It is sad to relate that the injuries inflicted on the Hottentots by the colonists have had a very bad influence upon their characters. In the past one hundred and fifty years they have, like the red man, been driven from the lands of their forefathers, and have lost the sturdy independence of which they had reason to be proud.
The Hottentots, before subjugation, usually arranged their encampment about a kraal, or cattle fold, in the shape of a half-moon. The encampment consisted of the cabins, or huts, which, with their covering of mats, looked more like overturned baskets than dwelling places. If possible, the encampment ground was chosen so that a hedge of thorn completed the circle of which the huts formed a part. Thus were the natives and their cattle secure against the wild beasts prowling around the camp.
In sections where lions were numerous, the natives built a curious kind of house, or cabin, on the top of poles or branches, sometimes ten or twelve feet above the ground. This was to protect the children, who soon learned to climb the poles to their airy cabins and to feel secure from harm.
The Hottentots have a curious manner of drinking water. It is thrown into the mouth by means of the right hand, which is seldom brought nearer than a foot's length from the mouth. So quickly and dexterously is this done that thirst is soon quenched.
The Hottentots are very skillful in breaking in their oxen for riding purposes. This they do when the animals are about a year old. They first pierce the nose to receive the bridle. This is done by making a slit through the cartilage between the nostrils. This slit is large enough to admit a finger. Into this hole a long stick from which the bark has been stripped is thrust. At one end of the stick is a forked branch. This is to prevent its passing through. To each end is then fastened a thong of hide long enough to reach around the neck. These thongs serve as reins. A sheep skin on which the wool still remains is placed across the back of the animal. Another is folded and bound on with a rein long enough to pass around the body several times. This serves for a saddle. Sometimes a pair of stirrups is added. These consist merely of a thong with a loop at each end, slung across the saddle. Very often these loops are distended by a piece of wood to form an easier rest for the foot.
Before the nose of the animal has healed, the Hottentot mounts him and puts him in training. In a week or two he becomes very obedient to his master. "The facility and adroitness with which the Hottentots manage the ox has often excited the traveler's admiration; it is made to walk, trot, or gallop, at the will of its master.
"Being longer legged and rather more lightly made than the English ox, it travels with greater ease and speed, walking three or four miles in an hour, trotting five, and, on an emergency, galloping seven or eight.
"The ox in South Africa seems little inferior to that most sagacious of all quadrupeds, the dog. Among the Hottentots these animals are their domestics, and the companions of their pleasures and fatigues. While the sheep are grazing, the faithful backley, as this kind of ox is called, stands and grazes beside them. Still attentive, however, to the looks of its master, the backley flies round the field, obliges the flocks of sheep that are straying to keep within proper limits, and shows no mercy to robbers who attempt to plunder, nor even to strangers who come near.
"It is not the plunderers of the flock alone, but even the enemies of the nation, that these oxen are taught to combat. Every army of Hottentots was furnished with a proper herd of these creatures, which were let loose against the foe. Thus sent forward, they overturned all before them, and often procured their masters, even before they had struck a blow, an easy victory."
If a driver loses one of his oxen, he shows much patience and perseverance in searching for it, even though suffering from the oppressive heat of the sun. He will continue the search for days, scanning the ground carefully for footprints, until he comes upon the track of the wanderer. Regardless then of fatigue, hunger, or thirst, he presses on until the lost has been found.