HER WITCH-WORK AND ANCESTOR-WORSHIP.

About an hour's distance from the chief kraal, on a high mountain, an impenetrable thicket is found, in which Modjadje's chief witch-doctor and high priest resides. His duty is to make sacrifices at the three great feasts to the gods, i.e., the forefathers of the dynasty, who are buried there. This was done (1) just before they intended to pick the gardens; (2) at New Year, i.e., when they started to eat green mealies and the first pumpkins; and (3) in the beginning of the harvest.

The preliminary arrangements for such a feast were somewhat as follows: A great number of young girls in an entirely naked condition, carried big pots of beer to the aforesaid bush. In front of them went a number of men with horns, whistles, and drums, to give notice to the inhabitants of the country that the procession had started, so that everyone on the way might hide himself in time. Everybody who was seen by them on the way was murdered without mercy. They also took a black ox with them as a sacrifice. This animal was killed at the graves, and the best parts of the meat were handed over to the priest, who lived in a hut in the midst of the bush. This fellow also received part of the beer which was to be poured on the graves of the old kings. But very often they acted dishonestly towards the ghosts with the libation-drink. So one of my evangelists, who formerly had to act as a substitute in pouring the beer on the graves in this bush, told me that he only dedicated the dregs to the forefathers, and had the lion's share for himself. And when, through the effect of the enormous quantity he had drunk, he was unable to find his way back, he pretended that he was fuddled by the breath of the ghosts. The prayer the priest used in the act of pouring is worded something like this: "Mokakolo, Seale and Petole (these are the names of the former chiefs), look here! We bring you meat from our herds and beverage from our harvest; receive it and be ye joyful and merry. But now cause ye the country to be at peace, and unmolested by any enemy. Keep ye away all diseases from our fields, and give us wives and beer in abundance.” When this act has been completed, it is brought to the knowledge of the country by beating drums and blowing of horns. Lastly, this was followed by a banquet to the gods, and a love-feast finished the ceremony. They eat and drink till all is finished. After the procession has again reached the capital, the members start piping and squeaking in every hollow and bush in a most melancholy way. Women and children hide themselves, for, according to their belief, these are the voices of the gods approaching them.

On the next day a big drum in the chief kraal proclaims either (1) the commencement of work in the gardens, or (2) the right to eat green mealies, or (3) the beginning of the harvest. The nearest village which is reached by the sound of the drum forwards the message to the next, and so the drumming noise goes through the whole country ; at the same time they make a noise, whistle, and dance, that one might think the devil with his whole herd has burst forth.

Modjadje's tribe had no fixed religious system. They were bound to the belief in the ghosts of their ancestors. These they also tried to conjure up. They generally did it when they changed their dwelling. They then point out to the ghosts an abode, either a peg which they drive into the ground inside their hut, on which they pour the remnants of their beer as a libation; or a plant, of which they sometimes have as many in their court-yard as the deceased ancestors with which they are acquainted. Sometimes also they offer them as a dwelling a fine, smooth-skinned ox or another animal.

They also have a story about the creation, but it is rather vaguely outlined in parts. This indicates how dimly and uncertainly they think about this subject; but all the same the tale has points of resemblance with the biblical story. It runs as follows: Kobe has created the world through his son Kusane. Once upon a day he went to hunt with his son, and got very thirsty. There was no water in the neighbourhood and no kraals, but on a sudden they discovered an accumulation of rain-water on a tree. Kobe now asked his son Kusane to help him in ascending the tree. The son drove wooden pegs into the tree, so that the old man could mount. But as soon as he was on the tree Kusane pulled them out again, left his father, and went to the wives of Kobe that night. But when they the next morning perceived that he was the son, he fled. Now the natives hope for his return, and they say: "When Kusane returns war will cease; the assagais and axes will be turned into picks and ploughshares; the country will be in a state of peace, and all the chiefs will submit to him willingly and without any war.

