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Jewish Characteristics of African Zulus.

BY REV. JOSIAH TYLER, OF SOUTH AFRICA.

THE more thoroughly I investigate the subject the more I am inclined to think that the Zulus were cradled in the land of the Bible. Whether the reader will be able to discern in the following, marks of the "lost tribes of Israel" or not, I am quite sure he will see resemblances enough to convince him that, if not originally from the Holy Land, their intercourse with the inhabitants of that country must have been remarkably close. That their physical characteristics should undergo a great modification after coming into the African continent and mingling with the Negro races is not to be wondered at. In passing from Egypt down the eastern coast color and type of character would naturally change, but the question arises, Would they be lost? Can we not find sufficient resemblances to favor the opinion that they were once "Israelites indeed?"

The complexion of the Zulus varies. They have a decided preference for light brown or chocolate color, or, as they express it, "black with a little red in it."

An Arabic cast of features is often observable. Umuyamana, the Prime Minister of Cety wayo, the late Zulu king, is said to bear a striking resemblance to a Persian sheik. Zulu foreheads are higher than those of the average Negroes, their lips are not so thick, their noses not so flat, and their countenances have marks of intelligence distinguishing them from other tribes south of the equator.

Mr. Stanley, after emerging from the dark forests, soon came in contact with a people called Nahuma. He spoke of them as "twin brothers of Zululand." A Zulu woman in his party conversed with them freely without an interpreter, and when asked, "Where did you come from?" she replied, “From the land of Chaka." They told her that she was one of their people. In color, language, and muscular strength, as well as in dress and customs, they have close affinities to the maritime Zulus. Stanley calls them "the most interesting people, next to the Pygmies, in all southern Africa." A fine field for missionary labor will soon, we trust, be opened among that tribe, and the translation of the Bible now used in Natal and Zululand will doubtless answer for them. There is a missing link in the chain of presumptive evidence that the Zulus are of Hebrew origin. There is a want of Hebraisms in their dialect. A Jewish musician, it is said, in comparing Zulu with Hebrew songs, has found resemblances, but not of a striking nature. Zulu maidens have from time immemorial observed a custom of going annually upon the neighboring mountains to wail, using two words similar to those in Hebrew expressive of grief, a reminder of Jewish girls wailing for Jephtha's daughter.

Now as to clear similarities between Zulu and Jewish customs: Ukushwama, a feast of first fruits is observed regularly in Zululand and conforms strictly

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to the Jewish observance of it. Until lately Zulus rejected swine's flesh as an article of diet. They are fearful to step on a newly made grave lest they contract a disease of the feet. Widows are expected to marry the brothers of their former husbands. rite of circumcision has been observed by them until within a few years past. The diseases of the people are attached to a cock once a year, which is taken out by a fit person into the wilderness and let go, like the scapegoat. The slayer of a king is not allowed to live. A childless woman is an object of pity.

The cunning and arts of the Izanusi (witch doctors) are like those of wizards and familiar spirits about whom we read in the Old Testament. Zulu sacrifices to appease the spirits are indicative of the belief that "without shedding of blood is no remission of sin." The expression, "Is thy servant a dog?" is frequent among these people. They swear by the names of their kings. They burn incense, mixing herbs with the fat of the beast that is slaughtered in sacrifice. When an ox is slain a part called insonyama is given to the kings, as the Jews were accustomed to give to their priests. Great men have special servants to pour water on their hands after they have eaten (see 2 Kings 3. 11): "Elisha the son of Shaphat, is here, which poured water on the hands of Elijah."

Preparations for the reception of a Zulu king remind us of Exod. 19. 10-13, 15; as on the day of first fruits when he displays himself in his august majesty in the royal krall, no man may approach him and all must be washed and purified. The habit of cursing the enemy before going into battle is ancestral with the Zulus, evidently with the superstitious notion that it will promote success. How like the Jewish idea (see Num. 23.6)! When Zulus slaughter, the bone of the right shoulder of the animal and often the lower jaw are carefully preserved from breakage, out of devotion to the ancestral spirits (see Exod. 12. 46). Not a bone of the paschal lamb was broken.

