The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 59

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

59

with a grunt ejaculates, ‘I see you.? After answer-
ing with the customary ‘Yes,’ we make a few com-
monplace remarks and explain that we are traveling
through the Jand. The old man is not exactly
communicative; but he asks numerous questions,
listens to our answers, and keeps up a running
comment of grunts most expressively intoned to
convey every conceivable shade of meaning. Afri-
cans have reduced grunting to a fine art.”

The Cattle Kraal.

“We are now introduced to the kraal, which is
of the traditional Zulu type. In the center is the
cattle kraal, a round enclosure surrounded by a wall
of stones or prickly-pear or aloes. The cattle
are the Zulu’s most treasured possession. By
the number of his oxen his wealth is mea-
sured, and his greatest ambition is to acquire
many cattle. He values daughters more than
sons because of the number of cattle they
will bring to him when they marry. The
eattle therefore have the most secure place
available, the very center of the kraal. The
men themselves tend the cattle, the women
not being allowed to touch them.”

Zulu Huts.

“Around the cattle kraal are the dwell-
ing-huts of the family — large beehive-
shaped structures, cleverly made of bent
withies covered with wickerwork and thatch.
A glance shows us the fondness of the people
for circles; there is not a straight line, an
angle or a rectangular building about the
whole kraal. Primitive man has usually
found it easier to build on the circular plan
than in any other manner. Fortunately
we have opportunity to study the construction
of the huts, for a man and a boy are engaged
in making a new one. The circular floor-space,
about fourteen feet in diameter, is marked out
with long, thin withies stuck very firmly in
the earth and bent over and tied together to
form the skeleton of the hut, about six or eight
feet high. This riblike framework is then threaded
with flexible canes till it assumes the appearance
of basketwork. The next step is to cover the whole
with a thick layer of grass thatch. To do this, the
man stands on the outside and the boy inside.
Using a wooden needle and grass thread, the man
sews the thatch to the wicker foundation, pushing
the needle through to the boy, who in turn reinserts
it and pushes it back again. It is a slow, tedious
job; but time is no object, and the hut will have

to be well made if it is to prove weather-proof
when the rainy season comes. The huts are all
alike in appearance and all nearly the same size,
save that the headman’s dwelling is slightly larger
and may perchance have a grass wind-screen
around it; all the doorways face inward towards
the cattle kraal. Thirty years ago every kraal was
surrounded by a stockade by way of protection from
animal and human foes. Such a defense is un-
necessary nowadays and is seldom seen.”

The Headman’s Hut.

“The induna now invites us into his hut. It
means going down upon our hands and knees to

Zulu Girls.

enter, for the doorway is scarcely three feet high.
Within, the hut resembles a basketwork dome,
surprisingly well made and supported by two
stout posts near the center. The floor is slightly
raised as a protection against rain flooding the hut;
though made of earth it is as hard as asphalt and
so polished by bare feet constantly passing over it
that it looks like ebony. Between the two posts is
the fire-place, merely a depression in the earth, with
a stone or two on which to rest the pot and sundry
cooking utensils around it — calabashes of various
shapes and sizes—and some clay pots. The hut
contains little beyond a few grass sleeping-mats and
wooden pillows, the latter so designed that the neck
of the sleeper, not the head, rests upon them, and
thus the hairdressing effect is not spoiled. The
mats not in use at the moment are neatly rolled up