As is the case with most heathen tribes, the witch-doctors, with their hocus-pocus, witchcraft, dice, and medicines, have the chief influence, so it is here. Nobody dies naturally; according to their belief he is put out of the world by witch-craft, called Boloi. The only question is to find out the guilty person, and this is done through the witch-dice, which, as a rule, have to turn the scale in difficult and critical moments of the lives of members of the tribe. These dice consist of the vertebræ of the different animals with which they consider they have a common origin. Thus Modjadje belongs to the pigs, others to the lions, tigers, elephants, etc. If the bone of that animal to whose family the probable thief, or murderer, or other offender, belongs, stands erect, he will be caught at once as the suspect. The accuser has the right to kill him, and Modjadje takes his property. But if the accused is very wealthy, he drives some head of cattle to Modjadje to persuade her to have her chief witchdoctor to reconsider the case. In this case the fault is generally laid upon another person and the first accused gets free. The witch-craft doctors have a wide knowledge of places and people; they perceive and know the locality from which their clients come from their pronunciation, as well as from their manner and behaviour. They also notice at once from the accusers' attitude whether they intend to spend much, and whom they want to be found guilty. In this manner it is not so very difficult for the witch-doctors soon to meet the wishes of the latter, and to entrap their selected victim. The whole business is, of course, quite a low fraud.

A most profitable sphere for these Kaffir doctors is Basutoland. I was once told by an assistant of a travelling doctor the way in which they cheat the poor, stupid people there. He said they provided themselves with beans growing in the Low Country, called "brandboontjes," on the pods of which a reddish dust is found. The slightest contact with this causes a continual itching sensation, which is scratched until big blisters arise. With this dust they covered the stones at night-time, on which the men were going to sit the next morning when holding a council. The doctor, who has rested quietly during the night in this kraal leaves the next morning. After the men have occupied their seats to hold their council all start to scratch themselves. Then they get uneasy and apprehend the worst. Quickly the doctor with his assistant is called back to give aid, and to ease them of their apparent epidemic disease. The doctor looks exceedingly dubious at this sudden and, according to his diagnosis, very dangerous disease, as he intends to get as much as possible out of them. And for less than a nag or a heifer he is not able to offer any help. One by one they are attended to, he rubs the spots in question with a very expensive medicine, as he says, which, however, is nothing else than green soap. After this has acted for a while, he washes it off, and immediately the patient is cured. At this result all are greatly astonished, including the patient, while the doctor gains the horse or cow.

In a similar way all their medical cures are, with few exceptions, swindles. Most dangerous and demoralising is the medicine they use for destroying germinating life. Through this nearly 50 per cent. of the women are ruined. They also know different sorts of poison, some killing quickly, others very slowly. These they use to mingle with the food. And, as mentioned already, they sell medicines against ghosts, and to cure any disease of mind or body.

One of my colleagues and myself once carried out a fine practical joke on one of these witch-doctors, whom we met on a journey. The doctor had decked himself with medicine-bags in front and behind. My colleague said to me: "Look here, I will just cheat this fellow." Quickly he put a stone into his mouth, which made his cheek swell out, then he bent his head and started to complain to the doctor with a most pitiable face about excessive pains, and asked him for help. Willingly the doctor produced an ointment. But the patient said: "No, my friend; before I can trust you, you must tell me by your dice what kind of illness I suffer from." "All right," said the doctor, "but you must throw them yourself." My friend agreed, and he had to do it several times. A crowd of people had already assembled around us, and watched the proceedings. On a sudden the doctor declared in a solemn way: "Now I have got it; the cause is a fistula in the gums; you are a great smoker, and through permanent contact of the gums with the tobacco the fistula has been caused." "Is it truly what the dice tells you?" asked my friend. The doctor replied in the affirmative. Now the stone was produced, and my colleague said to the doctor: "Look here, my friend, this is the whole cause of the illness." The spectators all split their sides with laughing, and the poor old doctor withdrew with shame.

In nearly all risings of the natives the witch-doctors have a great influence. They either make their people believe that the weapons of their enemies will not stand the test, the rifles pouring out water instead of bullets, or they promise to make them invulnerable.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

Polygamy still exists, but it is on the decrease since Rinderpest and Tick fever swept the cattle away, and since the Government adopted Law No. 3, regarding "the Regulation of Native. Marriages." The legal marriage of a polygamist with one wife has also been conducive in checking this heathenish evil.

