208 RELIGION OF THE BA-VENDA. 



Gotschlink, made a summary of them and published it in our 

 Journal in 1905. This paper covers the whole gix)und of the 

 ethnography of the tribe, but, though it seems generally 

 correct, it has only twenty pages, and twenty pag-es are 

 decidedly insufficient to describe the life of an African tribe. 

 Later on, another Berlin missionaiy, ]\[r. R. Wessmann, 

 published a little book under the title: " Tlie lia-Wenda " 

 (W in German is equivalent to Y in Engdish). But it is of a 

 more popidar nature, and does not pretend to be a scientific 

 istudy. The jN^ative Commissioner for Spelonken, Mr. Stubbs, 

 published a short historical sket<3h of the Ba-A^enda, in 

 Grahamstown in 1912, and this pamphlet g'ives interesting- 

 data on the migrations of the Yendu tribe. From four old 

 fellows whom he questioned he gathered that the Ba-Yenda 

 came from a place called Bzata, in Central Africa, somewhere 

 in the reg-ion of the Great Lakes, in a comparatively recent 

 time, about two centuries ago. This Central African origin 

 is quite probable, as we shall see later on. But about the date 

 of the migration I take the liberty of expressing strong doubts. 

 First, because natives seldom remember anything positive 

 about their history or events which took place more than 100 

 years ago ; at any rate, even if they have preserved the know- 

 ledge of facts, they are totally at a loss regarding chronology. 

 Secondly, because I heard Shivase people many times declare 

 that they have " their mountain " in the liakalanga country, 

 viz., in Southern Rhodesia. All these Yenda clans (and the 

 Malemba also) speak of their mountain. It is the place where 

 their ancestors have been buried, and which they consider 

 more or less as the cradle and the stronghold of the clan. I 

 have even been told that the chief of the Shivase branch is 

 still sending messengers to that hill to offer sacrifices to his 

 ancestor gods. This would mean that the Ba-Yenda (at least 

 those of the royal family), even if their first origin is in 

 Central Africa, 'have remained a considerable lime in the 

 Bakalanga region. This accounts for the great resemblance 

 they bear with that tribe and for the identification they have 

 made of the Yenda god, Raluvimbi, Avith the Kalanga god, 

 Nwali. 



Two subjects especially attracted my attention during the 

 long hours I passed with Shifaladzi : The kinship system of 

 the tribe and its religious beliefs. I must not now speak of 

 the curious features of family relations which I met amongst 

 the Ba-Yenda, and which will be explained elsewhere, but 

 be satisfied with their religion. I do not even pretend here 

 to give a full description of those religious customs, after 

 having stayed only a few weeks in Yendaland. Tlie man who 

 would be able to do is the Rev. Th. Schwellnus, who was 

 born in the country, and has an intimate knowledge of the 

 language of the people. Yet I think that this paper will be 

 useful to students of comparative religion, as I had the oppor- 

 tiuiity of obtaining a good deal of ncAv information from 

 Shifaladzi, and; it was duly corroborated by questioning a 

 number of other witnesses. 



