1. NATIVES AND RUINS

IT may easily be imagined that researches as to the origin of the ruins cannot be furthered by inquiries instituted among the present native peoples as to any history or tradition concerning these structures. The chief value, however, of such inquiries is that they enable us to realise in what conditions both the ruins and the district have existed during the last few centuries. But such inquiries only take us back to a period of two hundred years short of that time when Portuguese writers referred to these buildings.

The migratory character of the South African natives is well known. Not only whole nations move, but the tribes among themselves move also, thus making it exceedingly difficult to trace their migrations except for a few generations back. The Portuguese historians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries referred to the Makalanga nation as occupying this country with their centre at “the Great Zimbabwe,” where resided the Monomotapa, or supreme chief, and where was “the mightie wall of five and twenty spans thick.” Three hundred years after this was written we find a dense population of Makalanga (“the People of the Sun”) still occupying Southern Mashonaland and forming the great bulk of its inhabitants.[27] In this respect, though their various tribes have frequently changed localities, the Makalanga as a general rule have not followed the migratory custom of South African peoples. Makalanga are to be found in both Matabeleland and Mashonaland, but mainly in the latter province, where the Chicaranga language, which Dos Santos in 1602 described as “the best and most polished of all Kafir languages which I have seen in this Ethiopia,” is still the language of the nation. Makalanga are also to be found in Barotseland, whither the Barotse[28] and their dependents the Makalanga migrated, in 1836–8, just previously to, and at the time of, the Matabele invasion of what is now known as Matabeleland.

But for nearly four hundred years the historical relations and the very existence of the Makalanga and their history were forgotten. From being a powerful and semi-civilised people (see The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia, chapter x.) they have become a people of no account—mere “Makalaka,” as the people of the present Bechuanaland scornfully called them in reference to their present slavish position. To their successive conquerors they have always been but “dogs of slaves.”

So far as the purely local natives are concerned, the following notes, based upon a series of conferences of the oldest native authorities held at Zimbabwe during 1902 and 1903, at which Mr. Alfred Drew, Native Commissioner, the Rev. A. A. Louw, Dutch Reformed Mission near Zimbabwe, and Dr. Helm, Medical Missionary, and other admitted authorities on native language and customs, have taken part, will explain the local occupations for almost if not more than one hundred and fifty years. The local Makalanga, Barotse, and Amangwa are agreed upon the correctness of the statements here recorded, and the information so obtained has also been verified by the above-named gentlemen in other quarters.

(a) In this portion of Southern Mashonaland the Makalanga have formed, since long before 1570, the greatest portion of the population, especially in the Zimbabwe district. This is both history and also well-rooted tradition among the natives, going back for very many generations.

(b) The Makalanga have been subject to several successive conquerors, of whom the Barotse in Mashonaland and the Matabele in Matabeleland were the last. They have only very indistinct traditions as to their previous conquerors.

(c) The Barotse occupied both provinces, establishing central strongholds in all districts. They collected tribute from the Makalanga, and this was taken every year from all the centres to the Mambo or Mamba, the dynastic chief, for the time being, of the Barotse. And these Mambos resided at Thabas Imamba. Both Makalanga and Barotse were, and still are, most excellent builders with stones. [Mr. Drew minutely cross-examined the natives with regard to the situation or identity of Thabas Imamba]. This is the fixed belief of every Barotse who is questioned on the subject, and the old men say it is also within their own knowledge. Before this fresh evidence was obtained, the authors of The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia had published a similar statement on the strength of evidences secured in Matabeleland. Mr. Neal also stated that no ruin in Rhodesia showed more evidences of extensive and prolonged occupation than did the ruins on Thabas Imamba.

(d) Jerri’s people (Barotse) never lived at or near Zimbabwe, as white men had believed they had, but they left what they called “The Great Buildings of Stone” (Khami) west of where Bulawayo now stands in 1836–7, and moved to Jerri Mountains, seventy miles south of Zimbabwe. They left Khami immediately before the Matabele arrived. On passing through Zimbabwe they encamped for one night only on a hill one mile west of the ruins. There are many old men who remember these circumstances, while the general local belief is that Jerri’s people lived at Khami Ruins, which are well known to the natives here. [It has always been contended that this tribe of Barotse resided at Khami for very many generations, but there are very many evidences in support of this established belief, which are now in hand, and are now forthcoming.]

