It does not appear that intermixture with Europeans,•or with
any people of similar features, has given occasion to this variety
in the Kafirs. Facts havé been discovered which completely
give a denial to this suggestion. Among the many Kafirs who
were seen at Litakfi by Mr. Thompson, it appears that
there were individuals supposed to be descendants from Europeans
who had formerly been shipwrecked on the coast.
Such persons"'Were distinguished from the native race by their
features, and especially by their long beards. The hair of the
genuine Kafirs is very woolly, and it approaches to that of the-
Hottentots, which is observed to be different from the woolly
hair of the Negro in growing in small, separate, tufts. “ The
hair of-these people,” says Mr. Burchell, “ is, in its natural state,
so excessively woolly that it can never form itself into locks,
unless it be left to grow for-a great length of time, and then
be clotted together with grease and dust. It is, therefore,
with much pains and continual care that-the women dress it
into separate threads, or small ringlets.”*
If 8. Of the natives of the country near Dalagoa Bay.
The native inhabitants of the countries round Dalagoa Bay
are a different people from the Zöolahs.
The chorography of these countries is given by Captain
Owen. Mapoota, or the Oil Country^ is to the southward of
Dalagoa Bay, and included between the river Mapoota, which
flows into it from the south-west, and the shores of the Indian
Ocean. To the westward ofMapoota is Temby, the dominiorrof
King Kapell, reaching northward to English and Dundas rivers,
which run into the bay from due west. On the north side
of English river is the country of Mafoomo: the tract immediately
northward of Mafoomo is called Mabota, as far as the
banks of the river King George or Manice, and on the west
is Mattoll, the southern boundary of which is Dundas River, f
The native people of Dalagoa Bay are then principally the
inhabitants of Mapoota, Mafoomo, Mattoll and Temby. These
tribes are mentioned repeatedly by Owen, as resembling each
* Burchell’s Travels in South Africa. •f Owen, vol. i. p. 75*
other in every respect.* We are expressly assured that the
same language is spoken all round Dalagoa Bay, from Mapoota
to Inhambanaf which lies considerably to the northward,
under the tropic,, and near CapeHSprrientes.
The fact that the idi#m of these-people is a dialect of the
Kafir language was first; ascertained^ by Lichtenstein, who
made the discovery byttheaftsplf a vocabulary collected from
the natives of Dalagoa Bay, by White.J
We are assured by Owen/rtbat the language of the people
of Dalagoa Bay is nearly «fthe same, and of the .same■ origin as
that of the Kafirs and Zoolahsl^ jj
The same testimony was obtained by Mr.'Thompson from
different quarters. The Kafirs and the natives? of Dalagoa
Bay understand each other,* as- he.reports, with little trouble,
and the’ Zoolahs j communicate readily with botl&jj'.’V
* tbid.,p. 141. ~ ", t Ibid-Jb
$ Journal/of a Voyage performed in the Lion( East-Indiaman, H ip Madras to
paptiUbo and-Dalagoa Bay, by Captain W. Whitfe, London, 1 800. See Lu,hten,i
stein’s Travels, English translation, vol. i. p. 243, andAdeluhg and Vater in the
Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachen-Kunde, th. iii. pp. 262 and 2^ ^ |||
§ O.wen, vol. i. p. 218.
|^ls^®01iipson's Travels in Southern Africa, vol. i. p. 373.