Other similarities might be referred to, such as heaping up piles of memorial stones, naming of children from some circumstance connected with their birth, laws for the purification of women, marrying the oldest daughter first, sprinkling blood at the entance of their huts to ward off calamity, demoniacal possessions, etc. Then there are traditions of dividing a sea by the stroke of a cane, also striking a rock so that the water gushed forth, of the Noachian deluge, and of the "man who ate grass like an ox.” Zulu Christians often remark, "We understand the Old Testament better than we do the New; it describes so perfectly our home life."

Whether of Jewish descent or not, they are an exceedingly interesting people and are destined, when enlightened, to become important factors in the regeneration of the Dark Continent.-Congregationalis'.

The People of Angola.

BY HELI CHATELAIN.

As defined by the recent treaties with Germany, England, and the Congo State, the Portuguese province of Angola is one of the largest territorial divisions on the new map of Africa. Owing to its geographic position, variety of climates, natural resources, and to the progress already accomplished in the civilization of the natives, the intrinsic value and immediate possibilities of Angola surpass those of any other possession in tropical Africa.

The political organization of African tribes is very much the same all over the continent; the differences bear rather on secondary points and the personal characteristics of tribal or national rulers. These remarks apply immediately to the tribes of Angola proper, that is, of the District of Loanda; but with slight modifications they would also be true of the other Angolan districts and of African tribes generally.

It will be found that the native African system of government is both rational and practical; in fact, as good as it could be. Neither absolutely democratic, nor aristocratic, nor monarchic, but a happy blending of these three fundamental types. Whether large or small, every village or town or tribe or nation is governed after the same uniform pattern. The legis lative power is vested in the council of the elders or prominent men, which includes all freemen whose opinions have some weight in the eyes of the people. These elders are called in Ki-mbundu "ma-kota." They are the depositories of the tribe's or nation's traditional customs, which constitute the laws or constitution according to which the body of the elders, as well as the chief, are to administer public affairs, and the chief executive is to be elected. Thus this council pretty well corresponds to our parliaments.

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The executive power is vested in the chief, or king, whose title is, in northern Angola, "mfumu" or "ndembu ;" in central Angola, soba;" and in southern Angola, o soma." As a rule the chief is elected and inaugurated by the elders, in accordance with definite rules, in one royal family; the heir to the throne being rarely the son, but most always the oldest or the ablest son of the defunct or deposed king's oldest sister. In the interest of the state, the chief has nominally absolute power over the life and property of his subjects; but practically he can do nothing without consulting the council or the most influential of the elders; and woe to him if he offends public opinion. He may suddenly be accused of witchcraft, and fall a victim to the poison test or be deposed or killed by the elders with the consent and cooperation of the public.

The chief is called the father of the people, his subjects are called his children, and he is expected to

treat them as such. Every chief, on being inaugu rated, takes the name of his predecessor and his place in the royal household. The state property he administers and uses for the public service, but he cannot dispose of it, and his private property is kept separate. According to native law, a chief has no right to alienate the land of his people, though such dealings are of constant occurrence in the written treaties of European powers with African chiefs.

The judicial power is not vested in any special judges or courts. As soon as a question arises between two parties, one or both of them call an umpire or a court of umpires, and thus most of the quarrels are settled by arbitration. Important questions and infractions of the chief's regulations or tribal laws are judged by the chief and by the elders. The supreme tribunal, however, is that "of God," as it (is called by African natives, as well as by the Europeans of the Middle Ages, that is, by the poison test or some other ordeal of the sort. Through the awe it inspires to all and the blind belief of the public in its verdict, the medicine man who administers it wields, in a limited sphere, the highest power, to which every person of the place is subject.

Every chief has a certain number of officers who assist him in his administration. They correspond to the cabinets or ministries of modern civilization. The highest officer is the chief's "vice," who often is his presumptive heir, and whose title in Ki-mbundu is "ngolambole." He is the chief's right hand, represents him in his absence, and is regent during any interregnum. The inseparable companion of the chief is the "tandala," "muzumbu," or "sakala," who is the chief's secretary, or, better, his mouthpiece. It is he who transmits all messages to the chief and the answers of the latter to petitioners or negotiators. He publishes the royal orders, receives and introduces strangers, and attends to the official correspondence -where writing has been introduced. Besides these

two standing, necessary officers, Angolan chiefs have, according to their importance or pride, some of the following officers: A captain of the militia, an executioner, a collector of taxes, a superintendent of roads, of markets, etc.

