YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
RHODESIA
AND ITS GOVERNMENT
MAJOR HARDING AND THE MASHONALAND NATIVE CONTINGENT—ARCHER, MAKONl'S SON, TO THE LEFT.—Page 145.
RHODESIA
AND ITS GOVERNMENT
H. C. THOMSON
author of "the cjiitral campaign," ani) of
"the outgoing turk."
" Restrain those engrossings of the rich that are as bad
almost as monopolies."—Utopia.
"Reverence for the rights and freedom of every nation
is what u'e should earnestly cherish if ice would be true
defenders of our oxvn."—Frederick Denison Maurice.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE
1898
[All rights reserved]
Printed by Ballantynk, Hanson &> Co..
At the Ballantyne Press
PREFACE
During my first few months in South Africa I was
tossed about in a kind of mental whirlpool. Every
man seemed to me to be in the right until I came
to listen to the next. But gradually certain principles
and ideas began to crystallise into definite shape; and
these I have tried to make clear, not merely from what
I myself heard and saw, but from the declarations
made from time to time by various South African
politicians and writers.
I have to thank most gratefully the many friends,
both English and Dutch, who have helped me in my
work. What there may be of value in it is due to my
having made myself in great measure the mouthpiece
of their strongly felt and conflicting opinions.
H. C. T.
September ] 898.
CONTENTS
PAGES
Introduction 1-20
CHAPTER I
Durban—Kosi Bay—Dklagoa Bay—Beira—Tiie Mozam¬
bique Company's Territory—Its Natural Products—
The Beira Railway 21-33
CHAPTER II
Influence of the Missionaries—Massi-Kessi—Hindu
Traders—Japanese Trade—Friction between the
Chartered Company and the Portuguese—Jiggers—
View from the Crow's Nest—The Rezende Valley 34-44
CHAPTER III
The Christmas Pass — New Umtali—The Penhalonga
Mines—General Mining Prospects in Rhodesia . 45-50
CHAPTER IV
Melsetter — The Labour Question — Andrada — The
Umtali Sessions—Walk to Mr. Fischer's Farm . 51-62
vii
Vlll
CONTENTS
CHAPTER Y
PAGES
Mashona Superstition—Rukui—Chaganguru—Agricul¬
tural Difficulties and Prospects—Comparison with
Australia and Canada (J3-72
CHAPTER VI
The Inyanga—Chirimba, the Witch-Doctor—Treatment
of the Matabili and Mashona Women — Native
Morality — The Flogging Quicstion - Christianity
from thr Native Standpoint — The Necessity of
proper Native Locations 73-89
CHAPTER VII
Frank Xigubu—The Arms Act—Uncomfortable Walk
from Makoni's Kraal—Police-Camp at the Devil's
Pass—The Headlands Store—Difficulty with my
Bagamesi Boys—Lovely Scenery—Great Variety of
Forest Trees—Damage done by the Locusts—Back¬
ward Chx\racter of the Boer Farmers—Gradually
changing under the influence of Railways and
Civilisation 90-104
CHAPTER VIII
The Story of Makoni 105-121
CHAPTER IX
Uneasiness of the Settlers, but possibility of another
Rising very remote — Salisbury distinctively an
Administrative Town—Colonisation Schemes of the
Scottish Africa, Limited, and United Rhodesia—Sir
George's Cathcart's Proposal in 1852 for a Military
Colony in Kaffraria—Similarity of the Amatolas
and the Inyanga 122-135
CONTENTS
IX
CHAPTER X
PACKS
Composition of the Force under Sir Richard Martin and
Captain De Moleyns—Attack on Seki's Kraal—The
M'toko Patrol—The taking op Shaungwe—Assault
on Mashanganyika's Kraal—Death of Paris . 136-146
CHAPTER XI
Attack upon Chesumba's—Character of the Mashona
Caves—Ivakubi, the Witch-Doctor, and Nyanda, the
Witch-Doctress—Termination of the Rebellion—Is
. this Use of Dynamite legitimate? . . . 147-157
CHAPTER XII
Splendid Work done by the Police in Mashonaland, and
by the Native Contingent under Major Harding—
Bravery of the Mashonas—They are Treacherous,
but not incapable of gratitude—the only way to
Govern them is by Justice, not through Fear . 158-170
CHAPTER XIII
The Beira Railway 171-178
CHAPTER XIY
Horse-Sickness—Fort Usher—The Matoppos—M'twani
—The Fight at the Cantoor—The Maholis—The
Question of Forced Labour 179-192
CHAPTER XV
Faulty Tactics of the Matabili—Their Failure to In¬
vest Bulawayo—Arrest and Detention of Gambo—
Probable inclusion of the Natal Labour Provisions
in the proposed Native Code for Rhodesia . 193-201
X
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XYI
PAGES
Close of the Matabili Rebellion — The Matabili
Mounted Police — Little likelihood of another
Rising — Character of the Mashona Rebellion—
Attack upon the Families of Mr. Bester and Mr.
Botha at Enkledoorn—Relief of the Abercorn Mine
by Mr. Duncan's Pathol—The Mashonas in reality
an Intelligent Race 202-218
CHAPTER XVII
The B.S.A. Company's Police : in Mashonaland and in
Matabililand — Excellent System initiated by
Captain Nicholson 219-229
CHAPTER XVIII
Treatment of the Natives prior to the Rebellion—
Advisability of a General Amnesty . . . 230-245
CHAPTER XIX
Palachwe — Khama — The Liquor Question — Conces¬
sions from Native Chiefs should be strictly scruti¬
nised — Lobengula's Concessions — Sigcau's Case—
Advisability of separation of the Offices of
High Commissioner and Governor of the Cape
Colony 246-263
CHAPTER XX
The Jameson Raid—Sir John Willoughby's Report to
the War Office—Were the Johannesburg People
to Blame ? 264-276
CHAPTER XXI
Mr. Rhodes' Influence in South Africa
277-297
CONTENTS
XI
CHAPTER XXII
TAOES
The Developments of Rhodesia 298-308
CHAPTER XXIII
Situation in the Transvaal—Does the Suzerainty still
exist?—Attitude of the Pretoria Government
with regard to it—Continual and needless In¬
vectives against the Boers—Embittered Feeling
now existing 309-323
CHAPTER XXIV
Distrust of the Republics for the B.S.A. Company—
Conditions on which the Charter was Granted—
Have they been Complied with?—Necessity of Con¬
ciliating the Boers—But they must deal fairly
with the Uitlanders—Growing Power of the Mo¬
derate Party under Mr. Rose-Innes—In Time they
will bring about union 324-345
Index
346-352
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Major Harding and the Mashonaland Native
Contingent—Archer, Makoni's Son, to the
Left ........ Frontispiece
Mashonas at Andrada in Portuguese Terri¬
tory—Kafir Piano lying on the Ground
to the Left To face page 40
Carrier Boys preparing for the March, near
Andrada „ 56
Chirimba, Mashona Witch - Doctor in the
Middle, with Mashonas standing round
him „ 74
Native Commissioner's Messengers. The Boy
with a young Baboon hanging on his Arm „ 76
Cape Cart at the Devil's Pass in Manicaland „ ( 93
Mashona on High-road near Headlands . „ 125
Mashona Iron-workers „ 217
Map of South Africa .
To face pay e 1
MASHONALAND
& MATABELELAND.
RHODESIA
AND ITS GOVERNMENT
INTRODUCTION
An impression seems to prevail both in England and
in South Africa that the climate of Mashonaland is
peculiarly unhealthy: I cannot say I found it so, and I
put it to a sufficiently severe test. I wished to see as
much of the country as I could, so instead of going
by coach, I walked up last autumn from Massi-Kessi
to Salisbury, straying off the road to visit various
farmers and prospectors. It was at the hottest time of
a year of exceptional heat and drought, but I found I
could walk all through the day without difficulty, for,
although Mashonaland is near the tropics, the heat is
nothing like so great as it is in India. In the valleys
it is sometimes oppressive, but on the crest of the hills
there is nearly always a breeze. Undoubtedly a good
deal of fever occurs in the rainy season, in the low-lying
districts, or where the soil has been turned up for the
first time—that is invariably the case with virgin soil in
every new country—but the fever is not of a virulent
a
2 EHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
type, and drink, and bad, insufficient food are as a rale
more responsible for sickness than tlie climate.
I was weak and easily fatigued when I started, as I
was suffering from the effects of a bad attack of in¬
fluenza, but by the time I reached Salisbury I felt
fairly strong and well. The walk was a delightful one,
through scenery of a strangely beautiful and unusual
type, and it enabled me to see a good deal both of the
settlers and of the natives.
The former I found smarting under the vehement
invectives with which they had lately been assailed—
invectives which, as a community, they feel they have
not deserved. One of the leading men in Salisbury said
to me, " If you are going to describe us at all, do try
and describe us as we really arc. We are tired alike of
undiscriminating eulogy, and of undiscriminating abuse.
We have had a hard and bitter struggle, and have made
many and grievous mistakes which we unfeignedly
regret. We are doing our best now to retrieve them,
and wo feel most keenly the readiness of people at
home to accept whatever tells against us, and to ignore
what is .in our favour. All we want is fair play. It is
quite true that regrettable, that indeed even terrible
things have been done : but if the circumstances are
stated fairly, and allowance made for the difficulties we
have had to contend with, I think even our opponents
will view our conduct in a different light."
And if in trying to draw this true picture I have
sometimes expressed myself strongly, it is not because
INTRODUCTION
3
I think the settlers in Rhodesia have behaved in a
harsher or more cruel way than those in any other
newly-acquired country. On the contrary, taken as a
whole, I think they have been less cruel. The sub¬
jugation of an inferior race, in whatever part of the
world it has been effected, by whichever of the Euro¬
pean nations, has invariably been attended, in the first
instance, by oppression on the one side and reprisals on
the other. Look at the conquests of the two Americas,
of Mexico, and more lately of the other portions of
South Africa and of Australia.
Moreover, in Rhodesia allowance must be made for
men who have had the terrible provocation of the
murder of white women under circumstances of peculiar
atrocity. In all savage warfare brutalities are invariably
perpetrated by both the combatants; but the greater
publicity given to them now leads to greater censure.
People who have lived in Europe in perfect security all
their lives, feel very differently from their great-great-
grandfathers, but the feelings of those who have to
guard a hostile frontier alter but little from generation
to generation; the basis of human nature remains the
same—it is always violent and forceful; if it were not
so, the world would never be opened up.
The Afghan graves this legend on his blade, " In the
time of necessity, when no hope remains, the hand
grasps the hilt of a sharp sword." At home we have
been swathed in security so long that we have almost
forgotten the feeling that the sword, after all, is our
4
RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
ultimate and strongest argument; but amongst those
who have to make their lives on the fringes of barbarism,
it is a feeling that exists as strongly as ever. Men who
live, as it wore, with the sword-hilt in their fingers, must
not be judged by a European standard; they cannot
reason out quietly abstract principles of right and
wrong: their peril, and too often their grief, is too
great and too near them for that—they do things in
the heat of conflict that afterwards they bitterly regret;
but those who sit peacefully at home are unable to com¬
prehend the stormy passions that have swayed them.
Infinite allowance must be made for men placed in
circumstances of such peculiar trial.
We must remember, too, that we in England are
directly responsible for all that has been done. We
shrank from the task of civilising these regions our¬
selves, and delegated the work we should have under¬
taken as a nation to a community not powerful enough
to perform it effectually, and these excesses have been
the direct result. Earl Grey, in a despatch to Sir George
Cathcart dated 2nd February 1852, uses words which
might well have been used by his nephew, the pre¬
sent Earl Grey, in defence of the Rliodesian settlers.
" In like manner," he says, " there are other considera¬
tions affecting the native races which ought not to be
lost sight of. If colonists of European descent are to
be left unsupported by the power of the mother-country,
to rely solely on themselves for protection from fierce
barbarians, with whom they are placed in immediate
INTRODUCTION
5
contact, they must also be left to the unchecked
exercise of those severe measures of self-defence, which
a position of so much danger will naturally dictate.
Experience shows that, in such circumstances, measures
of self-defence will degenerate into indiscriminate ven¬
geance, and will lead to the gradual extermination of
the less civilised race."
Happily, things have not been as bad as that in
Rhodesia, nor are they likely to be. The Home Govern¬
ment has awakened to the necessity of enforcing a more
direct imperial control, and the people of Rhodesia
themselves seem determined that what has happened
in the past shall not happen again—that the good
name of the many shall no longer be besmirched by
the misdeeds of the few.
Mr. Duncan, the late Surveyor-General, who during
the most critical part of the rebellion was acting as
administrator in Matabililand, at the luncheon given in
Salisbury last November to Sir Alfred Milner, made a
speech which accurately represents the feelings of the
responsible portion of the community. After a few
words of welcome to the High Commissioner, he con¬
tinued thus: " The completion of the railway to Bula-
wayo, and the anticipated extension of the railway from
Beira, tend to dispel the dark clouds which have hovered
over us for so long, and we may feel sure, now that the
day is breaking, that our countrymen in South Africa
and beyond the seas, who have watched with interest,
perhaps even with amazement, the extension of the
6 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
British Dominion during the past twelve years from
Griqualancl West to the shores of Tanganyika—we may
feel sure that they, whether they may belong to the one
great political party or the other, will wish us at this
season God-speed. But we must remember that these
good wishes are conditional upon our respect for the
obligations imposed upon us as the representatives in
this land of an imperial and of a civilising race. The
nineteenth century has witnessed a softening of manners,
a gentler consideration for those who are opposed
to us, and for those who are beneath us, and when
our methods and our actions during the past six years
have been criticised, can we feel that we are free
from blame ? In my opinion the people who have
prepared these charges against us have not sufficiently
investigated the facts, but if outrages have been com-
O ? O
mitted they have been perpetrated by those whom you
and I contemn. Moreover, personally I am of opinion
—I believe—that the proportion of cases of cruelty here,
even in time of war, has been in terms of the population
less than in England. But of this I am sure—the
people of this country condone no cruelty and sanction
no crime. They wish to live at peace themselves, and
to follow their occupations undisturbed. They wish to
live in amity with the native tribes, and to feel that the
lot of the natives, under the rule of Great Britain, is a
happier one than before. This will give us prosperity.
This is the prosperity we desire."
No one who has been in Rhodesia, and has made him-
INTRODUCTION
7
self acquainted with the hardships, the dangers, and the
privations which the people there have to undergo, but
will utter from his heart the God-speed for which Mr.
Duncan hoped. One thing, too, must not bo lost sight
of; in redressing a committed injustice it is easy to be
carried to too great a length, and to be led into the com¬
mittal of an injustice equally great. Whatever excesses
the settlers may have been guilty of—and no one who
is conversant with the facts will deny that some detest¬
able things have been done—the fact remains that
almost unaided, and at little cost to England, they have
won for her what will eventually prove to bo a fair and
beautiful country; a heritage of untold value for genera¬
tions yet to come, when the pressure of population in
the mother-land shall have become almost unendurable.
In any change, therefore, that may be effected in the
Government of Rhodesia, a liberal measure of justice
should be meted out to those who have staked their all
in the country, and have lost—many of them—not only
money but health, in their endeavour to develop its
resources. " Qui sentit commodum debet sentire et
on us," is a maxim that applies with even greater force
to nations than to individuals : if England is to reap the
fruit, she must first pay for the tillage. But when I say
that Rhodesia will eventually prove a valuable country,
1 do not mean for a moment to assert that it will pay a
dividend to its present shareholders, as to that I am
not capable of judging—it requires a mining and an
agricultural expert to give an opinion; but of this I feel
8 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
sure, tliat with thrift and patience it will become in
time a country peopled by a fairly well-to-do population.
If gold should be found in payable quantities, and found
speedily, it will be spared the financial difficulties and
vicissitudes which have beset the upward progress of
most of our other colonies ; but even if gold should not
be found, it will, in course of years, become like them
the home of a frugal people who will develop its re¬
sources to the utmost, because their lives will be bound
up with it. And should emigration from England for
any reason be checked, the Afrikanders, as they are
called, will gradually convert it into a habitable land,
as the Dutch have the Orange Free State, where the
droughts are far worse, and where, in many other ways,
the conditions are less favourable.
But though the settlers deserve generous treatment,
the Chartered Company itself, as a government, has no
claim whatever to indulgence. It has caused terrible
bloodshed; it has brought unrest into the whole of
South Africa (for the Becliuanaland rising seems to
have derived its stimulus from the rising in Rhodesia);
it has given cause for just suspicion to the Boers, to the
Portuguese, and to the neighbouring native states; and
it has cruelly wronged and oppressed those natives who
have been placed under its control. It is due to our¬
selves as a governing nation that it should be deprived
of its powers, and that we should take over charge of
the territories and peoples it has misgoverned, just as
we took over charge of India.
INTRODUCTION
9
For whatever allowance we may feel disposed to
make for tlie Rhodesian settlers, our duty to the native
tribes is clear. No one has asserted this more plainly
than Mr. Chamberlain. " But the British Empire is not
confined to the self-governing colonies and the United
Kingdom. It includes a much greater area, a much
more numerous population in tropical climes, whore
no considerable European settlement is possible, and
where the native population must always vastly out¬
number the white inhabitants; and in these cases also
the same change has come over the Imperial idea.
" Here also the sense of possession has given place to
a different sentiment—the sense of obligation. We feel
now that our rule over these territories can only be
justified if we can show that it adds to the happiness
and prosperity of the people, and I maintain that our
rule does, and has, brought security and peace and
comparative prosperity to countries that never knew
these blessings before."
It may possibly bring all these things to the natives
of Rhodesia in time, but up to the present, through the
neglect of the British Government to look into the
doings of those to whom they have delegated their
imperial authority, it has brought them neither security
nor peace, nor even comparative prosperity, but only
intensified misery, rebellion, and death. For these
things Mr. Rhodes is directly responsible. It was he
who destroyed Lobengula; it was he who evolved the
idea of a charter, and induced the British Government
10 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
to grant it; and it was he who, as managing director of
the Company he had created, neglected to prevent or to
punish the oppression which has brought such discredit
upon the English name.
He has laid down the doctrine of equal rights for
every white man south of the Zambesi, but he has
purposely omitted all mention of the blacks. Rhodesia
has shown what his rule of them is like, and a heavy
responsibility will rest upon Mr. Chamberlain if he
assists him back into power, as he seems inclined to do.
Fine sentiments weigh nothing in the scale against
committed deeds. Mr. Rhodes' record in Rhodesia has
been written in blood, and cannot be obliterated by the
assertion, however emphatic, of his adherents and himself
that his motives have been disinterested and patriotic.
I have gone with some detail into the nature of the
influence exercised by Mr. Rhodes in South Africa,
because the coming struggle there will be one, not, as
so many people in England believe, between the English
and the Dutch, but between Mr. Rhodes, as the repre¬
sentative of monopoly and capital, and his opponents,
as representing individual effort; between violence and
legality—-between company serfage and freedom. It
will be a bitter struggle, and on its outcome depends
the direction in which South Africa will develop. The
difference in policy of the parties is clear. In Natal
Mr. Escombe has been turned out of power for being
too much in favour of the Dutch. " England's might
o O
throughout the world," he asserted, " could not be sus-
INTRODUCTION
11
taincd by arms alone, but is founded on truth, and
faith, and justice."
There, for the moment, the Rhodes party is triumph¬
ing, and one of its most prominent leaders told his
constituents that " it was absolutely essential to the wel¬
fare of South Africa that South Africa, from the Zam¬
besi to Cape Point, should be under British supremacy.
The thing to aim at was the carrying out on broad lines
of the policy of Cecil Rhodes. Whether the methods
of Rhodes were right or not was beside the issue."
Mr. Rhodes himself, time after time, has illustrated
the same doctrine in his policy—that the end justifies
the means —a doctrine that until the Jameson raid he
managed to make both the English and the Dutch
O o
accept. Now there are many, and a gradually increasing
number, who agree with Mr. Schreiner in the statement
he made to the electors of Barkly West: "Convinced
as I am of the gravity of the evils experienced and
threatened, flowing from the continued influence of Mr.
Rhodes upon the institutions and politics of the colony,
I could not but oppose, with what power I have, his
candidature, or that of any one who would support him
politically in future."
What I have actually seen myself I have described,
but I have tried not so much to give my own views as
to marshal the facts that have led to the formation of
those views, so that the reader may judge for himself
whether they are justified or not. I have only touched
upon Transvaal politics so far as they are concerned
12 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
with the Jameson raid, of which I have given a brief
account extracted from the notes taken by a friend who
was in a position to know all its details. He has kindly
allowed me to use them just as they stand, and I prefer
to give his own words, as they show how cruelly the
Johannesburg people—the Judasburgers as they are
often called—were misunderstood in England; how,
instead of sacrificing Dr. Jameson, it was Dr. Jameson
who sacrificed them; and how, rather than prejudice
him and his officers at their trial, they kept silence
whilst they themselves were being tried, although by
speaking out they could in great measure have justified
themselves in the eyes of Europe, and have strengthened
their legal position enormously.
The Rev. T. Darragh, speaking on the 17th May
1896, at the funeral of Mr. Gray, one of the Reform
Committee (and he expressed truly the feelings of all
who knew the inner history of the Raid), said: " Out¬
siders have not hesitated to call us curs and cowards,
not recking of that nobler heroism which consists of
self-control under provocation. I tell you I am proud
of this town for its self-restraint through this terrible
crisis, a self-restraint only equalled by the endurance of
the sixty-three hostages—now alas only sixty-two—and
their reticence as to the secrets of the prison-house, and
the rest of this sad business."
This reticence, at a moment so critical to them¬
selves, has been ill repaid by the sustained reticence of
Dr. Jameson and his officers, when a frank statement of
INTRODUCTION
13
what really took placo would do thorn no harm; and
the insinuations of perfidy and cowardice contained in
the report of Sir John Willoughby to the War Office
have naturally aroused in Johannesburg an exceedingly
bitter resentment. These insinuations have been in
part rebutted by Mr. Lionel Phillips in the famous
article in the Nineteenth Century, which led to his
being exiled from the Transvaal, but an intelligible
delicacy, with which one cannot but sympathise, has pre¬
vented him from stating fully what actually occurred.
These notes supply what Mr. Phillips left unsaid, and
show with what moderation he has stated the case for
his associates and himself. They show, too, that though
the Johannesburg people had just grievances for the
repeal of which they were entitled to agitate, the Raid
was not undertaken to procure reforms, but for alto¬
gether other motives.
Unfortunately President Kruger has tliroAvn away
the advantage he then gained. By allowing himself to
be swayed by vindictive feelings, by a continued denial
of the just demands of the Uitlanders, by his treatment
of Chief Justice Kotze, and his tampering with the
administration of justice, he has forfeited the sympathy
of many who originally sided entirely with him, but
who, whilst recognising to the full the wickedness of the
raid, are quite as fully convinced of the inherent strength
of the Johannesburg cause.
Should ho persist in the unwise course he has lately
been pursuing, nothing can prevent a revolt of English
14 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
and Dutch combined, for the more enlightened of the
Boers are becoming as restive as the Uitlanders under
the misgovernment which is impoverishing a land so
teeming with natural advantages that it mi«'ht be made
D O o
one of the most prosperous on the face of the earth. If
any one is in doubt about this let him read the open
letter recently addressed to President Steyn by Advocate
Papenfus, a Free State burgher who has lived several
years in the Transvaal.
President Ivruger will listen to no advice that comes
from an English source, but he would do well to
hearken to the warnings uttered by those of his own
blood. The Natal Afrikander, a Dutch paper pub¬
lished in Pieter-Maritzburg, on the first of January 1896,
immediately before the raid, spoke out very plainly:
"We therefore trust that the Transvaal authorities will,
in the interests of the Republic in the present complica¬
tions, set to work most cautiously. A single wrong step
may have fatal results to the State. The Transvaal
Government cannot with any show of right expect that
the persons who own seventy-five per cent, of the landed
property of the Republic, and contribute nine-tenths of
the whole State revenue, will allow themselves to be
treated like Kaffirs. They are quite right in demanding
burgher rights, although such rights cannot be granted
to all Uitlanders. Those who own landed property
there should get them." This was written more than
two years ago, and the condition and prospects of the
Uitlanders are worse now than they were then.
INTRODUCTION
15
What the Uitlanders have done to make the Trans¬
vaal prosperous is shown by the following table, which
I have taken from the annual report of the Durban
Chamber of Commerce:—
A.—Direct imports into the Transvaal from abroad.
via Cape Colony. via Natal. via Delagoa Bay.
1895 . . 5,255,406 265,192 759,029
1896 . . 6,035,920 1,554,427 1,674,031
B.—Imports from Coast stocks and South African produce
and, manufacture.
From From From From Orange
Cape Colony. Natal. Delagoa Bay. Free State.
1895 . 1,652,740 717,204 204,102 926,631
1896 . 1,981,309 1,446,606 451,512 944,325
C.—Import* from and via the places named.
Orange
Delagoa Bay. Free State.
999,131 926,631
2,125,543 944,325
113 2
These figures show that the good government of the
Transvaal is vital to the whole of South Africa, and
that the other South African States have a perfect
right to bring combined action to bear if its present
state of misgovernment should continue. Mr. Findlay,
the chairman at the annual meeting of the Durban
Chamber on the -2d March 1897, made use in his
speech of these words: " As regards the future pros-
Cape Colony. via Natal.
1895 . 6,908,146 982,396
1890 . 8,017,229 3,001,033
Increase )
, - 15 205
per cent. )
16 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
pects of our trade, I must say I find it most difficult to
give an opinion. Johannesburg is the centre of South
African trade, and therefore Transvaal politics are the
principal factor with which we are concerned. At the
present moment commercial confidence is destroyed,
and it is impossible for us to see unmoved the perilous
position into which the Transvaal government are
bringing their country. The danger now probably arises
from foes within rather than from foes without. The
shrinkage in trade is only now beginning to be felt, but
doubtless the shrinkage will rapidly increase. I feel
sure we need not fear the ultimate consequences. No
government can permanently stop the development of
its country's natural resources, and we know that in the
Transvaal those resources are practically unlimited.
Although for a time we may have to pass through some
depression, the future prosperity of South Africa is
beyond a doubt, and in that prosperity Natal will par¬
ticipate."
That Mr. Rhodes' action was altogether unwarrant¬
able does not absolve President Kruger from his duty
to the suffering people who have made the Transvaal
what it is. Moreover, his refusal to remedy their griev¬
ances is a distinct breach of faith, for the people of
Johannesburg laid down their arms 011 the express
understanding that this should be done. So far, how¬
ever, from it being done, their condition has been made
immeasurably worse, and until reasonable reforms are
granted the root cause of the trouble will remain; argue
INTRODUCTION
17
as one may about tlio rights and wrongs of the matter,
there is no getting away from that.
Nevertheless, the position is one of extreme diffi¬
culty, for any interference from outside on the part of
England is sure to produce a sympathetic action amongst
the Dutch all over South Africa. A Free State burgher
explained their feelings to me in this way: " If my
brother gets drunk, is he not still my brother ? I may
put him under restraint myself, but I will not permit
any one else to do so." Besides, we have put ourselves
so hopelessly in the wrong by the attitude we have
adopted ever since the Raid, that it is difficult to see
how we can interfere until we have at any rate made
some honest effort to prove to the Republics that we
have no sinister design underlying our solicitude.
Like President Kruger, Mr. Chamberlain has thrown
away a magnificent opportunity. The prompt action he
took at the time of the Raid disarmed the suspicion
which was at first felt of the complicity of the Home
Government, and had he afterwards employed a dif¬
ferent tone to that which he has unhappily thought
fit to adopt, he might have obtained substantial and
lasting concessions; but the language in which his de¬
spatches have been couched, and still more his ostenta¬
tious championship of Mr. Rhodes, have led them to
believe that, though he was not privy to Mr. Rhodes'
designs, he has since practically condoned them; and
that it is hopeless to look to him for fair treatment.
The feeling against him is as strong in the Free State
B
18 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
and in Cape Colony as it is in Pretoria. Indeed lie
has done as much, if not more, than Mr. Rhodes to
accentuate the cleavage between the races: a truly re¬
grettable result, for before the Raid they were rapidly
coalescing—President Steyn's wife is Scotch; Chief-
Justice de Villiers' wife is Irish; Mrs. Merriman belongs
to one of the great Dutch families of the Cape—all
through South Africa a quiet and unnoticed fusion was
going on which the Raid has almost stopped.
The continual rumours of war, and the jibes against
the Boers with which the English papers have been
filled, have done the greatest possible harm. The
Dutch feel that they have been cruelly and wantonly
maligned, and held up to obloquy and ridicule before
the eyes of the whole civilised world, by people who
have reaped the benefit of the privations they have
endured in making the interior of South Africa in¬
habitable, privations which have prevented them from
attaining to the same degree of education and refine¬
ment as the newer emigrants from Europe.
They assert—and many Englishmen will be found
to agree with them—that they gave up Dr. Jameson
and his officers under a promise that a fair and im¬
partial inquiry should be held into all the circumstances
of the Raid, and that so far from that promise being
kept, the inquiry was converted into what was prac¬
tically an arraignment of the Transvaal Government,
with Mr. Chamberlain as counsel for the prosecution.
A distrust has thereby been aroused which it will take
INTRODUCTION
19
years to allay. That is the impression I gathered from
all the Dutchmen to whom I spoke. They were unani¬
mous in their opinion about the unfairness of the
inquiry.
It is not too late even yet to remove that distrust,
but it will be no easy task, for we must prove our
sincerity by deeds and not by words, however smooth
and fair. It is of no avail for Sir Alfred Milner to
assert that England has no hostility to the Transvaal,
whilst at the same moment Mr. Chamberlain is ardently
befriending Mr. Rhodes, and thereby throwing all the
weight of the English Government into his favour
during the coming Cape election.
But if that distrust were once removed, there would
be no difficulty in bringing the joint action of all the
South African States to bear upon the Transvaal for
the enforcement of better government, for the Cape
Colony, Natal, the Free State, and the Transvaal itself,
have all at different times affirmed the doctrine that
South Africa as a whole is entitled to interfere if any
State should be pursuing a policy inimical to the com¬
bined interests of the others.
What Sir Michael Hicks Beach wrote in his despatch
of November 20, 1879, to Sir Garnet Wolseley, states
accurately the position that England has always held,
and still holds towards the Transvaal; it has been re¬
peatedly acknowledged, and rests on a truer basis than
the doubtful suzeraint}^ about which there has been so
much pedantic wrangling: " The power and authority
20 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
of England have for many years been paramount there,
and neither by the Sand River Convention of 1852,
nor at any other time, did Her Majesty's Govern¬
ment surrender the right and duty of requiring that
the Transvaal should be governed with a view to the
common safety of the various European communities."
Nothing that has occurred since then has altered
England's position in this regard, but to enable her
to intervene with any pretence of right she must first
repair the wrongdoing which she has permitted. She
must pay, or must cause the Chartered Company to
pay, a reasonable indemnity for the damage done by
the Raid, and must make it clear that her motives
for intervention are disinterested and not felonious;
that she does not desire to obtain the country for
herself, but only to procure better government. If
she can succeed in making the Dutch believe that her
professions are sincere, her task will be comparatively
easy, for she will have in it their support as well as
that of the English colonists.
CHAPTER I
Durban—Kosi Bay—Delagoa Bay—Beira—The Mozambique
Company's Territory—Its Natural Products—The Beira
Railway.
Durban is a charmingly pretty town, semi-tropical in
appearance, but with distinctly English ways. It is a
remarkable instance of what energy and courage can
make out of the most unpromising material. There are
men still living who can remember when it was a mere
handful of houses, scattered along the sea-shore, when
the site of the present public gardens and of the town-
hall was ankle-deep in sand, and when elephants roamed
over the Berea, the hill that rises immediately behind.
Its progress would have been more rapid had it not been
for the difficulty of making a satisfactory harbour. At
the first glance it seems an ideal position for a seaport,
with a deep land-locked bay or lagoon four miles in
length and two in width, connected with the sea by
a narrow channel, and sheltered effectually from the
heavy gales which blow at certain seasons. Unfortu¬
nately the mouth of the channel is blocked by a shifting
sand-bar, the depth of which varied originally from
eight to seventeen feet. At great expense, by dredging
and other methods, the accumulation of sand has been
prevented, and the water over the bar has been per-
21
22 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
manently deepened, and now, except in bad weather, all
but very large vessels are able to pass in and out. Mr.
Escombe, the late Prime Minister, in spite of his other
multifarious occupations, has devoted the greater part
of his life to this indispensable and difficult work.
He is a firm believer in the necessity of a cordial under¬
standing between the English and the Dutch. They are,
he sa}^s, like oxen in one yoke: they cannot get away
from each other, and the sooner they learn to pull together
the better for both. At the same time I found him an
ardent imperialist in the truest and fullest sense of the
word. He believes, too, in a generous though firm treat¬
ment of the natives, and has done much to make them
the happy people that in Natal they certainly are.
But in spite of all that has been done to deepen the
bar, it is still a serious hindrance to the trade of Durban.
I was detained for several days longer than I intended,
on account of a heavy gale which had silted up the
sand so much that ships were unable either to come in
or to go out. Finally, I left in the Pongola, a small
but comfortable boat going to Madras to bring over
coolies for the Natal tea-gardens and sugar plantations.
It it is only a twenty-four hours' run to Delagoa Bay,
and from there to Beira I was fortunate enough to
have as my cabin passenger Don Egas Moniz Coelho, the
Portuguese intendente, who represents the Portuguese
Government in the Mozambique Company's territories,
holding a position analogous to that held by Sir Richard
Martin in Rhodesia.
DELAGOA BAY
23
Delagoa Bay is not a cheerful place to live in—it is
hot and exceedingly unhealthy; but the fever is not
worse than it was in Durban in its early days, and every
year it is diminishing and growing less dangerous in
character. There is no bar, but deep water right up to
the town, and in time it cannot fail to become one of
the most important of the South African harbours,
being, as it is, the natural port for the Transvaal. Be¬
tween it and Durban we passed Kosi Bay in Amatonga-
land, of which President Kruger is so anxious to obtain
possession. The lagoon is shallow throughout, and
there is not more than two feet of water on the bar.
If it has been so long and so difficult a task to make a
harbour of Durban with its minimum of eight feet, it
would take years of labour, and an enormous outlay, to
make anything at all of Kosi Bay. In all probability,
when the practical difficulties came to be considered,
the project of turning it into the port of Johannesburg
would be abandoned in favour of Delagoa Bay, which is
already connected with the Transvaal by a railroad.
The Portuguese territory stretches all the way from
Delagoa Bay to Beira, a distance of 488 miles. It is a
run of two days, along a monotonous coast of low hills
covered with scanty scrub, fringed in places with a belt
of sand. Beira is not the native name, but is the name
of a province in Portugal, and the hereditary title of
the heir to the throne, like the Prince of Wales. The
native name is Arangua, and before 1891 what is now
known as Beira was a desolate, uninhabited sandspit at
24 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
the mouth of the Pungwe River, which is joined a mile
or two below the town by the Busi; the two rivers
together forming an estuary three and a half miles
broad. Most of it is shoal water, but there is a channel
to the open sea half a mile in breadth, and seventeen
miles in length, which is well marked out by buoys, and
easily followed, for sailing vessels constantly come in.
There are no pilots as yet, but the Portuguese Govern¬
ment is having a naval survey made, and a proper pilot
department is being organised. When ships have once
reached the port they are in absolute safety, protected
as they are by the horse-shoe banks of the estuary.
The disadvantage of Beira as a port is that during
neap-tides lighters cannot be brought under the crane
because they cannot approach sufficiently close to the
wharf, and the town lies so low, that in equinoctial
spring-tides the main streets are not infrequently under
water; but a French company has been granted a con¬
cession to fill up and drain the creek which runs behind
it, and to make a proper channel from which boats can
be discharged. I should mention that the Pungwe is a
tidal river navigable as far as Fontesvilla, about forty
miles from Beira, and that the Busi is also navigable
for a short distance.
As a town Beira has several advantages. It is almost
separated from the mainland by a narrow creek, and is,
for East Africa, exceptionally healthy. There is nearly
always a cool breeze from the sea, which blows back the
miasma from the swamps that lie behind. Being on
BEIRA
25
sand, tlicrc is an entire absence of the irritating dust so
prevalent in South Africa; and as the sand absorbs any
rain that may fall, the ground is dry again within a very
short time. But this said, there is nothing else to be
said in favour of Beira, and it is wonderful that so com¬
paratively flourishing a place should have been created
in so arid and forbidding a spot. The sand on which it
is built is so loose that a tidal wave would wash it away
altogether, so the Mozambique Company are having a
sea-wall built at great expense to prevent the possibility
of such a disaster. Another serious drawback is the
scarcity of water, sea-water having to be used for wash¬
ing purposes, but I was told that steps are being taken
to construct proper water-works which will give a
supply large enough for all the needs of the town.
Beira, of course, owes it existence to Rhodesia, and
its future development depends largely upon the future
of that country, but up to the present it has been
remarkable.
In 1895 only 16,772 tons of merchandise came into
the port, whilst in 1890 there were 30,388 tons. The
same increase is observable in everything. In 1895 the
imports amounted to £157,048 as against £205,006, the
transit duties rising in those years from £142,959 to
£192,042; and the number of ships entering the port
from 115, carrying 2046 passengers, to 178, carrying
6593 passengers—the port dues increasing in propor¬
tion from £1195 to £2644.
These figures are interesting, because they show what
20 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
has been done whilst the Mozambique Company's
territory is still in a practically undeveloped state, and
in spite of the terrible delay caused by the rinderpest.
When the Beira railway has been completed to the
Manica gold-fields, and from there on to Salisbury, and
when the projected line has been made from Fontesvilla
to Tete, Beira bids fair to become one of the most
important of the East African ports ; for just as Delagoa
Bay is the natural port for the Transvaal, so Beira is
the natural port, not only for Mashonaland, but for the
whole of Rhodesia. That it is confidently anticipated
it will become so is shown by the rapid increase in the
value of land, and by the fact that most of the principal
steamship lines now call there regularly. I should add
that the population, which in 1893 consisted of only 319
Europeans and 722 natives, in 1896 amounted to 692
Europeans and 1929 natives.
The country is fertile, and will grow maize, rice,
sugar-cane, fruit, spices, and tobacco in abundance. On
the high lands in the Gorongoza district, north of the
Pungwe, coffee will probably thrive, and cotton also.
Tea has been suggested, but it will be next to impossible
to make it pay owing to the difficulty of obtaining
skilled labour. The same difficulty is experienced in
Assam, where labour has to be imported from Bengal:
here it would be almost insurmountable. On the Busi,
and in Portuguese Gazaland, india-rubber is said to be
plentiful, but at present it is only brought in by the
natives in a crude state, and no effort has been made to
MOZAMBIQUE COMPANY'S TERRITORY 27
cultivate it, though it is reported to be of exceptionally
good quality; it is also said to be plentiful in the
Zambesi district. Nevertheless, rapid development must
not be looked for; the difficulties in the way are too
great, the chief being that of labour.
The native labour as yet is unreliable, and farms
could only be worked profitably by coolies. They, unfor¬
tunately, are not obtainable, as the Government of India
very properly refuses to allow them to be exported to
any but the British colonies. Not long ago some con¬
tractors wished to import a thousand, and took steps to
have them brought over, but their agent in India was
met with this refusal. In Johannesburg it is constantly
asserted that any amount of labour could be obtained if
the Portuguese Government did not place unnecessary
obstacles in the way; and from what I was able to
gather, I believe that an unlimited supply might be
obtained from the thickly inhabited district of Gaza-
land. But the Mozambique Company's territory is
sparsely populated, and does not yield sufficient labour
for the Company's own requirements; they will pro¬
bably have to procure it either from Gazaland or from
the Zambesi.
The railway, and the forwarding trade to Masliona-
land, must for some time to come be the backbone of
Beira, but there is every reason to hope that before long
the town will also derive a substantial revenue from its
local trade. Both the Portuguese Government and the
Mozambique Company are doing all they can to assist
28 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
the railway, and to encourage enterprise, and it is plea¬
sant to find English and Portuguese working amicably
together, as in the main they do. When its sudden rise
is considered, as well as that of Delagoa Bay, which in
1882, like it, was an uninhabited lagoon, it is evident
that the Portuguese have not wholly lost the colonising
instinct which at one time made them the foremost
maritime power in the world. They are lethargic, and
crippled by poverty, but the East African seaboard is
the fruit of their early enterprise, and they have the
good sense to allow it to be developed for them by the
introduction of foreign capital.
Delagoa Bay has been retained under the direct
control of the Home Government, but Beira forms part
of the district granted by Royal Charter to the Mozam¬
bique Company, who have been given full commercial
control of the territory entrusted to them. The Portu¬
guese Government controller—the intendente, as he is
called—the judges, and indeed the whole of the legal
officials, including the Attorney-General, are, however,
appointed by the Government in Lisbon, and foreigners
residing in the country have the right of appeal from
any decision of the Company to the Court in Mozam¬
bique, the capital of the Portuguese possessions in East
Africa. In every other respect, the entire control of the
country has been left in the Company's hands.
What the Company now requires to do is to form
subsidiary companies for the development of the country
in detail. These companies might easily be converted
MOZAMBIQUE COMPANY'S TERRITORY 29
into a means of defence, and would save the mother
company the necessity of maintaining an armed force.
M. Xavier Hotter, a retired officer of the French
navy, who was asked to report upon the subject,
suggested that the farms should be linked together
by a battery of guns, worked by an artillery corps
furnished by the colonists themselves, and the sug¬
gestion is an excellent one. It would be an easy
matter to raise enough food for an increasing black
population, as rice, maize, and millet all grow in
abundance. But the natives would have to be carefully
watched, for they are an improvident race, and care
would have to be taken to compel them to cultivate for
themselves each year a certain portion of the land.
Most vegetables will grow well, but for a time there will
be difficulty in obtaining sufficient meat on account of
the rinderpest, and transport, because of the tetzc-fly.
The rinderpest, however, is a temporary calamity, and
when it has been stamped out may not occur again for
years, and the country can easily be re-stocked from
Madagascar. The fly will disappear before civilisation,
as it has in other parts of South Africa. In Khaina's
country it no longer exists, although Baines and the
earlier travellers mention it as a terrible scourge.
In the Zambesi district M. Hoffer told me gum-
arabic is plentiful, as well as india-rubber, and he said
that both in soil and in climate the Gorongoza district
greatly resembles parts of Brazil, so that coffee ought
also to do well.
30 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Subsidiary companies might well be formed to work
all these products, for the extent of territory is too ex¬
tensive for the mother company to deal with them
efficiently.
Gorongoza, and the Mozambique Company's portion
of the Inyanga mountains, are capable of supporting a
limited white population, but it would be advisable to
give colonists a free passage and free grants of land, and
to supply them for a time with everything they might
require in the way of seed and agricultural implements.
Without help of that kind they would be sure to fail.
Mr. Hoffer does not think it advisable to attempt
European colonisation in the Zambesi district, as it is
too feverish for white people to live in, and from what I
saw of the coast district of Manicaland I do not think
it would be advisable there either. These districts will
have to be opened up entirely by native or coolie labour
under the direction of Europeans.
I started from Beira on the 20tli September by the
mail train which leaves every Wednesday morning at
live o'clock, sharing a carriage with three missionaries,
who were on their way to found a mission station in
Mashonaland, and a colonial lawyer who had heard
such good accounts of Umtali that he was thinking
of settling there, but was going up to have a look at
it before deciding. The carriage, though dirty, was
comfortable enough, but I found that carriages are only
put on for the weekly mail; on other days passengers
have to sit in open trucks exposed to the rain and
THE BEIRA RAILWAY
31
intense heat, and worse still, to sucli showers of sparks
from the engine (which chiefly burns wood) that they
are not only an annoyance but a positive danger. The
distance to Chimoio, the terminus of the line, is only
153 miles, but the fare is heavy, and better accommo¬
dation might certainly be provided for the passengers
by the ordinary trains. As it is, they have to travel
in the same way as the natives, who are only charged
15s., and yet have to pay the same fare—£4—as by the
mail train.
Between Beira and Fontesvilla, we passed through
a long stretch of flat, swampy country, for the most
part thickly wooded, but in places with open glades
and little clusters of trees like an English park. It
is said to be full of game, but the animals have become
shy of the train, and all we saw was a herd of zebras
and quaggas. Lions are plentiful, as they always are
where big game is abundant. The young grass comes
up in the lowlands before it does in the hilly country
of the interior, so the buffalo come down to the lagoons
that lie between Beira and the Busi, and where there
are buffalo there are sure to be lions. One was killed
on the other side of the creek, quite close to the town,
whilst I was there, and farther up the line they are
still uncomfortably bold. Not long before one of
them sprang into a kraal, seized a Kaffir who was
lying asleep, dragged him out and ate him, meeting
his death soon after at the hands of some of the
railway men. Captain Ewing, who was then harbour-
32 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
master, told mo that at Mapandas four lions were shot
from the windows of a house around which they were
prowling, a feat which rivals the four lions tackled
by Lord Randolph Churchill in Mashonaland.
Last year some natives who were bringing a boat
down from Fontesvilla came upon a lion stuck fast in
the mud. It was discovered afterwards that he had
been wounded by a hunter, and had taken refuge in
the river, sinking so deep in the soft mud that he
had been unable to extricate himself. The boys (all
natives are called boys ; it does not matter how old
they are) had no assegais with them, but they beat
him to death with their oars. They brought the skin
down to Beira, and obtained the Government reward
of £2, and Colonel Macliado, who was then Governor,
gave them another £5 for their bravery.
At Fontesvilla, a dismal, malaria-stricken railway
settlement, the line crosses the Pungwe, and twenty
miles farther on begins the ascent of the Manicaland
mountains. The scenery is pretty, though not in any
way striking, the train winding for hours up the Chiruvu
hills in an open semi-tropical bush, through gaps in
which we got an occasional glimpse of the blue line
of hills beyond. Coming suddenly round a curve we
ran full tilt into a tree which had fallen across the
line, and the engine became firmly fixed in the branches
—the white ants had eaten the trunk away close to the
ground. Luckily we were on the up-grade, and the
driver saw it in time to slow down, otherwise we might
THE BEIRA RAILWAY 33
have had a nasty accident. As it was, it formed an
amusing break in the monotony of tlie journey. We
had to get out and help to disentangle the engine,
and to lift the tree off the track. The line has only
a two-foot gauge, but it struck me as well maintained,
for there was not nearly so much oscillation as might
be expected with heavy carriages running on so narrow
a gauge Avith steep gradients and incessant curves.
There are occasional accidents, it is true, but they
have not been frequent nor of any consequence. It
has not been an expensive line to build, costing only—
so Mr. Lawley, the contractor, told me—£2800 a mile,
but the loss of life has been terrible. Fontesvilla still
has an evil repute among the railway employes, and
in the early days of the line the climate was deadly.
Of thirteen carpenters employed on the bridge, eleven
died before it was finished. Another bridge over the
Revue River, not far from Massi-Kessi, although the
country there is 2145 feet in height, has an even
more sorrowful record; of eighty-three white men at
work upon it, eighty died or became permanently in¬
capacitated. Beira itself at certain times of the year
is bad enough. When I passed through it in February
twenty-nine men had died in four days of fever and
heat-apoplexy out of a population of 780. It was the
rainy season, and the moist heat was exceedingly trying:
but the people do not give themselves a fair chance,
the climate induces a craving for drink and there are
not many who resist it.
c
CHAPTER 11
Influence oe the Missionaries—Massi-Ivessi—Hindu Traders
—Japanese Trade — Friction between the Chartered
Company and the Portuguese—Jiggers—View erom the
Crow's Nest—The Rezende Valley
At Massi-Kessi I said good-bye to my travelling-com¬
panions, the missionaries, who were going by coach to
Umtali. They were all interesting men, who had taken
to missionary work from conviction. They believed
that the proper way to convert the natives is through
the influence of conduct, and not by bringing political
pressure to bear upon them. That is to say, they did
not believe in large mission stations, and native locations,
or in the acquisition of political power over the chiefs.
They said it is liable to be abused, and that missionaries
are tempted to make use of the power so acquired to
obtain concessions and other advantages for themselves,
and to go into trade.
None of my friends were in holy orders; one of
them was the secretary of the mission (the South Africa
General Mission), another had been a mining manager
in Johannesburg, and the third was a mason. They
hoped to obtain a small piece of land somewhere in the
Melsetter district of Rhodesia, as far away as possible
34
INFLUENCE OF THE MISSIONARIES 35
from the white settlors; and the two last proposed to
build a house there, and to live among the natives in
the hope of converting them by example, and by an
endeavour to live themselves according to the precepts
of their Master. They were enthusiasts, all of them,
and such ardent believers in the power of faith and of
prayer, that they intended to trust to them alone, and
not to quinine and other medicines against fever and
dysentery, and the numberless other maladies they were
going out so light-heartedly to encounter. I thought
them mad, as Festus thought St. Paul, but I could not
but admire their courage and respect their transparent
sincerity. They told me that one of the rules of their
society forbade any of them to engage in trade. It
is a society that does much good work all over South
Africa, and its influence is due largely, I think, to the
strict enforcement of this rule. Most of the missionary
societies impose a similar restriction on their members;
but it would be well if they were all to do so, for certain
missionaries in Rhodesia have virtually become traders,
and have thereby done more harm than good. The
Jesuits, I should mention, are strictly forbidden by the
law of their order to do anything that has even the
semblance of trading, any species commercii.
Everywhere in Rhodesia, and in fact all over South
Africa, I heard complaints against the missionaries, that
they ruined the natives, and converted an originally
decent folk into thieves and profligates. But when the
reason of the dislike to them is probed, it will be found
36 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
to bo mainly due to the fact that they stand up for the
natives, and insist that justice shall be done to them.
That there have been bad missionaries, untrue to their
holy calling, is undeniable. Amongst so large a number
of men there are sure to be a few bad ones; but, taken
as a body, the South African missionaries have done,
and are doing, a great and self-denying work. The rule
prohibiting trade, and any intermeddling with politics
or concessions, should, however, be rigidly enforced by
all the societies. And I think that when missionaries
penetrate into savage and unexplored lands, they should
do so at their own risk; that if they are murdered, no
steps should be taken to avenge them. That is what the
missionaries themselves desire. St. Paul, they say, had
no dynamite or maxims behind him; he went forth armed
only with his staff and his scrip, and for that very reason
preached mightily. Governments have been too apt
to clutch at the unavoidable tragedies of missionary life
as opportunities for acquisition of territory. They have
used the Bible as a stalking-horse for temporal aggrand¬
isement—an undesirable thing, to say the least of it.
The matured colonial feeling about missionary work
is set out very clearly in the report of the Commis¬
sion appointed by the Cape Government in 1881 to in¬
quire into native laws and customs: " While confining
ourselves generally, in terms of the instructions given
to us, to the consideration of the improvement of
the condition of the natives by means of legislative
action, we consider we would fail in our duty to the
INFLUENCE OF THE MISSIONARIES 37
Government and people of the colony, if we proposed
to hold that only by means of sneh legislative action
can the natives bo caused to advance, or their condition
be ameliorated. There arc happily other beneficent
forces at work gradually remoulding their nature and
character, by guiding them to superior knowledge and
higher hopes, as well as training them in civilised arts
and habits, and the social order of a well-regulated
community.
"Among the most powerful of those operating at
present are the various Christian missions, which at
great expense and untiring devotedness, and in spite of
heavy losses and manifold discouragements, have estab¬
lished their agencies throughout the native territories.
The influence of these agencies, in raising the natives
both morally and industrially in their standing as men,
can hardly bo over-estimated. The printed records of
the Commission contain ample evidence of the success
which has attended and continues to attend such
labours. A few adverse criticisms with regard to the
results of their work have come to our notice, but these
have not been substantiated, notwithstanding that even
the best friends of missions admit and deplore the fact
that what is accomplished falls far short of the objects
aimed at and wished for. It is a sincere gratification,
therefore, to the Commission to be able to bear its
unanimous testimony to the high opinion formed, both
from hearsay and from personal observation and experi¬
ence, of the good which is being effected, morally,
38 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
educationally, and industrially, by Christian missionaries
among tlie native population, and we recommend that
all the countenance, protection, and support which may
be possible should be extended to them by the Govern¬
ment."
On my return to Johannesburg I happened to meet
Mr. Kidd, one of my missionary companions, and was
grieved to hear from him that they had all been ill, and
that one of them, poor Coupland the mason, had died.
The Melsetter district is healthy enough, but they
had to go through terrible exposure and fatigue to
reach it, and Coupland must have contracted the fever
on the j ourney. Mr. Kidd told me he was glad he had
gone up to Gazaland, as it had enabled him to under¬
stand, in a manner he could not otherwise have done,
the terrible hardships and loneliness of a prospector's
life; how many of them die out on the veldt alone,
without a soul at hand to cheer or to help them, and
with everything to aggravate the discomforts of illness.
Many allowances, he said, must be made for the short¬
comings of men who have to lead the rough and lonely
lives of pioneers in these inhospitable regions.
Massi-Kessi is a well-laid-out little town, and the
scenery around it is exquisite; but lying as it does in a
valley, encircled by hills on every side, it is hot and
feverish. Various attempts have been made to farm in
the neighbourhood, but so far without success, and the
town must depend for its prosperity entirely upon its
forwarding trade to Mashonaland, and prospectively
JAPANESE TRADE
39
upon the mines in the adjacent Revue valley. Most of
tlie local trade is in the liands of Hindu traders, called
banians, who come over from Bombay and rapidly
acquire great wealth. [ was amused to find that gaudy
parasols form one of their principal articles of sale.
They are bought by the natives, not to protect their
complexion from the sun, but because they like to strut
about with anything brightly coloured. I bought one
for two shillings, and was surprised to find marked
inside it, " Made in Japan." It is a proof of the
rapidity with which that country is going ahead, and
how dangerous a competitor she will be to European
nations in the near future, that she should have already
secured a footing in the East African trade.
