Emil Holub

“ At the present time, when the Matabele come into their land, the Manansas run as far as possible to the west and say, “We are subjects of the Bamangwato,” but when they are pressed by the Bamangwato, they go to the east and say, “We are subjects of the King of the Matabele.” They do this because they do not care to fight. They are looked upon by the other South African tribes with great disdain, as cowards; but I may say that of all the natives that I had with me as servants—Zulus, Hottentots, Betchuanas, Korannas—I never had such useful men as these Manansas. ”

“ When a traveller visits the interior it is only natural that he should make acquaintances among the natives. He must enter their villages and obtain permission from the kings to pass through their countries; he must buy food from the people, and employ them as servants. It has been the custom for every traveller to give some kind of description of the tribes and countries which he visited, but I believe the public generally, as well as scientific men, are, at present, not satisfied with a mere list of names of tribes and countries, and a description of some of their most interesting customs ”

“ It is true that many of the people complained that we did not bring any more ammunition, because the ivory and the ostrich feather trade has decreased to a considerable extent. But if the elephant had continued to be hunted so continuously, all the elephants would sooner or later have been extirpated, and then the whole trade in ivory would have come to a standstill. Now is the time, when the natives have no guns and ammunition, to show them that there is a better use for these animals than killing them. ”

“ When the crops fail and otherwise there would be a famine, tame elephants or tame ostriches may be turned into ready money; but if they kill the last head of game, where can they take refuge? They will become a burden to other tribes and to their white neighbours.
Farther to the north are the Bamangwato tribes. These are hunters, and to a small extent agriculturists, and under the régime of the present King Khama, they promise to become the foremost of the Betchuana tribes. I never saw a native king do so much to abolish the native customs. ”

“ The eastern are brown; the western are quite black. The language which they speak is Betchuana. There are only three dialects, hardly worthy of notice. The Betchuanas employed themselves formerly as hunters and agriculturists, but at present, as no more guns and ammunition are introduced into their country, they are obliged to turn their attention almost entirely to agriculture. I regard the abolition of the sale of guns and ammunition to the natives as the best thing that could have been done, and as a great blessing to those tribes. ”

“ With regard to their clothing, it is well known that a Bushman, when living in his mountains, uses only a piece of skin, or ostrich egg-shells formed into a small piece of cloth. His houses are caves high up in the crevices of the mountains. They use stone weapons and poisoned arrows, but the bows and arrows are of very simple construction when compared with those in use among the natives of North and South America and Japan. A piece of wood forming a crossbow is connected by a sinew of an animal, and the arrow is poisoned. ”

“ The Bushmen inhabiting the eastern parts of the colony and a small portion of the Orange Free State belong to the pure race of Bushmen, which had been described before I ever entered South Africa. As is well known, the Bushmen are rapidly dying out. The reason of this is, that their great characteristic is a love of liberty and fondness for living in mountains. They have been accustomed to live among the hills and descend into the valleys to shoot game with poisoned arrows. ”

“ Of all the South African tribes the most numerous are those belonging to the Banthu family, but of the whole number, about forty, I know of none who have taken so eagerly to the vices of civilisation as the Hottentot race. The Betchuanas observe some of the virtues of the white man, but unfortunately the Hottentots adopt only his vices. Drunkenness is the chief cause of their dying out. ”

“ Then we have the Zulus. I have mentioned already that there were two Zulu kingdoms—that of Cetewayo and that of La-Bengola. That the Zulus are recognised as the best warriors among the Banthu families is true. All the tribes in the Marutse kingdom are afraid of the Matabele. When I came near to the junction of the Chobe with the Zambesi, the king sent messengers to me, and on their return asked them “Has he servants?” When they answered “Yes,” he said, “Which tribe are they—Matabele or Betchuanas?” ”

“ But if al the tribes imitate the Baharutse and cultivate corn there will be no need to import corn at all into South Africa. I believe that they could even export some, and therefore I took the liberty to advise to make presents of ploughs to a few of the chiefs. I am sure if this were done agriculture would rapidly spread among the natives. We wish to live in peace with these native tribes, but in order to do that they must cease to be hunters and warriors; they must be peaceful. ”

“ If a Makalahari servant behaves well and kills a good many ostriches for his master he is allowed to marry a Betchuana woman, but such a thing is never permitted to the Masarwa. A Masarwa and a Barwa man who is a servant to a Betchuana is not allowed to enter the town of the Betchuana king during the day-time, and has to wait outside, and can only go in after sunset. Among the Makalahari I did not observe any signs of religious ideas, but I noticed that the Masarwas believe in fetishes. ”

“ We know very well that the little agriculture that has been carried out among the Betchuanas has been done by the women, and the men were accustomed to buy two or three women simply to plant Indian and African corn sufficient to supply their households while they themselves employed their time in killing elephants or ostriches, and selling the tusks and feathers to traders, and lying otherwise idle. ”

“ Notwithstanding that these tribes have been living for hundreds of years among white men, they have obtained no benefit whatever from that circumstance. Nothing more sad could be imagined than one of those Koranna villages, which are generally built upon bare mountain ranges. ”

