IIo SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
by rail to the northern mines. Thus the annual movement in the south 
is for the most part convergent upon the railway strip for service or for 
trade ; from Feira some agricultural labour moves to Southern Rhodesia, 
and such men as prefer the mines may go by train either north or south. 
Over the great north-eastern region European settlers are very few, 
and in East Luangwa they are concentrated about Fort Jameson. 
European influence, therefore, is either spread by the Administration, 
the missions, of which there are nearly forty, or by the migrating natives 
themselves. Copies of European houses occur in significant proportions 
throughout the Luapula drainage area, as well as in Isoka District. Only 
four of the thirteen Districts report native iron industries, the rest relying 
mainly on imported implements. The annual movement to the labour 
market is directed almost everywhere westward to the mines of Broken 
Hill, Ndola and the Katanga, the only important exodus for farm work 
being from Isoka to the coffee plantations of Mbezi in Tanganyika 
Territory. The distance travelled by the natives going to the mines 
frequently amounts to four hundred miles, and the average periods of 
absence from these northern districts are given as from six to nine months. 
The consequences of these long absences of the able-bodied men, whether 
accompanied by their wives or not, are fully discussed by Mr. Davis * ; 
I will mention only one result—the serious reduction of land in crops 
and the consequent increase of famine risk. From the Mweru Luapula 
Province there is a further movement into and across the Katanga. ‘This 
marks the export of the surplus produce of the Province, consisting of 
dried fish and manioc meal for sale at the mines. Natives may make 
three or four such journeys a year, but some of this commerce is now in 
the hands of European traders, mostly Greeks and Italians. ‘These also 
buy skins, notably those of the otters killed around Lake Bangweolo. 
The western plateau, drained by the Zambezi, lies off all main routes. 
Moreover, the greater part of it is Barotseland, where limited self-govern- 
ment exists and missions are fewer than elsewhere. Consequently the 
region has less contact with the white man. European houses are 
mentioned only in Mongu (probably mission influence); and all the 
Districts either mine their own iron or at least manufacture many of their 
implements. Yet the whole basin sends its quota annually to the mines 
when labour is in demand there. From the southern half of the country 
the majority probably go to the Wankie or other Southern Rhodesian 
fields, and Mankoya also sends agricultural labour southwards. But from 
the northern districts natives walk, up to four hundred miles, to the 
copper belt. 
Such are some of the regional effects of European contacts. But 
I must not omit to mention one which applies equally everywhere. Before 
British rule the Rhodesian natives lived dangerously. Because of inter- 
tribal wars and the risk of attack by slave raiders the people lived in large 
villages surrounded by stockades. With the new security their groups 
have been steadily growing smaller and tending to approach the natural 
unit which is the family, albeit a larger unit than that to which we apply 
the name. Government, however, has imposed its veto upon further 
12 Op. cit. 
