Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 4/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II.
DAMARA AND NAMAQUA LANDS.
From the Cunene to the Orange River.
HE section of the African seaboard stretching from Angola with considerable uniformity for 900 miles southwards to the Orange river was declared Germain territory in the year 1884, when it received the official designation of "South-west Africa." The vast region taus peaceably annexed had previously been known as Lüderitzland, from the German trader who acquired it by means of contracts made with the chiefs of the few coast tribes and with those of the inland populations, who had been brought under the influence of the Rhenish missionaries.
Before this epoch, when as by a stroke of the magician's wand the country found itself placed under the protection of the German Empire, Great Britain supposed herself to be the virtual suzerain of the land as fur north as Cape Frio, although in actual possession only of a single station on the shores of Walvisch Bay. At the time of the first negotiations opened by the German diplomatists regarding the posts established by subjects of the empire, the British minister declared that any settlements made by a foreign power in the region in question would be an encroachment on the rights of Great Brit:in. The Cape Government even passed a vote to take formal possession of the territory in litigation, but it was already too late. After an exchange of dispatches, which had begun to assume a threatening tone on the part of Germany, the whole of Lüderitzland, with the exception of the Walvisch Bay enclave, was recognised as a Germanic possession. The German diplomatists, moreover, concluded a treaty with Portugal, securing for their Government the protectorate of the territory which stretches from Cape Frio northwards to the mouth of the Cunene.
The region of "South-west Africa," which reaches inland as far as the twentieth degree east longitude, and which is as extensive as the German Empire itself, is the first in chronological order of all the lands which in Africa and Polynesia constitute the vast colonial dominion acquired by the Germans in the course of about four years. But Herr Lüderitz, to whose energy and foresight the mother country was indebted for the acquisition, soon after mysteriously disappeared somewhere on the south coast; and although the annexation has been officially proclaimed, it is still far from being carried out. No military force having been placed at the service of the traders, the conversion of the natives into German subjects remains a pure fiction, nor does it prevent marauding hands from lifting the cattle of the German commissioner at the very door of his residence. Hitherto the Berlin authorities have taken no active steps to assert their claims, beyond forwarding a few rifles to the coast for distribution amongst the warriors of the friendly or allied populations. The rulers who command most
ready submission to their mandates are not the civil functionaries, but the Protestant missionaries of the central and southern districts. Stationed since the year 1842 amongst the Damaras, they at present possess over twenty establishments between the Cunene and Orange rivers.
Thanks to these missionaries, as well as to the traders, sportsmen, and mining prospectors, who have traversed the whole territory in various directions, the new German colonial possession is already well known, at least in its general features. Even the northern tracts, farthest removed from the centre of South African 62 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. exploration at Cape Town, had been visited by Gulton, Andersson', Baines, Smuts, Green, Hubn and Rath, Hartley, Coates, Pulgrave, and Duparquet; and since the proclamation of the new political regime, a large number of German travellers have been attracted to these regions in order to study their geographical conditions, and especially to examine their economic resources. Special charts have been prepared of the seaports and mineral deposits, the traces have been laid down of future routes and railways, and the work of preliminary exploration has received a decided impulse from the oflficial annexation. In its main outlines the relief of the land forms a southern continuation of the Angolan uplands and lowlands. The ground rises in terraces to the crest of a plateau near the coast, beyond which it again falls eastwards in the direction of an inland fluvial basin. The whole region from the Cunene to the Orange presents the aspect of an elongated protuberance of somewhat regular form, whose axis runs exactly parallel with the coast-line. This long elevated ridge is, how- ever, completely isolated, and whereas the Angolan tablelands are connected eastwards with the waterpartings between the Congo and Zambese basins, those of Damara and Namaqua lands are limited in this direction by profound depres- sions separating them from the Kalahari Desert and from the Ku-Bango and the u{)per affluents of the Orange river. Separated also from the Chella highlands by the gorges traversed by the Cunene, those rocky heights of Damaraland, commonly designated by the name of Kaoko, at first rise but slightly above the general level of the land. But south of the limestone Otavi hills they gradually rise higher and higher, until several eminences attain elevations of 3,000 feet and upwards, while a veritable highland system with its dome-shaped summits and table rocks is developed to the north- east and east of Walvisch Bay. Mount Omatako, culminating point of this system, has an altitude of no less than 7,630 feet, and this majestic peak is encircled by numerous other less elevated but still imposing summits. Farther south the main axis again falls to a height of little over 3,000 feet; in many places the continuous ridge even disappears altogether, or rather becomes broken into groups of isolated hills resting on a common pedestal, which presents the aspect of a shield with its convex side uppermost. Here and there some of the more conspicuous eminences assume the fantastic outlines of towers, pinnacles, and needles. Still farther south the vast region of great Namaqualand is still traversed by a somewhat continuous ridge or unbioken line of elevated hills, and the route which runs from the coast at Angra Pequena eastwards to Bethany crosses the intervening chain at an altitude of o,300 feet. In all these uplands the prevailing formations are gneiss, micaceous schists, crystalline limestones, with intruding granites, porphyries, and other eruptive rocks. Masses of basalt are also said to occur. The main axis of the Damara and Namaqua highlands runs parallel with the seaboard at an average distance of about 120 miles inland, but in several places the intervening space between the first escarpments and the coast is much more PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SOTTTI^^^T.ST AFRirA. 