Kaffir Promise and Capability. 439 



his proceedings since the previous year was, that he had pro- 

 cured an engineer from Durham to remove and erect the mill 

 for him. He had then retained the man three days to give 

 him a lesson in managing the machinery, and at the end of the 

 three days dismissed him with a payment of £95 for his 

 services, and immediately afterwards carried the £5 which 

 remained of the Government loan to Mr. Piatt, as the first 

 instalment of the purchase-money. Having settled this piece 

 of business, he filled up his time until the crushing season 

 arrived, by going about from mill to mill to perfect his know- 

 ledge of the machinery ; and when the proper time did come, 

 he started his own machinery single-handed, without a single 

 mishap, and worked it with entire success. 



One other fact is all that can now be added to the argu- 

 ments and illustrations of this paper. It is a trifle in itself, 

 hut it is a trifle that is full of meaning and promise, and there- 

 fore well worthy of record. Not very long since the writer 

 was riding on horseback in Natal, quite alone, and in a wild 

 part of the country, when greatly to his surprise he came 

 suddenly upon a large surface of the open ground, unmistak- 

 ably traced by the familiar furrow of the plough-share. There 

 was a wide horizon round, and no sign of human life in sight, 

 and no other token of the neighbourhood of civilized appliance. 

 He was quite aware that there Avas no white man's house 

 within many miles. At the end of the day's ride he found the 

 solution of the enigma by learning that the wild Kaffirs of that 

 district were in the habit of sending twenty miles to a settle- 

 ment of their more advanced brethren which possessed draft 

 oxen and ploughs, to get one of the fraternity to bring up 

 the magic implements and break up tbe ground for their 

 grain-crops. 



It will be seen from the several statements contained in 

 the preceding pages of this paper that an interesting social 

 problem is in process of practical solution in Natal. Certain 

 important questions, that relate to the future destinies of a 

 large race of mankind are being there put to the test of actual 

 experiment under eminently favourable circumstances. The 

 contingency is the work of what is ordinarily termed accident, 

 rather than of design. A black race, under the immediate 

 influence of a reign of tyranny and terror, is flocking in to the 

 midst of an industrious English community settled in an 

 exceptionally fine and congenial climate. In order merely to 

 put some check to the rapidity of this black exodus from 

 beyond the Tugela, the colonial authorities have found it 

 essential to enact an ordinance providing that all cattle brought 

 into British territory by refugees shall be given back to the 

 Zulu chiefs on formal demand, and that the refugees themselves 



