SOUTHERN BRANCH, 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 
 
 iRARY, 
 
 ANGELES, CALIF.
 
 THE 
 REAL 
 SOUTH 
 AFRICA
 
 HPHE REAL 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 BY 
 
 AMBROSE PRATT 
 
 Author of 
 " David Syme : Father of Protection in Australia " etc. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. ANDREW FISHER, P.C., 
 
 PRIME MINISTER OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 With Eight Illustrations and a Map 
 
 p- - r > A ^ 
 
 \) O U i
 
 73Z 
 
 sy 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I GLADLY respond to the Author's wish that 
 a few introductory lines of mine should 
 appear as a preface to his book. Mr. 
 Ambrose Pratt accompanied me on the visit to 
 , South Africa and had ample opportunities of col- 
 lecting information which I think adds a useful 
 and interesting contribution to the literature deal- 
 ing with what is happily now a portion of the 
 j British Empire. 
 
 Prior to my visit a new political South Africa 
 jw 
 
 had been created, the first Union Govern- 
 ment formed, the Members of the first Union 
 Parliament elected and waiting to be sworn in. 
 
 Few people thought at the termination of 
 the War in 1902 that in 1910 a Constitution would 
 
 vii
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 be granted giving full power of self-government 
 to the Union, but it was my privilege to be pre- 
 sent as the representative of the Government of 
 Australia, at the opening of the Parliament. 
 
 My mission was to convey to the people 
 of the South African Union the fraternal greet- 
 ings and good wishes of the people of the Com- 
 monwealth of Australia on their achievement of 
 Union and offer congratulations on the birth of 
 another Dominion Nation within the British 
 Empire. 
 
 Men who a few short years before had been 
 engaged in a bitter struggle against the Mother 
 Country were standing in that Parliament 
 and proclaiming to the world the inestim- 
 able boon of a free Constitution under the 
 British Crown. Amongst these men we find 
 General Botha who took such a prominent part 
 in the War and to-day stands as the Prime 
 Minister of the Union and lately visited London 
 in that capacity to attend the Imperial Confer- 
 ence. Associated with him are men of marked 
 ability. It is not to be understood, however, that 
 all the men of high ideals and great public ser- 
 
 viii
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 vice are on one side in politics, or of the same 
 nationality of origin. When the time comes to 
 do honour to whom honour is due, other names 
 will appear in the historian's impartial record of 
 acts and deeds done in the nation's interests, 
 not less prominent and honoured than that of 
 the Union's first Minister himself. 
 
 In Cape Town I saw, heard and met many 
 South Africans during a week of rejoicing and 
 festivities and formed the opinion, which I then 
 publicly expressed, that the arena for the settle- 
 ment of disputes between the British and Dutch 
 people in South Africa had by the Act of Union, 
 been finally removed from the field to the floor 
 of Parliament House. 
 
 It would not be true to say there was no 
 reserve nor any sullenness in the minds of the 
 two contracting parties. That feeling will, I feel 
 sure eventually be supplanted by a friendship 
 between the peoples of the two races as surpris- 
 ing to those who witness it as was the act of 
 Union itself. 
 
 I cannot believe that the main cause of the 
 hastening of real union will be fear of native 
 
 he
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 and subject races, serious as the solution of that 
 problem is now and is likely to remain. I do 
 not fear the destruction of the civilization within 
 the Union by armed or other attacks of the 
 colored races, powerful and numerous as they 
 are, within and adjacent to the Union. In their 
 savage state they seem to me to be a greater 
 worry, menace and danger than they would be if 
 they knew sufficient to be aware of the penalty 
 they would have to pay if they made war on the 
 white race. 
 
 I saw the great mines as a miner only can 
 see them. The figures quoted in this work re- 
 garding the mortality in the mines are very un- 
 satisfactory and indeed sad reading, and I hope 
 to see great improvements in this direction. I 
 should be happy to think that the author had 
 overstated the case, but I saw enough during my 
 sojourn to form the opinion that very great im- 
 provement can be made. 
 
 The Native Races of South Africa are re- 
 nowned throughout the world for their splendid 
 physique and great vitality, but town life does 
 not seem to agree with them. The mortality at
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 the mines is exceedingly high, and the life of the 
 casual workers about the towns appears to cause 
 deterioration. There is no finer example of 
 manhood than many of the Bantu tribes in the 
 native state, but the semi-civilised native as seen 
 in the towns of South Africa is not what could 
 be described as an elevating moral spectacle. 
 
 Useful, suitable and profitable work must 
 be found for them and there must be a line of 
 demarcation between white and colored labor. 
 White men cannot and will not do work that 
 colored men usually perform. In Africa nearly 
 all manual labor at present is done by the 
 natives, and there are few avenues for white men, 
 except as overseers, etc. 
 
 The British and Dutch seem to hold dif- 
 ferent ideas as to how this problem should be 
 solved. Some urge the education of the colored 
 races, others think they should be left in their 
 present primitive state. 
 
 The thing that strikes an Australian is the 
 scarcity of timber in a great part of the country. 
 Our despised gum trees we saw there. They 
 were originally intended for mine timber, 
 
 xl
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 but now lend beauty to the landscape. South 
 Africa would gladly welcome the timber that we 
 in Australia ruthlessly destroy every year and 
 do not value. 
 
 I was charmed with the appearance of the 
 rugged country which had been so fruitful of 
 romantic and tragic stories. During the time 
 spent in South Africa I had opportunities of 
 visiting every Province, travelling as far north 
 as Livingstone, and the appended map shows 
 the route traversed. 
 
 An impressive feature of Mr. Ambrose Pratt's 
 book is the mass of official statistical evidence 
 which he brings to bear in support of his 
 statements. Whether or not one may agree 
 with his deductions, the figures themselves are 
 sufficiently striking to call for earnest thought. 
 
 During my travels in South Africa I was 
 happy to meet many old friends. Some had 
 prospered and were satisfied with their lot, others 
 spoke well of their new home but longed for the 
 scenes of their youth. Such is the life of our 
 race. 
 
 I cannot close this brief introduction with- 
 
 xii
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 out expressing my good wishes for the pros- 
 perity of the people of our new sister nation 
 who showed us such kindness and consideration 
 while we were amongst them. 
 
 ANDREW FISHER. 
 
 Xlll
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 C OME of the material in this book has been 
 published in another form in " The Age " 
 newspaper of Melbourne, on behalf of 
 which journal I made my last visit to South 
 Africa. I am indebted to Messrs. David Syme 
 & Co., the proprietors of " The Age," for per- 
 mission to include the same in the present 
 volume. The illustrations are from photographs 
 taken by Mr. M. L. Shepherd, Secretary to the 
 Prime Minister of Australia and also (a few) by 
 the Rt. Hon. A. Fisher, the Prime Minister. I 
 desire to express my grateful acknowledgments 
 to Mr. Shepherd for the use of his photographs 
 and to the Rt. Hon. A. Fisher for his pictures 
 and also for the Introduction which he has 
 kindly contributed to this volume. 
 
 AMBROSE PRATT. 
 
 MELBOURNE, 
 
 December 14, 1912. 
 
 XV
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW i 
 II. THE BLACK MAN - 12 
 III. THE BLACK MENACE - 33 
 IV. THE EFFECT OF THE NATIVE ON THE 
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CON- 
 DITIONS OF THE WHITE POPULA- 
 TION - 48 
 V. THE BOER - 58 
 VI. THE BOER CONTINUED - - 79 
 VII. POLITICS - 94 
 VIII. THE RULERS OF THE COUNTRY - 102 
 v IX. GEOLOGICAL AND GENERAL - - 109 
 X. PROVINCIAL CENTRES - 124 
 XL THE RAND - 147 
 XII CRIME - 168 
 XIII. RHODESIA AND THE VICTORIA FALLS 179 
 XIV. THE MATOPPAS AND RHODES' GRAVE 192 
 XV. AFRIKANDER LITERATURE & LITERACY 199 
 XVI. MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE - - 206 
 
 xvii
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XVII. SOCIAL NOTES - 213 
 
 XVIIL RACIALISM 229 
 XIX. THE PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL 
 
 OUTLOOK - 240 
 
 XX. To ENGLISHMEN IN ALL PARTS OF 
 THE WORLD EXCEPT SOUTH 
 
 AFRICA - 256 
 
 APPENDIX A. NATIVE CRIME - 262 
 
 B. - 276 
 
 C- - 277 
 
 D. THE PARLIAMENT OF THE 
 
 UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA - 280 
 
 xvm
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 MAP - - Facing title-page 
 
 LEWINIKA'S BAND AND TRIBESMEN page 44 
 
 DRAKENSBURG MOUNTAINS 124 
 
 VICTORIA FALLS - 178 
 
 CECIL RHODES'S GRAVE - ,,192 
 
 XIX
 
 THE 
 REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW 
 
 C OUTH Africa is a haunting country : in- 
 finitely mysterious, forbidding, beautiful 
 and strange. Amongst all the countries of 
 the world it stands out a lonely and distract- 
 ing figure, compelling interest and prolonged 
 attention by reason of its unlikeness to any 
 other, its essential peculiarity and its boding 
 aspect of aloofness. Everybody who has visited 
 the place bears willing or grudging witness to 
 its penetrating lure. At first it repels, but 
 even in the first shock of repulsion a vivid 
 curiosity awakens in the breast of the intruder 
 
 I
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and very soon this curiosity expands into a 
 reluctantly admitted consciousness of some un- 
 defined, deep and inexplicable charm. Afri- 
 kanders boast that they who leave South 
 Africa are never satisfied till they return, and 
 they claim that the witchery is potent to with- 
 stand the flight of years. More than a grain 
 of truth is buried in the statement. My own 
 experience may be given as an instance. I 
 paid my initial visit to the country more than 
 ten years ago. I left it gladly and after a 
 decade spent in other lands I seized with an 
 eagerness I cannot explain upon the first 
 opportunity that reached me to visit it again. 
 Now the lure has double force. No man can 
 forecast the future, but it seems to me that if 
 I live long I shall die in Southern Africa. 
 Yet truth constrains me to confess that the 
 charm of South Africa's attraction works like 
 a subtle poison in the veins. To many have 
 I spoken who have felt the lure and all made 
 admission that close at heart they knew a 
 counter-irritant which warned them to resist 
 and whispered like the voice of conscience 
 " Better keep away ! " The reason who can 
 say? Is it that the lure, like the fascination 
 
 2
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of an opiate, is to the senses rather than to 
 the spirit? Is it addressed to death rather 
 than to life to the instincts of luxury and 
 still repose and not to the sources of vigorous 
 endeavour? Is it, in brief, a narcotic and not 
 a stimulant? But the problem may have a 
 less complex psychological significance. It 
 may be merely a question of man's eternal 
 covetousness of forbidden fruit. Let those 
 blink the fact who choose or can, South Africa 
 is a black man's country. It belongs of natural 
 right to the negroid races. The white man is its 
 over-lord, has been for centuries, but its owner 
 and enduring occupant No : at least, not yet. 
 Natural forces are massed and ranged against 
 him of which he is only now beginning to 
 acquire an adequate conception. Climate, 
 Disease, Increase, so are the forces named. 
 And there are intrinsic political difficulties to 
 reckon with as well the resultant outcome of 
 his tamperings with Nature. 
 
 Whatever the port through which a stranger 
 may enter South Africa he is instantly struck 
 with astonishment at the numbers of natives 
 everywhere in evidence. Long before the ship 
 " ties up " numerous blacks appear, in boats, 
 
 3
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 in tugs, even on the pilot steamer. Immedi- 
 ately the ship touches the wharf hundreds of 
 natives swarm aboard to coal her. The pas- 
 senger lands, and is promptly assailed by 
 crowds of rickshaw Kaffirs, big magnificent 
 fellows, most fantastically attired, wearing 
 startling head dresses, from which great horns 
 sprout out fiercely. In self-defence the visitor 
 chooses a rickshaw, and is dragged at a rapid 
 pace to his hotel. The ride takes him through 
 the city, and ever his wonder grows. For each 
 white man he sees he meets seven or eight blacks. 
 The natives are all decently attired, wearing more 
 or less the white man's clothes, yet modified to 
 suit their savage tastes. The women (wonder- 
 fully comely creatures they are) have a Roman 
 fancy for toga-like drapings : the men affect the 
 smock and knee breeches legs and feet bare 
 and shiny. Both men and women adore crude 
 blazing colors scarlet for choice, a flaunting, 
 blaring scarlet. So many blacks : so few whites ! 
 One begins to be curious. " Ah," one says, " but- 
 the blacks are an open air race they don't mind 
 this burning sun : the whites are indoors. That 
 is the explanation." Of course, the notion is 
 illusory, but then one is always reluctant to 
 
 4
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 accept unpleasant facts. Yet one must at last. 
 One glance at the population statistics and the 
 cold douche is over. Durban, population 67,000 
 of whom 37,000 are blacks : Capetown, popula- 
 tion 77,000, of whom 35,000 are blacks : Johan- 
 nesburg, population (approx.) 200,000, of whom 
 105,000 are blacks : and similiar proportions ob- 
 tain in nearly all the other cities and larger towns. 
 Of the country there is a still more interesting 
 tale to tell. The census returns of 1904 show 
 that there are 4,652,662 blacks as against 
 1,135,000 whites within the Union: and it has 
 been estimated that fully another 2,000,000 
 natives live south of the Zambesi. 
 
 Another startling fact lurks in the official blue 
 book. The blacks are increasing at a more rapid 
 rate relatively than the whites. It is hardly 
 strange that they should. South Africa is their 
 country. It is a tropical country, controlled by 
 a handful of whites. How long the whites will 
 continue to control it no man can say. The 
 colored problem is the deepest and most vital of 
 all political issues in South Africa. It dominates 
 every other, even the racial antipathy now divid- 
 ing Boers and British, and it is quite likely that 
 it will eventually be the means of bringing Boers 
 
 5
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and British together in some great struggle 
 undertaken to determine finally which force is 
 stronger, white or black. At present the whites 
 are absolutely paramount. The aristocratic re- 
 lation between the races which originated in the 
 slave system of the early days, has been kept alive 
 by the smashing of the power of the great native 
 chiefs, and the consequent acceptance by the 
 natives of the white man's rule. The white man 
 has a natural instinct that he is superior to the 
 uneducated native, and the native appears to 
 have a reciprocal sense of inferiority. But the 
 white man's higher plane cannot possibly sub- 
 sist any longer than he can prevent the native 
 from developing the qualities of intellect, initia- 
 tive and resource which have given the former the 
 mastery. 
 
 The truth seems to be that the white man's 
 rule depends on keeping the blacks ignorant and 
 mentally benighted. Yet this cannot be done 
 for ever. Just now the native is doing all the 
 rough and unskilled work in South Africa, He 
 is the industrial basis of the African economic 
 system. The whites are merely overseers. 
 White men scorn to do unskilled work, because 
 it has come to be regarded as Kaffir's work, and 
 
 6
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the feeling of caste (caste has replaced the old 
 slave system) is so universal and so strong that 
 unskilled work is looked upon as degrading, and 
 would lead to the ostracism of any white man 
 who transgressed the unwritten social law by 
 touching it. 
 
 There is hardly a white artisan at work in 
 South Africa who has not one or two natives in 
 his employ. Every white workman insists upon 
 having a native assistant to carry and hold his 
 tools, and perform the rougher parts of his task. 
 A carpenter walks to his job with a Kaffir behind 
 him carrying his bag. Bricklayers do nothing 
 but put the bricks in place in a lordly fashion : 
 the rest of their work is performed by blacks. 
 Every artisan is essentially an overseer, and the 
 blacks are his industrial valets. The practice is 
 injurious and shortsighted to the last degree. It 
 undermines and diminishes the white man's in- 
 dustrial efficiency, and it trains the native to sup- 
 plant him. But it is the iron custom of South 
 Africa, and nobody dares to break it. It would 
 be well in these circumstances for the whites if 
 the natives were a stupid and truly inferior race, 
 like the aboriginals of Australia. But they are 
 nothing of the sort. They are naturally a cap- 
 
 7
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 able and gifted people, and it is proving quite 
 impossible to restrict them to unskilled work. 
 Their intense desire for education is the subject 
 of universal comment. The vast majority of 
 the natives in domestic employment have books 
 in their possession with -which they are continu- 
 ally attempting to instruct themselves. In Pre- 
 toria there are 1,600 native children under 14, of 
 whom 1,200 are attending school. In the Cape 
 Colony there are 103,000 native children attend- 
 ing school, as against 73,000 white children. It 
 is true that the standard of education given at 
 the schools is low, but so general a diffusion of 
 new knowledge must have an immense effect on 
 the capacities of the rising generation. Perhaps 
 the root reason why natives so absolutely 
 monopolise the unskilled labor market is be- 
 cause they accept low wages. In domestic ser- 
 vice the average wage paid to Kaffirs is io/- a 
 month and keep. Farm native laborers get I5/- 
 a month and keep. In the mines the natives 
 earn much more, and are often paid from 2/6 to 
 5/- a day. White workers demand and receive 
 enormously higher pay. A carpenter gets 2O/- 
 or 22/6 per day, and white mine workers receive 
 from ,15 to ^30 per month. 
 
 8
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The natives can afford to accept low wages, 
 because they have a subsidiary source of liveli- 
 hood in their tribal lands, and the labor of their 
 women and children. Every native is a culti- 
 vator. Every native has a patch of tribal land, 
 which he regularly plants with mealies once a 
 year, and which yields him and his family a suffi- 
 ciency of food to support life. Once a year, 
 wherever he may be, he repairs to his small farm 
 (however distant it may be from his ordinary 
 work) and sows his mealies. When that is done 
 he returns to his employment on Boer farm, or 
 in the city, or on the mines, and resumes the 
 task of earning the white man's money and doing 
 the white man's work. 
 
 To travel across South Africa is a revelation. 
 Wherever one may go native kraals abound. 
 For every white settler's homestead there are 
 three or four native kraals. The inland cities 
 are all flanked with densely peopled native habi- 
 tations. And behind all this there are the native 
 reserves in Bechuanaland, the Cape, the Orange 
 River Colony, and in the Vaal, all of which are 
 teeming with natives. Right in the heart of the 
 Union lies Basutoland, a province half as large 
 as Victoria, and as fine a piece of fertile territory
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 as can be found in the world. This belongs 
 absolutely to the Basuto nation, and is merely 
 subject to British protection. It is inhabited by 
 nearly 400,000 Basuto natives (there are only 
 800 whites in the territory), and it is productively 
 occupied. These blacks are a very superior 
 race. They are skilled stockmen and farmers : 
 they own large herds of cattle, sheep and horses : 
 and they are armed with modern rifles. One day 
 they will prove a terrible thorn to their white 
 over-lords. Many of the chiefs are wealthy and 
 highly educated men. 
 
 The richer natives have long since adopted 
 the practice of sending their sons abroad to 
 Britain and America to be educated, and to re- 
 ceive University training.* Sprinkled all over 
 South Africa are scores of these cultured natives. 
 They are a power in the land, and already one 
 of them, a doctor, has been returned a full- 
 fledged member to a Provincial Council under 
 the new constitution. 
 
 Each province .of the Union treats the natives 
 differently. In the Vaal and the O.R.C. they 
 are denied the smallest semblance of political 
 rights. In the Cape they are on a par with the 
 
 *See note to chapter 3, page 35. 
 10
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 whites, and possess the suffrage. In Natal they 
 can acquire the suffrage, although by no means 
 easily. The great mass of them as yet do not 
 understand the value or meaning of the vote, 
 and stand aloof from politics. But they are 
 waking up. The educated minority is beginning 
 to infect the majority with a sense of injustice 
 and a feeling of unrest, and it may be said with 
 confidence that the coming generation of natives 
 will put forward a demand for full political en- 
 franchisement so powerful that the whites will 
 be unable to resist it, except in arms. 
 
 ii
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE BLACK MAN 
 
 / TPHE six million blacks who are estimated to 
 live at this moment South of the Zambesi 
 are nearly all members of some division 
 or sub-division of the Bantu race. They speak 
 in many dialects, but all these have a common 
 origin and are localised corruptions of the Bantu 
 tongue. The Bantu people are not aboriginals. 
 They invaded South Africa from the North, and 
 probably they overflowed in prehistoric times 
 from the Nile Valley, which would appear to have 
 been the cradle of all the more virile negro tribes 
 and nations. The indigenous inhabitants of 
 South Africa, the Hottentots and Bushmen, are 
 a degenerate and disappearing type. They un- 
 
 12
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 successfully opposed the Bantu invasion and in 
 modern times they have been ground to powder 
 between the upper and nether mill stones of the 
 Bantu rule and white supremacy. The dominant 
 natives in South Africa to-day are the Zulus,. the 
 Matabeles, and the Basutos. The Kaffirs and 
 Bechuanas are numerous, but their political im- 
 portance is comparatively insignificant owing to 
 the fact that they lack the qualities of potential 
 greatness which naturally distinguish the purer 
 blooded Bantu stock. It is a custom among 
 White Afrikanders to apply indiscriminately the 
 term " Kaffir " to all black men. Really it is a 
 cognomen of contempt and the Zulus in par- 
 ticular resent it keenly. The higher negroes are 
 men of matchless courage and magnificent 
 physique. They are born fighters and when 
 constrained by circumstances to work they make 
 splendid workers. Ethnologists declare the 
 negro the supreme type of arrested development. 
 They point to his prognathous jaw, his retreat- 
 ing forehead, his lesser brain space and his rela- 
 tively fewer brain folds as conclusive proofs of 
 his irremediable inferiority to the white man. 
 Left to himself, they say, the negro will never 
 rise much above the level of the brute creation. 
 
 13
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 All that may be perfectly true. Between the 
 white man and the black there is an obvious and 
 essential inequality, and to deny it would be 
 utterly futile. But when these premises are 
 granted only half the problem is stated, after all. 
 The great color question in South Africa is not 
 " Can the negro make himself the equal of the 
 whites ? " but " Can he develop to such a pass 
 that he will be able to shake off the white man's 
 yoke and thereafter maintain himself as an inde- 
 pendent factor in the affairs of civilised man- 
 kind ? " This question has long been forcing it- 
 self on the attention of the thinking minority of 
 White South Africans, and it is my sincere con- 
 viction that before many years are gone it will 
 constitute a problem of Imperial and world wide 
 interest. 
 
 Let us consider the negro's natural capaci- 
 ties and limitations. In his wild native state 
 he is a cruel and sordid savage. His pas- 
 sions are violent and inexplicably capricious : 
 his will power is fiery but unstable. He is gifted 
 with an intense imaginative power and a vivid 
 sense of the reality of immaterial conceptions ; 
 that is to say, he is frantically superstitious and a 
 devout believer in the supernatural. He has a
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 great love of ostentation. His impassivity to 
 suffering is almost monstrous and can only be 
 the result of an undeveloped nervous system. 
 He sets little or no value on human life. His 
 disposition is extremely sensual. He has a keen 
 sense of the ludicrous, a deep love of music. 
 Most of these qualities necessarily range on the 
 wrong side of the ledger. Now take the credit 
 side. The negro's courage is beyond either 
 praise or criticism it is unparalleled in any 
 white race. The world knows nothing like it. 
 He has an ingrained reverence for discipline that 
 is also peculiar to himself. This finds expres- 
 sion in a superlatively slavish and continuously 
 abject subserviency to his priests and chiefs and 
 kings. This characteristic is one of weakness, 
 but on account of its very weakness it endows 
 the negro with a tremendous source of potential 
 strength. It unalterably fixes his destiny in the 
 hands of his native rulers. If they are wise the 
 negro race, however imbecile in itself, will do 
 wise things should its rulers so direct. The 
 tribesman will blindly obey to life or to death. 
 It all depends on the negro potentates what the 
 issue will be continued subjection to white 
 dominion or emancipation into independent 
 
 15
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 sovereignity. To proceed, the negro is by no 
 means an imbecile. His mental development 
 has undoubtedly been arrested. For many ages 
 he has lived like a little child, perfectly unam- 
 bitionless of self improvement. But that fact 
 proves little except that -he has lacked a sufficient 
 spur to develop his capacities. The question 
 arises Does he possess capacities that are sus- 
 ceptible to material improvement? The answer 
 to that is clear. Experience is our respondent. 
 Experience both in S. Africa and in America 
 has indisputably demonstrated that the negro 
 has a brain which is capable of immense develop- 
 ment. With a very little scientific instruction 
 the average negro becomes a skilled and dex- 
 terous craftsman in every branch of industrial 
 technique. There is no trade beyond his ability 
 to master. He is equally good as a gold miner, 
 a cabinet maker, and a compositor. He prefers 
 always to work out of doors, but when put to it 
 he will render good service in the machine room. 
 As a scholar he learns to read and write fluently 
 with astonishing rapidity and ease. Of late 
 years the entire negro population of S. Africa 
 has become infected with an enthusiasm for 
 education which amounts to a craze. It is the 
 
 16
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 subject of universal comment in the Union and 
 the whites regard the phenomenon with a grow- 
 ing sense of uneasy dissatisfaction. They do 
 not understand it; what does the portent mean? 
 The negro schools are crowded with pupils. 
 There are many more black than white children 
 attending the public schools. The negro arti- 
 sans all over the sub-continent spend half their 
 leisure poring over A.B.C.'s and primers. Even 
 the house servants have caught the fever and 
 neglect their duty to their masters to teach them- 
 selves the three R's. When in Bulawayo I was 
 the guest of an English lady who had five black 
 servants. She rang the bell for afternoon tea. 
 There was no response. She rang again and 
 more insistently : still no response. She smiled 
 mysteriously and beckoned me to follow her into 
 the passage. Behind a curtain at the end of the 
 hall we found two burly squatting negros abso- 
 lutely immersed in the study of an infant's 
 alphabet book. I had a very similar experience 
 at Bloemfontein. At Johannesburg and at 
 Capetown a favorite item of domestic gossip 
 concerned the mysterious absorption of the 
 Kaffirs in education. I heard the topic discussed 
 wherever I went. At the Zambesi River the 
 
 17
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 steward on my train had occasion to employ an 
 assistant in the kitchen. He secured a young 
 black boy of about 1 2 years of age, a Barotse, who 
 came from a kraal north of Livingstone. The 
 lad knew not a single word of English when he 
 joined the train, but a iew days later when we 
 reached Johannesburg he could understand sim- 
 plicities and make himself clearly understood. 
 One of our party gave him 6d. to buy sweetmeats. 
 The child spent the money instead on a gorgeous 
 A.B.C., and when we resumed our journey he 
 was a public nuisance, for he shirked his duty 
 and did little save pester us to teach him to read. 
 Just before finally quitting the train I got this 
 lad in my cabin and put him to question. Why 
 was he so anxious to learn how to read? He 
 did not know. Who put the idea into his 
 head? No answer. His father? He shook his 
 head. His mother? The boy laughed disdain- 
 fully. His chief? The lad's eyes flashed. 
 ' Yes. Inkoos," he replied decisively. " My 
 chief he tell um what um do. Me do him 
 quick. C.A.T. cat. That fellow right. Inkoos?" 
 Straws show how the wind blows. But I was far 
 from being satisfied. I wanted something more 
 definite. Enquiring on all hands I met with 
 
 18
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 some indifference, much positive ignorance, a 
 vast deal of fanciful assertion : but at length a 
 journalist supplied me with a vital hint. " Nearly 
 all the big chiefs' sons are educated abroad. 
 They come back with ideas ? " Where could 
 one such returned student emigrant be found? 
 A dozen names and addresses were forthcoming. 
 I chose the nearest address and made a special 
 journey to the spot. I may not specify the place 
 nor name the man, but am under no other pledge. 
 At my journey's end was a decent house, half 
 bungalow, half villa, surrounded with an infant 
 garden trimly paled. I knocked at the hall door 
 and presented my letter of introduction to a 
 suave, white-smocked Hindoo. I was shown 
 into a smoking room furnished with comfortable 
 leather covered lounge chairs and a galaxy of 
 fixed and turning bookshelves. Large colored 
 portraits (prints) in gilt frames of the King and 
 Queen graced the mantelpiece. At one end of 
 the apartment was a table littered with filed 
 papers and piled with works of reference from 
 Whittaker to Who's Who. Such a table might 
 be found in any sub-editor's office in the United 
 Kingdom. A nattily dressed Kaffir servant 
 (who was probably a Zulu) brought me a decanter 
 
 19
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of spirit and a soda syphon on a tray. " Funa 
 Manzi," I remarked. He produced iced water 
 in a twinkling. Left to myself I examined the 
 bookshelves and was mildly astonished to find 
 Herbert Spencer rubbing shoulders with Paul 
 de Kock and Guy de Maupassant : Kant, Fichte 
 and Neitzche separated by Zola, Boccacio and 
 Casanova : and Adam Smith, Bacon, John Stuart 
 Mill, Comte and Marcus Aurelius indiscrimin- 
 ately sandwiched between the bawdiest novelists 
 of the last two centuries. Not many minutes 
 later I was shaking the hand of a tall negro clad 
 in white flannel trousers, a black silk cummer- 
 band and a scarlet blazer. I noticed that he 
 tendered me his hand with diffidence, but on my 
 alacritous response his hesitation vanished and 
 his grasp was cordial to the point of friendliness. 
 The man's coal black face was good humoured 
 and intelligent. His voice particularly im- 
 pressed me. It was sonorous but beautifully 
 modulated and full of deep toned music. His 
 greeting was European in expression but tropic 
 in intensity. He spoke perfect English as 
 known to cultured Americans, but subtly accented 
 as to certain words with the fascinating Bantu 
 click. We were very soon on excellent terms. 
 
 20
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Made aware of my quest he promised to answer 
 all my questions freely on one condition, that his 
 identity should not be demonstrated. Short- 
 hand notes enable me to reproduce the conver- 
 sation with exactitude. " I understand that you 
 are a man of influence among your people," I 
 suggested. 
 
 " When my father dies I shall be chief," he 
 replied. 
 
 "Chief of many?" 
 
 " There are thirty thousand kraals in my 
 father's kingdom." 
 
 ' You were educated abroad ? " 
 
 " Yes, at - University. I graduated with 
 third class honours in - " 
 
 " Is yours an exceptional case ? " 
 
 " I am not the only college graduate in my 
 tribe there is one other now in Africa. Still 
 another of my people at this moment is studying 
 
 " And in other tribes ? " 
 
 ' The movement is becoming general and 
 grows apace." 
 
 " How many educated negroes would you say 
 the movement has already produced ? " 
 
 " Some hundred or so. Perhaps two hundred, 
 
 21
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 perhaps three.* It is guess work. True figures 
 are not available. But I can tell you that the 
 need of education has long since appealed to all 
 our head men speaking of us as a nation." 
 
 "A nation?" 
 
 " Why not, sir ? Are we not a nation ? " 
 
 " Nationality implies cohesion, also an articu- 
 late and definite sense of nationality a common 
 purpose and common aims intelligently shared 
 in unison. Have you that? " 
 
 My host threw out his arms excitedly. ' We 
 begin to acquire it. We begin," he cried. " Per- 
 haps in the real sense we are not a nation yet. 
 The kraals are dull and sleep. But the chiefs 
 are awake and active. We know what we want 
 and are working towards our goal. The chiefs 
 are everything. You who know us little will not 
 easily comprehend. But all depends on us on 
 us. (He struck his breast.) What the kraals do 
 
 * On December igth, 1910, a debate took place in the Senate of 
 the Union on the question of providing higher education for negroes 
 in South Africa. In the course of the discussion Senators Stanford, 
 Shreiner and Campbell pointed out that " considerable numbers " of 
 natives are emigrating to other countries in search of higher edu- 
 cation and returning "with ideas of social and political equality," 
 and the Minister of Education was strongly urged to grapple with 
 the problem. The Minister made a temporising reply. Debates of 
 the Senate, page 157. 
 
 22
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 is nothing. What we think, what we say, what 
 we do that is what counts and is important, 
 for the kraals will follow and obey. We are the 
 brain, they are the body. The brain is master. 
 That is right." 
 
 " But can a nation endure which " 
 
 " Sir, the chiefs are not fools. We realise the 
 need of universal education but an education 
 strictly limited in quality. It is essential to in- 
 struct the rabble to a certain point, but not 
 beyond. To read and write that is enough. 
 We are students of history. Some of us are 
 philosophers ." He pointed to his book- 
 shelves. 
 
 1 The white people," said I, " complain that 
 too many natives are seeking to educate them- 
 selves." 
 
 ' Would they keep my people ignorant and 
 dumb for ever? " His eyes flashed angrily and 
 he bared his splendid teeth. I expected an out- 
 burst, but he controlled himself. " They can- 
 not," he laughed. " The word has been spoken. 
 It will not be recalled." He spoke conclusively. 
 
 " Am I to understand, then, that the kraals are 
 learning the white man's lore at the bidding of 
 the chiefs?" 
 
 23
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " Undoubtedly." 
 
 " But will it help you that the kraals shall learn 
 to read? To read is to think?" 
 
 " Not so, but to think of what one reads." 
 
 " And will you put bonds upon the reading of 
 your people ? " 
 
 " Sir, you dream. The trouble will be to in- 
 duce them to read enough of what we shall give 
 them." 
 
 " Ah ! You aspire, then, to supply them with 
 reading matter : a native Press? " 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Newspapers are costly institutions." 
 
 " Sir, I know a dozen chiefs whose incomes 
 run to great sums. Myself, I am not a pauper. 
 The Press is a great power, a great instrument to 
 form opinion, sentiment, a sense of nationality 
 to organise emancipation. But rest assured, sir, 
 our ambitions are peaceful and perfectly legiti- 
 mate according to your strictest laws." 
 
 " Indeed ! Would you be so courteous as to 
 define them ? " 
 
 ' This country once belonged to us. Essen- 
 tially it is ours still. We outnumber you as six 
 to one : but we are serfs. You give us freely 
 none but mean and dirty work to do. You ex- 
 
 24
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 elude us from Parliament and the public service. 
 You deny us the suffrage. You coop us up in 
 compounds without your cities. You walk on 
 the footpaths : you force us to tread the roads. 
 You are Christians and preach in your churches 
 that all men are equal in the sight of God who 
 made us. Yet you exclude us from the churches 
 which are God's Houses and wherein equality 
 should reign ; you spit upon our color and repudi- 
 ate our rights. I tell you, sir, we are quickly 
 becoming a nation because of what you do to us. 
 Our nationality will be a nationality of color. 
 You ask what is our ambition. I will tell you. 
 It is to live and work in the country that belongs 
 to us as the social equals and political peers of 
 the white men. There are those who say that 
 our aspiration spells war. I am not of them. 
 But I am no prophet. I confess it freely. All 
 I can do to prevent violence I shall." 
 " But if violence cannot be prevented ? " 
 " Sir, I beg you to excuse me. I will not admit 
 the proposition. I am a loyal British subject. 
 The Englishman makes mistakes, but in his heart 
 he is just. Your people in a little time will see 
 and confess the justice of our cause. They will 
 help us. Do you think me over sanguine ? " 
 
 25
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Will you tell me frankly why ? Do not fear 
 to hurt my feelings. We are talking heart to 
 heart and I have shown you all that is in my 
 mind." 
 
 Thus adjured, I answered candidly : " There 
 is a phrase fathered by ethnologists which passes 
 muster as an axiom among the whites. They 
 say the negro is the supreme type of arrested de- 
 velopment. They regard your people as their 
 irredeemable natural inferiors. I think it will 
 not be easy while such an opinion exists for the 
 whites to admit the blacks to be their peers. A 
 prejudice of barbarism intervenes." 
 
 My host gravely shook his head. " What you 
 say is true," he said. " The prejudice is there. 
 But it is not unconquerable. It cannot be; be- 
 cause it is a false judgment and all false judg- 
 ments must eventually die and disappear." 
 
 " You claim, then, that the black man is not 
 irredeemably inferior to the white man ? " 
 
 " I do. I confess freely that in his present 
 state the negro is a cycle behind the white man. 
 But his capacities of development are infinite. 
 He has the world and eternity before him. I 
 admit that he requires a constant spur to keep 
 
 26
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 progressing and to prevent him from going back. 
 But you whites have given him that spur. Under 
 your rule he has been given a security of life that 
 has caused him to increase enormously and he 
 must adopt your industrial and cultural arts in 
 order to feed himself. More and more will this 
 be necessary as time goes on. He is becoming 
 more closely pushed every day. He knows it. 
 His chiefs saw it long ago. The future of the 
 black man depends on self-assertion. He is be- 
 ginning to organise in a way never before 
 dreamed of. One of these days he will surprise 
 the world." 
 
 " Is your ultimate ideal self government ? " 
 " Let me quote you a passage from Mill that 
 I know by heart. Lots of us black men know it 
 by heart, although you whites have forgotten it. 
 It is a passage that will some day be painted in 
 letters of fire across the African firmament. 
 Listen : ' The government of a people by itself 
 ' has a meaning and a reality, but such a thing as 
 ' the government of one people by another does 
 ' not and cannot exist. Either a people governs 
 ' itself or that people has no real government but 
 ' only a system of provisional administration/ 
 That is my answer to your question, sir." 
 
 27
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " One final question, Mr. . How long 
 
 do you propose to put up with the present system 
 of what I suppose you would call ' provisional 
 administration ' ? " 
 
 " Not an hour longer than we can help, sir. As 
 we become progressively educated and organised 
 I speak of my people in the mass we shall 
 progressively demand our rights. That is our 
 policy in a nutshell." 
 
 The inquisition at an end, curiosity and an 
 underlying sense of distrust prompted me to re- 
 mark speculatively upon the astonishing frank- 
 ness of my host. It was the signal for a storm of 
 indignation. He assured me that he and his con- 
 geners were always ready and willing to talk 
 candidly about their cause and purposes and mis- 
 sion with the whites. But the whites held dis- 
 dainfully aloof and contumeliously ignored them. 
 He complained mordantly that there was a tacit 
 conspiracy among the ruling whites to treat the 
 negro educational movement as an evanescent 
 and elusive shadow, and educated negroes as 
 dime-shows and monstrosities. He was a Uni- 
 versity man, a person of culture and refinement, 
 fit to meet any white gentleman on his own 
 ground, yet the whole white race shunned him 
 
 28
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and despised him. Did he venture to stroll 
 through the city he would have to march along 
 the road like a horse the pavement being 
 rigidly forbidden him. He wound up by assur- 
 ing me that I was the first white man in Africa 
 who had condescended to shake him by the hand, 
 and he warned me that I would be violently 
 censured and abused if the fact were made 
 known. Subsequently I tested these statements 
 and I cannot say they were in any great wise 
 exaggerations of the truth. v All over South 
 Africa I found the whites animated with an im- 
 placable determination to keep the blacks under 
 foot to treat them as sub-humans. Public 
 opinion regards any white who would stoop to 
 friendly intercourse with any black as something 
 very like a public enemy. Public opinion, how- 
 ever, is divided into two planes. The Boers look 
 upon the blacks as unruly animals who must be 
 kept in their proper place by brute force and 
 the sjambok. The British also look upon them as 
 animals, but counsel milder measures and eschew 
 the whip. The difference is really rather one of 
 policy rather than of belief, and it arises from 
 temperament. The Boer has a cruel heart. He 
 beats his horse indifferently when he should and
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 when he should not. The Britisher only beats 
 his horse when punishment seems unavoid- 
 able. 
 