In some tribes the chief may be a female as well as a male, and in most tribes the head wife of the chief of the preceding as well as of the ruling chief -has great power and influence.

If some subjects of a chief establish a new settlement, the chief gives them a vassal chief with the royal insignia of the cap (kijmga ") and the scepter ("mbasá "), and thus originates a new line of kings, which, with time, may gather power and become paramount in the tribe. The vassal chiefs have to pay a small tribute to their suzerain.

Sometimes several towns or tribes of equal rank unite in a federation for the purpose of mutual de

fense, as is the case among the Dembos (Ji-ndembu). At other times an ambitious and able chief succeeds in forcing neighbors to recognize him as suzerain and pay him tribute, and thus becomes a chief of many chiefs, a "jaka." All tribes used to have a supreme chief, but in recent years their power has been waning, and the only king of central Angola who still holds sway over his whole tribe and maintains an elaborate system of elective and hereditary nobility is that of Ngola, or Ndongo, whose name (Angola) has been given to the whole province.

The King of Congo has dwindled down to the status of a public functionary of the Portuguese crown, and his dukes, counts, and barons may be considered things of the past.

In Angola there is no trace of the military despotic system of the Ama-Zulu nor of tyrannic Neros like the kings of Dahomey.

As in most Bantu tribes, it is the mother and not the father who determines consanguinity; therefore, the child of a sister is held by a man to be his nearest descendant and legal heir. The children belong to their maternal uncle and not to their father. The father's relation to his children is as loose as, with us, that of a stepfather to his stepchildren. The uncle has the right to sell his nephews and nieces, separating them from father, mother, brothers, and sisters.

Polygamy is every where honored, though its evil concomitants and consequences are not ignored. Every wife has her own house, gardens, and private property. The first wife, or head wife, has a limited authority over the concubines, and the whole system works much more smoothly than people in civilization would imagine. Still, its demoralizing effects are everywhere visible, and there is no hope of a regeneration of the race as long as polygamy is not con. demned by public opinion and finally eradicated. The family is the foundation of the state, and monogamy the corner stone of a normal household.

The absence of metal or paper money to represent capital has much to do with the popularity of polygamy, as each additional wife, with house, children, fields, and cattle, is considered a paying investment of capital. The presents given by the wooer for his bride are not, as usually represented, her "price," as though she were simply bought, but the symbol and pledge of the contract entered into. If he treats her unmercifully she can run away, and he loses his deposit. If, on the contrary, she should prove unfaithful the parents will have to return the equivalent of the wooing present. Thus it is a mutual check.

The greatest festivity of the native Angolans is not the wedding, but the funeral, called "tambi." All the relatives and friends gather and have a regular "blow-out" as long as there is anything left. Circumcision is very widely practiced, but obligatory only among a few tribes.

There is no corner of Angola where slavery is not

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in practice among the natives. Nor can slavery exist without slave trade. The worst horrors of the traffic, however, do not appear in the local trade. They are enacted in the extreme east of the province and in the unsubdued parts of the Congo State, where the Ma-Kioko and other tribes raid the slaves

they bring to the coast. It is then that villages are attacked, burnt, sacked, and the human flocks driven to the slave markets, many dying on the road, while others are used as beasts of burden to bring to the coast the rubber, the wax, and the ivory so coveted by the whites. Legally, slavery is abolished in all Portuguese possessions. But forced labor, under the name of legal contract, is more flourishing than ever.

Domestic slavery among the natives is an evil, no doubt, but not to be compared with that of contract labor on the plantations. The slave of the uncivilized native is treated as a child, and often loves his master like a father and his mistress like a mother. His master having no more needs than he, the slave is often as well off as the master. He has very little work to do, and all he earns in his free time is his own, so that, if he wants to become free, he may after a time redeem himself. Not so with the plantation laborer. The exacting white man is determined to squeeze out of him every cent he may produce, and the manatee whip is from early morn till dusk in the hands of the foreman, and even of the planter himself.

