Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 2/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MARUTSE TRIBES.
DROWNING USELESS PEOPLE.
In the several preceding chapters I have had various occasions to refer to different customs and characteristics of the Marutse-Mabunda people that attracted my attention; but I propose to devote the present chapter to some further details before resuming the account of my travelling experiences.
Before it was split up into its present large number of tribes, the Bantu family believed in the existence of a powerful invisible God; and by no people has the conception been so well preserved as by the Marutse, inasmuch as they retain an idea, however indistinct, of an Omnipotent Being who observes every action and disposes of every individual at his own will.
They shrink from pronouncing His name, generally substituting for it the word “molemo,” which has a very comprehensive meaning, as besides signifying God, it is used to denote good and evil spirits, medicines, poisons, charms, and amulets. Their real designation of the unseen Deity is “Nyambe,” and if ever they pronounce it they raise both hands and eyes to the sky, and not unfrequently they use the same gestures without mentioning the name at all. They assume that the Supreme Being resides “mo-chorino,” i.e. in the azure of the heavens, and I have heard them allude to him as “He who lives above,” or simply as “He.” If a man dies a natural death, it is said that Nyambe has called him away, or if any one is killed in battle or by wild beasts, or by the fury of the elements, it is all supposed to have occurred at the bidding of Nyambe. A criminal sentenced to death meets his fate with submission, not doubting that Nyambe is sending the punishment due to his crime, or if any innocent person is condemned, as often happened during Sepopo’s government, both he and his friends will hope to the last that Nyambe will interfere for his protection from the poison, or from whatever else is to be the means of death.
The people also believe in good and evil spirits, the latter of which they endeavour to exorcise, or at least to propitiate, by means of charms, such as bones of men or beasts, hippopotamus’ teeth, bits of wood, pieces of bark, and calabash-gourds, which are enclosed in baskets made of bast, and hung up on poles three or four feet high.
Most of the Marutse-Marunda tribes hold the belief of continued existence after death, and the principal reasons alleged by the Masupias for depositing great elephants’ tusks on the grave of a chief are that he may be consoled for his separation from his property, and may be induced to extend to them his protection, now more powerful than ever by reason of his nearness to Nyambe.
Besides ascribing their calamities to the operation of evil spirits, they often think that they arise from the displeasure of a departed chief, who consequently has to be propitiated by certain ceremonies at his grave. For instance, if a member of the royal family is ill, he is carried, by the permission of the authorities, to the grave of the most important chieftain deceased in the neighbourhood, and there some dignitary, not unfrequently the king himself, will repeat a form of prayer supplicating the departed on behalf of the patient, and entreating him to intercede with Nyambe that he may be restored to health.
The mode of living throughout the empire is certainly less rude than that of the tribes south of the Zambesi. Agriculture is so remunerative, and cattle-breeding in two-thirds of the country is  | ||
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The fields are weeded with great assiduity by the women, and most of them are sufficiently drained by long furrows. As harvest-time approaches huts and raised platforms are erected in the vicinity, so that guard may be kept over the produce; children as well as adults are set to perform this office, which has to be maintained night and day. The corn is threshed by laying the ears on large skins or on straw mats, and then beating it with sticks. A certain proportion of the ingathering is allotted to the women to dispose of as they please; and to judge from the hard bargains they drove with myself and the white traders, they seem to manipulate their property with considerable advantage to themselves. The men, too, always demanded more for the goods that belonged to the women than they did for their own, saying the wife had fixed the price, and that if they could not obtain it they were to carry the things back again.
Apart from the tribute which they have to provide for the king and for the local chief, a family of five people, to meet their own requirements, will cultivate, according to their means, one, two, or three of the ordinary plots of ground, running about three-quarters of an acre each. Two-thirds of the tilled soil are in the wooded parts of the country, and the land is first cleared by the men and boys, who cut down the underwood and the lower branches of the trees, the wood thus obtained being used for the fences, and the weeds and faggots being burnt for manure. September and October are the usual months for sowing; but gourds, leguminous plants, and tobacco are sown any time up to December; the growth of the two latter crops being so extremely rapid that they often ripen by January, whilst kaffir-corn and maize are ready by February, beans coming in during both these months.
The crops most extensively cultivated are the two kinds of kaffir-corn, the red and the white; they both thrive admirably, and form the staple of the cereal impost, and the chief material of external traffic. Both sorts are identical with those that are found throughout South Africa.
There is a third kind of corn which is only occasionally seen in the district, called “kleen-corn” by the Dutch hunters, and “rosa” by the Marutse. The grains are small, not unlike hemp-seed, and when ground they produce a black flour that binds better for bread-making than either of the two sorghum-like species. The Marutse regard it as being especially choice, and it is double the price of the others.
Maize is very frequently cultivated, and with good success; but there is a still larger preponderance of crops of the gourd tribe, such as various species of water-melons, edible gourds, and bottle gourds, which are only grown for the sake of their shells. About as common as these are two species of beans, one small and almost colourless, the other larger and of a crimson or purple tint. Like mabele (common corn), rosa, and imboni (maize), these beans, known respectively as the “li-tu” and the “di-nowa,” form a certain part of the contribution to the royal revenue. When boiled with meat or with hippopotamus-bacon they have a flavour which is reckoned superior to our European species.
MARUTSE-MABUNDA CALABASHES FOR HONEY-MEAD AND CORN.
Three other vegetable products must be added to the list, viz. manza, masoshwani (Arachis hypogæa) and cotton. The manza is all crown property, and is sent to the royal quarters whole; it is there ground and used for a kind of pap without salt. The arachis, which forms part of the tribute, being identical with the ground-nut of the West Coast, is grown nearly everywhere; it is eaten by the natives after it has been roasted in the shell, and not unfrequently utilized by Europeans as a substitute for coffee. The cotton is cultivated for domestic use, and is woven into good strong fabrics; but it is hardly ever seen except in the eastern districts. The growth of all these crops furnishes a proof that rice might be cultivated with advantage.
Round about the huts and amongst the corn and maize may be seen luxuriant masses of sugar-cane (imphi) which is grown not so much for food as for a means of relieving thirst; it is the same sort that is found throughout South Africa, and here ripens between December and February.
The spots chosen for the tobacco plantations are generally hollows, from ten to twenty square yards in area. After being dried and pounded, the tobacco is slightly moistened and made into conical or circular pellets, in the corn-mortars. As a general rule, that which is grown by the Marutse tribes is of closer substance, keeps better, and contains a larger amount of nicotine than that produced amongst the surrounding people.
Considering the climate and the ample means of irrigation, I cannot help being of opinion that all our cereals, especially wheat, would thrive perfectly well in this country, and that not only rice and coffee in the eastern districts, but likewise the vine and many descriptions of European fruits could hardly fail to ripen admirably.
Taking all the various articles of food into account, we find that, after game, ordinary kaffir-corn, kleen-corn, maize, and gourds hold a foremost place; next comes fish; then follow in diminished proportions, sour milk, fresh milk, beef, mutton, goats’ flesh, forty-two species of wild fruits, the two kinds of beans, ground-nuts, fowls, wild birds, manza and honey. Meat is generally boiled in covered earthenware pots, or roasted in the embers, either with or without a spit. In their way of dressing meat, the people are really very clever, and I do not believe that dishes so savoury could be found throughout South Africa as those which are served in the better-class residences of the Marutse, and this is the more surprising when it is remembered that they lead a far more secluded life than any of the Bechuana tribes.
