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UNKULUNKULU is no longer known.1 It is he who was the first man;2 he broke off3 in the p. 2 beginning.4 We do not know his wife; and the ancients do not tell us that he had a wife.5
We hear it said, that Unkulunkulu broke off6 the nations from Uthlanga.7
It is said he sent a chameleon; he said to it, "Go, Chameleon, go and say, Let not men die." The chameleon set out; it went slowly;8 it loitered in the way; and as it went, it ate of the fruit of a tree, which is called Ubukwebezane.9
At length Unkulunkulu sent a lizard10 after the chameleon, when it had already set out for some time. The lizard went; it ran and made great haste, for Unkulunkulu had said, "Lizard, when you have arrived, say, Let men die." So the lizard went, and said, "I tell you, It is said, Let men die." The lizard came back again to Unkulunkulu, before the chameleon had reached his destination, the chameleon which was sent first; which was sent, and told to go and say, "Let not men die."
At length it arrived and shouted, saying, "It is said, Let not men die!" But men answered, "O! we have heard the word of Abantu the lizard; it has told us the word, 'It is said, Let men die.' We cannot hear your word. Through the word of the lizard, men will die."11
Unkulunkulu gave men Amatongo;12 he gave them doctors for treating disease, and diviners; he gave them medicines to treat diseases occasioned by the Itongo.13 Unkulunkulu said, "If a man is being affected by the Itongo, you shall kill a bullock and laud the Itongo; the man will get well if he has been affected by the Itongo."
He said, "You will see also by night, you will dream; the Itongo will tell you what it is it wishes." He said, "It will also tell you the bullock it would have killed."
The Itongo dwells with the great man; he who dreams is the chief of the village; it says "Should you kill a bullock, the man will get well." The bullock which the Itongo mentions is killed; and although people were thinking that the man would die, he gets well; and so it is clear that the man was affected by the Itongo. The gall-bladder is taken from the bullock, and the man has the gall poured on him; they give praise and say, "In order that we may see that it is the Itongo, let us see him get well this very day; and at the very dawn of tomorrow eat meat; so we shall see that it is the Itongo. On the other hand, we shall not admit in our hearts that it is the Itongo; we shall say, it is disease only; there is no Itongo in his body. If we see that it is the Itongo, we shall see it by his getting well, and so we shall give thanks. Then we will kill many cattle, and laud the Itongo, and see that the Itongo of our house is good."
UGUAISE MDUNGA (an Ilala).
THE old men say that Unkulunkulu is Umvelinqangi,15 for they say he came out first; they say he is the Uthlanga from which all men broke off.16 The old men say that Unkulunkulu is;17 he made the first men, the ancients of long ago;18 the ancients of long ago died; there remained those who had been begotten by them, sons, by whom we hear that there were ancients of long ago who knew the breaking off of the world.19 They p. 8 did not know Unkulunkulu; they did not see him with their eyes; they heard it said that Unkulunkulu was. He came out where men broke off from Uthlanga. He begat the ancients of long ago; they died and left their children; they begat others, their sons, they died; they begat others; thus we at length have heard about Unkulunkulu. It was our ancestors who told us the accounts of Unkulunkulu and of the ancients of long ago.
Tell me if at the present time there are any who pray to Unkulunkulu?
There are none. They pray to the Amatongo; they honour them that they may come and save them.
Who are the Amatongo?
The Amadhlozi, men who have died; when they have died, they change again and become Amatongo, and crawl on their belly, and so the old men call a dead man so changed an Itongo. It is called a snake; Inyandezulu20 is the name of the snake.
When a man is ill, they go to a doctor to divine; and it is said, "The Amatongo have come to ask for cattle, that a bullock should be p. 9 killed." The flesh of the slaughtered bullock is put together in a hut, that the Amatongo may eat; the door is shut, and the people do not eat the meat at the time, but on the morrow. In the evening boys sleep in the hut and watch the meat. In the morning the flesh is boiled, and men assemble to eat the head. They then separate and go to their own villages; and those of the family where the bullock has been killed remain. Then the breast is boiled, which will be eaten by the chieftainesses and by the people of the family.
All the bones of the bullock are collected, and the owner of the cattle burns them, that wizards may not take them, and apply medicines to them and injure the man who was sick, and he become ill again.21
IT was said at first before the arrival of missionaries, if we asked, "By what were the stones made?"—"They were made by Umvelinqangi." It is said that we men came out of a bed of reeds,22 where we had our origin.23 p. 10 When we asked, "By what was the sun made?" they said, "By Umvelinqangi." For we used to ask when we were little, thinking that the old men knew all things which are on the earth; yet forsooth they do not know; but we do not contradict them, for neither do we know.
When we were with the Dutch they did not tell us that there is a Lord above; but they said that we black people should be burnt; and that we have no spirit,24 but are like a dog, which has no spirit.
The ancients used to say before the arrival of the missionaries, that all things were made by Umvelinqangi; but they were not acquainted with his name.25 But they lived by worshipping26 snakes; and they still worship them; they do not yet hear; and even now p. 11 when the missionaries speak, they say, "It is a fable; a plaything." They do not admit that what is spoken is the truth.
When they slaughter cattle, they first praise the snake, and then the bullock is killed. When it is killed they skin it; and a little of the fat27 is taken, and put in the upper part of the hut on a sherd; and fire is placed on it. When the flesh of the bullock burns, the Amatongo eat (if they do come to eat the flesh of a bullock). The flesh of the bullock is taken and put in a house. One man stays in the house where the flesh is put, for it is said the Amatongo will come and eat flesh. But in the morning we do not see where the Amadhlozi have eaten; we see the limbs of the bullock all there, and the meat that was on the sherd has not been eaten by any thing; it remains just as it was; we do not see any that has been eaten.
But when we ask, "What do the Amadhlozi eat? for in the morning we still see all the meat," the old men say, "The Amatongo lick it." And we are unable to contradict them; but are silent, for they are older than we, and tell us all things, and we listen; for we are told all things, p. 12 and assent without seeing clearly whether they are true or not.
When a snake comes into a house it is not killed; they say, "It is the Idhlozi of So-and-so," mentioning the name of a man who is dead; it is said the snake came out of him at his death. It is left, and remains always in the house. They take a goat and sacrifice it, sacrificing to the snake. No one sees it when it goes away.
When black men are on a journey they honour the snake. When a man is injured and gets well, he kills a bullock, for he thanks the Idhlozi, thinking that it has saved him. When a man obtains cattle also, he thanks the snake, thinking it is the snake which has given him many cattle.
A man whose father is dead, when he is about to kill a bullock, worships his father, praying him to look on him continually, and give him all that he wishes, and give him cattle and corn,—every thing.
When a man is ill, they enquire of diviners; the diviner comes and tells them to eat a bullock. And they eat a bullock, the diviner saying that the man will get well. If when they have eaten the bullock he does not get well, but dies, they say, "He is summoned by those who are beneath."28 They p. 13 say, "He has been killed by the Amadhlozi because they wish the man to go and dwell with them."
When anyone dies among black men, they lament very much and make a great noise. And when he is buried, all his things are taken, and a large fire kindled to burn them; not a single thing which he wore on his body is left; all is burnt, for they are afraid to wear the property of a dead man.
UFULATELA SITOLE.
IN the speech of black men, when a man does a wonderful thing which other men cannot do, or brings a bad matter to a good issue, men say, "Au! go to! the people of Unsondo29 do thus."
Or if the heaven rains excessively great torrents, and causes wonder, it is also constantly said, "How the heaven of Unsondo rains!"
And of the earth also, if it is hard to dig, it is said, "Au! how hard it is, the earth of Unsondo!"
Besides also, if there is a very handsome man, whom people like to make a wonder, they say, "Au! how beautiful he is, a man of Unsondo."30
Again, if an army goes out to invade another king, it is said of kings, "Au! No! they are kings of Unsondo, for in the time of first fruits and in the time of winter they lead out their army."
Again, men say it of women, for women have their characteristics, and the men say, "Au! No! Women of Unsondo."
So finally we hear that Unsondo is, as it were, a man by the saying which is used, "Unsondo died uttering this his last word, 'Those are men because they are so and so.'"31 Therefore we say that this p. 15 Unsondo is the same as Unkulunkulu, who, we say, died; on account of that saying, "Unsondo died uttering his last word," it is he indeed, and not another.
But some say that Unsondo is nothing more than the last word of a matter; it has no allusion to a fact; but the use of this saying sets at naught that word of theirs, and brings out a person.
But I have omitted one thing about this word Unsondo; we cannot say it had its origin in a particular tribe; it is a word which was in constant use when we were born; it is not a new word; it is very old; we do not know its age.
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
In illustration and confirmation of the above I insert the following. Returning from the Umzimkulu with a young Ibakca for my guide, I availed myself of the opportunity to discover whether there existed among the Amabakca the same traditions as among the Amazulu. I therefore requested him to tell me what he knew about the tradition of the chameleon. He told me the ordinary tale, but instead of saying it was sent by Unkulunkulu, he said, "Kwa tunywa unwaba," There was sent a chameleon. I enquired by whom it was sent. He replied, "By Unsondo."—"And who was he?"—"He was he who came out first at the breaking off of all things (ekudabukeni kwezinto zonke)."—"Explain what you mean by ekudabukeni."—"When this earth and all things broke off from Uthlanga."—"What is Uthlanga?"—"He who begat (zala) Unsondo."—"You do not mean then a reed, such as those in that bed of reeds in the valley?"—"No; but Uthlanga who begat Unsondo."—"Where is he now?"
