SOIL EROSION — HALL 311 



bush belonging to his clan ; this he, or rather his wives, clear, perhaps 

 burning off the timber before putting in the crops — millet and now 

 maize, cassava, yams, etc. In 2 or 3 years the soil begins to become 

 exhausted or weeds become intractable, whereupon the plot is aban- 

 doned and a new piece is taken up. The abandoned plot soon covers 

 itself with the natural vegetation and in course of time, perhaps 10, 

 perhaps 30 years, recovers sufficiently to be ready to take into cultiva- 

 tion again. Thus the tribe requires many times as large an acreage 

 of land as is actually in cultivation at any one time, and if the tribe 

 is increasing in numbers they will be eating pretty steadily into hitherto 

 unoccupied grassland or forest. One other feature is of importance; 

 the Bantu tribes who predominate hi East Africa attach the greatest 

 value to livestock, particularly to cattle. Cattle represent wealth 

 and position, they are intimately bound up in tribal custom with the 

 marriage ceremonies, indeed they enjoy a definitely religious status. 

 They are the essential consideration that has to be tendered for a 

 wife. But they serve little or no economic purpose. They are not 

 eaten except ceremonially, by many tribes they are not milked, they 

 are not beasts of burden, neither is their dung used as manure. Sheep 

 and goats are in the same category, they are less sacred and less val- 

 uable, their only economic product is their skins for clothing. In 

 one sense cattle are money, but they are also something more than 

 pecunia; every native is anxious to increase the number he owns, for 

 on that depends his credit in the tribe. Of course, there are other 

 tribes like the Masai who aro pastoralists, not cultivators, and who 

 live largely upon animal food, in the case of the Masai upon milk and 

 blood. These tribes maintain large herds of cattle and goats and 

 shift their location seasonally with the grazing ; what little cultivation 

 goes on within their reserves used to be carried out by dependent men 

 of other tribes. Nowadays, however, cultivation is increasing. 



Consider the consequences — within this century British rule has 

 maintained peace among the tribes, and with the cessation of raiding, 

 numbers have been rising steadily. According to census returns, 

 the native population in the Union of South Africa has doubled in the 

 last 50 years; in Basutoland the estimated population multiplied four- 

 fold between 1879 and 1921. In Kenya the annual rate of increase is 

 estimated at about 1 }{ percent, which means doubling the numbers in 

 46 years, and similar estimates are made for the Nandi tribes in the 

 Kavirondo, and for the Uganda population. These increases are, of 

 course, not universal, for the Masai seem to be shrinking, as do the 

 northern Nigerian tribes, where the spread of the desert has become 

 marked. There are other cases of dwindling populations, some of 

 which may be ascribed to maladministration without due regard to 

 the interests of the natives. 



