“When they had reached Sotshangana’s country, the Zulus were in great want of food, and a detachment of them coming to a deserted kraal, began, as usual, to search for it. In so doing, they discovered some large baskets, used for storing corn, and their hungry stomachs rejoiced at the prospect of a meal. But when a famished warrior impatiently removed the cover from one of them, out rushed a multitude of insects, and the anticipated feast flew about their ears. Astonishment seized the host, for they never beheld such an apparition before; every man asked his neighbor, but none could ‘tell its quality or name.’ One of their number at last threw some light on the mystery. He had seen the insects in Makazana’s country, and perhaps he told his wandering companions that they had been collected for food. But they soon learned this from the people of the kraal, who had only retired to escape the enemy, and whose voices were heard from a neighboring rock. In no case would the fugitives have been likely to spare their lungs, since they could rail and boast and threaten with impunity; but when they saw that their food was in danger, they lifted up their voices with desperate energy, and uttered the terrible threat that if the invaders ate their locusts, others should follow them home, and carry famine in their train. The Zulus were too hungry to heed the woe, or to be very discriminating in the choice of victuals, and the locusts were devoured. But when the army returned home, the scourge appeared, and the threatening was fulfilled.”
How locusts, the destroyers of food, are converted into food, and become a benefit instead of a curse to mankind, will be seen in the next chapter.
As to the fruits of this country, they are tolerably numerous, the most valued being the banana, which is sometimes called the royal fruit; a Kaffir monarch having laid claim to all bananas, and forced his subjects to allow him to take his choice before they touched the fruit themselves. In some favored districts the banana grows to a great size, a complete bunch being a heavy load for a man.
Next in importance to food for man is forage for cattle, and this is generally found in great abundance, so that the grazing of a herd costs their owner nothing but the trouble of driving his cattle to and from the grass land. In this, as in other hot countries, the grass grows with a rapidity and luxuriance that tends to make it too rank for cattle to eat. When it first springs up, it is green, sweet, and tender; but when it has reached a tolerable length it becomes so harsh that the cattle can hardly eat it. The Kaffir, therefore, adopts a plan by which he obtains as much fresh grass as he likes throughout the season.
When a patch of grass has been fed upon as long as it can furnish nourishment to the cattle, the Kaffir marks out another feeding-place. At night, when the cattle are safely penned within the kraal, the Kaffir goes out with a firebrand, and, when he has gone well to windward of the spot which he means to clear, he sets fire to the dry grass. At first, the flame creeps but slowly on, but it gradually increases both in speed and extent, and sweeps over the plain in obedience to the wind. On level ground, the fire marches in a tolerably straight line, and is of nearly uniform height, except when it happens to seize upon a clump of bushes, when it sends bright spires of flame far into the sky. But when it reaches the bush-clad hills, the spectacle becomes imposing. On rushes the mass of flame, climbing the hill with fearful strides, roaring like myriads of flags ruffled in the breeze, and devouring in its progress every particle of vegetation. Not an inhabitant of the bush or plain can withstand its progress, and the fire confers this benefit on the natives, that it destroys the snakes and the slow-moving reptiles, while the swifter antelopes are able to escape.
When the fire has done its work, the tract over which it has passed presents a most dismal spectacle, the whole soil being bare and black, and the only sign of former vegetation being an occasional stump of a tree which the flames had not entirely consumed. But, in a very short time, the wonderfully vigorous life of the herbage begins to assert itself, especially if a shower of rain should happen to fall. Delicate green blades show their slender points through the blackened covering, and in a short time the whole tract is covered with a mantle of uniform tender green. Nothing can be more beautiful than the fresh green of the young blades, as they are boldly contrasted with the deep black hue of the ground. The nearest approach to it is the singularly beautiful tint of our hedgerows in early spring—a tint as fleeting as it is lovely. The charred ashes of the burned grass form an admirable top-dressing to the new grass, which springs up with marvellous rapidity, and in a very short time affords pasture to the cattle. The Kaffir is, of course, careful not to burn too much at once; but by selecting different spots, and burning them in regular succession, he is able to give his beloved cows fresh pasturage throughout the year.
