The World and Its People Part 27

These are prepared in such a way as to make them soft and elastic. The covering of the men consists of a long cloak, which hangs loosely from the shoulders and reaches nearly to the feet. In order to protect themselves from the parching effects of the sun's rays, these people anoint their bodies with some oily substance. The dress of the women is also made of skins, but fashioned differently.

The chief wealth of the Kaffir consists of his herds of cattle. His highest ambition is to increase the size of his herds, and his chief thought is to look after the welfare of his four-footed friends.

The life of a Kaffir woman is one of bondage. She is expected to perform the most laborious tasks, such as tilling the ground, felling wood, and erecting dwellings.

The Kaffirs are very shrewd when bartering their goods. When one has goods to dispose of, he will sit down among his comrades and await the approach of one of the colonial traders, who has beads and other articles of traffic to exchange for Kaffir goods.

As neither party can understand the language of the other, the trade is carried on by means of signs; for an interpreter is seldom present.

If the quant.i.ty of beads offered for any article does not seem sufficiently large, the Kaffir merely shakes his head to express his dissatisfaction with the price offered. If more beads are added to the quant.i.ty already offered, the Kaffir may still continue to show dissent by a still more vigorous shake of the head.

Sometimes such an interview terminates, after much time has been spent in negotiation, without either party coming to terms. The bead merchant does not hesitate to show his vexation and chagrin at the result of the interview, but the Kaffir appears cool and indifferent from first to last.

Often a second and a third dealer will approach the Kaffir, hoping to secure a bargain, but the stubborn fellow not unfrequently refuses to consider any offer, and departs, with his undiminished load, for the next market or fair ground.

Here he may or may not dispose of his goods, according to the mood he may be in. But it is no uncommon thing for him ultimately to exchange his articles for a less quant.i.ty of beads than he was originally offered for them.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

KAFFIR TRAITS AND CUSTOMS.

A curious custom prevails among the tribes of South Africa; namely, the so-called making of rain. Each tribe has its rain maker, who pretends, by certain charms, of which he alone holds the secret, to command the clouds to do his bidding.

These rain doctors, as they are termed by the Kaffirs, are looked upon with awe by the ignorant savages. It is believed that rain can be withheld or granted at the will of these men, who pose as magicians, but who are really the worst of impostors.

When a tribe wishes to invoke the aid of one of these rain makers, much ceremony is shown in approaching him. The chief and his bodyguard of warriors proceed in state to the dwelling of the magician, with presents of cattle to secure his favor. After making known their request a feast is held, lasting often for many days. During all this time the rain maker pretends that he is invoking his magic spells.

One of his devices is to gather a few leaves from each variety of tree in a neighboring forest, and simmer them in large pots over an immense fire. He then kills a sheep by p.r.i.c.king it through the heart with a long needle.

As the simmering goes on in the several pots upon the fire, the steam arises from them. This is supposed to ascend to the clouds and render them propitious, so that the desired rain may fall in grateful showers.

In the meantime the whole tribe joins in a dance. This is continued throughout the day at least, and often until after midnight. Songs are often sung in which a chorus of long-continued praise is shouted forth by the superst.i.tious natives.

Often this praise may be premature. The rain maker may fail, and the young and tender corn wither in the drought.

Other charms are then tried. The young men of the tribe form a large circle to encompa.s.s the side of a mountain,--the haunt of the klipspringers. Gradually they surround the poor creatures, until several specimens of this antelope have been taken captive. It is believed that the voices of these animals have the power to attract rain.

The cunning, wily rain doctor urges the poor hunted creatures about the kraal, or cattle pen, and by pinching, prodding, and other tortures, induces them to utter their cries. Should his efforts prove unavailing and the drought continue, the impostor, believing flight to be his only protection, seeks refuge in this cowardly way, and some other member of the tribe is selected to serve as rain maker.

Truly, in the eyes of the tribe, the rain maker is an important personage. When members of a tribe visit him to induce him to invoke the aid of the elements, he often exhibits his so-called magic powers for the amus.e.m.e.nt and to the amazement of his credulous visitors.

When he believes them to be sufficiently awed by his charms, he dismisses them with minute directions as to certain observances to be held, without which his charms will fail. Some of these instructions are of the most trivial nature. On no account are they, like Lot's wife, to look backward, nor must they hold any conversation; they must compel every person they meet to turn back and accompany them home; and there are many other directions equally absurd.

Should rain fall, all credit is given to the wonderful power of the rain maker; should the drought continue, the simple-hearted fanatics blame themselves and say they must have failed to carry out the magician's instructions to the letter.

Of course, much time is spent in all these ceremonies, and, in the natural tide of events, the drought frequently pa.s.ses, and the rain maker is gratefully regarded as the benefactor of his tribe.

The peculiar and terrific war dance of the Kaffirs is described by an observer as a performance far more astonishing than pleasing, exciting alarm rather than admiration, and displaying in rapid succession the habits and ferocious pa.s.sions of a savage community.

"Let the reader picture to himself a hundred or more unclad Africans, besmeared and disfigured with copious defilements of red clay, and a.s.suming with frantic gestures all the characteristic vehemence of a furious engagement.

