In South Africa the word Kaffir is often used in a general way to
signify any black native who is not the descendant of an imported
slave, but on the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony the term is
usually restricted to a member of the Amaxosa tribe. It is from
individuals of this tribe that the following stories have been
collected.
Europeans have designated these people Kaffirs ever since the discovery
of the country, though they themselves cannot even pronounce the word,
as the English sound of the letter r is wanting in their language. R in
Kaffir words, as now written, represents the same guttural sound as g
does in Dutch, or the Scotch sound of ch in loch; thus Rarabe is
pronounced Khah-khah-bay. They have no word by which to signify the
whole race, but each tribe has its own title, which is usually the name
of its first great chief, with the plural prefix Ama or Aba.
A very large portion of South Africa is occupied by people of this
race. All along the eastern coast, as far south as the Great Fish
River, the country is thickly populated with Kaffir tribes. On the
other side of the mountains, the Bechuanas, their near kindred, are
found stretching almost across to the Atlantic shore, from the heart of
the continent southward to the Orange River.
The country lying between the present colonies of the Cape and Natal
was first explored by Europeans in the year 1688, and was then found to
be occupied by four great tribes,—the Amampondomsi, the Amampondo, the
Abatembu, and the Amaxosa,—who formed nations as distinct from each
other as are the French and the Italians. Their language was the same,
and their laws and customs varied very slightly; but in all that
respected government they were absolutely independent of one another.
It has since been ascertained that the tribes further northward do not
differ materially from these.
The Amaxosa were the farthest to the southward in 1688, as they have
been ever since. On the coast they had then reached the Keiskama River,
and there is good reason to believe that inland their outposts extended
westward as far as the site of the present village of Somerset East.
They were thus in contact with Hottentot tribes along an extended line,
and an amalgamation of the two races had probably already commenced. It
is certain that during the latter half of the last century a great many
Hottentots were incorporated with the Amaxosa.
The mode of incorporation was in most instances a selection of
Hottentot females after the destruction of their clan in war; but in at
least one case a Hottentot tribe became gradually a Kaffir clan by
mixture of blood through adoption of Kaffir refugees. The people of
this tribe, a pure Hottentot one in 1689 and then called the Gqunaqua,
were found by a traveller a century later to resemble Kaffirs more than
Hottentots in appearance, and, except a few families, they are now
undistinguishable from other members of the Amaxosa. Their original
language has been lost, but their old tribal title is yet retained in
the Kaffir form Amagqunukwebe.
This large admixture of Hottentot blood has not affected the mode of
government or the general customs of the Amaxosa, as is seen on
comparing them with other tribes to the north; but it has affected
their personal appearance and their language. Many words in use by the
women, though appearing in a Kaffir form, can be traced to Hottentot
roots. Owing to this, their traditional stories may have been modified
to some, though not to any great, extent
In a condition independent of European control, each Kaffir tribe is
presided over by a great chief, whose government is, however, but
little felt beyond his own immediate clan, each petty division being
under a ruler who is in reality nearly independent. The person of a
chief is inviolable, and an indignity offered to one of them is
considered a crime of the gravest nature. Such offshoots of the ruling
house as are not of themselves chiefs are of aristocratic rank, and are
exempt from obedience to the laws which govern the commonalty. With
regard to the common people, the principle of the law is that they are
the property of the rulers, and consequently an offence against any of
their persons is atoned for by a fine to the chief. Murder and assaults
are punished in this manner. Thus in theory the government is despotic,
but in practice it has many checks. The first is the existence of a
body of councillors about the person of each chief, whose advice he is
compelled to listen to. A second is the custom that a man who can
escape from a chief whose enmity he has incurred will be protected by
any other with whom he takes refuge, so that an arbitrary or unpopular
ruler is in constant danger of losing his followers.
The chief in council makes the law and administers it, but from the
courts of the petty chiefs there is an appeal to the head of the tribe.
