HOTTENTOTS is the name generally given by Europeans to a singular race of people, supposed to be descended from the aborigines of southern Africa, and now dwelling for the most part in and about the English settlement of the cape of Good Hope. The origin of the name Hottentot is uncertain. Some think it is of Dutch origin; a word coined by the early Dutch settlers to convey by the sound hot en tot, hot and tot. some idea of the peculiar clicking noise made by the people When speaking. Dampier, however, wrote the name .11odraadmis, instead of Hottentot; and Prichard says that it is probably a corruption of Houteniqua, the name of a particular tribe now extinct, or at least unknown. They now call themselves by various names, supposed to be those of tribes, as Attaquas, Hessaquas, Dammaras, Saabs or Snaps, Namaquas, and Kora nas; and by the collective name of Quai-qux, or Glthnigkluzi.
In the ethnological classification given by Dr. Latham, the Hottentots are ranged under the second great division of the human farnily—Atlantidme. In the older classi fication, that of Blumenbach, they are ranged under the third great division of the human race—the which division that author also places the negroes. But the Hottentots are not like the negroes, and are more akin to the Mongolians; having broad foreheads, high cheek-hones, oblique eyes, and a dirty, olive-colored complexion. The width of the orbits, their distance from each other, the large size of the occipital foramen, are points in which, the-Hottentots resemble thg northern Asiatics, and even the EsqiihnaUx. The persoil of tire Hottentot, When yoling, is remarkable for its symmetry. The joints and extremities are small, and the males look almost as effeminate as the women. The face, however, is in general extremely ugly, and with age this ugliness increases. Sir John Barrow, in describing the Hottentot women, observes of them that before they are models of proportion, every joint and limb rounded and well turned, their hands and feet small and delicate, and their gait by no means deficient in grace. "Their charms, however, are very fleeting. At an early period of life, and immediately after the first child, their breasts begin to grow loose and flaccid, and as old age approaches become distended to an enormous :size; the belly protrudes; and the hinder parts swaing out to incredible dimensions, give to the spine a degree of curvature inwards that makes it appear as if the os coceygis, or bone at the lower extremity of the spine, was elongated and bent outwards, which is not the case." The appearance of the Bosjesmeu, or Bushmen, who are the most degraded tribe of the Hottentots, is still more revolting.
. The language of the Hottentots is quite as singular as their personal appearance. It has been called "the click language," and has also been compared to the clucking of a hen when she has ]aid an egg. The dress of the Hottentot in his native state is exceedingly simple, being merely a strip of the skin of sonic animal tied round the waist, from which there depends a sort of apron that hangs down both before and behind. This is nearly the same for both sexes, so that in the summer both go almost
naked, protecting their persons from the sun by a covering of grease; but in the winter they have a sort of cloak made with skins, that covers nearly the whole body. The Hottentots live in kraals, or villages, consisting of a number of circular huts like bee hives. They have both oxen and sheep, in the management of which they show great skill. They are also addicted to the chase, in which they use poisoned arrows, javelins, and spears. Their only manufacture is a rude kind of earthenware; except, of course, that they make their own sheepskin clothes, such as they are, also their bows and arrows, and other weapons. Like most savages, they have some taste for music, which they practice upon a rude sort of guitar with three strings, and a flute made of the bark of trees. Of religion there appears to be but very little notion among the Hottentots, and they have no particular observances at either births, marriages, or funerals. Dr. Prichard, however, observes of them: "Although the wild tribes of the Dettentot race display ferocity and all the other vices of savage life, yet we have abundant proof that these people are not insusceptible of the blessings of civilization and Christianity. No uncultivated people appear to have received the instructions of the Moravian mis sionaries more readily than the Hottentots, or to have been more fully reclaimed and Christianized." The Hottentots, as a distinct race, first became known to Europeans about the year 1509, when Francisco d'Almeyda, viceroy of India, landing at Table bay, was killed, with about seventy of his followers, in a scuffle with the natives. They were after wards frequently visited by navigators from different countries; but no authentic accounts reached Europe respecting them until the Dutch settled in the cape of Good Hope in the middle of the 17th century. The Hottentots were then much more numer ous than at present, but upon becoming addicted to rum and brandy their numbers diminished gradually. Many of the tribes parted with their flocks and herds to • rrocure the tire-water, and eventually they became the absolute slaves of the Dutch settlers, or Boers. From this condition they have been delivered by the enlightened and humane policy of the British government; and as free laborers they make excellent herdsmen and drovers. Their number at present is thought to amount from about fifteen to twenty thousand, not including those who in all probability may be found dwelling more in the interior. Of the Bushmen no numerical estimate has been formed. They are widely scattered throughout the English settlements, but their numbers must be very small, while their wretched and degraded habits are such that it is thought they will soon become utterly extinct.