08 considerable?. Eiist of WulviHch Hay this intervening' space eonstitutcn the Naniiub district, that is, the vlahtv or nld of the Dutch, and the plain of the English Bettlers. It niuy in some resixxits be compared to the hamaiiaH of Arabia and North Africa, for although it presents the general appearance of a plain, the traveller crossing the Namieb in the direction from west to east is continually but imperceptibly ascending, until at GO miles from the Huy he finds himself 2,0()() feet above the level of the sea. Seen from the coast the veld masks the profile of the inland mountains, yet as he scales the crests of the dunes the wayfarer fancies he has before him a perfectly level plain with a boundless horizon. The German explorer StuplF thinks that the Namieb is an old marine Ix'd, its a8|)ect being that of an immense shallow basin of a shifting brown and whitish colour. During the dry season, that is, throughout the greater part of the year, the surface is as hard as that of a paved street ; but it becomes very difficult to traverse when the rains have softened the upper layer of calcareous or gypseous clay with which the sands are agglutinated in a concrete muss. At this season the cartwheels leave behind them deep ruts which may be traced years after- wards. The rainwater, which lodges in the few depressions scattered over the surface, slowly evaporates, leaving in its place tine gypseous or saline efflDrescences, the so-called salt-pans of the English settlers. In the vicinity of the hills the detritus is seen here and there of gneiss, quartz, or schistose rocks, which appear to have been decomposed by weathering, leaving on the ground patches of diverse colours. A few still standing blocks present a smooth surface, that has been polished by the action of the sands driving before the winds. The lower part of the gently inclined Namieb plain, which descends down to the coast, is covered with sandy dunes, and varies breadth from a few thousand yards to sixty miles inland. Some of these dunes rise to heights of considerably over 300 feet, and are conseqijently as elevated as those of the landes skirting the south-eastern shores of the Bay of Biscay. They are disposed in numerous parallel chains separated by intervening: depressions, which are themselves dotted over with hillocks of smaller size. South of Walviseh Bay no less than six of these siindy ridges have to be successively traversed to reach the interior. Their slopes facing the marine bteezes are nearly solid, while the opposite side, being strewn with arenaceous particles brought by the land wind, is of a much looser texture. A few herbaceous and scrubby plants with trailing roots grow on the surface of the dunes, and help to consolidate them by binding the sand together. These coast dunes have their origin probubly in ancient upheaved sandbanks, whereas those of the interior have been formed on the spot by the disintegration of the gneiss rocks under the action of solar heat. The process of upheaval would appear to be still going on along this section of the seaboard. To a height of (io or 70 feet above the present sea-level occur saline tracts strewn with shells which resemble those still surviving in the neighbouring waters. At an elevation of nearly 100 feet and at a distance of over half a mile inland there are even found entire skeletons of cetaceans formerly stranded on the old Ix^ach. On the raised 64 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. shore stretching north of Walvisch Bay are seen masses of sulphur mingled with sand and gypsum, and here the ground emits an odour of sulphureted hydrogen. To these noxious exhalations may probably be due the sudden destruction of the fish in the bay, which has been recorded on several occasions, and especially in the year 1883. At ebb tide observers have even noticed a kind of craters resembling protuberances on the surface of the exposed beach. Climate. On the physical structure of the land partly depend its climatic conditions. The south and south-west winds, which are the most prevalent on this seaboard, bring very few moisture- bearing clouds, while the opposing north-easterly gales predoijrinating in May, June, and July are even still less humid. Hence not more than an average of five or six rainy days in the year can be relied upon about the shores of Walvisch Bay, and scarcely one or two on the more southerly coast of Angra Pequena. To this and the night dews, at times very copious, is reduced the so-called " rainy season," whose normal period coincides with the beginning of the year, when the sun again moves northwards. But if the low-lying seaboard thus lies in an almost rainless zone, the marine currents discharge a more liberal supply on the uplands of the interior. As many as seventeen wet days were recorded at Hope-mine in 1886, yielding a total rainfall of nearly two inches. The rains are almost invariably heralded by whirl- winds, by which the sand is raised and borne along in moving columns. To these dust storms the Damaras give a name, which in their language means " Rain- bearers." Thanks to this supply of moisture, the inland plateaux are covered with a vast carpet of verdure, while lower down, at least south of the relatively well- watered district of Kaoko, the whole land remains arid, or dotted over with a few patches of thorny scrub, except in the rare oases fed by some intermittent springs. Here domestic animals perish of hunger and thirst, exotics pine and wither away, and