IMPERFECT RELIGIOUS SYSTEM OF THE KAFFIR -- HIS IDEA OF A CREATOR -- HOW DEATH CAME INTO THE WORLD -- LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS -- BELIEF IN THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL -- THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD, AND THEIR SUPPOSED INFLUENCE -- TCHAKA’s VISION -- A KAFFIR SEER AND HIS STORY -- PURSUITS OF DEPARTED SPIRITS -- THE LIMITS OF THEIR POWER -- ANIMALS USED FOR SACRIFICE TO THEM -- TEMPORARY TRANSMIGRATION -- VARIOUS OMENS, AND MEANS FOR AVERTING THEM -- WHY SACRIFICES ARE MADE -- A NATIVE’S HISTORY OF A SACRIFICE, AND ITS OBJECTS -- THE FEAST OF FIRST-FRUITS -- SACRIFICE OF THE BULL, AND THE STRANGE CEREMONIES WHICH ATTEND IT -- KAFFIR PROPHETS AND THEIR OFFICES -- HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION OF PROPHECY -- PROGRESS OF A PROPHET -- THE CHANGE -- INTERVIEW WITH AN OLD PROPHET -- THE PROBATIONARY STAGES OF PROPHECY -- A PROPHET’S RETURN TO HIS FAMILY -- SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS -- SEARCH FOR THE SPIRITS -- THE GREAT SACRIFICE, AND RECEPTION INTO THE COMPANY OF PROPHETS -- THE WAND OF OFFICE -- DRESS OF A PROPHET. It is not very easy to say whether a Kaffir possesses any religion at all, in our sense of the word. With superstition he is deeply imbued, and passes his lifetime in considerable dread of witchcraft and of evil spirits. But religion which conveys any sense of moral responsibility, seems to be incomprehensible to the ordinary Kaffir, and even his naturally logical mind inclines him to practical atheism. As far as is known, the Kaffir tribes have a sort of tradition concerning a Creator, whom they call by a compound word that may be translated as the Great-Great, and to whom they attribute the first origin of all things. But it is certain they offer him no worship, and make no prayers to him, and have no idea that they are personally responsible to him for their acts. Moreover many of the tribes do not even possess this imperfect knowledge; and even in those cases where it does exist, its origin is very uncertain, and it is impossible to ascertain whether the tradition may not be a corrupted recollection of instruction received from some European. Such, indeed, has been known to be the case among the Kaffirs, and it is probable that the knowledge of a Creator is really derived from European sources. At all events, such knowledge is by no means universal, and exercises such small influence on the people that it is scarcely worthy of mention.