Wild birds are either roasted or boiled, and served up with their head-feathers or crests unremoved, on handsome perforated dishes. Many tribes reject certain kinds of wild game through superstitious motives; some will not touch the pallah; others will not eat the eland; and still more refuse to taste hippopotamus-meat; while, on the other hand, there are some of the Marutse people who enjoy the flesh of certain wild beasts of prey which the great majority of South Africans would hold to be utterly revolting. Both meat and fish are dried and preserved without undergoing any salting process. The various kinds of corn are either boiled or pounded in mortars, and then made into pap with milk or water, maize being boiled or baked, both in its green and dried state. Beans are boiled, and earth-nuts baked; gourds and water-melons are cut up and boiled, the latter being also eaten raw. Manza requires a somewhat careful preparation; when green the roots contain poisonous properties, but after being thoroughly dried and finely pounded they may be safely mixed into a pap something like arrowroot, which forms an excellent sauce for meat
BARK BASKET AND CALABASHES FOR HOLDING CORN, USED BY THE MABUNDAS.
of any kind. Wild fruits are baked, both when fresh, and when they have been dried in the sun; sometimes, too, they are stewed in milk, and occasionally they are reduced to pulp; some sorts are ripening at all periods of the year, so that there is an unfailing supply of this means of subsistence.
Salt has to be brought from such long distances, either from the west or south-west, that it is only the wealthier people that can afford to use it at all.
The poorer people have only one regular meal a day, which is taken in the evening; the well-to-do classes have two daily meals; the first an hour and a half or two hours after sunrise, and the other at sunset. Beer is usually drunk after every meal. Of the two kinds of beer made from kaffir-corn, one is strong, called matimbe; the second sort, known as butshuala, being much weaker; besides these, there is a sweet beer made from wild fruits, that produced from the morula fruit being like cider; and there is likewise the honey-beer, or impote, which I have had to mention several times before.
Besides being clever in their cooking, the Marutse-Mabundas are very clean; they always keep their materials in well-washed wooden or earthenware bowls, or in suitable baskets or calabashes. They were the first people that I saw making butter. Their cleanliness in their work only corresponds to that of their persons, and I am repeating what I have elsewhere observed in stating that rather than lose their bath they are always ready to run the risk of being snapped up by crocodiles.
They smoke more tobacco than any of the tribes among whom ithas been introduced by the white men, accustoming themselves to it from their earliest youth, and all of them, including young girls, take snuff. The snuff which they use is a compound of tobacco ashes, pulverized nymphæ-stalks, and the secretion from the glands of the Rhabdogale mustelina. Tobacco is usually made up into little cakes, which are strung together in rows.
In spite of its simplicity the costume of the Marutse may be pronounced more graceful than that of the majority of South African tribes. Instead of the leather fringe of the Zulus, or the narrow strap of the Bechuanas and Makalakas, the men wear leather aprons, which are fastened round their waist-belts, from the front to the back. Tribes like the Batokas, Manansas, Masupias, and Marutse, who frequently visit the southern side of the Zambesi, and consequently come more in contact with white men, wear cotton aprons, for which they generally require nearly three yards of calico; they are by no means particular about colour, but if they are unable to procure a piece of sufficient length (which they call a sitsiba), they make a point of getting at least enough for an apron to reach down to the knees in front. Those who wear leather aprons make them of the skins of the smaller mammalia, the Marutse and Masupias using those of the scopophorus and cephalopus, which are pierced all round the edge with square or circular holes, and the head part thrust through the girdle. The Manansas wear a small flap about as wide as their hand, made of calico, cloth, or leather.
In the style of their mantles, too, the Marutse subjects show a marked difference from the other branches of the great Bantu family. They prefer those of a circular shape, something like a Spanish mantilla, and reaching to their hips. Small mantles made of letshwe and puku skins are also worn. The sovereign and some of the principal officials occasionally attire themselves in European costume, but more often than not they wear nothing but their aprons, covering themselves in a woollen wrap in rainy weather. The waistband is made of every variety of material; sometimes of the hide of gnus, gazelles, or elephants, sometimes of the skins of water-lizards, boas, cobras, and other snakes, and occasionally of simple plaited grass or straw.
MABUNDA LADLE AND CALABASHES.
Boys go entirely naked until some time between their sixth and tenth years of age. Little girls on attaining their fourth year begin by wearing tiny aprons made of twisted cords about ten inches long, and sometimes ornamented with brass rings; when ten years old they have small square leather aprons fastened to a belt. Many of them, who are affianced when very young, wear two aprons, a short. one in front, and a longer one behind.
Married women have short petticoats of roughly tanned leather, generally cowhide, with the hair inside; these reach to their knees, and are fastened on by double waistbands. A red-brown substance that is prepared from bark, and has a somewhat agreeable odour, is rubbed into the outer surface. Women who are suckling their infants wear mantles of letshwe-skin like the men, which are generally thrown across their back, and drawn over their bosom on the approach of a stranger.
In bad weather the women, and sometimes the men too, wrap themselves up in a huge circular leather cloak reaching to the ankles, and fastened at the throat with a strap or a brooch of wood or metal; it requires to be held together in front by the hand. As a rule the people go barefooted, which is much more practicable on their sandy soil than in the thorny districts south of the Zambesi; for long journeys, however, they wear sandals made of rough leather, which are fastened to the great toe and ankle by a strap across the instep.
The eastern vassal tribes who grow cotton make pieces of calico of all sizes, from handkerchiefs to sheets. The smaller pieces are used for men’s aprons, and the larger, which are one or two yards wide, and from one and a half to two and a half yards long, are used for domestic purposes; their narrower ends are all finished off with fringes, varying from four to sixteen inches in length. The Mashonas weave similar articles of clothing, but employ bast for the material instead of cotton.
The position held by the women of the Marutse empire is better than that of their southerly neighbours. Although they till the soil, and assist in the erection of huts, all the hardest work, such as hunting, fishing, and the collection of building materials, is performed by the men. I generally found the elder people at work, the men gathering wild fruit in the woods, and the women in the fields, either superintending the young or engaged in some of the less arduous labour. The sons of the poorer people, and slave boys, usually act as shepherds, sometimes by themselves, but more generally under supervision, whilst boys of the upper class go hunting, either with assegais or guns. At harvest-time a very serviceable occupation is found for them in watching over the crops and scaring away the gazelles and birds; they are likewise employed to warn the villagers of the approach of any antelopes, buffaloes, or elephants.
It is not the habit of the Marutse to indulge in much sleep; they generally retire to rest late, and go to their work an hour or two before sunrise. Their recreations seldom begin until the close of the day, the lower their rank the later. They sleep chiefly upon mantles, skins, or straw mats. The king’s bed consisted of forty-five splendid mantles, piled one upon another, and three or four of the queens were appointed every night to keep watch over his slumbers.
The training of the children is entrusted to the women, though the boys soon escape the maternal eye, and associate more with the fathers. The children of freemen are allowed to have slave-children as companions and playmates, and as these are to form their future retinue, they often have a great influence upon the rising generation, who become much more attached to them than to those who have the natural authority over them; in fact, the children in this way are often so much indulged that I have known boys of only twelve years of age have quite the upper hand of their fathers. Boys are instructed in the use of weapons while they are quite young, and soon acquire the art of building a hut. The girls are kept strictly to their work, and the householder always expects the daughters to take a share in the maintenance of the family as soon as possible. Until ten or twelve years of age they are chiefly employed in fetching water.
Marriages are celebrated by noisy demoralizing orgies, of which, as at funerals, a large consumption of kaffir-corn beer and a special dance are the principal features. Children, as I have remarked, are often affianced at an early age, and the marriage is consummated as soon as the girl arrives at maturity. Not unfrequently a man of rank, although already he may have several other wives and a number of children, obtains the daughter of a friend for a wife, arranging meanwhile to give one of his own daughters to his new father-in-law in return, thus making him his son-in-law like-wise. Sepopo, it has been mentioned, held this double relationship to several of the koshi and kosanas.
