Wild Kaffir Life and Wild Kaffir Intelligence. 289 



WILD KAFFIR LIFE AND WILD KAFFIR 



INTELLIGENCE. 



BY E0BERT JAMES MANN, M.D., F.R.A.S. 

 Superintendent of Education in Natal . 



At page 188 of the October number of the Intellectual 

 Observer it is stated that the 10,000 " Natal Kaffirs" of 1836 

 have grown into 200,000 Natal Kaffirs in 1866 ; and the infer- 

 ence is drawn that the native race in that colony is increasing 

 in numbers rapidly, and not dwindling away, under the presence 

 of British enterprise and rule, and that therefore the question 

 of the capabilities of that race is an important one. It may 

 be necessary to explain that the Natal Kaffirs thus alluded to 

 were Kaffirs who acknowledged English authority, and came 

 within the sphere of civilized observation at even that early 

 period, or very soon afterwards. The Kaffirs spoken of by 

 Mr. Fynn as " Natal Kaffirs" were natives who had gathered 

 round his settlements at the Bay. The rapid increase in 

 numbers was, in all probability, due to the addition of more 

 and more resident clans to the white man's following, as well 

 as to the return of exiles, and the influx of refugees. The 

 Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal has recently ascertained 

 by direct investigation, that there are at the present time 

 forty-three distinct clans, or tribes, within the colony, which 

 were aboriginal tribes of the district, and which have never 

 dwelt elsewhere, excepting for any brief period that they may 

 have been compelled to remove themselves into concealment 

 during the Zulu invasion and occupation. There are also 

 twenty-two other native tribes in Natal, of which nine are 

 composite and made up of a fusion of the fragments of abori- 

 ginal tribes, and of which seven are Zulu tribes which have 

 removed themselves from the territory that is still under 

 Zulu rule. 



Before the rise of the Zulu power these aboriginals were 

 neither warlike, nor aggressive. Disputes occasionally arose, 

 both between families and between tribes ; but such disputes 

 were always speedily settled. There was no attempt at 

 military organization. The several tribes were, for the most 

 part, on friendly terms, and intermarried with each other. 

 They possessed cattle, sheep, and goats ; and cultivated the 

 ground, and drew the principal portion of their subsistence 

 from their gardens. They were, indeed, to a considerable 

 extent what the Natal Kaffirs are now seen to be in the 

 colony. The notion of Zulu-Kaffir ferocity, which has become 

 vol. x. — NO. iv. u 



