KAFFKAEIA 819 The numerous and politically important ramifications of the Kaffres Proper cannot be understood without reference to the national genealogies, most of the tribal names, as already stated, being those of real or reputed founders of dynasties. Thus the term Ama-Xoaa itself means simply the " people of Xosa," a some what mythical chief _ supposed to have flourished about the year 1530. Ninth in descent from his son Toguli was Palo, who died about 1780, leaving two sons, Gcaleka and Earabe (pronounced Kha-Kha-be), from whom came the Ama-Gcalekas, Ama-Dhlambe (T slambies), and the Ama-Ngquikas (Gaikas or Sandili s people). The Ama-Mpondas do not descend from Xosa, but probably from an elder brother, while the Ama-Tembus (Tambookies), though apparently representing a younger branch, are regarded by all the KafFre tribes as the royal race. Hence the Gcaleka chief, who is lord paramount of all the Ama-Xosa tribes, always takes his first or great wife " from the Ama-Tembu royal family, and her issue alone have any claim to the succession. The subjoined genealogical tree will help to place the mutual relations of all the Kaffre tribes in a clearer light : Zuidc (1500 ?), reputed founder of the nation. 1 1 Tembu. Xosa (1530?). Mpondo. 1 | Ama-Tembus (Tumbookies), Toguh. Ama-Mpondas, between river Ama-Mpondumisi. Tambookieland Palo (ob. 1780?), Umtata and Natal. Abelungu and Emigrant Tambookieland. 10th in descent from Xosa. (dispersed ?) 1 Gcaleka. 1 Rarabe 1 (Khakhabe). Klanta. 1 1 | Ilinza. Omlao. Mbalu. Ndhlamble. Kreli. Ngqika. Ama-Mbalus. Ama-Ndhlambes
Ama-Gwali. or T slambies, Ama-Gcalekas Macomo. Ama-Ntinde. between the (Galeka), Ama-Gqunukwebi. Keiskamma and between the Tyali. Ama-Velelo. Great Kei rivers. Bashee and Ama-Baxa. Umtata rivers. Sandili. Imi-Dange.
Imi-Dushane. Ama-Ngqikas (Gaikas), Amatola highlands j Ama-Khakhabes. Ama-Xosas. Here it will be seen that, as representing the elder branch, the Gcalekas stand quite apart from the rest of Xosa s descendants, whom they group collectively as Ama-Rarabe (Ama-Khakhabe),
- and whose genealogies, except in the case of the Gaikas and
T slambies, are very confused and uncertain. The Ama-Xosa country lies mainly between the Keiskamma and Umtata rivers. The Ama-Zulus, so named by their Basuto neighbours, call themselves Abantu ba-Kwa-Zulu, i.e., " people of Zulu s land," or briefly Bakwa-Zulu, from a legendary chief Zulu, founder of the royal dynasty. They were originally an obscure tribe between the Bumbo and Omtukela mountains, but rose suddenly to formidable power under Chaka, 1 who had been brought up among the neighbouring and powerful Umtetwas, and who succeeded the chiefs of that tribe and of his own in the beginning of the present century. But the true mother tribe seems to have been the extinct Ama-Ntombela, whence the Ama-Tefulu, the U udwande, TJ mlelas, U mtetwas, and many others, all absorbed or claiming to be true Zulus. But they are only so by political subjection, and the gradual adoption of the Zulu dress, usages, and speech. Hence in most cases the term Zulu implies political rather than blood relationship. This remark applies also to the followers of Umzele- katze, who, after a fierce struggle with the Bechuanas, founded in 1830 a second Zulu state about the head waters of the Orange river. In 1837 most of them were driven northwards by the Boers, and have become dispersed amongst the Makuas and Matebele | tribes. The origin of the Zulu-Kaffre race has given rise to much con- I troversy. It is obvious that they are not the aborigines of their i present domain, whence in comparatively recent times they have
- displaced the Hottentots and Bosjesmans of fundamentally distinct
I stock. On the other hand they are closely allied in speech and ! physique to the surrounding Basutos, Bechuanas, Matebeles, and i other members of the great South African Negroid family. Hence ,110 far-fetched theories are needed to account for their appearance in the south-east corner of the continent, where their presence is sufficiently explained by the gradual onward movement of the populations pressing southwards on the Hottentot and Bosjesman domain. The specific differences in speech and appearance by 1 Seventh in descent from Zulu, through Kumede, Makeba, Punga, Ndaba, Yama, and Tezengakona (Bleek, Zulu Legends). which they are distinguished from the other branches of the family must in the same way be explained by the altered climatic and other outward conditions of their new habitat. Hence it is that the further they have penetrated southwards the further have they become dill erentiated from the pure Negro type, from which at tempts have even been made to separate them altogether. 