Dead will Arise
Page 15
Very few Xhosa had the courage or the authority to confront Nongqawuse openly, as Ngubo did. But there were other lesser figures who returned quietly to their homes, reflected on what they had seen – or failed to see – and determined on a course of resistance.
A man named Yekiwe returned from Umhlakaza saying that he could see nothing strange and that, having thus satisfied himself that all was false … whatever others might do or say, he would stay quietly at his kraal, and cultivate his gardens, and he advised his friends to do likewise.
It was such men who eventually formed the nucleus of an active party of unbelievers.
Unfortunately for Xhosaland, however, most of the visitors were suitably impressed by Mhlakaza and Nongqawuse and their tales grew in the telling so that the majority of Xhosa who never left home received the most exaggerated reports which were apparently confirmed by the returning enquirers. For there were few who would admit that they had seen nothing when all their friends had seen marvels.
The workings of rumour are well illustrated by the case of Sarhili’s brothers Ndima and Xhoxho who, it might be remembered, accepted the truth of the prophecies but admitted that they had seen nothing.13 By the time the news of their visit to Mhlakaza had reached British Kaffraria it was being reported that they had seen the long-deceased kings Phalo (d. 1775) and Khawuta (d. 1793). About the same time Bulungwa, a minor chief and a vocal unbeliever, began to suffer from a scrofulous swelling about his testicles, ending in an abscess. It was therefore spread about that he had been cursed for his unbelief and that his man’s genitals had turned female. TB Soga, the grandson of a leading unbeliever, described the process as follows:
It happened like this: the fear and anxiety of waiting for this thing to be fulfilled increased the false things that were said. It was often said in conversation, ‘So-and-so saw his deceased father, and the cattle of his homestead from long ago.’ Even when a group of men gathered together and made, as usual, a shadow on the hillside, they would run to it and it would disappear. Then they would say, ‘we saw something disappearing over that hillside’.
Thus every piece of news or unusual report was inflated by the expectations of the believers until it too became exaggerated enough to serve as a validation of Nongqawuse’s prophecies.
1 Imperial Blue Book 2352 of 1857-8, C Brownlee-J Maclean, 16 Aug. 1856, p.18; C Brownlee-J Maclean, 13 July 1856; GH 28/71 C Brownlee-J Maclean, 30 July 1856; Berlin Missionary Archives, Abt. III, J Rein-BMS, 28 Aug. 1856; Interview with Chief N Bhotomane, 16 Dec. 1975; a letter from Brownlee to Maclean dated 23 July 1856 which apparently gives details of the visit is missing from its place in GH 8/29 Schedule 297.
2 BK 89 Secret Information, 20 June 1856; Acc 793 J Gawler-J Maclean, 25 July 1856; BK 89 Information … communicated by a reliable secret service man, 18 Oct. 1856; GH 28/71 C Brownlee-J Maclean, 30 July 1856. For the role of Nombanda, see BK 14 Statement of Umjuza, 24 Feb. 1858; BK 14 Statement of Nombanda, 28 Feb. 1858; Examination of the prophetess ‘Nonqause’, 27 April 1858.
3 Gqoba (1888); BK 81 J Gawler-J Maclean, 22 Nov. 1856; BK 140 H Vigne-J Maclean, 17 Nov. 1856; BK 89 Secret Information, 20 June 1856; Abt. III, Berlin Mission Archives, A Kropf and T Liefeldt, Report for first half-year, 1856.
4 Gqoba (1888); Scully (1913), p.309; GH 8/31 C Brownlee-J Maclean, 4 Jan. 1857; Acc 793 J Gawler-J Maclean, 25 July 1856; Interview by J Peires with Chief N Bhotomane, Ramntswana Location, Kentani District, 16 Dec. 1975; JH Soga (n.d.), pp.163, 169.
5 BK 14 Statement of Nombanda, 28 Feb. 1858.
6 W Shaw (1860), p.447. See also Maclean (1858), pp.82-3.
7 GH 8/29 J Maclean-G Grey, 3 July 1856; GH 8/29 Information communicated to the Chief Commissioner, 4 July 1856; BK 89 Information communicated to the Chief Commissioner, 18 Oct. 1856.
