Makaranga

In July 1871, Karl Mauch began his last African journey, from the Transvaal to the Zambezi. He traveled with the minimum of resources and near Zimbabwe he was stranded - to be rescued by an American wanderer, Adam Render. Render was established in a Makaranga kraal and here Mauch stayed for nine months. Render knew of the Zimbabwe ruins, and showed them to Mauch who was the first to publish an account of them.

I should like to tell something about the Makaranga tribe. It appears to me best for this purpose to accompany both a girl and a boy through life.

THE FEEDING OF CHILDREN
When young birds have hatched, their parents carry food to them and stuff it right down the beaks of the little loud-mouths. This appears to have been taken as an example by the Makaranga. As early as the first day after the birth of a child, a specially fine porridge of rice-flour or, this being lacking, of ground millet is prepared in order to stuff the new arrival.

Usually it is the grandmother who undertakes this feeding process during the first few days. She takes the child on her lap; the head, anointed with fat, is slightly raised on her bent left arm. The business of forced feeding is begun. The stuffing finger enters well behind the palate; the far too large quantity of the sticky porridge pours down the sides and covers the area of nose and mouth in a dangerous looking manner.

As a second aid the baby, at times almost choking, is rocked by a movement of the legs in the way one shakes a sack to distribute different objects according to their weight. The stomach swells to such a degree that the beholder begins to grow anxious lest it should presently burst.

Under this the child has cried so much that it is tired and has fallen asleep; it lies there as if it were dead. Now it is gently taken up with both hands cupping its head and the grubby face is licked clean; waguta (it is satisfied), says grandmother and lays it down again at its mother's side.

When, after about four to five days, the mother has sufficiently recovered to be able to undertake once more her daily work, she has the child tied on to her back in a skin in a half sitting, half lying position, the arms and legs protruding through openings. It very soon becomes accustomed to this. Whatever kind of work it may be that the mother does, either in, around or away from the hut, the child remains on her back and neither cold nor rain make any difference.

Thus it grows. The teeth appear and are superstitiously observed to see whether the lower or upper ones are cut first. If the lower incisors appear first the baby is disposed of.

It attempts to walk. Already it is receiving, besides porridge and mother's milk, such tasty dishes as mandere (beetles), madora (caterpillars of a giant moth), grass hoppers, field rats, mushrooms, etc. Its body is frequently rubbed with ground-nut oil and several times already has the short, curly hair been scraped off the head, for a Makaranga razor is no keener than a blunt pocket knife.

For some time it has been wearing garments in the shape of a few strings of beads around neck and loins. A child of three eats and drinks everything, whatever the mother wants to give or not to give it; it talks, runs, plays, dances and has its own will which it knows how to enforce by crying. However, as a rule it still drinks from its mother.

TATTOOING OF THE GIRLS
If the child is a girl and has reached the age of about five years, it is thought desirable to send her to relations in a distant village where she will be brought up, that is, fed and cared for. Here, in time, she learns to carry wood and fetch water, to prepare porridge and relishes, to brew beer and make salt, to mould and burn pots, but she also learns the customs and vices and the superstitious habits of her tribe.

The possibly already greying, or else the still young, lover has paid part of the bride-price and the father has very likely told his little daughter all about it. When the time comes that the old women deem the girl to be of marriageable age, then the beauty has to undergo the tattooing.

One must imagine the tormenting pain when the whole area below the breasts and the abdomen, from one side to the other, with the exception of a line of one inch width in the middle, receives the round sum of about 4,000 small incisions in the skin, arranged in 30 or more parallel lines, not counting further cuts on other parts of the body.

Furthermore one imagines these small wounds being rubbed with an acid, soot-blackened juice to cause the production of elevated scars. Also one imagines the possibility that, should these 'beauty lines' be found not narrow and high enough, then the torture, which lasts for several days, will have to be repeated. One has to admit that 'Lady Fashion' reigns much more tyrannically there than among other peoples.

MARRIAGE
By the time the girl has reached the age of between 12 and 14 years her education is completed. From now on she has but to wait till her father can come to an arrangement with her suitor concerning the bride-price, if it does not occur to her to elope with the one accorded to her or with a bridegroom of her own choice; the reason for this is not love, romantic love.