These banians are an objectionable, insolent set of
people, and a determined opposition has been made to
their coming into Rhodesia. They sell spirits to the
natives, and have a demoralising influence in many
other ways. But if they were admitted they would do
one good thing, they would rapidly bring down the
price of goods, which is maintained at an unnecessarily
high rate by the clique of storekeepers who at present
have the control of the market. I bought a tin of
biscuits at one of the banian stores, and paid half the
price that I had to pay for a similar tin in Umtali, only
sixteen miles away.1 I took this photograph outside a
1 Since this was written the High Commissioner has ordered the
magistrate in Umtali not to refuse them trading licences, as they are
British subjects, and consequently entitled to them.
40 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
store at Andrada, of a Masliona man and woman who
had come to make purchases. They chiefly buy brass
wire to work into bangles, and cast-off uniforms, which
they like because of their bright colours, and because
they are warm. They can get a good uniform coat for
four shillings which will last them for years. They say
they never noticed the cold before we came, but now
that we have taught them the pleasure of warmth, they
feel it intensely, and buy both clothes and blankets.
The wooden instrument lying at the man's feet is a
Kaffir piano. It consists of pieces of wood of different
lengths strung together, which are generally placed on
a rude sounding-board, and tapped with another piece
of wood to produce the different notes. I have one
almost exactly like it, made of bamboo, which came from
Burmah. The Maslionas also use a stringed instrument
played with the fingers, which consists of hard wood,
strung with gut, to the bottom of which a calabash, cut
in half, is attached to increase the sound.
From Massi-Kessi I walked over to the Penhalonga
valley, crossing the mountains by a Kaffir footpath
which passed first through the Revue valley. On the
hills on the far side I could see Pardy's mine, and the
place where the fort stood which was attacked on May
11, 1891, by Captain Heyman, when he invaded the
Portuguese territory. It was a Jameson raid on a small
scale. That he had no justification for what he did
is proved by the fact that the arbitrator, the Italian
senator, Yigliani, has fixed the border several miles
MASHONAS AT ANDKADA, IN PORTUGUESE TERRITORY. KAFIR PIANO LYING ON THE GROUND
TO THE LEFT.
THK MOZAMBIQUE COMPANY 41
farther into the interior than the place where the fort
stood.
Immediately after Mashonaland was occupied, Major
Forbes was asked by Mtassa, a Manicaland chief, to
protect him against Baron Rezende. Ho thereupon
came down to Umtali, and took Baron Rezende, Colonel
Andrada, Senor Paiva, and a Frenchman called Llamby,
prisoners. Andrada and Llamby he took through Salis¬
bury to Cape Town, where they were released. In the
following year came Hey] nan's fight at Massi-Kessi. At
that time the country was directly under the Portuguese
Government,.but in 1894 a charter was granted to the
Mozambique Company, which was made completely
international in character, the shares being held in
France, England, Germany, and Portugal, and no group
being allowed to acquire controlling power. But accord¬
ing to the terms of the charter, the majority of the
board must be Portuguese; so, too, must the governor
and officials of the company. For some time after there
was much friction between the Mozambique Company
and the British South Africa Company's officials, who
acted in an extremely arbitrary manner, and made
both the Mozambique Company and the Portuguese
Government justly suspicious of their intentions. They
felt that the B.S.A. Company would never relax its
efforts to secure possession of Beira as a port for
Mashonaland. That this was not a chimera is proved
by an interesting article in the Financial Record, dated
Oct. 7, 1893, which shows that even then the people of
42 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Johannesburg fully realised the danger to South Africa
of a company of imperfectly controlled merchant adven¬
turers. " The only trouble which the Company (the
Mozambique Company) has now to encounter," says the
Financial Record, "is the silent and constant pressure
on its border by the B.S.A Company in the neighbour¬
hood of the Sabi River. There is little doubt that Mr.
Rhodes accepted with very ill grace the refusal of Lord
Salisbury in 1891 to sanction the Chartered Company's
steady progress towards the coast; and the Anglo-
Portuguese Convention which arrested the Company's
march and reserved a fair margin of country to
Portugal, together with all the sea-board, has been a
source of unacknowledged irritation to it ever since.
No one can wish aught else but success to the Chartered
Company in its impending struggle with the Matabili,
but what guarantee is there that, when it has broken up
the savage hordes on its western frontier, it will not
cast longing and covetous eyes on the Mozambique
Company's territory ? It might, indeed, prove a very
useful and convenient thing for the Chartered Company,
seeing that Delagoa Bay is likely to be the centre of
high politics during the course of the next two or three
years, to seek to embroil the Portuguese with the
British in every possible way, so as to imperil the pre¬
sent strong maritime position as a whole. It would ill
become the agents of a company professedly devoted to
the exploitation and release from barbarism of the
country south of the Zambesi, if it should thus seek to
THE MOZAMBIQUE COMPANY
43
interfere with its peaceful and friendly neighbour, who
by its able management and steady devotion to the
improvement of its harbours, navigation, commerce,
and mining industries, hopes to realise the objects for
which it was founded. It would be a matter of little
wonder if the Mozambique Company took advantage
of the fact that the B.S.A. Company has its hands
very full just now, and firmly demanded substantial
guarantees that the present encroachments should
cease."
Recently things have been on a more friendly footing,
and the settlers in Mashonaland cannot but feel grateful
to the Portuguese authorities for permitting the English
troops, in spite of all that had previously occurred, to
pass freely through their country for the suppression of
the Mashona rebellion.
At Andrada we got some tea from a banian, who was
very pleased when he found I could talk Hindustani.
He said he did not care for Africa and would be glad
to go back to Bombay, his birthplace, though there is
plenty of money to bo made in Africa. Like most
others in Massi-Kessi, Europeans as well as natives, he
was suffering from an insect called a jigger, which bores
under the toe-nail. If not cut out at once it produces
violent inflammation, which may go on for months,
and sometimes becomes really serious. Half the people
in Massi-Kessi were hobbling about with their feet in
carpet slippers. This insect—the Pulex penetrans—is a
new comer in Manicaland, and there is a theory that it
44 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
lias been brought down in coffee from Nyassaland and
the Lake District.
After crossing the Revue River I ascended the Pen-
halonga range, reaching the highest point, the Crow's
Nest, 5500 feet in height, just before sunset. The view
was magnificent; more from the marvellous colouring
than from the height of the mountains. In the fading
light the distant tints assumed the loveliest shades of
grey and blue and purple, deepening gradually into
black, whilst above them the sky glowed like a cooling
furnace.
I reached the mining camp about nine o'clock and
received a hospitable welcome. It is twenty-three miles
from Massi-Kessi, and a stiffish climb to the Crow's
Nest, but at that elevation one does not feel the same
fatigue as on the plains.1
1 The question of licences to Hindu traders has again been brought
forward. The Chartered Company still refuses to grant them ; and
the Colonial Office has declined to interfere with the discretion of the
local authorities.
CHAPTER III
The Christmas Pass — New Umtali— The Penhalonga
Mines—General Mining Prospects in Rhodesia.
The main obstacles to the development of Mashonaland
are tlie want of transport and the want of labour. The
first is being remedied by the extension of the line to
Salisbury, and by the introduction of cattle from Mada¬
gascar to take the place of those killed off by the rin¬
derpest. But until the rinderpest has been thoroughly
stamped out, it is not safe to introduce fresh animals;
they only keep the disease going. It was believed to
have been got under last summer, but just before I left
Salisbury it broke out again amongst some newly-im¬
ported cattle.
The labour difficulty is far more serious. At present
it is nearly impossible to obtain boys, those who are
willing to work being engaged at once by the railway and
other contractors. My own experience will show how
hard it is for a private person to obtain even one boy.
I was unable to get any one to take my things on from
the Penhalonga valley, so I was obliged to leave them
and walk on to Old Umtali to try and get a couple
of boys there. I found it in a deserted condition, most
of the people having shifted to the new township,
45
46 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
to which I had therefore to make my way. It is
ten miles distant, on the other side of the Christmas
Pass, which is 4450 feet in height, with a superb view;
range after range of hills of gradually decreasing height
stretching away to the lowlands of Manicaland, until the
eye loses itself in an empurpled haze. On the right is
the rugged range of granite that intervenes between
Umtali and Gazaland, and looking back over the narrow
spur I had just crossed, I could see the broad valley of
the Umtali River and the corrugated iron roofs of the
old township gleaming white in the brilliant sunshine.
It was deemed necessary to shift the site of the
township to avoid the necessity of making zig-zags
for the railway across the Christmas Pass, but it is
a pity that it should have had to be done; the old
town, from a sanitary point of view, being excellently
situated on the side of a plain sloping gently down to
the Umtali River, so that a perfect system of natural
drainage was secured. The surroundings of the new
town are infinitely more beautiful, but it is likely to
prove unhealthy, a brook running through it which
even in the hot weather is not dry, and in the rains
becomes a regular morass. It is being drained, but
for some time to come cannot fail to be a source of
ill-health. Captain Scott-Turner, the magistrate, lives
on the crest of the hill looking doAvn the valley up
which the railway is to come from Massi-Kessi. His
house is so close to the Portuguese frontier, that his
kitchen is actually on the other side of the boundary.
THE PENHALONGA MINES
47
This proximity will inevitably load to friction, because
the Hindu traders, when the town grows in import¬
ance, are sure to erect stores within a few yards of
the border, but inside the Mozambique Company's
territory, where the Rhodesia liquor law is not in force,
and it will be impossible to prevent the natives from
crossing over to buy drink.
In new Umtali I found the labour question in the
same acute form. I wasted a couple of days in trying
to get boys, and was finally indebted to the kindness of
a friend, who said that as it was Sunday I could take
two of his. To the Penhalonga valley and back was
twenty-two miles, but I saw no other chance of getting
my things, and though the sun was hot I had an enjoy¬
able walk, the country being exceedingly beautiful.
A few days later, I walked over once more to look
at the mines. If gold should eventually be found in
payable quantities, there are various circumstances
which are greatly in their favour. The fact that the
reef dips vertically from the top of the hills will obviate
the necessity of haulage, and will enable the exploita¬
tion to be done by gravitation, and there is a waterfall
300 feet in height formed by the Umtali River which
can easily be dammed for storage purposes, and will
give sufficient electric power to work such of them
as arc in the immediate neighbourhood. But against
these advantages must be placed the exceedingly re¬
fractory nature of the ore, and the difficulties of trans¬
port and labour.
48 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Up to the present only rough extraction of gold by
amalgam has been possible. There has been no treat¬
ment of the tailings or concentrates. Some of the
mines have been worked now for many years, and as
yet have not paid, but it is quite possible that, when
the conditions are more favourable, and they can be
worked on a large scale, they will yet do so. If
they should ultimately prove payable, the Penhalonga
valley will have the further advantage over the other
gold districts of Kliodesia of being a great deal nearer
the coast. There is every reason to hope that they
will turn out to be of value, but it will be wise to
allow the existing companies to prove that their pro¬
perties are payable, now that the initial difficulties have
been overcome and the railway is within easy reach.
There is no reason for undue despondency—the want
of development so far has been due to perfectly ex¬
plicable causes; but neither is there anything to
warrant extravagant expectations. Several of the com¬
panies have done solid work, whatever the result may
be, and have expended large sums of money, in spite
of everything having been against them, in the develop¬
ment of their properties. A good many others have
done nothing, and it is a general belief in the district
that they have not developed because they know that
development will lay bare the poverty of their claims.
"You must remember," a man said to me significantly
" that when output begins speculation ceases."
While I am on the subject, I will sum up briefly,
RHODESIAN GOLD
49
what I gathered of the gold prospects all over Rhodesia.
The early explorers used such extravagant language
that they have discredited the country altogether.
Mauch said of Matabililand, " There the extent and
beauty of the gold-fields are such that I stood as it
were transfixed, and for a few minutes was unable to
use the hammer. . . . Thousands of persons might
work on these extensive gold-fields without interfering
with one another," and Baines' language was almost
equally enthusiastic.
Still there is no reason why gold should not yet
be found, and in large quantities, for Rhodesia is an
enormous tract of country, and there is no telling what
it may not contain. The people who assert that there
is no gold there are as little to be relied upon as the
enthusiasts. When the first discoveries of gold were
made in South Africa they were received with the
utmost incredulity. " The stories about gold," wrote Sir
George Cathcart, " are, if not entirely false, monstrously
exaggerated. There is gold in Scotland and Ireland;
so there may be a little in minute particles to be found
in certain places in South Africa."
Lord Randolph Churchill's is by far the fairest
estimate both of the agricultural and of the mining
prospects of the country that I have seen: so far almost
everything he has said has come true. Anything like a
boom would be most hurtful to its ultimate welfare, and
if not maintained might be followed by a collapse as
great as that of the Panama Canal.
D
50 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
I have talked to a great many prospectors, and they
all agreed that the country is full of gold-bearing quartz
reefs, and that it might be made a payable field for men
working on a small scale, but that as a rule the gold is
too patchy, and the reefs too distant from each other to
give much of a return to over-capitalised companies.
Certain mines are said to give promise of turning out
very rich; and if only a few do so the ultimate pros¬
perity of the country will be assured. I should add
that there is a strong feeling in Rhodesia that the B.S.A.
Company ought to make a drastic change in its gold
laws, and to foster private enterprise by reducing the
existing tax of fifty per cent, of the vendor's scrip on
all gold flotations. But, in fact, it has never exacted
more than thirty-three per cent., and I do not think
that amount can really bo excessive, because in the
future the Mozambique Company propose to enforce
a similar contribution. What is more serious, is, that
the B.S.A. Company, instead of developing the terri¬
tory it already has, is always gambling in more. When
Mashonaland proved to be a disappointment it was
said that the reefs in Matabililand were of phenomenal
richness. Now Mr. Rhodes assures us that the richest
portions of Rhodesia are north of the Zambesi. The
tribes will have first to be subdued, though they have
done us no harm. Do we intend that they shall be
dealt with humanely ? It is a more important ques¬
tion than the possible effect of fresh annexations upon
the share market.
CHAPTER IV
Melsetter—The Labour Question—Andrada—The Umtali
Sessions—Walk to Mr. Fischer's Farm.
When I returned from the Rezende valley I was told I
ought to go to Melsetter, a fertile upland 4000 feet in
height, about seventy miles from Umtali, which is said
to contain the best farming land in Rhodesia, but I
tried in vain to get boys to carry my baggage. There
were very few waggons on the road, and no stores where
I could sleep or obtain food, so I was reluctantly obliged
to give up my visit. It is said to be well watered, and
an excellent grazing ground, but the colony, numbering
in all about 300 souls, chiefly Dutch, were in such straits
in 1896 for want of food that the Government had to
send them supplies. There is but little communication
with the outside world, the rate of transport being too
high. When I was in Umtali it was £4, 10s. for 100 lbs.
(£45 per ton), so that up to the present there has been
scarcely any market for the farmers' produce. This has
dispirited them, and as, after the manner of Dutchmen,
they only grew enough grain for their immediate needs,
when the rinderpest came, and their crops were destroyed
by the locusts, they were reduced to terrible straits.
In Umtali I was told precisely the same thing; that
52 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
it is of no use to grow vegetables, the market being so
limited that a few bags of potatoes will flood it. But
the real cause of this apathy is want of energy, for
vegetables of all kinds fetch high prices, and the Hindus
who have market gardens on the outskirts of the town,
and the few Englishmen who have taken to gardening,
have all made large profits.
New Umtali had only been in existence a couple of
months, and was still in a chrysalis state. Mr. Creech,
an enterprising American, was draining it, and had also
taken a contract for the erection of the trans-continental
telegraph poles as far as Tete. He said he hoped to put
them up all the way to Cairo. He had no difficulty in
getting boys, for he paid them well, most of them being
Shangaans from Gazaland, but it was difficult for any
one else to get boys at all. They are, in fact, masters of
the situation, and they know it, and are very independent
in consequence, and to any one accustomed to the ser¬
vility of the Hindu servant class, they often seem most
insolent in manner. Whatever else their faults may be,
there is nothing cringing in any branch of the Bantu
race. However ill-used they may be, they are very
rarely abject, and they have such an inexhaustible
buoyancy that the least prosperity will make them
objectionably uppish. The Jesuit fathers told me they
are always trying to suppress what they call the horrible
Kaffir pride, but find it an almost hopeless task. Put a
Kaffir in however small a position of authority over his
fellows, and he will fancy himself a great man at once,
THE LABOUR QUESTION"
53
and presume accordingly. That is why the native police
have been such a failure. Above all things familiarity
with a Kaffir should be avoided; he cannot understand
it, and regards it as a sign of weakness. It is a mistake
Englishmen, especially when freshly out from home,
frequently make, but a Dutchman never.
In Umtali, in spite of the high wages, the boys are
utterly spoiled as servants; they will leave without the
slightest warning, and they will do nothing outside the
strict routine of their work unless they are paid for
it. I came in one afternoon about tea-time (in South
African hotels afternoon tea is supplied as a matter of
course), and a man whose room was next mine told his
servant to fetch me a cup. He did so, and at once
asked what tip he was to get. The same boy heated
some water for my bath, and when I gave him sixpence
looked at it superciliously as though it should have
been a shilling. Most of them are poor servants; even
when trained they cannot adapt themselves to service
like the Hindus, and the wages they are paid are so
excessive that most people do with as few of them as
possible, while the discomforts of life are proportionately
great. A house-boy gets £2,10s. a month and his food and
clothing, more than many housemaids get in England.
The natives in and near Umtali are certainly not
badly treated. However irritating they may be—and
no one can be so irritating as a Kaffir—people are too
anxious to retain their services to ill-use them. No
doubt the original pioneers knocked them about a good
54 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
deal, but now they are, if anything, over-pampered, and,
from fear lest they should decamp, are generally allowed
to have pretty much their own way.
This scarcity of labour is a serious matter for private
people, but it will be a vital question when the mines
begin to be developed; until there is a regular supply
of cheap and abundant labour, it will be impossible to
work them at a profit, unless they should prove to be
of unusual richness. When the railway is completed,
they will no doubt depend mainly upon Shangaans and
Zambesi boys, but if, under a firm administration, the
Mashonas should regain confidence, and believe that
they will be fairly treated, there is no reason why they
should not become proficient miners. They have always
been skilled ironworkers, and if they begin when quite
young they take kindly to the work in the mines. At
first they dislike the idea of going underground, but
after a time they prefer it to overground work. In
the Penhalonga district they are paid 30s. a month and
their food, which is equivalent to another 30s., and their
hours are from sunrise to sundown, with a midday
break for food. I was shown a Mashona who had
remained at his work for six years without a break.
This boy, however, was an exception. As a rule, they
will work for a year, and will then go home for three
months, coming back to the same employer if they
have been well treated.
Rather than wait in Umtali whilst trying to arrange
for boys, I preferred to walk down the coach-road
ANDRADA
55
to Massi-Kessi. The first night I slept at Hawes &
Taylor's store, about eight miles away. Mr. Hawes told
me he had started a market garden, and had as many
as 5000 cabbages: he also told me that pigs do well,
and grow remarkably fat, and he thought Mashonaland
might be made a great pig-producing country, as the
pig is not liable to any disease peculiar to the country,
as almost every other animal is. On the following
day I walked on to Massi-Kessi, where I met Captain
Serejo, of the Portuguese navy, to whom Don Egas had
kindly given me a letter. He represents, under Don
Egas, the Portuguese Government in Manicaland. He
kindly asked me to stay the night with him at Andrada,
where he lives, and the next day showed me some
extensive ancient alluvial workings along the course of
the Revue River. They may possibly be the work of
the Phoenicians in olden times, but were more probably
made by the Portuguese when they took possession of
the country in the sixteenth century, for the records in
Lisbon show that a great deal of gold was sent to Portu¬
gal at that time from Eastern Africa. They have been
so thoroughly exploited that little gold is to be found
in them now. There are similar excavations in the
Penhalonga valley, and an attempt has recently been
made to work them anew, but not, I believe, with a
satisfactory result.
Captain Serejo had been making a number of agri¬
cultural experiments, and had formed a high opinion of
the fertility of the country; the one thing needful is
56 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
improved transport, and cheapened goods. An iron
bedstead which in England cost 14s. 9d. in Umtali then
cost 105s., a 4d. bottle of stout cost 6s.; everything was
in the same proportion. It is impossible that any
serious attempt can be made to develop the country
until the cost of living is lowered.
Captain Serejo sent a boy with me to show me the
road, so instead of going back to Massi-Kessi I followed
a Kaffir footpath to the head of the Revue valley, and
from there crossed the intervening range of hills to one
of the stores on the Umtali coach-road. The scenery
everywhere was exquisite, and the view from the crest
of the hill, looking both ways into the Massi-Kessi and
Revue valleys, was singularly beautiful; what struck me
most being the softness of the tints, and the delicacy of
their gradations. During my walk I came upon the
only snake I saw in Mashonaland. The boy, Avho was
walking in front of me, suddenly called out " Nyoka"
(snake), and jumped to one side, and I just caught
sight of something wriggling through the grass, but
could not tell what kind of snake it was. There are
many varieties in Mashonaland, both of venomous
snakes and constrictors, but they are not often seen
except by prospectors and people whose work takes
them constantly into the bush. They are not common
as they are in India. One of them, the spit-cobra,
shoots his venom to a considerable distance ; if it should
strike the eye, it will produce blindness unless washed
out at once. I reached the store in time for dinner, and
CARRIER BOYS PREPARING FOR THE MARCH, NEAR ANDRADA.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 57
afterwards walked on with a man I met to Brown's Store,
seven miles farther up the road. It was a moonlight
night, or we should not have ventured to do it for fear
of the lions. We had a number of pagamisa, or carrier
boys with us, who kept up a monotonous chant during
the whole time to frighten them away, and still more to
keep off spirits, of which they have a great dread. In
India the natives do exactly the same thing. I have
often heard them in the Central Provinces, when walking
along a solitary road at night, shouting at the top of
their voices to scare away the ghosts.
When I got back to Umtali I found the Sessions
had begun; Judge Yintcent being the presiding judge.
He was appointed in 1894, and has done much to
enforce order and respect for the law. He is always
severe when oppression of the natives is proved. In
Bulawayo, not long ago, he condemned a man to seven
years' imprisonment for going round to the various
kraals, and giving out that he was the new native
commissioner, and, on the strength of it, practising
various kinds of extortion. He had a case of oppres¬
sion by a native policeman to try during these Umtali
Sessions, and gave the man a heavy sentence; the pro¬
secution being instituted at the instance of a prospector,
who had come in, at great inconvenience and expense,
to give evidence.
The days of lawlessness are happily dying out with
the pioneers. In Mashonaland it is a great thing to
have formed part of the original expedition that took
58 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
possession of the country, and the title of pioneer is
assumed by numbers of men who have no right to it,
and who advance the most preposterous claims to indul¬
gence and assistance. As a rule they drink heavily, but
one learns to look leniently on drunkenness after a
personal experience of the climate. It is not merely
that it is trying, but there is hardly any fresh meat to
be had, and tinned salmon and bully beef do not seem
to nourish in the same way that fresh food does. One
gets tired of the perpetual tea and condensed milk, and
a craving is set up for some kind of stimulant. There
is no doubt, too, that a little alcohol is a safeguard
against fever; the difficulty is not to take too much.
But though there is a good deal of drunkenness,
the use of the revolver, as in America, is unknown.
In Chicago and the mining cities of the West, for a
man to be shot in a brawl is an everyday occurrence.
I saw two men kill each other, in the middle of the
day, in a crowded street in Chicago, and it hardly
excited attention. I don't think there has been a single
instance of the kind in Rhodesia. Moreover the law
prohibiting the sale of liquor to the natives is very
strictly enforced, and natives are rarely seen the worse
for drink, as is so frequently the case in Cape Colony
and in the Transvaal. Their liquor legislation is much
to the Chartered Company's credit.
A Mr. Fischer, who has a farm with his brother on
the high veldt between Le Sapi and the Inyanga, asked
me if I would walk out there with him, and Mr. Creech
ECHAINIA
59
kindly lent me two of his boys to enable me to do so.
Before I started I met Mr. Rainey, one of my missionary
friends, who had not been able to get away from Umtali.
He told me they had had the same difficulty as myself
in getting boys, and that eventually Mr. Kidd and Mr.
Coupland had gone on without them. Mr. Coupland's
tragic death I have already mentioned. Mr. Kidd sub¬
sequently made his way back to Massi-Kessi by a direct
path over the hills instead of returning by Umtali.
He nearly died there of fever, and was still weak and
ill when I saw him in Johannesburg three months after¬
wards. Mr. Rainey has remained at Melsetter.
The first night we stayed at Old Umtali, Mr. Caul-
field, the English Church clergyman, kindly putting me
up in the church-house, as there was no room in the
hotel. The next day we were delayed in starting until
four o'clock, so the heat was over before we began our
walk. We followed the Inyanga road until six o'clock,
when we reached the Odzana River, a lovely clear
stream that comes down from the Inyanga and flows
into the Odzi. Here we halted, and had supper, and as
before long the moon would be up, Mr. Fischer suggested
that we should go on to the Odzi, ten miles farther.
We left the Inyanga road on our right, and crossing the
Odzana, followed a Kaffir path to Echainia, a lofty cone-
shaped peak beneath which was the pass by which we
were to cross the range that divides the two rivers.
Kaffirs always walk in single file, placing one foot
before the other, so their paths are narrow and slightly
60 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
concave. A European finds them tiring at first, as his
boots do not rest flat upon the ground, and until they
are hardened to it, the sides of the feet become tender.
I did not like walking behind a string of boys, as they
intercepted the view, so I generally walked in front, and
Mr. Fischer caused much merriment by telling them that
my camera contained dynamite, and that I must go
first to throw it at any lion we might meet. They
quite believed what he said, and when we sat down to
rest kept at a respectful distance from it:
The sun had set when we reached the foot of the
pass, and the moon having not yet risen, it was very
dark, and every rustle in the grass made me start,
though Mr. Fischer assured me that there were no lions
about, as the game had all been cleared off by the
rinderpest, and there was nothing to attract them; that
they kept to the main road, where they could pick up
oxen and donkeys. They had become so ravenous, on
account of the scarcity of game, that a day or two before
one of them had actually killed a horse in the middle of
the day, whilst trotting behind the cart to which it was
fastened. The main road was only seven miles away,
and as they had killed three donkeys and a native there
that week, I did not feel very confident that we might
not come across one on his way to his hunting ground.
The moon rose when we were half-way up the pass,
and even in the Himalayas I have seldom seen a
grander sight. Towering up above us on the left was
the pointed granite peak of Echainia, on the right was
THE ODZI RIVER
61
a deep ravine, and below us, stretching away for miles
towards Umtali, we could see the level veldt shimmer¬
ing under the yellow rays of the tropical moon.
We halted at the top for half-an-hour, lit a fire, and
had a smoke and a rest. We gave the boys (we had
nine with us) a cigarette each, and they were quite
happy, sitting chattering and laughing round the fire
like children. The Odzi was four miles farther on, the
road descending steeply at first, but for the last two
miles going on the level through deep sand, which the
boys found very trying. It was then quite a little
stream, which we could wade through easily, but in the
rains it overflows its banks, and becomes a deep, impas¬
sable torrent. We camped a little way from it, more
from fear of lions than of malaria, made a roaring fire,
and had supper before going to sleep. The boys were
in great spirits. They had plenty of ooffoo, the name
they give to the roughly ground meal they obtain from
a kind of millet called ripoko, which is the staple food
of the Mashonas. It makes a dark brown viscous
porridge, which to a European palate is not appetising,
but the Mashonas say it is wonderfully sustaining. I
daresay it is, for it seems to contain a considerable
amount of oil. We also gave them what we did not
finish of our tinned provisions, the jam being especially
appreciated. Mr. Fischer's boys were Mashonas from a
kraal near his farm, and they held themselves entirely
aloof from my two boys, who were Shangaans. I
noticed that if we gave a boy anything he did not keep
62 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
it to himself, but shared it with the others. Mr. Fischer
told me they always do this. The boys were quite raw
and untrained, and it was very amusing to watch them.
I had an unused kettle with me, and one of them came
in much perplexity to ask if he was really to put it on
the fire; that it would take all the brightness away.
It was the hottest time of the year, but it was chilly
at night, so we undid a bale of the blankets which Mr.
Fischer was taking back for trading purposes, and rolled
ourselves up in them with a rifle between us, in case a
lion should come prowling around. At daybreak we
started again through a beautiful, well-timbered valley
with great stretches of open grassy sward; on our east
being the magnificent serrated outline of the Inyanga
mountains, and on our west the low range of granite
hills that separated us from the Salisbury road, weathered
into every kind of strange and fantastic shape.
CHAPTER V
Mashona Superstition—Rukui—Chaganguru—Agricultural
Difficulties and Prospects—Comparison with Australia
and Canada.
The Mashonas are a very superstitious people. I
noticed that they would often throw a branch as they
passed by on to a bundle of branches lying by the side
of the road, and was told they did it for luck. When
starting on a journey, an unmarried man will put a
stick in the ground by the side of a path, and pile
a few stones round it. If, when he returns alongr that
' o
path, possibly a month or two later, he should find
the stick covered with branches by passers-by, it is
a sign that he will have many children. After all
it is not more foolish than our counting our cherry¬
stones.
We walked for several hours through lovely wooded
country, until we came to a kraal, belonging to a chief
called Rukui. The men were all out at work, but
there were three or four women in the kraal, one of
whom went and called the chief, an old grey-headed
and very feeble man. He came supporting himself on
a stick, held up by his son ; but, old as he was, there was
quite as much respect paid to him by his people as if he
64 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
were young and active, for so long as a Mashona chief
is alive, his authority as chief continues. When the
natives spoke to him, they clapped their hands softly
together as a mark of deference. He gave us some
Kaffir beer in a gourd calabash, but it had only just
been made, and we were unable to drink it, though our
boys drank it greedily. I have tasted it several times
since, and cannot say I like it. It is made from Kaffir
corn, and has a sour, sickly taste, but it is said to be
very wholesome, and men who live long in the country
grow to like it exceedingly. We gave Rukui a cigarette,
which he pulled at so vigorously that it nearly choked
him, and he was glad to hand it to one of his indunas.
He told us that they had killed an eland the da}T before,
so they had plenty of meat. We had seen occasional
tracks both of eland and of sable antelope all the
morning, but, since the rinderpest, game has become
scarce. One of our boys had eaten so much the night
before that he was taken violently ill, and we had to
leave him behind with his load, with another boy to look
after him, but they managed to come up again with
us before nightfall. About five o'clock we arrived at
another kraal called Chaganguru's. We did not go up
to it ourselves, as it was late, but sent one of the boys
to barter salt for ooffoo, and the chief came down to
have a smoke and a talk. He was a remarkably fine-
looking man, with regular features, and a well-shaped
head, quite unlike most of the Mashonas. I think he
must have had Arab blood in him, for he had a finely
NIA TANDI
G5
sliapcd nose, thin lips, and smooth hair; there was
hardly anything of the Kaffir type about him.
For half a bar of salt, worth threepence, we got
more ooffoo than I had bought in Umtali at a store for
two shillings. The storekeepers, I was told, will not sell
to the natives under a certain price, so that for salt for
which a white man only pays sixpence, a native has to
pay a shilling. In the same way there are two prices
for blankets, and for the other articles which the
Kaffirs principally buy. I do not know how this can
be stopped, but it is an unfair system, and naturally
makes the natives feel that they are unjustly treated.
We encamped that night by the side of a rippling
mountain stream, at a place called Nia Tandi, taking
the precaution to build a skerm or barrier of thorn
bushes as a protection against the lions. A few yards
away there was a camp of boys returning to their kraals
from Umtali, where they had been at work, and they
and our boys kept on chattering and eating till the
middle of the night. Kaffirs only begin to amuse them¬
selves in the evening; in the daytime both the men
and the women are out of the kraal, the women grinding
corn, fetching water, and doing other domestic work,
whilst the men are harvesting, hunting, or fishing. In
the evening they sit round the fire and talk and sing
until far on in the night.
Next morning we had a steep hill to climb, which
we were anxious to get over before the sun became
too powerful, so we started an hour before sunrise. It
E
66 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
consisted of a long stretch of at least a mile of perfectly
bare granite, inclined upwards at a steep angle. When
we reached the top, we, found ourselves on a level plain,
stretching as far as we could see, which is known as the
high veldt. On our left was a deep valley, on the far
side of which we could see Makoni's demolished kraal,
and beyond it the hills that form the Devil's Pass on
the Salisbury road. We reached Mr. Fischer's farm in
time for breakfast, and had a warm welcome from his
brother, who had been laid up with a bad attack of
fever. The brothers had been obliged to abandon their
farm when the rising broke out, and to go into laager
in Umtali; but as soon as the country seemed fairly
safe, they had returned to it, though they were warned
that they did so at their own risk. They had always
been on good terms with the natives, and were confident
that they would not be molested. To be on the safe
side, they did not go back into the huts which had
previously formed their homestead, but built a fort
between two huge granite boulders, in which they felt
they could resist any attack. They inserted a layer of
clay between the thatch and the rafters, to make the
roof fire-proof, so that they could not be burned out,
and they slept in a little room they had built up with
stones on the top of one of the boulders, the only access
to it being by a ladder which they could draw up after
them. Their principal difficulty, if they should ever be
besieged, would be to obtain water, as the spring is half
a mile away. The fort itself is strong enough to enable a
AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS
67
couple of resolute men to resist any number of Mashonas,
but it would be an easy matter to starve them out.
When they went back to their farm the natives were
still in open revolt around Salisbury, and it required
no little courage to isolate themselves in a place a
good fifteen miles from the nearest police-camp. It is
men like these who are wanted as settlers. They are
Americans, who came out three years ago, and Mr.
Rhodes, who does all he can to encourage agriculture,
gave them this farm, rent-free I believe, and they have
done very well with it. Last year they raised a quantity
of oats which they sold as forage to the troops, and they
have also grown mealies and tobacco. They gave me
some tobacco to try, manufactured by themselves, which
they always smoked, but though pleasant in flavour,
I found it far too strong; probably with continued
cultivation it would become milder. They told me it
grows luxuriantly, and so, too, do the castor-oil plant,
which is indigenous, tomatoes, and grenadillas, the latter
being imported from Natal. Vegetables they found
difficult to raise, chiefly on account of the insects.
Farming is attended with many difficulties, and
though they had no rent to meet, they could not
make it pay by itself; where they have made their
profit has been in trading with the natives, in buying
mealies and ooffoo to soil again in Umtali. The
principal difficulties with which they had been con¬
fronted in the way of farming had been the temporary
difficulties of the limited market, which will improve
68 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
as tlie country becomes more populated, locusts, which
have been very bad for the last three years, and rinder¬
pest, as well as permanent difficulties which are more
serious. To begin with, the rainy season is too short,
so the ground cannot be tilled until December. This
drawback could be got over by a proper system of
water conservation, for which the country is admir¬
ably suited. The ground does not remain fertile unless
manured, and at present manuring is not possible as
there are no cattle. That is only a question of time
and of re-stocking when the rinderpest has been effectu¬
ally stamped out. Moreover, cattle manure is a coarse,
hot manure, and the red soil, which is the general soil
in Mashonaland, has a tendency to bind, and requires
bone-dust to open it. Cultivation will also clear away
the insects with which the farmer is at present plagued.
They abound in every new country. What is wanted is
energy, even more than manure.
The country is well watered, with frequent streams
which give plenty of water for stock, but there is little
available for irrigation, as it lies in deep hollows. This
obstacle, however, could easily be got over, as it has
been in other countries, by pumping it up either by
windmills or by steam power and leading it over the
land. In Australia, for example, the farms in many
districts are dependent for water solely upon artesian
wells.
Again, in some places the ground is so sandy that
it is difficult to lead water through it; but in Australia
AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS
G9
a similar difficulty has been overcome by leading it
through pipes, and in the early days through the
hollowed-out trunks of trees. Another trouble caused
by the sandy nature of the soil is that, after it has
been ploughed, it is so loose that a heavy shower of
rain will wash the seed away; but with proper manure
to bind it together a loose soil can often be made
exceedingly productive. Then there are any number
of insects—locusts, grasshoppers, beetles, and under¬
ground and overground borers; these are found in
every new country and will disappear with cultivation.
With regard to stock, the rinderpest is only a passing
visitation and may be left out of the question. The
cattle, it is true, are subject to lung sickness, red-water,
and other diseases peculiar to South Africa, and in
places the grass is coarse and sour, but taken as a
whole the country is well suited for stock. This is
shown by the fact that before the rinderpest broke out
there were more than five hundred thousand head of
cattle in Rhodesia. Almost everywhere in Mashonaland
there is a sufficiency of water for them even in the driest
seasons, and there is little probability of a scarcity of
grass. In case of an unusually severe drought they
could easily be driven from one pasturing ground to an¬
other. It is said that sheep will not do well; that the
grass is too rank for them, and that they become poor
and die in numbers from no apparent disease. This
remark applies to the whole of South Africa, for with
the exception of the Karroo, no part of it is a sheep
70 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
country. I was told, however, bv a man upon whose
opinion I could rely, that the Inyanga and Melsetter
districts will probably suit them admirably. The grass
is short and turfy, and water so plentiful that there
would be no risk of the droughts which are so great
a danger to the Australian sheep-farmer.
Pigs, it is generally acknowledged, do well; they can
be turned loose to feed on roots, and rapidly grow fat.
A long-legged greyhound breed is indigenous to the
country, but English pigs have been tried, and have
been found to thrive capitally. Curiously enough the
Maslionas will not eat them, though they will eat almost
any other kind of flesh. It is probably because, like
vultures, they are natural scavengers.
The country is not at present a white man's country,
for when new soil is turned over fever is nearly sure to
result. That, however, has been the case all over South
Africa. It was very bad in Ivimberley when the mines
were first started, and is not uncommon in Pretoria
even now. Men complain, too, that they soon lose their
energy, and cannot do hard manual work. That is due,
I think, more to bad food than to the climate, and
to the presence of the natives, for a supply of black
labour always spoils white labour; white people will not
exert themselves when it is possible to make black
people work for them. The worst of it is that the
Mashonas are unwilling to work, and the general rate of
wages is so high, owing to the excessive wages paid to
boys for carrying loads, that it is impossible for farmers
AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS
71
to pay the wages demanded and yet work their farms
at a profit.
All these are very serious obstacles to any one in¬
tending- to settle in Rhodesia at the present time, but
they are all obstacles that can be overcome. The
country so far has not had a fair chance. The inci¬
dental difficulties of the rebellion, the rinderpest, and
the locusts, have been perfectly heart-breaking, and, in
addition to all that, the majority of the so-called farmers
have not been farmers at all. They are simply men
who have taken to farming, and expect with little or no
knowledge to make sufficiently large profits within a
few years to enable them to come back to England. If
they do not get these profits they say the country is not
a farming country, Another temporary hindrance is,
that the cattle being dead, there is at present no means
to till the ground. Salted oxen are expensive, and
horses even more so; and the latter will not live
through the rainy season—very few survive it. They
die both of horse sickness, and of lung sickness, and the
same diseases attack mules. Donkeys are not affected,
but they cost too much, and arc too slow, and the ex¬
pense of getting up steam-ploughs is prohibitive. The
truth of the matter is that farming in Rhodesia requires
capital. For a poor man, or a man with even moderate
means, to emigrate there under present conditions, is
simply folly. He will only lose his money, and pro¬
bably also his health. He will certainly have a time of
terrible struggle and hardship.
72 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Mr. Wallace Broad, in the evidence lie lately gave
before tlie Bulawayo Chamber of Minos, summed up
the question very fairly. Ho is a geologist and mineral
surveyor, and a Dufferin gold medallist of the University
of New Brunswick, and as he has been in Rhodesia some
time, he is well qualified to judge. "The chances of
making a fortune are greater here," he stated. " You
cannot get very rich in Canada in farming, but are
always sure of a competence. If a man comes here
with capital and intelligence, he should do much better
than in Canada. A man with £20,000 here cuts a small
figure; in Canada, in one of the smaller sized towns,
he would be considered a nabob. From what I have
seen of the country I have great faith in it as a mineral
region, and I think it will bo heard of one of these days
as a great gold-producer. It is difficult to make a com¬
parison with Canada; we have an abundance of water
there, and irrigation is seldom necessary. Generally
speaking, the conditions are quite different; for instance,
here it is possible with irrigation to have two crops
in one year; there you can only have one; here you
have native labour, there you have none; here you have
locusts and drought to contend with, there early frosts,
and often bad harvest weather. Each country has its
advantages and disadvantages. On the whole Rhodesia
offers as many inducements to the agriculturist as
Canada, but here he requires by far the larger capital."
And he might have added that for some years to
come the market for produce in Rhodesia must be
infinitely more limited than it is in Canada.
CHAPTER VI
The Inyanga—Chirimba, the Witch-Doctor—Treatment of
the Matabili and Mashona Women—Native Morality—
The Flogging Question—Christianity from the Native
Standpoint—The Necessity of Proper Native Locations.
Mr. Fischer's farm is on a well-watered plain, over
5000 feet in height, but the hard granitic soil is not
particularly well suited for agriculture ; possibly it might
do better for stock. The Inyanga plateau is only twenty-
five miles distant, and I was assured by people who had
been there, that it is admirably adapted for both; but
like most things in Rhodesia, the Inyanga is still a
region of possibilities; its capabilities have not yet
been actually proved. Mr. Rhodes had recently bought
several farms from a Mr. Fotheringliam, an Australian,
the only person who had really tried to farm there.
I met him at Umtali on his way back to Australia;
a lucky man, as he had been paid a good price for
his land. He spoke well of the country, but nevertheless
seemed glad to be leaving it; and the conditions of life
in Rhodesia are so hard that I think most men would
be glad to get away if they could. I met very few who
wished to settle there permanently; almost every one
was anxious to make a little money and clear out.
73
74 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
I was sorry that want of boys prevented my visiting
the Inyanga, as the scenery is said to be more beautiful
than in any other part of Rhodesia, the plateau itself
being over 6000 feet in height, and the peaks attaining
to as much as 8500 feet. It is said that traces have
been found of such extensive irrigation that it must
at one time have been thickly populated, but that must
have been long ago, for it is now almost uninhabited.
Behind the hut in which the Fischers originally
lived, is a kopje in which are the ruins of a remarkable
fortified kraal. The Mashonas say it was not built by
them, but by the Balosi, a people who lived in Mashona-
land before they came into it. It has four separate
circles of defence, composed of sconces formed by massive
granite boulders connected together by strongly built
walls, the masonry of which is peculiar, the stones
fitting closely into each other without mortar. On the
top of the rock which crowns the kopje was the chief's
hut; it could only be reached by a ladder, as the rock
has precipitous sides. At the foot of the kopje, a few
yards outside the kraal, is a spring of excellent water,
reached by a couple of strongly fortified underground
passages, so that a rush could be made for it at night
with comparatively little risk. The fortifications alto¬
gether betoken a high order of intelligence.
A mile or two away, on the road to the Inyanga,
is a kraal belonging to a famous witch-doctor called
Chirimba. We went over to see him but found the
kraal empty, with no one in it except an old and
CHIRIMBA, MASHONA WITCH-DOCTOR, IN THE MIDDLE, WITH MASHONAS STANDING BOUND HIM.
CHIRIMBA, THE WITCH-DOCTOR 75
marvellously wrinkled woman. I was sorry to have
missed Chirimba, and was glad when he came the
next morning to pay me a visit. He said he had heard
there was a white man in the country with no hair on
his face (to bo clean-shaven is unusual in Rhodesia),
so he presumed I was a white witch-doctor. I photo¬
graphed him, and he went away, quite convinced, I
believe, of my supernatural powers. I also took this
photograph of the messenger of one of the native
commissioners who passed by the farm, attended by
a piccanin to carry his things, on his way to convey
a message to a neighbouring kraal. He was fully
armed, and besides his rifle carried another emblem of
authority in the shape of a sjambok or hippopotamus-
hide whip. In Matabililand these men are no longer
permitted to go about with arms, but as Mashonaland
was only just emerging from rebellion, it was not
thought safe to send them to distant kraals unarmed.
That may be so, but they certainly ought not to be
allowed to go alone; they should always be accom¬
panied by the native commissioner to whom they may
be attached. As it is they are the scourge of the
country, and like the zaptiehs in Turkey, do more
than any one else to make the lives of the people
wretched, and to foment rebellion. They were especially
bad before the recent rising, when no trouble was taken
to keep any check on them, and they are not much
more trustworthy now. I was told of one who had
gone into a kraal, and assaulted a Mashona woman.
76 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
The husband came running back to the kraal to protect
her, and the police boy seized his rifle and shot him dead.
Since I have been in England there has been a telegram
in the papers saying that a chief in the Marandella
district had killed another police boy for the same
offence.
A great deal has been written about the ill-usage of
the native women both in Mashonaland and in Mata-
bililand, not only by these police boys but by the white
men. I think, so far as white men are concerned, it has
been grossly exaggerated. Of course there have been
isolated cases, and there are also a certain number of
white men who live with native women; that is not
peculiar to Rhodesia, it occurs in every country where
a white and black race mix. It was far more common
in India, and in the other parts of South Africa, in their
earlier days, than it is in Rhodesia. In Mashonaland,
especially, it is rare, and morality altogether is, on the
whole, higher than in most parts of England, certainly
than in London. The women as a rule are well treated,
and are very seldom Mashona women, who, though they
are exceedingly immoral, are prevented from living Avith
the white men by a prediction of Nyanda, the witch-
doctress, that if they do they will beget snakes. In
Salisbury and Umtali it is scarcely known for a man
to have a black mistress, it is chiefly men who are
living by themselves in the outlying districts. They
generally get a woman from Zumbo in Portuguese
territory, paying about £5 for her, and she almost
NATIVE COMMISSIONER'S MESSENGERS. THE BOY WITH A YOUNG BABOON HANGING ON HIS ARM.
NATIVE MORALITY
77
always has a happier lot with her white owner than she
would have in her own kraal. The settlers have felt
most deeply the charge of wholesale immorality that
has been levelled against them. As a matter of fact
they are less to blame in this respect than any people I
have ever come across.
In Matabililand the social conditions are altogether
different from those prevailing in Mashonaland. There
the Maholi women have always been lax in their con¬
duct, but the Matabili women have not, because un-
chastity was punished with death as amongst the Zulus
and the Swazis. Now that the death penalty can no
longer be inflicted, there is an almost universal demorali¬
sation, the women offering themselves voluntarily to the
white men. In most cases they are better treated than
before, and no sympathy need be wasted upon them;
but the fathers and husbands have a very just grievance,
which no doubt was one of the chief causes of the
rebellion. The fathers lose the ukulobola, the cattle
which have to be paid for a wife, and the husbands lose
their wives, for they naturally turn them away. In
Natal exactly the same demoralisation is taking place.
The Zulu women are not by nature moral, but, until
Zululand came under our rule, they were enforcedly
chaste, for the penalty was death to both parties for
the seduction of any woman, whether married or
single. Now the whole country is becoming corrupt,
not, as so many people assert, because of the evil effect
of Christianity upon the native character, but because
78 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
the tribal authority, and with it tho death penalty,
have been done away with, and the women are no longer
afraid to give free play to their passions. To check
the rapidly spreading immorality a penal clause was
inserted in the Natal Native Code, making the seduc¬
tion of any woman, married or single, punishable with
six months' hard labour : and some such law ought to
be enacted for Rhodesia. How necessary it is to prevent
a widespread degradation may be judged by what Mr.
Cross, the magistrate of the Alfred Division of Natal,
says in his yearly report, dated January 9,1897 : " I regret
to say that the morals of the natives in this division
are not improving (except with those coming under
the influence of the missionaries), and they are bound
to get worse now that the police have received orders
not to prosecute men for contravening the provisions of
section 277 of the Code, unless complaints are made
to them by the parents of the girls who are seduced,
or the husbands of the women who have committed
adultery; this laxity to enforce the provisions of their
own long-established law to the native mind means
that they can do as they like. If the morals of the
natives are to be improved the law of seduction and
adultery should be enforced, especially as fear of
punishment is the only means of impressing a thing
on a native mind. This fact should not be lost sight
of, viz., that the natives have to be treated like
children in many ways, and if they are to be raised
in the scale of morality under our government, then
NATIVE MORALITY
79
tlie law must be enforced, and not be a dead letter as
it is at present."
Mr. Blake's description of the outraged modesty of
the Matabili women is absurd: the difficulty is to keep
them away from Bulawayo. So too is his assertion that
cruelty and outrage are universal in Rhodesia. Some
perfectly damnable things have been done, by men in
high places, and the doers of them have not been
punished—that is what has been so bad: it has estab¬
lished a sort of precedent of immunity; but these deeds
have been the exception and not the rule, and they
have not been worse, or more frequent, than similar
deeds that have been committed during the reduction
to submission of every savage nation.
Still the Matabili men have a very poignant griev¬
ance, for which a remedy ought to be provided by law.
The curious thing is that it should never have been
thought of, for the whole question was carefully gone
into in 1881 by the Commission appointed by the Cape
Government to inquire into native laws and customs.
The neglect of the High Commissioner, and of the
Chartered Company, to enact a law similar to that
which exists in the Colony or Natal, is but another
instance of the necessity of having a separate official
appointed by the British Government, whose especial
function it shall be to look after native interests. The
evidence given by Pombani before the Commission, on
behalf of the Fingoes, is both instructive and interesting.
It explains the whole matter in the clearest possible
80 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
way from a native point of view: " In giving our
(laughters in marriage we do not look alone to the
cattle but to the character and standing of the man to
whom we give her. We don't allow a girl to choose a
husband for herself, we choose for her. Now the girls
are giving us trouble in this respect, and this trouble
arises through a thing called love. We parents do not
comprehend this at all. In regard to the treatment of
the women much depends on the character of the man.
Even when ukulobola is not paid the treatment may
be good, though it is sometimes not so. Ukulobola
may be paid, and the treatment may be unkind, but it
is worse where ukulobola has not been paid. A man can
turn round on his wife and say, 'You are only a cat, I
did not pay for you.' A cat is the only living animal
which we natives never buy, and cats are passed among
ourselves as presents. In former days we used to
compel our daughters to marry the men we selected for
them. Now we have learned this is not right, and the
girls' wishes are consulted; of course I cannot answer for
o J
every one, because it might create anger. But one evil
which we see resulting from leaving the choice of a
husband to the girl is that they are very often seduced,
and that after seduction it may appear that the man is
not a fit man to marry the girl, and so we have to keep
the girl at our kraals. If we complain we are told what
colonial law is; that it was by mutual consent, and the
girls say it was by love. No fine is imposed on the
man. According to our laws, when a man has seduced
NAT IV10 MORALITY
81
a girl, she is depreciated in value and becomes an
idikazi.1 It is not right in our opinion tliat this should
be so, and the man who seduces a girl should be fined,
because a father cannot get cattle for her, and he would
have done so had she not been seduced."
In consequence of this, and the other evidence that
was given, both seduction and adultery were made the
ground for a civil suit by the father or husband, the
measure of the damages being the custom amongst the
natives in the Transkei to punish seduction by a fine
of from three to five head of cattle, or more if the girl
bo the daughter of a chief. If the Natal law of im¬
prisonment be considered too stringent, there could
surely be no objection to making seduction a ground
for damages, as in the Transkei. A law of the kind is
absolutely necessary. In India, to prevent the natives
taking punishment into their own hands, adultery has
been made a criminal offence, punishable with five
years' penal servitude. In connection with this subject,
I must add that the Dutch, as a race, are singularly free
from reproach; partly from the contempt for the natives
derived from the unforgotten traditions of slavery,
partly also from the austere character of their religion.
There are, of course, a certain number of Dutch half-
castes, but the majority of the Dutch, especially of the
upper classes, are of unmixed blood. Around French
Hoek, and in the Ceres district, where the Huguenots
originally settled, it is curious to note how the purity of
1 Idikazi—i.e. dowerless.
F
82 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
the race has been maintained through all these genera¬
tions. Not only have most of the people French
names, but I noticed in many of them the dark eyes
and hair, the small well-shaped ears, and the delicately
chiselled features which they brought with them from
their native Languedoc.
Another urgent question is that of corporal punish¬
ment. I asked Mr. Taberer, the chief native com¬
missioner for Maslionaland, under what authority the
native commissioners are empowered to flog. He re¬
plied that they are strictly prohibited from doing so,
that it is illegal, and that they can be punished for it.
I said that I had heard from prospectors and transport
riders all the way up the road that they do flog, how¬
ever illegal it may be. I was told that if a boy will
not work, or tries to run away, the usual thing is to
take him to the native commissioner, and have him
given twenty-five, and I found that the word " twenty-
five " said in English to any of the boys was sufficient
to make them grin in a sickly way—they quite under¬
stood what it meant. I asked a man who was ex¬
patiating one day on the excellence of the system for
what offence it was inflicted, and he replied, for break¬
ing a contract. He put it in this way: " A boy engages
to serve mo for a certain time, and I give him food,
and so if he bolts before his time is up, naturally
I can have him flogged." " But," I suggested, " if you
have given him food for so many days, he has also
given you labour, so if he goes off without his pay
THE FLOGGING QUESTION
83
you are about quits." " Well, I can't argue about it,"
he replied ; " all I know is, that is what is done." After
a flogging, he said, a boy would do his work all right
and give no further trouble, and he assured me it is
the only way to treat natives.
Most men I met told me the same thing, but Sir
Theophilus Shepstone, whose knowledge of the native
character was unrivalled, gave the following evidence
before the Commission to which I have already re¬
ferred. He was asked by Sir J. D. Barry, " What would
you consider to be the best penalty for disobedience
on the part of a servant to a master ? Would you
fine and imprison him, or would you enforce corporal
punishment?" He answered, "Fine or imprisonment
would be the most suitable punishment for such an
ofence." "Would you give the magistrate the right
to flog?" "I think that in many cases of theft the
magistrate should have that power." " Do the natives
attach any disgrace to it ? " " Yes."
