Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-07
LIFE IN ZULULAND
SHOWN BY FILMS
Capt. Carl Won Hoffman Tells
How Brides Are Sold
for Cattle.

In most primitive lands boy babies
are more desired than girls. Not so in
zululand, South Africa, where daugh-
tiers are sold to prospective grooms for
prices ranging from IL head of cattle
up, Capt. Carl Won Hoffman, explorer,
told the National Geographic Society
at the Washington Auditorium last
night.
Capt. Won Hoffman showed for the
first time in Washington three reels of
motion picture film of native Zulu
wedding. All the aboriginal customs
were faithfully portrayed, from the
brides preparations TO the delivery of
herd of cattle by the groom.
Friendly Race Today.
The zulus, Capt. Won Hoffman ex-
planned, are kind and friendly people
today, although they were once con-
sidered the f1ercest fighters Of South
Africa. The white man has decreed
that they may no longer have tips on
their spears and that their chiefs shall
accept the white mans authority.
Otherwise they may live their own lives
and continue their tribal marriage,
household and religious customs.
A Zulu wedding is usually attended
by from 1000 to 5000 people, depending
upon the importance of the contracting
DdTIlcS.
bring their own food and beer, enough
for the three-day period that the we'd
ding usually lasts.
When the day of the wedding arrives
the bride is yelled, so that all of her
head is concealed. The rest of her
body, however, may only be partly con-
cealed with beads and nick-nackS. The
groom seats himself on the ground and
waits until the bride and her brides
maids have carried out the wedding
dance. Then the men hold war
dance, many of the movements of which
show similarity to the Charleston and
other steps of civilized nations.
Trial marriage is nothing new, Capt.
Won Hoffman said. The Zulus have
practiced 1t for years. If the wife does
not bear children within three years
the groom may demand his cattle back
from his father-tn-law and the mar
riage is annulled. If the two prove in
compatible within a year the groom
may also demand repayment. Polygamy
is practiced, and the first wives do not
seem to object to others being added to
the home. 1t lightens the work to be
done, an important consideration in a
land where women do all the hard
work.
Pottery Work Hard.
1IlS Zuluo nave ltuJ yCJ ACdA hCu bAlC
simple principle of the potter's wheel,
so all their pottery is made by building
up strips of mud, layer by layer, into
a vase or pot. They achieve some BEAU
tiful results, although with great ex-
penditure of time and effort.
Capt. Won Hoffman declared canni-
balls were almost extinct in the so-called
Dark Continent. He said that Africa
was no longer dangerous and that wild
animals were becoming scarcer. The
people, however, he said, had been
largely neglected, although they are as
interesting as the people of any other
part of the world. Some of the natives
are benefiting by contact with white
mems civilization, but many of them
have a long road to travel. For in
stance, he pointed out, some Of the
Zulus have adopted clothing, but they
do not know that clothing has TO be
cleaned at intervals, and as a result
their clothes become Ravens for vermin
and give them much trouble and an
noyance.