small, and abundant. the fruit of the ǀkũï. And ǀχué was a lizard,* and lay in the dead leaves of the ǀkũï. And (he) saw the wood pigeons, and was water.† And the wood pigeons saw the water, and settled upon the water’s edge. And ǀχué worked large grass, like reeds, and it took hold of a wood pigeon. And the wood pigeons came to drink (lit. to eat) water, and the grass J came near, and bit the wood pigeon’s bill, and the wood pigeon cried out; and the other wood pigeons flew away.

And ǀχué was ǀχué, and rose up, and took hold of the wood pigeon, and plucked out the wood pigeon’s feathers, and put the wood pigeon’s feathers in his head, and lay upon the ground. And the water vanished, and he was ǀχué; and put the wood pigeon’s feathers in his head, and lay upon the ground. And (he) put the wood pigeon’s body into the hot embers, and lay down. And continued to lie down, and arose, and went to take out the wood pigeon’s body from the fire.

And (he) ate the wood pigeon, and heard Ovahereró, and arose. And went to the Ovahereró, and the Ovahereró saw him. And he hid himself on the ground. The Ovahererd came to search for him, to search for him, (and) did not see him. For (he) was little, and was a ǀnŭ-érre;§ and a little Omuhereró boy saw the ǀnŭ-érre upon a bush, and

water, a water hole. he saw the Ovahererd, and cried out.* And was the Bushman’s eye water and fell upon the ground. And he said: “Yé-he! Yé-he! Ye-he!” And the Omuhereró heard, and sought for him, sought for him, sought for him, and did not ‘see him, and (he, ǀχué) flew away.

And (he, ǀχué)† flew, coming to his mother’s country, and saw his father, and was not a ǀnŭ-érre, but was ǀχué, and died.† And his father went to him, and came to look at him, and he was dead. And his father went away, and he was not dead, and was ǀχué, and rose up. He called to his father: “My father! O!” and his father called to him, and said: “My child! O!” and he called to his father once, and cried out: “ǂnŏ! ǂnŏ!” and came to his mother’s country.

And his father saw him and stealthily approached him. And he heard his father. And (he) saw his father, and died; and was a lizard, and lay down, lay down upon the ground.

And his father saw him, and said: “It is my child, ǀχué! for it is not another person, but is my child; and (he) saw me, and died. And (he) was rubbing sticks (to make) fire; and saw me, and died; and is not another person, but is my child, and is ǀχué. For, I went(?) away to my country, and did not see my child; and to-day,

ǀΧUÉ was a ǀnŭ-érre, and cried out. He was not one] nt-érre; but was many ǀnŭ-érre.

went to his mother’s country. I saw my child, and my child was rubbing fire, little sticks’ fire;* and my child rubbed fire, and saw me, and died. And is ǀχué; and is not another person, but is ǀχué. I am afraid of my child, for my child is dead.

“I go to my country; and my country is far away, and (during) many moons I go to my country, (and) do not see my country; my country is far distant. And, to-day, I see my child, for my child is ǀχué, and makes fire, little sticks’ fire, and eats ishana,† and rubs fire, and his hands hurt (him), and he cries, and sees me, and dies; for I am ǀχé-ǁn’ù, and my child, ǀχué, sees me, and dies; and I am afraid of my child. I go away to my country, my country that(?) is far distant.

“And my child is another person; I see my child. And (I) wear in my head wood pigeons’ feathers; and my child saw me, my head with wood pigeons’ feathers, many wood pigeon feathers, for they (?) were two wood pigeons. And, to-day, I am afraid of my child, and (I) go to my (own) country.”

And (he) went to his (own) country; the name of his country is ǁnoā; it is a mountain, a large mountain. And he went away to his (own) country.

Prayer to the Young Moon.*

Young Moon! speak to me!

Tell me of something.

Thou must speak to me about a little thing,

We call the small moon ǃkăǀkárrishe; (but) women call (it) ǃkăǀkărribe.

