UNKULUNKULU;OR,THE TRADITION OF CREATIONAS EXISTING AMONGTHE AMAZULU AND OTHER TRIBESOFSOUTH AFRICA.
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UNKULUNKULU is no longer known.1 It is he who was the first man;2 he broke off3 in the p. 2 beginning.4 We do not know his wife; and the ancients do not tell us that he had a wife.5
We hear it said, that Unkulunkulu broke off6 the nations from Uthlanga.7
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It is said he sent a chameleon; he said to it, "Go, Chameleon, go and say, Let not men die." The chameleon set out; it went slowly;8 it loitered in the way; and as it went, it ate of the fruit of a tree, which is called Ubukwebezane.9
At length Unkulunkulu sent a lizard10 after the chameleon, when it had already set out for some time. The lizard went; it ran and made great haste, for Unkulunkulu had said, "Lizard, when you have arrived, say, Let men die." So the lizard went, and said, "I tell you, It is said, Let men die." The lizard came back again to Unkulunkulu, before the chameleon had reached his destination, the chameleon which was sent first; which was sent, and told to go and say, "Let not men die."
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At length it arrived and shouted, saying, "It is said, Let not men die!" But men answered, "O! we have heard the word of Abantu the lizard; it has told us the word, 'It is said, Let men die.' We cannot hear your word. Through the word of the lizard, men will die."11
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Unkulunkulu gave men Amatongo;12 he gave them doctors for treating disease, and diviners; he gave them medicines to treat diseases occasioned by the Itongo.13 Unkulunkulu said, "If a man is being affected by the Itongo, you shall kill a bullock and laud the Itongo; the man will get well if he has been affected by the Itongo."
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He said, "You will see also by night, you will dream; the Itongo will tell you what it is it wishes." He said, "It will also tell you the bullock it would have killed."
The Itongo dwells with the great man; he who dreams is the chief of the village; it says "Should you kill a bullock, the man will get well." The bullock which the Itongo mentions is killed; and although people were thinking that the man would die, he gets well; and so it is clear that the man was affected by the Itongo. The gall-bladder is taken from the bullock, and the man has the gall poured on him; they give praise and say, "In order that we may see that it is the Itongo, let us see him get well this very day; and at the very dawn of tomorrow eat meat; so we shall see that it is the Itongo. On the other hand, we shall not admit in our hearts that it is the Itongo; we shall say, it is disease only; there is no Itongo in his body. If we see that it is the Itongo, we shall see it by his getting well, and so we shall give thanks. Then we will kill many cattle, and laud the Itongo, and see that the Itongo of our house is good."
UGUAISE MDUNGA (an Ilala).
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THE old men say that Unkulunkulu is Umvelinqangi,15 for they say he came out first; they say he is the Uthlanga from which all men broke off.16 The old men say that Unkulunkulu is;17 he made the first men, the ancients of long ago;18 the ancients of long ago died; there remained those who had been begotten by them, sons, by whom we hear that there were ancients of long ago who knew the breaking off of the world.19 They p. 8 did not know Unkulunkulu; they did not see him with their eyes; they heard it said that Unkulunkulu was. He came out where men broke off from Uthlanga. He begat the ancients of long ago; they died and left their children; they begat others, their sons, they died; they begat others; thus we at length have heard about Unkulunkulu. It was our ancestors who told us the accounts of Unkulunkulu and of the ancients of long ago.
Tell me if at the present time there are any who pray to Unkulunkulu?
There are none. They pray to the Amatongo; they honour them that they may come and save them.
Who are the Amatongo?
The Amadhlozi, men who have died; when they have died, they change again and become Amatongo, and crawl on their belly, and so the old men call a dead man so changed an Itongo. It is called a snake; Inyandezulu20 is the name of the snake.
When a man is ill, they go to a doctor to divine; and it is said, "The Amatongo have come to ask for cattle, that a bullock should be p. 9 killed." The flesh of the slaughtered bullock is put together in a hut, that the Amatongo may eat; the door is shut, and the people do not eat the meat at the time, but on the morrow. In the evening boys sleep in the hut and watch the meat. In the morning the flesh is boiled, and men assemble to eat the head. They then separate and go to their own villages; and those of the family where the bullock has been killed remain. Then the breast is boiled, which will be eaten by the chieftainesses and by the people of the family.
All the bones of the bullock are collected, and the owner of the cattle burns them, that wizards may not take them, and apply medicines to them and injure the man who was sick, and he become ill again.21
IT was said at first before the arrival of missionaries, if we asked, "By what were the stones made?"—"They were made by Umvelinqangi." It is said that we men came out of a bed of reeds,22 where we had our origin.23 p. 10 When we asked, "By what was the sun made?" they said, "By Umvelinqangi." For we used to ask when we were little, thinking that the old men knew all things which are on the earth; yet forsooth they do not know; but we do not contradict them, for neither do we know.
When we were with the Dutch they did not tell us that there is a Lord above; but they said that we black people should be burnt; and that we have no spirit,24 but are like a dog, which has no spirit.
The ancients used to say before the arrival of the missionaries, that all things were made by Umvelinqangi; but they were not acquainted with his name.25 But they lived by worshipping26 snakes; and they still worship them; they do not yet hear; and even now p. 11 when the missionaries speak, they say, "It is a fable; a plaything." They do not admit that what is spoken is the truth.
When they slaughter cattle, they first praise the snake, and then the bullock is killed. When it is killed they skin it; and a little of the fat27 is taken, and put in the upper part of the hut on a sherd; and fire is placed on it. When the flesh of the bullock burns, the Amatongo eat (if they do come to eat the flesh of a bullock). The flesh of the bullock is taken and put in a house. One man stays in the house where the flesh is put, for it is said the Amatongo will come and eat flesh. But in the morning we do not see where the Amadhlozi have eaten; we see the limbs of the bullock all there, and the meat that was on the sherd has not been eaten by any thing; it remains just as it was; we do not see any that has been eaten.
But when we ask, "What do the Amadhlozi eat? for in the morning we still see all the meat," the old men say, "The Amatongo lick it." And we are unable to contradict them; but are silent, for they are older than we, and tell us all things, and we listen; for we are told all things, p. 12 and assent without seeing clearly whether they are true or not.
When a snake comes into a house it is not killed; they say, "It is the Idhlozi of So-and-so," mentioning the name of a man who is dead; it is said the snake came out of him at his death. It is left, and remains always in the house. They take a goat and sacrifice it, sacrificing to the snake. No one sees it when it goes away.
When black men are on a journey they honour the snake. When a man is injured and gets well, he kills a bullock, for he thanks the Idhlozi, thinking that it has saved him. When a man obtains cattle also, he thanks the snake, thinking it is the snake which has given him many cattle.
A man whose father is dead, when he is about to kill a bullock, worships his father, praying him to look on him continually, and give him all that he wishes, and give him cattle and corn,—every thing.
When a man is ill, they enquire of diviners; the diviner comes and tells them to eat a bullock. And they eat a bullock, the diviner saying that the man will get well. If when they have eaten the bullock he does not get well, but dies, they say, "He is summoned by those who are beneath."28 They p. 13 say, "He has been killed by the Amadhlozi because they wish the man to go and dwell with them."
When anyone dies among black men, they lament very much and make a great noise. And when he is buried, all his things are taken, and a large fire kindled to burn them; not a single thing which he wore on his body is left; all is burnt, for they are afraid to wear the property of a dead man.
UFULATELA SITOLE.
IN the speech of black men, when a man does a wonderful thing which other men cannot do, or brings a bad matter to a good issue, men say, "Au! go to! the people of Unsondo29 do thus."
Or if the heaven rains excessively great torrents, and causes wonder, it is also constantly said, "How the heaven of Unsondo rains!"
And of the earth also, if it is hard to dig, it is said, "Au! how hard it is, the earth of Unsondo!"
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Besides also, if there is a very handsome man, whom people like to make a wonder, they say, "Au! how beautiful he is, a man of Unsondo."30
Again, if an army goes out to invade another king, it is said of kings, "Au! No! they are kings of Unsondo, for in the time of first fruits and in the time of winter they lead out their army."
Again, men say it of women, for women have their characteristics, and the men say, "Au! No! Women of Unsondo."
So finally we hear that Unsondo is, as it were, a man by the saying which is used, "Unsondo died uttering this his last word, 'Those are men because they are so and so.'"31 Therefore we say that this p. 15 Unsondo is the same as Unkulunkulu, who, we say, died; on account of that saying, "Unsondo died uttering his last word," it is he indeed, and not another.
But some say that Unsondo is nothing more than the last word of a matter; it has no allusion to a fact; but the use of this saying sets at naught that word of theirs, and brings out a person.
But I have omitted one thing about this word Unsondo; we cannot say it had its origin in a particular tribe; it is a word which was in constant use when we were born; it is not a new word; it is very old; we do not know its age.
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
In illustration and confirmation of the above I insert the following. Returning from the Umzimkulu with a young Ibakca for my guide, I availed myself of the opportunity to discover whether there existed among the Amabakca the same traditions as among the Amazulu. I therefore requested him to tell me what he knew about the tradition of the chameleon. He told me the ordinary tale, but instead of saying it was sent by Unkulunkulu, he said, "Kwa tunywa unwaba," There was sent a chameleon. I enquired by whom it was sent. He replied, "By Unsondo."—"And who was he?"—"He was he who came out first at the breaking off of all things (ekudabukeni kwezinto zonke)."—"Explain what you mean by ekudabukeni."—"When this earth and all things broke off from Uthlanga."—"What is Uthlanga?"—"He who begat (zala) Unsondo."—"You do not mean then a reed, such as those in that bed of reeds in the valley?"—"No; but Uthlanga who begat Unsondo."—"Where is he now?"
"O, he exists no longer. As my grandfather no longer exists, he too no longer exists; he died. p. 16 When he died, there arose others, Unsondo who were called by other names. Uthlanga begat Unsondo; Unsondo begat the ancestors; the ancestors begat the great grandfathers; the great grandfathers begat the grandfathers; and the grandfathers begat our fathers; and our fathers begat us."32
"Are there any who are called Uthlanga now?"—"Yes."—"Are you married?"—"Yes."—"And have children?"—"Yebo. U mina e ngi uthlanga." (Yes. It is I myself who am an uthlanga.)—"Because you have become the father of children?"—"Yes; I am an uthlanga on that account." As he said this he tapped himself on his breast.
BUT for my part I say they speak truly33 who say that Unkulunkulu is named Umvelinqangi. But as for what they say respecting his having a wife, I have not heard of it. What I have heard is this, that men sprang from Unkulunkulu, as if he made them because he existed (before them);34 it was not said that Unkulunkulu had a wife. This is what we know.
And as regards worship, they speak truly who say, he was not p. 17 worshipped;35 and I agree with them. For it is not worship, when people see things, as rain, or food, such as corn, and say, "Yes, these things were made by Unkulunkulu." But no such word has come to them from him as this, "I have made for you these things that you might know me by them." He made them that men might eat and see them and nothing more. Afterwards they had power to change those things, that they might become the Amatongo's. They took them away from Unkulunkulu.36
At first we saw that we were made by Unkulunkulu. But when we were ill we did not worship him, nor ask any thing of him. We worshipped those whom we had seen with our eyes, their death and their life amongst us. So then we began to ask all things of the Amadhlozi, whether corn, p. 18 or children, or cattle, or health. By that it began to be evident that Unkulunkulu had no longer a son37 who could worship him; there was no going back to the beginning, for people increased, and were scattered abroad, and each house had its own connections; there was no one who said, "For my part I am of the house of Unkulunkulu."
To us black men Unkulunkulu is as a stalk of maize. It may produce the ear, it be plucked, and the stalk be left, and decay in the place where it grew; the grains of the cob are Onkulunkulu of houses, which now worship those only of their own family according to the order of their growth on the cob.38 It is on this account that the praise-giving names of Unkulunkulu are lost.
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And the King which is above39 we did not hear of him [first] from whitemen. In summer time, when it thunders, we say, "The king is playing."40 And if there is one who is afraid, the elder people say to him, "It is nothing but fear. What thing belonging to the king have you eaten?" This is why I say, that the Lord of whom we hear through you, we had already heard of before you came.
But he is not like that Unkulunkulu who, we say, made all things. But the former we call a king, for we say, he is above. Unkulunkulu is beneath; the things which are beneath were made by him. We said nothing about that king which is above but that which we say to a man who is afraid, "What have you injured which belongs to the king?" We know that he who has sinned against him is struck by him;41 p. 20 but we know nothing that can save us from being smitten. Neither do we see in what respect we have sinned either in his sight or in that of Unkulunkulu. We say, "We are righteous, for all that we do we were permitted to do by Unkulunkulu."42
And as regards that heavenly king whom we knew because the heaven thundered, saying, "The king is playing," we do not say also that he springs from Unkulunkulu. We say that Unkulunkulu was first; we do not know what belongs to that king. There remained43 that word only about the heaven; we know nothing of his mode of life, nor of the principles of his government. His smiting is the only thing we knew, because we said to a man who was afraid, "Why are you afraid when the king is playing for his own pleasure? What sin have you done in his sight?" That is all. There is no connection between our knowledge of Unkulunkulu and of him. For we can give some account of what belongs to Unkulunkulu; we can scarcely give any account of what belongs to the heavenly king. We know p. 21 much of what belongs to Unkulunkulu, for he was on this earth, and we call give an account of matters concerning him. The sun and moon we referred to Unkulunkulu together with the things of this world; and yonder heaven we referred to Unkulunkulu. But we did not say that the heaven belonged to this king, although he dwells there; for we said all was made by Unkulunkulu.
It is not proper, because we now hear from you about that king of heaven, that we should begin to say all is his [as though that belonged to our original opinions];44 that knowledge is theirs who tell us; for our parts, we used not to say that the king of heaven made all things, we said that Unkulunkulu alone made them. And we black men, although some missionaries tell us that this king and that Unkulunkulu is the same, did not say that Unkulunkulu was in heaven; we said, he came to be,45 and died; that is all we said.
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
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WHEN black men say Unkulunkulu or Uthlanga or the Creator they mean one and the same thing. But what they say has no point; it is altogether blunt.46 For there is not one among black men, not even the chiefs themselves, who can so interpret such accounts as those about Unkulunkulu as to bring out the truth, that others too may understand what the truth of the matter really is. But our knowledge does not urge us to search out the roots of it; we do not try to see them; if any one thinks ever so little, he soon gives it up, and passes on to what he sees with his eyes; and he does not understand the real state of even what he sees. Such then is the real facts as regards what we know about Unkulunkulu, of which we speak. We say we know what we see with our eyes; but if there are any who see with their hearts, they can at once make manifest our ignorance of that which we say we see with our eyes and understand too.
As to our primitive condition and what was done by Unkulunkulu we cannot connect them with the course of life on which we entered when he ceased to be. p. 23 The path of Unkulunkulu, through our wandering, has not, as it were, come to us; it goes yonder whither we know not.
But for my part I should say, if there be any one who says he can understand the matters about Unkulunkulu, that he knows them just as we know him, to wit, that he gave us all things. But so far as we see, there is no connection between his gift and the things we now possess. So then if any one says he knows all about Unkulunkulu, meaning that he knows them by means of what we see, I should say it would be well for him to begin where we begin, and travel by the path we know until he comes to us; for we say, Unkulunkulu, the First Out-comer, gave us all things, and that he gave them to us and also made us men, in order that we should possess the things which he made for us.47
I say then that there is not one amongst us who can say that he knows all about Unkulunkulu; p. 24 for we say, "Truly we know nothing but his name; but we no longer see his path which he made for us to walk in;48 all that remains is mere thought about the things which we like;49 it is difficult to separate ourselves from these things, and we make him a liar, for that evil which we like of our own accord, we adhere to with the utmost tenacity." If any one says, "It is not proper for you to do that; if you do it you will disgrace yourself;" yet we do it, saying, "Since it was made by Unkulunkulu, where is the evil of it?"
