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KALAHARI

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 604 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KALAHARI See also:

DESERT). The See also:Bechuana See also:family maybe classed in two See also:great divisions, the western or Bechuana proper, and the eastern or Basuto. The Bechuana proper consist of a large number of tribes, whose See also:early See also:history is extremely confused and involved owing to continual inter-tribal See also:wars and migrations, during which many tribes were practically annihilated. Further See also:con-See also:fusion was produced by subsequent marauding expeditions by the See also:coast " See also:Kaffirs." An ingenious See also:attempt to disentangle the highly complicated tribal movements which took See also:place in the early 19th See also:century may be found in See also:Stow's Native Races of See also:South See also:Africa. One See also:migration of particular See also:interest calls for mention. In the early See also:part of the r9th century a number of Basuto, led by the See also:chief Sebituane, crossed the See also:Zambezi near the See also:Victoria Falls, and, under the name Makololo, established a supremacy over the See also:Barotse and neighbouring tribes on the upper portion of the See also:river, imposing their See also:language on the conquered peoples. After the See also:death of Sekeletu, Sebituane's successor, the See also:vassal tribes arose and exterminated their conquerors. Only a few escaped, whom Sekeletu had sent with See also:David See also:Livingstone to the coast. These established themselves to the south of See also:Lake See also:Nyasa, where they are still to be found. Sesuto speech, however, still prevails in Barotseland. The chief Bechuana tribes were the Batlapin and Barolong (the last including the Baratlou, Bataung, Barapulana and Baseleka), together with the great Bakuena or Bakone See also:people (including the Bahurutsi, Batlaru, Bamangwato, Batauana, Bangwaketse and Bakuena). The clans representing the See also:southern Bakuena were in comparatively See also:recent times welded together to See also:form the Basuto nation, of which the founder was the chief Moshesh (see See also:BASUTOLAND).

The Basuto have been not only influenced in certain cultural details (e.g. the form of their huts) by the neighbouring Zulu-Xosa [Kaffir] peoples, but have moreover received an infusion of their See also:

blood which has improved their physique. They are See also:good riders and make considerable use of their horses in See also:war and the See also:chase. The Bechuana, though not so tall as Kaffirs, See also:average 5 ft. 6 in. in stature; they are of slender build and their musculature is but moderately See also:developed except where a Kaffir See also:strain is found. Their skin is of a reddish-See also:brown or See also:bronze See also:colour, and their features are fairly See also:regular, though in all cases coarser than those of Europeans. One of their chief peculiarities lies in the fact that each tribe respects (usually) a particular See also:animal, which the members of the tribe may not eat, and the killing of which, if necessary, must be accompanied by profuse apologies and followed by Subsequent See also:purification. Many of the tribes take their name from their siboko, as the animal in question is called; e.g. the Batlapin, " they of the See also:fish "; Bakuena, " they of the See also:crocodile." The siboko of the Barolong, who as a tribe are accomplished smiths, is not an animal but the See also:metal See also:iron; other tribes have adopted as their particular See also:emblem respectively the See also:sun, See also:rain, See also:dew, &c. Certain ceremonies are performed in See also:honour of the tribal emblem, hence an inquiry as to the tribe of an individual is put in the form " What do you See also:dance?" In certain tribes the old and feeble and the sickly See also:children were killed, and albinos and the See also:deaf and dumb exposed; those See also:born See also:blind were strangled, and if a See also:mother died in childbirth the See also:infant was buried alive in the same See also:grave. With the See also:extension of See also:British authority these practices were prohibited. See also:Circumcision is universally practised, though there is no fixed See also:age for it. It is performed at See also:puberty, when the boys are secluded for a See also:period in the See also:bush. The operation is accompanied by See also:whipping and even tortures.