(e) The head kraal of the Zimbabwe Barotse was at the foot of the south-east side of the Rusivanga Kopje, and not on the summit, where the walls and the remains of very substantial huts are old Makalanga. The Barotse also had a large kraal on the north-east side of the Bentberg overlooking the Elliptical Temple. [The present Barotse headmen claim the pottery in the dÉbris at these places as having been made by their people some four or five generations back, if not earlier.]

(f) The Zimbabwe Makalanga did not reside in the ruins, as this in later generations was opposed to their traditions, but they used the ruins up to ten years ago as cattle kraals and places for carrying on their copper and iron-smelting operations, for offering sacrifices, and for burial-places. Once they occupied them as residences, but possibly the fear of the ruins at night caused them to desert them as residences, probably owing to the increased number of graves which they contained. The Barotse did not appear to have been inspired by this fear, for they have occupied ruins all over the country.

All the remains of native huts and many of the native articles found in the ruins must be at least six generations old, if not much older. When the present Mogabe Handisibishe took up his residence on the north side of Zimbabwe Hill, in the ruins of the Acropolis, there had been no Makalanga occupations for many generations previously. All the remains of Makalanga huts found on the Acropolis, and round the faces of the hill, and outside the area occupied by Mogabe’s kraal, belong to Makalanga, who had ceased to occupy them for very many years previously. When Mogabe arrived these remains were considered by his people to be exceedingly old.

(g) The present Zimbabwe Makalanga originally came from Masungye, in the direction of the Lower Sabi. Mogabe is the dynastic title of each succeeding chief of this tribe. The Mogabe-Molinye moved to Jena and finally to the Beroma country, in the neighbourhood of Zimbabwe. The succeeding Mogabe, a son of Molinye, moved up from Beroma to Mangwa (Morgenster), four miles south of Zimbabwe, from which place he drove out the Amangwa people, who occupied the Zimbabwe district and the country for a considerable distance round about. The next Mogabe, Chipfuno, a son of the previous Mogabe, settled at Wuwuli, five miles south of Zimbabwe, and later his younger brother, Handisibishe, the present Mogabe, succeeded Chipfuno in the dynastic rule. Handisibishe is seventy years of age, but Chipfuno was much older.

The connection between the present Zimbabwe Makalanga and the Zimbabwe ruins only dates back authoritatively for some sixty or seventy years, but their opinion as to the age of the native remains at the ruins, as found by them when they arrived, added to a similar account based on the longer residence of the Barotse and Amangwa, and on their history and traditions, enables investigations to be carried back at least eight generations.

(h) The oldest known natives who have resided at Zimbabwe are the Amangwa, who were driven out by Mogabe Handisibishe. These were originally a tribe of pure Makalanga, but by marriage with their erstwhile over-lords, the local Barotse, many of their people have acquired some of the distinctive features of the Barotse, while a large proportion are still in every respect true Makalanga. These people now reside in Nini district, eight miles south-west of Zimbabwe, their nearest kraal being Bingura’s, which is two miles distant. They can speak with regard to the state of the ruins as they were conditioned some generations ago. They state they never occupied the Acropolis ruins except when Amaswazi raiding parties were in the district, and then only as a temporary refuge, and that many large walls have completely fallen down. The Amangwa were once a numerous and powerful people. Their kraals were built in the valleys, close to the ruins and on the nearest kopjes.

Mogabe Handisibishe took advantage of a famine in the Zimbabwe district when he attacked them, and perpetrated great cruelties on their women in order to make them divulge where the relics from the ruins were hidden, but the Amangwa did not yield on this point. It is curious that so many relics of prehistoric value have been found in the Nini district where the Amangwa now reside. The wooden bowl, carved with the zodiacal signs, the soapstone cylinder, etc., were discovered in Nini, and the best native authorities affirm that the Amangwa still have relics in their possession.

(i) The correct name for Zimbabwe is Zim-b[=a]b-[=gw]i, meaning “buildings or houses of stones.” The natives never apply the name Zim-bab-gwi to the Elliptical Temple, but always speak of it as Rusingu, “the wall.” Zim-bab-gwi is only applied to the ruins on the hill.