 My clearest-cut impression of the chief's son 
 has yet to be recorded. In response to a slipped 
 word that I had wished at once but of course in 
 vain to have retracted (the hearing of the negro 
 is marvellously acute), he started afoot and began 
 to pace the floor rapidly yet restrainedly, like a 
 wild animal angry but always conscious that its 
 cage has iron bars. I watched him somewhat 
 anxiously, yet filled with admiration at the sinu- 
 ous strength of him, the grace and majesty of his 
 stride, the statuesque beauty of his swift un- 
 studied attitudes. Of a sudden he stopped and 
 faced me, pouring out a flood of scornful protest. 
 " You think the negro has no message for man- 
 kind," he said. " And why ? Because he has 
 been dumb? Because he has no history? You 
 do not know the negro. You do not even under- 
 stand your own conceited, white skinned race. 
 Until you had a language could you have had a 
 Chaucer, a Spencer or a Byron? The negro is 
 not literate yet. What is the supremest type of 
 intellect the poet? We have no poets. We 
 have no language. We study yours. It is a 
 
 30
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 foreign tongue to us, but it will liberate our minds. 
 Listen to these lines 
 
 " * Know you winds that blow your course 
 
 Down the verdant valleys, 
 That, somewhere, you must perforce 
 
 Kiss the brow of Alice? 
 When her gentle face you find 
 
 Kiss it softly, naughty wind.' 
 
 " Is not that a dainty verse ? Listen again 
 
 " ' Out of the sunshine and out of the heat, 
 
 Out of the dust of the grimy street, 
 A song fluttered down in the form of a dove 
 
 And it bore me a message, the one word Love. 
 " ' Ah ! I was toiling and oh ! I was sad : 
 
 I had forgotten the way to be glad 
 Now, smiles for my sadness and for my toil rest 
 Since the dove fluttered down to its home in my breast.' 
 
 " Keats would not have felt disgraced to have 
 been named the author of that verse, I think. 
 " Another ! It is called ' Night ' : 
 
 " ' Silence and whirling worlds afar 
 
 Through all-encircling skies, 
 What floods come o'er the spirit's bar 
 
 What wondrous thoughts arise. 
 " ' The Earth, a mantle, falls away, 
 And, winged, we leave the sod : 
 Where shines in its eternal sway 
 The majesty of God.' 
 
 ' Your face, sir, is a question. Yes, I shall 
 answer it. The fragments I have recited to you 
 are from a book of poems which was hailed by
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 William Dean Howells as a ' human event/ a 
 ' human event/ Yes, yes, the writer was Paul 
 Lawrence Dunbar, a full blooded African negro, 
 a Bantu, born in America educated mark me, 
 educated the son, too,, of an educated man." 
 
 He paused, drawing himself up to his full 
 height, with a pride that almost touched mag- 
 nificence, then he said impressively " Here, 
 sir, in Africa we have no second educated 
 generation, yet. We play the ape yet. We 
 are imitators yet. But wait a bit. Give us 
 time, a little time, and you will see that we can 
 profit by instruction. I say, I say, I say the 
 negro has his message. I say it. He has his 
 message and he will speak it. Ah ! but you had 
 nearly angered me ! " His voice lowered to a 
 sort of croon. " Listen once more, sir, please, to 
 my poet's truthful picture of the negro's present 
 state and future fate 
 
 " ' It is still a little dark with him, but there are warnings of the 
 
 day, 
 
 ' And somewhere out of the darkness a bird is singing to the 
 dawn. ' 
 
 " A full blooded negro, sir a Bantu ! May all 
 the Gods of Heaven bless him ! He has given 
 Hope and an Ideal to the whole negro race." 
 
 32
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BLACK MENACE 
 
 'THHE hope of the black race and the centre of 
 all negro inspiration, intrigue and activity 
 is Basutoland. This province is in every 
 possible political sense an anomaly and an 
 enigma. It lies near the heart of the South 
 African Union : it comprises much of the best 
 agricultural land in South Africa : it is sur- 
 rounded on every side by the white man's terri- 
 tory ; yet to all intents and purposes it is an inde- 
 pendent negro State. Basutoland has an area 
 of about 10,300 square miles. It is bounded on 
 the South by Cape Colony, on the East by 
 Natal, and on the North and West by the Orange 
 River Colony. In shape and configuration it is 
 a fortress. The Drakensburg Mountains but- 
 
 33
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tress its eastern and southern borders. Its 
 northern frontage is defended by the precipitous 
 Maluti range, and its western frontiers are pro- 
 tected by a score of spurs and rugged chains. 
 Rising like a gargantuan Gibraltar from the 
 lower circumscribing levels, its top is a magnifi- 
 cently fertile table land, with a mean height of 
 6,000 feet above the sea. On this table land 
 reside some 360,000 Basutos, the most intelligent 
 of all the colored peoples of the continent. In 
 all the territory there are fewer than 1,000 whites. 
 The country belongs exclusively to the Basutos. 
 They acknowledge the suzerainty of Britain 
 (King George is represented by an Imperial 
 Commissioner, who resides at Maseru, the 
 capital), but the native chiefs administer their 
 own affairs and they owe no allegiance to the 
 South African Union Government. Save for the 
 slender tie which binds them to Britain they are 
 an absolutely autonomous and independent 
 community. The province is the one place in 
 South Africa where the black man's power is un- 
 questioned and supreme. It is the only part of 
 interior South Africa blessed with a consistently 
 temperate, healthy and stimulating climate. No 
 white man is allowed into the territory except as 
 
 34
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 a special act of grace, and no white man can re- 
 main beyond a certain time except with the ex- 
 press permission of the chiefs. The Basuto 
 system of government is a curious admixture of 
 socialism and patriarchalism. Land is divided 
 on the communal principle and is inalienable. 
 Individual proprietorship in real property is 
 against the rule. Moveable property is prac- 
 tically subject to individual ownership, but in 
 theory everything belongs to the chiefs, to whom 
 the natives pay fief for their possessions. Many 
 of the chiefs are enormously rich : they are all 
 wealthy and powerful men. The chief para- 
 mount is loyally reverenced by his subordinates 
 and in his hands is focussed the entire strength 
 of the nation. The tribesmen pay him the 
 homage due to a demi-god. He administers life 
 and death and is blindly obeyed worshipped 
 one might say. On the whole the government 
 of the province is wise and liberal. The chiefs 
 do everything in their power to encourage indus- 
 trial progress and the arts of civilization. There 
 are three great industrial institutions* in the 
 
 * On February 32nd, 1911, Senator Byron spoke concerning the 
 Basutos in the Union Senate as follows : " It would, I think, sur- 
 prise non-members to see what clever, intelligent and industrious 
 native workmen are being turned out from the industrial schools in 
 
 35
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 province run by white and native missionaries 
 and about 260 public schools, subsidised by the 
 Government, which are attended daily by some 
 13,000 negro children. Every year the chiefs 
 send a number of picked scholars abroad to be 
 educated at foreign colleges and universities at 
 the public cost. These scholars return to be 
 local schoolmasters and to carry over all South 
 Africa the light of the white man's learning. 
 Maseru, the capital city of Basutoland, is con- 
 nected by railway with the O.R.C., but there are 
 no other railways in the province. The chiefs 
 have a prejudice against railways, but they main- 
 tain excellent roads, and all the towns are con- 
 nected with the telegraph and served with 
 
 Basutoland. I live close beside that country and I confess that the 
 progress of many of the Basutos gives one much room for thought. 
 There are already many of this race and their number is increasing 
 to whom it would be absurd to apply the four to one factor [of 
 efficiency] with respect to the whites. We cannot deny the fact that 
 the native can readily and relatively make greater strides towards 
 progress than the white. Therefore it would seem that we cannot 
 hope to retain our present position and our determination to make 
 this country a suitable home for white men unless we endeavour to 
 restore the balance in our favor by greater numbers recruited from 
 oversea. Relatively the natives are advancing more rapidly than we 
 are. A veneer of civilisation that would not last may deceive or 
 stimulate some Chaka or Moshesh of the future, and if, unfortunately, 
 there should arise a life and death contest between the races, Provi- 
 dence as ever will incline to the side of the big battalions." Debates 
 of the Senate, 1910-1911, pages 193-194. 
 
 36
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 telephones. The British system of currency has 
 long since displaced the primeval method of 
 barter. Savings banks abound. The black 
 population is thrifty and industrious. Agricul- 
 ture is the principal industry, but manufacture is 
 steadily increasing. The outstanding feature of 
 the industrial life of Basutoland consists in the 
 rapidly developing popularity of new methods. 
 The Basutos are putting their old savage life 
 behind them with a celerity and unanimity be- 
 yond praise. Their foreign trade is expanding 
 by leaps and bounds. They export horses, 
 cattle, wool, wheat, mealies, hides and mohair. 
 In exchange they import iron, agricultural imple- 
 ments and machinery of the latest types, groceries 
 and large quantities of clothes. The nation is 
 becoming more notably Europeanised every day. 
 The old style of huts is giving place to well 
 built houses : the kraals are beginning to wear 
 the appearance of civilised towns and modern 
 sanitary methods are gradually coming into 
 vogue. 
 
 Taking all things into consideration it can- 
 not be denied that the Basutos deserve the 
 name of a nation. Their sense of nationality is 
 strong and well defined. They cherish their 
 
 37 
 
 55307
 
 independence above wealth and life itself. They 
 have an army, and above all they have a history 
 short perhaps, but not inglorious. This 
 branch of the Bantu race took possession of the 
 table land in 1820, wresting it from the aboriginal 
 Bushmen, whom they .well nigh exterminated. 
 The usurping invaders were led by a chief named 
 Moshesh, a man of extraordinary bravery, talent 
 and resource. Moshesh instantly divined the 
 wonderful natural strength and the climatic and 
 agricultural advantages of the country, and he 
 determined to keep it and build there a stable, 
 self-supporting nation. But he was not allowed 
 to work in peace. Chaka, the famous Zulu king, 
 had long coveted the table land, and the inter- 
 vention of Moshesh threw him into a furv. He 
 
 t 
 
 declared war upon the Basutos and marched 
 against them with a powerful army. The war 
 lasted nearly four years and was decided by the 
 battle of Thaba Bosigo, in which Chaka was 
 overwhelmingly defeated. From that time until 
 about 1850 the Basutos were left comparatively 
 undisturbed. They then came into collision 
 successively with the Boers, the Zulus, and the 
 British. The military genius of Moshesh 
 enabled him to defeat the Zulus and the Boers, 
 
 38
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and in 1852 he crushingly repulsed the attack 
 of the British forces under Sir George Cathcart. 
 But Moshesh was far too clever a man to take 
 comfort from his latest victory. He knew the 
 British well, and foreseeing disaster he turned 
 promptly from arms to diplomacy. The able 
 manner in which he succeeded in conciliating 
 Britain constitutes one of the most notable and 
 dramatic features of South African history. The 
 Boers were his next assailants. In 1858 they 
 declared war upon him and invaded the table 
 land. The campaign lasted ten years. In 1865 
 Moshesh defeated and killed General Wepener 
 in a pitched battle at the hill of Thaba Bosigo 
 (where he had formerly routed Chaka) and he 
 drove the Boers over the border. The Boers, 
 however, soon returned in augmented strength 
 to the assault, and after three more years of de- 
 sultory fighting Moshesh saw all his forces 
 exhausted and he was brought face to face with 
 ruin. In this crisis he suddenly offered his 
 country to Britain as a fief of the Imperial 
 Crown. The offering was accepted, and the 
 Boers were compelled to retire. Moshesh died 
 soon afterwards and was buried on the scene of 
 his two greatest victories. The Basutos wor- 
 
 39
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ship his memory and always will. Subsequently, 
 in 1871, Basutoland was annexed to Cape 
 Colony: but in 1879 the natives rebelled against 
 the Colonial rule. The war lasted two years. 
 The Colonial forces were generally victorious, 
 but they failed to reduce the rebels, and the dis- 
 pute was finally settled by arbitration. In 
 1883 the Imperial Government once more took 
 over the country from Cape Colony, and ever 
 since then the Basutos have dwelt more or less 
 contentedly under the protection of Great 
 Britain. Really their subjection is nominal 
 only, and none knows this better than themselves. 
 During the late Boer-British war they remained 
 perfectly neutral, but they were always ready to 
 take arms at a moment's notice, and the Boers 
 were extremely careful to refrain from giving 
 them any excuse for intervention. 
 
 I come now to a piece of their history which 
 to my knowledge has not before been published. 
 When the idea of South African Union swam 
 into the sphere of practical politics the Basutos 
 were profoundly disturbed. They conceived it 
 probable that the white Colonists would attempt 
 to include Basutoland as a political part and 
 parcel of the projected new Dominion, and they 
 
 40
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 began to tremble for their treasured integrity 
 and independence. I am unable to say whether 
 or not the statesmen of South Africa who 
 formed the Union were actually ambitious of 
 taking over Basutoland from Britain, for this 
 is a subject on which South African politicians 
 maintain a diplomatic silence : but it is clear that 
 the Basutos thought sa The chiefs protested 
 with energy to the Resident Imperial High 
 Commissioner, and demanded and received assur- 
 ances that their treaty rights with Britain would 
 be preserved. Every possible effort was made 
 to soothe their anxiety and allay their appre- 
 hensions, but with inconspicuous success. The 
 people remained uneasy and the chiefs made 
 quiet preparations for eventualities. Some three 
 or four days before the Union was proclaimed 
 almost every Zulu servant in the O.R.C. sud- 
 denly vacated his employment. Some of the 
 boys made fictitious excuses; others frankly ex- 
 plained that they were wanted at their kraals; 
 many said nothing. All disappeared. Dr. 
 Ward, of Bloemfontein, a leading citizen and 
 publicist of the O.R.C., told me that he strenu- 
 ously endeavoured to prevent the departure of 
 one of his favourite servants, but failed. The
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 man's chief had mysteriously sent for him, and 
 physical compulsion only could have kept him in 
 the city. On the Basutoland plateau, mean- 
 while, many thousands of natives stood to their 
 ponies under arms, waiting the word of their 
 chiefs to pour down through the passes on the 
 comparatively defenceless plains below. Hap- 
 pily the threatened rebellion was peacefully frus- 
 trated, but only with the utmost difficulty (so 
 hard were the chiefs to persuade that the Union 
 would not affect their status), and it was not 
 until the clearest assurances had been conveyed 
 to them that the Basuto chiefs were finally con- 
 vinced they need not fight to keep their precious 
 liberty. 
 
 The incident passed harmlessly, but it 
 conveyed a lesson which only madmen could 
 ignore. It confirmed the general impression 
 that a secret confederacy between the Basutos 
 and their ancient enemies the Zulus is in exist- 
 ence : and it proved to the last doubter that 
 Basutoland is a volcano in the core of the 
 Dominion from which a destroying eruption must 
 be continuously expected. The effect of the 
 incident upon the Blacks is more a matter of 
 conjecture. It seems logically inevitable to act 
 
 42
 
 as a spur to their developing sense of color 
 nationality; but one must not dogmatise on a 
 quality so uncertain as the negro mind. Many 
 white South Africans have assured me that, 
 since the Union, the natives from Rhodesia to the 
 Cape have displayed a distinctly new tone of 
 self assertion and diminished subserviency and 
 that they begin to " lift up their heads." In 
 Basutoland itself the tribesmen tenaciously 
 attribute their exclusion from the Union to the 
 bold methods of their chiefs, and I am reliably 
 informed that they consider they won a tre- 
 mendous victory over the whites, a victory which 
 was all the more significant because bloodless. 
 That they overawed the Union is their fixed be- 
 lief. However this may be, it is indisputable 
 that the prestige of the Basutos throughout the 
 sub-continent is enormous and growing steadily. 
 The Basutos alone among the various black 
 tribes and racial sub-divisions have never been 
 beaten by the whites. As soldiers, their es- 
 cutcheon is not disfigured by a single serious 
 blemish. They vanquished the Boers, they con- 
 quered the Zulus, they repulsed and withstood 
 the British. It is true that at last they bowed to 
 Britain and took England for their suzerain, 
 
 43
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 but they did so voluntarily and not because 
 Britain compelled them. 
 
 So much for the military aspect. As re- 
 gards civic life and social self-govermnent 
 the Basutos attract and fill the eyes of the 
 millions of blacks dwelling beyond the borders 
 of Basutoland, as a living proof and object 
 lesson that negro capacity is comparable with 
 European talent. The Basutos are admittedly 
 better farmers than the Boers. They use 
 steam ploughs. They till much of their lands 
 according to the rules of up-to-date agricultural 
 science, and they harvest their crops with 
 machinery. For the rest, they are building fac- 
 tories and beginning to make their own clothes. 
 The unlettered outer hordes stare at the table- 
 land with eyes in which begins to dawn a light of 
 hope and emulation. Basutoland is the shrine 
 of their dreams, the Mecca of their pilgrimage, 
 the source and fountain of their nascent inspir- 
 ation. And on the caverned slope of Thaba 
 Bosigo lies the body of Moshesh, the negro who 
 broke Chaka, conquered and slew General 
 Wepener and defeated Sir George Cathcart 
 Moshesh, " the chief who was never conquered 
 and died unbeaten." 
 
 44
 
 LEWIXIKA'S BAND AND TRIBESMEN
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The negro has no literature, but he has a his- 
 tory, a history of traditions. Every native living" 
 in South Africa to-day has learned the story of 
 Moshesh : knew it by heart before his teens, and 
 he sings his hero's exploits every holiday. The 
 Basutos are well mounted and fairly well armed. 
 They have plenty of carbines and mauser rifles : 
 and a few machine guns. It is a crime under 
 the white man's law punishable with a ^500 
 fine and penal servitude to carry arms into 
 Basutoland. But the Basutos are rich and their 
 money tempts. An illicit trade in arms flourishes 
 beneath the rose : and the Basutos are steadily 
 increasing their stock of modern weapons. They 
 are born fighters, men of dauntless courage and 
 classical physique : tough in fibre, virile, strong 
 and incredibly enduring. They drill well. 
 Their discipline is superb. They ride like 
 centaurs. They shoot straight. All their stories 
 are of fighting; all their songs are of battle. 
 Their country is a stronghold. It was found 
 impregnable to white assault when the Basutos 
 knew no better weapon than the assegai and were 
 less than 50,000 strong. The Basutos are seven 
 times more numerous to-day and they are armed 
 with the white man's guns. Their eerie look- 
 
 45
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 outs and mountain passes command three 
 provinces of the Union. In a few hours they 
 can mobilise an army of tens of thousands of 
 cavalry. They have shown that they can do it. 
 What will happen if such a horde irrupts? I 
 put that question to a leading politician at Cape- 
 town. He frowned and half closed his eyes. 
 That is the matter with the whole of white South 
 Africa to-day. The whites are mentally color- 
 blind. Their eyes are shut to the negro problem. 
 The Basutos are black. The whites affect not to 
 see in them aught but shadows. It is a stupid atti- 
 tude, because the natives, right throughout South 
 Africa, have already crystallised their earlier 
 vague feelings of dissatisfaction under white 
 rule into a definite propaganda. The propa- 
 gandists are black school teachers and church- 
 men. They preach the gospel to-day " Africa 
 for the Africans." Once they preached only that 
 the natives should make assertion of qualified 
 equality with the whites, but in the last few years 
 they have progressed far beyond that modest 
 doctrine and now they disavow it with contempt. 
 The movement is of episcopalian management. 
 It centres in the Ethiopian Church, which is a 
 purely native offshoot of that white missionary 
 
 46
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 enterprise which first brought Christianity under 
 the negro's notice. The Ethiopian Church is a 
 most formidable political organisation. It is affili- 
 ated with the American Negro Methodist Church 
 and is really a secret society having for its object 
 the driving of the white race into the sea. 
 That is its ultimate ambition. At present it 
 is laboring to cement into a single political body 
 the many different tribes which compose the 
 native population of the sub-continent. It is 
 meeting with success in all directions. The 
 blacks are beginning to feel that all colored men 
 are brethren and ought to be brothers in arms. 
 The religious complexion of the movement 
 appeals strongly to their superstitious instincts. 
 The Ethiopian Church makes scores of converts 
 every day. It is spreading over the country as 
 quietly and noiselessly as a disease. The black 
 minister is becoming a feature in every camp and 
 compound, in almost every kraal. Behind the 
 Church are the chiefs. They watch and work 
 and wait. 
 
 47
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EFFECT OF THE NATIVE ON THE SOCIAL AND 
 
 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE WHITE 
 
 POPULATION 
 
 TTNTIL well on towards the middle of last 
 century South Africa was organised on 
 the economic basis of slavery. The 
 emancipation of the slaves nominally took place 
 in 1834, but was not completed until several years 
 later. The existence of legal slavery up to that 
 date has profoundly influenced the development 
 of the country. The whites of that period had 
 grown to maturity believing that the proper re- 
 lation of white to black is that of master to serf ; 
 and this tradition was handed down to their 
 descendants. It still persists and steadily con-
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tinues to govern the relations between the white 
 and colored races. Before the emancipation all 
 rough and menial work was performed by the 
 slaves, and the white men were a supervising non- 
 laboring aristocracy. The blacks are now free, 
 but they still do all the menial work, i.e. (in the 
 words of Mr. J. H. Hofmeyer), " labor for 
 another," and the whites still regard rough and 
 menial work as work fit for the black man only. 
 The attitude of the white population towards all 
 forms of unskilled labor is lucidly depicted in 
 the Report of the Royal Commission on Indi- 
 gency presented to the Transvaal Government 
 at the close of 1908. Paragraph 39 states 
 
 :< We have taken evidence on the question of 
 " the effect of the presence of the native on the 
 " habits and institutions of the white population 
 " from all parts of South Africa. It is a subject 
 " which it is impossible to neglect. It enters 
 " into every aspect of the social, political and 
 " economic life of the country, and no problem, 
 " such as that with which we are dealing, can be 
 " properly understood until the bearing of the 
 " native question upon it is taken into account. 
 " We have also found that in all parts of South 
 " Africa it exercises a dominant influence on the 
 
 49
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " life and habits of the white population. This 
 " influence, whilst uniform in its character, pro- 
 " duces varying results, according to geo- 
 " graphical, historical, and other conditions." 
 Paragraph 46 observes 
 " Though the legal status of slavery has long 
 " been abolished, the actual social and economic 
 " relation between white and black remains very 
 " much as it did before : it is still the general 
 " practice for the native to do the rough manual 
 " labor under the supervision and direction of 
 " the white man. The system of slavery has 
 " simply given way to the system of caste. It is 
 " not remarkable that these conditions should 
 " have given rise to the idea that it is derogatory 
 " to the dignity of the white man that he should 
 " do work of which the native was capable and 
 " in the habit of doing. How widely this view 
 " is held in the Transvaal and throughout the 
 " whole of South Africa, will appear constantly 
 " in the course of this Report. For the present 
 " we shall, in addition to the evidence of Mr. 
 ' J. H. Hofmeyr, to which we have already re- 
 " f erred (see p. 22), limit our quotations to the 
 " evidence of two witnesses. Mr. F. S. Malan 
 " said 
 
 50
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " ' I think a great deal of harm has been done 
 " ' to the white people in South Africa by the 
 " ' false idea that there is a certain class of work 
 " ' which is infra dig. for the white man to do, 
 " * and the more we can preach against that doc- 
 " * trine the better.' 
 
 " The Rev. D. Theron, of Fordsburg, told us 
 " that 
 
 " * There are many white people who have 
 
 ' thought it a disgrace to go into a carpenter's 
 " * shop and work.' 
 
 " We have been impressed with the frequency 
 " with which it has been stated in evidence that 
 " unskilled labor was ' Kaffir's work,' and as 
 " such not the kind of work which a white man 
 " should perform. This opinion is due not to 
 " anything which is inherently unpleasant or de- 
 " grading in the work, but to the fact that such 
 " labor is ordinarily performed in South Africa 
 " by the native. 
 
 ' This attitude of the white man has greatly 
 " affected his efficiency as a laborer. He has 
 " never regarded unskilled labor as an ordinary 
 " field of employment. When he has had to do 
 " unskilled work he has done it grudgingly as 
 " being Kaffir's work, and therefore badly. The 
 
 5'
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " standard of efficiency of white unskilled labor 
 " in South Africa has fallen very much lower 
 " than in countries where there is no colored 
 " labor. The white laborer, moreover, requires 
 " a high scale of wages as compared with the 
 " native. Black labor is cheap because the 
 " native lives very cheaply and has a subsidiary 
 " source of livelihood in the produce of his tribal 
 " lands and in the labor of his women and 
 " children. Hence there is little or no demand 
 " for white unskilled labor even if the white 
 " man's prejudices against * Kaffir's work ' would 
 " permit him to accept such employment/' 
 
 It would be quite impossible to exaggerate the 
 importance of the native monopoly of unskilled 
 labor. Let the Royal Commission speak again. 
 
 Paragraph 50 says 
 
 " So long as these conditions continue, any 
 " white man who has to depend for his livelihood 
 " on his power of earning wages, and who has 
 " not the knowledge or the training to qualify 
 " him for doing skilled or semi-skilled work, is 
 " almost certain to become indigent. The virtual 
 " closing, therefore, of the unskilled labor mar- 
 " ket to the white population is a fact of the 
 " utmost importance. If large numbers of white 
 
 52
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " South Africans who are now approaching man- 
 " hood have few, if any, qualifications for getting 
 " skilled employment, and if, as at present, they 
 " refuse to abandon the objection to do unskilled 
 " work because they regard it as Kaffir's work, 
 " and are inefficient and expensive, most of them 
 " are bound to join the ranks of those who have 
 " already become the victims of the caste system 
 " the poor whites" 
 
 Paragraph 52 says 
 
 " It has been clearly proved to us that the re- 
 " striction of the native to the sphere of unskilled 
 " work cannot be permanent. His intense desire 
 " for education is everywhere the subject of com- 
 " ment. For instance, witnesses have pointed 
 " out that the great majority of the natives in 
 " domestic employment have books in their 
 " possession, with which they are continually 
 " attempting to teach themselves. A school 
 "mistress near Heidelberg told us that the 
 " native children used regularly to walk three 
 " miles to attend a native school in the vicinity, 
 " and witnesses in other parts of the country have 
 " made similar statements. The Rev. Andrew 
 " Murray, of Rustenburg, told us that native 
 
 ' servants are removed because they have to go 
 
 53
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " ' to school. They are removed from service 
 " ' for that purpose.' A native Commissioner 
 " was asked, ' Are you in a position to say 
 " * whether the desire for education is keener 
 " ' among the natives, or the poor whites ? ' and 
 " replied, ' Amongst the natives, from my ex- 
 " * perience.' The Report of the Native Affairs 
 " Department for 1905-6 is full of references to 
 " this intense desire for education amongst the 
 " natives in all parts of the Transvaal. There 
 "are in Pretoria about 1,528 native and colored 
 "children under 14, and of these about 1,000 
 " are attending School. In Cape Colony the 
 " facts are still more striking. According to the 
 " Report of the Director of Education for 1906, 
 " there were 102,849 native and colored children 
 " at school, as against 73,000 white children." 
 
 Paragraph 55 of the Report shows that the 
 black man has already entered successfully into 
 many skilled trades. It states that 85 per cent, 
 of the mechanics employed in the building trade 
 in Kimberley are colored : that the waggon build- 
 ing trade has fallen almost completely into the 
 hands of the negro : that 30 per cent, of those 
 engaged in the printing trade are negroes : and 
 that black competition is already acute in the 
 
 54
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 trades of carpentering, plastering, saddlery, 
 painting, tailoring and bricklaying. The para- 
 graph concludes as follows : " It is not neces- 
 " sary for us to labor this point further ... we 
 " are satisfied that carpentry, painting, plastering 
 " and similar skilled work (hitherto the exclusive 
 " preserves of the white man) are being done to 
 " an increasing extent by colored labor." 
 
 The whole teaching of this Royal Commission 
 stresses the conclusion that a considerable part 
 of the white population of South Africa is 
 " doomed to indigency " unless the prejudice 
 against " Kaffir's work " is speedily abandoned. 
 But that after all is only a phase of the problem. 
 The black monopoly of unskilled labor undoubt- 
 edly originated in the slave system which created 
 the prejudice complained of : but the strength of 
 the monopoly is not dependent on the prejudice. 
 The truth of the matter is that if the white man's 
 aversion to " Kaffir " work were broken down 
 completely and universally to-morrow the posi- 
 tion would hardly be one whit altered : for there 
 would be little or no unskilled work for the white 
 man to do. The negro owns it all and must con- 
 tinue to monopolise it indefinitely for the reason 
 that his labor is far cheaper to the employer than 
 
 55
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 that of the white man. The native gladly 
 accepts wages which would not suffice to keep a 
 white man's body and soul together. His labor 
 is efficient and he thrives on the pittance that 
 would bring his white competitor to starvation. 
 In my opinion the only possible cure is the statu- 
 tory establishment of a minimum wage for all 
 workers both white and black : but the expedient 
 is at present impracticable and would probably 
 create a revolution if suddenly enforced. The 
 Royal Commission found that there is an im- 
 mence amount of white indigency prevailing in 
 all parts of South Africa. Many thousands of 
 white men are living as vagrants and on charity. 
 Thousands more live by vice and crime. And 
 there is no immediate hope or prospect of relief. 
 The market for skilled labor is strictly limited 
 and the negro encroaches on it more and more 
 as time proceeds. The market for unskilled 
 labor belongs wholly to the blacks : it is ensured 
 to them by the cheapness of their labor and it is 
 sealed to them by a public sentiment which 
 shows no symptoms of wearing out. British 
 citizens whose thoughts have been turned towards 
 South Africa should take sober heed of these 
 conditions. The immigrant who is a skilled
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 artisan may possibly find employment, but for 
 the unskilled worker there is no room. South 
 Africa promises much to the agricultural immi- 
 grant possessed of brains, energy, adaptability 
 and a substantial capital, but has no real welcome 
 for any other class. If a poor man goes there 
 it will only be to increase his poverty unless he is 
 a highly trained craftsman. The country is 
 cursed with a large pauper population of un- 
 skilled white workers. To increase it by immi- 
 gration would be a calamity to all concerned. 
 
 57
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE BOER 
 
 T N order to understand the Boer, some know- 
 ledge of his early history is essential. 
 Originally he was a pioneer and voor- 
 trekker. His occupation of the High and Low 
 Velds dates back only about sixty years. After 
 the defeat of Mosolekatze in the Transvaal and 
 of Dingaan in Natal the Boers spread over the 
 High Veld and parcelled out the land : taking up 
 very large farms, which they worked as pastoral - 
 ists. The daily life of the average farmer con- 
 sisted mainly in supervising the work of Kaffirs 
 in the mealie plantations or among the stock and 
 in shooting game for the pot. The early land 
 owners did not cultivate the soil because there 
 
 58
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 was no market for their produce. They lived 
 almost wholly on game. Their cattle were less 
 a source of food supply than a form (the only 
 form available) in which they might accumulate 
 wealth. Their homesteads were leagues apart. 
 They seldom met in social intercourse. Their 
 lives were extremely primitive : their outlook was 
 absolutely uncommercial. Population gradually 
 accumulated on the farms, both by natural in- 
 crease and by the advent of late comers who 
 found no land to take up, but were welcomed by 
 the early settlers and permitted to squat wherever 
 they pleased. Mealies and meat were always 
 plentiful in those days, and the pioneers made 
 their big farms free to the immigrant families the 
 more readily because of the additional pro- 
 tection thus afforded against native attack. In 
 course of time nearly every farm on the veld was 
 settled with numerous families. There was the 
 family of the owner and tfce families of his 
 children who always settled around the home- 
 stead of the pioneer : and next the families of the 
 tenant immigrants. These latter paid no rent 
 and had no defined duties or responsibilities to 
 the owner. They were, in law, merely tenants at 
 will, yet they could not be driven out because of 
 
 59
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the custom of the country. They were called 
 " by-woners." The general system of land 
 tenure followed the precepts of the old Roman- 
 Dutch law. As the pioneers died, the farms fell 
 into the undivided ownership of their descend- 
 ants. The second and third generations of 
 owners and " by-woners " grew up together and 
 all looked to a living from the farm and by 
 hunting. Gradually, despite the huge size of 
 the farms, the population became too great for 
 the land to support by the old method of farm- 
 ing. Game, too, died out and disappeared. 
 The peoples' wants were few, nevertheless the 
 pressure began to be felt. The Boers, however, 
 seemed incapable of farming properly. The 
 idea of trying new methods to increase the soil's 
 productivity never occurred to them. When this 
 stage was reached, the " by-woners " were marked 
 out by the landowners for expulsion and a 
 general movement of population from the land 
 to the town was actually beginning, when of a 
 sudden, gold was discovered on the Witwaters- 
 rand. This event relieved the pressure by 
 creating a large amount of new employment for 
 the rural population as transport riders and pro- 
 ducers of foodstuffs for the miners. It also 
 
 60
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 caused the distribution of large sums of cash 
 among the land owners for options of purchase. 
 An era of unprecedented prosperity ensued, but 
 it soon came to an end. The option money gave 
 out. Railways were built and the transport 
 riders were thus deprived of occupation and 
 livelihood. The farmers, too, lost much of their 
 market for food stuffs through the same agency, 
 the miners preferring to import food rather than 
 depend on the inferior produce of the backward 
 local farms. 
 
 Once more a crisis supervened and the 
 exodus from country to town re-commenced. 
 Thousands of " by-woners " flocked to the mines 
 and cities in search of work. But they found 
 little or none. The unskilled labor market was 
 monopolised by cheap black workers and closed 
 to white men by caste prejudice* Skilled work 
 the Boers could not do, for they were utterly un- 
 educated and untrained. A horrible drifting 
 back and forth between country and city suc- 
 ceeded. Thousands left the land. Thousands 
 were thrust back on the land. The rinderpest 
 came to complete the trouble. In a single twelve 
 months this dreadful scourge reduced the herds 
 of all South Africa by one half and left the 
 
 61
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 country a shambles of disease and desolation. 
 The Government did its best to help the people : 
 but its best was a poor thing. Great congre- 
 gations of poor whites settled along the Rand, 
 in Pretoria and on the outskirts of other towns. 
 Crime and charity kept them from starvation. 
 At last came the war. Before the war a great 
 proportion of the rural population had already 
 declined into indigency. The war intensified 
 the evil. It impoverished the richest pioneers 
 and it swept the poorer farmers along with the 
 remaining " by-woners " into the towns in desti- 
 tute hordes. The Royal Commission on Indi- 
 gency of 1908 points the situation of to-day. 
 
 Paragraph 25 says 
 
 " Indigency is still increasing among the 
 " country population. During the period imme- 
 " diately following the war, the dislocation of the 
 " farming industry forced almost all classes of 
 " the community to import from the neighbour- 
 " ing colonies and from oversea the supplies 
 " which they had previously obtained -in the 
 ' Transvaal. The Transvaal farmer, therefore, 
 " had to force his way back into what had pre- 
 " viously been his own natural markets. The 
 " distribution of prospecting and option money 
 
 62
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " by speculators and of food and stock by the 
 " Repatriation Department enabled part of the 
 "farming population for a time to live without 
 " doing much work. Both of these means of 
 " livelihood soon disappeared, and the people 
 " were left to their own resources with acquired 
 " habits of idleness and dependence upon others. 
 " In the face of the harder conditions many were 
 " unable to make a living, and became indigents. 
 " Moreover, diseases and pests have scourged 
 " the Transvaal in the years succeeding the war. 
 " The war set back agriculture many years, and 
 " in spite of much industry and enterprise East 
 " Coast fever and locusts have checked the 
 " process of its recovery. Not only does cattle 
 " disease destroy the stock, but owing to the 
 " quarantine regulations which are necessary to 
 " stamp it out in many cases it deprives a farmer 
 " for years of all access to his natural markets. 
 ' Those who owned large areas in healthy dis- 
 " tricts, farmed according to up-to-date methods, 
 " and had a reserve of capital to enable them to 
 " live over the bad years, are now improving their 
 " position, and are tending to buy up the hold- 
 " ings of their poorer neighbours. But most of 
 " the rest the by-woners and many of the 
 
 63
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " owners of small farms who have been unable 
 " to cope with the difficulties which have beset 
 " them have migrated to the towns or are living 
 " as indigent squatters on their own lands." 
 The report proceeds to say 
 " To begin with, these people were well enough 
 " off. They got a rude but sufficient living by 
 " trekking about, shooting game and buying 
 " with the proceeds of the sale of the skins and 
 " horns what other necessaries in the way of 
 " clothes and groceries they required. But later, 
 " when game became scarce or was protected, and 
 " especially after the rinderpest had destroyed 
 " their cattle, they sunk into a condition of indi- 
 " gency. It might have been expected that as 
 " the country became occupied they would settle 
 " down and make a living by farming, but this 
 " they were quite unfitted to do. They were 
 " pioneers and averse to the routine and steady 
 " work of a settler's life. As Mr. Kleinenburg, 
 " of Pietersburg, said to us 
 
 ' What with annual hunting trips to the un- 
 ' known interior, native wars and other un- 
 ' settling influences, the real son of the soil has 
 ' never considered it necessary or been obliged 
 ' to consider the necessity of close application
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " ' to the working of his farm. Besides this, the 
 " ' quantity of native labor at his command has 
 
 ' strengthened him in the idea that the native 
 " * has to do the work and the white man indulge 
 " ' in ease and comfort as far as the circumstances 
 " * would admit.' 
 
 " Most of the descendants of these early immi- 
 " grants are more or less indigent to-day. Their 
 " condition is clearly described in the evidence 
 " which we have received. Thus Mr. Gelden- 
 " buys, the Town Clerk of Potgietersrust, said to 
 
 "us- 
 
 " ' Most of the people came in here and lived 
 
 " * on hunting, and then, especially in the Water- 
 
 " ' berg and Zoutpansberg, the climate is such 
 
 ' that if a man does without work for a week or 
 
 ' a month he gets so lazy that he will not work 
 
 " ' any more : and, therefore, after all the game 
 
 ' was killed they got to this stage of indolence, 
 
 " ' and then the people coming in later on were 
 
 ' more energetic and so passed them. Most of 
 
 ' the people who are in poverty to-day are those 
 
 ' who have been here from the beginning. 
 