When a girl reaches her maturity, the fact is formally announced to all her companions, an invitation is sent round, and they visit her at her own home every evening for about a week, and execute a dance, which is accompanied by singing and castanet-playing. The performance is generally kept up until a very late hour. If the girl is a daughter or near relation of the king ora koshi, she is carried off by her people to some out-of-the-way place in a neighbouring wood or reed-thicket, where she has to reside in seclusion for eight days, attended only by her own maid, except that in the evening she is visited by her friends, who perfume her head, and instruct her in her conjugal duties, so that at the end of her probation she may be ready to go to her husband. I have already described the marriage-dance, in which only men take part. As a rule, even in the case of vassals, it lasts for three days and nights. A vassal may only marry by the consent of his lord, who assigns him one of his slave women as a wife.
In complete contrast to the tribes south of the Zambesi, who bury their dead at night in secluded spots near their homes, or under the hedges; the Marutse-Mabundas celebrate their funerals with music, singing, shouting, and firing of guns. Many of them mark the place of interment by depositing on it the hunting-trophies of the deceased, such as the skulls of gazelles and zebras, that during his lifetime have been preserved upon poles. Sometimes trees are planted in an oval form round the grave, which never fails in being protected by some means or other from desecration by wild animals. The ceremonies observed at funerals, itis only reasonable to suppose, are associated with certain ideas of a future existence. Monuments of more elaborate construction are said to exist in the Barotse, the mother country of the dominant tribe, where a mausoleum is erected to the memory of every important member of the royal family. It is a matter of much regret to me that I failed to get far enough north to enable me to inspect these monuments; the only accounts that I received of them were from Sepopo and several of the chiefs, and from Westbeech and Blockley, who, under the king’s authority, had visited the district in 1872 and 1873.
Audiences with the king are conducted in prescribed form. When subjects who have come from distant provinces enter the royal courtyard they keep repeating the cry “tow-tu-nya” over and over again, and then squat down close to the entrance in silence, and wait until they are summoned; in course of time they are generally introduced by their own koshi or kosana residing in Sesheke, who crawls up to the king and announces their arrival; on their admittance they have to creep forwards on their knees, and when within a few yards of the king they have to halt and keep clapping their hands gently, while their leader acts as spokesman. As soon as they have received the royal answer, the audience is at an end, and they have to retire in the same way as they advanced. Visitors from the neighbourhood greet the king with the cry of “shangwe-shanewe;” other forms of salutation are “shangwe-koshi,” and “rumela-rarumela intate,” the former of these being more particularly addressed to white men.
There is one form of salutation to a stranger which is observed by every householder, from the king downwards. After a few words have been exchanged, the host produces a snuff-box that hangs from his neck or his waistband by a strap, or from his bracelet, and having opened it, offers it to his guest; though, sometimes, instead of passing the box, he empties its contents into his own left hand, from which he takes a pinch himself, and then extends his half-opened palm to those about him.
Travelling is performed with the help of bearers, who are either hired for the entire distance, or from tribe to tribe, the conditions being rigidly investigated by the king. In return for a supply of bearers the king expects a present of a breechloader and 200 cartridges, or three elephant-guns, or muzzle-loaders, and recently looks for some articles of clothing in addition; and every governor of a province that is traversed has to be presented either with a gift of clothes or with a good blanket. If hired for two months a servant receives a cotton sheet, or three yards of calico, or a pound of small blue beads. No subject may be engaged as servant to a white man for a period of more than six months without the consent of the sovereign, except the transaction be a private one between a koshi and his slave. For a year’s service the remuneration on the Zambesi was usually a musket, the servant of course being kept by the employer, and receiving an occasional present of tobacco, or dacha. If bearers and boatmen are under the supervision of a good overseer they do their work very well, are contented with one meal a day, and with intervals of one rest of half an hour, and about five more of a quarter of an hour each, they will march or row from daybreak until after four o’clock in the afternoon. Immediately upon halting they light a fire with a brand which they always carry with them, and commence smoking their dacha-pipes.
But without a good makogana or overlooker the case is very different. Then the traveller, especially a white man, is exposed to all sorts of annoyances, and not only will the servants do all in their power to hinder his progress, but the more indulgently he acts, the worse they will be. The baggage is generally carried on their heads, or on a stick placed across the shoulder, very heavy packages being conveyed on a long pole by two or four men. They travel on an average at the rate of nearly three miles an hour. On the river, boats make from three and a half to four and a half miles against the stream, and from five and a half to seven miles with the stream, if unimpeded by rapids, and not interfered with by hippopotamuses.
When travelling alone the natives take very few provisions. The small two-oared boats that convey the corn-tribute to Sesheke are nearly always so heavily laden that the boatmen take nothing with them but a httle fish, satisfied to get what food they can upon their way by gathering wild fruits from the banks, and by knocking over with their thoboni-sticks, which they use with an aim that seldom errs, some of the birds in the rushes, which their noiseless advance allows them to approach without disturbing.
The administration of justice in the Marutse kingdom is a topic not without its interest. By the formation of the greater council the cause of judicial equity was materially advanced, but unfortunately this institution, founded by a constitutional ruler now long deceased, has latterly lost much of its prestige, and has received almost its death-blow under the despotism of Sepopo. For the last ten years justice has been set at defiance more and more. Long established customs, having the sanction of law, are fondly clung to by the natives, who naturally resent any interference with their privileges, and it was Sepopo’s attempt to suppress the ancient usages that first estranged him from his subjects. The laws of property, the social relations between the tribes, the law of succession to the throne, the recognized rule of treaties, and the criminal code, were all completely subverted by him, being either abrogated altogether, or remodelled to suit his own fancy. It seems, however, a matter of certainty that under Wana-Wena, his successor, the greater part of the old Marutse law will be re-established.
Minor differences are adjusted by the kosanas and makosanas, more important charges being referred to the governing chiefs; but all offences of a serious character, if they are committed within moderate distance of the royal residence, are tried before the king and the greater council. Murder, which is of rare occurrence, is always punished with death. More executions took place at the royal quarters than in any other part of the country, because any one who incurred any unpopularity in the provinces was tolerably sure to be dragged thither upon a charge of high treason. When once Sepopo’s suspicions were aroused against an individual, he had no respect of persons; neither close relationship, faithful service, nor official rank had any weight with him, and he would credit no evidence; in such cases the mere accusation of high treason, murder, desertion, selling ivory or honey, stealing royal property, adultery with one of the queens, or manslaughter, was quite enough to secure a conviction, and the accused would forthwith be condemned to be poisoned and burnt. Brawling, causing bodily injury to others, and pilfering, were punished by hard labour in the king’s fields, or by slavery for life. When the king had no personal interest in a case he suffered the council to pass sentence without interference on his own part, and when any criminal was declared to be worthy of death, the sentence ran that he was to be poisoned by the judgment of God.
I was myself a witness of an execution under this sentence. It was a singularly calm morning, and after a night disturbed by a grand carousal of the people, there was perfect silence. Before daybreak, however, the stillness was broken by the noise of the Mamboë starting off with their canoes and nets to get the daily supply of fish for the court, and being aroused, I went out, as I had occasionally done before, to watch their departure. As I was returning I met a group of about twenty people hurrying off towards the woods; a second glance explained the cause that had brought them out so early. At the head of the party was that Mabunda hyæna, Mashoku, the king’s executioner; he was attired in a gaily checked woollen shirt, reaching almost to his heels, and close behind him was a dejected-looking man of middle age; then followed two old creatures, like walking mummies, who, by their fez-like headgear, were at once known as the king’s physicians, and the ruling spirits of his secret council; next came four young men armed with assegais. Two little clusters of people brought up the rear; in the foremost of these was a woman and two children; the last batch was screeching and shouting with excitement. As I stood watching the proceedings I heard a voice whispering close behind me—it only confirmed what I had already supposed—“Camaya mo mositu, ku umubulaya mona mo” (they are going to the woods to kill that man there). I looked round, and found that I was being informed of what was going on by one of the Sesheke boys who used to sell me his fish for beads.
I ascertained that the unfortunate who was being dragged to execution had been accused of high treason by some of his neighbours, who were jealous of his crops, and Sepopo had condemned him to death in spite of the general wish of the council to acquit him; but it happened that Sepopo was more unwell than usual, and it was made a part of the charge that his illness was brought about by some charms that the man had devised.
