The Real Hottentot Is Extinct, I
Believe, In The Colony; What One Now Sees Are All 'Bastaards', The
Dutch Name For Their Own Descendants By Hottentot Women.
These
mongrel Hottentots, who do all the work, are an affliction to
behold - debased and SHRIVELLED with drink, and
Drunk all day long;
sullen wretched creatures - so unlike the bright Malays and cheery
pleasant blacks and browns of Capetown, who never pass you without
a kind word and sunny smile or broad African grin, SELON their
colour and shape of face. I look back fondly to the gracious soft-
looking Malagasse woman who used to give me a chair under the big
tree near Rathfelders, and a cup of 'bosjesthee' (herb tea), and
talk so prettily in her soft voice; - it is such a contrast to these
poor animals, who glower at one quite unpleasantly. All the hovels
I was in at Capetown were very fairly clean, and I went into
numbers. They almost all contained a handsome bed, with, at least,
eight pillows. If you only look at the door with a friendly
glance, you are implored to come in and sit down, and usually
offered a 'coppj' (cup) of herb tea, which they are quite grateful
to one for drinking. I never saw or heard a hint of 'backsheesh',
nor did I ever give it, on principle and I was always recognised
and invited to come again with the greatest eagerness. 'An
indulgence of talk' from an English 'Missis' seemed the height of
gratification, and the pride and pleasure of giving hospitality a
sufficient reward. But here it is quite different. I suppose the
benefits of the emancipation were felt at Capetown sooner than in
the country, and the Malay population there furnishes a strong
element of sobriety and respectability, which sets an example to
the other coloured people.
Harvest is now going on, and the so-called Hottentots are earning
2s. 6d. a day, with rations and wine. But all the money goes at
the 'canteen' in drink, and the poor wretched men and women look
wasted and degraded. The children are pretty, and a few of them
are half-breed girls, who do very well, unless a white man admires
them; and then they think it quite an honour to have a whitey-brown
child, which happens at about fifteen, by which age they look full
twenty.
We had very good snipe and wild duck the other day, which Capt. D-
brought home from a shooting party. I have got the moth-like wings
of a golden snipe for R-'s hat, and those of a beautiful moor-hen.
They got no 'boks', because of the violent south-easter which blew
where they were. The game is fast decreasing, but still very
abundant. I saw plenty of partridges on the road, but was not
early enough to see boks, who only show at dawn; neither have I
seen baboons. I will try to bring home some cages of birds - Cape
canaries and 'roode bekjes' (red bills), darling little things.
The sugar-birds, which are the humming-birds of Africa, could not
be fed; but Caffre finks, which weave the pendent nests, are hardy
and easily fed.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 26 of 73
Words from 12991 to 13527
of 37925
