MARRIAGE.
POLYGAMY PRACTISED AMONG THE KAFFIRS -- GOZA AND HIS WIVES -- NUMBER
OF A KING’S HAREM -- TCHAKA, THE BACHELOR KING -- THE KING AND HIS
SUCCESSORS -- A BARBAROUS CUSTOM -- CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF POLYGAMY
AMONG THE KAFFIRS -- DOMESTIC LIFE AND ITS CUSTOMS -- THE VARIED
DUTIES OF A WIFE -- ANECDOTE OF A KAFFIR HUSBAND -- JEALOUSY AND
ITS EFFECTS -- A FAVORITE WIFE MURDERED BY HER COMPANIONS -- MINOR
QUARRELS, AND SUMMARY JUSTICE -- THE FIRST WIFE AND HER PRIVILEGES --
MINUTE CODE OF LAWS -- THE LAW OF INHERITANCE AND PRIMOGENITURE --
THE MASTERSHIP OF THE KRAAL -- PROTECTION TO THE ORPHAN -- GUARDIANS,
THEIR DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES -- PRELIMINARIES TO MARRIAGE -- KAFFIR
COURTSHIP -- THE BRIDEGROOM ON APPROVAL -- AN UNWILLING CELIBATE
-- A KAFFIR LOVE TALE -- UZINTO AND HER ADVENTURES -- REWARD OF
PERSEVERANCE.
Contrary to general opinion, marriage is quite as important a matter
among the Kaffirs as with ourselves, and even though the men who
can afford it do not content themselves with one wife, there is as
much ceremony in the last marriage as in the first. As to the number
of wives, no law on that subject is found in the minute, though
necessarily traditional, code of laws, by which the Kaffirs regulate
their domestic polity. A man may take just as many wives as he can
afford, and the richer a man is, the more wives he has as a general
rule. An ordinary man has generally to be content with one, while those
of higher rank have the number of wives dependent on their wealth and
position. Goza, for example, whose portrait is given on page 117 and
who is a powerful chief, has a dozen or two of wives. There is now
before me a photograph representing a whole row of his wives, all
sitting on their heels, in the attitude adopted by Kaffir women, and
all looking rather surprised at the photographer’s operations. In our
sense of the word, none of them have the least pretence to beauty,
whatever may have been the case when they were young girls, but it is
evident that their joint husband was satisfied with their charms, or
they would not retain a position in his household.
As to the king, the number of his wives is illimitable. Parents come
humbly before him, and offer their daughters to him, only too proud
if he will accept them, and asking no payment for them. The reverence
for authority must be very strong in a Kaffir’s breast, if it can
induce him to forego any kind of payment whatever, especially as that
payment is in cattle. The king has perhaps twenty or thirty large
kraals in different parts of the country, and in each of them he has
a considerable number of wives, so that he is always at home whenever
he changes his residence from one kraal to another. In fact, he never
knows, within fifty or so, how many wives he has, nor would he know all
his wives by sight, and in consequence he is obliged to keep a most
jealous watch over his household, lest a neglected wife should escape
and take a husband, who, although a plebeian, would be her own choice.
In consequence of this feeling, none of the inhabitants of the royal
harem ever leave their house without a strong guard at hand, besides a
number of spies, who conceal themselves in unsuspected places, and who
would report to the king the slightest indiscretion on the part of any
of his wives. It is not even safe for a Kaffir to speak to one of these
closely guarded beauties, for, even if no guards are openly in sight, a
spy is sure to be concealed at no great distance, and the consequence
of such an indiscretion would be, that the woman would certainly lose
her life, and the man probably be a fellow sufferer.
That able and sanguinary chief Tchaka formed an exception to the
ordinary rule. He would accept as many dark maidens as might be offered
to him, but he would not raise one of them to the rank of wife. The
reason for this line of conduct was his horror of seeing a successor
to his throne. A Kaffir of rank always seems to think that he himself
is exempt from the ordinary lot of humanity, and will never speak of
the possibility of his own death, nor allow any one else to do so. In
a dependent, such a piece of bad breeding would be looked upon as an
overt act of treachery, and the thoughtless delinquent would instantly
lose the power of repeating the offence by forfeiting his life. Even
in an European, the offence would be a very grave one, and would jar
gratingly on the feelings of all who heard the ill-omened words. This
disinclination to speak of death sometimes shows itself very curiously.
