Barotse people

“ The Barotse proper are comparatively few in number, but as is inferred from the fact that for many generations they have held in sway a country two and a half times the size of Great Britain, they are the intellectual and physical superiors of the vast majority of the negro races of Africa. ”

“ Slaves might own slaves who in their turn might own slaves, the highest grade always being directly responsible to some Barotse chief. As a reward of gallantry or ability the paramount chief occasionally conferred chief’s rank on individuals not of Barotse birth, and these ipso facto assumed the name and privileges of the Barotse. ”

“ Very black, tall in stature, deep in chest and comparatively speaking refined in feature, a Barotse is readily distinguishable amidst a mixed group of natives. Being numerically small they form an oligarchy in which, with few exceptions, each man holds rank in a chieftainship of which there are three grades. Next to the chiefs rank their descendants who have not themselves acquired chief’s rank and hold an intermediate position as freeborn ”

“ By right, an accused chief is tried by his peers, each of whom in rotation from junior to senior gives his verdict, after which the president reports the finding of the court to the paramount chief, who passes sentence. As to their religious beliefs the Barotse imagine the sun to be the embodiment of a great god whose sole care is for the amelioration of man. Him they worship, though more pains are taken to appease evil spirits, in whose existence they also believe, to whom every evil to which man is heir is attributed. ”

“ By this award the western and part of the northern section of Barotseland as described above were declared to be outside the dominion of the paramount chief and therefore not in the British sphere of influence, while tribal boundaries were complicated by the introduction of a longitudinal and latitudinal frontier. Though this award altered the political boundaries, ethnologically Barotseland remains much as above described. The area of the country under British protection is about 182,000 sq. ”

“ Amongst the Barotse, a tribe on the upper Zambesi, “there is an old but waning {p393} belief that a chief is a demigod, and in heavy thunderstorms the Barotse flock to the chief’s yard for protection from the lightning. I have been greatly distressed at seeing them fall on their knees before the chief, entreating him to open the water-pots of heaven and send rain upon their gardens.” “The king’s servants declare themselves to be invincible, because they are the servants of God (meaning the king) .”​ [1368]
Human gods in South Africa. ”

“ The ceremonies among the Barotse or Marotse are somewhat more elaborate for a girl of the royal family. She is shut up for three months in a place which is kept secret from the public; only the women of her family know where it is. There she sits alone in the darkness of the hut, waited on by female slaves, who are strictly forbidden to speak and may communicate with her and with each other only by signs. During all this time, though she does nothing, she eats much, and when at last she comes forth, her appearance is quite changed, so fat has she grown. ”

“ The Barotse name him "Nyampi", and the Balonda "Zambi". All promptly acknowledge him as the ruler over all. They also fully believe in the soul's continued existence apart from the body, and visit the graves of relatives, making offerings of food, beer, etc. When undergoing the ordeal, they hold up their hands to the Ruler of Heaven, as if appealing to him to assert their innocence. When they escape, or recover from sickness, or are delivered from any danger, they offer a sacrifice of a fowl or a sheep, pouring out the blood as a libation to the soul of some departed relative. ”

“ Before leaving the villages entirely, we may glance at our way of spending the nights. As soon as we land, some of the men cut a little grass for my bed, while Mashauana plants the poles of the little tent. These are used by day for carrying burdens, for the Barotse fashion is exactly like that of the natives of India, only the burden is fastened near the ends of the pole, and not suspended by long cords. ”

“ Excluding the ridge of high ground running east and west which, culminating at a height of 5000 ft., forms the Congo-Zambezi water-parting, the extreme east (Batoka) and the district in the immediate vicinity of the Victoria Falls (q.v.) throughout which, with local variations, a red laterite clay predominates, the main physical features of Barotseland may be described as a series of heavy white sand undulations covered with subtropical forest vegetation. ”

“ The country could grow grain enough to support ten times the inhabitants it has at present. Like the lower valley of the Nile, the Barotse country is inundated every year, over its whole surface, by the waters of the river, which deposit a layer of fertilizing slime. The banks of the Zambesi, for some distance above and below this district, are high and cliffy, presenting ridge after ridge of fine rock and pleasing scenery, while the stream runs swiftly over its stony bed. ”

“ The Barotse believe that at certain parts of the river a tremendous monster lies hid, and that it will catch a canoe, and hold it fast and motionless, in spite of the utmost exertions of the paddlers. While near Nameta they even objected to pass a spot supposed to be haunted, and proceeded along a branch instead of the main stream. They believe that some of them possess a knowledge of the proper prayer to lay the monster. It is strange to find fables similar to those of the more northern nations even in the heart of Africa. ”

“ The Barozi were very fortunate in the class of people they found occupying the country they settled in; the more timid tribes were at once enslaved, while more powerful people were propitiated and gradually absorbed. Unfortunately, the conquerors readily acquired all the vicious and degraded habits of the conquered, and are to-day, both physically and morally, a far poorer type of native than they were on entering the country, always providing their statements are true. ”

“ In those two phrases lies all the power of revolutionary faith. And how like phrases out of the gospels, those older expressions of the hope and misery of another society in decay. That is the spirit that, for good or evil, is stirring throughout Europe to-day, among the poor and the hungry and the oppressed and the outcast, a new affirmation of the rights and duties of men. Baroja has felt this profoundly, and has presented it, but without abandoning the function of the novelist, which is to tell stories about people. He is never a propagandist. ”

