The Women Complain Because The Proportions Between The Sexes
Are So Changed Now That They Are Not Valued As They Deserve.
The Majority Of The Real Makololo Have Been Cut Off By Fever.
Those Who Remain Are A Mere Fragment Of The People Who Came To The North
With Sebituane.
Migrating from a very healthy climate in the south,
they were more subject to the febrile diseases of the valley
in which we found them than the black tribes they conquered.
In comparison with the Barotse, Batoka, and Banyeti, the Makololo have
a sickly hue.
They are of a light brownish-yellow color,
while the tribes referred to are very dark, with a slight tinge of olive.
The whole of the colored tribes consider that beauty and fairness
are associated, and women long for children of light color so much,
that they sometimes chew the bark of a certain tree in hopes of producing
that effect. To my eye the dark color is much more agreeable
than the tawny hue of the half-caste, which that of the Makololo ladies
closely resembles. The women generally escaped the fever, but they are
less fruitful than formerly, and, to their complaint of being undervalued
on account of the disproportion of the sexes, they now add their regrets
at the want of children, of whom they are all excessively fond.
The Makololo women work but little. Indeed, the families of that nation
are spread over the country, one or two only in each village, as the lords
of the land. They all have lordship over great numbers of subjected tribes,
who pass by the general name Makalaka, and who are forced to render
certain services, and to aid in tilling the soil; but each has his own land
under cultivation, and otherwise lives nearly independent.
They are proud to be called Makololo, but the other term is often used
in reproach, as betokening inferiority. This species of servitude
may be termed serfdom, as it has to be rendered in consequence of subjection
by force of arms, but it is necessarily very mild. It is so easy
for any one who is unkindly treated to make his escape to other tribes,
that the Makololo are compelled to treat them, to a great extent,
rather as children than slaves. Some masters, who fail from defect
of temper or disposition to secure the affections of the conquered people,
frequently find themselves left without a single servant, in consequence of
the absence and impossibility of enforcing a fugitive-slave law,
and the readiness with which those who are themselves subjected
assist the fugitives across the rivers in canoes. The Makololo ladies
are liberal in their presents of milk and other food, and seldom require
to labor, except in the way of beautifying their own huts and court-yards.
They drink large quantities of boyaloa or o-alo, the buza of the Arabs,
which, being made of the grain called holcus sorghum or "durasaifi",
in a minute state of subdivision, is very nutritious,
and gives that plumpness of form which is considered beautiful.
They dislike being seen at their potations by persons of the opposite sex.
They cut their woolly hair quite short, and delight in having the whole person
shining with butter. Their dress is a kilt reaching to the knees;
its material is ox-hide, made as soft as cloth. It is not ungraceful.
A soft skin mantle is thrown across the shoulders when the lady is unemployed,
but when engaged in any sort of labor she throws this aside, and works
in the kilt alone. The ornaments most coveted are large brass anklets
as thick as the little finger, and armlets of both brass and ivory,
the latter often an inch broad. The rings are so heavy that the ankles
are often blistered by the weight pressing down; but it is the fashion,
and is borne as magnanimously as tight lacing and tight shoes among ourselves.
Strings of beads are hung around the neck, and the fashionable colors
being light green and pink, a trader could get almost any thing he chose
for beads of these colors.
At our public religious services in the kotla, the Makololo women always
behaved with decorum from the first, except at the conclusion of the prayer.
When all knelt down, many of those who had children, in following
the example of the rest, bent over their little ones; the children,
in terror of being crushed to death, set up a simultaneous yell,
which so tickled the whole assembly there was often a subdued titter,
to be turned into a hearty laugh as soon as they heard Amen.
This was not so difficult to overcome in them as similar peccadilloes were
in the case of the women farther south. Long after we had settled at Mabotsa,
when preaching on the most solemn subjects, a woman might be observed
to look round, and, seeing a neighbor seated on her dress,
give her a hunch with the elbow to make her move off; the other would
return it with interest, and perhaps the remark, "Take the nasty thing away,
will you?" Then three or four would begin to hustle the first offenders,
and the men to swear at them all, by way of enforcing silence.
Great numbers of little trifling things like these occur, and would not be
worth the mention but that one can not form a correct idea of missionary work
except by examination of the minutiae. At the risk of appearing frivolous
to some, I shall continue to descend to mere trifles.
The numbers who attended at the summons of the herald, who acted as beadle,
were often from five to seven hundred. The service consisted of reading
a small portion of the Bible and giving an explanatory address,
usually short enough to prevent weariness or want of attention.
So long as we continue to hold services in the kotla,
the associations of the place are unfavorable to solemnity;
hence it is always desirable to have a place of worship as soon as possible;
and it is of importance, too, to treat such place with reverence,
as an aid to secure that serious attention which religious subjects demand.
This will appear more evident when it is recollected that, in the very spot
where we had been engaged in acts of devotion, half an hour after
a dance would be got up; and these habits can not be at first opposed
without the appearance of assuming too much authority over them.
It is always unwise to hurt their feelings of independence.
Much greater influence will be gained by studying how you may induce them
to act aright, with the impression that they are doing it
of their own free will.
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