Injurious Effkctr of Civimsation on tiik N.vtivk Hacks. 2(')5 



denunuls of civilisation are to a great extent responsible for this disas- 

 trous waste of cliikl life, as the mothers, being taken from the care 

 of their children to domestic service in the town, are unable to give 

 that maternal care and food to theii' ofl'spring which both white and 

 black alike recjuire. The native birth-rate is b}- no means high, su far 

 as the statistics ui this city are available, l)eing oidy '^6 per 1000 of 

 the coloured iidiabitants as against a Eui-opean birth-rate of nearly 29. 

 I may here remark the tendency of civilisation to lower the birth-rate. 

 The general native death-rate having in one year been as high as 

 58'7 per 1000, it sliows that there must be a steafly decrease going on 

 yearly in the number of the coloured inhabitants, which deficiency, 

 unless made good by an immigration from the country districts, would 

 within an appreciable time lead to the complete disappearance of the 

 native. This difference, I believe, does not exist in the country 

 districts, where the natives, in most cases living more under natural 

 surroundings and being removed from the baneful effects of civilisation, 

 are able to rear their children, and have a rate of mortality of a much 

 less alarming character. 



In considering in what way the native is affected by civilisation, 

 we may deal with the questions of housing, clothing and feeding, and 

 the manner these are affected by contact with another people. As 

 regards housing, the native hut of wattle and daub with its thatched 

 roof is well adapted to the climate and to the requirements of its 

 inhabitants. The walls and the roof are non-conductors of heat and 

 preserve the interior at a fairly equable temperature all through the 

 yeai-, the hut being cool in sunmier and warm in winter, while the flooi', 

 being well constructed of ant heap and frequently treated with a special 

 dressing, becomes of a great hardness and not particularly liable to 

 -harbour dust. The materials of which it is constructed are cheap and 

 readily available, and the custom of burning it down after an illness 

 and death has taken place in it tends to the good health of the hut 

 dwellers Wei'e a greater provision made for a through ventilation, 

 the nati\e hut would leave but little to be desired as a cool, economical 

 and health}' abode. The circular form of the hut is also better adapted 

 to the requirements of a good dwelling-place than is the oblong or 

 square shape. The shanties erected in the locations adjoining the 

 tjowns compare most unfavourably with the constructions of the un- 

 civilised Jiative. Instead of being made of material gathered fresh 

 from the veld and subject to renewal, the location habitations are con- 

 structed of the waste and refuse bought or picked up in the town, or 

 in the case of the moi'e substantial edifices, of corrugated iron. It 

 may be said that the more elaborately the houses are constructed the 

 worse they are ; those made of iron are insufferably hot in the sunmier 

 and as cold in winter, and those made of the sheet tin lining suffer 

 from the same disadvantages. Those made of old canvas or sacking 

 are very objectionable. In addition to these drawbacks, the greatest 

 of all is the absolute want of ventilation and the endeavour on the part 

 of the indwellers to render the house as far as may be air-tight. The 

 result is of course most injurious to the health of the people. The site 



