26G Report S.A.A. Auvaxckment of Science. 



of the town dweller's place in most cases is inferior to that of the 

 country native ; the former is compel led by questions of space or by 

 town regulations to occupy certain spots which are more or less healthy, 

 while his country comrade has a large variety of choice of place, and 

 can generally secure the summit of a rising ground free from the damp 

 of streams and facing the rising sun. 



In clothing, as in dwelling, the uncivilised has the advantage over 

 the civilised ; the latter is compelled to wear garments which, even 

 when in good order, have but little to recommend them except their 

 compliance with the dictates of fashion and the usages of custom, but 

 when old, dirty, tattered and torn have nothing whatever in their 

 favour. The wearer, becoming used to them, is unable to leave them 

 off, and having no other, is obliged to remain in them even when 

 soaked, to the great detriment of his health. The red blanket Kafir 

 possesses in his only article of attire a costume adapted to heat or cold, 

 to rain or drought, impervious even to rain through its dressing of fat 

 and red ochre. Though the garment does not prevent the free access 

 of air to the body, yet the most effectual mode of hardening the body 

 is by exposing it to rapid and varied changes of temperature. The 

 skin is thus, as it were, educated to quickly allow or check a free 

 supply of blood to the surface, and becomes a great regulator of its 

 distribution through the body. The skin is thus, as it was intended to 

 be, a covering of the greatest utility, capable of resisting great ex- 

 tremes both of heat and cold. Darwin records in his voyage round the 

 wctrld that the Patagoiiians, inhabitants of the bleakest and coldest 

 portion of South America, were accustomed to face the winter's cold 

 with only the small skin of some animal suspended from the neck, 

 which they shifted from back to front according to the way the wind 

 was blowing. The red blanket Kafir, being unused to depend upon ex- 

 traneous clothing for the warmth and protection of his body, takes no 

 harm from rain or ct)ld : while his town brotlier, liaving been habituated 

 to depend upon clothing, and thereby having deprived his skin of its 

 power of using its self-regulating mechanism, suffers to a great extent 

 from the inclemency of the weather, and readily falls a victim to some 

 disease of the respiratory system. 



Having discussed the dwelling and the clothing, the important ques- 

 tion of diet remains to be considered. The country' Kafir living upon 

 farms still obtains a diet well adapted to his needs and to the climate. 

 He lives upon coarse meal, Kafir corn, and that most e.Kcellent food, 

 mealies, and in many places gets skimmed milk by the bucketful ; 

 pumpkins supply the anti-scorbutic element of his food, and nlthougli 

 in the greater number of instances he possesses stock of his own, upon 

 some of which he may feed on rare occasions, he is not always deterred 

 by fear of the law from "snatching a fearful joy" in the capture and 

 consumption of an occasional animal from his master's flocks and herds. 

 In addition to these foods, his beverage, partaken of wjienever occasion 

 offers, in the shape of Kafir beer, is, I think, when not fortified by an 

 unneces.sary spirit, of considerable dietetic value, and it is unfortunate 

 that the native appears to be unable to partake of it in moderation. 