The Treatment of Thieves

If a kun woman steals, her father and her mother being (still) there, we take hold of her, we give her to her mother and her father; and they all go away from their place. Her stolen thing, we take it, we run, we give (it) to the other person, run to give to the other person the other person’s thing. And we say to the other person: “My wife stole your thing which is here; your nice thing here, my wife stole. And I have given (back) my wife to her father and her mother. For, my wife stole the nice thing here.”

And the other person hears, and objects (saying): “No; kill thy wife.” And, we hear, (and) object (saying): ‘No; I do not listen to you, and will not kill my wife; for, my wife has gone away, has gone to her father and her mother; and is far away; and has gone to her country; and I will not kill my wife.”

And the others cry, and we hear; and our hearts ache, and we go away; we say to the other people: ‘We go away; come, that I may kill my wife, kill my father-in-law, kill my mother-in-law, kill my...*

On the day that the woman took the thing, we see the thing, we take the thing. The woman says to us: “My husband, look at my nice thing, here, which I stole.” And we hear; and we say: “My wife, give me thy thing, that I may look (at it)” And (we) persuade her; and she takes (it) and gives (it) to us. And we take (it), and put (it) into our bag; and she cries (saying): ‘Give me my thing, oh dear! My husband! give me my thing, oh dear!” And we refuse (saying): “No, my wife, I will not listen to thee; for, the other person would kill me; and I will give the other person the other person’s thing. My wife! I will not listen to thee, for thou dost (try to) persuade me (in vain).” *

If a woman steals another person’s thing, (and) returns to her husband, (and) her husband sees the other person’s thing, his heart aches, and he kills her; he altogether kills his wife.†

Another man (i.e., his father) says to him: “No; do not quite kill thy wife.’ † And, he objects (saying): “No; I object to stealing; and my heart aches; and I will kill my wife; leave off talking to me; to-day ye must fear me.”

A female child, if her mother is dead and the female child is an only child, goes to another person’s hut. Another day, if she steals, the other person into whose hut she went (to live) takes her, (and) gives her to the other person, the other (from whom she stole), the other people kill her altogether; (they) put her into a hut, and burn, killing her with fire; and she dies altogether; and the other people return home.

They say to the people, to the people who gave them the girl who stole, they (who) killed the girl, they say: “We have burning, killed the girl with fire, put the girl into a hut, and burning killed the girl. Leave off reproaching us about the girl.” And the other people object (saying): “No; we are not scolding you; for, we object (to stealing); for this* girl stole; and we do not scold you; for, we hear, and our hearts are glad.”

If a man steals, we kill (him), we shoot, killing him (with) arrows,† and do not put him into the fire; but, kill him altogether with arrows. It is only a woman (whom) we burn, burn, putting (her) into the fire.

If a child steals, we merely scold the child; t and do not kill the child.

Another day, when the child has grown up, if it steals, we object, we kill the child;§ give the child to other persons, and they kill it altogether.

If another woman comes into our hut (and) her child steals a thing of ours, (if) her child eats our food, (and) we see, we take it, and we take its mother, we give them to other people,* (and) the other people put them into the fire, and burn, burn, killing them with fire; (and) return (and) say to us: “We have, burning, killed the two people with fire.’ We hear; we say: “Yes; we object to stealing.” And (we) are silent.† And they say: “We have burnt the two persons; ye must not scold (us).” Our hearts are glad,† and we sing. And (we) say to them: ‘We... object to stealing; and fear stealing; and do not steal.” And those § (who killed the woman) hear; and (one) says: “Yes.” ‖

And we give them a male elephant’s tusk; and they go away to their home. And, another day, they give (it) to the Makoba. And the Makoba give them one bull, with Indian Hemp; and they give to us; and we kill, and eat (it) up; and they return to their home; and we speak nicely to them (saying): ‘Return ye to your dwelling; give us Indian Hemp; do not give us the bull alone; we object to one thing (only); we do not eat one thing; for, we eat two things.” And they hear, and assent (to us); and they return to their home.

