THE NATIVE AND AGRICULTURE. 427 



Climate and terrain are of course fundamental. Human 

 effort cannot alter them except perhaps by tree planting on an 

 extensive scale; but irrigation may here and there ameliorate local 

 conditions to a restricted extent. Without it, wheat grown on 

 dry land in any part of South Africa is liable to rust and mildew. 

 Oats is a better crop, but maize and Kaffir-corn can be grown in 

 any soil; but a deep cultivation does not answer and the native 

 who scrapes up three or four inches succeeds better than the 

 European with his deep-soil plough. 1 The rhenoster bosch is said 

 to be a good indication of wheat-growing soil, 2 just as mimosa 

 grows when there is the nutritious sweet veld. Broadly speaking, 

 the plateaux of the northern parts of the Union form excellent 

 cattle ranches. 



A stock-raising country can, however, only support a sparse 

 population. That of Griqualand West and British Bechuanaland 

 average 25 morgen a unit. The best form of tenure, therefore, 

 for the Bechuana reserves is the tribal or communal tenure, which 

 is certainly not to be condemned, because, as Sir W. Beaumont 

 says, "it leads to the preservation of the tribal system and the 

 power of the chiefs." This is rather an argument in its favour 

 as showing that it was fitted to the native mind and native life. 

 Dr. Theal calls it an admirable svstem of land tenure for people 

 in their condition, 3 and Mr. Dudley Kidd shows that "on the 

 tribal system of land tenure, poverty is virtually impossible. All 

 land is the property of the tribe for whom the chief acts merely 

 as trustee: he cannot alienate without the consent of his council. 

 . . . The grazing land is common to the whole clan ; the arable land is 

 distributed bv the leading headman among the tribe; the allotments 

 are inalienable" — that is so long as they are beneficially occupied. 4 

 There is really nothing to justify tribal or communal tenure being 

 termed a "tenure of barbarism," as Mr. John X. Merriman 

 declares it is. 5 Intrinsically it is no more "barbaric" or "bar- 

 barous" than the "common pasture" of manorial demesne land 

 known to the old Saxon and Norman tenures, 6 or the land of the 

 Teutonic "mark" held in absolute ownership by the village com- 

 munity as common forest or pasture ; a tenure which the Bantu 

 tribal law greatly resembles. 7 



On the South-east coast garden vegetables, sub-tropical fruits, 

 sugar-cane, tea, coffee, and lucerne can allow of close settlement. 

 In Natal and in the Transkei, where the Glen Grey system is 



1 O. Thomas, op. cit. p. 17. 



2 Wheat grown in the Malmesbury District. Conquered Territory 

 and Basutoland. 



3 Sir W. .Beaumont, Union Government, 25-16, par. 36, p. 5. 

 Theal, "Hist. Ethnog." S.A.I., 151. Kidd, "Kaffir Socialism," p. 37. 



4 Evidence of Captain Blyth, Major Elliot, Hon. C. Brownlee, 

 App. C, Report of Commission on Native Laws and Customs, G. 4-83, 

 pp. C 47, 54, 65. 



3 Right Hon. J. X. Merriman. Hansard, 1913. col. 2444. 



6 Stephen's Commentaries, Part I., chap. 22. 



7 "Certain Resemblances of Land Tenure." Rev. : Coloniale and 

 Internationale, II. (1887). pp. 70-87. 



8a 



