104 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



of a homely reminiscence : no wonder the labourer 

 gladly tramps back from the large towns, where his 

 existence is a compound of work and restriction, to 

 the family life of the kraal. There freedom is com- 

 bined with gaiety and excitement, wants are few, and 

 their food simple and to hand. But the cry frequently 

 heard from Europeans is that the government " should 

 make the niggers work," and this by imposing heavy 

 taxation. The advocates of this doctrine are often 

 speculators, who believe that civilization consists in 

 acquiring gold, and that the Kafir race should become 

 one huge corps of miners to enable them to carry out 

 the operation. For myself I often envied the simple 

 wants and few troubles of these happy Magwambas. 



During the dance, the unfortunate ox that was 

 doomed " to make a Kafir holiday " stood a quiet spec- 

 tator of the scene, but was assegaied as the afternoon 

 progressed, and the process of flaying was commenced 

 before the animal was quite dead. Kafirs have no regard 

 for animal suffering; they carefully tend their oxen while 

 alive, but when once it is decided to slaughter an 

 animal, all consideration for the beast vanishes and the 

 same individual can be as cruel a butcher as he was 

 formerly a kind and attentive shepherd. The meat 

 was quickly stripped from the carcass, numerous small 

 fires were made, and the ox was soon a thing of the 

 past. It is during such feasts that savage instincts 

 are really seen, and we recognize that self-restraint 

 and gentle manners after all are the true marks of 

 civilization. 



The authenticity of many travellers' accounts of 

 the religious beliefs and origins of customs among 

 so-called savage races have been long doubted, and 

 on this journey I found the utmost difficulty in 

 extracting any reliable or exact information from the 

 Magwambas. I could only be told by one what was 

 too often contradicted by another, and this, not because 

 of their untruthfulness, but simply owing to our mutual 

 ignorance of each other's meaning. Nor was it due to 

 a want of knowledge of their language, as my host was a 



