<h4>Chapter 952: Eye-opening</h4>


    Trantor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio


    In ancient times, all African countries had aplete chieftain system, and the whole of


    Africa was a tribal society.


    Theserge and small chieftain kingdoms have long existed in South Africa, Cameroon,


    Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and C?te d''Ivoire.


    The grand chieftain was the supreme ruler of various tribal associations and had


    absolute power in all things, such as makingws, presiding over the administration,


    directing wars, performing sacrificial rites, adjudicating arguable cases, collecting taxes


    and so on.


    In some countries, chieftain societies were ssified by government decree as grades


    one, two, and three, ording to the size of their territory, their poption, and their


    economic importance.


    Zulu people still had many traditional customs. To the present day, the chiefs were still


    the speakers of the tribe. In addition, the main tribe was divided into many small tribes,


    each of those having its own chief.


    When the British ruled over South Africa, they had attempted to reduce the influence of


    the Zulu people by forcibly abolishing system of chieftain hierarchy. However, that did


    not help. The position of chief was determined by one’s birth, and the Zulu stubbornly


    and firmly followed their leaders.


    The lion hunter exined these customs to Li Du. When he heard about the chief, Li Du


    asked, “Are you the chief of your tribe?”


    At this, the lion hunterughed. “No, I am the rebel of my tribe. How can I be a chief?


    The chief and I are enemies.”


    Li Du was surprised. “Why?”


    The lion hunter smiled, but instead of answering the question, he changed the subject.


    “We Zulus are polygamous. Li, are you interested in joining our Zulu tribe?”


    Seeing that he avoided the question, Li Du didn’t press further. Smiling as well, he said,


    “Forget it, I think one wife is enough. Having several would be too tiresome.”


    The lion hunter nodded in agreement and said, “Yes, it’s not good to have many


    women. When I was young, I could hunt lions with just a spear. I spent too much time


    on women and now I could not even fight a hyena.”


    Hyena was an animal with excellent fighting skills. Otherwise, it would not have gained


    the name of the second brother in Africa. It was great to be able to fight hyenas…


    however, this was not the point. Li Du did not mean physical weariness, but mental


    exhaustion. It was not worth pressing the point, though, since he realized that he and


    the lion hunter would never agree in this respect.


    Big Ivan and Lu Guan, however, were interested in the topic and started to ask


    questions. The lion hunter liked to talk about it as well, and shared from his store of


    knowledge.


    Polygamy wasmon among African chieftains, many of whom had more than a


    dozen wives. In the lion hunter’s tribe, their chief had twelve wives. The oldest was


    seventy years old, while the youngest was the same age as his granddaughter. He had


    65 children, not counting the dead, and arge family, which helped him to assert his


    authority.


    “The one who had set the highest record in this respect was a chief of the kingdom of


    Benin in ancient times, who had more than 4,000 concubines during his life, man, more


    than 4,000!” the lion hunter said with emphasis.


    Big Ivan’s eyes almost popped out. “Man, I don’t know if I have even seen four


    thousand women in my life till now!”


    “It was the same in the ancient Chinese imperial court,” Lu Guan showed off his rich


    knowledge of history.


    Satisfied with their attitude, the lion hunter went on, “And after the chief’s death, he


    chose 400 of the youngest, most beautiful women and ordered them to drink poisoned


    wine and die with him!”


    “An evil feudal dynasty,” Big Ivan and Lu Guan cursed together.


    Polygamy had beenmon among the Zulu people and in arge part of Africa in


    general, with men in their 40s and 50s being especially keen to marry. To them, wives


    were not instruments of pleasure, but sources of cheapbor and children.


    Now the situation was better. A long time ago, property, such as houses, was worthless,


    there were no banks to keep money in, and an African tribesman’s only real wealth was


    his wives.


    The helicopter took off,nded twice, and made its finalnding on dry grasnd.


    In winter, the African savannas would dry up, and the shrubs and trees wouldnguish.


    There was, however, plenty of livestock here. When the helicopternded, there was a


    herd of cows and sheep grazing nearby. The whirling of the propeller clearly scared


    them, and they started making rmed noises.


    Farther away, there was a cluster of bungalows akin to a town, where they could see


    cars driving around from their position in the air.


    “Have we reached your tribe yet?” asked Li Du.


    The lion hunter shook his head and said, “We Zulus believe that everything in the world


    happens through the transmission of our ancestors’ spirits. Therefore, thend where


    our ancestors had lived is sacred and one is not allowed to enter it without permission,


    certainly not by helicopter.”


    Li Du understood and asked, “How far are we from your tribe now? It’s a little far, isn’t


    it?”


    The lion hunter pointed ahead and said, “Another hundred meters, and you’ll see our


    tribe.”


    Li Du said, “Okay!”


    It was a nice sideline shot. He did not know if those were just his feelings, but he felt


    that the lion hunter probably didn’t have much affection for the tribe either.


    A Zulu man’s wealth was not measured by how many houses or cars, or how muchnd


    he had, but by the size of his family and the numbers of his livestock.


    As they entered the tribal area, a ck woman in a yellow blouse and blue skirt waved


    at them with a sheep whip and spoke quickly and enthusiastically.


    The lion hunter replied with a broad smile and waved as one of the bodyguards handed


    a gift box to the ck woman.


    Seeing the gift, the ck woman spoke more warmly, but Li Du could understand


    nothing of the Zulunguage.


    The lion hunters said goodbye to the ck woman, and the group moved on. The town


    was the ce where the tribe had settled down for now. They did not move their homes


    like they used to, and remained in one ce.


    Zulu people living in rural areas were mainly farmers and herders. They loved keeping


    livestock and grew corn as their main food.


    Among the livestock raised, the most precious one was the cow, which they used not


    only for meat but also to plow thend. Cows weremonly given as a betrothal


    present.


    Since ancient times, when a Zulu man asked for a woman’s hand, the betrothal gift for


    the bride was 11 cows. This custom hassted for several centuries and remained


    unchanged until modern times. One could say that there were no changes in the system


    of betrothal gifts.


    As they got nearer to the town, the number of pedestrians increased. Li Du looked down


    at his feet and followed the lion hunter.


    Eliciting Sophie’s contempt, Big Ivan and Lu Guan kept staring at the Zulu girls.


    Zulu people were portrayed as an “agricultural tribe with weird customs” in popr


    media. One of the customs was that Zulu girls walked around topless and bare-chested.


    Only married women covered their torso.