A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope towards the Antarctic Polar Circle Round the World and to the Country of the Hottentots and the Caffres (In two Volumes)
Anders Sparrman
Anders Sparrman (1748 – 1820), ‘n jong Sweed, was die eerste reisiger om ‘n volledige dog leesbare verslag te skryf oor reistogte na die Kaapse binneland – sy reise is tussen 1772 en 1776 onderneem. Hy het onder Linnaeus, vader van taksonomie, gestudeer en was dus besonder goed gekwalifiseer om die unieke blommeryk van Suid- Afrika te verken. Hoewel sy reistogte hom deur bekende areas neem, werp sy kommentaar nuwe lig op die Kaapse lewe, die flora en fauna van die binneland asook die inheemse inwoners wat hy teëkom.
Hierdie volume handel oor sy reis van Kaapstad via die warm baddens van Caledon na Swellendam en Mosselbaai. Van hier vertrek hy deur die Langkloof-vallei tot in die Tsitsikamma-woud. In die tweede volume van Sparrman se reisverhale (VRS II-7) voltooi hy sy reise deur die oostelike gedeeltes van die Kaapkolonie en bereik uiteindelik die Groot Visrivier.
VOLUME 1
Sparrman vind die inheemse Khoi en Xhosa stamme wat hy teëkom interessant en beskryf hul leefstyl in detail. Die volume bevat ook “Hottentot” en “Caffre” woordeskat. Buiten die botaniese en soölogiese waarde van die joernaal, lewer Sparrman se werk ook ‘n waardevolle bydrae tot ons kennis van die inheemse stamme van die agtiende eeu. Die diere het hom ook gefassineer, en hy skryf in diepte daaroor – tot so mate dat ‘n groot deel van die joernale oor soölogie handel.
Skets van ‘n renoster soos in die oorspronklike Sweedse uitgawe
Sparrman se doelwit was om alles wat vreemd en wonderlik is, te ondersoek, terwyl hy deurentyd in gedagte hou waarin sy lesers ook sal belangstel. Daarom skryf hy breedvoerig oor die “Hottentots” en die San. Sy beskrywings van die stamme is waardevol aangesien die verslae ons kennis van hul kulture verryk en uitbrei.
“Wapens van die Hottentotte” soos in die oorspronklike Sweedse uitgawe
UITTREKSEL UIT DIE TEKS
“At night we came to the upper part of t/Kurenoi, or Little Sundays-river. We fixed our resting-place at the distance of a few gun-shots from a clan of bastards, or Hottentot-Caffres, who are the offspring of the mixture of both these nations. They chiefly spoke the Caffre language, but had neither the large lips, robust, and easy form, nor the black complexion of the Caffres. They appeared to me not so swarthy as my own Hottentots, and I suppose, that they originate only from a set of people, who having acquired some cattle by servitude among the Caffres, had formed themselves into this society. The iris of their eyes was of a very dark brown hue, and almost, if not quite as dark as the pupil. They had a great quantity of cattle, and seemed to live very happily in their way. As soon as ever they had taken their cattle up from pasture they milked them; an occupation they intermixed with singing and dancing.
We seldom see such happiness and contentment as seems to be indicated by this festive custom, in a handful of people totally uncultivated, and subsisting in their original savage state, in the midst of a perfect desert. Mr. Immelman accompanied me, in order to behold with his own eyes the real archetype of that state of pastoral felicity, which the poets are continually occupied in painting and describing. We announced ourselves here likewise as being the children of the Company, and were received by them with a friendly simplicity and homely freedom, which, however, by no means lessened them in our thoughts as men. They presented us with milk, and danced at our request; at the same time giving us to understand, that our fame, as being a singular people with plaited hair, as well as flower-collectors and viper-catchers, had reached them long before our arrival.
We were spectators of their country dances, in which there was very little either of agility or art. While their feet were employed in a kind of stamping and moderately slow movement, every one of them between whiles made several small gentle motions with a little stick, which they held in their hands. The simplicity which prevailed in their dances was equally conspicuous in their singing, the following being all the words used to the tune of one of their country dances which I took down in writing at the time, Maijema, Maijema, huh, huh, huh. The former part of this was chaunted repeatedly piano by an elderly matron, who was answered by the young men and maids in the latter words, sung staccato by way of chorus. It must be confessed, that this concert was not well adapted to satisfy a nice ear; but however, it inspired a certain degree of joy and chearfulness, and was by no means disagreeable.
They had another kind of dance, which consisted in taking each other by the hand, and dancing gently in a circle round about one or more persons, who were placed in the middle of the ring, and whose movements were brisker and quicker; yet we could not help laughing, though at the same time we were not a little hurt, to see the poor infants pop their heads alternately in and out of the bags hanging at the backs of their mothers, who were likewise dancing; so that we had great reason to fear that they would break their necks. But what was still more ridiculous was, that these little Hottentots were far from shewing any dislike to this treatment; but, on the contrary, were so well pleased with it, that they sufficiently shewed their displeasure by crying, when their mothers, who were soon tired with carrying them on their backs, wanted to set them down, or go out of the dance.
Besides the pleasures which these daily dances may be supposed to afford them, they have at their greater festivals the more delightful enjoyment of voluptuous love, which, at those times, the youth of both sexes, by their laws, have full opportunity given them to pursue. For it is said, that the unmarried part of the company, in the very middle of the dance, withdraw to a private place in couples successively and at different intervals, without giving the least subject of offence and scandal, and without having any occasion to blush when they return again to the company. I have purposely said only, that opportunity is given them for this purpose; as I could not learn, whether their laws, together with the opportunity, allowed the action itself, which, as I have mentioned above, the Caffres permit themselves to transact in the presence of the whole company that is dancing.
This remissness of their laws, however, in allowing them opportunities of this kind, seems to be in direct opposition to the rigorous strictness of……….”