The Khoisan were the remnants of a very early migration of humans from central Africa. They themselves were slowly pushed southwards by migration of the Bantu central stream and by the mid-19th century only small communities of Khoisan remained. That the Khoisan occupied Xhosa country at one time is certain. For example, north of the Kei River the names are of Bantu origin [Qhora, Mbashe, Mthatha, Mzimvubu, Mzimkhulu]; and, south of the Kei they are Khoi [Keeiskama, Kariega,Kasouga, and Gamtoos]. Kei is a Hottentot word meaning clear or shiney.
The Xhosa absorbed the Gonaqua Khoisan [Hottentots] during the early part of the 17th and 18th centuries by intermarriage, whereby the Xhosa chief took a Khoi wife. The San [kalahari bushmen] were regularly employed as rainmakers by the Xhosa. Moreover, the Khoisan languages have a characteristic click-sound within them and this also is a characteristic of the Cape Nguni languages.