Guillaume Chenu de Chalezac, the 'French Boy'.
The
narrative of his experiencs as a Huguenot refugee, as
a castaway among the Xhosa, his rescue with the Stavenisse survivors by the Centaurus, his
service at the Cape and return to Europe, 1686-9
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Edited
by ISBN: 0-630-17524-9 Randolph
Vigne, a publisher and editor, has written much on
southern African and European themes, including, in particular, the Huguenot diaspora. The building of the Centaurus |
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The 15-year-old 'French boy' was wrecked on the |
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While the roast is on the
fire, they dance back and forth, vying with each other in their dancing.
When
the meat is cooked, the bridegroom leaves the male company, removes from his
head a kind of cap he wears and goes, dancing all the time, towards the group
of women. He approaches his bride, kisses her and returns to his place. The
girl follows him a short time later in the same style, and then returns to her
company. This stratagem is carried out three times, and appears to have a
likeness to the custom of the ancient Romans, who were required to tear their
brides away from their mothers.
When
the ox is roasted it is divided into two parts, one of which is given to the
men and the other to the women, and each group eats it separated from the
other.
After
all these ceremonies, the bridegroom gives ten oxen to the father and the
brothers of the woman, to whom he is then properly married. They can then
consummate the marriage.
Before
a man may marry, however, he must be circumcised. Circumcision takes place
between the age of 11 and 18. Normally 10 or 12 are circumcised together at one
time. They must enter a river up to the waist. One of them comes out again in
order to fetch others not far away, who are already circumcised but not yet
married. This operation is carried out in a manner more cruel
than among the Jews, and many die from it.
After
this has been done, they are led on to a mountain where a hut has been built
for them and there they are obliged to remain for three months without seeing
any women. Food and drink are brought to them by their friends.
After
the three months have passed, they are given a girdle of rushes, which they put
round their bodies. They come down from the mountain, return to their homes and
dance for a whole night. On one occasion curiosity drove me to watch this
ceremony, but it nearly cost me dear. I was seized by two or three of the
strongest, in order to perform the execution on me. I was never more frightened
in my life and it was only after my threatening them that the king of the
whites, whom they fear very much, would exterminate their whole
nation that they left me alone.
8 THE
The most common staple food of
these people is curdled milk. They also have a type of bread, which
they make out of a sweet seed. This seed grows without their having to do more
than scratch the soil a little, sow it, and soon a plant 10 to 12 feet high
grows up, so excellent is the soil.
To
make bread, they grind this grain between two stones, baking a cake of it under
the ashes. It is good to eat, but the beer they brew is so bad that one has to
be a Caffre to be able to drink it. They make it by
using a seed like mustard, which they also grind between two stones,
putting the ground meal in big earthenware pots. These they fill with water,
which they boil for an hour, then let it settle for three days.
After
making it, they invite their neighbours and drink
until everything is emptied. This drink, which is their greatest delicacy, is
extremely bitter, with a nasty taste, but it is as intoxicating as wine, of a
kind that, when they part, they can scarcely stand up.
The
country is full of small game of all kinds, especially hares, in such profusion
that they can often be killed with sticks. When they catch some, they do not
make a stew of them but just boil them, head and body, in water, and, without
skinning them, when they are done they devour them, meat and hair together.
They
eat no fish, however, either from the sea or the rivers, for they
include snakes under the name of fish, and believe they will die if they eat
them.
Sometimes
they go on a lion or tiger hunt. These wild animals do great damage
to their herds. When they find some of them, 300 or 400 people gather together,
take four or five cattle with them and around the place where they have found a
lion or tiger they make a kind of rampart with a large number of trees. They
all sit down in this, holding with one hand an ox-hide shield and with the
other a spear. They then drive the cattle in and when the tiger jumps out of
the bushes and throws himself on to a beast some of the people run up and chase
the tiger with loud shouts to frighten him. Closed in on all sides, he has to
leap over the heads of the hunters. They have covered these with their shields
and with the other hand they thrust their spears into the belly of the tiger as
he jumps over them.
I have
often watched this hunting, but the first time it nearly turned out badly for
me. I was sitting in exactly the place where the tiger jumped over, and as I
had no shield as a protection, he scratched my head with his claws, wounding me
and leaving scars which I shall carry for the rest of my life. With his leap,
he also knocked me over and escaped. I was much more careful on future
occasions.
Although
it is said of the Caffres that they live without
religion, nevertheless its seems they once had
beliefs. I saw them make shrines and on certain days kill a beast, almost as if
making a sacrifice, giving half to the dogs and burning the other half.
Meanwhile the whole group would stand round the fire in deep silence, until
their offering (if they gave it such a name) was consumed. When I asked them
the reasons for doing what they did, they replied that they knew of none, but
that they simply did what their brothers had always done.