TIIK NATIVES OF NATAL IN RHLATION TO THE LAND. 239 



the Colony is reserved for the sole use O'f the natives, only 

 265,812 live therein, while no fewer than 346,641 live on land 

 privately owned by Europeans. These privately owned lands 

 are generally described as " farms,'' and the use of this term 

 may easily give rise to a misconception, and an explanation must 

 be made. A considerable number of these farms are not <.)ccu- 

 pied at all by the European owners, who either li\e in a more 

 desirable locality, from the European point of view, or are non- 

 resident in the Colony. Man_v of these farms are situated in 

 the Thorn country, or in the lower river valleys, where very few 

 ]-AU-opeans reside. The description given of much of the location 

 country would apply also to a great part of this area. These 

 native occupiers pay rent to the European owners, \arying in 

 amount from £2 to £6 per hut per annum. Some of them who 

 reside on land belonging to farmers living elsewhere in the 

 Colony are under (.ibligation. as jiart of the contract, to work 

 for them for a portion of the year, generally at a lower rate of 

 wages than they could obtain in the open labour market. These 

 natives are all under the rule of some chief, and their conditions 

 of life, their occupation and cultivation of the ground, does not 

 differ materially from that obtaining in the locations, as alreadv 

 described. So long as they pay their taxes and dip their cattle 

 ■Government does not interfere with them, or assist them in any 

 way, with the exception of the occasion of a faction fight between 

 the tribes, when the police promptly swoop dow^n on the dis- 

 turbers of the King's peace, and they are fined sums which, in 

 ])roportion to their means, are t|uite enormous. 



The contracts hetween the land-owner and the native 

 occupiers are made with the kraal head — generally an old man 

 who does not go out to work himself; but who. by his contract, 

 binds the younger members of the kraal. The growing disregard 

 of the once universally recognised family obligations on the part 

 of the y(^ung people makes it difficult for the kraal head to carrv 

 out his responsibilities to the land-owner, and causes difficulty 

 and often litigation between the farmer and native occupier. The 

 general conditions of native life and cultivation olf the soil are 

 very much the same on these farms, unoccupied by Europeans, as 

 on the native locations, previously described. There are no statistics 

 available showing the number of natives living on these un- 

 occupied farms and those residing on farms occupied and 

 cmltivated by the owners, but a very considerable portion of the 

 Bantu people live on these latter. Years ago these occupied 

 farms were large, and cultivation very limited ; the resident 

 native tenants were allowed to use. for cultivation or grazing, as 

 much land as they desired. Now the farms are fenced into pad- 

 docks, much land is under cultivation, and the grasslands are 

 pastured by well-bred cattle, which must not mix with the 

 common herds olf the native tenant. Gradually the nati\e has 

 been pushed into the most undesirable portion of the farm, and 

 the numbers of his live-stock strictly Umited. Some good and con- 

 siderate land-owners w^ill lend oxen and ploughs to their tenants 



D 