Only two kinds of punishment are known: fines and death. Lawsuits are
of frequent occurrence, and many Kaffirs display great ability and
remarkable powers of oratory in conducting them. The judges are guided
in their proceedings by a recognised common law and by precedents,
though some of them are exceedingly venal. They will sit, however, with
exemplary patience, for days together, to hear all the details of a
case, and, where bribery is impossible, their sentences are usually in
accordance with strict justice.
The manner in which the Kaffirs became divided into independent tribes
in ancient times is clearly shown by the law of succession to the
chieftainship which is in force to the present day. The first wives of
a chief are usually the daughters of some of his father’s principal
retainers; but as he increases in power his alliance is courted by
great families, and thus it generally happens that the last of his
wives is the highest in rank. Probably she is the daughter of a
neighbouring chief, for it is indispensable in her case that the blood
of the ruling line should flow in her veins. She is termed the great
wife, and her eldest son is the principal heir.
Another of his wives is invested at some period of his life, with the
consent of his councillors and friends, with the title of wife of the
right hand, and to her eldest son is allotted a portion of the tribe,
with which he forms a new clan. The government of this is entrusted to
him as soon as he is full grown, so that while his brother is still a
child he has opportunities of increasing his power. If he is the abler
ruler of the two, war between them follows almost to a certainty as
soon as the great heir reaches manhood, and is invested with a separate
command. Should peace be maintained, upon the death of his father the
son of the right hand acknowledges his brother as superior in rank, but
pays him no tribute, nor admits of his right to interfere in any manner
with the internal government of the new clan.
Thus there was always a tendency to division and subdivision of the
tribes, which was the great fault of the system. But while it operated
against unity, it tended towards a rapid expansion of the people in a
country where only a slight opposition could be made by the earlier
inhabitants. The less powerful chief of the two would naturally desire
to reside at a considerable distance from his competitor, and thus a
new tract of country would be taken possession of. About six
generations ago a practice was introduced of dividing each tribe into
three sections, by the elevation of a third son to power, with the
title of representative of the ancients. But it was not generally
adopted until Gaika, about the beginning of the present century, gave
it his countenance, since which time this custom has been almost
universally followed by the Amaxosa, so that the number of petty chiefs
and little clans is now very great.
The Kaffir of the coast region is a model of a well-formed man. In
general he is large, without being corpulent, strong, muscular, erect
in bearing, and with all his limbs in perfect symmetry. His skull is
shaped like that of a European; but here the resemblance ends, for his
colour is a deep brown, and his hair is short and woolly. His
intellectual abilities are of no mean order, and his reasoning powers
are quite equal to those of a white man. He is haughty in demeanour,
and possesses a large amount of vanity. For anything approaching
frivolity he has a supreme contempt. The men are handsomer than the
women, which is owing to the difference in their mode of living.
Their language is rich in words, and is musical in expression, owing to
the great number of vowels used. With very few exceptions the syllables
end in vowels. In structure it differs greatly from the languages of
Europeans. The inflections take place at the beginning, not at the end
of words. Thus the plural of indoda, a man, is amadoda, men; of umfazi,
a woman, is abafazi, women; of isikali, a weapon, is izikali, weapons.
And so with every part of speech which is capable of being inflected.
This difference is, however, a slight one, when compared with the
changes which the other parts of speech undergo to make them harmonize
in sound with the principal noun in the sentence. According as the noun
commences with a particular syllable, so the first syllable of the
adjective, the verb, the adverb, and even the preposition, must be
altered to agree with it in sound. Only the root syllables of these
parts of speech remain the same in all combinations.
Kaffir words are in most instances combined together to form sentences
in such a way that they cannot be separated from each other as English
words are. What appears in writing to be only one word, is often really
three or four, but as in another combination these would change their
positions, and as very frequently a single letter represents a word, it
would create much greater confusion to separate them than to write them
as one.
There is no difficulty whatever in expressing any ideas in the Kaffir
language. The present infinitive of any verb can be transformed into an
abstract noun. The numerals are as complete as is necessary for any
calculation. Adjectives proper are not numerous, but their place is
supplied by abstract nouns; as if we should say, a thing with goodness,
instead of, a good thing. The adjective follows the noun, as abantwana
bane, children four, izinto zine, things four.