Just as we married many wives saying, "Hau! we cannot deny ourselves as regards the abundance50 which Unkulunkulu has given us: let us do just what we like." And if we wish to enter into sin, we enter into it in his name, and are like people who are in possession of his word; but we do not really possess it, but do our own will only, doing it in his name; but we have no union with Unkulunkulu, nor with that which he wished we should do by creating us.
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We black men could not see the greatness of Unkulunkulu, nor that he loved us by creating us. And we worship51 him when we eat and are filled, or when we get drunk, or do our own will in matters in which we love to have our own will; and are now like children who have no father or mother, who have their own wills about things which they would not do, if their father and mother were still living; but they do it, for they imagine they are in a wilderness where no one can see them.
This is the way in which we worship Unkulunkulu. When any one would find fault with us, asking us why we do so-and-so, we should say to him at once, "But since you say it is not proper that this thing should be done, why did Unkulunkulu create what is evil?" And the other is silent. That is how we worship him. We do not worship him by praying Unkulunkulu to keep us ever in his path, that we might never forget it; but we now worship him by drunkenness and a greedy pursuit of those things which we do by our own wickedness.52
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But there are no praise-giving names with which we praise him similar to the great number of them, with which we praise the Amadhlozi. For my part, then, if any one says, "Yes, if you seek the path of Unkulunkulu, I am still acquainted with it," I should say, "O, the matter, forsooth, is now set in order, now we shall see where we separated frum Unkulunkulu; and perceive too what we meant by saying, 'Unkulunkulu made these things because they are good.'"
For my part I say that Unkulunkulu is no longer like the Creator, for we sin in his name, and maintain that he made all evil for us; but it is not so, but it now appears to be so, because it is now difficult to separate ourselves from those things, and we are helped by saying, "O, it is no matter, although they say I have done wrong; but I say Unkulunkulu was unable to create what is evil, and although they say it is evil, it is really good."
This, then, is what I maintain, if any one says he understands all about Unkulunkulu. I say all men would be glad to go to the man who says this to see him and to hear him; for in process of time we have come to worship the Amadhlozi only, because we knew p. 27 not what to say about Unkulunkulu; for we do not even know where we separated from him, nor the word which he left with us. It is on that account then that we seek out for ourselves the Amadhlozi, that we may not always be thinking about Unkulunkulu, saying, "Unkulunkulu has left us;" or, "What has he done for us?"
So we made for ourselves our own Amadhlozi, and others made theirs for themselves, and others theirs for themselves. And now we have turned the back one on the other; and no one says, "Spirit of such a family." But all now say, "Spirit of our family, of such a tribe, look on me." Such then is our condition.
And as regards the Amadhlozi we do not possess the truth; for as regards the men we worship, we worship men who, when they too were departing from the world, did not wish to depart, but were very unwilling to depart, worrying us excessively, telling us to go and seek doctors for them, and that we wished them to die. And we go to the doctors with sorrowful countenances on account of the words with which they have pierced our hearts. And when one has died we begin to weep and to throw ourselves on the ground to p. 28 show that we are sorrowful; we do not wish him to leave us; neither did he wish to leave us. But we have been separated by death.
And on the morrow after the day of our funeral lamentation, if there arise some little omen,53 we say, "Just let us go to the diviner and hear of him, since this thing has happened, for yesterday we buried So-and-so."54 And it is said by the knowing ones, "O, that So-and-so, whom you buried yesterday, says so-and-so." And we begin to worship him, although the day before we wept and did not see55 that he had gone to unite with the rest of the dead, that they might make a strong rampart around us which shall not be penetrated even by death. For we say that death is in the power of the Amadhlozi, and if they do not wish, it cannot enter. And that too we say merely; we do not thoroughly understand it; if we seek thoroughly to comprehend it, we do not succeed, for the men p. 29 whom we say are our defenders were conquered by disease; and we say they are our rampart to protect us from death, who have themselves left the world, not wishing to leave it; they were dragged away by the power of death; and they did not tell us not to weep for them, because they were about to make a rampart around us to preserve us from death. They too died against their wish.
But when we sacrifice to them and pray that a certain disease may cease, and it does not cease, then we begin to quarrel with them, and to deny their existence. And the man who has sacrificed exclaims, "There are no Amadhlozi; although others say there are; but for my part I say that the Amadhlozi of our house died for ever; there is not even one left; we just take care of ourselves; there is not a single Idhlozi who helps us."
And it is thus to the present time; we acknowledge them and deny their existence; we still walk between the two opinions; there is not as yet any certainty; we are constantly making fruitless efforts; when we are prosperous we say, "There are Amadhlozi;" if we are in trouble we say, "There are not. We owe life to ourselves alone; we are not helped by the Idhlozi."
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So it is to the present time. If you ask of those who are in trouble, "So-and-so, how is it that I find you in this state, since you say you have Amadhlozi?" he may say in answer, "O, Son of So-and-so, just leave me alone; the Amadhlozi dwell with those who have them; as for me, I have no Idhlozi. I now see that there is a kind of Idhlozi that wishes a man to become poor, and make an end of his property."56 Thus it is said by those who believe in the Idhlozi, that it has no existence.57
If you pass onward to those who are in prosperity, you think perhaps that you shall hear one and the same word there too; but when you speak with them about the Idhlozi, you bring up old thoughts,58 and they speak to you about the excellence of the Idhlozi, and the assistance it has given them. You have come to a place p. 31 where there is great faith in the Idhlozi, and you begin to see that the people do not yet possess the very truth of the matter; for it is fulness which declares that the Itongo exists; whilst affliction says, it does not exist.59
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
THE old men say, "Unkulunkulu came into being,60 and gave being to man. He came out of a bed of reeds; he broke off from a bed of reeds." We children ask, "Where is the bed of reeds out of which Unkulunkulu came? Since you say there is a bed of reeds, in what country is it? For men have now gone into every country; in which of them is the bed of reeds from which Unkulunkulu broke off?" They say in answer, "Neither do we know; and there were other old men before us who said that neither did they know the bed of reeds which broke off61 Unkulunkulu." They say they speak the p. 32 truth in saying, there is a bed of reeds; but we say, there is not; for we do not know the land in which it is, of which they can say, it is in such and such a country. It is said, Unkulunkulu came into being, and begat men; he gave them being; he begat them.
We pray to Unkulunkulu, saying, "May our Unkulunkulu ever look upon us." [The Unkulunkulu] who begat our grandfathers. For he who begat my grandfather, is my great-great-grandfather; and he who begat my father's grandfather is Unkulunkulu, the first of our family.62
But here I am no longer speaking of that Unkulunkulu who came out of the bed of reeds; I am speaking of the Unkulunkulu who belonged to the generation preceding my great-great-grand-father. For all families have their great-great-grandfathers by their orders of succession, and their Onkulunkulu.
The old men say, "The bed of reeds still exists." But where is that bed of reeds? They do not say that Unkulunkulu, who sprang from the bed of reeds, still exists. p. 33 They say that Unkulunkulu, who sprang from the bed of reeds, is dead. They say, "We do not know where he is."
Utshange is the praise-giving name of our house; he was the first man of our family,—our Unkulunkulu, who founded our house. We pray to him, saying, Matshange!63 Ye people of the house of Utshange!" We pray to him for anything we wish to have; we and all of the family of Utshange pray to him. If we wish to have cattle, we say, "Ye people of our house."64 [And if you pray thus] you will get cattle. We say, "Ye people of our house, people of the house of Utshange, people of the house of Udumakade!"
UNGQETO WAKWATSHANGE.
UMFEZI, a native living in the neighbourhood, called on me. I had never spoken to him on the subject of Unkulunkulu; I availed myself of the opportunity for gaining information. It was very difficult to write anything seriatim; I was therefore obliged to content myself by writing what I could, and remembering what I could.
He said, "'Unkulunkulu wa vela emhlangeni." Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds.
But he did not know where the bed of reeds was. But, "Wa vel’ enzansi," that is, by the sea; that is, the bed of reeds from which he sprang was by the sea-side. He also said, "Kwa dabuka abantu, p. 34 be datshulwa Unkulunkulu." Men broke off, being broken off by Unkulunkulu. He added,
Some men say that they were belched up by a cow.65 Others that they sprang from a stone66 which split in two and they came out. Unkulunkulu split them out of a stone.
When asked if they prayed to Unkulunkulu, he replied,
There are none who pray to Unkulunkulu. They pray to their own people only.
I enquired what they said about thunder; he said,
We say, "O Lord, what have we destroyed? What sin have we done? We have done no sin."
He also related the following legend of the manner in which Amabele (native corn) was introduced as an article of food:—
The first woman that Unkulunkulu produced had a child before any of the rest. There was another woman who was jealous when she saw her with a child, and hated her and wished to poison her. She looked about her to find some plant possessed of poisonous properties; she saw the Amabele, which at that time was not cultivated, but grew like the grass. She plucked the seeds, and gave them to the woman. She watched, expecting to see her die; but she did not die, as she had hoped, but grew plump, and better-looking than ever. At length she asked her if the Amabele was nice. She replied, "Nice indeed!" And from that time the women cultivated Amabele, and it became an article of food.
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THE next legend gives an account of the mode in which men first became acquainted with food, and of two female Onkulunkulu; the two following give—the first an account of the origin of medicines, and the second of two male Onkulunkulu.
I, UNOLALA,67 [say] that when I was still a very little child, I heard numerous old tales of our people. Unokqopoza said:
There were at first two women in a bed of reeds; one gave birth to a white man, and one to a black man. It is said that these two women were the Unkulunkulu68 of the primitive men. And as regards that bed of reeds, we enquired of him, but he did not say, it is in such a place; but he said, "I too heard it of the old men; no man knows the situation of that bed of reeds." Further, we children who are the offspring of men of old were not like those of the present time, who worry themselves with finding out knowledge: for our parts we used not to question a great man; when he told us a tale we used just to listen because we were fools; we now see that which we ought to have enquired about, but about which we did not enquire because of our folly.
And those women gave birth to p. 36 children, there being no food which was eaten. They saw corn, and maize, and pumpkins; they were all ripe. One of the women took a pumpkin and boiled it, and gave her child a mouthful, not regarding it as food, but poison, and thinking perhaps he would die at once, and no longer worry her without ceasing by his crying, when he was crying for food. But the pumpkin fattened the child; and the other woman looked and said, "O, forsooth, we thought it was nothing but poison, and in fact it was food." Thus then it became known that corn and maize and pumpkins are food. They ate them and became fat. They harvested them and hoarded them and were helped.
UNOLALA ZONDI.
ONCE on a time in the beginning, a woman said, "Let us go and cut reeds." Another said when they were cutting reeds, "What is this? And of what is this the path?" A man appeared and said, "It is ours." He said this, he being still in the pool, in the water. Another said, "You ask of us: do you not know us? We are just living here in our kraal." They asked, "Of what nation are you?" He replied, "We are the people of p. 37 Uzimase." "Who is your king?" "Usango-li-ngenzansi."70 "Come up then. But why are you living underground, since people are now living above?" They said, "We are living here with our medicines." "What do you do with them?" "We administer medicines to kings." So the women went away to tell the king. They said, "Behold, there are men. They say they are the people of Uzimase. They say they administer medicines to kings. They say the man who goes to fetch them must take fat, and burn it on the bank of the pool. Uzimase will not come up with his medicines if fat is not burnt."
So the king went with an ox, and it was slaughtered at that place, and the fat was burnt. And so Uzimase came up with his medicines, and administered medicines among kings.
When he went to dig up medicines, he put on a petticoat, fearing to expose himself to women. But on his appearance, the people who came up first said, "This little petticoat has at length come." Our people said in reply, "These little picks are living above."71 So p. 38 there was a dispute about medicines between those who came up from below and those who were already above. Our people were called, "People of the little petticoat." And they called them, "People of the pick."
They were begotten by a man; that man was Umbala. They separated from each other; and so we went in one direction, and some in another.
I say, then, that Uzimase is the Unkulunkulu of our tribe. I do not know another72 Unkulunkulu of all men. But the Unkulunkulu of our tribe was derived from Uthlanga, from whence all people were derived. Some say in answer to our enquiries, Uthlanga was of many colours; they say, "He was white on one side, on the other black; and on another side he was covered with bush." So we say, "Perhaps they spoke of the hairiness of his body, and so called it bush."73 And people say that he too gave them existence by begetting them.
USHUNGUIWANE ZIMASE.
p. 39
SOME say, one Unkulunkulu came from beneath; and another descended from above in a fog. They did not understand him who came down in a fog. They say he was altogether white. They say, "There descended Ungalokwelitshe."74 They say, those who were beneath started on seeing him. He said, "Why do you start at me, since I too am a man, and resemble you?" They say, cattle were taken at the place where he descended, and they slaughtered them for him; but they say he did not eat them; he ate that which he brought with him. He stayed there a long time. Another fog came, and he disappeared, and they saw him no more.
I heard this tale from Umadigane, Umdutshane's grandfather, the great chief of the Amabakca. I used to be his chief servant.
USHUNGUIWANE ZIMASE.
TWO natives, perfect strangers to me both, came up as I was asking Umpengula some questions on the subject of the previous statements. They overheard what I was saying, and asked, "Are you talking about the origin of men?" I replied that was the subject of our conversation, and asked if they could tell us any thing about it. The elder of them replied, "Ba vela emhlangeni," They sprang from a bed of reeds.
I asked what he knew of Unkulunkulu; he replied,
p. 40He gave origin to men, he too having had an origin given75 him from a bed of reeds.
I asked, "Wa vezwa ubani na?" Who gave him an origin? He said he did not know; and added,
Unkulunkulu told men saying, "I too sprang from a bed of reeds."76
I asked how men were produced, and got for a reply only a repetition of the statement that they sprang from a bed of reeds.—I asked if he had heard anything of a woman; he replied,
Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds, and a woman (a wife) sprang from the bed of reeds after him. They had one name, viz., Unkulunkulu.77
I then took him to my study, and wrote the following at his dictation:—
WE heard it said Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds. There first appeared a man, who was followed by a woman. Both are p. 41 named Unkulunkulu. The man said, "You see us because we sprang from the bed of reeds," speaking to the people who came into being after him. It is said all men sprang from Unkulunkulu, the one who sprang up first.78
It is said Unkulunkulu had his origin in a valley where there was a bed of reeds in this world. And men sprang from Unkulunkulu by generation.
Umvelinqangi is the same as Unkulunkulu. The earth was in existence first, before Unkulunkulu as yet existed. He had his origin from the earth in a bed of reeds.
All things as well as Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds,—every thing, both animals and corn, every thing, coming into being with Unkulunkulu.
He looked on the sun when it was finished,79 and said, "There is a torch which will give you light, that you may see." He looked on the cattle and said, "These are cattle. Be ye broken off,80 and see the cattle; and let them be your food; eat their flesh and their milk." He looked on wild animals and said, "That is such an p. 42 animal. That is an elephant. That is a buffalo." He looked on the fire and said, "Kindle it, and cook, and warm yourself; and eat meat when it has been dressed by the fire." He looked on all things and said, "So-and-so is the name of every thing."
THERE sprang up a man and a woman. The name of both was Unkulunkulu. They sprang from a reed, the reed which is in the water. The reed was made by Umvelinqangi. Umvelinqangi caused grass and trees to grow; he created all wild animals, and cattle, and game, and snakes, and birds, and water, and mountains.
He made a reed;82 the reed p. 43 gave origin to Unkulunkulu and p. 44 his wife. Unkulunkulu begat primitive men. Unkulunkulu said, "I, Unkulunkulu, and my wife are the offspring of Umvelinqangi; he begat us with a reed, it being in the water.83 At his origin he said, "We will fight and stab each other with spears, that the strongest may be manifest who overcomes the other; and he who overcomes the other shall be the great king; and he who is overcome shall be the dependent. And all people shall wait upon him who is the king who overcomes the other."
Umvelinqangi was a man who begat Unkulunkulu by a reed whilst it was in the water, and who begat his wife.
UNSUKUZONKE MEMELA.
THE ancients did not say there is a Lord in heaven. As for Unkulunkulu, we do not know that he left any word for man. We worship the Amatongo. The word of Unkulunkulu which we reverence is that which says there are Amatongo.
p. 45
It is as though we sprang from Uthlanga; we do not know where we were made. We black men had the same origin as you, whitemen. But we black men at our origin were given cattle, and picks for digging with the arms, and weapons of war. It was said, "It is enough; you shall now shift for yourselves." So we departed, and came in this direction. You whitemen staid behind with all good things and with laws also which we did not possess.
