254 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
" As a general rule, manual labour has never 
been practised by the male population. 
" It has been stated by some individuals in 
the Colony, that the male population of the 
Kaffir tribes, according to their own laws, are 
required to perform works of manual labour at 
the will of their chiefs. This is correct so far 
as regards building their chief's "kraal" culti- 
vating fields, and any work of a public nature 
which may demand their services ; but it must 
be borne in mind, that, while there are two 
distinct modes by which Kaffirs are governed 
in different parts of the country — the one being 
patriarchal in its nature, and the other pure 
despotism — both systems agree in this, that the 
chief, in all his acts, is obliged to consider what 
effect his commands will have on the minds of 
his followers. Even Chaka, one of the greatest 
despots who ever governed any nation, con- 
stantly kept this consideration in view, being 
perfectly aware that his reign would soon ter- 
minate if he opposed the will of his people. 
" Hence the manual labour which, at any 
time, has been required by the chiefs from their 
followers, has been of very brief duration. 
"It is generally believed that, throughout the 
whole of the Kaffir tribes, the women alone 
labour in the fields. This is not strictly true. 
M any of these tribes, dispersed, as they are, over 
