Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-07-12
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
THE GENTLE HOTTENTOT


Pity the poor Hottentot!
He has been l'isused as a meta
phor for Feasibility, which he
scarcely deserves.
His name represents a Dutch eff
fort to initiate his speech, which
cannot be spelled in Dutch, English
or any other language.
And, after all, his quaint clicking
and clucking is not so different from
the method by which a farmer sum-
mons his chickens, a huckster sig
nails his horse to move along, or the
plain tut, tut" of anyone who is
annoyed.
These facts are set forth in a bull
letin from the National Geographic
Society's Washington. d. c. head
quarters concerning the recent out
break among Hottentots in the
Southwest Africa which was former
ly German but o is a British man.
date.
Required New Symbols
THE philologists have done better
by Hottentotese than they have by
our own language" says the bulletin,
For they have devised symbols for
tongue tricks that resemble the
cracking of a whip and pulling a
cork from an empty bottle. where
as these and other symbols of our
W everyday use can only be de-
scribed. not written.
IF you will pronounce the three
s~yllables of 'Hottentot' with snap
and vigor you will gain an idea of
onomatopoetic quality of the Dutch
appelation for khoi-khoin, or men
of men, as they prefer to call them
selves.
Formerly the Hottentots ranged
through most of southern Africa.
Today they are to be found mostly
in the Cape Colony and in Southwest
Africa. Few pure Hottentots remain
ever in those places. Their origin
long formed a fascinating problem
for students of human races. Some
thought they were an offshoot of the
Caucasian peoples, isolated in pre-
| historic times. Others believed them
to be the missing Hamites. At pres
ent they are generally classified as
a blending of many centuries ago
between the Bantu natives and the
Bushmen.
Some Ways Like Ours.
There are some surprising paral-
lels between the customs of this
| primitive people and those of our
own civilization. They are good con-
servationists. Tlley camp in places
NIlCIc pasture ilu dlc liNif poS
move before the grass has been de-
pleted. Their exercises upon setting
in a new krall resemble rural Ameri-
can house warming ceremonies.
Women bring flowers. herbs, and
foliage to an arbor which forms h
center of the homestead. Murder is
punished severely but If the mis-
creant escapes and is not caught
within a yea he is immune, a legal
practice suggestive of our time limit
upon debt collection. Their chiefs
levy a tax upon hunters consisting
of certain quarters Ct the animals
killed, and distribute this meat to
the poor. But this communal care
does not extend to the aged or to
children who are deformed or Grip
pied. Frequently both are killed.
when the young Hottentot's fan
cy turns to owe he informs his par
ents, they choose a wife by arrange
ment with the father of a likely
maid, and then the prospective BRIDE
groom and all his relatives drive
several fat oxen to the home of his
lady-love. The oxen are slain for
the wedding breakfast, which is an
all day feast, and a tribal patriarch
sprinkles the~ couple in a manner
suggestive of Christian baptism.
Then the young man goes off to his
hunting and his bride does all h
other work. Her son will be known
by her family name, and a daugh-
ter by the family name of the father.
As a mother she will command high
respect and in her name her hus-
band and sons will take n special
ly sacred oath.
Seldom Engaged in War
Despite the ferocious connotation
of his name the primitive Hottentot
seldom engaged in war. He was &C
counted gentle and tractable. His
most expl,-ive quality was his Ian
guage, now rapidly disappearing
which was easy enough so far as the
noises that sound like a fuse had
Just burned out, and also in respect
to it's vowelized ~syllables, but the
rapid combination of the town few
white men could initiate. There was
little reason for the Hottentot to
fight, since all he required for sim
pie communal life was a patch OF
grass. In the evening he need and
sang and smoked. His musical in
struments were few. The character
istic orchestral piece was the gorah,
a crude sort of mouth organ made
of a hollow stick and the entrails of
a sheep. A drum and a reed which
had the quality of a flute completed
the list"