We used to hear it said by our fathers, they too having heard of others, that a man first came into being; and then a woman after him. After that a cow came into being; it appeared walking with a bull. After that a female dog, and after her a dog;84 and after that all the little animals, and elephants; all came into being in pairs.
After that corn came into being. When the corn had come to perfection, the man said to the woman, "That which you now see, true85 woman, is something for us to eat. We shall eat at once. Behold corn."
p. 46
The woman asked, saying, "In what way shall it be eaten?" The man replied, "Since you see it growing thus, let it be cut. Take a rod, and thrash it; find a stone, and then find a second that it may be an upper stone."86
He said, "There is clay; take it and mould it, and pour water into the vessel."
For his work, he cut down a small tree, the uluzi; and obtained fire by friction. He said, "Make a fire; we can now cook." The food when cooked was taken out of the pot, and put into a vessel. And so they ate, and said, "We shall never die if we eat this corn."
He told the cattle to eat grass; and he told game the same, pointing out to them the same grass. And he told them not to remain all at home.87
On the day the first man was created he said, as to what happened to them in the bed of reeds, that they did not see their own creation. When he and his wife first saw, they found themselves crouching in a bed of reeds, and saw no one who had created them.
As regards the bed of reeds, on p. 47 the day they came into being, it swelled,88 and when it had burst they came out. After that there broke off the uthlanga89 of cattle and of all other animals.
UGXUMELA.
UKOTO, a very old Izulu, one of the Isilangeni tribe, whose father's sister, Unandi, was the mother of Utshaka, gave me the following accounts:—
I SAY for my part that the Unkulunkulu whom we know is he who was the father of Utshaka; Usenzangakona was Utshaka's father. After Usenzangakona comes Utshaka. Utshaka had no children. After him Udingane was made king. After that they killed Udingane, and made Umpande king to this day, those two kings, Utshaka and Udingane, having no children.
p. 48
Ujama was the father of Usenzangakona, the father of the Utshakas; it is he who is Unkulunkulu.90 There are p. 49 Omvelinqangi.91 We used to hear of Undaba,92 the son of Ukubayeni. They Ujama. were the ancestors of Ujama.
As it was quite clear that he understood my question on the subject of Unkulunkulu to have reference to the names of the immediate ancestors of the Amazulu, I asked him if he knew anything about the first man. He replied:—
It was said that two people came out of a reed.93 There came out a man and a woman. At their word94 there came out all those works which we see, both those of cattle and of food,—all the food which we eat.
p. 50
He said he did not know their names.—I asked what the natives said of a Creator. He answered:—
When we were children it was said, "The Lord is in heaven." We used constantly to hear this when we were children; they used to point to the Lord on high; we did not hear his name; we heard only that the Lord is on high. We heard it said that the creator of the world95 is the Lord which is above. When I was growing up it used to be said, the creator of the world is above; people used always to point towards heaven.
UKOTO MHLONGO.
p. 51
UNGWADI, Ujani, Umasumpa, Umatiwana, Uzikali, our father. Ungwadi is Unkulunkulu. Ujani was the father of Umasumpa. Umasumpa was the father of Umatiwana. Umatiwana was the father of Uzikali. Uzikali had many children. He had Ungazana and Umfundisi. We do not know others. Unzwadi was the father of Uswanalibomvu. Uswanalibomvu was the father of Ungabazi.
All nations have their own Unkulunkulu. Each has its own. The Unkulunkulu of our tribe is Ungenamafu and Uluthlongwana and Usangolibanzi.96 At last men said "King" to Umatiwana, in whose house the Onkulunkulu of our tribe were born.97 At their birth they handled spears that they might be thrown, and we eat each other's cattle. They sprang from the Umdabuko.98 The Umdabuko p. 52 is he who gave us all things, and gave us shields also to carry.
ULUDONGA (an Ingwane).
IN the neighbourhood there is a very old woman, with whom I had some casual conversation which appeared to be calculated to throw some light on their traditions; I therefore sent Umpengula to obtain from her a connected statement. On his return he related the substance of her remarks as follows:—
THE mother of Ubapa says:—At first, that is, when Utshaka was a man and was entering into the kingdom; we girls were beginning to marry at that time; I used continually to hear it said that the corn which we eat sprang from a bed of reeds; there was a bed of reeds; when it was ripe it was red. And people saw constantly a beautiful thing in the bed of reeds. At length they said, "Just let us taste what kind of a thing this is." They plucked it, and ate it, and said, "O, forsooth, it is good, it is food." So it was taken home99 and cultivated.
When we spoke of the origin of corn, asking, "Whence came this?" the old people said, "It came from the creator who created all things. But we do not know him." When we asked continually, p. 53 "Where is the creator? For our chiefs we see?"100 the old men denied, saying, "And those chiefs too whom we see, they were created by the creator."
And when we asked, "Where is he? for he is not visible at all. Where is he then?" we heard our fathers pointing towards heaven and saying, "The Creator of all things is in heaven. And there is a nation of people there too." But we could not well understand when that Creator would be visible. It used to be said constantly, "He is the chief of chiefs."1
Also when we heard it said that the heaven had eaten2 the cattle at such a village, we said, "The Lord has taken the cattle from such a village." And when it thundered the people took courage by saying, "The Lord is playing." That was the state of the matter till we grew up.
But as for Unkulunkulu, Ubapa's mother did not mention him of her own accord. But I tried to direct her attention to him, that she might speak of him of her p. 54 own accord.3 But I could not get her to mention him of her own p. 55 accord. At length I mentioned the name of Unkulunkulu; and she understood and said, "Ah! it is he in fact who is the creator which is in heaven, of whom the ancients spoke." But Ubapa said, "No! she now begins to speak at cross purposes. She did not say this to the Missionary yesterday. She said Unkulunkulu was from beneath. But now she says he was from above." And she said, "Yes, yes!4 he went up to heaven afterwards." She left the first account, and began to say, "Truly Unkulunkulu is he who is in heaven. And the whitemen, they are the lords who made all things."
p. 56
UBEBE, who related the following, was a very old man, belonging to the Amantanja tribe. He had seen much. His people were scattered by the armies of Utshaka, and he showed four wounds, received at different times:—
THE chief5 enquires then what our forefathers believed.
The primitive faith of our fathers was this, they said, "There is Unkulunkulu, who is a man,6 who is of the earth." And they used to say, "There is a lord in heaven." When it hailed, and thundered, they said, "The lord is arming; he will cause it to hail. Put things in order."7 They p. 57 said this to our mothers, and they set all things in order, cattle and corn.
And when the lord played by thundering they said, if there was any one afraid, "Why do you start, because the lord plays? What have you taken which belongs to him?"
It was said, Unkulunkulu said, "Let there be men, and let them cultivate food and eat." And the grass was created by Unkulunkulu, and he told the cattle to eat. He said, "Let firewood be fetched, that a fire may be kindled, and food be dressed." Unkulunkulu said, "Let there be marriage among men,8 that there may be those who can intermarry, that children may be born and men increase on the earth." He said, "Let there be black chiefs; and the chief be known by his people, and it be said, 'That is the chief: assemble all of you and go to your chief.'"
We do not know the origin of Unkulunkulu. We hear it said, "Men are the children of Unkulunkulu." Our fathers used to p. 58 say, "Unkulunkulu is he who begat men by Uthlanga.9 We do not know whence Uthlanga came; or whether Unkulunkulu and Uthlanga both came from one Uthlanga or not. We do not know whether Uthlanga was a woman, for our fathers said we were begotten by Unkulunkulu.10
We used to ask our fathers about Unkulunkulu, saying, "Where is Unkulunkulu of whom you speak?" They said, "He is dead, and Uthlanga also is dead." Our fathers said, "We were told that we are the children11 of Unkulunkulu and Uthlanga. And our fathers told us they were told."
Unkulunkulu was a black man, for we see that all the people from whom we sprang are black, and their hair is black. They circumcised because Unkulunkulu said, "Let men circumcise, that they may not be boys." And Unkulunkulu also circumcised, for he commanded us to circumcise.
p. 59
As to the source12 of being I know that only which is in heaven. The ancient men said, "The source of being is above,13 which gives life to men; for men are satisfied, and do not die of famine, for the lord gives them life, that they may live prosperously on the earth and not die of famine.
If it does not rain, the heads of villages and petty chiefs assemble and go to a black chief; they converse, and pray for rain. Their praying is this:—The heads of villages select some black oxen;14 there is not one white among them. They are not slaughtered; they merely mention them; one is killed, the others are left. It was said at first, the rain came from the lord, and that the sun came from him, and the moon which gives a white light during the night, that men may go and not be injured. If there is no moon, it is said, "Let not men go, it is dark; they will injure themselves."
p. 60
If lightning struck cattle, the people were not distressed.15 It used to be said, "The lord has slaughtered for himself among his own food. Is it yours? is it not the lord's? He is hungry; he kills for himself." If a village is struck with lightning, and a cow killed, it is said, "This village will be prosperous." If a man is struck and dies, it is said, "The lord has found fault with him."
UBEBE.
Having requested Umpengula to ascertain from Ubebe the meaning of Umdabuko more exactly, be made the following report:—
I HAVE done as you directed, Teacher, and asked of Ubebe what p. 61 men meant by the word Umdabuko, when they say, "The Umdabuko of men." He replied, "When we say Umdabuko we speak of that16 from which men sprang; and because they sprang from that, we say, 'The Umdabuko of men.' Further, as regards that lord who is above, I never heard our fathers say he had a mother or wife. I never heard such a thing. It is Unkulunkulu only of whom it was said he gave men origin by means of Uthlanga,17 and so we said, the Umdabuko is Uthlanga."
I REQUESTED Umpengula to enquire of Unjan, of the Abambo tribe, a petty chief, who came to the village, what he knew about Unkulunkulu. He reported the following:—
WHEN I asked him, saying, "Unjan, what do you say about that Unkulunkulu, of whom we black men used to talk?" he replied, "Him who, we said, made all things?"18 I replied, "Yes. I enquire p. 62 that I might know what has always been the truth about him." He said, "Yes, yes! Do you not understand that we said Unkulunkulu made all things that we see or touch?" I said, "Yes! Just go on. I am listening for the conclusion." And he said, "Although it was said he made all things, yet for my part I see that it was said,19 he was an old man of ours, a man like us; for we did not point to any place where he was, but said he was a man who came into being first of all other men, who was older than all of us, Umvelinqangi. So then I see that by our word we said Unkulunkulu made all things, but we know not whence he sprang." I asked, "Where is he now?" He said, "O, he is dead." I asked, "Where is he gone?" He replied, "We too used to ask, and it was answered, 'he is dead.' But by that it is evident that all things were not made by a man, who is now dead; they were made by one who now is."20
And when I enquired, saying, "Do not your teachers21 tell you that the lord which is in heaven is Unkulunkulu?" he replied with a p. 63 start, "Hau! by no means. I never heard such a word, neither did I ever hear them even mention the name. It is your teacher22 alone with whom I have ever spoken about it."
The next day I asked him myself, when he made the following statement:—
The ancients said that it was Unkulunkulu who gave origin to men, and every thing besides, both cattle and wild animals. They said it was an ancient man who gave origin to these things, of whom it is now said that ancient man is lord; it is said, he is the Lord which is above.23 We have now heard from you that the Lord which is in heaven is he who made everything. The old men said that Unkulunkulu was an ancestor and nothing more, an ancient man who begat men, and gave origin to all things.
ULANGENI, an old Ikxosa, but one living at a mission-station, paid us a visit. I went to him and enquired of him what he knew about Unkulunkulu, because I saw he was a very old man. When I entered the house where Ulangeni p. 64 was, I enquired of him, saying, "My father, help me in the matter of Utikxo, and tell me where Utikxo is said to be? And whether the word came into use after the arrival of the missionaries?"
And Ulangeni answered, "No; the word Utikxo is not a word we learnt of the English; it is an old word of our own. It used to be always said when a man sneezed, 'May Utikxo ever regard me with favour.'"24
Then I asked, "Since you merely used the word Utikxo, what did you mean? Since what is very truth about him you knew not, what did you mean?" He replied, "As regards the use of Utikxo, we used to say it when it thundered, and we thus knew that there is a power which is in heaven; and at length we adopted the custom of saying, Utikxo is he who is above all. But it was not said that he was in a certain place p. 65 in heaven; it was said he filled the whole heaven. No distinction of place was made."25
I asked, "By what name did the Hottentots call God?" He said, "Hau! what Hottentots do you mean?"26 I replied, "Those reddish Hottentots." He said, "I hear. But where were those people that they should use the word Utikxo? Is it not the fact that they used to live in the mountains; and were taken into the households of the Dutch, and so came to live among the people? Utikxo is not a Hottentot word. Every thing belonging to the Hottentots was thrown into confusion when they united with the Dutch. We have learnt nothing of them."
This, then, is what I heard of Ulangeni. So I enquired further, "Have you never heard of Unkulunkulu?" He replied, "I have for the most part heard Unkulunkulu mentioned when stones are thrown on an isivivane;27 when a p. 66 man throws a stone, he says, 'Generations of Unkulunkulu,' and passes on." So I said, "What p. 67 Unkulunkulu does he mean?" Ulangeni said in reply, "He means the first man before all other men, who was created by Utikxo first. And men saw him. Utikxo was concealed by Unkulunkulu, and was seen by no one; men saw Unkulunkulu, and said he was the creator of all things, Umvelinqangi; they said thus because they did not see Him who made Unkulunkulu. And so they said Unkulunkulu was God.28 This is what I know about Unkulunkulu."
I replied, "Yes, yes! Ulangeni. I see clearly that what you say accords with what I said. But further, your answer is the answer of a man on whom the sun has risen; for you see that which many do not regard in the least."
He said, "On the arrival of the English in this land of ours, the first who came was a missionary named Uyegana. On his arrival he taught the people, but they did p. 68 not understand what he said; he used to sleep in the open air, and not in a house; but when he saw a village he went to it, and although he did not understand the people's language, he jabbered constantly to the people, and they could not understand what he said. At length he went up the country, and met with two men—a Dutchman and a Hottentot; he returned with them, and they interpreted for him. We began to understand his words. He made enquiries amongst us, asking, 'What do you say about the creation of all things?' We replied, 'We call him who made all things Utikxo.' And he enquired, 'Where is he?' We replied, 'In heaven.' Uyegana said, 'Very well. I bring that very one29 to you of this country.' And there were two men, both men of consequence; one was named Unsikana, and the other Unxele. Both became believers. Unxele continued to live at his own village. Unsikana united with Uyegana, the missionary. These men began to dispute about the name Utikxo. Unxele said, 'Utikxo is beneath.' Unsikana denied, saying, 'No! Unxele. Utikxo is above. I see that he is above from whence power proceeds.'30 The two disputed on that subject, until at length Unxele p. 69 was overcome, for he said, 'He is beneath,' meaning Unkulunkulu when he said 'He is beneath.' But Unsikana said, 'No! Utikxo is in the high place.' At length the word Utikxo was universally accepted on the arrival of the missionaries. For we used to speak of the whole heaven, saying, 'Utikxo dwells in the whole heaven;' but did not clearly understand what we meant. But the faith of Unsikana is wonderful. We do not understand what it was like, for when he had refuted Unxele, he composed a great hymn for him, which he called 'The Hymn of God;' and to this day that hymn is a great treasure among the Amakxosa. It celebrates the great power of God.31 p. 70 And the man Unsikana did a wonderful thing at his death. He went with his son into the forest. When he entered the forest he sought for a large tree called the Umumbu; he found one and cut it down; he measured it by his own size; he carved it and made a box of it, and a cover for it, hollowing it so as to be equal to himself inside. When it was finished he carried it home; he assembled his children and said to them, 'My children, you see I have cut this tree, that when I am dead you may place me in it, and not look on my nakedness.' And in fact he died a few days after."