How could she know what love is, as this emotion has never been cultivated in her? From early childhood she has been estranged from her parents, has been sold by her father like merchandise; thus she knows no love for her man. At best she prides herself if a lot has been paid for her.

If the man is capable of keeping her in fear of him then living together will be tolerable; if, however, he is weak or if she should hate him, then she knows only too well how to embitter his life in every way.

WIDOWHOOD AND DEATH
If a woman should survive her husband she is given as heritage to the oldest son of the family, and, should he perchance be her own child, she remains either as matriarch in the house of the family or, if she prefers to, takes another husband.

In the first case she becomes a 'snuff-sister', in which role she discusses all the news concerning other families, invents all sorts of lies which she spreads around, and comments on the weather. Thus, for instance, an extremely malevolent widow showed a great ability in discovering the most unlikely reasons why such scant rain fell during my sojourn there (only 16 real rainy days during the rainy season):

the white man shoots too much (although I killed each time a poisonous and as such, greatly feared snake), the white man made a 'thing' which chases heavy rainclouds away (this was the well-known toy for children, a star made of stiff paper which revolves in the wind and which I had placed on top of my hut), the white man looks continuously at the stars so that no rain should fall (astronomical observations), the white man collects medicines to bewitch the rain (collecting and examining plants unknown to me), the white man alone is the cause of all the ill-luck that must follow the absence of the rain.

When the woman finally ends her earthly life she is buried in a cave or a hole in some rocks together with her small grease jar, and the opening is closed by a stone wall. Soon she would be forgotten, did she not now and again appear to the family as a tormentor.

OCCUPATIONS FOR BOYS
As regards feeding and the constant presence of his mother the boy up to the age of five years receives the same treatment as the girls. He is less frequently sent to distant relations to be brought up as he is needed at home to drive the goats and sheep to pasture.

Daily one may see him driving them out and returning with them, always keeping them together by whistling and calling. While driving them out he usually carries besides his knobkerrie, bow and arrows, a lump of reddish hard porridge from which he tears small morsels.

As goat-herd he occupies a very important position. To encourage him to maintain this position in a very conscientious manner he is given a goat as an installation gift, or pocket money as it were. Only so will 'the pride of the family' look after father's property with any attention. He plays his own games to while away the long day, such as throwing stones or sticks at small mammals and birds; he uses a sling, shoots arrows, has a kind of blunderbuss, sets traps, walks on stilts, etc.

According to the season one meets him climbing trees bearing wild fruit, or stealing green maize cobs, which he roasts in a hidden place and enjoys the grains there; thus it often happens on such days that his belly shows much greater dimensions on his return than on his departure in the morning. In spite of this he is always hungry, he even 'dies of hunger'

With great interest he takes part in all conversations around the fire-place in the almost dark hut, whether of members of the family or by visitors. His childish opinions often tip the scales in an argument. In many cases he has by now been given superior clothing for, already, he wears an apron and also a piece of skin to cover his seat.

ADOLESCENCE
The boy has become a fully trained goat-herd by the time he is between 12 and 15 years old. Now he awaits an advancement to become a cattle-herd. To this state he is installed by being presented with a young cow of his own.

In this occupation, too, except for milking, he has plenty of time to spare and, according to his inclination, he learns now to make baskets, wooden dishes, knobkerries, bows and arrows, spears, reed traps for fishing and nets of bark-rope for the chase.

Many a one also flatters his vanity and coquetry. He braids thin bark-strings, attaches to them pretty buttons and weaves them into his short, curly hair, only to drench this wig with either fat or thick cream whenever he has the opportunity.

Such a wig is said to be of unbelievable beauty to Makaranga eyes and the aroma of such extravagantly applied pomade is an indescribably sweet perfume to their noses.

To while away his time he also twists fine loin strings to which he ties small brass rings or glass beads as a further ornament; he also at this age loves to dance throughout the night in the open air or inside a hut. Should he possess any musical talent he endeavors by day and by night to attain a certain virtuosity by practising and by a rare perseverance.

If he is the son of a smith the natural tendency to acquire this art is inherent in him. He shows himself so adept that soon he knows as much about the work as does his fatherly master. Yet he would never dare to equal him in dexterity or the urge for perfection.

