174

LABOURS OF THE WOMEN.

ders, for females to climb such a height, but the men pass and repass, and look on with the most perfect indifference, while it never enters their heads that their wife, their daughter, or their mother, may fall and break a leg or neck. These houses, though temporary, and requiring great labour to keep them constantly in repair, are nevertheless very well adapted to the climate. They admit little light, which is not desirable in a hot country, and among millions of houseflies; but during the winter season they are uncomfortably airy and cold.

While standing near the wife of one of the grandees, who, with some female companions was building a house, and making preparations to scramble by means of a branch on to the roof, I remarked that they ought to get their husbands to do that part of the work. This set them all into a roar of laughter, Mahuto, the queen, and several of the men drawing near to ascertain the cause of the merriment, the wives repeated my strange, and, to them, ludicrous proposal, when another peal of mirth ensued. Mahuto, who was a sensible and shrewd woman, stated that the plan, though hopeless, was a good one, as she often thought our custom was much better than theirs. It was reasonable that woman should attend to household affairs, and the lighter parts of labour, while man, wont to boast of his superior strength, should employ his energy in more laborious occupations; adding, she wished I would give their husbands medicine to make them do the work. This remark was made rather in

a way of joke. Poor woman, she little knew then that there was one whose omnipotent voice has declared, "I will put my Spirit into them, and create new hearts within them;" but now blessed be His holy name, she, and hundreds more, have been publicly baptized into the faith of the Gospel of the Son of God.

Again, the habits of the people were such as to warn us that the vision would tarry, and that there, as well as in the strongholds of idolatry, it was to be, "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." A traveller, such as Lichtenstein, whose stay was very short among the Bechuanas, was not likely to form an adequate judgment of their real character. They are, it is true, like the Kafirs, a superior race, have a dignity and openness, the natural results of independence; and to him must have presented astriking contrast to the slaves of the colony, whence he had come: but that they manifest the utmost "contempt of all chicane or deceit," which he urges as a proof" of innate

BECHUANA CHARACTER.

175

rectitude, and consciousness of natural strength," is not correct; and had he dwelt among them, and sat with them in their public and private councils, lived in their dwellings, accompanied them on their journeys, and mingled with them on the field of battle, as the writer has done, he would not have attempted to revive the fabled delights and bliss of ignorance, reported to exist in the abodes of heathenism.

When we attempted to convince them of their state as sinners, they would boldly affirm, with full belief in their innate rectitude, that there was not a sinner in the tribe, referring us to other nations whom they dreaded, or with whom they were at war; and especially the poor despised Bushmen. That they are less ferocious than some tribes, we admit; but this is saying little in commendation of those who could with impunity rob, murder, lie, and exchange wives. No matter how disgraceful the action might be, or what deceit, prevarication, duplicity, and oaths, were required to support it; success made them perfectly happy in a practice in which most were adepts.

When they are styled savages, the appellation should be understood in a restrictive sense, especially when compared with the Zoolu tribes to the east, who, as we shall yet have occasion to show, though they are not cannibals, would, in fiercest barbarity, vie with any of the inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific, The Bechuana character is frank and sociable, which, however, does not appear to arise from a benevolence of disposition, so much as from a degree of etiquette and habits, arising from relationship and locality. It has sometimes perfectly astounded the writer to see individuals who he had supposed were amiable and humane, when brought into certain positions, would, as if in their native element, wallow in crimes, which he expected they would naturally shudder to perpetrate. Having had long intercourse with many tribes, he feels persuaded that what he has stated will be found a tolerably correct estimate of the Bechuana character. But although they are revengeful to the last degree, if an offender propitiate the injured party by a gift, at the same time confessing his error, or, as is common, put the blame on his heart, the most perfect unanimity and cordiality succeeds.

Mr. Thompson in his travels correctly remarks, that, "like most barbarians, their political wisdom consists in duplicity and petty cunning; and their ordinary wars were merely predatory incursions upon their weaker neighbours for the purpose of carrying off cattle, with as little exposure

176

DIFFICULTIES ON ENTERING ON A MISSION.

as possible of their own lives. Their expeditions against the Bushmen were peculiarly vindictive, and conducted with all the insidiousness and murderous ferocity, without the he roic intrepidity of American or New Zealand savages:" amples of this will occur hereafter. All these character.. tics are only what the records of Divine truth authorize us to expect from those who walk according to the prince of the power of the air. The inspired description given in Rom. iii. 10-18, is the real transcript of the condition of a people who have no fear of God before their eyes. Both ancient and modern missionaries have found it so; and whoever goes to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ among the heathen, goes on a warfare which requires all prayer and supplication, to keep his armour bright, and in active operation, to wrestle and struggle, and toil, to pulling down the strong-holds of Satan, whether in Africa, India, or the islands of the Pacific.

CHAPTER XVI.