And we eat up the bull; and they say to us: “Ye have eaten up the bull; give us an elephant’s tusk.” And we hear; and our hearts are glad. The sun arises, and we return to our dwelling.* And come, telling the other people who are at our dwelling—our people—we say to them: ‘Give ye an elephant’s tusk to the people.” And the others, who are our people, hear; and we give them Indian Hemp.

The Four Pieces of Wood Called ǀΧÚ,† Used for Divining Purposes

The] kun women respect these things, (they) do not take hold (of them). Men take hold (of them). A small Ikua child, who is a little girl, does not take hold of this thing; for (she) respects (it). For, her mother says to her: “This thing, thou must respect, my mother.” And the child listens, (and) respects the thing; but a little male child does not fear the thing, (and) takes hold of the thing, (and) carries, carries the thing to his father.

And his father puts down ‡ the thing upon the ground, and (the child) does not see (or look at) the thing, he goes away. For his father objects (to his looking on, and says): “Go, my father!” * The child laughs, and runs off, goes to his mother, (and) says to his mother: “My mother! give water.” For the child ran, coming (and) saying to his mother: “Give my father water.”

And his mother took water (from the pot) with a gourd (?), the skin of food; and gave her child water; and her child carried the (vessel of) water in his hands, carried water to his father. And the water (vessel) fell, and (the water) poured upon the ground; and he (the boy) saw, and cried out: “My father! the water pours down, oh dear! My father! the water pours down, oh dear!” And his father heard him, and ran, coming to take hold of him. And (he) beat his child, broke off a little stick, and beat his child; and the little stick was a shana. And his son’s speech was this (?): “My father! leave off beating me! oh dear! My father! leave off beating me! oh dear! My father! leave off striking me! oh dear! My father! leave off striking me! oh dear!”

And the people f took hold of him, his mother came to take hold of him (saying): “My mother! my child! oh dear! My mother! my child! oh dear! My mother! my husband is striking my child, oh dear!”

His (the child’s) father came and took (his) quiver, and drew out an arrow, and put his arrow upon his bow; and the people (i.e., the women) called out. For, he took aim at his wife with (two) arrows; for his arrows were a ǀnúbbo, and a ǁχí.‡ And his wife cried, and avoided the arrow. And (she) cried; and his wife’s mother cried: ‘My mother! my son-in-law takes aim at my daughter with two arrows, oh dear!” And (she) fell down, and lay upon the ground, and cried; and the people (many other women) came (and) took hold of her, and said to her: “Do not cry!” And she refused (saying): “No! my son-in-law aims at my daughter with two arrows, oh dear!” And the people took hold of her; and she would not listen to the people, and refused.

To Beat the Ground (With a Stone)

The ǃkuń beat a stone upon the ground. My father’s mother beat a stone upon the ground. She said: “Fall into the water! Fall into the water!” And the thing (the lightning?) fell into the water.

A man does not beat a stone upon the ground. A woman beats a stone upon the ground. = _

My (Tamme’s) father’s mother was N̆-ǁná. My mother’s father was Little Tamme; and my mother’s mother was ǃkăro-ǁn’ă. My father’s father’s father was Great Tamme.

Snakes, Lizards, and a Certain Small Antelope, When Seen Near Graves, to Be Respected

A snake which is near a grave, we do not kill, for, (it) is our other person, our dead person, the dead person’s snake.* And we do not kill (it); for (we) respect it. And (if, during) many days, we see it, we do not kill (it); looking (at it), (we) let it alone.

Another day, (if) we see a lizard, we follow the lizard’s spoor; (if) the lizard has gone to the earth (grave?) of our other person, we respect the lizard, (we) do not kill the lizard, (we) let the lizard alone.

(When) we see an antelope,† an antelope (which is) near our other person’s place, that place where our other person has died, we respect the antelope; for, the antelope is not a mere antelope. Its legs (?) seem(?) small, it is the person who has died, and is a spirit antelope. It is a male antelope; it is not a female antelope.

