Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/47

THE SOUTH ANGOLAN TRIBES. 27 are comraouly designated as " sons," or "cousins." Nor are these altogether empty titles, for on the death of the legitimate heir — that is, the sister's son or uterine brother — the oldest slave succeeds to the estate, to the exclusion of the children themselves, or of the wives, who never inherit. When questioned by the European missionaries, both Ila-Nhanekas and Ba- Nkombis speak of a supremo god, and relate of the departed that " God has taken them unto himself." But to this deity they render no worship, whom in fact they confound with the sun. As pastors and husbandmen, their homage is chiefly reserved for animals — the ox that faithfully accompanies them from pasturage to jasturage, or even the snake that glides about their dwellings. Every Mu- Nhaneka has his favourite ox, and after death his remains, reduced by a peculiar culinary process to a sort of paste, are placed for burial in the hide of this animal. The great national feast, answering to our harvest home, is symbolised by a spotless white or black bull, who is led in the procession by the muene-hfimbo, or " chief pastor," and followed by a cow called the " mistress of the house." After the harvest the whole tribe, in company with the sacred oxen, goes in procession to the chief's residence, in order to consult the auguries and make preparations for the work of the new year. During the festival rejoicing must be universal, so that the very dead must cease to be mourned. Even the few crimes that may happen to be committed at this period of mutual good -will are overlooked, all inquiry for the delinquents being forbidden. Amongst these tribes of the Cunene basin all the youths are circumcised, this being the essential condition on which they are received as taba, that is to say, "equals." The Ba-Suto, or uncircumcised, are held in universal scorn and contempt ; and this, like all other painful operations, has to be endured without flinching. M. Nogueira, who resided eleven years amongst the natives of the Cunene valley, speaks with admiration of their dignified demeanour and of their civic virtues. Apart from the crimes which, as in all other countries, are inseparable from dynastic conflicts, no attacks are ever made against life or property, although all citizens go. armed, and enjoy complete exemption from police control. Such depravity, contentions, outrages, and misery as prevail have been introduced tntirely by the Portuguese. As in most other lands where Europeans have entered into direct relations with the natives, their influence is always baneful at first. Instead of improving, they begin by corrupting or even decimating the aborigines, and end at times by exterminating them. Before the conflicting elements can be reconciled, and all participate in the general progress, a period of strife intervenes, during which the weak too often succumb to the strong. , The Pretos and Europeans. The civilised blacks of Angola are uniformly designated by the name of Prcfos, while to those still keeping aloof from Portuguese influence is applied the synonymous expression Xrr/ros, often uttered in a contemptuous way. The Pretos are concentrated chiefly in the seaports and surrounding districts, where they are