W. Stow, a geologist of good repute in the government service, who spent many years in research among the Korana clans, the purest Hottentots now existing—if some small sections of the Namaqua be excepted,—and who was aided in his investigations by missionaries and other inquirers, learned from the traditions of those clans that their ancestors had indeed moved down from the north, and that too at no very remote time. These traditions, collected in different localities and from individuals who could have had no intercourse with each other, carried back the history of the Hottentots to a period when they were residing in a region somewhere in the centre of the continent, from which they were driven by more powerful people, of a black colour, who came down from the north or north-east. They do not go beyond that point, and are so dim that they merely state the fact of a migration from a particular direction and its cause, being in this respect even less complete than the traditions of the Bantu concerning their coming down from the north. This is owing to the Hottentot migration being of an earlier date than that of the Bantu. Mr. Stow was of opinion that the particular Bantu who drove the Hottentots to the south were the ancestors of the very Betshuana with whom the Koranas in his time were at war, and this is highly probable.
His discovery of the migration, however, does not take the people here dealt with to the still distant north, where their language indicates that they once lived. But there is strong reason to believe that the race had its origin in the country now termed Somaliland, and was formed there by the intercourse of men of a light-coloured stock with women of Bushman blood.[1]
- ↑ Some recent writers believe the Hottentots to have sprung from a cross between Bantu and Bushmen, but that cannot be the case. The Masarwa are of this origin, and they bear no resemblance to Hottentots. The language difficulty is also sufficient to disprove it. The Hottentots are lighter skinned than Bushmen, some females of pure blood among them have even a tinge of red in their cheeks.