On reaching the woodland glade that was the place of execution, Mashoku tore off the condemned man’s leather apron, and broke his wooden and ivory bracelets, the four young men in attendance fastening on him another apron made of some leaves that they gathered on the spot. In the middle of the glade stood a sort of low gallows, consisting of two upright posts, five feet high and three feet apart, with one horizontal crossbar along the top, and another about a third of the way up. There were several piles of ashes lying about, from which projected some charred human bones.
Mashoku made his victim sit down upon the lower cross-bar and take hold of the uprights with each hand. One of the four assistants then brought out a small gourd-bottle, and he was followed by a second carrying a wooden bowl. Having poured out into the bowl a black decoction with which he had been supplied by the king, Mashoku ordered the man to swallow it. The order was immediately obeyed; but no sooner had he drunk the contents of the bowl than all his relations who were present rushed up in the hope of seeing him vomit the draught. “Father, husband, brother, friend!” they cried; “fear not! you are innocent. Your foes were jealous; they grudged you your mabele! Nyambe knows you are a good man! Nyambe grant you to vomit the poison!” But meanwhile the accusers took advantage of any opportunity they could get to revile the poor creature bitterly; they shook their fists at him; they spat in his face; they called him scoundrel, thief, cheat; declared that he was getting only his deserts, and that his bones should be burned as the bones of a traitor.
According to the old Marutse law, every condemned malefactor has to drink a bowl of poison; if after swallowing it, he falls down, succumbing to its influence, he is declared guilty, and his body is at once burnt; if, on the other hand, he vomits what he has taken, he is discharged as innocent; the respite, however, is practically only temporary, as the poison is almost certain to have caused such a disorder in the blood that death ensues in the course of a year or two. In his general subversion of all the long established ordinances of the kingdom, Sepopo set aside this rule just when he pleased, and often gave his executioner private orders to proceed to burn the accused under any circumstances.
Several instances of this were related to me. When he moved from the Barotse to Sesheke he was unable, on account of the tsetse-fly in the neighbourhood, to bring his cattle with him; some large herds belonging to one of the chieftains aroused his envy, and the owner was soon a doomed man. He was brought to judgment and condemned, but evacuating the poison, he escaped; he was brought to trial again with the same result; the third time he was not permitted to get off, but his body, by private orders, was exposed to the fire till he was dead. On another occasion, after I left Sesheke, the wife of the chief Mokoro was sentenced to death; the poison test declared her innocent, but the executioner informed her that he was commissioned by the king to burn her alive next day all the same. To avoid her fate the wretched woman flung herself into the river, where a huge crocodile seized her and mangled her body frightfully before carrying it to the bottom.
But to resume my account of the victim in the wood. When the clamour around him ceased a little, and the accusers grew tired of reviling him, the two old doctors came forward and twisted him round and round, to make the poison, as they said, work itself into his system. They then made him resume his old position on the scaffold, where all the hubbub of the sympathizers and enemies was again renewed, the impatience of both parties continually increasing till they saw whether the poison would act as an emetic or a narcotic. Their curiosity was not set at rest for half an hour, when the man at last fell senseless to the ground. This was the signal for the executioner’s deputies to proceed to business; without losing an instant they pounced upon the body and carried it off to the fire already kindled; it was in vain for wife or friends to protest; the poor wretch’s head was held over the flames until the face was half-burned away, and he was choked. A quantity of brushwood was then added, and the body, as rapidly as possible, was consumed in the bonfire. The relations, uttering loud lamentations, began to return homewards, but they were careful to suppress all their wailing on reaching the town, lest their tokens of grief should excite the king’s anger, and provoke him to further barbarities.
During this reign of terror many who thought themselves likely to come under suspicion tried to leave the country, and some even committed suicide to avoid coming under the royal sentence. Runaways who were caught were either assegaied by their pursuers, or brought back to Sepopo for execution; if any of them were interceded for either by an important chief or by any of the white men, it was very likely that the application would be received with a very gracious acquiescence, but the chances were that a few days afterwards he would be again accused and convicted afresh.
In cases of theft neither the king nor any of his officials will punish a man except upon his own confession, or upon the evidence of a number of witnesses. No pains are ever taken by the authorities to discover or apprehend a thief; they simply say to a complainant, “Bring your man here, and then we can deal with him.”
I have already mentioned that two respited criminals acted as scavengers at the royal residence. These men had always to be up and to complete their work before any one was stirring; and occasionally they had to remove corpses out of the thoroughfares, as Sepopo regarded all dead bodies, except those of his own people at the court, merely as offal, and gave orders that they should be treated as other rubbish.
It is only giving the Marutse people fair credit for their medical knowledge to say that it is certainly in advance of that of other South African tribes; on this superior knowledge the physicians in the secret council have devised their sorceries in such a way as to gain for themselves a kind of awe from the common people; their acquaintance with the medicinal or poisonous properties of many plants is such as might enable them to be of universal service, were they not actuated by the desire to maintain their hold upon the ignorant by the old routine of magic. Apart, however, from this, I found that they quite understood the treatment of dysentery, fever, coughs, colds, wounds, and snake-bites, although their remedies were always accompanied by mysterious ceremonies to inspire the faith which, perhaps, after all, contributed very largely to the cure. As with the Bechuanas, bleeding was quite a common operation; it was performed with metal, horn, or bone lancets upon the temples, cheeks, arms, breast, and shoulders, the blood being drawn out by bone suckers; it was adopted in cases of neuralgia to relieve any local pain, and was supposed to reduce inflammation in any of the neighbouring organs. Plants of which the medicinal qualities had been ascertained were dried and used in powder and decoctions, or sometimes they were burnt and reduced to charcoal. The animal substances employed for medicine were bone-dust, scales of the pangolin, and the glandular secretions and excrements of certain mammalia. In one respect the Mabunda doctors differed from the Bechuanas, in having no external indication to mark their profession, unless their extreme old age might be interpreted as a badge of their calling.
The prevalence of superstition is no doubt the principal and most serious obstacle to the intellectual development of the Marutse-Mabunda tribes. It was the awe with which his subjects regarded him that enabled Sepopo, in spite of his atrocities, so long to maintain his power over them; the aged doctors that he kept about him never failed to inculcate the most superstitious notions upon the people, and the influence they exercised was very largely increased by the manifest efficacy of many of the remedies they used; there was no room left to question the sacredness of the person of the sovereign.
It would be absolutely impossible to enumerate all the charms that are employed, and I will only pause to recapitulate a few of them.
At the commencement of a war, after the completion of a new town, or in any season of general calamity, certain portions of the human body, removed during life, are deposited in special places in vessels designed for the purpose.
Bracelets and chestbands made of buffalo fat are supposed to keep off various disorders, and to act as a protection in cases of pursuit.
Fat, taken from the heart of a domestic animal, and fastened crosswise to a stick, and placed near the hut of any fugitive from his country, is imagined to be sure before long to overpower his senses and to make him reel home again like a drunkard to receive his proper punishment.
Pulverized and charred bones of mammalia, birds, and amphibious animals are sold to hunters to ensure their fleetness in the chase, the powder being either carried in bags about the person, or rubbed into incisions made in the arms and legs.
All kinds of pharmaceutical preparations obtained from white men are regarded as possessing magic properties, as are also the skins of rare animals, such as the great black lemur, the eyes, nostrils, and ridge of the tail of the crocodile, the horns of the Cephalopus Hemprichii and of the Scopophorus Urebi, beads of any scarce sort, and any abnormal growth in the hair, on the bones, or on the horns of animals.
Other charms consist of small bags made of the skin of the python, belts and chestbands cut from the skins of snakes and lizards, and little shells fastened together into headbands, necklaces, bracelets, and girdles. The shells, as well as other products of marine animals, have been introduced by the Portuguese, and are in great demand.
