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THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



storms, and other natural phenomena, or to anything 

 unexpected. But all Negroes seem to have a lively 

 faith in the existence of spirits, and generally regard 

 them as very numerous. Negroes refer to these 

 spirits in explanation of otherwise inexplicable events. 

 They believe that every natural agency has its own 

 individual spirit. Fetishism thus originates as a 

 form of Nature-worship, and is based on the attempt 

 to explain natural phenomena by attributing in- 

 dwelling spirits to all external natural agencies. 



Such worship soon leads to the use of material 

 objects as symbols of the various natural agents; 

 and, as Burton says, " Of course the symbol is con- 

 founded with the thing symbolised; and the statue 

 or picture, which the enlightened look upon as they 

 would a portrait or memento, becomes amongst the 

 vulgar an object of absolute worship." 



Thus Nature-worship gradually leads to the use 

 of fetishes and fetishism. But the Negro respect 

 for fetishes is due to the belief that they are the 

 abode of some spirit who can do its owner good or 

 harm. Fetishism varies greatly in the extent of its 



influence on different tribes. In East Africa it is less widespread and powerful than in West 

 Africa, where it is general; its priests have great authority, and its ceremonies are accompanied 

 by human sacrifices. 



The faith in spirits is the basis of the typical African judicial system ordeal by poison 

 or torture. The test is theoretically an appeal to the spirits to decide a case when the 

 elders of the tribe have not sufficient knowledge of the facts to give a verdict. 



The African Negroes may be divided into four groups. The Negroes living south of the 

 line from the mouth of the Juba on the east coast to the Rio del Rey near the mouth of the 

 Niger on the west coast are grouped together as the Bantu, on account of the general 

 resemblance between their languages. In West Africa, from the Rio del Rey to Senegambia, 

 are the Guinea Negroes, who are continued eastward by the Negroes of the Soudan, these being 

 much affected by Hamitic influences. Between the northern Negroes and the Bantu are a 

 group of Equatorial Negroes, including the Kikuyu, Niam-niam, Monbuttu, and Fans. The 

 fourth or Nilotic group occupies the upper basin of the Nile, and now extends south-east to 

 Kill ma Njaro, owing to the southern advance of the Masai. 



Photo by Mr. W. Ellerton Fry. 



KHAMA, CHIEF OF THE BAMANGWATO 

 BECHUANAS. 



b. THE BANTU AND HOTTENTOT NEGROES. 

 1. THE HOTTENTOTS. 



AT the period of the first European intercourse with South Africa the Hottentots were 

 one of the most powerful tribes in Cape Colony; but they, like their allies the Bushmen, 

 have been steadily losing ground under the pressure of other tribes and European colonists. 

 Now the Hottentots or, as they call themselves, the Khoi-Khoi are numerically unim- 

 portant, being confined to a few small areas in South-western Africa. Their numbers are 

 estimated at about 40,000, which, however, includes many half-breeds. They occur in Griqua- 

 land East, in Griqualand West and British Bechuanaland, in Namaqualand, and sporadically 

 in Cape Colony. They belong to four surviving clans the Namaqua on both sides of 

 the mouth of the Orange River, the Koraqua of the Vaal River and Upper Orange River, 

 the Griqua of Griqualand West around Kimberley, and the Gonaqua on the western borders 