(j) The natives have no recollection or tradition with regard to the Monomotapas, the dynastic chiefs of the mediÆval Makalanga who resided at Zimbabwe.

(k) Barotse, Amangwa, and Makalanga have built walls in and near the ruins. They state that their ancestors used to construct excellent walls. [Mr. Drew, n.c., is of opinion that the Barotse now build better walls than do the present Makalanga. The Makalanga were always famous as good builders with stone.]

(l) The natives show little or no interest as to the original builders of the ruins. Some will say they were built by white men for prisons, others will affirm the ancestors of their tribe built them. Some tribes make definite claims to have built them, but Mr. Drew considers these claims to be only poetic expressions conveying the idea that such tribes had lived for so very many generations in the ruins that they knew of no occupiers before them, and so imagine that their ancestors must have built them. Of course, their claims to have built minor walls within the ruins are, in many instances, obviously well founded.

(m) The natives assert, when pressed as to who removed the relics from the ruins, that large birds came out of the sky, took them, and carried them into the heavens.

(n) “Fuko-ya-Nebandge”—the Mashonaland relic—possesses an unique history and a weird romance, and is also of great intrinsic value for such in Rhodesia as revel in researches into the history of past occupiers of this country. The image is made of pottery, and is hollow, the head (which has not been discovered) forming the stopper. It was discovered by Mr. Harry Posselt in a cave near Zimbabwe. It stands 11 in. high, and is about 16 in. long, and is marked with geometric exactness with zebra stripes all over its body. The pot is black, but the stripes are of a dull red colour. The name of it is “Fuko-ya-Nebandge” (“the king’s favourite adviser”), and for at least some generations of Makalanga it has exercised a potent magic spell over the minds of the natives. It has now been secured for the museum at Bulawayo.

The following is Mr. Posselt’s account of its discovery:—

In 1891 he was encamped at Fern Spruit, south of Victoria, near which point are some hills. His Mashona boy informed him that among these hills could be heard by anyone going near them the sound of cattle bellowing, girls talking and singing, and that up on the hills was a pot full of beads, but the local natives were too much afraid of venturing up there in search of the pot, as it would mean certain death. He did not ascend the hills, but his drivers and leaders went up, but heard and saw nothing unusual. Until 1899 he had quite forgotten the incident, but in August of 1900 he happened to be near these particular hills collecting labour for the Chamber of Mines, and conversed with a chief living there. He asked the chief the native name of the hills, and the chief told him about the pot containing the beads. He further told him that long ago a native went out hunting on the hills, and found the pot with the beads in. The chief’s story was to the effect that the native seeing the pot wanted to take the beads out, and putting his hand into the pot, the pot got hold of his hands and he could not shake it off, and he was obliged to carry the pot poised on his head with his hand still fixed inside it. When he arrived at the kraal his people prevented him entering it, as he might bring evil upon the tribe. He was consequently compelled to encamp on a stream near the kraal until his hand dropped off. He was fed secretly by some of his people. After his death, instead of being buried in the usual way, they pushed him with long sticks into a cave.

The pot was left there for some considerable time afterwards, and it was eventually discovered in another cave in the same hills, and was regarded, and still is to this day, by the natives as a mystery, and held in awe by them, and their belief was that if anyone approached the cave he would die. If the pot changed its colours to dark red it meant certain death.

After he had secured the pot the natives came from near and far to see it. One old native then told him of another pot, made like a mare zebra, and that the “female pot” contained beads that glittered, and that the pot in his (Mr. Posselt’s) possession was the “male pot.” The native was ignorant of what gold was. The two pots, so he stated, used to travel by themselves from their cave to Fulachama, a distance of eight miles, to obtain water from the stream where they drank, coming and going so often as to make a path. This Kafir asked where the “female pot” was, well knowing Mr. Posselt had not found it.