“ To sum up, Baroda is a good place enough, but it is dull, dull beyond description. There is no living here; it is a mere humdrum existence. Between the people and the "upper ten thousand" there is no sympathy. You have no such institution as Society.
Exhortation.
How is it there is no missionary here? I demand. Import one, ye powers that be; he is indispensable to progress and enlightenment. Get up popular lectures and street-preaching. "Steady internal progress," and all that, is very well, but let the people learn to enjoy life under your administration. ”

“ The Marutse occupy the fertile valleys of the Barotse country on both sides the Zambesi, from Sekhose to about 150 miles south of the confluence of the Kabompo and the Liba. I believe the Barotse valley to be the most productive portion of the kingdom, and as well adapted for agriculture as for cattle-breeding; it abounds in game, but is likewise prolific in wild vegetable products, of which india-rubber is not the least important. ”

“ He was supposed to be sitting in his chair of state, with the crown upon his head, his eyes half-closed in slumber, his beard as white as snow and so long that it reached the ground.
"When the ravens cease to fly round the mountain," said the legend, "Barbarossa shall awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness." ”

“ In the Barotse empire are met the first centres of population which may be said to possess any commercial or political importance. But most of these towns are displaced with each fresh accession to the throne. All public misfortunes are attributed to the baneful influence of the ground, and a more favourable site is consequently sought in order to escape from the evil spirits who are supposed to have caused the death of the last ruler. The inundations of the Zambese have 264 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. also destroyed many places by sapping the artificial mounds on which they were built. ”

“ The second class of officials includes all the governors of the more important provinces. They are invested with both civil and military powers. In some of the more extensive districts, as the Barotse, there are several of these chiefs appointed, but they are all subordinate to the one who is chosen to reside at the principal town, and in all cases they are accountable to the head governor of the Barotse, who is regarded as ranking next to the king. In Sepopo’s time this office was filled by Inkambella. ”

“ Baratelli was a landed proprietor in easy circumstances in the Legation of Ferrara; and during the period of the conquests of the French in Italy, their great adversary.
“When in 1813 Austria declared war against Napoleon, the Austrian armies advanced rapidly beyond the Alps, and Baratelli formed friendly relations with General Count Nugent.
“Baratelli always remained faithful to his principles of public order. In the revolutionary movements in the States of the Church, he always took the side of constituted authority, and was in consequence even persecuted by the Carbonaro party. ”

“ In the Boer Republics there are fewer missions in proportion to the number of natives than in British territories; but no district, except the deserts of the west, seems to be wholly unprovided for, and in some cases stations have been pushed far beyond the limits of European administration, as, for instance, among the Barotse, who dwell north of the Upper Zambesi. The native congregations are usually small, and the careers of the converts not always satisfactory. ”

“ Cane stools were provided for a few, but many of the young people sat flat on the floor. When we were embarked, to the number of about forty, the barotos were so deep in the water that the swirling current was within an inch of their gunwales. A tilt to one side or a wave in the river would have sunk us.
The baggage and a few supernumerary young men and a mandolin orchestra were loaded into an enormous baroto, and ten sturdy brown backs bent forward as the boatmen pushed with all their strength against the great bamboo poles, which looked as if they would snap under the strain. ”

“ Some idea of the composition of the Barozi people of to-day can be gained when one realizes that they are composed of Bambowe, Bakwangwa, Bahoombi, Bakoma, Makololo, Bandundulu, Bambunda, Bankoya, Bashasha, Alunda, Balubale, Bambalangwe, Batonga, Basubia, Mashukulumbwe, Bakwande, Batotela, Bakwangali, Bakwengo, Balojazi, Vachibokwe, Basanjo and other tribes. ”

“ A worker for the good cause from the very outset, Le Barazer had retained all his hatred of clericalism, convinced that it was absolutely necessary to drive the priests from the schools, and to free people's minds from all mendacious superstitions, if one desired that the nation should be strong, well-instructed, and capable of acting in the plenitude of its intelligence. ”

“ Gradually the various processes in the social life merge, like the confluents of some mighty Amazon, into a definite and confined stream of tendency. A more perfect, a better coördinated unity develops in the baronial class, and the measure of its control is heightened and extended to a golden mean which insures supremacy with peace. The under-classes settle in their appointed grooves, and the professional intermediaries definitely and openly assume their dual function of advisers to the barons and of interpreters to the people of the baronial will and ways. ”

“ The feature which invests Baro's career with its chief importance is the fact that he was almost the first divine in England, holding an authoritative position, who ventured to combat the endeavour to impart to the creed of the church of England a definitely ultra-Calvinistic character, and he thus takes rank as the leader in the counter movement which, under Bancroft, Andrewes, Laud, and other divines, gained such ascendency in the church of England in the first half of the following century. ”

“ He then mounted his mule, and with some of his officers rode out to view Mariam Barea’s disposition. The king, anxious about the fortune of the day, and terrified at some reports that had been made him, by timid, or unskilful people, of the warlike countenance of Mariam Barea’s army, sent to the Ras, whom he saw reconnoitring, to know his opinion of what was likely to happen. “Tell the king,” says the veteran, “that a young man like him, fighting with a subject so infinitely below him, with an army double his number, should give him fair play for his life and reputation. ”

“ For centuries past the ruling monarchs of Barodia had been famous for their ginger whiskers. "As lost as the King of Barodia without his whiskers" was indeed a proverb of those times. A King without a pair, and at such a crisis in his country's fortunes! It was inconceivable. At the least he would have to live in retirement until they grew again, and without the leadership of their King the Barodian army would become a rabble.
The Chancellor was not distressed at the thought; he was looking forward to his return to Euralia, where he kept a comfortable house. ”