"O, he exists no longer. As my grandfather no longer exists, he too no longer exists; he died. p. 16 When he died, there arose others, Unsondo who were called by other names. Uthlanga begat Unsondo; Unsondo begat the ancestors; the ancestors begat the great grandfathers; the great grandfathers begat the grandfathers; and the grandfathers begat our fathers; and our fathers begat us."32
"Are there any who are called Uthlanga now?"—"Yes."—"Are you married?"—"Yes."—"And have children?"—"Yebo. U mina e ngi uthlanga." (Yes. It is I myself who am an uthlanga.)—"Because you have become the father of children?"—"Yes; I am an uthlanga on that account." As he said this he tapped himself on his breast.
BUT for my part I say they speak truly33 who say that Unkulunkulu is named Umvelinqangi. But as for what they say respecting his having a wife, I have not heard of it. What I have heard is this, that men sprang from Unkulunkulu, as if he made them because he existed (before them);34 it was not said that Unkulunkulu had a wife. This is what we know.
And as regards worship, they speak truly who say, he was not p. 17 worshipped;35 and I agree with them. For it is not worship, when people see things, as rain, or food, such as corn, and say, "Yes, these things were made by Unkulunkulu." But no such word has come to them from him as this, "I have made for you these things that you might know me by them." He made them that men might eat and see them and nothing more. Afterwards they had power to change those things, that they might become the Amatongo's. They took them away from Unkulunkulu.36
At first we saw that we were made by Unkulunkulu. But when we were ill we did not worship him, nor ask any thing of him. We worshipped those whom we had seen with our eyes, their death and their life amongst us. So then we began to ask all things of the Amadhlozi, whether corn, p. 18 or children, or cattle, or health. By that it began to be evident that Unkulunkulu had no longer a son37 who could worship him; there was no going back to the beginning, for people increased, and were scattered abroad, and each house had its own connections; there was no one who said, "For my part I am of the house of Unkulunkulu."
To us black men Unkulunkulu is as a stalk of maize. It may produce the ear, it be plucked, and the stalk be left, and decay in the place where it grew; the grains of the cob are Onkulunkulu of houses, which now worship those only of their own family according to the order of their growth on the cob.38 It is on this account that the praise-giving names of Unkulunkulu are lost.
And the King which is above39 we did not hear of him [first] from whitemen. In summer time, when it thunders, we say, "The king is playing."40 And if there is one who is afraid, the elder people say to him, "It is nothing but fear. What thing belonging to the king have you eaten?" This is why I say, that the Lord of whom we hear through you, we had already heard of before you came.
But he is not like that Unkulunkulu who, we say, made all things. But the former we call a king, for we say, he is above. Unkulunkulu is beneath; the things which are beneath were made by him. We said nothing about that king which is above but that which we say to a man who is afraid, "What have you injured which belongs to the king?" We know that he who has sinned against him is struck by him;41 p. 20 but we know nothing that can save us from being smitten. Neither do we see in what respect we have sinned either in his sight or in that of Unkulunkulu. We say, "We are righteous, for all that we do we were permitted to do by Unkulunkulu."42
And as regards that heavenly king whom we knew because the heaven thundered, saying, "The king is playing," we do not say also that he springs from Unkulunkulu. We say that Unkulunkulu was first; we do not know what belongs to that king. There remained43 that word only about the heaven; we know nothing of his mode of life, nor of the principles of his government. His smiting is the only thing we knew, because we said to a man who was afraid, "Why are you afraid when the king is playing for his own pleasure? What sin have you done in his sight?" That is all. There is no connection between our knowledge of Unkulunkulu and of him. For we can give some account of what belongs to Unkulunkulu; we can scarcely give any account of what belongs to the heavenly king. We know p. 21 much of what belongs to Unkulunkulu, for he was on this earth, and we call give an account of matters concerning him. The sun and moon we referred to Unkulunkulu together with the things of this world; and yonder heaven we referred to Unkulunkulu. But we did not say that the heaven belonged to this king, although he dwells there; for we said all was made by Unkulunkulu.
It is not proper, because we now hear from you about that king of heaven, that we should begin to say all is his [as though that belonged to our original opinions];44 that knowledge is theirs who tell us; for our parts, we used not to say that the king of heaven made all things, we said that Unkulunkulu alone made them. And we black men, although some missionaries tell us that this king and that Unkulunkulu is the same, did not say that Unkulunkulu was in heaven; we said, he came to be,45 and died; that is all we said.
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
WHEN black men say Unkulunkulu or Uthlanga or the Creator they mean one and the same thing. But what they say has no point; it is altogether blunt.46 For there is not one among black men, not even the chiefs themselves, who can so interpret such accounts as those about Unkulunkulu as to bring out the truth, that others too may understand what the truth of the matter really is. But our knowledge does not urge us to search out the roots of it; we do not try to see them; if any one thinks ever so little, he soon gives it up, and passes on to what he sees with his eyes; and he does not understand the real state of even what he sees. Such then is the real facts as regards what we know about Unkulunkulu, of which we speak. We say we know what we see with our eyes; but if there are any who see with their hearts, they can at once make manifest our ignorance of that which we say we see with our eyes and understand too.
As to our primitive condition and what was done by Unkulunkulu we cannot connect them with the course of life on which we entered when he ceased to be. p. 23 The path of Unkulunkulu, through our wandering, has not, as it were, come to us; it goes yonder whither we know not.
But for my part I should say, if there be any one who says he can understand the matters about Unkulunkulu, that he knows them just as we know him, to wit, that he gave us all things. But so far as we see, there is no connection between his gift and the things we now possess. So then if any one says he knows all about Unkulunkulu, meaning that he knows them by means of what we see, I should say it would be well for him to begin where we begin, and travel by the path we know until he comes to us; for we say, Unkulunkulu, the First Out-comer, gave us all things, and that he gave them to us and also made us men, in order that we should possess the things which he made for us.47
I say then that there is not one amongst us who can say that he knows all about Unkulunkulu; p. 24 for we say, "Truly we know nothing but his name; but we no longer see his path which he made for us to walk in;48 all that remains is mere thought about the things which we like;49 it is difficult to separate ourselves from these things, and we make him a liar, for that evil which we like of our own accord, we adhere to with the utmost tenacity." If any one says, "It is not proper for you to do that; if you do it you will disgrace yourself;" yet we do it, saying, "Since it was made by Unkulunkulu, where is the evil of it?"
Just as we married many wives saying, "Hau! we cannot deny ourselves as regards the abundance50 which Unkulunkulu has given us: let us do just what we like." And if we wish to enter into sin, we enter into it in his name, and are like people who are in possession of his word; but we do not really possess it, but do our own will only, doing it in his name; but we have no union with Unkulunkulu, nor with that which he wished we should do by creating us.
We black men could not see the greatness of Unkulunkulu, nor that he loved us by creating us. And we worship51 him when we eat and are filled, or when we get drunk, or do our own will in matters in which we love to have our own will; and are now like children who have no father or mother, who have their own wills about things which they would not do, if their father and mother were still living; but they do it, for they imagine they are in a wilderness where no one can see them.
This is the way in which we worship Unkulunkulu. When any one would find fault with us, asking us why we do so-and-so, we should say to him at once, "But since you say it is not proper that this thing should be done, why did Unkulunkulu create what is evil?" And the other is silent. That is how we worship him. We do not worship him by praying Unkulunkulu to keep us ever in his path, that we might never forget it; but we now worship him by drunkenness and a greedy pursuit of those things which we do by our own wickedness.52
But there are no praise-giving names with which we praise him similar to the great number of them, with which we praise the Amadhlozi. For my part, then, if any one says, "Yes, if you seek the path of Unkulunkulu, I am still acquainted with it," I should say, "O, the matter, forsooth, is now set in order, now we shall see where we separated frum Unkulunkulu; and perceive too what we meant by saying, 'Unkulunkulu made these things because they are good.'"
For my part I say that Unkulunkulu is no longer like the Creator, for we sin in his name, and maintain that he made all evil for us; but it is not so, but it now appears to be so, because it is now difficult to separate ourselves from those things, and we are helped by saying, "O, it is no matter, although they say I have done wrong; but I say Unkulunkulu was unable to create what is evil, and although they say it is evil, it is really good."
This, then, is what I maintain, if any one says he understands all about Unkulunkulu. I say all men would be glad to go to the man who says this to see him and to hear him; for in process of time we have come to worship the Amadhlozi only, because we knew p. 27 not what to say about Unkulunkulu; for we do not even know where we separated from him, nor the word which he left with us. It is on that account then that we seek out for ourselves the Amadhlozi, that we may not always be thinking about Unkulunkulu, saying, "Unkulunkulu has left us;" or, "What has he done for us?"
So we made for ourselves our own Amadhlozi, and others made theirs for themselves, and others theirs for themselves. And now we have turned the back one on the other; and no one says, "Spirit of such a family." But all now say, "Spirit of our family, of such a tribe, look on me." Such then is our condition.
And as regards the Amadhlozi we do not possess the truth; for as regards the men we worship, we worship men who, when they too were departing from the world, did not wish to depart, but were very unwilling to depart, worrying us excessively, telling us to go and seek doctors for them, and that we wished them to die. And we go to the doctors with sorrowful countenances on account of the words with which they have pierced our hearts. And when one has died we begin to weep and to throw ourselves on the ground to p. 28 show that we are sorrowful; we do not wish him to leave us; neither did he wish to leave us. But we have been separated by death.
And on the morrow after the day of our funeral lamentation, if there arise some little omen,53 we say, "Just let us go to the diviner and hear of him, since this thing has happened, for yesterday we buried So-and-so."54 And it is said by the knowing ones, "O, that So-and-so, whom you buried yesterday, says so-and-so." And we begin to worship him, although the day before we wept and did not see55 that he had gone to unite with the rest of the dead, that they might make a strong rampart around us which shall not be penetrated even by death. For we say that death is in the power of the Amadhlozi, and if they do not wish, it cannot enter. And that too we say merely; we do not thoroughly understand it; if we seek thoroughly to comprehend it, we do not succeed, for the men p. 29 whom we say are our defenders were conquered by disease; and we say they are our rampart to protect us from death, who have themselves left the world, not wishing to leave it; they were dragged away by the power of death; and they did not tell us not to weep for them, because they were about to make a rampart around us to preserve us from death. They too died against their wish.