Circumcision is of a late date in Zoutpansberg, and it has been adopted to strengthen the chiefdom again; but last, not least, to make the most of it in money and cattle. The Bawenda and Maquamba have only adopted it a couple of years since. The performing of circumcision of the males, but especially that of the females-for even such a thing has been established-is an excuse for, and a stronghold of, all heathenish vice: drunkenness and fornication.

Infanticide still exists. In earlier days, twins, and those children who got the upper teeth first, were murdered, according to native law. This was not considered to be an injustice. But since the Government forbade it, it is only done secretly. Generally the old women, together with the mother, pour boiling water into the throat of the poor victim, and accelerate death by strangling. The corpse is thrown into an old pit, formerly used for burying mealies.

Abortion. The most horrible and widespread evil amongst natives is, as mentioned above, forced abortion by a purgative. Many women go to ruin or drag on their existence for months and even years before they recover, and in most cases remain childless.

Prostitution and Polyandry in their exact meaning do not exist. among this tribe.

Birth. For days before the birth, the woman in labour is not allowed to eat anything. During the act itself all the old women of the kraal are assembled. As soon as the pains start the woman has to occupy now a half-standing, then again a half-kneeling posture. She has to embrace one of the women present, who has to assume the same posture, like two persons wrestling. And thus the child, as it were, is wrestled out. They do do not think of giving the Woman in labour relief by a good couch, or of doing anything to prevent the rupture of the perineum. After birth the child is left unseparated until the after-birth appears, and only then the umbilical cord is cut. This is the reason why so many umbilical ruptures occur. The child is washed at once with cold water, and the mother is now allowed to retrieve the loss in food. At the birth the woman in labour has to undergo a sort of confession by the old women, who tell her that she has to die, or that the child will not live if she does not confess

whether the child is from her husband, or whether she has been on terms of intimacy with others. If the latter is the case it is generally told. Shortly after birth the witch-doctor again has to show his art with the new-born child, and by his hocus-pocus and medicines he makes the child strong and vigorous. The name the child receives in the meantime is given according to events happening at this time; for instance, some were named "Mynheer," when I entered the country; others "Joubert," at the time of war with the Boers.

The Language is a mixture of several dialects of the Basuto tribes, as in early days many of the far-away living natives wanted to enjoy the blessings of Modjadje's rain-making. So people of all tribes and languages settled here: Balemba, Bawenda, Maquamba, Zulus, and Basutos. This tribe has mingled chiefly with the Bawenda, so that the Modjadje dialect has most coloration from the language of the latter tribe. For example:

Sickness.

From December to May, fever with its complications rages. In some years open and fetid abcesses are found on the legs of individuals.

Of

Phthisis appears proportionally often, very likely on account of the change from the High to the Low Country, for this illness is found with very few women. Syphilis is not well known. Leprosy I happened to see only one case in 25 years. Taken as a whole, Modjadje's people live long; many reach a hundred years.

HER RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY.

In 1887 Modjadje permitted me to found a station in her country, and, as I was the only white person in the Low Country at that time, she handed over to me all sorts of things for repair for herself and her indunas: old knives, picks, watches, revolvers, etc. But when one of her headmen inclined to adopt Christianity, she caused him to be murdered. By 1884 a small congregation of converted natives had gathered about the Christian Chief Kashane, and he was murdered, with about 40 men, women and children. For about 10 years I then had to exist as a kind of under-chief, and paid my tribute to Modjadje, until in 1892 other occupants entered the country and also tried to settle in her territory. She opposed them and burnt down the dwelling-houses of the farmers, whereupon she was conquered and obtained a large location. Fear and difficulty in her advanced age caused by this war had distressed her to such an extent in mind and body that she died in 1895. In her last years she had a friendly mind to me and Christianity, for I was able to help her a great deal in the troubles caused by the war, and to assist in the matter of securing the location for her people. Her successor was