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
AS regards calling Unkulunkulu, when he is called by little children or by boys when they are herding cattle, he is called at the bidding of old people. I do not mean those who are really old, but those who are grown up more than others; they send children to go and call him. For there is no one who will say, "Why do you like to make sport with a relative of mine?32 Do you not know that p. 71 it is painful to me?" It is because the house of Unkulunkulu, which can feel pain for him, no longer exists. All the people who send children to go and call him, do so because they care nothing about him. That sport about Unkulunkulu springs from this. For if children ask who Unkulunkulu is, the old people answer, "Umvelinqangi, who made all things." But when they ask where is the place where he now is, they say, "He died, and we no longer know the place where he died, nor his grave. This only is what we know, that all these things which we have, he gave us." But there is no such conclusion as this come to, "The house which is descended from Unkulunkulu is the house of So-and-so."33
When the standing of Unkulunkulu is sought out, it terminates in the open plain, and makes no approach to houses which have followed him in succession till those men who now exist are reached.34
Such then, you see, is the calling of Unkulunkulu; it is as though he was the subject of a p. 72 mere nursery tale; he is not a fable indeed, though he may be like one; it is because he was the first man; before him there was not another man from whom we are derived; it is he who is the first among men; we stand this side of him. It is on that account that all children are told to go and call Unkulunkulu. They do not say, "Are we calling an Idhlozi? Do we call it for nothing? Do we not know that it will be angry and kill us?" There is no such thought as this about Unkulunkulu, that he is an Idhlozi. But if he is an Idhlozi, there is no one who can worship him when he kills a bullock; for he is not able to repeat his praise-giving names, as he can those of the Amadhlozi of his people which he knows. The name of Unkulunkulu has no respect paid to it among black men; for his house no longer exists. It is now like the name of a very old crone, which has no power to do even a little thing for herself, but sits continually where she sat in the morning till the sun sets. And the children make sport of her, for she cannot catch them and flog them, but only talk with her mouth. Just so is the name of Unkulunkulu when all the children are told to go and call him. He is now a means of making sport of children.
p. 73
But it is not said he is nothing. He is really a man; but children are made sport of through him, when they are told to go and call him. For it is well known that he died. But it is this which makes it clear that he is the means of making a sport of children, for even the place where he died is not known even to the old men. But when children are sent, they are told to go yonder; or they say that he is here near at hand, or that he is at this very place. And children call and call again and again; but he cannot answer. They return to report that he does not answer. The people say, "Shout aloud; call him with a loud voice." When the children hear it said that they are to shout aloud, they shout aloud until they are hoarse, and their voice is scarcely audible; and they begin to see that they are deceived, and ask, "How is it that Unkulunkulu does not hear shrill words with which we first shouted? Now, how can he any longer hear, since we are now hoarse?" But because they have been told to shout, even though they are hoarse they cannot leave off shouting. The end of their shouting is this:—One of the bigger boys goes to call them, saying, "Come back now." He says this because the people have now finished what they wished to p. 74 do without the children. So the children return, and say, "He did not answer." The people reply, he is a great way off. It is now no longer of consequence."
By this shouting they do not worship Unkulunkulu. But the children, through their ignorance, shout with sincerity, for they think he will appear. But those who send them know that he will not. For a person who is shrewd among them cannot be sent to go and call Unkulunkulu; if he is told to go and call Unkulunkulu, he may say in reply, "If you wish to do something in private; or if you wish to eat that food of yours, which you do not wish me to see, or eat, tell me to go away to some other place; don't tell me to go and call Unkulunkulu, like children who know nothing." So old people are not sent.
The account of Unkulunkulu we now see in books, that is, it is coming near to us, whilst we ourselves used to say, "Unkulunkulu is the first man."35 We did not worship him, though we all sprang p. 75 from him. We worship our Onkulunkulu whom we know [by name]; we cannot worship him, for all of us in our childhood were deceived through him, when we were told to go and call him; we shouted and shouted; but he did not appear in the least. But now if a man tell us to worship Unkulunkulu, how shall we forsake these our own Onkulunkulu whom we do worship, and worship him by whom we have been deceived? We cannot assent.36 For if a man urge us to worship Unkulunkulu, the old sores of all of us will break out again, and we shall ask if the deception which was practised on us when young is brought up again. It is said, "Since we have grown up [in the presence of this deceit], have we now forgotten it? We still know that we were much deceived through him. I do not mean that we were deceived because the people thought he was nothing; I mean, we were deceived by being told to go and call him and he would appear; and if we are told to worship him and he will give us so-and so and so-and-so, p. 76 or health, it will still be like our being deceived.37
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
THE account which black men give white men of their origin.
It is said the black men came out first from the place whence all nations proceeded;38 but they did p. 77 not come out with many things; but only with a few cattle and a little corn, and assagais, and picks for digging with the arms, and some other things which they have; fire to kindle, that they might not eat raw food, but that which is cooked; and potters' earth is a thing which they know, to wit, if we temper earth, and make it a vessel, and leave it that it may dry; and when it is dry, burn it with fire, that it may be red; we know that although water be now poured into it, it will no longer fall to pieces, for it has now become strong; and wisdom which suffices to help ourselves when we are hungry, and to understand the time of digging, that it may not pass and we die of famine, through not knowing suitable and unsuitable times. Our little knowledge just sufficed for helping ourselves; we had no great knowledge.
So we came out possessed of what sufficed us, we thinking that we possessed all things, that we were wise, that there was nothing which we did not know. We lived boasting that we possessed all things.
p. 78
But now when the white men have come with wagons, oxen are yoked, they being clothed in fine linen, being very wise, and doing things which for our parts we thought could not be done by man; about which we did not think in the least, that they could help us. We did not know that the ox was useful for many purposes; we used to say, the purpose of the cow is, that it should have calves, and we eat milk; and of the ox that we should kill it and eat flesh, and that was all. We knew no other purpose of cattle. When one is killed we prepare its skin, and make women's clothes, and blankets; and that is the whole purpose of the ox. We wondered when we saw oxen yoked into a wagon, which had goods in it, and go through the country, and go to a distance, there being nothing that is not in the wagon; and when the oxen are loosened, there comes out all the property of those men; we said, "Those are come who go about with a house." By house we meant the wagon.
That, then, made us wonder exceedingly. We saw that, in fact, we black men came out without a single thing; we came out naked; we left every thing behind, p. 79 because we came out first. But as for the white men, we saw that they scraped out the last bit of wisdom; for there is every thing, which is too much for us, they know; they know all things which we do not know; we saw that we came out in a hurry; but they waited for all things, that they might not leave any behind. So in truth they came out with them. Therefore we honour them, saying, "It is they who came out possessed of all things from the great Spirit;41 it is they who came out possessed of all goodness; we came out possessed with the folly of utter ignorance." Now it is as if they were becoming our fathers, for they come to us possessed of all things. Now they tell us all things, which we too might have known had we waited; it is because we did not wait that we are now children in comparison of them.
Therefore, as to their victory over us, they were not victorious by armies; they were victorious by sitting still—they sitting still and we too sitting still; we were overcome by their works, which make us wonder, and say, "These p. 80 men who can do such things, it is not proper that we should think of contending with them," as, if because their works conquer us, they would conquer us also by weapons.
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
THE white men came out from a great Itongo with what is perfect.
As regards the great Itongo which is spoken of by black men, they say that we black men at our origin came out with little things, which were merely sufficient for us to obtain food and to live; our wisdom was enough to enable us to help ourselves.
As regards, then, that little wisdom, whilst we black men were by ourselves we used not to think we had little wisdom; we thought we had great wisdom, which Unkulunkulu gave us. But now we say it is little, because we see the great wisdom of the white men which overshadows all our little wisdom in which we used to trust.
Further, we used not to say that there were those who remained behind when the nations broke off. We used to say, we came out all together. But now we see it was not so, but that we did not come out with any thing which made us really men. We see that p. 81 the white men remained behind, and obtained very much from the great Itongo.
When we say the great Itongo, we do not speak of one of our dead, that he is a great Itongo. For it is not said that that great itongo is Unkulunkulu, who we say broke off the nations. It is only a word which points out that the white men came out with every thing, and possessed of every thing that was needed for manhood; they came out perfect,42 not like us who came out imperfect, not having cast off the skin of imperfection. And all those things with which we came out we did not know sufficiently to understand them. On that account the word has arisen that the white men came out with what is perfect from a great Itongo. But I do not know that that Itongo is said to be Unkulunkulu; but it used not to be said that that Itongo was one with Unkulunkulu, for he too sprang from Uthlanga; we cannot well understand whether p. 82 that Itongo is more likely to be Unkulunkulu, or Uthlanga.43 That is by no means clear.44
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
p. 83
THE following account was obtained many years ago. It was in fact among some of the very first papers written at the dictation of natives. The native who gave it was an Izulu, who had just come as a refugee from Zululand. I laid it aside as useless because the first answers the man gave were absolutely contradictory to those I have recorded, which he gave when I began to write. But there is reason to think from statements made by other natives, which have been given above, that he was really speaking of two Onkulunkulu,—the first man, of whom he correctly affirmed that no one prayed to him, worshipped him, or offered him any honour, but to whom he refers the origin, at least the ordering, of things and customs; and of the Unkulunkulu of the Zulu nation, or of his own tribe, of whom he correctly affirmed afterwards that the Amazulu pray to and worship him:—
Who is Unkulunkulu?
We do not know Unkulunkulu. I do not know Unkulunkulu.45 I point to heaven and say, "There is Unkulunkulu."46
p. 84
Do the people worship Unkulunkulu?
Yes, they worship him. We love Unkulunkulu because we eat corn,47 and mix it with amasi; and kill our cattle, and eat our maize, and our sweet cane. We love Unkulunkulu because he told us to take ten wives. We love Unkulunkulu because he told us to eat our meat. But Unkulunkulu erred when he said that we were to be killed, and die, and leave our meat. He said that we were to die and never rise again. He erred therefore when he allowed us to die and rise no more. Unkulunkulu is good because he told us to take our cattle and buy a wife. We love him on this account, because we eat amadumbi and umthlaza,48 and because he told us to drink our beer. We love him because he told us to eat the flesh of game.
Do the people salute Unkulunkulu?
Yes, they salute him, saying, "O Friend! Chief!"49
p. 85
Do they ask him for any thing?
Yes. They say, "Give us rain, O Chief, that our maize may grow."50
The old men say that Unkulunkulu was a man, and had a wife. Neither do I know the name of his wife. The old men say that he had a wife, and that he had children. Unkulunkulu produced children by generation.
p. 86
HAVING had some conversation with Mr. Thomas Hancock on the meaning of Uukulunkulu, be summoned several old Amabakca living near him on the Umzimkulu; and we enquired the names of the fathers of generatious, beginning from the present, and going backward. They gave the following:—
| Ubaba | My father |
| Ubaba-mkulu | My grandfather |
| Ubaba-mkulu kababa-mkulu | My great-grandfather [lit., the grandfather of my grandfather] |
| Ukoko | My great-great-grandfather |
| Ukulu | My great-great-great-grandfather |
They did not go further back, but were inclined to give the names of those who preceded. They said nothing about Unkulunkulu, until we mentioned the word, and asked who he was. They then threw their heads backward and said, "He was a long, long time ago, and begat many people."
Shortly after, Mr. Hancock sent one Usithlanu, an old Izulu, one of Utshaka's soldiers, with a note, in which he says:—"Since you were here I have questioned the bearer about Unkulunkulu, as also others. But unless I first give them the idea, they know very little or nothing about it but the name, and that he is one that has begotten a great number of children. He may be the fiftieth grandfather, or the five-hundreth."
I proceeded to enquire of Usithlanu by the aid of a native, directing him in the first place to ask Usithlanu to go backwards and tell me what the Amazulu call the fathers of generations, beginning with his own father. He answered:—
The father of my father is ubaba-mkulu; his father is ukoko; the father of ukoko is unkulunkulwana;51 the father of unkulunkulwana is unkulunkulu.
p. 87
Here he stopped; but when I requested him to go on still reckoning backwards, he added:—
The father of unkulunkulu is an anterior unkulunkulu; and the father of that anterior unkulunkulu a still anterior unkulunkulu, Udhlamini, Uthlomo, Uhhadebe, Ungwana, Umashwabade.
Beyond these he could not remember, but added, the five names here given are those by which they call their houses, that is, families, viz., their izibongo or surnames.
I then requested him to give me his own name, and the names of his father, grandfather, &c., as far back as he could remember, which he did as follows:—
p. 88
| Usihlanu | |
| Umantanda | Ubaba |
| Usigwakqa | Ubaba-mkulu |
| Umlotsha | Ukoko |
| Umsele | Unkulunkulwana |
| Ulinda | Unkulunkulu |
| Uvumandaba | Unkulunkulu o ngembili |
| Udhlamini | ditto |
| Uhlomo | ditto |
| Uhhadebe | ditto |
| Ungwana | ditto |
| Umashwabade | ditto |
The surnames of all of them are Udhlamini, Uhhadebe, and Umtimkulu.53
Upon further enquiry it appeared that he did not mean that all the Onkulunkulu here mentioned were the heads of generations in regular retrogression, but that the last six were contemporary, and descended from one father. I asked him to go still further back, but he was unable; and added:—
We end with Umtimkulu and Ungwana and Umashwabade and Uthlomo, because they were the chiefs who divided the nations.
As he did not of his own accord go back to the first unkulunkulu, I asked him to tell me what, when he was a boy, he was told about the origin of man. He said:—
They told us that we came out of the water, from a bed of reeds, by the sea. We heard it said, "There appeared the first man, who came out of a reed. He p. 89 pointed to the growing corn and said, "Pluck. That is corn." This was said by the most ancient Unkulunkulu, Ukqili.56 For Ukqili was the first Unkulunkulu who came out of the bed of reeds, and begat men.
The first man is called Unkulunkulu. He came out with a wife; and other men came out of the bed of reeds after him, all the primitive men. He the first was chief indeed, he who begat men. We say, "They were begotten by him who came out first."
We do not know that the primitive men were begotten. They came, as they were, out of the bed p. 90 of reeds;57 and Unkulunkulu came out as he was. We do not see him, and hear only of Uthlanga.58 So we say he was first; he made59 the earth, and the mountains, the water, corn, food, cattle, and every thing. All things came out of the water, dogs and cattle. We say they were made by him, for when we came into being they were already all in existence.
Unkulunkulu came out of Uthlanga with a wife; she, as well as he, is called Unkulunkulu.
I asked him to trace back the female heads of generation, as he had already the male heads. He said:—
She who gave birth to me is umame.
She who gave birth to umame is umakulu or ukulu.
She who gave birth to umakulu is my ukoko.
She who gave birth to my ukoko is ukulukulu.
She who gave birth to ukulukulu is unkulunkulu.
p. 91
Whether it is man or woman we say unkulunkulu, both of the female and of the male.
Thus, according to this native, the male and female heads of the fifth generation backwards are called Unkulunkulu. Thus:—
MALE:— FEMALE:— Ubaba Umame Ubaba-mkulu Umakulu, or Ukulu Ukoko Ukoko Unkulunkulwana Ukulukulu60 Unkulunkulu Unkulunkulu
I said to him, "Where now is the first unkulunkulu?" He replied:—
All we know is this, the young and the old die,61 and the shade62 departs. The Unkulunkulu of us black men is that one to whom we pray for our cattle, and worship, saying, "Father!" We say, "Udhlamini! Uhhadebe!63 Umutimkulu! Uthlomo! Let me obtain p. 92 what I wish, Lord! Let me not die, but live, and walk long on the earth."64 Old people see him at night in their dreams.
I asked him if, when he was a boy in Zululand, the people ever said any thing about a heavenly lord. He replied:—
I, Usithlanu, for my part say there used to be something said about a heavenly lord, I mean as regards rain, and our prayers when we asked for rain. That did not begin even with Utshaka; even the primitive men used to pray for rain. But Utshaka came, and made his prayers greater than those who preceded him. He summoned the people, a great assembly, consisting of the chiefs of villages. He collected black65 oxen, and sheep and black rams; and went to pray; he sang a song and prayed to the lord of heaven; and asked his forefathers to pray for rain to the lord of heaven. And it rained. This is the song:—
One Part—
I ya wu; a wu; o ye i ye.
