FACTORS IN NATIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 515 



musket were more of a hindrance than a help when it came to he 

 matched against a hght bow with poison-tipped arrow, the spear, 

 the shield, the assegai. The Dutch, however, were more success- 

 ful in their methods of resistance. So early as 1673, William 

 Ten Rhyne visited the Cape, and he tells us that " The Hotten- 

 totes . . . don't care to engage with us for fear of our tire- 

 locks." In a later chapter he adds the following interesting 

 information : — 



Their chief strength hes in a furprize, having been taught by the 

 Lj'ons (which are very numerous here) that it is fafeft to appear with- 

 out their lurking holes in bad ' Weather ; when our Fire-Arms are 

 generally out of order, they follow their footfteps, and lurking among 

 the woods, fend their Darts from thence among our People; but if 

 they happen to meet them in clear Weather, and in the open Fields, they 

 get up a huge Cry, and immediately retreat to the Woods, or thorny 

 Hills, from whence they may tight at a diftance, by the help of their 

 Bows and Arrows. 



It will thus be seen that the ancient muskets of the Portu- 

 guese had given place to a weapon sufficiently improved to secure 

 the ascendancy over the primitive bow and arrow, at least so long 

 as the weather was line. " Trust in God and keep the powder 

 dry," said Oliver Cromwell — and the Dutch Burghers agreed 

 with the sentiment. At any rate they prevailed, and were masters 

 of the situation. 



When, however, the pioneers came into contact w-ith the 

 Kaffirs a new situation was created. At first the latter were at 

 a complete loss to understand how the white man could carry 

 thunder and lightning in his hands, and turn these against his 

 enemies at will. As they began to experience its deadly powder 

 they were more and more unwilling to fight against such weapons, 

 until the priests took to promising, at the nknkafitla ceremonies 

 when invulnerability was secured to the armies, that the bullets 

 of the white man would turn to water and so leave the advancing 

 hosts uninjured. I think that when, after repeated promises of 

 the kind, it was seen that the white man's bullets still steadfastly 

 refused to turn to water, the native belief in the witch-doctor's 

 power received its first real setback. This was perhaps the first 

 powerful cause leading to the breakdown of the power of witch- 

 craft, and as such it is notable. 



Then, again, gunpowder was used in the laying of traps, 

 especially during the periods of the Kafiir wars, when lonely 

 farmhouses were attacked in the dead of night. On fre(|uent 

 occasions mines were laid and fired as groups of Natives passed 

 over them. Now if there was one thing the Natives really 

 feared it was the attack of unseen foes, and they at once con- 

 nected occurrences of the kind with sorcery, and many and many 

 a place was saved by the fears thus induced in their superstitious 

 minds. Nor can there be much doubt that gunpowder was used 

 on occasion as an instrument of witchcraft. An excellent illus- 

 tration of this usage, almost certainly founded on fact, is to be 

 found in Horace Rose's book, " Golden Glory," where the witch- 

 doctor is frustrated by a challenge to produce lightning. He fails 