A Certain Snake, Which, by Lying upon Its Back, Announces a Death in the Family; And Which Must Not, Under These Circumstances, Be Killed

The Whin J (is) a serpent of our country. (If, when) we strike it, it does in this manner with its belly,§ it gives us its belly, we fear it, and go away, and return home; while (we) do not kill* it. For (we) let (it) alone; and it lies, lies, lies; arises, (and) goes away altogether.

And, another day, (if) we see it (and) it does not give us its belly, we beat it, we kill it altogether, and throw (it) altogether away; (we) do not keep (it) [do not eat it].†

Another day, (when) it sees us, (as) we approach it, approach it, approach it, (and) reach it, (and) it gives us its belly, we are afraid, we do not kill it, we run away.

Another day, we see it, (when) it is in the water— tree water t—we are near it, we think that we will drink water, we see its body, (when) it is in the water, (and) it sees us, it quickly (?) goes out of the water, and lies upon the ground. We think that we will strike it, (and) it gives us its belly, we turn back, we go away, and it alone lies (there).

And (if) a woman comes (and) the woman sees it, (she) unloosens (her) skin necklace, and (gently) lays (it) down; and it turns,§ and lays its belly upon the earth. And the woman kills it, and throws it away.

(If) another person dies, (and) we have not heard his news,] ] (and) we see the ǁhĩń turning its belly towards us, we are afraid of the ǁhĩń, and cry.

it, and throw away its flesh; and keep its skin; give the Makoba its skin.

Dr. Bleek’s Report, Etc., Regarding Photographs Sent to England by Government December 23, 1871.* Notes to Accompany the Photographs

Of the ten Natives photographed by Messrs. Lawrence and Selkirk, in conformity with Professor Huxley’s instructions, five are Bushmen, two Damaras, one a Koranna, one a Colonial Hottentot, and one a Kafir. In this set of photographs there are, therefore, represented the three distinct races of men (and families of language) extant in South Africa; viz., the Bantu (in the Kafir and the Damara), the Hottentot, and the Bushman. It is to be regretted that no Betshuana (Basuto, Barolong, Mahaua, &c.) were within our reach, as, in that case, the three nations of the Bantu race which live nearest to the Cape Colony would have been represented. The Betshuana are a nation quite distinct from the Kafirs, although nearer akin to them than the Kafirs are to the Damara (Ovahererd) or other more northern nations. Whilst the Kafirs and Damaras, like the Hottentots, live in bee-hive shaped huts, the dwellings of the Betshuana are of a more pretentious character; and, upon the whole, the Betshuana have reached a higher degree of aboriginal civilization than their neighbours and next cousins, the Kafirs.

To characterize the three native races of South Africa shortly:

The Bântu (Kafirs, Betshuâna, Damara, and all other negroes dwelling to the South of the Equator) are agricultural and pastoral polygamists, mostly living under hereditary chiefs, addicted to ancestor

worship, speaking euphonious polysyllabic Prefixpronominal languages, eminently prosaic in their ideas and literature, and possessing a decimal system of counting which is however very clumsy in its application.

The Hottentots or Khoi khoi (Namaqua, Koranna, as well as many other tribes now extinct) are a pastoral nation, occasionally polygamous, ruled by hereditary chiefs, worshipping in former days the moon, speaking a clicking monosyllabic Sex-denoting language, poetical in their ideas, with a traditionary literature full of myths and fables, and with a decimal system of counting which is of easier application than the Bantu one.

The Bushmen are a hunting race, strictly monogamous, without chiefs, worshipping moon, sun, and stars, speaking a most harsh clicking and guttural monosyllabic language (which is not now but may possibly once have been Sex-denoting), poetical in their ideas, with an extensive mythological traditionary literature, and with a binal system of counting, which has however no names for numbers beyond the third.

