Notebooks

Story: Dorothea Bleek - Book BC151_A3_013

Title

Dorothea Bleek - Book BC151_A3_013

Collection

Summary

A manuscript book. !kun or Auen and Naron notebook, volume II. Words and sentences, lots of history of the region (leaders, borders, wars), odd bits of personal history, some local description. Comparisons of daily life and ritual between Naron and !kun, and other groups. Brief narratives describing daily life and ritual eg marriage, living arrangements, artefacts, death.

Comments

1) Inside the front cover is written '||namme (I) ||namme (II), Kaishe or Gashe, ||konap'; 2) p.54: 1.12.20. About ||xau, a poison, the making of, a tree and worm poison; 3) p.56: Gaishe [?]. About making traps, where the !kun's have come from; 4) p. 57: more on where the !kun's have come from; 5) p.58&9: The Hei ||kun have doctors (!gu an), 'One old woman and young girls', description of doctor's practices and payment, punishment; 6) p.60: On the morning star, wortds for stars and the sky; 7) p.61-64: 3.12.20. A 'Kaffir' from 'Walfish' Bay, some interrogative sentences, fragments of narrative (a child is killed), 'You must write it down in my language and then in German'; 8) p.64v: 'They bury a man close to the wind [?] and then they all move away'; 9) p.65: Reference to 'Specimens' and the making of dancing rattles by the !kun and Hei ||kum; 10) p. 66: Hanis Varnaf [?]. On how the Berg Damaras build houses, their jackal stories; 11) p.67: 6.12.20. Tsukap (Naron) & Ka ||ne (!kung). The making of 'Kaffir' beer and getting drunk, the fear of white people, references to 'Klipkaffirs'; 12) p.68: Bartering & tobacco, use of dagga (grown by 'Klipkaffirs'); 13) p.69: !kung. About smoking, bartering skins, Ovambos sell dagga; 14) p.71: Naron. Kwe ta a [?]. About daily life, dancing, seeking veldkos, visiting, seasonal life etc; 15) p.73: !kun. Dancing, hunting; 16) p.74-6: 7.12.20. ||namme (I) & (II), Tsukap. !kun/Naron dictionary with some English translations of left verso pages; 17) p.77-8: ||namme II. Reference to Stow numbered pictures and comments on what he sees, Tsukap also comments; 18) p.79: 8.12.20. Petrus or Haushe from |ken |u beyond Grootfontein, also Jan or Hiohau, a Hai ||um from Omaruru and his encounters with other peoples, some personal and Hai ||um history; 19) p.80-82: David or |naurub (who has mark between the eyes) & where he works, comes from, some personal and Hai ||um history; 20) p.83&83v: 9.12.20. ||namme I & II, !nanni - a Kaigum, David. History of the region and daily life, famine, illness, movements of peoples, ornamentation; 21) p.84-5: A game called the Porcupine game - or playing at being a porcupine, how life is divided into rain time and other time, death customs, housing arrangements, marriage, a comparison between Hei ||um and !kun ways of life in realtion to marriage and coming of age; 22) p.87: 10.12.20. Piet or ≠butsa [?], ||namme. A description of the Okavango and surroundings, a German mission there; 23) p.88-91: 11.12.24. Two ||namme's Pesap [?] & Kayu. Description of house and bed; 24) p.92: On the naming of a child; 25) p.93, 93v & 94: 4.1.21. Sandfontein. Names of descriptions of people ('woman with long hair and blue marks on her face', 'woman with long hair and white beads also bead flap on nose'); 26) p.94: 5.1.21. |nabusib or Janki. About the |gurikwe and the |gau kwe, their daily lives, including their use of 'cartridge case pipes', reference to Stow's numbered pictures upon which they comment; 27) p.97: about ornaments, bartering with the Makoba, 28) p.101103v: Names of things relating to women with some description, more lengthy descriptions by Saul of being a Bushman woman including scarrification & decoration, ritual body markings, family relations, marriage, daily life, 'A Bushman just takes his wife by force apparently and just keeps her a few days - even if she does not want it. But her father can put up a fight if he likes (at least could before white men came. When she has settled down he gives her mother a present of beads or fur or any Bushman possessions...One man one wife', also a few points of comparison between Bushmen & Naron (speech etc); 29) p.103v: Reference to a fever epidemic; 30) p.104: 7.1.21. ≠nurre, a Naron woman, words and sentences; 31) p.105v: Saul. Speaks of Olifantskloof war between Klipkaffirsd and Bushmen, 'the B's were beaten - afterwards Hartebeest came and helped Saul. Hartebeest was middleaged'. Describes some history and war encounters between peoples of the region, borders and boundaries, local topography, also references to `Hartebeest'; 32) p.106v: ||au ||en [Auen]; 33) p.107v: Janki; 34) p.108: ||au ||en. Da|ko; 35) p.108v-114: 'A' [Auen] & 'N'[Naron]. Vocabulary and sentences; ; 36) p.115-121: 9.1.21. Goshi. 'N' & 'A'. Vocabulary and sentences, the odd brief reference to captains (120&v) and something that cant be seen by women 'when they are dead' (120v); 37) p.121v-125: 11.1.21. Naron. ≠axas. Vocabulary and sentences.

Contributors

||namme (I) (II), Gaishe, ||konap, Tsukap, Haushe (Petrus), Hiohau (Jan), |naurub (David), !nanni, Hanis Varnaf, Saul

Date

1920-21

Story Pages

54-125

The Digital Bleek & Lloyd