The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-05-23
THE MATABELE..
A SOUTH AFRICAN NATION OF
THIEVES AND BEGGARS.
Every One Save the King Takes .
Hand in Begging and Stealing
> Their Military System
and Superstitions.

With WhOm England NSS UoeN
having considerable trouble.
are Nation of beggars. They
are thievish as gypsies, and for I'M
Fortunate demands for gratultles dis
count the lazzaroni of Naples. These
practices are characteristic Of all,
from the highest to the lowest. -.
Indunas of the most elevated rank
attach no idea of shame to the act OF
stealing, nor is it beneath the dignity
of member of the Kings council to
spend hours day after day in begging
from a white mans camp. They look
upon the white man solely as con-
venientrepository of desirable articles,
which can be begged or stolen from
him without scruple or loss Of sell
respect. Their conversation in his
tent consists mainly of entreaties that
he will do himself the honor OF con-
ferring upon them guns, or. jam, or
his hat, or his boots, or anything that
is his. If he neglects to watch them
shortly after their departure some
thing or other will surely be missing;
it may be spoons, or few knives, or
small OK, or jar of preserves, or
some other little keepsake of the kind
In the whole Matabele Nation there
Is said to be ':only one man who does
not beg of the white man, and that one
is the King. But then there is little
that he can want. He has such num-
bers of cattle that many Of them die
yearly of old age; his people keep
him well supplied with corn and beer;
the subject tribes who own his rule
send him tribute in ivory, skins, and
articles of native manufacture every
white man who enters the country
brings him presents of guns, blankets,
powder, champagne, while from the
concessionaires to whom he has grant
ed mining rights he receives a good,
round sum in English sovereigns, paid
to him at each new moon. He has
troops of slaves. Whatever skilled
labor he may require for thatching,
painting, gun mending, and the like
is supplied generally for nothing by
the white men who live in the coun-
try. Whenever he needs cloth OF
beads for the replenishment OF the
wardrobes of his eighty odd wives he
sends down an order, and generally
large one, to the traders at the store,
who cannot well refuse to supply him. "
It appears that the King does some
times pay for the goods which he has
ordered, but never until a long while
after he has received them, and the
life of the white trader in Matabeland
is described as anything but prosper
Gus and satisfactory.
The military system of the Nation is
still much the same as that Of the Zu-
lus, from whom the Matabele are de-
scended. When the king wishes to
raise new regiment he calls out a
number OF the young men. Certain
lands are allotted to them. Flocks
and herds are given them, which the
regiment keep up for its own benefit.
The regiment builds its own kraal, has
its OWL induns, and lives there under
his command till such time as its
members, having seen sufficient serv-
ice, are given their head-rings by the
King, allowed to marry and to retire
into the reserve and live anywhere
they please. Till the soldiers get their
head-rings they are known as matjaka,
or 'syoung braves" After they have
got them they are madoda, or men.
One of the most general supersti-
tions is an earnest belief in witches
and witehcraft. This is part of the re-
ligion of the Aatabele and the prac-
tice of ''smelling out" the witches and
the attendant massacre of the latter
has caused much trouble to the English
authorities in African stations. Nor
is it only the accused man VINO suffers.
His wives, his relations, his slaves, and
sometimes his cattle are on occasions
slaughtered with him. The terror Of
witchcraft which prompts these mas
sacres applies generally to all agencies
which the natives do not understand
and over which they have no control.
But, curiously, while they fear the
spells of their own people, they do moi
apparently entertain any fear that the
white men will bewitch them. 1t is
said that the Matabele are beginning
to recognize the superior efficiency Of
the white mans medicine, and that
his usually gratuitous practice seri-
ously interfsres with that of the old
established herb doctors who expect
70 be feed.
The King himself does what little
rain doctoring the climate requires,
and on one occasion ordered the cessa-
ton of revolver practice in the Euro
pean settlers camp lest the sound OF
the guns should frighten the rain away
when he was engaged in his incanta-
tions. The s:magic broth" which the
witch doctors brew is still sometimes
sprinkled on the trees and the Kings
kraal and wagons, and even on the
royal person of the King himself, in
time of war in order to preserve them
from evil influences and to make the
bullets of the enemp miss fire.
JOHNNY WAS FEELING BETTER
Doctor-''Well, Johnny, don't vou
Soa5 haI&o, r o.o-a