Contributor Profile

|han≠kass'o or Klein Jantje stayed with Lucy Lloyd and the Bleek family from January 1878 until December 1879. |han≠kass'o called himself a Ss'wa ka !kui or 'Flat Bushman' (meaning he belonged to a group of |xam who lived on the plains) although his father was a !kaugen ss'o or 'Mountain' Bushman. |han ≠kass'o was ||kabbo's son-in-law. Although |han≠kass'o was present at the Breakwater Convict Station in 1870, he was not selected as an informant and returned to Bushmanland after the completion of his sentence in November 1871 (his prisoner number was 4630). He had been imprisoned for two years for stock theft along with his father-in-law ||kabbo and brother-in-law 'Witbooy Touren'. (Northern Border Court record, State Archives: 1/NBM, volume 3). After ||kabbo's death in 1876 it was arranged for |han≠kass'o and his wife Suobba-||kein to journey to Lloyd in Cape Town from Vanwyksvlei near Kenhardt. The two departed in April 1877 with an infant child, leaving their young son !hu !hun behind in Vanwyksvlei with friends. As a result of an incident where she was badly beaten by a policeman, Suobba-||kein died in Beaufort West in December 1877 on the way to Cape Town. Her and |han≠kass'o's baby also died in Beaufort West soon after their arrival there, as a result of the attack that led to its mother's death. |han≠kass'o arrived alone in Mowbray on the 10th of January 1878 after a long stay in Beaufort West owing to his wife's illness. His age was estimated at around 30 at the time of his arrival in Mowbray. Lucy Lloyd tried but was unable to get his surviving child (who was indentured to a farmer) brought to him, so he returned to Bushmanland in December 1879 much to Lloyd and her family's regret. Word was sent to Mowbray of his safe return in Kenhardt by the Border Magistrate JH Scott. |han≠kass'o was one of Lloyd's most skilled narrators and he helped the Bleek and Lloyd family with practical matters such as the maintenance of the household as well. He longed to converse in his own language and with his own people and Lloyd tried to organize a |xam-speaking family to be sent to Mowbray to provide some companionship for him. Unfortunately a 'Hottentot' (or !Ora family) was sent in error which had, none the less, to be supported for almost 12 months. |han≠kass'o contributed the second-largest number of narratives and notebooks (32 of them were taken by Lloyd in all) revealing a great diversity of the richness of his people's practices, ideas and beliefs.