The language of the Amaxosa contains three clicks, which are now
represented in writing by the superfluous letters c, q, and x. These
clicks are easily sounded separately by Europeans, the c by withdrawing
the tongue sharply from the front teeth, the q by doing the same from
the roof of the mouth, and the x by drawing the breath in a peculiar
way between the tongue and the side teeth; but they generally prove an
insurmountable difficulty to an adult who wishes to learn to speak the
language. By such a person a syllable commencing with a click can only
be sounded as a distinct word with a considerable interval of time
between it and the one before it. European children, however, readily
learn to speak it fluently.
The women do not always use the same words as the men, owing to the
custom called ukuhlonipa, which prohibits females from pronouncing the
names of any of their husband’s male relatives in the ascending line,
or any words whatever in which the principal syllables of such names
occur. Owing to this custom, in many instances almost a distinct
dialect has come into use. (This custom is referred to in a note to
follow the Story of Tangalimlibo.)
Before the advent of the white man, the Kaffirs knew nothing of letters
or of any signs by which ideas could be expressed. Their history is
thus traditional, and cannot be considered authentic beyond four or
five generations back. There are numerous old men in every clan who
profess to be acquainted with the deeds of the past, but their accounts
of these seldom correspond in details beyond a period of about a
century and a half. The genealogy of the great chiefs even, as given by
them, is not the same beyond the time of Sikomo, the eighth in order
from the present one, while with regard to minor chiefs considerable
confusion exists two or three generations later.
They know of no other periods in reckoning time than the day and the
lunar month, and can describe events only as happening before or after
some remarkable occurrence, such as the death of a chief. The different
seasons of the year are indicated by the rise in the evening of
particular constellations, to which, as well as to several of the
prominent stars and planets, they have given expressive names.
Until European clothing was introduced, the dress of the Kaffirs was
composed of skins of animals formed into a square mantle the size of a
large blanket, which they wrapped about their persons. The skin of the
leopard was reserved for chiefs and their principal councillors alone,
but any other could be used by common people. Married women wore a
short leather petticoat at all times; in warm weather men and children
went quite naked. No covering was ordinarily worn on the head, though a
fillet, intended for show, was commonly bound round it, and a fantastic
head-dress was used by the women on certain festive occasions.
They are fond of decorating their persons with ornaments, such as
shells, teeth of animals, and beads, used as necklaces, copper and
ivory rings on their arms, etc. They protect their bodies from the
effects of the sun by rubbing themselves all over with fat and red
clay, which makes them look like polished bronze. Their clothing is
greased and coloured in the same manner.
They live in villages, large or small according to circumstances. Their
habitations consist of hemispherical huts formed of strong wickerwork
frames thatched with reeds or grass; they are proof against rain or
wind. The largest are about twenty-five feet in diameter, and seven or
eight feet in height in the centre. They are entered by a low, narrow
aperture, which is the only opening in the structure; their interior is
smoky and dirty, and not seldom swarms with vermin. The villages are
usually in situations which command a good view of the surrounding
country.
The Kaffirs are warlike in disposition and brave in the field, though
when fighting with Europeans they seldom venture upon a pitched battle,
owing to their dread of firearms. Their weapons of offence are wooden
clubs with heavy heads, and assagais or javelins. The assagai (a
corruption of a Portuguese word derived from the Latin hasta) consists
of a long, thin iron head, with both edges sharp, and terminating in a
point, and is attached by thongs to a slender shaft or rod. Poising
this first in his uplifted hand and imparting to it a quivering motion,
the Kaffir hurls it forth with great force and accuracy of aim. The
club is used at close quarters, and can also be thrown to a
considerable distance. Boys are trained to the use of both these
weapons from an early age. Before the introduction of firearms the
Kaffir used a shield to defend his person. It was made of ox-hide
stretched over a wooden frame, and varied in size and pattern among the
clans.
