THEAFRICANS
There are no traditions of devastating warfare among the mixed farming
people in Southern Africa before the nineteenth century. Their weapons
were knobkerries (wooden clubs) and spears about five feet long with
wooden shafts and metal blades. They would throw their spears from a
distance and the enemy would usually ward them off with large cowhide
shields. If they got into close combat, they would use their knobkerries.
Fighting usually took the form of cattle raids. Cattle-raiding was a manly
sport and a way of increasing-one's wealth. Alberti noted that the Xhosa
"cannot really be called a warlike people; a predominant inclination to
pursue a quiet cattle-raising life is much more evident amongst them."?!
W~rs of conquest were more frequent among the Tswana, since they lived
in an area that was conducive to competition for control of limited water
supplies. Eventhere, not many people died in the wars. Moreover, through-
out the farming culture women and children were seldom molested and
prisoners were rarely executed.
Ideology underpinned the culture of the Bantu-speaking mixed farmers.
In the initiation _schools, the teachers instilled respect for the elders, for
chiefly authority, and for established religious beliefs and rituals. As in