8 GH 8/29 C Brownlee-J Maclean 29 July 1856.
9 GH 8/29 C Brownlee-J Maclean 8 July 1856.
10 Berlin Missionberichte,1858, p.38.
11 Goldswain (1946-9), Vol. 2, pp.192-3.
12 GH 8/49 J Maclean-J Jackson, 30 Oct. 1856 (Ngubo); BK 89 Secret Information, 10 Aug. 1856 (Yekiwe).
13 Compare letter cited in Note 7 above with GH 8/29 J Gawler-J Maclean, 9 July 1856; BK 70 C Brownlee-J Maclean, 11 Aug. 1856; TB Soga (n.d.), p.164.
4. THE FIRST DISAPPOINTMENT
Tidings of the marvellous sights witnessed near Mhlakaza’s village filled the country. The horns of oxen were said to be peeping from beneath the rushes which grew round a swampy pool near the village of the seer; and from a subterranean cave were heard the bellowing and knocking of the horns of cattle impatient to rise …
There were those who said they had actually seen the risen heroes emerge from the Indian Ocean, some on foot, some on horseback, passing in silent parade before them, then sinking again among the tossing of the restless waves. Sometimes they were seen rushing through the air in the wild chase as of old. Then again they were marshalled in battle array …
The news from the Gxarha was quite enough to convince most ordinary Xhosa as they sat in their homesteads.1 The official sanction of King Sarhili removed the last doubts of those who wanted to believe. ‘The movement seems peculiarly to have been one of the common people,’ wrote Commissioner Brownlee.2 Many of the chiefs opposed it, and those who did not oppose it permitted rather than encouraged it. Certainly no Xhosa chief could have enforced the demands which the people accepted readily when commanded by the prophet. They cut new poles and collected thatch to rebuild their houses. They greatly enlarged their cattle kraals in anticipation of the marvellous new cattle which they expected. They threw away their old hoes, spades and knives, and bought new ones. They parted with their copper rings and their brass necklaces and other precious ornaments. Hundreds of Xhosa labourers and roadworkers abandoned Grey’s famous public works because it was said that if they made a noise in the ground with picks it would disturb the cattle and delay their appearance. Finally – although there is no direct evidence on this point – we may safely assume that most of the Xhosa secretly rid themselves of their charms, their medicines and all their other magical objects.
Most important of all, the believers zealously commenced the work of destruction. They dug out their corn from the insulated safety of the grainpits where they had stored it up for the hungry winter months. Some of it was sold off at half its normal price, but most of it was left carelessly scattered on the cornfloors where two or three days damp weather was enough to make it inedible. Ardent believers, too impatient to wait for nature to take its course, deliberately wasted their corn by boiling it.3
Hundreds of cattle were killed every day.4 The believers were ordered not to eat the meat of any cattle killed the previous day, so that every day fresh cattle were slaughtered and yesterday’s remaining meat thrown away. Rotten flesh lay putrefying around the homesteads. All along the road to East London Magistrate Vigne observed ‘large numbers of skeletons lying in the veldt’. It is clear that such cattle had been summarily killed, rather than ritually slaughtered. The emphasis of the Cattle-Killing at this point was not on sacrifice but on getting rid of the impure beasts.
Those Xhosa who preferred to sell their cattle drove them to the markets of King William’s Town and East London, or sold them to the firmly unbelieving Mfengu.5 Cattle which previously would have realised £3 or £4 were sold for less than the value of their hides. In some cases 11 shillings were taken for a cow and 15 shillings for a full-grown ox. One Xhosa drove 15 or 16 oxen into East London and offered them for sale ‘at a nominal price’ but was unable to dispose of them (even at such low prices, the threat of lungsickness made many buyers hesitate). Instead of taking them elsewhere, the Xhosa simply drove them to a neighbouring hillock where he slaughtered the lot, flayed the carcasses and sold the hides. Bishop Gray reported the mood
in King William’s Town on the eve of the First Disappointment: ‘They sell an ox for 10 shillings or 12 shillings. When they cannot sell them, they kill them. Goats they sell for two shillings or three shillings. Chickens for 2d or 3d. Mealies they throw away.’
The chiefs reacted more slowly than their subjects. Those who normally followed the lead of the colonial authorities moved first. Toyise forbade his followers to kill their cattle. Siwani confiscated some cattle which Mhlakaza had given to some of his subjects. Kama, the most Christian chief in British Kaffraria, called a meeting of his subjects to put down the movement. Freely invoking the name of his deceased father Chungwa, shot dead by British troops in 1812, Kama attempted to crush the Cattle-Killing belief not by reasoned discussion but by weight of his chiefly authority.
