424 THE NATIVE AND AGRICULTURE. 



The area in the Union occupied by the Zulu-Xosa tribes 

 according to the schedule to Act 27 of 1913 amounts to about 

 eleven million Cape morgen, as follows: — 



Kaffirs in Transkei and Eastern Province ... 3,282,367 morgen 



Fingos in Transkei and Eastern Province ... 585,747 morgen 



Abambo in Transkei 723,669 morgen 



Abambo and Zulu, Natal and Zululand 6,350,403 morgen 



Zulu in Transvaal 155,726 morgen 



1 1, 097, 912 1 morgen 



Our acquaintance with the Kalanga groups dates back to the 

 commencement of the occupation by the Portuguese of Sofala 

 (1505) and their conquests in the "empire" of the "Monomo- 

 tapa." 2 The Makalanga are, or were, a race of exceptional intel- 

 ligence and oriental blood, to whose skill is owing, probably, the 

 extensive irrigation canals on Inyanga. The climate they enjoy 

 is sub-tropical, enabling the natives to cultivate orange and lemon 

 trees which are now found growing wild, but which had ceased to 

 be cultivated at the time of Livingstone's visit; and it is doubtful 

 if they were planted by Bantu. 3 There is no doubt, however, that 

 up to the beginning of the last century they grew sugar-cane, 

 beans, ground-nuts, pumpkins, melons, a kind of millet called 

 onunga, which had the advantage of being untouched by locusts, 

 and the recently introduced maize. The Matabele mostly grow 

 Kaffir-corn (mabele) nowadays; poko, a kind of millet, is the 

 favourite grain of the Mashona. The ravages of the Zulu hordes 

 caused this unwarlike folk to flee to the granite kopjes for refuge, 

 among which they grew small patches of maize and pumpkins 

 scarcely sufficient for their subsistence. 4 



Matabeleland and Mashonaland as grass countries are superior 

 to most parts cf South Africa. Matabeleland pasture is close and 

 sweet. Mashonaland grass is longer and coarser. Mashonaland is 

 more suitable for agriculture; Matabeleland stands unrivalled for 

 stock-raising. 



In the past the Makalanga seem to have kept but few cattle, 

 on account probably of the tsetse-fly, which haunts the low-lands 

 and river-banks; but higher up in the Zambezi valley the Batonga 

 (Batoka) kept a small but shapely breed resembling our shorthorn. 5 

 The Barotse again evidently got their stock from a Bechuana 



1 These figures are only approximately correct, as it is not possible 

 to ascertain with any degree of precision the exact area allocated 

 respectively to Zulu, Kaffir, Alambo, Basuto or Bechuana. The num- 

 ber of morgen per head reserved for Natives approximately, in British 

 Bechuanaland is 15.5; Transkei, 4.4; Cape Proper, 1.1; Natal, 3.1; 

 Transvaal, 1.7; Orange Free State, 0.2. — H. Mentz, vide Hansard, 

 1913, col. 24/33. 



2 "Di Benomotapa e grande imperio," Camoens Lasiad x qb. 



3 R. H. Hall, "Prehistoric Rhodesia," pp. 395, 417, 418. 



4 Owen Thomas op. cit. pp. 260, 275, 229. 



5 In old debris heaps and under cement floors of the Zimbabwe 

 ruins are found horns of a dwarfed short-horned ox smaller than the 

 Guernsey. {Bos longifrons?) Hall tfc Neill, "Ancient Ruins of Rho- 

 desia," p. 153. 



