THE BANYAI AND BADEMA TRIBES.
GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE BANYAI TRIBE -- GOVERNMENT AND LAW OF
SUCCESSION -- DISCIPLINE OF YOUTH -- MARRIAGE CUSTOMS -- HUNTING --
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS-TRAP -- MANGROVE SWAMP -- RAPACITY OF THE BANYAI
CHIEF -- BANYAI AXES, AND MODE OF MAKING THEM -- ELEPHANT HUNTING
-- BOLDNESS OF THE MEN -- SUPERSTITIONS OF THE BANYAI -- IDEA ABOUT
THE HYÆNA -- THE “TABOO” -- CURIOUS BEEHIVES -- THE BADEMA TRIBE --
FISHING AND HUNTING WITH NETS -- CONCEALMENT OF PROPERTY.
On the south bank of the Zambesi, somewhere about lat. 16° S. and long.
30° E., there is a tribe called the Banyai, who inhabit a tract of
country called Shidima. The Banyai are a remarkably fine race of men,
being tall, well made, and agile, and are moreover very fair, being
of that _café au lait_ color which is so fashionable in many parts of
Africa. As some of their customs are unlike those of other tribes, a
short mention will be made of them.
Their appearance is rather pleasing, and they have a curious fashion of
dressing their hair, which much resembles that which was in use among
the ancient Egyptians. The fashionable Banyai youth first divides his
hair into small tufts, and draws them out as far as he can, encircling
each tuft with a spiral bandage of vegetable tissue. The various tufts
are then dyed red, and as they are sometimes a foot in length, and hang
upon the shoulders, they present a very remarkable aspect. When the
Banyai travel, they are fearful of damaging their elaborate headdress,
and so they gather it up in a bundle, and tie it on the top of the head.
Their government is equally simple and sensible. They choose their
own chief, although they always keep to the same family. When a chief
dies, his people consult together as to his successor. His immediate
descendants are never selected, and, if possible, one of his brothers,
or a nephew, is chosen. If they cannot find a qualified person at home,
they go further afield, and look out for those relatives who have
mingled with other tribes, thus bringing a new population into their
own tribe. Traders from other tribes are always very cautious about
visiting the Banyai during the interregnum, as the people think that
while there is no chief there is no law, and will in consequence rob
without compunction those whom they would never venture to touch as
long as the chief was living.
When the future chief is chosen, the electors go to him and tell him
of their choice. It is then thought manners for him to assume a _nolo
episcopari_ air, to modestly deprecate his own character, and to
remonstrate with the deputation for having elected a person so unworthy
to fill the place of his revered predecessor, who possessed all the
virtues and none of the weaknesses of humanity. In fact, the speech
of the Banyai king-elect would answer excellently for newly-elected
dignitaries of our own country, who make exactly the same kind of
oration, and would be equally offended were they to be taken at their
word.
Of course the new chief, after his deprecatory speech, assumes the
vacant office, together with all the property, including the wives and
children, of his predecessor, and takes very good care to keep the
latter in subservience. Sometimes one of the sons thinks that he ought
to be a man, and set up for a kind of chief himself, and accordingly
secedes from the paternal roof, gathers round him as many youths as he
can persuade to accompany him, and becomes a petty chief accordingly.
The principal chief, however, has no idea of allowing an _imperium in
imperio_ in his dominions, and, when the young chieftain has built his
village and fairly settled down, he sends a body of his own soldiery to
offer his congratulations. If the young chieftain receives them with
clapping of hands and humble obeisance, all is well, as the supreme
authority of the chief is thereby acknowledged. If not, they burn down
all the village, and so teach by very intelligible language that before
a youth dares to be a chieftain he had better perform the duties which
a vassal owes to his sovereign.
There is a system among the Banyai which has a singular resemblance to
the instruction of pages in the days of chivalry. When a man attains
to eminence, he gathers around him a band of young boys, who are
placed by their parents under his charge, and who are taught to become
accomplished gentlemen after Banyai ideas. While they are yet in the
condition of pagehood, they are kept under strict discipline, and
obliged to be humble and punctilious toward their superiors, whom they
recognize with the hand-clapping which is the salute common throughout
Central Africa. At meal-times they are not allowed to help themselves,
but are obliged to wait patiently until the food is divided for them by
one of the men. They are also instructed in the Banyai law; and when
they return to their parents, a case is submitted to them, and the
progress which they have made is ascertained by their answers. To their
teachers they are exceedingly useful. They are all sons of free men who
are tolerably well off, and who send servants to accompany their sons,
and to till the ground for their maintenance. They also send ivory to
the teacher, with which he purchases clothing for the young scholars.