Instead of being worn about the body, charms and amulets are often deposited in some secret place known only to the master of the house. All along the enclosure at the back of his reception-hut, Sepopo had a row of clay-pots and calabashes containing a great collection of charms, besides those that were stored in his laboratory. The receptacles were very diversified. Those that were uncovered consisted of bags and baskets made of bast, grass, or straw, rude wooden dishes of many sizes, pots and pans of baked or unbaked clay, generally covered with patterns and glazed, either supported by wooden legs or hung upon poles, and calabashes that were generally arranged under little roofs of their own. The closed receptacles were makenke baskets, tiny baskets made of palm-leaves, small calabashes in the shape of an hour-glass with wooden stoppers, horns of gazelles with the end plugged up, goats’ horns engraved all over, and the horns of the larger kinds of antelopes, such as harrisbocks and gemsbocks, neatly carved and in shape like powder-flasks. All of them were provided with straps by which they could be hung up. I also noticed some boxes that had been carefully carved out of wood, reeds, birds’ or animals’ bones, hippopotamus’ and elephants’ tusks, fruit-shells, and various sorts of claws; and there were bags made of skins, and even the intestines and the bladders of certain animals, while some were merely fragments of woollen cloth or cotton sewn together. The greatest care seemed to be bestowed on the preservation of every article of this character.
If it could be transferred to a European museum, Sepopo’s medicine-hut would be in itself a very remarkable and promiscuous ethnological collection; but, unfortunately, it is very difficult for any one to obtain objects of this sort at all, as the natives are extremely reluctant to part with the most trifling thing that is credited with the possession of magic properties.
Liquids, poured out in front of the entrance of a house or courtyard, are supposed to act as a spell upon the master or any one who may inadvertently step across the place while it is still damp. Illness, as I have had occasion to remark, is nearly always presumed to be the result of magic or malevolence. My own profession, and the general character of my occupation, as well as my success from time to time in relieving certain cases of sickness, caused me to be regarded in the Marutse kingdom as a magician, and at least had the satisfactory result of ensuring me more respect than white men generally get. The nostrums used for medical purposes were known only by the king, his confidential doctors, and the executioner, who did not fail to extort a large price for their commodities.
Before any inhuman measure on which the king had set his mind could be carried in the council, it was frequently found unavoidable to have several sittings; but if any of the members were ascertained to be persistently obstructive, measures were soon found for getting rid of them, and they were perpetually being accused of high treason or some other crime, and thus removed out of the way. Sepopo’s propensity for human sacrifices was by no means in accordance with the usual practice of the country, and it was only by coercing his secret council that he succeeded in perpetrating his superstitious barbarities.
In this way it was that while New Sesheke was being built, Sepopo brought it about that a resolution should be passed by the secret tribunal to the effect that in order to save the new town from the fate of the old, the son of one of the chiefs should be killed; but that his toes and fingers should first be cut off, and preserved as a charm in a war-drum.
In spite of the secrecy which was enjoined, the rumour of the resolution came to one of the chiefs, who communicated it privately to many of his friends. This was about the end of September, when Blockley was the only white man left in Sesheke. Night after night groups of men were to be seen stealthily making their way past his quarters to the woods; they were the servants of the chiefs, carrying away the young boys whither they hoped to have them out of the tyrant’s reach, and some little time elapsed before either the king or his executioner was aware of the steps that were being taken to frustrate the bloody order.
The appointed day arrived. Mashoku’s emissaries were sent to ascertain from which of the chieftains’ enclosures a victim might most readily be procured, but one by one they returned and reported that not a child was to be found. At last, however, one of the men brought word that he had seen a solitary boy playing outside his father’s fence. Apprised of this, the king immediately sent directions to the father to go out at once and procure some grass and reeds for a hut that he was building, and then charged Mashoku to lose no time. As soon as he had satisfied himself that the man had left his home, Mashoku sent his messenger to fetch the child to the royal courtyard, where, although the place was full of people, a perfect silence prevailed. The king was in a terribly bad temper, and no one dared to breathe a word. The executioner’s assistant made his way to the abode of the chief, and was greeted by the mistress of the house with a friendly “rumela;” he then proceeded to tell her that the kosana, her husband, was just setting out in his canoe, and that he had sent him to say he wished his little son to go with him. The mother acquiesced, and the boy was delighted to accompany the man, who of course took him off to the royal courtyard, where a sign from Mashoku announced their arrival to the moody king. Sepopo started to his feet, and accompanied by his band, made his way towards the river, the child being led behind him. Bewildered as the poor little victim was, he was somewhat reassured by the direction they were taking; but all at once he was alarmed at the shrieks of a chieftain’s wife, whose house they were passing, and who, knowing the purpose on which they were bent, cried out in horror.
At the river the whole party, numbering nearly seventy, embarked and crossed to the opposite side. The myrimbas were left behind, but the large drums were taken over. Shortly after landing the king seated himself on a little stool; he made the executioner, a few of his own personal attendants, and the members of his secret council form an inner circle; beyond them he placed the drummers; and, outside these, he ordered the rest of the company to group themselves, so as to conceal from the town the deed that was being perpetrated. The poor boy by this time had almost fainted from fear; but when, at a nod from the king, the executioners seized him, he began to scream aloud with terror. The drummers were ordered to play with all their might, so that the piteous shrieks should not be heard; several assistants were then summoned to hold the child, so that resistance was impossible, and the two doctors set themselves deliberately to work to amputate finger after finger, and toe after toe.
No drumming could drown the heart-rending cries of the sufferer. The people of Sesheke could hear him, in the midst of his torture, calling out, “Ra, ra, kame, ra, ra!” (Father, O my father!) and “umu umu bulaya” (they are killing me!); but though a large crowd was thus made aware of what was going on, no one dared to raise a hand to rescue the miserable sufferer.
When the doctors had finished their cruel operation, the hapless boy was strangled, and knocked on the head with a kiri. The whole party then returned to their boats, which were pushed off into midstream, where, as if by accident, they were formed into a circle; but, in reality, with the design of concealing the corpse as it was dropped into the water. Meanwhile the weeping mother had made her way down to the bank, and regardless alike of the crocodiles and of the displeasure of the tyrant, waded into the stream and demanded her son—her darling Mushemani. But to Sepopo a mother’s grief was nothing; he landed quite unconcerned, and proceeded with his myrmidons to enjoy his pots of butshuala, while the doctors stored away the dismembered toes and fingers in a war-drum.
This narrative I give as related to me in its general outline on my second return to Sesheke by two of the resident chiefs, the details being filled in by Blockley, whose quarters were just opposite to the scene of the murder.
Before crossing the Zambesi I had been told about the industrial skill of Sepopo’s people, and had been given to understand that amongst the southern tribes the Mashonas particularly excelled. Prevented as I was from visiting the country, I had no opportunity of forming an opinion that is conclusive; but, judging from various specimens that I saw, I am inclined to believe that there are some of the Marutse tribes, that in certain branches of industry surpass even the Mashonas.
Amongst cooking-utensils, those that are made of clay form an important class. Many of them are in the shape of vases, some ornamented round the neck with patterns of a lighter or a darker colour, others polished so that they seemed to be entirely covered with glaze; the lower parts were never ornamented, nor did I see any with handles. The clay vessels that are used as corn-bins are immensely large, and most frequently urn-shaped; they are made more roughly than the cooking-vessels, and always of unbaked clay; they are shut in at the top bya lid made also of clay, and in front, close to the ground, they have a semi-circular opening about as wide as one’s hand, protected by an interior slide which may be raised and lowered by means of horizontal handles; occasionally they are made so large that it requires as many as sixteen men to lift them, and, when moved, they are carried on poles. For the most part clay utensils are manufactured by women, and are used in the preparation of kaffir-corn beer, for holding water and milk, and for ordinary culinary purposes.