 " ' They mostly had cattle before the war, and 
 
 ' during the war lost that, and immediately after 
 
 " ' the war we had droughts and locusts. They 
 
 65
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " * have not the energy to uplift themselves. In 
 " ' the late Government's time they were living 
 " * on charities, later on there was the Repatri- 
 " * ation, and they thought they could get things 
 " ' for nothing. All that assisted them to get 
 ' lower down/ 
 
 Another witness explained that 
 
 " * Gradually they got into worse circum- 
 
 * stances, and they never learnt to work, for 
 ' the simple reason that there was no object in 
 ' working. It could not be turned to account. 
 
 " * There was never a market for this district. 
 ' It has now become their nature not to work.' ' 
 Mr. McKechnie, of Pietersburg, also said 
 ' The majority of poor whites here are neither 
 
 " ' willing nor able to do a hard day's work as 
 ' agriculturists. They have been accustomed 
 
 * to riding wood to the market, loafing about at 
 ' home and hunting. They really do not know 
 ' what it means to put in a hard day's work 
 
 * from early morning to late at night, which is 
 ' the only way in which a farmer can make 
 ' both ends meet, with the drawbacks in this 
 
 " ' country.' " 
 
 Mr. Krogh stated that " many of them do not 
 " earn i a month and yet they live." 
 
 66
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The condition in the towns is no better than in 
 the country. Every large Transvaal town has a 
 considerable population of indigents : and to a 
 lesser degree poor whites are to be found in most 
 of the towns of the other provinces. In addition 
 there are special State subsidised " poor white " 
 settlements at several places, notably Goe- 
 dodeorp, Donkey Camp, and Vrededorp, in 
 which the residents are all paupers living mostly 
 on charity. 
 
 The Report says (paragraph 35, page 19) 
 " Another class of indigents in the towns of 
 " the Transvaal are the unemployed. They 
 " mainly consist of people who have emigrated 
 " from other Colonies or from oversea. Un- 
 " employment has been the natural product of 
 " the rapidly developing, and therefore unstable, 
 " conditions which existed in the Transvaal 
 " towns after the opening up of the goldfields. 
 ' The discovery of gold in the Pilgrims Rest, 
 " Barberton and Leydsdorp Districts, and later 
 " the far more notorious discovery of the blanket 
 " gold-bearing reef of the Witwatersrand, 
 " attracted to the Transvaal large numbers of 
 " people of every class and every profession. 
 ' They came to the Transvaal in the expectation 
 
 67
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " of being able to find wealth with certainty, if 
 " not with ease. The great bulk of the immi- 
 " grants, however, especially of those who came 
 " to the Witwatersrand, found that their only 
 " chance of livelihood lay in getting employment 
 " under conditions very similar to those which 
 " obtained elsewhere. Moreover, many of them 
 " were in no way qualified to do the skilled work 
 " for which white labor was required. There 
 " were too many * handy men,' general workers, 
 " and people whose main experience was in 
 " clerical and other sedentary occupations. 
 " Further, the process of blanket mining took 
 " some time to set in motion. Capital had to be 
 " attracted from Europe, engineers had to make 
 " their plans and draw their designs, and 
 " machinery had to be imported. As a result, 
 " there were from the beginning large numbers 
 " of the white population in the Witwatersrand 
 " who were unemployed. The lot of the early 
 " immigrants was made still more trying by the 
 " high cost of living which obtained in the towns 
 " of the Transvaal owing to the long distance 
 " from which most of its supplies even of the 
 " necessaries of life had to be brought. It made 
 " it extremely difficult for those who were out of 
 
 68
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " work to get even the bare means of subsistence. 
 " It also, by making high wages necessary for 
 " those who were in employment, tended to 
 " accentuate the very evil from which the un- 
 " employed were suffering. For the high wages 
 " served to attract to the country more white men 
 " from outside when there was not sufficient 
 " employment for those who were already there. 
 " These conditions have persisted more or less 
 " ever since. After the war there was a renewed 
 " influx of people, anxious to take advantage of 
 " the rapid development which was expected to 
 " take place in mining, commerce and agricul- 
 " ture. Large number of ex-volunteers, ex- 
 " soldiers, and others remained in the country." 
 
 Paragraph 36 says 
 
 " People sitting by their camp fires and chat- 
 " ting about things here, explained to strangers 
 " how they had got on here, and induced those 
 " men to remain here, and they did remain, and 
 " they immediately flocked to Johannesburg as 
 " being the centre. 
 
 " Many of these men were quite unqualified to 
 " become miners or to ply any trade which re- 
 " quired skill or experience. If they got employ- 
 " ment at all it was because there was an 
 
 69
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " insufficient supply of really qualified men. 
 " They were therefore the first to be thrown out 
 " of employment as soon as work grew slack or 
 " better trained men were to be had. The lack 
 " of employment from which these people suf- 
 " fered was greatly accentuated in 1906-7 by the 
 " check given to mining and other industrial 
 " development work, by the uncertainty in re- 
 " gard to the supply of colored labor. The 
 " distress resulting from the lack of employment 
 " would have been far worse if the high wages 
 " earned by the better class of artizan had not 
 " enabled them to put by savings with which they 
 " were able to travel elsewhere in search of work. 
 " Besides the poor whites and the unemployed 
 " there are two other classes of indigents in the 
 " towns of the Transvaal. Loafers, good-for- 
 " nothings, and those who live by criminal 
 " means, are always attracted to mining camps, 
 " where money is easily come by without regular 
 " hard work. Johannesburg was no exception to 
 " the rule. The opportunities which it presented 
 " of making a living by such means as illicit gold 
 " buying or liquor selling, and the proverbial 
 " generosity of a mining population soon made it 
 " the resort of a large idle, semi-criminal popula- 
 
 70
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " tion. As is but natural, a considerable propor- 
 " tion of this class are in a constant state of want. 
 
 " There are also the aged, the infirm and the 
 " incapable. This class of indigents exists to a 
 " greater or less degree in every community, and 
 " are everywhere the product of the same causes. 
 " Their number is comparatively small in Johan- 
 " nesburg, because it is a young city, and people 
 " have not had time to grow old in it. In Pre- 
 " toria conditions are much the same as in 
 ' Johannesburg, but as it is an older town, and 
 " a larger proportion of its population is married, 
 " the proportion of those entirely dependent upon 
 " charity appears to be greater than in Johannes- 
 burg." 
 
 Paragraph 71 states 
 
 " Another obstacle which stands in the way of 
 " the white man getting unskilled work is the dif- 
 " ference between the present scale of white and 
 " native wages. This difference is largely due 
 " to the fact that the economic conditions which 
 " fix the rate of native wages are different tc those 
 " which govern the wages of the white man. It 
 " is also, however, to a great extent caused by 
 "two other factors, the high cost of living and 
 " the very high standards of living adopted by
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " the white man in South Africa as compared 
 " with the ordinary standards of white working 
 " men in similar positions elsewhere. For 
 " example, the cost of living in Johannesburg is 
 " about twice as great as it is in England, both 
 " for the artisan and laborer class. The cost 
 " of living in the other towns of South Africa is 
 " less than it is in Johannesburg, but not sub- 
 " stantially less. A qualified artisan in England 
 " earns, according to a recent Board of Trade 
 " enquiry, between 355. and 405. a week. In 
 " order to live at the same standards in Johannes- 
 " burg, that is, buying the same amount of food, 
 " clothing, crockery and other household requi- 
 " sites, and occupying the same style of house, 
 "he would require rather more than ^3 IDS. a 
 " week, or between l 5 and 17 a month. The 
 " laboring classes in England, such as brick- 
 " layers' assistants, earn from 2os. to 255. a week. 
 " If they live in Johannesburg at English 
 " standards they would need from 375. to 475. a 
 "week, or from 8 to ^10 a month, according 
 " to the style of house they occupied. These 
 "figures refer to the better class of unskilled 
 " laborer, who in normal conditions of trade 
 " would be in regular employment. Many un- 
 
 72
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " skilled workers in England are paid far less 
 "than 2 is. a week. The ordinary qualified 
 " artisan in Johannesburg, however, expects a 
 "wage of at least ^26 a month, and the com- 
 " monest answer received to the question as to 
 " what should be the lowest wage which should 
 " be paid to white unskilled labor, was IDS. a 
 " day. Thus the standards of living of the 
 " working classes are also considerably higher 
 " than the standards which prevail in England. 
 ' The extravagant mode of living affects all 
 " classes of the community. 
 
 ' There is no question that the methods of 
 " farming which obtain amongst the rural popu- 
 " lation, especially those dwelling far from the 
 " railways, are extremely backward. Large 
 " numbers of farmers are accustomed to raise 
 " from their land a mere subsistence for their 
 " families. So long as the farm will give them 
 " a living they prefer to spend their days in other 
 " pursuits, such as hunting and attending meet- 
 " ings, rather than in trying to make their land 
 " more productive. Many of them are opposed 
 " to new ideas and are content to follow the 
 " simple methods which suited their ancestors 
 " but which are unfitted for times when land is 
 
 73
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " becoming scarce, population is increasing and 
 " competition is keen." 
 
 Paragraph 101 says 
 
 " Most of the population in the remote districts 
 " and many of those who dwell near to the rail- 
 " way and the towns continue to live in much the 
 " same manner as the earliest immigrants to the 
 " Transvaal. The pioneer settlers entered the 
 " country before modern methods of farming had 
 " been evolved. Most of them were men who 
 " had received little or no education, and their 
 " habits were pastoral and nomadic, rather than 
 " agricultural and settled. The Boer farmer did 
 " not attempt to learn new methods, and the con- 
 " ditions of farming in the Transvaal never, till 
 " a few years ago, attracted settlers with farming 
 " experience from elsewhere, who could set an 
 " example to the rest. It is, therefore, but natural 
 " that, cut off from the world as they have been, 
 " many of the country population are ignorant 
 " and unable to modify their manner of life to 
 " suit modern conditions. The Rev. J. H. van 
 :< Wijk, of Adelaide, Cape Colony, informed the 
 " Commissioner he considered ignorance to be 
 " ' the greatest and chief cause ' of indigency. 
 " ' We have the poor because we have the 
 " ' ignorant white.' 
 
 74
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " In spite of the great strides which the spread 
 
 " of education has made during the past few 
 
 " years, many do not really appreciate its value. 
 
 " The Rev. Andrew Murray (Rustenburg) 
 
 " stated that 
 
 " * Very many parents wish to be paid for send- 
 " ' ing their children to school. That seems 
 " ' strange, but it is a fact. Not long ago I heard 
 " ' from an Inspector of a man who was getting 
 ' so much for transport (of children to school) 
 ' and the parents said : You must give me 
 ' half of what you get for transport because I 
 ' give you my child to transport to school.' 
 " Another witness said 
 
 ' We cannot get the farmers to send their 
 
 ' children to school for long enough : they have 
 
 ' an idea that a youngster, if he has been in 
 
 ' school for a year, ought to be pretty well 
 
 " ' educated.' 
 
 " Mr. du Plessis stated 
 
 ' My experience has been that the people 
 ' living in my neighbourhood are not very 
 ' anxious to have their children educated, and 
 
 * are ready to seize on any excuse they can 
 
 * make to keep their child away from school.' ' 
 Paragraph 104 : 
 
 75
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " Idleness is a pronounced feature of the 
 " backwardness of the country population. Wit- 
 " nesses examined before the Royal Commission 
 " have ascribed the indigency in the country 
 "more frequently to idleness than to any other 
 " cause. The presence of the native as a docile 
 " manual worker, and the easy life which a pas- 
 " toral style of farming permits, have naturally 
 " led the country population to take a lazy, 
 " indolent view of life. A low standard of liv- 
 " ing, the absence of any stimulus to effort, either 
 " from the climate or the example of their neigh- 
 " bours, and a profound ignorance of improved 
 " methods of farming, have prevented them from 
 " realising the value of hard labor intelligently 
 " applied, and made it easy for them to acquiesce 
 " readily in existing conditions. These charac- 
 " teristics obtain among the bushveld and low 
 " country population. Unfortunately, they are 
 " common among a great part of the high veld 
 " population as well. One witness said 
 
 ' I consider that there is a general dis- 
 " ' inclination to manual labor by the country 
 " ' people, and a great objection to working for 
 
 ' wages, because they are usually nearly as low 
 " ' as Kaffir wages. This is due to idleness and 
 
 76
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ' sentiment, because most of those termed as 
 ' indigent would be far better off and compara- 
 ' tively comfortable if they earned 6 per 
 ' month, at which rate I think there would be 
 * employment all round/ ' 
 Paragraph no: 
 
 " Perhaps the best way of illustrating the back- 
 " ward condition of the back-country people is 
 " to describe the home life of some typical repre- 
 " sentatives of the older population. There are, 
 " of course, a large number of progressive and 
 " up-to-date Boer farmers in the Transvaal, just 
 " as there are many indolent and backward immi- 
 " grant settlers. But the older Boer population 
 " is resolutely retrogressive. The system of 
 " farming of the Boer is still that of the voor- 
 " trekker. It cannot really be called farming at 
 " all. It is unsystematic, primitive and wasteful. 
 " It consists mainly in tending a few cattle and a 
 " flock of sheep and goats. The principles of 
 " scientific stock-breeding are not understood 
 " and their importance is not appreciated. Cattle 
 " are simply treated as a convenient form of pro- 
 " perty and are left mainly to themselves. Agri- 
 " culture is limited to scratching a patch of 
 " ground in which to grow the mealies, which 
 
 77
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " form the staple food of the inhabitants of the 
 " farm, and of which a few bags may be sold to 
 " a neighbouring storekeeper. The whole exist- 
 " ence of the backward -Boer farmer is arranged 
 " on a hand-to-mouth basis. His dwelling- 
 " house is generally of poor quality, his outhouse 
 " accommodation ramshackle and inadequate, his 
 " garden, if he has one at all, untidy and unkept. 
 ' There are no plantations of trees to shelter 
 " the homestead and supply fuel or fencing 
 " wood. When he has money it is often spent 
 " in tinned provisions inferior to the food which 
 " he might grow for himself. Mealie porridge is 
 " cooked in large quantities on one or two days 
 " in the week and left in a bowl on the table, and 
 " the children come in and take a piece when they 
 " feel hungry, without ever sitting down to a 
 " proper meal. The clothing is usually old and 
 " dirty, except in the case of the young girls, who 
 " are often dressed in cheap finery. While they 
 " have the greatest attachment to the land which 
 " they own they do not seem to think of making 
 " a home upon it, as the farmers in the older dis- 
 " tricts of the Cape Colony do. On the contrary, 
 " their whole scheme of life still suggests ' the 
 " trek.' " 
 
 78
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE BOER CONTINUED 
 
 I" F in the foregoing chapter I have occupied 
 myself largely with the Report of the Royal 
 Commission on Indigency of 1908, it is be- 
 cause I desire to obviate any charge of exagger- 
 ation. The true conditions of South Africa are 
 known to so few people abroad that any writer's 
 unsupported statement of the actual facts might 
 well be regarded with suspicion. For my own 
 part I freely confess that when I was first 
 informed that a considerable proportion of the 
 meagre white population consisted of illiterate 
 indigents I could not accept the assertion. Per- 
 sonal experience and observation, however, soon 
 compelled conviction. Moving about among 
 
 79
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the people in the rural districts, I found archaic 
 habits and manners the rule, modern methods 
 and ways of life the exception. In the larger 
 towns most of the people are decently educated 
 and their views more or less progressive, but in 
 the villages and " dorps " the situation is re- 
 versed; and the outer veld is populated almost 
 exclusively with men and women who are 
 anachronistic survivals of a bygone age. The 
 official census for Cape Colony, the most forward 
 of all the provinces of the Union, taken in 1904, 
 shows that out of a total white population of 
 568,000 souls there are 134,000 who can neither 
 read nor write. No other state in the civilised 
 world has such a staggering proportion of 
 illiterates except the Transvaal and the O.R.C. 
 provinces, where the conditions are as bad and 
 probably worse. South African illiteracy per- 
 tains chiefly to the Boer, i.e., to the farmer of 
 Dutch origin. The term " Boer " has come of 
 late years to signify the Dutch Afrikander in a 
 generic sense : but its real meaning is " farmer," 
 and the Dutch themselves limit its application to 
 those of their race who dwell upon the soil. The 
 genesis of the Boer is curiously mixed. Accord- 
 ing to the popular idea both in South Africa and 
 
 80
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 elsewhere, he is a pure-blooded Dutchman, but 
 that is far from being the case. South Africa 
 was originally colonised by Dutchmen and 
 French Huguenots, in the proportion of about 
 70 to 30. The Dutch being in so large a 
 majority lost no time in assuming the upper 
 hand. They passed laws sternly prohibiting the 
 use of the French tongue, and banning it under 
 heavy penalties from the schools. The Hugue- 
 nots long, yet fruitlessly, protested against this 
 tyranny, and finally they submitted to the inevit- 
 able. There followed a gradual amalgamation 
 of the two races : but, despite the overwhelming 
 numerical superiority of the Dutch, the French 
 blood strongly asserted itself in the resultant pro- 
 duct of admixture, and one of the most striking 
 features of Boerdom observable throughout 
 South Africa to-day is the survival of distinctive 
 French names, manners and characteristics. In 
 fact, nearly all the leading Boer families, together 
 with most of those Dutchmen who, because of 
 their superior education and advanced habits of 
 thought, occupy positions of commanding influ- 
 ence in the provinces and in the sphere of 
 national politics are direct descendants of 
 Huguenot chieftains, and very many of them 
 
 81
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 retain their French ancestral patronymics. This 
 curious line of racial cleavage so universally 
 obtains that it may be laid down as a general 
 rule that the progressive Boers are those in 
 whose veins the proportion of French blood is 
 comparatively large, and that the backward and 
 unprogressive Boers are those in whose veins the 
 proportion of French blood is comparatively 
 small. 
 
 Four centuries of Dutch and French inter- 
 marriage and mutual absorption have not availed 
 as yet completely to merge and submerge the 
 rival national peculiarities : and we see in South 
 Africa at this moment two separate classes of 
 Boers, although only one prevailing type. This 
 type is highly distinctive, original and interest- 
 ing. The average Boer, whatever may be the 
 accident of his relative agents of ancestry, nearly 
 always rings true to the evolved racial model. 
 The women are large of frame, fleshy, and in a 
 florid sense, comely. The men are magnificent. 
 The typical Boer farmer from the veld stands 
 well over six feet high. He has the body of a 
 Hercules, and a big, shapely brachycephalic 
 head, with limitless capacities of mental de- 
 velopment. The men usually wear beards, 
 
 82
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 beards that are always thin and as long as the 
 hair can be trained to grow. To deal first with 
 the majority that is to say, the unprogressive 
 Boers it should be said at once that they con- 
 stitute one of the gravest immediate social 
 problems of United South Africa. They dislike 
 the towns, and dwell in large numbers in the outer 
 veld, remote from civilising influences. For 
 hundreds of years they have led isolated lives, 
 and the standard of civilisation of the existing 
 generation belongs to the sixteenth century. The 
 languorous climate of the veld, the loneliness, 
 laziness and simple method of their lives, and 
 the ease with which they have always been able 
 to maintain themselves on their big holdings 
 without personal exertion, by compelling the 
 natives to perform all the work required on their 
 farms, are factors which have combined to pro- 
 duce a singularly ignorant, conservative and 
 slothful people. An illustration will make my 
 meaning clear. 
 
 It was my privilege when In the Transvaal to 
 spend a night and a day in the home of a Boer 
 who, as I took care to ascertain beforehand, was 
 a representative specimen of the backward class. 
 His farm embraced 2,000 acres of excellent 
 
 83
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 country, bordering the Vaal River. His house 
 was a small hovel consisting of one room divided 
 into two by a dirty Hessian bag curtain. One 
 of these compartments belonged to the Boer and 
 his wife : the other was occupied by his children, 
 four in number, two boys and two girls, all over 
 sixteen years of age. When the sleeping hour 
 arrived the Boer and his wife retired to their 
 chamber, and the boys and I went out on the 
 " stoep," or verandah, while the girls undressed 
 and went to bed. When the girls had effected 
 their dispositions for the night, we entered, took 
 off merely our coats and lay down upon shake- 
 downs on the floor beside the girls' beds. Soon 
 the whole family was sleeping like the dead. 
 
 I am assured that the Boer lads seldom com- 
 pletely undress and hardly ever wash all of their 
 bodies. In the morning we were up betimes. I 
 bathed in the river, and was the subject of 
 amazed comment. " Surely only dirty people 
 wash ! " The Boer, on my return, was smoking 
 on the stoep, and drinking coffee. My breakfast 
 consisted of some mealie meal, goat's milk and 
 coffee. The coffee was atrocious. The family 
 ate from the common porridge pot as often as 
 they felt inclined. There were no regular meals, 
 
 84
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 except dinner, when meat was served mutton. 
 About 10 a.m. the Boer left off smoking and 
 ordered a Kaffir to inspan. Very leisurely then 
 he slaughtered a sheep, skinned the beast, and 
 drove away to a distant Kaffir store in an ox cart 
 to trade the skin for a few pence worth of butter 
 and snuff. I roamed about the farm and found 
 it sparsely and poorly stocked. There were a 
 few cattle, a few goats, a trifling flock of sheep. 
 There was no cultivation on the farm, except 
 about four acres of mealies planted for the sub- 
 sistence of the family, and about an eighth of an 
 acre of tobacco planted in the back yard of the 
 homestead. Throughout the day nobody worked 
 except the Kaffirs (for about i^ hours), one of 
 whom was severely thrashed with a sjambok for 
 an inappreciable offence. 
 
 The family loafed consistently from dawn till 
 eve, lounging or sitting on the stoep, smoking, 
 occasionally drinking coffee, and sometimes, but 
 rarely, indulging in a little conversation. They 
 were all, from the father to the youngest child, 
 hopelessly illiterate, and hardly less ignorant 
 than brute beasts. There are thousands of 
 Boers scattered over South Africa who live from 
 year's end to year's end in much the same manner 
 
 85
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 that I have described. They have no ambition. 
 They do not want to better themselves. Their 
 outlook is absolutely uncommercial, and their 
 sole desire is to slide through life as lazily as 
 lotus eaters. Their only amusements are the 
 dance and attendance at a periodical nachtmaal. 
 They live by choice just as their forbears, the 
 first settlers, lived of necessity : and they detest 
 the thought of any other plan of life. 
 
 The national trouble is that those rootedly un- 
 progressive people own much of the best land in 
 South Africa. They will not use it properly 
 themselves : they will not let others use it pro- 
 perly : and the majority of them will not or can- 
 not sell. In the last-named regard, the existing 
 law is a deadly enemy of progress. Nearly all 
 the land in the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony is held on the tenure of the old Roman- 
 Dutch laws, which permits of entail and un- 
 divided ownership. The Roman-Dutch law pro- 
 vided that every child is entitled to a " legitimate 
 portion " of its father's estate. Freedom of be- 
 quest is now allowed throughout South Africa, 
 but the tradition that every child should be left a 
 share in the paternal estate still survives. Scores 
 of the largest Boer farms, in consequence, have 
 
 86
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 many owners, each of whom holds an undivided 
 share of the estate. Many of them are " poor 
 whites " who have been driven to the cities, owing 
 to an excess of population growing up and indo- 
 lently squatting on the soil. But before any such 
 farms can be sold, all the several owners how- 
 ever infinitesimal their portion have to be per- 
 suaded to join in the transfer or to break the 
 entail, a process that is fearfully costly, and 
 which (according to the Master of the Supreme 
 Court in the Transvaal) often takes from three 
 to five years to effectuate, even though most of 
 the owners are willing to sell. Undivided 
 ownership, in short, makes land practically un- 
 saleable and withdraws it from the market. It 
 leads to bad farming, indolence and general 
 backwardness. All the owners have equal rights 
 everywhere, and on a question for the common 
 good they cannot readily agree. The one thing 
 on which they find it easy to concur is to let 
 things slide and trust the issue to Providence. 
 
 Under these conditions the indigent rural 
 population has been produced, and indigence is 
 continually increasing. If the land were pro- 
 ductively utilised there need not be a " poor 
 white " in the country : but the backward Boers 
 
 87
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 will not cultivate more of their holdings than 
 barely sufficient to support life, and the dreadful 
 caste system, which gives the Kaffirs a rigid 
 monopoly of all rough labor, both in town and 
 country, effectually excludes poor whites from 
 employment on the soil. Boer backwardness 
 and the land tenure system, which so powerfully 
 operates to bar more progressive settlement, are 
 largely accountable for the racial feeling that 
 rages between the Boers and British. The 
 British want land, but cannot get it. They are 
 therefore forced to remain cooped up in the 
 towns and cities. They cannot galvanise the un- 
 progressive Boers into activity, and their impo- 
 tence to improve what cries so sorely for improve- 
 ment makes them bitterly intolerant of the 
 human agents of stagnation. The Boers re- 
 taliate by sticking closely to their farms, and by 
 disdainfully refusing any intercourse with the 
 British. All told, it is a most sorry and futile 
 situation, and it cannot be cured until the tenures 
 created under the Roman-Dutch law have been 
 abrogated, and until some enlightened scheme of 
 compulsory universal education shall have 
 wrested the rising generation of Boers from the 
 
 88
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 old ways of thinking and the miserably inept 
 fashion of their lives. 
 
 It is a relief to turn from contemplation of the 
 idle, listless and ignorant back veld Boers to the 
 modernised and educated section of the race. 
 Unfortunately, the cultured Boers are not yet a 
 numerous class, but they are nevertheless already 
 a tremendous power in the land, and the future 
 of South Africa is in their hands. It would be 
 impossible to discover, the wide world over, a 
 stronger, and in every sense a more satisfactory, 
 human type. The women are bright, intelligent 
 and witty. The men are little short of intel- 
 lectual giants. Educate the average Boer, and 
 the result is a man whose mentality, strength of 
 character, energy, initiative and resource can 
 compare favorably with the highest types of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race. Many of the Boer Minis- 
 terialists now legislating in the Union Parlia- 
 ment, although mostly self taught, are men of 
 extraordinary culture and capacity, and man for 
 man they completely overshadow the intellectual 
 forces of the British Opposition. My experience 
 has impressed upon me a profound conviction 
 that the average Boer however uneducated he 
 may be is possessed of natural abilities which 
 
 89
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 only need development to make him intellectu- 
 ally the equal of the best European minds. 
 
 Nor is it surprising that this should be so, for 
 the average Boer, whether educated or unedu- 
 cated, is farm-bred, and he has lived most of his 
 life in the open air, and if we examine the con- 
 ditions of his birth and breeding, we always find 
 that the magnificent stature which surprises us 
 afresh every time we look upon him, represents 
 a practical illustration of the truth of Darwin's 
 doctrine of the survival of the fittest. The truth 
 is that the average Boer farm house is no nursery 
 of weaklings. The surroundings are so filthy, 
 insanitary and rough, and the Boer housewife's 
 ignorance of the simplest duties of motherhood 
 is so dense, that, although many babies are born, 
 few outlast their infancy. Child mortality on 
 the veld is positively appalling, and were it not 
 that the Boers are enormously prolific the race 
 would have long since tapered towards extinc- 
 tion. The secret of the astonishing physical and 
 mental virility of this people is that death 
 promptly and remorselessly culls out the in- 
 efficients. Those only survive who are born 
 strong and hardy enough to be disease-proof 
 from their birth, and that is why the stranger to 
 
 90
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 this country searches in vain for an undersized or 
 sickly Boer. There are many such, but they are 
 infants, and nearly all are underground. 
 
 The Boers of the veld have hands like women : 
 soft, white (when washed), and unmarked with the 
 signs of labor. Imagine a British working 
 farmer with soft white hands, the skin as smooth 
 as satin ! The Boer farmer, however, does not 
 work. He owes his manual exquisiteness to the 
 Kaffir. The Kaffir's hands are rough enough. 
 He works. The veld Boer's ideals of life are 
 sensual. He exists for the pleasures of the flesh. 
 He eats hugely. He marries early. He lives 
 in his wife's apron pocket. The woman who 
 commands universal Boer admiration is the 
 sturdily built, well-sexed house frau, the big 
 feeder and big breeder. The following account 
 of an exalted specimen of the popular type was 
 published in a recent number of the " Volks- 
 stem " : 
 
 ' Theilar M. de Beer : born October 2Oth, 
 " 1832, married at 18, Petrus Jacobus Lubbe, I 
 " child. Husband died in two years. After 
 " being 10 months a widow married Nicolaas 
 " Marthinius Pretorious, a widower with 3 
 "children. Lived with him 17 months when he 
 
 91
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " died, leaving her with 4 children. After 5 
 " months widowhood she married David Steph- 
 " anus Pieterse, a widower with 7 children. 
 " Lived with him 1 1 years and bore 7 children. 
 " He died. After 5 years singleness married 
 " Daniel Lodewiekus Cronje, a widower with 8 
 " children. She lived with him 1 1 years and 
 " had 4 children. He died. Five years later 
 " she married Hendrik Klopper. Lived with 
 " him 1 1 years and bore 10 children. He died. 
 " Two years later married Coenraad Hendrik von 
 " Wijk, a widower with 5 children. Lived with 
 " him 1 1 years and bore him 4 children. He 
 " died. Theila M. de Beer is still alive, aged 
 " 78 years. There are 50 persons living who 
 " call her mother. She has 270 grandchildren." 
 The Boers are proud of this lady's record. 
 Such women are patterns and exemplars : objects 
 of public veneration. The veld Boers are evi- 
 dently not a decadent race despite their stubborn 
 backwardness : yet they have the aggressiveness 
 of a type that is assailed. They are aggressive 
 in everything. Their voices are harsh and 
 strident and challenging. They are extremely 
 clannish. Their solidarity is absolute. Their 
 attitude to outsiders is sullen, suspicious and 
 
 92
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 vindictive. Their moral sense is primitive. 
 " Verneukery " is a practice which wins smiles 
 of approbation whenever an instance of its suc- 
 cessful operation is related. Verneukery is the 
 art of getting the better of an opponent by 
 trickery and deception. To be " slim," that is 
 to say, to show cleverness in the management of 
 affairs of the wily and less scrupulous sort, is to 
 be admired. " Slimness " in fact, is accounted 
 as something very like a social virtue, and it 
 rather inspires confidence than provokes distrust. 
 The Boers have a proverb : " One can have too 
 much regard for the truth." It expresses their 
 moral sense very accurately. 
 
 NOTE. Up to the present moment (December, 1912) the only 
 noteworthy attempt that has been made by the South African 
 Government to grapple with the problems of the " by-woner " and 
 the indigent white population, consists in the enaction during the 
 session of 1912 of a Land Settlement Bill. This measure permits of 
 the granting of small areas of land to the indigents and by-woners, 
 and also provides for advances of public money to the grantees at 
 lower rates of interest than would be charged in the usual course of 
 business, in order to facilitate productive settlement on the granted 
 holdings. The measure has potentialities of usefulness if it be 
 wisely, patiently, and capably administered, but it has not yet 
 achieved any results and, of necessity, many years must elapse be- 
 fore it can possibly ameliorate the conditions with which it proposes 
 to deal. Of itself it can never abrogate indigence, for the reason 
 that it does not strike at the causes of the disease, but merely treats 
 the symptoms. In short, it is a palliative and nothing more. 
 
 93
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 the least remarkable feature in South 
 African life is the fact that the political 
 thought of the country is, broadly speak- 
 ing, unprogressive. There are two great oppos- 
 ing parties in the National Parliament, but the 
 only serious issue which divides them is the racial 
 question. Apart from that, they aim at cognate 
 goals, they profess the same ideals, and their 
 policies are undistinguishable. Both parties are 
 essentially conservative. The Dutch National- 
 ists, led by General Botha, represent in chief the 
 people of the veld, and their fundamental raison 
 d'etre is to protect the farmer from taxation, to 
 preserve him in the undisturbed possession of his 
 
 94
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 holdings, to maintain his old-time privileges 
 intact, and to assure him a continued supply of 
 cheap black labor. The Unionists represent the 
 people of the cities and the mines, and they have 
 kindred objects to promote. The mining mag- 
 nate is their special protege. It is their business 
 to see that the mines shall never lack an abun- 
 dance of colored labor : to take care that the 
 capitalists shall not be distressed with any such 
 legislative attempts to redress social evils and 
 industrial grievances as might result in increas- 
 ing the cost of gold and diamond production : to 
 protect the aristocracy of skilled white workers 
 from the encroachments of educated blacks, and 
 finally to maintain undisturbed the negro 
 monopoly of the unskilled labor market. 
 
 The two parties regard each other's special 
 objects with sympathy. They are at daggers 
 drawn on the language and education, that is to 
 say, the racial question, but on most other matters 
 they are perfectly willing to give and take. 
 There is a tacit agreement between them to 
 scratch each other's backs. No Dutchman wants 
 to hurt the mining magnate, and on the other 
 hand no British Unionist is at all eager to hurt 
 the farmer. Everybody recognises that the agri- 
 
 95
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 cultural progress of the country is being ob- 
 structed and retarded by the curse of over large 
 and unwieldy estates, and by the laziness, general 
 thriftlessness and archaic methods of the Boer 
 agrestic population. But there is no serious in- 
 tention anywhere manifest to apply legislative 
 pressure to make the farmer reduce the size of his 
 holding or bring his land into productive occu- 
 pation. There is talk of reform, it is true, but it 
 is all in the direction of persuasive effort. The 
 Boer farmer must be taught, both parties say, 
 that it is in his own best interest to put his land 
 to the best possible use : but when asked how 
 they propose to accomplish this important duty, 
 they reply : " We will gradually wean him from 
 " his old-fashioned ways by showing him what 
 " well managed State farms can do." In other 
 words, the South African farmer, who has always 
 been the petted darling of the State, who has 
 always been held immune from any form of tax- 
 ation, who has always been, and still is, the 
 greatest obstacle to the national development, 
 and who has shown himself in a thousand ways 
 to be conservative and scornfully impervious to 
 instruction, is to have his ancient privileges, 
 exemptions and immunities preserved inviolate. 
 
 96
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 By way of a graceful return to the Unionists 
 for so kindly consenting to leave the Boer farmer 
 alone, the Dutch Nationalists are prepared to 
 help the mining magnates and other capitalists 
 in every way possible. It is evident to all who 
 have eyes to see that the white laborer must ulti- 
 mately go to the wall in South Africa unless the 
 caste prejudice which now prevents a white man 
 doing unskilled work is broken down. The 
 mining magnate, however, cares nothing for the 
 future of white labor. His fixed ambition is to 
 earn big dividends as long as he can : therefore, 
 he cries continually for more cheap unskilled 
 black workers, and does his utmost to fortify the 
 prevailing caste prejudice. Strange to say, he 
 is helped in both directions by the expert white 
 artisans in his employ. The reason is that the 
 vast majority of the artisans now working on the 
 mines and in other trades in South Africa con- 
 sists of foreign immigrants drawn from the over- 
 crowded European centres of population. 
 Accustomed in the countries of their origin to 
 labor for a pittance, they are supremely content 
 with the superior conditions and high wages 
 obtaining at present in the land of their adoption. 
 They get from i to 3O/- a day in South Africa 
 
 97
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 where in Europe they hardly earned as much per 
 week. They have all the rough parts of their 
 work performed for them by Kaffirs. They 
 seldom need to soil their hands, and they live 
 like gentlemen. Being, for the most part, unedu- 
 cated, selfish and short-sighted men, it is impos- 
 sible to persuade them that the advantages they 
 now enjoy will not last for ever. They see their 
 children growing up deprived of any opportunity 
 to become skilled workers because shut off by 
 the caste prejudice from the ordinary primary 
 avenues of trade instruction. They see trained 
 Kaffirs constantly taking the place of the whites. 
 They see the number of expert white workers 
 constantly reduced in proportion to the rapidly 
 increasing numbers of colored laborers. But 
 these facts carry little or no meaning to their 
 minds. Their attitude may be expressed in a 
 sentence : " We are happy after us the deluge. 
 " Who cares for that ? We shan't be there to 
 " see." Their sole thought is to restrict com- 
 petition in the skilled labor market in order to 
 ensure the maintenance of their own good for- 
 tune, and so they vote the conservative ticket 
 every time, decry immigration, and shut their 
 eyes and ears to all other liberal ideals. 
 
 98
 
 In these circumstances the captains of South 
 African industry experience no difficulty worthy 
 of mention in doing and getting what they want. 
 Assisted by their purblind tools, the white labor- 
 ing aristocrats in their employ, they have secured 
 a political power and representation of inordinate 
 dimensions, and as the Dutch Nationalists 
 neither desire nor dare to oppose them they may 
 be described with perfect truth to-day as the 
 industrial dictators of the country. There is, of 
 course, one cloud on their political horizon the 
 political labor party. But it is a very small cloud 
 consisting of only three members in a House 
 of 75, and it causes the magnates no serious 
 alarm. Poor little Labor party ! There is 
 something infinitely pathetic in its present posi- 
 tion. Of right, the support of every white 
 manual worker in South Africa belongs to it. for 
 its ideals are broad-minded, progressive and 
 democratic, without being tainted or defaced with 
 rabid Socialistic doctrine. It aims at the estab- 
 lishment of a South African democracy : the 
 opening up of the unskilled labor market to the 
 whites : the destruction of caste prejudice : uni- 
 versal compulsory education : a standard living 
 wage : an eight hours day, and equality of oppor- 
 
 99
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tunity for all. Yet it is scorned and despised by 
 the people whom, and whose children, it seeks to 
 benefit. The unions look at it askance. The 
 mining magnates fear it, and have declared war 
 against it penalising with dismissal any of their 
 employes who venture to join its ranks. The 
 Dutch Nationalists ignore its existence, and the 
 Unionists treat it as a joke. As an illustration 
 of its absolute insignificance in this thoroughly 
 and essentially aristocratic country, it is worth 
 while recalling the incident of the Australian 
 Prime Minister's departure from Capetown on 
 loth December, 1910. 
 