This custom shows that a certain amount of culture has been attained
by the Banyai, and the social condition of their women is a still
stronger proof. In most parts of savage Africa the woman is little more
than a beast of burden, and has no more to do with the management of
affairs or with her husband’s counsels than the cows for which he has
bought her. In Banyai-land, however, the women have not only their full
share of power, but rather more than their share, the husbands never
venturing to undertake any business or to conduct any bargain without
the consent of their wives. The women even act as traders, visiting
other towns with merchandise, and acting fairly toward both the
purchaser and themselves.
Their marriages are conducted in a manner which shows that the wife
is quite the equal of her husband. In most parts of Southern Africa a
wife is bought for a stipulated number of cows, and, as soon as the
bargain is concluded, and the girl handed over to the purchaser, she
becomes his property, and is treated as such. But, among the Banyai,
the young bridegroom does not take his wife to his hut; he goes to the
house of her parents. Here he is quite the inferior, and is the special
servant of his mother-in-law, cutting wood for her use, and being very
respectful in demeanor. Should he not like this kind of life, and be
desirous of leaving it, he may do so whenever he likes; but he has to
relinquish wife and children, unless he can pay the parents of the wife
a sufficient sum to compensate them for their loss. Nevertheless, this
is the principle on which the custom of buying wives is founded: but
there are few places where the theory is reduced to practice.
Among the Banyai, as among many of the tribes along the river, the
flesh of the hippopotamus is much eaten, and the capture of the animal
is consequently a matter of importance. They do not care for boldly
chasing the hippopotamus, as do the tribes which have already been
mentioned, but they prefer to resort to the pitfall and the drop-trap.
The pitfalls are always dug in places where the animal is likely to
tread; and the pits are not only numerous, but generally placed in
pairs close to each other. On one occasion a white traveller happened
to fall into one of these pits, and after he had recovered from the
shock of finding himself suddenly deprived of the light of day and
enclosed in a deep hole, he set to work, and after many hours’ labor
managed to free himself from his unpleasant position. But no sooner had
he fairly got out of the pit than he unfortunately stepped upon its
companion, and fell into it just as he had fallen into the other.
The most ingenious mode of capturing the animal is by means of the
drop-trap. For this purpose the native cuts a rather long and heavy
log of wood, and, in order to make it still heavier, a couple of
large stones are tied to it near one end, or a quantity of clay is
kneaded round it. At the loaded end a hole is made, into which is set
a spear-head, sometimes that of a large assagai, but mostly a sort of
harpoon like that which has been described on page 341. A rope loop is
then fastened to the other end, and the weapon is ready. The hunter now
goes to a hippopotamus track, and looks out for a branch that overhangs
it. Generally he can find a branch that will suit his purpose; but if
not, he rigs up a sort of gallows on which he can suspend the armed
log. When he has found a convenient branch, he takes a long rope,
one end of which is fastened to a stick, places the stick across the
branch, and hangs the loop of the harpoon upon the other end. He next
passes the cord round a peg at the foot of the tree, about eighteen
inches or so from the ground, draws it across the path, and then makes
it fast.
[Illustration: (1.) HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP. (See page 362.)]
[Illustration: (2.) AXES. (See page 366.)]
The engraving No. 1, opposite, will explain how the whole business is
managed. The tree on which the weapon is suspended is the mangrove,
a tree utterly unlike any of those which we have in this land. The
extraordinary vitality of this tree is well shown by the sketch, which
was made by Mr. Baines. The trunk has been broken off, but the upper
part has fallen against another tree and been supported by it. It has
then thrown out a number of roots, which have descended to the moist
ground, and give the tree a new support of its own. In such a case, the
branches that tend downward wither away and die, those that tend upward
increase rapidly, while those that project sideways take a turn, and
then curve themselves upward. Examples of these branches may be seen in
the sketch.
The mangrove is a self-sowing tree, and performs this act in a very
curious manner. The seeds are very long, and furnished at the end with
a hard, pointed tip. As soon as it is ripe, the seed falls, burying the
pointed tip several inches into the soft, swampy soil, which mangroves
love, and there remains. The object of this curious provision of Nature
is, that the seed shall not be washed away by the periodical floods
which inundate the country.