Second Part, or Response—
I ya wo.66
p. 93
These cattle are the cattle of Umzimu;67 they are collected into one place. When they are killed, the chief men gird themselves with the girdles of young girls; they are skinned and carried by other young persons and put in the chief village, in the huts of the old women, where no one enters. In the morning the great man who skinned them, and the man who helped him, go out, and divide them; and they are boiled together in many pots. When the sun is declining, they take them out and place them on feeding-mats, and tell the great men to come up. All the great men come up, the flesh not being touched by any one; all the people are made to sit down by their villages; they have the meat put in an orderly manner in their hands; they hold it without carrying it to their mouths, until all are given, and all carry it to their mouths at the same time.
They begin by singing the song before they eat; they sing it very loud, and the ground resounds with the noise of their feet. They take the meat after singing, and carry it all together to their mouths. If one has taken a long p. 94 time in eating the meat, he puts it on the ground, and sings again, when he has swallowed what is in his mouth.
During the conversation he remarked:—
You white men remained behind with our great Itongo.68
I asked what he meant by "Itongo" here. Umpengula answered:—
When he says Itongo, he is not speaking of a man who has died and risen again; he is speaking of the up-bearer of the earth,69 which p. 95 supports men and cattle. The up-bearer is the earth by which we live; and there is the up-bearer of the earth by which we live, and without which we could not be, and by which we are.
He also related the following curious tradition:—
One of our old traditions. It happened that some things came down from heaven. Yes; they were seen at the lower part of the chief Ungwana's village; they were as it were covered with hair; they were beautiful, and had the p. 96 eyes and form of a man. It was said, "They are wild beasts; let them be killed." There were two. They were killed. The whole country died; the chief was carried away by the wind, because those animals were killed; and the houses were carried away. And we hear that there then began to reign Ugodongwana, the son of Ujobe.
UGOFANA and Umyeni, two Amakuza, came to see me. I asked them to give me the names of the heads of generations on the female side. They agreed in the main, but Umyeni made Unkulunkulu the head of the fifth generation backwards, and Ugotana of the fourth; Umyeni inserting Ukulukulu as the fourth, like Usithlanu (see p. 91). I then asked them to give me the heads on the male side, in like manner. The result was as under:—
| Ubaba | Umame |
| Ubaba-mkulu | Ukulu |
| Ukoko | Ukoko |
| Unkulunkulwana | Ukulukulu |
| Unkulunkulu | Unkulunkulu |
I asked Ugofana what they said about the Unkulunkulu of all men. He said they knew nothing about him. They said he came out of a reed. He could not tell me any thing about that Unkulunkulu, nor any body else, for no one knew. All he could tell me was about his own Unkulunkulu, for said he, pointing to two others, "He has his; and he his; and I mine."
Umdanga who first broke off, begat Umsondo; Umsondo begat Uthlanguza; Uthlanguza begat Ujamo, who begat me.
p. 97
I asked them what they meant by "Owa dabuka," Who first broke off. Umyeni replied, "Kuyise," From his father. And Ugofana, after a moment's thought, gave his name, "Kudhladhla," From Udhladhla, the great ancestor of their house, who has given them their surname.
TWO Amabakca, an old and young man, gave me the heads of generations as given above, p. 86.
"But," I said, "is there not another word, Ukulukulu or Unkulunkulu?"
They said, "He is further back (ngembili);" and went on to say that all who were heads of generations anterior to the okoko were called Ukulukulu, till they came to Umsondwo,70
who came out first; he is the uthlanga of men; he is that uthlanga who broke off men, they having been broken off from him. The uthlanga is Umsondwo, who broke off, and then broke off men, the umdali, the umdali of the earth.71
I asked them what they said about the Okulukulu. They replied:—
They who are anterior to the okoko are the okulukulu of the okoko in continuous retrogression, till they reach Umsondwo, who first appeared, the umdali of the earth.
p. 98
I asked what they meant by Uthlanga. They answered:—
Uthlanga is an old man who made all things, both cattle and and all kinds of property.
UMDUMO, an old man, one of Ukukulela's people, an Ikuza, being unwilling or unable to give me any account of the traditions of the people, I asked him to give me the names of the heads of generations backwards. He gave them thus:—
He who begat me is Upotshiyana, my father; he who begat Upotshiyana is Umzabani, my grandfather; he who begat Umzabani is Uthlomo, the father of my grandfather; he who begat Uthlomo is Unsele, my ukoko; he who begat Unsele is Usivunga, the ukoko of my grandfather; he who begat Usivunga is Ulusibalukulu. Ulusibalukulu was begotten by Udhlamini, the ukulukulu who broke off the nations. When he came he broke off Ubithla, the chief; and afterwards Ukukulela and Umaghaga.
I asked him if there was not an Unkulunkulu. He replied, "Unkulunkulu and Ukulukulu is one."
I again asked him who was the first man. He answered:—
Udhlamini is he who broke off first; he begat Ulusibalukulu, who begat Usivunga.
I again asked him still more pointedly, refening to their tradition of the origin of man. He replied:—
p. 99
Udhlamini is the name of the whom we call Ukulukulu.72
I asked, "Wa dabuka pi?" Where did he break off? He said:
It is said that Udhlamini broke off from the mountain Ingome, the place of the origin73 of our tribe.
I asked him what were the nations he broke off (izizwe owa zi dabula). He mentioned several, but I did not succeed in writing the names; but among them were those of which Ukukulela, Uisidoi, and Ufodo are chiefs. The isibongo or surname of these chiefs is Udhlamini, he being their common ancestor.
I OVERHEARD Uthlangabeza, one of Ukukulela's people, talking with some of the men of the village. He said Unkulunkulu and Ukulukulu is one; and Umvelinqangi and Unkulunkulu is one; that all things came out of a mountain in the north; and that Uthlabati74 is the name of that Unkulunkulu owa dabuka eluhlangeni,—who broke off from Uthlanga.
Footnotes
1 A s’ aziwa = ka s’ aziwa, is no longer known, that is, to us; or as it is said in other accounts, "A si sa m azi," We no longer know him. There no longer exists amongst us any knowledge about him. The same expression is used when speaking of the man from whom the isibongo (surname) of a house or tribe is derived, ka s’ aziwa. He is lost to memory, nothing is known of him or his deeds.
2 This is the constant statement in the traditions of Unkulunkulu. It has been said that by umuntu we are to understand simply a person. But umuntu means a human being. And it is more in accordance with the religious system of the natives to give it that meaning here. They are ancestor-worshippers, and believe that their first ancestor—the first man—was the creator. Unkulunkulu means the old-old-one, the most ancient man. In like manner Arjuna addresses Krishna as, "Thou first of the gods, the most ancient person." (Hardwick. Christ and other Masters. Vol. I., p. 242.) And the king Satravata addresses "Hari, the preserver of the universe," thus, "O first male; the lord of creation, of preservation, of destruction!" (Id., p. 314.)
3 Dabuka, to separate, or to spring or break off, from something by fissure or division. Thus the swarming of bees is an ukudabuka. The division of small tribes from larger ones—as the small tribes of p. 2 Umahhaule and Unjan from the Abambo, the large tribe of Usingela; or as the Americans from the English—is spoken of as an ukudabuka. So if a village has become large, and the eldest son leaves the paternal kraal, and commences a new centre, that too is an ukudabuka. So the different kind of cattle, English, Dutch, and Zulu, are said respectively to have sprung from (dabuka) the English, Dutch, or Zulu. It is also said of trees. So of the Reformation it would be said that the Reformed Churches sprang from (dabuka) that of Rome; and Dissenting Churches from that of England. Or what is perhaps more to the point, the mode in which Minerva was produced from Jupiter's head was an ukudabuka. As we shall see below, according to the Hindu mythology, primitive man was produced by a division (ukudabuka) of the substance of Brahma. The use of the word necessarily implies the pre-existence of something from which the division took place. When it is said therefore that Unkulunkulu broke off in the beginning, we must understand either that he broke off from an eternal or at least pre-existent spiritual being, or from an eternal or at least pre-existent material being. When it is said, wa dabuka eluhlangeni (he broke off from uthlanga), we may have the intimation of an eternal spiritual being, a belief in whom formed a part of the creed of the ancestors of the Amazulu; and when it is said, wa dabuka emhlabeni (he broke off from the earth), it cannot be doubted that we are to understand it as intimating a belief in the eternity—at least in the pre-existence—of the world.
4 Ekukqaleni. In the beginning. There is the same obscurity in the Zulu use of this phrase as in our own. We must understand it here as meaning, in the beginning of the present order of things, and not, from all eternity.
5 But, as it will be presently seen, a first woman is by many associated with the first man, that is, Unkulunkulu is said to have had a wife.
6 Dabula.—My native interpreter maintains that although above it is said that Unkulunkulu is not known to have had a wife, yet that this phrase implies it. But this is scarcely borne out by the fact that in other accounts he is said to break off cattle, &c., from Uthlanga. It seems rather that we are to understand that at first Unkulunkulu broke off, and having broken off, became the means of breaking off all other things.
7 Ohlangeni.—Uthlanga is a reed, strictly speaking, one which is capable of "stooling," throwing out offsets. It thus comes, metaphorically, p. 3 to mean a source of being. A father is the uthlanga of his children, from which they broke off. Whatever notions the ignorant of the present day among the natives may have of the meaning of this tradition, it may be concluded that originally it was not intended to teach by it, that men sprang from a reed. It cannot be doubted that the word alone has come down to the people, whilst the meaning has been lost. Comp. M. Casalis' account of the religious notions of the Basutos, p. 240.
8 Hence their saying, "Ukuhambisa kwonwaba," To go like a chameleon, i. e., to go slowly. They say also ukunwabuzela.
9 Ubukwebezane.—A shrub which bears clusters of berries of a purplish colour and sweet taste. This fruit is much liked by children.
10 Intulo = intulwa, the Amalala inulwa. The tradition lives among the natives to the present time, and is manifested by the dislike they entertain for the chameleon. It is frequently killed. But it is used as a medicine; among other uses it is mixed with other things to doctor their gardens, that the birds may not destroy the corn; it is employed because it went slowly, and therefore will prevent the birds p. 4 from hastily entering the gardens! But the lizard is an object of much greater hatred, and is invariably killed if the person who sees it is able to kill it; but it is very cunning, and, as they say, "escapes only by its cunning." As they kill it they say, "Yiya! i sona lesi ’silimane esa gijima kukqala sa ya ’kuti, 'Abantu a ba fe.'" Let be! This is the very piece of deformity which ran in the beginning to say that men should die.
11 This tradition of the origin of death has a strong resemblance to the Hottentot account. But there it is the Moon—a Hottentot god, according to Kolb, (The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, (Medley,) Volume I., page 95)—which sends an insect to man with the message:—"Go thou to men, and tell them, 'As I die, and dying live, so ye shall also die, and dying live.'" The insect, meeting with the hare, entrusts the message to him; but when he reaches man, he says, "I am sent by the Moon to tell you, 'As I die, and dying perish, in the same manner ye shall also die, and come wholly to an end.'" (Bleek's Hottentot Fables, p. 69.)
This account is, however, a promise of renovation through death.
The New Zealand legend again may be compared, where we meet with another a foreshadowing of redemption through One destroying death by passing through it, than an account of the cause of death entering into the world. Maui is made liable to death by some accidental omission of a part of the baptismal ritual,—a cause as trivial as the delay of the chameleon, or the false message of the hare.
Maui was an abortion; he was born as his mother was passing along by the sea-shore. She cut off the long tresses of her hair, and bound him up in them, and threw him into the foam of the sea, and after that he was found by his ancestor Tama-nui-ki-te-Rangi, and by his care developed into a man. As yet there was no death. But Maui's father, "from mistake, hurriedly skipped over part of the prayers of the baptismal service, and of the services to purify Maui; he knew that the gods would be certain to punish this fault, by causing Maui to die, and his alarm and anxiety were therefore great." Maui having transformed by enchantments Irawaru, his sister Hinauri's husband, into a dog, and Hinauri having girded herself with an enchanted girdle had cast herself into the sea, and been swept away by the tide, he was obliged to quit the village where Irawaru had lived, p. 5 and so returned to his parents. His father said, "Oh my son, I have heard from your mother and others that you are very valiant, and that you have succeeded in all feats that you have undertaken in your own country, whether they are small or great; but now that you have arrived in your father's country, you will perhaps at last be overcome." On asking "what he could be vanquished by?" his father replied, "By your great ancestress Hine-nui-te-po." But he answered, "Lay aside such idle thoughts, and let us both fearlessly seek whether men are to die or live for ever." Maui pleads that he had subdued Tama-nui-te-Ra (the sun), and had rescued much land by drawing it up from the sea. His father admits the truth, and bids him go boldly to visit "his great ancestress," who, he knew, would be the cause of his death. Maui set out on his journey, taking "every kind of little bird" as his companions. Maui and his companions found Hine-nui-te-po asleep. Maui told them that he was about to creep into the old chieftainess, and warned them not to laugh until they saw him "just coming out of her mouth; then they might shout with laughter if they pleased." When he entered the old chieftainess, "the little birds screwed up their tiny cheeks, trying to suppress laughter; at last, the little Tiwa-kawaka laughed out loud with its merry cheerful note," and the old woman awoke, and killed Maui. This was the cause of the introduction of death into the world. Hine-nui-te-po being the goddess of death, had Maui passed safely through her, then no more human beings would have died, but death itself would have been destroyed. (Grey. Polynesian Mythology, p. 16-58.)
{See also the additional note.}
12 Itongo, p. Amatongo.—An itongo is properly the spirit of the dead,—a disembodied spirit. The notion that it is in the form of a snake, or becomes converted into a snake, is probably something superadded to the original tradition. But all these questions will be discussed when we come to the "AMATONGO."
13 Ukwelapa itongo, lit., to treat an itongo, that is, diseases which are occasioned by the itongo, as uthlabo, which appears from the description to be pleurodynia; one case I was called to see was pleurisy.
15 Umvelinqangi, the first out-comer.
16 Let the reader note that here three names are applied to the first man, Unkulunkulu, Umvelinqangi, and Uthlanga. Unkulunkulu expresses antiquity, age, lit., the old-old one, as we use great in great-great-grandfather. Umvelinqangi expresses priority; the first out-comer. Uthlanga, potential source of being. Neither must this be regarded as a contradiction to the statement lower down, "Wa vela lapa abantu ba dabuka kona ohlangeni," He came out where men broke off from Uthlanga. For Unkulunkulu, the first man, sprang from—came out of—broke off from—a previously existing uthlanga or source of being, the nature of which is quite beyond the native philosophy; and having come out, he became the uthlanga or source of being of entire humanity.
17 U kona, is. We must not, however, understand this as a declaration of the ancients that Unkulunkulu has a present existence. But they mean to say, "Unkulunkulu was a reality; that which we say of him is not a fable, but a fact. Unkulunkulu is a reality; he made us, and is, as it were, in us his work. We exist because he existed." That this is the meaning we gather not only from the interpretation of it by natives, and from other accounts of the same tradition, but from the statement made below, "B’ ezwa ngokutshiwo ukuti Unkulunkulu wa be kona," They heard it said that Unkulunkulu was, or used to be; the tense necessarily implying that he exists no longer.
18 Abadala bendulo, the ancients of long ago,—not merely ancients, but the ancients of primitive times; those who formed the first races of mankind.
19 The natives profess to be unable to give any account of the origin of things; but refer to a period when the ancients understood the history of creation.
20 A large, green, harmless snake, which for the most part is observed in trees. It frequently enters the native huts.
21 This account was given by a refugee recently arrived from Zululand, whose name I do not know.
22 Umhlanga is a bed of reeds. We must not confound umhlanga with uhlanga. Umhlanga is the place where they broke off—or out-came—from Uhlanga.