Girls at puberty must undergo trials of endurance, e.g. the holding of a See also:

bar of heated iron without crying out. The Bechuana inhabit, for the most part, towns of considerable See also:size, containing from 5000 to 40,000. Politically they live under a tribal despotism limited by a See also:council of elders, the chief seldom exercising his individual authority independently, though the extent of his See also:power naturally depends on his See also:personality. They have their public assemblies, but only when circumstances, chiefly in reference to war, require. These are generally characterized by great freedom of speech, and there is no interruption of the See also:speaker. The chief generally closes the See also:meeting with a See also:long speech, referring to the subjects which each speaker has either supported or condemned, not forgetting to clear his own See also:character of any imputation. These public assemblies are now, except in Basutoland, of very rare occurrence. The clothing of the men consists of a See also:leather bandage; the See also:women See also:wear a skin See also:apron, reaching to the See also:knee, under which is a fringed See also:girdle. Skin cloaks (harass) are worn by both sexes, with the difference that the male garment is distinguished by a See also:collar. The See also:hair is kept See also:short for the most part; women shave the See also:head, leaving a tuft on the See also:crown which is plastered with See also:fat and See also:earth, and adorned with beads. Beads are worn, and various bracelets of iron, See also:copper and See also:brass. The Bechuana are mainly an agricultural people, the Bangwaketse and ,Bakuena excelling as cultivators.

See also:

Cattle they possess, but these are used chiefly for the purpose of purchasing wives, especially among the Basuto. At the same See also:time they are excellent craftsmen, and show no little skill in smelting and working iron and copper and the preparation of hides and pottery vessels. The most efficient smiths are the Barolong and Bamangwato (the latter were spared by the See also:Matabele chief Umsilikazi on this See also:account); the Bangwaketse excel as potters; the Barolong as See also:wood carvers, and the Bakuena as hut builders. The huts, with the exception of those of the Basuto who have adopted the Kaffir See also:model, are cylindrical, with See also:clay-plastered walls and a conical roof of See also:thatch. In spite of the See also:constant tribal feuds dating from the beginning of the 19th century, the Bechuana cannot be classed as a warlike people, especially when they are compared with the Zulu. Their weapons consist of the throwing See also:assegai, usually barbed, axes, daggers in carved sheaths, and, occasionally, bows and arrows, the last sometimes poisoned. Hide See also:shields of a See also:peculiar shape, resembling a depressed See also:hour-See also:glass, are found except among the Basuto, who use a somewhat different See also:pattern. See also:Hunting usually takes the form of great drives organized in See also:concert, and the See also:game is driven by means of converging fences to a large pitfall or See also:series of pits. Their religious beliefs are very vague; they appear to recognize a somewhat indeterminate spirit of, mainly, evil tendencies, called Mori-ma. The plural form of this word, Barimo, is used of the See also:manes of dead ancestors, to whom a varying amount of reverence is paid. There is universal belief in charms and See also:witchcraft, and See also:divination by means of See also:dice is See also:common. See also:Witch-doctors, who are supposed to counteract evil magic, See also:play a not insignificant part, and the magician who claims the power of making rain occupies a very important position, as might be expected among an agricultural people inhabiting a See also:country where droughts are not infrequent.

They have a great dread of anything connected with death; when an old See also:

man is on the point of expiring, a See also:net is thrown over him, and he is dragged from his hut by a hole in the See also:wall, if possible before See also:life is See also:extinct. The dead are buried in a sitting position with their faces to the See also:north, in which direction lies their ancestral See also:home. Under the See also:influence of missionaries, however, large See also:numbers of the Bechuana have become Christianized, and many of the customs mentioned are no longer practised. See also:Polygamy is the See also:rule, but, except in the See also:case of chiefs, is not found to the same extent as among the Zulu-Xosa [Kaffirs]. The woman is See also:purchased from her See also:father, chiefly by means of cattle, though among the western Bechuana other articles are included, many of which become the See also:property of the girl herself. The wives live in See also:separate huts, and the first is given priority over those purchased subsequently. Chastity after See also:marriage is the rule, and See also:adultery and See also:rape are severely punished, as offences against property. See also:Cannibalism is found, but is rare and confined to certain tribes. The Bechuana language, which belongs to the See also:Bantu linguistic family, is copious, with but few slight See also:dialectic See also:differences, and is See also:free from the Hottentot elements found in the Kaffir and Zulu See also:tongues. The richness of the language may be judged from the fact that, though only oral until reduced to See also:writing by the missionaries, it has sufficed for the See also:translation of the whole See also:Bible.

End of Article: KALAHARI

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