On one occasion, an Englishman went to pay a visit to Panda, after
the contradiction of a report of that monarch’s death. After the
preliminary greetings, he expressed his pleasure at seeing the chief so
well, especially after the report of his death. The word “death” seemed
to strike the king and all the court like an electric shock, and an
ominous silence reigned around. At last Panda recovered himself, and,
with a voice that betrayed his emotion, said that such subjects were
never spoken of, and then adroitly changed the conversation.
Now, the idea of a successor implies the death of the present occupant
of the throne, and therefore Tchaka refused to marry any wives, from
whom his successor might be born. More than that, if any of the
inmates of his harem showed signs that the population was likely to
be increased, they were sure to be arrested on some trivial pretence,
dragged out of their homes, and summarily executed. We may feel
disposed to wonder that such a heartless monster could by any means
have found any inmates of his harem. But we must remember that of all
men a Kaffir chief is the most despotic, having absolute power over
any of his subjects, and his orders being obeyed with an instantaneous
obedience, no matter how revolting they might be. Parents would kill
their children and children their parents at his command; and so
strange a hold has obedience to the king upon the mind of a Kaffir,
that men have been known to thank him and utter his praises while being
beaten to death by his orders.
Therefore the parents of these ill-fated girls had no option in the
matter. If he wanted them he would take them, probably murdering their
parents, and adding their cattle to his own vast herds. By voluntarily
offering them they might possibly gain his good graces, and there might
be a chance that they would escape the fate that had befallen so
many of their predecessors in the royal favor. These strange effects
of despotism are by no means confined to Southern Africa, but are
found among more civilized people than the Kaffirs. We all remember
the opening story of the “Arabian Nights,” which furnishes the thread
on which all the stories are strung. How a king found that his wife
was unworthy of her position, and how he immediately rushed to the
conclusion that such unworthiness was not the fault of an individual,
but a quality inherent in the sex. How he reduced his principle to
practice by marrying a new wife every evening, and cutting off her head
next morning, until his purpose was arrested by the ingenious narrator
of the tales, who originated the practice now prevalent in periodicals,
namely, always leaving off unexpectedly in an interesting part of the
story.
This extraordinary proceeding on the part of an Oriental monarch is
told with a perfect absence of comment, and neither the narrator nor
the hearer displays any signs that such a line of conduct was strange,
or even culpable. The subjects who were called upon to supply such a
succession of wives certainly grumbled, but they continued to supply
them, and evidently had no idea that their monarch’s orders could be
disobeyed.
The effect of polygamy among the wives themselves is rather curious.
In the first place, they are accustomed to the idea, and have never
been led to expect that they would bear sole rule in the house. Indeed,
none of them would entertain such an idea, because the very fact that
a man possessed only one wife would derogate from his dignity, and
consequently from her own. There is another reason for the institution
of polygamy, namely, the division of labor. Like all savages, the
Kaffir man never condescends to perform manual labor, all real work
falling to the lot of the women. As to any work that requires bodily
exertion, the Kaffir never dreams of undertaking it. He would not even
lift a basket of rice on the head of his favorite wife, but would sit
on the ground and allow some woman to do it. One of my friends, when
rather new to Kaffirland, happened to look into a hut, and there saw
a stalwart Kaffir sitting and smoking his pipe, while the women were
hard at work in the sun, building huts, carrying timber, and performing
all kinds of severe labor. Struck with a natural indignation at such
behavior, he told the smoker to get up and work like a man. This idea
was too much even for the native politeness of the Kaffir, who burst
into a laugh at so absurd a notion. “_Women_ work,” said he, “_men_ sit
in the house and smoke.”
The whole cares of domestic life fall upon the married woman. Beside
doing all the ordinary work of the house, including the building of
it, she has to prepare all the food and keep the hungry men supplied.