In such a soil there is no difficulty in finding the path of the
hippopotamus, for the heavy and clumsy animal leaves a track which
could be followed in the darkest night. Owing to the great width of its
body, the feet of the opposite sides are set rather wider apart than
is the case with lighter animals, so that when the hippopotamus walks
through grass it makes a distinct double path, with a ridge of grass
in the middle. When it walks on the soft muddy soil of the river bank,
the animal makes a most curious track, the feet sinking deeply into
the earth, and forming a sort of double rut studded with holes at the
distance of an inch or two from each other, a ridge some two inches in
width dividing the ruts.
There is no path so trying to a traveller as a hippopotamus track. In
that part of the country it is necessary to walk barefoot, or, at all
events, to use nothing more than the native sandals. If the traveller
tries to walk on the central ridge, he finds that the exertion of
keeping the balance is almost equivalent to walking on a tight-rope or
a Bornean “batang,” and that the pressure on the middle of the foot
soon becomes too painful to be borne. If he tries to walk in the ruts,
he is no better off, for his feet sink deeply into the holes punched by
the limbs of the hippopotamus, the toes are forcibly pressed upward,
and the leg is fixed so tightly in the hole that the traveller cannot
withdraw it until the earth has been removed.
Over one of these tracks the native hunter suspends his harpoon, taking
care that the blade shall hang exactly above the central ridge. As the
hippopotamus comes walking along he strikes his foot against the cord.
The blow releases the harpoon, which falls with tremendous violence,
burying the iron head deep into the animal’s back. Now and then the
head comes exactly on the spine, and in that case the animal falls
helpless on the spot. Usually, however, the wound is not immediately
fatal, and the hippopotamus rushes to the river, hoping thus to shake
off the cruel weapon which had tortured him on land. Sooner or later,
he is sure to die from the wound, and then the natives, who, like the
hippopotamus, never hurry themselves, drag the huge carcass to land,
and hold a mighty feast upon it.
In some parts of the country these fall-traps are set nearly as thickly
as the pits which have already been mentioned, and the result is, that
the animals have become exceedingly suspicious, and will not approach
anything that looks like a trap. They are so thoroughly afraid of being
injured, that the native agriculturists are in the habit of imitating
traps by suspending mangrove seeds, bits of sticks, and other objects,
to the branches of the trees, knowing that the wary animal will keep
very clear of so dangerous-looking a locality. The trap has to be
set with considerable skill, and much care must be taken to conceal
the rope which crosses the path, or the animal will not strike it.
Large and heavy, and apparently clumsy, as he is, he can look out
for himself, and, in places where traps are plentiful, he becomes so
suspicious that if even a twig lie across his path he will rather go
round it than tread it under foot.
The Banyai chiefs do not neglect the usual African custom of demanding
toll from every traveller who passes through their territories,
although they do not appear to be quite so rapacious as some, of whom
we shall presently treat. The Banyai enforce their tribute much as
the owner of a ferry compels payment for the passengers. Knowing that
their permission, and even assistance, is needed in passing through
the country, they set a very high price upon their services, and
will not allow the traveller to proceed until he has complied with
their demands. Feeling sure of their position, they are apt to be
violent as well as extortionate, flinging down the offered sum with
contemptuous gestures, and abusing their victims with a wonderful flow
of disparaging language.
Dr. Livingstone, knowing their customs, contrived to get the better
of the Banyai in a place where they were accustomed to carry things
with a high hand, even over the Portuguese traders. At night, when the
time came for repose, instead of going ashore, after the usual custom
of the native canoe men, he anchored in the middle of the stream, and
had couches made on board. This device completely disconcerted the
plans of the Banyai, who expected the travellers to come ashore, and,
of course, would have kept them prisoners until they had paid a heavy
toll for permission to embark again. They even shouted invitations from
the river bank to come and sleep on land, but dared not attack a boat
filled with armed men commanded by Europeans. The oddest part of the
whole proceeding was, that the Makololo and Batoka boatmen, who were
accompanying Dr. Livingstone, had never thought of so simple a device,
and roared exultant jeers from their boat to the Banyai on shore.