His weapons such as bow, arrows in a baboon-skin quiver, spear and axe, are now his constant companions to which he likes to add several snuff-boxes in the shape of round bowls made of the fruit of a certain tree, or a small calabash.

One never meets him without these objects, whether he is on a friendly mission or on the war path, driving his cattle or hunting, or simply on a commercial journey or his honeymoon.

COURTSHIP
His principal task now is to look around for a wife and this has frequently its own difficulties. If the young man has been lucky enough to have discovered a sweetheart in some place he visits the village now and again over the years for which occasions he dresses up in the most pleasing and tasteful manner.

He has polished his body to a beautiful gloss with grease and he does not forget to carry a flawless, polished, highly carved calabash of pleasing shape and size which he has packed with grease.

If he is wealthy, and thus able to pay the price asked by the girl's father, he takes his bride home. But if he is poor he is liable to have to work for years for his bride's father, and is likely to be cheated as was Jacob by his cousin Laban.

Suppose that he really is luckier than the above mentioned biblical father, he either builds a new hut for his wife or is satisfied with a repaired old one. Soon he feels at home in this new situation. Now he has nothing further to do than to assist in obtaining the daily bread, to help in the preparation of the fields and, should he desire to eat sufficiently and to drink beer frequently, to look around for further wives.

When he has grown old and, eventually, dies a natural death, he, too, will be placed in a cave. Some of his personal goods are placed there as well and then he is immured and would soon be forgotten did he not now and again torment the family in the shape of mudzimu.

THE TORMENTOR
Thus I have reached the subject of a religious belief of the Makaranga showing that they accept a life of the soul after death, in a certain way, in a transmigration of souls. They believe in a highest being of goodness, called Mwari, and another of evil, Ngozi.

The former lives pa denga, that is in heaven; the latter lives pasi, below the earth. They do not consider any thanks due to the former when they receive some favour; in any case, they have no word for 'to thank' in their language. Any luck they attribute solely to their own cunning and skill.

Does, however, some accident occur, then it is always caused by others, either living or dead. If someone falls ill it is because the family ghost, the mudzimu, revenges himself for the reason that various things had been denied him while he was still living as a man on earth.

But where does the patient learn the reason for his illness? From the doctor in his or in another village. He is told all about the case. It lies now in the interest of the sorcerer or witch-doctor always to find a different cause for the illness than the mere fact that the patient possibly suffers from indigestion or that he has caught a cold or sprained his ankle.

He finds it out very quickly, for he possesses prophetical 'woods' the position of which, when thrown down on the ground, tells him the unmistakable reason. Without any doubt it is the mudzimu who once had asked for a goat or beer or a piece of cotton cloth or a knife, etc., and who was denied these things. He declares that the mudzimu now asks twice as much.

The patient has to drink an infusion of some root or other and the relations of the patient have to dance to the sounding and beating of drums in his hut for several nights. Certain incisions have to be made on his body or even on the body of a healthy relative, and so forth. All this has to be scrupulously observed so as to appease the tormentor mudzimu.

In the case of death from old age it is again the mudzimu who called. A mudzimu often takes sudden possession of a man so that he is no longer himself. A man acts like a woman, a woman asserts that she is a man, in short, the most horrible deeds are committed. One is vividly reminded of the possessed which are spoken of in Holy Writ and one is sorely tempted to exorcise the devils with a sound beating.

The mudzimu frequently possesses animals, such as a goat or a cow, which are immediately treated as if they were humans. If the mudzimu, however, is not on any of his tormenting outings he has to lead a very dull life. He is out in the bush riding around on lions. Besides the mudzimu there are many more spirits who cause evil. Some appear now out of the water or, then again, out of the earth, but they are chased away by dancing.

The doctor, however, profits from all this and knows how to get paid for his efforts. Thus, among other things, there occurred the case when a doctor cured a slight indisposition in a poor man's daughter after week-long treatment and, instead of any payment, simply asked to take the cured patient as wife, in spite of the fact that he already had five wives.

