“has absolutely nothing more to do with the house and domestic affairs; he turns the care for them over to his wife, who is obliged to procure provisions as well as she can and cook them.  The husband devotes himself to drinking, eating, smoking, loafing, and sleeping, and takes no more concern about the affairs of his family than if he had none at all. If he goes out to fish or hunt, it is rather to amuse himself than to help his wife and children.... Even the care of his cattle the poor wife, despite all her other work, shares with him.  The only thing she is not allowed to meddle with is the sale.  This is a prerogative which constitutes the man’s honor and which he would not allow anyone to take away from him with impunity.”

The wife, he goes on to say, has to cut the fire-wood and carry it to the house, gather roots and other food and prepare it for the whole family, milk the cows, and take care of the children.  The older daughters help her, but need so much watching that they are only an additional care; and all this time the husband “lies lazily on his back.”  “Such is the wretched life of the Hottentot woman,” he sums up; “she lives in a perpetual slavery.”  Nor is there any family life or companionship, they eat separately, and

“the wife never sets foot in the husband’s room, which is separated from the rest of the house; she seldom enjoys his company.  He commands as master, she obeys as slave, without ever complaining.”

“REGARD FOR WOMEN”

“What we admire in Hottentots is their regard for women.”  Here are some more illustrations of this loving “regard for women.”  The Rev. J. Philip (II., 207) says that the Namaqua women begged Moffat to remain with them, telling him that before he came “we were treated by the men as brutes, and worse than they treated brutes.”  While the men loafed they had to go and collect food, and if they returned unsuccessful, as was often the case, they were generally beaten.  They had to cook for the men and were not allowed a bite till they had finished their meal.  “When they had eaten, we were obliged to retire from their presence to consume the offals given to us.”  When twins are born, says Kolben (304), there is great rejoicing if they are boys; two fat buffaloes are killed, and all the neighbors invited to the feast; but if the twins are girls, two sheep only are killed and there is no feast or rejoicing.  If one of the twins is a girl she is invariably killed, buried alive, or exposed on a tree or in the bushes.  When a boy has reached a certain age he is subjected to a peculiarly disgusting ceremony, and after that he may insult his mother with impunity whenever he chooses:  “he may cudgel her, if he pleases, to suit his whim, without any danger of being called to an account for it.”  Kolben says he often witnessed such insolence, which was even applauded as a sign of manliness and courage.  “What barbarity!” he exclaims.  “It is a result of the contempt which these peoples feel for women.”  He used to remonstrate with them, but they could hardly restrain their impatience, and the only answer he could get was “it is the custom of the Hottentots, they have never done otherwise.”