"The dance commenced with a slow movement to a sort of humming noise from the women in the rear, the men stamping and beating time with their feet, until the gradual excitement occasioned a simultaneous spring with corresponding shouts, when the action proceeded to an unnatural frenzy, and was calculated to produce in the mind of a stranger the most appalling sensations.

"The dusky glare of the fire blazing in front of these formidable warriors gave an additional degree of awful effect to this extraordinary scene; and all that I had ever read in poetry or romance fell infinitely short of the realities before me.

"It was indeed a most seasonable relief, amidst the bewildering fancies of the moment, to hear the gratifying sound of 'All's well' from the sentries on the out-posts of the fort, which imparted to the mind a feeling of security and composure that, as may well be conceived, was truly welcome."

The Kaffirs gave the colonial government a great deal of trouble in the early part of the present century. Exasperated at defeat, and hostile after their country had been invaded and devastated by the colonists, these barbaric clans occupied the mountains and forests near by and sent out numerous marauding expeditions. These poured into the colony, determined to have revenge, to recapture the cattle of which they had been robbed, or to satisfy their claims by carrying off those belonging to the colonists.

The colonists depended upon the courageous, st.u.r.dy Hottentots, armed with guns, to guard their cattle, and ten or twelve of the boldest of them were selected to act as herdsmen.

The Kaffirs used only clubs and javelins for weapons. They knew from experience that these Hottentot herdsmen were unerring marksmen, and that their own weapons and their mode of warfare could in no wise compete with the trusty firelock in the hands of their opponents.

But the Kaffirs were wily and watched their opportunity. This occurred one day when the Hottentots had driven the colonists' cattle into one of the woodland prairies, and were seated in a group about a hundred feet from the edge of the jungle. Seeing no sign of danger, they began to smoke their pipes, their loaded guns in readiness on the gra.s.s beside them. The Kaffirs were watching every movement from the neighboring heights and found this a favorable opportunity to make an attack. With all the stealth of the panther they crept through the thickets, and advanced with the greatest caution till they reached the edge of the copse nearest to the unsuspecting herdsmen. Waiting till their enemies were engaged in conversation and had turned their faces in the opposite direction, they burst out upon them, uttering their hideous war cry.

Throwing a perfect avalanche of javelins as they approached, they closed in upon the bewildered Hottentots, club in hand, and soon overpowered them. A single herdsman escaped by fleeing to the jungle, two of the javelins sticking in his body as he ran. The cattle of the colonists, to the number of a thousand head at least, were captured by the enemy.

This is but one instance where the Kaffirs attacked and overpowered those who had inconsiderately dealt with them, or who had shown them cruel and oppressive treatment. The English nation has only too good reason to remember the Kaffir wars. The Kaffir race has, however, suffered much diminution, and is likely to become, like the red races of North America, less and less. Quite recently, between thirty and forty thousand Kaffirs surrendered themselves to the colonial government at the Cape. These are now largely employed as domestics and laborers.

CHAPTER XL.

HOTTENTOT CUSTOMS.

It will not, perhaps, be out of place here to consider the Hottentots in their native condition, before the white man invaded their country and homes.

It was no uncommon thing to find skilled artisans among them, practicing the art of skinner, tailor, or blacksmith, while the women were expert mat and rope makers.

Their methods of procedure were as simple as they were novel. The tanner took the sheep's skin, warm from the freshly slaughtered carca.s.s, and rubbed as much fat into it as it would contain. This process was conducted slowly and carefully, until the skin became tough and smooth, and the wool rendered secure from falling off.

This was the process if he cured the skin for a European; but if for the use of one of his own tribe, he would give it alternate rubbings with fat and manure from the cattle pen, and then place it in the sun to dry.

The tanner rubbed wood ashes in abundance into the hair of the hide he wished to tan, whether that of a cow or an ox. He then sprinkled it with water. If this process did not sufficiently loosen the hair, another application of the wood ashes and water was made, and so on until the hair could easily be removed. After the hair had been taken from the skin and as much fat rubbed into it as it would absorb, the skin was then vigorously curried.

The Hottentot skinner usually plied the vocation of tailor too. When he cut out the different parts of the native dress, he employed neither pattern nor rule, but measured accurately with his eye, and performed his work with speed and dexterity. When the several parts were cut out, he a.s.sumed a squatting position, and employed as his tools the bone of a bird for an awl, and the split sinews of animals for thread, in fashioning his garment.

If he wished to cut a hide up into straps, he made holes at short distances along its edges. He then tied a string in each hole. To each string he then fastened a peg, and by means of the several pegs stretched the hide to its full extent upon the ground.

Then with a knife, guided only by his eye, he cut out a strap, no matter what its length, with the greatest precision. Whether short or long, the width of the strap rarely varied from one end to the other.

These straps were of great service. The natives used them to tie up the materials for building their huts and their hut furniture, when they migrated to new cattle kraals. By means of the straps they girded these goods upon the backs of their oxen, and employed them in various ways.