264 Report S.A.A. Advancemknt of Scikxce. 



who in addition to being but little atiected by Western iniiuences, are 

 also of Arj-an stock, and peihaps less susceptible on that account, and 

 the negroes of the Southern American States ai'e also said to thrive 

 and multiply. 



But it may be accepted as an established fact that when two 

 races come into contact, one being of Teutonic origin and the other 

 of coloured descent, and provided always that the climate and environ- 

 ment are favourable to the white man, that contact will be greatly to 

 the physical detriment of the native race. It involves a complete 

 change in the living and habits of the aborigine. " When wild in 

 woods the noble savage ran " he led a life which was a<hnirably 

 adapted to the development of his physical powers at their highest 

 pitch. From his birth, when if weakly or ill-formed his career came 

 to an abrupt termination, to the appioach of old age, his environment 

 was such as to demand the highest state of physical perfection pos- 

 sible, the penalty of failure to reach that standard being death to 

 himself and famih\ Instead of being able to purchase his meat or 

 have it alread}' provided for him, the game of the veld and forest liad 

 to be slaughtered with rude and inferior weapons, a task demanding 

 muscular power of the highest development. In addition to the pinsuit 

 of the chase, the native had to be well trained in the arts of stivage 

 warfare, a warfare in which mercy was unknown, and in which death 

 or slavery was the lot of the vanquished — a life in which every sense 

 had to be highly trained and every muscle kept fit for instant and 

 long-continued use in order to ensure even a small degree of safety 

 from one hour to another. The savage did practically as little work 

 as he chose, and beyond recognising the authority of the chief, was 

 practically his own master. His habits, his food, his clothes and his 

 dwellings were all alike well calculated to develop him into a good 

 animal and to maintain him as such. 



Those who have seen the Zulu, the Basuto or the Kafir in their 

 native state will doubtless agree that it would be impossible to find, as 

 regards their physique, finer specimens of humanity. Contrast witli 

 these the average native dwelling in the town locations, and let us 

 briefly consider the changes effected in him, and the causes of these 

 changes, from his thus dwelling upon the fringes of civilisation. Who 

 that has seen the cliubby little Kafir l)aby toddling outside the krasds 

 in the country clothed (mly with a warm and abundant covering of its 

 own natural fat, the result of an abundant supply of milk and mealies, 

 will not envy its lot as compared with the wretched location baby 

 clothed in dirty rags, and whilst deprived of the maternal nourisliment, 

 fed upon white bread, tea and condensed nnlk. The result is disastrous, 

 as shown here in Grahamstown, where, owing chiefly to preventable 

 disease, I find that the mortality amongst native children is enormous, 

 as 576-5 out of every 1000 coloured children born die before attaining 

 five years of age, as compared with 90 out of every 1000 white children 

 born in this city— a native infantile mortality much greater than it 

 should be by some 500 per cent., and which conti'ibutes so much to the 

 death-rate beinif so laryelv in excess of the Jiative hiith-i-ate. The 



