2JU ECONOMICS OF EAST COAST FEVER. 



peo]ik'. Really, no demonstration is required beyond the obvious 

 statenieni that, as a result of the shortage in the milk supply, 

 the rate of infant mortality has been, and is, abnormally high. 



Apart from the marked effect ujjon disease, we have also 

 to consider the ettect upon the morality of the people. One 

 of the greatest safeguards in heathen life against immorality is 

 to be found in their customs relating to cattle. In the first 

 place, a certain number of cattle are usually given to the father 

 of the bride b}- the ])ros])Cctive bridegroom. It is said that 

 no idea of "" sale " enters into the transaction; but, be that as it 

 may, the fact remains that the custom of uknloholo involves a 

 payment of cattle, and as the loss of cattle has been so general, 

 there has been great difticultx' in many cases in securing the 

 re(|uired number. Until tlie cattle were paid, the father was 

 unwilling to allow his daughter to go, and the prospective hus- 

 band, with every desire to ol)lige, found that he could not obtain 

 the necessarv number. As a result, the impatience of the 

 \-oung couples could not -^tand the restraint, and the morality of 

 the nation suffered. 



Again, from another ]H)ini of view, we find that sins against 

 moralitv. usually settled l)y the payment of cattle, remained 

 unsettled because the cul])rit had lost all his cattle, and this 

 happening in many cases would tend to break down the custom 

 and encourage the bi^Uler spirits to commit sins of the kind. 



Anoiiier outcome of such a state of affairs was that nien 

 who had n(j cattle Avith which to pay the fines were compelled 

 to go out and work at the mines and elsewhere in order to earn 

 the monev-e(|uivalent of their tine. Thus, in an indirect way, 

 the flow of labour was affected. 



I'inally. the jiractice of i)ol}gam}- lias Ijeen appreciabl}' cur- 

 tailed. In Kafirland the number of wives was w(int to proclaim 

 the impiiitance of the indixidual, for it indicated that he must 

 have i)ossesse(l many beasts in order to buy so many wives. 

 Since the wholesale losses of stock, polygamy has automatically 

 lessened, and ])robably the incidence of Colonial law in the 

 interval will tend to prevent substantially the re-introduction 

 of the I'ractice when once more the herds increase. In any 

 case the introduction of individual tenure in the surveyed dis- 

 tricts tends very definitely to linfit pol\gamy, for even though 

 the Government is at present allotting land to each wife, yet it 

 is clearly stated that after the first allotment none will be given 

 in respect of future polygamous unions. It seems as if poly- 

 gamy had received its death-blow. 



4. 0)1 Ildiication. — The cultivation of fewer fields not only 

 affected the food supply of the people, and in that way the health 

 of the community, but also in a roundabout way it left its mark 

 upon the education of the ]x^ople. Fewer fields to cultivate, 

 and less cattle to herd, simply meant less work for the younger 

 generation, and the setting free of the large class of young boys 