But when we sacrifice to them and pray that a certain disease may cease, and it does not cease, then we begin to quarrel with them, and to deny their existence. And the man who has sacrificed exclaims, "There are no Amadhlozi; although others say there are; but for my part I say that the Amadhlozi of our house died for ever; there is not even one left; we just take care of ourselves; there is not a single Idhlozi who helps us."
And it is thus to the present time; we acknowledge them and deny their existence; we still walk between the two opinions; there is not as yet any certainty; we are constantly making fruitless efforts; when we are prosperous we say, "There are Amadhlozi;" if we are in trouble we say, "There are not. We owe life to ourselves alone; we are not helped by the Idhlozi."
So it is to the present time. If you ask of those who are in trouble, "So-and-so, how is it that I find you in this state, since you say you have Amadhlozi?" he may say in answer, "O, Son of So-and-so, just leave me alone; the Amadhlozi dwell with those who have them; as for me, I have no Idhlozi. I now see that there is a kind of Idhlozi that wishes a man to become poor, and make an end of his property."56 Thus it is said by those who believe in the Idhlozi, that it has no existence.57
If you pass onward to those who are in prosperity, you think perhaps that you shall hear one and the same word there too; but when you speak with them about the Idhlozi, you bring up old thoughts,58 and they speak to you about the excellence of the Idhlozi, and the assistance it has given them. You have come to a place p. 31 where there is great faith in the Idhlozi, and you begin to see that the people do not yet possess the very truth of the matter; for it is fulness which declares that the Itongo exists; whilst affliction says, it does not exist.59
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
THE old men say, "Unkulunkulu came into being,60 and gave being to man. He came out of a bed of reeds; he broke off from a bed of reeds." We children ask, "Where is the bed of reeds out of which Unkulunkulu came? Since you say there is a bed of reeds, in what country is it? For men have now gone into every country; in which of them is the bed of reeds from which Unkulunkulu broke off?" They say in answer, "Neither do we know; and there were other old men before us who said that neither did they know the bed of reeds which broke off61 Unkulunkulu." They say they speak the p. 32 truth in saying, there is a bed of reeds; but we say, there is not; for we do not know the land in which it is, of which they can say, it is in such and such a country. It is said, Unkulunkulu came into being, and begat men; he gave them being; he begat them.
We pray to Unkulunkulu, saying, "May our Unkulunkulu ever look upon us." [The Unkulunkulu] who begat our grandfathers. For he who begat my grandfather, is my great-great-grandfather; and he who begat my father's grandfather is Unkulunkulu, the first of our family.62
But here I am no longer speaking of that Unkulunkulu who came out of the bed of reeds; I am speaking of the Unkulunkulu who belonged to the generation preceding my great-great-grand-father. For all families have their great-great-grandfathers by their orders of succession, and their Onkulunkulu.
The old men say, "The bed of reeds still exists." But where is that bed of reeds? They do not say that Unkulunkulu, who sprang from the bed of reeds, still exists. p. 33 They say that Unkulunkulu, who sprang from the bed of reeds, is dead. They say, "We do not know where he is."
Utshange is the praise-giving name of our house; he was the first man of our family,—our Unkulunkulu, who founded our house. We pray to him, saying, Matshange!63 Ye people of the house of Utshange!" We pray to him for anything we wish to have; we and all of the family of Utshange pray to him. If we wish to have cattle, we say, "Ye people of our house."64 [And if you pray thus] you will get cattle. We say, "Ye people of our house, people of the house of Utshange, people of the house of Udumakade!"
UNGQETO WAKWATSHANGE.
UMFEZI, a native living in the neighbourhood, called on me. I had never spoken to him on the subject of Unkulunkulu; I availed myself of the opportunity for gaining information. It was very difficult to write anything seriatim; I was therefore obliged to content myself by writing what I could, and remembering what I could.
He said, "'Unkulunkulu wa vela emhlangeni." Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds.
But he did not know where the bed of reeds was. But, "Wa vel’ enzansi," that is, by the sea; that is, the bed of reeds from which he sprang was by the sea-side. He also said, "Kwa dabuka abantu, p. 34 be datshulwa Unkulunkulu." Men broke off, being broken off by Unkulunkulu. He added,
Some men say that they were belched up by a cow.65 Others that they sprang from a stone66 which split in two and they came out. Unkulunkulu split them out of a stone.
When asked if they prayed to Unkulunkulu, he replied,
There are none who pray to Unkulunkulu. They pray to their own people only.
I enquired what they said about thunder; he said,
We say, "O Lord, what have we destroyed? What sin have we done? We have done no sin."
He also related the following legend of the manner in which Amabele (native corn) was introduced as an article of food:—
The first woman that Unkulunkulu produced had a child before any of the rest. There was another woman who was jealous when she saw her with a child, and hated her and wished to poison her. She looked about her to find some plant possessed of poisonous properties; she saw the Amabele, which at that time was not cultivated, but grew like the grass. She plucked the seeds, and gave them to the woman. She watched, expecting to see her die; but she did not die, as she had hoped, but grew plump, and better-looking than ever. At length she asked her if the Amabele was nice. She replied, "Nice indeed!" And from that time the women cultivated Amabele, and it became an article of food.
THE next legend gives an account of the mode in which men first became acquainted with food, and of two female Onkulunkulu; the two following give—the first an account of the origin of medicines, and the second of two male Onkulunkulu.
I, UNOLALA,67 [say] that when I was still a very little child, I heard numerous old tales of our people. Unokqopoza said:
There were at first two women in a bed of reeds; one gave birth to a white man, and one to a black man. It is said that these two women were the Unkulunkulu68 of the primitive men. And as regards that bed of reeds, we enquired of him, but he did not say, it is in such a place; but he said, "I too heard it of the old men; no man knows the situation of that bed of reeds." Further, we children who are the offspring of men of old were not like those of the present time, who worry themselves with finding out knowledge: for our parts we used not to question a great man; when he told us a tale we used just to listen because we were fools; we now see that which we ought to have enquired about, but about which we did not enquire because of our folly.
And those women gave birth to p. 36 children, there being no food which was eaten. They saw corn, and maize, and pumpkins; they were all ripe. One of the women took a pumpkin and boiled it, and gave her child a mouthful, not regarding it as food, but poison, and thinking perhaps he would die at once, and no longer worry her without ceasing by his crying, when he was crying for food. But the pumpkin fattened the child; and the other woman looked and said, "O, forsooth, we thought it was nothing but poison, and in fact it was food." Thus then it became known that corn and maize and pumpkins are food. They ate them and became fat. They harvested them and hoarded them and were helped.
UNOLALA ZONDI.
ONCE on a time in the beginning, a woman said, "Let us go and cut reeds." Another said when they were cutting reeds, "What is this? And of what is this the path?" A man appeared and said, "It is ours." He said this, he being still in the pool, in the water. Another said, "You ask of us: do you not know us? We are just living here in our kraal." They asked, "Of what nation are you?" He replied, "We are the people of p. 37 Uzimase." "Who is your king?" "Usango-li-ngenzansi."70 "Come up then. But why are you living underground, since people are now living above?" They said, "We are living here with our medicines." "What do you do with them?" "We administer medicines to kings." So the women went away to tell the king. They said, "Behold, there are men. They say they are the people of Uzimase. They say they administer medicines to kings. They say the man who goes to fetch them must take fat, and burn it on the bank of the pool. Uzimase will not come up with his medicines if fat is not burnt."
So the king went with an ox, and it was slaughtered at that place, and the fat was burnt. And so Uzimase came up with his medicines, and administered medicines among kings.
When he went to dig up medicines, he put on a petticoat, fearing to expose himself to women. But on his appearance, the people who came up first said, "This little petticoat has at length come." Our people said in reply, "These little picks are living above."71 So p. 38 there was a dispute about medicines between those who came up from below and those who were already above. Our people were called, "People of the little petticoat." And they called them, "People of the pick."
They were begotten by a man; that man was Umbala. They separated from each other; and so we went in one direction, and some in another.
I say, then, that Uzimase is the Unkulunkulu of our tribe. I do not know another72 Unkulunkulu of all men. But the Unkulunkulu of our tribe was derived from Uthlanga, from whence all people were derived. Some say in answer to our enquiries, Uthlanga was of many colours; they say, "He was white on one side, on the other black; and on another side he was covered with bush." So we say, "Perhaps they spoke of the hairiness of his body, and so called it bush."73 And people say that he too gave them existence by begetting them.
USHUNGUIWANE ZIMASE.
SOME say, one Unkulunkulu came from beneath; and another descended from above in a fog. They did not understand him who came down in a fog. They say he was altogether white. They say, "There descended Ungalokwelitshe."74 They say, those who were beneath started on seeing him. He said, "Why do you start at me, since I too am a man, and resemble you?" They say, cattle were taken at the place where he descended, and they slaughtered them for him; but they say he did not eat them; he ate that which he brought with him. He stayed there a long time. Another fog came, and he disappeared, and they saw him no more.
I heard this tale from Umadigane, Umdutshane's grandfather, the great chief of the Amabakca. I used to be his chief servant.
USHUNGUIWANE ZIMASE.
TWO natives, perfect strangers to me both, came up as I was asking Umpengula some questions on the subject of the previous statements. They overheard what I was saying, and asked, "Are you talking about the origin of men?" I replied that was the subject of our conversation, and asked if they could tell us any thing about it. The elder of them replied, "Ba vela emhlangeni," They sprang from a bed of reeds.
I asked what he knew of Unkulunkulu; he replied,
p. 40He gave origin to men, he too having had an origin given75 him from a bed of reeds.