She cannot go to a shop and buy bread. She has to till the ground, to
sow the grain, to watch it, to reap it, to thrash it, to grind it, and
to bake it. Her husband may perhaps condescend to bring home game that
he has killed, though he will not burden himself longer than he can
help. But the cooking falls to the woman’s share, and she has not only
to stew the meat, but to make the pots in which it is prepared. After
a hard day’s labor out of doors, she cannot go home and rest, but is
obliged to grind the maize or millet, a work of very great labor, on
account of the primitive machinery which is employed--simply one stone
upon another, the upper stone being rocked backward and forward with a
motion like that of a chemist’s pestle. The Kaffirs never keep flour
ready ground, so that this heavy task has to be performed regularly
every day. When she has ground the corn she has either to bake it
into cakes, or boil it into porridge, and then has the gratification
of seeing the men eat it. She also has to make the beer which is so
popular among the Kaffirs, but has very little chance of drinking the
product of her own industry.
It will be seen, therefore, that the work of a Kaffir wife is about
twice as hard as that of an English farm laborer, and that therefore
she is rather glad than otherwise when her husband takes another wife,
who may divide her labors. Moreover, the first wife has always a sort
of preëminence over the others, and retains it unless she forfeits the
favor of her husband by some peculiarly flagrant act, in which case she
is deposed, and another wife raised to the vacant honor. When such an
event takes place, the husband selects any of his wives that he happens
to like best, without any regard for seniority, and, as a natural
consequence, the youngest has the best chance of becoming the chief
wife, thus causing much jealousy among them. Did all the wives live in
the same house with their husband, the bickerings would be constant;
but, according to Kaffir law, each wife has her own hut, that belonging
to the principal wife being on the right hand of the chief’s house.
Sometimes, however, jealousy will prevail, in spite of these
preventives, and has been known to lead to fatal results. One case
of poisoning has already been mentioned (page 51), and others occur
more frequently than is known. One such case was a rather remarkable
one. There had been two wives, and a third was afterward added. The
other two wives felt themselves injured by her presence, and for a
year subjected her to continual persecution. One day, when the husband
returned to his house, he found her absent, and asked from the others
where she was. They replied that they did not know, and that when they
went to fetch firewood, according to daily custom, they had left her in
the kraal. Dissatisfied with the answer, he pressed them more closely,
and was then told that she had gone off to her father’s house. At the
first dawn he set off to the father’s kraal, and found that nothing
had been heard of her. His next step was to go to one of the witch
doctors, or prophets, and ask him what had become of his favorite wife.
The man answered that the two elder wives had murdered her. He set
off homeward, but before he reached his kraal, the dead body of the
murdered wife had been discovered by a herd boy. The fact was, that she
had gone out with the other two wives in the morning to fetch firewood,
a quarrel had arisen, and they had hanged her to a tree with the
bush-rope used in tying up the bundles of wood.
As to minor assaults on a favorite wife, they are common enough. She
will be beaten, or have her face scratched so as to spoil her beauty,
or the holes in her ears will be torn violently open. The assailants
are sure to suffer in their own turn for their conduct, their husband
beating them most cruelly with the first weapon that happens to come
to hand. But, in the mean time, the work which they have done has been
effected, and they have at all events enjoyed some moments of savage
vengeance. Fights often take place among the wives, but if the husband
hears the noise of the scuffle he soon puts a stop to it, by seizing a
stick, and impartially belaboring each combatant.
The position of a first wife is really one of some consequence.
Although she has been bought and paid for by her husband, she is not
looked upon as so utter an article of merchandise as her successors.
“When a man takes his first wife,” says Mr. Shooter, “all the cows
he possesses are regarded as her property. She uses the milk for the
support of her family, and, after the birth of her first son, they are
called his cattle. Theoretically, the husband can neither sell nor
dispose of them without his wife’s consent. If he wish to take a second
wife, and require any of these cattle for the purpose, he must obtain
her concurrence.”
“When I asked a native how this was to be procured, he said by flattery
and coaxing, or if that did not succeed, by bothering her until she
yielded, and told him not to do so to-morrow, _i. e._ for the future.
Sometimes she becomes angry, and tells him to take all, for they are
not hers, but his. If she comply with her husband’s polygamous desires,
and furnish cattle to purchase and indue a new wife, she will be
entitled to her services, and will call her _my_ wife. She will also
be entitled to the cattle received for a new wife’s eldest daughter.
The cattle assigned to the second wife are subject to the same
rules, and so on, while fresh wives are taken. Any wife may furnish
the cattle necessary to add a new member to the harem, and with the
same consequences as resulted to the first wife; but it seems that
the queen, as the first is called, can claim the right of refusal.”