PHYSICAL BUILD, CLOTHES
On the whole one may term the Makaranga's build medium. The men are mostly lean people, whereas for a woman to be excessively fat is reckoned to be extraordinarily beautiful. Hands and feet are somewhat larger than proportion demands, the hair is short and woolly and the beard of the man is insignificant. Only rarely does one encounter negroid features.

The narrow, somewhat aquiline nose and the not excessively thick lips in many a physiognomy do not make them appear ugly. This may point to Arab, Malay or Israelite connections in olden days. The color of their skin is of the brown we so well see in roasted coffee beans; but there are transitions to reddish and black without, in the latter case, attaining the velvety black of the Negroes.

Sartorial artists like tailors and shoemakers, or milliners for the women, would not find any work among the Makaranga. Both sexes wear only a small apron in front and a somewhat bigger piece of skin at the rear. Very rarely are sandals worn, as the necessary thick skin of a buffalo or some other big game is always eaten to the last morsel, it being a delicious relish to be added to the daily food.

They know nothing of hats or other kinds of head-covering. The women, particularly, expose their bald, scraped skulls to the singeing rays of the sun and no exception is made where children are concerned. Notwithstanding this, I have never heard of a single case of sunstroke.

They hardly know how to protect themselves against cold and rain by using larger animal skins; they prefer to await better weather sitting near the fire in their huts and they kill time with gossiping which is a highly developed art among them.

As ornaments glass beads are strung on a piece of bark string which is worn as a necklace. Also popular are finger-rings, bracelets and leg-rings of iron, brass or copper. The men are less inclined to adorn themselves in this manner, but they see to it that their womenfolk do not lack such ornaments. These constantly wear their wealth of glass beads, which often weigh 20 pounds or more, under their ordinary clothes, never over them.

Apart from this weight of jewellery their lower arms are frequently completely covered by brass rings and their legs, from just below the knee, are weighed down by metal bangles of finger thickness.

In spite of this being so inconvenient whilst doing the daily chores, it, nevertheless, shows that the woman is well-to-do and the ornaments are beautiful and the lucky owner is being adored and envied by the others for it. In addition, there is less danger of the jewellery being stolen.

HABITATION
The frequent raids of their warlike enemies influenced the Makaranga in the siting and building of their villages. Instead of building their homes, as of old, in the plains near their fields, they are now obliged to seek out mountain tops where nature enables them to entrench themselves and, in case of need, to hide in caves into which, quite apart from their families, cattle can be introduced and sheltered.

In these caves they find adequate safety but, should the enemy besiege them for any length of time, they will soon be in an awkward position for they usually have not enough time to lay in a sufficient supply of water.

I have already described in what manner the individual huts are built. Now I want to introduce the interested reader into one of them and acquaint him with all the implements contained therein.

One observes only objects which are absolutely necessary, as the Makaranga know no luxuries. There are a great number of globe-shaped pots without handles or legs. Their size varies between those which contain four gallons down to others for which even the volume of liquid contained in a teacup would be too great. All are made of sandy clay and become very porous with burning.

To obviate this drawback, but in ignorance of the process of glazing, some unripened maize or some paste is cooked in the pot whereby the pores become clogged. The pots serve to keep victuals which cannot be stored in specially built grain bins, as for instance millet, maize and ground-nuts, because they fear to lose them during the night.

To those already mentioned may be added beans, flour, rice, dried pieces of the stem of sugar millet, mushrooms, meat or its substitutes such as beetles, caterpillars, locusts, and also milk. Further one sees wooden bowls and dishes, pumpkin gourds or calabashes as well as plaited baskets.

Stuck into the grass roof are ladles, brushes, feathers, bows, arrows and spears. There also hangs tobacco for snuff, hemp for smoking and the small salt bag.

Bed, table or chairs are totally lacking, but never the carved wooden head-pillow, as I would call it. A mat made of grass or reeds serves as sleeping place. The fire place, in the centre of the hut, consists of three stones which form a tripod on which the cooking-pot may be stood in safety.

When I further mention a couple of animal skins which hang on a bark rope which is spanned across the interior, and also a small basket for the brooding hen, I have enumerated almost everything which is stored within the hut.

On the outside, large poles and firewood are piled up below the overhanging roof. Nearby lies the mortar fashioned from a tree trunk, 10-12 inches thick, and the pestle belonging to it, which is of heavy and hard wood.