 Mr. Fisher sailed about five o'clock in the 
 afternoon. The day was bright, the weather 
 mild and balmy : it was Saturday, and all the 
 manual workers in the city were, in consequence, 
 at liberty. The occasion seemed to demand a 
 great Labor demonstration. An attempt was 
 made, indeed, to arrange one. The result was 
 pitiful. There assembled on the wharf to bid 
 good-bye to the Prime Minister and leader of 
 the Labor party in Australia, two Labor members 
 of the Union Parliament and exactly five local 
 Labor sympathisers. One of the Labor mem- 
 bers present pointed to the little gathering and 
 
 100
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 said in a tone between tears and laughter, " Now, 
 " perhaps, you will understand more clearly the 
 " place we occupy, the forces we have to fight." 
 Yet on this meagre party, numerically con- 
 temptible as it now is, rest all the hopes which 
 any well-wisher can form of South Africa's 
 social, industrial and political development. It 
 is the only force in the continent which has dared 
 to part company with laissez-faire, and it repre- 
 sents the only section of the people which is pro- 
 foundly dissatisfied with existing conditions and 
 is determinedly bent upon reforms. The fight 
 will be a long one and a hard one, for all too 
 many of the present generation are rootedly 
 conservative. The movement has not been 
 auspiciously started, nevertheless it is bound to 
 grow and gather strength as it proceeds, for it is 
 controlled by generous, able and rarely unselfish 
 spirits men like Mr. Cresswell and Senator 
 Whiteside, who have made great personal sacri- 
 fices for the sake of the ideal inspiring them 
 and it stands for all that is best and most creative 
 in the political thought and social aspirations of 
 the State. 
 
 101
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE RULERS OF THE COUNTRY 
 
 nPHERE are three big men in South Africa 
 in whose hands it may be said with truth 
 the country's political destinies of the near 
 future reside. All three are Boer patriots and 
 soldiers Generals Botha, Smuts and Hertzog. 
 They lead and control the present Union Minis- 
 try and its supporters. 
 
 General Louis Botha is a tall, heavily built 
 man, just entering his $oth year. His com- 
 plexion is sallow, his eyes and hair are jetty 
 black, and he wears a tire-bouchon beard, as 
 though to emphasise deliberately the characteris- 
 tics of his Huguenot descent, which uncon- 
 sciously display themselves in gestures when- 
 
 102
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ever he is strongly moved. General Botha 
 began life as a farmer. In 1884 he trekked to 
 Vryheid, and played an active part in the creation 
 of the new Republic, holding office as Native 
 Commissioner until the incorporation of the 
 Republic in the Transvaal in 1888. For eight 
 years subsequently he was a commissioner and 
 field-cornet for the Transvaal Government. His 
 rapid rise to fame during the last South African 
 war need not be recalled. It is sufficient to say 
 that he evinced qualities of heart and mind in the 
 course of his campaigning which not only en- 
 deared him to his countrymen, but marked him 
 out as pre-eminently fitted to be the first Prime 
 Minister of a united Boer-British South Africa. 
 General Botha is a supreme type of the self- 
 made man. He had little if any schooling. He 
 taught himself to read and write, and it is only 
 during quite recent years that he has troubled 
 his head about the graces of life. Such, however, 
 is his genius that to-day no more highly cultured 
 gentleman can be found in the sub-continent. 
 Undoubtedly his most valuable personal asset is 
 a fund of tact which enables him to reconcile the 
 bitterest antagonisms and to win the confidence 
 and sympathy of friends and opponents with 
 
 103
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 almost equal facility. In conversing with him 
 one is charmed into at least a temporary acqui- 
 escence with his point of view, and so gentle are 
 his methods, so magnetically engaging his man- 
 ners, that all sense of the virility and unbending 
 strength of purpose of the man is forgotten. It 
 is only when time and consideration have worn 
 through the influences exerted by his personality 
 that one remembers and fully recognises the iron 
 forces that operate behind his velvety, soft, im- 
 penetrable mask. General Botha is a man of 
 mystery. He is liked by all the people of South 
 Africa, and no less by the Dutch extremists than 
 by those British who most intemperately abhor 
 the Dutch. He speaks all parties fair, and each 
 party believes that his utterances to it alone are 
 true. Whether he is a sincere Imperialist, or, 
 on the contrary, a Boer of the old school, but one 
 man in the world can say for certain. That man 
 is General Louis Botha. 
 
 General J. C. Smuts, who is eight years 
 younger than his chief, is a very different sort of 
 man. He was educated at Victoria College, 
 where he graduated with double honours in 1891. 
 Proceeding to Cambridge University, he gradu- 
 ated at law with a double first, and then repaired 
 
 104
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to Capetown and Johannesburg, where he prac- 
 tised at the bar until 1898, when he became 
 Attorney- General in Paul Kruger's Government. 
 When the war broke out he served with distinc- 
 tion under Joubert in Natal, and at a later stage 
 he held an independent command, and was one 
 of the principal negotiators of the Treaty of 
 Vereeniging. After the peace he returned to his 
 practice at the bar, and also played a prominent 
 part in the political life of the Transvaal, joining 
 the Botha Cabinet as Colonial Secretary on the 
 grant of responsible government in 1907. 
 General Smuts was formerly Minister of Internal 
 Affairs and Defence for the Union, but since 
 the reconstruction of the Ministry he has re- 
 linquished the Department of the Interior and 
 become Minister of Finance. He may be best 
 described as a born politician and Parliamen- 
 tarian. He appears to possess a deep intuitive 
 knowledge of every trick and turn of the game, 
 and nothing delights him more than an oppor- 
 tunity to display his cleverness. He is a brilliant 
 man in every sense of the expression, and is 
 generally admitted to be the " brains of the 
 " Ministry." General Smuts's outstanding 
 ability, however, is marred to some extent and 
 
 105
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 despoiled of its proper merit and reward by an 
 unfortunate disposition to reach his goal by 
 strategical rather than by direct paths. Pride of 
 intellect, perhaps, is the cause of it : but the trait 
 is not one to be extolled, and it is accumulating 
 for the General a formidable list of enemies 
 amongst those he has outmatched in political 
 dexterity. His reputation is already tainted 
 with a suspicion of " slimness," but he is either 
 unconscious or indifferent. He is indispensable 
 to the Government, and General Botha leans 
 upon his talents without concealment. In per- 
 son, General Smuts is quite the representative 
 Boer of the better class. He is broad shouldered, 
 tall and slim; strong of limb and abounding in 
 vital energy. His features are regular, his ex- 
 pression is full of cheer : he wears a fair Vandyck 
 beard which masks a mouth now mobile and 
 suave as that of a Borgia, now stark, hard and 
 unyielding. 
 
 General J. Barry Munnik Hertzog, Minister 
 of Justice and Minister of Native Affairs for the 
 Union, is just turned 46 years of age. ' Like 
 General Smuts, he has had a brilliant University 
 career (he is Doctor of Laws) : he held a dis- 
 tinguished command in the Boer War, and he 
 
 1 06
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 helped to negotiate the peace of Vereeniging. 
 But there all resemblance between the pair 
 ceases. General Hertzog is a man utterly in- 
 capable of dissimulation, slimness or diplomacy. 
 He is a stout patriot and a Boer of extremist 
 views. His character is downright and trans- 
 parently simple. Nothing could induce him to 
 compromise with his convictions or to withhold 
 their fullest and frankest utterance. He is as 
 staunch and as honest as the sun : an unfailing 
 friend, a relentless enemy. The Boers have 
 given their hearts beyond recall into his keeping. 
 He is their most completely trusted champion, 
 and his inclusion in the Botha Ministry is re- 
 garded as the surest pledge and guarantee of 
 Dutch solidarity and the continuexl supremacy 
 of the race. The simplicity, sincerity, and sterl- 
 ing honesty of General Hertzog are forces that 
 promise him a greater career in South Africa than 
 could be ensured by mere capacity. Yet he is a 
 remarkably able man as well. His range of 
 learning is wide and deep. He is familiar with 
 the best literature of the three greatest languages. 
 He fully understands the problems that confront 
 his country, and he has devoted his life to their 
 solution. Unhappily, he likes Englishmen so 
 
 107
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 little that it would be impossible for him to break 
 bread at the table of a British Prince. His 
 physique is less commanding than that of any 
 of his colleagues. Slightly under the average 
 height of his countrymen, his figure, nevertheless, 
 is strong and stocky. His face is grim and stern, 
 the brows broad, the eyes suggest a cast, the 
 mouth is firm and stubborn. He wears a short 
 moustache : his chin, breaking all Boer rules, is 
 shaven. The description may appear unattrac- 
 tive, but no mere description of his person could 
 do General Hertzog justice, since all manifesta- 
 tion of his power and charm (and he has much of 
 both) reside in his manner. That is rarely 
 fascinating, and he is moreover one of the most 
 fluent, witty and entertaining conversationalists 
 that the community can boast. 
 
 NOTE. General Hertzog is no longer a member of the Union 
 Government. About the middle of last December he gave utterance 
 to a strongly anti-Imperial speech, which caused so much offence 
 to the Prime Minister that General Botha promptly tendered his 
 resignation to the Governor. General Botha subsequently formed a 
 new Administration, from which General Hertzog was excluded. More 
 than ever, now, General Hertzog leads and represents that section of 
 the South African community which is anti-British in sentiment, which 
 is irreconcilably antipathetic to Imperial ideals, and aims at the 
 " Dutchification " of the sub-continent. The action of General 
 Christian De Wet in resigning from the Union Council of Defence, 
 as a protest against the exclusion of General Hertzog from the 
 reconstructed Cabinet, demonstrates how idolatrously the latter is 
 regarded by Boers of the older school. As a free-lance politician 
 General Hertzog bids fair to prove a thorn in the side of his late 
 Ministerial associates. The formation of an extremist Dutch Party 
 in the constituencies and in Parliament may be confidently predicted. 
 
 1 08
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND GENERAL 
 
 T N its geological structure, South Africa may be 
 roughly divided into three great regions 
 (i) that of the ancient rocks of the interior, 
 comprising the Transvaal, Rhodesia, Bechuana- 
 land and the Western plains : (2) the Karoo 
 region, and (3) the mountainous region between 
 the Karroo and the south coast. The first of 
 these regions consists of very old sedimentary 
 rocks that have been intruded upon by granite 
 and diorite; and of still more ancient sedi- 
 mentary beds. These rocks yield the whole of 
 the country's output of metallic wealth. In the 
 flat interior they are overlain with thick deposits 
 of sand. The greater part of this area is grass- 
 
 109
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 covered veld, and the rainfall ranges from 18 to 
 20 inches. 
 
 The second region is a dry and monotonous 
 tract, infinitely dreary and desolate. Great 
 piles of volcanic rocks, with frequent sheets 
 and dykes of ironstone, rise from the flat 
 beds, and the only mineral to be found is coal. 
 The chief feature in the Karroo scenery is the 
 repeated apparition of table-shaped and sharp 
 pointed mountains formed by the denudation of 
 soft rocks capped with hard diorite or sandstone. 
 There are more than 100,000 square miles of this 
 waste. Verdure is unknown. Few deserts have 
 a more stern and forbidding aspect, and the 
 average annual rainfall is only about 10 inches. 
 The land is destitute of grass, but is covered with 
 sparse growths of a tiny brown shrub (the 
 " karroo " plant), which looks like stunted sun- 
 parched broom : nevertheless this uninviting stuff 
 supports animal life, and wherever water can be 
 conserved yields nourishment to thousands of 
 sheep and goats. 
 
 The third region is built up principally of 
 rocks, intermediate in age between those of the 
 first and second regions, thrown into arches and 
 troughs. It is distinguished by a well distributed 
 
 no
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 rainfall of from 20 to 39 inches, and by frequent 
 rich strips of alluvium, and in consequence is the 
 chief agricultural region of South Africa. Most 
 of the South African diamonds come from 
 peculiar rocks that fill the vents of extinct vol- 
 canoes. The productive " pipes " are few, and 
 the river diamonds have all been washed from 
 such pipes in ancient times. 
 
 The rivers are not numerous, and far between. 
 None are navigable beyond their estuaries, save 
 the Limpopo, the Zangwe, and the Zambesi, 
 and the more southern streams do not run all the 
 year round. All are liable to sudden floods, 
 which sweep down from the glassy, treeless 
 mountains with torrential violence as often as 
 rain falls, and render the fords impassable till 
 they subside. In my journey of more than 5,000 
 miles through and across the sub-continent, I 
 found evidence at almost every turn of the ter- 
 rible mischief caused to the country through its 
 lack of larger vegetation. The hills and moun- 
 tains, being for the most part absolutely destitute 
 of trees, are unable to hold or check the down- 
 ward flow of the waters which fall from the 
 heavens on their sides. They are usually as 
 bare and bleak as polished steel. When it rains, 
 
 in
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 therefore, a thousand foaming cataracts dash of 
 a sudden like destructive furies into the valleys 
 and upon the plains, and every rain storm tears 
 and scores new and unnumbered watercourses 
 through the alluvial overburden of the foothills 
 and the flats. Thus whole districts are laid waste 
 in the course of a few moments, and the patient 
 labor of the farmer may vanish into nothingness 
 before his eyes. The people call these " wash- 
 outs " dongas. Their number is legion, and 
 every district groans perennially beneath their 
 accursed visitations. 
 
 There is no blinking the fact that the major 
 portion of South Africa is a desert and can never 
 be aught else. The agricultural future of the 
 sub-continent is beset with innumerable difficul- 
 ties, hardships, handicaps and perils. The culti- 
 vation of wheat and other cereals can only be 
 prosperously undertaken in certain highly 
 favored and rigidly restricted localities, owing to 
 the circumstance that in most places rain only 
 falls in the summer months, and in winter the 
 country becomes a parched, cold and arid wilder- 
 ness. Few of the South African rivers are used 
 extensively for irrigation, and there are no great 
 national irrigation works. A large aggregate 
 
 112
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 area is under irrigated culture, especially in the 
 Paarl, Worcester, Oudtshoorn and Robertson 
 districts of the Cape and the Transvaal : but 
 there is no cohesion or co-ordination in this form 
 of enterprise, and the Victorian farmers would 
 regard the individual efforts of their South 
 African cousins, separately or en masse, with 
 astonishment not unmingled with contempt. 
 Much of the Cape's irrigable north-west is given 
 over to the cultivation of fruits, especially the 
 vine. Few fruits thrive in the Australian sense, 
 but the grape is an exception. 
 
 South Africa has built up a considerable wine 
 industry. There are about 32,000 acres of 
 vineyards in Cape Colony, and they produce 
 with an abundance unknown in any other part of 
 the world, the average yield exceeding 500 gal- 
 lons from 1,000 vines. The average annual* 
 production is about 6,000,000 gallons of red and 
 white wines, about 1,500,000 gallons of brandy or 
 other spirit, 115,000 gallons of vinegar, and 
 2,000,000 Ib. of raisins. The native wine is for 
 the most part somewhat crude to the palate, being 
 
 * There was a material shrinkage of grape and wine production 
 throughout the Union in 1912, due in a measure to the drought. 
 A. P.
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 sour and thin, but there are some very excellent 
 wines on sale, and the majority only need to be 
 properly fortified and matured to command 
 attention. Gradually the people of South Africa 
 are becoming a wine drinking race, but the indus- 
 try can hardly be said to flourish yet, for the viti- 
 culturists have not merely the phylloxera to con- 
 tend with, they have to fight a local prejudice 
 against their produce, and hitherto the wine 
 duties of Britain have prevented their acquiring 
 a strong foothold in the English market. Prob- 
 ably Australia has more to fear from South 
 African competition in the wine trade than in 
 any other form of agricultural competitive enter- 
 prise. It is certain, at any rate, that Australian 
 wines can never find a profitable market in South 
 Africa. They are practically unknown there, 
 and will, in all likelihood, continue to remain 
 unknown. 
 
 For the rest, Australia has to face the prospect 
 of a continuous diminution in her large present 
 export of cereals and butter to the Union. The 
 farmers of South Africa are beginning, however 
 slowly, to appreciate the disgrace of being fed 
 from abroad. (Vide Appendix " D.") The 
 spirit of the people has been aroused. A de- 
 
 114
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 mand for protectionist duties is heard from 
 many sides, and despite all difficulties, wheat cul- 
 tivation and dairying enterprise are increasing. 
 However, a point must eventually be reached 
 beyond which such forms of agricultural produc- 
 tion cannot extend, and when that time comes (it 
 will be expedited by an increase of population) 
 the demand for Australian flour and butter must 
 revive and be enlarged. 
 
 Just now South Africa is living on gold, dia- 
 monds, ostrich feathers, wine and wool and 
 mealies. Next to gold and diamonds, feather 
 raising is the most profitable of the country's in- 
 dustries. The ostrich yields between ; 2,000,000 
 and ; 3,000,000 per annum to the sub-continent 
 There are some 500,000 birds in South Africa, 
 and they yield an average of from $ to ^5 
 worth of feathers per caput per annum. The 
 people are buying Australian rams of the best 
 quality in wholesale fashion, in the hope of im- 
 proving their own breeds : but they are jealously 
 determined to prevent the export of a single 
 ostrich or ostrich egg to the Commonwealth. A 
 statute is on the tapis to constitute such a thing 
 a criminal offence, and to punish offenders with 
 a fine of ^500, and twelve months' penal servi- 
 
 "5
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tude. All signs point to the enaction of this law 
 in the near future, but alas ! for the vanity of 
 such mean spirited effort. The people like the 
 ostrich they wish to guard and keep to them- 
 selves having sensed a danger, bury their heads 
 in the sand. They are bound by an inviolable 
 treaty with the Portuguese not to prevent the 
 export of birds to Portuguese territory. Austra- 
 lians, therefore, need only go to Delagoa Bay to 
 obtain all the ostriches they may require, and thus 
 they may quite legally, although indirectly, de- 
 feat the Union's mean and panic stricken pre- 
 cautions. 
 
 Stock raising in South Africa hardly deserves 
 the name of an industry. The goats run to 
 millions, but most are rubbish. Most of the 
 sheep are only useful for food, being the ancient 
 fat-tailed breed, whose wool is worthless. Good 
 dairy herds are almost non-existent : and the 
 cattle, generally speaking, are of so small and 
 wretched a type that they can never take a place 
 in the meat markets of the world. Disease holds 
 this industry in the hollow of its yellow palm, 
 and sternly prohibits its expansion and improve- 
 ment. 
 
 Apart from all political problems, the travel- 
 116
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ler's general impression of South Africa is one 
 of gloom and desolation. The vast bulk of the 
 sub-continent is a barren, pest-ridden wilderness, 
 where only the black man can live or hope to 
 thrive. One passes across thousands of miles of 
 monotonous veld, and sees no cultivation, no 
 stock worth owning, no sign of comfortable or 
 civilised habitation. The British are walled and 
 cooped up in the mushroom cities : the Boers are 
 scattered sparsely through the lonely plains. 
 The British think only of winning riches from 
 the mines. The Boers, absolutely ambitionless, 
 think only of winning a meagre livelihood from 
 the sour and reluctant soil : and both races alike, 
 corrupted and enervated by their long and un- 
 interrupted dependence on the blacks, " laze " 
 along, do no work themselves save overseeing 
 work, and prosper, or exist, as they prefer, on 
 the slavish toil of the downtrodden aboriginal 
 inhabitants. 
 
 I can conceive no life more lonely and intel- 
 lectually hideous than life on the veld. There 
 is none save infrequent, dull and brutish com- 
 panionship. Culture is an unknown quality. 
 Hardships abound. The blacks are everywhere, 
 and contact with them brutalises and depraves 
 
 117
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the whites. The landscape is either dreadfully 
 monotonous or appallingly grand, but always 
 the eye wanders in a miserable baffled quest for 
 a sign of trees. The veld farms are fenced with 
 wire stretched on stone or iron fences wood 
 there is none. Thousands of miles of iron fences 
 gird the railway lines. The railways are all 
 built on the narrow 3 feet 6 inch gauge, and the 
 lines lie on girders of steel. They pay well be- 
 cause they are the only means of transportation 
 that the country boasts, and because they charge 
 high freights and fares. But the trains are slow 
 and tedious and uncomfortable. 
 
 Dust storms sweep across the plains with every 
 wind whirling maelstroms of blinding sand and 
 powdered soil and this even in the heart of the 
 rainy season of the year. They call the herbage 
 that covers these plains grass : and when at its 
 greenest it is rather brown than green. It grows 
 in far separated clumps bundles of wires and 
 weeds. No wonder the stock that browses on 
 such miserable fodder is small and wretched. 
 And what if gorgeous lilies, tubers and other 
 blooms intersperse the tussocks and light the 
 veld with a thousand colored glories now and 
 then? They are beautiful beyond a doubt, but 
 
 118
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 nearly all are poisonous, and in any case one 
 cannot live on flowers. All this brings one back 
 inexorably to the root fact of South African his- 
 tory. South Africa has been settled for several 
 hundreds of years : it has been fought and bled 
 for by many peoples : to-day its total white 
 population scarcely exceeds 1,200,000 souls. 
 Here is a truth which tells its own tale. 
 
 There are classes in South Africa, but amongst 
 the whites at least there are no masses. The 
 caste system which has replaced the older insti- 
 tution of slavery has effectually compelled even 
 the poorest of the wage earning whites to join 
 forces with the plutocrats in a tacit conspiracy of 
 co-operation to maintain their pride of race and 
 to prevent the social elevation and political 
 emancipation of the blacks. There are probably 
 hundreds of humanely disposed and broad- 
 minded folk in the sub-continent who sympathise 
 deeply with the unfortunate condition of the sub- 
 merged yet ambitious and ever-restless negro 
 hordes, and who, if they had their way, would 
 remove^ all obstacles to the education and im- 
 provement of the Kaffirs. But the voice of these 
 visionaries is seldom raised and their utterances 
 are never heeded by the powerful majority. The 
 
 119
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 rulers of the country seem to be fully conscious 
 of the fact that they are dealing tyrannously and 
 cruelly with the people whose territory and pos- 
 sessions they have usurped : but they excuse 
 themselves by appealing to the primal law of 
 self-preservation. They must continue, they 
 plead, in the way they have begun as the sole 
 alternative to being racially overwhelmed and 
 politically extinguished. And one cannot deny 
 the force of their contention. 
 
 The natives are so physically vigorous and 
 mentally virile, their numbers are so vast, their 
 rate of natural increase is so great and rapid, and 
 their desire to exceed the bounds of the white 
 man's caste prejudice is so keen that it is staringly 
 obvious that their aspirations must be restricted 
 and repressed as a condition precedent to the 
 preservation of white supremacy. Undoubtedly 
 the time will come when they will try conclusions 
 with their present masters and put to some final 
 test the white man's ancient claim to be their 
 overlord and governor. Possibly not for two or 
 three generations will that day arrive, but sooner 
 or later it will come, and the fear of it is a dark 
 shadow that shrouds every white South African's 
 horizon and adds a meed of cruelty to every 
 
 1 20
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 stroke he lays upon his negro servant's shoulders. 
 The original sin of slavery has banded the whites 
 together in a community of ethical criminality. 
 The existing generation blames its fathers for 
 the sin, blames them bitterly, but clings tena- 
 ciously to slavery's modern prototype cheap 
 labor ruled by caste. The whites at one and the 
 same time hate, fear, despise and use the blacks. 
 They cannot do without them. South African 
 civilisation is a marble palace built upon a quag- 
 mire of black, heaving human bodies. Shake 
 or disturb the essential foundation of cheap 
 colored labor, and it would crumble on instant. 
 
 The blacks are an ever-shifting problem. 
 They are docile to-day, but their present docility 
 is turbulence contrasted with their pristine 
 slavishness, and as education spreads among 
 them, their diminishing submissiveness is bound 
 to develop into rebellious independence. By 
 far the most striking feature of social life in 
 South Africa at this moment is the mailed front 
 of insolent and intolerant aristocracy which the 
 whites turn everywhere on the blacks, and on 
 black efforts at encroachment. In most South 
 African towns a curfew bell tolls at a certain hour 
 each night. It is the signal for all natives to re- 
 
 121
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tire from the white man's precincts and hie them 
 home to their miserable huts and habitations in 
 the neighboring black " location." Christianised 
 negroes have churches of their own, and did any 
 black venture to invade the portals of the white 
 man's house of worship he would not merely be 
 driven forth ; his impertinence would be rewarded 
 with the whip. Millionaires and mechanics view 
 the negro through cognate sets of spectacles. The 
 millionaire wants plenty of unskilled cheap labor. 
 The mechanic wants a monopoly of the skilled 
 labor market and, being lazy, he also wants cheap 
 black industrial valets to perform the rougher 
 portions of his work. The millionaire and the 
 mechanic, therefore, have combined to secure 
 the satisfaction of their kindred needs. The 
 blacks are given all the unskilled labor in the 
 land to do, and because they do it at the call of 
 caste, that labor is proscribed from white perform- 
 ance. Thus the class of " poor whites " origin- 
 ated. Every town and city has its unlisted legion 
 of such men. They are unskilled laborers. 
 They would be glad to do unskilled work in any 
 other land : but in South Africa they would not 
 if they dared, and dare not if they would, for the 
 punishment of their offence would be eternal 
 
 122
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ostracism from their kind. " Kaffir's work " is 
 invested with such a horror in the public mind 
 that the very thought of any white engaging in it 
 is a degradation. The " poor whites " must 
 live, however. They live too often by felonious 
 devices, and are mostly rascals. 
 
 There are no servant girls in South Africa. 
 Domestic service is " Kaffir's work " : conse- 
 quently no white woman can perform it. De- 
 prived of this great avenue of female employ- 
 ment, the white daughters of the poor turn to 
 the tea houses and restaurants, which are too few 
 for their needs. Factories there are almost 
 none. The half-caste population is, compara- 
 tively speaking, enormous, especially in the 
 southern towns, and the numbers of " nearly 
 whites " may not be counted. Innumerable Boer 
 families are of tainted blood. Wherever found, 
 the product of miscegenation is usually an out- 
 cast from white society. 
 
 123
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 PROVINCIAL CENTRES 
 
 IETERMARITZBURG, the old capital 
 of Natal, is an exceedingly pretty little 
 city, situated in a hollow at the foot of the 
 towering Drakensburg Mountains, some 70 miles 
 from the coast. Coming from the bleak and 
 lonely Transvaal veld into the rich green garden 
 of Natal is a blessed relief to the traveller : nor 
 is it less delightful to exchange the Babylon-like 
 tumult of Johannesburg for the languorous re- 
 pose of the only truly British town in South 
 Africa. In Maritzburg (as the city is locally 
 called) there is a white population of about 
 15,000, and nearly all the citizens are of British 
 blood. Truly enough the natives and coolies 
 
 124
 
 >.^3fc*- j?~- 
 
 DRAKENSBURG MOUNTAINS
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 outnumber the whites, and are everywhere in 
 evidence : but that is a feature universal in South 
 Africa. The English tongue is omnipresently 
 in use and English manners and customs are 
 notably predominant. But it is not a progressive 
 city. It is beautiful beyond words, with its well 
 paved roads, its splendid public buildings, its 
 fine parks and gardens, and its wonderfully 
 planted streets, shaded everywhere with avenues 
 of lovely tropic trees : but it is a decadent town 
 and its pristine greatness has departed. As a 
 business centre it is a " has been." Commerce 
 has evaded its charming precincts, and, lacking 
 the old spur of political encouragement, as hence- 
 forth it must, it seems doomed to oblivion and 
 decay. 
 
 The people are somnolent and easy going. 
 The spirit of South Africa, which says eternally 
 " Wacht-een-beetje," has settled heavily upon 
 the citizens. " We have always to-morrow," the 
 national proverb of the Boers, has infected every- 
 body in Maritzburg with a dull sense of listless 
 apathy. The days of bustle and money-making 
 have gone by. The present day is given up to 
 an easy-going, lotus-eating life, and the gentle 
 pleasures of hope indulged. " Some day," say 
 
 125
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the Maritzburghers, " the glories of our city will 
 revive." The South Africans are perpetually 
 full of hope : it is the energy required to realise 
 their dim yet sanguine dreaming that they lack. 
 Of course the town is enormously burdened with 
 debt. Equally, of course, its appointments are 
 luxurious. Fine hotels abound. The city is 
 lighted throughout with electricity. Electric 
 trams (which do not pay, because the people 
 would rather disburse 6d. to ride in a rickshaw 
 and be deposited at their very doors than id. to 
 ride in a tram and have to walk perhaps 50 yards) 
 pervade all the main streets : and the city rejoices 
 also in excellent water and sewerage systems, 
 municipal enterprises every one. But the people 
 groan under heavy rates and taxes whenever they 
 wake up and yet, to do them justice, they nearly 
 always sleep. 
 
 My journey to Bloemfontein was interesting 
 in that it dissipated an illusion. I was told that 
 I should pass on the way through the granary 
 of Africa. The country was rich and seemingly 
 fertile enough while we remained in Natal, but 
 no sooner had we surmounted the flying buttresses 
 of the Drakensburg and entered the high veld of 
 the O.R.C., than we resumed acquaintance with 
 
 126
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 vast stretches of bare and gloomy plains, sour- 
 soiled, treeless and almost grassless steppes, 
 without beginning and without end. Wheat 
 fields were pointed out to us with pride at Beth- 
 lehem and other places as being typical of South 
 Africa's agricultural development and marvellous 
 " potentialities " blessed word ! Those wheat 
 fields were enough to reduce any spectator pos- 
 sessed of kindly sensibilities to tears. Never 
 have I seen such wretched looking areas, such 
 miserable produce of tilled and tended earth. I 
 could hardly believe my eyes, and to listen to 
 the self-complacent language of our guides was 
 to be divided between mirth and pity. 
 
 At Bloemfontein, the old capital of the late 
 Orange River Free State Republic, I saw a 
 stagnant, almost dying town, but pretentious 
 above comparison. Built in a hollow and sur- 
 rounded with kopjes, it has few claims to be 
 styled beautiful, for on that hard and unfriendly 
 land trees do not flourish, and few of all the 
 trees which the people have planted and culti- 
 vated with an infinity of care, looked healthy or 
 like to live. Dead trees I counted by the score. 
 The white population numbers about 10,000, the 
 blacks about 15,000: and there are some 3,000 
 
 127
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 British troops cantoned near the town. The 
 citizens live on the farmers : it is a purely agri- 
 cultural neighbourhood, and farming is the only 
 industry: but so poor are the crops and yields 
 that the citizens do not thrive in the Australian 
 sense, and my marvel was that they exist at all. 
 Nevertheless, the town has an astounding cor- 
 porate energy. It has lighted the city with elec- 
 tricity : it has built great flood works : it owns 
 and runs fine abattoirs : it has constructed and 
 owns the largest swimming baths in Africa : it 
 has a splendid water system, bringing the water 
 from 1 8 miles away: it owns a large sewerage 
 farm : and it has a big municipal laundry, where 
 the clothes of the citizens are laundered at prices 
 that would break the heart of a British housewife. 
 Naturally the town is heavily in debt, and the 
 citizens have to pay through the nose for all their 
 conveniences. Why the receivers are not in pos- 
 session is an abiding mystery. Most of the 
 townspeople are British, but the tone of the city 
 is strictly Dutch. The Taal is spoken indiffer- 
 ently with English by all except the flag-waving 
 section of the ultra-English civil servant class. 
 Here I met with many of the more cultured type 
 of Boers, and was most hospitably entertained 
 
 128
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 by all : but they none denied a strong racial 
 sentiment, and several were frank enough to 
 admit in conversation their belief in a Dutch 
 South Africa, and their firm resolve to help 
 strenuously in the work of complete Dutchifica- 
 tion. Every Englishman I met confessed an 
 irreconcilable hatred of the Boers en masse. 
 Individually the two races rub along without 
 friction : but their amity is on the surface. 
 
 Leaving Bloemfontein, I traversed the Con- 
 quered Territory, a strip of valuable land wrested 
 from the Basutos and never returned, and 
 entered the south-eastern section of the Cape. 
 In the Conquered Territory I saw a good deal 
 more of cultivation than in any part of the sub- 
 continent I visited. Here the soil is not sour, 
 and virgin land will yield fairly well without a 
 long course of preliminary treatment. But it was 
 not my good fortune to see any considerable area 
 fit to compare with even the second rate agricul- 
 tural territory of the Commonwealth. I was fed 
 and feasted everywhere on splendid sights, 
 sombre, grand and imposing spectacles and 
 magnificent scenery : but always the query 
 ''When shall I see the rich farm lands of 
 Africa ? " was met with a Spanish " Manana." 
 
 129
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Promises were made by the drove. Not one was 
 ever fulfilled. The Conquered Territory was 
 another disappointment. It showed a deal of 
 passable land, a fairish amount of desultory cul- 
 tivation, an unmeasured quantity of crops, poor, 
 but here called rich and nothing more. That 
 is to say, nothing more except scenery scenery 
 wild and majestic enough to beggar the resources 
 of a Byron, yet uncultivable. One grows 
 weary of mountains, however awe inspiring and 
 stupendous, that cannot bear trees, and are as 
 barren as the sun scorched rocks of Araby. 
 They may breed poetry, but they will not breed 
 stock, and of all the treeless wastes here called 
 the veld we saw none (in the best season of the 
 year) but infrequent little patches that could be 
 held capable of tempting an Australian farmer's 
 eyes. 
 
 East London, long the seaport of the Orange 
 River Colony, and of Kimberley as well, is 
 another example of South African municipal ex- 
 travagance. There is a riot of splendid public 
 buildings and expensive works. Electric light, 
 electric trams and a host of other municipal enter- 
 prises are in operation. The place is fearfully 
 in debt, and its 14,000 white residents labor under 
 
 130
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 a heavy strain of local taxation gallantly if 
 groanfully. One wonders how they contrive to 
 make ends meet. The town is perched on a little 
 plateau, 200 feet high, at the mouth of the 
 Buffalo River. It has harbour works which cost 
 over ; 2, 000,000. The city is kept busy because 
 it is a railway terminus and a port, and because 
 it has a fishing industry. But it is not really 
 prosperous, as its lines of deserted buildings and 
 semi-occupied offices too clearly prove. It is 
 one more of those places so frequently found 
 in this country which trades on the glories of 
 the past. 
 
 Port Elizabeth styles itself the Liverpool of 
 South Africa. It is the briskest and most busi- 
 ness like city in the Union and the people are 
 exceptionally enterprising and energetic. It is 
 the centre of the South African ostrich trade. 
 Feather markets are held three times a week and 
 a feather emporium is to be found in every street. 
 Enough feathers repose in the stores and 
 shops to stock the world. In the surrounding 
 district sheep farming is largely carried on and 
 the breeders are beginning to evolve a good 
 stock by crossing with sheep imported from 
 Australia. Port Elizabeth has a poor harbour
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 (it is really an open roadstead) and it is remote 
 from the main districts of production, but it is 
 controlled by men of courage and ideas. Its 
 importance grows in spite of natural handicaps, 
 and it seems likely to be and remain the chief 
 port of export of the Union since it has com- 
 pletely captured the feather trade and is building 
 up a large trade in wool. Ostrich farming is 
 chiefly carried on round Oudtshoorn and Lady- 
 smith and on the Ghama Karro, but the feathers 
 nearly all go to Port Elizabeth for sale, even 
 those grown in Rhodesia and the western por- 
 tions of the Cape Province. I liked this part of 
 the country well. The white people know what 
 they want and they are not afraid of work. 
 Hardships do not daunt them. They lean less 
 upon the Kaffir here than elsewhere, and " wait 
 a bit " is not their motto. All is life, bustle and 
 activity. 
 
 Durban, the chief port of Natal, is a beautiful 
 city the pleasure resort of the Union. It is the 
 Brighton of South Africa. The women of the 
 Transvaal and of Rhodesia and the O.R.C. 
 troop to Durban for two or three months 
 every year to recuperate from the trying climate 
 of the veld. It is a city of big hotels and places 
 
 132
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of amusement. The population is semi-amphibi- 
 ous and mixed bathing is the perennial pastime. 
 
 Pretoria is a fair type of the Dutch city. Like 
 all the Dutch towns it is built in a hollow and 
 surrounded with a low rampart of hills. The 
 Boers always chose such spots for the dual pur- 
 pose of obtaining shelter from the fierce winds 
 that sweep across the veld and to minimise the 
 difficulties of armed defence against the natives 
 and other possible invaders. 
 
 The streets run in parallels. Every kopje is 
 dotted with white and orange color houses built 
 in the quaint Dutch style. The public buildings 
 are large and imposing. The Volsraad Housse, 
 where the public business of the Transvaal Re- 
 public used to be conducted, is particularly in- 
 teresting. It is preserved exactly as when Paul 
 Kruger occupied it as President of the Republic. 
 The memory of that crude and rugged figure 
 dominates the city. His private dwelling house 
 stands intact as when he left it, save that his 
 study has been converted into a museum hung 
 with funeral wreaths sent by the Sovereigns of 
 Europe on his death, and a great weird painting 
 by a Dutch artist luridly pictures his apotheosis 
 in a curious Boer Valhalla. And before the door 
 
 133
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 lie the marble lions presented to the late ex- 
 President by Cecil Rhodes, which gift caused 
 Kruger so much wrath and suspicion and mis- 
 giving. In the centre of the town is an immense 
 square, which is filled every market day with the 
 produce-laden waggons of the farmers. Every 
 Dutch town has just such a market square, even 
 Johannesburg and Capetown, and it is one of the 
 sights of South Africa to see these spaces and 
 their teeming traffic on market mornings. They 
 resemble nothing so much as old time Irish fairs. 
 Pretoria is being rapidly changed in character 
 now by the great Administrative offices of the 
 Union Government that are being erected on the 
 slopes above the town, at a cost of ; 2,000,000. 
 There are nothing like them in the Southern 
 Hemisphere. The town has many lovely resi- 
 dences and not the least attractive is that which 
 Lord Roberts occupied after his defeat of Cronje. 
 It was my privilege to spend an evening in this 
 pretty mansion and to dine at the table on which 
 the famous Peace Treaty of Vereeniging was 
 signed by General Botha and Lord Kitchener. 
 Pretoria is the administrative capital of the 
 Union, and it is likely to be also the legislative 
 capital before many years elapse. Circum- 
 
 134
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 stances are conspiring towards that end, and con- 
 siderations of economy will sooner or later force 
 it into fact. The city is lighted with electricity 
 and it has a good service of electric tramways. 
 