It will be seen from this account of the relative stations of the
different wives, that the position of chief wife is one that would be
much prized, and we can therefore understand that the elevation of a
new comer to that rank would necessarily create a strong feeling of
jealousy in the hearts of the others.
In consequence of the plurality of wives, the law of inheritance is
most complicated. Some persons may wonder that a law which seems
to belong especially to civilization should be found among savage
tribes like the Kaffirs. But it must be remembered that the Kaffir is
essentially a man living under authority, and that his logical turn
of intellect has caused him to frame a legal code which is singularly
minute in all its details, and which enters not only into the affairs
of the nation, but into those of private life. The law respecting
the rank held by the wives, and the control which they exercise over
property, is sufficiently minute to give promise that there would
also be a law which regulated the share held in the property of their
respective children.
In order to understand the working of this law, the reader must
remember two facts which have been mentioned: the one, that the wives
do not live in common, but that each has her own house; and moreover,
that to each house a certain amount of cattle is attached, in theory,
if not in practice. When the headman of a kraal dies, his property is
divided among his children by virtue of a law, which, though unwritten,
is well known, and is as precise as any similar law in England. If
there should be an eldest son, born in the house of the chief wife,
he succeeds at once to his father’s property, and inherits his rank.
There is a very common Kaffir song, which, though not at all filial, is
characteristic. It begins by saying, “My father has died, and I have
all his cattle,” and then proceeds to expatiate on the joys of wealth.
He does not necessarily inherit all the cattle in the kraal, because
there may be sons belonging to other houses; in such cases, the eldest
son of each house would be entitled to the cattle which are recognized
as the property of that house. Still, he exercises a sort of paternal
authority over the whole, and will often succeed in keeping all the
family together instead of giving to each son his share of the cattle,
and letting them separate in different directions. Such a course of
proceeding is the best for all parties, as they possess a strength when
united, which they could not hope to attain when separated.
It sometimes happens that the owner of the kraal has no son, and in
that case, the property is claimed by his father, brother, or nearest
living relative,--always, if possible, by a member of the same house
as himself. It sometimes happens that no male relation can be found,
and when such a failure takes place, the property goes to the chief, as
the acknowledged father of the tribe. As to the women, they very seldom
inherit anything, but go with the cattle to the different heirs, and
form part of their property. To this general rule there are exceptional
cases, but they are very rare. It will be seen, therefore, that every
woman has some one who acts as her father, whether her father be living
or not, and although the compulsory dependent state of women is not
conducive to their dignity, it certainly protects them from many evils.
If, for example, a girl were left an orphan, an event which is of very
frequent occurrence in countries where little value is placed on human
life, she would be placed in a very unpleasant position, for either
she would find no husband at all, or she would be fought over by poor
and turbulent men who wanted to obtain a wife without paying for her.
Kaffir law, however, provides for this difficulty by making the male
relations heirs of the property, and, consequently, protectors of the
women; so that as long as there is a single male relation living, an
orphan girl has a guardian. The law even goes further, and contemplates
a case which sometimes exists, namely, that all the male relatives
are dead, or that they cannot be identified. Such a case as this may
well occur in the course of a war, for the enemy will sometimes swoop
down on a kraal, and if their plans be well laid, will kill every male
inhabitant. Even if all are not killed, the survivors may be obliged to
flee for their lives, and thus it may often happen that a young girl
finds herself comparatively alone in the world. In such a case, she
would go to another chief of her tribe, or even to the king himself,
and ask permission to become one of his dependants, and many instances
have been known where such refugees have been received into tribes not
their own.
When a girl is received as a dependant, she is treated as a daughter,
and if she should happen to fall ill, her guardian would offer
sacrifices for her exactly as if she were one of his own daughters.
Should a suitor present himself, he will have to treat with the
guardian exactly as if he were the father, and to him will be paid
the cattle that are demanded at the wedding. Mr. Fynn mentions that
the women are very tenacious about their relatives, and that in many
cases when they could not identify their real relations, they have made
arrangements with strangers to declare relationship with them. It is
possible that this feeling arises from the notion that a husband would
have more respect for a wife who had relations than for one who had
none.