The country in which the Banyai live furnishes various kinds of food of
which an European would be ignorant, and therefore would run a great
risk of starving in a place where the Banyai would be revelling in
plenty. Ant-hills, for example, almost always furnish huge mushrooms,
which are at once palatable and nutritious; and there are several
kinds of subterranean tubers that are only to be found by striking the
ground with stones and listening to the sound. One of these tubers
is remarkable for the fact that in winter time it has a slight but
perceptible quantity of salt in it.
The Banyai, like other African tribes, have their peculiar
superstitions, such as pouring out the contents of their snuff box
as an offering to the spirits of the dead when they are engaged in
hunting, hoping thereby to propitiate them and procure their aid. One
man who had performed this act of devotion was quite scandalized at
the irreverence of hunters who belonged to other tribes, and who, as
he said, did not know how to pray. The same man took to himself the
credit of having destroyed an elephant which had been killed by others,
his prayers and snuff, and not the weapons of the hunters, having,
according to his idea, been the real instruments by which the animal
fell.
The particular animal, by the way, was killed in a manner peculiar to
some of the tribes in this part of Africa. These native hunters are
very Nimrods for skill and courage, going after the elephant into the
depths of his own forest, and boldly coping with him, though armed with
weapons which an European would despise.
The chief weapon which is used by these tribes is a kind of axe. It is
made much after the fashion of those used by the Bechuanas described on
page 290. The “tang,” however, which is fastened into the handle, is at
least three feet in length, and the handle is sometimes six or seven
feet long, so that the instrument looks more like a scythe than an axe.
The handle is made by cutting off a branch of convenient thickness, and
also a foot or two of the trunk at its junction. A hole is then bored
through the piece of the trunk, the tang of the head inserted into it,
and the rough wood then dressed into shape; thus the necessary weight
is gained without the expenditure of valuable metal.
The illustration No. 2 on page 363 will make this ingenious process
clear. Fig. 2 represents part of the trunk of a tree, marked A, from
which starts a convenient branch. Seeing that this branch will answer
for the handle of an axe, the native cuts across the trunk, and thus
has a very rude kind of mallet, possessed of considerable weight. A
hole is next bored through the part of the trunk, and the iron tang of
the axehead thrust through it. The superabundant wood is then trimmed
off, as shown in the cut, the branch is scraped and smoothed, and the
simple but effective axe is complete.
Figs. 4 and 5 represent a convertible axe which is much used by this
people. As in their work they sometimes need an adze, and sometimes an
axe, they have ingeniously made a tool which will serve either purpose.
The handle and butt are made exactly as has already been described,
but, instead of piercing a single hole for the iron head, the Banyai
cut two holes at right angles to each other, as seen in the diagram,
fig. 4. The iron, therefore, can be fixed in either of these sockets,
and, according to the mode in which it is inserted, the tool becomes
either an axe or an adze. At fig. 4 it is placed in the horizontal
socket, and accordingly the tool is an adze; but at fig. 5 it is
transformed into an axe, merely by shifting the iron head into the
perpendicular socket.
It is a curious fact that the Water Dyaks of Borneo have a very similar
tool, which they use in boat-building. It is much smaller than the
Banyai axe, being only used in one hand, and the head is fixed to the
handle by an elaborate binding of split rattan, which is so contrived
that the head can be turned at pleasure with its edge parallel to or
across the handle.
Fig. 3 represents a rather curious form of axe, which is sometimes
found among the Banyai and other tribes. The head is made very long,
and it is made so that, when the owner wishes to carry it from one
place to another, he does not trouble himself to hold it in his hand,
but merely hangs it over his shoulder.
The elephant axe is shown at fig. 1, but it is hardly long enough in
the handle. In one part of Central Africa the head is fastened to the
handle by means of a socket; but this form is exceedingly rare, and, in
such a climate as is afforded by tropical Africa, is far inferior to
that which has been described.
The hunters who use this curious weapon go in pairs, one having the
axe, which has been most carefully sharpened, and the other not
troubling himself about any weapon, except perhaps a spear or two. When
they have found an elephant with good tusks, they separate, and work
their way round a wide circuit, so as to come upon him from different
quarters, the axeman always approaching from behind, and the assistant
coming toward the front. As soon as they knew, by well-understood
signals, that they are near the animal, they begin their work. The
assistant begins to rustle among the branches at some distance in
front, not in such a manner as to alarm the elephant, but to keep his
attention fixed, and make him wonder what the singular movements can
mean. While he is engaged with the man in front, the axeman steals
gradually on him from behind, and with a sweep of his huge weapon
severs the tendon of the hock, which in the elephant is at a very short
distance from the ground. From that moment the animal is helpless,
its enormous weight requiring the full use of all its limbs; and the
hunters can, if they choose, leave it there and go after another, being
quite sure that they will find the lamed animal in the same place where
it was left. Even if the axe blow should not quite sever the tendon, it
is sure to cut so deeply that at the first step which the animal takes
the tendon gives way with a loud snap.
