Renal deposit of the mountain cony -
`Hyrax capensis' - (which, by the way, is used, in the form of pills,
as a good antispasmodic, under the name of "stone-sweat"*),
the internal parts of different animals - as jackals' livers,
baboons' and lions' hearts, and hairy calculi from the bowels of old cows -
serpents' skins and vertebrae, and every kind of tuber, bulb, root, and plant
to be found in the country. Although you disbelieve their efficacy
in charming the clouds to pour out their refreshing treasures,
yet, conscious that civility is useful every where, you kindly state
that you think they are mistaken as to their power. The rain-doctor selects
a particular bulbous root, pounds it, and administers a cold infusion
to a sheep, which in five minutes afterward expires in convulsions.
Part of the same bulb is converted into smoke, and ascends toward the sky;
rain follows in a day or two. The inference is obvious. Were we as much
harassed by droughts, the logic would be irresistible in England in 1857.
-
* The name arises from its being always voided on one spot,
in the manner practiced by others of the rhinocerontine family;
and, by the action of the sun, it becomes a black, pitchy substance.
-
As the Bakwains believed that there must be some connection
between the presence of "God's Word" in their town and these
successive and distressing droughts, they looked with no good will
at the church bell, but still they invariably treated us
with kindness and respect. I am not aware of ever having had an enemy
in the tribe. The only avowed cause of dislike was expressed
by a very influential and sensible man, the uncle of Sechele.
"We like you as well as if you had been born among us;
you are the only white man we can become familiar with (thoaela);
but we wish you to give up that everlasting preaching and praying;
we can not become familiar with that at all. You see we never get rain,
while those tribes who never pray as we do obtain abundance."
This was a fact; and we often saw it raining on the hills ten miles off,
while it would not look at us "even with one eye". If the Prince
of the power of the air had no hand in scorching us up,
I fear I often gave him the credit of doing so.
As for the rain-makers, they carried the sympathies of the people
along with them, and not without reason. With the following arguments
they were all acquainted, and in order to understand their force,
we must place ourselves in their position, and believe, as they do,
that all medicines act by a mysterious charm. The term for cure
may be translated "charm" (`alaha').
MEDICAL DOCTOR. Hail, friend! How very many medicines you have about you
this morning! Why, you have every medicine in the country here.
RAIN DOCTOR. Very true, my friend; and I ought; for the whole country
needs the rain which I am making.
M. D. So you really believe that you can command the clouds?
I think that can be done by God alone.
R. D. We both believe the very same thing. It is God that makes the rain,
but I pray to him by means of these medicines, and, the rain coming,
of course it is then mine. It was I who made it for the Bakwains
for many years, when they were at Shokuane; through my wisdom, too,
their women became fat and shining. Ask them; they will tell you
the same as I do.
M. D. But we are distinctly told in the parting words of our Savior
that we can pray to God acceptably in his name alone,
and not by means of medicines.
R. D. Truly! but God told us differently. He made black men first,
and did not love us as he did the white men. He made you beautiful,
and gave you clothing, and guns, and gunpowder, and horses, and wagons,
and many other things about which we know nothing. But toward us
he had no heart. He gave us nothing except the assegai, and cattle,
and rain-making; and he did not give us hearts like yours.
We never love each other. Other tribes place medicines about our country
to prevent the rain, so that we may be dispersed by hunger, and go to them,
and augment their power. We must dissolve their charms by our medicines.
God has given us one little thing, which you know nothing of.
He has given us the knowledge of certain medicines by which
we can make rain. WE do not despise those things which you possess,
though we are ignorant of them. We don't understand your book,
yet we don't despise it. YOU ought not to despise our little knowledge,
though you are ignorant of it.
M. D. I don't despise what I am ignorant of; I only think you are mistaken
in saying that you have medicines which can influence the rain at all.
R. D. That's just the way people speak when they talk on a subject
of which they have no knowledge. When we first opened our eyes,
we found our forefathers making rain, and we follow in their footsteps.
You, who send to Kuruman for corn, and irrigate your garden,
may do without rain; WE can not manage in that way. If we had no rain,
the cattle would have no pasture, the cows give no milk,
our children become lean and die, our wives run away to other tribes
who do make rain and have corn, and the whole tribe become dispersed and lost;
our fire would go out.
M. D. I quite agree with you as to the value of the rain; but you can not
charm the clouds by medicines.
