252 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
absconding from service, and impertinent con- 
duct on leaving their masters. There are many 
other offences, gradually increasing among them, 
which are caused mainly by that freedom forced 
upon them by their European masters; the 
consequences of which, to themselves, the Kaf- 
firs cannot foresee. 
" I am of opinion, that if competent European 
authorities were placed over the natives in this 
district; having, for their object, the mutual 
benefit of every class in the community, the 
Kaffirs might be brought into a proper state of 
order. For it is a fact, that there are many 
native tribes in the district, and I may mention 
also the entire division of Durban, which is 
above eighty miles in length, and nearly fifty 
in breadth, viz, from the Umlazi station to 
the Umzimkulu, which embraces a very large 
amount of native population, dwelling in their 
tribal state, who have never yet had a magis- 
trate appointed over them; independently of 
those in the service of Europeans. 
"The only authorities they have ever yet 
seen, in the greater portion of that division, have 
been those who have collected the native tax. 
"From the imperfect and ungoverned state of 
the natives at the present period, more particu- 
larly those in the vicinity of Europeans, an 
extensive, but very natural, distrust prevails 