the hardiest shrubs are reared with difficulty, the soil being everywhere saturated with salt to a depth of nearly two feet. Thanks to the moisture precipitated on the higher summits, the upland valleys are traversed by rivulets, which, however, nowhere unite in a common watercourse, and which fail to reach tlie sea except during exceptionally wet seasons. The torrents are in fact mere wadys, which serve as paths, and in which the wayfarer sinks a few wells in the hope that a little water may collect in the depressions. Their steep banks are fringed with shrubs, which draw the necessary moisture from the saturated sands. But the gradual decay of vegetation along the course of these torrents leads to the conclusion that the whole country is slowly becoming drier. AVhen any sudden freshet revives the sickly plants along the upland brooks, the fresh sprouts soon wither again, the roots being unable to strike dee]) j'uough in search of the vivifying stream. But in several parts of the neigh- bouring plateaux, the Hereros have bored through the limestone rock down to the
underground reservoirs. In the Otavi hills north of this district one of these 
reservoirs forms a veritable subterranean lake well stocked with fish and main- tuining itself always at the same level. Of all the wadys in this region, the most copious is the Omaruru, where the strc>am lasts longer and the vegetation is less scattered than along the other watercourses. The Omburo thermal spring rises in the sands of its upper course at the foot of some basalt rocks, and the rivulet flows for several miles as a surface stream. liut of all the local fluvial systems, the most wide-branching and by far the longest is the Swakop, or Tsoakhub, whose course has a total length of over 240 miles, exclusive of the lateral branches. Taking its rise to the east of the central Damara highlands, it traverses the plateau through deep r<jcky gorges, and reaches the coast just north of Walvisch Bay. Ikying about midway between the Cunene and the Orange River, this transverse trough divides the whole terri- tory into two nearly equal parts, Damaraland in the north and Great Namaqualand in the south. The Khosib or Kuisip, which intersects the Namieb plain to a depth of over 600 feet, also discharges, or rather formerly discharged, into Walvisch IJay, through an abrupt bend, which is bordered eastwards by the long sandy penin- sula of Pelican l*oint. During the twelve years preceding 1878 this wady is said to have never once reached the coast. South of these two intermittent streams, the other watercourses are arrested east of the dunes without even forming chan- nels as far as the sea liut the umarambas, or streams of the eastern slope, which flow either to the Ku-Bango or the Orange, or else lose themselves in the distant saline marshes of the desert, form real river systems, if not in the abun- dance of their waters or the regularity of their discharge, at least in the length of their fluvial beds. Consisting to a great extent of rocky uplands, haid clays, and moving sands, the southern section of the new German colony can have no agricultural value for its owners. Yet this was the first part to be annexed, and here were founded all their early stations. South of the Swakop, the whole ground cleared and brought under cultivation by the missionaries probably falls short of ten acres. But in the northern districts, and especially in the Cunene vuUey, there stretch va.st plains resembling the Portuguese territories of Iluilla and Ilumpata. Lying in the same river basin and endowed with a similar fertile soil, they also enjoy pretty much the same climate, except that the atmosphere is somewhat drier and the rainfall less abundant. Nevertheless there is still sufticient moisture to stimu- late the growth of large trees and even develop considerable forest tracts. Here is still to be seen the gigantic baobab, while a few palms are met even south of the twentieth degrees of south latitude. The territory of the Ova-Mbos (Ovam- boland), with its woodlands, glades, and clearings presents in many places the aspect of a boundless park, and here the natives support themselves mainly by tilling the land and cultivating fruit trees. Here also Kuropean peasantry might undoubtedly succeed, although their requirements greatly exceed the modest wants of the natives, and some of the Transvmil Boers have already formed settlements in the district. Some hundreds of these imniigrants, the same who 102— AF 66 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. later directed their steps towards the Portuguese territory of Mossamedes, had founded a colony in the hilly Kaoko region. But here also, as in Humpata, they occupied themselves less with tillage than with raising herds of cattle. Their agricultural operations were confined to what was strictly needed for their annual supply of corn. Beyond the Cunene district and some exceptionally favoured valleys, stock- bretding appears to be everywhere the local industry most rich in future promise. Its broad grassy plateaux make the country essentially a grazing land. All wild animals, except several species of antelopes, a few felidae, jackals, and rodents, have already been exterminated. Even the ostrich, which is farmed in the British colonies farther south, is here eagerly hunted, and is no longer met in the neigh- b!)urhood of the seaboard. Some crocodiles are still met in the watercourses communicating with the Cunene ; snakes, lizards, and locusts, are represented by numerous species, and one of the local serpents is the deadly ciispedeiro, or "spittor" of the Angolan Portuguese, which attains a length of 25 or 26 feet, and which the wizards bad formerly acquired the art of charming, and intro- ducing into the houses of the sick. The animals which are now bred on the upland pasture lands — horses, oxen, sheep, and goats — were all originally introduced from Europe. It has often been proposed to introduce the camel into the half desert regions of south-west Africa ; but the valuable breed of puck oxen already largely employed throughout the southern states and colonies amply suffices for all the requirements of the trans- port service, while the difference