"A nation without a past is a lost nation,
and a people without a past is a people without a soul."
Sir Seretse Khama, 1921 - 1980,
first President of the Republic of Botswana.
Traditional Bechuana Society
The women cultivated the soil, while the men tended the herds, which were kept for milk rather than for meat. The wealth of the Bechuana consisted principally in their cattle, which they tend with great care, showing a shrewd discrimination in the choice of pasture suited to oxen, sheep and goats. Before the extinction of the larger mammals the chase was of some economic importance. In the manufacture of the skin cape ("kaross") and in fact in skin work generally the Bechuana excelled all other South African tribes. They were also noted as blacksmiths. Their habitations were far more complex than those of the Zulu.
The vast extent of country occupied by the Bechuana was sufficiently fertile, but the rainfall was rather irregular, and the land is better adapted for pasturage than for cultivation. The animals most abundant that roam in the forests and plains, are several species of antelopes, of which the eland and the kokong are the most important. Buffaloes, giraffes, and zebras exist here in great numbers, and elephants and rhinoceros, as well as lions, are frequently met with. This is the native country of the ostrich, and rats were seen everywhere in the fields. Land-turtles and snakes were equally numerous. Among the Bamarara or "those of the wild grapes." Other Bechuana tribes are the Makalakas, the Bangwakatse, the Bamangwato, and the Basilika.
The country inhabited by the Marimas and Makatlas was fertile and well watered; they were formerly very powerful, and bore the tribal name of Bafuking. They removed from the country beyond the junction of the Namagari to Buta-Bute, where they were attacked by the celebrated conqueror Pacarita, who stripped them of their most valuable possessions. Their principal town, called Leribe, was besieged and taken by the Kaffir queen Mantetis, who massacred and dispersed the inhabitants, laid waste the cultivated fields, and destroyed the resources of the people. From this time the situation of the Marimas became desperate, they suffered from hunger and want, and nothing was left to them to escape death and destruction but to turn robbers, freebooters, and cannibals. They fell upon travellers in open day, laid snares for them in the night.
The Bachapins formed one of the most important of the Bechuana nations, whose number was estimated at ten thousand souls. Their chief town was Litakan or Lethakoo. It occupied the greater part of a plain of about two miles in diameter, surrounded by hills or mountains of moderate height. The soil was mostly of a red color and of a sandy composition. The country presented a boundless meadow of luxuriant pastures interspersed with numerous clumps of trees. The town had neither streets nor squares, and no regularity whatever is observed in the arrangement of the houses. It may be considered a collection of little hamlets, each placed under the direction of its own chieftain.
The Bechuana were of tall stature, measuring six feet in height, and though many were much shorter, yet there were a considerable number that exceeded the standard measure. They had a robust frame of body, and are well proportioned, but their muscular strength is only moderate. They were excellent walkers, and capable of enduring great fatigue. Their complexion is dark and approaches more or less to black, their hair is woolly and crisp, though less curly than that of the equatorial peoples. Their features are more or less regular, their mouth is large, their nose plump, and their lips are moderately full. The women were said by some to be not as good-looking as the men; they are rather of inferior stature, and their bloom of youth soon vanished, when they became ugly and unsightly.
The moral character of the Bechuana presented some laudable traits, overclouded by many dark shadows. They were good-natured and eventempered in their general intercourse, and had an admirable command over their feelings of anger and resentment. In their social relations they are well-ordered, and always conduct themselves with proper decorum. Industrious habits were very much appreciated, and idlers and vagabonds are treated with contempt; but their activity was generally forced upon them by necessity and the difficult circumstances by which they are surrounded. Although they did not generally practise hospitality, yet among themselves they were always ready to lend their assistance by their personal service, and they never failed to perform acts of kindness towards each other whenever a proper occasion presented itself, and strangers were received with every mark of attention.
They were neither boisterous nor rude, and always gave expression to their feelings of pleasure and surprise without reserve. They were honest in all the relations of life, and were not wanting in ordinary politeness. They were rather timid and not at all treacherous; but they considered deceit, bad faith, and cunning legitimate weapons of defense when opposed to a superior adversary. They look upon war as an evil, but they engaged in it without hesitation. They regarded unchastity as a venial offence worthy of blame, and yet they indulged in licentious practices without restraint.
They were selfish, avaricious, not strictly faithful to their promises, and were much inclined to falsehood, without manifesting the least sense of shame if detected. Even crimes are looked upon with a lenient eye; murder was not rebuked by public opinion, and the culprit was neither disgraced nor regarded as infamous.
The Bechuana disposed of their dead by burial. When a chief dies his grave is dug in the cattle-pen, and after the body is consigned to its last resting-place the excavation is filled up with earth, and the cattle are driven for an hour or two around and over the grave so as to efface every vestige of it. Some of the Bechuana tribes buried their dead under the floor of their huts, because they believed that if an enemy got possession of the skull he could bring sickness and distress upon the whole tribe, even while operating at a great distance.
The Bechuana had only permanent dwellings in the towns, which they occupied when not engaged in business away from home. The villages were sometimes built in the depth of a mimosa forest for the convenience of building materials. The houses, which were all constructed after the same model, were circular in form, and are surmounted by a conical roof. Each hut was built upon a piece of ground which measures from forty to sixty feet in diameter, enclosed by rush matting or a circular fence from four and a half to seven feet in height, which was composed of straight tree branches stuck into the ground at regular intervals, neatly interwoven, and so closely connected by basket-work that the enclosure was impenetrable to spears and other weapons of war. The whole was bound together on the top by a line of twigs which run all round inside and outside. The fences of the poorer classes were of acacia branches with the thorns turned inside.
Besides the ordinary corn-bins the richer classes had an additional granary erected in the back yard, as well as a small hut for the accommodation of servants and attendants. The cooking operations were generally performed in the yard, and clay pots of their own manufacture are their cooking vessels. The utmost cleanliness prevailed both in their houses and in their yards, and everything was arranged with neatness and orderly regularity. Every village or town had one or more cattle parks (mootsi) where the oxen and cows belonging to the members of the community were kept at night.
The Bechuana universally dressed in the skins of animals, but their costume was very scanty, for the greatest part of their body remains uncovered. The men wear the pukoli or pukofe, which was simply an apron-like piece of skin either triangular or rounded, that is tied round the waist by a leather string and hangs either loosely down, or the lower apex of the triangle is drawn between the thighs and was fastened to the girdle behind. In addition to this, they would throw over their shoulders the kobo or mantle of softened antelope, jackal, or sheep skin, which was sometimes decorated with the tail of the crescenthomed antelope, having the hair spread out and pressed flat. Ordinarily they went barefooted, but when circumstances required it their feet were protected by the likaaku or sandals made of ox-hide, and fastened to the foot with thongs of pliant antelopes' skin.
According to one western account, " Only two Bechuana nations — the Marimas and the Makatlas — were formerly professed cannibals. Necessity first compelled them to indulge in this practice, and after they had once acquired a taste for this kind of flesh, they became passionately fond of it. They rejected all the lean pieces, and preferred the tender flesh of children. After they had devoured the flesh of the victim, they melted the fat over a fire, and either drank it or used it as an unguent to render their hair shining and glossy. They have still a hankering after human flesh, but it is only in secret that they give themselves up to this inhuman abomination, and for this purpose they kill not only strangers, but even visitors with the sole object of feasting on their flesh."
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