It is possible that the Bushmen and Hottentots were originally one race, and that their languages are of common descent; but in any case they must have had a separate existence for many thousands of years; and until their relationship has been proved (which is not yet the case) it will be most in accordance with scientific principles to consider them as distinct races, with languages which have no traceable relationship with each other.

That in physical appearance both Bushmen and Hottentots are nearer akin to each other than either of them is to the Kafir and Negro, is well known. As regards the difference in appearance between Hottentots and Bushmen, I will only remark that it is so marked as, in rare instances only, to leave one in doubt regarding the nationality of an individual of either nation. The Bushman ear deserves particular notice in this respect. Its smallness and the almost absence of an outer lobe distinguish it very strikingly from that of the Koranna, at all events, the only Hottentot tribe which is represented by many individuals at the Breakwater Convict Station. Once standing in the middle of a group of Korannas, I mustered them for the purpose of selecting a suitable subject to be photographed,—I remarked one with a Bushman ear, and with a conformation of head unlike that of the Korannas. I said at once You are no Koranna? you are a Bushman.” Yes,” he answered, “but I was brought up among the Korannas since I was a little child.”

The Bushmen represented here, belong mostly to the Strontbergen (Lat. 30° South, Long. 22° East of Greenwich) and to the near neighbourhood of these mountains, or to the country intervening between them and Kenhart, particularly to the Hartebeest River. A few only had been living at greater distances to the West of the Strontbergen. Those from other localities may be somewhat different in their physical appearance; but, as far as I have been able to ascertain, all real Bushmen * speak the same language with dialectical variations.

To the anthropologist it will be of interest to know exactly the kind of relationship or blood sanguinity which exists between the different Bushmen here photographed. To illustrate this clearly, I have added as full tables of their ancestors as I could ascertain.* These genealogical tables have been tested, and I have no doubt that in almost every instance they are reliable. Their very existence will, no doubt, help to set aside many erroneous ideas entertained regarding this nation, and its social relations, or rather its alleged want of regular social relations.

Besides the five Bushmen photographed according to Professor Huxley’s directions, by Messrs. Lawrence and Selkirk, an excellent photograph has been taken by them of a group of ten Bushmen at the Breakwater. Amongst these a very old man is particularly worthy of attention (fig. 3 Oud Toontje) who is the father of the Bushman (II. No. 5-10 Coos Toontje) whose photograph was used as a sample enclosed in the circular, and who is himself again represented in fig. 9 of the Group. Also fig. 1 of the Group pictures one of the young Bushmen who has also been photographed according to Professor Huxley’s directions, viz. (V. No. 19-22), Marcus. In this way a standard of measurement is supplied to the Group, of which several other members stand in some relationship to one or another of the Bushmen individually photographed. The same remark applies to three other Bushmen photographed by Mr. Barnard,—which although not in complete

[* It is much to be regretted that the genealogical tables, together with the whole of the photographs here referred to by Dr. Bleek, could not be reproduced with this Report.] accordance with Professor Huxley’s directions (they were partly done before their receipt) are yet sufficiently near to help in illustrating the characteristics of this remarkable race. For most of the remarks on the mental and bodily characteristics of the Natives represented in the Group I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, Chaplain at the Breakwater Convict Station.

On the suggestion of His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B., a few measurements (round the chest, &c.) have been added, where they still could be supplied. These measurements had not been mentioned in Professor Huxley’s circular letter, and so had not been taken at first. This will explain their being wanting in several instances.

Regarding the pronunciation of the unusual signs which had to be employed in writing the Bushman names, the following remarks will be sufficient:—

ǂ 〃 〃 palatal click

ǁ 〃 〃 lateral click

ʘ 〃 〃 labial click

~ 〃 the nasal pronunciation of a syllable.