23 Vela, had our origin,—out-came, equivalent to "were created." It does not mean merely appearing.
24 Umoya, spirit. The native who related this tale, though not a Christian, had lived with whitemen from his childhood, and for some years with a missionary. The untaught native would not use umoya (wind, air) in the sense of spirit, as this man uses it. They would apply it to the air we breathe, but not to the spirit or soul of man. Neither do they use itongo, idhlozi, isituta (ghost), or isitunzi (shade), of any power animating the body, but only of something,—a new or distinct existence,—which comes out of the body when dead.
25 Many misunderstandings of native traditions have arisen from the enquiry, "Unkulunkulu ubani na?" meaning who or what is Unkulunkulu. It really means, "What is his name?" The native cannot tell you his name, except it be Umvelinqangi.
26 Bonga, worship. It is necessary to give bonga this full meaning here, and not to restrict it to the offices of praising or thanking. It is equivalent to pata, which is used for all and every kind of adoration and worship.
27 The fat of the cawl or omentum is used with incense.
28 Abapansi, i. e., the Amatongo, they who are beneath. Some p. 13 natives say, so called, because they have been buried beneath the earth. But we cannot avoid believing that we have an intimation of an old faith in a Hades or Tartarus, which has become lost and is no longer understood. Subterraneans is an exact translation of abapansi, and as we proceed we shall find that similar characteristics and actions are ascribed to the Amatongo as to the Subterraneans in the mythology of other people.
29 Abantu bansondo, or it is sometimes said, bakansondo.
30 Uthlanga is also used to express beauty. "Si tshele ni uhlanga oluhle lapa lwentombi," Tell us which is the prettiest girl here. They also say, "Inkosi yohlanga," that is, a chief who refers his descent to Uthlanga, that is, to him whom they regard as the creator or source of all things. We may compare this with διογενης βασιλευς of Homer.
31 By this we are to understand that at his death Unsondo uttered a prophecy of the future of his children, telling them by what kind of conduct, good and bad, they would be characterised. Thus it is said not only of a good man, "Wa muhle! umuntu wansondo!" How good he is! a man of Unsondo! to express the perfection of goodness, but also of the wicked, "Au! wa mubi! umuntu wansondo!" O! how wicked he is! a man of Unsondo! to express utter wickedness. We may compare this with the Hebrew idiom, which without being identical is remarkably similar; that of designating any thing of surpassing excellence as God's, e.g. "A very great trembling," lit., a trembling of God (); and in Gen. xxxv. 5, "The terror of God (that is, an exceeding great terror) was upon the cities." (See Gesenius.)
32 This portion I wrote at his dictation in my study; the rest from memory.
33 The native thus begins his statement because I had previously read to him what other natives had said on the subject.
34 He means by this that he had heard that Unkulunkulu was the first that existed, and that existing he made others. But we shall see by and bye that this man is mistaken. Unkulunkulu is supposed to have a wife.
35 A mistake has no doubt often arisen on the question of whether Unkulunkulu is worshipped by the natives or not, from the failure to recognise the fact that there are many Onkulunkulu; and the statements of natives have been wrongly supposed to be contradictory. The Unkulunkulu par excellence, the first man, is no where worshipped. No isibongo of his is known. The worship, therefore, of him according to native worship is no longer possible. But the Onkulunkulu of tribes and houses, whose izibongo are still known, are worshipped, each by his respective descendents.
36 He means by this that he is not sure whether in the beginning they worshipped him or not; but they no longer worship him, but the Amatongo, and thank the Amatongo for the things which they believe were created by Unkulunkulu.
37 This implies that he had a son; but the isibongo or praise-giving name of Unkulunkulu is lost; by the process of time and many wanderings, other names have been taken up, each house having its own isibongo.
38 He here uses a metaphor comparing men, or their houses, to the grains on an ear of maize; Unkulunkulu is the stalk, which having done its work dies; the seeds are the men, who sprang from him and became centres of families, each having its distinct family name or isibongo, and the children of successive generations worship those who preceded them. But the native adds as I am making this note, "Lelo ’zwi lokuti izinhlamvu zi bongana zodwa loko ukuti i leyo ’nhlamvu endhlini yayo se i unkulunkulu enzalweni yayo, leyo na leyo njalo," As for the saying, Each grain worships those which belong to itself, it means that each grain in its own house is an unkulunkulu to its offspring, each to its own offspring throughout.—Thus although the First Out-comer, Unkulunkulu, is not worshipped, other Onkulunkulu are worshipped, that is, their names are known and used in acts of adoration. But we shall see this more clearly by and bye.
39 Inkosi may be translated king, lord, chief, &c. And we may either say, the king, lord, chief, &c., which is above,—or the king of heaven,—or the heavenly king.
40 Is playing, or sporting, not angry. He is enjoying himself, as their chiefs do on great festivals, when it is said, "Inkosi i dhlala umkosi," The chief is playing a festival.
It is worth noting that So or Khevioso is the thunder god of the West African natives; and, says Capt. Burton, "according to Barbot, on the Gold Coast, (I have heard the same everywhere from that place to the Camaroons,) 'when it thunders they say the Deity—with reverence be it spoken—is diverting himself with his wives.'" (Burton. A Mission to the King of Dahome. Vol. II., p. 142.)
41 That is, by lightning.
42 That is, we live in accordance with the laws and conditions of our nature.
43 This implies that there might have been once other words which are now lost.
44 He means to say, It would not be right because you have told us what we did not before know about a heavenly Lord, that we should claim to have known more than we really did before you came. We knew nothing about him, but that he dwelt above, and presided over the thunder.
45 This is the exact meaning of wa ba. He came to be, that is, came into being.
46 It is altogether blunt. The natives not only use our saying that a thing is without point, but also the opposite, it is blunt,—that is, it does not enter into the underatanding; it is unintelligible.
47 This is a most difficult piece of Zulu, which has been necessarily translated with great freedom; a literal translation would be wholly unintelligible to the English reader. I have produced the above translation under the immediate direction of the native who first dictated it to me. What he means to say is this, that they really know nothing more about Unkulunkulu than that he made all things, and gave them to mankind; having made men proper for the things, and the things proper for the men; but that there is not known to be any connection between the present state of things and the primitive gift of the creator.
48 That is, we are not acquainted with any laws which he left us for the regulation of our lives.
49 That is, we do not trouble ourselves to ask what he willed or what was his purpose in creating us, but simply do just what pleases us, and make our own wills the measure and determiner of our actions.
50 Lit., abundance of food.
51 This is said ironically in contradiction of statements which are sometimes made that Unkulunkulu is an object of worship.
52 All this is intended to show that the name of Unkulunkulu is only used as an excuse for evil, and never as an incentive to do good.
53 Such as a dog mounting on a hut, or a snake coming and taking up its abode in it. We shall hereafter give an account of their "OMENS."
54 They suppose the omen is sent to warn them of something respecting the dead, either that he has been killed by witchcraft, or that he has sent it to comfort them by the assurance of his continued regard for them, he being one of the spirits.
55 Yesterday they saw death only and the loss of their friend; now an omen makes them believe in his continued existence, and that he has united with other spirits to be the rampart of his people.
56 That is, by sacrificing to the Amadhlozi, and by paying the diviners and doctors.
57 Even those who really believe in the Amadhlozi, irreverently deny their existence in time of trouble. Compare with this the following extract from the French ballad, Lénore:—
—"O ma fille! invoquons le Createur suprème;
Ce qu'il tait est bien fait; il nous garde et nous aime.—
—Et pourtant son courroux nous accable aujourd'hui,
A quoi sert d'implorer ses bontés souveraines?
A quoi sert de prier? les prières sont vaines,
Et ne montent pas jusqu'à lui."
58 Lit., You perhaps open an old sore; as we say, We have opened his satirical vein, &c.,—that is, have set off on a subject on which they are fond of speaking.
59 The reader should note that this is an account derived from an educated, intelligent, Christian native.
60 Came into being,—sprang up,—appeared,—had an origin; with a slight shade of difference in meaning vela is used in the same way as dabula.
61 Here my MS. says dabula, which makes Umthlanga the active agent in the origin of Unkulunkulu, just as Uthlanga is constantly represented in other forms of the tradition. But the native teacher thinks it a mistake for dubuka, a repetition of what is said just above.
62 I have hitherto given the several forms of the tradition in the order of time in which they were written, with the exception of the account given by the young Ibakca, p. 15. This (1860) was the first intimation I received that there are many Onkulunkulu, that each house has its own, and is an object of worship, his name being the chief isibongo or surname, by which the Spirits or Amatongo of his family are addressed.
63 Matshange! that is, a plural of Utshange, meaning all his people.
64 The prayer is either in this simple form of adoration, the suppliant taking it for granted that the Amatongo will know what he wants; or the thing he wants is also mentioned, as "Ye people of our house! cattle."
65 We are not to understand this as a tradition of the origin of men. It is a saying among the natives when they see an exquisitely handsome man, or when they wish to flatter a chief, to say, "Ka zalwanga; wa bohlwa inkomo nje," He was not born; he was belched up by a cow; that is, he did not go through the ordinary and tedious and painful process of being born, but came into being already a perfected man.
66 Compare this with the Jewish simile, "Look unto the rock whence ye were hewn," that is, to Abraham, their father. (, 2.) Here again we have the notion of Unkulunkulu being the means of helping the human race into being.
67 A common mode of commencing a narrative.
68 He here speaks of the two women as being one unkulunkulu of primitive men. So in conversation with another heathen native, he spoke of the first man and first woman, together, as one unkulunkulu.
70 Lower-gate-man.
71 This shows that the natives believe in a succession of emigrations from below of different tribes of men, each having its own Unkulunkulu.
72 That is, his name.
73 Compare this with the fabulous monster Ugungqu-kubantwana (Nursery Tales, p. 176), or Usilosimapundu (Id., p. 185).
74 That is, He-who-came-from-the-other-side-of-the-rock.
75 This is the nearest rendering we can give to veziwe; it is equivalent to created. It is passive, and necessarily implies an agent by which he had an origin given to him. No native would hear such a phrase as "Naye e veziwe," He too having had an origin given him, without putting the question, By whom?
76 Unkulunkulu was an unbegotten though a created man. He was the first man; by this statement he is to be understood as deprecating the ascription to himself of something higher and more exalted. He is, as it were, telling his children the history of creation as he had witnessed it. They appear to be desirous of making him the creator; but he replies, "No; I too sprang from the bed of reeds."
77 This is very precise. The first man and woman sprang, the man first and then the woman, from the bed of reeds; and both are called by one name, Unkulunkulu; that is, Great-great-grandparent. According to Moses, the male and female were both called Adam. (Gen. v. 3.)
78 He is called "he who sprang up at first" to distinguish him from the many other Onkulunkulu who in the progress of generation sprang up after him.
79 Lit., worked into form as a potter works clay.
80 The simile here is that men were existing as young bulbs ready to separate from the parent bulb.
82 The account here given of Uthlanga is peculiar. The native who gave it, clearly understood by it a reed. Yet one cannot avoid believing that he did not understand the import of the tradition. It is said that Umvelinqangi made the reed, and that the reed gave origin to Unkulunkulu and his wife. It is said also that Umvelinqangi begat them with a reed (nohlanga); and from a reed (eluhlangeni). Both these forms are used of the female in generation. A child is begotten from the woman, or with her. And it is the belief of the native teacher that the real meaning of this tradition is that Umvelinqangi made Uthlanga, a female, and with her became the parent of the human race. Uthlanga, therefore, in this form of the tradition, has a feminine import; whilst in others it has a masculine. Yet the same men in speaking of the origin of Umvelinqangi (pronounced by this tribe Umvelikqangi) said he sprang from Uthlanga.—There is really no contradiction in such statements. For the term Uthlanga is applied not only to the Primal Source of Being, but to any other p. 43 source of being, as a father, or to a mother, as in the following sentence:—
Who is the Uthlanga of such a family? They answer by giving the name of the man, who is the head of that house. But he is not the Uthlanga by himself; he is the Uthlanga in conjunction with the female; for there is not a man who is an Uthlanga by himself, there being no female.
Compare this with the following legends of the Hindus, where Brahma corresponds with Umvelinqangi; and where there is the same confusion between Brahma the Creator,—the First Man,—"and the male half of his individuality." Umvelinqangi is both the Primal Source of Being and the First Man; he is the creator of the first woman and her husband. And Satarupa, "the great universal mother," is equivalent to Uthlanga, the female Unkulunkulu,—the great-great mother of the human race:—
"According to one view, Brahma, the God of Creation, converted himself into two persons, the first man, or the Manu Swayambhuva, and the first woman, or Satarupa: this division into halves expressing, it would seem, the general distinction of corporeal substance into two sexes, and Satarupa, as hinted by the etymology of the word itself, denoting the great universal mother, the one parent of 'a hundred forms.'" (Hardwick. Op. cit., Vol. I., p. 297.)
"As the old traditions of their ancestors were gradually distorted, the Hindus appear to have identified the first man (Manu Swayambhuva) with Brahma himself, of whom, as of the primary cause, he was the brightest emanation; while Satarupa, the wife and counterpart of Manu, was similarly converted into the bride of the creative principle itself. Brahma, in other words, was 'confounded with the male half of his individuality.'" (Id., p. 305.)
A similar apparent contradiction to that which runs throughout these Zulu legends is also found in the Myth of Prometheus, who though a man—the son of Japetus—is said to be the creator of the human race:—
| "Sive hunc divino semine fecit Ille opifex rerum, mundi melioris origo: Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alto Æthere, cognati retinebat semina cœli. Quam satus Iapeto, mistam fluvialibus undis Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum." |
(Ovid.)
83 It being in the water.—That is, according to the notion of the narrator, the reed which Umvelinqangi made and by which he begat the first parents of the human race, was in the water. It is probably only another way of saying men sprang from a bed of reeds. But some forms of the tradition represent tribes at least, if not the human race, as being born in or derived from the water. See p. 36.
84 It is worth notice that the female of animals is represented as preceding the male.
85 Ndini, here translated true, is a word rarely met with; it is used as an appendage to a vocative; it ascribes reality or speciality to the name to which it is appended. "Mfazi ndini," Thou who art my wife indeed,—very wife. Should a bridegroom address the bride thus, it would be an insult, and imply a loss of virtue, and if not founded in truth, would be resented probably by absolute refusal to marry.
86 Viz., for grinding.
87 Viz., that all were not to be domestic animals.
88 This makes it perfectly clear what the natives understand by Unkulunkulu coming out of the earth. The earth is the mother of Unkulunkulu, the first man, as of every other creature. Compare Milton:—
| "The Earth obeyed, and straight Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms Limbed and full grown." |
Compare also Ovid. Met., B. I., l. 416-421.—This, too, corresponds with the Scripture account of Creation; Gen. i. 20, 24. It is also philosophically correct to refer the origin of things secondarily to the earth. The material organisms of all living things consist of elements derived from the earth. The poetic imagination, to which time and space impose no limits, represents as occurring at a point in time what, it may be, took myriads of years for its production in accordance with laws imposed on the Universe by the fiat of the Creator.
89 Lwenkomo, i. e., uthlanga. This is worth noting, the uthlanga of cattle,—that is, either the reed—primal source—from which they came; or it may mean, the first pair from which all others sprang.
90 As the question has been raised whether the natives do not call the First Man, or Being, Unkulunkulu, and an Ancestor Ukulukulu, in order to prevent all misunderstanding I asked him if he was not speaking of Ukulukulu. He replied Ukulukulu and Unkulunkulu is one and the same word; the Amazulu say Unkulunkulu; other tribes Ukulukulu; but the word is one. I enquired what he meant by Unkulunkulu; he answered,
We have employed the word great [father] to designate the father of our father; and we call that man great [father]. And there was a great-great [father], to wit, one who was before him.We do not speak of power when we say Unkulunkulu, but especially of age. For the word great does not say he was old by twice, but he is old by once; and if the children of that man has children, they will speak by the reduplicated name, and unite their father's name with his, and say Unkulunkulu, that is, one who is very old.