 Kimberley is a big sprawling town, irregularly 
 arranged and built without design around the 
 diamond mines. Sordid little cottages rub 
 shoulders with palatial dwellings. There are 
 many gardens, but few fine public buildings. It 
 is a city of dreadful dust. Almost every day 
 there is a dust storm. Dust is called " Kimber- 
 ley rain." When the storm threatens the in- 
 habitants retire indoors and close every crack 
 and crevice to exclude the penetrating curse. 
 Almost as well one might live in the Sahara. 
 The mines are the only cause and raison d'etre 
 of this dry and dust smitten city. They, of 
 course, have their peculiar and abiding interest. 
 Every year they produce shining pebbles to the 
 value of many millions sterling. Kimberley 
 lives on the vanity of women. I spent some days 
 in and about the mines and found the processes 
 of absorbing interest. Most of the larger mines 
 are " deep workers " nowadays. The " blue 
 stone " is dug out of the bowels of the earth, 
 hoisted by magnificent machinery, and then car- 
 US
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ried in trolleys to the reserves where the mineral 
 is spread out over the face of the land and ex- 
 posed for a year or two to the disintegrating 
 action of the atmosphere before it is crushed and 
 treated. All around the mines stretch wide 
 areas of " blue " covered ground, which are sur- 
 rounded with high fences topped with rows cf 
 barbed wire and guarded night and day by mine 
 police. In that decaying mould repose treasures 
 immeasurable. Each trolly load of dirt has an 
 average value of i5/-, but each piece of rock the 
 size of a fist may be worth an emperor's ransom. 
 The visitor, therefore, is not permitted to carry 
 away a specimen of the " blue," for it might con- 
 tain a Koh-i-Noor. Every pebble is watched 
 most jealously. There are hundreds of thou- 
 sands of tons at grass, but one may only look at 
 them. Yet in spite of all this care, the mines 
 are robbed steadily and greatly. The negro has 
 the eye of a hawk for precious stones, and he 
 cannot be kept always under observation. As 
 he loads or unloads his trolly he often sees a 
 shining speck, and then well illicit diamond 
 buying is a custom of the country. It is called 
 I.D.B. for short, because it is so often in men's 
 mouths. Hundreds of whites and blacks thrive 
 
 136
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 on it. The law sometimes grasps a victim, but 
 for each robber caught and punished, a score go 
 undetected. The processes of crushing the 
 " weathered blue " and washing the precious dirt 
 are marvellously vast, but wonderfully simple. 
 The rock is first roughly stamped and broken to 
 a certain size, then passed automatically through 
 a long series of batteries and crushers, each one 
 of which reduces it to a specific smaller size. 
 Keen eyed watchers stand at each break in the 
 chain of operations in search of shining specks. 
 They sometimes find them. These are the 
 biggest diamonds. The smaller stones go with 
 the finer dust and debris to the grease covered 
 tables, and are caught in the grease over which 
 the valueless sand passes smoothly. The dis- 
 covery that grease has a strong power of attrac- 
 tion for diamonds was made by an engineer in 
 the employ of the De Beers Company. He was 
 made a present of ,5,000 for his acuteness and 
 promoted to high rank in the works. He was 
 slain during the late war. The discovery has 
 saved the mines half a million already in work- 
 ing expenses. The mould which covers the 
 diamond is filled with garnets. Every mullock 
 heap on the mines glistens as with the fire of 
 
 137
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 manifold rubies. Visitors are given as many 
 garnets as they please to take. They are pretty 
 baubles, but have little market worth. The native 
 miners of Kimberley are nearly all kept in vast 
 compounds. Picture a square plot of ground 5 
 acres in extent surrounded by roofed sheds open 
 to the square, but stoutly walled externally. In 
 the sheds are even rows of bunks arranged in 
 tiers from floor to roof. Thousands of bunks 
 there are, and to each bunk a native. They live 
 (when not asleep or at work) in the square, where 
 they do their cooking at open fires in tribal groups 
 and sub-groups. Their principal amusement is 
 to play on the queer gambling machine (described 
 by Herodotus) which was popular among the 
 Ethiopians of ancient Egypt. It consists of a 
 board about six feet long, set out in transverse 
 little slatted squares. The gambling is done with 
 small pebbles and stones that fly about the board 
 and settle in the squares, each of which has its 
 fixed value. The negroes love the pastime, and 
 they gamble night and day. Such is the com- 
 pound and compound life. Virtually it is 
 slavery, for the mine natives are not free to quit 
 their compounds during their employment, and 
 the compounds are really gaols. But the natives 
 
 138
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 do not seem to mind. They are fed fairly well 
 and they all appear happy and contented. They 
 have banks wherein to store their wages, and 
 many of them return to their kraals comparatively 
 rich men. A director of the De Beers showed 
 me one native who is a philosopher and a humor- 
 ist. " This man," said he, " is now doing his 
 second term. He returned to us of his own will. 
 Question him !" 
 
 I glanced at the burly Kaffir, who at once bared 
 his splendid teeth in a beaming smile. ' Why 
 did you come back ?" I asked. "Oh," replied the 
 negro, " me go to kraal first time from mine with 
 plenty money and buy wife. She got temper 
 like devil fight me all day long. Much better 
 come long back here and work to get more 
 money ! " 
 
 " Oh ! I see. But what will you do when you 
 have more money ? " 
 
 The native grinned atrociously. " When get 
 more money me go back kraal and buy another 
 wife. Then me happy. One wife no good. 
 Two wives good. They fight each other and 
 leave me alone." 
 
 In the course of my travels I visited many 
 small Boer towns and " dorps " ; but they are 
 
 139
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 little worth describing. Each one is a replica 
 of the next. There is neither life nor movement 
 in them. They are collections of squalid 
 humpies, grouped in straggling form about an 
 inn. The inhabitants do no work except to force 
 the natives to work for them. Some tipple 
 stolidly and steadily the liquor is an infamous 
 doctored spirit to drink which is to " dop " i.e., 
 to be doped; the rest sip coffee, live on mealies 
 and milk, and smoke and laugh and dream. 
 Than the dwellers in these back veld villages 
 there is not a more torpid, ignorant and back- 
 ward people on the planet. If addressed, they 
 invariably answer, " Wacht-een-beetje." Their 
 minds are so dull and lethargic that it requires a 
 considerable effort to formulate a thought. 
 Everything is a trouble to them. They are 
 perambulating human vegetables. 
 
 Cape Town is by far the most civilised city in 
 South Africa, and it takes high rank among the 
 " beauty " places of the world. Excluding the 
 suburbs, the population numbers about 80,000, 
 of whom a little more than 50 per cent, are whites 
 of European extraction. The remainder are 
 negroes, Malays, and half-castes. In the suburbs 
 there is a population of 100,000. The evil of 
 
 140
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 miscegenation (which is practised more or less 
 throughout the Union) finds its sharpest accentu- 
 ation in Cape Town. The half-castes and their 
 piebald product, the " Cape-boys," teem in and 
 around the city and overflow the surrounding 
 districts. As elsewhere in South Africa, the 
 Kaffirs monopolise the rough work, but the Cape 
 boys have captured the sphere of skilled labor 
 and bar the avenues of artisan employment to 
 the whites. They are capable industrialists, but 
 lazy and insolent, and their ever-increasing num- 
 bers and growing political power constitute a 
 bitter problem and something of a special menace 
 to the future of the country. In their veins flows 
 the blood of fifty races. They are mongrels of 
 the mongrels. The whites use them and despise 
 them. They serve and hate the whites. Although 
 fairly well educated, they are for the most part 
 morally depraved. They have all the faults of 
 pampered menials, all the vices of pariahs and 
 social outcasts. Their condition is infinitely sad. 
 Their outlook is dark. They cumber and blot 
 the earth. They are the living symbols of de- 
 pravity and sin. Their existence is a tragedy, 
 their lives are a curse. They contemn and will 
 not associate with the blacks. The whites will 
 
 141
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 not associate with them. Ostracising and ostra- 
 cised by the pure blooded races, they cling to- 
 gether and breed solidarity by brooding on their 
 fate and " wrongs." The thoughtful whites see 
 in them potential agents of revolution and dis- 
 aster. Such fears appear to me well based. 
 The wind has been sown, the whirlwind has still 
 to be reaped. The factors of a destructive whirl- 
 wind exist and grow and continually gather 
 force. In a war between the white and black 
 races, the Cape Boys would win their chance. 
 Experience indicates that they make fine soldiers. 
 Probably, if war were to break out they would 
 throw in their lot with the blacks, cunningly hid- 
 ing an opportunity to massacre their white mas- 
 ters. Nations as well as individuals must pay 
 for their sins. 
 
 The great charm and fascination of Cape 
 Town consist in the splendid mountain that rises 
 in a steep walled precipice behind the city, and 
 for a space of two miles draws a horizontal line 
 3,600 feet in height against the blue dome of 
 the sky. This magnificent tower slopes abruptly 
 on both sides to the sea. The upper parapets 
 are covered with dark green vegetation and 
 scarred with multitudinous ravines that drip 
 
 142
 
 eternally with scores of tiny, fairy-like cascades. 
 On either side of the Table are peaks of pyra- 
 midal shape which enclose the horse-shoe valley 
 on which the town is perched. The level sum- 
 mit of the giant Table is nearly always veiled 
 with dense white masses of vapor, that drift con- 
 stantly across the verge and pour like vast 
 avalanching waves into the sheer void beneath. 
 The effect produced is of a colossal cataract of 
 storm-driven water tumbling into space and dis- 
 solving into gases by reason of their mighty fall. 
 The clouds are never still. They assume the 
 most grotesque and fantastic shapes of stark and 
 awe inspiring majesty. 
 
 Cecil Rhodes was never tired of gazing at the 
 mountain and its marvellous covering. On the 
 stoep of his house, " De Groote Schuur," at 
 Rondebosch (5 miles from the city), he used to 
 spend all his leisure hours building dream castles 
 to match the castellated mystery of the great 
 Table top. That house belongs to the nation 
 now. It is one of Rhodes's finest gifts to the 
 nation that he helped so much to build. He be- 
 queathed it, together with the splendid garden 
 that surrounds it, to the people, to be used as 
 the official residence of the Prime Minister of S. 
 
 143
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Africa, and he provided for the upkeep with a 
 permanent endowment of ,1,000 a year. De 
 Groote Schuur is one of the most beautiful and 
 interesting houses in the world. A splendid 
 specimen of the old Dutch school of architecture, 
 it has a history of its own. Van Riebeck dwelt 
 in it, and other famous statesmen, governors, and 
 merchants before Rhodes. It has been twice 
 partially destroyed by fire, and each rebuilding 
 has added to its usefulness and beauty. Lofty, 
 pillared, ground-balconies, stone paved and wide, 
 and graced with a score of ancient bronze-bound 
 treasure chests, surround it. The rooms are 
 small but superbly plenished with carven 
 wooden linings, and its deep mullioned windows 
 look out upon a scene of mingled loveliness and 
 grandeur that has no parallel in the five Con- 
 tinents that compose and sprawl across the globe. 
 General Botha occupies the house at present. 
 He maintains it as Rhodes left it; and the bed 
 and living rooms of the great South African are 
 preserved sacro-sanct, as though Rhodes were 
 expected any moment to return and inhabit them 
 again. 
 
 Table Mountain is circled with a woof of roads 
 that lure the traveller into countless places of 
 
 144
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 enchantment. This commands far stretching 
 scapes of mead and sea and sky. There is a 
 causeway that hangs a thousand feet on high, 
 rocking dizzily, 'twixt surf and cloud. Yonder is 
 a path that dips into dark, dim aromatic valleys, 
 where the sunlight is excluded by the dense olive 
 foliage of forest giants, whose tall straight boles 
 stalk in multitudinous and interminable proces- 
 sion across a wide brown carpet of needles into 
 the very home of silence and of shade. Here 
 again the road winds lazily among a charming 
 welter of suburban dwellings that nestle bowered 
 with vines and flowers in the midst of towering 
 oaks and eucalyptus. Then come lanes thickly 
 hedged with hawthorn, privet and sweet briar, 
 and rustic bridges that straddle gurgling fern- 
 grown brooks. Suddenly there will flash out an 
 old world village avenued with oaks and elm 
 trees, its gabled houses built in the fashion of 
 our childish dreams, the belfried church, all green 
 with moss and roofed with thatch. But hardly is 
 one's wonder still, when lo ! the traveller is gazing 
 into a forest of the Swartz-Wald, where the sable 
 faces of a myriad pines outstare the gaunt and 
 naked grimness of steep, crag-piled towers of 
 shimmering black rock, and the wind sweeps
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 languidly across the tree tops and among the 
 granite pinnacles with a soughing lamentation 
 that strikes chill upon the heart. No place on 
 earth resembles Cape Town, howsoever remotely. 
 It is scarce four hundred years old, as civilisation 
 measures time, but the Spirit of Antiquity has 
 elected to reside there, and has moulded the city 
 and its environs to enshrine and to reflect becom- 
 ingly the complex witchery and graces of a thou- 
 sand ages. Every house looks old as soon as it 
 is built, and every tree, born yesterday, will cast 
 an immemorial deep shade to-morrow. Every 
 suburb is a fairyland of restful beauty : every 
 valley is a brooding sanctuary of mystery and 
 thrilling loveliness : every lane seems to have 
 been a lovers' walk for centuries. Above all 
 stands the incomparable Mountain, keeping 
 ceaseless watch and ward upon the lower world, 
 and through its curtain of alabaster, drift clouds 
 holding eternal communion with the gods. 
 
 146
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE RAND 
 
 T N the year 1886 there was not a house where 
 Johannesburg now stands, and the popula- 
 tion of the entire district consisted of a few 
 scattered farmers. To-day Johannesburg is the 
 largest city in South Africa, the economic capital 
 of the Union, and the pivot round which the in 
 dustrial and commercial machinery of the whole 
 sub-continent revolves. The white population 
 exceeds 100,000 (of whom some 20,000 are Jews) 
 and the blacks number about 105,000. The city 
 is most picturesquely situated on the southern 
 slope of the Witwatersrand range, 5,763 feet 
 above sea level. The great gold reefs of the 
 Rand (they pronounce the word " Ront " in South 
 Africa) stretch out in long wings on either side of 
 
 147
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the town for a total distance of 130 miles, of 
 which some 40 miles are now continuously mined. 
 One sees from the hill tops above the city an un- 
 broken chain of poppet lieads and gigantic white 
 quartz mullock heaps extending east and west 
 farther than the telescope can reach : the great 
 lines dotted on either side with an endless suc- 
 cession of nigger compounds, iron huts and cot- 
 tages. North and south the residential suburbs 
 form a cross and a contrast too, without pre- 
 cedent in the world. Here wealth has been 
 poured out with astonishing prodigality, even on 
 to the roads. The roads are superb. They wind 
 for scores of miles among a wealth of splendid 
 mansions, hard, smooth and level, every inch of 
 them painted extravagantly thick with tar. 
 
 On every side between the flower-surrounded 
 houses are plantations of gum and firs and 
 wattles. Valleys drop precipitously down into 
 the bowels of the veld, densely clothed with pines. 
 Kopjes tower into the sky, garlanded with trees 
 and crowned with jagged tors. In all these 
 places the scenery is magnificently beautiful. 
 These places are the homes of the rich. They 
 live like princes, waited on by retinues of liveried 
 flunkies, rushing about in their motor cars, enter- 
 
 148
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 taining, receiving, squandering money like water, 
 yet growing richer day by day. What wonder 
 that they care little for the condition of the poorer 
 portion of the city? They have splendid city 
 offices, and at least two gorgeous city streets 
 wherein to do their business. The rest can " go 
 hang." 
 
 Within a few minutes' walk of the two 
 main thoroughfares of Johannesburg is a network 
 of streets and lanes that cries shame upon the 
 Rand. Dirty, mean little houses, broken, almost 
 impassable roadways, squalor unspeakable. And 
 these streets stretch out for miles. Here is the 
 quarter of the " poor whites," wretched victims of 
 the Kaffirs' monopoly of the unskilled labor 
 market, who drive an infamous living by the 
 laundry labor of their wives, the prostitution of 
 their daughters, and by selling liquor in secret 
 to the native hordes. There is the Malay and 
 Arab quarter. Yonder, again, the quarter of the 
 blacks. In these dismal thoroughfares one hears 
 the clashing polyglot of a score of diverse 
 foreign tongues. The niggers impudently litter 
 the pavement and laugh and gibe at wayfarers. 
 The Malays and Arabs chew their opiate 
 leaves and spit and dream. One sees white 
 
 149
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 children scattered through this murk playing in 
 the gutters, picking up the words and vices of 
 the colored scum. Many are the offspring of 
 skilled artisans. They^are nearly all doomed to 
 degradation, because they can never become 
 skilled workers like their fathers the educa- 
 tional avenue of unskilled labor being barred to 
 them and therefore, as the Kaffirs and Arabs 
 and Chinese who surround them, they must live 
 and die. 
 
 The Rand lords are very hospitable. They 
 entertained us in a princely fashion, and took 
 us to see some of their greatest mines. We were 
 shown how the gold is won ,30,000,000 worth 
 of it every year and how their giant dividends 
 are earned. The experience was full of a most 
 penetrating interest. What stupendous works, 
 what marvellous machinery, what hordes of 
 miners ! What a multiplicity of diverse occupa- 
 tions ! Yet everywhere order most admirable ; 
 and reigning over every section of the vast con- 
 glomerate mass of effort we sensed a grand, 
 almost inexplicable simplicity. We saw electric 
 power stations fed by coal extracted from amidst 
 the gold, and erected at a cost of millions sterling, 
 the whole forming a linked system of prodigious 
 
 150
 
 force supplying the city with light and all the 
 mines with a common source of energy. Coal 
 mining and gold mining interlink their processes 
 and co-operate to form a wealth-producing com- 
 bination that is without a parallel in the outer 
 world. 
 
 All matter here and around is the servile 
 bond-slave of the triumphant mind. The Rand 
 is a mighty palpitating engine squatted across the 
 heart of a wilderness. Grinding ceaselessly 
 everything, it touches into gold not rocks only, 
 but men's lives. Those who drive the engine are 
 surely not philanthropists. And yet, super- 
 ficially, they seem most kind. There are hos- 
 pitals in all directions. The sick workers, both 
 white and black, are treated with the sweetest 
 charity but they die like flies. Let us delve 
 into the Rand underworld a little. On nth 
 May, 1907, the Earl of Selborne appointed a 
 Commission to enquire into the working of the 
 Mining Regulations, with a view to making 
 recommendations for the better protection of the 
 health of miners. This Commission issued its 
 final report in 1910. Some of its findings, con- 
 clusions and recommendations deserve to be 
 quoted fully and published widely. The follow-
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ing paragraphs are transcribed from pages 253, 
 254 and 255 of the report 
 
 " 5. That from the figures before us the 
 " nominal general death-rate amongst surface and 
 " underground white ' mining males ' on the 
 " Rand during the triennium 1905-06-07, would 
 " at first sight appear to have been comparatively 
 " low : but that this apparently low death-rate 
 " amongst white ' mining males ' generally con- 
 " cealed a very high mortality amongst a limited 
 " class (13 per cent.) viz., white ' rock drillers.' ' 
 
 " 6. That the death-rate from ' All Diseases ' 
 " amongst white ' mining males of twenty and 
 * over,' was greatly in excess of that amongst 
 " white ' non-mining males of twenty and over ' : 
 " when the necessary correction for age-constitu- 
 " tion of white ' mining males ' is made, this 
 " excess was about 60 per cent. 
 
 " 7. That the death-rate from ' phthisis ' (in- 
 " eluding miners' phthisis) at ages of twenty and 
 " over, was more than six times greater amongst 
 " white ' mining males ' than amongst white ' non- 
 " ' mining males.' 
 
 " 8. That as most of the white miners who die 
 " locally from phthisis are rock-drillers, the ratio 
 " of 6 to i by no means represents the actual dis- 
 
 152
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " proportion in their particular case, especially as 
 " a considerable number go back to die in Corn- 
 " wall and elsewhere. 
 
 " 9. That no conclusive evidence has been 
 " adduced that there has been any alteration in 
 " the phthisis death-rate amongst white * mining 
 
 ' males ' on the Rand during the years 1905- 
 " 06-07. 
 
 " 10. That the death-rate from ' respiratory 
 
 ' diseases and other phthisis ' amongst white 
 
 ' mining males ' at ages of twenty and over was 
 " 70 per cent, greater than that amongst similar 
 "white 'non-mining males,' viz., 1.7 to i.o. 
 
 " 12. That as regards white miners, there is 
 " little doubt that the incidence of pneumonia is 
 " materially heavier than amongst non-miners : 
 " that certain conditions incidental to under- 
 " ground mining work no doubt favour its de- 
 " velopment : that the disease is usually caused 
 " by the pneumococcus, and is predisposed to by 
 " devitalizing influences, such as irregularities 
 " and excesses of life, overcrowding and air-pol- 
 " lution, and neglect of precaution against chill, 
 " and, amongst natives, by the presence of calci- 
 " fied bilharzia ova in the lungs. 
 
 "15. That natives from the purely tropical 
 153
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " districts, Northern Rhodesia, British Central 
 " Africa, Quillimane, and Mozambique, show 
 " very high death rates. Pneumonia is the most 
 " important direct cause of this excessive mor- 
 " tality. 
 
 " 1 6. That pneumonia accounts for almost 40 
 " per cent, of native deaths from ' all causes/ 
 " and is nearly six times higher amongst tropical 
 " than amongst British South African natives, 
 " excluding natives of Basutoland. 
 
 " 17. That tuberculosis ranks next to pneu- 
 " monia as a cause of death and contributes 1 8 
 " per cent, of the total native mortality : that its 
 " incidence is heaviest on tropical natives, and 
 " that the majority of cases appear to originate on 
 " the Rand." 
 
 " 1 8. That by far the most important factor 
 " in miners' phthisis is the inhalation of irritating 
 " dust created by rock-drilling, shovelling, and 
 " blasting, and that though other sources of air- 
 " vitiation, e.g., noxious fumes, are adjuvant 
 " causes, the condition is essentially a ' silicosis ' 
 " or ' pneumokoniosis/ to which, in the later 
 " stages, tubercular infection is often super- 
 " added." 
 
 " 20. That the average period of rock-drill 
 154
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " employment on the Rand is from 7 to 9 years, 
 " and the average age at death from silicosis is 
 "35 years, as compared with about 50 years at 
 " Bendigo, where, however, the incidence of the 
 " disease is considerably higher. 
 
 "21. That the inhalation of dust can be pre- 
 " vented by the free use of water in connection 
 " with the operations (rock-drilling, blasting, and 
 " lashing) which create or raise dust : that the 
 " provision of a constant supply of suitably clean 
 " water for this purpose should be most rigor- 
 " ously insisted upon whenever and wherever 
 " developmental work is carried on, where the 
 " natural strata are not wet, and in every dry and 
 " dusty stope : that, with equal rigor miners 
 " should be compelled to make use of the water 
 " thus provided : and that no exception whatever 
 " should be permitted as regards the enforce- 
 " ment of this or some equally effective measure. 
 
 "22. That on 5th November, 1908, special 
 " representation was made to the Hon. the 
 " Minister of Mines by this Commission, as to 
 " the outstanding importance of this matter : and 
 " that on the 24th December, 1908, very explicit 
 " regulations embodying the Commission's 
 " recommendations were gazetted 
 
 155
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " 23. That we now further recommend that 
 " where rock-drilling is being carried on, the floor 
 " and sides of the working place to a distance of 
 " i oft. from the face, be kept sufficiently damped 
 " to prevent dust being raised by the escape of 
 " exhaust air : and that the damping of dry and 
 " dusty rock be carried out not only before lash- 
 " ing commences, but be repeated as often as 
 " necessary while lashing proceeds (Draft Regu- 
 " lation 97 (i) I (2) ). 
 
 " 24. That there has been a fairly ready com- 
 " pliance on the part of mine managers with the 
 " dust-laying regulations gazetted 24th Decem- 
 " ber, 1908 : but that there is considerable diffi- 
 " culty in keeping rock-drillers up to the mark, 
 " owing to their incredible indifference, not to 
 " say recklessness, and also, in some degree, to 
 " the absence of direct and responsible super- 
 " vision in this respect : that we have therefore 
 "in draft Regulation No. 167, made such super- 
 " vision a specified duty of the shift-bosses : and 
 " that if this measure fail of its object, then the 
 " institution of a system of continuous inde- 
 " pendent policing will be imperatively called 
 " for ; for nothing short of the strictest legal en- 
 " forcement of the regulations in question will 
 
 156
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " meet the necessities of the position in regard to 
 " miners' phthisis. 
 
 " 26. That the prevention and removal of 
 " noxious fumes generated from explosives is 
 " very important. 
 
 "27. That the employment after blasting of 
 " some such apparatus as James' water-blast or 
 " Roberts' exhaust apparatus should be obliga- 
 " tory in all close ends (vide Draft Regulation 
 
 " 58). 
 
 " 28. That the adoption, where practicable, 
 " of the single-shift system is desirable, because 
 " it allows a much longer period for dust to settle 
 " and fumes to disperse after blasting." 
 
 "31. That, after careful consideration, we 
 " recommend the exclusion from work under- 
 " ground of all persons infected with tuberculosis 
 " of the respiratory organs. 
 
 " 32. That this measure will involve medical 
 " examination before engagement, and compul- 
 " sory notification of the disease amongst white 
 " miners, as soon as symptoms manifest them- 
 " selves. No recommendation as to notification 
 " of cases amongst natives is necessary, as they 
 " quickly come under medical care, and a monthly 
 " return of sickness and mortality is already 
 " rendered." 
 
 157
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " 34. That the prevention of spitting in mines 
 " is of the greatest importance, but with hordes of 
 " semi-savages is an almost hopeless problem. 
 
 "35. That the disinfection of working places 
 " in mines is essentially an impracticable pro- 
 " position, but that the frequent cleansing and 
 " disinfection of shaft-stations and of compound 
 " rooms is both practicable and desirable." 
 
 The true significance of the paragraphs above 
 quoted can only be grasped by careful analytic 
 thinking. The statement, for example, that 
 mining males of 20 years of age and over have 
 a total death rate of 60 per cent, in excess of non- 
 mining males must be considered in relation to 
 the fact that in the non-mining population there 
 is always a large proportion of old people who 
 have a high death rate, whereas on the mines 
 there are no old people at all. The death statis- 
 tics of England, reckoned over long periods, 
 show that the general death rate of a mixed popu- 
 lation is approximately from twice to 2\ times 
 greater than the death rate of men from 20 to 35 
 years old. The Commission makes it fairly clear 
 that the death rate for white underground 
 workers on the Rand must be from about 25 to 
 30 per 1,000 per annum, which is nearly 4 times 
 
 158
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the normal death rate of men of their age. The 
 rock drillers of the Rand work from 7 to 9 years, 
 and their average age at death is 35 years. In 
 order to realise what this means, we must picture 
 a death rate at all ages of a general population 
 increased in the same proportion. We should 
 then have a death rate of 75 per thousand, which 
 would be sufficient to obliterate the whole popu- 
 lation in a few years, since infants could not be 
 produced rapidly enough to make up for the 
 deaths. A glance at the Official History of the 
 Boer War shows the recorded death-rate of 
 British soldiers who were " killed in action " is 
 much less than that suffered by the Rand rock 
 drillers from 1905 to 1907; and the death-rate 
 " from all causes " in the British Army during the 
 war was also substantially lower than amongst 
 the underground white miners. Manifestly 
 mining on the Rand is more mortally perilous 
 than war. 
 
 The death-rate amongst the negro workers on 
 the Rand for 1906-7 is given on page 47 of the 
 Report. The Commission says that the average 
 annual death rate for tropical natives has de- 
 clined from 130 per 1,000 in 1904 to 70.5 per 
 1,000 in 1906, and that the average death-rate 
 
 159
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 for " all natives " in the same year is 30.8. The 
 native death-rate (see Appendix B) for various 
 places of origin is as follows Quilimane natives, 
 96.8; Mozambique natives, 67.5; Central Africa 
 natives, 62.9; Rhodesia natives, 46.2; East Coast 
 natives (south of lat. 22), 33.7; Transvaal 
 natives, 22.8; Cape Colony natives, 14.2; and 
 Natal natives, n.6. These rates are for men 
 who are all in the first flush and prime of life, 
 and to find their equivalent in a mixed population 
 we should multiply each of the various figures by 
 2\. This would give us a general death-rate for 
 " tropical natives " of 175 per 1,000 and for " all 
 " natives " of 75 per 1,000. The crude rates 
 stated in the report are arrived at without making 
 any allowance for natives who fall sick in the 
 mines and who die after leaving the mines. 
 Merely those who actually die on the mines' 
 premises are counted. On page 263 of Vol. n 
 of the Report, the following words are to be 
 found in the sworn evidence of Dr. Irvine : 
 " The remainder, when fit to travel, are dis- 
 11 charged and repatriated, but of those who have 
 " long distances to travel, few reach their kraals." 
 We can only guess at what the death-rates 
 would truly be if the " kraal " rates were added. 
 
 160
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 But the official mines' rates are quite terrible 
 enough. They prove beyond a doubt that the 
 Rand is an engine of wholesale destruction. 
 The mines " polish off " tropical natives with re- 
 morseless expedition, practically decimating 
 them every year, indeed : and they do not treat 
 the whites much better. The annual fatal 
 accident death-rate is over 8 per 1,000, a rate 
 that is about equal to the normal death-rate of 
 men of that age, 20 to 40 years. The Chamber 
 of Mines Report for the year 1909, on pages 372, 
 373, shows that 29,942 workers perished on the 
 Transvaal mines during the five years ending 
 1909. As the Regulation Commission, p. 34, 
 Vol. I., admits that a large proportion of deaths 
 of white workers due to the mines is not credited 
 to them, and the actual words used are " at least 
 " one third, and probably more, of the disabled 
 " Rand miners leave the country and die else- 
 " where," and states, in Vol. II., that numbers of 
 natives are repatriated in the last stages of 
 disease, " VERY FEW OF WHOM REACH THEIR 
 " KRAALS," it is difficult to avoid the conclusion 
 that the Rand is a death trap. That it ought not 
 to be is clear. The Native Affairs Report for 
 1909 shows that some of the mines have a death- 
 
 161
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 rate exceeding 100 per 1,000, and others of a 
 precisely similar character a rate as low as 8.1 
 per 1,000. These figures prove that mining on 
 the Rand is not necessarily unhealthy, and that 
 the high average death-rate is due to some of the 
 mines working in a manner that disgraces 
 humanity. On page 46, Vol. I., of the Regula- 
 tions Commission's Report, the following para- 
 graph occurs 
 
 " In this connection we would quote the con- 
 
 " viction of Dr. Haldane, Mr. J. S. Martin, 
 
 " Government Inspector of Mines, and Mr. 
 
 "Arthur Thomas, manager of the Dolcoath 
 
 " Mines, as recorded in their report on the 
 
 " ' Health of Cornish Miners/ viz. : * that there 
 
 " ' is no reason why work underground, in what- 
 
 " ' ever kind of mine, should not be a perfectly 
 
 " ' healthy employment : the work itself is 
 
 " * thoroughly wholesome both to body and mind, 
 
 " ' and the special dangers, whether to health or 
 
 " ' to life and limb, associated with different 
 
 " ' varieties of mining are such as, if recognised 
 
 * and faced, can be avoided, provided that both 
 
 ' employers and employed will co-operate in 
 
 ' bringing this end about.' ' 
 
 It is therefore clear that the death-rate, both 
 
 162
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 for blacks and whites, of these mines is 
 " abnormal and higher than the death-rate of 
 " other mining and industrial centres." 
 
 The Commissioner's report, paragraph 24, 
 hereinbefore quoted, blames the men for reckless- 
 ness and carelessness, and would seem to charge 
 them with being responsible for their own hideous 
 mortality. The accusation is scarcely just and 
 lacks a deal in chanty. The miners are unedu- 
 cated men, who are not capable of defending 
 themselves from the death that haunts them 
 underground. They do not know the actual 
 gravity of the risk they run, and can only 
 make the discovery by dying. The men are 
 castigated by the Commission for being such 
 fools as to work when sick, and for not leaving 
 rock-drill employment when they have got 
 phthisis. There are two reasons for these facts 
 which are known to medical science, if not to the 
 general public. Miners whose health is bad 
 generally, feel stronger and better in every way 
 below ground than on the surface. Why this 
 should be so it would be hard to say : it may be 
 due to the increased air-pressure below ground : 
 but it is a fact. It is only natural that men 
 should not think " mining " is undermining their 
 
 163
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 health when they feel better below than when 
 they are above ground. 
 
 Again, the average consumptive patient is 
 possessed by the " spes thisica/' the " hopeful 
 " madness " to which nearly all miners suffering 
 from miners' phthisis are subject. It makes them 
 talk hopefully of what they are going to do in 
 half a dozen years, when as a fact they will be 
 lying in their coffins within as many weeks. It 
 explains why rock-drill men, once they get 
 phthisis, usually proceed with their work until it 
 destroys them. 
 
 The Mines Managers and the Government 
 ought to protect these poor wretches from the 
 consequences of their own ignorance. It is 
 gratifying to know that the Union Government 
 has lately wakened up to a sense of its duty and 
 that laws have already been passed in the hope 
 of bringing about a better state of things. These 
 laws, however, have yet to demonstrate their 
 efficacy. Meanwhile, I am personally thankful 
 that I do not own any Rand shares. Mr. E. J. 
 Moynihan, of Johannesburg, a publicist of note 
 and an expert mining statist, has carefully 
 analysed the death rates and the productive 
 
 164
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 figures of the Rand, and his investigations have 
 led him to indict the mines as follows 
 
 "Every ,1,200 paid in dividends on these 
 "fields, in the five years ending with 1909, has 
 " meant the known and avoidable loss of a human 
 " life, without counting serious accidents and at 
 " least twenty illnesses known to the doctors. 
 " If all the criminals in the Fort had been turned 
 " loose for five years, they would have done less 
 " harm to the community than this mining indus- 
 " try did in that time in this gold-stricken place, 
 " where blood is spilt like water, human lives 
 " thrown away like dirt, where lungs are turned 
 " to stone below ground, and above ground 
 " hearts turned to flint." 
 
 That is a dreadful charge ; but, unhappily, the 
 charge rings true. 
 
 The facts that I have set down above are 
 odious to relate, yet they ought to be related. 
 They indicate that the Rand gold is rather a 
 curse than a blessing to South Africa. South 
 Africa to a very large extent lives upon it, but 
 how many victims die ! The system is one of 
 thinly disguised, blood-smeared slavery. The 
 foundations of it are the blacks, who toil for a 
 pittance and perish like locusts. A little higher 
 
 165
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 up are the white workers. They earn on an aver- 
 age jC 1 P er day, but they live only from seven 
 to nine years ! On top are the magnates, who 
 hold their feasts and levees and dwell in imperial 
 luxury. The money they lavish keeps the 
 wheels of South African commerce moving 
 steadily. Ancient Nineveh and Babylon have 
 been revived. Johannesburg is their twentieth 
 century prototype. It is a city of unbridled 
 squander and unfathomable squalor. Living is 
 more costly than one's wildest dreams. All the 
 necessaries of life are impudently dear. Miners 
 of England and Australia, however poor may be 
 your lot, however dark your present prospects, 
 let no man tempt you to South Africa with tales 
 of the wages that are paid upon the Rand ! The 
 wages are high indeed, but the price the workers 
 pay for them is paid in suffering and blood. 
 Better a thousand times to perish as paupers in 
 your own country, if such a chance should hap, 
 than race to an early tomb in a hot, deep African 
 cavern. 
 
 NOTE. During the 1910-11 Session, the Union Parliament passed 
 the Miners' Phthisis Allowances Act, an avowedly temporary measure 
 designed to alleviate the distress of sufferers, pending a fuller under- 
 standing of the problem. A Commission was immediately afterwards 
 appointed by the Government to enquire into the whole question of 
 
 1 66
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Miners' Phthisis and the means of its prevention. The Commission 
 issued a preliminary report on ist August, 1912, strongly urging the 
 enaction of special legislation to enforce certain practical precautions 
 in all mining operations against the dust, which is the chief source 
 and provocative agent of the disease. The Commission's Report in- 
 ferentially denounced the existing laws and regulations as being 
 insufficient for the purpose. It stated that on many mines the pre- 
 ventive measures recommended are already being carried out with 
 pronounced success, but suggested that universal adoption of them 
 would be necessary to effect " a considerable all-round improvement 
 "on existing conditions." The Commission's Report has not yet 
 resulted in legislative action for reform. So far the Union Parlia- 
 ment has been content to pass an Act making provision for persons 
 who have already contracted Miners' Phthisis. This Act came into 
 force in August, 1912. It provides for the compulsory medical in- 
 spection of all underground miners and for the compensation of those 
 who have become diseased or disabled by the scourge. The measure is 
 a humane and useful one, no doubt, but it cannot be described as 
 other than a palliative, for it leaves the main problem the preven- 
 tion of Miners' Phthisis and the protection of miners from its 
 ravages practically untouched. Let us hope that when the Com- 
 mission's final report is presented the Union Parliament will no 
 longer hesitate to do its duty. 
 
 167
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 CRIME 
 
 / T~"*HE supreme test of indigency and unem- 
 ployment in any country is always to be 
 found in its criminal statistics. The Union 
 of South Africa has no " Year Book " like other 
 British Dominions, neither have the provincial 
 Governments under the Union. The people of 
 South Africa, indeed, have habitually displayed 
 a singular reticence in submitting their public 
 affairs to critical examination, and the usual work 
 of the statist has too often been left for special 
 Commissions to accomplish when the need of 
 obtaining reliable information on which to build 
 reforms became too acute for urgent special 
 reasons to be neglected. During my recent visit 
 to the sub-continent I made many futile efforts 
 
 1 68
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to ascertain the actual criminality of the com- 
 munity. I saw much evidence of indigence 
 around me, and everywhere I went many signs 
 and symbols of unemployment (especially among 
 the juvenile population), but I hesitated, never 
 theless, to pass judgment on those facts until I 
 should be in a position to compare them with the 
 figures of crime : for in my opinion (based on a 
 prolonged experience in Australia and elsewhere) 
 crime is the surest, if not the only sure, index of 
 the real gravity and extent and character of that 
 deadliest of social evils, unemployment. There 
 are two brands of indigency temporary indi- 
 gency, caused usually by commercial depression 
 of a casual nature or seasonal trade vicissitudes ; 
 and permanent indigency, which is, per contra, 
 the offspring of industrial decrepitude, trade de- 
 cline, or a general repletion of the labor market. 
 It is true that I recognised the existence of many 
 peculiar industrial conditions in South Africa 
 which do not pertain to any other country, and 
 which appeared to attest the sincerity of the pre- 
 vailing manifestations of indigency, and to sig- 
 nify their quality of permanence. But not even 
 when I had perused and studied the Report of 
 the Transvaal Indigency Commission (which I 
 
 169
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 have quoted extensively in earlier chapters) did 
 I feel justified in accepting its findings as con- 
 clusively confirmatory of my own impressions : 
 and I would certainly not have written this book 
 in its present form if the criminal statistics of the 
 Union had continued to elude me. I had my 
 opinion, but I would have kept it to myself. No 
 man has the right to accuse a great country unless 
 he can support his charges, and I like the people 
 of South Africa too well to libel them even by 
 suggestions grounded on irrefutable verities. 
 However, during the last few days of my sojourn 
 in Cape Town official statements of the condition 
 of criminality within the Union were made in 
 Parliament, which banished the last cause of 
 reasonable doubt. The figures I had vainly 
 searched were extracted from the departmental 
 pigeon-holes by the hon. member for Troyeville, 
 Mr. Quinn, and published to the world. The 
 final method of testing South Africa's indigency 
 was thus made available to me. Mr. Quinn's 
 speech was printed in extenso in the Cape Times 
 of the 7th December, 1910; and on the same 
 date that journal published a weighty leading 
 article on the subject, which accepted Mr. Quinn's 
 statistics as absolutely genuine and praised him 
 
 170
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 warmly for " the good service " he did the country 
 in making them public, and for urging that " the 
 " alarming growth of the prison population " 
 should be checked. Further evidence of the 
 accuracy of the hon. gentleman's figures is con- 
 tained in the facts that the Union Government 
 had neither reply to make nor remark to offer, 
 and that every member of both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment tacitly admitted their truth. The figures 
 were supplied to Mr. Quinn by the Secretary of 
 the Law Department, and they have never been 
 disputed. They are remarkable in the fullest 
 meaning of the term. The main facts may be 
 summarised as follows 
 
 (1) Since the war, in the Transvaal alone, 
 
 ; 500,000 has been spent in new prison 
 buildings, yet the prison accommodation 
 is still inadequate. 
 