It is to be regretted that no females could as yet be photographed; as without them the collection is for anthropological purposes very incomplete. But upon the whole the photographs here given must only be considered as a first attempt which will shew what can be done here. A complete collection would not only require that females and children should be included; but also that several of the nations as yet wholly unrepresented, as Betshuâna, Fingus, Zulus, Namaqua, should be added; and some others of whom only one individual is represented here (as Koranna and Kafir) should be portrayed in several individuals of different ages and sexes.

An Undated Manuscript Fragment Found Among Dr. Bleek’s Papers, Apparently Written Between 1870 and 1873

If I am to state in a few words my present impressions regarding the affinity of Bushman and Hottentot, it is that they stand to each other pretty much in the same relation as French and German. As these two languages which are both descendants of the common Aryan stock, have become quite unlike each other in almost every feature, thus also Hottentot and Bushman, though at a remote period of some thousands of years branched off from a common stock.

Report of Dr. Bleek Concerning His Researches into the Bushman Language and Customs, Presented to the Honourable the House of Assembly by Command of His Excellency the Governor

The Honourable the Secretary for Native Affairs. Sir,—I have the honour herewith to lay before you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor and the Legislature, a report concerning the progress of the Bushman studies.

From this report it will be seen that special facilities have been afforded by the Colonial Government for an inquiry into the only kind of South African language as yet unexplored. And I have gladly given my time and strength for an object which appeared to me of sufficient importance to render me willing to delay on its account the prosecution of my main work, the Comparative Grammar of South African Languages.

The expenses which I had incurred in this inquiry, up to the end of the year 1871, were repaid to me last year by a Parliamentary Grant of £100. I had then estimated the expenditure to be incurred by me on this account, in 1872, at £100 more. But from the non-arrival of the wives of the Bushmen (whom I was then expecting), the expenditure for 1872 was about £35 less than I had calculated that it would be, namely, £64 18s. To this sum is to be added £16 for expenses already incurred during the present year, to the 31st of March, making in all about £80 18s. for expenses incurred by me from 1st January, 1872, to 31st March, 1878.

I respectfully solicit you to recommend that His Excellency the Governor may be pleased to allow this further sum to be refunded to me, or to make some provision for its repayment.

At the same time I beg to draw your attention to the existence, in the collection under my charge in the Library, of a number of manuscripts containing Native Literature in different South African languages.

The publication of these documents, most of which are accompanied by a translation, would throw much light upon the workings of the native mind in the different nations living in or near to the Colony. May I recommend this subject to the gracious consideration of Her Majesty’s Government, and mention, in connection with it, that in the small Colony of Natal the sum of £200 per annum was granted for several years to the Rev. H. Callaway, M.D., towards the expenses of printing the Zulu native literature which had been collected by himself.

But your own well-known interest in, and knowledge of, the native races * renders it quite unnecessary for me to say anything further to you regarding the importance of this subject.

Report Concerning Bushman Researches, by W. H. I. Bleek, Ph.D

The oldest, and until late years, the only, materials for a knowledge of the Bushman Language, were the short vocabularies and few sentences published by the traveller, Dr. H. Lichtenstein. These were, probably, mainly obtained from those missionaries who at the beginning of this century were working among the Bushmen, some of them in connection with the London Missionary Society, and others sent out by a Dutch Society. In the original edition of Lichtenstein’s book of Travels, these vocabularies stand by the side of his. Koranna Hottentot vocabularies and phrases, on about eight pages octavo.

2. In 1857, I tested Lichtenstein’s vocabulary, by

[* Mr. C. Brownlee, M.L.A., was at that time Secretary for Native Affairs.] examining a few Bushmen and Bushwomen from the neighbourhoods of Colesberg and Burghersdorp, who were at that time at Robben Island, and in the Cape Town Gaol and House of Correction. The result of this examination was the discovery that the different Bushman dialects spoken within this Colony vary very little from each other, and that one language, quite different from Hottentot, is spoken by all these Bushmen. The words thus ascertained were incorporated in a Manuscript Comparative ‘Vocabulary of the Dialects of the Hottentots and Bushmen”, forming No. 36 of Sir George Grey’s Library.

