432 Kaffir Promise and Capability. 



the cultivation of coffee upon contract by piece-work, the 

 contract for clearance being at the rate of thirty shillings per 

 acre. This is unquestionably a step onwards towards civili- 

 zation. 



With the sole exception that refugee natives who come into 

 the colony from beyond the border are registered and appren- 

 ticed out to white masters for three years' service, and that 

 men are supplied to the Government works under requisition 

 from the magistrates, no pressure of any kind is put upon the 

 Kaffir population to induce them to work for European settlers. 

 The affair is entirely one of free inclination under the tempta- 

 tion of wages. Kaffirs living in native villages, either in their 

 own reserved locations, or upon the property of the Crown, or 

 of private holders, come of their own accord to the employers 

 of labour, and make their own terms for remuneration and 

 period of service. The average number of Kaffirs engaged in 

 the service of white men in the colony last year was nearly 

 seven thousand. The terms of service are generally short. 

 This number, therefore, did not by any means represent the 

 sum-total of native men that came under the civilizing influence 

 of labour and personal communication with white masters 

 during the year. The exact number of the black people from 

 whom these supplies of service are drawn is not certainly 

 known. The estimate is made from the number of huts that 

 pay taxes to the Government, and it is assumed that each hut 

 accommodates a certain number of inhabitants. The return 

 made to the Government upon this estimate in recent consecutive 

 years varies between 136,000 and 175,000. It is probable that 

 the latter number is not very far from being correct as the tally 

 of the native subjects of Queen Victoria, residing at the present 

 time under British protection and rule in the colony of Natal. 

 Assuming that one in eight of the Kaffir population is of man's 

 estate within the years suitable for service, the number actually 

 engaged in work is not a very contemptible proportion under all 

 the circumstances of the case. It has yet to be seen that there 

 are many more than those actually engaged in service to white 

 masters, who are steadily within the pale of civilizing influ- 

 ences. It will be inferred from what has been said in a 

 preceding article on the subject of polygamy that, as a rule, 

 Kaffir women do not engage in service to white mistresses or 

 masters. Their service is jealously and exclusively reserved 

 for their own black lords. 



Kaffir children manifest a very remarkable facility for the 

 acquisition of book-learning. Children of tender age learn to 

 read with great readiness, and soon become expert with all the 

 simple rules of arithmetic. They are quick with mental ai'ith- 

 metic when well taught. The boys make excellent compositors 