After his discovery he went to a chief who lives close by to where the pot was found. This chief used to live in Zimbabwe. He said that the chief who now lives in Zimbabwe was an enemy of his, and had supplanted him, and that he had all the relics. To compel him to disclose the place where the relics were hidden he resorted to torture, cutting off women’s breasts and putting nose reims through men’s noses. Before the ex-Zimbabwe chief was expelled from Zimbabwe he was in the habit of offering up sacrifices of black oxen, and on each occasion used to collect and display relics taken from the ruins. These consisted of “yellow metal with sharp points” brought down from the top ruin, also a yellow stick about 3 ft. 6 in. long with a knob on it, also a bowl or dish, by information most probably of silver. The stick is now stated to be in the possession of the chief.

2. LOCAL NATIVES (GENERAL)

The Zimbabwe district is very thickly populated by Makalanga. These formerly lived in natural strongholds on the summits of rocky kopjes difficult of approach, but now in almost every instance they have removed their kraals from their almost inaccessible eyries, and have built their villages on open country, without erecting any fences whatsoever for their protection. Thus, locally, Mogabe has left his hill fortress and caves, Baranazimba his strongly defended rocks, Lumbo his rock-pillar, and now these three kraals, as in many scores of other instances, are built in open country in absolutely indefensible positions, with no post, rail, or thornbush to bar approach. At night one can pass through almost any village unchallenged save by a Kafir dog. Large stores of corn are in their granaries. Their belongings are strewn about outside their huts, and everything is open to the spoiler. But the inhabitants sleep soundly, assured and content, because they recognise they are safe under the rule of a civilised Government.

Slightly more than a decade since all was most terribly different. Tribe fought with tribe and village with village. Repeated Amaswazi and Matabele raids “wiped out” without warning and without mercy whole populations, capturing slaves, seizing the women, and killing, as was their practice, the old people and children. None dared to stir from his rocky fastness to cultivate his little patch of ground. Little wonder is it that the spirit of these people was broken.

To-day these Makalanga, who are essentially an agricultural race, have covered the erstwhile devastated country with their plantations, and converted these parts into the “Granary of Rhodesia,” and the leading grain-producing district of this part of Mashonaland. Standing on Zimbabwe Hill either at sunrise or sunset, one sees scattered over the open country scores of columns of smoke rising from the villages, each with its large area where the Makalanga work in absolute security, and one is forced to realise that untold benefit has undoubtedly been conferred upon the natives by the British occupation.

The Makalanga of Zimbabwe district are considered to be, in intellectual and physical qualifications, above many of their tribes elsewhere. In some respects they are marvellously intelligent and quick to perceive, shrewd, calculating, and clever, while in others they are astonishingly dull, so that it is almost impossible to get them to understand the simplest matter. They certainly evince far more feeling and sensitiveness, are more amenable to direction, and readier and more anxious to work, and are more honest and reliable than the average Matabele. Physically, they are as a whole somewhat shorter in height, are less robust, and have not the weight and strength of the Matabele, but their vigour and agility give them the greater advantage. Yet there are very many Makalanga in this district equal to any Matabele in height, strength, form, and endurance.

More than the French nation among Europeans, the Makalanga are distinguished for their taste, tact, and courtesy among the Kafir races of South-East Africa, only in their case the graceful movement, kingly walk, politeness, neatness, rhythm of speech, and poetic expression, are not the outcome of study, but are perfectly natural qualities bred in the race.

The contact of these people for many generations with the Portuguese is shown in their speech. This is a feature noticeable in all native tribes in Mashonaland, which were at any time located in or near Portuguese territory. As stated below, Mogabe’s people originally came from the direction of the border. The terminations of some of their words are as distinctly Portuguese as one may hear at Lisbon or Oporto. Their connection with the Portuguese caused them to follow the rule common to that and some other Latin nations, viz. the interchange of R and L. Selukwe thus becomes Serukwe, Belingwe Beringwe, Bulawayo Burawayo, while in almost every word used by their people further west containing L the latter is substituted for R. Locally they call themselves Mokaranga (mo is a Chicaranga plural prefix), “the people of the sun.” The Portuguese writers, De Barros (1552), Dos Santos (1570), and Livio Sanuto (1588), give their name as Mocaranga. Makalaka, the name of derision bestowed upon them by the tribes in Bechuanaland, is known to them, but is never used by them, nor is M’Holi (slaves), a title which some of the more degenerate Makalangas in Matabeleland have adopted as their personal and tribal name.

