GAMES
When black children are small, the boys and girls play together; but
when they grow up a bit the boys separate themselves from the girls and
have their own games. They would never dream now of playing with the
girls. The latter are not strong and brave like boys, and must play
by themselves. In this respect they are just like white boys who feel
ashamed to play with girls.
One of the boy’s greatest enjoyments is to go hunting in the woods with
their bows and arrows. It is small birds they want, and their keen eyes
scan the leafy boughs for victims of any kind. It does not matter how
small or pretty a bird may be, down it comes struck by a heavy-headed
arrow. Victim and arrow fall back down at the feet of the cunning
shooter. The reason why the boys kill even the smallest bird is that
everything, no matter how small, will be eaten. They do not eat meat as
white people do. All they want is just enough to make their porridge
tasty and to let them have gravy. So any small animal, such as you
would despise, is acceptable to them.
Pushing through the bush is difficult work, but the black boys do not
seem to mind it although the grass towers far above their heads. All
they fear is, that perhaps they may tread upon a snake or disturb a
wild beast, but in the excitement of the chase they soon forget all
about snakes and wild beasts. Should a boy be very good at imitating
the call of birds he gets ready an arrow with many heads--six or seven.
This he makes by splitting up one end of a thin bamboo and sharpening
each piece. These ends he ties in such a way as to separate them from
one another, leaving one in the middle. He then takes his bow and his
newly made arrow and goes off to the bush. Having selected a likely
spot he quickly pulls the grass together loosely over his head to hide
him from above, crouches under it and begins to imitate the call of
a certain bird of which kind he sees many about. In a short time the
birds come hovering over the grass concealment, and the boy, watching
his chance, sends his arrow into their midst. In this way several birds
are obtained at a time.
Then the boys hunt small game, such as rabbits, with their dogs. The
dogs chase the rabbits out of the long grass, and the boys stand
ready to knock them over with their knobbed sticks. Another favourite
occupation is to go down to the gardens with hoes and dig out
field-mice which are relished just as much as the birds are.
Traps of various kinds are set to catch game. Some are made with
propped-up stones that fall down and crush the unwary victims. Some are
made with a running noose that strangles the unfortunate beast. A very
simple kind for catching birds is made out of a long bamboo. A spot is
first chosen where birds are likely to gather together quickly. The
bamboo is then split up the middle for about a third of its length. The
ends, which if left to themselves would spring together with a snap,
are held wide apart by a cross-pin of wood. To this pin is attached
a long string which goes away over to the grass where the youthful
trapper lies hidden. A handful of grain is then scattered over the
space between the split ends of the bamboo. When everything is prepared
the eager youth retires to hide in the grass and watch the birds. It is
not long before several are enjoying the bait, and when a sufficient
number have entered, the boy pulls the string which displaces the
cross-pin and the two ends of the bamboo close together with a snap.
The poor birds are not all quick enough to escape, and several lie dead
to reward the cunning of the trapper. Such doings you would hardly call
games, but so they are considered by the black boy, for whenever I
ask them to tell me what games they play at, hunting and trapping are
always among those given me.
Of games proper, hand-ball is a great favourite, and is played in the
courtyard or any other cleared space. This is a kind of ball-play in
which two sides contend against one another for possession of the ball,
which is usually just a lump of raw rubber. When the sides have been
chosen, and it matters not how many a side so long as there are plenty,
the game is started by a player throwing the ball to another boy on
his side. Thus the ball passes through the air from player to player,
it being the endeavour of the opposite side to intercept it and of the
first lot to retain possession of it. Every time the ball is caught all
the players with the exception of him who holds the ball, clap their
hands together once and sometimes stamp with their feet.
The players may dodge about as they like and jump as high as they like
in their endeavour to catch the ball. It is an excellent game and a
hard one, and would be enjoyed, I am sure, by white boys, for no lazy
bones need ever think he would get the ball. Only he who is quick of
hand and eye would ever get a chance, and the more clever the players,
the harder is the game. After the ball has gone round one side a
certain number of times the players on that side shout out a little
chorus and clap their hands to proclaim their victory. Then the game
begins afresh and is carried on with such vigour that when finished
each boy is sweating freely and glad to retire to a cool place to rest.
A quiet game in contrast to the hand-ball is the native game of
draughts in which the opponents “eat” one another to use the native
expression. Four rows of little holes are made in a shady place. The
opponents sit on opposite sides and each has command of two rows.
Sometimes there are six and at other times eight holes in each row.
Each player has a number of seeds or little pieces of stone or other
small things, about the size of marbles and he places one in each
hole leaving a certain one empty. Then begin mysterious movements of
taking out and putting in. So it seems to the European at first. But
there are rules, and the black boys know them well. The idea is to
move one’s own “men” one hole along at a time, until those in any hole
surpass in number those in the enemy’s hole opposite when they are
taken and placed out of the game. The game is won when one is able to
take the last remaining “man” on his opponent’s side. To the boys it is
a very engrossing game, and they often forget all about time over it.