There is a criminal breach of contract act both in
the Colony and in Natal, but there must be a regular
trial before a magistrate, and formal evidence must
be given in proof of the contract; moreover, flogging
cannot be inflicted, only imprisonment, whilst in India
a breach of contract is not a criminal offence at all.
It is not right that half-educated men of no social
position, many of them mere boys, whose only quali¬
fication for the work is that they know the native
languages, should be entrusted with such arbitrary
84 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
powers, or rather that the illegal exercise of these
powers should be winked at by the authorities, for it
is idle to suppose that they are not aware of what
is o-oino- on. Is it a matter for wonder that labour
o o
is so difficult to obtain for the mines, or for any
other purpose ? Mr. Rhodes told some interviewers
lately that the original supply of labour had been
stopped owing to Sir Richard Martin's report and to
the efforts of Exeter Hall faddists. That is certainly
not a true statement of the case. It was stopped by
the rebellion long before Sir Richard Martin's report
appeared, and the rebellion was directly caused by the
oppressive treatment of the natives. I will go more
into detail later on, when I come to sum up the
general results of the Company's rule. Mr. Rhodes
also stated that when the railway is extended to the
coal-fields of the Zambesi, there will be no difficulty
in obtaining boys from there. When that occurs, it
is to be hoped that the High Commissioner will take
measures to insure that the same treatment is not meted
out to them as has been meted out to the unhappy
Matabili and Mashonas. It is not pleasant to notice
the way in which the latter avoid coming into contact
with the settlers, and to recollect that when we first
went up to Mashonaland they welcomed us gladly.
Colonel Wood, who travelled there in 1887, says: "We
were pleased to notice that the Mashonas seemed an
honest people, as articles I lost from the waggon were
found and restored by them. Their conduct was in
PREVIOUS CONDITION OF THE MASHONAS 85
contrast with tliat of the Matabili"; and again, " This
part of the country (near the Umfuli River) is peopled
by industrious, happy people who reap good harvests.
There is no missionary of any sort," he continues," among
these poor people, and they are so fond of the white
men that one would exercise a good influence."
When one looks back over the history of South
Africa, it is sickening to observe how the same farce has
been re-enacted time after time. First the missionary
goes up, and if he is a good man, his influence becomes
so great with the tribe that he seems to it almost like
a god. An entrance having been thus obtained into the
country, and white men received with cordiality and
friendship, the chief is wheedled into giving a conces¬
sion, by which, before long, the ruin of the tribe is
effected; it may not be deliberately intended, but it is
nevertheless effected. The missionaries have, as a rule,
acted in accordance with their tenets, and so long as
they have not been followed up by other white men,
their influence has been almost always for good. Look
at the result of their labours in Khama's country. But
they open the door to other white men, and the net
result in most cases has been subjugation and drink
and national degradation: and in some instances rebel¬
lion and partial extermination. Of a truth the Africian
missionary may say, " I come not to bring peace but a
sword."
However much one may admire the character of the
individual missionary—and I for one do admire it in all
86 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
sincerity—it is hard to see in what way civilisation as
yet has been of benefit to the Kaffirs. A man who
knew them intimately said to me in Cape Town, " Why
should we intrude our religion upon a people like the
Zulus, who until we unsettled them in their religious
beliefs were really a very virtuous people." It is a
knotty question—that of the heavenward way—but in
South Africa we generally succeed in keeping the feet
of the natives off it, and not upon it.
The Zulus are an essentially logical people. "You
say it is a wicked thing to drink and lead immoral
lives," a Zulu said to one of my friends, " and that if we
do we shall go to hell. Well, hell can't be a very bad
place, for you white people don't seem to be afraid of
going there. We see that you do all these things."
We argue about the natives, and lay down rules for
their improvement, but we seldom try to see through
their eyes, or to understand how they feel about all that
is being done for, and to them. Yet it is interesting
sometimes to glance into a native's mind, as the follow¬
ing little essay enables us to do. It was written by a
Zulu school-girl: "We often wonder if the English and
the Dutch did right to take the country away from us.
I don't know whether they did right to come here or
not. It was right to help us to be better, and it was
not right to take our land from us, and give us nothing
but English government and taxes. I think they did
right a little, but much more wrong. They have also
brought many things that trouble us. They make us
NATIVE LOCATIONS
87
pay taxes for our own houses. They do not make our
houses for us either; they give us a little piece of land
and we stay on it, and never go on to what they call
theirs, and yet they make us pay taxes. Before the
English came, the natives' wants were few and easily
supplied, and they were not troubled about what they
should do with their money, for they had none. Their
children would play in the sunshine and dirt until they
were satisfied, with no one to tell them not to soil their
clothes, or to trouble them by calling them into school.
In this way the Abantu lived."
The question of locations to which this little Kaffir
girl called attention, has been the cause of most of the
rebellions that have taken place. A tribe when con¬
quered is placed on a location, often of poor ground and
insufficient for its needs. This has been the case in
Matabililand, where the Chartered Company were com¬
pelled by the Matabililand Order in Council of 1894 to
set aside land for this purpose. That order did not, how¬
ever, apply to Mashonaland, and I believe that there an
apportionment of locations has not yet been made, but
that the whole of the land has been pegged out for
farms, the Mashonas being allowed to remain in their
kraals upon them at the sufferance only of the new
owners, one of whom told me that he had endeavoured
to obtain labour from a certain Mashona chief by repre¬
senting to him that as he and his tribe were living upon
his farm, he ought to supply him with boys. I was
told, too, that Makoni, the greatest of the Mashona
88 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
chiefs, whose capture and execution I will shortly
describe, felt it as one of the greatest of his grievances
that his land should have been given away to strangers
up to his very kraal.
It must be remembered that the natives are not
systematic cultivators; that they have neither the
knowledge nor the means for bringing poor land under
cultivation. They only sow in patches where the con¬
ditions are favourable, and they require large tracts
for their cattle to wander over. To restrict them
unnecessarily in their migrations is the most serious
injury that can be inflicted upon them. If there is to
be permanent peace in Mashonaland, an amount of
land sufficient for their needs must be set aside for
them without delay.
Sir Andreas Stockenstrom, Lieutenant-Governor of
the Eastern Province, in the evidence he gave in 1852
to the Committee of the House of Commons appointed
to report on Kaffir affairs, laid great stress on the neglect
of this elementary act of justice as having conduced to
the recent Kaffir revolt. "You must leave them the
land; no tribe can do without land; barbarians less
than civilised nations. The Kaffirs are not manufac¬
turers nor sailors; if they have no corn and pasture-
land they must rob or starve."
In any arrangement, moreover, that is made to set
aside land in Rhodesia for the natives, watch will have
to be kept by the High Commissioner, to prevent it
being taken from them again upon some frivolous pre-
NATIVE LOCATIONS
89
text. That lias been the cause of almost all the native
troubles in South Africa.
The Financial Record at the end of the Matabili
war foreshadowed clearly what has since happened.
On the 7th April 1894 it remarked: " Renter reported
from London on Thursday that Sir Henry Loch has
arranged with Lord Ripon a settlement of the Matabili
question that will be conducive to the prosperity of
the natives, and that the text of the settlement has
been wired to the administrator of the Cape. South
Africa generally will read this with much interest, and
will be curious to see in what respect the settlement
will benefit the natives. If this means that the Mata¬
bili are to be deprived or filched of their farms, that is
of all those that are worth anything, and driven into
locations within the boundaries of which they will find
it difficult to subsist, we may take it for granted that
the native trouble in the Northern Transvaal will have
its replica in Matabililand." It is exactly what was
done, and the predicted result has followed. Mr. Car¬
negie lays especial stress upon this matter. " Two
districts," he says, " were also reserved for native loca¬
tions, but these being on the whole unhealthy, have up to
the present not been occupied by the natives, who dread
the fever from past experience." Whether other loca¬
tions have yet been assigned to them I was not able to
ascertain. It is not a question that can safely be left in
abeyance.
CHAPTER VII
Frank Xigubu—The Arms Act—Uncomfortable Walk from
Makoni's Kraal—Police-Camp at the Devil's Pass—The
Headlands Store—Difficulty with my Bagamesi Boys—
Lovely Scenery—Great Variety of Forest Trees —
Damage done by the Locusts—Backward Character of
the Boer Farmers — Gradually changing under the
influence of railways and civilisation.
The labour difficulty had followed me even to this
remote farm, and Mr. Fischer was unable either to pro¬
cure me boys, or to get them for himself for a trading
trip he was anxious to make to the M'toko country.
I had therefore to leave my luggage behind, and to
walk down to the Le Sapi store, twelve miles away, to
see if I could obtain boys there. The storekeeper
kindly lent me one of his OAvn, and told me to call at
the farm of Frank Xigubu, the Zulu mission boy who
was brought up to Mashonaland by Bishop Knight
Bruce, and ask him if he could help me. I did so,
and got a boy from him also. I found him reading to
a mixed class of Mashona men and women, who seemed
to be listening with an absorbed interest. I noticed
many little things whilst I was in Mashonaland which
showed that the natives would eagerly grasp at any
means of improvement if it were presented to them.
90
THE ARMS ACT
91
For instance, two men in Salisbury told me they had
overheard their boys teaching themselves the English
alphabet. Every one spoke of Frank as an honest
reliable man who is doing his best, but the means at
his disposal are small. He is, I believe, no longer in
the service of the mission, but is farming on his own
account. From there I walked on towards Makoni's
kraal, accompanied part of the time by a man I had
chanced to meet. On our way we met a native carry¬
ing a rifle, and asked him how he came to have it when
it is strictly forbidden. He explained that he had been
given permission by the native commissioner, because
one of Makoni's sons was reported to be in the neigh¬
bourhood, and anxious to avenge his father's death,
and it was not deemed safe for friendly natives, who
had sided with us, to go about unarmed. This ex¬
planation seemed sufficient, so we let him go, but
several men to whom I related the incident said that
it was lucky it was not they who had met him, as they
would certainly have shot him on sight; and one man,
who, although a mere boy, had been an assistant native
commissioner, assured me that it was an unwritten but
perfectly understood law that any one coming across
an armed native was justified in shooting him. When
I reached Bulawayo I asked Captain Lawley, the
deputy-administrator, if this was really the case, and
ho gave me a copy of the Arms Act of 1897, by which it
is provided that a native or Asiatic found with arms or
ammunition shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £50,
92 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
or be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for a
a period not exceeding two years. This is not nearly so
severe as the Arms Act in force on the Indian frontier.
The Act, moreover, lays down that not every one, only a
justice of the peace, field-cornet, or member of a duly
constituted police or defensive force, may apprehend
any one found in possession of such arms or ammuni¬
tion, and convey him before the nearest magistrate.
When I left my companion it was still early in the
afternoon, and, as I had the two boys with me, I felt
sure I could not miss my way. But the view from the
kraal was a glorious one, and I remained looking at it
so long that it was dark hours before we reached the
Fischers' farm. The boys had not been there before,
and only vaguely knew its whereabouts. They lost
their way completely, and we wandered on and on in
the darkness until I began to think we should have to
camp out—not a particularly cheerful prospect with
lions about. About nine o'clock we came to a kraal
high up on the side of a hill; the dogs barked and the
women shrieked, and we could see torches being carried
hither and thither. The rebellion had only just been
put down, and I was afraid to go up and ask the way,
so I motioned to the boys to keep straight on. Luckily
the kraal had put them right in their bearings, and they
knew from it where they were, and in another half-hour
piloted me safe through to my destination.
It was not a pleasant walk, for I had no firearms of
any kind with me, not even a revolver—only my camera
CAPE CART AT THE DEVIL'S PASS IN MANICALAND.
THE DEVIL'S PASS
93
—and I felt nervous about snakes, and still more about
lions; but when it was over I felt glad to have gone
through it, and to have experienced the intense, silent
loneliness of the open veldt. The natives were burning
the long grass before the rains, and the hurrying,
crackling columns of flame, leaping along the mountain
side in the moonless night, had a sublimity that I shall
never forget.
On the following day I bade good-bye to my kind
friends, the Fischers, and started with my boys for Le
Sapi. There I took advantage of a Cape cart, on its
way down to Umtali, to return to the Devil's Pass,
which I was anxious not to miss. On the way we
passed by Mount Zonga, an odd sugar-loaf hill, which the
Mashonas assert was transported bodily from Gazaland,
and deposited where it now stands. The Devil's Pass I
thought disappointing, and the view from it not nearly
so grand as that from the Christmas Pass, but it has as
bad a reputation for lions as that pass had in the pioneer
days of Umtali. The night before my arrival they had
killed a mule thirty yards behind the store. The mules
for the coach are kept at the top of the pass, and
the storekeeper, hearing a great noise in the stables,
got up to see what it was, and was standing at the door
of his tent when they broke loose, and stampeded wildly
past. The lions must have been amongst them at the
time, for on the following morning he found the spoor
of two, and the remains of a mule they had killed and
eaten immediately behind the hut. In addition to the
94 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
store there is a police camp on the pass, in which
the men were discontented and wretched, badly housed
and utterly uncared for. The same state of things ex¬
isted in the police-camp at Old Umtali, where things
might surely be better managed. The food served out
was insufficient, and there were no arrangements for
having it properly cooked; and the men had no proper
kit. They were sleeping on the ground instead of on
stretchers, which might easily be made at a very small
cost; or the men might be employed to make rough
stretchers for themselves ; they would be a great pre¬
ventive of fever. In Umtali they have the advantage
of a doctor and a hospital, but in the isolated police-
camps there is neither, and I heard many sad stories
of untended illness and death. What is particularly
hard is that recruits from England have to undergo a
medical examination at Salisbury before they are finally
taken into the force, and if they fall sick on the way
up from Beira, before they reach Salisbury, they have
to pay for their medical and hospital expenses out of
their own pockets, and if they are finally rejected, they
have to find their way back without pay through a
country in which travelling is phenomenally expensive.
The hardships experienced in the pioneer days
were intelligible ; there were no means of communi¬
cation ; but the men understood before they enlisted
that they would have to rough it, and bore their
privations cheerfully. Now they are led to believe
that they are going out to a settled country, with a
HEADLANDS
95
proper administration; and if a little trouble were
taken, there would really be no necessity for the way
in which they are treated, Other people in Mashona-
land do not have to suffer as the police are made to
suffer. It is entirely a matter of faulty administration,
for in Matabililand the police are in a very different
state. The result of their treatment in Mashonaland
is that almost the whole of the force is in a state of
dangerous discontent, and I think if men in England
knew the kind of life they would have to lead that
very few would enlist.
The principal defect of early Rhodesian administra¬
tion was want of system, but now, in the reaction from
the original rough and ready methods, there is a great
deal of useless red tape in all the departments of the
Civil Service; it needs thorough overhauling from be¬
ginning to end.
From the Devil's Pass I returned to Le Sapi, and
from there walked on to Headlands, with a couple of
boys kindly obtained for mo by Mr. Ross, the native
commissioner. I sent them on by the main road and
walked myself across the veldt with a Mashona guide,
through the exquisite mountain scenery of which
Professor Bryce has given so vivid a description. At
Headlands, which is 5200 feet in height, I found a
Mr. Pretorius and his brother combining farming and
store-keeping. They have built for themselves one of
the few brick houses between Umtali and Salisbury,
and have a comfortable homestead with a fair amount
96 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
of stock, upon which they have chiefly relied for a
livelihood. They have not done much in the way of
cultivation, but the soil around them is rich, and they
mean to make a beginning this year. Their farm is
situated in an extensive valley, the greater part of
which is composed of rich black loam which they say
is exceedingly fertile. They have already made a little
garden to which they have led water from a distance
of over half a mile, and have grown with success
peaches and apricots and most kind of vegetables.
There used to be a kraal on the hill at the back
of the store, but the natives attacked the store during
the rising, and the kraal was demolished by the volun¬
teers. The Mashonas in consequence have moved
farther away, making labour difficult to procure. Mr.
Pretorius was not able to get mo boys, but I managed
to arrange with a transport driver to take my luggage
up on one of his waggons. Owing, however, to a
misunderstanding with the boys who had come with
me from Le Sapi I was obliged first to return there.
I had reached Headlands late in the evening, and they
did not turn up till the following morning, having
stayed at a kraal on the way for the night, for Kaffirs
will never walk at night if they can possibly help it,
for fear of the wild beasts. They arrived just as I was
going to breakfast, and patted their stomachs in token
that they wanted food.
Mr. Pretorius gave them some ooffoo and told them
to go to the boys' quarters to cook it. He also told
NATIVE LABOUR
97
tliem that I should probably require them to go on to
Macheki, another twelve miles. He said they did not
seem very willing, but thought we might be able to
induce them to go after they had had their food. When
I came to an arrangement with the transport rider, I
sent for them to give them their pay, but found that
after eating their breakfast they had gone off without
saying a word to any one. They were to have been
paid two shillings each, a very fair wage for a day's
work; it was the price I had been told to pay by Mr.
Ross, and is the ordinary rate of wage in that part of
Maslionaland. The natives certainly have no ground
of complaint with regard to the prices paid them for
their work. They are much better paid than labourers
in England. The difficulty is that they have no desire
to work for any wage, however great, and have practi¬
cally to be forced into doing it. I was a good deal
vexed when I found they had gone, for they were Mr.
Ross's own boys, and I did not like him to think I
had swindled them out of their pay; I was curious, too,
to discover the reason which had prompted them to go
away unpaid after a hard day's work, and I knew I
could catch up the waggon in a day or two, if I went
back first to Le Sapi to see him, and explain the matter.
Mr. Pretorius was going part of the way to get a
plough and some other things from a farm belonging
to a Mr. Williams, which lies a little off the main road,
and I was glad to accompany him. I think I have
never seen a more beautiful stretch of country, and in
G
98 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
places it seemed very fertile. It was here that the
first settlement of Dutchmen and Afrikanders was made
in 1891. Fate has been adverse and there are none
of them left: they have all died or gone elsewhere.
Before the rising Mr. Williams' farm was the model
farm of Mashonaland. He had a considerable area
under cultivation, and was really doing well; but
during the rebellion everything went to rack and ruin.
The house, a well-built brick house, was still standing,
though with broken windows and smashed-in doors,
and with weeds choking up the little garden. It was
a sad picture of the harm wrought to the country by
the rising. We saw a few buck on the way, and found
afterwards that we had just missed a herd of sable
antelope, two of the men from the police-camp getting
several of them. On the way Mr. Pretorius showed me
a Masliona game-trap, a deep pit, filled at the bottom
with sharp-pointed stakes on which the animal is
impaled, and covered over by a deceptive network of
earth and boughs.
I reached Le Sapi at midday, to find that Mr. Ross
had shifted his quarters to the police-camp six miles
away, on the new road along which the railway is to
come, and when the heat of the day was over I set off
by the Kaffir footpath, which I was told would lead me
to it. I found it difficult not to lose my way, for in
places there was a regular network of intersecting paths,
but I knew the direction and the telegraph poles helped
to keep me right. I mention each day's wanderings
NATIVE LABOUR
99
because I was told in Beira, and even in Umtali, that it
would not be safe to go off the high-road, and that
between Headlands and Salisbury even the high-road
was insecure. Certainly, so far as Headlands, the
people seemed perfectly submissive; for, a stranger to
the country as I was, and absolutely ignorant of the
language, I never met with the least unpleasantness.
And there are really very few natives. One may travel
for miles without meeting one.
Mr. Ross was surprised to see me, as his boys had
not said a word about not having been paid. They
had told him I wanted to take them on to Macheki,
but that as that would bring them into the territory
of another chief, they had declined to go. They never
like going out of their own district, Mr. Ross said,
and that was in itself a sufficient reason for them to
forego their pay. I found afterwards there was probably
one which was even more powerful. In not a few
instances men have taken boys on and on beyond the
place to which they originally agreed to carry, and have
then not paid them, and these boys not unnaturally
said to themselves, " When this man gets to Macheki,
he will probably want us to go on to Marandellas, and
perhaps even to Salisbury, and he may not pay us at
the end of it. Wo have worked a day without pay, but
it's better to work a day for nothing than to work a
week." They had gone back to their kraal, so all I
could do was to give Mr. Ross the money, and he kindly
arranged to send it out to them.
100 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
The weather was lovely, not too hot, for there had
been an occasional thunderstorm, and the forest was
so beautiful that I would gladly have wandered about
in it for several days longer; but it was uncomfortable
being separated from my things, so I went straight back
to Headlands; this time by the new road. It was the
Masliona spring, and the trees were in full foliage. I
noticed one covered all over with a delicious-scented
mauve flower, but no one was able to tell me its name,
or if it has any use. Many of the trees in Maslionaland
seem to be unknown both in the Transvaal and in the
Colony. Fig-trees were numerous, the figs growing
oddly enough not on the branches, but clustered thickly
upon the roots and trunk. Kaffir oranges, too. were
very common. They are a species of strychnine with
a vivid green fruit, about the size of an orange, which
turns when ripe into a brilliant yellow. The pulp is
refreshingly acid, but it is not safe for a European to
eat many of them. They do not seem to hurt the Kaffirs,
for their hard shells may be seen lying about wherever
the natives have been camping: I often used the broken
pieces as a drinking-cup. I did not see many flowers,
though I was told that the veldt would be covered with
them as soon as the rains had fairly set in: but I came
across a good deal of the pretty but dangerous little
blue tulip, which works such devastation among the
cattle and sheep. The Dutch call it " snakehead," from
the resemblance of the flower to the erected head of a
snake. Almost all the waggons in the road had been
LOCUSTS
101
delayed by it, and some liad lost a number of their
oxen. It seems to contain an irritant poison, which
makes the animal swell up, and causes great pain.
Sheep are affected as well as cattle, and care must be
taken to keep them from grazing on land where it is
likely to be found.
Sunflowers grow to a great size, and when people
begin to turn their attention to something else than
gold, they might be cultivated profitably for the sake
of their oil, as they are in Russia and Sclavonia.
The country was looking its worst, although it was
spring, for the locusts had destroyed every green thing.
There are several kinds, but all equally destructive.
They seemed to me a little smaller than the Indian
variety. The agricultural department in Salisbury have
tried to destroy them with a fungus, with which a few
are inoculated and turned loose amongst the others, but
I believe without much success. At night they settle
on the trees, and become torpid with the cold, and in
the early morning, before the sun has awakened them,
they rest on the branches with folded wings, turning
the whole forest into a rich brown, like the russet tints
of autumn. The natives eat them greedily, and so do
most animals; pigs, dogs, and fowls especially, are all
ravenously fond of them. After all they are only
essence of vegetables, but white people have an aversion
to them, much like that of the Scotch to shrimps: they
do not seem quite canny. The principal forest-tree is the
M'sassa; the wood is good for nothing but firewood, for
102 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
it is subject to the attacks of a boring insect, which
renders it unfit for timber, but the bark is stringy
and exceedingly tenacious, and the natives make an
excellent cord from it. There is another tree called
by the natives " Gonte," from the bark of which they
also make game-nets, and neatly woven bags, so close
in texture as to be almost waterproof. Mr. Lingard, of
the agricultural department, told me that experiments
are being made to test its commercial value. There is
also a curious tree with a hard, woody pod, which bursts
with a spiral tAvist, and shoots out the seeds with a sharp
crack. The first time I heard them bursting I fancied
some animal near me was treading on loose branches,
the noise is so loud. There are a great number of other
trees, acacias, mimosas, and euphorbias, and a large
variety of the sugar-bush, a species of protea. The
castor-oil plant grows luxuriantly everywhere, and the
natives use the oil for smearing their bodies and hair;
it makes them smell most vilely. I bought a Mashona
pillow to which the smell of the oil still clings tenaci¬
ously. It is a curiously carved piece of wood, about nine
inches in height, with a slightly hollowed out cavity for
the neck to rest upon. Mr. Pretorius also gave me a
Mashona battle-axe and a beautifully carved tinder-
box, made out of the end of a pumpkin, and filled with
an inflammable pith. This is held in one hand with a
piece of flint, which is struck sharply with the other
with a circular bit of iron. They carry it, as they do
their snuff-boxes, in a hole pierced in the lobe of the
THE BOER FARMERS
103
car. I succeeded in getting a pretty little snuff-box
made of horn, but the Mashonas have now taken to
making them of empty cartridge cases, and snuff-boxes
of their own make are becoming uncommon.
Wild cotton is abundant, and is of good quality. Mr.
Lingard showed me some in Salisbury that had fairly
good staple. In Cape Colony oaks are an important
industry, and there is no reason why they should not do
well in Mashonaland. In Ceres the forty-year-old oaks
are magnificent, and the oak avenues in Stellenbosch
are known all over Africa. The Dutch plant them in
the Ceres district, for the sake of the acorns, upon
which they feed the pigs. They will only grow trees
which yield a crop. What timber they require they
obtain as a rule from the poplar, and firewood chiefly
from a species of protea; but they only use fires for
cooking, and not to sit by as we do. When it is cold
they go to bed with their clothes on, and cover them¬
selves over with skins and blankets. They say it is
not healthy to sit by a fire in a room, and as they
hermetically seal their rooms, which have no chimney,
I daresay it is not. When a fire is made in a room,
it is made on the hearth, and the smoke finds its way
through the rafters. They cook in an annexe on an
open hearth. I am now talking of course of the Boer
farmers, who live in out-of-the-way districts, and come
little into contact with civilisation.
The great drawback to South Africa is the backward¬
ness of the Dutch, and the restless, floating character of
104
BIIODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
the English. The only remedy is the gradual education
of the former, which will result, and is every day result¬
ing, from the opening up of the country by railways, and
by the consequent increased intercourse of the rural
population with that of the towns.1
1 It may be asked what proof there is, beyond floating gossip, that
even in the early days the Mashonas were treated harshly or with
injustice. In a letter dated 26th April 185)2, addressed by the High
Commissioner, Sir Henry Loch, to the Secretary of the British South
Africa Company, with regard to the shooting of N'Gomo, Sir Graham
Bower used the following words : "I am to add also that the punish¬
ment inflicted in this case, involving the loss of some twenty-three
lives, appears utterly disproportionate to the original offence, which
was the theft of some goods from a Mr. Bennettand Mr. Fairfield
on 31st May 1892, wrote on behalf of Lord Knutsford, "The full report
would, in Lord Knutsford's opinion, have justified much stronger terms
of remonstrance than were used by the High Commissioner."
CHAPTER VIII
The Story of Makoni
I have mentioned that I spent some time at Makoni's
kraal. He was the principal chief in the district that
lies between Manicaland and Mashonaland, between
which the Odzi River forms the border. Originally
M'tasa claimed to be his overlord, but Makoni for a
long time past had succeeded in making himself in¬
dependent. Neither he nor M'tasa had ever paid
tribute either to Lobengula or to Gungunhana. These
powerful monarchs had attacked both of them many
times, but had always been obliged to retire discomfited.
When Mashonaland was taken possession of in 1890,
M'tasa coquetted for a while with the Portuguese,
with a syndicate of Natal merchants, and with the
Chartered Company. Ultimately he accepted a pay¬
ment of £100 a year from the Chartered Company,
and placed himself under its protection. This the
Chartered Company construed to give them authority
over Makoni also. Makoni always chafed under the
seizure of his country, and in 1894 he killed a native
policeman who had been misconducting himself, and in
various other ways showed a restive spirit. He seems
throughout to have been on bad terms with the autho-
10G IiHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
rities, but to have uniformly treated individual settlers
Avith kindness and consideration. What annoyed him
most was the pegging-out of the whole of his terri¬
tory for farms or gold claims. This made him justly
indignant.
Such was the position of affairs in June 189G, when
the Mashonas around Salisbury broke into revolt, and
murdered Mr. and Mrs. Norton and their child, the
governess, and an American who was staying with
them. Mr. Norton had gone to a neighbouring kraal,
and was shot on his way back by order of the witch¬
doctor. At the same time another party of natives
attacked the house and killed all the inmates by
volleys from the outside. It is believed that they
defended themselves heroically to the last, and killed
a great number of their assailants, Mrs. Norton shoot¬
ing several with her revolver. The bodies were not
touched, and were buried by a patrol sent out hastily
from Salisbury. Mr. Norton's body was only found in
November, when Major Harding rode out and buried
it by the side of his wife. These murders were the
first intimation the people in Maslionaland had of the
serious character of the revolt. Other murders followed
in rapid succession, and all around and to the north and
east of Salisbury there was a general feeling of alarm,
which gradually spread into Manicaland. But even
before that there had been symptoms of disaffection,
and on the 3rd April the settlers had been ordered
to come into Umtali, because fires had been seen at
THE STORY OF MAKONI
107
night near M'tasa's kraal. It was generally believed
that he was going to rise, but one of the settlers with
great gallantry rode out alone and had a conference
with him, and was assured that the fires were only
bush-fires. His coolness probably saved M'tasa from
meeting the same fate that befell Makoni. The people
went back to their farms and mining camps until they
were electrified with the news of the murder of the
Nortons at the end of June. On the 2oth of that
month they were all warned to come into laager again,
but those who were nearer Headlands than Umtali were
directed to form a laager there.
Next day all the people in the laager moved down
to Umtali without being attacked on the way, though
there were many positions on the road which they
would have found it difficult to get through had
they been defended. For a whole month the district
was deserted, and the abandoned stores and farm¬
houses were naturally looted by the Mashonas, but they
were not destroyed; three traders, however, Metcalfe,
Richards, and Hitchman, were murdered at a kraal
not far from Headlands, by one of Makoni's sons, and
by the son of another chief called Tandi. But Makoni's
son had been on bad terms with his father for some
time past, and there was no evidence to connect Makoni
with the murders; indeed, there was no time for him to
have given any orders in connection with them, for the
men had gone unexpectedly to the kraals to get food,
and their murder was sudden and unpremeditated. Up
108 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
to the moment, too, of his death, Makoni disclaimed all
responsibility for them: and as a rule when a native is
face to face with death, if he has done the thing of
which he is accused, he will confess to it.
On July 28th, Colonel Alderson, who had arrived
from England with imperial troops, attacked his kraal
with 350 men. Major Haynes of the Royal Engineers
and two men were killed, and, as Makoni had retreated
into the caves below the kraal, and could not be got at,
the troops retired after burning the kraal and driving
away the cattle. Makoni's loss is said to have been
heavy. Colonel Alderson then marched up the Salisbury
road, leaving fifty men of the West Riding regiment
and some volunteers at Le Sapi, about eight miles from
Makoni's. This garrison remained there inactive for
nearly a month, and not only did Makoni take no
hostile action, but on the 13th of August he sent in
two of his indunas with an offer of surrender if his life
were spared, but the Iiigli Commissioner wired that
he would be tried, and would have to show that he
had no complicity in any of the murders.
On the 20th of August Major Watts arrived from
Matabililand with sixty volunteers and fifteen waggons.
It is said that on the 2Gth Makoni again sent his head
induna to sue for peace, and that shortly before the
second attack he made a last despairing effort to save
himself by sending in yet another induna with lialf-a-
crown, as a token that he was ready to pay his hut tax.
The money was refused, and again no attempt was
THE STORY OF MAKONI
109
made by those in authority to confer with him in
person. On the 30th, Major Watts made a night march,
and attacked his kraal at daybreak with one seven-
pounder, 130 of the Umtali volunteers, and fifty men
of the West Riding regiment. Makoni retired at once
into his caves without firing a shot, nor did he at¬
tempt to make any resistance until the caves were
assaulted. For four days they were surrounded, and
every effort was made with dynamite to force him to
surrender, and he was told repeatedly through Tom
the Cape boy, who acted as interpreter, that if he came
out his life would be spared.
On the 3rd September Tom again urged him to give
himself up, and he decided to do so; but as he was
coming out of the cave, one of the volunteer officers
caught hold of him by the arm, and dragged him out,
asserting that he had taken him prisoner. His people
then gave in, and came straggling out of the caves.
The effect produced by the dynamite had been terrible,
and the stench from the dead bodies was overpowering.
Makoni was put in a hut by himself, and the indunas
had a separate guard placed over them, the remainder
of the natives being surrounded by a ring of sentries.
During the night several of the indunas succeeded in
effecting their escape, and it was feared that if Makoni
should escape also, the whole district would be in a
blaze, and that the safety of Umtali itself might be
endangered. A court-martial was therefore convened
to try him, one of the native commissioners being
110 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
appointed to act as interpreter, and as his defender, in
spite of his assertion that he was innocent, lie was found
guilty of being a rebel, and of having caused the murder
of the three traders: he was therefore sentenced to be
shot, and the sentence was carried out at once. He
was placed with his back to a corn-bin, on the edge of
the precipice on which his kraal stood, and died with a
courage and dignity that extorted an unwilling admira¬
tion from all who were present. One of the best known
men in Salisbury, when talking to me about it, said,
" I know of nothing grander than Makoni's death, than
the quiet way in which he spoke to his people, and told
them to abstain from further resistance ; for himself he
only begged that he might be buried decently. 'And
now,' he said, ' you shall see how a Makoni can die.'"
He fell dead at once, and was buried under a tobacco-
tree close by where he was shot.
He complained bitterly at his trial that he had
not been given a fair chance; that no one had ever
attempted to confer with him, or to accept his overtures
for peace.
I believe he does not lie where he was buried, for I
was told by a man who knows' the tribe well, that his
body has been removed secretly, and lies with his
fathers in the place where the Makonis have been
buried for generations.
Major Watts, without doubt, acted honestly for what
he deemed the best to insure the safety of a number
of helpless people. What he did was much like the
THE STORY OF MAKONI
111
shooting of the princes at Delhi, an act concerning
which the judgment of India is still divided. He was
put under arrest by order of the High Commissioner,
was tried by court-martial and was acquitted, but was
not finally released until the High Commissioner had
gone through the papers, and had satisfied himself that
his acquittal was justifiable. The evidence brought
before the court which tried him has not been pub¬
lished, but presumably it shows that he acted in good
faith, and that he and the officers who constituted the
court believed that Makoni did not give himself up to
the Cape boy, Tom, but that he was taken prisoner by
the officer who brought him out.
It is true that Makoni was a rebel, but the High
Commissioner's proclamation, dated 13th October 1896,
declaring that from that time continuing in armed
resistance would be punishable with death, had not
been issued, and apparently the only law in force was
the Matabililand Order in Council, dated 10th September
1894, clause 25 of which enacts that " In case of a revolt
against the Company or other misconduct committed by
a native chief or tribe, the Administrator and Council
may impose a reasonable fine upon the offender. The
Administrator shall forthwith report every such case to
the High Commissioner, who may remit the fine in
whole or part; the Administrator shall give effect to
any such remission."
The punishment seems curiously inadequate, but it
was evidently anticipated, when this Order in Council
112 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
was framed, that the natives might possibly not always
submit quietly to the foreign yoke which had been
imposed upon them, though not that they would rise
to the extent they did; and it was apparently intended
that, after they had been reduced to subjection, they
should be treated with leniency and consideration.
The words are explicit, " in case of a revolt against
the Company, or other misconduct, committed by a
native chief or tribe." When Makoni had been taken
prisoner, the only penalty, therefore, to which he would
seem to have been legally liable, was that imposed by
this clause; and it must be remembered that before
the attack he offered to surrender if his life were
spared.
Subsequently a proclamation was issued by the High
Commissioner, dated 22d October 1896, by which any
officer or any other person who had committed any act
during the rising, which might have been illegal, is
exonerated and protected from any consequences to
which he might have made himself liable by such act,
provided that it was done bona fide. This was only
right and fair, for at that time the attitude of the
imperial authorities towards the natives was one of
extreme severity, and officers cannot well be blamed for
having acted harshly. The proclamation does not, how¬
ever, make the treatment of Makoni any the more legal,
if it were not so originally, or lessen the harshness of
his execution. It only shifts the onus of it directly upon
the High Commissioner and the British Government.
THE STORY OF MAKONI
113
Mr. Rhodes has been ruthless in his dealings with
the various native chiefs—1 mean in the way in which
he obtained his concessions, and then broke down their
power—but during the rebellion he has always pleaded
earnestly for clemency. I have been assured by those
in a position to know that the severity that has attended
its suppression is directly referable to the punitive
measures adopted by the imperial authorities in oppo¬
sition to his advice; that from the first he has urged
the expediency as well as the justice of mercy—
that bygones should be bygones, and that a general
amnesty should be granted. His advice has not been
followed, and the consequences have been disastrous, as
1 will show when I come to deal with the treatment of
those accused of murder during the rebellion.
However one may try to palliate what was done
to Makoni, it is impossible to blind oneself to its in¬
justice, or to the effect likely to be produced upon the
other chiefs. Naturally they were afraid to give up
their arms, or to surrender when attacked; they pre¬
ferred to take the chance of escape, or to be dynamited
in their caves. They have lost all faith that we will
keep our plighted word, for, in common with many of
the white people, they believe Makoni was coming out
under the impression that he had been promised his life,
and it will be a difficult matter to regain their confidence.
Sir George Cathcart laid down in 1852 the only
true method of dealing with natives. " It is evident,"
he wrote, " the main secret of governing these native
H
114 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
tribes is inviolable good faith, an innate sense of justice
and truth being perhaps the only virtue they can
appreciate, and for which they have among themselves,
as well as in their intercourse with others, a natural
respect. This opinion is perhaps contrary to colonial
prejudices. It is nevertheless true, and should be re¬
spected, not only on motives of justice, but of policy."
Of course equally harsh things were done in the
Indian mutiny; and had it not been for Lord Canning's
vigorous action in putting a stop to them—Clemency
Canning, as he was called in India—they would have
gone on being done for some time after the mutiny had
been quelled. I was always being told this in Rhodesia,
but I do not think one wrong excuses another. The
revenge we took in India was terrible. It always is
when there is a conflict between races of different
colours. It is the outcome of the amazed anger of
the dominant race, that the subject race should dare
to oppose them. But in India there was far more
excuse for this anger than there has been in Rhodesia.
There the rebels were soldiers who had sworn allegiance
to us, had eaten our salt, and had been in our pay for
years. In Rhodesia they were a people struggling
bravely to regain possession of a land of which they
had been forcibly dispossessed, and who had many
grievous wrongs to avenge. I can quite understand
that the settlers in Rhodesia, when they heard of the
murder of white women, and came upon their mutilated
bodies, should have seen red, as the phrase goes, but it
THE STORY OF MAKONI
115
is only fair to the natives to remember that they also
had been seeing red for some years past, and that they
naturally avenged themselves when their turn came.
It is a vicious circle, that will go on until the country
is placed under a firm and responsible government. A
man said to me once, a man, moreover, holding a good
position: " I look upon the natives as merely superior
baboons, and the sooner they are exterminated the
better. If you had seen the bodies of murdered white
women—women whom you had known—you would
feel just the same." I have not the least doubt that I
should, but when one judges the matter dispassionately,
one cannot but perceive that the murder of these poor
white women lies not at the door of these ignorant
savages, but at the door of those who believe that the
natives are merely superior baboons, and who, unhappily,
have too often treated them in accordance with that
belief.
When I think of Makoni's dynamited kraal, of all
the tragic horror of his death, of the silent valley once
the habitation of an inoffensive and happy people, where
now not a sign of any human habitation is to be seen,
Pringle's indignant words, written more than sixty years
ago, but as true, alas, as they were then, come into my
mind:—
" From Keisi's mead, from Chumi's lioary woods,
Bleak Tarka's dens, and Stormberg's rugged fells,
To where Gareep pours down his sounding floods,
Through regions where the hunted bushman dwells^
That hitter cry wide o'er the desert swells,
116
RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
And, like a spirit's voice, demands the song
That of these savage haunts the story tells,
A tale of foul oppression, fraud and wrong,
By Afric's sons endured from Christian Europe long."
Time after time, after each successive Kaffir war,
whether waged by imperial troops or by the colonists
themselves, similar deeds have been pointed out, but
again and again they are repeated, until one despairs
that a stop will ever be put to them.
What strikes most any one used to Indian methods
of dealing with natives, is the lack in South Africa of
any effort by Government to insure for them impartial
justice. The colonists look mainly to their own in¬
terests, and the natives have no one to represent them,
or to tight their battle. Men like Mr. Rose-Innes, Mr.
Solomon, Mr. Merriman, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Beard, Major
Tamplin, and Mr. Hay in Capo Town, and Mr. Escombe
and a host of others in Natal, as individuals, do all
they can to stem the tide of injustice, but there is no
recognised official to represent them, standing altogether
aside from party politics and the promptings of self-
interest : and until the office of High Commissioner is
separated from that of the Governor of Cape Colony,
and the interests of the natives are placed under his
especial control, so long will rebellions and native wars
continue. In India the civilians have a tradition
jealously handed down by each successive generation,
that the welfare of the natives has been committed
to them as a trust, and they scan in the keenest
TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES 117
possible way any proposals that may prove prejudicial
to them. In Africa no such tradition exists; on the
contrary, the tradition is not of protection but of
spoliation, and disgraceful episodes, like Langabilele's
and Galishwe's rebellions, are the result.
The natives of South Africa vastly outnumber the
white people; they are as much the Queen's subjects as
the natives of India, and deserving of the same just and
equitable treatment. They have never received it, but
it is not yet too late to give it to them. " Under the
rule of the colonists," says Mr. Froude, "the natives
would be doomed to inevitable degradation. Under
such a rule as that which we maintain in India, they
will have a chance of rising if it be in them to rise."
Ask the natives themselves, and they will tell you
that they always prefer to be under imperial control.
Look at the supreme effort made by Kliama, when he
visited England, to prevent his being placed in sub¬
jection to the Chartered Company. Look at the fate
that has befallen the Bechuanas directly they were
handed over to the Cape. Look at the Basuto war,
and at the prosperity that has prevailed in Basuto-
land since it was again placed under the imperial
authorities.
Tengu Jabavu, the Kaffir editor of the Imvo, a news¬
paper printed in the Kaffir language in King Williams-
town, said to me, " Pray God that Basutoland never
passes from out of the hand of the Queen." It is the
prayer of every native who has studied the treatment of
118 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
his race during the last fifty years. It was Lobengula's
desire to deal directly with the Queen, and to place
himself under her protection. It Avas Gungunhana's
desire also. Had their wish been complied with they
would not have met the fate they did. In 1889 the
former sent two of his indunas to England under the
charge of Mr. Maund, and he sent with them this letter:
" Lobengula desires to know that there is a Queen.
Some of the people who come into this land tell him
there is a Queen, some of them tell him there is not.
Lobengula can only find out the truth by sending eyes
to find out whether there is a Queen. The indunas are
his eyes. Lobengula desires, if there is a Queen, to ask
her to advise and help him, as lie is much troubled by
white men who come into his country, and ask to dig
for gold. There is no one with him upon whom he can
trust, and he asks that the Queen will send some one
from herself." The Queen sent a gracious reply, but
the Chartered Company, before four years were over,
had forced him into war, and obtained possession of his
land. Lobengula was brutally cruel both to his own
people and to the Mashonas, but nothing can justify
the way in which he was treated by the Company. If
any one doubts this, let him read the blue-books, and
read also what has been said about it by Mr. Mackenzie,
who, more than any one else, was in a position to know
the truth.
Is it to be wondered at that the natives all over
Africa are beginning to lose the faith they once had in
EXTENSION OF OUR EMPIRE
119
English honour, and in English fair-dealing, and to
believe that their interests count for nothing in the
commercial scale ? It is not a question of little Eng-
landism; every one who has studied the matter is
agreed that in the interests of the natives themselves
Africa must be opened up, and that we are the people
best qualified to do it. We have permitted some dread¬
ful things to be done, but nevertheless Ave have never
treated the natives with anything like the cruelty or
the injustice with which they have been treated in
those parts of Africa which have come under the control
of the other European nations. There is no reason why
we should shrink from the work before us; we have
put our hands to the plough, and we must keep them
there until we plough a straight furrow: it is a great
and a noble work—only let us do it in a cleanly way.
We are perpetually being told that we shall produce a
dangerous irritation amongst the colonists if we inter¬
fere with or criticise their native policy, but in these
new territories that we have taken over it is we, and
not they, who have made ourselves directly responsible.
" We should maintain firmly and resolutely," said Mr.
Chamberlain, " our hold over the territories that we
have already acquired, and we should offer freely our
protectorate to those friendly chiefs and people who
are stretching out their hands towards us and seeking
our protection and our interference."
By all means let us extend our empire, but let us
insist that the people whom we incorporate shall be
120 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
treated justly, and that their condition shall on the
whole be bettered. It is a bastard imperialism that
thinks of the interests of the few rather than of the
interests of the many: it is a truer, broader feeling
which embraces our black fellow-subjects as well as our
white. Unfortunately in the absence of any special
person to watch over their interests, and to represent
their case in England (for the High Commissioner as
Governor of the Cape Colony insensibly becomes iden¬
tified with the Cape colonists, and adopts their views),
the natives can seldom obtain the fair hearing to which
they are entitled. For that reason it is desirable that
the two offices should be separated, and without delay.
The proposal was, I believe, seriously considered some
years ago, but was negatived on the ground of the
expense to the English ratepayer. If we look upon
our imperial obligations in so mercantile a way, Ave
ought to be more chary about the acquisition of fresh
territories, for if we permit them to be acquired we
clearly become responsible for the welfare of the people
whom we find in occupation.
The native question, and not the antagonism of
English and Dutch, will before lonsf become the most
O ; o
vital of South African questions. Upon the way in
which both the colonists and ourselves deal with it
depends the country's happiness and progress. The
colonists must answer for the treatment of the natives
in those territories over Avliicli we have given them
control, but it lies upon us to see that in those that are
IMPORTANCE OF THE NATIVE QUESTION 121
still subject to us our rule is upright and just ; that, to
use Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson's words at Bulawayo,
their administration is entrusted to "men trained in
and imbued with the great traditions of British liberty;
men who will be just and straightforward in all their
dealings; men who will not be turned from the right
path by sudden and temporary gusts of popular passion ;
men who will not be afraid, in spite of adverse criticism,
to condemn that which they know to be wrong, and to
cleave to that which is right." But to bring this about
avo must not content ourselves with barren criticism.
We must give our criticism practical effect. Rhodesia
is passing through a terrible financial crisis. There is
very little money in the country, and it seems likely
that for some years to come very little money will be
got out of it. If we are sincere in our Imperialism we
must take over the administration, and we must pay
for it. To govern a country well there must be a high
class of officials, and to obtain a high class of officials
there must be good status and high pay. That is what
India taught us long ago.1
1 Sir Charles Warren wrote in 1884 with regard to the taking over
of Becliuanaland : " (a) It can be done in a manner actually beneficial
to the native ; (b) It can be done by violence and by the destruction
of the native races. The carrying out, however, of such a policy as
that under (a) is a matter of the very greatest delicacy. It can only
be carried out by Imperial officers, who must have no stake whatever
in the commercial interests and speculations of the country."
CHAPTER IX
Uneasiness of the Settlers, but possibility of another
Rising very remote—Salisbury distinctively an Admini¬
strative Town—Colonisation Schemes of the Scottish
Africa, Limited, and United Rhodesia — Sir George
Cathcart's Proposal ix 1852 for a Military Colony in
Kaffraria—Similarity of the Amatolas and the Inyanga.
From Headlands to the Macheki River is a stretch of
twelve miles of flat, marshy country, which looks as
though it might prove very fertile under cultivation.
I had joined a prospector who was bicycling up to
Salisbury, and as we started late, it was night before
we reached the store. Here and there the roads are
too sandy to cycle over, but as a rule they are not
at all bad. Bicycles, however, are not common; they
cost so much. I met a man who told me he had
exchanged his for two cows, which, at that time, were
worth £35 each. Now that the railway has reached
Buluwayo they will become cheaper, and on account
of the scarcity of horses will be a veritable godsend.
My companion was evidently nervous, for he declared
that a busli-fire we saw in the distance was in reality
a beacon-fire, like those which were lighted at the
beginning of the rising. He told me he had been out
prospecting a fortnight before on the Odxi River, and
UNEASINESS OF THE SETTLERS 123
had come back because of the threatening attitude of
the natives; that a number of them armed with assegais
had collected round him as he was sitting down to
smoke, and had told him, in a very insolent manner,
that several of the chiefs had not yet been knocked out.
All the way up the road I found the same uneasiness
prevailing. At Marandellas a man told me he had
been fired at from a kopje only the morning before, and
he strongly advised me not to walk on alone to Graham
and White's, the next store, twenty miles away, as I
should not reach it before dark, but to stay the night
with the waggons on which my baggage was. I know
they were about half-way between the stores, and, on
consideration, I thought it safer to do so. The transport
riders had heard the same reports, and sat up half the
night with their rifles, to be ready in case the natives
should attempt to steal the cattle. When I reached
Salisbury the police officers all laughed at these fears.
They said they were utterly groundless, as the natives
had quite given in, but I found that the prospectors
did not feel at all confident that they had. I met two
who had just returned from the Mazoe district who
said that the natives there were most hostile in their
demeanour, asserting quite openly that they would not
pay hut-tax. There was a good deal of feeling among
the prospectors that the country should have been
reported to be safe when it was really not so at all.
Many men had been thereby induced to come out from
England, thinking they could get to work, whereas they
124 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
had been obliged to stay for months in Salisbury, where
everything is exceedingly costly, doing nothing, and using
up what small capital they had. They said that Mr.
Rhodes ought never to have announced, as he did, that
the rebellion was over when Colonel Alderson left the
country in December, eight months before: that, in fact,
the Maslionas at that time had not been subdued at all.
Not far from Marandellas is the kraal of a chief
called Chewara, where Lieutenant Morris, of the Umtali
volunteers, was killed whilst gallantly rescuing Lieu¬
tenant Leigh Lye, who had been shot in the leg just
in front of a cave. Morris and Lieutenant Hampton
jumped down to pick him up, and managed to get him
away in safety, but in doing so Morris was killed. His
brother is a native commissioner in the Marandellas
district, and is liked and respected both by the English
and by the Maslionas.
In spite of his brother's death he seems to have
acted throughout with the most admirable humanity
and self-restraint. The majority of the native commis¬
sioners have not been fitted for their work; but some,
like Mr. Morris, have, as Lord Grey says, done their duty
under circumstances of great difficulty.
In the little graveyard near the store is the grave
of Major Evans, of the Sherwood Foresters, who was
killed during the attack on Gadzi's kraal.
Marandellas lies very high, considerably over 5000
feet, and is the highest point between Umtali and Salis¬
bury. Beyond it the scenery alters in character, losing
MASHONA ON HIGH-ROAD NEAll HEADLANDS.
MARANDELLAS
125
the variety and beauty of Manicaland, and becoming flat
and monotonous. Marandellas is, in fact, the extreme
end of the vast plain that stretches from Buluwayo to
Salisbury. How little this plain varies in height may
be judged by a comparison of the heights of the prin¬
cipal places—Bulawayo, 4900 feet, Charter, 4750, Salis¬
bury, 4960, Graham and White's, 5130, and Marandellas,
5600. The rise from Umtali, which is only 3705 feet
in height, is very gradual, and the railway will have
an easy gradient. It should be an easy line to construct,
for the country offers few natural difficulties. There is
plenty of water, and no necessity for tunnelling.
I found it slow work staying with the waggon, so I
walked on ahead, carrying the few things I required
with me. As far as Marandellas there was plenty of
water along the road, but from Marandellas to Salisbury
scarcely any. It was a year of exceptional drought, I
believe, for oven the Makabusi was stagnant, and in
places quite dry—a very rare occurrence. All the way
the road was strewn with skeletons of dead mules and
oxen, and the streams were full of the whitened bones
of the animals that had just had strength enough to
crawl into them to die. At first I felt some repugnance
to drinking out of these streams, but I soon got over
any squeamishness of that kind. Still, the less one
drinks of the water in Mashonaland the better, how¬
ever thirsty one may be: it is sure in time to produce
fever, and for the same reason also it is dangerous to
bathe in the rivers, especially in the daytime when the
126 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
sun is on the water. It almost invariably brings on an
attack.
Salisbury is a pleasant little town, very different in
tone from the restless youthfulness of Umtali; it has
all the sedateness of a seat of government. There is a
charming, though rather a limited society, and a good
deal of social intermingling. I stayed there nearly a
month, and enjoyed my visit immensely. I can quite
understand the strong feeling of attachment to the
place which all Salisburians have. The climate was
delightful, for the rains were just beginning. An
occasional thunderstorm kept down the heat, and
there was generally a strong breeze, which, with the
clear atmosphere and bright sunshine, made life a
pleasure, and not a burden, as it is in so many tropical
countries.
Towards the end of my stay Sir Alfred Milner passed
through on his way to Beira, and was entertained at
a luncheon in the town-hall. It was an interesting
function, more so in many ways than the railway
festivities at Buluwayo. There the people were in all
the elation of a long-lioped-for boom, whereas in Salis¬
bury they saw no chance of relief coming to them for
many months. But there was a resolute hopefulness
in the speeches, that made one feel what grit there is
in the country, and brought with it a conviction that in
spite of all its difficulties it will go ahead and prosper
whether gold is found in it or not.
Exclusive of the police, Salisbury has a population
SALISBURY
127
of not more than seven hundred people, but it is not in
the least like a pioneer town. There is very little drink¬
ing, except occasionally when a prospector comes in for
a fling. It has quite a character of its own, being
neither commercial nor provincial, but purely official.
As soon as the railway reaches it, and the cost of living
is lessened, it ought to become a charming little place.
Mr. Milton was acting as deputy-administrator. He
has had a long experience of South Africa, and in his
capacity of Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister's
department in the Cape he drafted the Glen-Grey Act
(the measure on which Mr. Rhodes' reputation as a legis¬
lator chiefly rests), for the enforcement of compulsory
native labour. The Chartered Company are to be con¬
gratulated on having induced him to transfer his services
to themselves—though what is their gain is the Cape's
loss—for no man is more likely to deal fairly with the
black population as well as with the white. He has a
herculean task before him, but the general feeling was
that he would prove equal to it. I was glad also to
meet Mr. Orpen, the surveyor-general, who all through
his life has been an indefatigable worker in the cause
of the natives. I found him an ardent imperialist,
holding that England, although she has made many
mistakes, has used her influence in the main for the
true interests of South Africa, and more particularly of
the natives. His son, who had just come up from
Melsetter, where he has a farm, spoke in the most
hopeful way of the future of that district - an opinion,
128 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
I may add, endorsed by various transport riders whom
I had met along the road. They all agreed that in time
Mashonaland would be a fine agricultural country. Half
the people who decry it are wastrels who would do no
good anywhere. I am indebted, too, for much infor¬
mation to Mr. Fairbridge, the editor of the Rhodesia
Herald, and the first mayor of Salisbury. In spite of
all that has occurred, he lias a buoyant and contagious
belief in the ultimate prosperity of Mashonaland.
