128 I'kliSlDKNTlAL ADDkKSS — ^SliCTlON E. 



" Whereas it is expedient to give increased facilities to 

 Commerce with the Caffres and other Nations living beyond 

 the Boundaries of this Colony, and to augment the number of 

 Fairs', which may now legally he held within or beyond the 



Frontier it shall and may be lawful for the Governor 



of this Colony, for the time being, to apjxiint Fairs, to be called 

 ' Border Fairs,' for the purposes of Commerce with the Nations 

 residing beyond the limits of this Colony . . . and . . . for 

 the Dealers licensed as aforesaid, at any Border fair, to offer 

 for Sale or Barter, any kind of Goods, Merchandise, or Cattle, 

 which may be legally sold in this Colony : Provided always, 

 that no Fire-Arms, or other offensive Weapons, or Ammunition 

 of any kind whatsoever, or any Spirituous Liquors, Wines, Beer, 

 or Ale, be offered for Sale at any such Border Fairs, such 

 Articles being hereby declared contraband." 



From such beginnings there never has been any suggestion 

 even of looking back until within recent times the deplorable 

 recommendation of the Select Committee on the working of the 

 Transvaal Liquor Laws. Such a radical departure from our 

 traditional policy would be unthinkable, for undoubtedly the 

 policy of restriction has been all for the good of the native ; 

 and any relaxation of that restriction would have disastrous 

 results. We would speedil}' reap the whirlwind. 



Giving evidence on this point before the Commission already 

 referred to, the Magistrate of Butterworth, Mr. T. W. C. Norton. 

 said : — 



If there were no prohibition as regards liquor, many of the men 

 who do not take liquor now would take it ... . If it (prohibition) 

 were removed I do not think that we, the Europeans, could live in 

 the Territories. We would require an enormous police force." * 



This expression of opinion, by no means an isolated one, coming 

 from one who has had 28 years' residence in the Transkei, 

 indicates the great value of this wise restriction of the Govern- 

 ment. 



A further point not unconnected with witchcraft 

 and communism on which the Government took a firm stand, was 

 that of prohibiting the dances held customarily on the occasions 

 when children came of age. The Puberty Rites were not so 

 elaborate as those of the interior tribes, but it is clear' that thev 

 were the occasions of gross license, and the inculcation of dark 

 .superstitions. 



The Ukufshila dances of the Abakzveta (the newly-circum- 

 cised boys) were indescribably licentious, the women also taking 

 -\ prominent and disgusting part in them. The Ntonjane, 

 associated with the corresponding female initiatory, rite, was, at 

 least, equally bad. It was a time of feasting and immorality, 

 during which all the girls who had arrived at the age of puberty 

 were expected to choose paramours, and if they did not do so 

 men were selected for them by the elder women, and they were 



* Select Committee on Working of Transvaal Liquor Laws, p. 381. 