Sometimes the holes are chiselled out on a board and the game played by
the grown-up people on the verandah of their houses.
Quite a different game from any of those described is that played by
both boys and girls among the cassava bushes in the gardens. When one
finds a single leaf growing in a fork of a bush he calls out to his
neighbour, “I have bound you.” The neighbour considers himself bound
till he finds a leaf in a similar position, when he calls out, “I have
freed myself.” He who first finds the leaf binds the other, and so the
game goes on till the children are tired of it. The boys have another
use for the cassava leaf. They pluck a nice big one. Then the left hand
is closed fist-like, but leaving a hollow in the hand. The leaf is then
laid across the hollow, resting on the thumb and the bent fore-finger.
The open, right hand is now brought down whack upon the leaf, which is
split in two with a loud report.
Hide-and-seek you all know. I think it must be played by children
all over the world. It is played by the black children of Africa and
enjoyed very much. There are splendid opportunities for hiding in
the long grass. You have only to go into it a few feet, and you are
completely hidden. Sometimes the black children vary the game from
the ordinary hide-and-seek. The seeker will be a wild beast--say a
lion--and the hiders will be deer. They go off and hide in the grass
and the lion has to find his prey. Sometimes the hider will represent
a deer and go and conceal himself, and the seekers will be hunters on
the chase. Then if there is water near one will hide in the water and
pretend to be a crocodile, and when the others come down to the stream
to bathe or draw water the crocodile rushes out on them and tries to
seize them by the legs.
The boys also play at war with tiny bows and arrows made of grass
stalks. They stand in rows facing one another and try to “kill” one
another with their arrows.
There is another good game played by the boys called “nsikwa.” It has
no English name or I would have written it instead of the native one.
There are sides in this game, but two boys can play it. Of course the
fun is better when there are perhaps four or five a side. The boys sit
in the courtyard in lines facing one another and about ten feet apart.
In front of each player is placed a small piece of maize cob about two
or three inches high, from which the grain has been taken. It is then
very light and easily overturned. In his right hand each player holds
a native top. When all are ready, the players send their tops spinning
across the clear space with great force and try to knock down the piece
of maize cob belonging to the player opposite. To and fro in the battle
are whirled the tops to the accompaniment of shouts and laughter of
opponents and onlookers.
Most of the games I have seen are boys’ games, but the girls of Africa
can play too like the girls of other lands. But their play mostly
consists of trying to do what they see their mothers do. Thus the girls
will seize the pestles and try to pound at the mortars. Others will
take the winnowing baskets and try if they can do as well as mother
in sifting out the hard grains from the fine flour. They also play at
keeping house and marriages. They borrow pots and cooking utensils
from their mothers and go to the bush and build little houses and make
believe to set up house on their own account. If they play this game in
the village the girls mark out the walls of the supposed houses with
sand, and say, “Here is my hearth, there is my sleeping place, and this
is the doorway.” They also make food with mud and invite one another
to afternoon mud cakes, and pretending to eat them throw the mud over
their shoulders.
When the big people of the village go to work in the gardens the
children often go to the bush and build little houses and bring flour
and maize and other kinds of food and play at a new village. Then one
will be chosen to be a hyena and another will be a cock. The hyena goes
off to the grass and hides, and the cock struts about the village.
Then someone will call out, “It is night, let us go to sleep.” So they
all go to sleep, and in a short time the cock will crow, “Kokoliliko,”
which is the black boys’ way of saying “Cock-a-doodle-do.” The hyena
will also roar.
Those in the house will awake, and one will say, “It is daybreak,” but
others will say, “It is only that foolish cock crowing in the middle
of the night.” Then hearing the hyena one will get up, open the door
cautiously, and chase the beast away. When the big people go back to
the village the children are not long in following them.
Boys and girls also play at funerals. One will pretend to be dead, and
the others will gather round in sorrow and mourn over the dead one
and lift him up with great ceremony and bear him off for burial. But
if I make this chapter any longer I am afraid I may tire you. Let me
finish with just one more pastime. Some of the black children play at
making little animals out of mud, just as white boys and girls play
at mud-pies. The African women do not bake pies, so the children know
nothing of the pleasures of mud-pie making. Instead, they make little
mud dogs and hens and lions and snakes. These they put out into the sun
where they get baked hard. They can then be carried about and played
with.
These games are some of the many played by African children, and I
hope you will like reading about them. If you could only see the black
children play them in this sunny land I am sure you would enjoy it and
want to join them. I have watched them often, and as often wished I had
a camera to take living pictures of African children at play so that
you children at home might be able to see with your own eyes something
of what I have but feebly tried to describe to you.