PKESlDliNTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. 147 



lected. Elsewhere,* iji dealinj^ with the i"esult.s oi native educa- 

 tion, we have gone into this question more fully, sa that we are 

 content at this juncture to point out that large sums have been 

 spent by the natives themselves upon lulucation and Agricultural 

 Institutions, and an Agricultural College, and that side by side 

 with the granting of individual title, an effort is being made to 

 secure a better utilisation oi the land by the introduction of 

 improved methods of agriculture. Compared with the wasteful 

 methods of the primitive native, especially in view of the rapid 

 increase of population in a limited area, this marks a real im- 

 provement, of the highest economic importance. 



But we would be failing to establish the real importance 

 of the transition in this department of native life if we did not 

 point out that the passing of communal tenure is only the one 

 underlying phase of that vast change now manifesting itself in 

 all departments of the national life, the change from communism 

 to individualism. 



5. The Improved Coimmunications . 



(a) Earliest Conditions. — Another factor which has played 

 no small part in the evolution of native individualism has been 

 the means of communication. In the earliest days the natives 

 moving from place to place would travel on foot ; and conse- 

 quently, unless they set out on some cattle raiding or hunting 

 expedition to a distant part, were content to wander in the 

 vicinity of their kraals. On the arrival of the white man in 

 the country the natives began to acquire the fast-moving horse, 

 chiefly, be it said, by the long series of raids on the Eastern 

 Frontier, which took place so ifar back as the days of Gaika. 

 This made it possible for them to travel further afield. But 

 here again the fear of witchcraft operated to some extent as a 

 deterrent to intertribal communication, and there was not much 

 m.ovement on the part of individuals, men preferring to remain 

 together in their tribes. Successive Kaffir wars, however, led to 

 the appointment of Government agents with different tribes, and 

 this, in conjunction with the need for having suitable roads along 

 which troops could be sent when required, quite naturally brought 

 about the establishment of communication and the use of the 

 ox-waggon. Probably, in the first instance, attention was paid 

 only to repairing the drifts across the rivers, and pathways lead- 

 ing to these drifts, being frequently used, would tend to become 

 the accepted road as between place and place. As a mater of 

 fact, when the restrictions upon trading with the natives were 

 eventually removed, it was found that the lucrative nature of 

 the secret trading had apparently caused development to proceed 

 to such an extent that well-beaten tracks were in existence, 

 penetrating to the heart of Kaffirland. 



(b) The Ox-Waggon. — Then, further, in a land of great 



Rept. S.A. Assn. for Adv. of Sc, Kimberley (1914), 151-164. ^/^"Tp 



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