I asked, "Wa vezwa ubani na?" Who gave him an origin? He said he did not know; and added,
Unkulunkulu told men saying, "I too sprang from a bed of reeds."76
I asked how men were produced, and got for a reply only a repetition of the statement that they sprang from a bed of reeds.—I asked if he had heard anything of a woman; he replied,
Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds, and a woman (a wife) sprang from the bed of reeds after him. They had one name, viz., Unkulunkulu.77
I then took him to my study, and wrote the following at his dictation:—
WE heard it said Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds. There first appeared a man, who was followed by a woman. Both are p. 41 named Unkulunkulu. The man said, "You see us because we sprang from the bed of reeds," speaking to the people who came into being after him. It is said all men sprang from Unkulunkulu, the one who sprang up first.78
It is said Unkulunkulu had his origin in a valley where there was a bed of reeds in this world. And men sprang from Unkulunkulu by generation.
Umvelinqangi is the same as Unkulunkulu. The earth was in existence first, before Unkulunkulu as yet existed. He had his origin from the earth in a bed of reeds.
All things as well as Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds,—every thing, both animals and corn, every thing, coming into being with Unkulunkulu.
He looked on the sun when it was finished,79 and said, "There is a torch which will give you light, that you may see." He looked on the cattle and said, "These are cattle. Be ye broken off,80 and see the cattle; and let them be your food; eat their flesh and their milk." He looked on wild animals and said, "That is such an p. 42 animal. That is an elephant. That is a buffalo." He looked on the fire and said, "Kindle it, and cook, and warm yourself; and eat meat when it has been dressed by the fire." He looked on all things and said, "So-and-so is the name of every thing."
THERE sprang up a man and a woman. The name of both was Unkulunkulu. They sprang from a reed, the reed which is in the water. The reed was made by Umvelinqangi. Umvelinqangi caused grass and trees to grow; he created all wild animals, and cattle, and game, and snakes, and birds, and water, and mountains.
He made a reed;82 the reed p. 43 gave origin to Unkulunkulu and p. 44 his wife. Unkulunkulu begat primitive men. Unkulunkulu said, "I, Unkulunkulu, and my wife are the offspring of Umvelinqangi; he begat us with a reed, it being in the water.83 At his origin he said, "We will fight and stab each other with spears, that the strongest may be manifest who overcomes the other; and he who overcomes the other shall be the great king; and he who is overcome shall be the dependent. And all people shall wait upon him who is the king who overcomes the other."
Umvelinqangi was a man who begat Unkulunkulu by a reed whilst it was in the water, and who begat his wife.
UNSUKUZONKE MEMELA.
THE ancients did not say there is a Lord in heaven. As for Unkulunkulu, we do not know that he left any word for man. We worship the Amatongo. The word of Unkulunkulu which we reverence is that which says there are Amatongo.
It is as though we sprang from Uthlanga; we do not know where we were made. We black men had the same origin as you, whitemen. But we black men at our origin were given cattle, and picks for digging with the arms, and weapons of war. It was said, "It is enough; you shall now shift for yourselves." So we departed, and came in this direction. You whitemen staid behind with all good things and with laws also which we did not possess.
We used to hear it said by our fathers, they too having heard of others, that a man first came into being; and then a woman after him. After that a cow came into being; it appeared walking with a bull. After that a female dog, and after her a dog;84 and after that all the little animals, and elephants; all came into being in pairs.
After that corn came into being. When the corn had come to perfection, the man said to the woman, "That which you now see, true85 woman, is something for us to eat. We shall eat at once. Behold corn."
The woman asked, saying, "In what way shall it be eaten?" The man replied, "Since you see it growing thus, let it be cut. Take a rod, and thrash it; find a stone, and then find a second that it may be an upper stone."86
He said, "There is clay; take it and mould it, and pour water into the vessel."
For his work, he cut down a small tree, the uluzi; and obtained fire by friction. He said, "Make a fire; we can now cook." The food when cooked was taken out of the pot, and put into a vessel. And so they ate, and said, "We shall never die if we eat this corn."
He told the cattle to eat grass; and he told game the same, pointing out to them the same grass. And he told them not to remain all at home.87
On the day the first man was created he said, as to what happened to them in the bed of reeds, that they did not see their own creation. When he and his wife first saw, they found themselves crouching in a bed of reeds, and saw no one who had created them.
As regards the bed of reeds, on p. 47 the day they came into being, it swelled,88 and when it had burst they came out. After that there broke off the uthlanga89 of cattle and of all other animals.
UGXUMELA.
UKOTO, a very old Izulu, one of the Isilangeni tribe, whose father's sister, Unandi, was the mother of Utshaka, gave me the following accounts:—
I SAY for my part that the Unkulunkulu whom we know is he who was the father of Utshaka; Usenzangakona was Utshaka's father. After Usenzangakona comes Utshaka. Utshaka had no children. After him Udingane was made king. After that they killed Udingane, and made Umpande king to this day, those two kings, Utshaka and Udingane, having no children.
Ujama was the father of Usenzangakona, the father of the Utshakas; it is he who is Unkulunkulu.90 There are p. 49 Omvelinqangi.91 We used to hear of Undaba,92 the son of Ukubayeni. They Ujama. were the ancestors of Ujama.
As it was quite clear that he understood my question on the subject of Unkulunkulu to have reference to the names of the immediate ancestors of the Amazulu, I asked him if he knew anything about the first man. He replied:—
It was said that two people came out of a reed.93 There came out a man and a woman. At their word94 there came out all those works which we see, both those of cattle and of food,—all the food which we eat.
He said he did not know their names.—I asked what the natives said of a Creator. He answered:—
When we were children it was said, "The Lord is in heaven." We used constantly to hear this when we were children; they used to point to the Lord on high; we did not hear his name; we heard only that the Lord is on high. We heard it said that the creator of the world95 is the Lord which is above. When I was growing up it used to be said, the creator of the world is above; people used always to point towards heaven.
UKOTO MHLONGO.
UNGWADI, Ujani, Umasumpa, Umatiwana, Uzikali, our father. Ungwadi is Unkulunkulu. Ujani was the father of Umasumpa. Umasumpa was the father of Umatiwana. Umatiwana was the father of Uzikali. Uzikali had many children. He had Ungazana and Umfundisi. We do not know others. Unzwadi was the father of Uswanalibomvu. Uswanalibomvu was the father of Ungabazi.
All nations have their own Unkulunkulu. Each has its own. The Unkulunkulu of our tribe is Ungenamafu and Uluthlongwana and Usangolibanzi.96 At last men said "King" to Umatiwana, in whose house the Onkulunkulu of our tribe were born.97 At their birth they handled spears that they might be thrown, and we eat each other's cattle. They sprang from the Umdabuko.98 The Umdabuko p. 52 is he who gave us all things, and gave us shields also to carry.
ULUDONGA (an Ingwane).
IN the neighbourhood there is a very old woman, with whom I had some casual conversation which appeared to be calculated to throw some light on their traditions; I therefore sent Umpengula to obtain from her a connected statement. On his return he related the substance of her remarks as follows:—
THE mother of Ubapa says:—At first, that is, when Utshaka was a man and was entering into the kingdom; we girls were beginning to marry at that time; I used continually to hear it said that the corn which we eat sprang from a bed of reeds; there was a bed of reeds; when it was ripe it was red. And people saw constantly a beautiful thing in the bed of reeds. At length they said, "Just let us taste what kind of a thing this is." They plucked it, and ate it, and said, "O, forsooth, it is good, it is food." So it was taken home99 and cultivated.
When we spoke of the origin of corn, asking, "Whence came this?" the old people said, "It came from the creator who created all things. But we do not know him." When we asked continually, p. 53 "Where is the creator? For our chiefs we see?"100 the old men denied, saying, "And those chiefs too whom we see, they were created by the creator."
And when we asked, "Where is he? for he is not visible at all. Where is he then?" we heard our fathers pointing towards heaven and saying, "The Creator of all things is in heaven. And there is a nation of people there too." But we could not well understand when that Creator would be visible. It used to be said constantly, "He is the chief of chiefs."1
Also when we heard it said that the heaven had eaten2 the cattle at such a village, we said, "The Lord has taken the cattle from such a village." And when it thundered the people took courage by saying, "The Lord is playing." That was the state of the matter till we grew up.
But as for Unkulunkulu, Ubapa's mother did not mention him of her own accord. But I tried to direct her attention to him, that she might speak of him of her p. 54 own accord.3 But I could not get her to mention him of her own p. 55 accord. At length I mentioned the name of Unkulunkulu; and she understood and said, "Ah! it is he in fact who is the creator which is in heaven, of whom the ancients spoke." But Ubapa said, "No! she now begins to speak at cross purposes. She did not say this to the Missionary yesterday. She said Unkulunkulu was from beneath. But now she says he was from above." And she said, "Yes, yes!4 he went up to heaven afterwards." She left the first account, and began to say, "Truly Unkulunkulu is he who is in heaven. And the whitemen, they are the lords who made all things."
UBEBE, who related the following, was a very old man, belonging to the Amantanja tribe. He had seen much. His people were scattered by the armies of Utshaka, and he showed four wounds, received at different times:—
THE chief5 enquires then what our forefathers believed.
The primitive faith of our fathers was this, they said, "There is Unkulunkulu, who is a man,6 who is of the earth." And they used to say, "There is a lord in heaven." When it hailed, and thundered, they said, "The lord is arming; he will cause it to hail. Put things in order."7 They p. 57 said this to our mothers, and they set all things in order, cattle and corn.
And when the lord played by thundering they said, if there was any one afraid, "Why do you start, because the lord plays? What have you taken which belongs to him?"
It was said, Unkulunkulu said, "Let there be men, and let them cultivate food and eat." And the grass was created by Unkulunkulu, and he told the cattle to eat. He said, "Let firewood be fetched, that a fire may be kindled, and food be dressed." Unkulunkulu said, "Let there be marriage among men,8 that there may be those who can intermarry, that children may be born and men increase on the earth." He said, "Let there be black chiefs; and the chief be known by his people, and it be said, 'That is the chief: assemble all of you and go to your chief.'"