Utensils of wood are most commonly made by men, particularly by the men of the Mabundas; they are burnt all over inside with red-hot irons, a process which is so skilfully performed that it gives them the appearance of ebony; many of them are ornamented with raised carvings, running in symmetrical patterns round the edge and neck; and some of them have perforated bosses, which serve the purpose of handles. All of them are provided with carved lids.
The variety of wooden vessels is as large as that of the earthenware, and their shapes quite as diversified. The dishes used for minced meats are good specimens of their kind, and exhibit some of the best carving of the Mabundas. As a general rule wooden pots are either conical or cylindrical in shape, rounded inside at the bottom, and are used for holding meal, beans, small fruits, and beer. As an intermediate production between the pots and the dishes, there are bowls with lips or spouts.
Wooden dishes are either oval or round, those to which I have just alluded are oval, and are hollowed into the form of a boat, and are repeatedly to be seen with a horizontal rim of fretwork; they are perfectly black, and without handles. Except in the houses of the upper classes they are rarely to be met with, and the most elaborately worked of any that I saw belonged to the king; but although all the oval dishes are large, I noticed a good many amongst the Matabele that were double or treble the size of any of Sepopo’s; all of them had handles at the end, and they were usually kept for serving heavy joints to a number of guests. Not unfrequently they are ornamented with a kind of arabesque carving, raised about half an inch above the surface, a mode of decorating their work in which I believe that the Mashonas carry off the palm.
Of round dishes there are a good many varieties; all of them appeared to have bosses projecting more or less, to serve as handles, and they were nearly always curved at the bottom, though in some rare cases they had a small flat surface at the bottom about the size of a crown-piece; the edges are generally notched. No household is ever without them, as they are especially serviceable for holding milk and oil, and all substances of a fatty nature.
The dried shells of nearly all the gourds are universally utilized as vessels, and on account of their light weight, there is no purpose to which they are so generally applied as that of carrying water, both for domestic use and for travelling. In variety of natural form, as well as in their artificial adaptations to use, they exhibit a still greater diversity than either the clay or the wooden wares. For common purposes they are polished to yellow, various shades of brown and brick red, and are often covered with a network of grass or bast; but those that are reserved for rare or more important occasions, are generally branded with well-executed devices. The Mabundas are notoriously skilful in this kind of work, particularly in figures. Amongst the designs thus burnt in I saw arabesques that were sometimes very elaborate, figures of men, animals, birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects; representations of huts, oars, weapons, and implements of many kinds; pictures of the sun and moon, besides scenes of hunting or of fighting, of which two especially attracted my attention, depicting with considerable minuteness the capture of a besieged town, and showing the stone breastworks that have now ceased to be erected as defences in warfare.
It must be confessed that on the whole the designs were executed with a certain amount of skill, and, considered as the production of savages, indicated a kind of artistic power; though I could not pretend to compare them in this respect with the carvings of the Bushmen. Occupying, as they do, a prominent place in the industrial products of the central Zambesi, these carved calabashes must be allowed to indicate a decided advance upon anything of the kind that is to be seen on the southern side of the river. The gourds chosen for the purpose are partly grown in the maize-fields, and partly close round the huts. The smallest-sized gourds were made into snuff-boxes, but not so frequently as among the Bechuanas.
I observed also some very handsome spoons, and some large ladles, made from a peculiar kind of gourd that grows thick at one end; not a few of these were ornamented with devices elaborated with much patience; their general colour was yellow, brown, or chocolate. Not all their spoons are made from gourds, as I saw some made of wood, two feet long, and used for serving out meal-pap or stewed fruit; many of those used for meals are also wood; and altogether I am disposed to think that throughout the savage tribes of Africa none would be found to use wooden utensils more neatly finished off than the spoons of the Mabundas. I may add, that in addition to other wooden productions, I saw some well-made mortars for pounding corn, and some sieves, dexterously put together with broad wood-shavings, to be used for sifting meal.
The Marutse-Mabunda people likewise do a good deal of good basket-work. Perhaps the simplest specimen of this would be found in the circular corn-bags, made of grass or baobab rind, about two feet long and not quite so wide; another sort of bag, hardly more elaborate in its make, is woven from reeds, from the stalks of plants, or from fan-palm leaves; these are of larger dimensions, and are really sacks for carrying dried fish and the heavier descriptions of fruit. Most of the tribes are skilful in making bags of thick bast, and in putting together very rapidly a kind of sweep-net. A basket that is of very easy manufacture is made from pieces of a bark very much resembling our red birch, sewn together with bast. It is nothing more than a tube closed at one end, and having a piece of wood thrust through the other, or a strap attached to form a handle. It is generally used at the ingathering of fruit. Basket-making of a superior character is exemplified in the makuluani baskets, which are manufactured from the lancet-shaped leaflets of the fan-palm; these are very strongly made, and with their close-fitting covers and firm texture, are sufficiently solid to serve the purpose of boxes or chests; so various are they in form, that it is rare to see two alike. The Matabele who have settled in the Barotse valley weave grass and straw into basket-work, so fine and compact that it is quite watertight, and can be used for drinking-cups.
The best specimens of this kind of handicraft are found in the makenke baskets made by the tribes in the Barotse, in spite of the material out of which they are formed being somewhat unmanageable. This material is the root-fibre of the mosura, a tree not unlike a maple. There are two kinds of them, one without any covering, and generally of uniform shape and size; the other with a close-fitting lid, and found in endless diversity of form and dimensions. As works of skill, there is not much to choose between them; they always have elaborate patterns woven into them with fibres that have either been burnt black or dyed of a darker colour than the rest. Except in the Barotse, they are very scarce, and in Sesheke there is the greatest difficulty in obtaining one at all.
Knives of the kind used by men in their daily occupations, and for ordinary domestic purposes, are worn without any sheath, and consist of a thin pointed iron blade, often bent round into a sickle shape, with a handle made of the skin of snakes or lizards. Weapons of offence are assegais of various kinds, daggers, hatchets, knives, and kiris; those of defence being shields and sticks.
There is a large variety of assegais, all of them exhibiting good form and workmanship, and carefully adapted to the different uses for which they are designed. Altogether they struck me as the best specimens that I had seen in South Africa, and they are far superior to those of either the Bechuanas or Makalakas. Amongst the stronger and more uncommon of the assegais are those belonging to the chieftains, and serving as insignia of their office; they vary from five feet to six and a half feet in length, a third part of which is iron; the shafts are the most substantial that are made north of the Zambesi, and are generally carved or ornamented with indented lines or circles.
The assegai that is used for hand-to-hand fights is a most formidable weapon, especially as wielded by the Matabele. It has a kind of gutter running along the blade; the neck is formed of embossed rings; the shaft is short and strong, and weighted at the end with an iron band as thick as one’s finger. When it is to be hurled as a javelin, an assegai has a different character; it is much lighter, and has a longer shaft, the length being frequently as much as seven feet; the blade is quite plain, and the neck altogether slighter.
For hunting purposes there are assegais of a good many different sizes; the necks of these are furnished with either single or double barbs, and the blades are sometimes harpoon-shaped, and sometimes like an ordinary spear-head. They may be divided into two leading groups, one being such as are used for killing gazelles and the smaller mammalia; the other including those adapted to buffaloes, lions, zebras, panthers, and wild game generally.
Of all the various sorts of assegais, perhaps the longest is the crocodile spear, of which the most remarkable feature is the head, which carries four barbs, two close to the blade, and the other two, which are bent upward, just where the neck joins the shaft. There are also two special javelins adapted for killing otters; the blades of these are narrow, but very sharp, and averaging about six inches in length. The water-lizard assegai corresponds with the war assegai in every respect, except that its blade is only half as long. Not unlike this is the weapon used for spearing fish, only it has a point much more rounded; all the upward bent barbs, and those projecting outwards from the sides, exhibit very clever workmanship, and every one of the many kinds seems to answer its purpose well.