The ever repeated assertion that the Africans are fetichists, that is, worshipers of inanimate objects, is utterly false. The Angolans have the same religious system as the Bantus generally. They are not idolators in the strict sense, nor polytheists, and much less atheists, but superstitious deists. They believe in one great God, who made and maintains all things, invisible, yet seeing even the thoughts of men, the author of all the good, but also of much of the suffering. They generally think that God is angry with mankind and indifferent to the details of their daily life. They do not formally worship God, nor represent him by any image, nor do they believe he is contained in any fetich. The only carved image which the Angolans call God is an imitation of the crucifix, and they clearly state that this is the white man's God, not the God of the universe. And they call it God, because the Catholic priests taught them, showing the crucifix.

What travelers generally call African gods are no gods at all, but inferior spirits, to whom God has intrusted the administration of natural forces. These inferior spirits and the shades of the deceased are the supernatural beings whom the natives fear and serve. With them they converse through the media of their "i-mbunda." them they seek to propitiate by offerings and sacrifices, and to them they attribute most mysterious accidents of their simple life.

What images the natives have, and horns, bones, stones, and sticks, so often called their gods, are simply amulets and talismans consecrated by their

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medicine men, differing in nothing but the form from the host of amulets sold in many countries in Europe.

He believes that when he dies he lives on in hades much the same as he did on earth, only much longer

CENTRAL AFRICA MEDICINE MAN.

-how long no one can tell; but if man dies again in hades, he goes to another place about which nothing at all is known. The slave dreads to die as a slave, because he thinks he will enter the other life as a slave and continue in that inferior state. Therefore, he entreats his master to give him his liberty as he passes from this life.

The Angolans do not seem to have any definite idea of a hell or paradise; all go to the same region

and are there, as here, the authors of their own good or bad fortune.

The only white people established in Angola besides the Portuguese are the Boers, a small colony of whom "trekked" from the Transvaal and arrived on the plateau of Mossamedes in 1881, settling down at Humpata in 1882, when they were by royal decree declared to be Portuguese citizens. They have not even begun to mix with the Portuguese and native populations, but live in Angola just as they did in the Transvaal, as independent farmers. They have swarmed off in different smaller colonies.

At Ambriz and in the district of Congo are found a number of English traders; in Loanda there is one English firm, and the cable men are Englishmen. A large number of Sierra Leone and Accra tribesmen work on the railroad. At Benguella and Mossamedes the employees of the cable company are the only Englishmen.

Germans and French are very rare as traders, but the Loanda Railroad employs quite a number of Frenchmen and Belgians.

From the Cougo to Benguella the largest trading firm is the Niewe Afrikaansche Handelsvenootschap, and most of its agents are Dutch.

Since the closing of the United States naval store at Loanda and the death of Archer Silva, no American traders have settled in Angola; but since 1881 several American missionary societies have opened stations among the natives of Angola, and now they are quite an important factor in the foreign population of the province. The present number of the American missionaries in Angola is about forty, including women and children.

The American Baptists have two stations in the Congo district, the Methodist Episcopal Church has six stations in the Loanda district (Loanda, Dondo, Nhangue, Quiongua, Pungo Andongo, Malange), and the American Board (Congregationalist) has three stations (Bailundo, Kamundongo, Cisamba) in the district of Benguella.

Some Native Tribes of Angola.

BY HELI CHATELAIN.

THE town of Novo Redondo is in Angola, about half way between the cities of Loanda and Benguella. The natives around the town are divided into two tribes. The Ba-sumbe occupy the northern half, and the Ba-sele the southern half of the country between the Cuvo and the Quicombo Rivers. There is but little difference between the natives of the two tribes, both being intelligent and stalwart. Another tribe much similar is named Amboim.

In their dress the men are modest, and content themselves with a few beads, besides the customary loin cloth. As for the women, they indulge in an extravagant accumulation of beads and shell necklaces, bracelets and anklets, and take especial pride

in fashioning their hair into an imitation of cowhorns. This embellishment is the result of long and patient labor, which begins in childhood and is continued into adult age. The mothers soak the hair of their little daughters with palm oil and pull it from time to time to either side, twisting it a little as soon as it sticks out, until the two horns are complete, making, as they believe, a beautiful headdress.

The Ba-sumbe generally sell only such of their people as are convicted of a real or supposed crime, and have been legally sentenced to death. They then have the alternative between death or slavery and exile. This custom accounts for the slave trade in Benguella and Novo Redondo. Invalid and useless old people they generally kill, because there is little hope of anybody buying them.

