Mentally the Kaffirs are superior to the Negro. In their social and political relations they display great tact and intelligence; they are remarkably brave, warlike and hospitable, and were honest and truthful until through contact with the whites they became suspicious, revengeful and thievish, besides acquiring most European vices. Of religion as ordinarily understood they have very little, and have certainly never developed any mythologies or dogmatic systems. It is more than doubtful whether they had originally formed any notion of a Supreme Being. Some conception, however, of a future state is implied by a strongly developed worship of ancestry, and by a belief in spirits and ghosts to whom sacrifices are made. There are no idols or priests, but belief in witchcraft formerly gave the "witch-doctor" or medicine-man overwhelming power.[6] Circumcision and polygyny are universal; the former is sometimes attributed to Mahommedan influences, but has really prevailed almost everywhere in East Africa from the remotest time. Dearer than anything else to the Kaffir are his cattle; and many ceremonial observances in connexion with them were once the rule. Formerly ox-racing was a common sport, the oxen running, riderless, over a ten-mile course. The owner of a champion racing ox was a popular hero, and these racers were valued at hundreds of head of cattle. Cattle are the currency of the Kaffirs in their wild state. Ten to twenty head are the price of a wife. When a girl marries, her father (if well off) presents her with a cow from his herd. This animal is called _ubulungu_ or "doer of good" and is regarded as sacred. It must never be killed nor may its descendants, as long as it lives. A hair of its tail is tied round the neck of each child immediately after birth. In large kraals there is the "dancing-ox," usually of red colour. Its horns are trained to peculiar shapes by early mutilations. It figures in many ceremonies when it is paid a kind of knee-worship. The Kaffirs have three, not four, seasons: "Green Heads," "Kindness" and "Cutting"; the first and last referring to the crops, the second to the "warm weather." Women and children only eat after the men are satisfied. A light beer made from sorghum is the national drink. Of the few industries the chief are copper and iron smelting, practised by the Tembu, Zulu and Swazi, who manufacture weapons, spoons and agricultural implements both for their own use and for trade. The Swazi display some taste in wood-carving, and others prepare a peculiar water-tight vessel of grass. Characteristic of this race is their neglect of the art of navigation. Not the smallest boats are ever made for crossing the rivers, much less for venturing on the sea, except by the Makazana of Delagoa Bay and by the Zambezi people, who have canoes and flat-bottomed boats made of planks.