Diviners and Prophets among the Xhosa (1593-1856)

The South African anthropologist, Dr M. Mabona, uses the main title of this book as a convenient platform to launch an investigation into the roots of Xhosa culture and history. Many of the findings break new ground in Southern African anthropology and history such as: the original stock of the Bantu peoples arose from a cradle-land between the Orange and Vaal rivers in South Africa; the word `Guinea' is identical with the Xhosa `ebu Nguni' (Nguniland); Xhosa as well as Bantu history stretches back 50'000 years ago into the Middle Stone Ages (MSA) and into the Acheulian Age - the age of hominisation; the basic paradigmatic structure of Bantu speech; Xhosa thought structures; the fundamental relationship between the Xhosa language and mythology.