The warriors are formed into companies under their respective chiefs,
and are not divided into regiments of about the same number. A battle
between Kaffirs consists of a series of individual encounters, in which
the bravest combatants on each side challenge each other by name, and
when one falls, another is called upon by the victor to take his place.
The height of ambition is to be mentioned in one of the rude chants
which the bards, whose principal employment is to sing the praises of
the chief, compose on the occasions of festivals, and to hear one’s
name received with applause. The brave wear on their heads the feathers
of the blue crane, which are given to them by the chief as tokens of
distinction, and which no one else is permitted to wear (except a
single individual at a peculiar ceremony which will be referred to in a
note upon the custom of ntonjane).
Horned cattle constitute their principal wealth, and form a medium of
exchange throughout the country. Great care is taken of them, and
particular skill is exhibited in their training. They are taught to
obey signals, as, for instance, to run home upon a certain call or
whistle being given. In former days every man of note had his racing
oxen, and prided himself upon their good qualities as much as an
English squire does upon his blood horses. Ox racing was then one of
the institutions of Kaffirland, and was connected with all kinds of
festivities.
The care of cattle is considered the most honourable employment, and
falls entirely to the men. They milk the cows, take charge of the
dairy, and will not permit a woman even to touch a milksack. When
Europeans first visited them they had, in addition to the ox, domestic
dogs and an inferior breed of goats, the last not considered of much
value. Barnyard fowls were also found in their possession, but adults
made no use of either their flesh or their eggs.
The Kaffirs are an agricultural as well as a pastoral people. They
cultivate the ground to a large extent, and draw the greater portion of
their food from it. A species of millet, called by the colonists Kaffir
corn, was the grain exclusively cultivated by them prior to the advent
of Europeans. Of this they raise large quantities, which they use
either boiled, or bruised into a paste from which bread is made. They
were acquainted with the art of fermenting it and making a kind of
beer, which they were fond of drinking, and which soon caused
intoxication. Of this grain they were careful always to keep a good
stock on hand. They preserved it from the attacks of the weevil by
storing it in air-tight holes excavated beneath the cattle kraals. They
had also pumpkins, a species of gourd, a cane containing saccharine
matter in large quantities, and a sort of ground nut. The other
productions of their gardens, as we see them at present, have been
introduced since they became acquainted with the white man. Of those
mentioned their food consisted, with the addition of curdled milk and
occasionally flesh.
They have two meals a day, a slight breakfast in the morning, and a
substantial repast at sunset. Boys in early youth are permitted to eat
any kind of meat, even that of wild cats and other carnivora, but when
they reach the age of maturity the flesh of all unclean animals is
rejected by them. They use no kinds of fish as an article of diet, and
call them all snakes, without distinction.
They have a system of religion which they carefully observe. It is
based upon the supposition of the existence of spirits who can
interfere with the affairs of this world, and who must therefore be
propitiated with sacrifices. These spirits are those of their deceased
chiefs, the greatest of whom has power over lightning. When the spirits
become hungry, they send a plague or disaster, until sacrifices are
offered and their hunger is appeased. When a person is killed by
lightning no lamentation is made, as it would be considered rebellion
to mourn for one whom the great chief has sent for. They have no idea
of reward or punishment in a world to come for acts committed in this
life, and each of the commonalty denies the immortality of his own
soul.
In olden times, when common people died, their corpses were dragged
away to a short distance from the kraal, and there left to be devoured
by beasts of prey; but chiefs and great men were interred with much
ceremony. A grave was dug, in which the body was placed in a sitting
posture, and by it were deposited his weapons of war and ornaments.
When it was closed, such expressions as these were used: “Remember us
from where you are. You have gone to high places. Cause us to prosper!”
They believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they term
Qamata, and to whom they sometimes pray, though they never offer
sacrifices to him. In a time of great danger a Kaffir will exclaim, “O
Qamata, help me!” and when the danger is over he will attribute his
deliverance to the same Supreme Being. The Kaffirs cannot define their
belief concerning Qamata very minutely, and they do not trouble
themselves with thinking much about the matter.
