UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Southern Africa: hunters and food-gatherers
Governor van der Stel noted that 'according to the season of the year they
go into the mountains and then back to the valleys and the shore, wherever
they find the best pasture'. 100 In the early days of the settlement at
Table Bay it was clear that the powerful 'Saldanhamen' used the pastures
of the bay in the dry summer but moved north towards Saldanha Bay at
other times. The Khoi Khoi, in short, were continually on the move and had
at their disposal large tracts of grazing land, especially the coastal plain
and intermontane valleys. Movement into the Karroo pastures, probably
after the winter rain, is mentioned by Sparrman, who noted that 'the
constant and unequivocal experience of the colonists with regard to this
point agrees with the practice of the Hottentots'. ' ° '
Whilst in the Longkloof beyond Swellendam in 1775, Sparrman made
a detailed observation which suggests that Khoi Khoi pastoralists regularly
burnt the veld in order to stimulate the growth of animal grasses and
geophytic plants. This form of veld management had the effect of
maintaining a preclimax vegetal pattern in which useful elements were
more prevalent than would normally be the case. His comment mentions
fire, which is made use of by the colonists and the Hottentots for the
purposes of clearing their fields of weeds. The ground is, it's true,
by this means ... stripped quite bare; but merely in order that it may
soon afterwards appear in a much more beautiful dress, being decked
with various kinds of annual grasses, herbs and stately lilies which had
before been choked up by shrubs and perennial plants ... thus
forming with their young shoots and leaves a delightful and verdant
pasturage for the use of game and cattle. 102
This practice seems to have preceded colonial settlement, since many
early visitors to the Cape noted the prevalence of large bush fires and
Commander Van Riebeeck learnt to correlate fires on the distant mountains
with the imminent arrival of Khoi Khoi groups.
Relations between San and Khoi Khoi were characterized by both
conflict and co-operation. In the early years after the founding of the settlement
at Table Bay, Van Riebeeck heard often of 'a certain people of very
small stature, subsisting very meagrely, quite wild, without huts, cattle
or anything in the world'. 103 These people, known then as Sonqua or
Soaqua, lived in part by stealing stock from pastoralists and one group
based on the Berg river were specifically known as Obiqua, which
means 'robber men'. However, as the colonists penetrated farther inland
and learnt more of the inter-relations between groups, there are occasional
100. G. Waterhouse.
101. A. Sparrman, p. 178.
102. ibid., p. 264.
103. H. B. Thorn, p. 305.
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