The Kaffirs have no idea of a future state, and many can hardly be
taught to believe that there are countries beyond their own. Some have
a crude idea that Europeans, particularly the English, live on the
waters in ships. Even to their own chiefs, and people who have been in
England, they will give no credence. A Kaffir believes only what he
sees. Latterly, they have become more inquisitive, and ask questions,
wondering "if the Queen of England is like other human beings!"
They are so exceedingly superstitious that the more cunning members of
their community take advantage of a weakness common to all, but
possessed in a greater degree by some than by others. The system of
"eating-up," as it is called, arises from the prevalence of
superstition, and may be thus described. A man, who, from his knowledge
of herbs and practice among the sick, is considered and denominated a
doctor, entertains, perhaps, a spite against some individual. He hears
that another is sick,--if a chief so much the better for his purpose,--
or perhaps he may employ some nefarious means to injure the health of a
man by whom he intends to be employed. The chief, then, falls sick,
naturally, or by foul means; meanwhile, the "doctor" has not been idle,
he has carried to some hiding-place some herbs, skin, or something of
this kind, and has buried it in a nook. Soon after comes the summons
for him. He goes. The patient is suffering, and the mode of
questioning the sick man is singular enough. With a grave face and
solemn air, the doctor begins his inquiries,--"Does his head ache?"
"No." "Has he a sore throat?" "No." "Pain in the shoulders?" "No."
"In the chest?" "No." "In the arms?" "No." And so on, till the part
affected is touched. Then the pain is acknowledged, and there is a long
pause. No one ventures to speak, save the doctor and the patient. At
last, the former asks the invalid who has bewitched him? All disease is
looked upon as the effect of magic, from their total ignorance of a
Providence. The patient replies, he does not know. It is not
improbable, indeed, he may be leagued with the doctor; or, if he be a
chief, that he may have resolved on possessing himself of some poor
dependent's cattle, and therefore bribes the doctor to assist him in his
scheme. All the inhabitants of the kraal are summoned. They come.
Perhaps, they expect a feast, unless they are aware of the chief's
illness. The doctor moves through the assembly, examines the
countenances of this man and that, retires, deliberates, returns, and at
last points out the unfortunate man who has already been devoted to
ruin. The victim protests his innocence. It is of no avail. The wise
doctor can prove where he has hidden the charm which works the mischief.
He goes to the nook where he himself has concealed it. The people
follow. Wonderful;--he discovers it--brings it to the chief, who orders
the victim to pay so many head of cattle, the tax imposed being always
so heavy as to injure the unfortunate creature beyond redemption.
Frequently, he is condemned to death, and frightful cruelties are to
this day practised on men and women accused of witchcraft, who, with
their heads smeared with honey, are bound down on an ant-hill, and at
their feet a blazing fire. Unable to move, they lie for days enduring
this torture, till they are released or die. In the former case even,
they are crippled for life. A case came to my knowledge, in which a
rain-maker, a character similar to that of the doctor, but whose
business is curing the weather, caused a poor creature to be put to
death; and, strange to say, on the following day, though we had not had
a drop of rain for nearly four months, and were very short of water, the
torrents which fell deluged the country, and filled the tanks and rivers
beyond what had been seen for a considerable time.
I confess that, as I have ridden through the kraals, and seen the groups
of Fingoes, or Kaffirs, sitting about the fires, surrounded by their
children, cooking their corn, chattering and laughing, while at a little
distance young boys basked in the sun, playing with pebbles at some
game, or, lying on the grass, idle, and happy in their idleness, without
a thought beyond the present, any more than the herd that cropped the
green herbage round them, I have said to my companions, "How can we
expect these happy wretches to be other than savages?" The earth yields
them food, and their cattle, milk and clothing. Trees provide them wood
for the frame-work of their huts, and their fires, and the clay on which
they sit is shaped into utensils for their use. Wise in their own
conceit, they must be but too happy and independent to change their
condition of their own free will. They have no idea of the sin of a
theft, or a lie, being equal to the folly which permits it to be found
out.
