I Have Known Instances In This And Other Tribes
In Which Individuals Aggrieved, Because They Had Been Overlooked,
Fled To Other Chiefs.
One discontented person, having fled to Lechulatebe,
was encouraged to go to a village of the Bapalleng,
on the River Cho or Tso, and abstracted the tribute of ivory thence
which ought to have come to Sekeletu.
This theft enraged
the whole of the Makololo, because they all felt it to be a personal loss.
Some of Lechulatebe's people having come on a visit to Linyanti,
a demonstration was made, in which about five hundred Makololo, armed,
went through a mimic fight; the principal warriors pointed their spears
toward the lake where Lechulatebe lives, and every thrust in that direction
was answered by all with the shout, "Ho-o!" while every stab on the ground
drew out a simultaneous "Huzz!" On these occasions all capable
of bearing arms, even the old, must turn out at the call.
In the time of Sebituane, any one remaining in his house
was searched for and killed without mercy.
This offense of Lechulatebe was aggravated by repetition,
and by a song sung in his town accompanying the dances, which manifested joy
at the death of Sebituane. He had enjoined his people to live in peace
with those at the lake, and Sekeletu felt disposed to follow his advice;
but Lechulatebe had now got possession of fire-arms, and considered himself
more than a match for the Makololo. His father had been
dispossessed of many cattle by Sebituane, and, as forgiveness
is not considered among the virtues by the heathen, Lechulatebe thought
he had a right to recover what he could. As I had a good deal of influence
with the Makololo, I persuaded them that, before they could have peace,
they must resolve to give the same blessing to others,
and they never could do that without forgiving and forgetting ancient feuds.
It is hard to make them feel that shedding of human blood is a great crime;
they must be conscious that it is wrong, but, having been
accustomed to bloodshed from infancy, they are remarkably callous
to the enormity of the crime of destroying human life.
I sent a message at the same time to Lechulatebe advising him
to give up the course he had adopted, and especially the song;
because, though Sebituane was dead, the arms with which he had fought
were still alive and strong.
Sekeletu, in order to follow up his father's instructions and promote peace,
sent ten cows to Lechulatebe to be exchanged for sheep;
these animals thrive well in a bushy country like that around the lake,
but will scarcely live in the flat prairies between the net-work of waters
north of the Chobe. The men who took the cows carried a number of hoes
to purchase goats besides. Lechulatebe took the cows and sent back
an equal number of sheep. Now, according to the relative value
of sheep and cows in these parts, he ought to have sent sixty or seventy.
One of the men who had hoes was trying to purchase in a village
without formal leave from Lechulatebe; this chief punished him
by making him sit some hours on the broiling hot sand (at least 130 Deg.).
This farther offense put a stop to amicable relations
between the two tribes altogether. It was a case in which a very small tribe,
commanded by a weak and foolish chief, had got possession of fire-arms,
and felt conscious of ability to cope with a numerous and warlike race.
Such cases are the only ones in which the possession of fire-arms does evil.
The universal effect of the diffusion of the more potent
instruments of warfare in Africa is the same as among ourselves.
Fire-arms render wars less frequent and less bloody. It is indeed
exceedingly rare to hear of two tribes having guns going to war
with each other; and, as nearly all the feuds, in the south at least,
have been about cattle, the risk which must be incurred from long shots
generally proves a preventive to the foray.
The Makololo were prevailed upon to keep the peace during my residence
with them, but it was easy to perceive that public opinion was against
sparing a tribe of Bechuanas for whom the Makololo entertained
the most sovereign contempt. The young men would remark,
"Lechulatebe is herding our cows for us; let us only go,
we shall `lift' the price of them in sheep," etc.
As the Makololo are the most northerly of the Bechuanas, we may glance back
at this family of Africans before entering on the branch of the negro family
which the Makololo distinguish by the term Makalaka. The name Bechuana
seems derived from the word Chuana - alike, or equal -
with the personal pronoun Ba (they) prefixed, and therefore means
fellows or equals. Some have supposed the name to have arisen
from a mistake of some traveler, who, on asking individuals of this nation
concerning the tribes living beyond them, received the answer,
Bachuana, "they (are) alike"; meaning, "They are the same as we are";
and that this nameless traveler, who never wrote a word about them,
managed to ingraft his mistake as a generic term on a nation extending
from the Orange River to 18 Deg. south latitude.*
-
* The Makololo have conquered the country as far as 14 Deg. south,
but it is still peopled chiefly by the black tribes named Makalaka.
-
As the name was found in use among those who had no intercourse
with Europeans, before we can receive the above explanation we must believe
that the unknown traveler knew the language sufficiently well
to ask a question, but not to understand the answer. We may add,
that the way in which they still continue to use the word seems to require
no fanciful interpretation. When addressed with any degree of scorn,
they reply, "We are Bachuana, or equals - we are not inferior
to any of our nation," in exactly the same sense as Irishmen or Scotchmen,
in the same circumstances, would reply, "We are Britons,"
or "We are Englishmen." Most other tribes are known by the terms
applied to them by strangers only, as the Caffres, Hottentots, and Bushmen.
The Bechuanas alone use the term to themselves as a generic one
for the whole nation.
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