What kind of men are they, thus to despise their chiefs? Can mercy be shown to those who would break up and scatter the tribe of Chungwa? Why, I ask has Gweleta ‘washed’? And you too Qogo! (I only call on those who were presented to me by my father, and whom I expected would be true to me.) Why are you, Qogo, slaughtering your cattle? Have you also seen Chungwa, and has he told you to despise his son?6
Kama’s closest associates weighed in with spirited attacks. ‘Have not [deceased chiefs] Hahabe, Tshaka and Chungwa been seen by Umhlakaza?’ asked Sityi. ‘You who believe what Umhlakaza says, have you seen these chiefs? Have they told you, common people, to raise yourselves in pride above our born chief, and thus try to kill him?’
‘Speak now,’ jeered Hashe. ‘You have always been boasting in your houses, at your kraals, and in the absence of your chief, of Umhlakaza. Has he told you that when you assemble before your chief you are to leave your faith in him in your houses, that you keep your mouths shut?’
The believers quailed before the onslaught. None of them attempted to defend the prophecies. They shuffled and evaded, offering only transparent denials and excuses. Phatho’s son Mate, who would eventually become the leader of the believing faction in Kama’s country, attempted to shield them. ‘Do not pour down your anger on your dog,’ he asked Kama, ‘but tell us what you require of us.’ The chief irritably brushed him aside.
I have one word. It is this – these reports must not be believed by those who live in this country. Why should such a step be taken first by common people? … You who believe on him, go to Umhlakaza. I will not allow you to break my power …
Until the Queen or her Representative tells me that Umhlakaza’s sayings are true, I will never believe them. I will ever risk my life in opposing him, and I call on God to be my judge that I would then be doing what is right … Let those who believe what Umhlakaza says leave me and go and live with him; though they are Chungwa’s subjects I will not prevent them. I would rather they would do this at once than remain with me.
A week later Mani, Kama’s Great Son, and a party of armed men burned down the homestead of a leading believer named XoIa.7 But however much Kama and the other pro-Government chiefs threatened their subjects and fired their houses, they could not stop the growth of the movement.
The uncommitted chiefs were slower to come to a decision. They were exposed to the retribution of the colonial authorities, and they knew and dreaded Maclean’s heavy hand. They remembered the prophecies of Mlanjeni, who had promised them much, but failed them in the end. Lungsickness came late to the Ngqika Xhosa district, and the impetus towards cattle-killing was therefore somewhat delayed. Sandile, the senior chief in British Kaffraria, was unwilling to take a lead but, typically, waited on events. Pressed by Commissioner Brownlee, he issued orders forbidding his subjects to kill but did little to enforce them.8 His full brother Dondashe inclined towards the movement and killed some cattle. The overall effect of indecisiveness at the Great Place slowed but did not seriously impede the impact of Nongqawuse’s prophecies.
In contrast with the Ngqika district, those areas hit the hardest by crop failure and lungsickness took up the Cattle-Killing almost immediately. Maqoma, the hero of the Waterkloof, was now fallen to the status of a minor chief. Although he said little in public about the prophecies, both he and his neighbour, the 80-year-old Bhotomane, supported the Cattle-Killing from a very early stage.9 Another foremost believer was Phatho, chief of the Gqunukhwebe Xhosa. Phatho had lost the sight of one eye and was going blind in the other. His chronic stomach ulcers were aggravated by heavy drinking, and his family life was racked by tensions between himself and his Great Son, Dilima. Phatho was greatly embittered against the colonial government, which had neglected to reward him for his valuable services during the War of Mlanjeni though it had granted an extensive territory to his younger brother, the Christian chief Kama. Phatho had lost, moreover, 96 per cent of his 2 500 cattle through lungsickness, and most of his close associates had lost an equivalent number or even more. Phatho had been chief of the Gqunukhwebe for more than 30 years. He had fought for the Colony and he had fought against it, and nothing he had done had ended well. ‘In other wars,’ he said, ‘he was rich and had reason for remaining at peace but now being poor he wishes for change.’10
On the surface Phatho professed to ignore the prophecies. He told his Resident Magistrate that his people were killing their cattle because they were hungry and that his people would cultivate their ground as soon as it rained. Secretly he sent his brother Kama a formal message accusing him of witchcraft, ‘which has been the means of making you a great chief, though not the son of the Great Wife’, and ordering him to kill his cattle.11
The Ndlambe Xhosa chief Mhala, ranking second after Sandile in British Kaffraria, was in a difficult position. He himself was strongly inclined to believe the prophecies, but his leading councillors, Ndayi and Gqirana, were strongly opposed, and his Great Son Makinana came out violently against them, saying that ‘he would believe the report when he saw his grandfather Hlambi and not till then, and that he would cut the throat of any fool in his kraal who commenced killing or selling his cattle’.12 Mhala was warned by his fellow believer Maqoma that he should not move openly lest his support for the prophecies become known to the government. He therefore temporised, saying ‘it was a foolish thing that he should not trouble his head about’, but endeavoured to strengthen the position of the believers in his chiefdom by putting them forward for colonial salaries.13 While Mhala was still hesitating, the faith of the believers was shaken by the First Disappointment.
