132 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. 



Government decided to act alons^ the lines indicated, and the 

 wisdom of tjae decision has been abundantly vindicated, not only 

 by the sound and beneficent results attained, but also by the 

 promise of future attainment in the various departments of 

 national achievement. Obviously, it was impossible for any 

 Colonial Government to permit the continuance of such customs, 

 for at any time an influential witch-doctor might launch an 

 expedition against the scattered colonists ; nor, in any case, 

 could crime be condoned ; and, accordingly, a strong attitude 

 was assumed, forbidding these men to practise their cult. 

 Unfortunately, however, when the particular dangers were, in 

 the main, disposed of, the Government, instead of finishing the 

 whole business at once, allowed the matter to drift, and so to 

 recur and perpetuate. 



But, in turning over the pages of history, and moving in 

 the realm of events rather than customs, one is made aware of 

 the strength of this overshadowing communism in the 

 greater events, as well as in many and many a small incident 

 upon which great events were hinged. Of course, every decision 

 to make war, or conversely, to make peace, was a tribal decision. 

 As an individual the native was closely bound by 'he customs 

 of the tribe, and when it came to important matters, such as 

 the making of laws, or the trial of an individual, or arriving 

 at any momentous decision, then the whole matter was discussed 

 in general council, sometimes for weeks on end, the ultimate 

 decision being practically the finding of the meeting, or series 

 of meetings. In this way, when eventually the chief gave his 

 ruling, it was usually along the lines of the general consensus 

 of opinion, and in the process of discussion, since every detail 

 was dealt with, each individual made his contribution towards 

 the decision, and all came to understand the whole position. 



But, whatever the decision, it was the decision of the tribe, 

 and in order to carry it out the tribe set to work as one man. 

 The great cattle-killing delusion of 1856, which broke the power 

 of the AmaXosa more effectively than any previous Kaffir war 

 had done, is a terrible illustration of this tribal action. Yet 

 the self-destruction of the AmaXosa is only one of the more 

 obvious instances of the kind having this peculiar characteristic, 

 that the natives embarked with deliberation upon this course. 

 Now, in order to gauge the strength of this communism of 

 thought and action, it is more important to see them acting 

 instinctively, rather than deliberatively, and a careful enquiry 

 into history affords us excellent examples of such action. We 

 see them going out on an expedition, and we know full well 

 what it must have meant of preparation, of discovering the will 

 and wish of the Spirits of the Fathers, of sacrificing and doctor- 

 ing, and then the armies have marched out to battle with the 

 highest hopes and enthusiasms, until on the way some inauspicious 

 omen was manifested. Then, in a moment, a sudden panic — 

 and as one man the tribe fled ignominiously. 