His

WHEN a mission is commenced among a barbarous people, it is a novelty; every thing about the stranger is new. person, dress, and implements excite their surprise. His manners are the subject of conversation; his temporary abode continues to be visited by persons from a distance, to see the show; but instead of paying for their entertainment, and the annoyance their presence and cravings inflict on all occasions, they think they have a right to beg, if not to steal; that they may have some tangible proof that they have seen the stranger, and experienced his kindness. His resources must soon fail, and distance and poverty prevent him from replenishing his exhausted stores. He finds that he is only commencing his hardships, while he hears their hosannas changed to away with him, away with him!" This reverse assumes a more serious aspect, when they perceive what is the real object of the missionary, and anticipate the probable result of the doctrines taught. The natural man in the grosser form of a savage, broods over the terrible

66

ATHEISM OF THE KAFIRS.

177

havoc the new system will make with his darling pleasures; and violently rebels at the axe being laid at the root of his sensual enjoyments, without which life would be a grievous burden to him. This is a period in which the faith and the patience of the missionary are put to the test; and surely no where more so than among a lawless rabble.

The next barrier to be noticed, before concluding the subject, is, the entire absence of theological ideas, or religion, which has already been briefly glanced at. Dr. Vanderkemp, in his account of the Kafirs, makes the following remark: "If by religion we mean reverence for God, or the external action by which that reverence is expressed, I never could perceive that they had any religion, nor any idea of the existence of a God. I am speaking nationally, for there are many individuals who have some notion of His existence, which they have received from adjacent nations. A decisive proof of the truth of what I here say with respect to the national atheism of the Kafirs, is, that they have no word in their language to express the idea of the Deity; the individuals just mentioned, calling him 'Thiko, which is a corruption of the name by which God is called in the language of the Hottentots, literally signifying, one that induces pain."

To the above description given by Dr. V., I may add, that though I am aware Uhlanga is also used by the Kafirs to denote a Supreme Being, from what I know of the habits of the interior tribes, I perfectly agree with the Rev. S. Kay, in his account of the Amakosa genealogy, that Uhlanga or Thlanga is the name of the oldest of their kings, by whom they swore in former times; a custom which obtains universally in the interior. "It seems to me therefore," says the late Mr. Pringle, in his African Sketches, " doubtful, whether the god Uhlanga be not merely a deified chief or hero, like the Thor and Woden of our Teutonic ancestors;" and the same writer adds, "The Hottentot word Uti'ko, is now used by all the frontier (Kafir) tribes, to denote the Christian's God." These remarks will equally apply to the Hottentots and Namaquas, who are one people. While living among the latter, I made many inquiries respecting the name they had to denote the Divine Being, but could not come to any satisfactory conclusion on the subject, though I had the assistance of Africaner in my researches. The name they use is Tsui'kuap, or, as some tribes pronounce it, Uti'kuap: the Uti'ko of the Hottentots is articulated with the click or cluck peculiar to that language.

178

THE PRAYING MANTIS.

In my journey to the back parts of Great Namaqua-land, I met with an aged sorcerer, or doctor, who stated that he had always understood that Tsui'kuap was a notable warrior, of great physical strength; that, in a desperate struggle with another chieftain, he received a wound in the knee, but having vanquished his enemy, his name was lost in the mighty combat, which rendered the nation independent; for no one could conquer the Tsui'kuap (wounded knee.) When I referred to the import of the word, one who inflicts pain, or a sore knee, manifesting my surprise that they should give such a name to the Creator and Benefactor, he replied in a way that induced a belief that he applied the term to what we should call the devil, or to death itself; adding that he thought "death, or the power causing death, was very sore indeed." To him, as to many others, this Tsui'kuap was an object neither of reverence nor love. During tremendous thunder-storms, which prevail in that climate, and which it might be supposed would speak to the mind of man with an awful voice, I have known the natives of Namaqua-land shoot their poisoned arrows at the lightning, in order to arrest the destructive fluid. May not the Tsui'kuap of these people be like the Thlanga of the Kafirs, an ancient hero; or represent some power, which they superstitiously dread, from its causing death or pain? The praying Mantis, as it is called, from the erect position and motion it assumes when alarmed, which is said to have been worshipped by the Hottentots, has no homage paid to it in Namaqua-land: at least Africaner's people knew nothing of it.

Dr. Sparrman, who had better opportunities of ascertaining the fact than any one else, remarks, that so far from worshipping this genus of insects, they have more than once caught several for him, and assisted him in sticking pins through thern. "There is, however," he adds, "a diminutive species of insects, which some think it would be a crime, as well as dangerous, to harm; but this we have no more reason to look upon as any kind of religious worship, than we have to consider in the same light a certain superstitious notion prevalent among many of the more simple people in our own country, (Sweden,) who imagine that their sins will be forgiven them if they set a cock-chafer on its feet, that has happened to fall on its back. This will equally apply to

* I knew a man who, though warned by myself and others of this daring practice, persisted, and was struck dead by the lightning. I have also heard of Bushmen throwing old shoes at it, or any thing they may happen to lay hold of.