As an example of the curious minuteness with which the Kaffir law goes
into the details of domestic polity, it may be mentioned that if a
female dependant be married, and should afterward be fortunate enough
to discover her real relatives, they may claim the cattle paid for her
by the husband. But they must give one of the cows to her protector as
payment for her maintenance, and the trouble taken in marrying her.
Moreover, if any cattle have been sacrificed on her behalf, these must
be restored, together with any others that may have been slaughtered
at the marriage-feast. The fact that she is paid for by her husband
conveys no idea of degradation to a Kaffir woman. On the contrary, she
looks upon the fact as a proof of her own worth, and the more cattle
are paid for her, the prouder she becomes. Neither would the husband
like to take a wife without paying the proper sum for her, because
in the first place it would be a tacit assertion that the wife was
worthless, and in the second, it would be an admission that he could
not afford to pay the usual price. Moreover, the delivery of the
cattle, on the one side, and the delivery of the girl on the other,
are considered as constituting the validity of the marriage contract,
and are looked upon in much the same light as the giving of a ring by
the husband and the giving away of the bride by her father in our own
marriage ceremonies.
What that price may be is exceedingly variable, and depends much on the
beauty and qualifications of the bride, and the rank of her father. The
ordinary price of an unmarried girl is eight or ten cows, while twelve
or fifteen are not unfrequently paid, and in some cases the husband
has been obliged to give as many as fifty before the father would part
with his daughter. Payment ought to be made beforehand by rights, and
the man cannot demand his wife until the cattle have been transferred.
This rule is, however, frequently relaxed, and the marriage is allowed
when a certain instalment has been paid, together with a guarantee
that the remainder shall be forthcoming within a reasonable time.
All preliminaries having been settled, the next business is for the
intending bridegroom to present himself to his future wife. Then,
although a certain sum is demanded for a girl, and must be paid
before she becomes a wife, it does not follow that she exercises no
choice whatever in accepting or rejecting a suitor, as may be seen
from the following passages taken from Mr. Shooter’s valuable work on
Kaffirland:--
“When a husband has been selected for a girl, she may be delivered to
him without any previous notice, and Mr. Fynn acknowledges that in
some cases this is done. But usually, he says, she is informed of her
parent’s intention a month or some longer time beforehand, in order,
I imagine, that she may, if possible, be persuaded to think favorably
of the man. Barbarians as they are, the Kaffirs are aware that it is
better to reason with a woman than to beat her; and I am inclined
to think that moral means are usually employed to induce a girl to
adopt her parent’s choice, before physical arguments are resorted to.
Sometimes very elaborate efforts are made, as I have been told, to
produce this result. The first step is to speak well of the man in her
presence; the kraal conspire to praise him--her sisters praise him--all
the admirers of his cattle praise him--he was never so praised before.
Unless she is very resolute, the girl may now perhaps be prevailed on
to see him, and a messenger is despatched to communicate the hopeful
fact, and summon him to the kraal. Without loss of time he prepares
to show himself to the best advantage; he goes down to the river, and
having carefully washed his dark person, comes up again dripping and
shining like a dusky Triton; but the sun soon dries his skin, and now
he shines again with grease.
“His dancing attire is put on, a vessel of water serving for a mirror;
and thus clothed in his best, and carrying shield and assagai, he
sets forth, with beating heart and gallant step, to do battle with
the scornful belle. Having reached the kraal he is received with a
hearty welcome, and squatting down in the family ‘circle’ (which is
here something more than a figure of speech), he awaits the lady’s
appearance. Presently she comes, and sitting down near the door stares
at him in silence. Then having surveyed him sufficiently in his present
attitude, she desires him through her brother (for she will not speak
to him) to stand up and exhibit his proportions. The modest man is
embarrassed; but the mother encourages him, and while the young ones
laugh and jeer, he rises before the damsel. She now scrutinizes him in
this position, and having balanced the merits and defects of a front
view, desires him (through the same medium as before) to turn round and
favor her with a different aspect. (See page 97.) At length he receives
permission to squat again, when she retires as mute as she came. The
family troop rush after her impatient to learn her decision; but she
declines to be hasty--she has not seen him walk, and perhaps he limps.
