Bamangwato

“ 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. ”

“ The second division comprehends the two Bamangwato kingdoms; the third division, the Matabele and Mashona kingdoms; the fourth division, the kingdom of the Marutse; and the fifth division, comprehends tribes which live to the east of the Marutse, and which pay tribute to them.
With regard to the different roads which lead into the interior, I may mention that in the first division we have three different roads; those roads unite together towards the north in the town of Shoshong, in the country of the Eastern Bamangwato. ”

“ The Batoka lived on large islands in the Leeambye or Zambesi, and, feeling perfectly secure in their fastnesses, often allured fugitive or wandering tribes on to uninhabited islets on pretense of ferrying them across, and there left them to perish for the sake of their goods. Sekomi, the chief of the Bamangwato, was, when a child, in danger of meeting this fate; but a man still living had compassion on him, and enabled his mother to escape with him by night. The river is so large that the sharpest eye can not tell the difference between an island and the bend of the opposite bank ”

“ Whenever a Bamangwato makes his expedition to the pool plateau, his first proceeding is to look up some Madenassanas whom he may compel to go hunting with him and assist him in procuring ivory, whether for himself or for the king; but their residences are generally in such secluded and remote places, that it is often very difficult to find them, unless conducted by some of the Madenassanas themselves. The eldest inhabitant in each little settlement is regarded as a sort of inferior chief, so that it is best for any white man, in want of Madenassana help, to make direct application to him. ”

“ The valley of the Bamangwato highland is five or six miles wide, and overgrown with grass and bushwood; it is partly cultivated, and at its point of union with the Shoshong pass it is speckled over with some hundreds of thatched cylindrical huts, about twelve feet in diameter, and rarely more than seven feet in height ”

“ 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. ”

“ These are the slaves of the Bechuanas. Those natives (the Bechuanas) who come down to the diamond fields to work, every one of them has a master, and twenty or thirty of them have to stay in those dry countries and hunt ostriches for their masters. Going farther from south to north one meets, north of the Bakwenas, two tribes of the Bamangwato—the Eastern and the Western Bamangwato, or as I call the Eastern according to their capital, Shoshong, the Shoshong Banmangwato, and the Western ones, which I call, on account of the residence of their king lying near to the Lake N’Gami, Bamangwatos. ”

“ They all declared their intention to show fight if either of the Bamangwato kings attempted to molest them or oppose their movements. When I spoke to them about the difficulty they would probably experience in conducting so large a quantity of cattle across the western part of the kingdom, where water was always very scarce, they turned a deaf ear to all my representations. It was just the same with the emigrants at the other camp, whom I saw at Shoshong on my return; they would pay no attention to any warning of danger; nothing could induce them to swerve from their design. ”

“ They were uniformly spoken of as a very contented people, and certainly they make far better servants than either the Masarwas or Makalaharis. Dwelling as they do, in the north-west corner of the kingdom, far away from Shoshong, their relations with the Bamangwatos are much less servile than those of the Masarwas, who are found all over the country. They have guns of their own, and are visited only once a year by officials sent by the king to collect their [84] tribute, and to appoint them their share of hunting-work. ”

“ These northern highlands are marked by conical peaks that rise above the table-land, and by rocky passes, of which the stones that form them are enormous. By some of their peaks the Bamangwato hills are connected with the ridge I have already mentioned on the Limpopo, and consequently also with the range in the Marico district. By the Tschopo chain the highlands are in connexion also with the hill-system of Matabele-land. The whole valley has been the scene of important episodes in the history of the Bamangwatos, and I ventured to call it the “Francis Joseph Valley;” ”

“ No elevation of rank will allow a man to thus transgress with impunity; and on one occasion, Sekomi himself, the chief of the tribe, received a severe blow on the leg from one of his own people. This kind of ordeal, called the Sechu, is only practised among three tribes, one of which is the Bamangwato, of which Sekomi was the chief. The reader will probably see by the description that the ceremony is rather of a civil than a religious character. ”

“ His kingdom covers on the map a vast but ill-defined area, stretching on the west into the Kalahari Desert, and on the north-west into the thinly peopled country round Lake Ngami, where various small tribes live in practical independence. Sovereignty among African natives is tribal rather than territorial. Khama is the chief of the Bamangwato, rather than ruler of a country, and where the Bamangwato dwell there Khama reigns. A large proportion of them dwell in or near Palapshwye. ”

“ The Batoka were driven out of their noble country by the invasions of Moselekatsé and Sebetuané. Several tribes of Bechuana and Basutu, fleeing from the Zulu or Matebelé chief Moselekatsé reached the Zambesi above the Falls. Coming from a land without rivers, none of them knew how to swim; and one tribe, called the Bamangwato, wishing to cross the Zambesi, was ferried over, men and women separately, to different islands, by one of the Batoka chiefs; the men were then left to starve and the women appropriated by the ferryman and his people. ”

“ North of Mafeking on the railway to Bulawayo are the small towns of Gaberones and Francistown. The last named is the chief township in the Tati concession, the centre of a gold-mining region, and the most important white settlement in the protectorate. Besides these places there are five or six large native towns, each the headquarters of a distinct tribe. The most important is Serowe, with over 20,000 inhabitants, the capital of the Bamangwato, founded by the chief Khama in 1903. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Though they are slaves, they are entrusted with guns and ammunition, but all the skins, ostrich feathers, ivory, and rhinoceros-horn that they procure, as well as certain wild fruits, such as those of the baobab and fan-palm, have to be handed over to their masters. If while hunting with his slaves a Bamangwato or Barolong master has to return home, he leaves the control with the eldest of them ”