The totem or distinguishing sign of the local tribe of Makalanga is moyo, the heart. Each tribe has its own totem, which may be the leg of a certain buck or some particular bird. Should a bird or an animal be the totem the tribe bearing that sign do not eat of the flesh of such bird or animal, nor will they kill them. A man of one totem must not marry a wife of a tribe bearing the same totem, but must seek one of a tribe of Makalanga having another totem. Thus, as they affirm, “Heart must not marry Heart, nor Lion marry Lion.” This rule enforced through past ages has no doubt tended to maintain and improve their physical condition, and accounts for their fine figures, splendid health and general freedom from illnesses, and the almost utter absence of deformity and lunacy. A tribe of the Baduma people also bears the totem of the heart. The sub-tribal totem of the local Barotse[29] is the lion. The lion, which is also the totem of the local Amangwa, only includes rapacious animals, such as wild cats, wild dogs, etc. Certain families in the same tribe or kraal have distinguishing signs, or what may be termed sub-totems. The totem system also prevailed amongst the early Semitic peoples prior to biblical times, and was later a feature of Hebrew history; for instance, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah.” The totem of the Ephraimites was a bull.

In addition to the animal or bird that may constitute the totem there are other animals and birds which they venerate, and will not kill, eat, or touch. The slaying of such creatures is regarded as a crime against the whole of the tribe. The spirits of dead ancestors, relatives, and chiefs are supposed to reside in such birds and animals. The principal bird of local reverence is the Harahurusei (Bird of God), which is the chapungo, a large and beautiful bird, quite black except its tail, which is red. The peculiarity of this bird is that it soars overhead exactly as does a bird of prey. The natives assert that the nest, eggs, or feathers of this bird have never been found by anyone, nor do they know on what food it lives. A native will not proceed on a journey if the chapungo appears in the air or settles on the ground in front of him, but will at once return home. Natives hail the bird and ask it for favours.

The local natives will not eat the following: Common grey hawk, black crow, owl, wolf, crocodile, snake, or wild dog. Some will not eat hippo or eland flesh. They will not kill the chapungo, owl, wild dog, heron, and certain small birds. But while these are the general practices of local Makalanga tribes, certain families in different tribes frequently have additional and special objects of veneration, and any one native may have some particular object for his own personal veneration. The tribal custom with regard to not partaking of the flesh of certain birds and animals is very strictly adhered to, even though natives starve. To touch such, living or dead, is a defilement, and the remains can only be moved by using sticks.

Of insects, they eat locusts, two kinds of cricket (mashu and zukumge), a caterpillar (masonya), a worm called mambene, and different kinds of ants, including shua and madjuro, but especially flying-ants. All these insects they consider dainties, and cook them in the soup-pot into which they dip each handful of rapoka porridge. The soup is made of fat, ground monkey-nuts, and many other ingredients.

The natives are known to draw certain star-pictures in the sky; for instance, Orion is made out to be “two pigs and a dog.” The three stars in the Belt form one of the principal subjects of children’s songs. They, of course, know the Morning and Evening Star, while the Pleiades in their rising and setting mark the sowing and reaping seasons. They evidently only see six stars in the latter, as they call them Tshimtanatu, which means anything containing six.

They believe the sun returns across the sky at night when everyone is sleeping, and that it travels from west to east ready to start over again at daybreak, but high up in the expanse of the heavens and hidden from sight by unseen clouds. They ridicule the idea of the earth being round.

Eclipses of the sun or moon foretell war or some other great calamity. They most usually say of them that the sun or moon is “rotten,” frequently that they are “sick.”

They generally believe that each moon dies, and that every new moon is new in the strict sense of the word. Some, however, think that it does not die altogether, but leaves a seed or germ, which in turn grows big and then small until only the seed is left. The rising and setting of the Pleiades, the new and full moon, are occasions of great rejoicings, dancing, and beer-drinking.

