The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-07-02
NATIVES OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Characteristics of the Races of the Dark
Continent.

Cnaracterlstlcs OF the Races OF the DARK
Continent.
When the Dutch fixed their first post
at Cape Town in 1852, with no thought
either of colonization or of conquest.
but for the sake of having gardens which
couldsupply freshyegetables to the sour.
vy-stricken crews of their ships sailing 10
the east, they found three native races
inhabiting the country One of these,
the Bushmen, though few in numbers,
were widely scattered over the whole OF
South Africa. They were nomads of al
most the lowest kind, with marvellous
faculty for tracking and trapping wild
animals, but neither owning cattle nor
tilling the soil, with scarcely even a
tribal organization, no religion and a
language consisting of succession of
clicks. Unable to accustom themselves
TO civilized life. driven out of some dis
| tricts by the settlers and in others 10
longer able to find support, owing to
the extinction of game. they are now
almost extinct, though few are still
| left in the deserts of the Kalahari ana
northern Bechuanaland. Before many
y
| will be in the remarkable drawings of
animals with which they delighgted 10
cover the smooth surfaces of rocks.
These drawings. which are found all
the way from the Zambesi to the Cape,
and from Maniacland to the Atlantic
are executed in red and yellow pig
ments, and are often full of spirit and
character.
The second race was that which the
| Dutch called Hottentot. They were of
Il reddish or yellowish black hue, taller
than the Bushmen. but with squat and
seldom muscular tigures-a thoughtless,
cheerful, easy-going people, who rove
hither and thither with their foclls and
herds as they could find pasture. They
were decidedly superior to the Bushmen.
| whom they hated, but quite unable to
withstand Europeans, and their mum,
bers rapidly declined. partly from the
loss of their best grazing grounds but
| largely, also. through epidemic diseases,
and especially smallpox, which ships,
| touching on their way from India.
| brought into the country. They are
|
in the colony, though a good deal Of
| their blood has passed into the mixed
black population of Cape Town and its
neighborhood-a population the other
elements of which are Malays and west
| coast negroes, the descendants of slaves
| imported in the last century. Farther
north, on the south side of the Orange
| ,~i,- hoy-1,,l -
small tribes cognate to the Hottentots
still wander over the dreary plains.
Very different from these weak Bush
men and HOttentots was. and is. the
third native race. those who are called
Bantu Ga word meaning "people'D by
themselves and Kafirs by Europeans.
| The word Katir is Arabic. and means an
infidel literally zone who denies'). It
is applied by Mussulmans not merely 10
| these South Africans. but to other
| heathen: as. for instance. by the
| Afghans to the idolaters of Kafristan.
| in the Hindu-Kush mountains. The
Portuguese probably took the name
| from the Arabs, whom they found al
ready settled on the east coast. These
Bantu tribes-if we may class those as
Bantus who speak languages of what is
called the Bantu type-fill all East
Africa from the region of the Upper Nile
southwark.
Those who dwell south of the Zambesi
are generally strong and well-made
men, sometimes as black as a gulf Of
Guinea negro, sometimes verging on a
brown tint; and Though they have the
woolly hair and thick lips generally
| characteristic of the negro. individuals
are often found among them whose cast
| OF features suggests an admiXture OF
Semitic blood. They are more prolific
! than the Hottentots, as well as physical
| ly stronger and better made. and they
were further advanced in the arts OF
life. Some of the tribes dug out AMI
worked iron and copper: all of then
used iron. Their chief wealth Law in
their cattle; horses they did not possess
| but where the land was fit for tillage
| they cultivated it. They had no re-
| ligion except in a sort of magic. and
that worship of the ghosts of ancestors
which seems to be the most widel =
| diffused of all human superstitions.
Instead of a priesthood, there were
wizards or medicine men. often power
full as the denouncers of those whom
the chief wished to put to death. In
tellectually they were very much upon
the level of the native races of West
Africa.-James Bryce, NJ. p. in Century
| of
| Gems were rot cut until the 10th or
18th century, being used in the rough
before that period. As early as 2,4o0
| YearS before Christ precious stones were