Whilst I was in Salisbury I went out to the Jesuit
mission station at Chisha-waslia, about twelve miles
away. It is a charming little place, and the fathers
have endeared themselves to every one by their kind¬
ness and hospitality. They are doing wonderfully good
work too; the same kind of industrial work that the
Trappists are doing in Natal. The general system of
Jesuit teaching is by having day-schools if possible,
so that the home influence may be maintained; but
in Rhodesia, where the kraals are at great distances
from the mission stations, and are comparatively small,
it is necessary to take the children in as boarders, which
is the Trappist system. This will be gradually changed
into a day-school system as soon as the home influences
are improved by means of the converted children, who
will gradually marry, and introduce a better condition
of things into their kraals. The married converts are
the basis of every Jesuit mission, and as yet there has
been no time for them in Mashonaland. At present
they trust chiefly in incessant work. They say if the
COLONISATION
129
children are not at work they are in mischief, so they
are taught to read, to sing, to carpenter, and to garden.
In spite of all the drawbacks of insects, and a hitherto
unbroken soil, they have done great things in the way
of cultivation, and arc full of hope of the agricultural
future of Mashonaland.
Before I left for Bulawayo I had also several long
talks with Mr. Duncan, the late Surveyor-General, who
is now managing the affairs of the Scottish Africa,
Limited, and with Colonel Raleigh Grey, who had just
arrived from England to look after the interests of
the United Rhodesia Company. These companies are
determined to devote their energies to agriculture as
well as to mining, and both Mr. Duncan and Colonel
Grey were deliberating about advising the adoption of
some scheme of colonisation by which a desirable class
of settlers could be attracted into the country. Some
such scheme was contemplated as that which is
frequently adopted in America; by giving alternate
blocks to settlers on condition that they will bring
them under cultivation in a certain stated time. The
terms offered will have to be very liberal, for life in
Mashonaland is too uncomfortable for any Englishman
to care to settle there, unless he sees a chance of
making a competence within a reasonable time, which
will enable him to return to England.
In America the way railways have often been made
is by promoters selecting a tract of country which, in
their opinion, will yield a handsome return under cultiva-
I
130 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
tion. A grant is tlion obtained from the Government of
alternate sections of land, on condition that the rail¬
way shall be constructed within a certain time. A
portion of the company's capital is thereupon set aside
for the purpose of assisting desirable emigrants, and a
plough, cows, seeds, and sucli-like things are advanced
to them upon credit, together with a small plot of
land, which becomes absolutely their own after a certain
number of years of occupation: the money expended
for these purposes being recovered by the company
by graduated payments. The ground is allotted in
alternate plots, one on each side of the line. The
railway is thus begun, and by the time it is completed
there is a demand for carriage of the grain already
grown by the settlers, which at once brings in an
income; and the settlers having proved the capabilities
of the land, the intermediate plots can be sold for
an enhanced value. In this way whole districts are
populated with great rapidity. A somewhat similar
method will have to be adopted by the Khodesian land
companies, if they wish Rhodesia to become rapidly
developed.
Here, however, they would be met with the deter¬
mined opposition of the Chartered Company, which, for
some reason, will not permit any one to build rail¬
ways except itself. But it has given away the land
wholesale, so that there is none available for any whole¬
some scheme of government immigration, and coloni¬
sation can consequently only be worked through the
COLONISATION
131
agency of the various companies to whom the land has
been alienated. One of the worst features in the de¬
velopment of a new country by a chartered company
is the concentration of interests in the hands of a few
powerful companies or persons. It mortgages its capa¬
bilities from the outset, and disheartens and cripples
healthy individual effort. This is particularly notice¬
able in Rhodesia.
The Austrians had much the same problem before
them in Bosnia when they occupied it in 1878. The
land there in olden times was renowned for its fertility,
but the Turks had allowed it to go out of cultivation,
and it had become swampy and malarious, and the
market, as in Mashonaland, was extremely limited. It
did not seem an encouraging field for emigration, but
Austria established thrifty colonies of Poles, Bohemians,
and Germans, giving them the land on easy terms, and
liberal assistance for the first three or four years. Now
they are doing well, and the whole country has increased
in value, their example giving a wholesome stimulus to
the original inhabitants. Settlements of the same nature,
and of the same kind of people, might possibly succeed
in Rhodesia.
Sir George Cathcart pondered over a similar diffi¬
culty after the Kaffir war of 1852, and the conclusion
he came to is in many ways applicable to Rhodesia
generally, and especially to the Inyanga and Melsetter
districts: " Outside of this hilly region, and to the east¬
ward, but bounded on tlio north side by a ridge of hills,
132 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
a spur from the Amatolas called the Kabousie Range,
there is an extent of some fifteen miles by ten of pasture-
land, where the river Kabousie, an important tributary
to the Kei, receives its sources. This is plain open
grass-land, only slightly undulated, and to the south¬
ward some equally good pasture-land brings the verge
of this territory, heretofore belonging to the tribe of
Sandilli, within a few miles of this place. I am thus
particular in describing the locality, as it is that in
which I should propose the experiment of locating a
military population of Swiss emigrants, formed in the
first instance of two regiments of 700 or 800 men
each, with a view to ultimate colonisation, according
to the scheme which is already under your lordship's
(Earl Grey) consideration, and based on a system some¬
what analogous to that of the enrolled pensioners in
New Zealand. British military pensioners in this
colony have not been found to thrive, possibly owing
to their unsteadiness and want of combination, whereas
a national colony of people, who proverbially cling
together, and are thrifty as well as expert marksmen,
and accustomed to mountain districts, when organised
in villages would, I firmly believe, be able with due
assistance and support at starting to keep their own
afterwards and thrive. Their almost immediate contact
with the place, and easy communication from thence
with the port of East London, would open to them a
market, and insure supplies; and such people, uncon¬
nected with politics and prejudices, which distract the
COLONISATION
133
mixed community within the colony, would, as the loyal
garrison of a great central citadel, control and secure
the whole of British Kaffraria, and supply the place of
several regiments which must be otherwise required for
its occupation." And in a despatch to Sir John Paking-
ton he says: "British military pensioners have been tried
in this country, and have proved a failure, and in two
out of three villages which were established close to the
border, nearly all the male inhabitants were murdered at
the opening of the war. Although I am inclined to think
the precaution of establishing some rallying-post in the
midst of each of these villages might have effectually
prevented that calamity, the intemperate and idle habits
of too many of the class of British military pensioners,
and a natural carelessness and contempt of danger,
would render them unfit to be placed with safety in an
alpine district, the nature of which renders constant
vigilance peculiarly essential to security.
"From what I have seen, the country is so analogous
to Switzerland, and so capable of feeding sheep as well
as cattle on the most luxuriant pastures, and abounding
with the finest water, I am convinced that such a
colony, if it could bo formed, would not only flourish
and maintain itself, but prove the means of rendering
this territory ultimately remunerative, instead of a
burden to the British nation, and serve at little expense
as a secure barrier for the protection of this portion of
the extensive frontier of her Majesty's South African
134 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
dominions" (Correspondence of Sir George Cathcart,
pp. 46 and GO).
From all I have heard of the Inyanga and Melsetter
districts, Sir George Catlicart's description of this valley
in the Amatolas might very well apply to them. It will
be seen that his scheme is much the same as that
of the armed agricultural settlements suggested by
M. Hotter to the Mozambique Company.
The Scottish Africa. Ltd., were deliberating about
getting settlers up from Natal and the Colony, but I
doubt if they would succeed as well as a colony of
thrifty Poles, or of Bohemians or Swiss. English settlers
are out of the question; they would never submit to the
hard conditions of life that must prevail in Rhodesia for
many years yet. They would not have the necessary
patience. If Rhodesia is to be colonised, it must be
either by colonials or by Boers who are willing to put up
with the rough lives of pioneers. But the colonials
have in great measure adopted the customs of the
Dutch, who are essentially a pastoral and not an agri¬
cultural people. Like them they covet enormous tracts
of land where their stock can graze unrestrained, and
they will not cultivate the land acre by acre as the
continental nations do. That is why the German
colony near Grahamstown has been one of the few
successful experiments of the kind in South Africa.
The Inyanga may of course prove valuable for huge
sheep-runs, worked with large capital, in which case it
will remain in the hands of the companies who have
COLONISATION
135
monopolised it, and men with moderate capital will be
unable to compote with them. But South Africa as a
whole, except perhaps the Karroo, cannot be said to be
a promising field for sheep, as compared with Australia,
New Zealand, Uruguay, or the Falkland Islands, and it
is more likely that these districts would succeed, not as
sheep-farms, but as the home of a frugal agricultural
population—working, not to make a fortune, but to
make a living; not for a foreign market, but for the
wants of their own community. It is only in that way
that a really prosperous country can be built up out of
Rhodesia; it is too far from the seaboard to compete
with India in wheat, or with Australia, or New Zealand,
or Canada, either in wheat or in stock, and its products
arc excluded from the Transvaal, by far the most
lucrative and the most constant of the South African
markets, by the prohibitive import duties.
But in spite of all these drawbacks an Afrikander
population, aided by a few thrifty Germans or Poles,
with no rapid ambitions to distract them, will make
Rhodesia prosperous just as they have made the Free
State prosperous, and their task will be one of less
difficulty.
That state was abandoned by England in 1852
because it was believed that it could never be made of
any value, and, yet, though it will never be a rich state
like the Transvaal, it is now one of the most quietly
well-to-do, contented, and well-governed of the South
African States.
CHAPTER X
Composition of the Force under Sir Richard Martin and
Captain De Moleyns — Attack on Seki's Kraal — The
M'toko Patrol—The taking of Shaungwe—Assault on
Mashanganyika's Kraal—Death of Paris.
When I left Umtali at the beginning of October the
Mashona rebellion was hardly over, the last of the
important chiefs only surrendering about the 15tli of
September. Colonel Alderson had effectually secured
the safety of the towns, but though he had driven the
chiefs into their fastnesses, he had not broken their
spirit. His instructions had been to restore communi¬
cation between the towns, and then to evacuate the
country, leaving the police to deal separately with the
various chiefs, kraal by kraal. It would have been too
expensive for the Chartered Company to retain the
troops longer than was absolutely necessary. When
therefore Captain do Moleyns. of the 4th Hussars, took
over charge under Sir Richard Martin, in December
1896, of all the troops and police then in Maslionaland,
it was found that it was not only impossible for pro¬
spectors to go out alone to the mining districts of the
Mazoe and Lomagundi, but that it was even unsafe for
them to venture more than a few miles out of Salisbury
THE MASHONALAND POLICE
137
itself without an armed escort. It was evident that
this state of affairs could not be allowed to continue,
and that, whatever the causes might be which had led
to the rebellion, and whatever sympathy might logically
be felt for the Mashonas, it was absolutely imperative
for the future well-being of the country that they
should once and for all be effectually subdued. Natives
always attribute forbearance to weakness, and if Ma-
shonaland were to be retained in white occupation—of
which there could be no question—it was necessary
to deal sternly with the chiefs so long as they re¬
mained in opposition, and to defer treating them with
indulgence until they had been reduced to absolute
submission.
Captain de Moleyns was not, I should mention,
under the orders of the administrator, but of Sir
Richard Martin, who had succeeded Sir Frederick
Carrington as Commandant-General, and who in addi¬
tion was the deputy of the High Commissioner, and
the representative in Rhodesia of the British Govern¬
ment. After careful consideration, Sir Richard Martin
came to the conclusion that, with the meagre force at
his disposal, it would not be safe to take the offensive
until the rainy season was over, and the men under
Captain do Moleyns' command had become in some
measure habituated to the climate, and to the nature
of the work before them.
His whole force consisted of 200 of the British
South Africa Company's police, fifty of Colonel Alder-
138 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
son's mounted infantry, who had elected to join the
police when Colonel Alderson left the country, 400 of
the Umtali volunteers, and 130 natives. The police
were totally untrained, and unused to the country and
its ways. They had been enlisted in England, and
when Captain de Moleyns assumed command they had,
as a matter of fact, not arrived, but were on their way
from Beira to Salisbury. Many of them had contracted
fever, and all were undrilled and unaccustomed to
discipline. The natives, too, were equally undisciplined
and unreliable; most of them having to be disbanded,
and fresh men enrolled. The volunteers formed the
garrisons of Salisbury, Umtali, and the different laagers,
and were not available for service in the field.
A patrol was sent out early in December to Nyam-
medha's kraal, on the Hunyani River, eight miles to
the south-west of Salisbury, to ascertain the attitude of
that chief. He remarked ironically that if the white
men would pay him hut-tax, he would allow them to
remain in Salisbury, and several other chiefs were
equally insolent. They were not anxious, they said,
to fight, but they declined positively to pay hut-tax, or
to give up their guns. This being the disposition of
the Maslionas, it was apparent that a serious struggle
was ahead. The total force available for offensive
operations amounted in all to one hundred of the police,
and seventy-five of the native contingent; and, until
May, they suffered so terribly from fever and dysentery
that the sick-list varied from 25 per cent, to 50 per
attack upon seki
139
cent., and in the low-lying districts rose sometimes to
as high as 75 per cent. Obviously nothing could be
done until the health of the men had improved, so
Sir Richard Martin wisely determined to defer con¬
tinuous operations until the rains were over. The
natives, however, were not allowed to regain confidence
by being left altogether unmolested, various kraals in
the immediate vicinity of Salisbury being attacked,
and in most cases destroyed. Seki, the chief of one of
these kraals, about twenty-five miles from Salisbury,
promised to surrender, and to give up his guns on a
certain day, and Lord Grey went out in person to receive
them. But when the day came Seki made excuses, and
declined to give them up, asserting that he was afraid
of the other chiefs who still remained armed. Lord
Grey thereupon said to him, "We shall not come to
talk any more ; next time we come it will be in a
different way." He then left for Salisbury with a
trooper as escort, but on reaching Ballyhooly, a store
about half-way, he changed his mind and returned to
the police who were encamped five or six miles from
Seki's. It was in the middle of the wet weather, and
raining hard, and he did not get there till midnight.
Nevertheless he started with the men at 2 a.m., and
himself led the party that stormed and took the kraal.
This may have been rash, and not quite the recognised
thing for a man in Lord Grey's position to do, but it
put heart into the police, who were labouring under
terrible difficulties at the time, and I think there are
140 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
few men who will not admire liim for acting as
lie did.
Everywhere it was apparent that the natives were
not in a submissive mood, and as the police force was
manifestly inadequate to cope with them, a patrol was
sent out in March to the M'toko country, which lies
ninety miles to the north-east of Salisbury, to try and
raise a contingent of friendly natives. The patrol was
commanded by Captain Harding, who was accompanied
by the Honourable H. Howard,1 at that time acting as
Lord Grey's secretary. They took with them a month's
rations on pack mules, and marching rapidly, reached
the M'tokos in four days. Negotiating with them
proved to be ticklish work ; they naturally thought the
white men must be in great straits if they were reduced
to coming to them for assistance, but eventually Hard¬
ing succeeded in inducing Gurupila, the chief of the
tribe, to join him with five hundred of his men, armed
with muskets and assegais. He started back on 13th
March, and was attacked at once. Several men were
wounded, with the result that three hundred of the
M'tokos deserted ; Gurupila, with the other two hundred,
remaining staunch. The Mashonas increased rapidly in
numbers, and the position became critical, so Harding
halted about fifty miles from Salisbury, and sent Howard
in for reinforcements. It was an exceedingly plucky ride,
for Howard had been wounded in the foot, and was so
prostrated with fever that he could hardly sit on his
1 Times correspondent, killed at Omdurman, 2nd September 1898.
THE M'TOKO PATROL
141
horse. He had to make his way through hostile country,
and did not reach Salisbury till late at night, but De
Moleyns started in a couple of hours after his arrival with
only twenty-five men. Howard was too ill to return
with him, and the native guide losing the way, it was
several days before Harding's camp was reached, when
nearly the whole force was found to be down with fever.
The Mashonas had made several attacks, and in repel¬
ling them one or two of the men had been wounded.
The camp was in the midst of what is known as the
granite kopje country, and it was difficult to get at the
enemy, or to dislodge them from their strongholds.
The granite kopjes are massive hills, rising abruptly
from the granitic plateau which composes the inter¬
mediate formation between the high and low veldts.
Huge boulders are piled one on the top of the other in
a weird jumble that makes them look like the strong¬
holds of the genii. The colouring, especially at sunrise
and sunset, is delicately beautiful, and I have often felt,
when looking at them, as though I were in fairyland.
I have had the same feeling before in mountainous
countries, but never so strongly as amongst these fan¬
tastic hills; a feeling due, I fancy, to the false impres¬
sion their castellated summits give of supernatural
agency.
A fortnight was spent in reconnoitring, and in
allowing Harding's men to regain their strength. They
had been sent out without a doctor, and with no proper
stock of medicines—an inexcusable omission, consider-
142 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
ing the nature of the work entrusted to them. An
attack was then made on a kraal called Shaungwe,
situated on the summit of a hill 850 feet in height.
This kraal had been repeatedly assaulted by the Mata-
bili, but had never been taken, and the Mashonas
believed it to be impregnable. It had, however, two
fatal weaknesses; there was no water, and it could only
be descended by one side—the other side being pre¬
cipitous—so that it was an easy matter to invest it.
This was done, and a continuous fire was maintained
both by night and by day. Soon after the investment
Gurupila was shot through the lungs, and died in a
few hours. His death was of serious consequence, for
it naturally shook the constancy of his men. More¬
over, he had shown such cheery coolness and pluck
that his loss was a matter of regret to the whole force.
His body was carried away by his people to be buried
in his oavii country; they would not permit any one to
touch it, or to go near it. Their devotion to their chief
was remarkable. When he lay dying they crowded
round him, and many of them spat on his wound in the
hope of making it heal (the Kaffirs chew a certain herb,
and spray the juice over a wounded place with their
mouths); but Gurupila told them that his time was
come, and that he was going to join his fathers. When
he was dead, his body was swathed in matting, and
borne away on his followers' shoulders.
As a rule when a man in the native contingent died,
or was killed, his companions asked for the English
CAPTURE OF SHAUNGWE
143
funeral service to be read, and for a firing party—a
request which was invariably acceded to, for it is only
by attention to little details of this kind that the
affection of native troops can be retained. This, how¬
ever, was after they had been with the white men for
some time; when they were quite raw they liked to
take their dead away, and bury them unseen.
Before long it became clear that the Mashonas were
suffering terribly from thirst. The cattle bellowed
incessantly, and tried to break through the picket to
get at the water at the bottom of the hill, and the men
called out to the sentries, " How can you expect us to
fight if you won't let us get at the water ?"
After ten days they could hold out no longer, and
twelve men and two hundred women surrendered, the
rest of the men escaping down the precipice of the un¬
invested side ; many of them, ninety altogether, so the
prisoners said, being killed in the attempt. Maramisa,
the chief, was badly wounded, but managed to get
away. The self-restraint shown by the women when
they were brought into the camp was extraordinary.
They had been many days without water, and their
thirst must have been terrible; yet they sat quietly
in a circle, and when water was brought showed no
unseemly eagerness to drink. There was no struggling;
each woman took a sip from the calabash, and handed
it 011 to her neighbour; their stoical composure was
astonishing. As soon as the kraal was taken, Captain
De Moleyns returned with the patrol to Salisbury.
144 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
On the 10tli June another patrol was sent out under
Major Gosling—De Moleyns being ill with fever—to
attack Mashanganyika's kraal. As it was known to be
strongly fortified, he took with him a hundred and
fifty of the police, the native contingent, three seven-
pounders, and three maxims. He succeeded in taking
it with the loss of one man killed and two wounded,
and then moved farther to the eastward to attack
Kunzi's stronghold, which was believed to be even
more formidable. This kraal is about forty miles
from Salisbury, in the same broken granite country as
Shaungwe. The attack was made at daybreak. During
the first rush two men were killed or wounded, and
there was some danger of a repulse, but Harding and
Lieutenant Feltham forced their way over the stockade
under a heavy fire, closely followed by twenty or thirty
men. Six more men were killed or badly hurt, but a
lodgment was effected within the kraal, and command
obtained of the entrance to the caves. Towards the
evening the Mashonas withdrew to a kopje half a
mile distant, which was also stormed and taken, the
natives retiring into the hilly country, still farther to
the eastward.
During the attack on this kraal, one of Makoni's
sons was badly wounded. After their father was
executed, two of his sons, about eleven and twelve
years old, took service with Harding, who at that
time was acting as galloper to Major Watts. He took
a fancy to the boys, and asked their mother if he
DEATH OF PARIS 145
might have them, and she consented willingly, merely
stipulating that they should be allowed to come back
to see her once a year. One of the redeeming features
in the Mashona character is their genuine affection for
their children, and the respect the children pay to their
parents, and to old people. The boys became greatly
attached to Harding, and he to them. They accom¬
panied him on all his patrols, and became the privileged
pets of the camp. I don't know what their real names
were, but they were always known as Archer and Paris.
They were both of them nice boys, and the younger
one, Paris, had an impulsively affectionate nature.
Harding told me a story about him which is worth
recording, now that the poor lad is dead. They were
out on a patrol in bitterly cold weather, and one
morning when Paris brought him his coffee, Harding
said, " How cold it is, Paris." That evening when he
went to bed, he felt he had more clothing 011 than
usual, and on counting his blankets found that Paris,
without saying anything, had quietly put his own
blanket on the bed when making it up. He was
killed whilst bringing Harding some food from the
camp. His brother was with him, and as they reached
the fighting line, a bullet whizzed close by them, and
Archer said, " Let us go back." " I can't," answered
Paris, " I have the chief's food, I must go on," and he
went on, and had his thigh shattered directly after¬
wards by a bullet. He was carefully nursed, and in a
couple of months had all but recovered, when inflamma-
K
146 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
tion suddenly supervened, and he died. His brother felt
his loss deeply, for the two boys had been inseparable.
He is still with Major Harding, and bids fair to turn out
a smart, dependable boy. He is now the bugler in the
Black Watch, as the native contingent is generally
called in Maslionaland.
Still it must not be supposed that many of the
Mashonas are capable of the feeling shown by poor
little Paris. As a rule they arc singularly unresponsive
to kind treatment, but I was told, by those who have
lived amongst them, that the women are more easily
influenced by sentiment than the men.
CHAPTER XI
Attack upon Chesumba's—Character of the Mashona Caves
—Kakubi, the Witch-Doctor, and Nyanda, the Witch-
Doctress—Termination of the Rebellion—Is the Use of
Dynamite legitimate ?
About the middle of July Captain de Moleyns decided
to attack the kraal of a chief called Chesumba, twelve
miles from Salisbury, where some fifteen hundred
natives were known to be congregated. It was built
upon the banks of the Rewa, a little stream flowing
into the Hunyani a few miles below Chesumba's.
Another kraal of almost equal extent was situated at
the junction of the two streams, and it was thought
unwise to permit this large body of natives, whose
attitude moreover was most hostile, to remain un¬
subdued at so short a distance from the town.
I will relate what took place with some detail, as I
went out from Salisbury, and made a careful exami¬
nation of the caves ; my reason being that when I came
up to Mashonaland I had a strong impression of the
unnecessary cruelty involved in the use of dynamite
against these poor creatures, who, after all, were only
making a last gallant stand for the possession of their
country. I will try to describe the kraal, but my
147
148 rhodesia and its government
description can convey only a vague impression of its
appearance, utterly unlike as it is to anything I liave
ever seen in any part of the world. The country for
the first ten miles from Salisbury is flat and scantily
wooded, but about two miles from Chesumba's it
changes altogether in character. Groups of enormous
boulders are strewn about in a confused tangle; the
ground between them being heavily timbered.
De Moleyns took with him 100 of the police, the
native contingent, two seven-pounders, and two maxims.
From the information he had received of the strength
of the kraal, he felt that his only chance of success,
except with great loss of life, was by making a surprise
attack immediately before dawn. He moved out of
Salisbury therefore at 2 a.m. and marched steadily until
four o'clock, when his guides told him the kraal was
within a quarter of a mile. On reconnoitring he found
this to be the case, and as the day was beginning to
break ordered an immediate assault. The Maslionas
were taken by surprise, but had he delayed half-an-hour
longer they would have been on the alert, and the loss
must have been considerable; and in Mashonaland at
that time, the life of every armed man was of con¬
sequence.
The kraal was situated to the east of the Rewa, the
banks of which are composed of huge masses of granite,
piled one on the top of the other to a height of several
hundred feet, forming a series of natural cavities, the
mouths facing towards the stream, and the hillside at
chesumba's
140
the back forming the terminus of the caves. The kraal
from the side of the stream was practically impregnable,
but from the other side, where the troops were halted, it
was more accessible, and the artificial fortifications were
therefore stronger and more extensive. The ground all
the way from Salisbury is, as I have mentioned, quite
flat until it breaks precipitously away into the bed of the
stream. The huts were clustered together at the extreme
edge of the plain, with a little ground in front of them,
which had been cleared for cultivating mealies and
tomatoes. Around the huts was a palisade fifteen feet
in height, formed of the trunks of trees driven into the
ground, and held firmly together with creepers and
thorn bushes; an aperture being left in the middle of
sufficient size to allow one person at a time to pass in
or out. This aperture was closed when not in use, not
by transverse bars, but by movable tree-trunks, having
exactly the same appearance as the others, so that it
was impossible for an attacking party to discover in
what part of the palisade the entrance was. When
the troops delivered the assault, the Mashonas, who
were awakened from their sleep, bolted hurriedly down
the side of the cliff, and disappeared in the crevices
of the rocks, from which they kept up a constant
but ineffectual fire, two of the police being killed
and one wounded. The storming party cleft their
way through the palisade, and rushed past the huts
to find themselves confronted by a second and still
stronger line of defence, consisting of natural sconces
150 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
formed by the granite boulders; the intervening spaces
being filled up with a stockade several feet in thick¬
ness. This line of defence was right on the edge of
the precipice, in an angle of the rocks, and was com¬
manded by the mouths of the caves, so that when the
men reached the other side, they came under a raking
fire from an unseen enemy—always a trying thing for
troops.
The natural defences were so strong that the inner
stockade could easily have been held by a dozen reso¬
lute men against any number of assailants, but the
Mashonas are not a courageous people ; they can endure
heroically, but can neither defend nor attack. They
have always been hunted down by the Matabili, and other
tribes, and their refuge has been in flight, and in the diffi¬
culty of getting at them in their interminable burrows.
Like the conies they are a feeble folk, and dwell in the
rocks, and into them they retire when danger threatens,
emerging again when it has passed. They reminded me
of the little red Himalayan marmots, which sit by the
side of their holes, keeping up a shrill, incessant " dring,"
but directly they are approached dive out of sight, and
even when wounded tumble into their holes to die.
The predecessors of the Matabili ground down the
Mashonas terribly, far worse than the Matabili, under
whom they increased both in numbers and in cattle,
always a sure sign of the prosperity of a Kaffir tribe.
They say themselves that they preferred the Matabili
rule to ours, because under them they were troubled
chesumba's
151
but once a year, whereas now their troubles come with
eacli day's rising sun. It is the regularity of toil, and
the constant intermeddling in their lives, that they
find so irksome. They would rather endure the risk
of sudden onslaughts and death than the constant
supervision and interference of the white man's rule.
In ordinary speech the word " cave " denotes simply
an underground cavity of greater or less extent, but
these Mashona caves far more nearly resemble burrows.
They arc merely the crevices underneath the granite
boulders where tliey do not rest flush with the ground,
and are often only just large enough for a man to lie
under, flat upon his stomach, like a lizard; though here
and there there are bigger spaces formed by the leaning
together of two boulders, which resemble true caves.
These crevices connect naturally, and are easily got
into, and as easily got out of; the collection of boulders
forming, in fact, an underground fortress of enormous
extent. This of Chesumba's was about a mile in length
by half a mile in width, and many, Kunzi's for instance,
are even larger. They are nearly always situated by
the side of a stream (there is a theory that the boulders
have been hurled together by a strong current), so there
is never any lack of water, the stream generally flowing
underground through the caves; and the Mashonas
have always been in the habit of storing their grain in
them, so that in case of an attack, they can hold out
for an indefinite time. The Matabili indeed gave up
trying to take them: " What is the use," they said, " of
152 RHODESIA ANI) ITS GOVERNMENT
figliting against people whom you cannot see, and who
shoot you out of a hole in the ground, so that the bullet
travels up your body and comes out at your head ?"
(At the attack on Thabas Iinamba, a trooper stooped
to pick up a bit of a Kaffir pot to see what it was. It
covered a hole communicating with a crevice, and a
man lying inside it shot him through the shoulder.)
They depended for their loot in women and cattle and
grain upon the result of the first attack, before the
Maslionas had had time to take refuge in their caves:
after that they could inflict but little damage, but
passed on their way like the dust-storms that spring
up suddenly all over Mashonaland, and die as suddenly
away. The Matabili raided this part of the country
systematically, but they never succeeded in making the
people slaves as is commonly supposed. Most of the
Masliona chiefs purchased a precarious immunity from
attack by the payment of a tribute, but one or two of
them, like Makoni and M'tasa, did not even do that.
To go back, however, to the attack on Cliesumba's.
When the inner stockade had been taken, De Moleyns
made his interpreter call out to the Maslionas to sur¬
render—that they would not be hurt, but that if they
did not come out he would dynamite them until they
did. Their only answer was a shower of bullets. It
was not that they did not understand what dynamite
is: they understood thoroughly, so much so that Kunzi
is said to have actually used it himself to enlarge some
of his caves. Do Moleyns then told them they should
chesumba's
153
have two hours in which to send out their women and
children, and as none were sent out, he was reluctantly
obliged to blow up the nearest of the caves, and a
number of women and children then crawled out, and
were sent to the camp to be looked after. This went
011 for four days, cave after cave being blown up, whilst
repeated requests were made to the people to surrender.
At last they did so, and the caves were destroyed as
far as possible. One hundred and eleven men gave
themselves up, and live hundred women and children ;
the rest managed to get away. It is believed that com¬
paratively few were killed. The dynamite, though ter¬
rible enough, has not the invariably awful effect that it
might be expected to have, because the twists and turns
of the caves break the force of the explosion.
The prisoners were located on a piece of ground five
miles from Salisbury, with the exception of eight men
who were put on their trial for murder. Among the
prisoners was the chief Maramombo, whose arm was
badly injured. He refused to allow it to be amputated,
saying he would rather die than live without it, but
he ultimately made one of those marvellous recoveries
noticeable amongst savages all over the world.
Whilst Captain de Moleyns was occupied with this
kraal, Major Ridley with a squadron of the 7th Hussars
attacked and took Umzwitze's kraal, sixteen miles from
Charter, three of the Hussars being killed, and Major
Ridley himself wounded. In August many other
fortified kraals were taken and destroyed, but the only
154 RHODES r A AND ITS GOVERNMENT
serious resistance that was made was at Mashayan¬
gora bi's, where Sir Richard Martin himself took com¬
mand. It was taken with a loss on our side of four
men killed and six wounded. Three hundred and
twenty women gave themselves up, and were sent to
the location with the others.
By the end of September the whole of the chiefs
had submitted, the only persons of consequence still
remaining at large being the witch-doctor Kakubi, and
the witch-doctress Nyanda. I was in Salisbury when
Kakubi was captured, and brought in to stand his trial
for murder. He was a half-starved, miserable-looking
wretch, but he, and still more Nyanda, had exercised
immense power, and they, and a witch-doctor who had
come up from Matabililand, seem to have really been
the main instigators of the Masliona rising.
Late in September Harding was sent to patrol the
M'Toko country, and went right through it to the
Inyanga mountains near Umtali. He reported that
everything was quiet, so prospectors and farmers began
once more to venture out, though with an excusable
hesitation.
How greatly the war has retarded the development
of the country may be judged from the fact that all
through the summer absolutely nothing was done, the
settlers remaining in enforced idleness in the towns, and
at the stores along the main road.
I may say frankly that my preconceived opinion was
entirely changed by what I saw at Chesumba's, and that
USE OF DYNAMITE
155
I satisfied myself, though I confess with considerable
hesitation—its effects arc so fearful—that the use of
dynamite under proper supervision is legitimate, and,
on the whole, perhaps more humane than the alterna¬
tive process of investing the caves, and starving the
natives out. The question is of importance, because
protests have on various occasions been made with
regard to its use in South African warfare. Those who
have studied the history of the subject will remember
Bishop Colenso's indignant and eloquent protest against
its employment in Langalibale's revolt in 1873, and in
1882 such powerful representations were made regard¬
ing its adoption b}r the Boers that the British Govern¬
ment instructed Mr. Hudson, the British Resident at
Pretoria, to report to them upon the matter. The
conclusion he came to was that what was done was
done with the greatest possible humanity, every induce¬
ment being used to persuade the natives to come out of
the caves before they were blown up, and the British
Government therefore declined to interfere further.
Still it is evident that with dynamite in the hands
of a harsh or indiscreet man, unless the strictest super¬
vision is exercised, regrettable excesses will occur.
That, on the whole, it has been used humanely during
the Masliona rising is proved by the fact that most,
though not all, of the missionaries approved of its use.
The fact, too, that it was employed by Sir Richard
Martin and Captain de Moleyns, who are known for
their punctilious regard for humanity, is a sufficient
156 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
guarantee that it was made use of when they were
present in a proper way, but, if rumour is to bo be¬
lieved, it was not always employed with an equal sense
of responsibility.
The Mashona caves, as I have explained, are really
vast underground fortresses with interminable ramifica¬
tions, and it is argued that to use dynamite to blow them
up is as legitimate as to blow up the gate, or to blow in
the wall of a town, preparatory to an assault, or to blow
up a man-of-war with a torpedo. There is, however,
this difference, that in civilised warfare the opposing
forces are both furnished with the same weapons, where¬
as in savage wars only the civilised force is provided
with these powerful engines of destruction. The dis¬
tinction is surely material, and it ought only to be
used with the greatest reluctance, and as a last resort,
and ample time ought to be given to the women and
children to come out. Otherwise we shall deserve the
censure deservedly bestowed upon St. Arnaud by Mr.
Kinglake. " St. Arnaud had warmly approved the de¬
struction of life which had been effected in 1844 by
filling with smoke the crowded caves of the Dahra: but
he had sagaciously observed that the popularity of the
measure in Europe was not coextensive with the ap¬
probation which seems to have been bestowed upon its
author by the military authorities. These counter-views
guided M. St. Arnaud. . . . ' Then,' he writes to his
brother,' I had all the apertures hermetically stopped up.
I made one vast sepulchre. No one went into the
USE OF DYNAMITE
15V
caverns. No 0110 but myself knew that under there
there are five hundred brigands who will never again
slaughter Frenchmen." There has been nothing of this
kind in Maslionaland. Whether the use of dynamite
is legitimate, in cases where women and children are
assembled, is a point about which there will always
be a difference of opinion; but supposing it to be so, it
seems to have been used, on the whole, with due pre¬
cautions and in a proper way.
The point, however, that I am anxious to emphasise,
is that the word " caves " is misleading. It conveys the
idea that the people collect together in extensive under¬
ground chambers, which are blown to pieces with them
in it. This was what I thought myself, before I had
seen Chesumba's, and as I fancy many other people
have the same idea, I have taken more pains than I
should otherwise have done to explain how essentially
erroneous it is.
CHAPTER XII
Splendid Work done by the Police in Mashonaland, and by
the Native Contingent under Major Harding—Bravery
of the Mashonas—They are Treacherous, but not
Incapable op Gratitude—The only way to Govern them
is by Justice, not through Fear.
The work done last year by tlie police and hussars in
Mashonaland has really been very fine. The former
were a mere handful of men, who had to operate under
the most trying circumstances over an enormous extent
of country of an exceptionally difficult character; one so
bare of supplies, that everything had to be sent up from
the base. There were not many casualties at each par¬
ticular attack, but the constant fighting from January
to September, and still more the incessant exposure to
sudden and violent alternations of rain and heat, which,
with the bad and insufficient food, brought on fever
and dysentery, tried the men severely. The majority
were gently born, and unused to hardship and expo¬
sure ; many were scarcely more than boys, and all were
unacclimatised, so disease played havoc with them
from the first. In spite of it the pluck they showed
was splendid; the more so that the operations being of
a guerilla nature, they had little to encourage them in
15s
THE MASHONALAND POLICE 159
the way of recognition, either in England or in South
Africa-
Only those who have been in Mashonaland can
rightly appreciate what they have done; but the total
amount of the casualties will convey some slight idea
of the arduous nature of their work. Out of a force of
250 police, and 120 of the native contingent, 26 men
were killed, and 35 wounded; 21 died from illness, and
20 more were sent out of the country incapacitated and
utterly broken down. Including illness, therefore, the
total loss amounted to rather over one-fourth of the
men engaged—an extraordinarily high percentage. This
does not include the loss of the hussars either by sick¬
ness or in action, but only those incurred by the police.
It was the long days of camping in the wet, when
many of them were prostrate with fever, but unable to
be put on the sick-list until the fighting of the moment
was over, that tried the men's fortitude the most.
Continual attacks of fever shake a man to bits, and
break down his nerve as nothing else will, and I could
quite understand Captain de Moleyns' feeling of com¬
punction when he looked back upon it all. " I am really
sorry," he said to me, " for the awful time the men have
had. It couldn't be helped—the work had to be done
—but I have felt for them all the same, and I confess I
am proud of the way in which these mere lads responded
to every call we made upon them." I think Captain
do Moleyns' personal influence had a good deal to do
with it; the men followed because he led them himself.
160 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
But splendidly as the English police behaved, they
could never have effected what they did had they
not been loyally backed up by the native police
(organised during the rebellion), whose services have
been simply invaluable. It is composed chiefly of
Zulus, with a sprinkling of men from Chinde and
Zumbo. When Sir Richard Martin took over charge,
he found the existing native police in a state of utter
disorganisation, so he disbanded most of them, and
raised what was practically a new corps, and placed it
under the command of Major Harding of the B.S.A.
Company's police, who has succeeded in making them
a thoroughly reliable, efficient, and well-disciplined force.
He obtained a remarkable influence over the men, and
was able not only to make them follow him to a difficult
assault, but to retain control of them afterwards—a
much more difficult matter. He has shown what grand
lighting material lies ready to our hand if entrusted to
men who are in sympathy with the native character.
They require a man who can be stern as well as just,
but who understands them sufficiently not to wound
their feelings in matters of native custom and etiquette.
They are only grown-up children, and must be humoured
without being spoilt. With proper leading there is no
reason why they should not prove as good soldiers as
the Sikhs. We conquered India, not with, white troops,
but with native regiments led by English officers, and
if we chose we might conquer Africa in the same way,
to the exceeding benefit both of the natives and of our-
MASHONA COURAGE
161
selves; but to evoke the necessary feeling of devotion
we must be inflexibly just. That is what gave Gordon
his marvellous power.
Harding deserves all the more credit because he
had to work his men into shape, not in time of peace,
but in the midst of a most arduous and trying cam¬
paign. He has been ably assisted by his sergeant,
a mounted infantry man, who lives in the camp with
the men, and has them always under his eye.
The police say that so far from the Mashonas being
cowards, they fought in their own peculiar fashion with
magnificent courage. During several of the attacks,
when the dynamite was thrown into the caves, they
rushed forward and snatched away the fuse, although
they knew too well from what they had seen what the
awful effect of the explosion would be. They were naked
savages, fighting with the most primitive weapons, and
they naturally took refuge in their caves, but that does
not mean that they were cowards. Even the few guns
they had were charged with self-made powder of an
inferior character. A ludicrous exemplification of this
occurred during the M'toko patrol. Gurupila's men had
been supplied with English powder, and used the
same charge as they were accustomed to use of their
own powder. The consequence was that the guns
kicked tremendously, and several of the men had their
faces damaged, whereupon they laid the guns down on
the ground and let them off with their toes.
After the inhuman talk about the natives to which
L
162 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
I had to listen during my walk up from Umtali. it was
a pleasant relief to meet once more with that feeling of
respect for a brave enemy which does so much to lessen
the unavoidable brutalities of warfare.
A little incident that took place during an attack
on one of the kraals is worth recording. A cave was
about to bo blown up, when one of the native contingent
heard a child crying just inside it. He called out to
the officers who were bringing up the dynamite to stop,
jumped into the cave at imminent risk of being shot,
and brought the child out. Colonel Alderson relates
how Major Harding did exactly the same thing. It
shows the force of example : no troops are more in¬
fluenced by it, for good or for evil, than native troops.
In fighting against savages treachery must always be
expected, and it requires considerable self-restraint not
to resort to similar methods. Indeed, all over South
Africa I was assured, and not only by the irresponsible
critic at the wayside canteen, but by men of position
and influence, that when dealing with savages the only
possible Avay to succeed is to behave as they do; that
they do not understand anything else, and sometimes the
temptation to yield to this kind of reasoning must be
overpowering. At one of the kraals, for instance, two of
the police officers were asked by a Mashona to come up
to the rock under which he was lying to have a confer¬
ence. They came within hearing distance, but he called
out, " Come nearer, I can't hear ; " and when they did so,
lie fired at them from a few feet off, luckily hitting
MASHONA TREACHERY
163
neither. It did not make them feel very amiably
disposed towards him. Poor young Coryndon, a brave
lad of nineteen, who had hurried out to Mashonaland
when the rebellion began, was killed when going
unwarily to capture a goat tied up on the veldt as a
decoy, being shot by a Masliona who was lying in
ambush near by.
The Zulus and the Matabili, who are an off-shoot of
the Zulu race, may generally be depended upon to keep
their word, but the Mashonas have all the evil character¬
istics of a down-trodden people, treachery amongst them.
The frequent conferences, or " indabas," as they are
called, held by Lord Grey with the different Masliona
chiefs, were attended, therefore, with a very real risk of
assassination. And Lord Grey shirked neither fatigue
nor danger when he thought his presence on a patrol
might be of service in effecting a peaceful surrender.
Moreover, to his infinite credit, he never allowed him¬
self to be carried away by the wave of vindictive feeling
against the natives which was passing over the country.
The better tone which is everywhere noticeable in
Mashonaland is largely due to the restraining influence
exerted by him, by Sir Richard Martin—of whom I
never heard any one speak except with respect—by
Judge Yintcent and Mr. Duncan, and by Captain de
Moleyns ; they have been resolute without being harsh,
and England has every reason to be grateful to them.
But though the Mashonas are treacherous, it is
absurd to assert, as men so often do, that they have no
164 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
finer feelings, and no instinct of gratitude. So far as I
have been able to ascertain, they are quick and intelli¬
gent, and capable of much devotion to their masters.
It is all a matter of how they are treated. A prospector,
with whom I was walking along the road, told me it was
impossible to do anything with them, they are such
ungrateful brutes. " I will give you an instance," he
said: "I and another man were out prospecting. We had
had a rough time and not too much food. Most of the
boys behaved all right, but one chap was always grousing,
saying that he could not carry so heavy a load, and that
he wanted more food when there was none to give him.
We had always treated our boys well, and his going on
like that riled 1110, so one night I said, ' Come here,
I'll give you some food,' and when he came, I caught
hold of him and gave him a jolly good hiding. He
didn't say anything, but the next morning we found he
had cleared without his pay or anything. He had just
gone off, leaving us there on the veldt without any one
to carry his load. What are you to do with brutes like
that ? If the country is to be developed we must have
forced labour, by whatever name you may choose to call
it; that is what people in England can't be got to
understand."
Men of this kind expect natives to stand kicking
and abuse and insufficient food, and yet be grateful
and attached servants. They almost always pay dearly
for their conduct, for in South Africa as in India, the
natives have a marvellous system of communicating
MASHONA DISINCLINATION TO WORK 165
with each other, and it rapidly becomes known all over
a district who is a good man to work with, and who is
a bad one; and a man who has once established a
bad reputation will find it next to impossible to obtain
boys, so he naturally calls out for forced labour. The
natives sing a funny little song. It was made by an
Englishman, but they have quite adopted it, and, what is
more to the purpose, they act in accordance with it—
" Ikona mali, piccaninny scoff,
Meningy sebenza—this nigger's off,"
which may be translated thus :—
" No pay and little scoff,
Too much work—this nigger's off."
I believe, from all I have heard, that if the Mashonas
had been properly treated from the beginning there
would have been no rebellion, nor would there have
been any difficulty in procuring labour; the settlers
have in great measure brought their troubles in this
respect upon themselves. I do not mean for a moment
to make a sweeping assertion that all the settlers in
Mashonaland have treated the natives badly. Many of
them, and I sincerely believe the large majority of them,
have treated them kindly and Avell, and they have been
rewarded for it by the natives behaving well to them in
return ; but the minority has been sufficiently large and
sufficiently brutal to involve the innocent majority in
the discredit attaching to their deeds. A native has
little to think of, or to talk about, and an act of cruelty
166 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
will make a deep and lasting impression which will
obliterate the recollection of many acts of kindness, and
will spread suspicion and distrust over a whole district.
That is why it is so necessary to make a native under¬
stand that though he will be punished severely if he
does wrong, the white man will be punished also if
he behaves to him with cruelty or fraud. Absolutely
impartial justice is the secret of our rule in India, and
to make the natives of Rhodesia contented, to do away
with the danger of rebellion, it must be enforced there
also. That is now being gradually done, for Judge
Yintcent is making it felt, quietly but firmly, that he
is no respecter of persons, and that the law must be
obeyed. In the early days, however, there seems to
have been but little justice for a native.
Rhodesia is a young country, and it will not do to be
hypercritical; most of our colonies have had a similar
struggle, and in nearly all of them similar things have
happened. That they have not happened in India is
due to the inherent difference between a colony and a
dependency. In the former the main endeavour is to
repress the natives, so that they may be used as a servile
race ; in the latter the great object is to educate and
raise them, so that the country may eventually be
governed by and through them. The difference of aim
must be allowed for when considering the difference of
government; so too must the difference in character
of the people. Nevertheless, in endeavouring to ascer¬
tain the cause of the Mashona discontent it is impossible
GOOD POINTS IN MASHONA CHARACTER 1G7
to ignore the injustice with which they were originally
treated.
All whom I have talked to, Avho have taken the
trouble to study the Mashonas, agree that they have
in them much that is good. They are degraded in
many ways, dirty, and filthily immoral, but the germ
of better things is there; it is only cultivation that is
needed to bring it out, and that so far it has seldom
received. Father Rickartz, the superior of the Jesuit
mission at Chisha-washa, told me that the induna of
the neighbouring kraal came in the day before the
mission was attacked to warn him of what was im¬
pending, but was unfortunately unable to speak with
him alone. Nor was this the only instance I heard of,
where the natives showed practical gratitude for kind
treatment they had received; in many instances they
remained faithful to their masters, and in some cases
even met death by their side.
In Maslionaland the Wesley an mission at Gwenda's
never revolted, and the teachers were not recalled from
it, though there were more than two thousand Mashonas
located there. In Matabililand, too, the converts in
some instances showed the greatest fidelity.
Mrs. Reed has kindly allowed me to take the follow¬
ing account from a letter she received at the time from
her son, Mr. Cullen Reed, dated April 10, 1896: " No
sooner had we got home than messengers from the
Makalanga chief came bidding me fly, as he had done
all he could to save me, having refused to obey the
168 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Matabili order to have me killed; but that now a
Matabili impi from Lanabi, who had killed the Govern¬
ment officials of the district and the police, had come,
and I must lly. They begged me at least to go and
hide a little way off, and see if what they said was not
true. This led to another long debate in my own mind,
but I resolved that as it was the request and warning of
the people themselves, there could be no display of
want of confidence in them on my part if I fled a short
distance off for a day. Thus I went down to my cattle
kraal eight miles away, and afterwards learned that I
missed the impi by only a mile, but finding me gone,
and no clue being given them, though my people easily
guessed where I was, they returned to Lanabi.
" A trooper came down from Government to call me
in. He had had a really plucky ride, expecting to meet
the Matabili at every turn, and really missing Lanabi's
impi at my kraal because he had lost his way, the Hope
Fountain boy who had ridden with him not knowing
it. Both had done a really plucky thing, and it might
easily have been fatal to tliem."
The rebellion was full of plucky deeds of this kind:
of men going out, as Blakiston and Routledge did, to
save their comrades, with the certainty that they were
going to their death.
I suppose there was no man in South Africa who
know the natives more intimately than the Honourable
Charles Brownlee, chief magistrate of East Griqualand and
Gaika Commissioner. This is what he says about their
NATIVE GRATITUDE
169
gratitude: '-Wo find that in all their wars with the
Colony, women and children have been respected, and
missionaries have been assisted to a place of safety,
and have not been injured by those among whom they
have laboured. Will the highly-civilised inhabitants
of India bear comparison with this ? Many cases can
be adduced in which Kaffir servants gave warning to
their masters of approaching danger, when they might
have taken their lives and stock. There are many cases,
also, in which Kaffirs who had experienced kindness
from traders took them to a place of safety on the
breaking out of hostilities; one case I could instance
in which the trader thus rescued treated his saviour
with the basest ingratitude on the return of peace."
In the recent rising in Becliuanaland, it will be
remembered that when Galishwe killed the trader
Blum, he sent his wife out of the country in safety.
Unhappily both in Matabililand and in Mashonaland
English women have been killed, and barbarously killed,
but there is a passage in Mr. Rhodes' colloquy with
the indunas at the famous indaba in the Matappos
which throws a sinister light 011 the reason for this.
It is given thus by Colonel Baden-Powell: " Then he
(Sikombo) was asked why it was that the Matabelc, in
breaking out, had exceeded the usual rules of war, and
had murdered women and children ? And he said it was
because white men had been reported to be doing the
same thing." Unfortunately the retribution fell, as it
so often does, upon the innocent, and not upon the
170 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
guilty. The same circle of cruelty and reprisals and
vengeance has gone on in South Africa, almost without
interruption, from the beginning of European intrusion.
What has been done cannot be retrieved, and it would
be of no use to call attention to it now, were it not that
Central Africa lies alluringly before us. Is it to be
subjected to the same terrible ordeal, or are we going
to open it out in a more Christian fashion ?
Viewed from a merely sellisli standpoint, the matter
is not one that we can afford to neglect. In England the
danger of the native question is commonly overlooked,
but in South Africa it is fully recognised. Speaking in
the Cape House on July 1,1896, Sir Gordon Sprigg said:
" The Masliona rebellion had a material effect upon the
natives of the Cape Colony. Day after day, for five
months, he had received alarming telegrams from the
native territories, and he did not knoiu how soon it
would be before a great native war might break out
in Cape Colony as a consequence of what was taking
place in Mashonaland. For this reason he had decided
that no member of the Cape Mounted Rifles should be
moved from the Transkei or Pondoland, believing that
it Avas the presence of force on the spot which kept the
natives quiet." Both Mr. Rose Innes and Mr. Sclireiner
warmly supported the Government's action in the
matter. But if we could only bring ourselves to believe
it, justice would keep the natives quiet more effectually
than troops. Look how the Basutos stood by Sir
George Grey during the Indian mutiny.
CHAPTER XIII
The Beira Railway
The question which excites the keenest interest in
Salisbury, more even than the rebellion, is the Beira
railway. When the site of the town was fixed upon, on
the 12tli September 1890, it was believed that it would
become the centre of one of the richest and greatest
gold-fields in South Africa. Those expectations were
doomed to disappointment, and after the Matabili war
every effort was made to divert capital from Mashona-
land to Matabililand. Men who had already settled in
Maslionaland, and had obtained property there, resent
this intensely; they resent too the constant putting off
of the railroad which has been so repeatedly promised
to them; they think that it might have been in Salis¬
bury long before the Mashona rising, had the same
energy been shown in its construction as in that of
the Bulawayo line. What with rebellion, rinderpest,
and locusts, the Salisbury people feel that their diffi¬
culties are indeed almost more than they can struggle
against, and that an undue amount of assistance has
been given to Bulawayo to the detriment of themselves.
When I was there, the price of eggs varied from 26s.
a dozen to 48s. a dozen (the price in Bulawayo being
172
RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
4s. fid.); cabbages cost 5s. each, potatoes 3s. a lb.,
and a bunch of four onions 3s. 6d.: Klondike prices
are nothing to this. Everything was on the same
scale. Nor is the reason difficult to seek. When I
passed through Umtali, the freights to Massi-Kessi
were £12, 15s. a ton, and from there to Salisbury,
a distance of under two hundred miles, the transport
rates by waggon had been as high as £11 per 100 lbs.,
or £220 a ton. They were falling rapidly with the
introduction of cattle from Madagascar, and I was told
in Beira in February that they had already gone as low
as 30s. a ton, and that transport riders would still be
able to make a profit if they went down even to 20s.
Prices, however, had not fallen very much, owing partly
to the ring of storekeepers keeping them up, and partly
to the difficulty of obtaining delivery of goods by reason
of the block on the Beira railway, and the excessive
rates charged for freight. When I returned to the
Transvaal I came across the following instructive table
of comparative rates of transport, given by Mr. Hennen
Jennings in his evidence before the Mines Commission
o
at Johannesburg, on May 12, 1897, to which I have
added the present rate on the Beira railway, premising
that up to November of last year it was slightly lower:—
Pence per ton
per mile. Rates.
Machinery-—American
,, Cape Railways
„ O.F.S. Railway
,, Natal Railways
„ Portuguese .
