are negroes. But the Hottentots are not negroes
any more than are the Bushmen, or the Kaffirs, whom
we shall consider next. Ethnologists are not agreed
as to the relationship that exists between Bushmen
and Hottentots, but it is certain that the latter
represent a somewhat higher level of civilization.
Yet, here again we must guard carefully against “false
facts,” especially in reference to the topic
that interests us—the relations of the
sexes. As late as 1896 the eminent American anthropologist,
Dr. Brinton, had an article in Science (October
16th), in which he remarked that “one trait which
we admire in Hottentots is their regard for women,”
He was led into making this assertion by an article
entitled “Woman in Hottentot Poetry,” which
appeared in the German periodical Globus (Vol.
70, pp. 173-77). It was written by Dr. L. Jakobowski,
and is quite as misleading as Chapman’s book.
Its logic is most peculiar. The writer first shows
(to his own satisfaction) that the Hottentots treat
their women somewhat better than other South Africans
do, and from this “fact” he goes on to
infer that they must have love-songs! He admits,
indeed, that (with a few exceptions, to be presently
considered) we know nothing of these songs, but it
“seems certain” that they must be sung
at the erotic dances of the natives; these, however,
carefully conceal them from the missionaries, and
as Jakobowski naively adds, to heed the missionaries
“would be tantamount to giving up their old sensual
dances.”
What facts does Jakobowski adduce in support of his assertion that Hottentots have a high regard for their women? He says:
“Without his wife’s permission a Hottentot does not drink a drop of milk, and should he dare to do so, the women of his family will take away the cows and sheep and add them to their flocks. A girl has the right to punish her brother if he violates the laws of courtesy. The oldest sister may have him chained and punished, and if a slave who is being castigated implores his master by the name of his (the master’s) sister to desist, the blows must cease or else the master is bound to pay a fine to the sister who has been invoked.”
EFFEMINATE MEN AND MASCULINE WOMEN
If all these statements were real facts—and we shall presently see that they are not—they would prove no more than that the modern Hottentots, like their neighbors, the Bushmen, are hen-pecked. Barrow (I., 286) speaks of the “timid and pusillanimous mind which characterizes the Hottentots,” and elsewhere (144) he says that their