MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MARUTSE TRIBES.
Ideas of religion--Mode of living--Husbandry
and crops--Consumption and preparation of
food--Cleanliness--Costume--Position of the women--Education
of children--Marriages--Disposal of the dead--Forms
of greeting--Modes of travelling--Administration
of justice--An execution--Knowledge of
medicine--Superstition--Charms--Human sacrifices--Clay and
wooden vessels--Calabashes--Basket-work--Weapons--Manufacture of
clothing--Tools--Oars--Pipes and snuff-boxes--Ornaments--Toys,
tools, and fly-flappers.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: SEPOPO’S HEAD MUSICIAN.
_Page 302._]
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
so successful, the other third, in spite of its being infested by the
tsetse-fly, is so abundant in game, the rivers and lagoons produce
such quantities of fish, and the forests yield so many varieties of
fruits and edible roots and seeds, that, unlike many of the Bechuana
tribes, the natives never suffer from want during the summer rains. In
husbandry and in cattle-breeding alike they have great advantages in
their abundance of water, their fertile soil, and their genial climate.
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.
[Illustration: 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 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.
[Illustration: BARK BASKET AND CALABASHES FOR HOLDING CORN, USED
BY THE MABUNDAS.]
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 it has 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
nymphæa-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.
[Illustration: 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 likewise. 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 or a 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,
it is 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-shangwe;” 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 breech-loader 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 makosana 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 little 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 crossbar 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 by a 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 in
the 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 cowhide, 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 fire-arms 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.
[Illustration: MABUTSE-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.
[Illustration: 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 indispensable 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, tortoiseshell, 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 gnus, zebras, and antelopes, with
the hair outside; the Masarwas also make headbands 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.
[Illustration: SCENE ON THE ZAMBESI SHORES AT SESHEKE.
_Page 351._]
Although several of the ornaments that have been introduced by the
traders pass as currency, nothing in this respect can compare with
beads, of which different tribes exhibit a preference for certain
colours. Hereabouts the violet, the yellow, and the pink were reckoned
as of no value at all; those which were most highly appreciated were
the light and dark blue, after which rank the vermilion, Indian
red, white, black, and green. The whole of these are of the kind of
small beads about one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. Amongst the
medium-sized beads, about one-fifth of an inch long, those seem to be
most sought after which are variegated, or have white spots on a dark
ground, but sulphur-coloured and green are likewise in good request.
To every tribe alike the shape of the beads is quite a matter of
indifference.
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.