“ If it is proved that a native has stolen anything from a white man, he orders him to repay double. If, for instance, he steals an ox, he must pay back one extra for having deprived the white man of it for two or three days.
The second Bamangwato tribes differ from these, inasmuch as they are more fishers than agriculturists. They fish especially in the Zooga River and in the Lake N’Game water and its tributaries. Altogether they have more similarity with the tribes living to the north. ”

“ When the village grows rich the other tribes see that the men can build small cottages and other necessary things, and they like to imitate them. But among the Betchuanas the men never allow the women to touch their cattle. The ploughs cannot be used except by the help of cattle, and therefore the men have now to do the heavy work. ”

“ These Makalakas live in several small tribes under the Matabele. They are still agriculturists, but have only a few heads of goat and sheep, and these men, who were recognised by all the Betchuanas as very good men and neighbours, are now some of the greatest villains in South Africa. There are no greater thieves than they. ”

“ Even those few Bushmen who at present are working as servants for farmers long to get away to the mountains, and I saw some who had been living for about fifteen years with farmers, but who had run away more than thirty times. ”

“ Whites who have lived among them notice that those who have been instructed by missionaries and have been baptized, treat their wives better than they used to; still, I saw many Christian women doing the hardest work. The introduction of ploughs has improved the position of the women among the Betchuanas, as it was always the case among the Manansa. In former times they were splendid agriculturists, and it was their pride to be peaceful. They hated to fight, and they killed their game in traps or holes in the ground. ”

“ It is better to tame the elephants and breed ostriches, as is done with the latter in the southern part of Africa. When elephants carry our goods, the cost, of transport will be much less than it is at present by bullock wagons, because occasionally a distance of 70 or more miles has to be traversed without water ”

“ They sketch them in their caves and paint them with ochre, or chisel them out in rocks with stone implements, and on the tops of mountains we may see representations of all the animals which have lived in those parts in former times. ”

“ In this way whole tribes have ceased to exist. We know that Livingstone mentions a powerful tribe of the Basutos on the Upper Zambesi, named the Makololo, but if we now visit those parts we find that the only representatives of that tribe are women and children, and one man. The latter was spared because the daughter of the king took a liking to him, but all the other male adults have been killed. These wars cause a great many difficulties to the anthropologist because the races become mixed. ”

“ To this Banthu family I consider the Basutos belong, who live on the banks of the Caledon river, also the different tribes of Colonial Kaffirs living in the eastern part of the colony, the Zulus in Zululand proper and between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, the Betchuanas living in the Transvaal and in the centre of South Africa, the Makalakas between the Betchuanas kingdoms and the Matabele, and the Makalahari in the central portion of South Africa in the Kalahar country, and further the Manansa, the tribes north of the Zambesi, etc. ”

“ They make stone implements of a very simple kind, and they sharpen their arrows on stones. They also have stones with a hole in the centre, through which they put a stick, and with this implement dig out the roots and bulbs which form their principal food. Thus in every way this race, which is dying out, appears very low in the scale of civilisation. ”

“ Between the Limpopo and the Zambesi we find ten different tribes mixed with the Zulu race, and a gentleman going among them in order to make anthropological researches would see many things that would astonish him. The men of ten tribes who formerly lived in the vicinity have been killed ”

“ He takes the greatest precautions that no brandy shell be brought into his kingdom, and does his best to abolish the old customs that have been existing for many years in the Bamangwato country. He has always proved a good friend to Englishmen, and punishes in a very severe manner any insult to a white man. ”

“ Cornelius Walford believed that famine would be found upon inquiry to have operated largely upon the migration of race in different parts of the globe and in all periods of time. Very extensive migrations resulted from this cause in India in modern times. ”

“ Now, although no more ammunition is supplied to them, they cannot leave off using European clothing, and they have to try and gain in a different way the means of buying those things. They are therefore obliged to take to agriculture. Some of the tribes among whom ploughs were introduced became rich. ”

“ In their language and their customs also there is a great difference. The Betchuanas regard their women only as slaves, but since ploughs have been introduced the women have gained more respect, and their work is confined more to the homes. ”

“ These people are chiefly engaged in agriculture. In his kingdom I saw some Korannas staying with a chief of the name of Shebor, in the town of Konana. To the north of the Barolongs we find the Banguaketse, who were formerly hunters, but within the last two years they have taken a little more pains with agriculture. In that country we see two more tribes. ”

“ They have learned to make these pipes from the Dutchmen who make them on their farms. These were all the specimens of workmanship, but now that no more brandy is to be introduced among the Korannas I hope that a great change will take place; we may hope it will be extended upon the Griquas and Hottentots. These tribes inhabit parts of South Africa which are very well adapted to the breeding of cattle, and therefore I advised that the villages of the Korannas should be under certain supervision ”

“ For about four days the festivities are kept up, then the cutting is made upon his chest, and from that time the man is recognised as a member of the family, and may travel wherever he likes, and be taken care of, though perhaps he has only a stick with him. ”

“ That man gives information to his neighbours, if they are also members of the society, and they assemble in the house of the man who is about to become a member. The candidate has to bring a large number of oxen and sheep, which are slaughtered and eaten. ”