The Hottentot
The Hottentot
Original Text
Thomas Pringle, African Sketches (London: Edward Moxon, 1834): 101. 010097.e.63 British Library
2Tending another's flock upon the fields,
3His father's once, where now the White Man builds
4His home, and issues forth his proud commands.
5His dark eye flashes not; his listless hands
6Lean on the shepherd's staff; no more he wields
7The Libyan bow -- but to th' oppressor yields
8Submissively his freedom and his lands.
9Has he no courage? Once he had -- but, lo!
10Harsh Servitude hath worn him to the bone.
11No enterprise? Alas! the brand, the blow,
12Have humbled him to dust -- even hope is gone!
13"He's a base-hearted hound -- not worth his food" --
14His Master cries -- "he has no gratitude!"
Notes
1] Hottentot: "One of the two sub-races of the Khoisanid race (the other being the Sanids or Bushmen), characterized by short stature, yellow-brown skin colour, and tightly curled hair. They are of mixed Bushman-Hamite descent with some Bantu admixture, and are now found principally in South-West Africa" (OED 1a). The Dutch term means "stutterer" and arosebecause of the Hottentot's clucking speech. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1827
Publication Notes
See George Thompson, Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa, ed. Vernon S. Forbes (Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1967): I, 30. DT 756 .T47 1967. Also London: H. Colburn, 1827. DT 756 .T47 1827A Robarts Library
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2000.
Rhyme
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