We do not know the origin of Unkulunkulu. We hear it said, "Men are the children of Unkulunkulu." Our fathers used to p. 58 say, "Unkulunkulu is he who begat men by Uthlanga.9 We do not know whence Uthlanga came; or whether Unkulunkulu and Uthlanga both came from one Uthlanga or not. We do not know whether Uthlanga was a woman, for our fathers said we were begotten by Unkulunkulu.10
We used to ask our fathers about Unkulunkulu, saying, "Where is Unkulunkulu of whom you speak?" They said, "He is dead, and Uthlanga also is dead." Our fathers said, "We were told that we are the children11 of Unkulunkulu and Uthlanga. And our fathers told us they were told."
Unkulunkulu was a black man, for we see that all the people from whom we sprang are black, and their hair is black. They circumcised because Unkulunkulu said, "Let men circumcise, that they may not be boys." And Unkulunkulu also circumcised, for he commanded us to circumcise.
As to the source12 of being I know that only which is in heaven. The ancient men said, "The source of being is above,13 which gives life to men; for men are satisfied, and do not die of famine, for the lord gives them life, that they may live prosperously on the earth and not die of famine.
If it does not rain, the heads of villages and petty chiefs assemble and go to a black chief; they converse, and pray for rain. Their praying is this:—The heads of villages select some black oxen;14 there is not one white among them. They are not slaughtered; they merely mention them; one is killed, the others are left. It was said at first, the rain came from the lord, and that the sun came from him, and the moon which gives a white light during the night, that men may go and not be injured. If there is no moon, it is said, "Let not men go, it is dark; they will injure themselves."
If lightning struck cattle, the people were not distressed.15 It used to be said, "The lord has slaughtered for himself among his own food. Is it yours? is it not the lord's? He is hungry; he kills for himself." If a village is struck with lightning, and a cow killed, it is said, "This village will be prosperous." If a man is struck and dies, it is said, "The lord has found fault with him."
UBEBE.
Having requested Umpengula to ascertain from Ubebe the meaning of Umdabuko more exactly, be made the following report:—
I HAVE done as you directed, Teacher, and asked of Ubebe what p. 61 men meant by the word Umdabuko, when they say, "The Umdabuko of men." He replied, "When we say Umdabuko we speak of that16 from which men sprang; and because they sprang from that, we say, 'The Umdabuko of men.' Further, as regards that lord who is above, I never heard our fathers say he had a mother or wife. I never heard such a thing. It is Unkulunkulu only of whom it was said he gave men origin by means of Uthlanga,17 and so we said, the Umdabuko is Uthlanga."
I REQUESTED Umpengula to enquire of Unjan, of the Abambo tribe, a petty chief, who came to the village, what he knew about Unkulunkulu. He reported the following:—
WHEN I asked him, saying, "Unjan, what do you say about that Unkulunkulu, of whom we black men used to talk?" he replied, "Him who, we said, made all things?"18 I replied, "Yes. I enquire p. 62 that I might know what has always been the truth about him." He said, "Yes, yes! Do you not understand that we said Unkulunkulu made all things that we see or touch?" I said, "Yes! Just go on. I am listening for the conclusion." And he said, "Although it was said he made all things, yet for my part I see that it was said,19 he was an old man of ours, a man like us; for we did not point to any place where he was, but said he was a man who came into being first of all other men, who was older than all of us, Umvelinqangi. So then I see that by our word we said Unkulunkulu made all things, but we know not whence he sprang." I asked, "Where is he now?" He said, "O, he is dead." I asked, "Where is he gone?" He replied, "We too used to ask, and it was answered, 'he is dead.' But by that it is evident that all things were not made by a man, who is now dead; they were made by one who now is."20
And when I enquired, saying, "Do not your teachers21 tell you that the lord which is in heaven is Unkulunkulu?" he replied with a p. 63 start, "Hau! by no means. I never heard such a word, neither did I ever hear them even mention the name. It is your teacher22 alone with whom I have ever spoken about it."
The next day I asked him myself, when he made the following statement:—
The ancients said that it was Unkulunkulu who gave origin to men, and every thing besides, both cattle and wild animals. They said it was an ancient man who gave origin to these things, of whom it is now said that ancient man is lord; it is said, he is the Lord which is above.23 We have now heard from you that the Lord which is in heaven is he who made everything. The old men said that Unkulunkulu was an ancestor and nothing more, an ancient man who begat men, and gave origin to all things.
ULANGENI, an old Ikxosa, but one living at a mission-station, paid us a visit. I went to him and enquired of him what he knew about Unkulunkulu, because I saw he was a very old man. When I entered the house where Ulangeni p. 64 was, I enquired of him, saying, "My father, help me in the matter of Utikxo, and tell me where Utikxo is said to be? And whether the word came into use after the arrival of the missionaries?"
And Ulangeni answered, "No; the word Utikxo is not a word we learnt of the English; it is an old word of our own. It used to be always said when a man sneezed, 'May Utikxo ever regard me with favour.'"24
Then I asked, "Since you merely used the word Utikxo, what did you mean? Since what is very truth about him you knew not, what did you mean?" He replied, "As regards the use of Utikxo, we used to say it when it thundered, and we thus knew that there is a power which is in heaven; and at length we adopted the custom of saying, Utikxo is he who is above all. But it was not said that he was in a certain place p. 65 in heaven; it was said he filled the whole heaven. No distinction of place was made."25
I asked, "By what name did the Hottentots call God?" He said, "Hau! what Hottentots do you mean?"26 I replied, "Those reddish Hottentots." He said, "I hear. But where were those people that they should use the word Utikxo? Is it not the fact that they used to live in the mountains; and were taken into the households of the Dutch, and so came to live among the people? Utikxo is not a Hottentot word. Every thing belonging to the Hottentots was thrown into confusion when they united with the Dutch. We have learnt nothing of them."
This, then, is what I heard of Ulangeni. So I enquired further, "Have you never heard of Unkulunkulu?" He replied, "I have for the most part heard Unkulunkulu mentioned when stones are thrown on an isivivane;27 when a p. 66 man throws a stone, he says, 'Generations of Unkulunkulu,' and passes on." So I said, "What p. 67 Unkulunkulu does he mean?" Ulangeni said in reply, "He means the first man before all other men, who was created by Utikxo first. And men saw him. Utikxo was concealed by Unkulunkulu, and was seen by no one; men saw Unkulunkulu, and said he was the creator of all things, Umvelinqangi; they said thus because they did not see Him who made Unkulunkulu. And so they said Unkulunkulu was God.28 This is what I know about Unkulunkulu."
I replied, "Yes, yes! Ulangeni. I see clearly that what you say accords with what I said. But further, your answer is the answer of a man on whom the sun has risen; for you see that which many do not regard in the least."
He said, "On the arrival of the English in this land of ours, the first who came was a missionary named Uyegana. On his arrival he taught the people, but they did p. 68 not understand what he said; he used to sleep in the open air, and not in a house; but when he saw a village he went to it, and although he did not understand the people's language, he jabbered constantly to the people, and they could not understand what he said. At length he went up the country, and met with two men—a Dutchman and a Hottentot; he returned with them, and they interpreted for him. We began to understand his words. He made enquiries amongst us, asking, 'What do you say about the creation of all things?' We replied, 'We call him who made all things Utikxo.' And he enquired, 'Where is he?' We replied, 'In heaven.' Uyegana said, 'Very well. I bring that very one29 to you of this country.' And there were two men, both men of consequence; one was named Unsikana, and the other Unxele. Both became believers. Unxele continued to live at his own village. Unsikana united with Uyegana, the missionary. These men began to dispute about the name Utikxo. Unxele said, 'Utikxo is beneath.' Unsikana denied, saying, 'No! Unxele. Utikxo is above. I see that he is above from whence power proceeds.'30 The two disputed on that subject, until at length Unxele p. 69 was overcome, for he said, 'He is beneath,' meaning Unkulunkulu when he said 'He is beneath.' But Unsikana said, 'No! Utikxo is in the high place.' At length the word Utikxo was universally accepted on the arrival of the missionaries. For we used to speak of the whole heaven, saying, 'Utikxo dwells in the whole heaven;' but did not clearly understand what we meant. But the faith of Unsikana is wonderful. We do not understand what it was like, for when he had refuted Unxele, he composed a great hymn for him, which he called 'The Hymn of God;' and to this day that hymn is a great treasure among the Amakxosa. It celebrates the great power of God.31 p. 70 And the man Unsikana did a wonderful thing at his death. He went with his son into the forest. When he entered the forest he sought for a large tree called the Umumbu; he found one and cut it down; he measured it by his own size; he carved it and made a box of it, and a cover for it, hollowing it so as to be equal to himself inside. When it was finished he carried it home; he assembled his children and said to them, 'My children, you see I have cut this tree, that when I am dead you may place me in it, and not look on my nakedness.' And in fact he died a few days after."
