The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 1 of 2 / Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics

by J. G. Wood

(1.) BECHUANA FUNERAL.
(See [page 303].)

(2.) GRAVE AND MONUMENT OF DAMARA CHIEF.
(See [page 314].)

These are the full ceremonials that take place at the death of a chief,—at all events, of a man of some importance, but they vary much according to the rank of the individual. Sometimes a rain-maker has forbidden all sepulchral rites whatever, as interfering with the production of rain, and during the time of this interdict every corpse is dragged into the bush to be consumed by the hyænas. Even the very touch of a dead body is forbidden, and, under this strange tyranny, a son has been seen to fling a leathern rope round the leg of his dead mother, drag her body into the bush, and there leave it, throwing down the rope and abandoning it, because it had been defiled by the contact of a dead body, and he might happen to touch the part that had touched the corpse.

The concluding scene in a Bechuana funeral is [illustrated] on the previous page.

In the background is seen the fence of the kraal, in which a hole has been broken, through which the body of the deceased has been carried. Behind the men who are lowering the body into the grave is a girl bearing in her hands the branch of acacia which is to be placed on the head of the corpse—evidently a relic of some tradition long ago forgotten, or, at all events, of which they profess to be ignorant. At the side stands the old woman who bears the weapons of the deceased chief—his spears, axe, and bow—and in the foreground are the bowl of water for lustration, and the hoes with which the grave has been dug.

CHAPTER XXX.
THE DAMARA TRIBE.

LOCALITY AND ORIGIN OF THE DAMARAS — DIVISIONS OF THE TRIBE — THE RICH AND POOR DAMARAS — CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY — APPEARANCE OF THE PEOPLE — THEIR PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION — MAN’S DRESS — THE PECULIAR SANDALS, AND MODE OF ADORNING THE HAIR — WOMEN’S DRESS — COSTUME OF THE GIRLS — PORTRAIT OF A DAMARA GIRL RESTING HERSELF — SINGULAR CAP OF THE MARRIED WOMEN — FASTIDIOUSNESS CONCERNING DRESS — CATTLE OF THE DAMARAS — “CROWING” FOR ROOTS AND WATER — ARCHITECTURE AND FURNITURE — INTELLECT OF THE DAMARAS — ARITHMETICAL DIFFICULTIES — WEAPONS — THE DAMARA AS A SOLDIER — THE DIFFERENT CASTES OR EANDAS — FOOD, AND MODE OF COOKING — DAMARA DANCES AND MUSIC — MATRIMONIAL AFFAIRS — VARIOUS SUPERSTITIONS — THE SACRED FIRE AND ITS PRIESTESS — APPARITIONS — DEATH AND BURIAL OF A CHIEF — CEREMONIALS ON THE ACCESSION OF HIS SON — THE DAMARA OATH.