Apart From The Influences Of Elevation, Heat, Humidity, And Degradation,
I Have Imagined That The Lighter And Darker Colors Observed
In The Native Population Run In Five Longitudinal Bands
Along The Southern Portion Of The Continent.
Those on the seaboard
of both the east and west are very dark; then two bands of lighter color
lie about three hundred miles from each coast, of which the westerly one,
bending round, embraces the Kalahari Desert and Bechuana countries;
and then the central basin is very dark again.
This opinion is not given
with any degree of positiveness. It is stated just as it struck my mind
in passing across the country, and if incorrect, it is singular that
the dialects spoken by the different tribes have arranged themselves
in a fashion which seems to indicate migration along the lines of color.
The dialects spoken in the extreme south, whether Hottentot or Caffre,
bear a close affinity to those of the tribes living immediately on
their northern borders; one glides into the other, and their affinities
are so easily detected that they are at once recognized
to be cognate. If the dialects of extreme points are compared,
as that of the Caffres and the tribes near the equator,
it is more difficult to recognize the fact, which is really the case,
that all the dialects belong to but two families of languages.
Examination of the roots of the words of the dialects, arranged in
geographical order, shows that they merge into each other, and there is
not nearly so much difference between the extremes of east and west
as between those of north and south, the dialect spoken at Tete
resembling closely that in Angola.
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