 (2) The average daily prison population in the 
 
 Union is 15,000. 
 
 (3) The average daily prison population in the 
 
 Transvaal is 6,637. 
 
 (4) Of all the people within the Union one in 
 
 every 366 is in prison each day of the 
 year. 
 
 (5) Of all the people within the Transvaal one 
 
 171
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 in every 245 is in prison each day of the 
 year. 
 
 (6) In England, the corresponding figure is one 
 
 person in 1,600. 
 
 (7) The Union spends ,2,145,000 on the ad- 
 
 ministration of justice every ten months, 
 and of this ,1,583,000 is spent on police 
 and prisons. 
 
 (8) The expenditure on Education for the same 
 
 period is ,1,384,000. 
 
 (9) Every child in South Africa costs the State 
 
 12 per annum to educate, every prisoner 
 
 ,100 per annum to maintain. 
 (10) During the year 1908-9, some 59,000 
 
 prisoners were housed in the Transvaal 
 
 gaols alone, 
 (n) The criminality of all South Africa is more 
 
 than four times as great as the criminality 
 
 of England. 
 
 (12) The criminality of the Transvaal is nearly 
 
 seven times as great as the criminality of 
 England. 
 
 (13) Crime in all parts of S. Africa is steadily 
 
 and seriously increasing. 
 
 (14) White juvenile crime is increasing more 
 
 rapidly (especially in the Transvaal) than 
 
 adult crime. 
 
 172
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 (15) The reason officially suggested for the larger 
 
 increase of white juvenile crime is the 
 absence of educational facilities afforded 
 children of white people to become skilled 
 workers, " whereby they are condemned 
 to idleness and unemployment." 
 
 (16) There are 200,000 white children now at 
 
 school in South Africa. In present cir- 
 cumstances, no adequate means exist to 
 train more than a small fraction of them 
 as skilled artisans or to give them any sort 
 of real industrial efficiency. The skilled 
 trades are thereby barred to them. The 
 unskilled trades are monopolised by the 
 Kaffirs. They seem predestined to indi- 
 gency, indolence and crime. As Mr. 
 Quinn remarked ; " Newspapers are not 
 " numerous enough in South Africa to 
 " give all these children jobs of selling 
 " papers in the streets. What is to be- 
 " come of them ? " The question rests 
 unanswered. 
 
 A defect in Mr. Quinn's disclosures that must 
 be noted is their failure to separate the white and 
 colored prison population. The Cape Times 
 notices this failure but treats it as of no great 
 
 173
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 practical importance, and gravely warns the white 
 South African that he cannot on thit account 
 afford to " let things take their course." The 
 fact appears to be that- while the negroes are to 
 some extent responsible for the unfavourable 
 figure that South African criminality presents in 
 gross comparison with other countries, the whites 
 are chiefly to blame. The increase of crime in 
 recent years has not been specified in mathemati- 
 cal terms, but it is admitted to be " deplorably 
 " great " and to be due chiefly to an excessive 
 proportional increase in crime among the juvenile 
 white population. While the departmental 
 records are silent on the point, there is a general 
 consensus of opinion that crime among the natives 
 is decreasing. (Vide Appendix A.) The natives, 
 broadly speaking, are an extremely servile, duti- 
 ful and law abiding class. Their presence 
 among the white community is only suffered on 
 condition that they work. Those amenable to 
 the white man's legal discipline are workers every 
 one, and in continuous employment. Crime may 
 possibly be serious in the kraals, but in the kraals 
 the white man's law does not hold sway, and the 
 kraals do not contribute directly to the prison 
 population of the country. The negroes who 
 
 174
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 work for and live among the whites are the best 
 of their race, and the universal testimony of the 
 greatest employers of black labor in South Africa 
 is that the native worker is a remarkably good 
 citizen. As bearing out this view the Cape 
 Times explicitly refers South Africa's deplorable 
 general criminality to the " indigent white prob- 
 " lem," and to the absence of a proper system of 
 industrial and technical education; and it 
 specifically connects the untaught pupil with the 
 prisoner. For the rest Mr. Quinn's figures tell 
 their own story. Unemployment is the parent of 
 idleness. Idleness breeds indigency. Indi- 
 gency is both the father and mother of crime. 
 In South Africa we have the vicious circle com- 
 plete. The Indigency Commission tells us of an 
 amount of permanent unemployment and idle- 
 ness, the proportions of which it shrinks from 
 specifying, but admits are " lamentably great." 
 The criminal statistics carry the tale forward to 
 the bounds of horror, then back to the creative 
 agencies of crime. If crime in the Union had 
 been relatively comparable with, although exceed- 
 ing, crime in other countries, some ground would 
 have been left to question still the persistency of 
 South Africa's indigent conditions, because the 
 
 175
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 native population is large and wholesale crime 
 does not spring out of indigency in a day or in a 
 year. But here the ground of disputation is cut 
 away from beneath our' feet. The criminality of 
 South Africa is unparalleled in the civilised 
 world. It has been too great for several years : 
 its dimensions are now appalling and steadily in- 
 creasing. And the worst form of crime, " juvenile 
 " crime," shows the highest rate of increase. 
 Public opinion in South Africa, as expressed in 
 Parliament and the Press, attributes juvenile 
 crime to the lack of a proper system of industrial 
 education. But the explanation is insufficient. 
 It is merely valuable to note, because it proves 
 that the people begin to realise that enforced 
 idleness both occasions and excuses crime. Men 
 must live in spite of Talleyrand's ironical sug- 
 gestion to the contrary, and if they cannot make 
 a living honestly the major fault lies with the 
 conditions, social or political, which drive them 
 to certain ways of crime for the bread which they 
 must get to live. One of these culpable con- 
 ditions may well reside in South Africa's educa- 
 tional hiatus, but a more important factor stares 
 us in the face. The rough work of the country 
 is all performed by native labor. The white 
 
 176
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 population has got into a fixed habit of leaning 
 on the negro race. If there were no blacks in 
 South Africa there would be sufficient permanent 
 employment immediately available to support in 
 comfort a million more whites than the country 
 now possesses. But the blacks teem and their 
 labor is cheap. They cannot be displaced from 
 industry and their advance upon the avenues of 
 skilled employment cannot be arrested. The 
 country belongs to them of natural right, and so, 
 too, the work of the country which they are fitted 
 to perform. Their presence, their numbers, the 
 cheapness of their labor, and their natural indis- 
 putable right to work, all conspire to restrict 
 within narrow and almost immutable limits the 
 scope of white employment. The fact is that the 
 white laboring population of South Africa largely 
 exceeds the present industrial capacity of the 
 country to absorb. Many thousands of whites 
 could be spared to the benefit, in every sense, of 
 the body politic. These thousands are superflu- 
 ous units. They are a public burden and a 
 national disgrace. In the Transvaal, as the 
 prison records above quoted prove, there are no 
 fewer than 59,000 criminals. Most of these are 
 men and women who live by charity, by casual 
 
 177
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 employment, and by crime. Only the negroes 
 among this dreadful herd can make sure of get- 
 ting even casual employment. The white 
 criminals are unskilled workers and " Kaffir 
 "work" is not for them to do. Of skilled 
 workers among the criminal population there is 
 scarcely any trace : and that is natural, because 
 skilled artisans are industrious of habit and they 
 can make more money by honest effort than by 
 crime. The rising generation of the white popu- 
 lation in South Africa deserves the heartfelt pity 
 of mankind. There are 200,000 white children 
 at school in the Union to-day. The outside 
 chances are that no more than 100,000 of these 
 hapless innocents have a decent career before 
 them. This estimate is, in my honest opinion, 
 far too liberal, but I advance it to obviate any 
 suspicion of exaggeration. And what is to be- 
 come of the remainder? The hon. member for 
 Troyeville does not know. The Government of 
 the Union does not know. Parliament does not 
 know. Meanwhile juvenile crime is increasing 
 horribly and the prison population mounts apace. 
 
 178
 
 VICTORIA FALLS
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 RHODESIA AND THE VICTORIA FALLS 
 
 / T"^O reach the Zambesi one must journey 1,642 
 miles north from Kimberley, through Rho- 
 desia, in a crawling railway train, running 
 on a 3 ft. 6 inch gauge. The party with which I 
 travelled was luxuriously catered for by the hos- 
 pitality of the Union Government, but when we 
 arrived at our destination we were fervently re- 
 joiced. Everybody was train tired and incredibly 
 dusty. Overnight we had traversed a long 
 stretch of Rhodesian desert : the diurnal rain 
 storm had disappointed us on the evening 
 previous; the thermometer approached 100 deg. 
 in the shade, and nobody had slept. We 
 " landed " from the train weary, dishevelled, in 
 spite of all our efforts to " furbish up," and 
 
 179
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 generally confessing an inclination to be cynical. 
 The truth is, Rhodesia failed to approach our 
 expectations. We had been promised that we 
 should see a country so rich, so originally lovely, 
 and so variously beautiful, that we should fall out 
 of love with our own land and make prompt 
 tender of our allegiance and our strayed affections 
 to this new Dark Lady of the Torrid Zone. The 
 event did little except seal our faith in the 
 superior beauties and bounties of Australia. 
 From Kimberley to Bulawayo we travelled 
 across a boundless table land, a treeless plain, 
 hardly broken by a single hill or kopje, that can 
 surely have no rival for monotony of scenery the 
 wide world over. Of running rivers we saw no 
 sign : of creeks there were a few, but nearly all 
 were dry. The plain was fairly well grassed (the 
 rainy season had commenced), and widely clothed 
 with green, but destitute of shelter for stock and 
 unspeakably desolate, being swept night and day 
 with winds that sough and search over the limit- 
 less expanse, tear the soil from under the very 
 roots of the grasses and scatter blinding clouds 
 of dust upon the world. Now and then, at far 
 flung intervals, we passed white men's villages, 
 and we saw a white face or two : but they looked 
 
 1 80
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 sadly out of place, and only served to emphasise 
 the message of the teeming Kaffir kraals " South 
 " Africa belongs to the blacks." 
 
 We saw many herds of cattle, many flocks of 
 goats. They were all of inferior type, small, sun- 
 hardened beasties, ill-conditioned and unkempt. 
 The houses we encountered were wretched little 
 iron-roofed hovels pity the sturdy pioneers who 
 dwell in them ! and no hint or trace of cultiva- 
 tion, save of mealie crops by native farmers, did 
 we meet with. A poor, ill watered, hungry 
 country it appeared to us : rich in nought save 
 what stands involved within the signification of 
 that blessed word " potentialities." The Cana- 
 dian Minister, M. Lemieux, voiced the opinion 
 of us all when he said " I wonder that any 
 " white man can be found to leave his own 
 " country to settle in such a dour, unlovely 
 "wilderness." Later on we came to trees and 
 hills. But the hills were bleak and bare, and 
 the trees thin, scrubby, stunted rubbish, fit, per- 
 haps, to burn and elsewise useless. True enough, 
 as we steamed into the heart of Africa, the trees 
 acquired a more imposing stature, and their 
 foliage assumed many gaudy hues, giving the 
 landscape an opulent autumnal tone : but they 
 
 181
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 spoke nearly always of a hard struggle with 
 grudging nature, and the biggest timber (the 
 biggest trees are pigmies to Australian gums) 
 are dubbed in sinister fashion " fever trees," be- 
 cause they grow where fever flourishes. They 
 grow in places that are too many. Bean trees and 
 mimosa thorns (a multitude of thinly sprinkled 
 shrubs that look like starved little quinces and 
 crab apples) : all the trees and shrubs planted far 
 apart as in a park such is the South African 
 bush. 
 
 The country seems incapable of supporting 
 more than an apparition of vegetable life. They 
 say that it is an ideal land for horses and cattle. 
 We saw no proof of it, though we saw the country 
 at its utmost best, and everywhere we heard 
 melancholy tales of rinderpest, East Coast fever, 
 and other dreadful stock diseases. I would 
 rather have ten acres of Australian land than ten 
 times as many square miles of such " ideal " 
 cattle country. I admit that on the ground grow 
 myriads of flaunting lilies and tubers (some of 
 the blooms are exquisitely beautiful), and orchids, 
 too : but botanists are not the best settlers, and 
 the farmer needs more than spiritual nourish- 
 ment, also his stock. Cattle do not thrive on 
 
 182
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 tiger lilies, and it is poor comfort to overlook a 
 wilderness of blooms when one's stock is famish- 
 ing for homely grass or being ravaged by the 
 rinderpest. And the country is destitute of 
 game. Once it was the home of millions of deer, 
 eland, springbok, and other fauna. But the 
 rinderpest came and stamped the seal of death 
 and desolation over all the land, and now the 
 hunter must ride a hundred miles to find a single 
 opportunity to use his rifle. For these and other 
 reasons we reached the Falls station not less 
 dispirited than we were dusty. We found a 
 scattered cottage hotel, facing a splendid gorge 
 that is spanned with one of the largest suspension 
 bridges in the world, a veritable triumph of 
 engineering craft a single arch of chilled steel 
 flung 600 feet across a chasm 140 yards deep. 
 
 The sight was encouraging. We plucked up 
 our dashed energies, and without waiting for 
 dinner, hurried to see what Sir Gilbert Parker 
 called "The Eighth Wonder of the World," 
 boasting his inability to describe it in more 
 definitive terminology. Ten minutes later we 
 halted of a sudden, stricken dumb and spell- 
 bound, on the verge of a stupendous cliff. Con- 
 ceive a cleft hacked by colossal forces out of the 
 
 183
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 solid rock surface of the table land, a sheer 400 
 feet in depth, a mile and a quarter long, 500 feet 
 across : and .conceive, tumbling over the entire 
 extent of one face edge of this gigantic chasm, 
 the massed waters of one of the largest and 
 noblest rivers known to man. The Kaffirs alone, 
 out of all the people who have been privileged 
 to see this incomparable marvel, have been in- 
 spired with sufficient poetry and feeling to supply 
 it with a fittingly poetic name. The English 
 have styled it the Victoria Falls. The Kaffirs 
 call it " Mosi-oa-tunya " The Smoke that 
 Sounds. The waters dash in great broken 
 volumes into the abyss with a tumultuous roar 
 that can be heard for fully sixteen miles. The 
 " Great Fall " is 573 yards broad. The " Leap- 
 " ing Water " is 30 yards wide. Rainbow Fall 
 has a breadth of 200 feet. The Eastern Cataract 
 measures 600 yards across its foaming surface. 
 These are the principal cascades : but between 
 them gush an innumerable host of smaller founts 
 that foam and leap into the void in slender crystal 
 threads, and whose waters fall athwart the lus- 
 trous green and grey and purple facets of the 
 cliff in shining, streaming bandoliers that stab 
 the shadows of the chasm with a thousand needle 
 
 184
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 points of frosted light before they finally dissolve 
 in multi-colored mist clouds. The waters fall to 
 rise again in the shape of inverted pyramids of 
 spray : which often mount to the dizzy height of 
 full 3,000 feet a welter of wondrous vapor 
 clouds that overhang the valley night and day in 
 in great white palls and pillars of moving, drift- 
 ing smoke The Smoke that Sounds. 
 
 As the sunlight strikes along the spray, a score 
 of splendid rainbows flash and form, and melt 
 and form again, to fill the eye with loveliness, the 
 mind with dazzled wonderment. The spray, in- 
 deed, is the most marvellous of all the marvels 
 clustered there. It rises so gently, so slowly, 
 yet so irresistibly. As one watches its ascent, the 
 breathless thought says instant after instant, 
 " Now," and the eye expects its fall. But ever 
 it surges upwards, upwards, till it melts into the 
 blue, and only the iridescent glamor of the rain- 
 bows tell that it is climbing still. The cliff edge 
 that confronts the falls is always garlanded with 
 thin resurgent rain. For twice ten thousand 
 years (or as many centuries, may be) the spray 
 from the massed cataracts has been falling over 
 all the countryside in a steady drench of clear, 
 fine, scintillating jewelled rain, that has fostered 
 
 185
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 under the tropic sun a growth as luxuriant as the 
 jungles of Arabian dreams. There are trees too 
 large to measure readily, too old to contemplate 
 without a sentiment of reverence : weird, twisted 
 shapes of trees that gloom and glimmer through 
 the hot, dank mist, and drip and drip eternally. 
 Under foot are streaming lawns, rank with sodden 
 herbage, star strewn with thousands of flame- 
 colored lilies and ferns and orchids manifold. 
 
 The place is under a perpetual shade the 
 shadow of the spray. It reeks with scented 
 damp, and all its glades and dells and hollows 
 are charged with gorgeous mystery. It is called 
 the Rain Forest, but really it is the home and 
 nursery of the rainbow, for all the rainbows issue 
 from its splashing halls, and thither they return 
 when the sun sets or the moon wanes, and " the 
 " smoke that sounds " fades out of sight and 
 sonorously sleeps. One night we saw a company 
 of lunar rainbows float across the gorge, and the 
 beauty of the scene was such that no one cared 
 or dared to speak, and our homeward walk was 
 silent. Men say of the Niagara Falls a natural 
 wonder, unsurpassably magnificent and grand. 
 Contrasted with " The Smoke that Sounds," 
 Niagara is as a cup of beauty thrown into a well. 
 
 1 86
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Its volume of falling water may be seasonally 
 greater, but in all else it is smaller and less 
 awfully beautiful than Mosi-oa-Tunya : nor need 
 the Smoke that Sounds shrink from the compari- 
 son of volume all the year, for when the Zambesi 
 is at full, the torrent that is poured into the long, 
 deep boiling pot of the abyss is greater than the 
 greatest engineers can reckon easily, and at the 
 river's very lowest, it is capable of generating 
 power equivalent, in economic terms, to the mus- 
 cular vigor of 300,00x3 horses. Already there is 
 a talk of harnessing the Falls to human uses, and 
 a public company has been formed to carry elec- 
 tric current from Victoria to Johannesburg (more 
 than 700 miles), to light the city, move the trams, 
 and run the gold mines of the Rand. I rejoice 
 to have seen the Falls before these vandals of 
 commerce have commenced their work. 
 
 One morning, after an early breakfast, we 
 traversed the Zambesi a short distance above the 
 suspension bridge, intent upon viewing the Falls 
 from the side of the leaping water. The cross- 
 ing was effected in a small flotilla of canoes, 
 manned by half a score of ebony paddlers. We 
 found the river at this point only in pools, yet 
 never really shallow, and, spread as it is, over a
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 breadth of nearly i mile, some faint notion can 
 be gleaned of the enormous body of water that 
 it carries to the cliff. Our voyage had the merit 
 of a thrilling novelty. When half across stream, 
 we encountered a current ten times stronger than 
 the swift prevailing drift. For a few moments 
 the dusky oarsmen struggled like Titans with 
 the flow, and made gallant headway too : but on 
 a sudden the headman gave a cry, the canoes 
 spun round as on a magic pivot, and then off we 
 flew like hawks upon the wing, down a mile long 
 foaming waste of rapids, towards the roaring 
 Falls. 
 
 On each side of the canoes, frowning scarps 
 and crags of rock raised their black heads every 
 moment hungrily upon the flying craft. Our 
 lives hung vitally upon the steersmen's nerve. 
 One false movement, one accidental paddle dip, 
 one slip or unintended turn of wrist, and no human 
 power could have saved us from being swirled 
 a lot of helpless flotsam down the pass, and tossed 
 at last into the Boiling Pot or the Devil's 
 Caldron. But no such accidents occurred. The 
 dusky paddlers plied their blades with as much 
 stolid indifference as though they were paddling 
 in a pond, and all the steersmen showed a skill 
 
 1 88
 
 so superbly perfect and unconscious, that for very 
 shame we concealed the excitement that con- 
 sumed us, and endeavoured to look as though we 
 had spent our youth shooting rapids above falls 
 at least 1,000 feet in depth. Mr. Fisher, of the 
 whole party, succeeded best, but then he is a 
 Scotsman, and his nerves are made of flint. 
 When some 50 yards from the face of the cliff, 
 the native oarsmen cleverly manoeuvred the 
 canoes out of the main current into a patch of 
 smooth backwash, under the lee of a little island. 
 Here we landed at the same spot where David 
 Livingstone landed when he discovered the Falls, 
 in the year 1855, and we paid a visit of homage 
 to the great tree whereon he carved the initials 
 of his name. Livingstone was only once in his 
 life guilty of such vanity, as he tells us in his 
 ' Travels in South Africa " : he has for his 
 apologist the grandest natural marvel that the 
 world contains. From the cliffs of Livingstone 
 Island, we looked steeply down into the gorge, 
 and obtained an unbroken view of more than a 
 mile of sparkling, tumbling water, falling sheer 
 over the knife edges of that marvellous basalt 
 precipice into an abyss which transcends in 
 gloom and dark, majestic horror the wildest 
 
 189
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 dream of gloom and beauty that Dante ever 
 dreamed. Words are utterly inadequate to de- 
 pict the awful splendour of that spectacle and its 
 effect upon the mind-. The soul shrivels while 
 one stands at gaze, and one's whole consciousness 
 becomes oppressed and overpowered with a sense 
 of man's appalling insignificance before forces 
 so immeasurably impetuous and vast. Here we 
 moved and breathed among a welter of gaudy 
 rainbows. Every rock and crag shone with a 
 living fire of bright metallic lights, golds and 
 lustrous greens predominating : and the tortured 
 milk white spray rose before our faces in immense 
 masses of vapor, spouting to the highest sky in 
 geyser shoots of whipping, driving spindrift, that 
 seemed to be stirred and separated and hurled 
 upwards from the boiling caldron by the furious 
 efforts of a multitude of unseen witches. 
 
 Peering down into the cavern darkness of the 
 chasm we saw all the waters of the river collect 
 and concentrate into one mighty whirlpool of 
 boiling foam, thence dash with vertiginous 
 rapidity through a single narrow gap and pour in 
 a mad ruthless torrent down the rapids of the 
 gorge into the 4O-mile long canon of the Pass, 
 making billows in their passage fifty feet and 
 
 190
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 more in height, and flinging great jets of stinging 
 spray against the dark walls of the steep. Never 
 was there a more silent party. Sometimes we ex- 
 changed timid, sympathetic glances, but we were 
 bereft of the capacity to speak. Mr. Fisher for- 
 got his politics : most of us forgot the world. We 
 all felt very small and strange and weak. To 
 depart was a profound relief. 
 
 191
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE MATOPPOS AND RHODES's GRAVE 
 
 A T about noon on the i7th November, I 
 reached Buluwayo from " the Falls," and 
 at once transhipped from the train into 
 motor car, to pay a visit to the grave of the father 
 of Rhodesia. This proved to be one of the most 
 interesting incidents of a long and intensely in- 
 teresting journey. Between Buluwayo and the 
 Matoppo Hills lies a 30 mile tract of unusually 
 picturesque and fertile veld, broken with tower- 
 ing stony kopjes and interspersed with many 
 steep banked spruits and flowing streams. After 
 a swift ride of an hour, I came upon the late Cecil 
 Rhodes's famous irrigation farm, a lovely oasis 
 situated in a deep hollow among the hills, where 
 several hundred acres have been reclaimed from 
 
 192
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the wilderness and converted by the uses of irri- 
 gation into one of the most beautiful and pros- 
 perous farms in Africa. Here a branch of the 
 river has been dammed back for a distance of 
 about two miles by a huge stone weir a fine bit 
 of engineering work and a reservoir has been 
 thus constructed providing more than sufficient 
 water at all seasons of the year to irrigate 1,000 
 acres. The farm is now occupied by an expert 
 irrigationist, a tenant of the Rhodes' estate, and 
 so kindly does the soil respond to his efforts that 
 he is at the same time building up a fortune and 
 paying a rent high enough to cover the interest 
 charges on the works, and to provide a large part 
 of the maintenance endowment on the Matoppo 
 Park Rhodes's last splendid gift to the people 
 of Rhodesia. 
 
 Other objects of interest examined were the 
 head kraals of the late celebrated paramount 
 Kaffir chief, Lobengula, and the far-famed 
 Indaba tree, under which that crafty old savage 
 slaughtered remorselessly some 100 rebel chief- 
 tains whom he had induced to meet him in coun- 
 cil, by treacherously promising to consider and 
 redress their grievances. Soon afterwards I 
 entered the private territory of the Rhodes estate, 
 
 193
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and was confronted with visual evidence of the 
 vast landed wealth which in his lifetime that 
 great Englishman had owned. One may stand 
 to-day on a certain kopje in the heart of the 
 Matoppos, and look around for thirty miles in all 
 directions, and still not see the bounds of 
 Rhodes's former holding. Every foot of that 
 country once was his, and his too was all the 
 huge treasure of agricultural and mineral wealth 
 that it contains. During my whole stay in 
 Africa, the name of Rhodes, lovingly and rever- 
 ently spoken, met me at every turn. 
 
 Almost every town and city that I visited 
 boasts some grand piece of sculptured art or other 
 striking public memorial to record his genius and 
 his generosity. His works are everywhere in 
 evidence, and nearly all are imperishable monu- 
 ments. Here is a stretching province added to 
 the possessions of the Empire : there a great road 
 or bridge or town or railway built out of his 
 private purse : there again some public institution 
 magnificently and perpetually endowed by him. 
 The man was big in every sense of the term. He 
 took a world's view of everything. He amassed 
 stupendous fortunes. He employed his wealth 
 in the immediate service of the Empire, in the 
 
 194
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ultimate service of humanity. His memory is 
 simply worshipped by all the British people in 
 South Africa. The Boers pay him the compli- 
 ment of an unbroken Sphinx-like silence they 
 owe it to him that they are Britons now. Such at 
 least is the belief. His tomb is worthy of a man 
 whose life was spent thinking great thoughts and 
 putting into practice the pursuit and realisation 
 of magnificent ideals. Many years ago, when 
 roaming one day with a companion through the 
 Matoppos, Rhodes discovered a splendid granite 
 tor that soared above the neighbouring crags and 
 kopjes, that commanded a breathless panoramic 
 view of hill and veld in all directions, and whose 
 smooth, rounded, weather-worn summit was 
 topped with four great oval granite boulders, 
 separated each from the other by some little 
 space, and strangely pointing north, south, east 
 and west, like the barred ends of a four square 
 needle magnet made of stone. 
 
 Climbing to the crest of this wonderful peak, 
 Rhodes turned from a long unhurried contempla- 
 tion of the landscape, to his friend. " I shall be 
 " buried here," he said. His grave rests in the 
 central space between the compass boulders. 
 The tomb has been hollowed from the solid 
 
 195
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 stone : its lowly surface is almost level with the 
 granite surface of the mound. No headstone 
 marks the spot, nought but a recumbent sheet of 
 bronze, embedded athwart the rock, and inscribed 
 with these simple words " Here lie the remains 
 " of Cecil John Rhodes." 
 
 This is a world of diverse views and con- 
 trary opinions. To one of my companions 
 the sight of Rhodes's grave brought cynical 
 reflections, and evoked from him this rather 
 mordant comment, " The vanity of the man ! " 
 Others of the party were almost painfully 
 affected with the simplicity, the majesty and the 
 solitary aloofness of spirit which seemed to have 
 inspired the conception of such a grave. I re- 
 membered that it had been Rhodes's custom for 
 years before his end, whenever he was worried by 
 the sordid little things of life, or whenever he 
 wished to be alone to give freer scope to the work- 
 ings of his imperial mind, to retire unattended to 
 the witching and mysterious solitude of the hill 
 where now he lies in death. On that lonely rock 
 he planned the conquest and acquisition of a ter- 
 ritory nearly 450,000 square miles in extent. On 
 that spot he formulated schemes and policies 
 whose fruition subsequently shook the world. 
 
 196
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 On that spot he dreamed dreams as vast and 
 romantic as ever fired the imagination of a 
 Caesar or an Alexander, and there at last he made 
 his will which gave parks to the people, provinces 
 to the nation, and perpetual education bequests 
 to the whole British speaking race. 
 
 None other than Rhodes should sleep on the 
 World's View Hill. None other ever shall, 
 although he gave it as a cemetery to South Africa, 
 and he did not declare any wish to sleep alone. 
 Happily, the people have decided that question 
 for good and all, and have thus proved beyond 
 dispute their veneration of his greatness. It is, 
 I think, the most remotely silent place that I have 
 ever visited, the most seriously thought-inspiring, 
 the most sombre, forbidding and desolately 
 grand. While one stands gazing at the tomb, 
 scores of lizards, blue, green and grey, crawl from 
 the crevices among the rocks, and steal like 
 brilliant phantom streaks across the tor. They 
 are almost fearless of intruders, but they make 
 no sound. Sometimes the distant shrilling of 
 cicadae wounds the stillness with a faint yet 
 piercing dagger-thrust of song. But soon and 
 always the eternal hush returns, and silence reigns 
 supreme again. What must this place of isolated 
 
 197
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 gloom be like at night, when in the tropic noon- 
 tide blaze it spreads a pall of gentle horror on 
 the sensibilities at night, when the lions that 
 teem among these pathless hills, roam abroad in 
 search of prey, and bend their prowling steps, 
 perhaps, across the simple, moveless tomb of the 
 maker of a nation ? Involuntarily, a quatrain of 
 Omar, the Persian, swims into recollection 
 
 " They say the lion and the lizard keep 
 The court where Jamsheyd gloried and drank deep. 
 And Balaam, that great hunter the wild ass 
 Stamps o'er his head, yet cannot break his sleep." 
 
 Certainly the lion and the lizard keep nightly 
 watch by Cecil Rhodes's grave. The world is 
 full of great tombs, great and awe-inspiring : but 
 there is neither pyramid, nor tomb, nor monu- 
 ment in all the world which can equal that of 
 Rhodes's sleeping place in simplicity and 
 majesty. I think its grandeur somewhat over- 
 tops the bigness of the man who chose it for his 
 final home. But if he showed vanity in his selec- 
 tion, he showed courage too, and one must re- 
 member that he owned the Hill. 
 
 198
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 AFRIKANDER LITERATURE AND LITERACY 
 
 f\P all the dominions of the British Empire, 
 South Africa has had the most varied and 
 romantic history. From north to south, 
 from east to west, the country is dotted with 
 monuments to commemorate battles, treaties and 
 other critical events. Not once, but many times, 
 the land has been drenched in blood. For more 
 than three centuries various races have been con- 
 tending at intervals for its possession, and the 
 limitless veld is strewn with a myriad graves, each 
 marked with a little white cross or headstone, each 
 containing the dust of a brave man slain with his 
 rifle in his hand fighting for a cause. South 
 Africa, moreover, is a land of extraordinary 
 scenic splendor, of fascination and of mystery. 
 
 199
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 In no other part of the world are there to be 
 found vaster stretches of high tableland so 
 weirdly broken and relieved with strange shaped 
 hills, deep gorges and dongas, and dark inacces- 
 sible ravines. There are taller mountains else- 
 where, but none more bold and starkly menacing 
 in form : none that fling out such endless succes- 
 sions of jagged, frowning spurs : none that offer 
 a more powerful appeal to the imagination. 
 
 The most experienced traveller meets startling 
 surprises in South Africa at every turn. The 
 country has been built on a fashion peculiar to it- 
 self. The veld is without a foreign prototype. 
 It resembles nothing so much as the flat roof of 
 a mighty battlemented Gothic castle pushed 
 sheer upward into the blue on tier on tier of pre- 
 cipitous Cyclopean rocks, and supported and de- 
 fended from the lower world by a multitude of 
 giant flying buttresses each rock a straight and 
 lofty mountain, each buttress a naked mountain 
 spur incomparably bleak, magnificent and stern. 
 The air has a quality of clarity that makes even 
 the limpid brightness of the Australian atmos- 
 phere seem like mist. The sunsets surpass in 
 gorgeousness and brazen glory the sunsets of all 
 other lands : and the vivid coloring of the 
 
 200
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " bush," the dour scarlet starred monotone of the 
 veld, are facts and contrasts that strike like shafts 
 of fire into the fancy. Inexorably the thought 
 arises in the traveller's mind, " Here is a country 
 " to compel into existence an original and peer- 
 " less literature, to breed a race of poets, with a 
 " brand new message for mankind." He merely 
 prepares for himself another astonishment. 
 
 This wonderful land is practically destitute of 
 an indigenous literature : it has almost absolutely 
 failed to inspire its own children. Olive 
 Schreiner has written " The Story of a South 
 " African Farm." Sir Percy Fitzgerald has 
 written " Jock of the Bushveld." The prose 
 achievements of South Africa that are worthy of 
 note very nearly begin and end with those two 
 books. The country is equally tongue-tied in 
 poetry. One hears of a few English versifiers, 
 and reads their songs only to be sharply dis- 
 appointed. The Dutch Afrikanders have no 
 prose literature deserving of the name at all, and 
 but one singer, Mr. Jan Celliers, has ever reached 
 a reputation. The Taal has no grammar. It is 
 a wretched patois, merely the slang of half a 
 dozen languages jumbled together. That Mr. 
 Jan Celliers is acclaimed a poet at all, confining 
 
 201
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 himself to such a medium, is remarkable : yet 
 even his warmest admirers admit that his voice is 
 " still and soft," and his range narrow. 
 
 The lamentable failure of the Dutch to give 
 adequate literary expression to the spirit of their 
 country after so many centuries and generations 
 of possession, seems to proclaim them mentally 
 a dull and torpid race. They have no folk songs, 
 no sagas. The brave deeds of their forefathers, 
 their own stirring achievements by forest, flood 
 and field, have left them tuneless and tongue- 
 tied. They sing no heroes, though their heroes 
 number in scores : they utterly neglect their dead. 
 The Zulus are of a more melodious and sprightly 
 turn of mind. The Zulus have a multitude of 
 songs, stories and traditions. Almost every war- 
 rior is also a minstrel, and his mind teems with 
 sweet and splendid memories, which burst forth in 
 a sonorous and melodious recital whenever he is 
 strongly moved. When the typical Boer is 
 moved he is even more incapable of song than 
 when he is still. He is first and last a man of 
 vigorous action and profound repose. When the 
 call for action comes, his brain operates briskly 
 enough, and he displays an astonishing ingenuity 
 and fertility of resource, but always on the physi- 
 
 202
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 cal plane. When the need of action passes, he 
 sinks cheerfully into a condition of ox-like sloth. 
 He looks upon all forms of effort not directed 
 towards the clothing of his body and the filling 
 of his belly, as wasteful and contemptible. He 
 lives to eat and drink, and to procreate his 
 species : and he is the most indolent man on 
 earth. Many of his finest deeds have been in- 
 spired by his incurable natural laziness. 
 
 It has been of late the fashion to attribute the 
 " great trek " and the subsequent Boer dis- 
 covery, seizure and occupation of the Transvaal, 
 wholly to the Dutchman's admirable independ- 
 ence of character, and his magnificent love of 
 liberty. Nothing could be more absurd. The 
 Boer, in all likelihood, would never have trekked 
 from Cape Colony if it had not been for the 
 abolition of slavery. The Emancipation of 1834 
 threw the industrial motive power of the country 
 out of gear. The Boer had up to that date never 
 done a stroke of work which he could avoid. His 
 slaves did everything. Deprived of his slaves, 
 he awoke from his lethargy and, scared in his in- 
 most being at the horrid thought of work, he be- 
 came a hero, and trekked into the unknown wild 
 beyond the Vaal not half so much in order to 
 
 203
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 escape British rule as to discover lands where he 
 might resume his old indolent habits, and live 
 idly on the proceeds of forced Kaffir labor. 
 Slavery in name no longer exists, of course, but 
 slavery in deed continues on the veld, and the 
 back veld farmer boasts that he can manage the 
 " m g er " perfectly, if let alone. And indeed he 
 does with the rifle and the sjambok. 
 
 Take any Boer farmer, however poor, and 
 examine his hands. They are soft as any 
 woman's : and, if washed, quite as white. 
 Examine his mind. If literate, he will confess 
 having read one book the Bible or, rather, a 
 part of it the Old Testament. But one in every 
 five Boers can neither read nor write. Educa- 
 tion is now compulsory in the Transvaal : it has 
 never been compulsory elsewhere in South 
 Africa, and is not yet. In consequence, ignor- 
 ance, illiteracy and dulness pervade the land. 
 The penultimate census (taken in 1904) showed 
 434,000 literate whites of all ages in the Cape and 
 134,000 who could not tell one letter of the alpha- 
 bet from another this in the most populous, cul- 
 tured and progressive province of the Union. 
 In the light of this discreditable fact, one's wonder 
 at the dearth of an indigenous South African 
 
 204
 
 literature diminishes, and one gains a clearer 
 understanding why both the British and the better 
 educated Dutch attach so tremendous an import- 
 ance to the language and education problem 
 which is at this moment still unsettled (December 
 14, 1912), and is still engrossing the attention of 
 all classes of the body politic. 
 
 205
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE 
 
 A LMOST every town of note in South Africa 
 supports the burden of an immense public 
 debt. Here are a few instances 
 
 White Debt 
 
 Town. Population. Debt. Per head. 
 
