SOUTH AFRICAN 



QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



SSCONS S£1B,Z11S. 



tto.l. OCTOBER— DECEMBER, 1833. Part 3. 



An Account of the Amakosae, a tribe of Cajfers adjoining 

 the Eastern Boundary of the Cape Colony. By IS. 

 Morgan, Esq. Assistant Staft'-Surgeon. — (Abridged.) 



[Concluded from page 48.] 



These people had neither flint nor steel before their inter- 

 course with the Enropeaiis, and their manner of knidling a 

 flame was by means of the friction of two sticks, one, of them 

 was pointed at the end, and the other had a small hollow made 

 in the side to receive the point of the former. They held firmly 

 the stick that liad the cavity in the side on the ground with 

 their feet, and placed the point of the other in the cavity, then 

 turned it with their hands very smartly, pressing down firmly at 

 the same time, after the manner of milling chocolate ; a lighted 

 dust is produced by the friction, which is collected in some dry 

 grass, and woven about in the air until a flame is produced. 



No religion or form of worship exists among them, but they 

 appear to have some idea of the existence of a Supreme Beijig 

 who takes cognizance of their actions, and that he is not pleased 

 with evil ones. But whether he punishes or rewards in a future 

 state, or whether there exists such a state, I think they have 

 a very imperfect knowledge ; that they have some is most likely, 

 for they have an opinion that the spirits of departed persona 

 are for a long time after death wandering about their former 

 dwellings, and are at times visible. Among no people in the 

 world are ghost stories more implicitly believed than among 

 them. 



They do not worship a Supreme Being in any form, and 

 what idea they have of one appears to be that he is the 

 dispenser of evil to them. Several of their customs appear to 

 be the vestiges of a ceremonial worship for the purpose of 

 averting evil or appeasing the wrath of a Being who is actually 

 afflicting them. They appear now to personify iu their mind 

 every particular ill that comes among them, and to that evil, 

 as to a person, make their offerings. Thus when any- unusual 



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