Sacrifices are still made by local natives. Formerly a large number of black oxen were killed at one sacrifice, but since the scourge of rinderpest visited Rhodesia goats have been substituted. The last sacrifice at Zimbabwe took place in February, 1904. The local natives sacrificed in the Elliptical Temple, but they have no settled point within the temple where they hold these ceremonies. The sacrifice was conducted during the prolonged drought then prevailing. The natives kept the ceremony private until after it was over, and the rain had arrived.

Makalanga of several tribes from near and far used to come to the Elliptical Temple for sacrifices, and these were offered up within the walls, but at different spots inside; while on several occasions the ceremony took place just outside the walls. Once every village had its own ceremony, and these took place in January, black bulls being offered for males and black cows for females.

The sacrifices now made are to the spirits of departed chiefs, and are offered on the suggestion of witch-doctors, who receive fees for their advice, and who, to make money, declare that the spirit of some dead chief or relative is angry and must be appeased. Some portion of the meat was taken to the spot supposed to be haunted by the spirit, and the rest is eaten by those present, the bones being sometimes burnt or thrown into a river; but recently they have been left about the spot. Sacrifices were usually offered to secure success in any venture to be undertaken, or to obtain good harvests. Till recently they practised a similar rite to that known in Mosaic times, and in this instance also the animal was not killed, but was led out on to the veld and purposely lost. If found it was not killed. The natives are aware that this rite was once observed by their people, but state it is not practised now.

The Makalanga undoubtedly believe in the immortality of the soul, but they have very vague ideas as to a future life beyond a thorough faith in the transmigration of souls. They do not conceive the existence of a Creator or Supreme Being, their highest conception being M’uali, a spirit, who can make their crops a failure and their herds sick, and to this spirit they offer sacrifices. The M’uali, judging by native account, is not in any way an ennobling spirit, and they are constantly in dread of him. The witch-doctors in order to acquire wealth for themselves interpret the wishes of the M’uali in the light of their own purposes and interests.

With regard to burials the customs, even among the Makalanga, vary considerably. In some instances the bodies are laid lengthwise and on the left side facing the north. This seems to have been the original custom of these people, but it is not now a general one. Burial in a sitting position is very commonly met with. On the Acropolis, during the preservation work (1902–3), about fifty Makalanga graves were found, and the remains in a score of instances were removed. Practically all were in a sitting position, only three having been buried lengthways. These were discovered in entrances and passages, the bodies having been laid on the surface, soil and stones, taken from the nearest wall, placed round and over them. None of these were very old, and most were Mogabe’s people. Their bark hunting-nets, assegais, pots, and other personal belongings, were placed on the top of the grave, and not inside with the corpse.

The Baduma, who live in Gutu’s country, and also the Barotse, still embalm or, rather, dry the bodies of their chiefs, and also the dead of certain families, though generally the bodies are buried lengthways on their right side, facing the sun. The body is placed in the hut on a bier made of poles near a large fire, and continually turned, any blisters which may appear being carefully broken, until the body is dry. Then it is wrapped up in a blanket and hung from the roof. Annual sacrifices are made to the spirits, and the bodies are regularly visited and kept in order by a person appointed for that work. The rain-makers, who live on the Sabi, also dry their dead.

The manufactures of the Makalanga are fast declining. In very rare instances may be found villages where bark and cotton are still woven. Limbo from the stores is so cheap and attractive looking that it has practically driven out the local article, and the clay whorls used in spinning cotton are now discarded. Their once famous iron and copper smelting industries almost disappeared on the advent of cheap and substantial tools. At one time every village had its blacksmith and its furnaces and forges, but during the last few years iron-working has become far less general. Derembghe, near Mr. Nolan’s farm, in the Victoria district, is the only representative of the old industry. Pottery is still made, but at Chikwanda, near Arowi and east of Zimbabwe, the people make pottery of a superior quality. This is also the case at Mazuwa’s, in Nini district.

The people are essentially a race of agriculturists and cattle breeders, and dislike working in mines. Though they are most industrious in their own plantations, yet they will not work for a white man for more than a month or two in a year, preferring to spend the rest of the year in absolute idleness. Many are adepts in brass or copper wire-work, with which they adorn their sticks and weapons. They are also very skilful in wood-carving, basket-making, and in tanning and preparing skins.