 
 
 Port Elizabeth - 21,277 766,032 36 
 
 Pretoria - 21,000 1,000,000 47 
 
 Durban - 30,000 2,540,000 84 
 
 Capetown - 60,000 2,926,950 48 
 
 Bloemfontein - 12,000 972,977 81 
 
 Pietermaritzberg 11,000 1,000,000 62 
 East London - 13,000 380,000 29 
 
 When one learns that in nearly every instance 
 there are no ratepayers amongst the colored 
 population, and the whites have to carry the entire 
 
 206
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 burden unassisted, the wonder arises that these 
 towns have steered clear of the insolvency court. 
 Yet although the average rate is fairly high it 
 amounts to about 2^d. in the pound of capital 
 valuation no complaints are heard, the towns 
 are all paying their way, and many of them pos- 
 sess large sinking funds, and have begun to re- 
 deem their debts. How do they do it? The 
 answer is simple they are more fortunately 
 situated than appears, and manage their affairs 
 on up-to-date lines. Almost every municipality 
 in the Union is a great trading corporation, own- 
 ing and controlling most of the public utilities in 
 its domain. In no other British speaking country 
 has municipal socialism been carried to such 
 lengths. With few exceptions, the South African 
 municipalities own and manage the tramways, 
 lighting, water supply, drainage and sewerage, 
 food, produce and live stock markets, baths, abat- 
 toirs, laundries, wash houses, cemeteries, parks, 
 libraries, museums and amusements of the towns : 
 and some have their own bakeries and telephones. 
 In each of these trades the municipal authorities 
 enjoy monopolistic privileges, and permit no 
 competition. The enterprises in their control 
 are, generally speaking, conducted by highly 
 
 207
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 qualified and highly paid experts, and managed 
 according to the soundest economic principles. 
 Most of them return handsome yearly profits. 
 
 To cite Durban as an illustration, the trading 
 concerns of the town have yielded during several 
 years past a net trade profit exceeding 90,000 
 a sum which, if capitalised at 4 per cent., would 
 almost liquidate the entire public debt. Pre- 
 toria's total annual revenue is ,190,000. Of 
 that amount only ^48,000 is raised by rates 
 the bulk of the balance comes from the municipal 
 trading enterprises of the city. Capetown has 
 an annual revenue from all sources of some 
 ,536,000: the rates merely account for 
 ,151,000. Johannesburg's annual income is 
 approximately .709,000, and no more than half 
 that sum comes from the rates the balance 
 represents trading profits and the proceeds of 
 municipal land rents. 
 
 The financial position of the South African 
 municipalities is further fortified by the fact that 
 they nearly all own extensive areas of town land. 
 These areas commonages they are called 
 usually lie immediately beyond and surrounding 
 the range of habitation. Some municipalities 
 measure their commonages by hundreds, others 
 
 208
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 by thousands of acres. The methods of dealing 
 with such lands vary in instances, but are gener- 
 ally similar. Part is fenced and leased to 
 individual citizens : the balance is held open and 
 unfenced as a common pasture for the use of the 
 ratepayers, each ratepayer having the right to 
 graze thereon a certain number of live stock. 
 Such rights, however, are in no sense permanent, 
 for the municipality is empowered, whenever it 
 chooses, to sell the freehold of any portion of 
 the commonage lands. As the towns increase in 
 population, commonage sales continually take 
 place, and the towns increase in size at the ex- 
 pense of a corresponding shrinkage in the 
 municipal commonage area. Wisely governed 
 towns apply the proceeds of their land sales to 
 the reduction of their public debts, but there are 
 a few which treat the money as ordinary revenue, 
 and their charters are so loosely framed that there 
 is no means of stopping the stupid practice of 
 thus eating up their capital. 
 
 Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of South 
 African municipal enterprise consists in the pre- 
 dilection everywhere exhibited for the exploita- 
 tion of advanced ideas. All the municipalities 
 are keenly progressive, and they vie with each 
 
 209
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 other in improving and beautifying the towns. 
 They have no use for antique services. They 
 are constantly striving, not merely to keep 
 abreast with, but to get ahead of the times. Thus 
 gas is almost unknown in South Africa. Nearly 
 every large town is lighted exclusively with elec- 
 tricity, and the tramways have electricity for their 
 motive power. The municipal tram are exceed- 
 ingly comfortable and convenient, and they are 
 all run in sections. The sectional fares are 
 usually 3d. The fares seem dear to the casual 
 visitor, but one has to remember that they reflect 
 the condition of high priced living which obtains 
 universally in a country which has whole 
 provinces wherein copper currency is almost 
 non-existent, and wherein the " tickie," or three- 
 penny bit is the lowest coin in circulation. The 
 rates charged by the municipalities for lighting 
 range from 6d. to I/- per unit, and for power 
 from id. to 5d. per unit. What little manufac- 
 turing is done in South Africa is effected with 
 the aid of electric power. The charges for light- 
 ing and power are high, but so are the charges 
 for everything else in the sub-continent, and that 
 the rates in question are not popularly regarded 
 as excessive is shown by the fact that there is an 
 
 210
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 entire absence of any agitation for their reduc- 
 tion. 
 
 On the whole, the South African municipalities 
 may truthfully claim to manage their affairs in a 
 fashion that compares favorably with any other 
 land, and which demonstrates a high capacity for 
 municipal government. Most of the big towns 
 are well built, splendidly lighted, well drained 
 and sewered, and handsomely equipped with 
 public parks, gardens, libraries, baths, museums, 
 and transit facilities. The experiment of collec- 
 tive ownership and control of civic utilities, 
 wherever it has been tried, has proved such a 
 convincing economic success that municipal 
 Socialism is now a fixed national establishment, 
 and the whole bearing of public opinion is 
 towards its indefinite expansion. The municipal 
 bakery is one of the latest expressions of the 
 economic trend of thought of this essentially 
 aristocratic community. One town not long ago 
 made the essay, and with such encouraging re- 
 sults, that several others are preparing now to 
 follow suit. Already a municipal dairy has been 
 mooted as the next step to be taken, and authori- 
 tative advocates of the municipalisation of all the 
 agencies of food production and distribution are 
 to be found in every centre of population. 
 
 211
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The Australian Labor party might advan- 
 tageously ponder these South African develop- 
 ments. The average Australian Laborite de- 
 ludes himself of custom with the flattering notion 
 that to Labor exclusively belongs all the credit 
 of the various movements towards economy in 
 government and social betterment, through col- 
 lective effort which have taken place during the 
 last half century. South Africa is a standing 
 proof to the contrary. That country has never 
 yet had any room for a Labor party. It is 
 governed by wealth. Its ideals are pertinaciously 
 aristocratic, and the masses of the people are 
 bigoted Tories. The people, however, although 
 Conservative in most directions, almost beyond 
 relief, are as sensitive to the demands of their 
 pockets as the keenest Radicals alive. When 
 their public utilities were managed by private 
 enterprise, they found themselves so ruthlessly 
 exploited that, in despair, they sanctioned the ex- 
 periment of municipal control. It turned out so 
 well that the whole community was speedily con- 
 verted to the new idea, and thus the world has 
 been afforded the anomalous and amusing 
 spectacle of a purely capitalistic State outdistanc- 
 ing in Socialism the Socialists themselves. 
 
 212
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SOCIAL NOTES 
 
 HT^HE Spanish people have a saying which is 
 very widely believed (justly or unjustly) to 
 express one of their least admirable 
 national characteristics. " Manana," is the word. 
 It typifies the Latin spirit of procrastination. 
 The people of South Africa continually use a 
 phrase of not dissimilar significance. " Wacht- 
 " een-beetje " is ever on their lips. They pro- 
 nounce it " vok-kun-beachy." It is taken from 
 the Taal and means " Wait a bit." There is a 
 queer little native bird which ranges over the veld 
 of Transvaal and Natal and has the queerest 
 flight in the world. It rejoices in a very long and 
 most pretentious tail. This bird flies leisurely 
 for a few yards, then rests upon its outspread 
 
 213
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 wings, and sinks slowly towards the ground : but 
 just when its fall to earth would appear inevit- 
 able, it flutters its wings and mounts once more 
 into the blue, only to repeat the manoeuvre of 
 resting and sinking. Its progress is a series of 
 indolent flops, and to watch its flight is to be im- 
 pressed with the idea that the bird is the very 
 laziest of all the feathered species known to man. 
 The Boers call it the Wacht-een-beetje bird. 
 The pretty little creature ought to be a part and 
 parcel of the Afrikanders' coat of arms. 
 Wacht-een-beetje is the spirit of South Africa. 
 It pervades the continent. It permeates the 
 atmosphere. It is the protest of the soil against 
 the husbandmen. It is the protest of the sun 
 against exertion. ' We have always to-morrow," 
 is the national proverb of the Boers. But climate 
 is not more than partially accountable for the 
 somnolent and easy-going manners of the white 
 Afrikander. The root cause is closely associated 
 with the omnipresent servile Kaffir. The negro 
 is naturally lazy, but there are so many of him 
 that even though he idles nine-tenths of his day, 
 he is able to do all the work of the white race with 
 a margin to spare. The white man need not work 
 at all except as an overseer, and, to do him bare 
 
 214
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 justice, he rarely does. He lives like the lotus 
 eater of the legend. All his days are trances. 
 He dreams and dreams. The rising generation 
 deserves the pity of mankind. It is being brought 
 up cradled in a luxury that physically debilitates 
 and morally corrodes. The white child in its 
 swaddling clothes is taught to lean upon the 
 Kaffir and disdain his post. As soon as a babe is 
 born to a white family, a negro boy or girl is pro- 
 cured to be the infant's special playmate, servant 
 and slave. The pair grow up together. The 
 white child is the king, the black is the white 
 child's serf and vassal. Most white children born 
 in South Africa acquire incurable habits of pride 
 and indolence before they reach their teens. It 
 is a common thing to see young boys and slips of 
 girls treating the natives like dogs. By turns 
 they are brutal and affectionate to their black 
 attendants. Their manners are haughty and over- 
 bearing. They hold themselves like princes and 
 princesses of the old-time feudal world. During 
 my visit to Bulawayo I was the guest of an 
 Australian lady who had married an Afrikander 
 Englishman. One morning she took me for a 
 drive, promising mysteriously to show me a sight 
 that would convince me at one blow of the impas- 
 
 215
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 sable chasm which separates Africa from the 
 democratic dominions of the Empire. She drove 
 me into the town, and presently drew up opposite 
 the gates of a building that was obviously a public 
 school. I plied her with questions, but she would 
 not be drawn. I must wait and discover the 
 phenomenon for myself. The hour was early, 
 but very soon the school bell began a-ringing 
 lazily. The summons did not lack response. 
 Within a few moments, numbers of neatly dressed 
 white children came trickling from all directions 
 towards the gates. Behind each child stalked a 
 burly Kaffir, carrying the urchin's books and 
 luncheon bag ! 
 
 The first day I landed in South Africa I wit- 
 nessed a small incident that will tell its own 
 story. Strolling through the city of Durban in 
 the early morning, I saw a great hulking Kaffir 
 carry a bundle of papers to the door of a news 
 agency, where a little white boy, about 10 years 
 of age, was waiting to receive them. The Kaffir 
 very respectfully placed the bundle on the steps 
 at the child's feet, and moved away. He was 
 immediately recalled, and most imperiously. 
 " You cheeky devil," shrilled the child. " How 
 " dare you leave the papers there. Take the 
 
 216
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " bundle into the shop at once, and untie it." 
 The Kaffir silently and humbly obeyed. 
 
 " Now sort the papers," ordered the child. 
 
 Again the Kaffir obeyed. When his task was 
 completed, the little boy contemptuously pointed 
 to the door. " Get out ! " he said. 
 
 The Kaffir inclined reverently, and backed out 
 of the shop, as though taking leave of royalty. 
 The child did not even smile. The sneer on his 
 face was fixed. 
 
 Mr. Fisher, the Prime Minister of Australia, 
 paid a visit to an old Scottish " towney " who had 
 settled down in Kimberley. His friend had a 
 garden, of which he was extremely proud. He 
 took Mr. Fisher to see it, and while the pair 
 strolled along one of the paths they observed a 
 broken border that seemed to call for prompt 
 attention. The Afrikander said to his son a 
 youngster, who stood near " Jack, my lad, fetch 
 " me a spade, will you ? " The lad turned slowly 
 on his heel and shouted insolently to a distant 
 Kaffir, " Boy, fetch the boss a spade ! " 
 
 Mr. Fisher glanced at his friend inquiringly. 
 The Afrikander shrugged his shoulders. " It is 
 " not Jack's fault," he murmured apologetically. 
 " I would be wrong to reprove him. It is the 
 " universal custom of the country." 
 
 217
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The white must do no work. It is an iron 
 social law. It is a law that means ultimate 
 advancement to the Kaffirs, but that bodes de- 
 generation to the whites, and, if not subverted, 
 crass industrial inefficiency. Already the white 
 Afrikander has lost all sense of the dignity of 
 labor. Manual effort of any sort is a horrible 
 thing, a disgusting, almost a nauseating thing. 
 It is for the native to do. It is " Kaffir's work." 
 The English language faints, exhausted in its 
 powers of expressing infamy, when that phrase 
 is uttered, " Kaffir's work." 
 
 The white people of South Africa are hospit- 
 able to a degree that very nearly exceeds the 
 bounds of common sense. The Boers make hos- 
 pitality a part of their religion. On the veld 
 every white traveller is welcomed to the farmer's 
 homestead as though he were a dear and long lost 
 friend. He may stay as long as he pleases. He 
 is the " nephew " of the host : and the Boer is 
 his " uncle," the Boer's wife his " aunt." In the 
 cities and towns some distinction in the visitor is 
 demanded, but the claim once made good, the 
 Afrikander's hospitality is limited only by his 
 bank account. The gold and diamond magnates 
 set the pace. In Kimberley, the principal hotel 
 
 218
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 is owned by the De Beers Company. It is main- 
 tained on a scale of lavish magnificence that has 
 not even a nodding acquaintanceship with divi- 
 dends. The hotel, in fact, is kept but for one 
 purpose, to entertain the friends of the Company 
 who visit Kimberley from overseas. No sooner 
 does any foreign visitor arrive in South Africa 
 than he is handed a telegram which invites him 
 to Kimberley as the Company's honored guest. 
 In Johannesburg, the Rand lords entertain the 
 elect like princes. When preparing a dinner 
 party they fix the menu and cable it to London, 
 whence the feast is transferred bodily by steam- 
 ship and train to be eaten on the Rand. 
 
 In almost all the large population centres of 
 South Africa, the " rational Sunday " is the rule. 
 In Pietersburg, the headquarters of the Calvinis- 
 tic Dutch, and a few other purely Boer towns, 
 Sunday is the " Sabbath," and a day of sour and 
 Puritanical gloom. But in Johannesburg and 
 elsewhere, Sunday is the day of rational amuse- 
 ment, rest, and recreation. Business stops, but 
 every other form of active life proceeds. 
 Cricket and football matches are played in all 
 the public pleasure grounds, which thousands of 
 spectators pay to see : the volunteers and militia 
 
 219
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 drill and manoeuvre in the halls and on the parade 
 reserves, and the whole populace gives itself up 
 to open air enjoyment, sight seeing and sport. 
 Yet the churches are filled and the Sunday 
 Schools well attended. 
 
 The social life of the people is wonderfully 
 free and easy. Women are everywhere largely 
 outnumbered by men. The proportions of the 
 sexes throughout the Union are, broadly speak- 
 ing, as 100 men to 86 women. Women, there- 
 fore, occupy a position of exceptional advantage. 
 They are courted and sought after as in no other 
 country in the world. They are wanted every- 
 where as wives. There are no female white 
 domestic servants in South Africa. All house 
 work is done by natives : and few white house 
 wives are so poor (even the wives of artisans) 
 that they do not keep two or more black 
 servants. The daily life of the average Afri- 
 kander women is a dream of indolence and effort- 
 less repose. They seldom need to lift a finger 
 for themselves. The native saves them from all 
 the severer and meaner forms of exertion, and 
 the diligent attention of their husbands is secured 
 by the fact that thousands of mateless bachelors 
 roam abroad seeking whom they may devour. 
 
 220
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Large families are rare except among the 
 Boers. The Afrikander woman of British origin 
 customarily shirks the duties of maternity. She 
 prefers to be a butterfly, and her circumstances 
 are such that she is able to be a law unto herself. 
 Women of the upper classes are usually fairly 
 well educated. They read vast quantities of 
 novels. Literature, indeed, is their only resource 
 for most of their day against the demons of ennui. 
 They must either read, or sleep, or yawn them- 
 selves into a state of boredom. They claim and 
 enjoy a licence unknown save in England's 
 " smartest sets." Their manners are languid, 
 arrogant, and perhaps a little bold. They smoke 
 cigarettes and, not a few of them, cigars. A sort 
 of gracefully subdued eroticism is in general 
 cult. Their talk is broad, exciting and subtly 
 challenging. They diffuse an atmosphere of 
 sex. 
 
 Women of the lower class are less irritating 
 and less interesting. As a rule their mental re- 
 sources are scanty. They sink easily into apathy 
 and sloth. They are " ladies " every one do 
 not they keep servants? and they cherish a 
 burning resentment against women of the " upper 
 " ten " who, " proud hussies," will not recognise 
 
 221
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 nor mix with them. Of course, they are inveter- 
 ate gossipers. Scandal is the universal language 
 of female white South Africa. The baby girleens 
 lisp it in their cots. 
 
 Reverting to the women who constitute 
 " Society," the feature concerning them which 
 most deeply impressed itself upon my mind was 
 this. They are dissatisfied. They have every- 
 thing at their command that man supposes the 
 heart of women can desire, and yet they are 
 leagues separated from content. They are rich. 
 They have no work to do. Their responsibilities 
 are indiscernible. They have all the masculine 
 admiration which the most exacting disposition 
 of a hardened coquette could covet. Motor cars 
 are theirs. Paris supplies their frocks. Their 
 homes are mansions. They are treated like 
 queens. Yet there it is, as a rule they are not 
 happy. I saw few really happy women's faces any- 
 where : so few that each time I encountered one 
 I was arrested with surprise. Melancholy sits on 
 almost every woman's countenance. Their eyes 
 brood, their lips murmur veiled criticisms on their 
 fruitless lives. Their attitude is one of patient, 
 semi-tragical complaint. Poor slaves of luxury 
 and self-indulgence, they are the victims, the un- 
 
 222
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 conscious victims, of the Kaffir system of racial- 
 ism, and of color prejudice against honest work. 
 In their opinion, work is a degrading thing. The 
 opinion is degrading them and wasting their lives. 
 And what of their children, whom they will infect 
 with the appalling fallacy that work is infamous ? 
 Such women ought not to be mothers. They are 
 a menace to the future of the race. 
 
 I met much evidence to show that white men's 
 ideals of justice in South Africa are becoming 
 corrupted by contact with the colored hordes. 
 The negro is a lusty animal, and he casts envious 
 eyes upon the beauty of the white woman. While 
 I was at Kimberley several sexual and semi- 
 sexual outrages (of a most weird and uncanny 
 character) were reported. Only one of the cul- 
 prits was caught, and summary punishment was 
 meted out to him by his white captor. The white 
 community, far from being shocked, quietly 
 applauded. There was no fuss of any sort. 
 The law said nothing. It ignored the incident. 
 The case of Mr. Lewis, at Buluwayo, is chiefly 
 remarkable in that it passed to the knowledge of 
 the outer world. The doings of Judge Lynch in 
 South Africa are seldom published in the news- 
 papers. There seems to be a tacit conspiracy 
 
 223
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 among the whites to be silent on such matters. 
 Mr. Justice Lynch is an energetic personage. 
 His usual weapon is the sjambok, but he carries 
 a revolver too, and uses it whenever the occasion 
 gives him warrant. Lord Gladstone was so con- 
 cerned when he discovered that the Afrikander's 
 laws and customs give inadequate protection to 
 the natives from white tyranny and violence, that 
 he spoke out pretty plainly. He became in con- 
 sequence an unpopular governor. The British 
 section distrusts his views and considers them 
 dangerous. The Dutch section repudiates and 
 despises them. Fully a score of Afrikanders, in 
 more or less responsible positions (one was a 
 Cabinet Minister), volunteered to me the in- 
 formation that in their opinion Lord Gladstone 
 was likely to do an immense amount of harm by 
 his championship of negro rights. I believe that 
 any viceroy holding and admitting such views 
 must notably contribute to the cause of negro self- 
 assertion. It is clear that the natives are quite 
 sufficiently educated already to understand the 
 difference between lynch law and justice, and 
 once they acquire the notion that they are legiti- 
 mately entitled to be saved inviolate, whatever 
 they may do, from Mr. Lynch, a new and powerful 
 
 224
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 grievance will reinforce their inspiration towards 
 solidarity and revolution. 
 
 The Afrikanders are devoted to sport. Racing 
 is the pastime held in foremost esteem. Every- 
 body bets on horse races, and the topic seems to 
 monopolise all casual conversation. The news- 
 papers give many columns daily, and even pages, 
 to racing information. This sport has a tre- 
 mendous hold on the people, and it grows in 
 favor steadily among the Boers. 
 
 But if racing is a passion, rinking is a craze. 
 Almost every city and town within the Union has 
 a large and well appointed skating rink (many 
 have several), where big crowds nightly gather 
 and roller-skate the evening through. Probably 
 not less than half the white population skate, 
 and seven out of every ten skaters are experts. 
 It is one of the prettiest sights imaginable to see 
 the South African people awheel. They have 
 made the practice of skating a perfect science, 
 and their evolutions, dances and gyrations are 
 incredibly clever and fascinating, performed as 
 they are by large concourses moving like a single 
 person. Dancing of the old fashioned country 
 sort is the favorite amusement of the back veld 
 Boer population : but they are taking very kindly 
 
 225
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to cricket (both men and women), and golfing too 
 is drifting into vogue. I saw golf links not far 
 south of the Zambesi, and decent players too, 
 Britons of course. The sports which the British 
 have introduced to the Boers are very likely to 
 act as strong civilising agents on the veld. At 
 first the Boers regarded them suspiciously, on the 
 principle " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." 
 But the Boer men have so little to do, or the 
 women either, and they are of so curious a turn 
 of mind, that it was inevitable they should make 
 experiment. Now it is no uncommon thing to 
 see an entire family spend day after day at the 
 wickets often enough an up-ended gin case. 
 They play as solemnly as owls, but the point is 
 that they play, who used to loaf and drowse the 
 hours and years away. 
 
 One of the clearest object lessons I received 
 of the temperamental difference between the Boer 
 and the British was given to me in Johannes- 
 burg. One afternoon a Dutch acquaintance 
 took me for a ride in his motor round the city. 
 We went first to visit at an imposing establish- 
 ment, beautifully designed and situated, which 
 was evidently a great boarding school. As we 
 entered the gates, an immense walled playground 
 
 226
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 spread before our eyes. It was filled with happy 
 children at play. All was noise, bustle, and 
 orderly confusion. Every child was in the flood 
 tide of holiday enjoyment, and such a babel of 
 shouts, singing and laughter was proceeding, as 
 made the watcher glad to be alive to hear and 
 see. " This school/' said my Boer friend, " is 
 " the orphanage asylum erected by the Transvaal 
 " public for the maintenance and education of 
 " the children of Britons who were slain in the 
 " recent war. You would not take those kiddies 
 " for orphans, eh ? " I cordially agreed that I 
 would not. We departed presently and drove to 
 another academy about half a mile away. It 
 was a small and unpretentious place, of Dutch 
 architecture, dull and rather sordid looking. My 
 friend explained : " That is the orphanage asylum 
 " erected by the Transvaal public for the main- 
 " tenance and education of the children of Boers 
 " who were slain in the recent war." 
 
 We entered the gates and peered into the play- 
 ground. It was filled with morose and silent 
 little ones. There was no laughter, no noise, no 
 singing, and extremely little movement. The 
 poor little Dutch children lounged about like 
 bored old people. Many were quite alone. 
 
 227
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The others stood or strolled about in pairs or 
 small groups. They seemed to know no games. 
 They appeared to take no interest in each other, 
 to have no hope in life. One's heart ached to see 
 
 them. Said my mentor : " Do you wonder that 
 > * 
 
 " we Boers hate the British ? " 
 
 "But why?" I demanded, startled and sur- 
 prised. 
 
 His answer was amazing. " You British are a 
 " happy race. We are not. You have conquered 
 " us, and have thereby added to our gloom." 
 
 Oh ! but it was a cruel mistake not to have put 
 the Boer and British children together, and have 
 brought them up as one bright family. Gloom 
 is catching, but happiness also is infectious. I 
 confess I feel inclined to groan whenever the pic- 
 ture swims back into my memory of those sad 
 little Boer orphans as they brooded in their sunlit 
 but most melancholy playground. Their brown 
 eyes haunt me, their downcast little faces, their 
 deeply meditative, unhappy and reproachful 
 looks. We Britons slew their fathers. Are we 
 doing all our duty by those dead men's sons ? 
 
 228
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 'TpHE racialism of which so much has been 
 talked and written (that is to say the senti- 
 ment dividing the Dutch and British people 
 of South Africa) is very largely wrapped up in 
 the question of public service administration. 
 In all parts of South Africa one hears that British 
 officials are being removed and their places 
 filled with Dutchmen. The police force has been 
 subjected to so many such changes that its effici- 
 ency has been sensibly impaired. The school 
 teachers (especially those in the Free State) are 
 dissatisfied with their new grading and the 
 language regulations recently thrust upon them : 
 and, broadly speaking, British civil servants in all 
 
 229
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 four provinces exist in a state of excitement and 
 anxiety, being uncertain from hour to hour where 
 they will be sent, or if they will be summarily 
 dismissed. Everywhere one goes among the 
 British one hears this angry whisper, " The Dutch 
 " are on top. Spoils to the victors." 
 
 The public service policy of the Government 
 seems to be one of studied concentration. 
 Transvaal influence has effectually destroyed the 
 hopes of those who favored a sane compromise 
 between the extremes of concentration and de- 
 centralisation. It appears to have been realised 
 at an early date that the dual capital compromise 
 in the constitution would prove unworkable. The 
 Ministry then had the matter exclusively in its 
 hands to decide, because Parliament had not yet 
 been elected. Very promptly Ministers divided 
 into two camps. By tacit consent it was admitted 
 that a fight to the death between the two capitals 
 would soon commence, and that eventually the 
 fitter would survive to be both the legislative and 
 administrative capital, and that the other would 
 be abandoned. The Government rehearsed this 
 struggle in Cabinet. Cape Ministers fought 
 hard for Capetown, but the Transvaal section 
 triumphed. They signalised their victory by 
 
 230
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 doing everything possible to aggrandise the 
 position of Pretoria. They induced General 
 Botha to sign contracts for the erection in Pre- 
 toria of enormous national offices and public 
 buildings, to cost a sum exceeding .2,000,000: 
 and from that moment to this they have been 
 hurrying selected civil servants from all parts of 
 South Africa to the administrative capital, as 
 though the fate of the country depended on con- 
 verting Pretoria into a city peopled with officials 
 at the earliest possible moment. The results of 
 this policy peep out. When Parliament is sit- 
 ting in the legislative capital of Capetown, 1,000 
 miles away from the administrative capital at 
 Pretoria, official Pretoria is in a state of chaos. 
 Ministers are away at Capetown, heads of de- 
 partments are away, leading officers are away, 
 and all important official papers are away. The 
 Government offices are abodes of loafing and con- 
 fusion. The service resembles an army that has 
 lost its leaders, and with its commanders its re- 
 spect for order and discipline. Hundreds of 
 clerks sit twiddling their thumbs all day, smok- 
 ing and chatting. There is work for all to do, 
 but nobody knows what to do, and in any case 
 very little efficient work can be done, because all 
 
 231
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the superiors and all important papers and docu- 
 ments are in Capetown. A great waste of time 
 and money is proceeding, but the Government 
 has not yet devised a better system. Obviously 
 a better system must be invented, but what it will 
 be cannot now be predicted. The only thing 
 that may be surely foretold is that soon or late 
 one of the capitals will have to be abandoned. 
 
 The outstanding political issue of South Africa 
 is the language and education problem. The 
 constitution having enjoined an absolute equality 
 between the Dutch and British tongues, the 
 Government has had no choice except to begin 
 establishing the prescribed duality. Possibly 
 no policy that it could have devised would have 
 given more than partial satisfaction, but, unfor- 
 tunately, it has adumbrated a policy which has 
 applied a stimulus to racial hatreds. General 
 Botha's desire is for a system of education elastic 
 enough to permit of the teaching of both 
 languages without imposing on either Dutch or 
 English teachers the duty of understanding and 
 teaching in both tongues. General Hertzog, on 
 the other hand, has declared for a system where- 
 by, if enforced, the schools should be exclusively 
 officered by bi-lingual adepts. The distinction 
 
 232
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 may not appear a vital one to outsiders, but it 
 would have the effect of Dutchifying the State 
 schools, for whereas British is the commercial 
 language of South Africa, and all State school 
 teachers, whether British or Dutch, understand it, 
 British teachers are few and far between who are 
 adepts in both tongues. 
 
 I made it my business to talk with a number 
 of Dutchmen in order to get at their side, if pos- 
 sible. The Pretorian Boers were far less re- 
 served than those I met elsewhere, and they were 
 all men of education and refinement. They did 
 not scruple to give me their point of view. It is, 
 briefly, as follows The English beat us in the 
 war. They have treated us ever since generously 
 according to their lights. But they are the 
 conquerors. We are now enjoying their free in- 
 stitutions, but we never forget that they were 
 thrust upon us, and we prefer our own, which 
 have been abrogated. The Union has been con- 
 summated. We are now a part and parcel of 
 the British Empire. Very well, we accept the 
 position : but don't blame us if, in trying to make 
 the best of it, we do our utmost to procure our 
 own advantage. We intend to make every use 
 we can of the democratic institutions under which 
 
 233
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 we now dwell, to aggrandise the Dutch at the 
 expense of the British. 
 
 The situation is peculiar, and the most amaz- 
 ing part of it is the candor of both races. Under 
 the constitution, it is laid down that both tongues 
 shall have exactly equal rights. The Dutch 
 interpret this to mean that they have the right to 
 demand that every child in the country shall be 
 compulsorily taught in all subjects, from euclid 
 to geography, through the medium of both 
 languages. In other words, every subject shall 
 be twice taught one hour in the medium of 
 Dutch, one hour in the medium of English. 
 That is the Hertzog policy in a nutshell, and 
 every Boer approves of it. A necessary conse- 
 quence of this policy is that every teacher shall 
 be able to impart instruction equally in both 
 tongues, that every State servant and Govern- 
 ment official shall be able to speak both languages 
 with the same ease, and that efficiency in speak- 
 ing and writing Dutch equally well as British 
 shall be the supreme test of all State employ- 
 ment. The Dutch being, politically speaking, 
 " top dogs," are enforcing this policy in all direc- 
 tions. School teachers in the O.R.C. (the pro- 
 vince in which the Hertzog teaching system has 
 
 234
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 been established) have been degraded in a whole- 
 sale fashion, whatever their qualifications, who 
 will not speak Dutch as well as English, and all 
 over the Union the language test is displacing 
 British by Dutch officials in all branches of the 
 Government service. The racial sentiment of 
 the British has thereby been violently inflamed. 
 
 The trouble of the British is, that whereas 
 almost every Boer can speak English, very few 
 British know Dutch. The dual language test, 
 therefore, hits them hard, and they see in it 
 nought but a political weapon to Dutchify the 
 country and to ensure a permanent mastery 
 (through a monopoly of public service adminis- 
 tration) to the Boers. Their point of view is not 
 quite fair. They consented, at the Convention, to 
 the language equality clause being incorporated 
 in the Constitution, without, it seems, fully realis- 
 ing what it meant, and now that steps are being 
 taken to make the two languages equal (it should 
 be remembered that throughout the Crown colony 
 regime English was the sole official language of 
 South Africa), and to carry out the constitution, 
 instead of blaming their own shortsightedness, 
 they are wreaking their fury on the Dutch, and 
 reproaching their Boer neighbours with im- 
 
 235
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 measurable infamies. It may be perfectly true 
 that the Dutch are over sternly and over hastily 
 proceeding to equalise the languages, but their 
 constitutional right to do so cannot be questioned, 
 and the British are only hurting themselves by 
 their vituperative impatience. Wisdom suggests 
 that they should bend their efforts to procure such 
 a sane modification of the Hertzog policy as 
 would do away with the compulsory dual medium 
 ideal a severe handicap on the child and 
 substitute a plan whereby one medium of instruc- 
 tion alone should be employed (Dutch in Dutch 
 centres and English in English centres) and the 
 other language (not locally used as the medium) 
 be made merely a compulsory subject every- 
 where. 
 
 But the British extremists are considering 
 neither the educational interests of the child nor 
 the future of the country. They can see nothing 
 but the fact that the bi-lingual clause in the con- 
 stitution threatens to Dutchify the public ser- 
 vice, owing to the present inability of the average 
 Britisher to speak Dutch, and their minds are 
 quite oblivious of the larger issue. Their anger 
 and resentment have taken the form of the 
 creation of a great British secret society, called 
 
 236
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the " Sons of England." Pretoria is the head- 
 centre of this organisation. Its membership is 
 enormous, and it is spreading its ramifications at 
 railroad speed all over South Africa. The 
 objects of the Society are to exalt the material 
 interests of the British and to " down the Dutch." 
 Members swear to stick together on all points of 
 common interest, and it is freely whispered that 
 their weapon is the boycott. The Dutch regard 
 the society with open scorn, but with covert mis- 
 giving and profound dissatisfaction. They say 
 of it " It is a secret order, therefore must be a 
 " bad order, with shameful objects to serve. We 
 " Boers fight openly. The British are cowards. 
 ' They fight in the dark." In good truth the 
 British never made a greater mistake than in 
 starting this foolish and most reckless movement 
 It can do no good : it is actually doing a large 
 amount of harm. 
 
 Personally, I think that the British and Boers 
 are far less antipathetic than appears. At pre- 
 sent there is much clash and contest, but it is all 
 in words, and much of the inspiration flows from 
 aggressively ambitious or disgruntled official 
 sources. When the common people of the rival 
 races meet, they are nearly always friendly, and 
 
 237
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 they live everywhere, except on the back veld, in 
 terms of amity. Extremists are numerous, but 
 they seem more numerous than they really are 
 because they make themselves conspicuous. 
 The racial aversion will simmer down as soon as 
 the language problem is settled, and I am hope- 
 ful that it will eventually disappear. Soon or 
 late it is inevitable that the two white races must 
 combine to act in concert against the increasing 
 power of the negro. That is the real racial diffi- 
 culty in South Africa, and it is destined to 
 obliterate the other. The natives in the Cape 
 province have the same political rights as the 
 whites. In Natal, the Transvaal, and the O.R.C. 
 they have no political rights worthy of the name. 
 The natives are beginning to display a strong 
 tendency to self-assertion throughout the Union. 
 The whisper is heard in all directions, " The 
 " native wants the franchise." When that whisper 
 grows into a voice and be assured it will learn 
 some day to a shout the Boer and Briton will be 
 at one. The universal opinion among the whites 
 is that they cannot give way on that point. If 
 they did they would be swamped. " We cannot 
 " have any mixing," they say, " either political 
 " or social." The barrier must be defended and 
 
 238
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 strengthened. To break it down anywhere would 
 be to court destruction. How to stave off the 
 encroachments of the negro how to prevent the 
 natives from developing their latent powers and 
 extorting equal political rights from the whites 
 those are the vital questions that Boers and 
 Britons must soon face vitally : and the first 
 serious attempt to answer them will force the 
 white races irresistibly to a solid and permanent 
 amalgamation. 
 
 239
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK 
 
 A FEATURE of South Africa that greatly 
 astonished me is the paucity of its timber 
 resources. More than three-fourths of 
 South Africa is destitute of trees : the rest is 
 sparsely covered with what the Afrikanders call 
 " bush " a thin melange of stunted, weedy 
 growths, which hardly deserve the name of trees. 
 There are, of course, a few species of fair sized 
 and economically valuable indigenous plants, such 
 as the Stink-wood, the Sneeze-wood, the Yellow- 
 wood, the Assegai-wood, the Mlanje-Cedar, and 
 the Mopani, but outside of Natal the garden 
 province of the Union they do not flourish un- 
 less protected and painstakingly cultivated, and 
 
 240 
 
 f
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 there is no good native tree in the entire sub- 
 continent which grows to a height of more than 
 60 feet. The few forests worthy of being so 
 called are nearly all composed of exotics im- 
 ported from Australia. Small plantations of 
 blue and red gum, and the black and silver 
 wattle abound. The gums seldom achieve a 
 large stature, but the wattle does exceedingly 
 well, and the Afrikanders are gradually building 
 up a lucrative export industry in tanin, especially 
 in Natal, where some 35,000 acres are at this 
 moment under black wattle alone. Other tim- 
 bers imported from Australia are the camphor, 
 the jarrah, and the cypress pine. Progressive 
 farmers all plant some or other of these trees 
 about their holdings to provide shelter for their 
 stock. Without them the country would be deso- 
 late indeed. 
 
 The great Karoo table-land, the whole of the 
 Orange River Colony, and the vast bulk of the 
 High Veld in the Transvaal, are quite barren of 
 native trees. Tens of thousands of square miles 
 sweep on all sides to the horizon without the 
 slightest sign of big plant life to break the 
 monotony of the landscape. The soil looks 
 good; in many places there are huge tracts of 
 
 241
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 dark chocolate colored volcanic soil, resembling 
 the land in the neighborhood of Ballarat, Vic- 
 toria; but it is all given up to pasture, and one 
 asks for a reason after seeing the stock at 
 grass cattle, sheep and goats so small, so ill- 
 conditioned and unkempt that any European 
 farmer would be ashamed to own them. It is a 
 mystery that haunts the mind. The rainfall is 
 always fair, seldom under 20 inches, and the 
 grass to all seeming is abundant. 
 
 Why, then, is the stock (generally speaking) so 
 wretched, and why is it that these enormous 
 spreading plains have never been brought under 
 the plough? Above all, why is it that South 
 Africa, after more than three centuries of 
 colonisation, possesses a paltry white population 
 of 1,150,000, whereas Australia, after a bare cen- 
 tury of settlement, has more than 4,350,000? It 
 is all very well to point to the rootedly non-pro- 
 gressive habits and methods of the Boers, but the 
 explanation is insufficient. There are as many 
 British as Boers in South Africa, and not all the 
 land is tied up. Much of it in the south and 
 south-west is cultivated and fairly well closely 
 settled. More than 500,000 acres in the Union 
 are under irrigation, yet South Africa is unable 
 
 242
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to feed herself. Such a thing as the export of 
 cereals was, until quite recently, unknown, and 
 large quantities of grain always have had to be 
 imported every year from abroad. Evidently the 
 problem cannot be solved by a mere reference to 
 Boer non-progressiveness. 
 
