l8o NATIVE IDEAS f)F COS>f()L()GV. 



the bottom of it, and out of it came tlie animals and men. because 

 it became far too small for all of them. The animals came out in 

 great numbers first. There were elands, and spriuijbucks, and 

 ele]^hants, and many other kinds, some of which we do not see 

 now in the land. They made much spoor, and they stayed about 

 the entrance of the cave for a long time. The men then caiitiously 

 came out themselves, and in doing so they destroyed the spoor of 

 the animals so that vou oidv see their own tracks now. You can 

 only see the tracks of the men at the mouth of the cave.'* 

 Sometimes an addition is made to the tale in this way : " When 

 the men first were in the cavern they used to hold tij) with their 

 hands the roof, to prevent it falling upon them, and v\hen thev 

 left the cave they used to hold up the sky with their hands 

 to prevent it falling u]X)n them like the rcx^f in the cave. But 

 by-and-by they got very tired of holding up their hands, and 

 they let them fall down, and so jjeople never hold U]) the sk\- 

 now with their hands, as the\' find it will not fall down." 



Molfat gives a short form of the Sechuana legend as 

 follows : — 



Modinio (God), as well as man. with all the different species of 

 animals, came out of a hole in a cave in the Rakone country, where, say 

 they, their footsteps are still in the indurated rock, wlu'ch was at that time 

 sand. Tn one of Mr. flamilton's early journeys, he records that a native 

 had informed him that the footsteps of Modinio were distinguished hv 

 bein^ without toes.* 



Amongst the Basutos the location of this cave is at a place 

 called Ntsuanatsatsi, on or near the Vaal River, where there 

 are three hills close together, but I never met anybody who 

 knew exactly where the place was. Ntsuanatsatsi simply means 

 sun-rising or east, and is the name of the place where the 

 Basutos say they originated themselves. It is therefore very 

 probably a legendary place. Similarly the Bechuanas speak of 

 the cave being in the Bakone country towards Lake Ngami, or 

 at Linchwe's town, or at Sechele's town, but none of my in- 

 formants had ever seen the place for themselves, so I suspect 

 it is equally as mythical as Ntsuanatsatsi. This tale is very wide- 

 spread, for a similar one to it occurs amongst the Akikuyu of 

 British East .Africa: 



Once there was a great hole with water in it ; the water was deep 

 in the centre and shallow at the sides. A man and his wife lived in the 

 shallow water. Then they came out of the water on to the dry land. 

 and journeyed to the Kikuyu country, which was all forest, and had 

 many children.! 



It may be asked is the big hole with its water a remnant 

 of the watery chaos in other cosmogonies. I asked the narrators 

 of the Bechuana stories how the aniiuals and man originated in 

 the cavern, or who made them and ])iit them there, or what they 

 were made of. But they could not exactly say, and thought it 

 must have been Modimo ((Tod) who made them. Neither could 



* Moffat : " Missionary Labours and Scenes in South .\frica,'' 262. 

 t Routledge : " With a Prehistoric People." 3Hx 