The Makalanga of this district are certainly above the average type of natives in the possession of both intellectual and physical qualifications. Light skins, Semitic noses, fine features, with an absence of high cheek-bones, small, well-shaped hands—are frequent features met with among them. The men, who wear but insignificant aprons, are well proportioned, are as straight as an arrow, and have athletic figures. Large turquoise-blue beads of glass form the neck ornament of men, women, and children in this district, and these contrast effectively with the colour and polish of their skins. Both men and women frequently wear a narrow band of pink and white beads round their heads. Brass bangles are worn on wrists, arms, legs, and ankles, the women and girls wearing these in great profusion.

Women are bare to the low hips, and wear a short skin skirt reaching almost to the knees. This is most generally adorned with chevron pattern of pink and white beads. Their stomachs are covered with two sets of lines worked into the flesh, one set under each breast. This pattern is very general here, and is identical with the “breast and furrow” pattern found not only on the fronts of the clay furnaces, pillows, drums, and granaries, but on the ancient relics and sacred emblems (phalli) discovered in the ruins. Bent and other writers believe that these flesh-markings are a survival of the occult idea of Fertility. There are generally about thirty rows of these lines or cicatrices, and their regularity is most surprising.

The men are practically bare-skinned, and have their waists, shoulders, and sometimes each side of their foreheads, marked with a row of bars in threes, thus: /"\ /"\, and these closely resemble the sign of Light as seen in the Welsh bardic symbol. These, many natives state, are luck signs, and they would not be without them, for with them on their skin they believe they shall always be healthy and strong and have many wives and children. Other natives state that the flesh-markings on the men’s bodies are but ornaments to attract the attentions of women, while others assert they only bear the marks because it is a custom. Each male has a forelock, some of these being erect and others pendent, the latter being usually threaded with pink and white beads. These often reach below the eyes. They are very proud of their forelocks, and will spend most of their spare time in trying to pull them out longer.

Witchcraft still possesses a tremendous influence over the native mind, although the practice of it is punished by imprisonment, but it is most difficult to obtain evidences in most cases of offence. Before the country was occupied by the British the witch-doctors practically ruled the people, and their influence in many known instances was greater than that of dynastic chiefs. The inclination of the people is to revert to the old practices, and fear of punishment alone prevents them doing so. There is no doubt that some of the infanticides and murders happening to-day are the results of witch-doctors’ machinations.

Though every native appears to have a good idea of medicine and of the uses of certain herbs and roots, and to be able to cure simple complaints, yet the remedies for more serious matters are in the hands of the medicine-men, who keep all such knowledge to their own profession.

A rain-maker for a large present would, until recently, kill a child of one of his many wives, and as long as the mother mourned for her child the rain was supposed to continue.

The Makalanga undoubtedly possess a keener appreciation of music and singing than many of the other native races in this part of the continent. When at work, digging, hoeing, or threshing, they sing continually, and in one morning they will spontaneously render fully a dozen different songs and a large number of extempore recitatives and choruses interspersed, also a few part-songs and catches. They sing going to and returning from labour, and always sing at their work, and when they cease singing one may be certain they are idling. There is far greater harmony and variety of music produced from their pianos, and their songs are brighter and more spirited, than any music or song a Matabele can evolve, and the dreary monotonous chant of the latter is almost entirely absent. The subjects of their songs are numerous, and comprise many items which only a people who live face to face with Nature could sing without offending the decencies as regarded by civilised people, and in these songs the smallest child most lustily joins. They will sing impromptu songs having reference to the tools they happen to be using, or to anything they may chance to see. The Native Commissioner is a great subject of their songs. They have war-songs, lullabies, songs to the bride, to the child just able to walk, to the new moon, to the butter they are making, besides a number of children’s songs.

They also have a large number of proverbs which somewhat resemble those employed at Home, thus:—

The natives can make fire (sika) very easily. The woods usually selected for this purpose are Zumbani and Bgebga. One piece is rounded, and the lower point is inserted in a small hole in the other wood, and then twirled with the palms of the hands round rapidly till sparks are emitted, and then very dry grass is placed at the bottom of the rounded stick, when it will light. Should the wood be slightly damp, a very small pinch of sand is placed in the hole to increase the friction. The sika sticks can obtain fire almost as quickly as can a magnifying glass.

