VII. The Bushmen-Hottentots[539] probably occupied formerly the whole of South Africa from the 15th degree of south latitude to the Cape of Good Hope. Hardly pressed for three centuries by Bantus in the east and north, and for a century by Europeans in the south, they are reduced to-day to a few thousands of families, wandering or sedentary, in the uncultivated country of Namaqualand, in the desert of Kalahari, and in some points of the hinterland of the Cape. To the north of 18° S. latitude are found only a few islets of Hottentots, and towards the south they are no longer met with in compact groups within sixty miles from the coast. To the east, their habitat is limited at about 23° longitude E. of Greenwich. And further, we must gather within these limits the territory between the Herrero country and 18° S. lat. of the Hill Damaras or Haw-Koin, who, although speaking a Hottentot dialect, possess a quite special physical type; they are notably much darker than the Hottentots, and recall rather the Negroes of Guinea. They are miserable savages who live by hunting and plunder.
In addition to the Hill Damaras there are to be noted in the group of which we are treating: 1st, the Naman, called Hottentots by Europeans (modification of the Dutch word “hüttentüt,” meaning of little sense, stupid), inhabiting the west of the territory we have just defined (Fig. [24]); 2nd, the San (“Sab” in the masculine singular), called “Bosjesmen” or “Bushmen” by Europeans, in the east of this territory (Fig. [143]). It should be remarked, however, that the word Bosjesman (in Dutch, “man of the bush”) is often applied to Hottentot populations, or to Hottentot-Bushmen like, for instance, the mixed breeds of Namaqualand who speak a Hottentot dialect. In certain works the name Koi-Koin is applied to the whole group before us. This is incorrect, for the Koi-Koin, or better, the Hau-Khoin, are no other than a Hottentot tribe, just as are the Nama, Gorana, and others (about 20,000).
There are numerous likenesses between the San and the Naman, who are both representatives of the Bushman race[540] (see pp. [287] and [455]), but there are also numerous differences. The Hottentot language is of the same stock as that of the Bushmen; and both are characterised by the presence of certain articulations known as “clicks.” But the Hottentot dialects, which closely resemble each other, possess four palato-dental clicks, while the Bushmen dialects, differing much from each other, have besides these four clicks another guttural click, as well as a certain articulation which is not effected by inhalation as are the clicks proper, but by rapid and repeated expirations made between the two half-opened rows of teeth.
The two peoples differ equally in manners and customs. Let it suffice to recall that the Bushmen live in the woods and are nomadic hunters, who do not practise circumcision, but whose custom it is to cut the finger-joints in sign of mourning. (See pp. [181], [204], [211], and [228] for other particulars.) The Hottentots, on the contrary, are nomadic shepherds; they live in the steppes, practise circumcision, and are unacquainted with the custom of ablation of the phalanges. Besides, they have lost all ethnic individuality; they dress in the European fashion, speak Dutch or English, and live like the white colonists. Children born of marriages between Hottentots and Europeans are called “Bastards,” a title which in Africa is not regarded as discreditable.
VIII. The population of the island of Madagascar[541] may be divided into three great groups: the Hovas in the middle, the Malagasies of the east coast, and the Sakalavas of the rest of the island. There is further to be noted the Arab infusion, especially on the north-east and south-east coast.
The Hovas, or better, Huves, who occupy the high table-land of Imerina (from which comes their true name, “Anta-Imerina”[542]) are Indonesians more or less intermixed with Malay stock; their skin is olive-yellow, their hair straight or slightly wavy, their eyes sometimes narrow; their stature is short, their head globular, the nose prominent and somewhat sharp (Fig. [144]).[543] They preserve many manners and customs Indonesian in character—their square houses on piles, sarong, instruments of music, fadi or taboo for diet, infanticide, polygamy, canoe with balance-pole, cylindrical forge bellows, form of sepulture, etc. A half-civilised people, they are tillers of the soil, shepherds, and traders. The Sakalavas, on the contrary, are almost pure Bantu Negroes, black, dolichocephalic, of high stature, with frizzy hair and flat noses. They have preserved some features of Negro life (palavers, fetichism, etc.), but are adopting more and more the mode of life of the Hovas or the Malagasies. These last present traits intermediate between the two groups; of chocolate-brown complexion, with frizzy hair, of medium height, they have other features so modified as to recall sometimes the Hovas, sometimes the Sakalavas.
The Hovas arrived in Madagascar only seven or eight centuries ago (Grandidier), and succeeded in subjugating the Sakalavas and the mixed populations. Up to the period of the French occupation (1896) they were masters of the island, with the exception of the west coast and some points in the south. They have imposed their language on the subjugated populations, and all the peoples of the island, notwithstanding their diversity of origin, of type, and of manners and customs, speak Malagasy, which is a dialect of the Maleo-Polynesian linguistic family with some intermixture of Bantu elements.
It is supposed that before the advent of the Hovas other Malay and Indonesian incursions took place in the island, though nothing certain is known in regard to this; that the arrival of the Negroes was due to their own action is problematical, notwithstanding the relative nearness (250 miles) of the coast of Mozambique, the notorious incapacity of the Negroes as navigators being taken into account. It is possible that the Negroes were introduced into the island entirely by the Maleo-Indonesians, who have always been good seamen. The Arab invasions date back hardly five or six centuries.
The constitution of Hova society up till recently was divided into nobles (Andriana), freemen (Hovas), and slaves (Andevo). The abolition of Royalty and slavery, after the French occupation, have to a certain extent modified this hierarchy. For thirty years converts to Protestantism, at bottom the Hovas are very indifferent in religious matters, but cling to their ancient animistic beliefs. To the Hovas should be joined the Betsileo, who live to the south of the Imerina table-land; they are not of such pure race as the Hovas, while they are less intermixed than are the Malagasies.
Among these last must first be distinguished the populations of the coast: the Betsimasaraka and the Antambahoaka to the north of the 20th degree of S. latitude; the Antaimoro, the Antaifasina, the Antaisaka, and the Antanosi to the south of this latitude; then the population of the interior: the Antsihanaka to the north of Imerina, the Bezanozano in the centre of the island, the Antanala or Tanala, and the Bara and Antaisara to the south.