PRESiniiNTlAI. ADDRKSS SECTION E. 135 



are, from the Native point of \ iew, we would he amazed, and \hv 

 position would be speedily remedied by common consent. 



But since in Native life the tribe was the distinct entity, in 

 order to secure unanimity and ])recision in the tribal life, certain 

 customs came to he hardened, and from lont^ usage were 

 reverenced as " the custom of our wise fathers.'' In this wav 

 customs and observances bcnmd the individual in every depart- 

 ment of life, resultino^. as we have already partly seen, in an 

 intense communism that is little understood and still less realised, 

 and in tracing the transition from communism to individualism 

 h is essential to give a clearer impression of the fabric of 

 tribalism before proceeding to unravel the separate threads. In 

 a literal sense the tribe was everything and the individual nothing. 

 Apart from what we -have already seen, almost every action was 

 regulated by rigid custom. From the cradle (if he had one) 

 to the grave the individual was enslaved by ancient customs of 

 one kind and another, so that he simply did not know what free- 

 dom meant, nor could he strike out on original lines, since 

 certain observances and actions were prescribed for him in all 

 the changing circumstances of life. Even yet, any transgression 

 of the customs renders him unclean, and liable to the suspicion 

 of witchcraft, for if he is so superior to the customs of their 

 wise forefathers as to disregard them he must be in possession 

 of some ver}^ strong charm indeed ! Should anything untoward 

 occur in the neighbourhood, or any misfortune befall, it must be 

 he who is responsible, for he is the only one who does not fulfil 

 the ancient usage, and his disobedience has angered the ancestral 

 spirits. So they argue — and so bv the very fear of witchcraft 

 the customs and traditions tend to be maintained in their 

 entirety. 



Any man attempting to improve his conditions of life is at 

 once suspect, even if it be by the mere planting of a tree, or 

 the taming of a wild animal, so that no progress to a better, 

 still less to a higher, life is possible. The truly comprehensive 

 character of these customs will be realised when we point out 

 some of the activities for which provision is made. Thus the 

 daily routine to begin with is governed by custom. The men 

 have their place and work ; the women, too, have their place 

 assigned to them in the hut, and their activities defined ; the 

 boys also have their duties and privileges quite separate and 

 distinct from those of the girls. 



In these ways there is a definite organisation regulating the 

 whole tribe, for each keeps to his, or her. own sphere punc- 

 tiliouslv 'ind exclusively. Even in the more particular details of 

 eating, drinking and fasting (which is not to be miderstood merely 

 in the European sense of abstention from food), procedure in 

 washing and bathing, the cutting of the hair, these are all precisely 

 regulated by ancient usage. The handling of the cattle, marking 

 and ornamenting them, are likewise ])rovided for ; also, in agricul" 

 tural matters, the breaking up of virgin soil for cultivation, and 