What has been said above, then, together with what is here stated, is sufficient to settle all doubt on the subject. I shall not therefore give all the similar statements derived from a great number of different natives to confirm the fact, that by Unkulunkulu or Ukulukulu they mean a great-great-grandfather, and hence a very ancient man much further removed from the present generation than a great-great-grandfather. Hence it is applied to the founders of dynasties, tribes, and families. The order is as follows:—
| Ubaba, my father | Umame, my mother |
| Ubaba-mkulu, or Ukulu | Umame-mkulu, or Ukulu |
| Ukoko | Ukoko |
| Unkulunkulu | Unkulunkulu |
Ukoko is a general term for Ancestor who preceded the grandfathers. And Unkulunkulu is a general term for Ancient Men, who "were first" among tribes, families, or kings. See Appendix.
91 Let us note this plural of Umvelinqangi; and that the Omvelinqangi are the fathers of the generation preceding that of the Onkulunkulu; that is, they are the fathers of the Onkulunkulu; that is, the great-great-great-grandfathers.
Usobekase, a petty chief over a portion of the Amabele, when speaking of the origin of things, said they were made by Umvelinqangi; that there was a first man and a first woman; they were Abavelinqangi, and that men sprang from them by generation. He did not use the word Unkulunkulu at all,—Umkqumbela, also, a very old man of the Amangwane, spoke of the Omvelinqangi in the plural, and used the word as strictly synonymous with Unkulunkulu, and, like that word, applicable not only to the first man, but to the founder of families, dynasties, tribes, &c.
92 The origin of Undaba is thus given by Uncinjana, an Ibele:—
Undaba sprang from Upunga, and was the father of Usenzangakona. Usenzangakona sprang from Undaba, and was the father of Utshaka. Undaba is the Unkulunkulu.
The attention of the Zulu scholar is directed to the use of dabuka in this statement.
Whilst travelling lately among a wholly uncultivated tribe, on asking what they meant by the ukudabuka of men from Unkulunkulu, they replied, "Ba dabuka esiswini sake," They broke off from her bowels; that is, of the first female Unkulunkulu.
93 Or, from Uthlanga.
94 In this remarkable sentence the origin of things is ascribed to the joint word of the man and woman.
95 This and two or three other statements are the only instances I have met with of the word Umdabuko for the source of creation, but its meaning is evident. It is equivalent to Umdayi of the Amakqwabe, the Umdali of the Amakxosa, and the Umenzi of the Amazulu.
Umdabuko, however, is derived from ukudabuka, to be broken off (see Note 3, page 1), and therefore has a passive signification, and thus differs from Umenzi and Umdali, which are active. It more resembles Uthlanga, and though in some places apparently used for an active creator, would mean rather a passive, though potential source of being,—passive, that is, as a female, or as a seed, which have however wrapped up in them potentially the future offspring.
We may compare with this the legend of the Bechuanas:—
"Morimo, as well as man, with all the different species of animals, came out of a hole or cave in the Bakone country, to the north, where, say they, their footmarks are still to be seen in the indurated rock, which was at that time sand. In one of Mr. Hamilton's early journals, he records that a native had informed him that the footmarks of Morimo were distinguished by being without toes. Once I heard a man of influence telling his story on the subject. I of course could not say thot I believed the wondrous tale, but very mildly hinted that he might be misinformed; on which he became indignant, and swore by his ancestors and his king, that he had visited the spot, and paid a tax to see the wonder; and that, consequently, his testimony was indubitable. I very soon cooled his rage by telling him that as I should likely one day visit those regions, I should certainly think myself very fortunate if I could get him as a guide to that wonderful source of animated nature. Smiling, he said, 'Ha, and I shall show you the p. 51 footsteps of the very first man.' This is the sum-total of the knowledge which the Bechuanas possessed of the origin of what they call Morimo, prior to the period when they were visited by missionaries." (Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa,. Moffat, p. 262. )
See also a corresponding legend among the Basutos:—
"A legend says that both men and animals came out of the bowels of the earth by an immense hole, the opening of which was in a cavern, and that the animals appeared first. Another tradition, more generally received among the Basutos, is, that man sprang up in a marshy place, where reeds were growing." (The Basutos. Casalis, p. 240.)
96 That is, at a certain period the tribe divided into three, each having its own Unkulunkulu. So Umahhaule, who has formed a small tribe, says, in a few years he shall be an Unkulunkulu.
97 That is, the Onkulunkulu whose names he has given not only belonged to the Amangwane, but to the family of Umatiwana.
98 Umdabuko, Creator. See above, Note 94.
99 Lit., The corn went home and was cultivated; that is, became a cultivated article of food.
100 By this is meant, that they denied the existence of a Creator whom they could not see; and declared their belief that their kings, whom they could see, were the Creators of all things. Just as at the end this old woman declares that the whitemen made all things.
1 Inkosi may be rendered chief, king, lord. We can therefore say either Chief of Chiefs,—or King of Kings,—or Lord of Lords.
2 That is, the lightning had struck.
3 This is a very common occurrence. Very old Amazulu, when asked about Unkulunkulu, are apt to speak, not of the first Unkulunkulu, but the onkulunkulu of their tribes.
Mr. Hully, a missionary for some years connected with the Wesleyans, went up to the Zulu country as interpreter to Mr. Owen, in 1837. He says the word Unkulunkulu was not then in use among the natives; but that Captain Gardiner introduced it to express the Greatest, or the Maker of all men. Mr. Hully refused to use it in this sense. He allowed that the word kulu meant great, but denied that Unkulunkulu existed in the language to express that which Capt. Gardiner wished. But he persisted in using it through a young man named Verity.
The following remarks from Captain Gardiner's work appear to justify this statement of Mr. Hully:—
"The conversation which took place I will now relate, as nearly as I can, in the precise words:—
"'Have you any knowledge of the power by whom the world was made? When you see the sun rising and setting, and the trees growing, do you know who made them and who governs them?'
"Tpai (after a little pause, apparently deep in thought)—'No; we see them, but cannot tell how they come: we suppose that they come of themselves.'
"'To whom then do you attribute your success or failure in war?'
"Tpai—' When we are unsuccessful, and do not take cattle, we think that our father' [Itongo] 'has not looked upon us.'
"'Do you think your father's spirits' [Amatongo] 'made the world?'
"Tpai—'No.'
"'Where do you suppose the spirit of a man goes after it leaves the body?'
"Tpai—'We cannot tell.'
"'Do you think it lives for ever?'
"Tpai—'That we cannot tell; we believe that the spirit of our forefathers looks upon us when we go out to war; but we do not think about it at any other time.'
"'You admit that you cannot control the sun or the moon, or even make a hair of your head to grow. Have you no idea of any power capable of doing this?'
"Tpai—'No; we know of none: we know that we cannot do these things, and we suppose that they come of themselves.'" (Narrative of a Journey to the Zoolu Country. Capt. Allen F. Gardiner, R.N.; undertaken in 1835, p. 283.)
He thus speaks of a tribe on the Umzimvubu:—
"On the subject of religion they are equally as dark as their p. 55 neighbours the Zoolus. They acknowledged, indeed, a traditionary account of a Supreme Being, whom they called Oukoolukoolu" [Ukulukulu] "(literally the Great-Great), but knew nothing further respecting him, than that he originally issued from the reeds, created men and cattle, and taught them the use of the assagai. They knew not how long the issitoota," [isituta] "or spirit of a deceased person, existed after its departure from the body, but attributed every untoward occurrence to its influence, slaughtering a beast to propitiate its favour on every occasion of severe sickness, &c. As is customary among all these nations, a similar offering is made by the ruling chief to the spirit of his immediate ancestor preparatory to any warlike or hunting expedition, and it is to the humour of this capricious spirit that every degree of failure or success is ascribed." (Id., p. 314.)
4 That is, she assents to the statement that Unkulunkulu sprang from the earth. But asserts also that he is the heavenly Lord, of whom she has been speaking.
This account is in many respects very remarkable. It is not at all necessary to conclude that the mind of the old woman was wandering. There appears to be in the account rather the intermixture of several faiths, which might have met and contended or amalgamated at the time to which she alludes:—1. A primitlve faith in a heavenly Lord or Creator. 2. The ancestor-worshipping faith, which confounds p. 56 the Creator with the First Man. 3. The Christian faith again directing the attention of the natives to a God, which is not anthropomorphic.
But she may intend to refer to the supposed ascent of Usenzangakona, the father of Utshaka, into heaven, which is recounted in the following izibongo, that is, flattering declamations by which the praises of the living or the dead are celebrated:—
There were lauds of Usenzangakona, by which he was lauded by his people; they said,Child of Ujama, who twisted a large rope which reached to heaven, where the Spirits of the Amageba will not arrive. They will again and again make fruitless efforts, and break their little toes."
Amageba is an ancient name of the Amazulu. It means the shadows caused by the departing sun; they recline on the mountains. Amageba are the people of Umageba, the Unkulunkulu of the Amazulu. Umageba begat Ujama; he begat Usenzangakona; he begat Utshaka. And as regards Umageba, there is his unkulunkulu where we know not.
5 The chief, that is, myself. A respectful mode of addressing the enquirer, as though the answer was being given to a third person.
6 Indoda, that is, a male.
7 That they may not be injured by the hail.
8 A ku zalwane. Lit., Let children be begotten or born one with another. An allusion to a supposed period in which if blood relations did not marry there could be no marriage. The meaning really is,—Let brothers and sisters marry, that in the progress of time there may arise those who are sufficiently removed from close relationship, that there may be abalanda, that is, persons who may lawfully intermarry.
9 Here very distinctly Uthlanga is a proper name,—that of the first woman. But the origin of Uthlanga is not known; it is suggested that she came forth from Uthlanga together with Unkulunkulu—that is, an anterior Uthlanga.—Compare this with the legend above given, where it is said Umvelinqangi made an Uthlanga and begat children by her. See below, where it is said, "Uhlanga ka se ko;" Uthlanga is dead; not, A lu se ko.
10 This is a mode of asserting his belief that since the fathers said Unkulunkulu begat men, he could not do so without a wife, and that therefore Uthlanga was a woman.
11 Zala is to beget and to give birth to: they were derived, viz., by generation ftom Unkulunkulu, and by birth from Uthlanga.
12 Umdabuko, Source of Being,—local or personal,—the place in which man was created, or the person who created him. But if a place, it is possessed of a special potentiality. See Note 95, p. 50. But here the Umdabuko is called "the lord which gives them life."
13 The argument is, since we see that life-giving influences,—the rain and sun,—come from heaven, we conclude that there too is the original source of life.
14 It is supposed that black cattle are chosen because when it is about to rain the sky is overcast with dark clouds. When the ox is killed, its flesh is eaten in the house, and perfect silence is maintained till the whole is consumed, in token of humble submission to the lord of heaven, from whom, and not of the chief, the rain is asked. The bones are burnt outside the village. After eating the flesh in silence, they sing a song. The songs sung on such occasions consist merely of musical sounds, and are without words.
15 Contrast this with what Arbousset says of the superstition found among the Lighoyas:—
"When it thunders every one trembles; if there are several together, one asks the other with uneasiness, 'Is there any one amongst us who devours the wealth of others?' All then spit on the ground, saying, 'We do not devour the wealth of others.' If a thunderbolt strikes and kills one of them, no one complains, none weep; instead of being grieved, all unite in saying that the Lord is delighted (that is to say, he has done right), with killing that man; they say also that the thief eats thunderbolts, that is to say, does things which draw down upon men such judgments. There can be no doubt, they suppose, that the victim in such a case must have been guilty of some crime, of stealing most probably, a vice from which very few of the Bechuanas are exempt, and that it is on this account that fire from heaven has fallen upon him." (Exploratory Tour in South Africa, p. 323.)
Casalis says that, among the Basutos, "If any one is struck dead by lightning, no murmur is heard and tears are suppressed. 'The Lord has killed him,' they say; 'he is, doubtless, rejoicing: let us be careful not to disturb his joy.'" (The Basutos, p. 242.)
16 See Note 95, p. 50.
17 Or, out of Uthlanga; "and so we said the Umdabuko is Uthlanga," either regarding Umdabuko as a female, or referring to that Uthlanga or Source of being from which Unkulunkulu himself and all things else sprang. But we are here, no doubt, to understand the latter, for above he states that the old men believed in an Umdabuko which is above, and which he calls, "the Lord which gives them life."
18 Intimating that there are other Onkulunkulu about whom he might wish to enquire.
19 I see that it was said and nothing more; there, was no truth in it.
20 It is clear that this reasoning is the result of a certain amount of light. When once he had been induced to think, he said that the things around him could not, as the old men said, have had a mere human author, who came into being and passed away.
21 This chief and his people live in the neighbourhood of the Roman Catholic Mission about fifteen miles from this place.
22 Some years ago whilst travelling I had had a conversation with him on the subject.
23 This is rather obscure, but I prefer not to give a free translation. The meaning is, Our old men told us that it was an ancient man who created all things; but we hear from the missionaries that the heavenly Lord is he who created.
24 Just as among other people sneezing is associated with some superstitious feeling. In England and Germany old people will say, "God bless you," when a person sneezes. Among the Amazulu, if a child sneeze, it is regarded as a good sign; and if it be ill, they believe it will recover. On such an occasion they exclaim, "Tutuka," Grow. When a grown up person sneezes, he says, "Bakiti, ngi hambe kade," Spirits of our people, grant me a long life. As he believes that at the time of sneezing the Spirit of his house is in some especial proximity to him, he believes it is a time especially favourable to prayer, and that whatever he asks for will be given; hence he may say, "Bakwiti, inkomo," Spirits of our people, give me cattle; or, "Bakwiti, abantwana," Spirits of our people, give me children. Diviners among the natives are very apt to sneeze, which they regard as an indication of the presence of the Spirits; the diviner adores by saying, "Makosi," Lords, or Masters.
25 It may be worth noting here that what the Amazulu say of the lord of heaven, for whom they have no name, the Amakxosa say of Utikxo.
26 This is to be understood as expressing his utter contempt for the Hottentots, and unwillingness to admit that the Kafir could learn any thing from them. It cannot, however, be doubted that he is mistaken in supposing that they did not derive the word from the Hottentots.
The isivivane consists of stones which are collected together in one place, and form a large heap; p. 66 those who pass by the isivivane cast stones on it; the stones which are thrown on it are both small and great; and it is said, "Isivivane of our ancestors, may live without care."UMPENGULA MBANDA.
The isivivane, then, is a heap of stones, the meaning of which the natives of these parts are unacquainted with. When they pass such a heap, they spit on a stone and throw it on the heap. Sometimes they salute it by saying, "Sa ku bona, bantwana bakasivivane," Good day, children of Usivivane; thus personifying Isivivane, and acting in correspondence with the Kxosa salutation to Unkulunkulu.—Sir James E. Alexander relates the following of the Namaquas:—"In the country there are occasionally found large heaps of stones on which had been thrown a few bushes; and if the Namaquas are asked what they are, they say that Heije Eibib, their Great Father, is below the heap; they do not know what he is like, or what he does; they only imagine that he also came from the East, and had plenty of sheep and goats; and when they add a stone or branch to the heap, they mutter, 'Give us plenty of cattle.'"—Among the Hottentots there are many such heaps, which they say are the graves of Heitsi Kabip, who, according to them, died several times and came to life again. (Bleek. Hottentot Fables, p. 76.)—Thus the Heitsi Eibip of the Hottentots appears to have some relation to the Unkulunkulu of the Kafirs.
Such heaps of stones are common in the South Sea Islands, and are there memorial heaps, as, it appears from the Scripture narrative, was that which Jacob raised (Gen. xxxi. 45-55); or they may have been raised over graves, as is still the custom among the Bedouins.
"The bearers of the corpse reached the newly dug grave at the head of the procession, and standing over it they slowly lowered the body, still rolled in its rough camel-hair shroud, into it, as the solemn chant suddenly ceased, and the silence which ensued seemed rendered deeper by the contrast. The corpse having been stretched out in its sandy couch, all those nearest the spot, with hands and feet, raked back the loose earth over the grave and closed it up. Ali and the other chieftain with him, each taking up a stone from the ground, now cast it in turn on the tomb, uttering, 'Allah yerdano,' God have mercy on him! Naif, silent and brooding, approached the spot, and with the same prayer cast his stone likewise over his brother's tomb, adding, 'The duty of revenging thee weighs upon me.'