 Looking a little deeper into the agricultural 
 question, one soon arrives at an understanding 
 why the old-fashioned Boer preferred squatting 
 to the plough. Here in South Africa the rule, 
 in a very peculiar sense, holds true, that land 
 which does not support big timber is not natur- 
 ally well adapted to cultivation. Probably 
 there is only a small fraction of South African 
 land which will not grow mealies (Indian corn) 
 instantly and profitably. Maize, in consequence, 
 is the staple crop. Every farmer raises enough 
 maize for his own wants, and a little to spare. 
 But with the exception of this happy circum- 
 stance, the land of South Africa needs careful 
 treatment before it will respond to the wooing of 
 the husbandman. The virgin soil of the veld is 
 crude and sour. The native grass is a mean and 
 currish forage, and it is mingled with such a 
 varied multitude of tubers (many of them poison- 
 ous) that it yields only a poor sustenance to 
 
 243
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 stock, and will rarely support more than one 
 beast to several acres. Hence we see large 
 farms farms of 3,000 morgen, i.e., 6,300 acres 
 everywhere the rule, and when cultivated, culti- 
 vated only in tiny patches, with nought save 
 mealies and a little tobacco. 
 
 Nobody would accuse General Smuts or 
 General Hertzog of a desire to malign their 
 country. Both of them own farms. Yet they 
 have admitted that the difficulties of the farmer 
 in South Africa are exceptional. 
 
 " Agriculture is a matter of great difficulty 
 " with us," said General Smuts. 
 
 :< We cannot rely on getting a good crop. The 
 " soil must be treated for years," said General 
 Hertzog. 
 
 South Africa is not feeding herself.* In 
 1909 (the latest figures I have been able to pro- 
 cure) she imported articles of food and drink to 
 the value of ; 5, 723,260.! The imports in- 
 cluded 
 
 * Vide Appendix " D." 
 
 t It was stated in the Senate during the session of 1911 that the 
 imports of food stuffs for the year 1910 had reached .6,000,000. 
 A. P. 
 
 244
 
 
 
 Wheat - 756,416 
 
 Flour and wheatmeal 681,575 
 
 Beans and peas 21,319 
 
 Butter - 219,634 
 
 Butter substitutes - 45,464 
 
 Cheese - 116,364 
 
 Eggs 50,767 
 
 Fresh Meat - 73,oi7 
 
 Preserved meat 293,696 
 
 Coffee (raw) - 446,165 
 
 Fruit and nuts 112,566 
 
 Condensed milk - 331,909 
 
 Sugar and products - 494,728 
 
 Tea 201,394 
 
 Vegetables 61,251 
 
 Every one of the articles named in the above 
 table is listed by the statist as a staple product 
 of South Africa for export, but the quantities 
 exported are so small as to occasion surprise that 
 they have been recorded. 
 
 More than four-fifths of the exported produce 
 for 1909 consisted of minerals and precious 
 stones. The following table shows the various 
 items 
 
 245
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 
 
 Minerals and precious stones - 
 
 Sheep's wool 
 
 Ostrich feathers 
 
 Hides and skins 
 
 Articles of food and drink 
 
 Goats' hair 
 
 Bark 
 
 Fodder and forage 
 
 Tobacco 
 
 Animals 
 
 Aloes 
 
 Buchu leaves 
 
 Other products 
 
 ^50,532,427 
 
 An analysis of the " articles of food and 
 " drink " demonstrates that the export of meat, 
 grain and butter is positively insignificant. Much 
 wine is produced and sent abroad, but little else. 
 In 1909, South Africa exported ^780 worth of 
 wheaten flour and the same amount in 1908. 
 The butter export trade increased in the same 
 period from .318 to 459. The export of 
 oats fell away from ; 109,436 to ^83,789. Bar- 
 ley exports decreased from ^424 to 216, and 
 
 246
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 bran from ^i,545 to 388. The only large 
 advance was in maize (mealies), which increased 
 from 207,364 to ^655,994, a gain of 
 ,448,630. The grand total of export of food 
 and drink in 1908 was ^479,842, and in 1909 
 ; 92 1, 470, so it is clear that without the increase 
 in maize, the agricultural output of the country 
 would actually have diminished. 
 
 South Africa has proved that she can grow 
 maize abundantly, but she has still to establish 
 her claim to be a granary. Her pastoral and 
 agricultural resources are, broadly speaking, 
 quite undeveloped. It is claimed for her that 
 she is about to launch out on great enterprises in 
 food production, and immense improvements are 
 expected in the next few years. The people talk 
 of these things everywhere and hopes run high. 
 Undoubtedly, a farming revival has already 
 commenced. The imports of agricultural 
 machinery are steadily expanding, and the im- 
 ports of food stuffs have already been reduced. 
 But she has a great way yet to travel to overtake 
 her food necessities. And there are great 
 obstacles in the road. One is that the average 
 farmer cannot hope to make a profit from wheat 
 cultivation until he has cured the crudeness of 
 
 247
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 his soil. To do that he must either manure the 
 land extensively, or else for a period of at least 
 three years sow his holdings with certain grasses, 
 that will at the same time exterminate the native 
 herbage and absorb the acidity of the soil. Such 
 a thing as a good crop of cereals from virgin land 
 is hardly known in South Africa, save and except 
 in a few favored districts where irrigation is 
 practised largely, and in the Conquered Terri- 
 tory, a small strip of country south of Basuto 
 land, which is exceptionally rich and seems to 
 have been intended by nature for the cultivation 
 of wheat. Added to all this, the farmer who 
 conquers the soil is immediately assaulted with 
 a legion of grain blights, grubs, locusts and other 
 pests, which damage or destroy his crops and 
 rob him of his profits. 
 
 The Government is making war upon grain 
 and animal pests in the laboratory. At Pre- 
 toria and at Bloemfontein, scientists are busily at 
 work investigating and experimenting. But 
 years of labor must elapse before much real good 
 can be achieved. South Africa has direct con- 
 nection with the torrid zone, and until quarantine 
 areas are established across the full extent of her 
 vast northern borders, the pests of the tropic 
 
 248
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 jungles of Central Africa will continue to invade 
 the Union and to play havoc with all forms of 
 pastoral and cultural enterprise. The labora- 
 tory, moreover, is a new departure, and it is not 
 yet a popular one. It starves for lack of 
 money, and its usefulness is severely restricted. 
 When all things are considered it is scarcely 
 astonishing that early South African farmers 
 turned their attention almost exclusively to stock, 
 and their descendants have not yet been per- 
 suaded to depart from the old traditions. If 
 settled lands of the Union were properly stocked, 
 South Africa would most certainly be the greatest 
 stock raising and dairying country in the world. 
 But it is one of the poorest. In certain districts, 
 a good deal of dairying is carried on, and some 
 fair breeds of cows may be met with. But, 
 speaking comprehensively, the cattle, goats and 
 sheep of the Union are the most miserable speci- 
 mens of their kind to be found in the universe, 
 and the less said about the horses the better. 
 The answer to the riddle may be given in two / 
 words Disease and Drought. Never was there 
 a more fearfully pest-ridden and plague-smitten 
 land. There is not a pest or a plague known to 
 man which does not find a congenial atmosphere 
 
 249
 
 in the Union. In 1896 rinderpest destroyed 
 nearly all the native game in the Union, and car- 
 ried off in one fell swoop one-half of all the 
 cattle in the Cape, some 600,000 head. The 
 horse sickness is so dreadful a scourge, and it 
 rages so widely that fully five-sixths of the 
 country is quite uninhabitable for horses : and 
 donkeys, which are immune, have to take their 
 place in the industrial sphere. The farmers of 
 South Africa lose annually from ',350,000 to 
 . i, 000,000 in wool alone, owing to the scab, 
 which periodically sweeps across the continent, 
 attacking both sheep and goats, injuring the wool 
 and mohair, and frequently destroying the poor 
 creature it assails. 
 
 There are four different kinds of red water, 
 which are all equally deadly, and kill tens of 
 thousands of stock. The South African East 
 Coast Fever the latest big plague to assert it- 
 self is now ravaging all parts of the sub- 
 continent. Its deadly destructiveness is simply 
 appalling, its death rate being 95 per cent. 
 Some few years ago, in 1901, the Chartered 
 Company of Rhodesia imported 1,000 head of 
 prime cattle from Australia, with which to im- 
 prove, by crossing, the strain of their Afrikander 
 
 250
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 stock. The cattle were landed at Beira, and were 
 immediately attacked by the South African Coast 
 Fever. In a short time, 997 succumbed to the 
 disease. The three remaining alive were promptly 
 transported inland. One died at Umtali on the 
 journey ; the two survivors died the day after they 
 reached Salisbury. There is an historic fact that 
 may be left to point its own moral. At this 
 moment the Union Government is taking- strong 
 measures to try to arrest the plague, but as it 
 confessedly dare not apply the principle of com- 
 pulsory segregation and destruction to the 
 ignorant back veld Boer population, the chances 
 of success are infinitesimal. The East Coast 
 Fever has already cost the country many millions 
 sterling : it threatens to make pastoral pro- 
 gress an impossibility. The reason is that 
 this dreadful plague has a particular fondness 
 for imported cattle. If the wretched little Afri- 
 kander cattle, " salted " to the fever, are crossed 
 with good imported blood, the susceptibility of 
 the progeny increases at once by 50 per cent., and 
 the more fresh blood is introduced, the more liable 
 become the resultant strains to the disease. 
 Science has been laboring busily to invent a cure 
 for years, but, so far, completely in vain. If the 
 
 251
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 fever is not speedily conquered, much of the 
 country will revert at length to desert conditions. 
 True it is that the "salted" Afrikander cattle 
 and their unmixed progeny, are gradually acquir- 
 ing a sort of immunity, but in a large sense they 
 are worthless animals. They can never take a 
 place in the food markets of the world, and dairy 
 herds cannot by any means, except by crossing, 
 be cultivated from their ranks. 
 
 The more one knows of South Africa, the more 
 keenly one marvels at the courage and tenacity 
 of purpose of the veld farmers, and the less at 
 their unprogressive habits and backward ways. 
 They have innumerable difficulties and trials to 
 face from which the people of other countries are 
 held free. Not alone is their soil sour, grudging 
 and hard to treat : not alone are their cattle, sheep 
 and goats continuously ravaged by a multitude 
 of deadly pests : but the climate of the country is 
 unhealthy to mankind. Save on the high veld, 
 malaria holds almost universal sway. Through- 
 out the low veld, and even wherever a hollow is 
 met with on the high plateaus, the bacteria carry 
 the ague far and wide, and scatter death and 
 suffering around. Whenever virgin soil is up- 
 turned, the disease acquires a fearful access of 
 
 252
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 vitality. Typhoid ceaselessly ravages both veld 
 and town. White men dwelling in the high veld 
 and in the cities of the elevated tablelands, must 
 send their women folk to the seaside for at least 
 four months in every year if they desire to keep 
 them from disease and decay : and the high alti- 
 tudes (most of South African settlement ranges 
 from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level) breed a 
 species of meningitis which attacks children with 
 deadly vigor and causes a serious infant mortality. 
 I have seen few women in South Africa, except 
 the sturdy Boer vraus, who look reasonably vigor- 
 ous. And even the Boer women have pallid or 
 sallow and sickly complexions, and they are in- 
 variably languid and heavy eyed. " The country 
 " is very hard upon our women folk," is a daily 
 heard complaint wherever one may go. As for 
 the agricultural future of the country, even the 
 political rulers of South Africa are dubious about 
 it. They have declared for a policy of closer 
 settlement and irrigation, and they boast that 
 South Africa will yet rival the Argentine, but , ' 
 they admit unanimously that it is no country for 
 a poor farmer, and that no man can hope to make 
 a success of agriculture unless he is possessed 
 both of a considerable cash capital and a sound 
 
 253
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 knowledge of the soil, climatic and other prob- 
 lems with which he must deal. 
 
 Drought is a subject on which it is needless to 
 enlarge, in view of the fearful experiences of the 
 year ending December, 1912. The drought of 
 1912 was no doubt exceptionally severe, but it 
 demonstrates what South African farmers have 
 to expect and must periodically endure. For 
 more than twelve months no rain fell in the 
 Transkei the most productive district of Kaf- 
 fraria and elsewhere right throughout the 
 Union, the rainfall was too scanty to permit of 
 progress. In Natal the drought broke towards 
 the close of last November, and about the same 
 time Johannesburg was saved from a water famine 
 by a welcome downpour. The drought, however, 
 still continued to ravage many large areas in the 
 first weeks of December, and at the time of writ- 
 ing (i4th December, 1912) the general conditions 
 remain most gloomy, and thousands of natives 
 are said to be on the edge of starvation. General 
 Botha, in a public speech at Pretoria, on 2ist 
 November, used the following words " The 
 drought will cause a set-back to the Union and 
 " will result in heavy losses to the people." It 
 
 254
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 would be alike unnecessary and cruel to add to 
 General Botha's sorry declaration. 
 
 2 55
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 T ET me frankly admit that this book has 
 been written with a purpose. It is one 
 that the people of South Africa will not 
 like, and with which they cannot reasonably be 
 expected to sympathise. It concerns them 
 greatly, but it concerns other Britons more : there- 
 fore I address it to the larger Imperial world. 
 My purpose is to suggest to the adventurous 
 spirits of Great Britain, Canada and Australia, 
 that the jewel most lately added to our Imperial 
 diadem is no fit country for the average English 
 emigrant to invade in quest of fortune or in the 
 hope of finding or building there a profitable liv- 
 ing and a home. South Africa has room for a 
 
 256
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 limited number of skilled artisans and agricul- 
 turists, but for no other sorts or conditions of 
 men. The trained artisan who goes there should 
 be equipped with enough money to maintain him- 
 self for at least two or three months, while he 
 looks about him for suitable employment, other- 
 wise he will run a terrible risk of being victimised. 
 The agriculturist who hopes to succeed must pos- 
 sess at lowest a couple of thousand pounds, and 
 before he purchases a holding or a farm he should 
 spend a full year studying the climate, the soil, 
 the rainfall, the diseases of animals and crops 
 peculiar to the country, against which he will 
 have to fight, and the local conditions of market 
 and transport and labor. Such a man, if intel- 
 ligent, industrious and persistent, may do well. 
 But the agriculturist who rushes into the country 
 and settles down immediately without a proper 
 foreknowledge of the difficulties that inevitably 
 will beset him, had far better throw his money 
 into the sea at once. He is doomed to failure. 
 For the unskilled laborer, the farm hand, the 
 moneyless agriculturist, the shop assisant, the 
 clerk, and the professional man, South Africa 
 has little to offer save a miserable existence and 
 a pauper's grave. There are thousands of such 
 
 257
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 people scattered all over the country, seeking 
 work and finding none : eating the bread of 
 charity and living by crime. They were good 
 men once, for the most part, but they could not 
 help themselves. They are industrial super- 
 fluities. Inexorable circumstance has degraded 
 them nearly to the level of beasts. There is no 
 work for them to do. They are " poor whites." 
 While I was in South Africa with the Prime 
 Minister of Australia, a deputation representing 
 5,000 " poor whites," who had once been Austra- 
 lian citizens, implored Mr. Fisher to charter 
 steamers and take them back to Australia, so that 
 they might be saved from the dreadful fate of 
 indigence which had overtaken them as Africans. 
 Evidence was also forthcoming that 10,000 other 
 ex-Australians would have jumped at such a 
 chance to fly from the country where the starving 
 white man may not do " Kaffir's work," even 
 though he would. 
 
 I have written this book in the hope and trust 
 of saving my countrymen the world over the 
 bitter disappointment that must overtake them 
 should they emigrate unwarned and indifferently 
 equipped to southern Africa. The task has not 
 been a pleasant one. I fear that it will earn for 
 
 258
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 me the ill-will of thousands dwelling in the 
 Union : but I have performed it in the honest 
 belief that a duty lay upon me to relate facts of 
 which the world at large is unaware. And I have 
 performed it honestly. I have set down nought 
 on hearsay or in malice, but have dealt only 
 with proven and indisputable facts, not extenu- 
 ating them and not exaggerating them. My con- 
 clusions are vindicable, my statements are true. 
 
 On page 24 of the Report of the Mining Indus- 
 try Commission of 1908 (appointed by the Earl 
 of Selborne, in 1907) occurs the following para- 
 graph 
 
 ' The theory that the native is a * mere mus- 
 
 ' cular machine ' must be discarded. As will 
 " presently appear, experience has shown that he 
 " can no longer be looked upon as debarred by 
 " lack of brain and industrial training from inter- 
 " fering with the white man's opportunities of 
 " employment, and as merely an aid to enable 
 " the white man to earn wages sufficient to keep 
 " him in contentment. It is clear from the evid- 
 " ence that the position as between white man 
 " and native is one of very unstable equilibrium, 
 " and that so far from an increase in the supply 
 " of colored labor necessarily creating an increase 
 
 259
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " of white employment, the tendency to-day is 
 " for colored labor to be employed in an in- 
 " creasing proportion, and with the effect of dis- 
 " placing white labor." 
 
 That statement of facts cradles the most im- 
 portant of the issues presented to the political 
 genius of South Africa for determination. The 
 present labor system of the country gives the 
 native a monopoly of all unskilled work : and in 
 all that class of work in which he is the assistant 
 and industrial valet of the skilled artisan he has 
 a practical monopoly of the opportunities of 
 acquiring the training which enables a man to 
 rise from the ranks of the unskilled to the ranks 
 of skilled labor. Until this system is altered in 
 the most drastic and revolutionary manner, the 
 lot of the white race must be clouded with peril 
 and uncertainty. Until it is so altered, the Union 
 Government cannot invite white European immi- 
 grants to South Africa without being guilty of 
 flagrant dishonesty. While present conditions 
 endure, merely to talk of a policy of immigration 
 is to play a confidence trick upon the world. The 
 ever-increasing mass of local colored labor is year 
 by year encroaching on the field of employment 
 and the means of livelihood of the white man. 
 
 260
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 South Africa can never be the home of a great 
 white people until the tide is turned and white 
 labor is given entrance to, and secured in the pos- 
 session of, the entire field of industry. Nothing 
 is more certain than that the people who do the 
 work of a country will eventually inherit it. The 
 negroes are doing the work of South Africa to- 
 day. 
 
 261
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 NATIVE CRIME 
 
 'TpHE following tables are extracted from the 
 
 " Blue Book on Native Affairs for 1910," 
 
 that was presented during the year 1911 
 
 to the Union Parliament by the Department of 
 
 Native Affairs. 
 
 They are of special interest in the proof they 
 furnish that the negroes are a law-abiding race, 
 and that crime, speaking generally, is notably 
 decreasing among them. 
 
 The tables contain short remarks extracted 
 from the summarised reports of Magistrates, 
 Commissioners and Inspectors of all the terri- 
 tories and districts of the Union (pp. 275-298 of 
 the Blue Book), and these remarks briefly, but 
 accurately, reflect the condition of native 
 criminality throughout South Africa. 
 
 The figures on the margin represent the native 
 population of the territory or district against 
 which they are set. (This Appendix should be 
 
 262
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 studied in relation with Chapter 12, ante page 
 i6S). 
 
 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE 
 
 1,400 Aberdeen " The Sobriety and welfare 
 
 " of the population have materially 
 
 " advanced." 
 2,950 Adelaide " Serious crime has greatly 
 
 " decreased during the last five 
 
 " years." 
 
 20,500 Albany " Very little serious crime." 
 14,178 Albert " No great increase of crime." 
 6,587 Alexandria " Very little." 
 4,303 Aliwal North " Very little crime of a 
 
 " serious nature." 
 Lady Cresy " Crime generally on the 
 
 " increase." 
 4,245 Barkly East " The number of crimes 
 
 " for 1910 about equals that for 
 
 " 1909." 
 
 22,000 Barkly West " Crime practically un- 
 " known in the Government loca- 
 " tions." 
 8,000 Bathurst " I cannot say crime is on the 
 
 " decrease." 
 
 500 Beaufort West " Serious crime is not 
 " on the increase." 
 263
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 11,262 Bedford "Difficult to say whether 
 " crime is actually on the increase or 
 " not." 
 
 2,000 Bristotown " No increase of crime." 
 9,800 Cape " Slight increase." 
 3,500 Carnarvon " Serious crime has much 
 
 " diminished." 
 
 9,500 Cathcart " On the decrease." 
 7,000 Colesburg " No increase. No very 
 
 " serious crime." 
 
 800 Naauwpoort " Very little crime." 
 2,120 Cradook " Small increase." 
 1,570 Maraisburg " Marked absence of seri- 
 
 " ous crime." 
 De Aaar " Stationary." 
 32,277 East London " Very free of crime." 
 11,650 Fort Beaufort "Very little crime." 
 Fraserberg " Little serious crime." 
 33,703 Glen Gray " Very rare." 
 
 Lady Frere " No crime of a serious 
 
 " nature." 
 
 3,450 Gordonia " No improvement." 
 1,400 Hay " Very little crime." 
 46,357 Herschel "Comparatively little crime." 
 6,000 Humansdorp " Very few offences." 
 6,600 Jansenville " Not much crime." 
 
 264
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 12,332 Kimberley " Slight increase due to 
 " fact that natives can obtain as much 
 " liquor as they require." 
 74,999 King William Town " Very little crime 
 
 " of any description." 
 
 30,000 Middledrift " The people are law- 
 " abiding. Less crime than in any 
 " of preceding five years." 
 19,000 Keishama Hock " Very little crime." 
 11,631 Komgha "Very little crime." 
 4,500 Middleburg " A general decrease of 
 
 " crime." 
 
 6,268 Moltend " Normal." 
 14,412 Namagualand " Crime has decreased." 
 3,500 Caries " Very little crime." 
 20,365 Peddie " People are well behaved and 
 
 " law-abiding." 
 1,500 Phillipstown "About the same as dur- 
 
 " ing the past five years." 
 Petrosville " A marked absence of 
 
 " crime." 
 3,604 Port Elizabeth " A marked decrease 
 
 " during the last two years." 
 Port Nolloth " Serious crime almost 
 
 " unknown." 
 Priska " Little crime." 
 265
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 28,250 Queenstown " Crime diminishes every 
 
 " year, and markedly last year." 
 350 Sterkstroon Indecisive. 
 
 Whittlesea " No crime of a serious 
 
 " nature." 
 
 3,271 Richmond Slight increase. 
 176 Somerset East " Slight increase due to 
 
 " liquor." 
 
 2,500 Steynesburg Slight increase. 
 8,670 Stockenstrom " A decrease of crime 
 " as compared with previous five 
 " years." 
 
 8,850 Stuterhenin " Very little." 
 6,411 Tarka Indecisive. What crime there 
 
 is, is largely due to liquor. 
 
 20,860 Witenhage " Distinct decrease in 
 " number of offences compared with 
 " former years, especially in respect 
 " of serious crimes." 
 2,000 Van Rhynsdorp Increasing. 
 15,568 Victoria East "Serious crimes very 
 
 " few and far between." 
 Walpoole Bay " Crime is practically 
 
 " non-existent." 
 
 2,308 Wodehouse " Very little crime and 
 " very marked decrease in stock 
 " thefts." 
 
 266
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 5,332 Indwe Decreasing. " Stock thefts 
 " show a big reduction." 
 
 BRITISH BECHUANALAND 
 
 10,150 Kurnman "No crime of a serious 
 " nature was committed." 
 
 1 6,439 Maf eking " Compares favorably with 
 " any other district containing same 
 " number of natives." 
 
 28,000 Taung " Would appear to be very 
 " little crime." 
 
 18,030 Vryburg " The natives are law-abid- 
 " ing, and crime, either of a serious 
 " or trivial nature, is not frequent." 
 
 TRANSKEEIAN TERRITORIES 
 
 38,024 Bizana " Very rare." 
 20,500 Butterworth " Not increasing." 
 6,550 Elliot " I cannot say that serious crime 
 
 " is on the increase." 
 
 38,800 Elliotdale " Very little serious crime." 
 61,400 Engcobo " Little serious crime." 
 32,200 Flagstaff " Very little crime." 
 28,000 Idutywa " Marked decrease of crime." 
 38,854 Rentani Decreasing. 
 30,345 Libode " Not much crime." 
 
 267
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 45,000 Lusikisiki Not increasing. 
 3,500 Maclear " Satisfactory." 
 8,500 Matatriele " No increase of serious 
 
 " crime during last five years." 
 22,540 Mount Ayliff " Diminishing." 
 
 Mount Currie " Not much serious 
 
 " crime." 
 26,934 Mount Fletcher " Past year compares 
 
 " favorably with previous five years." 
 37,000 Mount Frere " It is wonderful what 
 
 " little crime there is considering the 
 
 " large number of natives." 
 Moanduli " Few serious cases." 
 41,170 Nggsleni "Very few cases." 
 35,310 Ngamakwe " Decreasing yearly." 
 16,000 Port St. Johns " Not increasing." 
 32,000 Qumbu Indecisive : no increase shown. 
 43,665 St. Marks " Matter for surprise, so 
 
 " little crime." 
 
 34,600 Tabankulu " Markedly decreasing." 
 35,300 Tsolo " Very little crime." 
 30,340 Tsomo " Marked decrease in crime 
 
 " generally." 
 43>589 Umtaka " No increase of crime and 
 
 " almost entire absence of serious 
 
 " offences." 
 
 268
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 35,100 Umgimkulu " Noticeable increase of 
 
 " murder charges." 
 
 49,805 Willowvale " No very serious cases." 
 13,500 "Xalanga" "Remarkably few cases 
 
 " of crime." 
 
 NATAL 
 
 40,578 Alexandra " No increase whatever." 
 
 28,478 Alfred " But few cases." 
 
 13,613 Bergville What crime there is, is 
 largely due to beer-drinking. Inde- 
 cisive. 
 
 26,630 Camperdown Indecisive, no increase 
 shown. 
 
 25,932 Dundee Serious crime is decreasing. 
 
 16.639 Durban Indecisive, but the less serious 
 
 crimes are apparently increasing. 
 33,846 Estcourt " Serious crime appears to 
 
 " be decreasing." 
 23,915 Helpmakaar Indecisive, no increase 
 
 shown. 
 
 10.640 Impendhle " Not increasing." 
 31,980 Manda No report. 
 
 51,500 Ixopo No increase shown. 
 29,000 Krauhzkop Indecisive, no increase 
 shown. 
 
 269
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 12,500 Lions River "Not much crime." 
 29,185 Lower Tugela " Natives committed no 
 
 " serious crimes during the year." 
 Lower Nuzimkula, Mapumulo, New- 
 castle, Charlestown, Ngolshe, Paul- 
 pietersburg, Poleda, Underberg, 
 Richmond, Mulazi, Utrechet, and 
 Weehea, all report marked decreases 
 of crime. On the other hand, Pieter- 
 maritzburg, Umgerie, and Vryheid 
 report increases. 
 
 ZULULAND 
 
 Of the eleven districts of Zululand, all 
 save one report either no serious 
 crimes or a marked decrease in crime. 
 The exception is Lower Umfolozi, 
 which reports five serious crimes. 
 The population of Lower Umfolozi 
 is 15,000: the population of other 
 districts is 1,034,000. 
 
 TRANSVAAL 
 
 21,792 Barberton "Serious crime is confined 
 " to assaults in most cases arising out 
 " of beer drinks." 
 270
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 4,700 Bethal Indecisive. Liquor laws again 
 
 complained of. No increase shown. 
 9,900 Carolina " Satisfactory." Liquor laws 
 
 complained of. 
 18,500 Ermelo Indecisive, but apparently 
 
 satisfactory, and no increase. 
 59,500 Hamans Kraal " Very little crime." 
 14,000 Heidelberg " Not a large amount of 
 
 " serious crime." 
 10,644 Lidetenburg " Considerably on the in- 
 
 " crease." 
 79,600 Louis Trichardt " Convictions for seri- 
 
 " ous crimes totalled 2 1 ." No in- 
 crease shown. 
 1 1, 800 Marico "Little serious crime." 
 
 Middleburg Stationary. 
 27,580 Mylstroom " Beer drinking extensively 
 
 " indulged in, but serious crime sel- 
 
 " dom results." 
 27,891 Pilansberg " Majority of cases are for 
 
 " contravention of the tax and pass 
 
 " laws." 
 38,016 Pretoria "A marked decrease in seri- 
 
 " ous crime." 
 54,885 Potgietessrust " No increase in crime 
 
 " in general." 
 271
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 31,200 Piet Relief " Serious crime has de- 
 
 " creased considerably." 
 Pietersburg No report. 
 
 23,834 Potchefstroorri " No increase." 
 1 3,400 Rustenberh " A marked absence of 
 " serious crime." 
 
 73,498 Shelonken Marked decrease in crime. 
 9,464 Standerton " A decrease of crime 
 
 " generally." 
 
 82,036 Sibasa " Surprisingly small." 
 27,000 Wakkerstroom " Shows a decrease." 
 3,760 Wolmerausstad " Cases of serious 
 
 " crime are of rare occurrence." 
 9,000 Vereeniging Crime confined to deser- 
 tions from the Rand. 
 Witwatersrand Report is indetermin- 
 ate. It remarks that approximately 
 half the convictions are for drunken- 
 ness. It is significant that almost 
 every Report on native crime in the 
 Transvaal rails against the bad 
 liquor laws, which enable the natives 
 to get drink freely, and thus cause a 
 great proportion of crime. 
 
 272
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ORANGE FREE STATE 
 
 21,000 Bethlehem " No increase." 
 
 3,000 Bethulie " But little crime." 
 30,445 Bloemfontein " The chief offences are 
 " contraventions of the municipal by- 
 " laws and regulations relating to 
 " passes." 
 4,200 Brandfort " Crime on the whole is of a 
 
 " trivial nature." 
 5,000 Boshof " Only one conviction for seri- 
 
 " ous crime." 
 
 5,100 Edenburg " Natives are very law- 
 " abiding, no serious crimes with the 
 " exception of one case of murder." 
 2,415 Trompsburg "Not prevalent." 
 2,145 Fauresnuth "Very little crime." 
 1,650 Jagersfontein " Decided increase in 
 " number of assaults. Beer drinking 
 " responsible." 
 
 4,145 Roffyfontein " Crime on the increase, 
 " but that is due to the large number 
 " of natives residing here compared 
 " with that of last five years." 
 13,093 Ficksburg "Stock thefts frequent." 
 3,650 Frankfort " Very little crime." 
 35.000 Harrismith " Up to the average." 
 
 273
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 8,145 Heilbron "Outside native assaults on 
 " one another, serious crime is prac- 
 " tically nil." 
 
 2,100 Viljoeu's Drift "Mostly petty of- 
 " fences." 
 
 3,000 Hoofstad " Extremely small. No 
 
 serious crimes." 
 
 Jacobsdal Table shows a very marked 
 
 decrease during year 1910. 
 Kroonstad Increased during 1910, 
 
 owing to illicit liquor traffic. 
 7,000 Ladybrand " Is and has been rare." 
 6,376 Philippolis " Serious crime appears to 
 
 " be on the increase." 
 3,018 Rouxville No Report. 
 12,000 Senekal "Very little serious crime." 
 2,549 Smithfield " Very little crime." 
 24,360 Thabra'ncho " Very little crime." 
 11,500 Vrede "Percentage of crime is not 
 
 " high." 
 
 6,000 Vredefort " Very little serious crime." 
 4>335 Wepeuer " There was no serious 
 
 crime." 
 
 16,000 Winburg Supplies table which shows 
 a substantial diminution since 1908. 
 
 274
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 NOTE. The official general reports from the Heads of Depart- 
 ments of each Province either expressly or inferentially concur in the 
 opinion that native crime is declining both in volume and the serious 
 nature of the offences committed. They agree that the natives are 
 a law-abiding folk, and that the prevailing tendency of the natives is 
 to become even better citizens as time proceeds. 
 
 The statement is repeatedly made that the greater bulk of native 
 crime consists of trivial offences, such as evasions of municipal by- 
 laws, the hut tax, and the pass regulations. Drunkenness is a com- 
 mon offence, and it often leads to crime, but the whites are more 
 responsible for this than the natives, for they break the liquor laws to 
 supply the natives with strong drink for profit. Were this iniquitous 
 traffic put down with a strong hand, there is good reason to believe 
 that the negroes of South Africa would compare favorably, as to 
 criminality, with any other people in the world. 
 
 275
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 'TPHE appended table, extracted from the 
 
 Blue Book on Native Affairs for 1910, 
 
 pages 399 407, shows the mortality 
 
 among natives employed on some of the leading 
 
 Diamond Mines, Gold Mines, and Coal Mines 
 
 of the Transvaal (deep levels) for the year ended 
 
 3ist December, 1910. 
 
 Comment on the table would be utterly super- 
 fluous. It tells its own appalling story only too 
 well. 
 
 Mine or Company. 
 
 Premier 
 
 Nourse Mines ... 
 
 City Deep 
 
 Durban Roodepoort Dp. 
 
 Modderfontein Consd.... 
 
 Cinderella Consd. 
 
 Von Rhyn Deep 
 
 Simmer East 
 
 Rose Deep 
 
 Greduld 
 
 Vogelsthirs Consl. Dp. 
 
 Clydesdale (Coal) 
 *Bantgis Consd. 
 
 'Princess State 
 
 *East Rand Proprietary 
 
 * These are outcrop mines. 
 276 
 
 Average 
 number 
 of natives 
 employed. 
 10,565 
 
 Deaths 
 from 
 Disease. 
 
 477 
 
 Deaths 
 from 
 Accidents. 
 32 
 
 Total 
 Death Rate 
 per 1,000 
 per annum 
 48-2 
 
 4,373 
 
 178 
 
 18 
 
 44-8 
 
 i>787 
 
 1 08 
 
 7 
 
 64-4 
 
 2,486 
 
 132 
 
 ii 
 
 57'5 
 
 334 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 57-o 
 
 2,260 
 
 116 
 
 37 
 
 67-7 
 
 491 
 
 29 
 
 5 
 
 69-2 
 
 2,527 
 
 145 
 
 44 
 
 74-8 
 
 2,984 
 
 127 
 
 '9 
 
 48-9 
 
 L4I5 
 
 89 
 
 i 
 
 63-5 
 
 643 
 
 62 
 
 2 
 
 99'S 
 
 312 
 
 29 
 
 3 
 
 102-5 
 
 2,439 
 
 35 
 
 10 
 
 59-5 
 
 1.3^7 
 
 84 
 
 3 
 
 66-1 
 
 15.478 
 
 409 
 
 73 
 
 31-1
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 HP^HE returns of the census taken in 1910 de- 
 serve Imperial attention. The statistics 
 are ominous, and when compared with the 
 figures of the census of 1904 they tell a story 
 replete with menace to the white race. The 
 white population of the whole Union increased 
 by only 161,219 in the last seven years. The 
 natives and colored population during the same 
 period increased by 621,456. In 1904, the blacks 
 formed 78^42 per centum of the Union's popula- 
 tion. To-day they form 78*55 per centum. In 
 the Union to-day there are 51,336 more male 
 whites than in 1904 : and there are 336,039 more 
 black and colored males. These figures do not 
 include Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, or Basutoland, 
 in all of which provinces the natives enormously 
 outnumber the whites. In the Cape province, 
 the white male population has decreased by 
 16,825 since 1904, a percentage diminution of 
 5*28. The native population increased by 
 
 277
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 54,346 in the same period. In the Natal province 
 there are more Indians than whites, and the 
 negro population amounts nearly to 1,000,000. 
 The returns show that the black death rate is de- 
 creasing and the birth rate increasing. The 
 whites in South Africa are not holding their 
 ground. They are steadily receding. South 
 Africa is continuously becoming blacker and 
 browner, and the disproportion between white 
 and black becomes greater every year. The In- 
 dustrial statistics are not one whit more encourag- 
 ing. Whole industries have fallen into the 
 hands of the natives, and although the prejudice 
 against " Kaffir's work " is said to be breaking 
 down a little, the prejudice is still " terribly 
 " strong " and a " gentlemanly " subsistence on 
 charity (and crime) is still almost universally pre- 
 ferred to the indignity of unskilled labor. The 
 census demonstrates that the Union Government, 
 as yet, has done absolutely nothing to strengthen 
 the white man's tenure of the country. On the 
 contrary, since the Union was formed, there has 
 been a marked slipping back in almost every 
 direction. Black labor is encouraged by the law 
 of the land, and every inducement is given to 
 employers by the Pass law, the Workmen's 
 
 278
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Compensation Acts, and other statutes, to prefer 
 black to white labor, even in the sphere of skilled 
 employment. The consequences are plain for 
 all eyes to see. The black monopoly of the un- 
 skilled labor market survives unshaken, and the 
 native is making rapid inroads on the skilled 
 market, once the exclusive preserve of the white. 
 Unless there is a revolutionary change of policy, 
 it appears inevitable that the white race will 
 dwindle in significance and in capacity, until at 
 last it will only be able to hold its place at the 
 favor of the black and colored horde. 
 
 279
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 THE PARLIAMENT OF THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Extract from Report of Select Committee on 
 Closer Land Settlement, $tk April, 1911. 
 
 H '. The Importance of Closer Settlement on 
 the Land. 
 
 1. There are many conditions peculiar to 
 South Africa which indicate that a steady and 
 substantial increase in the white population is of 
 vital importance. No one disputes this, and con- 
 sequently it is liable to be treated as a trite and 
 commonplace fact, thus becoming unimpressive. 
 Public or general indifference to this subject con- 
 stitutes a national danger and involves risk to the 
 very life of the nation. 
 
 2. Your Committee is of opinion that the im- 
 perative necessity of Closer Settlement to the 
 Union would be better appreciated if the white 
 population more fully realised the following con- 
 siderations 
 
 280
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 (a) That the Union does not at present pro- 
 
 duce nearly sufficient foodstuffs for its 
 own needs, and that a sudden outbreak of 
 war, or even threat of war, would there- 
 fore greatly affect all oversea supplies and 
 entail much distress amongst the white 
 population and economic disturbance 
 throughout the Union ; 
 
 (b) That the future development of South 
 
 Africa on civilised lines will only be pos- 
 sible by the -presence of a virile white race 
 in sufficient numbers to counteract the 
 forces, both within and without the Union, 
 acting in the direction of barbarism and 
 reversion; 
 
 (c) That the trend of existing conditions indi- 
 
 cates that there is substantial risk of the 
 gravest consequence to the white popula- 
 tion, unless it can be greatly strengthened 
 and constantly recruited. 
 
 (d) That the sparse white population of the 
 
 Union, coupled with its great extent and 
 the general excellence of its climate and 
 resources, will necessarily attract the 
 attention of those nations who desire land 
 for their surplus population, and as lead- 
 281
 
 THE REAL SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ing principles are capable of application 
 to large affairs as to small, it must eventu- 
 ally occur to some powerful nation that 
 the Union is not -" beneficially occupied." 
 
 J. J. BYRON, 
 
 Chairman. 
 Committee Rooms, 
 
 The Senate, 
 4th April, 1911. 
 
 FINIS
 
 Ptinted by Ebenezer Baylis Sr Son, Worcester, England.
 
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