The tribe that is most addicted to selling people is that of Amboim. They dwell at three days' journey from Novo Redondo, on the north bank of the Cuvo, inland from Benguella Velha. There a whole family is sold for the least criminal act. It was among the Amboim villages that the "contractadores" used to buy the largest quantity of blacks. The villagers would flock to the trader and sell those they had in readiness for him. The same may be said of the Ba-sele, who are the northern neighbors of the Basumbe, and with whom they are almost identical, both as regards customs and language.

As remarked above, it is in consequence of the penal laws of the people that so many are sold as slaves. The principal crimes are: (1) witchcraft, (2) murder or manslaughter, (3) adultery. As every death is ascribed to witchcraft, and witchcraft is the hurting of another in a supernatural way, the trial for almost every crime is tantamount to one for witchcraft. If a man quarrels with another, and forgets himself so far as to threaten him with retribution, his adversary will mark this threat and watch the course of events. Should some one of his family die, or any accident befall him, forthwith he goes to his former adversary, who perhaps has meantime forgotten all about it, and accuses him of having caused the death or the accident by witchcraft. Of course, the accused man denies this, and both proceed to the "juramento." This Portuguese word means an oath, and the two judicial tests of the natives, to which the word is applied, really answer the purpose of the affidavit in European tribunals.

One of the ordeals or tests is called "mbulungu" by both the Ba-sumbe and the Ba-sele. The "mbulungu" is a drink made of the juice of a plant bearing that name. He who, after drinking it, is taken with convulsions, and foams from the mouth, is thereby proved guilty. Thus the decision depends on the "nganga," who prepares and administers the "mbulungu." For he can, at will, regulate his doses so as to produce the effects that will declare the defendant either guilty or innocent. And as the action of the drug is regulated by the “ nganga's will, so

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this in turn is regulated by bribes. The person who gives him the richest presents is pretty sure to come out triumphant.

The

The other test is that of the red-hot knife. "nganga" heats the knife with red-hot coals, and adroitly feigus to pass it over his own tongue. Then he proceeds to pass it over the tongues of the two litigants. He who is burnt is guilty; he who comes out unscathed is innocent. The punishment inflicted on the guilty is death or slavery, or the payment of a fine consisting generally of so many slaves. In great crimes, even when the supposed culprit is killed, his family still has to give a slave, whom the Ba-sumbe and Ba-sele call "moio ngande " or "a shadow of the deceased."

When a man is sentenced to give a slave and he owns none, he is liable to be sold himself, so that the adverse party may buy one with the money obtained from his sale. But generally the man has nephews or nieces, children of a sister, and these he has the right to sell as he pleases. When the uncle has decided to sell a nephew or niece, he goes to the mother, his sister, tells her the case and asks for this or that of her children. She cannot refuse. A fowl is killed, and altogether eat it with cassava mush; a dirge is sung; the poor child is bewailed as dead, and sold away from home forever. For this reason he is considered a rich man who has many sisters and sisters' children.

Among the Ba-sumbe, the men are polygamous. When a woman is married, she may have an adulterous lover, provided the husband knows nothing about it. Should he become aware of it, he goes to court and claims damages. In the interior, called "Nano," if the offended husband is a man of importance, the co-respondent, if found guilty, is sentenced to death, and his family pays damages. The court is composed of the chief and head men. Sometimes, when the case is difficult, and the excitement unusual, neighboring chiefs are invited to join the court. However, as in the trial for witchcraft or murder, the testimony of witnesses and cross examination of the accused are quite secondary, the "mbulungu" or the knife ordeal practically superseding all argumentative means of finding out the truth.

The general penalty for all crimes is payment. If this fails, death, or, preferably, selling into slavery. In cases of withcraft, however, the death penalty is hardly ever commuted.

Fetichism in Central Africa.

BY REV. F. G. HARRISON.

DOUBTLESS almost all have heard at some time or other of charms, and many in our own country have even seen them in use, as, for instance, the horseshoe nailed to the stable door, or the fox's paw nailed to the cow shed, etc., for good luck. But few, perhaps, are aware that this belief in charm, or