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Diagram of a sick man drawn by a !Kung youth 
Dated 25 January 1880

Courtesy of the National Library South Africa

 

Bleek's studies of San languages
late 19th century

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National Library of South Africa
Cape Town and Pretoria
South Africa

Wilhelm Heinrich Bleek was the first person to conduct a formal study of any of the Southern African San languages. He travelled to South Africa in the early 1850s, moving to Cape Town in 1856, where he was able to concentrate on his major work, the Comparative Grammar of South African Languages.

Bleek published an article in 1869 on 'Bushmen' languages. The manuscript page on exhibition, from this article, outlines Bleek's understanding of singular and plural forms of various nouns. In 1870, following the imprisonment by the colonial government in Cape Town of groups of San men, Bleek had a unique opportunity to study the !Xam language of the San. With the assistance of his sister-in-law, Lucy Lloyd, he spent from 1870 to 1875 diligently recording as much information as possible. To facilitate this process, Bleek arranged for the prisoners to be released into his care, and they moved onto his farm.

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Wilhelm Heinrich Bleek (18271875)
A page from a manuscript detailing singular and plural forms of the !Xam language  1869
Courtesy of the National Library South Africa
W.H. Hermann
A family portrait of #kasin, his wife !kweiten ta//ken, their four young children and another unnamed woman—together illustrating one of the key !Xam groups that worked with Bleek and Lloyd in documenting !Xam language, mythology and customs.
Taken between June 1874 and January 1875

Courtesy of the National Library South Africa

One particular !Xam group is represented in the family portrait on exhibition. This is the family of #Kasin (an ex-prisoner), his wife !Kweiten ta//ken, and their four young children. The portrait, which also includes an unknown woman, was taken between June 1874 and January 1875 when the family lived as a group on Bleek's farm.

Bleek's first Bushman Report was published in 1873. The second report, A Brief Account of Bushman Folklore and Other Texts, was published in 1875, the year of his death. Both Lucy Lloyd and his daughter Dorothea continued and completed Bleek's pioneering studies. Between 1879 and 1881, Lloyd was able to learn about a San language other than !Xam. At this time four !Kung youths lived on the Bleek farm. They created a large collection of illustrations in pencil, charcoal, colour pencils and watercolours. The drawing on exhibition appears to detail a !Kung healing ritual.

The National Library of South Africa’s Wilhelm Bleek Collection, along with the University of Cape Town’s Wilhelm Bleek Collection, was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in August 2000.