So, next morning, the unfortunate man appears in the cattle fold, to
exhibit his paces before a larger assembly. A volley of praises is
showered upon him by the interested spectators; and perhaps the girl
has come to think as they think, and signifies her approval. In this
case, arrangements are made for the betrothal.”
This amusing ceremony has two meanings--the first, that the contract
of marriage is a voluntary act on both sides; and the second, that the
intending bridegroom has as yet no authority over her. This last point
seems to be thought of some importance, as it is again brought forward
when the marriage ceremony takes place. That the girl has no choice in
a husband is evidently not true. There are, of course, instances in
Kaffirland, as well as in more civilized countries, where the parents
have set their hearts on a particular alliance, and have disregarded
the aversion of their daughters, forcing her by hard words and other
cruelties to consent to the match. But, as a general rule, although a
girl must be bought with a certain number of cows, it does not at all
follow that every one with the requisite means may buy her.
A rather amusing proof to the contrary is related by one of our clergy
who resided for a long time among the Kaffir tribes. There was one
“boy,” long past the prime of life, who had distinguished himself in
war, and procured a fair number of cows, and yet could not be ranked
as a “man,” because he was not married. The fact was, he was so very
ugly that he could not find any of the dusky beauties who would accept
him, and so he had to remain a bachelor in spite of himself. At last
the king took compassion on him, and authorized him to assume the
head-ring, and take brevet rank among the men, or “ama-doda,” just as
among ourselves an elderly maiden lady is addressed by courtesy as if
she had been married. Sometimes a suitor’s heart misgives him, and he
fears that, in spite of his wealth and the costly ornaments with which
he adorns his dark person, the lady may not be propitious. In this
case he generally goes to a witch doctor and purchases a charm, which
he hopes will cause her to relent. The charm is sometimes a root, or
a piece of wood, bone, metal, or horn, worn about the person, but it
most usually takes the form of a powder. This magic powder is given to
some trusty friend, who mixes it surreptitiously in the girl’s food,
sprinkles it on her dress, or deposits it in her snuff box, and shakes
it up with the legitimate contents.
Not unfrequently, when a suitor is very much disliked, and has not the
good sense to withdraw his claims, the girl takes the matter into her
own hands by running away, often to another tribe. There is always
a great excitement in these cases, and the truant is hunted by all
her relations. One of these flights took place when a girl had been
promised to the ill-favored bachelor who has just been mentioned. He
offered a chief a considerable number of cattle for one of his wards,
and paid the sum in advance, hoping so to clench the bargain. But when
the damsel found who her husband was to be, she flatly refused to marry
so ugly a man. Neither cajolements, threats, nor actual violence had
any effect, and at last she was tied up with ropes and handed over
to her purchaser. He took her to his home, but in a few hours she
contrived to make her escape, and fled for refuge to the kraal of a
neighboring chief, where it is to be hoped she found a husband more
to her taste. Her former possessor declined to demand her back again,
inasmuch as she had been paid for and delivered honorably, and on the
same grounds he declined to return the price paid for her. So the
unfortunate suitor lost not only his cattle but his wife.
This man was heartily ashamed of his bachelor condition, and always
concealed it as much as he could. One day, an Englishman who did not
know his history asked him how many wives he had; and, although he knew
that the falsehood of his answer must soon be detected, he had not
moral courage to say that he was a bachelor, and named a considerable
number of imaginary wives.
Now that the English have established themselves in Southern Africa,
it is not at all an unusual circumstance for a persecuted girl to take
refuge among them, though in many instances she has to be given up to
her relations when they come to search for her.
