Flywhisks

Flywhisks are also mentioned in the kum of the ‘long-nosed mice’ and the Beetle, where we find the plural form of ǃnabbe, ǃnai(t)-ǃnaitən. These ‘long-nosed mice’ can be confidently identified with elephant-shrews of the genus Mascroscelides, known also as sengis. In the story, the sengis are said to have ‘picked’ their ǃnai(t)-ǃnaitən when brought back to life after being attacked by the Beetle.² The gloss to this mention, found in the same page (L.VIII.18: 7550’), states: ‘People say the brushes (ǃnai(t)-ǃnaitən) of the Early Race are of grass, a grass which resembles brushes’. This suggests that ǀhaŋǂkass’o had here in mind a different kind of flywhisk (although it was also called ǃnabba), one made with grass, rather than hair.

The ǃnai(t)-ǃnaitən are mentioned in another kum about the sengis. In this narrative, the adversary who cheats and kills the brave, but not very bright, protagonists is the Agama Lizard. Towards the end of the tale, the sengis emerge from the hole in which they have been thrown by the evil Agama crying ‘“My head, my head, my head,”, while they lifted up their brushes [neǃnetɘn], while they waved their brushes’.³

The association of flywhisks and sengis is visually expressed in an engraved image at Springbokoog’s main site, part of a unique series of rock engravings featuring four creatures with elephant traits, three of which at least can be identified as sengis.

Close to them are a group of anthropomorphs, and an ostrich. Engraved in the rougher lower part of the boulder, these figures perhaps pre-date the sengis. One of the four anthropomorphs on the right holds a flywhisk. A single anthropomorph on the left is very close to one of the sengis, which in turn appears to be holding a flywhisk on its ‘trunk’. However, on close examination, it is clear that the object is being held by both the anthropomorphs (whose arms raised in a ‘praying position’) and the sengi. The anthropomorph has another flywhisk in the other hand.

As archaeologist Janette Deacon has said, the images, ‘illustrate a spirit-world experience that is both unique and ambiguous’ (Deacon & Foster 2005: 135). In any case both images and kukummi leave no doubt as to the fact, that, in addition to being useful for ‘wiping the face’ and brushing off perspiration, flywhisks were also a tool of the ǃgitən, the medicine-men of the ǀxam. It is perhaps no coincidence that from the place where the Springbokoog engravings are the Strandberg hills, considered to be the petrified body of the mythical Agama, are clearly visible.

An additional indication of this can be found in another of ǀhaŋǂkass’o’s kukummi, that of ‘ǃgwaξǃnuntu, the child, and the Elephants’ (ref) . In this long and exciting narrative, what appears to be the female leader of a troop of mythical Elephants takes away the grandchild of ǃgwaξǃnuntu, the protagonist, and replaces him with her own calf. The Elephant mother clearly uses some kind of powerful magic to cause ǃgwaξǃnuntu to fall asleep. When he wakes up, ǃgwaξǃnuntu goes in pursuit, and approaches the camp of the elephants brandishing what the English translation renders as ‘featherbrushes’, in ǀxam ǂhaξrri-he, an object described in the Dictionary (p. 650) as ‘feather brush used as pocket handkerchief, ostrich feathers tied to a stick and used to wipe the eyes’ The reaction of the elephant children to the arrival of the old man with the ǂhaξrri-he suggests that this type of flywhisk is something to be feared, and indeed, ǃgwaξǃnuntu’s magic proves to be more powerful than that of the elephants.⁴

Again, the verbal image of a human-like figure (in this case perhaps a multiform of ǀkaggen, the trickster-figure of the ǀxam) holding one or more flywhisks in front of elephants is found in a well-known rock engraving at Springbokoog, one which shows an elephant cow and her calf, surrounded by anthropomorphs who stand or float around them, holding what appear in some cases to be flywhisks, in others reeds, an identification first suggested by Andy Patterson. The central figure of those “floating” above the elephant appears to hold a reed, similar to those that feature in a 1779 panting by Robert Gordon showing a dance in Namaqualand. These reeds (possibly of the species Phragmites australis) would have grown abundantly in the permanent waterhole at Springbokoog, and their presence in this engraving suggests that it has to do with the competition for water resources between humans and elephants that would have been frequent whenever these creatures visited the usually dry Karoo territory south of the Orange River after a period of good rains.

Since the ǀxam considered perspiration to be a powerful substance that could be used both to cure and cause harm, the presence in the art of these objects used to remove perspiration can be explained as a reference to this body fluid and its properties. Also the ritual activities, such as dancing, that caused it in abundance.