514 FACTORS IN NATIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 



confiscated by the chief and redistributed amongst those for- 

 tunates (including the rainmaker himself, of course) who were 

 in favour. 



This practice of " smelling-out '' had a very remarkable 

 result on at least one recorded occasion. It was carried to such 

 excess amongst certain tribes that there was an almost continuous 

 stream of fugitives into a neighbouring territory, and these 

 eventually banded together to form the Amangqunukwebi tribe ; 

 so that one may with perfect faithfulness to truth ascribe no less 

 an event than the birth of a tribe to the influence of witchcraft, 

 and to go further still, one might even point out the not too remote 

 part played by drought in stimulating the practice of that cult, 

 and so contributing to this strange result. 



Perhaps, however, the most serious consideration of all is to 

 be found in the fact that again and again in the history of the 

 relationships between the white and black races, when droughts 

 were causing the cattle and crops to die, witch doctors, or i^anusi, 

 would arise and declare to the superstitious people that when the 

 whites were all killed it would rain plentifully. How large a 

 part these wild promises played in urging the warriors to plunge 

 into the various Kaffir wars can never be truly estimated at this 

 late date, but it is on record that this was one of the great induce- 

 ments to strife used by desperate men who realised that the hour 

 of their doom had struck, and that henceforth their pretensions 

 were indeed forever ended unless they could utterly destroy the 

 white man and rehabilitate themselves in the confidence of their 

 fellow-tribesmen. And so they used their most powerful 

 weapons, and. associating the promise of gain with the preten- 

 sions of witchcraft, made periods of drought the occasion for a 

 bold bid to drive the white man back into the sea, whence he had 

 dome. 



III. — Implements. 



The second great class of unrealised factors may be grouped 

 under the general heading of implements, and those may be 

 divided for convenience into implements of war and those of 

 peace. Thus our attention is attracted particularly to the fire- 

 arms, the plough, the axe. the bead, the ship, and the wheel, the 

 last two being referable to the concluding division of our study, 

 viz., the communications. 



Dealing, then, with (i) Implements of War, we turn our 

 thoughts to the part played by firearms. It is strange to think 

 how a small handful of white men, in the 'face of overwhelming 

 odds, found a footing in the sub-continent, and gradually con- 

 quered the whole country, subduing the hordes of blacks opposed 

 to them. No man can say that the aborigines were not brave, 

 nor can any say that they were lacking in physical strength. 

 Indeed, on some occasions, especially in the earliest days, they 

 rendered a very good account of themselves, their methods of 

 warfare being sufficient to frighten away the Portuguese 

 altogether from the Cape. The ponderous lance and the ancient 