In its construction no assegai is more simple than that used in hippopotamus-hunting; the shaft of this is made of soft wood, and from two to three feet long. The elephant assegai is entirely of iron, becoming thicker and broader at its lower end, and covered inthe middle with a piece of leather. There is a very rude sort of assegai which is often buried in pits, point uppermost, and succeeds occasionally very well as a stratagem for trapping water-antelopes.
Before concluding my summary of thrusting weapons, I must not omit to mention the Marutse-Mabunda daggers. They are distinguished from those of the Bamangwatos, which are by no means despicable weapons, and from those of the Matabele, which are singularly formidable, by the tastefulness of their workmanship. They are remarkable, too, for their perforated sheaths, which, like the handles, are covered with ebony-like carvings; the blades are of iron, and generally of inferior quality to those of either assegais or hatchets.
The sticks which are employed as missiles are from a yard to a yard and a half long; they are double, as thick at one end as they are at the other, the lighter extremity being in the usual way about as thick as one’s finger.
Hatchets are made of different shapes by different tribes; not only are they better than those of the southerly tribes as regards form, lightness, and choice of material, but they possess a decided advantage in being firmly set in their sockets, which the tomahawks of the Bechuanas, Kaffirs, Makalakas, and Matabele seldom or never are. The handles are cut out of strong well-seasoned wood, with ornamental patterns burnt in. The weapon generally is so light, that it seems like a toy in the hands of a man, though it can perform very effectual service in close encounters.
Such knives as are used for particular purposes, like wood-carving, and those that are worn as weapons of defence, are longer in the blade, and altogether more carefully made than the common domestic knives; slightly curved at the end, they are made very strong at the back, and are often found highly ornamented, the handles, into which they are well secured, being usually flat, and occasionally elaborately carved.
The kiris, just as they were elsewhere, were short round sticks, with a knob at one end. Amongst the Marutse they were made either of some hard kind of wood or of rhinoceros horn. Those of wood are the more common. The knobs are about as large as a man’s fist, and are not unfrequently scooped out. Ordinarily, the stick part is about two feet long, and from one inch to two inches thick; it is more often than not highly polished; its extremity is sometimes sharpened, sometimes rounded, and examples are met with from time to time in which the end is finished off by an iron ferule.
No weapon of defence is so important as the shield. The Marutse, however, do not excel in its manufacture, like the tribes farther south; what they use is generally made of black and white cow-hide, and is upon the whole very like the shield of the Bechuanas, though larger than that of the Zulus or Masarwas.
As the last in my list of weapons, I may refer to the long sticks that are used for defensive purposes; many of these run from six to eight feet in length, their usual thickness being only about an inch; both ends terminate in a ferule of twisted iron.
At the time of my brief sojourn in the district, the number of guns that had been introduced into the country from the south and west amounted to 500 flint muskets, 1500 ordinary percussion muskets, eighty percussion elephant-guns, 150 rifles, thirty double-barrelled guns of various sorts, ten breech-loaders, and three revolvers. After I left, the great bulk of these were thrown into the Zambesi by the people in revolt, and as they were not replaced, I do not suppose that the entire number of firearms in the kingdom would exceed 1100 or 1200 at the most.
In the manufacture of such clothing as they wear, the Marutse tribes fail to exhibit anything like the same skill as in other branches of handicraft. The shape of the various articles of their attire is not bad, but they have not the knack, elsewhere common, of arranging a number of skins so that a garment has the appearance of being formed out of one single fur; nor do they ever think of mending any holes or rents with pieces of skin that correspond in kind or colour with the surrounding parts. The Bechuana sorts his skins with much care, according to their colour, size, or length of hair, and only uses those of one species of animal for the same garment; among the Marutse, on the other hand, we find all kinds of fur patched promiscuously together without any regard to symmetry. Their mantles, too, are not finished off by being ornamented with claws or tails like those of the Bechuanas. In the matter of sewing, the tribes north and south of the river may be said to be about on a par; it is done by means of an awl and the finest animal sinews that can be procured.
Such skins as have to be prepared for making into aprons, sandals, straps, or bags, are thoroughly damped, and kept rolled up for some time; the hair is then scraped off with the hand, or a blunt knife; each skin is then turned face downwards to the ground, where it is fixed firmly with wooden pegs; with the help of a wedge-shaped piece of iron, or a scraper made on purpose and called a “pala,” or, in cases where the hide is very thick, with a sort of brush made of ten or twenty nails some five or six inches long, every particle of flesh or sinew is cleared away, after which some oily substance is rubbed thoroughly in upon both sides. The process is finally completed by the men, who, in time to a tune, apply the friction of their hands till the skin is quite dry and supple.
The handkerchiefs and sheets that I have mentioned must rank amongst the best specimens of the industrial skill of the country; without being in any degree coarse, the texture is substantial, and dark stripes are often woven with very good effect upon a lighter ground.
For agricultural work there is hardly any other implement except the mattock, which however is a much more efficient tool than is generally met with to the south. The hatchet employed for cutting wood is very similar in shape to the battle-axe; it is made of very good iron, and is sometimes ornamented with raised patterns; the handle is quite straight, and about two feet long. In hollowing out canoes and wooden bowls, and in preparing planks, the people use hatchets of various sizes, nearly all of them made in the same shape as the “pala.” Their hammers are made of iron of superior quality, and are better than any used by the Bechuanas. The chisels, both the hard chisels for working metal, and those for soft materials, are of many different sizes, and are either curved or straight; their nails are both round and square. For boring and drilling they use gimlets very like our own, these as well as their screws being all manufactured by a file. Their tongs and pincers seem of a very primitive character, nevertheless, they answer their purpose sufficiently well; the anvils at which the smiths work are all of the rudest construction.
MARUTSE-MABUNDA PIPES.
I observed three different kinds of oars in use, the long, the short, and the hunting-oars. The last are the exclusive property of the king, and in common with some of the others, form part of the tribute. The long oars are over ten feet, the short about six feet long, and are made of stout straight stems; at their paddle ends the short are usually broader than the long, and have their extremities run out to a point instead of being cut straight off; both these kinds are occasionally carved or branded with ornamental designs, although not so often as the hunting-oars. These hunting-oars have a forked end, and are bound together by an iron clamp across them, to keep them from splitting; they are generally about ten feet long; the principal time for using them is during floods, when they are brought out for letshwe and puku chasing.
PIPES FOR SMOKING DACHA.
Tobacco-pipes are of two kinds, the one that is least elaborate being of more common use in the west of the country, the other in the south. The former is not unlike a Turkish pipe, consisting of a straight stem about a yard long, of the thickness of a man’s thumb, occasionally carved, attached to a small clay bowl, that is likewise generally decorated with carved devices. The second form differs from the first solely in having a calabash for a stem, the smaller end of which constitutes the mouthpiece. A native rarely forgets his pipe, even on his shortest journeys, especially if he is travelling with a white man, and carries his tobacco in a little cotton or leather bag that is tied to his mantle or waistbelt. For longer journeys the dacha-pipe is an indispensible companion; the water reservoirs of these exhibit an infinite variety of form. Dacha is composed of the dried leaves of a kind of hemp, which is planted round nearly all the South African huts; when smoked through water it is slightly intoxicating in its effects. The pipes consist of three parts; the bowl, the stem, and the horn containing the water, the broad end of the horn forming the mouthpiece by which the smoke is inhaled. An inclination to cough is induced by the inhalation, and the more violent the tendency the greater the enjoyment.
Although snuff-boxes of home manufacture, as well as those introduced by white men, are found throughout South Africa, I nowhere saw such a variety as amongst the Marutse. The materials utilized for this purpose are almost too diversified to enumerate; ivory, hippopotamus tusks, the bones of animals and birds, stag’s horn, rhinoceros horn, claws, snakes’ skins, leather, wood, reeds, gourd shells, and any fruit husks that were either globular or oval; besides all these, not a few metal boxes were to be met with that were of foreign make, and had been brought into the country by Europeans.
