246 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



Modjadje's tribe had no fixed religious system. They were bound 

 to the belief in the ghosts of their ancestors. These they also tried 

 to conjure up. They generally did it when they changed their dwell- 

 ing. They then point out to the ghosts an abode, either a peg which 

 they drive into the ground inside their hut, on which they pour the 

 remnants of their beer as a libation ; or a plant, of which they some- 

 times hav3 as many in their court-yard as the deceased ancestors with 

 which they are acquainted. Sometimes also they offer them as a 

 dwelling a fine, smooth-skinned ox or another animal. 



They also have a story about the creation, but it is rather 

 vaguely outlined in parts. This indicates how dimly and uncertainly 

 they think about this subject ; but all the same the tale has points of 

 resemblance with the biblical story. It runs as follows : Kobe has 

 created the world through his son Kusane. Once upon a day he went 

 to hunt with his son, and got very thirsty. There was no water in 

 the neighbourhood and no kraals, but on a sudden they discovered an 

 accumulation of rain-water on a tree. Kobe now asked his son 

 Kusane to help him in ascending the tree. The son drove wooden 

 pegs into the tree, so that the old man could mount. But as soon as 

 he was on the tree Kusane pulled them out again, left his father, and 

 went to the wives of Kobe that night. But when they the next 

 morning perceived that he w^as the son, he fled. Now the natives 

 hope for his return, and they say : " When Kusane returns war will 

 cease ; the assagais and axes will be turned into picks and plough- 

 shares ; the country will be in a state of peace, and all the chiefs will 

 submit to him willingly and without any war." 



As is the case with most heathen tribes, the wdtch- doctors, with 

 their hocus-pocus, witchcraft, dice, and medicines, have the chief 

 influence, so it is here. Nobody dies naturally ; according to their 

 belief he is put out of the world by witch-craft, called Boloi. The 

 only question is to find out the guilty person, and this is done through 

 the witch-dice, which, as a rule, have to turn the scale in difficult 

 and critical moments of the lives of members of the tribe. These 

 dice consist of the vertebrae of the different animals with which they 

 consider they have a common origin. Thus Modjadje belongs to the 

 pigs, others to the lions, tigers, elephants, etc. If the bone of that 

 animal to whose family the probable thief, or murderer, or other 

 offender, belongs, stands erect, he will be caught at once as the 

 suspect. The accuser has the right to kill him, and Modjadje takes 

 his property. But if the accused is very wealthy, he drives some 

 head of cattle to Modjadje to persuade her to have her chief witch- 

 doctor to reconsider the case. In this case the fault is generally laid 

 upon another person and the first accused gets free. The witch-craft 

 doctors have a wide knowledge of places and people ; they perceive 

 and know the locality from which their clients come from their pro- 

 nunciation, as well as from their manner and behaviour. They also 

 notice at once from the accusers' attitude whether they intend to spend 

 much, and wliom they want to be found guilty. In this manner it 

 is not so very difficult for the witch-doctors soon to meet the wishes 

 of the latter, and to entrap their selected victim. The whole business 

 is, of course, quite a low fraud. 