0-51 1-000
2-34 4-565
2-34 4-565
3-04 5*93 L
4-07 7-940
THE BEIRA RAILWAY
173
Pence per ton
per mile. Rates.
Machinery—Netherlands (Cape)
(Natal) .
_ (Delagoa)
,, English Railways
,, Beira Railway
7-69 15-000
5-06 9-871
4-27 8-330
1-12 2-190
12-00 23-549
On the Beira line (I quote from advertised rates) the
tariff is £7, 5s. per ton of 2000 lbs., or 40 or 60 cubic ft.,
at the railway company's option; the following goods
being classified at 60 cubic ft. per ton, adding thereby
enormously to the freight charged: " Timber, bedding,
wire-netting, rugs, furniture, empty tanks, baths, milli¬
nery, mattresses, matting, wool," in fact, all the things
most wanted in a pioneer country.
Now £7, 5s. for 153 miles is 10*14d. per mile, as
against the 7'69d. charged in the Transvaal. The rate
on Messrs. Pauling's construction line was even higher;
for 45 miles it was £5, that is to say, 2s. 2 Id. per mile.
Of course there is this difference: the Transvaal line
is a paying line over which there is an enormous quan¬
tity of traffic, whereas the Beira line is a new line,
which has not yet overcome the initial difficulties in¬
separable from all new lines, so the rates must be heavy
to pay the expenses; but that does not make things
easier for the people in Mashonaland.
It was reported in Umtali in November that Mr.
Rhodes had promised that the rate over the whole line
should be reduced to Is. a ton per mile as soon as it
had reached Umtali, and I was told in Beira on my way
home that this rate had actually been fixed. It is still
174 RHODESIA ANT) ITS GOVERNMENT
heavy enough to crush out any attempt to get up
machinery either for the mines in Manicaland, or for
those in the Salisbury district. Moreover, so long as the
rails are blocked by construction material, machinery
and other goods will only be taken as a matter of favour
at special prices, so that there is not much hope for the
people of Salisbury until the railway is actually running
into that town. A few storekeepers and others will
make large fortunes, but the condition of the majority
of the people will be but little bettered until the line is
completed.
The passenger rates are not a whit less oppressive
than those for freight. Through the kindness of the
Capo railway authorities I have been able to prepare
the following comparative table, which will show this at
a glance:—
Passenger Fares for 153 miles.
(The distance from Beira to Chimoio, the terminus of the Beira
Railway.)
First Second
Class Class
On Cape and Free State lines . . . 38 3 25/6
On Netherlands S.A.R. .... 38/6 31/
On Beira Railway (only one class ; as a
rule trucks, except by tlie weekly mail) 80/
Passenger Fares for 45 miles.
(The distance from Chimoio to Massi-Kessi.)
First Second
Class Class
On Cape and Free State lines. . . 11/3 7/6
On Netherlands S.A.R. . . . . 11/6 9/
On Beira Construction line (only one class) 40/
THE BEIRA RAILWAY
175
Second
Class.
Rates for natives over Cape and Free State lines in
batches of not less than 25, one halfpenny each
per mile, that is to say for 153 miles . . . 6/5
Over the Netherlands line in groups of 20 or more . 6/6
On the Beira line ....... 15/
I travelled up from Delagoa Bay to Beira in the
same boat with Mr. Lawley, who is in charge of the line,
and in discussing with him the question of English
emigration to Maslionaland, I asked him how lie could
possibly expect families with a small capital of, say
£500, to come out to Maslionaland under the present
conditions—they would only manure it with their bones
for the benefit of the big companies who have the land
in their grip. Ho replied that small capitalists were the
very class of people the country requires ; that there have
been enough and to spare of speculators in land ; that it
is genuine colonists who are wanted; and he felt sure
that Mr. Rhodes would do all he could to assist them.
But I do not see how even Mr. Rhodes is going to unravel
the tangle the country has got into ; there are so many
vested interests to be dealt with. In time it may
become a rich country, and it will certainly be a
pleasant country to live in, but at present it would be
suicidal for an Englishman with small capital to attempt
to farm there.
The first thing that is needful to open it up, and to
lessen the cost of living is the railway, and the Salisbury
people feel very bitterly about the way in which they
have been postponed to Bulawayo. The country between
176 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Umtali and Salisbury, through which the line will have
to pass, presents no such natural difficulties as the
line to Bulawayo from the Cape, and they think
that if faith had been kept with them the Beira line
would have been in Salisbury long ago ; they believe
that they have been sacrificed to Mr. Rhodes' political
combinations. Had Mr. Rhodes completed the line from
Beira he might have found it difficult to procure the
construction of that from Mafeking, but now that line
is completed he will no doubt push on with the Beira
lino, so that he can control the rates from the Cape to
Bulawayo.
I heard a member of the Cape House remark, when
discussing the arrangement that had been made with
the Cape Government, " We have to take it and bo
thankful, for Rhodes is an awkward man to deal with ;
if he is thwarted he is capable of shutting down the
Bulawayo line, and of forcing all the Rhodesian traffic
to come through Beira." Oil the other hand, he can
now practically freeze out Beira, and as he is not at all
friendly to the Portuguese, or to the Mozambique Com¬
pany, he would probably not be unwilling to do so if
he thought it could be done with safety. It would
make him immensely popular in the Cape. The posi¬
tion is an excellent one for Mr. Rhodes, putting enor¬
mous power politically and financially in his hands.
It remains to be seen whether he will use it for the
benefit of Rhodesia, or for that of the Cape.
During his recent election campaign, he said at
THE BEIRA RAILWAY
177
Klipdam, on August 1st, that lie trusted a ministry
would not be returned to office hostile to the country
which bore his name. If so, Rhodesia would be hostile,
and would obtain an outlet through other countries.
The British South Africa Company, I should mention,
have a voting majority in the Beira Railway Company,
and therefore control its management.
The Anglo-Portuguese Convention, however, dated
June 11, 1891, provides that "notes shall be exchanged
between her Majesty's Government and the Portuguese
Government with regard to the traffic rates to be
charged on the railway, similar to those exchanged on
the 20tli August 1890."
And by Article 19 of the Mozambique Company's
charter, dated February 11, 1891, that company pledges
itself to construct and work during the term of the
concession, without any subsidy or guarantee whatever
from the State, a railway of steel rails of a minimum
weight of 20 kilos per running metre, to connect the bay
of Pungwe with the interior frontier of the district of
Manica, passing through Massi-Kessi.
This construction must be completed within a period
of four years, no extension of time being allowed,
reckoned from the date when the Government ordered
it to be done. The general or special kilometric rates
of transport on this railway are to be equal for all,
and never, without the sanction of the Government, to
be above those in force on the lines of the Cape Colony.
M
178 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
I was told by one of the Portuguese officials that as
soon as the railway reaches the frontier (and by this
time it ought to be there), the Portuguese Government
intends to insist upon the due observance of this
stipulation, for the present rates are crushing out their
mines quite as much as those in Mashonaland. This
will mean an immediate reduction from Is. per ton per
mile to 2"34d. per ton, and presumably a corresponding
reduction in the passenger rates.
Until that is effected, it cannot be said whether the
Mashonaland gold-fields are payable or not; up to the
present they have not had a fair chance. To get up
machinery at the existing rates would be folly, and all
the companies can do is to wait until transport has been
cheapened.
CHAPTER XIV
Horse-Sickness— Fort Usher—The Matoppos—M'twani—The
Fight at the Cantoor—The Maholis—The Question of
Forced Labour.
From Salisbury I went to Gwelo by coach. It is a
rising little town, the centre of what bids fair to be one
of the most prosperous mining districts in Rhodesia;
but the mines being twenty or thirty miles away, I was
not able to visit them. The rains had just begun, and
as it poured without ceasing all the way to Bulawayo,
I was afraid I should not be able to go out to the
Matoppos. Major Bodle, however, who is second in
command of the Matabililand police, kindly sent me
out in a Cape cart to Fort Usher, which is on the
outskirts of the hills, about twenty miles away. It
was a cool, pleasant morning, and for the first ten
miles the horses trotted out briskly. Then we noticed
that one of them was labouring a good deal, and that
his mouth and nostrils were covered with froth, so we
outspanned to let him rest. He would not eat, but
staggered about in a dazed way, and finally lay down,
and the Cape boy who was driving said he had horse-
sickness, and that it was doubtful whether we should
get him into the fort. By going slowly, and with frequent
179
180 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
rests we managed to bring him in, and though, he was
still bad when I left, he seemed likely to reco ver: if so,
he would be what is called a salted horse, worth about
three times his previous value. Horse-sickness is a
dreadful scourge all over South Africa, but especially
bad in Rhodesia. The police have suffered terribly
from it, and it has greatly augmented the difficulties of
the campaign. Captain Nicholson told me that in
October 1896 there were, roughly speaking, sixteen
hundred horses in Matabililand, and at the end of
May 1897 only one hundred and twenty. It generally
comes on suddenly, as it did in this case, and ends
fatally in a couple of hours, or even less. Captain
Straker, who was in command at Fort Usher, told me
that he was riding a favourite pony which seemed to be
going all right when it suddenly flagged, and in half-an-
hour was dead. There is nothing to be done for the
poor beasts, no cure being known; they must simply be
left to fight it out by themselves. They seem to suffer
considerable pain, and to crave for human sympathy,
for they will leave their companions, and come up to
any human beings who may be in sight, as though
craving for help, and, if grazing when attacked, they
will generally approach any hut or building that may
be near, and lie down against it.
In the afternoon Captain Straker kindly took me out
to a valley in the Matoppos called the Cantoor, where
General Carrington had a fight with the Matabili. It
is several miles inside the hills, and gives a fair idea of
THE MATOPPOS
181
their general character. They arc a granite range,
running nearly due east and west for some sixty miles,
with an average width of from twenty to twenty-five
miles. They are quite distinct in character from the
granite kopjes in Mashonaland, which are isolated
mountains of granite, dotted about on a granitic pla¬
teau. These hills consist of an immense collection of
boulders similar to those at Chesumba's, but instead
of being in a break of the plain, where a stream has
cleft out for itself a precipitous channel, they rise up
from it to nearly a thousand feet in height in a series
of contorted ridges, intersecting each other at every
variety of angle. These ridges are sometimes bare,
but are generally covered with a scanty bush, the
intervening valleys being thickly wooded, except where
the natives have cleared patches for cultivation. It is
a terribly difficult country for troops to operate in, the
valleys being so narrow that they come under a raking
fire from all sides, and it is impossible either by artillery
or by rifle fire to silence opponents who can disperse
themselves in an impenetrable wilderness of rocks with
perfect safety, and can aim, crouching behind them like
baboons, without exposing themselves in the least.
Fortunately the Matabili are not skilled in hill fight¬
ing. They have always fought on open ground, in
the half - moon formation invented by Chaka, and
perfected by Mosclikatze, and they did not seem to ap¬
preciate their strength, or to work in conjunction when
not massed together, but scattered about in groups of
182 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
twos and threes amongst these boulders. Moreover, they
suffered from the fatal weakness of having no definite
leader, each induna having independent command of
his own men.
The morning after I arrived, M'twani, the most
prominent of these indunas, happened to come into the
fort, and in the afternoon I rode out to his kraal with
Mr. Moody, the native commissioner, and Lieutenant
Macgeean. We came up with M'twani and one of his
men, on their way home, just where the track became
too broken for us to ride any longer, so we gave our
horses to his man to hold, and went on with M'twani
himself as our guide; he carrying Mr. Moody's rifle, the
only weapon we had with lis, and a couple of knob-
kerries. He is a tall, good-looking man, with the quiet,
stately, unmoved manner of a Matabili induna. Before
our time he was a man of consequence, his sister Loski
being Lobengula's head queen. His kraal is about six
miles farther into the hills than the Cantoor, the valley
where General Carrington's action took place, on which
occasion he was in command. His brother was killed,
and he himself was shot through the leg by a Lee-
Metford bullet. He showed us the scar left by the
wound, and remarked that he was not badly hurt, as
the bullet missed the bone. His kraal is in the middle
of an almost inaccessible valley, where the Tuli River
is joined by the Nyokani—(the little snake)—a lovely
brook we had been following for several miles. It was
here that the Matabili women and children were
THE MATOPPOS
183
gathered together during the rising, the only entrances
to it being by two steep and exceedingly difficult paths,
along which the cattle have to be driven one by one.
As it contains an abundance both of water and of arable
land, it is nearly perfect as a place of refuge. General
Carrington intended to attack it, but fortunately changed
his mind. Ho could hardly have failed to meet with
disaster and heavy loss.
The only effectual way to subdue the Matabili after
they have taken to the Matoppos is to surround them
by a chain of forts, and starve them out, for, though
they are of great extent, there are comparatively few
places where the ground is sufficiently open for culti¬
vation, or where there is pasturage for cattle, and these
few places are so feverish that even the natives fear
to live in them. M'twani told us that he had been
suffering badly with fever himself, and that nearly the
whole of his people were down with it. The Matabili
themselves did not live in the Matoppos, but had their
kraals on the open ground around Bulawayo; it was
their slaves, the Makalakas, who lived in them under
the supervision of Matabili indunas. The Matabili, it
must be borne in mind, are not the original inhabitants
of the country. They are the descendants of a body
of Zulus, who left Zululand under Moselikatze, one of
Chaka's generals, between the years 1836 and 1838, and
carved out a dominion for themselves in the country
that lies between the Zambesi and the Limpopo. This
country must always be sparsely populated, and many
184 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
districts where the forest is thick are absolutely un¬
inhabited. Last year, the census showed that the entire
population of Matabililand amounted only to 118,000, of
whom 12,000 were pure Matabili of the original Zulu
stock, the remainder being Makalakas, Makalangas, and
Mashonas, who are all known by the general name of
Maholis, or slaves. The bulk of the original inhabitants
were Makalangas, who are found scattered all over the
country. The south-eastern portion between the Ma-
toppos and the Transvaal and Portuguese borders, is
chiefly inhabited by a tribe of Mahatees, an overflow
from the tribe of that name settled in the Transvaal,
where they have suffered much ill-treatment at the
hands of the Boers. Not long ago their chief sent to
the authorities in Bulawayo to ask if he might trek
with his people into Rhodesia. Since then he has died,
but his son 'Mpefu has refused to pay his liut-tax to
the Transvaal Government, and there will probably
have to be an expedition to compel him to do so.
These are some of the people whose rights we bound
ourselves to protect under the Transvaal Convention,
but about whom we have never troubled ourselves in
the least. Until Rhodesia came under English rule,
they were between two fires, the Dutch and the
Matabili, of whom the latter raided them so con¬
tinually that hardly any women or children were
found in their kraals when we took over the country;
they had all been killed or carried away. I was told
they are willing enough to work in the mines, or to
FORCED LABOUR
185
do any other kind of labour, but unfortunately there
are not a great number of them.
When Matabililand was denuded of troops for the
Jameson raid, one of the indunas, a son of the famous
witch-doctor Maginyamachi, perceived that if the Mata-
bili hoped ever to regain their independence, they could
not have a more favourable opportunity for rising. The
Maj alias, the young Matabili warriors, had long been
fretting under the indignity of the forced labour exacted
from them, and the Maholis were in a state of equal
irritation on account of the compulsory slaughter of
their cattle, in accordance with the rinderpest regula¬
tions, which, as in Galishwe's country, seem to have
been carried out with a needless disregard for native
susceptibilities.
Lord Grey has denied absolutely that there was
forced labour in Rhodesia, and the British South Africa
Company wrote to the Colonial Office that " the sugges¬
tion made by Sir Richard Martin's report that a system
of compulsory labour has existed in any part of Rhodesia
has astounded the directors. They cannot credit the
statements made. Certainly no authority whatever,
direct or indirect, has been given by the Company for
such a practice, and if it has prevailed it has been
wholly without the consent or knowledge of the board."
That there was forced labour, however, and of the
most galling kind, is conclusively proved by the state¬
ment of Mr. H. J. Taylor, the chief native commissioner
of Matabililand.
186 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
" The higher class natives—the ' Abezansi'—had a
great antipathy to labour, which they considered to be
derogatory to their dignity. The hard-earned wage of
the ' Hole' was often taken by his former owner in the
Abezansi section. Much discontent was thus caused,
and as the demand for labour in the mining districts
increased, it was deemed advisable to call upon the
Abezansi to contribute their share to the labour. In
many instances they refused to do so, arguing that their
slaves should earn money for them. This condition of
semi-slavery could not be tolerated by a civilised govern¬
ment, and in order to deal equally with all classes, the
young men of the Abezansi were called upon to work for
two months in the year. This they refused to do upon
the grounds of their former argument. In some cases
the native police had to call out some of the young
men to work. They were brought before the native
commissioner, and handed over to a master to whom
they were registered for a specified term and wage."
Now what is this but forced labour ? It is practically
admitted to be so in Matabililand, for the Chamber of
Mines are continually urging its re-imposition, and Mr.
Rhodes has stated that the difficulty in the develop¬
ment of the mines is due to the scarcity of labour,
caused by the stoppage of the original supply, owing
to Sir Richard Martin's report. But if the original
supply were voluntary and not enforced, it would still
be available. No one who has been in the country,
and has taken the trouble to look dispassionately into
FORCED LABOUR
187
the matter, can have any doubt that Sir Richard
Martin was fully justified in all he said, and that he
might well have written far more strongly.
In view of Mr. Rhodes' avowed intention to draw
a labour supply from the untapped regions of the
Zambesi, a careful perusal should be made of the
evidence (given by Sir R. Martin) of Mr. Carnegie, the
missionary, and care should be taken that proper
guarantees should be given that these Zambesi natives
shall not be similarly ill-treated.
" Next comes the native labour question," Mr. Car¬
negie wrote, " which certainly had something to do with
the rebellion. A proud, hitherto unconquered, Matabili
cannot be turned in a month, or a year, into a useful
servant by kicks, sjamboks, or blows. You cannot
civilise him by quarrelling with him a few days before
his pay is due, by stoning, or unjustly beating him,
by cursing him for not understanding an order given in
English, by being too kind to him. Let it be abundantly
understood that none of these charges can be brought
against many employers, but there were those guilty of
such acts, and under the system of Government labour
supply the natives were unable to choose their employers.
There are many details connected with the treatment of
natives, personally known to myself, which prove con¬
clusively that the wrong men were often chosen for
handling such raw material, both in the mines, on the
farms, and in the Government service. Speaking then
from their point of view, the natives practically said :
188 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
' Our country is gone, our cattle have gone, our people
are scattered, we have nothing to live for, our women
are deserting us, the white man does as ho likes with
them; we are the slaves of the white man, we are
nobody, and have no rights or laws of any kind.' Many
reasoned thus among themselves, rightly or wrongly."
Could there be a sadder commentary upon the result
of our occupation of Matabililand ?
It has been said that the missionaries have remained
silent about these things, but, as a matter of fact,
the majority have spoken out unflinchingly, like Mr.
Carnegie and Mr. Reed. Later on I will trive an indicf-
O o o
nant letter, written by Mr. J. White to the Methodist
Times in 189G, explaining the causes that had led to
the Mashona rebellion. Written at the time it was, by
a man who had to make his life in the country, and to
endure the brunt of the obloquy which it could not fail
to bring upon him, it was, like Mr. Carnegie's and Mr.
Reed's, an exceedingly courageous protest.
Mr. Reed says about labour: " I would respectfully
suggest that whatever settlement may be made in
future concerning the natives they be left free to choose
what period of the year they can best be spared at home,
and for whom they will work, i.e. to suit themselves as
far as they can to the nature of their employment,
wages, treatment, &c. Any other arrangement seems
to me to partake of the nature of slavery, which is
surely repugnant to every English instinct."
These statements should be read in connection with
FORCED LABOUR
189
Clause 2 of the British South Africa Company's Charter:
" The Company shall to the best of its ability discourage,,
and, so far as may be practicable, abolish by degrees
any system of slave-trade or domestic servitude in the
territories aforesaid."
On the other hand, the Rev. J. Shimmin, the super¬
intendent of the Wesleyan mission in Matabililand, in
his observations on the present state of native affairs in
that country published in the B.S.A. Company's Report,
which has just been issued, says: "As a Christian
minister I should strongly deprecate the slightest
infringement of the liberties of any subject, but to
affirm that a veiled form of slavery is condoned by the
officials of the Chartered Company, is a travesty of terms
unworthy of reasonable men." It depends what idea
one has of slavery, or rather of domestic servitude. The
indenturing of the Becliuana rebels in the Cape Colony
is looked upon by many as a veiled form of slavery; by
others it is not; just as in Rhodesia some people agree
with Mr. Carnegie, but others—and I fancy the majority
—with Mr. Shimmin. In any case it is not desirable to
approach to it so nearly that there should be any dispute
about the matter, for it is, as Mr. Reed says, repugnant
to every British instinct.
Lord Grey dismisses the subject in an altogether
inadequate way. The hardships inflicted on the natives
arc too well substantiated to be dealt with so cavalierly.
" Although treated with great consideration by the
Government; although no taxes were levied; and
190 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
although every precaution was taken to prevent har¬
assing and unnecessary interference by the white
settlers, the fact remained that a warlike and hitherto
unconquered people were daily reminded that they, the
former lords of the earth, were now expected to wear
the livery of inferiority, and to -perform industrial duties
which formerly they had exacted from their slaves."
That they were compelled to perform these indus¬
trial duties was in direct breach of the charter, whereas
any one reading Lord Grey's Report would imagine that
the compulsion to labour was perfectly legitimate, and
the discontent of the Matabili a consequence that could
not be avoided.
How different a view was held by the late Earl Grey.
" Throughout this part of the British dominions," he
wrote in 1880, " the coloured people are generally looked
upon by the whites as an inferior race, whose interests
ought to be systematically disregarded when they come
into competition with their own, and who ought to be
governed mainly with a view to the advantage of the
superior race. And for this advantage two things are
considered to be especially necessary : first, that facilities
should be afforded to the white colonists for obtaining
possession of land heretofore occupied by the native
tribes ; and secondly, that the Kaffir population should
be made to furnish as large and as cheap a supply of
labour as possible. . . . This desire for cheap labour,
and what has been well called ' the hunger for land'
O *
has led settlers of European descent to deal harshly
FORCED LABOUR
191
and unjustly with uncivilised tribes, not only in Africa,
but elsewhere. This fact must be borne in mind in
considering how the British dominions in South Africa
ought in future to be governed." (Nineteenth Century.)
But quite as strong an opinion against it is enter¬
tained by many people even in South Africa. The
Diamond Fields Advertiser, in a leading article upon
the Rev. John Mackenzie's criticism of the Chartered
Company in the Contemporary Review, speaks out
very plainly: " Mr. Mackenzie's observations regarding
forced labour in Rhodesia demand the most serious
consideration of both the home and the colonial public.
Most Rhodesian settlers who discuss the cause of the
recent rebellion—and who, for obvious and sufficient
reasons, are shy of divulging their names to the public—
say far stronger things concerning the labour system in
the new territory than ever Mr. Mackenzie has said. If
it be true that chiefs were fined, and even lashed, for fail¬
ing to produce such and such a number of ' boys' in so
many hours, it is imperative that the British Govern¬
ment—and still more, the British public—should know it.
Mr. Mackenzie says that this system of forced labour is
' opposed to the deepest purpose and the dearest wishes
of the British people.' Unhappily, experience both in
Africa and in Australia does not bear out this view. To
be candid with one another, do not most of us who have
come to the colonies from the mother-land undergo a
O
weakening of moral tibre as regards the treatment of
natives, as the influence of English ideas wanes ? If we
192 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
do, it is not surprising. The settler, aware of the vast
potentialities of the land with which he has cast in his
lot, his mind harassed, his energies confined owing to
the scarcity of labour, naturally looks with an eye of
longing upon the vast labour supplies which the native
tribes represent. Only the other day, Mr. George Albu,
speaking before the Mines Commission at the Rand,
hinted, not obliquely, at forced labour as a possible
expedient in the Transvaal. If once forced labour—
another name for slavery—be allowed in any province
of Africa under British over-lordship, depend upon it
the poison will work its way through all the States.
That it is a poison we strenuously insist; dividends are
admirable things in their way, and dividends let us have,
if we can possibly get them by fair means, but to get
dividends out of Africa at the expense of the great
moral idea which must be behind all our development
will be to take a most serious step towards our failure
and decadence."
The article urges that Mr. Mackenzie had formulated
a case which the Parliamentary Committee could not
dismiss without searching investigation, and that repre¬
sentative indunas from Rhodesia ought to be summoned
before it. No such investigation was made, and when I
was in Rhodesia both the people and the press were
clamouring for the recognised imposition of some form
of forced labour.
CHAPTER XV
Faulty Tactics of the Matabili—Their Failure to Invest
Bulawayo—Arrest and Detention op Gambo—Probable
inclusion of the Natal Labour Provisions in the pro¬
posed Native Code for Rhodesia.
The rising was to have begun all over Matabililand
on Saturday the 27th March, but it broke out pre¬
maturely on the 23rd, the preceding Tuesday. The
white men in the Filibusi district were massacred,
and the Matabili closed in around Bulawayo. From
that time, until the 25th April, there were continual
fights in the immediate neighbourhood of the town,
and had the natives possessed any loader of ordinary
military ability, they should have had no difficulty
in wiping out the whole of the white population of
Rhodesia. They had but to close the Tuli road to the
south—an easy matter—and the Bulawayo people,
having only a fortnight's provisions, and a very limited
supply of ammunition, would have had no choice but
to cut their way out—a desperate task in the face of
an overpowering enemy, and by a road winding through
continuous defiles. But instead of seizing the road,
they left it open, and only invested the town on the
other three sides, so that Colonel Plumer was able
194 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
to enter it without difficulty with, the hurriedly raised
Matabili Relief force. The Matabili are said to have
done this deliberately, in the hope that the white men
would clear out, and let them have the country once
more to themselves ; but it is also asserted, and with
more probability, that they intended to attack the
white people during their retreat through the Mangwe
Pass, when they would have had a fair chance of
destroying them at one blow. Whatever the motive
may have been, it proved to be a fatal error in tactics.
They could easily have shut off all access to the town,
for it is calculated that during the last days of the
fighting in its vicinity they could not have had less
than twenty-five thousand men in the field. Their
disorganisation was mainly due to a lucky chance.
Gambo, the head induna of the western district, one
of their most important men and a warrior of re¬
pute, would naturally have been in command, having
led an impi during the first Matabili war, but he
happened to be in Bulawayo at the time of the
premature outbreak in the Filibusi district. He had
been sent for to have the rinderpest regulations ex¬
plained to him, and when the news of the murders
arrived, Mr. Duncan, who was acting as administrator,
ordered him to be arrested, and retained him in custody
during the whole of the rising, his people in consequence
remaining steady all through it.
There is an interesting account in the first issue of
the Matabili Times, published on the 13th April 1894,
GAMBO
195
written with the cyclostyle, which was kindly given
to me by Mr Lowinger, the editor, which shows the
great authority held by Gambo in the country, and
how important a bearing his detention had upon the
issue of the rebellion : " Gambo, son-in-law of the
late king, Lo Bengula, and one of the last important
chiefs to surrender, came into camp on the 29th
March, attended by his indunas and followers. On
the following morning the administrator, Dr. Jameson,
received Gambo at an indaba, when Umlugulu, the
great dance-doctor Secombi, and other chiefs were
present. In reply to a question from Gambo, the
administrator said he would bo looked after by the
Company till such time as the land that he formerly
lived upon was cultivated and yielded crops. He was
allowed to take up his own land again, seeing there
were no old workings there, and that it would be futile
to prospect for gold. For the present they would all
be disarmed, but later on Gambo and his indunas
would be allowed arms for personal protection and
trading purposes. They would be afforded police pro¬
tection, and would have the same consideration shown
them as the white people had, and any complaint made
to the police would receive proper attention. Their
women would also be protected. Regarding the
' Amaholis,' which tribe were the slaves of the Mata-
bili, and since the outbreak, as Gambo asserted, were
becoming insubordinate, the administrator said that the
' Amaholis ' would still have to serve them as before,
196 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
but that if they refused there was to be no fighting,
but the grievances would have to be brought to the
notice of the police for redress."
Does not this show how natural it was for the
Abezansi—the young bloods of the Matabili—to be¬
come angry and sullen when they were called upon in
the way that Mr. Taylor has described, to work for two
months in the year, side by side with the Amaholis,
their former slaves ? " Brought by the native police,"
to use Mr. Taylor's own words, "before the native com¬
missioner, and handed over to a master to whom they
were registered for a specified term and wage." Natur¬
ally they felt that this was not in accordance with
Dr. Jameson's declaration to Gambo, and that faith had
not been kept with them. That in itself is enough to
induce any native tribe to rise; " two words " is what
they are never able to understand; they believe in their
rulers laying down a law, and adhering to it rigidly.
That the labour grievance was not an occasional
grievance, but one extending to a large number of
people is proved by a statement by Mr Taylor in the
Chartered Company's Report for the year 1894-1895,
that the total number of natives employed by Europeans
was over ten thousand. What made the matter worse
was that not only were the Matabili deprived of the ser¬
vices of the Amaholi—that, in spite of Dr. Jameson's
undertaking to the contrary, was unavoidable—but
they were themselves compelled to labour side by side
with them.
THE NATIVE CODE
197
At the Bulawayo festivities, Captain Lawley made
an important statement. " I think," he said, " that I am
betraying 110 State secrets when I tell you that a code
of laws, which has received the sanction of the High
Commissioner, is now in the hands of the Colonial
Secretary, which will, I hope, enable us to carry these
views into practical effect. It is a simple code, but it
will enable us, I hope, to wean the natives from a life
of indolence, disturbed occasionally by exhilarating out¬
bursts of war and plunder, to a life of regular habits,
and regular industry."
The provisions of this new code should be carefully
scanned to see whether any of its clauses can possibly
be twisted into sanctioning the imposition of what,
under another name, will be but a form of compulsory
labour.
In all probability the provisions of Natal Act 19 of
1891 will be adopted in the Rhodesian Code. Sir R.
Martin referred to them incidentally in his report, but
drew a marked distinction between such powers when
given to an old colony and to a new one, and I may
add the distinction is even greater when they are
given to a company, whose primary object is the
declaration of a dividend.
One of the officials of the Mozambique Company
in Beira told me that company was unable to develop
the country properly because the officials were per¬
petually being hampered by the foolish humanitarian
party in Lisbon. There, too, the inevitable conflict is
198 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
going on between the governing class, who look to the
interests of the whole community, and the commercial
class, who think mainly of their own. The same conflict
occurs in India in the indigo and tea districts between
the Indian civil servants and the planters.
Clause 3G of the Natal Act is to the following
effect: " The supreme chief has power to call upon all
natives to supply labour for public works, and for the
general needs of the Colony. This call or command
may be transmitted by any person authorised to do so,
and each native so called upon is bound to obey such
call, and render such service in person unless legally
released from such duty."
And Clause 39 declares that " the supreme chief,
in the exercise of the political powers which attach
to his office, has authority to punish by tine and im¬
prisonment, or by both, for disobedience to his orders
or disregard of his authority."
Although there may be 110 objection to the tem¬
porary imposition of compulsory labour for the needs
of a colony in time of famine or drought, it is a very
different matter if it is to be enforced regularly, and
if the men are to be employed, not by the State, but
to be handed over to the various companies for the
development of their mines and other properties. It
is difficult to understand on what grounds compulsory
labour of that kind could be defended.
Mr. Whitaker, whose father was for fifty years, on
and off, Premier and Attorney-General of New Zealand,
COMPULSORY LABOUR
199
referred thus to tlie New Zealand system in the evi¬
dence he gave before the Bulawayo Chamber of Mines:
" They (in New Zealand) adopted a system which I am
very much in favour of, and that was, that when they
conquered any portion of country, they gave the natives
back a certain amount of land, and never asked them
to work, but allowed them to live by themselves.
Isolation," he said, " has been to their advantage, and
that of the white man too, in that it has opened avoca¬
tions for a white population to settle in the country.
In New Zealand we have very few social evils, and
have no rows with the natives, and don't look upon
them as a factor in the community."
It is quite true that the Amaholis (not the Matabili)
were accustomed to work compulsorily for Lobengula,
but it is a very different thing having to turn out now
and again for some special purpose to being obliged to
work for fixed periods. It is the regularity of the
work that natives cannot stand. In Chitral exactly the
same difficulty was encountered. There the people
had always been accustomed to " begar" or forced
labour, but they objected strongly to being constrained
to go to and fro, day after day, from village to village.
" Are we to be made carriers of loads for all our
lives?" they said; "it were better to fight, and be
killed at once." The natives in Khodesia have exactly
the same feeling. In time they will learn the value
of money, just as the Chitralis are learning it, but
an enforced servitude is not the right way to teach
200 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
it to them: it will only delay the educating process
which is so much desired. And with regard to the
Matabili, it must be remembered that labour of any
kind is entirely opposed to their habits; that it will
take years before they can become resigned to it.
"Like all other branches of the Zulu race," says Sir
Richard Martin, " the men were averse to labour, which
they considered altogether derogatory. It was for them
to hunt and fight; the tilling of gardens and such
menial work fell to the lot of the women. Thus it
may be said that, previous to the arrival of the white
man in their country, the idea of work was altogether
foreign to them."
How strong an objection they feel to it may be
judged from the following telegram from Sir F. Car-
rington on 19tli September 1896: " Inderna's people
are reported by officer commanding to be unwilling to
surrender at Gwelo, saying they have plenty of corn,
and will not work in the mines."
I make no apology for dwelling at considerable
length upon this subject, for its importance cannot be
over-estimated; the more so, that the Colonial Office
seems disposed to accede to the Chartered Company's
proposals.
Speaking in the House of Commons on May 7, 1898,
Mr Chamberlain said, " The corvee existing in Matabili-
land was of this nature—that the natives against their
will were practically compelled to give a certain time of
the year to ordinary industrial labour. It was not the
THE NATIVE CODE
201
wliole of tlieir time, but I think it was for three
months in the year that the native chiefs had to furnish
a certain proportion of labour for the mines. . . .
When you say to a savage people, who have hitherto
found their chief employment, occupation, and profit
in war, ' You shall no longer go to war; tribal war is
forbidden,' you have to bring about some means by
which they may earn their living in place of it, and
you have to induce them, sooner or later, to adopt the
ordinary methods of earning a livelihood by the sweat
of their brow. But with a race of this kind, I doubt
very much if you can do it merely by preaching. I
think that something in the nature of inducement,
stimulus, or pressure is absolutely necessary if you are
to secure a result which is desirable in the interests of
humanity and civilisation." After that pronouncement
of opinion, it is to be hoped that the forthcoming
native code will be submitted to the keenest scrutiny
before it is definitely promulgated.1
1 Mr. Chamberlain will hardly venture to sanction the corvee if he
has reason to believe it is against the wish of the majority of the people
of Great Britain, and that it is so may be inferred from the opinion of
the Times upon forced labour, which may be taken as representing the
considered view of the nation. On September 13th, 1898, the Times
said in a leading article : " But as a matter of practice, what colonists
can be trusted to work a system of ' forced labour' among native
races ? It is a mere euphemism for slavery. And if there is one prin¬
ciple more than another which has lain at the root of British Impe¬
rialism it is the doctrine that wherever the British flag flies the slave
is free." For most people that will sum up the whole question.
CHAPTER XVI
Close of Matabili Rebellion—The Matabili Mounted Police
—Little likelihood of another Rising—Character of
the Mashona Rebellion—Attack upon the Families of
Mr. Bester and Mr. Botha at Enkledoorn—Relief of
the Abercorn Mine by Mr. Duncan's Patrol—The Ma-
shonas in reality a very intelligent race.
The people in Rhodesia were living in perfect ignor¬
ance that any rebellion was impending. There was no
armed force in the country, for Dr. Jameson had taken
all the white police with him except five, and Mr.
Duncan, who was acting as administrator, was obliged
to disband the native police at once, as they were
manifestly in sympathy with the rebels. The out¬
break came like a thunderclap. On Monday the 23rd
March 1896, Tom Maddox, a prospector, was killed in
the Filibusi district. He was very popular with the
natives, and had always treated them well, and that in
spite of it he should have been murdered was a sign
that the rising was going to be serious. All the
settlers in the Filibusi district collected together, and
orders were sent to them from Bulawayo to come in
there at once, while the Rhodesia Horse was promptly
called out.
At that time the only Imperial officer in Bulawayo
202
DEFENCE OF BULAWAYO
203
was Captain Nicholson of the 7th Hussars. After the
Jameson raid he had been sent up by the Imperial
Government to take over charge of the arms and
ammunition.
Fugitives began to pour into the town from all
directions, and the women and children were placed in
the club for safety. If the Matabili had attacked the
town at once they could easily have taken it, for
there were only about four hundred rifles in the whole
place. Fortunately there was no lack of ammunition.
The story of its defence is familiar to every one.
The difficulties the administration had to contend
with were very great. They had only these four
hundred rifles, and were afraid to render the town
defenceless with so large a force of natives in the
near neighbourhood. Yet they were obliged to send
out simultaneously a number of small relieving forces
to bring in the people from the outlying districts, and
they were also obliged to establish forts on the Tuli
road, for on the keeping of that open lay their whole
chance of relief. By the first of April the Matabili
had invested the other three sides of the town, and
constant engagements took place; the last fight in its
immediate vicinity being on the 25th April, when
Captain Macfarlane, formerly of the 9th Lancers, who
seems to have been the backbone of the defence, effec¬
tually crushed them at the Umguzi River. He had
only four men killed and live wounded, but he inflicted
terrible loss on the enemy, who twice charged right up
204 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
to the guns in the old heroic Matabili-Zulu style.
After the fight they melted away, and never held
together again. Numbers fled towards the Zambesi,
where they suffered terribly from fever and famine,
as well as from wild animals.
It is said that eighteen of them were killed by
lions in one night alone in the dense forest that lies
some fifty miles to the north of Gwelo.
The most probable explanation of the premature
outbreak of the rebellion is the uncontrollable irrita¬
tion produced by the shooting of the cattle. What¬
ever the cause may have been, the Matabili did not
become properly organised for several weeks after it
began. Their original idea was to attack Bulawayo
early in the morning, and then to sweep the country,
killing off the settlers one by one. Had they adhered
to this plan not a soul would have been left alive. As
it was, the settlers were able to get into laager not
only in Bulawayo, but in Gwelo, Mangwe, Tuli, and
Belingwe. The difficulties of the defence must not be
estimated from the actual fighting, or from the number
of men killed. The horses died wholesale from horse-
sickness and want of forage. There was great scarcity
of water, wells having to be sunk to procure it, and
very little food. At one time there were only eight
bags of meal left in the Government store, and a little
bully beef. There was considerable danger of famine—
all the food having to be brought up by the coach,
which might have been stopped at any time. The
DEFENCE OF BULAWAYO
205
cattle captured on the patrols were driven into the
town, and died there of rinderpest, and the stench was
fearful. Yet there was but little typhoid or other serious
illness, showing how exceedingly healthy Bulawayo is.
The chief trouble was from veldt sores, a kind of scurvy
brought on by the want of fresh meat and vegetables
the supply of which was altogether stopped.
The safety of Bulawayo being thus assured by the
efforts of the people themselves before help could be
sent to them, they began at once to take measures to
bring the country again into subjection. On May
11th, Colonel Napier was sent up the Salisbury road to
meet Mr. Rhodes, who was coming down with Colonel
Beal and the Salisbury relief column. Colonel Plumer
arrived in Bulawayo on the lotli with the Matabili
Relief force, and a day or two later Sir Richard Martin,
who had been sent out from England as Deputy of the
High Commissioner, and Commandant of the police.
Ten days afterwards, General Sir Frederick Carrington
arrived also, to assume general command of the opera¬
tions, bringing with him Colonel Baden-Powell as chief
of his staff. Earl Grey, the newly-appointed adminis¬
trator, had come into the town before that, on the 28th
April, and had relieved Mr. Duncan of his duties as
acting administrator. He had a narrow escape, for a
Matabili impi under the induna Babyan crossed the
road just before the coach in which he was came up,
and crossed it again at the same place immediately
after it had passed.
206 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Colonel Plumer was instructed to move along
the Guai River to attack the Matabili, who were said
to bo collected there in force. At the same time,
Colonel Paget, who was advancing up the Tuli road
with the 7tli Hussars, instead of going on straight
to Bulawayo, was sent with two squadrons through
the thickly populated Belingwe district to Victoria,
and thence to circle round through Gwelo ; Major
Ridley with another squadron coming straight on to
Bulawayo through Maklutsi and the Mangwe Pass.
Towards the end of the rising there was a severe
fight at Tliabas Imamba, about seventy miles to the
north of Bulawayo, at which Mr. Rhodes was present, and
after that the only part of Matabililand where the natives
were able to hold their own was in the Matoppo hills,
into which they had retreated. They were attacked
there simultaneously by General Carrington at the
Cantoor, and by Major Laing, of the Belingwe field
force, at the Nungweni Pass, ten miles farther to the
west. It was intended that the two forces should
join inside the hills, but neither was able to force
its way through, and both had to retire with con¬
siderable loss. On a subsequent occasion, at the
Nungweni Pass, when Captain Nicholson was in com¬
mand, if it had not been for the coolness with which
Captain Hoel Llewellyn worked the Maxim during
a Matabili onrush, the loss must again have been
considerable. A day or two later the Matabili were
attacked at Umlugulu, where there proved to be some
FIGHT IN THE MATOPPOS
207
awkward caves. Major Kershaw was killed, and several
of tlie men, and once more the Matabili remained
masters of the situation.
The whole of the country to the southward and
eastward had, however, been brought under control, the
natives retreating cither into the Matoppos, or right away
to the Zambesi. The only chiefs who attempted any
resistance were Wedza, whose kraal is near Belingwe,
and Uwini, whose kraal is about twenty miles from
Gwelo. Wedza capitulated, and is still living at his
kraal, but U wini was taken prisoner, and, though badly
wounded, was tried summarily by court-martial and
shot as a rebel. By order of the High Commissioner,
Colonel Baden-Powell, who confirmed the death sen¬
tence, was himself tried by court-martial and was
acquitted.
Lord Grey in his report makes the following
reference to the capture of these kraals: " They " (the
Hussars) "did valuable service in blowing up the strong¬
holds of Monogola and of Wedza, a notoriously bad
character; and they demonstrated the power of the
Queen in a way that admitted of no doubt, to a large
and important district, by the capture and execution of
Uwini, whose death has had a most salutary influence
in the pacification of the country. The fact that Uwini
and Wedza had successfully withstood the raids of
Lobengula, had caused the Matabili on this occasion to
take refuge in their fastnesses, and then consider them¬
selves in safety/'
208 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
But many people in Rhodesia think that Uwini
was treated with unnecessary harshness; that he was
not in any way more guilty than the other rebel
chiefs who were not shot when taken prisoner, and that
as a brave opponent, who had been badly wounded
in a gallant attempt to resist a vastly superior force,
he might well have been accorded different treat¬
ment. Lord Rosmead felt constrained by what had
happened to remind all military officers in Rhodesia
that martial law had not been proclaimed there, and
that prisoners ought to be handed over to the civil
authorities.
The reduction of the Matoppos would have been
long and difficult task, and opinions are divided as
to the advisability of what was done. Most of the
military men seem to think that it would have
been wiser to have gone on until the Matabili were
brought to their knees, and sued for peace. Instead
of that Mr. Rhodes, at great personal risk, held his
famous meetings or indabas, and arranged terms
which at the time were a financial necessity, for
the Chartered Company could not have borne the
expense of the war much longer; nor would it
have been possible to have got up provisions, as the
rains were beginning. What Mr. Rhodes did seems
therefore to have been the wisest course which could
have been adopted. Still, as it is, the natives think
that it was not they, but we, who asked that hostili¬
ties should cease. Their pride has not been humbled,
MATIBILILAND POLICE
209
and it is by no means unlikely tliat some day they may
again be tempted to try conclusions with us. Mr. Car¬
negie, in the weighty statement which Sir Richard
Martin has appended to his report — a statement
the whole of which should be read and re-read—
makes this remark: " As to the position of the Mata-
bili nation in the country at the present moment, let
me say that under Lobengula there were two factions,
one representing the old warriors, and the other the
young bloods. From all I can gather to-day these
two parties still exist in the land; the one in the
Matoppo hills, and the other in the bushy country
in the north-west. Nyamande represents the younger
men of the tribe, and he, being the son of Lobengula,
and one of the Insukumini, would in their estimation
be most likely a fit and proper person to be made
king. Usipampamu, who some months ago crossed
the Zambesi, may have a few followers, though I
hear the Barotzc have driven him back in two battles.
But the nation as such is divided into two factions
—the one under Umlugulu and Ufisela, among the
Matoppo hills, and the other under Umtini, Bugwele,
and the others in the bushy country. The final stand
will most likely be made among the Matoppo hills."
If they should rise again, it will be a much easier
matter to subdue them, for a chain of forts connected
by the telephone has been built outside the Matoppos,
so that they can be effectually prevented from breaking
out; and, what is more to the purpose, Sir Ilicliard
0
210 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Martin and Captain Nicholson have got the Matabililand
Police into thoroughly good order, and have converted
what was a very scratch corps indeed into a smart and
well-disciplined body of men. There is no native
contingent in Matabililand as in Mashonaland, but a
rather larger force of white police, consisting of six
hundred troopers and twenty-one officers. Two hun¬
dred are stationed in the Bulawayo depot, and the rest
in the forts, of which there are twenty-nine, scattered
about all over the country. They have seventeen
machine-guns, and six field-guns, so they should have
no difficulty in crushing any incipient rebellion before
it has had time to gather force.
The natives have been partially disarmed, and a
Disarmament Act has come into force by which it has
been made illegal for any of them to possess arms with¬
out leave from the administrator; and the Chartered
Company are resolved to enforce this law strictly. It
is a similar law, only not nearly so stringent, as the
Arms Act in force on the Indian frontier, and is abso¬
lutely necessary for the safety of the country. More¬
over, the settlers are now on the alert and will not be
taken by surprise as they were before.
An excellent system has also been initiated by Sir
Richard Martin, by which a prospector if he wants
a rifle can obtain it on the recommendation of the
administrator. With it he is given the name of the
fort in the district to which he is attached. Each of
these forts is stocked with provisions for a couple of
POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER KISINO 211
months, as well as with spare arms and ammunition;
and should any disturbance occur in the district, the
prospector becomes at once a member of the garrison,
and is entitled both to ammunition and to rations.
Naturally, there is still a good deal of hesitation about
venturing out to prospect, and wild rumours are con¬
stantly afloat, but Captain Nicholson declares that the
natives are absolutely under control. Up to the present
they have abided loyally by the terms of the agreement
made with them, and have not fired a shot since the
day on which they agreed to give in, or to sit down, to
use their own expressive phrase.
Too great a dependence must not be placed upon
native declarations, but they say themselves that they
understand now that they are not a match for the
white men. Mr. Rhodes asked one of their indunas if
they had really thought they had any chance of suc¬
ceeding. "Yes," he said, "we felt sure we could beat
you, but we know now that we could no more beat you
than we can lick our elbows." After he had gone, Mr.
Rhodes and those who were with him tried to lick their
elbows, but found it an impossibility.
In spite of the financial difficulties in which the
rebellion involved them, the Chartered Company,
when they found the natives in a starving con¬
dition, supplied them with food amounting to a
weight of over five million pounds (two thousand
five hundred tons), the transport cost of which from
the railway base could certainly not have been less
212 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
than £100 per ton. That is to say, they have ex¬
pended on their rebellious subjects, at a time of great
financial difficulty, at least £250,000. It fully justi¬
fies Father Daignault's comment, " I must add that
the action of the Company in supplying the natives
with seed and food, and trying to find employment for
them, after they caused the Company such a loss of
life, money, and property, is highly creditable, and I
cannot instance a similar case of equal generosity."
This clemency has had the best possible effect;
and another great factor that makes for peace is the
railway. The natives are fully aware of its importance,
one of them having been heard to say, " What is the
good of fighting against the white men ? the oxen are
all dead from rinderpest, but they can make their
waggons run without oxen."
But by far the most effectual guarantee for peace
will be the firm but just rule which there is every
reason to hope is being instituted. Of Judge Vintcent
and his work there is but one opinion. Mr Milton,
who rules in Salisbury, has an admirable record in
South Africa ; and Captain Lawley, the deputy-adminis¬
trator in Matabililand, although he has won the en¬
thusiastic confidence of the settlers, is determined that
fair treatment shall also be accorded to the natives.
Let us hope that the words he spoke at the Bulawayo
banquet will in time come true—he may be depended
upon to do his utmost to bring about their fulfilment:
" It was a tide of commercial activity and commercial
THE RISING IN MASHONALAND 213
enterprise, but it was a tide whicli bore upon its bosom
the healing influences of Christianity and civilisation,
and would in the end do much to diminish the sum of
human suffering and of human sin."
That is as it should be, but vastly different methods
of evangelisation will have to be employed in the future
to those which have been adopted in the past.
The Mashonaland rising began on the 18tli June,
when the Matabili rebellion was practically over; so
both Imperial troops and volunteers were sent up
from Bulawayo to assist in quelling it; Colonel Alder-
son, with the mounted infantry, coming out direct from
England.
The rebellion was never really serious, and soon
resolved itself into a gradual reduction one by one of
the different chiefs, who had no cohesion, and did not
co-operate in any way with each other. Like the
rising in Matabililand it was full, however, of gallant
incidents of individual pluck.
Most of them have already been recounted in the
Chartered Company's Report, but one, not contained in
it, is, I think, worth relating, as it gives a vivid idea of
the horrors entailed by a native rebellion.
A Mr. Bester, a Dutchman, had a farm about
twenty miles from Enkledoorn, and was living there
with his wife, his children, and his aged mother. They
were attacked suddenly, and Bester was shot in the
shoulder. He managed to crawl into the house, where
he fainted from loss of blood. A white man who was
214 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
helping him with the farm was assegaiecl, and killed
before he could reach shelter. The two ladies barri¬
caded the doors and windows, and kept off the natives
with the help of Mr. Bester's three daughters, the
eldest of whom was under sixteen. Early the next
morning Mr Botha, his wife, and two daughters arrived.
His house had been attacked also, and his son killed,
and he and the rest of his family had escaped by
night, walking more than fifteen miles. Mercifully
the natives hardly ever move from their kraals at
night, so they had been able to get away unobserved.
That afternoon the attack upon the two families was
renewed, and young Mrs. Bester was killed. Mr. Botha
was sick and unable to move, and Mr. Bester was
hors de combat with his wound; so Mrs. Botha and old
Mrs. Bester had again to conduct the whole of the
defence, and of the subsequent retreat. As soon as it
grew dark, they made their way on foot to Enkledoorn,
reaching it a little before daybreak. I heard the story
from several transport riders, but they were not quite
sure of the details, for which I am indebted to Dr.
Wiener, who was in Enkledoorn at the time (it was in
June 1896). He attended Mr. Bester for the wound in
his shoulder, and succeeded in pulling him through.
The relief, too, of the Abercorn mine, by a volun¬
teer force commanded by Mr. Duncan, was a very fine
piece of work. Captain de Moleyns told me it was
one of the finest during the whole of the Mashona
rebellion. When Lord Grey arrived in Bulawayo, Mr.
THE ABERCORN PATROL
215
Duncan handed over charge to him, and, as soon as it
was at all safe, started for Salisbury. He and his com¬
panion, a Mr. De Preez, rode in one night from Charter,
a distance of sixty-four miles. They left on Thursday
afternoon at five o'clock, and arrived the following
morning at seven. News came on the Saturday that
the Abercorn people were in danger, and Duncan
hastily got sixty men together, and started off the
same evening to relieve them. The Abercorn is fully
seventy miles from Salisbury, and they had intermit¬
tent fighting all the way, and did not reach it till the
Monday morning, when they found seven white men
in the last stage of exhaustion. They had been be¬
sieged for twenty-three days by the Mashonas, who had
built a circle of stone barricades around the store. One
man, who had attempted to parley with them, had been
killed, and three had been wounded. They had plenty
of food, but were hard put to it for water, being obliged
to drink gin and lime-juice. They had suffered terribly,
too, from the extremes of heat and cold, one of them
dying of pneumonia soon after they were relieved. They
had made a laager of provision cases, and of sacks
of flour piled breast-high, but unprotected at the top,
and had connected it by a passage with the store,
which consisted of the usual thatched wattle-and-daub
hut. The patrol started with only a bully-beef tin and
a few biscuits, which each man carried in his wallet;
so they were glad to find plenty of food at the store.
They remained there that night, and on the following
216 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
morning made a detour to avoid tlie Mashonas, in case
they should have blocked the road along which they
had come. To do this, they had to cut a path for
twelve miles through the bush for the ambulance
waggon and the Maxim. Jack Rowland, one of the
rescued men, died that night, the funeral service being
read by the Jesuit missionary, Father Biehler, who
had pluckily accompanied the patrol, and who, indeed,
accompanied most of the important patrols all through
the rising. They got back to Salisbury on Friday
without any casualties ; but it was fortunate they made
a detour, for it was found afterwards that the direct road
had been barricaded behind them immediately after
they had passed. Great holes, twenty feet in length
and twelve feet in width, had been dug in it, and
covered with branches and earth, so that a hostile
force coming along the road at night might fall into
them, like elephants into Mashona game-traps. Cover¬
ing barricades had also been built on the side of the
hills, so that it would have been impossible for any but
a very strong force to cut its way through.
The Mashonas are not as brave as the Matabili, but
they have a far better idea of fortification; and the
way in which their kraals are defended shows a high
order of intelligence, which it is to be hoped will be
turned to advantage when peace is restored.
It is the custom now to run them down, to
deride them as a base and degraded race, but that
was not the opinion formed by travellers who visited
MASHONA IRON-WORKERS.
THE MASHONA CHARACTER
217
Maslionaland before we took possession of it. I have
already quoted what Colonel Wood thought' of them,
and Baines formed an equally appreciative estimate of
their character. " All hunters and traders," he writes,
" who have had intercourse with the Mashonas agree
in describing them as a friendly, peaceable, industrious,
and ingenious people. They make fine iron from mag¬
netic iron ore, grow cotton, construct rude textile
fabrics, and in many of these particulars are entirely
in advance of the surrounding tribes."