“ Bechuanaland Protectorate, The, has an area of about 275,000 square miles, about that of British Columbia, and a population (1905) of 137,832, only 1,000 being whites. It is bounded west and north by German Southwest Africa, north by Zambezi River and British Central Africa, east by Matabeleland and Transvaal and south by British Bechuanaland and Molopo River. The chief tribes are the Bamangwato, Bakwena and Bangwaketse. ”

“ When oppressed by the Bamangwatos they take refuge with the Matabele, and when persecuted by the Matabele, they seek protection under the Bamangwatos; or if, as sometimes happens, there seems no way of escape, they submit themselves in the most abject and servile manner to their conquerors. ”

“ The first is that he is a Christian gentleman, and the second is that he is one of the most cautious and astute men I have ever met in my life. He has a remarkable mind, the working of which it is not always easy to understand, but of his desire to spread the light amongst the people over whom he rules with a rod of iron there cannot be a shadow of doubt.
Of the growing Church among the Bamangwato there are many manifest signs. Apart from the salaries of the missionaries and a small grant to keep the Mission House in repair, the work at Serowe is self-supporting. ”

“ It was about this time that I made my first acquaintance with the Madenassanas, the serfs of the Bamangwatos. They are a fine race, tall and strongly built, especially the men, but with a repulsive cast of countenance, so that it was somewhat surprising to find from time to time some nice-looking faces among the women. Their skin is almost black, and they have stiff woolly hair which hangs down for more than an inch over their forehead and temples, whilst it is quite short all over the skull. ”

“ The Manansas occupy the hill-country south of the falls, a district that although it may belong by right to the Bamangwatos is always claimed by the Matabele rulers, the inhabitants themselves being invariably the greatest sufferers by the contention. The Bamangwatos ordinarily call them Masarwas, although the two tribes have really nothing in common. They cultivate sheltered spots in the valleys, or pass their lives in hunting without any settled place of residence. ”

“ Canoes ascending, punt all the way, and the men must hold on by reeds in order to prevent their being carried down by the current. Large trees, spring-bucks and other antelopes are sometimes brought down by it. Do you wonder at my pressing on in the way we have done? The Bechuana mission has been carried on in a cul-de-sac. I tried to break through by going among the Eastern tribes, but the Boers shut up that field. A French missionary, Mr. Fredoux, of Motito, tried to follow on my trail to the Bamangwato, but was turned back by a party of armed Boers. ”

“ What Schweinfurth and Junker, Emin and Casati, have said about the Monbuttu, Niam Niam, and Momvu, may with a few fine shades of difference, be said about the Bangala, the Wyyanzi, the Batomba, the Basoko, the Baburu, the Bakumu, and Balessé. One tribe more compact in organisation may possess a few superior characteristics to one which has suffered misfortunes, and been oppressed by more powerful neighbours, but in the main I see no difference whatever. They own no cattle, but possess sheep, goats, and domestic fowls. ”

“ The insect-world is legion; immense hairy spiders, and also the trap-door spider is a wonderful creature, the mechanism of hinge, door, and entrance are perfect works of art.
I was told by some of the people at Mongwato that there are in Khama’s territory over 200 cattle-posts, in addition to vieh-posts for sheep and bucks. The main and only transport road from Mongwato to the Matabeleland passes along by the east end of the range of hills by the town, through a thick bush to the Mokalapsie river, thirty miles, a large and broad stream in the rainy season. ”

“ The Bantu, who include, among other better known tribes, the Zulus, Basutos, Matabele, Makua, Wa-swahili, Wa-nyamwezi, Ba-ganda, Ba-congo, Uepongwé, Fang, etc., present a great variety of types, due, no doubt, to divers mixtures of race, which, as a rule, it is difficult to trace very far back. Their manner of life seems to depend chiefly on the country they live in; they are farmers, shepherds, and fishermen. Certain tribes, such as the Ba-ganda, have formed, and still form, large communities with regular institutions, generally in the form of an autocratic government. ”

“ Early on the morning of the 1st current, I set out for Ambato, and arrived there safely in the afternoon. Ambato is a larger town than Riobamba, and may contain 5000 people. In this place I found myself comfortably lodged in the house of the Governor. My luggage, along with the New Testaments, did not arrive till the following morning. Upon the arrival of the New Testaments, I showed them to the Governor, and told him of my intention of advertising them for sale, and inquired in what shop or store I could conveniently do so. ”

“ Among the Bagobo the name "diwata" is used rather as a collective than as a specific term, and refers to the gods in general, or to any one of them. Pamulak Manobo, creator of the earth, is the diwata here referred to.
[29] In Malayan-Arabic tradition, Adam was moulded from a lump of clay mixed with water (cf. W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic [1900] , pp. 21-22) ; but the suggestion may as well have come from a Jesuit story.
[30] Tuglay, the "old man" of Bagobo myth, and Tuglibung, the "old woman," were the Mona, who lived on the earth before time began. ”