New-York tribune., 1905-08-26


customed to the use of the bow. The later COM
| ers In Africa had nothing among the arms they
carried to suggest harmonious sound-nothing
so suggestive of music the twang OF the bow
string-and until after they had come IN con-
tact with the Bushmen. they had musical
Accomplishments to their exceedingly monoto-
nous chants except clapping OF hands and beat
ing Of weapons and shields.
The second half of Mr.. Slows book deals with
the waves of barbarism which passed over
South Africa and brought after race suc-
cessively into possession of the lands which be-
longed originally to the Bushmen. For these
races-the yellow Hottentots and the black
races by whom the Hottentots were over
whelmed-he has little sympathy or admiration
He indorses the epithet Of "stinkng and
greasy" which Van Riebeck applied to the
Hottentots; although even by his own showing
the Hottentots had no monopoly of odorousness.
as the aesthetic nature Of the Bushman had not
led him to adopt any measures Of personal
cleanliness and his odor was so powerful as at
times greatly to interfere with his hunting.
The Hottentots were people only slightly In
advance of the Bushmen in either the arts OF
peace or war. They were a mild and amiable
people compared to the hordes Of dark skinned
tribes which followed them. Unlike the Bush
men. they were not dependent on hunting: but
owned great herds of cattle and their migra-
tions were slow and gradual. leaving the Bush
men in possession of all the wilder And more
inaccessible parts of the country. This yellow
tribe came from the northeast and has many
aflnities with the Mongolian tribes Of Asia; but
Mr. Stow docs not go deeply into its ethnologi-
cal character. His concern is always first and
foremost with the Bushmen, and other tribes
interest him only historically according to the
part they took in driving out. the aboriginal in
habitants and causing their extinction.
Had the Hottentots been the only foes OF the
Bushmen both would probably be exist
ing side by side in South Africa to this day.
When the Dutch founded Cape Town they found
the Hottentots, with their herds. on the low
ground, while the Bushmen monopolzed Table
Mountain and the neighboring heights. But the
Hottentots possessed wealth. which coveted
by the white men; and by trading-one-d e-dded
trading. in which an bartered for six
pennyworth of brandy-and by violence the
herds were wrested from their owners and the
Hottentots goaded into retaliation. About this
time, also. the great bodies Of dark skinned.
much more powerful and warlike men began TO
spread over South Africa, and the pressure Of
Kaffir and of white man drove out the Hottentot
more completely than he had driven out his
In all British South Africa the
Hottentot is almost the Bushman:
and only in German West Africa. where of late
he has been giving so much trouble to the latest
corners on African soil. are there left any tribes
of Hottentots which could be considered at all
formidable.
The Hottentots were, comparatively speaking,
newcomers in South Africa when first the Portu-
guese and then-the Dutch began to rise up out of
the ocean their floating islands and to spread
and terror before them among the
primitive people of the land. But the incoming
of the white synchronized with the great !
of the black races. which have now |
made of South Africa black mans country. !
And might be expected, each successive wave |
OF black men consisted Of more powerful war
riors than the preceding wave-otherwise how |
could the newcomers have gained foothold?
AS Mr.. Stow enumerates them. first came the
Hottentots then the Bachoana and Basutu
first to protect themselves with great shields. |
and the first, therefore to be invulnerable to the
tiny but venomous weapons OF the Bushmen. |
With the Amaxosa begin the actual extinction of |
the Bushmen and the extreme bitterness of the |
remnants against their suppanters. After the /
Amaxosa came the Abatembu and Amampondo |
tribes which still found in great parts OF |
Cape Colony. They were followed by the ANA
zulu. the Matabele and the present tribes of Ba-
who are dominant among the |
dark skinned races.
Mr.. Stow tells the story of these successive in
vasions with great spirit and with the vivid COL
oring of an eyewitness. An especially striking
instance of this power of narration is the story
of the career Of the Mantatee horde when Mr.
Moffat. the missionary. and Mr.. Thompson a
South African traveller, stood by the Batlapin in
their resistance to the invaders. 1t Is this his
torical element which gives the greatest value
TO the second part of Mr. Slows work. while
the deeply sympathetic study of the Bushmen
m Arcf mort mt. |
of Bushmen's drawings which
were prepared by Mr.. Stow before his DEATH are
excellent and there is not of the twenty-five
illustrative plates which does not add greatly to
the value of the book large map shows the
and distribution of the tribes There
is good index, and Mr.. Theal has throughout
done his work. editor. with praIseworthy care