What they require is a firm but just rule—to be
treated as children who have to be taught, but who
require encouragement as well as severity to make
them learn, and, above all things, justice.
When dealing, too, with these native tribes, we
must not expect rapid results. Mr. Ritter, the magis¬
trate of the New Hanover division of Natal, in his
report of 1897, brings this out very forcibly: "The
progress of any race towards civilisation in one year
(if there is no retrogression) must bo imperceptibly
small. The races now occupying Europe required about
2000 years to rise from barbarism to their present
status, and even superior races did not progress steadily,
but had periods of relapsing. A nation advances simi¬
larly to a man ascending to the summit of a mountain.
He cannot go up in a straight line, but he occasionally
has to descend into a valley and then to go up again.
One thing is certain. Teaching will not convert a savage
into a civilised being. We can improve a very common
218 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
fruit-tree by grafting at once; but to breed race-horses
from common stock requires very many generations.
Every nation has to go through the bitter-sweet school
of life, like the individual, but what to the latter is a
year, to the former is a century. . . . Taken all in
all, the natives have many sterling qualities, and the
vigour of a youthful nation. They would occasionally
like to peg out a witch over an ant-heap, but I am
sorry to say my ancestors have burnt a witch as late
as the eighteenth century." We are apt to expect too
much from the natives, and, if they do not always keep
up to our standard, to grow impatient and out of
temper with them, which is a fatal mistake.
They require firm and indeed rather severe treat¬
ment, but treatment which they can understand. The
one thing that unsettles them altogether is vacillation.
If they have been told that a certain punishment will
be inflicted it ought to be inflicted, even though to
western ideas it may seem unduly harsh. They do
not resent severity in the least—they respect it; but
they resent injustice, and above all things they dislike
suspense. Let punishment be swift and certain, and
not be kept dangling over their heads indefinitely.
CHAPTER XVII
The B.S.A. Company's Police : in Mashonaland and in Mata-
bililand — Excellent System initiated by Captain
Nicholson.
A number of letters have recently appeared in the
papers declaring that the Chartered Company's police
are badly fed, badly clothed, badly paid, and in general
badly treated. In Mashonaland they have certainly
had a hard time, but to a great extent it was unavoid¬
able. The rinderpest entailed great difficulties of
transport, and as the patrols were obliged to move
quickly, they could take but little with them in the
shape either of food or of clothing. They had no tents,
only a waterproof sheet, and had to camp for days
together in heavy rain. Naturally they got fever, and
many of them died, and others have been crippled
for life. Still that is incidental to the nature of their
service. When the French took Madagascar, they lost
an immense number of men through fever and disease.
In the opening up of any new tropical country there
must always be a terrible mortality from sickness.
Where the Company have been seriously to blame, is
in not sending a doctor out with each of the principal
patrols. On many of them not only was there no
219
220 RHODESTA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
doctor, but there was no medicine chest, or proper
surgical instruments. I know that on one of the most
important patrols all that the officer in command had
with him was a small case of fever medicines, with
which he did what he could. The kit was shockingly
bad, and no provision was made for the men's health
and comfort when they were in camp. The pay, too,
for a country like Mashonaland, is exceedingly small;
for troopers it is only five shillings a day, of which one
shilling is deferred pay. After the first year's service
they are given an extra sixpence a day, and on re¬
engaging after two years an extra shilling, but with the
scale of prices prevailing in Mashonland an extra six¬
pence is worth nothing at all. Indeed, a sixpence is
a comparatively rare coin, a shilling being the usual
standard of value; so much so that in most of the
wayside stores, if the price of anything contains a six¬
pence, it is almost always tossed for to make it even
money. A threepenny-bit is rarer still, and pennies are
unknown. I bought some stamps at the post-office in
Umtali, and when the clerk gave me my change in five
penny stamps I asked him to let me have two pennies
and a threepenny-bit; he laughed—"We don't have
pennies here," he said ; " and I have hardly seen a tickic
(threepenny-bit) since I have been in the country."
I fancy this scarcity of small coin is due to the
difficulty the banks have of getting up bullion, but the
country will always be an expensive one till a smaller
standard of value is introduced.
THE BHOBESIAN POLICE
221
What has especially irritated the police is, that
they, being enlisted in England, and knowing nothing
about the country, were only paid five shillings a day
during the rising, whilst the volunteers enlisted in
Rhodesia were paid ten shillings. Five shillings a day
is only £7 a month, and when one considers the wages
paid to men in other occupations, it is not surprising
that the police are discontented, and that few of them
re-enlist at the expiration of their service. There are
many natives who get quite as good or even better pay,
and a clerk in a store gets about four or five times as
much, from £25 to £30 a month.
The men complain especially that in the letter of
introduction to Sir Richard Martin given to each man
when he is enlisted, there is a clause which is really
a great hardship, when the unhealthy nature of the
country between Beira and Umtali is considered.
It runs thus : " He (Sir Richard Martin) has been in¬
formed that all recruits enrolled in England are liable
to be again medically inspected on arrival at Salisbury,
and that if then rejected for any cause, they may be
discharged without further claim, other than the £15,
that has to be handed to them on their arrival at Cape
Town or Durban, as specified in the particulars." (I
am told, however, that instead of being given this £15,
the men's expenses are now paid for them to Salisbury
or Bulawayo, as the case may be.) They complain
that if taken into the hospital at Umtali on their
way from Beira, before the final medical inspection
222
RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
at Salisbury, they are made to pay tlieir own expenses
whilst there, by virtue of this clause. Another pro¬
vision which presses hardly upon them is, that if they
are discharged in Salisbury or Bulawayo they are not
assisted back to the place where they may have been
enlisted. It is like asking a time-expired man to find
his way back from India. The agreement entered into
with the men is silent on this point, so legally they
have no claim on the Company, but considering the
splendid work they have done, and the terrible hard¬
ships they have been called upon to endure, they
might surely be treated a little more liberally. They
feel very bitter about it, because the whole of their
deferred pay is, they say, used up in getting out of the
country.
An efficient police is above all things a necessity
for Rhodesia, because, until a greater sense of security
prevails, the country cannot be developed, nor will
capital be attracted to it. For a man with colonial
experience, it is by no means a bad thing to go for a
while into the police—he has an opportunity to look
around him and learn the local conditions ; but it is
foolish for educated men to come out direct from Eng¬
land. They can save nothing from their pay, and if they
fall ill, as they are more than likely to do, before final
enlistment at Salisbury, they will bo about £30 out of
pocket, and with no means of getting home. Can one
wonder that there are continual reports that the men
arc in a semi-mutinous condition ?
THE RHODESIAN POLICE
22?,
In Matabililand the conditions are vastly better ;
the country is healthier, and the police have not had
the same rough work as in Mashonaland. The cost of
living is materially less, and a trooper can save some¬
thing substantial out of his pay. The class of men is,
however, changing rapidly in character ; fewer gentle¬
men are enlisting, though I am not sure that this is
to be regretted, for steady, well-educated men of the
artisan class make more trustworthy police than public
schoolboys and University men, who are excellent for
a campaign, when employed to do purely military work,
but who cannot stand the monotonous work of a
civilian police force, which is what the Matabililand
police is rapidly becoming.
The curse of the country is drink. The conditions
of life, as well as the climate, favour it, but until it is
checked the high rate of mortality (which is generally
erroneously attributed to fever) will continue. Father
Daignault, of the Jesuit mission, who has a wide
experience, said in the evidence he gave before the
Chamber of Mines, " Yes, I have known many cases of
sickness and death brought on through excess in
drinking. If we compare the population of Bulawayo
with that of other countries in respect to intemperance,
I think we are as low as we can afford to be."
If the men can keep from drink, they can in Mata¬
bililand save a fair amount, and when they obtain
their discharge ought to have from £30 to £40 in
hand with which to start prospecting. For a working
224 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
man, or for the kind of man who becomes a policeman
at home, that is a handsome sum, but it is not a suffi¬
cient inducement for the men of good family who, up
to the present, have been chiefly enlisted. Many of
them are failures, who have drifted out with an in¬
troduction to Mr. Rhodes as their only stand-by, and
been drafted into the police as a matter of course, and
it is mostly they who have done the grumbling. It is
related that one of them went to Mr. Rhodes, and said
he expected to be something better than a mere trooper.
" What did you expect ?" said Mr. Rhodes; " to be a
captain or a major ?" " Well, I thought I should be a
major," was the reply. " Very well," said Mr. Rhodes, " I
will raise a troop of majors, and make you one of them."
There have been more than enough of this kind of
men in the Rhodesian police, but there have also been
plenty of boys of good family, who have gone out
thinking they were going to a fair opening in a new
country, and were quite unsuited by the influences of
their birth and education for the rough life and coarse
companionship, unusually rough even for a colony,
which they have been obliged to endure. Those who
have survived have come splendidly out of the terrible
ordeal of fighting and exposure into which they were
pitchforked immediately on their arrival, but if the
nature of their service wore understood in England,
fewer men of this stamp would enlist : the recruits
would come mainly from the flotsam and jetsam of
South Africa.
MATABILILAND POLICE
225
Matabililand, as I have said, is more advanced
than Mashonaland, and the police there have more
comfort and less exposure, and consequently do not
feci the same amount of dissatisfaction. This is proved
by the fact that out of a total of six hundred men
over three hundred have re-enlisted, and that last year
there were only three desertions and three courts-
martial. The savings-bank has done much to diminish
crime by diminishing drink. Captain Nicholson started
it about a year ago, and more than three hundred of
the men have already become depositors, the total
amount deposited from November 1896 to October
1897 being £5305 ; the amount to stand to a deposi¬
tor's credit being strictly limited to £100. I went over
the barracks at Bulawayo, and found a good billiard-
room, a library, a well-managed canteen and a store, all
run by the men themselves, and various other arrange¬
ments for their comfort. There is nothing of the sort
as yet in Salisbury, where the work of suppressing the
rising has absorbed all the energies both of the officers
and of the men.
If properly encouraged the police might become an
exceedingly powerful, colonising factor. At the end
of their two years' service they should have acquired
some knowledge both of the natives and of the lan¬
guage, which, with the little money they should have
saved, would enable them to go out and prospect in a
way that men new to the country cannot do. More
than that, if they keep their eyes open, they will be
p
226 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
able wlien on their patrols to judge which places have
the best prospects to offer. What Captain Nicholson
is trying to do, and what he has largely succeeded in
doing, is to make the force a training-school of this
kind. But for this purpose a particular stamp of man
is required—of rather greater intelligence than the
ordinary soldier, and able to take up a responsible
position, as they will constantly be stationed in outposts
without an officer, or sent on a patrol with possibly
only one companion. Either this class of men ought
to be exclusively recruited, or the pay should be in¬
creased, and the admissions confined to a higher class
of men altogether, so as to produce a crack corps like
the Cape or Natal Mounted Police. (Their pay may
not be higher, but the cost of living is much less.)
Rhodesia is too new for that, but more stability of
character in the men enlisted should be looked for:
when savages have to be dealt with, that is of the
utmost importance, especially where, as in Matabililand,
the country is practically under police control. The
Imperial authorities, I should add, are doing what they
can to second Captain Nicholson's efforts to make the
force a colonising factor, the Colonial Office having
allotted a certain number of trooperships to the Colo¬
nial College at Hollesley Bay in Suffolk.
General Sir Arthur Cunyngliame's account of the
Kaffraria police in 1876 shows how difficult it is even
for a long-established colony, like the Cape, to main¬
tain police in a state of efficiency, and one should
MATABILILAND POLICE
227
not bo too critical in judging their shortcomings in
Rhodesia. I have adverted to them because they
have been much commented upon of late; but what
was wrong is being gradually remedied in Mashona-
land as well as in Matabililand. Captain Nicholson's
administrative work cannot be too highly praised, the
more so when the circumstances under which it has
been done are borne in mind. The force was raised
temporarily in July 1896, but was not definitely orga¬
nised until November of that year. Fighting was still
going on, and owing to the ever-present transport
difficulty it was hard work to establish anything like
system; but in spite of everything bcin^ against him,
and of the difficulty of obtaining suitable recruits, he
has succeeded in creating a smart, well-disciplined, and
trustworthy force.
The men in Mashonaland have shown what mettle
they are made of, and now that the rebellion there is
over, it is to be hoped that they will be looked after in
the same way that their fellow-troopers are in Mata¬
bililand.
What Sir Arthur Cunynghame says about the
Kafi'raria police is worth recalling: " The frontier
armed and mounted police, as they are distinctively
called, are a special body, which was originally formed
by Sir George Cathcart, when Governor of the Cape,
at the termination of the war in 1852. . . . As years
rolled on, the Afrikander farmers' sons would no longer
o
enter the service. Other fields of labour presented
228 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
themselves of a much more lucrative character, such
as diamond and gold digging and transport riding
(which means accompanying waggons to distant parts
of the colony with merchants' goods). It became
requisite to obtain young men from England. The
selection was left to the Colonial Agent, possibly a
clever man for civil duties, but not at all acquainted
with military ones, having no special knowledge of our
profession. He appears to have represented that the
lowest standard of pay in this force was from five to
six shillings a day per man, so that he had no diffi¬
culty in obtaining recruits. The men, however, found
on their arrival that deductions from this pay were
made for the purchase of horses and accoutrements,
their own keep, that of their horses, and other ex¬
traneous expenses. They came to the conclusion,
therefore, that they had been deceived, and said (with
truth) that they were infinitely worse off than the
British soldier, for whom all these extras were provided
by the Government."
I have quoted this passage to show, what I have
endeavoured to show all through my account of
Rhodesia, that the purely administrative, as distin¬
guished from the 'political mistakes, which the Char¬
tered Company have made, have been made before
both by the Imperial and by the Colonial Governments
on almost every occasion on which fresh territory has
been annexed. There is no reason why they should
continue to be made; but the Chartered Company
RHODESIAN POLICE
229
cannot in fairness bo blamed for failing to attain, at a
time of exceptional trial and stress, to a higher stan¬
dard than that of which those Governments have
hitherto shown themselves capable. Moreover, the
Chartered Company, and Mr. Rhodes personally, have
behaved with infinitely greater liberality than the
Imperial Government has been wont to do under
similar circumstances. Mr. Rhodes' generosity has
been very great.
CHAPTER XVIII
Treatment of the Natives prior to the Rebellion—
Advisability of a General Amnesty.
What was done to tlic natives during and after the
rebellion, when the blood of the colonists was inflamed
almost to madness by the brutal murder of their com¬
rades, is intelligible, and to a certain extent excusable,
but there can be no excuse for the treatment accorded
to them before it broke out. It forced the Matabili
into insurrection, and converted the Maslionas from a
people who welcomed us as deliverers from Matabili
oppression into a people who have dared death in its
most abhorrent form in the hope of shaking off our
rule; it demands therefore the strictest and most
impartial investigation. Only a Government inquiry,
conducted with full protection to those who are will¬
ing to give evidence, can elicit the truth of the many
terrible stories with which the country is reeking; of
things done for which no condemnation can be too
vehement.
The men to whom the guardianship of the natives
was especially entrusted were the native commis¬
sioners ; some have proved worthy of their trust, but
230
TREATMENT OF THR MASH ON AS 231
many have not. They have treated the natives
harshly and with gross injustice, and are mainly respon¬
sible for the rebellion and for the brutal ferocity which
was one of its saddest features.
" Sir Richard Martin," says Lord Grey, " condemns
the administration for not exercising more care in the
selection of the native commissioners, some of whom,
he states, were too young and inexperienced, and were
not calculated to inspire the natives with respect.
This unqualified condemnation I resent as a slur most
undeservedly cast upon the officials, who, as a class,
have, under difficult circumstances, done their duty to
the administration."
That Lord Grey should defend his officials is only
what he is bound to do as head of the Chartered Com¬
pany's administration, but is the view he takes of their
conduct borne out by a scrutiny of the facts ?
The Rev. John White, one of the Wesleyan mis¬
sionaries in Mashonaland, wrote a forcible letter which
appeared in the Methodist Times in January 1897, which
I give in full, as it does not appear in the blue-
book. From beginning to end it is worthy of the
most careful consideration. I regret that I was not
able to meet Mr. White when I was in Rhodesia.
He was away at the time in one of the mission
stations, but he has since returned to England, and
has kindly given me permission to insert his letter
here. So far as I am able to judge, every word of
it is justified.
232
RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
THE CAUSE OF THE MASIIONA REBELLION.
To the Editor of the " Methodist Times."
" Dear Sir,—As most of your readers arc aware,
for the last three months the settlers in Northern
Rhodesia have been engaged in a desperate and bloody
struggle with the natives of this country. Already
about two hundred lives have been lost, two-thirds of
which have been cruelly murdered. Irrespective of
opinions or position, we have fought together to pre¬
serve our own, and the lives of the helpless women
and children in our midst.
" Now that the back of the rebellion has been broken,
and the probability of settlement seems nearer, we are
better able to give a dispassionate opinion of the affair.
Until the present I for one have refrained from ex¬
pressing myself publicly on the question. I waited to
hear what would be assigned as the cause of the
rebellion. What would the press of the country say ?
Would the British South Africa Company see and
honestly confess its mistake ? Would means be at
once adopted to remedy the evil ? The local press
has now spoken. It declares the natives have been
treated in the past with too much clemency. The
influence of the ' Exeter Hall Negrophilists ' has been
most severely deprecated. An imaginary contention
that cruelty to the natives by whites had anything to
do with the rising has been described as a ' cruel,
TREATMENT OF THE MASHONAS 233
cowardly, and wicked lie.' Now, sir, I presume many
of these papers find their way to England ; that they
are read by the British public, and may do something
to influence opinion on this matter. Their contention
challenges a counter-verdict—they compel us, even
though reluctantly, to state the truth as we also
believe it. Since I have lived two and a half years in
this country, and am now spending the whole of my
time amongst the natives, I will be exonerated from
any charge of presumption when I declare I know a
little about those unfortunate people and their affairs.
What Caused the Mashonas to Revolt.
"I. The Maladministration of Native Affairs.—In
every large district a native commissioner is appointed,
who acts as Government representative to the natives.
His duties are to administer justice, settle disputes,
collect hut-tax, and in a general way look after their
affairs. These commissioners are controlled by the
Chief Native Commissioner, who resides at Salisbury.
Some of these men have acted fairly and justly to the
Mashonas; others, again, have proved themselves
utterly unworthy of their position. Their attitude
towards the great social question of this country has
been such as to destroy in the native's mind that
respect that he should have for the new-comer. Many
of them have purchased, according to native law,
women whom they keep as mistresses. Provided it
234 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
were contended that these women do not regard their
position as an unkindly one at present, we want to
know what will become of them in the future. Many
of these men will only remain hero for a short time,
when, in all probability, they will cast these unfortunate
women and their children adrift. The effects of this
upon the natives have been anything but good. But
worse than this, in one case at least this has been
carried to a criminal extreme. Last year an instance
was reported to me in which one of these officials used
the influence of his position to obtain a girl for immoral
purposes. By means of threats of punishment he
compelled the chief to give him his own daughter. I
brought the matter to the notice of the Administrator,
and the accused was found guilty of the charge. He
shortly after left the country; yet so trivial seemed the
offence that within nine months he was back again,
and held an official position in the force raised to
punish the rebels.
" In the same district (Lo Magundi's) another glaring
act of official injustice and cruelty was committed in
1894. A policeman named Cooper was murdered by a
large chief (Mazimba Guba) who lived in the extreme
north of the district. Under the Sub-Inspector of
Police a force was sent out to punish the murderer or
murderers. At that time Rev. G. H. Eva was in charge
of the Wesley an mission station some thirty miles
south of the place. One Sunday, shortly after the
murder had been committed, this force arrived at his
TREATMENT OF THE MASHONAS 235
station just as ho was concluding the service. Accord¬
ing to previous arrangement, a number of the sur¬
rounding chiefs and their people had gathered there
for the day. The officer in charge ordered the chiefs
to be arrested, seven in number. Without in any way
fastening them, they were told that if they attempted
to run away they would be shot. They then moved
on. About five minutes later Mr. Eva heard a shot,
and ran to see what was the matter. He found only
three of the chiefs were with the force ; three had been
shot, and one had escaped. The officer, by way of
explaining, said, ' Your indunas (chiefs) have run
away. I am very sorry for what has happened.' Mr.
Eva declares, ' I am prepared to swear on oath that
these chiefs were absolutely innocent of the policeman's
death; indeed, they were at the time totally ignorant
of its occurrence, and did not know of it until I told
them.' Thus, on the pretext of their attempting to
run away, these three innocent chiefs lost their lives.
Although this case was reported to the Government,
nothing was done in the matter. Very often, too,
great injustices have been done to the natives in the
way the hut-tax has been collected. The sum of ten
shillings per year is charged as tax for every occupied
hut. This amount, especially in the more remote
districts, is often paid in kind. In the collecting of
this rarely any attempt is made to levy the fee equitably.
The huts are numbered, the number of cattle or goats
demanded and taken. It has often happened that a
236 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
lazy, unscrupulous owner of liuts lias had his paid for
by some more industrious person, who owned none, but
who had the misfortune to possess a cow. This has
had a tendency to make the natives discontented and
the hut-tax repulsive. In many districts where pre¬
viously considerable herds of cattle were to be found,
now hardly one exists. I do not say the hut-tax
ought to be . discontinued. I do think, however, some
more just and less repulsive method of collecting
ought to be devised.
" The above cases are typical. Such injustices and
cruelties have had a tendency to make the natives fear
and hate the Government and most of its officials.
" II. The Native Constable Nuisance.— Some time ago
the Government enlisted and trained a large number
of Masliona and Matabili police. They were placed
under the control of the native commissioners. These
fellows, previously the most arrant cowards, once they
are invested with a little authority and armed with
a rifle, develop into the cruellest of tyrants. They are
sent about from place to place uncontrolled to execute
the orders of their master. They never scruple to use
their position to get almost anything they wish. They
demand and obtain from the unwilling people as much
beer, meal, and meat as they may require. One night,
as I was travelling north, I arrived late at a kraal, and
was preparing to sleep outside, when the chief, who
happened to know me, offered me a hut for myself and
carriers. About midnight I was awoke by some half-
TREATMENT OF THE MASHONAS 237
dozen people—men, women, and children—rushing
into my place, apparently much distressed. On inquir¬
ing the cause, they told me a native policeman, who
was staying overnight at the kraal, had attempted
to force his way into the hut where these women
were sleeping. I have since gathered that attempted
assaults on women by these scoundrels are of frequent
occurrence. Such has become the reputation of these
representatives of official justice that their arrival at a
' kraal' is the occasion of the worst alarms, and often
leads the people to run away and hide themselves.
Recently at the Matoppo hills, when the Matabili
chiefs were arranging terms of surrender, they men¬
tioned as one of the causes of the revolt the treatment
they had received at the hands of certain Government
officials, but especially of the native police.
" III. Injustices of lllwclcsian Settlers. — Scattered
throughout this country are a considerable number
of white settlers—farmers, hunters, gold 'prospectors,'
traders, and others. The conduct of many of these
towards the natives has been humane and just. Others,
however, have given the heathen Mashona a very poor
opinion of civilised justice and propriety. Many of
them have bought, according to native custom, Kaffir
girls, whom they regard as their property. The girls
consider themselves, to all intents and purposes, as
slaves of these men. In consequence, before many
years elapse, the Government will bo confronted with a
most serious social problem unless it puts an end to
238 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
this sort of thing at once. Many of those men are
utterly unscrupulous, and when away from the Govern¬
mental control take the law practically into their own
hands, and do as they like with the Kaffirs. I have
often heard of cases in which wages have been refused
when due, and, in some instances, the claimant been
flogged for insisting on payment.
" Put the foregoing facts together, and then let
me ask you whether the charge of injustice by whites
to natives is a ' cruel, cowardly, and wicked lie.' Any
unbiassed person must admit that for the terrible step
they took they had some provocation. These cruelties
and injustices have been rankling in their minds for
many a long day, and only needed propitious circum¬
stances to bring them to a most disastrous issue. ' Wo
had better be dead,' some of them said, ' than be tor¬
mented like this.'
" IV. The Rinderpest and Locust Plague.—For two or
three seasons unusually large swarms of locusts have
visited this country, destroying large quantities of the
crops, and in some instances reducing many of the
people to the verge of starvation. This year a terrible
cattle plague swept through the land, killing thousands
of animals. In their ignorant and superstitious way of
reasoning, they attributed these calamities to the 'whites'
being in their country. ' The locusts and cattle disease,'
they said, ' came with the " Barungu" ' (the white men).
Again and again they have asked,' When are the white
people returning to the land from whence they came ?'
TREATMENT OF THE MASHONAS 239
" V. The Pernicious Influence of the Witch-Doctors.—As
is their custom, tliese Mashonas, when they need advice,
resort to these mediums of their gods. The witch¬
doctors then inquire from the ' Murenga'—the Great
Spirit. ' If you want to get rid of your troubles,'
they replied, 'kill the white men.' That the advice
was atrociously cruel and fearfully indiscriminate we
will all admit. But think for a moment. These
people arc utterly savage, and reason accordingly.
They believed they had grievances; they ignorantly
thought we had brought the plagues amongst them;
they know nothing of venting their grievances in a
constitutional manner. According to their notions, the
best way to rid themselves of an evil is to destroy
the cause. Hence they listened to the advice of their
prophets.
" VI. The Opportune Moment.—These witch-doctors,
through their coming much in contact with men, are
naturally shrewd and cunning. They took care to
give their advice when it was likely to be acted upon.
Dr. Jameson had taken away a number of the mounted
police for purposes with which everybody is acquainted.
Now, early this year a force of armed men had gone
down to assist to quell the rebellion in Matabililand.
Then, when off our guard, when the country was ill
prepared for it, these naturally cowardly Mashonas rose
in one dark mass, carrying death and desolation into
the abodes of all within their reach. Within a few
days some one hundred and thirty unsuspecting, many
240 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
of tliem perfectly innocent, people were hurried into
eternity.
"We who live here regard the future with some
anxiety. Will the Chartered Company see its mistake,
and make an honest attempt to amend matters ? If
so, they will find no more loyal supporters than the
missionaries. If not, and these atrocities are repeated,
then in the name of justice and humanity we must
make our voice heard. We do not forget the many
good qualities of the Company. As a Church, they
have treated us handsomely; their occupation of this
territory has done much to advance civilisation in
Central Africa; they have brought many necessities of
life within easier reach of the natives. These things
we cannot overlook. At present the land is under a
dark cloud; confusion and strife reign everywhere.
Let those in authority face the position with brave and
honest hearts. Where corruption and injustice are
found, let them be swept away, and let the foundations
of this new colony be laid in righteousness and truth,
then we feel sure a bright and successful future
awaits us. John White,
J Vesleyan Minister.
" Salisbury,
30th September 1896."
I made inquiries as to both the cases referred to
by Mr. White; they were of a peculiarly atrocious
character, but I do not think any good purpose will
be served by giving the details of them, beyond
TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES 241
saying that they both took place in the Lo Magundi
district, and that it is not an unreasonable presump¬
tion that it was the treatment which the natives in
that district had received, which led to the murders
there for which a good many men have already been
executed.
Taking the previous treatment of the people into
consideration, is it not time that a stop was put to the
further prosecutions of those accused of murder during
the rebellion, and that a general amnesty should be
proclaimed ? When I was in Rhodesia, native com¬
missioners and police were out in every direction hunt¬
ing down these unhappy wretches. Many had already
been executed both in Bulawayo and Salisbury, and
the prosecutions were still going on. I think if Sir
Alfred Milner were aware of the terrible provocation
the Lo Magundi people had received, he would hesitate
about sanctioning the execution of any more men
from that district. I am told that Mr. Rhodes has
always pressed for a general amnesty, and also that
Judge Vintcent has expressed a strong opinion that
110 more prosecutions should be instituted. Both
he and Judge Watermeyer have done their best to
secure fair trials; but the vindictive feeling prevailing,
naturally enough, all over Rhodesia has made trial
by assessors a perfect farce.
Many men object strongly to the executions alto¬
gether, for they say that the accused cannot with
any fairness be held to be guilty of murder, inasmuch
Q
242 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
as tlic country liad risen in open rebellion, and they
were merely carrying out the orders of their chiefs.
To take evidence, and invariably tainted evidence,
as to whether the particular native under trial was
the actual person who delivered the fatal blow is a
perfect mockery. The man is hunted down by the
native commissioner with the aid of spies and in¬
formers from his own kraal, who in most cases are
actuated by personal enmity; they swear that they
saw the prisoner kill the murdered person, and as a
rule, when asked what he has to say, the prisoner
replies, " Yes, I killed him; I was told to do so by
such and such an induna."
In Matabililand most of the indunas have not
only been pardoned, but have been given a yearly
pension to insure their fidelity—an excellent measure
—but if they have been pardoned it is monstrous
that the full penalty should be exacted from their tools,
who merely did what they were bid. The natives feel
the injustice of this most keenly. It satisfies the
natural desire for vengeance, but it may do much
harm. Mr. Thomas, whose opinion is of great value,
mentions the administrative difficulties due to the
unrest subsequent upon the rebellion, and the frequent
arrests of natives accused of murder.
At present the people are living under a reign of
terror, no man knowing when he may not be singled out
for prosecution. Natives cannot understand punish¬
ment being held over their heads for so long. What
TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES 243
they arc used to is a severe and instant punishment, and
then that the matter should be forgotten. Sir Theo-
philus Shepstone, in his evidence before the Commission
appointed by the Capo Government in 1881 to in¬
quire into native laws and customs, in answer to the
question, " What is the chief punishment among the
natives (for treason) ?" answered, " Death and confis¬
cation of property ; but the infliction of the former
depends much on the circumstances. If the criminal
can avoid confronting the first impulse to administer
rough and ready justice his life is usually safe. There
is nothing in native administration so coldly inexorable
as that which in ours requires the trial of a criminal
long after the crime has been committed, and the con¬
sequences of it have lost their first soreness."
Lord Grey's indignation at what ho calls " the wanton
and groundless charges so freely levelled against both
the administration and the settlers " is a little difficult
to understand, knowing, as he must know, the grave
justification there has been for many of these charges.
If he and Mr. Rhodes had frankly admitted that things
had been badly managed in the past, but that they
would take care they should bo kept straight in the
future, it would have been a more wholesome sign
than the denunciations of Exeter Hall and Little
Englanders and the Aborigines Protection Society. Sir
Richard Martin mentions that in a speech delivered by
him at Bulawayo soon after he went out, Lord Grey
said that he feared ill-treatment had been experienced
244 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
by the natives, and that he was informed it was one
of not the least potent of the causes of the rebellion.
Lord Grey in his reply merely says, " When I made
the speech to which Sir Richard Martin refers, I had
in my mind statements which had been made to me,
that among a low class of employers the practice was
not unknown of ill-treating a native, and causing him
to run away a few days before his month's wages
became due." He does not say that he has since
found that the practice did not exist, only that those
guilty of it should be punished. The important point
is, not whether Sir Richard Martin put a wrong con¬
struction upon Lord Grey's meaning, but whether the
practice existed. It is referred to both by Mr. Carnegie
and by Mr. White, and it is matter of common con¬
versation in Rhodesia. Lord Grey himself practically
admits it, and it must have helped greatly to induce
the rebellion.
Sir Richard Martin is a man of wide experience
of the African natives. He is not a sentimentalist—
far from it; he has had too much experience of actual
work for that, but he is essentially a just and truthful
man. Any one who reads his report can see that he
has had reluctantly to perform an uncomfortable duty,
and those who know Rhodesia, know that he might
have written in a far less temperate way. It would
be of better promise for the country's future if, instead
of trying to traverse his conclusions, the Company had
frankly accepted them, and had said, which is actually
TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES 245
the case, that many of the things complained of were
unknown to them; that with the scanty means at their
command it had been impossible to prevent them; but
that they would take care that they did not occur
again. At one of the indabas in the Matoppos,
Secombi, one of the Matabili indunas, said that the
whole of the Matabili council prayed for the banish¬
ment of a certain prominent Government official, and
declared that neither Mr. Rhodes nor Dr. Jameson
knew of the things that had been done in Matabililand.
Mr. Rhodes replied that the official was no longer in
the Company's service.
The failure of the Company to govern rightly has
not been wilful, but has arisen from weakness of adminis¬
tration and extent of territory. They have acquired
more land than they can govern—that is the truth of
the matter; and instead of contenting themselves with
what they have, and trying to administer it properly,
they are now anxious to acquire yet more land beyond
the Zambesi. In that lies the danger of the situation.
If Central Africa is to be opened out, let it be done
by the Crown direct, and let it be primarily for the
introduction of better government, and not for the
exploitation of gold ; and by direct dealings of Imperial
officials with the chiefs, and not through the medium
of concessions, otherwise we shall lose altogether among
the Central African tribes the reputation for English
fair dealing and English humanity which Livingstone
and Moffat spent their lives in building up.
CHAPTER XIX
Palachwe—Khama—The Liquor Question—Concessions from
Native Chiefs should be strictly scrutinised—Loben-
gula's Concessions — Sigcau's Cask — Advisability of
separation of the Offices of High Commissioner and
Governor of the Cape Colony.
When I left Bulawayo the railway had been opened
for some time, and though there had been heavy rain
for nearly a month, I reached Palachwe siding with but
little delay, and with a comfort which was in grateful
contrast to the miseries I had endured on the Beira
line. We had saloon carriages to travel in, and not¬
withstanding the haste with which the line had been
completed, there was little at which the most captious
sybarite could cavil. Palachwe siding is a wayside
station from which Zeederberg's coach runs to Palachwe,
Khama's capital. In spite of the scarcity of water, a
really excellent dinner was provided for us at the
station restaurant. Often, when the wells are dry,
there is no water at all for washing purposes; what
is required for cooking being brought in the engine
from one of the stations farther down the line. Pal¬
achwe itself, which is twelve miles from the siding, is
one of the largest native towns in South Africa, with a
population of over 28,000 people. There is no hotel,
24(5
KHAMA
247
but Messrs. Loosly & Maclaren, who have the principal
store, gave me a kind welcome. I called on Khama
in the Kotla (the open enclosure where he dispenses
justice), and was glad to have a talk with him, for he is
by far the noblest figure amongst all the South African
chiefs. A dead set has been made against him for
several years past, but all the white men who live
under his rule speak of him in the most enthusiastic
terms, as a sincere, upright, and kindly man. They
have the right to take their cases before the English
magistrate, but they seldom exercise it, preferring to let
Khama settle them in his own summary way.
He said he had enjoyed his visit to England ex¬
ceedingly. He spoke warmly of the kind treatment
he had received, and seemed gratified when I told him
he had left many friends amongst us.
In Rhodesia I heard nothing but abuse of Khama;
but those who wish to know what he has done for
his people should read what Lord Randolph Churchill,
a singularly acute and fair-minded critic, thought of
him: " Khama governs justly and severely," he wrote,
" but without cruelty. Human life is, I believe, never
taken. His authority is purely despotic, undisputed,
unrestrained, but, exercised with wisdom, has secured
for him the affectionate respect of the people."
Bishop Knight Bruce writes equally strongly of the
greatness of his work, and so, too, does Mr. Hepburn,
the missionary who lived with him for so long. The
latter says, " He has not only stopped the introduction
248 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
of brandy into the country, but he has stopped his
people from making their own native beer. He has
not only made a law against the purchase of slaves
(Masarwa or Bushmen), and declared himself the Bush¬
man's friend, but he has abolished bogacLi, or the pur¬
chase of wives by cattle, and introduced the law of
marriage by free choice, at an age when young men
and young women are capable of forming such an
attachment intelligently. Out of the ruins of anarchy,
lawlessness, and general disorder, he has been building
up law, order, and stability."
Compare this with Mr. Rhodes' telegram: "I do
object to being beaten by three canting natives, especi¬
ally on score temperance, when two of them (Sebele,
Bathoen), are known to be utter drunkards."
When one thinks of all that Khama has done, of
the noble struggle he has waged for so many years
against the evil traditions of his tribe, and against the
deteriorating influences that have been brought to bear
upon him by white men from outside, of the constant
unrelenting endeavour to lessen his authority and to
break down his power, it is difficult to use moderate
language. Nothing in Mr. Rhodes' conduct to the
natives of South Africa has excited keener resentment
in many men's minds than his efforts to have Khama
placed under the rule of the Chartered Company.
What kind of treatment he would have been likely
to receive is shown by the following passage, taken
from an interesting series of articles published in
IvHAMA
249
Onsland, and translated into English in the Cape
Argus, by Mr. D. C. de Waal, a member of the Cape
Legislative Assembly, who travelled through Rhodesia
with Mr. Rhodes in 1890, and again in 1894. After
describing the prosperous condition of affairs there, he
goes on to say, " But there is a Mordecai at the gates in
the person of the arrogant Khama, or, as he has been
baptized generally, Ham. This mighty potentate will
not allow a store to be opened in his country, nor may
any one drink spirituous liquor. One had to journey
300 miles through his country without being able to
get a bite or a sup. He has forbidden his people
to sell the Europeans anything, on the plea that he
requires all the food for his own people. A fortnight
since he had four white citizens driven out of Palachwe,
where they were building their school, because they had
some whisky with them. I should like to know who
could exist in the foul-smelling Kaffir stad without a little
whisky. His Kaffirs are not even permitted to drink their
beer. No wonder that they become scabby, for meat and
bread pure and simple do not suffice for the human con¬
stitution. The sooner this tyrant recognises his duty
and is relegated to his proper place the better, and
the sooner the Rev. Moffat and Mr. Willoughby leave
Palachwe the better for them and the country at large."
Was Khama not fully justified in the letter he
wrote, not long ago, to the London Society for the
Protection of Native Races from the Liquor Traffic ?
"... And concerning liquor I am still trying, but
250 RHODESIA AND ITS OOVERNMENT
I do not think I can succeed. Here in our country
there are Europeans who like liquor exceedingly, and
they are not people who like to save a nation, but seek
that a nation may be destroyed by liquor; and they
are not people who like to be persuaded in the matter
of liquor; but you, who are people of importance in
England, I know that you like to save people so that
they may live in the land. And I cause you to know
that we have seen the path of the train in our land,
and concerning the path of the train I rejoice exceed¬
ingly. But I say, concerning the path of the train,
there is something in it which I do not like among
you; it is the little houses which will be in the path
to sell liquor in them. I do not like them, for my
people will buy liquor in them, and I say, help me in
this matter, for it is a thing which will kill the nation.
And I cause you to know, because you are people who
do not like nations to be destroyed in the land."
The pressure to permit the sale of spirits at
Palachwe became continually greater, and I believe it
has been finally arranged with Khama by Sir Alfred
Milner that a licence shall be granted to the refresh¬
ment-room proprietors, for the sale of liquor over the
bar only, and not to be taken away. This arrange¬
ment has been found necessary to prevent liquor
being smuggled into the country in large quantities.
Just before my visit Khama had given a small
piece of ground to the London Missionary Society for
a church, and, for the first time I believe in South
KHAMA
251
African history, the concession had been submitted to
and ratified by the High Commissioner—an excellent
innovation, upon which Sir Alfred Milner is to be con¬
gratulated. So long as he is at the Cape the interests
of the natives will be in safe hands, for he is keenly
alive to his responsibilities on their behalf, and he
seems to have inspired them with an implicit trust
that he will see that they are dealt with justly.
The Duke of Fife has said, and with very good cause,
that he hoped that in the future, wherever the British
flag flew, some form of direct imperial control would
always be established. For many reasons that is desir¬
able, but the most cogent of all is that otherwise we
shall nearly always be guilty of a breach of trust to the
native chiefs who, like Khama, are only willing to place
themselves under the direct protection of the Crown.
In connection with this subject I will advert briefly
to the history of the concessions granted by Lobengula,
to show how necessary it is that similar concessions
should be strictly scrutinised in the future. Sir
Henry de Yilliers, in refusing to recognise the validity
of the concessions granted by Sigcau, the Pondoland
chief, used words that apply with equal force to those
given by Lobengula: "Native customs, such as they
are, do not recognise such concessions." He declined
therefore to sanction, within the jurisdiction of the
Cape, dealings with native chiefs which the High
Commissioner had sanctioned without demur in extra-
colonial territory.
252 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
The concession upon which the charter was founded
was used, in fact, from the beginning merely as a
pretext for the acquisition of the country. Mr. de
Waal gives an account of a significant conversation of
a Mr. Greeff with Mr. Rhodes in 1890 (in his book
" With Rhodes in Mashonaland"), which shows that
even then the Matabili war was in contemplation.
" Yes, Mr. Greeff," answered Mr. Rhodes, " I shall cer¬
tainly some day be pressed to do as you want mo to
do, but you must remember that I have only the right
to dig gold in the land. So long, therefore, as the
Matabili do not molest my people I cannot declare war
against them and deprive them of their country; but
as soon as they interfere with our rights I shall end
their game. I shall then ask your aid, and be very
glad to get it; and when all is over I shall grant farms
to those who assisted me."
A ground of quarrel was not long in being found.
In 1893 it was said that the Matabili were behaving
with such barbarity to the Maslionas near Victoria
that in the interests of humanity they must be
reduced to subjection. That the Matabili were behav¬
ing with great cruelty is true; they had always done
so. But that this was only a convenient cry for the
purpose of lulling the opposition of people in England,
like the appeal for assistance of the endangered women
and children of Johannesburg, is proved by the war
having been practically decided upon some time before
Umgandan and Manyou had begun to coerce their
TREATMENT OF LOBENGULA 253
Mashona vassals. I will take the facts in their logical
sequence. Captain Donovan, who served with Major
Wilson's column, states that when he and his com¬
panion arrived in Cape Town in May 1893, intending
to go to Matabililand, Mr. Rhodes " strongly advised
us to adopt a totally different route, ' for,' said he, ' at
the present time (the month of May) we are on terms
of the greatest friendship with all the chiefs around,
but by the time you will be coming through Matabili¬
land, most probably about September or October, I
should not like to answer for your safe passage through
that country.' Regarded in the light of late events,
this advice seems prophetic." Naturally so, when the
prophet took steps to bring about his prophecy.
The more closely one looks into the matter the
more apparent this becomes. The war actually began
early in October, and any one who will read the blue-
books carefully can satisfy himself that Lobengula was
forced into it, in spite of all the efforts of Sir Henry
Loch to save him; that to the very last he hoped that
the Imperial authorities would intervene between him
and his assailants; that it was a war of aggression, and
not of defence. Lobengula himself asserted this most
strongly. On 27th July 1893 he wired through Mr.
Colenbrander to the Administrator: " I thought you
came to dig gold, but it seems that you have come not
only to dig the gold, but to rob me of my people and
country as well."
The English Government was goaded into sanction-
254 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
ing immediate action by representations of the urgent
need of protecting the unhappy Mashonas, but the
Victoria Agreement reveals indubitably that the real
object was the partition of Matabililand ; that Loben-
gula was doomed from the first; that it was never
intended that he should be allowed to come to terms.
The agreement specifies the advantages and conditions
under which members could join the Matabili Field
Force ; it recites clearly what is to be done with
Matabililand when conquered ; how the land is to be
disposed of; that each member of the force is to have
fifteen gold claims, and five alluvial claims, and a farm
of 3000 morgcn (6000 acres), unconditionally (with¬
out the beneficial occupation clause imposed on the
Mashonaland farms), with liberty to select the land
within four months anywhere in Matabililand, and
after that time upon any ground not reserved for its
own use by the B.S.A. Company. The loot was to
be divided in equal shares—one half to the Company,
the other half to the men and officers of the force.
This agreement is of vast importance, because it
shows the fixed determination to listen to no proposals
that might be made by Lobengula. It explains also
Mr. Rhodes' violent opposition to Matabililand being
placed under the Crown, instead of being handed over
to the Chartered Company. "On the 19th December,
Mr. Rhodes addressed the forces at Bulawayo prior to
disbandment," says the Financial Record of January 6,
1894, " in such a tone as to leave the impression that
TREATMENT OF LOBENGULA 255
the secession from the empire of the British Colonies
in South Africa was within the range of practical
politics. When Mr. Rhodes cited the example of the
revolt of the American Colonies as a warning to the
Imperial Government that he intended to have his own
way in the settlement of Matabililand, he was guilty
of what we can only characterise as phenomenal
imbecility."
Mr. Rhodes has been held up lately as an exponent
of the most ardent Imperialism, but he was far from
that formerly. He has played off the Cape against the
Homo Government, and the Home Government against
the Cape, in the most masterly fashion, whenever it
has suited his own purposes. He declared recently
that he had prevented a Power out of sympathy with
the Colony (the Transvaal) from occupying the north.
There was never a more fallacious idea. Loben-
gula, at the time of Sir Charles Warren's expedition,
was most anxious to place himself under British
protection, and the administration of Matabililand
might have been directed by us in the same way
as Khama's country and Basutoland. It would have
still belonged to Lobengula and his people ; the influx
of white men being carefully regulated as it is in those
countries.
This, however, would not have suited Mr. Rhodes,
who said, in 1888: "He held to the Government of
South Africa by its people, keeping the Imperial tie for
self-defence, and was proud to feel that such a Govern-
256 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
ment was capable of ruling Matabililand as well as
Mashonaland. He did not object to the Imperial
Government holding temporary responsibility pending
annexation (by the Cape), but distinctly objected to the
formation of a British colony on the Zambesi apart
from Cape control."
Mr. Rhodes, indeed, has dealt with Rhodesia
throughout as a Cape politician, acting for Cape
interests. This the Rhodesian colonists are beginning
to perceive, and to resent, for the one thing they dislike
is the idea of incorporation with the Cape. Mr. Ho veil,
Secretary of the Bulawayo Chamber of Commerce, said
in his evidence before the Chamber of Mines : " I think,
as a community, we suffer more by being tied to Cape
Colony than by having to be governed by the Chartered
Company. The Cape colonial system does not show
appreciation of our needs, and besides that is not a
progressive colony. They are a settled land commu¬
nity, and we are essentially a commercial and mining
community."
Only on the 10th of June of the present year, the
Bulawayo Chronicle, in a bitter leader upon Cape
sympathy, observes: " The settlers in Rhodesia have
rated the Transvaal soundly in times past, but the
Transvaal retorts and tells us to set our own house
in order first, and certainly the Cape can take a few
lessons in fair treatment from the ' ignorant Boer
regime.'"
Many things show that a very angry feeling is
SIGCAU'S CASE
257
growing up in Rhodesia against both the Chartered
Company and the Cape. It is certain that the rule of
the Company must come to an end before long, and if
Rhodesia should not yet be deemed ripe for independ¬
ence, the settlers would assuredly prefer conversion into
a Crown colony, as a preparation for self-government,
to any form of incorporation with the Capo : that they
would resist to the utmost.
But to return to the treatment of the natives.
How necessary it is that the offices of High Com¬
missioner and Governor of Cape Colony should bo
separated, and the interests of the natives confided
solely to the former, is conclusively shown by the
proceedings in the case of Sigcau, the Pondoland
chief. Lord Watson, in delivering the judgment of
the Privy Council in the appeal lodged by Mr. Rhodes
as Prime Minister of Cape Colony and Secretary for
Native Affairs, and Mr. Schreiner as Attorney-General,
against the judgment of the Supreme Court of the
Cape Colony, used words which need no emphasising.
" The proclamation in question is described in the
appellant's case as an act of State, which is beyond the
cognizance of any judicial tribunal. Whatever may
have been meant by that expression, the character of
the document is, on the face of it, abundantly clear.
It is an edict dealing with matters administrative,
judicial, legislative and executive, in terms which are
beyond the competency of any authority except an
irresponsible sovereign, or a supreme and unfettered
11
258 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
legislature, or some person or body to whom their
functions have been lawfully delegated. If the Gover¬
nor and High Commissioner of the Cape Colony could
be shown to have occupied one or other of these
positions, a court of law would bo compelled, however
unwillingly, to respect his proclamation. If he did
not, then his dictatorial edict was simply an invasion
of the individual rights and liberties of a British
subject. It set aside the established law of Pondo-
land with respect to arrest, trial, conviction and
punishment; and condemned the respondent, Sigcau,
untried and unheard, to imprisonment, the place and
duration of his captivity being left to the uncontrolled
will of the framer of the edict. It was satisfactory to
find that the appellants' counsel did not, in the argu¬
ment before this Board, venture to trace the power of
the Governor to enact such a proclamation to any
authority directly derived from her Majesty; because
autocratic legislation of that kind in a Colony having a
settled system of criminal law and criminal tribunals,
would be little calculated to enhance the repute of
British justice."
That the Governor should have issued such a pro¬
clamation, and that since the adverse judgment of the
Privy Council the Cape Legislature should have passed
a law expressly legalising the powers upon which Lord
Watson commented so severely, is sufficient evidence of
the necessity of separating his functions from those
of the High Commissioner.
SIGCAU'S CASE
259
The two positions arc evidently incompatible. But
if at any time they should be separated—and the matter
has often been mooted—it must be made clear that it
is because the union of the two offices is deemed inad¬
visable, and not from any pharisaical idea that people
at home are more humane than the colonists, or that
any drastic changes are to be made. All that is wanted
is a separate native department, responsible not to the
colonial governments, but to the Crown, and composed
preferably of colonials, who have been in contact with
the natives all their lives, and understand their language
and their ways. It is the system that is at fault, not
the people. Nothing has done more harm to the
natives, and has excited a bitterer feeling against our¬
selves, than the spasms of compunction with which we
have from time to time been visited. Instead of recog¬
nising that our arrangements have been faulty, we have
salved our conscience by a flood of invective against
the colonists and the Dutch for the barbarities of which
they have been guilty. Nothing can be more con¬
temptible than the way in which the native question
has been twisted into a party weapon by a certain
section of politicians. It is individuals who have been
brutal, not peoples; they have been found amongst
men lately out from home quite as frequently as
amongst the colonists or the Dutch, and the excesses
of which they have been guilty have been made
possible by faulty administration.
Look liow excellent the native system is in Natal,
260 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
in Kaftraria, and in Basutoland; how wretched it is in
Rhodesia, and in the Cape. It is just the same amongst
the Dutch. In the Orange Free State the natives are
treated on a different system from that which has
commended itself to us; but nevertheless kindly and
well. In the Transvaal they are treated abominably.
I found the Free State people very indignant because
a Mr. Venter had said in his evidence before the
South African Committee that the natives in Rhodesia
are better treated than in the Free State. I asked
Tengu Jabavu what he, as representing native opinion,
thought of the matter. He said he knew nothing
about Rhodesia, but that in the Free State the natives
are admirably treated, better than in the Colony,
because liquor is kept strictly from them. In the
Transvaal, he said, the treatment is very bad. The
boys are knocked about terribly in the mines, and get
scant justice from the landdrosts.
My subsequent observations confirmed both these
opinions. The Free State system seemed to me admir¬
ably suited to the people, but in the Transvaal the
native administration is in a perfect chaos. I found
that there had been 1652 floggings last year in the
Johannesburg jail alone, with 20,356 prisoners, a pro¬
portion of one in thirteen—an appalling total—most
of them for trivial offences. But there are signs that
a better state of things is coming about. The labour
supply is falling short, and to induce an influx of the
needful supply the boys must take back with them a
TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES 261
more cheerful account of their experiences than they
have hitherto been able to do. In any case we cannot
interfere. We have too much that is wrong to redress
within our own borders. Sir Charles Warren's expedi¬
tion was undertaken in order to rescue the Bechuanas
from predatory onslaughts from the Transvaal. They
were placed first under the protection of the Crown, and
were then handed over to the Cape, and last year—
within ten years from Sir Charles Warren's expedition—
Galishwe had gone into revolt, and his tribe had been
broken up and condemned to forced servitude, and
their land taken from them for ever. " The flail that
the Dutch use to us is cold," said one of the Bechuana
chiefs, " but the flail of the English is fiery." Is this
description unmerited ? Alas, no ! Read the accounts
given by Phillips and George Thompson of our treat¬
ment of the natives in the early part of the century.
One extract from Phillips will suffice. " Judging from
the detestation in which this country had been accus¬
tomed to hold the tyranny of the Dutch towards
the aborigines of its colonies ; and from the style in
which their cruelty to the Bushmen was described by
Barrow and other travellers, it might have been ex¬
pected that the transfer of the Government into British
hands was an event in which humanity had to rejoice.
But what is the fact ? During the last twenty-two
years of the Dutch Government at the Cape the Bush¬
men were oppressed; yet, notwithstanding their op¬
pressions, in 1796 they were still powerful. Since the
262 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
English took possession of tlie colony in 1796, what was,
in the time of the Dutch Government, the Bushman
country, has been brought into the possession of the
colonists ; and the people who were so powerful in 1796
as to threaten the Colony, are now reduced to slavery,
or to the condition of miserable fugitives in what was
then their own country."
The worst of the matter is that the same kind of
thing has been going on without ceasing ever since, and
it Avill go on until the Home Government recognises
its direct responsibility to its native subjects.
Mr. Chamberlain, speaking on May 14, 1888, said,
" It will raise, no doubt, one or two questions for
discussion, and prominently among them the question
of the continued retention in the same hands of
the two great offices of High Commissioner and of
Governor of the Cape Colony. It appears to me that
this is a question which depends very much upon the
personal qualities and characteristics of the man who
may be chosen to fill these two offices. If he is
an able man and discreet, and above all a firm and
resolute man, it is quite possible that he may be able
to maintain an Imperial policy in South Africa in the
territories under the protection of the Crown, and at the
same time he may be able to impress this policy upon
the Government of the Cape Colony ; but if he should
be weak or incompetent, it is probable that the Govern¬
ment of the day, the Government of the majority at
the Cape Colony, would impress him, and that they
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER
2G3
would secure the adoption of their policy in the ad¬
ministration of these trans-colonial territories, and once
more wo should be called upon to pay the piper without
setting the tune."