To return to the religious notions of the Banyai. The man who made
oblation of his snuff said that the elephant was specially directed by
the Great Spirit to come to the hunters, because they were hungry and
wanted food; a plain proof that they have some idea, however confused
and imperfect it may be, of a superintending and guiding Providence.
The other Banyai showed by their conduct that this feeling was common
to the tribe, and not peculiar to the individual; for when they brought
corn, poultry, and beads, as thank-offerings to the hunters who had
killed the elephant, they mentioned that they had already given thanks
to the Barimo, or gods, for the successful chase. The Banyai seem
to have odd ideas about animals; for when the hyænas set up their
hideous laugh, the men said that they were laughing because they knew
that the men could not eat all the elephant, and must leave some for
the hyænas. In some parts of the country the hyænas and lions are so
numerous, that when the inhabitants are benighted at a distance from
human habitations, they build little resting places in the branches of
trees, and lodge there for the night, leaving their little huts in the
branches as memorials of their visit.
Among the peculiar superstitions is one which is much in vogue. This
is a mode of protecting property from thieves, and consists of a strip
of palm leaf, smeared with some compound, and decorated with tufts of
grass, bits of wood, little roots, and the like. It is chiefly used
for the protection of honey, which is sometimes wild, the bees making
a nest for themselves in the hollow of a tree, and sometimes preserved
in hives, which are made of bark, and placed in the branches. The hives
are long and cylindrical, and laid on their sides. The protecting palm
leaf is tied round the tree, and the natives firmly believe that if a
thief were to climb over it, much more to remove it, he would be at
once afflicted with illness, and soon die. The reader will see here an
analogous superstition to the “tapu,” or taboo, of Polynesia.
The hives are made simply enough. Two incisions are made completely
round the tree, about five feet apart, and a longitudinal slit is then
cut from one incision to the other. The bark is carefully opened at
this slit, and by proper management it comes off the tree without being
broken, returning by its own elasticity to its original shape. The
edges of the slit are then sewed together, or fastened by a series of
little wooden pegs. The ends are next closed with grass ropes, coiled
up just like the targets which are used by modern archers; and, a hole
being made in one of the ends, the hive is complete. Large quantities
of honey and wax are thus collected and used for exportation; indeed
all the wax that comes from Londa is collected from these hives.
THE BADÉMA TRIBE.
There is still left a small fragment of one of the many African tribes
which are rapidly expiring. These people are called BADÉMA, and from
their ingenuity seem to deserve a better fate. They are careful
husbandmen, and cultivate small quantities of tobacco, maize, and
cotton in the hollows of the valleys, where sufficient moisture lingers
to support vegetation. They are clever sportsmen, and make great use of
the net, as well on the land as in the water. For fishing they have a
kind of casting net, and when they go out to catch zebras, antelopes,
and other animals, they do so by stretching nets across the narrow
outlets of ravines, and then driving the game into them. The nets are
made of baobab bark, and are very strong.
They have a singularly ingenious mode of preserving their corn. Like
many other failing tribes, they are much persecuted by their stronger
neighbors, who are apt to make raids upon them, and carry off all
their property, the chief part of which consists of corn. Consequently
they are obliged to conceal their stores in the hills, and only
keep a small portion in their huts, just sufficient for the day’s
consumption. But the mice and monkeys are quite as fond of corn as
their human enemies, and would soon destroy all their stores, had not
the men a plan by which they can be preserved. The Badéma have found
out a tree, the bark of which is hateful both to the mice and the
monkeys. Accordingly they strip off the bark, which is of a very bitter
character, roll it up into cylindrical vessels, and in these vessels
they keep their corn safely in caves and crevices among the rocks.
Of course, when their enemies come upon them, they always deny that
they have any food except that which is in their huts, and when
Dr. Livingstone came among them for the first time they made the
stereotyped denial, stating that they had been robbed only a few weeks
before.