Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-25
AN AFRICAN s1BYL.
Every Tribe Of Dark Continent Deals
in Medicine and Magic.

avery 4TIUc O4 LARK OOuCIueuI 0ealS
In Medicine and Magic.
From the London Spectator
One merit of our oversee empire is that
1t keeps US in humble frame of mind
about civilization. We find under our rule
peoples whose customs and rituals, toler-
ated or forbidden by our law, carry us
back to the rock whence we were all hewn.
I'VE KNOW" in Emerson's phrase, that
the barriers of race are not so firm but
that spray can sprinkle us from antedi-
luvian seas" In the current Monthly Re-
view the rector of Barbertoh repeats
rumor which invests the present dreary
struggle in Natal with something Of the
romance which we are wont to associate
with an earlier epoch in our African his
tory. Dfnizulu. 1T Is rumOred, has sent
emissaries to consult Majat as to the
chances OF q native rising, and to obtain
South Africa In every tribe there is q kind
OF rude priesthood. who dea1 in ''big medi-
/ cine and strong magic" In the main they
are charlatans, ghost-doctors who play
strange tricks with bones, and intercede
between the living and the spirits of the
dead. But no white man who has lived
much among natives will care to be too
dogmatic on the matter of their charlanry.
They have often a rough working knowi-
edge of medicine and have distilled from
herbs very effective remedies. They are
OltSii, tOO, Ia1I Iu0CeOTOlOSIStS, dDlc " piC-
dict the weather better than the white man
or their fellow tribeSmen and they nave
some crude skill in hypnotism. The writer
has been a witness of instances of Kafhr
telepathy which make him hesitate to say
what is or is not possible in that strange
world. But a rule these tribal doctors
have only a small local reputation. and
there are few whom other tribes would
take the pains to consult. Majaj, how
ever, is another matter Her reputation
has spread from the Zambesi to the south
ern ocean. Dinizulu. for all we know, may
be a model Of loyalty. and may have
thought as little of consulting her as of
seeking advice from Mrs. Eddy. But the
fact that it is commonly believed that the
greatest of Zulu chiefs should send for help
to remote country five hundred miles or
shows how great the repute Of the wonder
worker must be.
The territory Of Majaji, or Majajie, is
situated in the northern Transvaal, in the
wild tangie Of mountains which extend
east from Petersburg toward the Portu-
guese frontier, and which In their various
ranges are known as the Zoutpansberg,
the Spelonken, and the Wood Bush. They
represent the northern extension Of the
Drakensberg, where the plateau of the
high weld breaks down in foothills to the
tropical flats of the Limpopo. 1t Is a
strange country, for 1t has nothing in COM
mon with the ordinary South African
landscape It's rainfall is so high that veg
citation even at a height Of 5000 feet is
luxuriant the streams are not strings of
pools, but full mountain torrents and in
| summer and winter alike you will find haze
on the uplands. No sharper distinction can
be imagined than between this humid but
bracing climate and the dry clearness of
the high weld 1t is such a country as Mr..
Rider Haggard has drawn in his People
of the MIST" and like that fanciful land
the totem of one at least Of the tribes is
the crocodile. The natives are divided into
small clans, the craftsmanship Of which is
now more or less in commission. Mala-
pooh, who lived in the Blaauwberg and
/
the Beers in the last of their little native
wars. Magato, the chief Of the mountain,
who had his kraal In the Zoutpansberg.
close to the little village OF Louis Trichard.
'Mpefu, the present chief, Is under strict
government surveillance. In the Wood
Bush Fachubi was hunted out by Boef
commando and hired impi of Swazis. and
killed in the dense thicket where he had
taken refuge.
OF all the little tribes, only Majaji's has
held its ground untouched; but as tribe
1t is shrinking rapidly. and the ground
originally granted as a reserve Is too large
for the use Of those who remain, and will
probably be curtailed. But If the tribe is
declining, the reputation Of the chieftainess
still fingers, for 1t Is rule founded not
dition. Like the Convent of Sanding on
the road to Lhasa, the tribe is governed
always by woman who acquires the sane
tity of her predecessors. The old Majaji.
who was believed, like another Gagool, to
have lived for hundreds of years, died or
disappeared some years ago. and was sue
| ceeded by a little girl. An inverted Salic
law prevails, for the tribe Is a rude theoe-
racy, which never sought to overcome its
neighbors by arms. It's ruler was true
Sibyl, and her reputation went forth into
| the length and breadth Of the land Old
hunters tell how strings of natives used
| to be met in the bushveld-from Portuguese
| territory, from what Is now Rhodesia, from
Swaziland and Natal-all journeying to
| consult the oracle. Since such services
were not given for nothing, Majaji became
rich She was famed as a rainmaker, as
| a prophecies, and above all as a vendor of
charms. Her medicines would make war;
rior invulnerable, and her lamentations
would weaken the power of his enemies.
Small wonder that the Sibyl did a good
| trade and became name of awe to dwell
ers far and near.