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
AS regards calling Unkulunkulu, when he is called by little children or by boys when they are herding cattle, he is called at the bidding of old people. I do not mean those who are really old, but those who are grown up more than others; they send children to go and call him. For there is no one who will say, "Why do you like to make sport with a relative of mine?32 Do you not know that p. 71 it is painful to me?" It is because the house of Unkulunkulu, which can feel pain for him, no longer exists. All the people who send children to go and call him, do so because they care nothing about him. That sport about Unkulunkulu springs from this. For if children ask who Unkulunkulu is, the old people answer, "Umvelinqangi, who made all things." But when they ask where is the place where he now is, they say, "He died, and we no longer know the place where he died, nor his grave. This only is what we know, that all these things which we have, he gave us." But there is no such conclusion as this come to, "The house which is descended from Unkulunkulu is the house of So-and-so."33
When the standing of Unkulunkulu is sought out, it terminates in the open plain, and makes no approach to houses which have followed him in succession till those men who now exist are reached.34
Such then, you see, is the calling of Unkulunkulu; it is as though he was the subject of a p. 72 mere nursery tale; he is not a fable indeed, though he may be like one; it is because he was the first man; before him there was not another man from whom we are derived; it is he who is the first among men; we stand this side of him. It is on that account that all children are told to go and call Unkulunkulu. They do not say, "Are we calling an Idhlozi? Do we call it for nothing? Do we not know that it will be angry and kill us?" There is no such thought as this about Unkulunkulu, that he is an Idhlozi. But if he is an Idhlozi, there is no one who can worship him when he kills a bullock; for he is not able to repeat his praise-giving names, as he can those of the Amadhlozi of his people which he knows. The name of Unkulunkulu has no respect paid to it among black men; for his house no longer exists. It is now like the name of a very old crone, which has no power to do even a little thing for herself, but sits continually where she sat in the morning till the sun sets. And the children make sport of her, for she cannot catch them and flog them, but only talk with her mouth. Just so is the name of Unkulunkulu when all the children are told to go and call him. He is now a means of making sport of children.
But it is not said he is nothing. He is really a man; but children are made sport of through him, when they are told to go and call him. For it is well known that he died. But it is this which makes it clear that he is the means of making a sport of children, for even the place where he died is not known even to the old men. But when children are sent, they are told to go yonder; or they say that he is here near at hand, or that he is at this very place. And children call and call again and again; but he cannot answer. They return to report that he does not answer. The people say, "Shout aloud; call him with a loud voice." When the children hear it said that they are to shout aloud, they shout aloud until they are hoarse, and their voice is scarcely audible; and they begin to see that they are deceived, and ask, "How is it that Unkulunkulu does not hear shrill words with which we first shouted? Now, how can he any longer hear, since we are now hoarse?" But because they have been told to shout, even though they are hoarse they cannot leave off shouting. The end of their shouting is this:—One of the bigger boys goes to call them, saying, "Come back now." He says this because the people have now finished what they wished to p. 74 do without the children. So the children return, and say, "He did not answer." The people reply, he is a great way off. It is now no longer of consequence."
By this shouting they do not worship Unkulunkulu. But the children, through their ignorance, shout with sincerity, for they think he will appear. But those who send them know that he will not. For a person who is shrewd among them cannot be sent to go and call Unkulunkulu; if he is told to go and call Unkulunkulu, he may say in reply, "If you wish to do something in private; or if you wish to eat that food of yours, which you do not wish me to see, or eat, tell me to go away to some other place; don't tell me to go and call Unkulunkulu, like children who know nothing." So old people are not sent.
The account of Unkulunkulu we now see in books, that is, it is coming near to us, whilst we ourselves used to say, "Unkulunkulu is the first man."35 We did not worship him, though we all sprang p. 75 from him. We worship our Onkulunkulu whom we know [by name]; we cannot worship him, for all of us in our childhood were deceived through him, when we were told to go and call him; we shouted and shouted; but he did not appear in the least. But now if a man tell us to worship Unkulunkulu, how shall we forsake these our own Onkulunkulu whom we do worship, and worship him by whom we have been deceived? We cannot assent.36 For if a man urge us to worship Unkulunkulu, the old sores of all of us will break out again, and we shall ask if the deception which was practised on us when young is brought up again. It is said, "Since we have grown up [in the presence of this deceit], have we now forgotten it? We still know that we were much deceived through him. I do not mean that we were deceived because the people thought he was nothing; I mean, we were deceived by being told to go and call him and he would appear; and if we are told to worship him and he will give us so-and so and so-and-so, p. 76 or health, it will still be like our being deceived.37
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
THE account which black men give white men of their origin.
It is said the black men came out first from the place whence all nations proceeded;38 but they did p. 77 not come out with many things; but only with a few cattle and a little corn, and assagais, and picks for digging with the arms, and some other things which they have; fire to kindle, that they might not eat raw food, but that which is cooked; and potters' earth is a thing which they know, to wit, if we temper earth, and make it a vessel, and leave it that it may dry; and when it is dry, burn it with fire, that it may be red; we know that although water be now poured into it, it will no longer fall to pieces, for it has now become strong; and wisdom which suffices to help ourselves when we are hungry, and to understand the time of digging, that it may not pass and we die of famine, through not knowing suitable and unsuitable times. Our little knowledge just sufficed for helping ourselves; we had no great knowledge.
So we came out possessed of what sufficed us, we thinking that we possessed all things, that we were wise, that there was nothing which we did not know. We lived boasting that we possessed all things.
But now when the white men have come with wagons, oxen are yoked, they being clothed in fine linen, being very wise, and doing things which for our parts we thought could not be done by man; about which we did not think in the least, that they could help us. We did not know that the ox was useful for many purposes; we used to say, the purpose of the cow is, that it should have calves, and we eat milk; and of the ox that we should kill it and eat flesh, and that was all. We knew no other purpose of cattle. When one is killed we prepare its skin, and make women's clothes, and blankets; and that is the whole purpose of the ox. We wondered when we saw oxen yoked into a wagon, which had goods in it, and go through the country, and go to a distance, there being nothing that is not in the wagon; and when the oxen are loosened, there comes out all the property of those men; we said, "Those are come who go about with a house." By house we meant the wagon.
That, then, made us wonder exceedingly. We saw that, in fact, we black men came out without a single thing; we came out naked; we left every thing behind, p. 79 because we came out first. But as for the white men, we saw that they scraped out the last bit of wisdom; for there is every thing, which is too much for us, they know; they know all things which we do not know; we saw that we came out in a hurry; but they waited for all things, that they might not leave any behind. So in truth they came out with them. Therefore we honour them, saying, "It is they who came out possessed of all things from the great Spirit;41 it is they who came out possessed of all goodness; we came out possessed with the folly of utter ignorance." Now it is as if they were becoming our fathers, for they come to us possessed of all things. Now they tell us all things, which we too might have known had we waited; it is because we did not wait that we are now children in comparison of them.
Therefore, as to their victory over us, they were not victorious by armies; they were victorious by sitting still—they sitting still and we too sitting still; we were overcome by their works, which make us wonder, and say, "These p. 80 men who can do such things, it is not proper that we should think of contending with them," as, if because their works conquer us, they would conquer us also by weapons.
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
THE white men came out from a great Itongo with what is perfect.
As regards the great Itongo which is spoken of by black men, they say that we black men at our origin came out with little things, which were merely sufficient for us to obtain food and to live; our wisdom was enough to enable us to help ourselves.
As regards, then, that little wisdom, whilst we black men were by ourselves we used not to think we had little wisdom; we thought we had great wisdom, which Unkulunkulu gave us. But now we say it is little, because we see the great wisdom of the white men which overshadows all our little wisdom in which we used to trust.
Further, we used not to say that there were those who remained behind when the nations broke off. We used to say, we came out all together. But now we see it was not so, but that we did not come out with any thing which made us really men. We see that p. 81 the white men remained behind, and obtained very much from the great Itongo.
When we say the great Itongo, we do not speak of one of our dead, that he is a great Itongo. For it is not said that that great itongo is Unkulunkulu, who we say broke off the nations. It is only a word which points out that the white men came out with every thing, and possessed of every thing that was needed for manhood; they came out perfect,42 not like us who came out imperfect, not having cast off the skin of imperfection. And all those things with which we came out we did not know sufficiently to understand them. On that account the word has arisen that the white men came out with what is perfect from a great Itongo. But I do not know that that Itongo is said to be Unkulunkulu; but it used not to be said that that Itongo was one with Unkulunkulu, for he too sprang from Uthlanga; we cannot well understand whether p. 82 that Itongo is more likely to be Unkulunkulu, or Uthlanga.43 That is by no means clear.44
UMPENGULA MBANDA.
THE following account was obtained many years ago. It was in fact among some of the very first papers written at the dictation of natives. The native who gave it was an Izulu, who had just come as a refugee from Zululand. I laid it aside as useless because the first answers the man gave were absolutely contradictory to those I have recorded, which he gave when I began to write. But there is reason to think from statements made by other natives, which have been given above, that he was really speaking of two Onkulunkulu,—the first man, of whom he correctly affirmed that no one prayed to him, worshipped him, or offered him any honour, but to whom he refers the origin, at least the ordering, of things and customs; and of the Unkulunkulu of the Zulu nation, or of his own tribe, of whom he correctly affirmed afterwards that the Amazulu pray to and worship him:—
Who is Unkulunkulu?
We do not know Unkulunkulu. I do not know Unkulunkulu.45 I point to heaven and say, "There is Unkulunkulu."46
Do the people worship Unkulunkulu?
Yes, they worship him. We love Unkulunkulu because we eat corn,47 and mix it with amasi; and kill our cattle, and eat our maize, and our sweet cane. We love Unkulunkulu because he told us to take ten wives. We love Unkulunkulu because he told us to eat our meat. But Unkulunkulu erred when he said that we were to be killed, and die, and leave our meat. He said that we were to die and never rise again. He erred therefore when he allowed us to die and rise no more. Unkulunkulu is good because he told us to take our cattle and buy a wife. We love him on this account, because we eat amadumbi and umthlaza,48 and because he told us to drink our beer. We love him because he told us to eat the flesh of game.
Do the people salute Unkulunkulu?
Yes, they salute him, saying, "O Friend! Chief!"49
Do they ask him for any thing?
Yes. They say, "Give us rain, O Chief, that our maize may grow."50
The old men say that Unkulunkulu was a man, and had a wife. Neither do I know the name of his wife. The old men say that he had a wife, and that he had children. Unkulunkulu produced children by generation.