The largest amount of information on this subject which I ever obtained
was from a group of aged Gaikas, among whom was a celebrated native
antiquary. Negatively they replied to my inquiries much better than
positively.
“Had he been once a chief, such as Xosa or Tshawe?”
“No.”
“Was he the first man, the father of the nations, the one whom some of
the old Fingoes call Nkulunkulu?”
“No, not at all; Qamata was never a man.”
“Was he the creator of all that we see, the mountains, and the sun, and
the stars?”
“Perhaps he was, we don’t know; he is greater than all these.”
“Where is he?”
“Everywhere.”
“Does he see all things?”
“We think he does.”
“Does he help people?”
“We ask him to sometimes, and we believe he does.”
“Is he altogether good, or altogether bad, or partly good and partly
bad?”
“We don’t know about that; but we think he is altogether good.”
“Are there any others like him?”
“No; he is all alone.”
“Is there any other name for him?”
“In the olden times that was the only name, but now he is called by
some u-Tixo,” (a name for God, introduced by missionaries).
A superstitious act of a very peculiar kind is somehow or other
connected in their minds with prayer to, or worship of, Qamata. In
various parts of the Kaffir country there are artificial heaps of
stones, and a Kaffir, when travelling, may often be seen adding one to
the number. He repeats no words, but merely picks up a stone and throws
it on the heap. Why does he do it? That good fortune may attend
him,—that he may not be carried away by the river spirit when crossing
a stream,—that he may find food prepared for him where he is to
rest,—that he may be successful in the business he is engaged in,—or
something of the kind that he is thinking of at the time. It is an act
of superstition. But old men have told me, when I inquired the object
of this act, that “it was for Qamata.” How? They did not know; but
their ancestors had done the same thing, and said it was for Qamata;
and so they did it too.
The influence of the unseen world is ever acting upon the Kaffir. Far
nearer to him than Qamata or the spirits of his ancestors is a whole
host of water sprites and hobgoblins, who meet him turn which way he
will. There is no beautiful fairyland for him, for all these fanciful
beings who haunt the mountains, the plains, and the rivers, are either
actively malevolent, or mischievous and addicted to playing pranks. To
protect himself from them he carries on his person charms in numbers,
only to find himself still exposed to their attacks. This superstition
influences all his acts and gives a tone of seriousness to his
character.
The rites of religion consist merely in sacrifices to appease the
spirits. These are numerous. On great occasions they are performed by
individuals who act the part of priests, on ordinary occasions by heads
of families. The meat of the animal sacrificed is eaten, for the hunger
of the spirit is allayed with the smoke. No sacred days or seasons are
observed.
A corollary to the belief in malevolent spirits is the belief in
witchcraft. Certain persons obtain from the demons power to bewitch
others, and thus sickness and death are caused. The same individual who
acts as a priest acts also as a witch-finder. In olden times the person
whom the witch-finder pronounced guilty was liable to confiscation of
property, torture, and even death. The priest and witch-finder
professes also to have the power of making rain, and of causing the
warriors of his clan to be invulnerable in battle. When following any
of these occupations, he attires himself most fantastically, being
painted with various colours, and having the tails of wild animals
suspended around him.
Before the supremacy of the Europeans it was seldom that the individual
who filled this office died a natural death. Sooner or later he would
fail to cause rain to fall when it was needed, or warriors whom he had
made invulnerable would be struck down, or something else would happen
which would cause him to be regarded as an impostor. He was then
generally tied hand and foot and cast into the first stream at hand.
Nevertheless, implicit confidence was placed in his successor, until
he, too, met the same fate.
Sometimes a person intimates that he has received revelations from the
spirit world. He is really a monomaniac, but if his statements are
believed his power at once becomes greater than that of the highest
chief, and his commands are implicitly obeyed.
