Their main stimulants are smoking and snuffing, either the national dacha-hemp or tobacco, which is extensively known. A pipe of the Ba suto is illustrated on Plate 84 (fig. 9), and that of the weaver on Plate go (fig. 6) is of similar construction. In the Basuto pipe the leaves are in the small head of the side tube; the cow's horn into which the side tube enters is filled with water, and by dosing the opening of the horn with the mouth and cheek (comp. .N. 9o, fi, 6) the smoke is inhaled and swal lowed. The effects of this manner of smoking are so powerful that the smokers frequently become unconscious. The strongest tobacco is pre ferred by the Bantu. If a person is without his pipe, he kneads a lump of clay on the ground, puts the weed into a hole on top, and, applying his mouth to an orifice in the side, smokes lying flat on his belly. The Caflir tribes smoke generally in company; with them it seems to be con nected with ancient religious ideas. They snuff from small spoons of ivory or metal (pl. 84,fig. io), and always carry their tobacco either in small bags or in boxes often of an animal-like shape CM 84, fig. ti). Various prohibitions of food prevail among these nations, one tribe being forbidden to eat this animal, another that. The Caffirs, for example, do not cat fish, and consequently accomplish in fishery.
The Caffirs have no ships, and, like most of the southern peoples, they cannot swim well. The case is different among the inhabitants along the large rivers and on the eastern coast; but the shipbuilding of these eastern tribes (p1. 88, figs. 8, 9) is only a consequence of their inter course with the Arabians. All Bantu nations exhibit great capacity for mercantile enterprises.
Art and Mnsical tribes accomplish little in art. We have already mentioned (p. 312) that paintings representing animals are sometimes met with in the huts of the chieftains, and these are their highest achievements in the line of decorative art. The musical instru ments of the southern tribes seem to have originated with the Hottentots (Waitz); the widest spread is a single-stringed instrument which has on one end a calabash for a sounding-board and which is played with a bow. It is seen in different shapes: Plate 86 (fig. II) represents it as it is used on the Zambesi and the Shire, with a string that can be tuned by a peg, while at other places this is effected only by the manner in which the instru ment is held. Drums, pipes, and Pan's flutes (p1. 83, fig. r) are common in the east; among the Batoka (on the upper Zambesi) the sansa (p1. 86, fig. 7) is used, the nine keys of which, made of iron or of bamboo splinters, are played with the fingers, the sound being strengthened by a calabash serving as a sounding-board (p1. 86, fig. 4); the marimba is very similar: hard wooden rods are placed on calabashes of various sizes, so as to increase the sound, and are struck with sticks (p1. 83, fzg. r).
Singing and Bantu play for hours on their monotonous instruments, and they also sing much. They scarcely have true poetry,
but they like to sing diffusely in an extemporary manner about the occur rences of the day or in praise of their animals or their chieftains. They dance with pleasure, generally the men only, the women looking on while clapping their hands and singing. The general purport of the dances, which often last very long, is imitation of war and the chase (p1. 85, fig. 9). The women have their own dances.
Domestic Life and position of the women is not favor able. We have already said (p. 314) that it is their duty to perform the hardest work, such as housebuilding, making the enclosures, field-labor, getting the fuel and provisions and preparing the latter, and caring for the children. The men hunt, take charge of the stock, dress the skins, and go to war; they sometimes assist at farming, as do the women with the stock.
The wife is purchased, and polygamy prevails. A man is allowed as many wives as he can buy. Chieftains consequently have a great num ber, and old men often buy young wives. One of the wives is looked upon as the highest in rank, and is called the "great woman." Among some tribes concubines are freely allowed. Sometimes there are no mar riage ceremonies, except great feasts given by the bride's father; among the Kambas (north-east) the bride is captured in a sham battle with her relatives. Among the Caffirs the daughter-in-law is not allowed to pro nounce the names of her father-in-law and the male relatives of her bus band in an ascending line, and she must even avoid words of a similar sound; nor is she allowed to associate with them: the same remarks apply to the husband and the mother-in-law. Marriage is easily dissolved, but the children remain the property of the husband, and if the separation be his fault he must return to his father-in-law a certain number of cattle. Adultery does not often occur, and it is generally punished by a mere fine. Examples of devoted love are seen even among the most barbarous tribes. In the east the wives occupy a higher position, and possess rights as well as their husbands; Krapf even found among the Sambaras (north-east) a woman occupying a high political station. Lichtenstein states the same of the Caffirs.
A widow is considered impure for one month after the death of her hus band, but she may marry again; the care of her devolves on the oldest son if he be an adult, or on the brothers of her husband. She has perfect sex ual liberty as long as she remains unmarried, as also have the girls. In general, the females of the more advanced tribes are chaste and reserved. When one is asked whether she is married or not, she points to her bosom, which only unmarried women are allowed to have uncovered. In this there is not the slightest shamelessness. The tribes which have come in contact with the great stream of the world are far more corrupt.