N.MIVI-; XGRICULTlKi:. 187 



4. !{\(L()srKi-.. 



dreat care is taken to enchjse a space tor a cattle-fold, but 

 little interest is shown in enclosing their garden land. ( )f 

 course, the communal system — which dates further hack than the 

 tumult which arose less than a century ago — in itself was con- 

 structed for, and by. primitive peoples, who did not wish the 

 Trouble, if indeed thev had the means, of fencing their fields. 



Their dwellings were built on a given site, usually on the 

 ridges which were not suitable for garden land, and often 

 amongst the stones or in ])laces not readily accessible. 



Their gardens occu])ied the good land along river banks, in 

 vallevs, and even chosen i)laces on the hillside, the gardens of 

 the community being usuallv grouped together. 



Their pasture-land included all the remaining area, where 

 the cattle wandered at will. For mutual self-i)rotection. reyT- 

 lations were framed fining severely the owner of cattle which 

 wandered into anyone else's garden, and the gardens themselves 

 were scru]:)ulouslv protected from \-iolation."-'' "^A ith this tn' - 

 dition deeply rooted in the Native mind, there has been little 

 tendency to enclose, especially as under communal tenure the 

 land does not become the possession of the individual. He is 

 only given the right to cultivate it. 



But tlie Transkei i^ now at the transition stage. Several 

 if the districts have alreadx' ])een surveyed, and fields have been 

 given to the Natives on a burdened title. The more backward 

 districts have not yet been surveyed, and these continue under 

 the old communal system. With the completion of this tran- 

 -ition we should see a great revolution in land-enclosure, for 

 already one hears from the surveyed districts that the individual 

 ownership is much ap])reciated. and is working changes in the 

 minds of the ])eople. 



L'lUil enclosure has become nuich more general, we can 

 hardly exi)ect nmch in the wa\- of accomplishment, and one 

 catuK^t l)Ut ho]:)e that (iovernment will make enclosure of the 

 land a condition of tenure. This is by no means an unreason- 

 able or impossible condition. es])eciallv as in the surveyed 

 districts endless trouble is being caused bv the secret moving, 

 and removal, of the beacons placed by the surve}ors to mark 

 out the allotment. If action is long delayed, whole districts 

 may lie thrown into chaos, and so cause a most serious and 

 regrettable setback in the transition from communal to individual 

 Tenure. 



* I hclipve the sanctity i,f the j^arden land was maintained in large 

 measure nn accnunt oi the universal fear of witchcraft. It was thought 

 that one man might l)ewitcli another, or hewitch his garden, and if one 

 were found in another's garden, at once the witchcraft cr\' would I)e 

 raised, and the culprit would l)e c'-uelly done to deatli. No one wished to 

 meet his death thus, and sr. eacli "(he r's garfUns were avoided, and even 

 to this (]:\\ are axoided. 