I shall have occasion by and by to describe a council at which I was
present, wherein Umhala, a Kaffir chief, was summoned by the
Lieutenant-Governor, to show cause why he had threatened to "eat up"
Gasella, another chief, his step-brother. The secret of the threat was
said to lie in Gasella's friendly feeling towards the English, and his
consequent determination to prevent the inroads of the Kaffirs upon the
colony, for the purpose of abstracting cattle; but I strongly doubt the
existence of such a feeling in any Kaffir whatever. The constant thefts
of cattle give rise to "Commandos" to recover them, and after a
successful one, a military party in charge of cattle, conducting them
into Graham's Town, is not an unamusing sight. How would some
aristocratic papas and mammas be horrified at seeing their gentlemanlike
sons heading the party, and playing the part of principal herdsman on
the redoubtable occasion! Such expeditions require the utmost caution,
and are frequently attended with danger; and, though it would be no
addition to the soldier's wreath of glory to be assegaied, or shot, in
the execution of such a duty as that of driving cattle, he would be not
the less killed "for a' that,"--dead,--lost to his sorrowing friends and
his unsympathising country for ever.
The restless desire for plunder among the Kaffirs speaks much in favour
of their Arab origin. So do their tent-shaped huts, their riches
consisting in herds of cattle, and their wandering habits. The Kaffirs'
principal instrument of war is the spear, or assegai. Such, a weapon is
now in especial use among the Arabs. The poising and hurling this spear
constitute a trial of dexterity which they love to exhibit; and there
could not be a finer subject for a painter than a tall Kaffir,
majestically formed, with one foot firmly planted before him, his head
thrown back, his kaross draped pound him, leaving the right arm and foot
free and unfettered, in the act of poising an assegai before he sends it
flashing through the sunlit air. Their wearing clothes will be an
excellent thing for our manufactories, but will help to enervate the
savage.
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I cannot avoid reverting to the fact that writers have never, in their
descriptions, separated the Fingoes from the Kafirs. There is no doubt
that they once formed one vast nation, but are now not only distinct but
opposed to each other. In advertisements relative to servants, and
setting forth Government ordinances, mention is made of all the tribes
of Kaffirs to the utmost limits of the known territory, also of
Hottentots and Bushmen, but no reference is made to Fingoes, who differ
from the Kaffirs in appearance as well as in habits.
Mr Shepstone, the Government agent, has kindly written down, from what
he has gathered from them in conversation, the idea of the Kaffirs
respecting their own origin. He says--
"The traditions among the native tribes on the south-eastern coast of
Africa, which essay to describe the origin of the human race, are as
various as the tribes themselves. Perhaps, the one most curious in its
detail is the following:--It assumes the pre-existence of the sun, moon,
and stars, etc, as also of our earth, with everything in it as it at
present exists, with the exception of men and cattle. It then describes
two chasms in the earth, from one of which emerged three descriptions of
men; first, the Kaffir; second, the Bushman (the original Hottentot);
and third, the white man. These are the fathers of mankind. Out of the
other chasm came cattle; the greatest part of these were given to the
Kaffir, and he was told they should be `his life and his children's.'
The Bushman `was given the honey-bird,' [Note 1], and was desired to
follow it, as its fortunes should be `_his_ life and _his_ children's.'
The white man was shown the sea, and was told to `try everything.'
Another account represents the white man as having been incited by
curiosity to explore the chasm whence had issued the cattle; that, after
he had entered it, the mouth closed up; but that by extraordinary
exertions he cleared his way out, which explains the cause of his
descendants possessing such persevering ingenuity. Their different
callings being thus defined, they were permitted to increase and
multiply, and live in love with one another. This injunction was
followed for a considerable period, when one morning, when the sun shone
as brightly as usual in the heavens, one of their number was discovered
motionless! speechless! cold! The utmost dismay was the consequence;
all assembled to endeavour to ascertain the cause, and remedy what was
felt to be a serious evil; some ran with water, to sprinkle the lifeless
form; others hastened with broad-spreading leaves, to fan the rigid
countenance, and every effort was made to restore their companion so far
as to be able to tell the cause of such fearful apathy. All was in
vain--not a ray of hope was left--despair took possession of their
breasts. The form of their friend and fellow creature began to
moulder.--Nothing remained at last but the more substantial parts of the
person once familiar to them. Then a voice came and named it `Death!'
It is curious to observe," remarks Mr Shepstone, "in all this the
recognition of a superintending and benevolent power, independent of
man; whereas, in every other tradition, the fortunes of the human race
are represented as under the control of the good and evil spirits of
their forefathers, whichever may, circumstances, predominate at the
time."--Fort Peddie, May 19th, 1843.
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Note 1. A small bird, which, attracting the notice of travellers by its
cry, guides them to the wild bees' nests in trees, or clefts of rocks.