248 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



In nearly all risings of the natives the witch-doctors have a great 

 influence. They either make their people believe that the weapons 

 of their enemies will not stand the test, the rifles pouring out water 

 instead of bullets, or they promise to make them invulnerable. 



Manners and Customs. 



Polygamy still exists, but it is on the decrease since Rinderpest 

 and Tick fever swept the cattle away, and since the Government 

 adopted Law No. 3, regarding " the Regulation of Native 

 Marriages." The legal marriage of a polygamist with one wife has 

 also been conducive in checking this heathenish evil. 



Circumcision is of a late date in Zoutpansberg, and it has been 

 adopted to strengthen the chiefdom again ; but last, not least, to 

 make the most of it in money and cattle. The Bawenda and 

 Maquamba have only adopted it a couple of years since. The per- 

 forming of circumcision of the males, but especially that of the 

 females — for eve.n such a thing has been established — is an excuse 

 for, and a stronghold of, all heathenish vice : drunkenness and 

 fornication. 



Infanticide still exists. In earlier days, twins, and those 

 children who got the upper teeth first, were murdered, according to 

 native law. This was not considered to be an injustice. But since 

 the Government forbade it, it is only done secretly. Generally the 

 old women, together with the mother, pour boiling water into the 

 throat of the poor victim, and accelerate death by strangling. The 

 corpse is thrown into an old pit, formerly used for burying mealies. 



Abortion. The most horrible and widespread evil amongst 

 natives is, as mentioned above, forced abortion by a purgative. Many 

 women go to ruin or drag on their existence for months and even 

 years before they recover, and in most cases remain childless. 



Prostitution and Polyandry in their exact meaning do not exist 

 among this tribe. 



Birth. For days before the birth, the woman in labour is not 

 allowed to eat anything. During the act itself all the old women 

 of the kraal are assembled. As soon as the pains start the woman 

 has to occupy now a half-standing, then again a half-kneeling 

 posture. She has to embrace one of the women present, 

 who has to assume the same posture, like two persons 

 wrestling. And thus the child, as it . were, is wrestled 

 out. They do not think of giving the woman in labour 

 relief by a good couch, or of doing anything to prevent the rupture of 

 the perineum. After birth the child is left unseparated until the 

 after-birth appears, and only then the umbilical cord is cut. This is 

 the reason why so many umbilical ruptures occur. The child is 

 washed at once with cold water, and the mother is now allowed to 

 retrieve the loss in food. At the birth the woman in labour has to 

 undergo a sort of confession by the old women, who tell her that 

 she has to die, or that the child will not live if she does not confess 



