The Barea are a benevolent people, kind even to strangers.[131] The Manganja, in the neighbourhood of Lake Nyassa, “are generous in the distribution of food,” and even when starving they share the last morsel with their friends.[132] Sir H. Johnston says that he has never met with “a more kindly, sensible, considerate set of beings” than the Wa-taveita.[133] The Eastern Central Africans, the Rev. D. Macdonald observes, “are not mere animals composed of greed and selfishness. They often shew great bravery and devotedness. I can point to one man who saved my life on three separate occasions at the risk of his own.”[134] Among the Bechuanas a regard for the poor, for widows, and for orphans, is everywhere considered to be a sacred duty.[135] Among all the virtues the Basutos appreciate none more than kindness. They have a saying that “one link only sounds because of another”—which implies that we cannot do without the help of our fellow-creatures,—and another saying that “one does not skin one’s game without showing it to one’s friends”—that is, when we have been successful in our undertakings, it becomes us to be generous. If any food is brought to them while they are in each other’s society, however small may be the quantity, every one must have a taste.[136] The Kafirs are a kindly race; Lichtenstein says that “whenever anyone kills an ox he must invite all his neighbours to partake of it, and they remain his guests till the whole is eaten.”[137] Of the Hottentots Kolben states:—“They are certainly the most friendly, the most liberal, and the most benevolent people to one another that ever appear’d upon earth…. They are charmed with opportunities of obliging each other, and one of their greatest pleasures lies in interchanging gifts and good offices.”[138] “A Hottentot,” says Barrow, “would share his last morsel with his companions.”[139] Drury wrote of the people of Madagascar:—“They certainly treat one another with more humanity than we do. Here is no one miserable, if it is in the power of his neighbours to help him. Here is love, tenderness, and generosity which might shame us; and …. this is …. all over the island.”[140] Ellis likewise observes that, in Madagascar, assisting in distress, and lending and borrowing property and money, are carried on much more commonly and freely than amongst neighbours or relatives in England, and that a kindness of heart in these things is always esteemed excellent.[141]
[131] Munzinger, Ostafrikanische Studien, p. 534.
[132] Rowley, Africa Unveiled, p. 47.
[133] Johnston, Kilima-njaro Expedition, p. 436.
[134] Macdonald, Africana, i. 270, 266.
[135] Arbousset and Daumas, Exploratory Tour to the North-East of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, p. 402.
[136] Casalis, Basutos, pp. 206, 207, 301, 306, 309 sqq.
[137] Leslie, Among the Zulus and Amatongas, p. 203. Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, i. 272.
[138] Kolben, Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, i. 334 sq. Cf. ibid. i. 167.
[139] Barrow, Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa, i. 151.