Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/209

 THE BEC11UANA8. 159 beneficial showers. If favoured by luck they at once acquire u great reputation, but should their predictions bo belied by unkindly fate they run the risk of their lives. These " rain -makers " even practise a real religious cult, for they pretend to conjure the sfK'Ils of Mo-Himo, a maleficent being who dwells in a cleft of the rock. With the view of keeping themselves in touch with the supposed religious traditions of ihe people, the missionaries have adopted this very term Mo-Uirao, meaning " the Dweller on High," to designate the God of the Christians. The fear or awe of the unknown is also betrayed amongst the Bechuanas in connection with certain objects which they are forbidden to touch, and certain food which is tabooed by custom. Like mo.st of the North American redskins, each Bechuana tribal group venerates a national token, such as a crocodile, a monkey, some wild beast or fi^h, and celebrates dances in its honour. The Ba-Kaluhuri people take good care never to hunt old lions, eK]K'eiully if these have acquired a taste for human flesh, llence it would be regarded us criminal to offer any resistance to the king of beasts even should he burst into a kraal, in which case he may at the most be scared away with shouts. Cattle also are held in a sort of reverence, as well as the thorny branches of the wait-a-bit {Acacii deteneiiH), which is used for making the village enclosures. Each tribe is governed by a king or chief, whose power passes to the eldest son. But the Bechuana tribal chief is far from enjoying absolute authority. Custom is powerful and scrupulously respectetl, while the secondary chiefs, and occasionally all the free men of the community, m.«y, on wei;»-lity occasions, con- stitute themselves a pic/io, or parliament, for the purpose of discussing public interests, advising the king, approving or censuring his conduct, according as it may be pronounced conformable with or opposed to established precedent. The picho, however, took no cognisance of crimes, and before the partial introduction of the British administrative system, such olfences as theft, murder, or adultery were not regarded as occurrences of tribal or general interest. They were rather the personal concern of the injured party, who balanced theft by theft, murder and adultery by murder, unless his wrath was appeased by a compensation in cattle. But since the missionaries have obtained a footing in all the principal Bechuana villages, the habits and customs of the natives have undergone great changes, at least outwardly. luiropean dress now prevails amongst all the border tribes, and the Ba-Tlapi have even learnt the tailor's art, cutting out coats and trousers from the skins of wild beasts. Almost every vilhige has its school, its cha]>el, and modem houses in the English style, encircled by the round huts with conic roofs still occupied by the poorer classes. In all the tribes some persons are met who are conversant with Dutch. Sun<lay has become a day cf rest even for those natives who do not pretend to have yet accepted the Christian teachings, while in the absence of the missionary the converted chief reads the service and intones the psalms in the public assemblies. lieing endowed with a quick intelligence, and especially prone to imitate his Ixtlers, the Mo-Chuana strives hard to assimilate himself to the European, and at times succeeds wonderfully. During this contact of the black and white elements, which h:i8 already lasted over two generations.