p. 10 | Native Life and Mission Work by T. J. Gibson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 1, 1915

Native Life and Mission Work

By T. J. Gibson

Southern Rhodesia, South Africa

THE natives as we find them are mostly engaged in their rural pursuits,—the raising of grain, the tending of the flocks and herds, and the trapping and hunting of game,—which are carried on in much the same way as in past centuries.

Their dwellings are built mostly of poles stood on end in the ground, tied together with twigs and bark, and daubed with earth. The huts are usually round, with low walls, wide eaves, and roofs of grass thatch. In some places they build the walls entirely of earth, much as concrete is used. As one section dries, another is added. The women do this work, and the molding of the walls in the section of a cone is very skillfully executed. The earth sets hard enough to support the roof. The walls are only about four feet six inches in height, and taper in thickness. The houses have but one room and one door. There are no windows, neither do they need chimneys, as the smoke passes through the grass roof. For a fireplace they have a raised ring, molded in the earthen floor in the center of the room. In some instances they have earthen sleeping forms raised a little above the floor, also shelves of similar construction for their household utensils. They commonly sleep, cook, and eat in the same hut, and frequently share it with their domestic animals. Their huts are built close together, forming small villages, which are surrounded with palings.

Their chief grains are several varieties of Kafir corn (in appearance something like barley), millet, maize, and in some instances, rice. They also raise beans, monkey nuts (peanuts), sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, spinach, tobacco, and gourds.

Their cultivation of the ground is very shallow. It is done with a short-handled hoe. The operator walks backward and away from the furrow he has turned. Single-furrow plows are now being introduced. In clearing the land they do not dig out the trees, but cut them off several feet above the ground and burn the branches around the roots. The cutting is done early in the season, and the burning just before digging and planting time. They thresh with flails, and store the grain in small earthen huts to keep it from the white ants (termites).

A very large proportion of their grain is used in the brewing of beer. The refuse is not wasted, but dried and ground, and then used for food. The beer itself is somewhat of a food, has the consistency of gruel, and is intoxicating. A quantity of grain is also ground, and used for porridge.

Flesh food is used sparingly, not from choice, but from necessity. There are very few living creatures that they refuse to eat. Different tribes condemn different creatures as food, not on the ground of physical uncleanness, but because of their association with some evil spirit. The wolf, for instance, is ridden by a witch; an owl is a spirit medium; but field mice and caterpillars are delicacies. There is a considerable variety of wild fruit, which the natives utilize in season, and there is one variety which they dry and use to make a kind of bread. The flesh of this fruit is similar to that of the date, only more scanty and not so rich. They have another fruit, the juice of which is used to make a kind of wine. It is something like cider, and can be had in the sweet stage.

They are very fair hunters, continuing the use of bows and arrows, spears, clubs, pits, and a great variety of traps and nets, in securing both beasts and birds. Only a very limited number of their chiefs are allowed to possess guns. The natives are sometimes badly mauled or are killed by a leopard or a lion, but even these beasts are successfully combated single-handed with club and spear. For instance, a native, practiced as a hunter, with a newly cut thorn bush in the left hand and a spear in the right, will approach a leopard in a tree. In most instances the leopard will jump for the man, who will receive him on the thorn bush and thrust him through with the spear. Cases are known of native hunters receiving a lion on the leap by adroitly placing the butt end of the spear on the ground, and holding the point at such an angle as to use the whole weight of the animal's charge in its own destruction.

Their social instincts are well expressed in their custom of the digging, planting, harvesting, and threshing bees, which are intermingled with beer drinking, feasting, and dancing. Their work is done on such occasions in unison, and is accompanied with singing. Their dancing is accompanied with singing and the beating of drums. Crude stringed instruments are also used. The festal season begins at harvest time and continues as long as the grain lasts for the brewing of beer. Dancing continues long into the night, and is frequently followed by violent club swinging on the part of the younger men, in the settling of their difficulties.

Handicraft

Iron smelting was carried on by the natives until very recent years. They still do some blacksmithing, but the hoes, axes, spear blades, and other implements of their own make are almost entirely supplanted by the imported articles. They do a considerable amount of wire and bead work, the material for which is mostly imported. Basket work, mat making, net weaving, and pottery are still carried on extensively. In all these industries the natives have considerable skill.

Polygamy

The natives have as many wives as they can afford to buy. Cattle are the standard currency for this purpose. The suitor agrees with the girl's father for a certain price. Girls may be spoken for in some instances while they are yet small children, and paid for on the installment plan. Wives are bought by parents, for their boys, at an early age. Wives may also be inherited by a son from his father or brother as property. While polygamy is not yet forbidden by law, it is being discouraged by the government authorities. The native commissioners are the marriage officers ordinarily. The law forbids polygamy in those who have been married by Christian rites. Natives are expected to report the death of males to the commissioner. Births are not registered. Twins of either sex are in a great many cases disposed of. In some instances one is allowed to survive. The authorities are doing their utmost to stamp out this evil.

The government has reserved large tracts of land for the natives, where they are ruled over in all minor affairs by their chiefs, subject to commissioners (Europeans) appointed by the government, one for each district. Every able-bodied male over sixteen years of age pays a hut tax of one pound a year, and ten shillings a head for more than one wife. As squatters on the farms, they are in most instances required by the owners to pay a rent of from one to two pounds a year, or its equivalent in labor.

(To be concluded)