2 Thus the light and clear brown complexion prevalent amongst the southern Ama-Tembus becomes gradually darker as we proceed northwards, passing at last to the blue-black and sepia of the Ama- Swazis and Tekezas. Even many of the mixed Fengu tribes are of a polished ebony colour, like that. of the Jolofl s and other pure Senegambian Negroes. The hair is uniformly of a woolly texture, not differing perceptibly from that of the ordinary native of Sudan, nor growing in separate tufts on the scalp, as is often erroneously asserted. This phenomenon of a tufted growth of hair, on which many anthropologists have based their classifications of the dark races, has absolutely no existence in nature. The Kaffre head also is dolichocephalic (index 72 54, as compared with the West African 73 - 40) ; but it is also high or long vertically (index 195 8, as compared with Negro 149 "5), 3 and it is in this feature of hypsisteno- cephaly (height and length combined) that the Kaffre presents the most striking contrast with the pure Negro. But, the nose being generally rather broad 4 and the lips thick, the Kaffre face, though somewhat oval, is never regular in the European sense, the devia tions being normally in the direction of the Negro, with which race the peculiar odour of the skin again connects the Kaffres. In stature they rank next to the Patagonians, Polynesians, and West Africans, averaging from 5 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 11 in., and even 6 feet. 5 They are also slim, well-proportioned, and muscular ; but Fritsch s measurements have shown that they are far from attaining the standard of almost ideal beauty with which early observers credited them. Owing to the hard life to which they are doomed, the women are generally inferior in appearance to the men, except amongst the Zulus, and especially the Tembus. Hence in the matrimonial market, while the Ama-Xosa girl realizes no more than ten or twelve head of cattle, the Ama-Tembu belle fetches as many as forty, and if specially fine even eighty. The symmetrical and manly figures of the more warlike tribes are usually arrayed in leopard or ox-skins, of late years often replaced by European blankets, with feather head-dresses, coral and metal ornaments, bead armlets, and necklaces. The Makuas and a few others practise tatooing, and the Ama-Xosas are fond of painting or smearing their bodies with red ochre. Their arms consist chiefly of ox-hide shields 4 to 6 feet long, the kerri or club, and the assegai, of which there are two kinds, one long with 9-inch narrow blade, for throwing, the other short with broad blade 12 to 18 inches long, for stabbing. The dwellings, like those of the Hottentots, are simple conical huts grouped in kraals or villages, mostly of a temporary character. For all the Kaffres are still semi- nomadic, and easily break up their homes in search of fresh pastures. But, although cattle form their chief wealth, and hunting and stock-breeding their main pursuits, many have in recent times turned to husbandry. The Zulus raise regular crops of " mealies " (maize), and the Ama-Mpondas cultivate a species of millet, tobacco, watermelons, yams, and other vegetables. Milk, millet, and maize form the staples of food, and meat is seldom eaten except in time of war. Amongst some tribes the order to kill and eat their cattlje is in fact equivalent to an order to prepare for some warlike undertaking. Mentally and morally the Kaffres are on the whole superior to the average Negro. In all their social and political relations they display great tact and intelligence ; they are remarkably brave, warlike, and hospitable, and were naturally honest and truthful until through contact with the whites they become suspicious, revengeful, and thievish, besides acquiring most European vices. Of religion as ordinarily understood they have very little, and have certainly never developed any mythologies or dogmatic systems, It is more than doubtful whether they had originally formed any notion of a Supreme Being; and such is the realistic bent of their minds that all such abstract conceptions, when interpreted to them by the missionaries, are immediately reduced to the grossest materialism. At the same a belief in a future state is implied by a faintly developed worship of ancestry, accompanied by a few superstitious rites. There are no idols, sacrifices, or priests, but the prevalent belief in witchcraft has naturally led to the evolution 2 Amongst others quite recently by Girard de Rialle, who, in Lcs Ptuples de VAfriqiie et de VAmerique, detaches the Kaffres from the Negroes, and treats them as an independent division of the African races. These he groups in five divisions: (1) Bosjesmans, (2) Hottentots, (3) Negroes, (4) Kaffres, (5) Nu bians and Fallahs, a classification which even on linguistic grounds is untenable. J. Meyer also, notwithstanding their woolly hair, thick lips, high cheek bones, and dark complexion, maintains that their features are essentially " Asiatic. 3 Topinard, Anthropology, p. 274. < This feature varies considerably, " in the T slambie tribes being broader and more of the Negro shape than in the Gaikas or Gcalekas, while among tlie Ama- Tembu and Ama-Mpondo it assumes more of the European character. In many of them the perfect Grecian and Roman noses are discernible" (Flemings Kaffraria, p. 92). 5 Gustav Fritsch, a most accurate observer, gives the mean of the Ama-Xosas as 1-718 metres, less than that of the Guinea Negro (V724), but more than the English (1-708) and Scotch (1-710).