It is impossible to state the case more clearly. It
is prophetic of what has since occurred in Rhodesia.
Matabililand was handed over to the Chartered Com¬
pany (with the acquiescence of the Cape, Mr. Rhodes
being then in his dual position of Prime Minister of
the Cape and Managing Director of the Chartered
Company), although the Imperial Government had
expended a very large sum in the conduct of the war.
Are we going to run the same risk again in reference
to Trans-Zambesia ? and who knows, perhaps in regard
to Basutoland ? The native interests are surely too
vast to be subjected to so great a hazard. Sir Charles
Warren stated in 1886 that the greatest impediment at
that time to the peace of South Africa was the dual
position held by the High Commissioner and the
Governor of the Cape Colony; and owing to our enor¬
mously increased native dominions the question is more
urgent now than it was then. Mr. Mackenzie brought
it prominently before the Colonial Office in 1888, but
nothing was done owing to the unfavourable way in
which the proposal to separate the two offices was
received in South Africa. From what I heard when I
was there I believe that now it would be gladly wel¬
comed both in the Colony and in the Republics.
CHAPTER XX
The Jameson Raid—Sir John Willotjghby's Report to the War
Office—Were the Johannesburg People Cowards ?
From Palachwe I went by rail to Mafeking, and there
took coach to Krugersdorp by the same road that was
taken by Dr. Jameson. Through the kindness of a
friend I have been enabled to make use of some private
notes taken at the time of the Raid. They contain so
exact an account of what occurred that I will give them
just as I have taken them from his manuscript:—
" In November, Leonard and Phillips went to Cape
Town to see Mr. Rhodes. Mr. Leonard in his report
says, ' We read to him the draft of our declaration
of rights. He was leaning against the mantelpiece
smoking his cigarette, and when it came to that part
of the document in which we referred to free trade
in South African products, he turned round suddenly,
and said: " That is what I want. That is all I ask of
you. The rest will come in time. We must have a
beginning, and that will be the beginning. If you
people get your rights, the Customs Union, Railway
Convention, and other things will all come in time."
Ho then added that we must take our time about this
movement; that he would keep Jameson on the frontier
204
THE JAMESON RAID
2G5
so long us it was necessary, as a moral support, and
also come to oar assistance should wo get ourselves
into a tight place. We asked him how he hoped to
recoup himself for his share of the expense in keeping
Jameson's force on the border, which must be borne
by us jointly. Ho said that seeing the extent of his
interests in the country, he would be amply repaid
by the improvement in the conditions which it was
intended to effect.' It has since been suggested that
the object of the movement was to steal the country,
and to annex it to Rhodesia, in order to rehabilitate the
Chartered Company. The suggestion is too ludicrous
for serious discussion, but notwithstanding the ludicrous
nature of the charge, it is quite certain that the Boors
have a deep-rooted conviction of its truth.
" About December 19th it became apparent that
the flag question must be settled. It appeared that
Dr. Jameson rather thought that the Johannesburg
reformers were quite indifferent to the flag, or assumed
that provisions for the maintenance of the Transvaal
flag were merely talk, and that the Union Jack would
be hoisted at once. A trusted emissary was dis¬
patched to inquire from Mr. Rhodes the meaning of
this tampering with one of the fundamental conditions
of the agreement. The messenger returned on Christ¬
mas morning, and at a largely attended meeting of the
ringleaders, he stated that he had seen Mr. Rhodes,
and had received from him the assurance that it was
all right about the flag. In returning from Capo Town
2GG RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
however, in company with Dr. Rutherfoord Harris, he
learned from that gentleman that it was by no means
all right, and gathered that in other quarters (not
referring to Mr. Cecil Rhodes) it was assumed that the
provision about maintaining the Transvaal flag was so
much talk necessary to secure the adhesion of some
doubtful people. The announcement was received with
the gravest dissatisfaction, and it was instantly resolved
to discontinue the preparations, and to break off the
connection with Dr. Jameson.
" Messrs. Leonard and Hamilton were sent to see
Mr. Rhodes, and to obtain from him a definite guarantee
that, in the event of their availing themselves of Dr.
Jameson's help under any conditions, the latter would
loyally abide by the arrangements agreed upon. The
interview took place on Saturday the 28th. Mr. Rhodes
gave the most explicit and satisfactory assurances, and
said, ' Well, you fellows must take your own time and
do it in your own way. I will keep Jameson on the
frontier for a month, or two months, or two years if
necessary. His presence there will be the greatest help
to you in obtaining what you want by peaceful means.'
" On the 26th December Major Heany was sent
by train via Kimberley, and Captain Holden across
country to Pitsani, to tell Jameson on no account to
move. Both gentlemen delivered their messages.
" On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, tele¬
grams and messages were received from Dr. Jameson,
all revealing impatience, and a desire, if not an inten-
THE JAMESON RAID
267
tion, to disregard the wishes of the Johannesburgers.
Replies were sent to him, and to the Cape Town agents,
protesting against the tone adopted, and urging him to
desist from the endeavour to rush the Committee, as
they were pushing matters on to the best of their ability
and hoped for a successful issue without recourse to
violent measures, and stating emphatically that the
decision must be left entirely in the Committee's hands
as agreed, otherwise there would be absolute disaster.
The Committee, moreover, wired by private code, draw¬
ing the attention of all parties to the fact that Jameson
and others were using the Bedford M'Niel code, copies
of which are kept in nearly every telegraph office in
the country, for the purpose of transmitting or repeat¬
ing messages obscurely worded.
"Dr. Wolff had arrived at Pitsani on the previous
Tuesday, and states that he was greeted by Dr. Jameson
with the remark that he had as nearly as possible
started for Pretoria the previous night. On the 28th
December the President was met at Bronkhorstspruit,
some twenty miles from Pretoria, by some of the
burghers, and one of them, Hans Botha, said he had
heard there was some talk of a rising in Johannesburg,
and that though he had five bullets in him he could
find room for another if it were a question of attacking
the Britishers. The President said he had heard of
the threatened rising, but did not believe it. He could
not say what was likely to happen, but they must
remember this—if they wanted to kill a tortoise they
268 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
must wait till he puts his head out of his shell. On
the same day the President said to a press reporter,
' If wiser counsels unfortunately should not prevail, then
let the storm arise, and the wind thereof will separate
the chaff from the grain. The Government will give
every opportunity for free speech, and free ventilation
of grievances, but is fully prepared to put a stop to any
movement made for the upset of law and order.' That
was on Saturday. The President also received an
American deputation, and several other deputations.
On Monday Abe Bailey received this wire from Godol-
pliin (who proved to be Rutherfoord Harris): ' The
veterinary surgeon says the horses are now all right;
he started with them last night; will reach you on
Wednesday; he says he can back himself for seven
hundred.' And the same afternoon Mr. Lawley got the
following telegram : ' The contractor has started on the
earthworks with seven hundred boys; hopes to reach
terminus on Wednesday.'
" The Reformers realised perfectly well the full sig¬
nificance of Jameson's action ; they realised that even if
he succeeded in reaching Johannesburg, he, by taking
the initiative, seriously impaired the justice of the
Johannesburgers' cause, indeed put them hopelessly in
the wrong; whilst by starting first, he knocked out the
foundation of the whole fabric—he made the taking of
the Pretoria Arsenal impossible.
" A few minutes later information came that the
Government had known of his starting early in the
THE JAMESON RAID
269
morning, and that Pretoria was now full of burghers, so
all hope of the arsenal being surprised was over.
" On Monday night the Reform Committee was formed.
On Wednesday Lionel Phillips, Auret, Abe Bailey, and
M. Langermann went to Pretoria to meet the Govern¬
ment Commission, and to obtain the best terms for
Jameson as well as for themselves. After they had left
a telegram was received from Sir Jacobus de Wet with
Sir Hercules Robinson's proclamation forbidding aid to
be given to Dr. Jameson, and the following telegram was
sent to Phillips and his companions : ' Meeting has been
held since you started to consider telegram from British
agent, and it Avas unanimously resolved to authorise you
to make following offer to Government.' Begins, ! In
order to avoid bloodshed on grounds of Dr. Jameson's
action, if Government will allow Dr. Jameson to come
unmolested the Committee will guarantee, with their
persons if necessary, that he shall leave again peacefully
with as little delay as possible.'
" The Government Commission consisted of Kotze,
Amesliof, and Executive Member Kock. After hearing
the deputation they reported to the Executive Com¬
mittee, and in the afternoon handed to the deputation
this answer: ' The High Commissioner has offered his
services with a view to a peaceful settlement. The
Government has accepted his offer. Pending his arrival,
no hostile step will be taken against Johannesburg, if
Johannesburg takes no hostile stop against the Govern¬
ment, and no breaking of the law takes place, in terms
270 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
of proclamation issued by State President, and thereafter
tlie grievances will be earnestly considered.'
" On receipt of the above resolution, the deputation
inquired whether this offer of the Government was
intended to include Dr. Jameson. The Chief-Justice
replied that the Government declined to treat about
Jameson, as he was a foreign invader, and would have
to be turned out of the country. The deputation there¬
upon handed the telegram from the Reform Committee
offering their persons as security. The Committee in
reply stated that the proclamation of the High Com¬
missioner was being forwarded to Jameson, and that he
would inevitably be stopped (whether by force or by the
High Commissioner's proclamation was not then made
clear). The deputation returned to Johannesburg fully
convinced that the grievances would be redressed, and
a peaceful settlement arrived at through the mediation
of the High Commissioner, and that Dr. Jameson would
inevitably obey the latter's proclamation, and leave the
country peacefully on ascertaining that there was no
necessity for his intervention on behalf of the Uitlanders.
" A great deal has been said about the impolicy, and
even the bad faith of the Johannesburg people in conclud¬
ing an armistice which did not include Dr Jameson.
From the above account it is clear that in the first place
every effort was made to provide for Jameson's safety,
and in the next place no armistice was concluded. It
was merely left to the Reform Committee to accept or
ignore the terms offered.
O
THE JAMESON RAID
271
" Captain Holden, immediately after Jameson's trial,
expressed his regret at the unjust censure upon the
Johannesburg people, and the charges of cowardice and
bad faith which had been levelled against them, and
stated that he had reached Pitsani the night before Dr.
Jameson started, and that he faithfully and fully de¬
livered the messages which he was charged to deliver,
and earnestly impressed upon Dr. Jameson the position
in which the Johannesburg people were placed, and
their desire that he should not embarrass them by any
precipitate action. . . .
" Dr. Jameson had invaded the country with less
than 500 men. It must be clear from this that it was
not his intention to conquer the Transvaal. It must
have been, and indeed was, his idea that it would
be impossible for the Imperial Government to stand
passively by and witness the struggle between its own
subjects, preferring legitimate, and moderate claims,
and a corrupt and incompetent Boer Government.
Intervention of one sort or another he certainly ex¬
pected—either material help in the shape of British
troops, or the intervention of the High Commissioner
to effect a peaceful settlement. By the false step
which evoked the High Commissioner's proclamation,
he had forfeited all claim to the support on which he
reckoned. It was reasonable to suppose, therefore,
that on the receipt of the proclamation ordering him
to return, and calling on all British subjects to abstain
from assisting him, he would realise the consequences
272 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
of his mistake. He would also learn from the Reform
Committee's messengers that the Johannesburg people
neither required nor wished for his intervention, and
he would elect to leave the country in accordance
with the High Commissioner's mandate, rather than
continue a course which, with the opposition of the
Boer Government, must inevitably end in disgrace and
disaster. This was the conclusion arrived at in the
Reform Committee-room, and it was then considered
what would be the position of the Johannesburg
people, who, in defiance of the High Commissioner's
proclamation, and in violation of the terms offered by
the Transvaal Government, should adopt aggressive
and wholly futile measures in aid of Dr. Jameson,
only to find that he himself had obeyed the procla¬
mation and had turned back. . . . The public in
Johannesburg by this time knew of the letter of invi¬
tation. It had been taken on the battle-field, and news
of it was wired in; and, apart from this, the writers
had made no secret of it. But what the public did
not know was the effort made to stop Jameson, and
the practical repudiation of the letter before he had
started. It was sufficient for them that Jameson had
come in, and that, when almost reaching the goal, he
had been taken prisoner for want of assistance.
" The undeserved taunts levelled at the Johannes¬
burg Committee have wounded them keenly, and an
extremely bitter feeling was aroused by the tacit
THE JAMESON RAID 273
approval given to these censures by the officers of
the invading force, for their continued silence was
naturally construed to be tacit approval.
" It was left to Mr. Rhodes, whose intelligence and
sense of justice prompted him to take a line which no
one else had the courage to take, to say that the Johan-
nesburg people were not cowards; they were rushed."1
To these notes it is only necessary to add that
it Avould have been infinitely better if, after Dr.
Jameson and his officers had been sent home to be
tried, the whole matter had been allowed to remain in
Sir Hercules Robinson's hands. He was liked and
trusted by the Dutch, and if he had been left un¬
fettered ho could have done much towards restoring
cordial relations with the Transvaal. Mr. Hofmeyr,
when I asked him if any sort of good had been done
by the South Africa Committee, replied, " Well, it has
proved that Sir Hercules Robinson was an honourable
English gentleman, as we always knew he was;" and
Mr. Fischer of the Free State begged that I would
say something to show how deep is the affection and
regard felt for him there. President Steyn, it will
i This is hardly fair to Dr. Jameson and his officers, other than Sir
John Willoughby ; for until the inquiry they were obliged to keep
silence for fear of prejudicing Mr. Rhodes' political position, and since
the inquiry they have probably thought the opportunity for speaking
was past. Mr. llhodes, too, was compelled to be silent until the
inquiry, as he had more important interests to safeguard. That he
kept silence unwillingly is to be presumed by his allowing his own
brother to remain for a year under the galling imputations with which
the Johannesburg Committee were assailed.
S
274 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
bo remembered, when Sir Hercules Robinson was
leaving for England in May 1896, said in his letter
of farewell: "For wo are all aware of the fact that it
is mainly due to your exertions that we to-day still
enjoy the blessings of peace."
On the 16th January Sir Hercules Robinson wired
to Mr. Chamberlain : " If you will leave the matter in
my hands I will resume advocacy of Uitlandcrs' claims
at the first moment I think it can be done with
advantage; the present moment is most inopportune,
as the strongest feeling of irritation against the
Uitlandcrs exists both amoner the burghers and mem-
o o
bers of Volksraad of both Republics. Any attempt to
dictate in regard to internal affairs of the South
African Republic at this moment would be resisted
by all parties in South Africa, and would do great
harm."
In spite of this warning, Mr. Chamberlain made
the fatal blunder of sending to President Krugcr the
draft constitution, which caused so much anger, and of
publishing it in London before it had been received in
Pretoria. This, the naval demonstration in Delagoa
Bay, the heated discussion as to the terms of Sir John
Willougliby's surrender, the tone adopted towards the
Transvaal by the South Africa Committee, and the
ostentatious championship of Mr. Rhodes, have con¬
verted what ought to have been a purely South African
matter into a quarrel between Great Britain and the
Transvaal. The Raid itself would have done compara-
ATTITUDE OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE 275
tively little mischief, had it not been for the attitude
subsequently assumed by the British Government.
How unwise this attitude was may bo judged by
the telegram sent on the 2nd April 189G by Sir Walter
Hely Hutchinson to Mr. Chamberlain: " Ministers have
sent me the following minute: ' Ministers have private
information from London that on 30th March President
Kruger was warned that he must within a few days
accept the invitation to visit England without condi¬
tions, or the South African Republic will revert to the
position of the Convention of 1881. Their informant
adds words giving to this communication the character
or significance of an ultimatum. Ministers have re¬
ceived this information with considerable reserve as
regards its accuracy; but they consider it their duty
to point out that all the Governments of South Africa
favour a policy of peace, knowing what the disastrous
results of a race war must be, and that an outbreak
of hostilities between the European races will have
a disturbing effect on the natives throughout South
Africa, the evil consequences of which cannot be
estimated.'"
To this Mr. Chamberlain replied on the 4tli April:
" Referring to your telegram of 2nd inst., I have pressed
President of South African Republic for reply to our
invitation, but have used no threats. Strong irritation
is, however, felt here at the delay. Ho is, I fear, pre¬
vented by influences opposed to a satisfactory settle¬
ment of matters."
276 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
That the Natal Ministry should have deemed it
necessary to take the action they did shows how in¬
advisable the interference of the Colonial Office was.
If war had actually been decided upon it would have
been a different matter; but to exert pressure without
obtaining the desired result is an unnecessary humilia¬
tion, and does harm in every way. It has not bettered
the position of the Uitlanders; it has only caused the
Transvaal Government to waste a million and a half
upon forts, an expenditure for which the Uitlanders
have had to pay. What has annoyed the Free State
more almost than anything else, is that the wave of
suspicion to which it gave rise led them to expend a
hundred thousand pounds upon increased armaments,
which could ill be spared from education and railways,
and the internal development of the State.
CHAPTER XXI
Mr. Rhodes' Influence in South Africa
Mr. Chamberlain, during the debate that took place
in the House of Commons on the 26th July 1807, said:
" The Government do not intend to abolish the charter,
and they do not intend to do it for reasons I have
already stated in the House, and for additional reasons.
They think, and probably with justice, that if you have
Imperial control, and Rhodesia were made a Crown
colony the development of the country would be
delayed because the English Treasury would never
consent to the expenditure of the money necessary
for its development."
It is not a very noble reason why a great nation
should shirk its responsibilities; but putting the natives
altogether on one side, and looking at the question
merely as one of material advancement, will it be
greater under the Company than it would be under
the Crown ? Let us look a little more closely into the
matter. And in dealing with Rhodesia we must bear
in mind that although the Company has been sanctified
with the baptism of a Royal Charter it is nevertheless
the natural offspring of Do Beers, and that the methods
which have been employed in Kimberley are likely to be
277
278 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
employed also in Rhodesia. Let us examine what
those methods are, bearing1 in mind that Mr. Rhodes
7 O
for all practical purposes represents and controls the
Do Beers Company, just in the same way that until
the Raid he represented and controlled the British
South Africa Company.
Onslancl, the accredited organ of the Afrikander
Bond, in a remarkable article published in the spring
of last year, said of Mr. Rhodes: " The politics and
influence of Mr. Rhodes and his worshippers is a
threatening danger to the whole of South Africa.
O O
This is the conviction of all who have observed the
low tone existing in some circles, as if money were not
only all powerful, but also the only thing desirable.
This is felt by all who believe that no policy can be of
real benefit to a land or nation if it issues from treachery
or violence. Not in force, but in the course of a steady,
healthy, and natural development lies the welfare of
South Africa. Mr. Rhodes has declared himself directly
against this natural development of our affairs. His
career, he stated, only began after the Jameson invasion,
and he has since repeatedly declared that he will con¬
tinue to follow this course. The interest which the
capitalists devise to obtain in South Africa will tend to
expel from us all substantiality, probity, and principle."
In order to estimate the truth of this statement, it
is necessary to make a rapid review of Mr. Rhodes'
history in South Africa. He came to it a poor man,
but in a comparatively short time, by his masterly
MR. EHODES' INFLUENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 279
amalgamation of the Do Beers mines, lie amassed a
vast fortune, and tlien turned his attention to politics.
Ho was elected a member of the Cape House of
Assembly, and soon after became the Prime Minister
of the Colony. From that time the influence of his
genius, and still more of his money, became every year
more predominant, and by his alliance with the Afri¬
kander Bond he was able to procure the passing of
almost any Act ho pleased. Many causes combined
to procure for him the commanding position he so
long held, but I will confine myself to that of money,
for throughout his career it has been the weightiest
weapon in his armoury. I will keep strictly to docu¬
mentary evidence available to every one, and will let
the admitted facts speak for themselves in proof of
Onsland's assertions.
In the articles of association of the De Beers Com¬
pany there is a singular clause, giving the managing
director power to expend on secret service for the
advancement and benefit of the Company such sums,
not exceeding £10,000 sterling per annum, as he may
think fit without submission of vouchers : a clause
that is obviously dangerous to the public probity.
But this sum of £10,000, large though it is, is not the
only sum at Mr. Rhodes' absolute disposal as managing
director and life governor of the De Beers Company.
It was found that large quantities of diamonds were
being stolen by natives employed in the mines, and in
order to check these thefts, and to keep the natives away
280 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
from the liquor sliops, the adoption of what is known as
the compound system was authorised by a special Act
of the Cape legislature—that is to say, the natives are
confined for the period during which they have con¬
tracted to work (generally three months) in a walled-in
and strictly-guarded enclosure, where they are supplied
with all they require in shape of food and raiment.
The merchants in the town of Kimberley objected
strongly to this as detrimental to their trade, and to
meet their objection, Act 23 of 1887 was passed, which
provides that " all goods, wares, and merchandise that
may be sold within the compound or building as pro¬
vided in the preceding section, shall without exception
be purchased in the electoral division of Kimberley,
and no employer shall derive any benefit directly or
indirectly from any such purchase." The punishment
provided for the violation of this provision is for the
first offence a fine of £5, or not more than one month's
imprisonment, and for each subsequent offence a fine
of £10, or imprisonment with or without hard labour
for not more than two months.
After this Act had been in operation for some time,
the Kimberley merchants found that it was being
evaded, and that their trade was practically ruined,
and a great outcry was raised; and to quiet it the De
Beers Company passed a resolution that they would
devote any profits that might be derived from the sale
of any articles within the compound to what they
termed public purposes.
MR. RHODES' INFLUENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 281
Mr. Rhodes' own account of the transaction is as
follows. He was speaking as chairman of the De Boers
meeting held on October 22, 1894. I myself," he
said, " brought in the Bill, and there was a great deal
said in the House about ' tommy shops,' profits made
out of the natives, and so forth. The spirit of the Bill
was that we should buy whatever we desired for the
compounds locally, but that no profit should be allowed.
These were the two positions, and the Bill was carried
with these two principles embodied in it. The result
was, as I think I told you once before, we saved
£300,000 a year, and we do so now—owing to diamonds
recovered through the compound system, which other¬
wise would be stolen and scattered through the country.
... We cannot sell things at cost because the merchants
would grumble. Besides, it is unwise treatment of the
native: it makes him a dissatisfied man for the rest of
his life, for when he leaves the compound he finds
everything much dearer. Still, the spirit of the Bill
is broken by selling at a profit. The pledge I gave to
the House was that we would buy locally all that is
required for the compound, and that we would make
no profit. This is a subject which has been more
than once brought up, and I have often been asked
about it. I think the right solution of the difficulty
is the following : I hold very strong views on the
subject, and as it was owing to my efforts that
the Bill was carried, I certainly think that we should
do our best to fulfil the spirit of it. As we are
282 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
compelled to make a profit, it should be disposed of in
a special way. I have consulted the board, and there
is a little difference of opinion amongst them, so that I
would rather leave the matter to the vote of the share¬
holders. I beg to move—' That the balance realised
by sale of goods in the compounds, after allowing for
the cost of same, and all reasonable charges connected
with the sale of said goods, and the maintenance of the
compounds, be annually determined and made over to
the chairman of the Company (Mr. Rhodes himself),
and shall form a fund to be by him held and invested,
and from time to time drawn upon and distributed
to such public purpose or purposes as he in his dis¬
cretion may determine, subject to such arrangements
as he may make, and such conditions as he may
impose, and that the said chairman shall annually
state and render to the Company an account showing
the position of the said fund, his expenses in connec¬
tion with administering the same, and the amounts
which have been expended by him for any such
purpose as aforesaid.' "
This did not, however, satisfy the Kimberley people,
and on June 20, 1895, Mr. Hay brought the matter
forward in the Cape House of Assembly. He said:
"On October 22nd last, at the annual meeting of the
De Beers Company, according to the report in the
Cape Times, the Right Honourable Cecil John Rhodes
presided, and it was then carried that the profits
received from the sale of food and other commodities
ajr. Rhodes' influence in south afrioa 283
should be devoted to any public object lie might think
fit; " and Mr. Hay asked the Attorney-General " if he
intended taking any action for past breaches of the law
in this respect, or to prevent breaches thereof in future "
(Mr. Rhodes being then Prime Minister, as well as manag¬
ing director of the De Beers Company).
The following answer was given by Mr. Schreiner,
who was Attorney-General in Mr. Rhodes' Ministry:
" The clause put in provided that all goods that might
be sold in the compound should, without exception, be
purchased in the electoral division of Kimberley, and
no compounding employer should profit through the
sale, which meant that no such employer should have
an outside firm, or be interested in any firm supplying
the goods sold in the compound." This ended the
matter for the time; but in the following year, on
the 16th June 189G, Mr. Hay moved—"That it is
desirable to amend Act 23, 1887, so that goods sold
to natives may be charged at cost prices." The profits,
he said, accumulated, and it was possible for any one
to use them as a bribe.
The debate that ensued is instructive.
Mr. Sauer eulogised the compound system; at the
same time he thought it undesirable that a company
should have a large sum of money to expend without
any check whatever. Public purposes was rather a
vague term. It might mean anything, even election
expenses, or other purposes that were not very desirable.
Mr. Lines said that the Act was bad legislation alto-
284 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
gother, and lio hoped that in future legislation tliey
would take warning by this. Section 7 of the Act
provided that all goods purchased for the compound
should bo purchased in Kirnberley, and that no employer
should derive benefit from the transaction. But profits
were made, and he did not see how these profits could
be audited without authorising the breaking of the
law. This section could be amended.
Nothing, however, was done.
But the important question is, What use has been
made of the money ? The De Beers resolution I have
just quoted provided that " the said chairman shall
state and render to the Company an account showing
the position of the said fund, his expenses in connec¬
tion with administering the same, and the amounts
which have been devoted by him to any such purposes
as aforesaid." Have these accounts been accurately
rendered ? and has any means been provided to check
the amounts actually received by Mr. Rhodes and those
expended by him, and for what purpose ? Nothing of
the kind seems to have been attempted.
Mr. Rhodes, speaking two years later at the annual
meeting of Do Beers 011 28tli December 1890, made
this statement: " I may say that having gone into the
various transactions, I came to the conclusion that
there roughly might be claimed £10,000 a year as
these profits. You must remember there are the
wages of the guards, and many other expenses in con¬
nection with the compounds. I was satisfied with
MR. RHODES' INFLUENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 285
£10,000 a year. Some directors said there was 110
profit, but we came to a compromise." And so the
matter was allowed to remain.
The resources of the De Beers Company are indeed
so vast that to most people in South Africa it seems
a hopeless task to attempt to struggle against them.
As a member of the Cape Assembly said to me, "You
cannot move a yard here without butting your head up
against De Beers."
The enormous sums placed absolutely at Mr. Rhodes'
disposal have gone far to obtain for him the influence
he undoubtedly possesses, for there are few men that
he has not been able to oblige.
During the recent inquiry a parallel has frequently
been drawn between Clive, Warren Hastings, and Mr.
Rhodes; but Macaulay expressly refers to Warren
Hastings' honourable poverty; while of Clive he says,
"When he landed in Calcutta in 1765, Bengal was
regarded as a place to which Englishmen were sent
only to get rich, by any means, in the shortest possible
time. He first made dauntless and unsparing war
on that gigantic system of oppression, extortion, and
corruption. In that war he manfully put to hazard
his ease, his fame, and his splendid fortune."
What Mr. Rhodes has done is exactly the opposite.
When he appeared upon the scene, South Africa was
a frugal and comparatively poor country. His restless
and indomitable energy has done much to make it
externally rich and prosperous, but at the cost of
286 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
a deplorable demoralisation wliich has sapped the
independence of the people, and will in the end
render them infinitely poorer.
For the devices of modern capital have shown us
how wise Sir Thomas More was when he wrote these
words: " When every man draws to himself all that
ho can compass, by one title or another, it must needs
follow that how plentiful soever a nation may be, yet
a few dividing the wealth of it amongst themselves, the
rest must fall into indigence."
The poor white question is already one of the most
difficult problems with which the South African poli¬
tician has to deal.
Is the assertion justified that Mr. Rhodes is mainly
responsible for the monopolist tendency, which is the
great danger of South African society ? Let us see
what the facts are, and what people in South Africa
have said about them from time to time. In the
report of the Select Committee on Griqualand West
held in 1891, Mr. J. Cowie, the acting mayor of
Beaconsfield (a suburb of Kimberley), was being ex¬
amined, and Mr. Molteno said to him, " Do you mean
to say the Government of this coimtry is also in the
swim of this gigantic swindle to defraud the poor men
of Kimberley out of their debris ?" (worth about a
million sterling). " I will not say," he replied, " that
the Government is in the swindle, but I will say this,
that if Mr. Rhodes had not been in the dual capacity
of premier and life governor of the De Beers Consoli-
mr. rhodes' influence in south africa 287
dated Mines, there is not the least doubt in mj mind
that Ave should have got it."
Mr. Rhodes seems never to have appreciated, or
if ho did, he chose to disregard the exceedingly un¬
pleasant innuendoes to which his dual position gave
rise.
How undesirable that position was for the Prime
Minister of a responsibly governed colony is shown
by the proceedings that took place when the Wessel-
ton Mine was acquired by the De Beers Company in
1891. It is too long a story to go into here; but
those who feel curious about it will find it set out
with much particularity of detail, and much vigour
of language, in a little pamphlet published by the
Knights of Labour, and in a petition of the people of
Kimberley to the Cape House of Assembly.
The impropriety of it was thoroughly understood,
for Mr. Hofmeyr said in September 1888 that "being
aware of the charitable feelings of some people, and in¬
tending to oppose the proposed tax on dividends in the
interests more particularly of the colonial farmer and
producer, he had at the commencement of last session
sold out his De Beers and Central shares for whatever
he could get, so that he could do his Parliamentary
work unfettered by even the trace of self-interest."
So, too, in England Mr. Mundella gave up the
position of President of the Board of Trade simply
because Mr. Justice Vaughan Williams remarked in
the course of a judgment that he hold shares in a
288 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Company which the Official Receiver, an official serving
under him, was liquidating. " It may be, of course, that
he still holds these shares because they are unsaleable.
I do not know how that is; and with regard to his in¬
vestments in other companies there may be special
reasons for his continuing' these investments, but I do
o '
not understand that he, upon taking office, gave up all
these investments." Mr. Mundella thereupon resigned
in order to avoid any possible imputation of a conflict
between his interest and his duty.
What, then, can be thought of Mr. Rhodes' position?
As managing director and life governor of the De Beers
Company he had a direct pecuniary interest in Acts for
the passing of which he, as Prime Minister, was person¬
ally responsible. He cannot be blamed for taking the
fullest advantage of his position; there never was
any concealment about it: but that the Cape House
of Assembly and the Cape electorate should with full
knowledge have given to it their sanction, goes far to
justify OnslaniVs assertion.
The whole of this Select Committee's report will
repay perusal. I shall have occasion to refer to it
again when dealing with the native question, but for
the present I will confine myself to those portions
which bear upon the condition of the working classes.
Mr. E. H. Jones said in his examination: " Kenilworth
(where the De Beers employes live) will eventually
become a vast compound for white men as well as
natives, where these employes may reside and the
THE COMPOUND SYSTEM
289
Company may have entire control over them; and if
any one does not satisfy the Company's requirements
entirely, they will send him away. In other words,
Kenil worth in the future will be what the native com¬
pounds are to-day."
The working classes of Johannesburg are always
dreading, and with reason, the establishment of a State
amalgamated compound system. They know that if
it is once introduced the capitalists will have them in
their power, and that the same system of company
serfage will be introduced which is in force in Kim-
berley. They do not like President Kruger, but they
dislike the capitalists more. They know that their
condition would bo infinitely worse under them than
it is under the Boers, and that however prosperous the
mines might prove, whatever dividends might be paid
in Europe, the prosperity and freedom of Johannesburg,
as a city, would disappear, as that of Kimberley has
done.
Indeed, the struggle in Johannesburg between
capital and labour has already begun. A director of
one of the great mining groups, speaking to me about
it, said: "We have settled the question of native
labour, and have reduced the wages by one-third
without any difficulty. We have now the more diffi¬
cult problem of white labour to deal with. I don't at
all approve of suddenly reducing wages, and so pro¬
ducing a strike. That is in every way undesirable.
What we have to do is to shut down some of our
T
200 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
poorer mines, and let the men walk about tlie streets
for two or three months until their feet are on the
pavement. They'll be glad enough then to take what¬
ever we choose to offer them."
To understand fully the dread which the working
classes have of Johannesburg being assimilated to
Kimberley, and of an Illicit Gold Act being put into
operation of equal stringency with the Act in force in
the Cape, it is necessary to explain what that Act is,
and in what way it differs from the ordinary criminal
law.
By the Trade in Diamonds Consolidation Act, No.
48 of 1882, generally known as the I.D.B. (illicit
diamond buying) Act, it is declared unlawful for any
person to have in his possession any rough or uncut
diamond unless he is able to produce his proper permit
for the same, or to account satisfactorily for, or prove
his right to, the possession thereof; and such diamonds
are only permitted to be bought by duly licenced
dealers—the penalty for contravention being a fine not
exceeding £1000, or imprisonment up to fifteen years,
or both. The operation of the Act was originally
confined to Griqualand West, but by Act 14 of 1885
its operation was extended to the whole of Cape Colony.
It will be observed that the onus of proof is placed
upon the accused; that is to say, instead of the
prosecution having to prove that he is guilty, he has
to prove that he is innocent—a very difficult and often
an impossible thing to do. This provision, coupled
THE I.D.B. ACT.
291
with the system of trapping which is in use at Kim-
berley, both by male and female detectives, have made
the Act a terribly effective instrument.
In 1888, an attempt which was made to procure its
adoption by Natal failed, giving rise to a good deal of
acrimony between the Cape and that colony. What the
Natal people thought of the Act is shown by an article
in the Natal Mercury, dated September 3, 1888, and
much the same opinion prevails now in the Transvaal:
" And it was a conviction that our highest interests
were being jeopardised, which led to the rejection of
the Diamond Bill; not material, or speculative, or
commercial interests in any sense, but the interests
of a community determined to hold inviolate the
personal liberties of the subject, which Anglo-Saxons
and South Africans hold alike so dear. The Bill, even
in its curtailed form, conferred upon the police inquisi¬
torial and offensive powers which are wholly foreign to
our experience, and wholly hostile to our instincts. The
powers of arrest and of search proposed to be legalised
by the Bill are powers which are undoubtedly capable
of abuse; they would expose the people of the colony
to liabilities and penalties of the most odious and
oppressive kind, and they are peculiarly repugnant to
a liberty-loving race. Cape colonists put up with
them — very reluctantly — because they have been
found necessary to the protection of their leading
and most lucrative industry, but that is no reason
why Natal, whoso actual interest in that industry is
292 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
practically nil, should place itself under a system
which is revolting to the moral sense of the com¬
munity. ... We should fasten upon ourselves danger¬
ous and hateful liabilities without doing anything to
prevent the traffic in stolen diamonds. According to
the answer given by the Colonial Secretary on Monday,
the Cape Government possess the power, as it is, of
opening letters or packets sent to Europe by the mail
from any South African territory. It must exercise
that power on its own responsibility, and it is well
that it should do so, but it is surely asking too much
of its independent neighbours that they should take
that obnoxious responsibility upon their shoulders."
Mr. Rhodes is not responsible for these Acts: they
were passed before he came into power; but he has
been the chiet upholder of them, and his recent
action in the Sigcau case shows what his views arc
about arbitrary powers of arrest. He is hardly, there¬
fore, the champion of progress and of freedom that
in England he is generally accredited with being.
Even in Cape Colony, where the influence of the
Company is supreme, the enormous powers granted to
it have aroused an ineffectual opposition. The Cape
Times of Sept. 4, 1888, contains this passage: "The
work of the session is exhibited in a list of thirty-eight
Acts passed—of these some are useful, some silly, only
one we believe positively mischievous. . . . The object
of the Act is to crush all opposition to the Diamond
Mining monopoly, which is now assuming the position
POWERS OF THE DE BEERS COMPANY 293
of a universal trader, exploiter, and financier. The Chief-
Justice, in delivering judgment yesterday upon the
amalgamation question, assigned the following reasons
why the Do Beers Consolidated Mines was not to be
deemed, for the purposes of amalgamation, a company
established with purposes similar to those of the Central
Diamond Mining Company. ' He had looked,' he said,
' into the trust deed of the De Beers Consolidated Mines,
and was satisfied it was not a company for the same and
similar purposes as the Central. It was quite true that
one of the purposes for which the De Beers Company
was established was diamond-mining, but that formed
an insignificant portion of the powers which might be
exercised by the Company. The Company could under¬
take financial arrangements for foreign governments,
might carry on diamond-mining, gold-mining, and coal¬
mining in any part of the world; it could carry on
banking in Africa or elsewhere, and become a water
company in the Colony or elsewhere. In point of fact,
it was of public note that an Act had been passed that
session empowering the De Beers Company to perform
the duties of a water company. The powers of the
Company were as extensive as those of any company
that ever existed.' The prorogation was delayed in
order to complete the legislation required to give
this ambitious corporation effectual crushing powers ;
and this was the only instance, we believe, of suc¬
cessfully mischievous legislation in the work of the
session."
294 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
There is another question that I must touch upon
briefly, and that is the treatment of the natives in the
Do Beers compound. Mr. Rhodes, at the Chartered
Company's meeting, appealed to what he had done for
the natives in the colony to show that the interests of
the natives in Rhodesia might safely be confided to
him. But in the report of the Select Committee from
which I have already quoted, there are various passages
which hardly seem to bear out his contention. Mr.
Holt in his evidence said: " What I complain of is,
that they call the Kaffir a thief, and they are doing
all they can to get a premium on his theft, and in¬
duce him to become a blackguard." And again: " I
thought, although the Company appeared anxious to
make the natives sober, there did not seem to be
the same anxiety to prevent their becoming thieves.
For instance, the compound manager has got an
under-manager, and this under-manager is supposed to
be a man who buys diamonds unknown to his superior.
He has got so many runners, and the stones are bought
under the pretence that the Company really knows
nothing about it, although the money is paid really 011
behalf of the Company. The natives believe they are
selling to an individual who is carrying the diamonds
out of the compound, and the man leads them to
think he is buying stolen diamonds unknown to the
Company." And Mr. Thomas W. Goodwin, who was
mayor of Kimberley in ] 890, said : " There is another
thing that I complain of, and that is the Company
THE COMPOUND SYSTEM
295
buying stolen diamonds from the natives in tlic
compounds. It simply manufactures thieves. The
sub-manager is supplied with funds to buy stolen
diamonds from the natives, which they have managed
to secrete."
Mr. Barnato—" Is not the money given in the
shape of a present ? "
" No."
" Has not this system been carried out in every
compound in existence, and not alone by De Beers
Consolidated Mines ?"
" I believe so."
" And was it not found to be the only system of
preventing the stealing of diamonds ? "
"Yes, but it shows what extreme action has to
be taken by the Company in order to secure their
property. It cannot be defended from a moral point
of view."
I inquired when I was in Kimberley whether this
system was still pursued, and was told it was.
Syndicates and amalgamations and companies are
the worst feature of South African life; go where you
will, no matter where, you will find a fertile crop of
them. They destroy individual effort, and tend to
crush out the small traders, who are the real backbone
of a nation. I was told a story, which, though an
amusing exaggeration, contains a good deal of point.
Some Johannesburg millionaires were going down to
Cape Town, and on their way they invaded the refresh-
296 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
ment-room at one of tlie stations, and bought up the
whole of the tea-urn. A lady came in, and not knowing
this, asked the waiter for a cup. " Excuse me, miss,"
said one of the co-owners, " but that tea is syndicated."
An effective parody of a real and increasing evil, which
is springing up everywhere, but which in South Africa
exists in an accentuated form.
At last, however, the Cape colonists are awakening
from their lethargy; they are beginning to understand
that the wealth of their country is passing away to
other lands ; to perceive their danger and to struggle
against it; and in all probability they will shake them¬
selves free if we in England do not interfere on behalf
of their opponents. We must let them put things
straight in their own way—intervention will only do
harm, as intervention by the Home Government has
always done harm in South African affairs. It is the
one thing that colonists cannot stand. I remarked to
Mr. Merriman one day, that, in justice to the Transvaal,
Mr. Rhodes ought to have been detained in England,
and tried at the same time as Dr. Jameson; not for
vindictive reasons, but because if he had been convicted
it would have been impossible for the Queen to accept
him at any future time as Prime Minister of the Cape
Colony.
Mr. Merriman flared up at once. " I don't agree
with you at all," he said. " I am a strong enough
opponent of Mr. Rhodes, but if we choose to elect the
devil himself we are not going to have you say we
COLONIAL INDEPENDENCE
297
shall not." The answer was typical of colonial feeling
all over the world.
It is quite possible that if Mr. Rhodes had stood
his trial in England, and had been convicted and
imprisoned as Dr. Jameson was, it would have pro¬
duced a reaction in his favour, even amongst the
Dutch. As it is, they feel that he has not only been
screened from justice, but that ho is being forced upon
them by the Home Govern] nent, and that puts them
into opposition at once.1
1 With the aims of the Progressive party in the Cape most English¬
men must be in cordial sympathy: the strengthening of the tie with
the mother-country, a reduced duty on food stuffs, an extended fran¬
chise, and a juster treatment of the natives. But all through his
political career Mr. Rhodes has upheld the directly opposed views
the elimination of the Imperial factor, a heavy duty on food stuffs, a
restricted franchise, and more drastic native legislation. In 1896 he
voted with the Dutch majority for an increased duty on wheat, grain,
and flour ; Mr. Merriman and Mr. Sauer. who are now branded as
anti-Progressives, voting with the Progressive minority. The party
names in the present election are altogether misleading. The struggle
is not so much between the Progressives and the Bond as between the
Rhodites and the anti-Rhodites. That this is the case is proved by the
adhesion of the natives to the Bond.
CHAPTER XXII
The Development of Rhodesia
The less England interferes with tlie self-governing
colonies in South Africa the better; but with regard
to Rhodesia the case is entirely different. Through
Mr. Rhodes it was originally affiliated to the Cape, but
it still belongs to England, and it is too valuable for
her to allow it to pass into the hands of the mono¬
polists without an effort.
U nfortunately the same system of company control
has been established there as in Kimberley, and unless
it is speedily checked the country will never become
the home of a freedom-loving race such as dwells in
our other colonies.
The element of speculation that permeates every¬
thing: forms a vast difference between the Chartered
Company and the old East India Company, with which
it is so often compared. I will give an example of
what I mean. When I was in Umtali there was a
persistent rumour that Mr. Rhodes, who was then
staying in the Inyanga mountains, was seriously ill.
It sent Chartered shares down at once, and I met an
excited man who had come in from some distance
away to wire instructions to Johannesburg to sell his
298
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RHODESIA 299
shares at once. " I bought as many as I could," he
said, " in anticipation of the boom in Bulawayo when
the railway reaches there, but if Rhodes should die
they will drop to Heaven knows what, and I can't
risk it."
In every way this speculative uncertainty exerts an
unwholesome influence.
The worst feature, however, of the Company's rule
is the immense, and indeed the almost absolute control
it exercises over every one who settles in the country.
Not only does the Company claim fifty per cent, of the
vendor's scrip in all gold-mining flotations, but before
granting a prospecting licence it enacts an undertaking
which makes subsequent freedom of action impossible.
When he takes out a licence, a prospector has to sign
the following declaration: " I, A. B., having taken out
a prospecting licence from the British South Africa
Company, do hereby agree to comply with the laws and
regulations of the Company, to assist in the defence of
its territories, and in the maintenance of public order
when called upon to do so, and to obey without ques¬
tion all the decisions and directions of the Company's
officers, subject to the forfeiture of such licence, and of
any rights accruing therefrom; and I moreover hereby
acknowledge the right of the Company to remove me
from the sphere of its operations if I resist such
decisions or disobey such directions." Comment on
this extraordinary undertaking is hardly necessary. It
is perfectly plain and unambiguous, and if people like
300 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
to enter into a compact of sncli a nature they cannot
complain; but it is not the way in which, a free state
can be created.
Under this undertaking any one who disapproved
of the first Matabili war, and declined to take part in
it (and I know of several who disapproved of it most
strongly), were liable to forfeiture of their claims, and
even to removal from Rhodesia.
It is this feeling of servitude that chafes so many
of the settlers, and makes them secretly long for the
hour when England shall take over the administration
into her own hands. There are many men, also, who
think that, even from the material point of view, it
will be for the advantage of the country that she
should do so; but it is only fair to state the opinion
at which Sir Alfred Milner has arrived. When he
was in Rhodesia last autumn, he said: " He was
no flatterer of the Chartered Company, nor prepared
to say everything they did was right. There were
pages in its history which they and he would gladly
see obliterated; but as regarded the development
of the country, and its general economic policy, he
thought it had a very high and honourable record.
He would venture to say even greater progress had
been made than if the country had been a Crown
colony, and as an imperial representative he was glad
to acknowledge this."
But this progress has been made at the cost of a
great sum taken out of English pockets, and so far it
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RHODESIA 301
has been a feverish progress that may yet prove to
be ephemeral. It is not the steady progress of the
country itself. With all deference to Sir Alfred
Milner's great authority, what I saw of Rhodesia has
led me rather to concur with Olive Schreiner's opinion.
" If the Chartered Company were in ten or fifteen
years' time, or much sooner, to explode, and as a
company to loosen its control over the land and
people, it would yet be found that the whole real
wealth of the country was appropriated, and in the
hands of a few private individuals, forming syndicates
and trusts. . . . So, again, with regard to land tenure;
while in all progressive countries there is a tendency
to obtain and retain as large a part as possible of land,
mines, and great public works, as the property of, and
to be worked for the benefit of, the nation as a whole,
we in this country are for ever and completely alienat¬
ing our public lands, our minerals, our precious stones,
and even our public works."
The main factor in the welfare of a country,
especially of a young country, is, as Olive Sclireiner
says, that land should be cheap and easily obtainable.
Now, in Rhodesia almost the whole of the land has
been parted with to subsidiary companies, so that it is
difficult to obtain farms of any real value from the
Chartered Company direct; and however necessary the
subsidiary companies may be for the development of
a country like the Mozambique Company's territory,
which is incapable of white colonisation on a large
302 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
scale, they are certainly detrimental to the free develop¬
ment of a colony properly so-called, as Rhodesia will
in time become.
Most of these companies are holding on in expec¬
tation of a boom, and will not part with any portion
of their property except at extravagant rates. This
wholesale alienation of the land is due to the manner
in which the country was originally acquired. In
order to induce men to take part in the expedition
against Lobengula, they were promised gold claims and
grants of land, which have proved to be a millstone
round the neck of the Company, especially in the case
of Matabililand, where pioneer rights were given to a
force of over 300 men, consisting of fifteen gold claims
and a farm of 3000 morgen (6000 acres), the Company
merely reserving to itself the right, if a farm should
be declared to be on a gold-bearing area, to resume
possession on the payment of £3 a morgen (£9000)
and whatever had been expended on improvements.
Those grants were not weighted with any clause
for beneficial occupation, like the Mashonaland farms,
but were absolute grants, except for the payment of a
small quit-rent. The men to whom they were given
being for the most part in want of funds, were glad to
dispose of them for a small sum, and they were rapidly
bought up by land syndicates, which were thus enabled
to acquire enormous tracts of country, which they hold
without any obligation whatever to develop. One com¬
pany, I was informed, holds ninety-two farms—i.e.
THE DEVELOPMENT OE RHODESIA 303
5")2,000 acres—for which it pays a total quit-rent of
£46 a year. Moreover, concessions have been given
to various favoured individuals, which have given rise
to much discussion.
How little nations profit by the lessons of the past!
Sir George Cathcart, writing in 1852, says: "It is
much to be regretted that a general rule for the sale
of Crown lands in the British colonies should have
been applied to the exposed borders of this colony,
affording opportunities to speculators to purchase the
more valuable portions, which are kept for the purpose
of profit at convenient opportunities, to the manifest
danger of the country. Had the system laid down on
the 15th of May 1844 for the sale of Crown lands been
pursued for six months longer, the whole of the district
would have been in the hands of capitalists, and pro¬
bably remained untenanted for many years, and the
abandonment of that part of the frontier must have
been the result, unless the Crown repurchased at
a fixed value, and occupied it on the system now
pursued. As an instance, I may mention that one
person (not a farmer) owns fifteen or eighteen miles of
river frontage, which has remained unoccupied since
purchase, thus excluding twenty farms with probably
fifty defenders of the border." Exactly the same pro¬
cess has been going on in Rhodesia.
Mr. Charles Fulbert Bere, who before he went to
Rhodesia had been in New Zealand, said in his evi¬
dence before the Bulawayo Chamber of Commerce:
304 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
" In Australia and New Zealand, a man who lands
there is entitled to settle on easy terms. . . . Hero
tliey have given too much land away, and have
not held sufficient for new arrivals, and the Govern¬
ment have left them at the mercy of possible land-
grabbers."
We are continually being assured that the majority
of the settlers do not desire to be placed under Imperial
control, and I believe that is perfectly true. A great
number of them are in difficulties, and are indebted to
Mr. Rhodes for assistance ; and they naturally advocate
the cause of the man who has befriended them, and
do not trouble themselves about the deeper questions
involved. But though they are in the minority, there
arc not a few men who are looking forward to the day
when they can feel once more that they are citizens of
no mean country, and not lessees at will of a chartered
company.
Still Mr. Rhodes' donations are so ample, and often
so genuinely kind, that he will never be in want of
supporters, sometimes more enthusiastic than discreet.
A man came to me one day in Gwelo, and said that he
could give me a lot of information about the natives, as
he had been in the countiy ever since it was acquired.
I thanked him, and asked what his view of the native
question was. " If you want it short," he said, " they've
been a lot too well treated—that's about all of it."
" That's interesting and comprehensive," I replied, " but
can't you give me some details ?" He did so, but
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RHODESIA 305
after a bit burst out with, " I see you don't agree with
me." " No," I said, " I don't." " Well," he went on,
" it's all very well for you people in England to criticise
us when you don't know anything about the matter.
Of course, we don't want to interfere with Lord Salis¬
bury. As long as he lives lie will bo the Premier, but
when lie dies, Cecil Rhodes is going to be the next
Prime Minister, and he'll settle this native question,
because he understands all about it." This man
was only one of many who have the same exalted
opinion of Mr. Rhodes. Major Hurrell told me a
pretty story, which he was kind enough to say I
might repeat, explaining the personal magnetism
that Mr. Rhodes exercises. Miss Rhodes said to
him one day at Groot Schuur, " What a pity my
brother should have to leave so lovely a place. Do
you think he will ever come back to it ?" " No, I
don't think he will," Major Hurrell replied; " at least,
not for any length of time. I think he is going to
make his homo with us in Rhodesia for some years
yet." " Ah, well," said Miss Rhodes, " he is making
homes for the little ones in England."
The sincere emotion with which Major Hurrell
spoke showed how it is that Mr. Rhodes has obtained
his enormous power ; that it is due to his personality
as much as to his wealth. The same feeling exists
even in the Republics. One of the best known of
Free State Dutchmen, when discussing the Raid,
said to me, " We don't think Rhodes was influenced
U
306 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
by what are generally called sordid motives, but by
ambition. We were once close friends, and though
there is no hope that we shall ever be friends again
—the harm he has done is too great for that—we
do not impute to him unworthy motives in what he
did ; not money motives." That a strong feeling of
personal regard for Mr. llhodes exists all over South
Africa, and especially in Rhodesia, is undoubted. It
found a truer and more sincere utterance in the
address presented to Sir Alfred Milner by the people
of Umtali than in the speeches made at the railway
opening at Bulawayo. "We desire," they said, "to
call your excellency's attention to the fact that the
man whose conception the occupation of this vast ter¬
ritory was, and who led us successfully through years
of doubt and danger to a continually increasing pros¬
perity, no longer holds any official position in its
government, and to assure your excellency of the
determination of the people of this country to stand
firmly by Mr. Rhodes, who has stood by us so well in
the dark days which are now happily passing away."
However opposed one may be to them in opinion,
one cannot but respect this feeling of the Umtali
people. Mr. Rhodes' indifference to hardships and
danger, his careless exposure of himself during the
rebellion, the reckless grandeur of his views, and the
expenditure of his private fortune in furtherance of
them, have won the fullest recognition even from those
who are most opposed to his methods. Nevertheless
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RHODESIA 307
the English Government ought not to take this feel¬
ing into account when dealing with the question of
the revocation of the charter. What they have to
consider are the broad principles of right and wrong;
whether they have, or have not, been persistently
violated ? That is the question with which they have
to deal, and no ebullition of sentiment should be per¬
mitted to obscure it.
The objection of the colonists to a Crown colony is
reasonable enough. A governor, to all intents and pur¬
poses, would be as much of an autocrat as the directors
of the Chartered Company; the people would be no
better off, and would have no facilities for obtaining laws
suitable for their special requirements. A Crown colony
pure and simple is never developed as rapidly as a
colony under responsible government, for the advice of
the governor in all matters apparently trivial, but often
of vital consequence to the comfort and advancement
of the people, is almost invariably followed in Downing
Street; whereas where there is a responsible government,
self-interest prompts a rapidity of development to which
a governor is not unfrequently utterly indifferent.
Nevertheless, self-government is as yet out of the
question ; it would merely mean the handing over
again of the country to Mr. Rhodes, and to the party
he controls, and placing them in a far stronger position
than before by giving to them the power of legislation ;
in the position, in fact, which up till now they have
occupied in the Cape Colony. In a young State,
308 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
where public opinion lias not yet acquired strength,
no form of government is so dangerous to liberty as
that by responsible government. Sir Thomas More
foresaw this clearly. " Therefore I must say, as I
hope for mercy, I can have no other notion of all the
other governments that I see or know than that they
are a conspiracy of the rich, who, on the pretence of
managing the public, only pursue their private ends
and devise all the ways and means they can find out,
first that they may, without danger, preserve all that
they have so ill acquired, and then that they may
engage the poor to toil and labour for them at as low
rates as possible, and oppress them as much as they
please. And if they can but prevail to get these
contrivances established by the show of public authority,
which is considered as the representative of the whole
people, then they are accounted laws." What is wanted
is not a Crown colony administered by a governor, but
a colony like Natal until 1894, under a governor and
a council, which shall be partly elective, and shall serve
as a stepping-stone to complete self-government. But,
as Mr. Orpen has wisely said, " If England prefers to
rule directly let it do so deliberately and for ever, and
not vacillate and starve or throw away Rhodesia as it
did in other cases, notably Zululand." For every
reason it is desirable to put an end to the present
state of uncertainty, which is the cause of much dis¬
couragement and depression.
