BANTU INDUSTRIES. 



191 



That such proposals are not impracticable may be deduced 

 from hard facts. For instance, on the West Coast of Africa the 

 Basel Mission .started industries for the natives within its sphere 

 of influence. These industries, -which have since the War been 

 taken over by the Commonwealth Trust, Ltd., of London, were 

 before the War paying a profit of something like £20,000 a year 

 to the funds of the Missionary Society. Besides its missions on 

 the West Coast, the Basel Missionary Society had work on the 

 Malabar Coast in South-West India, where a similar policy of 

 starting weaving to help the natives was initiated at Mangalore 

 as long ago as 1744. The material named "calico" is said to be 

 called after the town of Calicut, on the Malabar Coast. This 

 peculiar cotton cloth was first woven there. Seven years later 

 Mr. Haller, a trained specialist in weaving, was sent out from 

 Germany. He, on arrival at Mangalore, introduced the first hand- 

 loom with the fly shuttle. Along with the weaving, dyeing work 

 was also started, and the khaki dye which is now so widely used 

 is said to have been first invented by Mr. Haller. He 

 endeavoured to prepare a dye for hunting suits which would 

 approximate to the natural colour of the soil and would not be 

 conspicuous from a distance. The one which he prepared out of 

 the rind of the cashew-nut tree (Anacardium occidentale) and of 

 the extract of the heartwood of the catechu tree (Acacia catechu), 

 both of these trees being common in his district, answered the 

 purpose and was called khaki, from the Hindustani khak, mean- 

 ing ashes, dust. The "Madras Mail" stated: — 



"When Mr. Haller first brought out his khaki, the then 

 Superintendent of Police in Mangalore was so pleased with it 

 that he got permission to introduce it for the use of the police 

 force under him. Lord Roberts, when he was Commander-in- 

 Chief in India, once paid a visit to the Mangalore weaving 

 establishment, land it was then that he happened to see khaki 

 which he afterwards recommended for the use of the British 

 soldiers." 



Likewise, the shikari cloth, which is now popular, was first 

 introduced by this weaving establishment, the colour having 

 been designed by Mr. Webster, hence the material is called 

 "Webster's Shikari." Most of the European sportsmen and 

 officials of the Government Forest Department have availed them- 

 selves of the cloths of the mission weaving establishment to supply 

 their regular clothing needs. Encouraged by the success of weav- 

 ing in Mangalore, weaving establishments were established in other 

 mission stations on the West Coast, such as Cannanore and Calicut, 

 with increased improvements in various departments. This 

 industry affords regular employment to hundreds of Indians. 



Another industry developed to a remarkable degree by the 

 Basel Mission in India is that of tile making. If this could be 

 developed on a considerable scale in South Africa, so that tiles 

 became as cheap or cheaper than corrugated, iron, we might hope 

 to deliver ourselves from the wrong many of us do our families 

 and ourselves by living under an iron roof so absolutely unsuited 

 to this country of great variations in temperature. 