FOOD
The preparation of their food is simple. The millet porridge must never be missing and a relish to go with it is prepared which, according to the available stores or the season, may consist of stewed bean leaves, ground or boiled ground-nuts, mushrooms, roasted locusts, heated cockchafers, caterpillars, the meat of domestic animals or of game as well as their skin, or of sour milk.

Everyone washes their hands as soon as the meal is ready and all members of the family sit on the floor around the bowl in which the meal is being served, with their legs tucked under their buttocks.

One after the other starts eating, using fingers only, taking a lump of the stiff porridge which he dips into the relish or sauce and allows the morsel to disappear behind the teeth accompanied by continuous smacking of lips and talking.

Never does one see two hands in the bowl simultaneously and never is more than a mouthful grabbed. Only rarely is someone so hurried with this pleasant occupation as to help himself out of turn. One eats twice daily, in the morning and at sunset.

WORK
As the Makaranga certainly never take too long over their table and as, on the contrary, these less than lavish feasts are finished in next to no time, an enormous amount of time is left to them for work. But what kind of work is awaiting these people?

It seems as if there were nothing for them to do, nevertheless, one meets with only a very few who could be called genuine loafers. The accomplishment of their ordinary tasks requires the co-operation of all the members of the family.

The man's duties are to keep the huts of his several wives in good repair, to cut wood, gather firewood in bundles, to make wooden bowls and mortars, to produce weapons, knives and agricultural implements, to go hunting should he want to eat meat or to supply his wives with new garments, to go on bartering trips, to make baskets of tough, flexible tree branches, to weave blankets and sacks from tree bark, to convert forest into fields by stumping, to help with sowing and reaping, to chase destructive baboons away from maize fields, and so on.

It is the duty of the women to observe cleanliness and order within their huts, to carry water and wood, sometimes over considerable distances, daily to wash, dry, grind and cook millet which is necessary for the daily meals.

Their principal work is making ready the lands and they have to prepare salt and beer. The education of the children is their very own task, as the man does not concern himself with this at all. There is certainly enough to do just to be able to live from hand to mouth, and considering this, one can excuse polygamy.

MUSIC, DANCING, HUNTING
The mbira, a square piece of wood over which metal tongues (fastened at one end between some thick iron wire and the wood) are made to sound, is the most pleasant among their musical instruments. The tongues are of different length, allowing a formal tuning of from two to three octaves. This instrument is wedged into a very dry calabash by two small pieces of wood.

The calabash has loosely fitted mussel or small shells around the rim of the large opening. The tunes, which are by no means disagreeable to listen to, mostly contain eight beats, repeated ad infinitum. These are accompanied by the singing of improvised texts which have a refrain.

Another instrument is the 'Job's flute' made of a number of hollow reeds of variable length. Instruments to produce noise are kettle-drums, tambourines and horns of the Sable antelope. One is vividly reminded of the quadrille when watching their dances in the open air. Singing and the beating of drums accompany them.

One of their most favoured pastimes is the chase, mainly using nets in the way which was very popular in Germany at the beginning of the century. The linked nets may often attain a length of four to five English miles.

Each owner of a mambure (net) takes up his position behind a scherm of tree branches placed behind the net belonging to him, ready to spear any panicking animal which entangles itself in the mesh, for according to the law of the chase the trophy belongs to him who made the first wounding stab. Such hunting parties, in which the people of several villages take part, often last for several days.

CUSTOMS, SUPERSTITIONS

When a death occurs the body is buried either at sunrise or at sunset according to the time of demise. First the body is washed, then anointed with fat; the knees are drawn up, the arms bent across the chest the eyes are closed, after which the corpse is partly covered by an old piece of linen or cotton and laid on its right side in a cave, the mouth of which is then closed up by an artless stone wall built without the use of any mortar.

In the case of newly born twins, one of them who has been pointed out by the prophetic bones ( hakata) has to be carried into the bush inside a pot while still alive. There it will soon fall victim to hyaenas.

Superstition deeply affects the life and behavior of the Makaranga and the most insignificant actions are ruled by it; for instance the placing of firewood in the fireplace, the mode of sitting in the hut, the way of holding a broom or a ladle, even the manner of relieving oneself, etc.