The snake is treated with great respect by the Kaffirs. If one is found
in a hut, the people will move out and wait patiently until it leaves.
The owner will say that it is perhaps the spirit of one of his
ancestors who has come to visit him in this form. It may be only an
ordinary snake, he will add, but it is not advisable to run any risk,
lest harm should befall his house.
In the division of labour the cultivation of the ground falls to the
woman’s share, as does also the collection of firewood, and the
thatching of the huts. A man who meddles with work of this kind is
regarded as an intruder into a domain not his own. The females look
upon it as pertaining to them, just as in England they look upon
housework.
The descent of property is regulated in the same manner as the
succession to the chieftainship.
Many of their manufactures display considerable skill and ingenuity.
Foremost among these must be reckoned metallic wares, which include
implements of war and husbandry, and ornaments for the person. Iron and
copper are now obtained in trade from Europeans, but when the country
was first visited, the Kaffirs were found in possession of these
metals, and to the present day a few stubborn conservatives prefer to
smelt ore for themselves, as their ancestors did before them. There are
certain families to whom the working in metals is confined, the son
following the father in his occupation. This is the case with every
kind of manufacture, and no one pretends to know anything about a trade
which does not belong to his own family.
In many parts of the country iron ore of excellent quality is abundant,
and this they smelt (or rather did so until recently) in a simple
manner. Forming a furnace of a boulder with a hollow surface, out of
which a groove was made to allow the liquid metal to escape, and into
which a hole was pierced for the purpose of introducing a current of
air, they piled up a heap of charcoal and virgin ore, which they
afterwards covered in such a way as to prevent the escape of heat. The
bellows by which air was introduced were made of skins, the mouthpiece
being the horn of a large antelope. The molten iron, escaping from the
crude yet effective furnace, ran into clay moulds prepared to receive
it, which were as nearly as possible of the same magnitude as the
implements they wished to make. These were never of great size, the
largest being the picks or heavy hoes used in gardening.
The Kaffir smith, using a boulder for an anvil and a hammer of iron or
stone, next proceeded to shape the lump of metal into an assagai head,
an axe, a pick, or whatever was required. The iron was worked cold. In
this laborious operation a vast amount of patience and perseverance was
exercised, and the article when completed was very creditable indeed.
Copper is worked into a great variety of ornaments for their persons.
This metal is found in certain parts of the country, but it is now
generally obtained in trade from Europeans.
Hardly less remarkable was their skill in pottery, an art rapidly
becoming lost since the introduction of European wares. Vessels
containing from half a pint to fifty gallons were constructed by them
of earthenware, some of which were highly ornamented, and were almost
as perfect in form as if they had been turned on a wheel. Though they
were frequently not more than an eighth of an inch in thickness, so
finely tempered were they that the most intense heat did not damage
them. These vessels were used as beer pots, grain jars, and cooking
utensils.
In the manufacture of wooden articles, such as spoons, bowls, fighting
sticks, pipes (since the introduction of tobacco), rests for the head
when sleeping, etc., they display great skill and no little taste. Each
article is made of a single block of wood, requiring much time and
patience to complete it, and upon it is frequently carved some neat but
simple pattern.
Baskets for holding grain, rush mats, bags, and drinking vessels made
of grass are among the products of their labour. Rush bags are made so
carefully and strongly that they are used to hold water or any other
liquid.
Skins for clothing are prepared by rubbing them for a length of time
with grease, by which means they are made nearly as soft and pliable as
cloth.
Ingenious as they are, the men are far from being industrious. A great
portion of their time is spent in visiting and gossip, of which they
are exceedingly fond. They are perfect masters of that kind of argument
which consists in parrying a question by means of putting another. They
are not strict observers of truth, and, though not pilferers, they are
addicted to cattle lifting. According to their ideas, stealing cattle
is not a crime; it is a civil offence, and a thief when detected is
compelled to make ample restitution; but no disgrace attaches to it,
and they have no religious scruples concerning it.
Such, in brief, are the Kaffirs, the people among whom the following
stories are current.