Sometimes the young damsel not only exercises the right of refusal,
but contrives to choose a husband for herself. In one such instance a
man had fallen into poverty, and been forced to become a dependant. He
had two unmarried daughters, and his chief proposed to buy them. The
sum which he offered was so small that the father would not accept it,
and there was in consequence a violent quarrel between the chief and
himself. Moreover, the girls themselves had not the least inclination
to become wives of the chief, who already had plenty, and they refused
to be purchased, just as their father refused to accept so niggardly
a sum for them. The chief was very angry, went off to Panda, and
contrived to extort an order from the king that the girls should become
the property of the chief at the price which he had fixed. The girls
were therefore taken to the kraal, but they would not go into any of
the huts, and sat on the ground, much to the annoyance of their new
owner, who at last had them carried into a hut by main force. One of
the girls, named Uzinto, contrived ingeniously to slip unperceived
from the hut at dead of night, and escaped from the kraal by creeping
through the fence, lest the dogs should be alarmed if she tried to
open the door. In spite of the dangers of night-travelling, she pushed
on toward Natal as fast as she could, having nothing with her but the
sleeping mat which a Kaffir uses instead of a bed, and which can be
rolled up into a cylinder and slung over the shoulders. On her way she
met with two adventures, both of which nearly frustrated her plan. At
the dawn of the day on which she escaped, she met a party of men, who
saw tears in her face, and taxed her with being a fugitive. However,
she was so ready with the answer that she had been taking snuff (the
Kaffir snuff always makes the eyes water profusely), that they allowed
her to proceed on her journey.
The next was a more serious adventure. Having come to the territories
of the Amakoba tribe, she went into a kraal for shelter at night, and
the inhabitants, who knew the quarrel between her father and the chief,
first fed her hospitably, and then tied her hand and foot, and sent
off a messenger to the chief from whom she had escaped. She contrived,
however, to get out of the kraal, but was captured again by the women.
She was so violent with them, and her conduct altogether so strange,
that they were afraid of her, and let her go her own way. From that
time she avoided all dwellings, and only travelled through the bush,
succeeding in fording the Tugela river at the end of the fourth day,
thus being out of Panda’s power. Her reason for undertaking this long
and perilous journey was twofold; first, that she might escape from
a husband whom she did not like, and secondly, that she might obtain
a husband whom she did. For in the Natal district was living a young
man with whom she had carried on some love-passages, and who, like
herself, was a fugitive from his own land. After some difficulty, she
was received as a dependant of a chief, and was straightway asked in
marriage by two young men. She would have nothing to say to them, but
contrived to find out her former lover. Then followed an absurd series
of scenes, too long to be narrated in detail.
First the young man was rather cool toward her, and so she went off in
a huff, and would not speak to him. Then he went after her, but was
only repulsed for his pains. Then they met while the chief’s corn was
being planted, and made up the quarrel, but were espied by the chief,
and both soundly beaten for idling instead of working. Then he fell
ill, and she went to see him, but would not speak a word. Then he got
well, and they had another quarrel, which was unexpectedly terminated
by Uzinto insisting on being married. The young man objected that he
did not know how many cows the chief would want for her, and that
he had not enough to pay for a wife. She was equal to the occasion,
however, fixed her own value at ten cows, and ordered him to work hard
until he had earned them. Meanwhile her protector had made up his mind
to take her for his own wife, thinking it a good opportunity to gain
another wife without paying for her. Uzinto, however, had not gone
through so much to lose the husband on whom she had set her heart, and
she went to the young man’s kraal, appeared before the headman, and
demanded to be instantly betrothed. He naturally feared the anger of
the chief, and sent her back again to his kraal, where, with tears,
sulking fits, anger fits, and threats of suicide, she worried all the
inmates so completely, that they yielded the point for the sake of
peace and quietness, accepted four cows from the lover as an instalment
of the required ten, and so married her to him at last.
There is another instance, where a girl fell ardently in love with a
young Kaffir chief, as he was displaying his agility in a dance. He did
not even know her, and was rather surprised when she presented herself
at his kraal, and avowed the state of her affections. He, however,
did not return them, and as the girl refused to leave his kraal, he
was obliged to send for her brother, who removed her by force. She
soon made her way back again, and this time was severely beaten for
her pertinacity. The stripes had no effect upon her; and in less than
a week she again presented herself. Finding that his sister was so
determined, the brother suggested that the too-fascinating chief had
better marry the girl, and so end the dispute; and the result was that
at last the lady gained her point, the needful cows were duly paid to
the brother, and the marriage took place.
Even after marriage, there are many instances where the wife has
happened to possess an intellect far superior to that of her husband,
and where she has gained a thorough ascendancy over him, guiding him
in all his transactions, whether of peace or war. And it is only just
to say that in these rare instances of feminine supremacy, the husband
has submitted to his wife’s guidance through a conviction that it was
exercised judiciously, and not through any weakness of character on his
own part, or ill-temper on hers.