CHAPTER XV.
FOOD.
THE STAFF OF LIFE IN KAFFIRLAND — HOW A DINNER IS COOKED — BOILING AND GRINDING CORN — THE KAFFIR MILL, AND MODE OF USING IT — FAIR DIVISION OF LABOR — A KAFFIR DINNER-PARTY — SINGING IN CHORUS — ACCOUNT OF A KAFFIR MEETING AND WAR-SONG — HISTORY OF THE WAR-SONG, AND ITS VARIOUS POINTS EXPLAINED — TCHAKA’s WAR-SONG — SONG IN HONOR OF PANDA — HOW PORRIDGE IS EATEN — VARIOUS SPOONS MADE BY THE NATIVES — A USEFUL COMBINATION OF SPOON AND SNUFF-BOX — THE GIRAFFE SPOON — HOW THE COLORING IS MANAGED — PECULIAR ANGLE OF THE BOWL AND REASONS FOR IT — KAFFIR ETIQUETTE IN DINING — INNATE LOVE OF JUSTICE — GIGANTIC SPOON — KAFFIR LADLES — LOCUSTS EATEN BY KAFFIRS — THE INSECT IN ITS DIFFERENT STAGES — THE LOCUST ARMIES AND THEIR NUMBERS — DESTRUCTIVENESS OF THE INSECT — DESCRIPTION OF A FLIGHT OF LOCUSTS — EFFECT OF WIND ON THE LOCUSTS — HOW THE INSECTS ARE CAUGHT, COOKED, AND STORED — GENERAL QUALITY OF THE MEAT OBTAINED IN KAFFIRLAND — JERKED MEAT, AND MODE OF COOKING IT — THE HUNGER-BELT AND ITS USES — EATING SHIELD — CEREMONIES IN EATING BEEF — VARIOUS DRINKS USED BY THE KAFFIR — HOW HE DRINKS WATER FROM THE RIVER — INTOXICATING DRINKS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES — HOW BEER IS BREWED IN SOUTHERN AFRICA — MAKING MAIZE INTO MALT — FERMENTATION, SKIMMING, AND STRAINING — QUANTITY OF BEER DRUNK BY A KAFFIR — VESSELS IN WHICH BEER IS CONTAINED — BEER-BASKETS — BASKET STORE-HOUSES — THE KAFFIR’S LOVE FOR HONEY — HOW HE FINDS THE BEES’ NESTS — THE HONEY-GUIDE AND THE HONEY-RATEL — POISONOUS HONEY — POULTRY AND EGGS — FORBIDDEN MEATS — THE KAFFIR AND THE CROCODILE.
We have now seen how the Kaffirs obtain the staple of their animal food by the cattle-pen and hunting-field, and how they procure vegetable food by cultivating the soil. We will next proceed to the various kinds of food used by the Kaffirs, and to the method by which they cook it. Man, according to a familiar saying, has been defined as par excellence the cooking animal, and we shall always find that the various modes used in preparing food are equally characteristic and interesting.
The staff of life to a Kaffir is grain, whether maize or millet, reduced to a pulp by careful grinding, and bearing some resemblance to the oatmeal porridge of Scotland. When a woman has to cook a dinner for her husband, she goes to one of the grain stores, and takes out a sufficient quantity of either maize or millet, the former being called umbila, and the latter amabele. The great cooking pot is now brought to the circular fireplace, and set on three large stones, so as to allow the fire to burn beneath it. Water and maize are now put into the pot, the cover is luted down, as has already been mentioned, and the fire lighted. The cooking pot is made of clay, which is generally procured by pounding the materials of an ant-hill and kneading it thoroughly with water.