between the cost of their purchase and keep lenders their employment much more economical than would be that of the camel. It is not so much its wealth of live stock that gives importance to this region in the eyes of its new masters. Apart from the satisfaction of having secured possession of a countrj' which the English of the Cape were hankering after, they ]Aace great hopes in the rich mineral resources still lying almost untouched in the highlands running at a short distance from the coast. Rich copper ores especially occur in many places on the plateau and even in the advanced spurs of the mountains, and notwithstanding the difficulties of transport, mining operations liave already begun at several points. South of Angra Pequena silver ores have also been found ; but from the reports lately made by the surveyors, it is to be feared that the first hopes of the prospectors may prove to be altogether fallacious. At the same time, as soon as the country is traversed by good roads, there can be no doubt that it will acquire a certain importance for its niineral resources, which cannot fail to attract capital and industrious populations. Meantime it may readily be imagined that settlers have not hitherto been very numerous in a region where both water and arable land are deficient, and where travellers run the risk of perishing from hunger and thirst. In many of the Namaqua districts the explorer may travel for weeks together without meeting a single group of cabins. But the population is naturally somewhat denser in the northern territory, where the mountain ranges are more elevated, the slopes more grassy, the fluvial beds not quite so destitute of runninq; waters. IIei§ every THE OVAMBOS. 67 valley has its hamlet or, at leust, a few shepherds' huts. According to the rou^^h calculations of Pulgrave and Ilahn, in the year 1H77, the total population was 236,000, and of this iiumbtT nearly 220,000 were concentrated in the section of the country lying to the north of Walvisch Ihiy. But estimated in relation to the sujHTticiul area of the whole region, the actual density of the population would ii{)]H'ar to be rather less than one to the square mile. In re8j)ect of the origin of its inhabitants, the territ<^)ry annexed by the Germans is essentially a land of transition. All the southern division, no doubt, belongs to the Khoin-Khoin, or Hottentot race ; but in the region lying north of the h glilands pierced by the channel of the Swakop river, the dominant Bantu tribes are everywhere so intermingled with these full-blood or half-casto Hot- tentots, that it becomes impossible to separate their respective domains by any hard-and-fast line. Roughly speaking, at least three quarters of the whole hind may be assigned to the Hottentot tribes, which, nevertheless, constitute at most one-fifth the entire populuti«)n. Several groups, however, are of mixed origin, while European bhx^d is also represented by the hulf-caste Bastaards, as well as by the Boers, the Portuguese Pomheiros, the English and German traders, who regularly or occasionally visit thic region. The Buniu tribes, who occupy the left bank of the Cunene above the gorges through which this river escapes seawards, are generally designated by the collective name of Ova-Mbo (Ovambo, Ovarapo), originally applitd to them by their south-western neighbours, the Hereros. But they do not themselves recog- nise this term, nor have they any generic designation for the nation as a whole. They are ethnically relatecl to the Chibiquus of the Chella Mountains, and to the peoples dwelling beyond the Cunene known as Ba-Simbas (Mu-Xitnba), that is, to say, " Borderers," or " Riverain People," and mentioned in old documents as Cimbebas. Hence the name Cimbebasia, which is still applied to the region watered by the Cuneno and even to the whole of Damarulaiid. Most of these natives a^e tall, robust, very intelligent, and industrious. Their language differs but little from that of the Hereros, and accoiding to Duparquet even shows a marked affinity to that of the Ba-Fyots. Its true position in the Bantu linguistic family must soon be more accurately determined by the gram- matical studies of the Finnish and other missionaries settled amongst them. The Ovambo territory is shared between about a dozen tribes, who dwell chiefly along the streams branching off from the Cunene towards Lake Etosha, and who are all separated from each other by intervening border tracts of uninhabited woodhuuls. Nearly always at war, these peoples, who within their respective communities recognise the rights of property, are constantly raiding on the cattle of their neighbours. The young men, creeping by night stealthily through the intervening forests, try to seize the enemy's herds by surprise. If seen in time they beat a hasty retreat, and a few days afterwards find themselves called upon to repel similar attacks. To such tactics are limited most of the intertribal conflicts ; but real wars of conquest have taken place, and the political equilibrium has been frequently distributed amongst the Ovambo peoples. C8 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Of all the tribes, estimated by Palgrave at nearly one hundred thousand and by Duparquet as high as one hundred and twenty thousand souls, the most powerful is that inhabiting the Kwanhama (Okwanyaraa, or " Land of Meat"), a term which would appear to point at cannibalistic practices, which have disappeared from the pre- sent inhabitants. But they still eat the flesh of dogs, which to some of their neigh- bours seems scarcely less revolting. The Kwanhama district especially is rich in horned cuttle, sheep, gouts, pigs, and poultry, and the very name Ova-Mbo, or better, Oba- Ambo, is said to mean " comfortable " or " well to-do people." They constitute, in fact, a true peasant population, carefully cultivating each his own plot and regu- larly manuring the land. Slaves are numerous in the country, but there are no poor. The Kwanhama territory, which is bordered on the west by the Cunene above its confluence with the Caculovar, stretches eastwards as far as the neighhourhood of the Ku-Biingo. It is governed by an absolute king, who is required by custom to submit to