On felling a tree in clearing a plantation it is a general custom in this district for the native to make a small ring of grass and lay it on the tree stump, and then to spit on the ring and to cover it with a large stone. Natives state, in explanation of this practice, that their people have always done it, but they cannot say for what purpose.

The pottery whorls found in very old native huts are known to many natives, but not to all, for the author has heard natives explaining their purpose to other natives. These whorls had sticks inserted top-fashion through the centre hole, and were spun rapidly between the hands. These were used for drawing the threads from the mass of cotton, also, some say, in producing fire. The children find them and use them for tops. The whorls which are found in ruins, and which are doubtless antique, are made of soapstone and are excellently finished.

The natives decorate the wooden doors of their huts, also the interior walls—check pattern being general for this purpose. The best decoration of doors is to be found in Gutu’s and Chibi’s districts.

The native name for Victoria is Duruben, or Durubeni, sometimes Vitori. Duruben is derived from the Dutch word dorp, and Vitori is an attempt to pronounce Victoria. Campeni is the name of the old township of Victoria, which used to be known as The Camp. Several isolated settlements of white people towards the south are called by the natives of those districts Durubeni, the termination being that of the locative case. The hillock in Victoria, near the gaol, used to be called “GÒna Zhon” (“They failed to capture the elephant”). The open veld about Victoria was called “Bani ro moteio” (“The plain without trees”).

The salutation Moro! or Morra! employed by the natives is simply a corruption of the Dutch word Morgen! i.e. Good Morning! In Cape Dutch MorrÈ! is used, and from this the word Morro! was evidently derived. The natives agree in stating that it is a Dutch word brought into the country by Dutch hunters and Cape Boys long before the British arrived. They ridicule all idea of its being of native origin, and state that in some districts it is not used. The practice of handshaking on meeting is one which the natives state has been copied from the white men.

The salute on meeting is by clapping hands. On greeting a man they will clap the palms with the hands slightly crossed, the forefinger of the right hand crossing the base of the forefinger of the other; but on saluting a woman the forefinger is placed to forefinger with wrists together. The length of time of clapping depends on the position of the person saluted. On joining a group to talk, eat, or drink the new-comer claps hands before sitting down and again when the food or drink is offered him.

Among the Jewish customs of the Makalanga the following may be noticed. (1) Monotheism and no worship of idols; (2) worship of, and sacrifices to, ancestors—a practice condemned by the Prophets; (3) rite of circumcision; (4) despising the uncircumcised: the taunt of non-circumcision is commonly employed between disputants; (5) purification and shaving of the head; (6) transferring impurity or infection from individuals to some animal, which in some instances is slain and in others purposely lost on the veld; (7) reception by women of parties returning from hunting or war, as in the case of Jephthah; (8) feasts of new moons and invocations to new moons; (9) feasts of full moons; (10) offerings of first fruits; (11) defilement by touching the dead; (12) defilement of eating flesh containing blood; (13) abhorrence of swine as unclean; (14) sprinkling the worshippers with blood; (15) places of refuge for criminals or people believed but not found guilty of offending tribal custom;[30] (16) observance of Sabbath, either every five or seven days; (17) marriage only among themselves, but cannot marry into the same tribe; (18) casting of lots; (19) sacrifices of oxen in times of trouble, such as drought; (20) practice of espousal before marriage; (21) brother succeeds to brother in office and property; (22) brother takes to wife the wives of his deceased elder brother, and raising offspring, they rank in office as if they were the children of the deceased; (23) a daughter does not inherit property or position except on the death of all her brothers; (24) rigid morality with regard to all fleshly sins, adultery and fornication being punished with death and outlawry.

Additional parallelisms with Jewish customs could be stated, and all these peculiar practices, together with the lighter skin and the Jewish appearance of the Makalanga, distinctly point to the ancient impress of the Idumean Jews, which can also be traced on the present peoples of Madagascar and of the coasts of Mozambique and Sofala.[31]

Many of these customs are now falling into desuetude on the advance of white civilisation. The Molembo tribe of Makalanga is noted for the preservation and observance of the majority of these Jewish practices, which are in character distinctly pre-Koranic in origin.