3. In 1858, the Rev. C. F. Wuras presented to Sir George Grey a short Manuscript Grammar of the Bushman language, on eight pages quarto. Sir George took this manuscript with him to England in 1859, but it did not return with him in 1860, nor did it arrive here with the main bulk of his library in 1863. It is probably now at Kauwau, New Zealand; but Sir George has promised to send us either the manuscript itself, or a copy of it.

4, In 1861, the Rev. G. Krénlein sent a few words and sentences of another (Transgariepian) dialect of the Bushman language. The MS., of seven pages octavo, is in the Grey Library; and this material has been worked out by me in an exhaustive Concordance of sixty-five pages folio.

5. About five years later (in 1866), an opportunity was afforded me of examining two Bushman prisoners from the Achterveld, who were transferred for this purpose, by the order of His Excellency Sir P. E. Wodehouse, from the Breakwater to the Town Prison. The words and sentences then collected (mainly from the lips of the elder of these two men) fill about sixty-six pages quarto; whilst an English index to these phrases occupies forty-eight pages folio, and an alphabetical vocabulary of those Bushman words, which contain no click, is on twenty-five further pages folio. Some remarks upon the language, based upon these materials, are to be found in my paper on “The Bushman Language,” pp. 269-284 of “The Cape and its People,’ Cape Town, 1869.

6. In 1870, the presence of twenty-eight Bushmen at the Breakwater afforded an unprecedentedly rare opportunity of obtaining good instructors in the language. On the recommendation of the Rev. G. Fisk, the best-behaved Bushman boy was selected, and in August of that year, he was placed with me for this purpose by Her Majesty’s Colonial Government. This experiment was found to answer; but it was taken into consideration that one young Bushman alone, would soon lose a good deal of accuracy in speaking his mother-tongue, and, further, that the boy in question could relate hardly any of the numerous tales and fables which are met with in the traditionary literature of this nation. On these grounds His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly was pleased to direct that one of the most intelligent of the old Bushmen should join the other. Both are still with me. Their term of penal servitude expired in the middle of the year 1871; and they have since remained of their own free will. In order to achieve the object of these inquiries (a thorough knowledge of the Bushman language and literature), the presence of these men (or other Bushmen) is necessary for several years; at least four;—two and a half of which have already expired. And soon after the arrival of the elder Bushman, I took steps to ascertain the whereabouts of their wives, in order to induce them to join their husbands. But although inquiries have been made in many different directions, they have as yet led to no result,—and I therefore fear that ere long one or both of the Bushmen will leave me.

7. What has been written down from the lips of the Bushmen, consists of more than four thousand columns (half pages quarto) of text, besides a dozen genealogical tables, and other genealogical, geographical, and astrological, &c., notices. The following is a general analysis of the texts which have been collected,—with regard to which it is to be remarked that the pages under the letter B refer to texts collected by myself, and those under L to collections made for me.*

8. The above texts are, to a great extent, already accompanied by as literal an English translation as could yet be achieved. The further process of translation will be materially facilitated by the dictionaries in course of preparation. An EnglishBushman Vocabulary of 142 pages, and a BushmanEnglish one of 600 pages folio contain the results of the earlier studies, which are now being greatly modified and corrected by our better knowledge of the language. Of the texts, more than a dozen stories are as yet unfinished, and in the course of dictation, although some of them already extend over more than some hundreds of pages.