a regular fa' teuing process in order to become royally corpulent. He is much dreaded by his subjtcts, and even in his dealings with the whites this obese monarch betrays a high sense of his personal importance, for he rarely con- descends to give a personal audience to the European traders visiting his dominions. His troops are already well equipped with firearms In this state, as well as in the other Ovainbo districts, it is customary for the heir to the crown to be always designated during the lifetime of the reigning sovereign, but the " heir-apparent " is meantime kept in seclusion almost like a prisoner. Next to Kwanhama the most powerful Ovambo state is Ondonga, or Ndonga, a term which, by some geographers, has been applied to the whole group of Ovambo peoples. This kingdom, which has been visited by Galton and after him by many other travellers, is the southernmost of all these petty states, being situated along the course of one of the streams near Lake Etosha. After suffering much from an incursion of some Hottentot marauders Ndonga has recovered its prosperity, and thanks to the presence of an English factory and to the Finnish missionary station, this state now exercises the greatest influence in slowly modifying the rude habits of the people. The natives have here already developed a few indus- tries, and amongst them are now found skilful potters, coppersmiths, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen. One of the smaller tribal groups, the southern Omblandus, called also '* Tree Men," because they take refuge in the trees against the attacks of the enemy, is distinguished for its republican institutions, constituting a free political system of which but few examples are offered by the Negro races. The last king having outraged the people by his despotic and arbitrary government, was crushed by his own subjects beneath the roof of his residence, and the leaders of the revolt decLired that they would henceforth obey no more masters. They have kept their word, and, although poor and few in number, they have hitherto succeeded in safe- guarding their independence against the ambitious kinglets of the surrounding lands. The Okafiraas, one of the eastern tribes, have also contrived to defend their liberties against the King of Kwanhama, always at the flrst signal of attack retreating in a body within the lines of a fortified enclosure. THK HEBEROS. 60 A few scattered p^roups of Rushmcn, the Ma-Cuancalliw of the Portugoete settlers, live in a state of bondage uraongst the surrounding Bantu populations. They are em])loyed by the Ovanibos as carriers of ivory and iron ores, and are also frequently enlisted as soldiers. The whole region of the plains inhabited by the Ovambos is intersected by excellent roads, which are accessible to the waggons both of the Europeans and natives, for these also highly appreciate the advantages of wheeled traffif. 'hon carts were first introduced they fell prostrate on the ground, rubbing their foreheads in the dust raised by the passing wheels. At the beginning of the year 1884 some fifteen families of Dutch trekkers settled in the Ondongo district near a copious spring, the " Groot-Fontain," which has it« source to the east of the Etosha lagoon, founded a petty ** republic," named Upingtonia, in honour of a prominent {xditician in Capo ('t)lony. The new state comprised, at least on the map, a superficial area of no less than 20,000 square miles, divided into allotments of 60,000 acres, and immigrants were invited from all quarters to come and occupy the land. But the violent death of their leader and the troubles with the natives have obliged this group of Boers to place them- selves under the protectorate of Germany. The Hereros (Oba-Herero, the "cheerful" or "merry people"), who were formerly called the " Lowland" or "Cattle Dumaras," are also a Bantu nation, who reach southwards far into the Hottentot domain. According to their own traditions, they exclusively inhabited the highland region of Kaoko down to the middle of the eighteenth century; but towards the year 1775, ut a time when water was more abundant in the country than at present, most of thtir tril)es migrated southwards. But a few remained behind in the Kaoko uplands, where they intermingled with the Bushmen, and like them became impoverished. The Ilerero language, now well known, thanks to the works of the English and German missionaries, who are settled amongst them and have j)ublishod grammars and religious treatises, is a pure Bantu idiom. At least this is the case in the districts where the Hereros keep aloof from other races, for in the neighbourhood of the Hottentots hybrid dialects have sprung up in many places, in which the words of both tongues are intermingled, and inflected either with Bantu prefixed or Hotten- tot suffixed particles. Since their exodus from the Kaoko country the Hereros have been frequently in conflict with other peoples. They had first of all to fight the " true Damaras," the so-called " Highland Damaras," nearly all of whom they reduced to servitude Then, after the middle of the present century, they were exposwl to the incursions of the Numaqua Hottentots and of the Bastaards, by whom thousands were destroyed or reduced to slavery. Possessing no firearms with which to resist their assailants, who were perfectly equipped and in constant commercial inter- course with the Cape, the Hereros seemed doomed to destruction. Galton, who visited this region in the year 1850, foresaw the day when the Namaquas, with their scornful hatred of the blacks and the characteristic obstinacy of their race, must at last succeed in extirpating their hereditary foes. But the foreboding has not b^«K4y9i^'d. More numerous and more agile than their adversaries, the Hereros had, moreover, the good fortune to find a friend in the Swedish traveller Andersson, who in consequence of a sanguinary collision found himself involved in the fray. By his aid they at last gained the upper hand, and although a war of reprisals was protracted over many years, and has even broken out again in quite
recent times, the respective domains of the two hostile races have teen scarcely modified since the middle of the present century.