"All the other members of the tribe present followed their chief's example, and pressed forward to pay their last tribute to the dead, a stone cast on the grave, and a muttered prayer for his peace; p. 67 the multitudes crowding in succession round the spot, or spreading over the plain to find a stone to cast on the tomb in their turn. A high mound of loose stones rose fast over the grave, increasing in size every minute as men, women, and children continued swarming around it in turn, adding stone after stone to the funereal pile." ("Sketches of the Desert and Bedouin Life." The Churchman's Companion. No. XII. December, 1867, p. 524.)
Is our ceremony of throwing earth into the grave a relic of this ancient custom?
{See also the additional note.}
28 This is a very concise and simple explanation of the way in which the First Man came to be confounded with the Creator.
29 That very one,—that is, all that relates to or concerns him.
30 Compare this with Note 13, p. 59.
31 The following is the translation of the hymn alluded to given by Appleyard, Grammar, p. 48:—
Thou art the great God—He who is in heaven.
It is Thou, Thou Shield of Truth.
It is Thou, Thou Tower of Truth.
It is Thou, Thou Bush of Truth.
It is Thou, Thou who sittest in the highest.
Thou art the Creator of life, Thou madest the regions above.
The Creator who madest the heavens also.
The Maker of the stars and the Pleiades.
The shooting stars declare it unto us.
The Maker of the blind, of thine own will didst thou make them.
The Trumpet speaks,—for us it calls.
Thou art the Hunter who hunts for souls.
Thou art the Leader who goes before us.
Thou art the great Mantle which covers us.
Thou art He whose hands are with wounds.
Thou art He whose feet are with wounds.
Thou art He whose blood is a trickling stream—and why?
Thou art He whose blood was spilled for us.
For this great price we call
For thine own place we call.
32 A very common answer received from a native when asked who Unkulunkulu is, is, "Ukoko wetu," Our ancestor. But now, through the course of years, no one regards him as a relative; he is so far removed from all at present living by intervening generations.
33 That is, no one can trace up his ancestry to the First Man. Such a notion manifests the utter ignorance of the natives of the lapse of time since man was created.
34 We know that Unkulunkulu was the first man, but if we were to attempt to give the names of his children we could not make up a genealogy, for we are at once lost, and cannot in any way connect him with people who are now left.
35 He means to say, that as regards the natives themselves, Unkulunkulu was something so far off that they never thought of him; but that now this old man is being brought forward by others as the object of a reverence which they never rendered to him.
36 By this he means, that praying to Unkulunkulu, the first man, would prove just as great a deceit as children's calling to him; for as he could not appear to them, so he cannot hear our prayers, for he is but a man like ourselves, dead and buried long ago.
37 The native gives the following explanation of his words here:—
I would say as regards the worship of Unkulunkulu, if we are made to leave our own Onkulunkulu, whom we worship, and are told to worship him whom we left long ago, we shall never assent; for he too is a man—the first, and those which we call our people are men like him; we do not see in what way he can help us; they are all alike.
38 We have already seen how prevalent is the tradition that man and all other things came out of the earth. The natives of these parts confess they do not know where this place is. But among other south African tribes, the tradition is associated with a certain locality. Thus the Basutos and Lighoyas point to a place which they call "Instuana-Tsatsi," which means the East. Arbousset says:—
"This spot is very celebrated amongst the Basutos and the Lighoyas, not only because the litakus of the tribes are there, but because of a certain mythos, in which they are told that their ancestors came originally from that place. There is there a cavern surrounded with marsh reeds and mud, whence they believe that they have all proceeded." (Arbousset. Op. cit., p. 198.)
And among the Baperis, "at the base of a small mountain which they call Mole, is a deep cavern called Marimatle, fine bloods or pretty races, because they maintain that men and the other animals came out of it; and not only so, but that the souls return thither after death; an opinion which reminds one of the old pagan doctrine of the infernal regions." (Id., p. 255.)
Campbell also gives us a similar account:—
"With respect to the origin of mankind, the old men had given him no information; but there is a great hole in the Marootzee country out of which men first came, and their footmarks are still to be p. 77 seen there. One man came out of it long ago, but he went back, and is there yet. Morokey never saw the hole himself, but his uncle, who is dead, had seen it, and saw the footmarks very plain. The cattle also came from the same hole." (Travels in South Africa. Cambpbell. Vol. I., p. 306.)
41 There is no doubt that Itongo is Spirit; it is the general word employed to express spiritual power, and, I think, ought to be used instead of umoya.
42 The metaphor here is borrowed from the peeling off of the skin of a new born child, or the casting off of the skin by a snake, that it might be, as the natives think, more perfect. The white man cast off the skin of imperfection before leaving the source of being. The coloured man came out with the skin of imperfection still adhering to him, and it has not been cast off to this day.
43 Pringle describes Makanna, the great Kafir prophet, as referring his mission to "Uthlanga, the Great Spirit:"—
"By his spirit-rousing eloquence, his pretended revelations from Heaven, and his confident predictions of complete success, provided they would implicitly follow his counsels, he persuaded the great majority of the Amakxosa clans, including some of Hinza's captains, to unite their forces for a simultaneous attack upon Graham's-town, the head-quarters of the British troops. He told them that he was sent by Uthlanga, the Great Spirit, to avenge their wrongs; that he had power to call up from the grave the spirits of their ancestors to assist them in battle against the English, whom they should drive, before they stopped, across the Zwartkops river and into the ocean; 'and then,' said the prophet, 'we will sit down and eat honey!' Ignorant of our vast resources, Makanna probably conceived that, this once effected, the contest was over for ever with the usurping Europeans." (Narrative of a Residence in South Africa. Pringle, p. 299.)
It would be interesting to know what were the exact words used by Makanna. Did he really use the words ascribed to him? or has Pringle paraphrased for him? However this may be, it is clear that Pringle had been led by his investigations among the Frontier Kafirs to conclude that their idea of God is to be found in the word Uthlanga.
Shaw also remarks:—
"Before Missionaries and other Europeans had intercourse with the Kaffirs, they seem to have had extremely vague and indistinct notions concerning the existence of God. The older Kaffirs used to speak of Umdali, the Creator or Maker of all things, and Uthlanga, which word seems to have been used to denote the source or place from which all living things came forth." (Story of My Mission, p. 451.)
There can be no doubt that whilst Uthlanga is used by some to mean a reed, which is supposed to have given origin to all things; and others speak of Uthlanga as the place from which all things came out, yet the majority give it a personal signification; and in tracing the tradition backwards, we rest at last in Uthlanga as the word which of all others has wrapped up in it the native idea of a Creator.
44 This notion of successive egressions from the centre of creation, which is a new idea among the natives of this country, having arisen from a wish to explain the difference between themselves and us, has its counterpart among the native tribes of South America:—"They believe that their good deities made the world, and that they first created the Indians in their caves, gave them the lance, the bow and arrows, and the stone-bowls, to fight and hunt with, and then turned them out to shift for themselves. They imagine that the deities p. 83 of the Spaniards did the same by them; but that, instead of lances, bows, etc., they gave them guns and swords. They suppose that when the beasts, birds, and lesser animals were created, those of the more nimble kind came immediately out of their caves; but that the bulls and cows being the last, the Indians were so frightened at the sight of their horns, that they stopped up the entrance of their caves with great stones. This is the reason they give why they had no black cattle in their country till the Spaniards brought them over, who more wisely had let them out of the caves." (Researches into the Early History of Mankind. Tylor, p. 313.)
45 In accordance with the answer invariably given by natives when referring to Unkulunkulu, the first man.
46 The native teacher thinks he must here refer to the legend of the ascent of Usenzangakona into heaven. Note 4, p. 55. This is quite possible; and that in the statements which follow he might be referring to supposed creative acts, which he ascribed to that chief. Compare Ukoto's statement, p. 50, with that of Ubapa's mother, p. 55, who sums up her faith with the statement, that "the whitemen are the lords who made all things."
47 Compare what is said, p. 25. The worship of Unkulunkulu consists in rejoicing at what is supposed to be his gift, good or bad, and by casting on him and his ordinance the responsibility of their own evil doing.
48 Amadumbi, edible tubers, a kind of arum, which the natives cultivate. Umthlaza is also an edible tuber.
49 Or, Lord, or King.
50 This is the only instance I have met with in which even apparently a native has said that prayer is made to Unkulunkulu, the first man. On the contrary, every previous account implies the reverse. I cannot personally enquire of the native who related the above, but there can be little doubt that he was not alluding to Unkulunkulu, the first man; but to the head of the Zulu nation, or of his own family—Onkulunkulu which are admitted on all hands to be objects of worship and of prayer among the other Amatongo. Mr. Shooter, in his work on Natal, says:—
"The tradition of the Great-Great (Unkulunkulu) is not universally known among the people. War, change, and the worship of false deities have gradually darkened their minds and obscured their remembrance of the true God. Captain Gardiner states that the generality of the people were ignorant of it in his time." (p. 160.) See Note 3, p. 54. Captain Gardiner doubtless would find "the generality of the people" utterly ignorant of an Unkulunkulu in heaven, except as a part of their faith in such legends as that of the ascent of Usenzangakona. But I have never yet met with any native old or young, of Natal or Zululand, or from any part between Natal and the Cape, who was ignorant of the tradition of an Unkulunkulu who came out of the earth, the first man, who lived, gave laws to his children, and died.
Again, Mr. Shooter says:—
"There is a tribe in Natal which still worships the Great-Great (Unkulunkulu), though the recollection of him is very dim. When they kill the ox they say, 'Hear, Unkulunkulu, may it be always so.'" This statement also appears to be the result of inaccurate investigation and misapprehension. I never met with a case, neither have I met with any native that has, in which Unkulunkulu is thus addressed. But the Onkulunkulu of houses or tribes are addressed, not by the name Unkulunkulu, but by their proper names, as Udumakade, Uzimase, &c. Instances of this worship of the Onkulunkulu have been already given. When we come to the "AMATONGO" we shall see more clearly what is really the nature of their worship, and that Unkulunkulu, the first man, is of necessity shut out.
51 This was the first time I had met with the word Unkulunkulwana p. 87 in my intercourse with the natives. It is a diminutive, and means the lesser or inferior Unkulunkulu. But Captain Gardiner mentions it in the following extract:—
"It is agreed among the Zoolus, that their forefathers believed in the existence of an overruling spirit, whom they called Villenangi [Umvelinqangi] (literally the First Appearer), and who soon after created another heavenly being of great power, called Koolukoolwani, [Unkulunkulwana,] who once visited this earth, in order to publish the news (as they express it), as also to separate the sexes and colours among mankind. Duling the period he was below, two messages were sent to him from Villenangi, the first conveyed by a cameleon, announcing that men were not to die; the second, by a lizard, with a contrary decision. The lizard, having outrun the slow-paced cameleon, arrived first, and delivered his message before the latter made his apperance." (p. 178.)
In an earlier part of his journal, after an interview with Udigane, he says:—
"But what was God, and God's word, and the nature of the instruction I proposed, were subjects which he could not at all comprehend." (p. 31.)
53 These three were great chiefs,—amakosi ohlanga,—who left their names as izibongo of their respective tribes.
56 Ukqili, ikqili made into a proper name. The-wise-one.
It means a man of exceeding knowledge; therefore on account of his wisdom he is not merely called in general terms wise, but by the proper name, "The-wise-one" (or Craftman). The first man is called Ukqili because he made all things.
Just as he is called Umdali, the breaker off, because he is supposed to have been the instrumental agent by which all things were broken off or separated from the source or place of being; and Umenzi, the maker, because he is supposed to have made all things, so the personal name Ukqili is applied to him to denote the wisdom manifested in the act of creation.
57 This notion appears to be frequently intimated in the legends of the origin of man,—that not only Unkulunkulu came out of the bed of reeds, but primitive men also (abantu bendulo). Unkulunkulu simply came out first; they followed with cattle, &c. The abantu bendulo therefore were not his offspring, but came out as they were from the same place as Unkulunkulu. An old Ikqwabi, in relating the legend, said that Unkulunkulu was a great man; he sat in a hole, somewhere near the Umtshezi, a river in Zululand, appearing with his body only above the ground, and thus sitting moulded all things. By this we are to understand that the Amakqwabi's traditional centre from which they sprang is on the Umtshezi.
58 By Uthlanga meaning apparently the place from which Unkulunkulu and all other things came.
59 Milisa, lit., caused to grow; but = bumba, enza.
60 I had never before met with a native who thus separated Ukulukulu from Unkulunkulu. It is the reduplication of ukulu which is never, so far as I know, nasalised; and is equivalent to unkulunkulwana, the diminutive of unkulunkulu. Below we shall find another native making a similar distinction. But the majority of natives deny the correctness of this distinction.
61 By this he means to say that Unkulunkulu no longer exists; that he has died like all others, young and old.
62 Isitunzi, shade.—This is, doubtless, a word formerly used for the spirit of man, just as among the Greeks, Romans, &c. And scarcely any thing can more clearly prove the degradation which has fallen on the natives than their not understanding that isitunzi meant the spirit, and not merely the shadow cast by the body; for there now exists among them the strange belief that the dead body casts no shadow; and when they say, "Isitunzi si muke," The shade has departed, they do not mean that the soul has left its tenement, but that the body has ceased to cast a shadow.
{See also the additional note.}
63 He said Uhhadebe was an Ithlubi, that is, one of the tribe of the Amathlubi.
64 Compare this with the account given p. 84, which it entirely corroborates; the Unkulunkulu of each tribe is the object of that tribe's veneration and worship. It may be as well also to note that, according to Burton, the Dahomans salute their king by crying, "Grandfather, grandfather."
65 Black cattle are chosen because they wish black clouds, which usually pour down much rain, to cover the heavens.
66 This song consists of musical sounds merely, but imperfectly represented by the above, without any meaning.
67 Ezomzimu. The cattle of Umzimu, that is, of the Itongo—especially dedicated to the Itongo. Captain Burton mentions a word very much like this, as being used for Ancestral Ghosts,—Muzimos,—among the people to the South-east of Dahome. (Op. cit. Vol. II., p. 20.)
Here we say, "You remained." Black men frequently say this; when they see white men perfect in wisdom, they say they remained with the great Itongo, but we did not remain, but came out and went away without any thing. We say, at our creation together with you, you remained behind and perfected wisdom; we went out as though we should find it where we were going.
69 Isanda selizwe.—Isanda is breadth which supports something upon it. Thus a table, bed, or sofa may be called an isanda. But here it means not only breadth supporting; but the power underneath, from which the support comes. The following was given as an explanation:—
The up-bearer of the earth is said to be the Lord, for there is no place where he is not; he is every where; he is therefore called the up-bearer of the earth. Just as there are many up-bearers of corn; the corn is put upon the up-bearer that it may not rot by lying on p. 95 the ground, but lie on a high place. For the same reason the native hut also has made for it an up-bearer of rods, that the roof may rest upon it, and be held up and not fall.
In like manner, then, it is said the Lord is the up-bearer of the world, for the world is upheld by him.
When he says you remained with the great Itongo, he means the Lord; for among black men, when they say, "The Itongo looks on a man," they do not mean that the Itongo is a certain man; for the word Itongo is not used of a dead man only. We see it has two meanings, for the ancients said, "There is a great Itongo." And now we continually hear about that Lord which is mentioned to us. Black men say, "Great Itongo of my father!" And another asks, "Do you mean the ancestral spirit?" He replies, "No, I mean the great Itongo which is in heaven." So then the Itongo is made a great person.
71 Umdali is the same as Umdabuli, from ukudala, the same as ukudabula. The creator, in the sense understood by the natives. (See Note 3, p. 1.)
72 Here we have a native distinctly stating that the founder of his tribe was the first man,—that is, he confounds the first Unkulunkulu with the founder of his own tribe, who, he asserts was the creator of all things, in the native sense of creation. Let the reader consider how easy it is entirely to mistake the meaning of such statements. And how unmistakeably it proves that the natives believe that the Unkulunkulu of all men was himself a man.
73 Comp. Umdabuko, p. 50, Note 95.
74 Uthlabati, that is, Earth-man, as Adam means "earthy" or "red earth."
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