Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/293

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253
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HOT SPRINGS. 253 HOTTENTOTS. French Broad River, and on the Southern Rail- way (Map: North Carolina, B 4). it has a fine site at an elevation of over 1300 feet, in a picturesque valley inclosed by high mountains, and is a noted health resort because of the medi- cinal value of its hot mineral waters. Dorland Institute, a mission boarding-school for moun- taineers, was established here in 1894. The prin- cipal industries are lumbering and mining. Pop- ulation, in 1890, 095; in 1900, 445. HOT SPRINGS. A city and the county-seat of Fall Kiver County, S. D., 106 miles south of Deadwood; on Fall River, and on the Burlington and Missouri River and the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley railroads (Map: .South Dakota, B 6). It is noted for its thermal and medicinal springs, and is the seat of the State Soldiers' Home and of Black Hills College (Methodist Episcopal), opened in 1890. The city is the com- mercial centre for important mining, live stock, and lumber interests, and has a good water- power and manufactures of stucco. Population, in 1890, 1423; in 1900, 1319. HOTSPUR. A name given to Henry Percy (q.v.). HOTTENTOT FIGS. See Ice-Plant. HOTTENTOTS {Khoi-Khoin, Men of Men). A dwarf rare in Namaland, South Africa (census of 1891, 50,388). Their domain is said to extend from Orange River to Walfish Bay and far into the Damara upland. A study of their somatology shows them to have the follow- ing characteristics : Cranial capacity, 1290; ceph- alic index, 74.3. Their skin is yellow, brown, or gray, not black; the hair is long and woolly: the cheek-bones are prominent; eyes are dark chest- nut or black, wide apart; the nose is very broad and flat, nostrils thick; the mouth is large, with heavj% upturning lips, and enormous prognath- ism, chin pointed, and receding jaw. They have little beard, and no hair on the body. The ears are large, without lobules. (See Colored Plate of Africa, D.vrk Races of.) Steatopygia is com- mon. There are three divisions of them, the Hot- tentots proper, the mongrel Griquas of Griqualand West, and the Koranas on the Orange, Vaal, and Slodder rivers. They, or the Bushmen, their kindred, and not the negroes of the family of Bantu, are doubtless the aborigines of the coim- try, but between the persecutions of the spread- ing Bantu tribes and later the occupation of the lowlands by Dutch and English settlers, most of them have been driven into the mountains and waste places, and they are slowly dying out. They live in low, oval, dome-shaped huts, made by set- ting rough poles in the ground, bending them down and tying them together. Over all is a thatch or layer of mats woven by the women. In the cen- tre of each hut is the fire-pit where meat is roa.sted, and around the sides are holes in which they sleep. They wear little costume beyond a cloak of skin, but smear their bodies lavishly with fat and soot. At the time of the advent of the Europeans their wealth consisted largely in cat- tle. Their chief weapons were bows and poisoned arrows. In their villages the huts were arranged in a circle, forming what is known as a kraal. A portion of the Hottentots shared the fortunes and stood the oppressions of the settlers, and their descendants form a mixed race, many of whom are prosperous in flocks and herds. Hottentot men do little work besides helping to tend cattle and occasionally hunting and fishing. Some pursue the trades of smith or armorer, tailor or tanner. The women make cords, mats, and pottery, cook, tend cattle, and perform most of the labor. Trade is carried on by barter in cattle, and o.xen are used for bearing burdens. Little beef is eaten, and meat is procured by hunting, milk being the chief food; from their environment the Hottentots secure many roots and fruits, which supply the vegetable element in their diet. Cook- ing of meat is by roasting or seething in a skin bag by means of hot stones. They make an into.xicating mead and chew a narcotic root. Puberty, marriage, and funeral feasts are held. Their amu.senicnts are mock fights, games accom- panied with music, drinking, and smoking. Fam- ily affection seems strong, and they are friendly, liberal, and hospitable among themselves. Their yellow skin has been an enigma to an- thropologists, and the discovery of similarities in grammar, together with the existence of words representing abstractions of a high order, strengthened the theory that the Bushmen Hot- tentots had separated from fjie Caucasian kin- dred in the north in prehistoric times, settling the southern portion of the continent, where they were pressed upon later by the black Bantu tribes. More probably they are an isolated race, like the Australians. The theory that they are lost Hamites is weakened by the fact that their language has elements resembling those of other races. The clicks in the vocal sounds, resem- bling the smacking of the mouth in clucking, etc., are made by pressing the tongue against the teeth, the palate, the sides of the upper jaw, or doubling it backward and then producing an ex- plosive noise. These clicks usually occur at the beginning of words, and while each one is not difficult to imitate, the European is quite unable to follow them up with the vocal sounds that make up the word. Ttie name Hottentot is an eflfort of the Dutch to imitate the dental clicks pronounced like the expression of surprise, tut! tut! with an inhalation. The unit of government among the Hottentots was the kraal, with its subchief, who. with the leading men. had jurisdiction even to the extent of the death penalty. The tribes were ruled by hereditary chiefs, who were greatly revered and received their pay in kind, being entitled to a share of whatever was killed or produced. Descent was in the female line for sons, and initia- tion into the tribe was with ceremonial scarifica- tion of the body. Their instruments of music were the gorah, or musical how, a rude fiddle, I'gutha, an imitation of European violin, a tomo, a bow rubbed with another bow, and a single- head drum. The religious belief of the Hottentots was in keeping with their social scale and organization. They held to the existence of the soul after death. The ruler of all things is a deified patri- arch. Heitsi-Eibib. or a Great Captain. Tsu-goab, who was formerly one of flieir nughty chiefs, and came from the East. Hence all Hottentots' graves are oriented, and when the.v pass a cemetery they leave stones on the spot to express good will and ask a blessing. The existence of this pr.actice in former times enables the student fo follow the trail of the Hottentot in his wanderings. The cult of these people is obscure. It has been stated that they had no temples or places of