At present the Herero territory stretches west of the Ovambos as far as the coast, and southwards as far as the great central highlands traversed by the Swakop. But the political frontiers are nowhere strictly defined. The land belongs to all alike; Damara and Namaqua may encamp wherever they like, and in the Herero language there is no word either for "frontier" or for "native THE HEREROS. 71
land." The total number of the " Cattle Dunmrus " is estimated by Pulgrave at
tigbty-five thousand, and this estimate has been confirmed by the missionaries
stationed in their midst. The principal chief, who resides at Oti/imbingue, rules
over thirty thousimd subjects. They are easily counted, not individually but in the
mass, by the herds they drive to the pasturage. Each chief knows the number of his
cattle, from which he is able to deduce the number of the herdsmen and their
families. On an average three hundred persons are reckoned to the irerft, or
encampment of cattle, with its secondary grazing grounds.
Physically the Ilereros rank amongst the finest races in Africa. They are
tall and well-made, although in reality not nearly so strong as might be supixjsed
from their magnificent muscular development. With regular features of ulraost
classical form, they fiave an open cheerful expression, but are easily irritated, and
then they will often assume a ferocious look. Till recently those who had n"t
been brought under the influence of the niissionaries went nearly naked. As
becomes a race of pastors, they dress almost exclusively in skins and leather :
thin strips, which if placed end to end would make a total length of perhaps
JioO feet, hanging in thick fringes round their hips. They arc also fond of iron,
zinc, or copper rings, armlets, and necklaces, and like most of the northern
liantus they dispose the hair in tresses or ringlets stiffened with a mixture of fat
and red ochre. The women on their part bedizen themselves with trinkets of
all kinds, leather thongs, long hairpins, bracelets, shells, and glass beads,
crowning the edifice with a thick leather headdress, to which are added three high
ear-like attachments glistening with a coating of clay.
Although salt is usually supposed to be an indispensable condiment, the
contrary is proved by the diet of the Hereros, who neither buy nor collect this
article from the coast lagoons ; nor do their cattle care to resort, as in other
places, to the saline " licking stones." Traces of old matriarchal usages still
survive amongst them. The wife is nearly free, and may separate at her j)leasure.
The most solemn oath of a Ilerero is that " by the tears of his mother," and when
the mother died young it was formerly usual to bury her child with her. Except
the baptised childien, all the Hereros are circumcised, but beyond this rite they
have scarcely any religious ceremonies except those performed for the j)urjx)se of
securing the prosperity of their herds. In all these ceremonic s cow-dung plays a
part, and every speck and shade of colour on the animal's coat has in their eyes
a hidden meaning. The chief's daughter, guardian of the sacnd fire, sprinkles
the cattle with lustral water, and when moving to a new c:nnping-ground she
leads the way, holding a torch in her hand. Certain large lorest-trees art
regarded by them as the ancestors of man, and several of these " mother trees "
are mentioned by Galton and Andersson, to which the Flererospay regular homage.
The nation was formerly divided into tribes, or rather castes (eanda), which
had probably their origin in the family group, and which were named from the
stars, the trees, and natural phenomena. Thus one caste was known as the
" Children of the Sun," another of the " Rain," and so on; but these distinctions
are gradually being effaced. 72 SOUTH AND E AST AFRICA.
