Hottentots

a dark-skinned race in the extreme southwestern part of Africa. They are related to the Bushmen. Their language differs from that of the negro races. They are unlike the negroes, also, having a yellowish brown, rather than a black complexion. The cheek bones are prominent. The lips are thick, the nostrils wide, and the nose flat. The hair is woolly and the beard scanty. When the Dutch and English settlers first invaded South Africa the Hottentots inhabited a territory of 100,000 square miles and numbered perhaps one-fifth of a million. Like the American Indians, they have been crowded away from the settlements. Their game has been destroyed. A remnant of 10,000 or 20,000 still exists. They have no fixed habitations, or, at best, live in miserable, low huts. They depend upon cattle rather than tillage for subsistence. See Bushmen

Hour-glass, a contrivance for measuring time. In making, the glass-blower closes a cylinder at each end, and draws the walls together to form a small passage or waist at the middle. When complete the glass has the form of two cones placed point to point. In use, as much sand or mercury is inclosed in one end as will run through the passage in an hour. By turning the glass the other end up, the passage of another hour can be marked, and so on. If a person were set to do a task, or wished to speak for an hour, the hour-glass reminded him of the passage of time, and also when his "hour was up." Its use gave rise to the expression, "the sands of time." The hour-glass continued in use for a long time after the invention of clocks. See Clock; Watch; Clepsydra