The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1900-05-26
TRlBESMEN.

NATIVES MAcNIFi.
lens or HUMANITY.
!zsd State They Are Over.
Idren- The zuIu's Remarkable
fir Virtue and Morality What
'moks" Is.
sticians assert that there are
distinctive tribes Of natives IN
Africa south of the Zambesi
r. Most persons who have lived
that part of the world will cheer
hlly assert that this census is Tar De-
bow the truth-if dialects and racial
differences count for aught. Rough
guesses place the number Of natives
at from 100000 to 1O,OOO,OOO, but, as
a matter Of fact, no one knows even
approximately their number. This
lack of information is due to the row.
ing propensities of the natives. Here
to-day, there tomorrow, it would take
a mightier hunter than even the famed
Selous to hunt them all down.
The writer Edgar Mels, formerly
editor of the johannesburg Daily
News, and now contributing this and
other South African articles to the
Scientific American) has seen the
South African native, commonly called
Kaffir, in all his varying phases, in his
wild state, semi-civilized and wholly
so. He has seen the native at his best
and at his worst-untainted by the
touch of civilization and sOiled by its
proximity. And through it all the
| writer has believed, and perhaps al
ways will, that the Kafiir, whether
Zulu or Basuto or Bechuana or Swazie
or Amatonga or Matabele or any other
tribe, has good in him-and bad too.
Summed up in few words, the Ka-
| fir, in his uncivilized state, is an
overgrown child, with childish foibles
and shortcomings. But let him learn
the vices of civilization, let him realize
the evil there is in him, let him discoy-
err that there Is broad path leading
| to destructiOn-and you will find n
fully civilized being, as capable in GER
tain directions as is the white man.
1t Is a fact that where the Kaffir Is
permitted to dwell In primeval ignor-
| ance, with none to warn him against
vices he knows nothing about, he re-
mains a good Christian, even though
he is ignorant of doctrinal disputes and
the meaning of higher criticism. 1t Is
| equally a fact that where he imbibes
a little learning, especially a knowi-
| edge of English, he becomes all that is
| worst in a. human being.
A study of the Kaffir is a study of
| tue human being, and what is more he
has been grossly and shamefully NAL
| treated. Space prevents a recital OF
| the wrongs Of the native, SO too dis
| sertation as to his idiosyncrasies and
| peculiarities. There is no blood faint
In the Zulu nor consumption In the
Matabele. Endowed with a super
| abundance of animal health and con-
stitution untainted Tin most cases. by
| civilization, the average Kaffir Is a
| magnificent specimen of humanity.
| The skin of the Zulu Is totally unlike
| that Of negro as we know him. The
Zulu's cuticle Is transparent-so much
so that the red blood can be seen
coursing beneath it. That is the Zulu's
greatest pride. He will point to his
skin to prove that he is pure-bred
| Zulu-the real Ethiopian of the an
| clients. And it is so with the other
| tribes.
As to the morality of the Kaffir--
that differs according to the tribe and
| its proximity to civilization. The Zulu
| is eminently virtuous. Infraction of the
law of morality is punished by death.
| The culprits are placed on the ground
with their respective heads resting up
| on a fiat stone. Then their heads are
| crushed with another stone. On the
other hand, the Hottentot, having been
a close companion Of the white man, is
the most immoral and depraved hui
man being perhaps in existence. The
| Matabeles are moral, so are the Ba-
| sutos and the Mashonas. The Be-
| chuanas are less so, and the Bushmen
rank next to the despised Hottentots
That the latter are as bad as stated is
evident when the Zulus will not work
| in the same mine with one nor sleep
in the same room or grail.
Nearly all the tribes, save the Hot.
tentots and Bushmen. are clearly, the
Zulus particularly so. The Zulu goes
in bathing twice day. He cleanses
his teeth with milk at sunrise and
again at sunset.
All the tribes, even those partially
civilized, believe in ghosts and spirits
Many worship the spirits of the de
parted. Still others are fetish wor
shippers.
The most advanced tribe is the Ba
suto nation, in which there are $4,000
Christians, with IA schools. Strict a:
are the laws against the indiscriminatt
selling of liquors to natives, they are
yet able to obtain all they want. Ant
when their supply of ordinary rum ant
whisky runs short, they manufacture
the notorious Cape Smoke" This ad
diction to alcohol is the great curse
of the Basutos, and, in fact, of every
other tribe.