Kaffir Promise and Capability. 429 



also much that the true negroes want, and that at times comes 

 out in sufficient force to entirely mask the negro organization 

 and blood. There can scarcely be a doubt that the Kaffirs of 

 Natal and its neighbourhood are a composite people, formed 

 by the engrafting of some nobler organization upon the 

 negro stock, and that there is continually a developing out of 

 the leading characteristics of both the lower and the higher 

 element in different individuals. Figure 1 may be taken as a 

 pictorial representation of the lower type, although without the 

 full development of jaw that is often encountered. It is the 

 portrait of a man of the Amabaca tribe, a people who origi- 

 nally dwelt between the site on which Maritzburg now stands 

 and the Umgeni river, and who were driven from that position, 

 at the time of the Zulu invasion, to the river Umzimkulu, at 

 the south-western frontier of the colony, where they now 

 dwell, partly within and partly beyond the British territory. 

 Figure 2 illustrates the higher type of Kaffir organization. It 

 is the portrait of Umkalipa, a subordinate chieftain, who is 

 often seen at the seat of the Colonial Government, and who not 

 infrequently proves a useful man to the authorities. Both 

 these portraits are from photographs taken in Maritzburg by 

 the author of this paper, and both have been very admirably 

 and exactly copied by the engraver. 



It is matter of familiar observation that the leading charac- 

 teristics of the negro organization are very much more soft- 

 ened on the eastern side of the great African continent than 

 they are on its western side. This seems to indicate that the 

 modifying influence is in some way connected with geographical 

 position — that it lies in the east, or more exactly in the north- 

 east. Professor Huxley believes that the Kaffirs are a com- 

 posite race, mingling distinct elements in their blood, and is of 

 opinion that there has been a migration from the north-east. 

 It looks very much indeed as if some people of higher organi- 

 zation than the true negro, but not disinclined to amalgamate 

 with them, had come from the north, possibly somewhere 

 among the highlands of Abyssinia, and passing through the 

 equinoctial region of this side of the continent, the natural 

 seat of the negro, had mingled with them there, and sent a 

 mixed offset towards the south, where the Kaffir tribes are now 

 found. It is not unworthy of note that Mr. W. C. Palgrave, 

 the great modern authority on Arabian matters, found a people 

 in the province of Oman who present many points of resem- 

 blance to the Kaffirs of the highest type. Mr. Palgrave con- 

 siders that the inhabitants of the central and northern pro- 

 vinces of Arabia are Ismaelitic, and of true Asiatic origin; 

 but that the inhabitants of the southern province and Oman 

 are of different extraction, and come primarily from the high- 