The chiefs, who in other respects enjoy very little personal authority, are held
to be owners of all the cattle. According as they <>row rich, the number of their
subjects increases with the increase of their herdt«, and as they become poor their
subjects melt away from around thera. Thus the wealth of the chief constitutes
the only bond of the tribe, although the Hereros have full consciousness of their
common national origin. Hence the pcditical divisions are subject to constant
change; but what never change arc the centres of jwpulution, the life of the tribe
ever gravitating round about the watering-places of the herds. Like those of the
petty Ova-Mbo kings, the domains of the several Ilerero rulers are separated one
from the other by intervening tracts of scrub or rocks, neutral ground never
encroached upon by the conterminous tribes except in case of invasion. But these
dreaded border-lands form the camping-grounds of Hottentot or Bantu marauders,
ever on the watch to carry o£E stray cattle.
Amongst the Ilereros is also found a cattleless proletariate class, men un-
attached to the fortunes of any rich owner of herds, and who live on the chase,
or lead a roaming adventuresome existence. Such are the Ova-Tjimbas, kinsmen
of the Ba-Simbas (Cimbebas), who camp for the most part in the north-eastern
districts near the Ova-Mbos. On all points connected with the tenure of land,
the practices are essentially communistic. The soil is absolutely unalienable, and
the expulsion of the Catholic missionaries in 1879 must be attributed rather to
their imprudent propositions regarding the purchase of land, than to the jealousy
of their Protestant rivals. The Hereros are in any case well aware, from the
example of Cape Colony, that wherever the whites gain a footing, the natives
soon cease to rule the land. Nevertheless, with all their precautions, they cannot
escape the fate in store for them. The Germans being henceforth their " protec-
tors," thoy will be unable to refuse acceptance of the new laws of property,
which will be so framed as to plunder them to the profit of the stranger.
The Hill Damaras and Namaquas.
The Ova-Zorotus, or " Highland Damaras," are so-named by the Boers to
distinguish them from the " Damaras of the Plains." They comprise all those
tribes which preserved their independence and took refuge on the summit of the
plateaux, especially the isolated table mountains surrounded on all sides by steep
escarpments. According to Galton these Damaras call themselves Hau Damop
(" True Damaras "), or else Hau Khoin, " True Khoin," that is to say, Hottentots.
But so far from belonging to this race, Galon regards them as akin to the Ova-
Mbos, whom they still resemble in their physical appearance and social usages,
although much deteriorated by misery and slavery. If most of them speak a
Hottentot dialect, the fact should perhaps be attributed to their isolation in the
midst of rulers of Khoin race. They now belong to other masters, thus fully
justifying- the designation of Dama, which according to several writers has the
meaning of " Vanquished "
Of small size, weak and slender frame, and resembling the Bushmen, with whom in some places they are confounded, they live by cultivating the land, which gives Fig. 22. — Walwisch Bay.
them but poor returns for their labour. Some of their tribes are grouped round the missions; but the majority are enslaved to the stockbreeders, squatting round about the grazing grounds. They are variously estimated at from thirty thousand to forty thousand souls; but on this point differences of opinion necessarily prevail, owing to the fact that many tribes of doubtful origin are regarded as belonging to other races. The Hill Damaras have the musical faculty developed to an extraordinary degree. They sing in concert with well attuned voice and in perfect harmony.
The Namaquas (Nama-Kwa), that is, "Nama People," occupy nearly all the southern section of the German Protectorate south of the Tsoakhub and Kuisip rivers. One of their divisions, known as the "Little Namaquas," is even stationed to the south of the Lower Orange, and the territory inhabited by them has become an integral part of Cape Colony, But all alike are thinly scattered over a vast waterless region, and towards the middle of the present century numbered scarcely more than fifty thousand altogether, a feeble remnant of the many hundred thousand Namas who are said to have formerly lived in South Africa. According to Palgrave, they are now reduced to about 74 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. twenty thousand, of whom nearly seventeen thousrnd are Great Namaquas, and the rest Little Namaquas. The Namas are certainly Hottentots, and were at one time regarded as the purest representatives of that race. Those known as the " Red Nation," that is, the Geikus of the hilly region lying to the south-east of Walvisch Bay, are Khoin, or Hottentots, in a pre-eminent sense, and claim to have been the first conquerors of this district, where they number about two thousand five hundred. The so- called Topnaars, that is, " Highest," or " First," who are centred for the most part in the British enclave round about Walvisch Bay, are at present in a very degraded state, being regarded as the most debased of all the Namaquas. Others again, and notably the Oerlams, whose original name of Orang Lami, or " Old Acquaint- ance," is said to have been given them by the sailors visiting them from the Cape, are of more or less mixed descent, a strain of European blood having even been detected in them. All are herdsmen and warriors, who during the course of the present century have fought many a desperate battle with the Hereros. ]) welling in semicircular huts made of bark and foliage, they practise only such rudimentary industries as are suitable to their primitive manner of