The boxes made of ivory most frequently have small circular patterns burnt in, and they are attached to the mantle or bracelet by a string of beads, a piece of bast, or a strap; they were, as far as I could judge, used exclusively by the upper classes. The most like them were the boxes made of rhinoceros horn. Both kinds have only one small aperture at the top, while those of the Bechuanas have a second opening at the bottom.
Of all the kinds, that which struck me as most simple is made of reeds and the bones of birds; it is the sort commonly used by boys and young girls; but another form, hardly less simple, is that in ordinary use amongst the Makalakas, made of the horns of animals, either wild or domestic, and nearly always more or less carved; undoubtedly, however, the kind which is most frequently to be seen consists merely of fruit-shells, and of which four or five at once are often attached by a strap to the mantle, all of them polished carefully into a shining black, or a dark violet or plum colour. The most elaborate carvings appear to be lavished on the wooden boxes, which are worn by the Mamboë and Manansas, but the poorer classes amongst these often carry their snuff in little cotton or leather bags.
Indispensable as I have said the dacha-pipe is to the native on his longer journeys, and his tobacco-pipe when he leaves home at all, yet no necessity of life is so absolutely requisite to him as his snuff-box, and whether at work or at leisure, at home or abroad, sleeping or waking, he never fails to have it within reach.
Besides snuff-boxes, amulets and cases for charms are continually worn as ornaments, the materials of which they are composed being of the most heterogeneous character, and in addition to the variety already enumerated, comprising teeth, scales, tortoise-shell, husks, seeds, feathers, grass, and tallow.
Amongst metal ornaments, besides rings, bracelets, and anklets, I saw a good many earrings of iron, copper, and brass; gold I never saw. The iron and copper articles were partly produced from the native smelting-furnaces, and partly composed of the wire introduced by Europeans; all the brass things were made of imported metal. Foreign jewellery was rarely worn in its original form, but the material was almost invariably melted down, and reproduced in a design to suit the taste of the country. Nothing in this way is in greater requisition than the anklets, of which the queens and the wives of men of rank wear from two to eight on each leg. The poorer classes have their bracelets and anklets generally made of iron, and do not wear so many of them. It is comparatively rare to see any made of copper. Ordinarily only one or two rings are worn on each foot, but the wives of the koshi and kosanas are not unfrequently to be seen with four. As the king makes a rule of buying all the best and strongest imported wire for himself, the subjects have to be satisfied with the inferior qualities; the result is that all the good jewellery is found near Sesheke and in the Barotse, and amongst the tributary Makalakas and Matongas, and its quality degenerates altogether in the more remote east and north-east countries, where it is seldom anything better than what is produced from the native iron. The little earrings, whether of iron, brass, or copper, hardly differ at all from those of the Bechuanas.
Not a few ornaments are made of bone and ivory; amongst these again bracelets and anklets predominate. All rings in ivory are turned upon a lathe, and made precisely to fit the part on which they are to be worn; their finish is little short of faultless, and even when left plain, without any carvings, they are really elegant examples of workmanship. I obtained a few of them as curiosities, but only with great difficulty. Ivory is also worked up into little oblong cases, bars, and disks, that are fastened to the hair by bast strings passed through the holes with which they are perforated. Hair-pins in great variety are made from bone and hippopotamus ivory, and trinkets of all sizes are cut out of the tips of large horns and the thicker substance of the horns of the gazelle; they are either twisted into the hair, or strung together to form bracelets. The delicate long-toothed combs of the Marutse are a striking illustration of their skill, and amongst the finest specimens of wood-carving in all South Africa.
Slaves make their bracelets and other ornaments, whether for the neck or feet, from the untanned skins of genus, zebras, and antelopes, with the hair outside; the Masarwas also make head-bands from the manes of zebras. Hair of all kinds, and the bristles of many animals, are worked up into tufts, fringes, bosses, balls, and pads, which are fastened to straps and bound round the chin for dancing; many of them are, however, used like the trinkets, for the decoration of the hair. Plumes of two or three handsome feathers are often fastened on the head, especially on such occasions as a visit to the royal residence, the festival dances, or expeditions either for hunting or for war. Amongst the Matabele people these plumes are a remarkably conspicuous feature, and I succeeded in procuring one which was considerably larger than the head of the man who had been accustomed to wear it.
Another art in which the Marutse excel is that of weaving grass, wood-fibre, bast, or straw, into the neatest of bracelets, in a way even superior to the Makalakas, who have the repute of being very adroit in work of this kind. The boys who do the greater part of this weaving are very particular in their choice of material, and will only gather certain kinds of grass at the right season, which, after being dyed most carefully yellow or crimson to suit their taste, they make up with great patience into elaborate designs; it is in this respect that their work is superior to that of the Makalakas, who although they are dexterous enough in manipulating the fibre, are comparatively indifferent to the quality of the substance they are weaving.
Threaded so as to be worn as bracelets, or fastened together in pairs so as to fit the back of the head, claws of birds and of many animals are used as ornaments, and I have known three small tortoise-shells placed in a row along the top of the skull. The little shells brought by the Portuguese, small round tarsus and carpus bones polished black, seeds, and small fruits with hard rinds, are further examples of the almost endless variety of decorations in which the Marutse-Mabundas delight.
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| VOL. II. | SCENES ON THE ZAMBESI SHORES AT SESHEKE. | Page 351. |
No matter how ill a traveller in the Marutse district may be, nor how many bearers he may require, if only he has a good stock of blue beads he may always be sure of commanding the best attention and of securing the amplest services; his beads will prove an attraction irresistible to sovereign and subject, to man, woman, and child, to freeman and bondsman alike.
It may fairly be claimed for the Marutse that they have decidedly better taste in the use of beads as ornaments than any of the tribes south of the Zambesi. They avoid crowding them on to their lower extremities, like the Bakuenas and Bamangwatos, or huddling them round their necks and arms, like the Makalakas; but they string them, and arrange them with considerable grace on different parts of their body.
Nearly all the tribes bestowed great pains on the arrangement of their hair. Some of them combed it out regularly; others, the Mankoë for instance, whose hair was extra long, kept it powdered in a way that helped to set off their well-formed figures to advantage, and many plaited it into little tufts containing three or four tresses each; but I did not observe that any of them covered it with manganese, like the Bechuanas, or twisted it into a coronetted tier like the Zulus.
A good deal of ingenuity is exhibited in making playthings of clay for the young. Very often these take the shape of kishi dancers in various attitudes, or of hunters, or of animals, particularly those with horns, or of elephants and hippopotamuses. The clay selected for the purpose is dark in colour, and the puppets vary from two to five inches in length. Toys are likewise made of wood, especially by the Mabundas, spoons and sticks ornamented with figures being great favourites with the children.
Mats form another item in the native industry, and are used for different purposes, according to the material of which they are made—it may be of rushes, grass, straw, or reeds. They are always neatly finished off, and frequently have darker bands or borders of some sort woven into the pattern; in colour they are usually a bright yellow, and the ornamental part black or red.
Bolsters are carved of wood, and however primitive they might be in design, I saw many of which the details were very elaborate in execution. The stools in common use are simply short round blocks of wood, about ten or twelve inches high, and five or six inches broad, slightly curved at the top; but some of these were very laboriously carved, and stood upon carefully cut fluted pedestals. Wherever a man of rank goes it is part of his dignity to be followed by an attendant carrying his stool.
My list of the Marutse handicraft would hardly be complete if I omitted to mention the fly-flappers. These are made in two parts, the handle and the whisk; the handles are either wood, reed, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or buffalo hide; or occasionally they are formed of the horns of a gazelle or a rhinoceros; the whisks are composed of the long hair of the withers or tails of animals, of manes or feathers, no material being more common than the tails of bullocks, gnus, and jackals. The brush is fastened either inside or outside the handle, with bast, grass, horsehair, or sinew; and in most cases the handle is carved, though sometimes it is decorated instead with rings of horsehair or bands of snake-skin.