9. The main importance of this Bushman literature

[* The list of texts collected, given by Dr. Bleek in the above report, was later embodied by him in one sent in in 1875, and is, therefore, for reasons of space, omitted here.] lies in the mythological character of the stories under I.-III., in which animals and heavenly objects are personified. In this characteristic the Bushman literature shows a marked difference from that of the Bântu nations (Kafirs, Betsuâna, Damara, &c.) who have legends, but, strictly speaking, no mythologies. The Bushman literature most nearly resembles that of their neighbours the Hottentots, and also that of the most primitive mythological stages of other more northern nations, whose languages either are sex-denoting, or may have branched off from the Sex-denoting languages, losing the sex-denoting characteristics. To this latter class of languages the Bushman also seems to belong, and (in contradistinction to the Hottentot, in which the gender of the nouns is everywhere clearly marked by the endings and maintained by the concord), it has no genders which have any reference to the distinctions of sex. If it ever were sex-denoting, it has now lost those signs of gender which so clearly mark the grammatical gender in Hottentot. Instead of eight different forms for each pronoun, as in Hottentot (masculine singular, feminine singular, common singular, masculine plural, feminine plural, common plural, masculine dual, and common dual),— the Bushman has only two forms, one which is only used in the singular (ha “he, she, it,” ā, which, who, that”) and another which is mainly used for the plural (hi “they,” ē, “which, who, that”). I say purposely “mainly used for the plural,” for, curiously enough, the plural form is frequently employed in Bushman, where we should use the singular, and where, in fact, the singular is indicated by the Bushman himself, by the addition of the first numeral, or some other clearly singular form. The fact seems to be that there are in Bushman two classes of nouns in the singular, viz., one which has the forms ha and ā, &c., for its corresponding pronouns, and the other with the forms hi and ē;—whilst the plural of both classes has only the one form for each pronoun,—this being at the same time one which outwardly agrees with the second form of the singular.*

Again, in the formation of the plural of nouns in the Hottentot, great regularity prevails, and the endings of nouns in the singular number (indicating at the same time their gender) are exchanged, in the plural and dual, for other corresponding endings. Thus Hottentot nouns terminating in -B or -P (masc. sing.) generally have in the plural the ending -xu (masc. plur.), and in the dual the ending -KHA (masc. dual). Likewise nouns ending in -s (fem. sing.) usually exchange this in the plural for the termination -TI (fem. plur.), and in the dual for -RA (comm. dual). The common singular termination -I similarly gives place in the plural to the ending -N or -IN (comm. plur.), and in the dual to the ending -Ra (comm. dual). There are few exceptions to the regularity of these grammatical changes in Hottentot. In Bushman, on the contrary, the greatest irregularity prevails with regard to the forms of the plural of the nouns, and from fifty to sixty different ways of forming the plural occur, at the least, in this language. It seems as if the most original form here were a reduplication of the noun, and that this reduplication (more or less abbreviated), together with the use of certain other particles or variations of the stem of the noun, has given rise to the great multiplicity of the forms.

With these striking grammatical differences, both languages possess many obvious traits in common. The vocative e.g. is formed in Bushman with the ending -we, and in Hottentot by a terminal -e added to the pronoun of the second person.

The exclusive form of the prefixed pronoun of the first person plural (“we,”i.e., “I and he, she, it, or they,” excluding the person addressed) is identical in Hottentot and Bushman.

The relative form of the verb (corresponding to the Kafir one in -eld) is in Hottentot formed by the suffix -ba, and in Bushman by the suffix -a.

The reduplication of the stem of a verb, in Hottentot, as well as in Bushman, can be used to give the verb a causative or transitive meaning.

There are many other similarities in structure, and there are also a good many words which appear to be of common origin. Of these, however, a number at once appear to be only foreign words in one of these languages, introduced from the other in consequence of the contiguity of the two nations. Such, for example, are the numerous abstract terms which the Bushman has evidently adopted from the Hottentot, as the verbs “to learn,” “to teach,” to know,” “to write,’ &. There remains, however, a large number of other words, which probably have not been taken over from one language to the other, but have descended from a common source. But, as the principles of correspondence between the sounds of the two languages have not yet been ascertained, no safe comparison on a firm scientific basis can at present be established.

On the whole, we may safely conclude that the Bushman language is certainly not nearer akin to the Hottentot than eg. the English language is to the Latin; but it may be that the distance between Bushman and Hottentot is indeed far greater than between the two above-mentioned languages.