To ensure the efficiency of a smith's bellows a goat has to be flayed alive, and to make sure that a furnace works well one has to mix a certain medicine with the clay, while porridge and beer have to be supplied during the smelting activities, and so forth.

LANGUAGE AND HISTORY
In their language one finds elements which are also present in Zulu and Sesotho; in fact, Chikaranga belongs to the large group of Bantu languages which spreads over the whole of the south-eastern part of Africa. Though clicks, as they appear in the Zulu language, do not occur, Chikaranga sounds less pleasant than the Zulu language.

As far as their history is concerned it remains shrouded in the deepest darkness. As they are ignorant of the informing of posterity, either by writing or by carving in stone, of any historical happenings, one experiences the greatest difficulty in separating truth from myth and the fictitious in their changing traditions.

Only from the first decades of the 19th Century does any certainty in regard to their history appear. In the following I shall try to relate what I could find out in this aspect.

About 300 years ago they must have been a powerful people, for their mambo (kings) ruled over the whole country between the two rivers Limpopo and Zambezi. In fact they extracted tribute from places which are well beyond those borders.

However, such a powerful empire could not last forever, as raiding invasions by other people, the Rozvi, frequently took place from the north-west. To those as well as to the Portuguese they ceded lands.

But the Rozvi were concerned not only with raiding, for the wider they spread the better they liked the country. It may be that they themselves were being chased from their homes and thus founded their new homeland here, finally to become the factual masters of the country.

The empire of the Rozvi in its turn suffered upheavals and dismemberment through the warlike and wild hordes of the Zulu from the east and, soon after, the Matabele, those relations of the Zulu, invaded the country from the west.

First they were led by the father of the notorious and cruel Mzilikazi and later by Mzilikazi himself after he had been chased from the present Republic of the Transvaal by the Dutch settlers.

The Rozvi resisted the annual attacks and raids for many years. However, as they were attacked and harassed from two sides, their numbers and wealth diminished rapidly and the last Rozvi sovereign Sebamubamu (gun) succumbed in the year 1866 to the two-year old efforts at suppression by the Matabele.

The majority of the surviving Rozvi people emigrated to the very mountainous part east of the Save river where they should be safe from further raids for the time being. Some others remained as subjects of the conquerors and are, together with the rest of the Makaranga, considered as nothing more than herd boys and breeders of the cattle and goat-herds of the present Matabele prince who, furthermore, exacts a tribute in arms and cereals from them each year.

Notwithstanding this, he allows his troops to undertake short raids against them. Whoever pays the tribute, which is being increased every year, may live in the uncertain hope that he will not be bothered again in the near future, but he who refuses will certainly be made the target for a quick raid by night when there will be no time to put his own person in safety.

The inescapable consequences of such a refusal are death for the men, the old women and the young children, captivity and slavery for the young women and girls, loss of all property and destruction by fire of all habitations.

For years now it has been like that and will remain so in future until the country will be barren, like that part in the north-west where numerous remains of burnt villages, bleached bones and large deforested tracts of land which still show the furrows of erstwhile agricultural enterprise, are witness to the presence and lust for destruction of the Matabele.

This, therefore, will be the probable fate of the Makaranga amongst whom I spent nine months, from September 1871 to May 1872.

While one cannot help admiring Karl Mauch's geological work, his conduct in the field of human relations has nothing endearing about it. His lack of gratitude and abuse of almost all his travel companions as well as people who helped him along, like Hartley and Render is almost unbelievable.

His capacity for hate knew no bounds. When he finally returned to Germany he didn't even let his parents know he was back again. In his diaries he expresses in no uncertain manner his distaste for the English, the Boers, the Portuguese, not to mention the Africans.

Towards the end of his African adventures the hardships of his journeys and a mysterious illness had reduced his intellectual powers to a shocking extent. By then Mauch was no longer the heroic discover of Zimbabwe but a poor, confused wreck of a man.

His death occurred as a result of a fall from his bedroom window. During the night he fell onto the cobblestones of the road below and some hours later was found with multiple injuries and a cracked skull. He died in Stuttgart on 4 April 1875, in his 38th year.