As to religion, the notions of a people whose language does not contain a single word to express a Deity, may naturally be supposed to be very vague. The general belief with regard to the Creation, at least of those who think about it at all, is, that from a large cave (_Uhlanga_)[15] in the far East, where the very finest specimens of every production of the world grow of their own accord, all that moves on the face of the earth originally proceeded. Cattle first, and then man; the different animals, birds, fishes, &c., being subsequently turned loose for their joint use and amusement. Through some unaccountable mistake, however, one fine day, the cattle not being sufficiently wide-awake, allowed themselves to be circumvented and taken prisoners by the men, and have ever since been kept in subjection, ranking merely as second in the scale of beings. Since the arrival of the white man in the country, these people have learned something of the existence of an invisible God under the title of Utixo[15] (an obsolete Hottentot word, meaning "my arm" or "safeguard"), though, as it is invariably used like the Italian "Felicita," or "Viva," after sneezing, it is very doubtful what idea they connect with it. Superstition enters largely into their customs; they not only believe in spirits, and resort to the mummery and incantations of "witch doctors" to avert their evil influence, and wear charms to protect them from sickness, misfortunes, or violent deaths, but lest they should injure the prospects of their husbands or male relations, the women are prohibited from ever mentioning their names or cognomens, which are always verbs or nouns, with fanciful prefixes or terminations, one woman making use of a word which another of a different family dare not utter, and for which she has always to substitute one widely differing from that in use among the men. For instance, a woman whose husband's name is a compound or derivation of _Umoya_ (air), instead of the forbidden word uses _Umklengetwa_; in like manner for _Inkwenkwe_ (a boy), _Ixagi_; for _Ipupa_ (a dream) _Itongo_, and so on.