HOW THE COCK BECAME KING OF THE BIRDS 



the interests of agriculture and of climate. With the in- 

 troduction of improved methods of agriculture, living 

 in fixed localities will become possible, and village life 

 will develop and and become better suited to modern 

 conditions. 



Africa is at last awakening from an age-long inertia, 

 and there is a slow but sure movement in which one can 

 already recognize the beginnings of a race consciousness 

 amongst millions of people who have up till now been 

 regarded as the most backward of mankind. But a closer 

 study will show that these peoples, cut off from the rest 

 of the world, have evolved a social system and moral code 

 which is well suited to their requirements. The tendency 

 with those of us of Western Civilization has been to re- 

 gard them all as savages, because their attitude towards 

 life has differed from our own. We have frequently been 

 inclined to pity or patronize them, and have often en- 

 deavoured to impose upon them our brand of civiliza- 

 tion without stopping to think for a moment whether 

 it suited them in such a different environment, or 

 it would alleviate their lot or make their life the happier 

 for them. These countries have been invaded first by the 

 explorer, then by the trader and missionary, followed 

 in rapid succession by the administrator, and in some 

 cases the settler, and we have taken upon ourselves great 

 responsibilities which we like to call "the white man's 

 burden." 



All this has been accomplished so quickly that we have 

 not had time to get to know or understand the African 



8i 



