The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

Tirn NrA>:nnxA?;. 267remains in his hands, and with it the wives, children, and effects of his predecessor.In no other African tribe do the women enjoj- so much influence as amongst theBa-Nyai. In all domestic affairs the decision rests with them. "When a youngman seeks a girl in marriage he addresses himself to the mother, and if acceptedby her, quits his own roof and comes to reside with his mother-in-law, whose faithfulservant he becomes, and towards whom he is expected always to pay theo-rcatest deference. In her presence he dare not be seated, but falling on hisknees squats on his heels, to show his feet being regarded as a great offence.children are the mother's propertj-, and the husband, whenever tired of hisdomestic life, may return to his own home. But in that case he has to renounceall paternal claims and privileges, unless they have been purchased by the gift ofa certain number of cows and goats.The JIakalakas and IMashonas, former masters of the land now ruled by theMatcbeles, have been for the most part exterminated, while the few warriors arereduced to a state of servitude. The Makalakas were the greatest sufferers. Dispersedby the Matebele irrujition, some towards the Zambese, some to the Limpopoor the Kalahari Desert, they have forgotten their very language, and now speakonlv a debased Zulu dialect.TheAlthough formerly excellent husbandmen and skilledblacksmiths, they have in many places lapsed to the primitive condition of hunters,living on the .spoils of the chase, or even on pillage.They have thug, in two orthree generations, reverted to such a state of savagery that they are no longer ableto build themselves huts.Nevertheless the Makalakas still continue, as of old, tobe honourably distinguished above all their neighbours for their domestic virtuesand consideration for their women. The wife is highly respected, and oaths aretaken in the name of the mother. Soon after birth, however, the women are subjectedto an extremely cruel process of tattooing. On the breast and lower partsalone the operators make over four thousand incisions disposed in thirty parallellines, and if the skin is not then sufficiently ridged and blistered the scarificationhas to be repeated.The Makalakas bury their dead in caves, but never allow strangers to beinterred in their territory. Hence the followers of the two explorers Gates andGrandv, who had died in the country, were obliged to carry their bodies beyondthe frontier.The Mashonas, who constitute the substratum of the population on the Zambeseor northern slope of the uplands, have been better able to resist oppression, becausetheir industry renders them indispensable to their new masters. Although, likethe Makalakas, much degenerated, and by the Matebeles regarded and spoken ofas Mfis/ioks—that is, " slaves," they alone practise the industrial arts, till the ricefields,make the household implements, weave the cotton fabrics, cut and embroiderthe leather shields, and forge and sharpen the assegais and other weapons.Smallpoxhas made fearful ravages amongst them, and this disease is so dreaded that itsvictims are often thrown alive into the bush.Some of the Mashona communities, protected by the mountainous nature of theland, have been able to set up independent republics. But they live in constant