life. They cut up and dress the hides of their cattle, sharpen and mount smallarms, and make wooden bowls for holding milk and spring-water. Constantly moving about in search of good pasturage, the Great Namaquas are grouped in separate clans, each with its own chief and council of twelve elders. The more illustrious his lineage and the more brilliant his warlike deeds, the greater is the personal authority of the tribal chief. But these kinglets, having become nominal Christians, are gradually losing their influence over their subjects, especially since their territory has been surrounded by the Cape Colonists and the Boors from the east, and since their upland valleys are regularly visited by the wholesale dealers to buy up thoir live-stock, and by the German miners to " prospect " their country for mineral ores. They are no longer dreaded for the number of their armed warriors, but respected only in proportion to their wealth in cattle. The race itself seems doomed to extinction, being too feeble to resist the elements of disintegration by which it is surrounded. The Little Namaquas no longer speak Hottentot ; the missionaries established among the Great Namaqu;js no longer require to learn this language, which since the year 1882 has ceased to be the vehicle of religious instruction. It is no longer necessary to print books of devotion in an idiom which will soon be understood by nobody, and which has already been replaced by Diitch, one of the channels through which civilisation is being diffused throughout South Africa. Naina, which is one of the purest forms of Hottentot, is thus disappearing like other branches of the same linguistic family, of which nothing now survives, except the names of mountains and rivers, nearly all in more or less corrupt form. The fragments of the Nama tribes scattered over the eastern plains are becoming gradually merged with the despised Bushmen. WALVISOH BAY. 75 T(>P(X5RAPHT. Hitherto the northern section of the coast between the Cunene and Wulvi«ch Buy has not possessed a single 8oiip)rt visited by shipping. The Angra Fria ("Cold Buy "), lying north of the suudy promontory of Cubo Frio (" Cold Point") is merely a little creek ofToring uo kind of shelter against the surf and the prevailing south-west winds. Some 120 miles farther on the Ogdcn coral reefs enclose a fine harbour and tranquil sheet of water, where fish disport themselves in myriads. But the neighbouring coast is uninhabited, and this well-sheltered haven attracts no traffic. At present the only outlet of the whole region of Damara and Namaqualand is the commodious ani spacious inlet of Wahisch Bay, which lies altnost exactly midway between the Cunene and Orange estuaries, and which gives access to the two chief fluvial basins of the country, the Tsoakhub and the Kuisip. A channel 24 feet deep gives easy acctss to large vessels, which can ride at anchor in 20 or 28 feet of water within a few cables of the coast. Here they are completely sheltered except against the north and north-west winds, which seldom blow on this part of the coast. The bay, which owes its name to the numerous schools of whales formerly abounding in the neighbouring waters, is still visited by these cetaceans, and also teems with other marine animals^ vast shoals of fish penetrating with the tides far up the creeks, where they are sometimes left in the shallow lagoons by the receding waters. At one time a large export trade in ivory and ostrich feathers was carried on at this port, which has long been regularly visited by traders from the Cape to procure live-stock for the southern markets. The Colonial Government had accordingly taken steps at an early date to secure possession of this vital jwint on the Damara-Namaqua seaboard, so that when they annexed this region the Germans were obliged to respect the little British enclave, which has a total area of about 700 square miles^ But the English, on their part, fearing the local traffic might be diverted by the new arrivals to some other point of the coast, hastened to diclare Walvisch Bay a free port for all exports and import* from Europe and the colonies. The chief inland stations which are thus supplied with manufactured goods through Walvisch Bay are : (hnaruru, which has been converted into the principal market of the Herero people ; Otyinihingne, on the Tsoakhub ; Ohalmnja and Otyikango, or New Barmen, higher up on the same watercourse ; licbohoth, on a tribu- tary of the Euisip. On the sandhills encircling the bay are camped a few hundred Topnaars, whom the local dealers are forbidden to supply with spirituous drinks. Were the British Government at any time to obstruct the trade of Walvisch Bay, the Germans have still in the immediate neighlwurhood the port of Samitncli Hacen {Porto do Ilhvo), which might be constituted the centre of their commercial operations in their new dependency. Although less capacious than Walvisch Bay, and also exposed to the danger of silting up, this creek has the advantage of being sheltered from all winds and of possessing a supply of fresh water stored in the neighbouring riverain sands. A superabundance can be had by simply sinking a few shallow wells in these sands, whereas the nearest springs to Walvisch Bay are 34 miles distant, so that it is found more convenient to supply
this place by sea from the Cape. The little Hottentot hamlet of Anishab gives a little animation to the otherwise dreary shores of Sandwich Haven.
The only important inlet on the coast of Great Namaqualand is Angra Pequena, the acquisition of which by the trader Lüderitz was the first step that induced the Germans to treat with England for the possession of the whole region, some 360,000 square miles in extent, stretching from the Cunene to the Orange River. Despite its name, which in Portuguese means "Little Bay," Angra Pequena is 