Evening journal., 1898-10-31
SOUTH AFRICAN RACES.
The widely Different Characteristics
OF the Gnriepines and
the Bnntus.

Spreading of South African native
races. and guided Coy comparative
philology, we find that there are only
two distinct families Of people in the
whole country. There are very many
subdivisions or clans. but only two dis
tinct races. These have been named
by comparative philologists the
Gariepine family and the Bantu fam
ily. The Gariepine are yellow, light
complexioned people, with oblique
eyes, strongly resembling Chinese or
Mongolians in all matters OF personal
appearance except the hair, which
merely dots the head like bushes in q
barren country, and is curly. The old
tribe names are well-nigh disused now
in public returns in tde colony.
On the mothers side these colored
people are chiefly Gariepine; but they
probably know no language now ex-
eept Dutch and English. This is GER
tainly true of the young people. Found
by the first Europeans in possession Of
the southwest portion of the con-
tinent, they were pastoral people, and
| lONtu NHt DunkN VI iANAAo ANA AANAA
focls and herds. Like some of the
tribes OF North Asia (whom they
otherwise resemble physically these
yellow South Africans made their huts
with mats which they spread over
slender bent poles. When as graders
they wished to move their herds, they
folded up their mats, collected and tied
up the slender poles Of their huts, Sc
cured all on the backs of pack oxen,
and proceeded 10 their next grazing
grounds, much in the same way as
Tartars and Mongolians are doing to-
day.
Beyond the woolly hair which these
two families Of Africans have in com
mon, they are in all other respects
widely different from one another. In
common with Europeans, the yellow
people speak varieties Of a "sufiix'
language; while in common with the
islanders Of the South seas, the Bantu
or dark people speak dialects OF a
"prefx" language The yellow people
are akin 10 North Asia and to Europe
not only as speaking sufiix languages
but also in some of their ancient Gus
toms. There is. for instance, the In
teresting fact that among Aslatics n
we'll as Europeans, and from the enrli
Z est times, the daughter" has been th'
? "milkmaid" of the family ms indee'
- the derivation of our word daughte'
r itself conveys 20 us.
The ancient custom is the sam
e among the Gariepine people in soutl
Z Africa. / have seen the girls of thos
5 yellow people go forward Of an even
q ing 80 meet the homecoming COWS
- and, deftly throwing a rein or cor
+ over their horns. lead them quiet
O TO the neighboring tree or pole, an
r proceed to milk them. Now in tn
O same neighborhood, in a village Of th
o Bantu people, TO woman might ente
the braal or cattle-pen. OF ming
S with the cattle; Il was forbidden" a
T. cording TO their old customs; in shor
D. IL was "uncauny."
II Again. 81 is we'll known 20 Chimes
,e scholars that there are stones"
e Chinese; that is, that the height {
o lowness of the tone in which a word
q uplefed VIII ueclue Whdl IS lnt Htul
II ing Of the word. For instance, l al
e. informed that in Chinese certai
n word, in the first tone, means TO fll
Ie in the second tone, TO subsist; in ii
e. third tone, o swim; and in the fouri
u tone, TO issue. How necessary 10 pitC
ones words Alright in Chinal Blu
u strange TO say, IL is equally necessai
IT in South Africa, IL one Is speaking Il
lie old Hottentot or Koranna languag
~ Thus, in the latter language, DR.. Ble'
Is tells us that a certain word, 10 pr
b. nounced in a loud key, means han
p kerchief; the same word, three not
" lower, means the spot, and four not
,h lower still, IL stands for the adjecti
al dark Beyond the lozenge-shaped ey
lie Of the yellow people, their millmuiC
&C. their sufiix languages. It would see
el' that the stones" Of their old langua
complete the proof of their form
connection with North Asia. - Il,
10 John Mackenzie, in Good Words.