HAVING had some conversation with Mr. Thomas Hancock on the meaning of Uukulunkulu, be summoned several old Amabakca living near him on the Umzimkulu; and we enquired the names of the fathers of generatious, beginning from the present, and going backward. They gave the following:—
| Ubaba | My father |
| Ubaba-mkulu | My grandfather |
| Ubaba-mkulu kababa-mkulu | My great-grandfather [lit., the grandfather of my grandfather] |
| Ukoko | My great-great-grandfather |
| Ukulu | My great-great-great-grandfather |
They did not go further back, but were inclined to give the names of those who preceded. They said nothing about Unkulunkulu, until we mentioned the word, and asked who he was. They then threw their heads backward and said, "He was a long, long time ago, and begat many people."
Shortly after, Mr. Hancock sent one Usithlanu, an old Izulu, one of Utshaka's soldiers, with a note, in which he says:—"Since you were here I have questioned the bearer about Unkulunkulu, as also others. But unless I first give them the idea, they know very little or nothing about it but the name, and that he is one that has begotten a great number of children. He may be the fiftieth grandfather, or the five-hundreth."
I proceeded to enquire of Usithlanu by the aid of a native, directing him in the first place to ask Usithlanu to go backwards and tell me what the Amazulu call the fathers of generations, beginning with his own father. He answered:—
The father of my father is ubaba-mkulu; his father is ukoko; the father of ukoko is unkulunkulwana;51 the father of unkulunkulwana is unkulunkulu.
Here he stopped; but when I requested him to go on still reckoning backwards, he added:—
The father of unkulunkulu is an anterior unkulunkulu; and the father of that anterior unkulunkulu a still anterior unkulunkulu, Udhlamini, Uthlomo, Uhhadebe, Ungwana, Umashwabade.
Beyond these he could not remember, but added, the five names here given are those by which they call their houses, that is, families, viz., their izibongo or surnames.
I then requested him to give me his own name, and the names of his father, grandfather, &c., as far back as he could remember, which he did as follows:—
| Usihlanu | |
| Umantanda | Ubaba |
| Usigwakqa | Ubaba-mkulu |
| Umlotsha | Ukoko |
| Umsele | Unkulunkulwana |
| Ulinda | Unkulunkulu |
| Uvumandaba | Unkulunkulu o ngembili |
| Udhlamini | ditto |
| Uhlomo | ditto |
| Uhhadebe | ditto |
| Ungwana | ditto |
| Umashwabade | ditto |
The surnames of all of them are Udhlamini, Uhhadebe, and Umtimkulu.53
Upon further enquiry it appeared that he did not mean that all the Onkulunkulu here mentioned were the heads of generations in regular retrogression, but that the last six were contemporary, and descended from one father. I asked him to go still further back, but he was unable; and added:—
We end with Umtimkulu and Ungwana and Umashwabade and Uthlomo, because they were the chiefs who divided the nations.
As he did not of his own accord go back to the first unkulunkulu, I asked him to tell me what, when he was a boy, he was told about the origin of man. He said:—
They told us that we came out of the water, from a bed of reeds, by the sea. We heard it said, "There appeared the first man, who came out of a reed. He p. 89 pointed to the growing corn and said, "Pluck. That is corn." This was said by the most ancient Unkulunkulu, Ukqili.56 For Ukqili was the first Unkulunkulu who came out of the bed of reeds, and begat men.
The first man is called Unkulunkulu. He came out with a wife; and other men came out of the bed of reeds after him, all the primitive men. He the first was chief indeed, he who begat men. We say, "They were begotten by him who came out first."
We do not know that the primitive men were begotten. They came, as they were, out of the bed p. 90 of reeds;57 and Unkulunkulu came out as he was. We do not see him, and hear only of Uthlanga.58 So we say he was first; he made59 the earth, and the mountains, the water, corn, food, cattle, and every thing. All things came out of the water, dogs and cattle. We say they were made by him, for when we came into being they were already all in existence.
Unkulunkulu came out of Uthlanga with a wife; she, as well as he, is called Unkulunkulu.
I asked him to trace back the female heads of generation, as he had already the male heads. He said:—
She who gave birth to me is umame.
She who gave birth to umame is umakulu or ukulu.
She who gave birth to umakulu is my ukoko.
She who gave birth to my ukoko is ukulukulu.
She who gave birth to ukulukulu is unkulunkulu.
Whether it is man or woman we say unkulunkulu, both of the female and of the male.
Thus, according to this native, the male and female heads of the fifth generation backwards are called Unkulunkulu. Thus:—
MALE:— FEMALE:— Ubaba Umame Ubaba-mkulu Umakulu, or Ukulu Ukoko Ukoko Unkulunkulwana Ukulukulu60 Unkulunkulu Unkulunkulu
I said to him, "Where now is the first unkulunkulu?" He replied:—
All we know is this, the young and the old die,61 and the shade62 departs. The Unkulunkulu of us black men is that one to whom we pray for our cattle, and worship, saying, "Father!" We say, "Udhlamini! Uhhadebe!63 Umutimkulu! Uthlomo! Let me obtain p. 92 what I wish, Lord! Let me not die, but live, and walk long on the earth."64 Old people see him at night in their dreams.
I asked him if, when he was a boy in Zululand, the people ever said any thing about a heavenly lord. He replied:—
I, Usithlanu, for my part say there used to be something said about a heavenly lord, I mean as regards rain, and our prayers when we asked for rain. That did not begin even with Utshaka; even the primitive men used to pray for rain. But Utshaka came, and made his prayers greater than those who preceded him. He summoned the people, a great assembly, consisting of the chiefs of villages. He collected black65 oxen, and sheep and black rams; and went to pray; he sang a song and prayed to the lord of heaven; and asked his forefathers to pray for rain to the lord of heaven. And it rained. This is the song:—
One Part—
I ya wu; a wu; o ye i ye.
Second Part, or Response—
I ya wo.66
These cattle are the cattle of Umzimu;67 they are collected into one place. When they are killed, the chief men gird themselves with the girdles of young girls; they are skinned and carried by other young persons and put in the chief village, in the huts of the old women, where no one enters. In the morning the great man who skinned them, and the man who helped him, go out, and divide them; and they are boiled together in many pots. When the sun is declining, they take them out and place them on feeding-mats, and tell the great men to come up. All the great men come up, the flesh not being touched by any one; all the people are made to sit down by their villages; they have the meat put in an orderly manner in their hands; they hold it without carrying it to their mouths, until all are given, and all carry it to their mouths at the same time.
They begin by singing the song before they eat; they sing it very loud, and the ground resounds with the noise of their feet. They take the meat after singing, and carry it all together to their mouths. If one has taken a long p. 94 time in eating the meat, he puts it on the ground, and sings again, when he has swallowed what is in his mouth.
During the conversation he remarked:—
You white men remained behind with our great Itongo.68
I asked what he meant by "Itongo" here. Umpengula answered:—
When he says Itongo, he is not speaking of a man who has died and risen again; he is speaking of the up-bearer of the earth,69 which p. 95 supports men and cattle. The up-bearer is the earth by which we live; and there is the up-bearer of the earth by which we live, and without which we could not be, and by which we are.
He also related the following curious tradition:—
One of our old traditions. It happened that some things came down from heaven. Yes; they were seen at the lower part of the chief Ungwana's village; they were as it were covered with hair; they were beautiful, and had the p. 96 eyes and form of a man. It was said, "They are wild beasts; let them be killed." There were two. They were killed. The whole country died; the chief was carried away by the wind, because those animals were killed; and the houses were carried away. And we hear that there then began to reign Ugodongwana, the son of Ujobe.
UGOFANA and Umyeni, two Amakuza, came to see me. I asked them to give me the names of the heads of generations on the female side. They agreed in the main, but Umyeni made Unkulunkulu the head of the fifth generation backwards, and Ugotana of the fourth; Umyeni inserting Ukulukulu as the fourth, like Usithlanu (see p. 91). I then asked them to give me the heads on the male side, in like manner. The result was as under:—
| Ubaba | Umame |
| Ubaba-mkulu | Ukulu |
| Ukoko | Ukoko |
| Unkulunkulwana | Ukulukulu |
| Unkulunkulu | Unkulunkulu |
I asked Ugofana what they said about the Unkulunkulu of all men. He said they knew nothing about him. They said he came out of a reed. He could not tell me any thing about that Unkulunkulu, nor any body else, for no one knew. All he could tell me was about his own Unkulunkulu, for said he, pointing to two others, "He has his; and he his; and I mine."
Umdanga who first broke off, begat Umsondo; Umsondo begat Uthlanguza; Uthlanguza begat Ujamo, who begat me.
I asked them what they meant by "Owa dabuka," Who first broke off. Umyeni replied, "Kuyise," From his father. And Ugofana, after a moment's thought, gave his name, "Kudhladhla," From Udhladhla, the great ancestor of their house, who has given them their surname.
TWO Amabakca, an old and young man, gave me the heads of generations as given above, p. 86.
"But," I said, "is there not another word, Ukulukulu or Unkulunkulu?"
They said, "He is further back (ngembili);" and went on to say that all who were heads of generations anterior to the okoko were called Ukulukulu, till they came to Umsondwo,70
who came out first; he is the uthlanga of men; he is that uthlanga who broke off men, they having been broken off from him. The uthlanga is Umsondwo, who broke off, and then broke off men, the umdali, the umdali of the earth.71
I asked them what they said about the Okulukulu. They replied:—
They who are anterior to the okoko are the okulukulu of the okoko in continuous retrogression, till they reach Umsondwo, who first appeared, the umdali of the earth.
I asked what they meant by Uthlanga. They answered:—
Uthlanga is an old man who made all things, both cattle and and all kinds of property.