It is unlikely that Nongqawuse and Mhlakaza took the initiative in setting a date for the great day of resurrection. They had rather stressed that the prophecies would come true as soon as all the orders of the new people had been complied with. However, they were under pressure to produce results and many Xhosa expected the resurrection as early as the full moon of June 1856.14 When this date passed without consequence many of the believers became seriously disturbed. Sarhili called a meeting at his Great Place. All the principal men of the Gcaleka Xhosa were present, and the prophets were harshly criticised. ‘The Xhosa were finishing all they had,’ said the sceptics. A great deal of time had passed but nothing had happened. Mhlakaza must be forced to demonstrate the truth of his sayings by producing the new people and the new cattle. At first, Mhlakaza attempted to evade this demand, saying that the new people had gone off to their unknown stronghold, but finally he was compelled to name the next full moon (mid-August) as the ‘moon of wonders and dangers’.15
On the great day, two suns would rise red in the sky over the mountain of Ntaba kaNdoda where they would collide and darkness would cover the earth.16 There would be a great storm, which only the newly built and thatched houses would be able to withstand. Then the righteous dead – not those who had been killed by God for their wickedness through snakebite or drowning – and the new cattle would rise out of the earth at the mouths of the Kei, Kwenxurha, Tyhume and Keiskamma rivers. They would be wearing white blankets and new brass rings. The English and their collaborators (‘all who wear trousers’ in one account) would retreat into the sea, w
hich would rise up in two walls to engulf them and open a road for them to return to the Uhlanga (place of Creation) whence they came.
No believer slept that night. The young people danced and revelled, while the older men sat about in silent groups or nervously paced about the huge cattle folds, which had been prepared for the new cattle. But nothing happened. If anything, the promised day of darkness was particularly bright.17 The effect on the believers can only be guessed at, but it would seem that the initial result was bitter disillusion. Sarhili dispatched orders to all the Xhosa chiefs, prohibiting the further slaughter of cattle. He sent messengers to Mhlakaza, and it was widely reported throughout Xhosaland that Mhlakaza had denied ever uttering prophecies, that he had laid the whole blame on Nongqawuse, even that he had shown the messengers his own cattle unslaughtered in their kraal. Commissioner Brownlee wrote:
The frenzy and excitement which prevailed during the whole of last month are somewhat lulled and subsiding; the people appear to think they have performed their part, and are looking to the prophet for some evident and convincing manifestation of his power. Many of the firmest believers are growing doubtful; and those who, though unbelievers, had been carried away with the stream, are beginning to speak out.18
It seemed as if the whole Cattle-Killing movement must collapse. And indeed, had it collapsed in August 1856, relatively little damage would have been done. For all the talk of destroying every living head of cattle, most of the Xhosa believers had slaughtered only a few of their cattle and then stopped pending confirmation of the prophecies.19 Travelling in the heavily affected coastal districts, Magistrate Vigne had seen ‘large numbers of skeletons of cattle lying in the veldt’, but he had also seen ‘considerable numbers of cattle left alive’. ‘Some’ Xhosa had killed the only two or three cattle which had survived lungsickness and ‘more than one’ had killed all his cattle, but these were clearly a small minority. In Kama’s country, another stronghold of the Cattle-Killing, a ‘large number’ of cattle still remained, and several stock owners retained herds of 50-60 head. Thousands of cattle had been killed, wrote Commissioner Brownlee, but ‘there are still sufficient cattle and corn left to prevent want’. Few or none of the Ngqika Xhosa had killed more than two or three head.20