KILLING THE KING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 399 



The whole subject of king-killing- is obscure, and much more 

 detailed investigation will be necessary before we can pronounce 

 definitely upon it. I cannot see that the Zulu or Varozwe custom 

 bears out Frazer's contention that the king was treated as a 

 Divine personage in his life and worshipped as a god after his 

 death. Assertions to this efifect have been made w^ith regard 

 to certain Central African tribes, but I think on insufficient 

 grounds. The difficult}' oif the subject is greatly enhanced by 

 want of clear definition of what natives understand by " god " 

 or " divinitv." Their conceptions of such terms are certainly very 

 difterent from ours, and no one can wholly escape the danger of 

 interpreting their conceptions in the light of our own. No 

 doubt the chief was reverenced greatly in life, enjoyed many 

 privileges, and an indignity oft'ered to one of them was considered 

 to be a crime of the gravest nature,, punishable usually by death, 

 liut this is a long way from considering him to be divine- It is 

 not so amongst the tribes I am acquainted with. What the 

 natives themselves say with regard to killing the king ought to 

 he given some weight : that they wanted to avoid a struggle over 

 the succession, as would have happened at the king's death, if 

 thev had allowed him to become old and infirm ; or it might even 

 have taken place in his life, as a weak king, they say, always 

 j)rovokes and invites trouble. One swallow does not make a 

 summer, and it seems to me that Frazer has largely failed to 

 prove his case, so far as South Africa is concerned. 



The Collapse of Kelp Potash. — The American 

 Fertilizer^ states that a highly unsatisfactory situation has been 

 suddenly brought about with respect to the coast potash and kelp 

 industry, the arnfistice and its attendant events having caused the 

 closing of the plants. The largest kelp concern in existence — that 

 of the Hercules Pow^der Company at San Diego, California — 

 ceased operations because its products were mainly those used in 

 war industries : its potash — a very high-grade chloride — was used 

 for the preparation of potassium nitrate ; its acetone went into 

 the manufacture of munitions. This company was also manu- 

 facturing acetic anhydride, rare esters, and alginate bodies, which 

 though af importance and of very great promise, did not suffice 

 to take the place of the diminished values of the other products. 

 It seems well accepted that it is not possible to produce potash 

 from kelp commercially in normal times by any of the means 

 hitherto tried where no by-products are recovered. The Hercules 

 Powder Company had, during the last two and a half years, cut 

 over 621,000 tons of kelp in the Pacific Ocean. Over five million 

 dollars had been expended in the great works at San Diego. 



* 50 [6] 60, 66 (1919). 



B 