UMDUMO, an old man, one of Ukukulela's people, an Ikuza, being unwilling or unable to give me any account of the traditions of the people, I asked him to give me the names of the heads of generations backwards. He gave them thus:—
He who begat me is Upotshiyana, my father; he who begat Upotshiyana is Umzabani, my grandfather; he who begat Umzabani is Uthlomo, the father of my grandfather; he who begat Uthlomo is Unsele, my ukoko; he who begat Unsele is Usivunga, the ukoko of my grandfather; he who begat Usivunga is Ulusibalukulu. Ulusibalukulu was begotten by Udhlamini, the ukulukulu who broke off the nations. When he came he broke off Ubithla, the chief; and afterwards Ukukulela and Umaghaga.
I asked him if there was not an Unkulunkulu. He replied, "Unkulunkulu and Ukulukulu is one."
I again asked him who was the first man. He answered:—
Udhlamini is he who broke off first; he begat Ulusibalukulu, who begat Usivunga.
I again asked him still more pointedly, refening to their tradition of the origin of man. He replied:—
Udhlamini is the name of the whom we call Ukulukulu.72
I asked, "Wa dabuka pi?" Where did he break off? He said:
It is said that Udhlamini broke off from the mountain Ingome, the place of the origin73 of our tribe.
I asked him what were the nations he broke off (izizwe owa zi dabula). He mentioned several, but I did not succeed in writing the names; but among them were those of which Ukukulela, Uisidoi, and Ufodo are chiefs. The isibongo or surname of these chiefs is Udhlamini, he being their common ancestor.
I OVERHEARD Uthlangabeza, one of Ukukulela's people, talking with some of the men of the village. He said Unkulunkulu and Ukulukulu is one; and Umvelinqangi and Unkulunkulu is one; that all things came out of a mountain in the north; and that Uthlabati74 is the name of that Unkulunkulu owa dabuka eluhlangeni,—who broke off from Uthlanga.
1 A s’ aziwa = ka s’ aziwa, is no longer known, that is, to us; or as it is said in other accounts, "A si sa m azi," We no longer know him. There no longer exists amongst us any knowledge about him. The same expression is used when speaking of the man from whom the isibongo (surname) of a house or tribe is derived, ka s’ aziwa. He is lost to memory, nothing is known of him or his deeds.
2 This is the constant statement in the traditions of Unkulunkulu. It has been said that by umuntu we are to understand simply a person. But umuntu means a human being. And it is more in accordance with the religious system of the natives to give it that meaning here. They are ancestor-worshippers, and believe that their first ancestor—the first man—was the creator. Unkulunkulu means the old-old-one, the most ancient man. In like manner Arjuna addresses Krishna as, "Thou first of the gods, the most ancient person." (Hardwick. Christ and other Masters. Vol. I., p. 242.) And the king Satravata addresses "Hari, the preserver of the universe," thus, "O first male; the lord of creation, of preservation, of destruction!" (Id., p. 314.)
3 Dabuka, to separate, or to spring or break off, from something by fissure or division. Thus the swarming of bees is an ukudabuka. The division of small tribes from larger ones—as the small tribes of p. 2 Umahhaule and Unjan from the Abambo, the large tribe of Usingela; or as the Americans from the English—is spoken of as an ukudabuka. So if a village has become large, and the eldest son leaves the paternal kraal, and commences a new centre, that too is an ukudabuka. So the different kind of cattle, English, Dutch, and Zulu, are said respectively to have sprung from (dabuka) the English, Dutch, or Zulu. It is also said of trees. So of the Reformation it would be said that the Reformed Churches sprang from (dabuka) that of Rome; and Dissenting Churches from that of England. Or what is perhaps more to the point, the mode in which Minerva was produced from Jupiter's head was an ukudabuka. As we shall see below, according to the Hindu mythology, primitive man was produced by a division (ukudabuka) of the substance of Brahma. The use of the word necessarily implies the pre-existence of something from which the division took place. When it is said therefore that Unkulunkulu broke off in the beginning, we must understand either that he broke off from an eternal or at least pre-existent spiritual being, or from an eternal or at least pre-existent material being. When it is said, wa dabuka eluhlangeni (he broke off from uthlanga), we may have the intimation of an eternal spiritual being, a belief in whom formed a part of the creed of the ancestors of the Amazulu; and when it is said, wa dabuka emhlabeni (he broke off from the earth), it cannot be doubted that we are to understand it as intimating a belief in the eternity—at least in the pre-existence—of the world.
4 Ekukqaleni. In the beginning. There is the same obscurity in the Zulu use of this phrase as in our own. We must understand it here as meaning, in the beginning of the present order of things, and not, from all eternity.
5 But, as it will be presently seen, a first woman is by many associated with the first man, that is, Unkulunkulu is said to have had a wife.
6 Dabula.—My native interpreter maintains that although above it is said that Unkulunkulu is not known to have had a wife, yet that this phrase implies it. But this is scarcely borne out by the fact that in other accounts he is said to break off cattle, &c., from Uthlanga. It seems rather that we are to understand that at first Unkulunkulu broke off, and having broken off, became the means of breaking off all other things.
7 Ohlangeni.—Uthlanga is a reed, strictly speaking, one which is capable of "stooling," throwing out offsets. It thus comes, metaphorically, p. 3 to mean a source of being. A father is the uthlanga of his children, from which they broke off. Whatever notions the ignorant of the present day among the natives may have of the meaning of this tradition, it may be concluded that originally it was not intended to teach by it, that men sprang from a reed. It cannot be doubted that the word alone has come down to the people, whilst the meaning has been lost. Comp. M. Casalis' account of the religious notions of the Basutos, p. 240.
8 Hence their saying, "Ukuhambisa kwonwaba," To go like a chameleon, i. e., to go slowly. They say also ukunwabuzela.
9 Ubukwebezane.—A shrub which bears clusters of berries of a purplish colour and sweet taste. This fruit is much liked by children.
10 Intulo = intulwa, the Amalala inulwa. The tradition lives among the natives to the present time, and is manifested by the dislike they entertain for the chameleon. It is frequently killed. But it is used as a medicine; among other uses it is mixed with other things to doctor their gardens, that the birds may not destroy the corn; it is employed because it went slowly, and therefore will prevent the birds p. 4 from hastily entering the gardens! But the lizard is an object of much greater hatred, and is invariably killed if the person who sees it is able to kill it; but it is very cunning, and, as they say, "escapes only by its cunning." As they kill it they say, "Yiya! i sona lesi ’silimane esa gijima kukqala sa ya ’kuti, 'Abantu a ba fe.'" Let be! This is the very piece of deformity which ran in the beginning to say that men should die.
11 This tradition of the origin of death has a strong resemblance to the Hottentot account. But there it is the Moon—a Hottentot god, according to Kolb, (The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, (Medley,) Volume I., page 95)—which sends an insect to man with the message:—"Go thou to men, and tell them, 'As I die, and dying live, so ye shall also die, and dying live.'" The insect, meeting with the hare, entrusts the message to him; but when he reaches man, he says, "I am sent by the Moon to tell you, 'As I die, and dying perish, in the same manner ye shall also die, and come wholly to an end.'" (Bleek's Hottentot Fables, p. 69.)
This account is, however, a promise of renovation through death.
The New Zealand legend again may be compared, where we meet with another a foreshadowing of redemption through One destroying death by passing through it, than an account of the cause of death entering into the world. Maui is made liable to death by some accidental omission of a part of the baptismal ritual,—a cause as trivial as the delay of the chameleon, or the false message of the hare.
Maui was an abortion; he was born as his mother was passing along by the sea-shore. She cut off the long tresses of her hair, and bound him up in them, and threw him into the foam of the sea, and after that he was found by his ancestor Tama-nui-ki-te-Rangi, and by his care developed into a man. As yet there was no death. But Maui's father, "from mistake, hurriedly skipped over part of the prayers of the baptismal service, and of the services to purify Maui; he knew that the gods would be certain to punish this fault, by causing Maui to die, and his alarm and anxiety were therefore great." Maui having transformed by enchantments Irawaru, his sister Hinauri's husband, into a dog, and Hinauri having girded herself with an enchanted girdle had cast herself into the sea, and been swept away by the tide, he was obliged to quit the village where Irawaru had lived, p. 5 and so returned to his parents. His father said, "Oh my son, I have heard from your mother and others that you are very valiant, and that you have succeeded in all feats that you have undertaken in your own country, whether they are small or great; but now that you have arrived in your father's country, you will perhaps at last be overcome." On asking "what he could be vanquished by?" his father replied, "By your great ancestress Hine-nui-te-po." But he answered, "Lay aside such idle thoughts, and let us both fearlessly seek whether men are to die or live for ever." Maui pleads that he had subdued Tama-nui-te-Ra (the sun), and had rescued much land by drawing it up from the sea. His father admits the truth, and bids him go boldly to visit "his great ancestress," who, he knew, would be the cause of his death. Maui set out on his journey, taking "every kind of little bird" as his companions. Maui and his companions found Hine-nui-te-po asleep. Maui told them that he was about to creep into the old chieftainess, and warned them not to laugh until they saw him "just coming out of her mouth; then they might shout with laughter if they pleased." When he entered the old chieftainess, "the little birds screwed up their tiny cheeks, trying to suppress laughter; at last, the little Tiwa-kawaka laughed out loud with its merry cheerful note," and the old woman awoke, and killed Maui. This was the cause of the introduction of death into the world. Hine-nui-te-po being the goddess of death, had Maui passed safely through her, then no more human beings would have died, but death itself would have been destroyed. (Grey. Polynesian Mythology, p. 16-58.)
{See also the additional note.}
12 Itongo, p. Amatongo.—An itongo is properly the spirit of the dead,—a disembodied spirit. The notion that it is in the form of a snake, or becomes converted into a snake, is probably something superadded to the original tradition. But all these questions will be discussed when we come to the "AMATONGO."
13 Ukwelapa itongo, lit., to treat an itongo, that is, diseases which are occasioned by the itongo, as uthlabo, which appears from the description to be pleurodynia; one case I was called to see was pleurisy.
15 Umvelinqangi, the first out-comer.
16 Let the reader note that here three names are applied to the first man, Unkulunkulu, Um