CHAPTER XXIII
Situation in the Transvaal—Does the Suzerainty still
exist?—Attitude of the Pretoria Government with
regard to it — continual and needless invectives
against the Boers—Embittered Feeling now existing.
President Kruger lias made a fatal mistake in not
continuing to act with the moderation he showed after
Dr. Jameson's surrender ; a moderation which elicited
from Mr. Balfour the comment that he had shown
himself to possess a generosity not the less to be
admired because coincident with the highest political
wisdom. The severe measures adopted against the Re¬
form prisoners ; the importation of Judge Gregorowski
from the Free State ; the vindictive recourse to the
obsolete Roman-Dutch law of treason, instead of to the
milder law of 1887 ; the harsh sentence of expulsion
against Mr. Lionel Phillips for a doubtful, and, at the
most, a trivial breach of his undertaking not to inter¬
meddle in Transvaal politics ; the absurd and odious
secrecy law ; the refusal to grant the necessary econo¬
mic reforms ; the interference with the administration
of justice, and the treatment of Chief-Justice Kotze,
have produced the most unfavourable impression, not
only in England, but all over Europe. These things,
300
310 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
and the corruption that is everywhere apparent, are
ruining the prosperity of the country, and are caus¬
ing so dangerous an irritation, that, if persisted in,
nothing can prevent a revolution ; in which case it will
be impossible to prevent assistance being given to the
Uitlanders by their kinsmen in the English colonies.
Such a revolution seems to be rapidly approaching,
and if it is to be kept from assuming the aspect of a
civil war, the English Government must put themselves
right in the eyes of their Dutch subjects. They must
make them believe that any action they may have to
take is not taken with the object of annexing the vast
wealth of the Transvaal, but to restore harmony and
peace to South Africa. If they can bring about that
belief they will insure their co-operation, and with
their aid will be able to procure better government for
Johannesburg by peaceable means ; but should they fail
to do so, the first hostile step they take will produce an
intense race agitation, which it will be impossible for
them to control.
Mr. Hofmeyr, who is better qualified than any one
else to speak on the matter, though he has asserted
again and again the sincere if undemonstrative loyalty
of those of his countrymen who are living under British
rule, has no doubt as to what would occur in such
a contingency. " Remember," he said not long ago,
" those across the Yaal River are our kinsmen. We
are all related: all members of one great family.
Do not make any mistake. The Yaal River and
SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL 311
the Orange River are mere geographical expressions.
There is a vast Dutch population from the farthest
north of the Transvaal down to Cape Town. Over
two-thirds of Cape Colony are Dutch, and of course
we shall stand by one another in any event which
threatens the independence which our brothers have
fought for and won. Blood is thicker than water;
their independence was secured by the blood of our
common ancestors. Depend upon it, if once the spark
of war is kindled, it will not stop where it begins.
There will be a general conflagration from north to
south. It will be absolutely impossible to restrain the
Dutch. . . . You have not merely got to reckon with
the small South African Republic in the case of war,
but with all South Africa. Of course England would
win in the end, but the struggle would be prolonged
and bloody. The country would be desolated."
Not only would the Dutch be against us, unless
we had placed our motives beyond suspicion, but not
a few of British birth also.
Nor would the war be the easy matter some of the
English papers seem to think. They are continually
asserting that the Boors, now that the game has been
destroyed, have lost their manhood and have forgotten
how to shoot, but I heard from men who knew them
well, that on the contrary they shoot better than ever.
The same stories were rife at the time of the annexa¬
tion. Anthony Trollope, writing in 1878, says: "The
Boers are at present much abused for cowardice, and
312 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
stories without end are current in tlie country as to
the manner in which they have allowed themselves to
be scared by the slightest opposition. I fear that of
late there has been some truth in these stories, and
that the pluck shown by them when they made good
their hold upon the country has been greatly dimmed
by the quiet, uneventful tenor of their lives." Yet
within two years after this was written they had won
from us their independence.
The Boers do not care for fighting for the sake of
fighting. They have no professional-soldier element
amongst them as we have in England, and would
always rather avoid a conflict if possible, but if they
feel that their freedom or their land is threatened
they will fight to the death. President Steyn said to
me, "We don't want to fight, but you have taken the
Hinterland away from us. We have nowhere left now
to which we can trek, so if you attack us, we must die
where we stand." President Kruger has said much
the same thing. " If I see a lion," he once remarked—
" and the British Government is a lion—I try to get
out of his way; but if he attacks me, I will defend
myself though I have only a penknife in my hand,
and by the grace of God I will prevail." It is the
old Puritan spirit which will come to their aid as it
did before, if they feel they have God on their side;
if they do not, it will fail them just as it failed them
in the war against Secocoeni.
That England could subdue the Transvaal if she
SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL 313
chose is too apparent to be questioned. What she
has to think of is whether her cause is just. Now
the thiny that above all others irritates the Transvaal
Government is the claim to suzerainty, which Mr.
Chamberlain has so persistently advanced. Does it
really exist ? and if so, does it exist in the form that
he has claimed for it ?
It is not, I think, generally recognised in England
how strong a vein of national sentiment there is in
the Boer character, or how galled they have been as
a people by his assumption that the Transvaal is, in
fact, a vassal State—an assumption which is generally
accepted unquestioningly in England, in spite of the
publicly expressed opinion of the Chief-Justices, both
of the Transvaal and of the Orange Eree State, that
the suzerainty which was created by the Convention of
1881 no longer exists, having been expressly abrogated
by the Convention of 1884.
The correspondence which took place at the time
between the Transvaal Government and the Colonial
Office has a most important bearing upon the con¬
tention of the Chief-Justices.
Lord .Derby had requested the members of the
Transvaal Deputation (S. J. P. Kruger, S. J. Du Toit,
and N. J. Smit) to place before him in writing the
objections they entertained to the existing Convention
of 1881, and in their reply, dated 14th November 1883,
this passage occurs: —
"(1) That the Pretoria Convention may not be
314 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
altered in some of its articles, but be replaced by a new
agreement founded on the principles of International
Law, and in genetical connection with the Sand River
Treaty.
" (2) That in this new agreement every connection
by which we are now bound to England should not be
broken, but the relation of a dependency, publici juris,
in which our country now stands to the British Crown,
may be replaced by that of two contracting Powers."
Then they go on to say that there is " no objection
to any later arrangements of commercial and other
interests with her Majesty's Government, either in the
Convention which may be arrived at now, or by a
separate treaty." Acknowledging, however, the reason¬
ableness of a distinct understanding upon a point too
important to allow of any misunderstanding hereafter,
the Deputation wish to explain that, admitting the pro¬
posed basis, there is no reason why the Government
of the South African Republic should not stand in
a friendly relation to her Majesty's Government, and
why all points of common interest should not be
arranged in a friendly manner, as, for instance, mutual
protection of commercial interests, a common native policy,
and the like. (The italics throughout are mine.)
" The Deputation would even go further, and de¬
clare what has already been repeatedly and openly
declared by the Government and people of the South
African Republic, that 011 their part there is no
objection to give their favourable consideration to any
SITUATION IN THE TKANSVAAL 315
scheme of confederation between the Colonics and
States of South Africa, emanating from her Majesty's
Government, and wherein the interests of the Imperial
Government are duly recognised, even in so far as a
British Protectorate might hereafter be required against
any attempt on the part of transmarine Powers to take
possession of South Africa by force of arms." (Nov. 23rd.)
This fully bears out the likelihood, that if the
present vague and unsatisfactory Convention could be
torn up and replaced by a definite and unambiguous
treaty of amity and commerce, the Transvaal Govern¬
ment would not only be willing to give very extensive
concessions to the Uitlander population, but would
probably also join the South African Customs Union,
and co-operate in any reasonable scheme of South
African Confederation. President Kruger's proposal in
1883 comprised, in fact, all for which Mr. Rhodes and
the progressive party say that they are now working.
In yet another letter, dated 5th February 1884,
the Deputation say : " Would it not be possible to have
the other articles of the new Convention—namely,
those referring to the abolition of the suzerainty, and to
the reduction to its legal proportions of the debt of the
Republic, simultaneously drawn up and communicated
to us." And Sir Hercules Robinson wrote on Nov.
23rd, 1883 : " If the suzerainty be abolished, I do not
see that it matters the least whether the Transvaal
burghers call themselves the South African Republic
or the Transvaal State."
316 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
If these letters be read in conjunction with the fact
that the word " suzerainty," which was contained in
the Convention of 1881, is altogether omitted in that
of 1884, is it not evident that it was omitted inten¬
tionally, because the understanding was that it should
be, as the deputation say, abolished ? Lord Derby's
final letter, dated 15th February 1884, confirms this
view of the matter. " By the omission," he says, " of
those articles of the Convention of Pretoria which
assigned to her Majesty and to the British resident
certain specific powers and functions connected with
the internal government and the foreign relations of
the Transvaal State, your Government will be left free
to govern the country without interference, and to
conduct its diplomatic intercourse and shape its foreign
policy, subject only to the requirement embodied in
the fourth article of the new draft, that any treaty
with a foreign State shall not have effect without the
approval of the Queen."
Mr. Chamberlain has all this correspondence before
him, and it is difficult to understand how, in face of it,
he can assume that the Transvaal is a vassal State.
Why, the whole object of the Convention of 1884 was, as
the Deputation said, to do away with the relation of a
dependency, publici juris, in which the country then
stood to the British Crown, and to replace it by that
of two contracting Powers, with a restrictive clause, as
against one of them, embodied in the contract.
His assertion is directly negatived by the historical
SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL 317
evidence as well as by the Convention itself, and the
manner in which it has been made has aroused a very
natural feeling1 of irritation. The one thing the Boers
o O
dislike is to bo talked to in a superior and patronising
fashion. A blunt man who treats them as equals they
like, and they will not resent it even if he speaks to
them in the most plain and unequivocal way; but it
always angers them to be spoken to as though from
another platform. The more one sees of them, the
more convinced one becomes of the influence in their
politics of the personal element.
The controversy has really resolved itself into a
wrangle over words. The Boers are quite willing to
acknowledge a suzerainty in its generally accepted
sense of parcimountcy. President Kruger said, " I
accept suzerainty as explained by the general word;
the definition being: suzerainty means, that the
country has entire control as regards its own interior
affairs, but that it cannot take action against or
with an outside Power without the permission of the
suzerain." But they object, and with reason, to its
being construed into vassalage.
The attitude of the Transvaal Government in regard
o
to the matter is a perfectly reasonable one. President
Kruger, in his despatch dated March 1, 1.89G, claims:
"First, withdrawal of London Convention of 1884,
because in several respects it has virtually ceased to
exist; because in other respects it has no more cause
for existence; because it is injurious to the dignity of an
318 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
independent republic; because the continual arguments
on the question of suzerainty, which since the con¬
clusion of London Convention of 1884 no longer
exists, are used as a pretext —especially by a libellous
Press — for inciting white and black against the
Republic, and for bringing about misunderstanding
between England and the South African Republic.
In the discussion of the withdrawal of the London
Convention of 188-1, Article 4 should naturally not be
kept back. He believes the British Government has
decided to make no alteration in this article on false
representation that the Government of South African
Republic have sought the protection of other Powers.
He says that there is nothing further from his thoughts
than the protection of any foreign Power, which he Avill
never seek. Neither he nor his people will tolerate
an interference with their internal relations from any
Power whatever, and he is willing to give the necessary
assurances for this in order that her Majesty's Govern¬
ment need have no fear that her Majesty's interests in
South Africa will be injured. Secondly, the substitu¬
tion should be discussed of any treaties of peace,
friendship, and commerce in lieu of London Convention
of 1884 by which the existing privileges of England
in the dominion of commerce and intercourse, and the
interests of British subjects in the South African Re¬
public, will be guaranteed on the footing of the most
avoured nation, and herein he would be prepared to go
to the utmost of what can reasonably be asked."
SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL 319
But though the Boers maintain that no suzerainty
exists, there is reason to believe that they would be will¬
ing to acknowledge it if they were given a substantial
return. The Pretoria Press—the Government official
organ—on the 3rd February 1896 contained a proposal
for the settlement of the existing difficulties, in which
it was stated that the Transvaal Government would be
willing to recognise the suzerainty to the fullest extent,
provided that Great Britain gave it greater concrete
effect by guaranteeing the permanent independence of
the Transvaal against all comers, and the maintenance
of Delagoa Bay as a neutral port; and it explained
that by the latter proposal they did not mean that the
Transvaal should have any control either of the port
or the railway.
These alternatives are surely reasonable enough.
Either conclude a definite treaty of amity and com¬
merce as between independent contracting powers, or
let there be an acknowledged suzerainty with the
corresponding obligation of protection, and mainten¬
ance of the existing form of government.
The Boers are not actuated by hatred to England,
but by fear for their independence: if that could be
guaranteed they would be quite content, but at present
they feel that it is insidiously threatened, and that the
suzerainty is only used as a cover for an interference
that shall ultimately lead to annexation.
Can they be blamed for thinking this, when they
see the man who deliberately conspired against their
320 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Government, and who makes no concealment even now
of liis hostility to it, protected t'rom punishment, and
assisted and applauded in every way by the English
Government, and in a great measure by the English
people. It is a truly regretable thing that Sir Alfred
Milner's tour should have been utilised for a series of
election speeches by English officials and members of
Parliament on behalf of Mr. Rhodes. It at once
drew forth vehement protests, not only from the
Transvaal, but from Mr. Hofmeyr and from President
Steyn; it has had the effect of crystallising the relative
positions of the English and the Dutch, and has changed
what ought to have been a purely local conflict into a
national struggle. These speeches caused much anger
in Dutch circles, an anger intelligible enough when the
matter is regarded from the Dutch point of view. When
one thinks of the terrible mischief caused by the Raid,
and recollects that up to the present moment no attempt
has been made to pay the indemnity; when one calls to
mind that almost directly after these speeches were
made an English member of Parliament told a Durban
audience that the Transvaal was the only obstacle in
South Africa to English progress, it is not difficult to
understand that the Boers should believe that the
British Government is an enemy against whom they
must always be on their guard.
Mr. Chamberlain, who has a singularly clear per¬
ception of the right thing to do, has told us that
The question between Mr. Hofmeyr or President
"RACK FEELING
321
Kruger, on the one side, and the personality of Mr.
Rhodes on the other, is one of tremendous interest in
South Africa, and we ought as far as possible to avoid
showing any partisanship in these matters." Unfortu¬
nately that is precisely what we have not done. The
Dutch all over Africa believe that England is trying to
crush them out as a nation, and that belief naturally
binds them together; for though the colonial Dutch
are satisfied with our rule, they cannot help having a
sympathy with their kinsmen in the Transvaal, and in
the Orange Free State. In times of ferment, the tie of
blood will always prove stronger than the artificial tie
of political allegiance, and the art of governing a colony
of mixed nationality consists in giving as few occasions
as possible for the awakening of this latent feeling of
brotherhood in the subject people with their free kins¬
men outside the colonial border. As Mr. Merriman
said in 1881, "Every shot fired in the Transvaal finds
an echo in the Colony."
Unhappily it will take years for the existing state
of tension to pass away; it is lamentable that it should
ever have been evoked. 1 was told by one of the Free
State burghers that he never went to bed without a
rifle and a hundred cartridges by his side, to be ready
to rise in a moment to repel invasion. Ho did this,
he said, because the English troops had been sent to
Ladysmith—a matter that President Steyn deemed so
serious that he telegraphed to Sir Alfred Milner to ask
what it meant, and was told in reply that it was merely
x
322 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
for purposes of defence. This sounds ironical, but it
really was not so, but only a plain statement of fact,
for a general feeling of uneasiness prevailed at that
time amongst the English both in Natal and in the
eastern province. At King Williamstown I was told
that they had welcomed the troops most thankfully.
Before they came the town was quite defenceless, and
the people feared that at any moment they might be
raided from the Free State, or from Burghersdorp. In
Natal the feeling was much the same. I met an old
Scotchman there, who said that he and many others,
like the Free State burgher, had his rifie and cartridges
always at hand, and that they were longing to use
them. " Do you think," he broke out indignantly,
" that we are going to allow our fellow-countrymen in
the Transvaal to be governed any longer by a handful
of Boers ?"
The necessity of holding people like these in
control was in itself a justification for the sending out
of the additional troops. Their presence did much to
check the fiery spirits on both sides, and to prevent
the collision which might at any time have occurred
upon the borders of the Colony or of Natal.
It is much to be regretted that the struggle should
have been degraded into a conflict of words, and
that so free a use should have been made on both
sides of vilification and abuse. President Kruger, even
in the opinion of many of his own countrymen, has
allowed his country to fall into a state of terrible
PRESIDENT KRUGER
323
liiisgovernment, but he is nevertheless one of the
greatest and most heroic figures of the age, and the
personal insults to which he has been subjected in
the Press both in South Africa and in England make
most unprejudiced Englishmen ashamed. The con¬
tinual endeavours to distort harmless expressions into
intentional disrespect to the Queen are contemptible
and unworthy. He has always had the deepest re¬
spect for the Queen. He said emphatically one day
to Mr. W. Y. Campbell, who has kindly given mo
permission to repeat his words : " The Queen is a
good woman, a true Christian woman, and I have the
Queen deep in the foundation of my heart." Mr.
Campbell is the most strenuous and open opponent of
President Kruger's oligarchical methods, but he places
little blame upon President Kruger personally, believing
that his errors in government are the creation of the
English Colonial Office. It is an opinion largely held
in Johannesburg. And the feeling against the great
capitalists is equally strong. It is not they who de¬
serve our sympathy. Most of them are birds of passage,
and the industrial burdens, which are crushing out the
poorer mines, are gradually throwing the whole wealth
of the country into their hands. It is upon the work¬
ing population—Afrikanders for the most part, born of
the soil, yet treated as political helots—that President
Kruger is inflicting such real and unnecessary suffering.
CHAPTER XXIV
Distrust op the Republics for the B.S.A. Company—Condi¬
tions on which the charter was granted—have they
been Complied with ?—Necessity of Conciliating the
Boers—But they must deal fairly with the Uitlanders
—Growing Power of the Moderate Party under Mr.
Rose-Innes—In Time they will bring about Union.
Everywhere I went I found signs of the harm done
by the Raid, and still more by the embittered wrang-
lings that have followed it. Johannesburg is virtually
the heart of South Africa. When she prospers all
South Africa prospers with her, and when she suffers
South Africa suffers likewise. In the Free State the
earnings of the railways have diminished by a third;
so, too, have those of the Natal and Delagoa lines. In
June 1897, owing probably to the persistent rumours
of war, the decrease of revenue on the Natal line was
£20,019—a startling reduction. What so many men
said to me seems pretty near the truth. We keep on
disputing about our suzerainty, instead of trying to
convince the Dutch that we intend to act fairly by
them; and the result is that trade in Johannesburg is
going steadily from bad to worse, and that trade in
the Colony and Natal is following suit. Let it be
admitted that there have been great faults on the
324
THE CHART KRED COMPANY 325
Transvaal side, suspicion has begotten unfriendliness;
but the continual assertion of our suzerainty is hardly
the best way to allay it, for suzerainty after all is a
phrase which has no force unless it be used as the
Dutch believe it to be used—as a menace. I heard it
laid down in Johannesburg by a prominent Uitlander
that the President of the Transvaal is but the servant of
the Queen; that she has merely delegated her autho¬
rity to him. It is too foolish an assertion to combat
seriously, but it produces continual friction and anger.
It may be asked what all this has to do with
Rhodesia and its Government. The bearing is very
material, for the Chartered Company is the greatest
stumbling-block in the way of a better understanding
being arrived at with the Republics, both of whom
look upon its continued existence as a threat to them¬
selves, and as a danger to peace.
Only a month or two ago both the Republics de¬
clined absolutely to enter into an extradition treaty
with Rhodesia; a measure that is urgently required.
The Orange Free State had, on the Gth August 1895,
actually concluded such a treaty with the B.S.A. Com¬
pany, but after the Jameson Raid they withdrew from
it. Yet, in the face of hostile actions such as these,
Mr. Chamberlain felt himself justified in asserting that
"if the majority of the people in South Africa are in
favour of Mr. Rhodes, the whole of South Africa is
in favour of the continuance of the Chartered Com¬
pany as a company, until such time as Rhodesia can
326 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
be made an independent and self-governing state."
From tliis whole of South Africa tlie Dutch, a by no
means inconsiderable element, must be altogether
excluded, for there is every reason to believe that in
this matter the colonial Dutch are of one mind with
their Republican kinsfolk. They dislike the Chartered
Company, but still more they fear it; the fear is
unreasoning, perhaps, but it exists.
Nor can it bo said to be altogether without cause.
The hostility of the Chartered Company to the Trans¬
vaal is no new thing, and the Jameson Eaid was but the
climax to a series of unfriendly acts. I came upon an
article in the Financial Record of Johannesburg, dated
October 14, 189-3, which is prophetic when read in the
light of subsequent events : " But if within the space
of twelve months from now, Mashonaland is filling up
and is a prosperous colony free from the shadow of
the black terror in perpetuity, it is legitimate to expect
that Mr. Rhodes will look about him to discover,
where next, like Jacob, it is his mission to wrestle with
God ; and that his eye will alight on his chosen servant
Paul Kruger for the exercise of his giant strength.
There are those who believe that Mr. Rhodes has
only postponed a reckoning with the President of this
Republic until Mashonaland no longer requires his
energies, and when these two strong men at last stand
face to face, the shock will be felt over the entire
continent."
Can we wonder that one of the first things Presi-
THE CHARTERED COMPANY 327
dent Kruger asked for after the Raid was the revocation
of the charter, " which, if it does not take place," says
the despatch, " will continue a threatening danger to
the peace of South African Republic, and thereby
also to the whole of South Africa." And on the 13th
January 1896 the following letter was sent to the
High Commissioner from the acting State President of
the Orange Free State : " I have been requested by
the Yolksraad to acquaint your Excellency with the
following resolution: ' Yolksraad desires to request
the executive to enter into correspondence with his
Excellency the High Commissioner, and to call his
Excellency's attention to the fact that in the view
of the Yolksraad, the existence of governments, such
as that of the British South Africa Company's, has
proved to be, and will in the future continue to be, a
great and threatening danger to the peace of the whole
of South Africa; and that the Yolksraad is of opinion
that the peace and mutual confidence which should
exist between the State and colonies, and which has
now been so severely shaken, have little chance of being
removed and preserved before that the charter of the
said company is cancelled, and the Imperial Govern¬
ment, or that of the Cape Colony, shall take the direct
responsibility of the government of the countries at
present under the ruling of the British South Africa
Company : further, that the Executive shall in the
meantime endeavour to obtain a guarantee from the
Imperial Government that the peace of South Africa
328 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
will not again be disturbed from these quarters. Will
your Excellency be kind enough to transmit the above
to the Secretary of State for the Colonies ? " This letter
shows that the Republics were acting in agreement
then, and there is nothing to indicate that they have
changed their attitude since.
To continue the charter may be in the interests of
certain great financial groups, but it will certainly
prolong the strife that is doing so much harm, and
will thereby cause more permanent injury to our em¬
pire than any temporary check that might be caused
to the commercial development of Rhodesia by its con¬
version into a Crown colony. Nor is it by any means
certain that such a check would result. There has
been so much uncertainty about Rhodesia, so much
heated discussion about the treatment of the natives
and of the settlers, that many people have been de¬
terred from going there who would go if they knew
they would still be under British rule.
Now what are the provisions in the charter re¬
garding revocation { It is worth while to look. The
preamble is as follows :—
" That the petitioners believe that if the said con¬
cessions, agreements, grants, and treaties can be carried
into effect, the condition of the natives inhabiting the
7 o
said territories will bo materially improved, and their
civilisation advanced, and an organisation established
which will lead to the suppression of the slave trade
in the said territories, and to the opening up of the
THE CHARTERED COMPANY 329
said territories to the immigration of Europeans, and
to the lawful trade and commerce of our subjects, and
of the natives."
And Clause 35 runs thus : " And we do hereby
lastly will, ordain, and declare, without prejudice to any
power to repeal this our charter by law belonging to
us, our heirs and successors, or to any of our court's
ministers or officers, independently of this present
declaration and reservation, that in case at any time
it is made to appear to us in our Council that the
Company has substantially failed to observe and con¬
form to the provisions of this our charter ; or that the
Company is not exercising its powers under the conces¬
sions and agreements, grants and treaties aforesaid, so
as to advance the interests which the petitioners have
represented to us to be likely to be advanced by the
grant of this our charter, it shall be lawful for us, our
heirs and successors, and we do hereby reserve and take
to ourselves, our heirs and successors, the right and
power by writing under the Great Seal of our United
Kingdom to revoke this our charter, and to revoke and
annul the privileges, powers, and rights hereby granted
to the Company."
Whether the Company has substantially failed to
observe and conform to the provisions of the charter
is a matter of opinion. Personally, I think it has;
that it has not materially improved the condition of
the natives inhabiting the said territories, but so far
has considerably worsened it.
ooU RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Moreover, they have broken a vital clause in the agree¬
ment entered into by them with the British Government
after the first Matabili war, that " the armed forces of
the Company shall not, without the permission of H.M.
Government, act outside the limits defined in Clause 1
of the Memorandum."
Not so much to the Dutch as to ourselves is it
due, therefore, that the charter should bo revoked.
That of the East India Company was taken away for
less grave cause. Mr. Chamberlain's half measures
will only load to discontent: they will not satisfy the
Dutch, who desire to deal with the British Government
direct, and not with the Chartered Company, and they
will assuredly be productive of trouble in Rhodesia
itself. A dual control is not a good thing for any
country; and if the High Commissioner should exer¬
cise an independent judgment, he is bound to come
into conflict with the Company's officials on many
questions. Indeed, he has done so already upon that
of the exclusion of Hindu traders.
The Bulawcvijo Chronicle on the 2nd June of this
year observed in the course of a leading article:—
" Further, the Government has been run as a
triplicate entity—the Chartered Company, the High
Commissioner, and the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, not counting the Board of Directors, whose
ideas often run counter to those of their administrator.
Such a combination could not harmonise, and the
wonder is that more blunders have not been made."
THE CHARTERED COMPANY 331
It is only fair to say that the article begins Avitli
the assertion that the Company's rule, faulty as it is, is
nevertheless preferable to that of the Crown. "We
may as well premise that we prefer the Chartered
Company's government to that of direct Imperial con¬
trol, as we believe that the former is more elastic, and
therefore more suited to the requirements of a growing
population. We can bend the sapling to our needs,
but we cannot turn the rooted oaks of the Imperial
system one way or the other." Later on, however, we
find the explanation for the preference in this sen¬
tence : " Our native legislation is confined and cramped
by Exeter Hall, through the Secretary of State for the
Colonies."
If a dual or triplicate control is bad for the settlers,
it is infinitely worse for the natives. This is what Mr.
Carnegie says on that subject: "Ever since the late
king's death the natives have been, as they say, ' long¬
ing for a fire at which to warm themselves'; in other
words, they wanted a king, with whom they could be
more in touch than they found themselves with the
white Government. One abortive attempt was made
to accomplish this, but failed. Later on the Govern¬
ment suggested appointing a native who should be the
intermediary between the natives and the Government,
but their nominee was unacceptable to the natives.
Another and last attempt was made by the natives
when this outbreak began. Thus, during all the last
year, the natives were asking for some one to represent
332 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
them to the Government—not that they were then
wishing to rebel, but they wanted some one in whom
they could trust, and who understood them, their ways,
laws, and customs. As it was, first one man came,
who told them he was their ' inkosi' (king); then
another came with the same story; to-day they had
one king, to-morrow he left and they had another.
Sometimes there would be two or more claiming the
same title over the same people. Between them it
was not astonishing the native mind, accustomed to
only one king, became somewhat confused as to who
was their master, and how far each one's authority
extended."
The man they now turn to is Mr. Rhodes. They
see that the white men lean upon him, and obey him
more readily than they will any one else; and he
has a kindly way of talking to them in the homely
parables that they themselves use, which brings them
near to him. His attitude to the labour question,
and his methods of annexation prove that he is in
reality the most dangerous foe the native races have
(Tengu Jabavu's adherence to the Bond shows that in
the Cape they have discovered this), but in many ways
he is exceedingly kind to them. After the rebellion,
he spent £50,000 out of his own pocket in buying
seed grain for the starving people. But his am¬
biguous position must be a perpetual bewilderment to
them.
The natives are now our fellow-subjects as much as
THK CHARTERED COMPANY 333
our own kinsfolk who have settled in Rhodesia, and we
are bound to see that justice is done to them as well
as to the settlers. For that reason, if for no other,
it would be infinitely better to convert the country
at once into a Crown colony, with a Governor and
Council, appointed partly by the Crown and partly
elected by the people. They would certainly elect Mr.
Rhodes as one of their representatives; and there need
be no hardship to the Chartered Company's share¬
holders. The land, or so much of it as they have
not already alienated, would still belong to them, and
their half share in the minerals. They would be
deprived of the revenue, but they would also be
relieved of the cost of administration. According to
the recently published report of the Chartered Com¬
pany, it only comes to £380,000 a year, and the
country is well worth the sacrifice. In years to come
it will repay us for what we may expend over and over
again, as an outlet for our population. More than that,
it would be the first step towards the restoration of
harmony in South Africa; it would make the Dutch
feel that we do not shrink from our responsibilities;
that we intend to enforce peace and good government
in our own territories, but that we expect to see it
enforced also in the Transvaal. We have no hesitation
in compelling the people of India to pay £120,000
a year merely in maintaining the road to Chitral,
or in spending £800,000 ourselves, wisely enough, on
an Egyptian campaign: ought we, then, to hesitate
334 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
about expending this £380,000 a year for what con¬
cerns us far more nearly ?
It will come back to us, in time, in revenue ; and it
will yield us a yet richer return in honour.
The late Earl Grey, who from his position had an
intimate knowledge of South African affairs, and who
pondered deeply over them, used words so far back
as 1880 which have acquired renewed weight from
all that has since happened. " I have only to ex¬
press my firm conviction," he wrote, " that if her
Majesty's Ministers are not prepared to allow the
present state of things in South Africa to continue,
there are really but two courses open to them. The
one would be to insist that increased authority should
be placed in the hands of the Queen, in order that this
part of her dominions may be firmly and impartially
governed for the welfare of all classes of the population.
The other would be to order the British flag to be
struck, to bring home the Governor and her Majesty's
troops from South Africa, and to inform its inhabitants
that they must no longer consider themselves to be
subjects of the Queen, or look to her for protection
or assistance in settling their quarrels among them¬
selves, and in managing their own affairs as may seem
best to them. Between these two courses I am per¬
suaded that it will be impossible to find any middle
one that can long be adhered to. Of these, for the
reasons I have given, I believe the first clearly to
be the right one; the other I regard as altogether
THE CHARTERED COMPANY 335
unworthy of a great Christian nation. Let us not
disguise from ourselves that, by following it, we should
give over for long years to anarchy and bloodshed
what is now no inconsiderable part of the British
Empire, unless, indeed, some other powerful and civi¬
lised nation should step in and assume the duty we
had repudiated. We should also throw away a glorious
opportunity of spreading Christianity and civilisation
through a great part of the African continent. And all
this we should do from a mere selfish desire to escape an
expense which, by wise measures, might be reduced to a
mere trifle as compared to our resources. By so acting
the great British nation would be justly lowered in the
estimation of mankind, and, what is infinitely worse,
would, as I believe, become guilty of a grievous sin in
the eyes of God." (.Nineteenth Century.)
The one thing needful above all others for a young
country is an upright and capable administration, and
to obtain that not only money is necessary but status.
Officials of a chartered company cannot feel the same
pride in their work or in their position, cannot have
the same high sense of responsibility that they would
have if they were servants of the Crown. To establish
such an administration would be a costly matter, but
apart from all questions of obligation, the country is
well worth the initial outlay.
But to take over and pay for the administration
until it can pay for itself is a very different matter to
the proposals of Mr. Rhodes and of the present Earl Grey,
336 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Avhich have nowhere excited more hostile comment
than in Rhodesia itself. The Bulawciyo Chronicle, in
the same article from which I have already quoted,
strikes the following defiant note: " There is no gain¬
saying the fact that in future the aspirations of the
settlers and the desires of the Chartered shareholders
will not be the same, and a big choice will shortly
have to be made by Mr. Rhodes; either he will have
to be Rhodesian to the core, or he will have to be the
managing director pure and simple. He has mar¬
vellous powers, we admit, but we do not perceive any
method by which he can make the two lines of con¬
duct agree. Without cause or warning we are in¬
formed that the expenses incurred in connection with
this country are to be made a national debt on the
country, that the price of self-government is to be,
according to Mr. Rhodes, six millions, according to
Earl Grey, ten millions. Half these expenses were
incurred by the Chartered Company's servants, and
were detrimental to the country, and since a master is
responsible for the acts of his employee, the Chartered
Company is distinctly responsible for the acts of
Dr. Jameson. Without due notice we are threatened
with a heavy customs tariff—-a tariff not made in
the interests of Rhodesia, but formed for the pro¬
tection and benefit of another State. We do not
expect to be free of taxation for ever and a day, but
we do claim the Britisher's inherent right to be con¬
sulted before he is taxed."
NECESSITY OF CONCILIATION 337
There is a determined ring in this that makes one
feel that if Rhodesia is turned into a Crown colony it
will not be long before, like Natal, she will demand
and obtain self-government.
Turn Rhodesia into a Crown colony; tear up the
Convention of 1884; enter into a treaty of amity and
commerce with the Transvaal in which, instead of the
shadowy and fiercely disputed suzerainty over a vassal
state, it shall be expressly provided, as President
Kruger has himself suggested, that there shall be a
confederation of the South African States under the
protectorate of Great Britain—that is the net result of
the views I heard expressed by the majority of those
whom I met, who do not look upon South Africa as a
battle-field for party politics, but to whom it is dear
as the land of their birth, the land that they and
their fathers have reclaimed from barbarism.
(July whatever we do let us do it with a free hand,
and not half-heartedly. The tocsin of Imperial in¬
terests which has been clanged so assiduously during
the last two years, has come in South Africa to mean
the predominance of purely English interests, as op¬
posed to those of the Dutch, who form three-fourths of
our South African subjects. It has alienated them
from us, and to regain their confidence we must make
them understand that we do not regard their country
merely as a source of dividends, or as a relief for our
surplus population, but that we desire with their help
to build up a great Afrikander nation, born of us
y
338 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
indeed, but knit to lis by ties of gratitude as well as of
natural affection; that we do not desire to crush out
their national sentiment, but rather to foster it until it
gradually changes into a wider sentiment which shall
■embrace all the elements that constitute South Africa;
that, in short, we do not look upon the Afrikander
Bond as a traitorous organisation, but that we are in
O 7
cordial sympathy with the object for which it was
founded, as defined in its general constitution, that is
to say, " the formation of a South African Nationality
by means of union, and co-operation, as a preparation
for the ultimate object,—a United South Africa."
That surely would bo a more Imperial result than the
forcible setting up of one race above another. But to
carry it into effect neither Great Britain nor the Trans¬
vaal must allow any sentiment of national vanity to
hinder the redress of an admitted wrong. They must
remember that it is only right that makes might.
It is because Mr. Rhodes has habitually scoffed at
and disregarded this fundamental principle that, in
.spite of his commanding genius, his lofty ambition, he
has inflicted upon England such great and lasting
injury, He has widened her territories, but he has
immeasurably lessened the moral force which she has
been wont to regard as her proudest attribute. The
Raid is but a passing episode, and the effect produced
by it will pass away, but when Mr. Rhodes' career
comes under dispassionate review, this lowering of the
moral temperature, not only of South Africa but of the
BREACH OF FAITH TO THE UITL ANDERS 339
whole empire, will assuredly be deemed the gravest of
his faults.
But however fully we may recognise this, we must
not let it blind us to the equally grave faults of the
Trans Vital Government, or to its deliberate and con¬
tinued breaches of faith to the Uitlanders.
On August 8, 1881, when the Boers took over the
administration of the country, they issued the following
proclamation: " To all the inhabitants without excep¬
tion we promise the protection of the law, and all
the privileges attendant thereon. To inhabitants who
are not burghers, and do not wish to become such, we
notify that they have the right to report themselves to
the President as British subjects, according to Article 28
of the now settled Convention. But be it known to
all, that all ordinary rights of property, trade, and
usage, will still be accorded to every one, burgher or
not. We repeat solemnly that our motto is ' Unity
and Reconciliation.'"
How have they kept to the spirit of this procla¬
mation ? In 1882 Mr. Kruger was elected President,
and in the Volksraad session of the same year the
first of the measures of exclusion was passed. The
franchise, which up till then—in accordance with Law-
No. 1 of 1870—was granted to every one holding
property and residing in the State, or failing the
property qualification, to any one who was qualified
by one year's residence, was now repealed, and Law
No. 7 of 1882 provided instead, that aliens could
340 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
become naturalised and enfranchised after five years
residence, thus attaining the status of the oldest
citizen.
In 1890 Law No. 4 was passed, creating the second
Volksraad, and altering the Grondwet or Constitution
accordingly. By this law full electoral privileges were
only attainable after fourteen years' residence in the
State, and the possession of the other qualifications of
religion and property.
Law No. 3 of 181)4 purports to supersede all other
laws. Therein it is closely laid down that all persons
born in the State, or who may have established their
domicile there in 1876, are entitled to full political
privileges. Those who have settled in the country
since can become naturalised after a two years' resi¬
dence, dating from the time at which their names
were registered in the field cornet's book. This
naturalisation confers the privilege of voting for local
officials, field cornets, landdrosts, and for members of
the 2nd Raad. It is, however, stipulated that children
born in the country shall take the status of their
fathers. The naturalised subject, after having been
qualified to vote in this manner, becomes eligible for a
seat in the 2nd Volksraad, i.e. four years after the
registration of his name in the field cornet's book.
After he shall have been qualified to sit in the 2nd
Volksraad for ten years he may obtain the full burgher
rights or political privileges, provided the majority of
burghers in his ward will signify in writing their desire
BREACH OF FAITH TO THE UITL ANDERS .°»41
that lie should obtain them, and provided the President
and executive shall see 110 objection to granting them.
It is thus clear that assuming the field cornet's records
bo honestly and properly compiled, and be available
for reference (which they are not), the immigrant,
after fourteen years' probation, during which he shall
have given up his own country, has the privilege of
obtaining burgher rights, should he be willing and able
to induce the majority of a hostile clique to petition
in writing 011 his behalf, and should he then escape
the veto of the President and executive.
Besides these laws yet another precaution was
taken to keep all the power in the hands of the Boers.
The various towns which had formerly been entitled
to representation in Parliament were deprived of this
right, and have remained disfranchised ever since. Is
it to be wondered at that Advocate Papenfus, in the
striking letter which I10 addressed lately to President
Steyn, should say : " I can safely assert that I have
failed to discover, during my residence here, how this
State can justify its claim to be called a Republic.
Leaving on one side, for the present, any mention of the
thousands of industrious citizens from over sea, who for
years have made it their home, how very few burghers
of the Free State (and those only for reasons which will
be apparent later on), and how very few others, com¬
paratively speaking, of South African birth, who have
been peaceful and law-abiding citizens, of long and
honourable residence, have been politically enfran-
342 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
chised. I hold it to be the just right of every
law-abiding individual, who has been resident for a
reasonable number of years in any country which lays
claim to be considered a civilised State, and who has a
vested interest in that country, and who will swear
allegiance to the government of that country, to claim
and demand political enfranchisement. This is, in my
humble opinion, the creed of true Republicanism, and
this also is the basis of government and enfranchise¬
ment in the Orange Free State.
" But this is no Republic. Not only arc thousands
of law-abiding citizens at present without political
privileges, but they are for ever debarred from
obtaining them, and the barbarous spectacle is pre¬
sented of a State claiming to be recognised and
respected by the civilised world as a free people, and
laying claim to a Republican form of government,
excluding children born of the soil from citizenship."
That is a state of things which cannot continue.
We must do right ourselves, not to conciliate the
Boers, but because it is right; but they must under¬
stand clearly that we shall expect them to do what is
right also, and that if they fail to do it we shall stand
by the Uitlanders in the struggle that must come
sooner or later. In all probability, if they see that we
arc in earnest, they will be only too willing to meet
us half-way: for most of their mistakes have arisen
through fear: a fear that it must be our first duty
to allay. To use Mr. Chamberlain's words, " But as a
FUTURE OF THE MODERATE PARTY 343
Dutch Government ourselves, as well as an English
Government, it ought to be our object, in endeavouring
to secure the redress of these grievances, to carry with
us our Dutch fellow-subjects."
The prosperity of South Africa lies not in the
hands of the ultra-English, or of the ultra-Dutch, but
in those of the moderate men, whose one desire is
reconciliation and peace.
Under the leadership of Mr. Rose-Innes, a man for
whom all parties have the most cordial esteem, they
are already strong in the Cape. They deprecate violence
and race feeling, and will support progressive measures
by whichever party they may be brought forward.
They, and the allied party in the Republics, are
every day growing stronger, and, though in the heat
of an election they may be swept aside, it is they who
will weld the South African States into one country.
If that country were anywhere but in Africa, it
would to a certainty strive to render itself independent
of the mother-land: just as in families the children
strive to become independent of their parents. It is
a natural law which is at work in every colony, and
as impossible to stem as Canute found it to stem the
rising tide. No amount of imperialistic adjuration will
influence it. But South Africa is not a pure colony.
It occupies a middle position between a colony and a
dependency. In a colony the original population is
gradually replaced by the colonising element. This
has been the case both in Australia and in America,
344 RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT
where the aborigines have either become, or are rapidly
becoming, extinct. In Africa, on the contrary, they are
a persistent race, and, under the influence of peace,
multiply more rapidly than the colonists. Moreover,
in many places, especially in Central Africa, the climate
is prohibitive of true colonisation, and in those places
and in the native States which we have not yet handed
over to the colonists, what we have to aim at is the
creation, not of a colony, but of a native dependency,
governed, like India, by British officials.
The existence of such a dependency in their midst
would effectually preserve the connection of the South
African States with the mother - country, and would
prevent the undesirable intrusion of any of the other
European nations. It is a dependency, moreover, that
we are bound in honour to maintain, because the native
chiefs invariably desire to place themselves directly
under the protection of the Queen, and not under that
of the various colonial governments. They have a
feeling of personal loyalty to the Great Mother of them
all, ardent and easily evoked, which properly controlled
may well win for us in time the honourable possession
of the entire continent. An African empire would
be easier to govern than our Indian empire, because
the natives of Africa have even less cohesion amongst
themselves than the Indian races, and a more childlike
faith in the wisdom and integrity of our rule.
It is a faith that we have too often betrayed, but
which it is not yet too late to justify.
EXTENSION OF OUR EMPIRE 345
To shrink from native conquest is absurd. It is
by conquest tliat all the native races hold the title
to their land,, the Matabili especially. They fully
recognise its validity, and their own conquests are
attended by abominable and unutterable cruelty.
Extend our sphere of influence, and if war be
forced upon us, conquer, and then rule sternly, but
with absolute justice: that is the rule a native re¬
verences, the only kind of rule under which he will
prosper. The dark regions which have been hidden
for so long are rapidly unfolding before our view
with all their boundless possibilities of wealth and
power and prosperity. Our feet are on the threshold,
and turn back now we cannot. But for the sake of
our good name, because of their deteriorating effect
upon our national character, we ought not to permit
ourselves to adopt methods, and to commit deeds,
which we expect from savages, but which are in¬
consistent with the character of a Christian people.
INDEX
Abkrcobn, patrol, 214
Abezansi, objection to labour, 186, i
196
Afghan, legend on sword-blade, 3
Afrikanda', Xatnl, Dutch news¬
paper, 14 ; settlement in Mashona-
land, 9S ; Bond, "297, 33S
Agriculture, prospects in Rhodesia,
67-72, 134, 135
Albu, Mr., 192
Aldcrson, Col., 108, 136, 213
America, how railways made in,
129
Atneshof, Judge, 269
Anglo-Portuguese Convention, 177
Archer, son of Makoni, 145, 146
Arms Act, Rhodesia, 91
Australia, comparison with Rho¬
desia, 68, 135
Austria, Bosnian colonisation, 131
Bailey, Mr. A., 268, 269
Baines, Mr., 29, 49, 217
Balfour, Right Hon. A. J., 309
Balosi, original inhabitants of Ma-
shonaland, 74
Banians, Hindu traders, 39, 43, 4 4
Barkly West, Mr. Schreiner's ad¬
dress, 11
Basutoland, 117, 255, 260 ; Basutos,
170
Beard, Mr., 116
Bechuanaland, 8, 121. 169 ; Bech-
uanas, 117, 189, 261S
Beer, Kaffir, 64
Beira, rise of, 23-25 ; natural port
of Rhodesia, 26 ; railway, 30-33,
171-178
Belingwe, 204, 206, 207
Bester, Dutch family attacked by
Mashonas, 213
Bicycles, Mashonaland prices, 122
Blakiston, Mr., heroic death of, 16S
Bodle, Major, 179
Boers, suspicions of Chartered Com¬
pany, 8, 325 ; angered by con¬
tinual ridicule, 18 ; necessity to
conciliate, 19, 20, 343 ; their back¬
ward character, 103 ; treatment
of natives, 53, 184, 260 ; have
not forgotten how to shoot, 311 ;
no professional soldier element,
312; national sentiment, 313;
views regarding the suzerainty,
313-319, 337; doubtful of British
intentions, 319-321 ; proclama¬
tion in 1881, 339
Bosnia, Austrian colonisation, 131
Botha, Dutch family attacked by
Mashonas, 214 ; Hans, 267
Broad, Mr. Wallace, 72
British South Africa Company,
policy of, 8 ; pressure on Portu¬
guese frontier, 42 ; gold law, 50;
liquor law, 47, 58 ; locations, 87 ;
Arms Act, 91 ; police, 94, 136—
139, 158, 210, 219-229 ; forced
labour, 185-192, 196-201; treat-
INDEX
347
ment of the natives, 187, 230-
245 ; economic policy, 298-304 ;
revocation of charter demanded
by the Dutch, 326 ; preamble to
charter, 328 ; revocation clause,
329 ; drawbacks of divided con¬
trol, 331 ; should charter be re¬
voked, 330-337
Brownlee, Hon. C., lt>8
Bulawayo, 179, 183, 241,246; siege,
202-205 ; Chronicle, 256, 330, 336
Bushmen, treatment of, 261
Campbell, Mr. W. Y., 323
Canada, comparison with Rhodesia,
72
Canning, Lord, 114
Cantoor, valley in Matoppos. 180,
182, 206
Cupe Colony, objection of Rho-
desians to union with, 256
Cape. Times, 292
Carnegie, Rev. Mr., 89, 187, 209.
331
(Harrington, Sir F., 200, 205, 206
Cathcart, Sir G. : despatch from
Earl Grey, 4 ; opinion of South
African gold, 49 ; of treatment
of the natives, 11,']; colonisation
scheme, 131 ; regarding sale of
Crown lands, 303
Caulfield, Rev. Mr., 59
Chaganguru, Mashona chief, 64
Chaka, 181, 183
Chamberlain, Right Hon. J., states
obligation to native tribes, 9 ;
resentment felt by Dutch, 17,
274 ; declares we should extend
protectorate, 119; statement re¬
garding forced labour, 200 ; and
as to separation of High Commis¬
sioner and Governor of Cape
Colony, 262 ; telegrams after the
Raid, 274 ; states Government
will not revoke charter, 277 ;
action regarding suzerainty, 316;
thinks it necessary to conciliate
the Dutch, 343
Chesumba's, capture of, 147-153
Chisha-washa, Jesuit mission, 128
Chirimba, 74
Christmas Pass, 46, 93
Chronicle, Bulawayo, 256, 330, 331,
336
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 32, 49
Clive, Lord, 2S5
Coelho, Don Egaz, 22, 55
Colenso, Bishop, 155
Colonisation, 129-135
Commissioner, High : proclamation
of rebellion, 111; exonerating
officers for acts done bona fide,
112 ; should be separated from
Governor of Cape Colony, 79,
120, 258, 262
Concessions, 245, 251
Conventions, Sand River, 20 ;
Anglo-Portuguese, 177 : of 1884,
313-319
Coffee, 29
Coolies, 22, 27
Coryndon, Mr., death of, 163
Coupland, Mr., death of, 38
Creech, Mr., 52, 58
Cross, Mr., Natal magistrate, 78
Cowie, Mr., evidence before Griqua-
land West Committee, 286
Crown colony, objection of colonists
to, 307, 331
Crow's Nest, 44
Cunynghame, Sir A., criticism of
Kaffraria Police, 227
Daignault, Father, 212, 223
Darragh, Rev. T., 12
De Beers Company, 277-295
De Moleyns, Captain, 136, 141,
143, 147, 153, 155, 159, 163
De Villiers, Sir H., 251 ; Chief
Justice M., 18, 313
348
INDEX
De Waal, Mr. P. C., 249, 252
Delagoa Bay, 23, 28, 42
Derby, Earl of, 313, 316
Devil's Pass, 93
Diamond Fields Advertiser, 191
Donovan, Captain, 253
Duncan, Mr., 5, 129, 163, 194, 202,
205, 214
Durban, 21-23
Dutch, distrust of Chartered Com¬
pany, 8, 325-327 ; unity of feel¬
ing, 17, 310, 321 ; gradual fusion
with English, 18; necessity to
obtain their support, 19, 22, 343 :
colony in Melsetter, 51 ; treat¬
ment of natives, 53, 260 ; back¬
ward habits, 103; regard for
Lord Rosmead, 273 ; friction be¬
tween them and English, 311, 322
Dynamite, in native warfare, 155
Echainia, 59
Empire, extension of, in South
Africa, 119, 160, 344
Enkeldoorn, 213
Escombe, Hon. H., 10. 22, 116
Eva, Rev. G. H., Wesleyan mis¬
sionary, 234
Executions in Rhodesia, 241
Extradition between Rhodesia and
the Republics, 325
Fairbiiidge, Mr., Editor of Rho¬
desia Herald, 12S
Farming, prospects in Mashona-
land, 67-70 ; and in Rhodesia
generally, 70-72, 134, 135
Feltham, Lieutenant, 144
Fife, Duke of, 251
Financial Record, 41, 89, 254, 326
Findlay, Mr., 15
Fischer, Messrs., farmers in Ma-
shonaland, 58-67, 73, 90, 93
Flogging, 82, 260
Flora, Mashonaland, 100-103
Fontesvilla, 24, 31, 33
Fort Usher, 179, 180
Franchise, Mr. Rhodes and Cape,
297.; gradual restriction in Trans¬
vaal, 339-342
Froude, Mr., 117
Galishwk, Bechuana chief, 117, 169
Gambo, Matabili Induna, 195, 196
Gazaland, 26, 38, 46
Germans, 131, 134, 135
Gold, prospects in Rhodesia, 47-
50 ; ancient workings, 55 ; Rho-
desian regulations, 50; I.D.B.
Act in Transvaal, 290 ; pro¬
spector's declaration, 299
Gorongoza, 29, 30
Gosling, Major. 144
Greeff, Mr., conversation with Mr.
Rhodes, 252
Gregorowski, Judge, 309
Grey, late Earl: despatch to Sir G.
Cathcart, 4 ; opinion as to native
labour, 190 ; and as to Imperial
control, 334
Grey, present Earl : attack on
Seki's, 139; Conferences with
Mashona chiefs, 163 ; views on
native labour, 190; narrow-
escape from Matabili, 205 ; de¬
fence of native commissioners,
231 ; and of Rhodesian settlers,
243
Grey, Lieutenant-Colonel Raleigh,
129
Griqualand West, Committee of
Inquiry, 286, 288, 294, 295
Gurupila, M'toko chief, 140, 142,
161
Gwelo, 179, 204
Gwenda's, Wesleyan mission, 167
Hamilton, Mr., 266
Harding, Major, 140, 144, 154,
160, 162
INDEX
349
Hastings, Warren, 285
Harris, Dr. Rutherfoord, 26(5, 26S
Hawes & Taylor's store, 55
Hay, Mr., 116, 282
Haynes, Major, killed at Makoni's,
108
Headlands, 95, 107, 122
Heany, Major, 2(Hi
Heights in Rhodesia, 125
Hepburn, Rev. Mr., 217
Heyman, Captain, 40
Hicks-Beach, Sir M., 19
Hindus, 22, 27, 39, 43, 44, 52
Holden, Captain, 266, 271
Hoffer, M., 29, 30, 134
Hofmeyr, Mr., 273, 287, 310, 320
Horse sickness, 179
Hovell, Mr., evidence before Bula-
wayo Chamber of Mines, 256
Howard, Hon. H., 140
Hudson, Mr., British resident in
Pretoria, report on use of dyna¬
mite, 155
Huguenots, 81
Hutchinson, Sir W. Hely, 121, 275
I.D.B. Act, 290
India-rubber, 26, 29
[nivo, Kaffir newspaper, 117
Tunes, Hon. J. Rose, ll(i, 170, 283,
343
Inyanga mountains, 30, 59, 62, 73
India, difference between mutiny
and Rhodesian rebellion, 114 ;
in treatment of the natives in
South Africa and in, 116 ; and
between a colony and a depen¬
dency, 166, 343
.Jabavu, Tengu, 117, 260, 332
Jameson, Dr., 195, 245, 2(54-276
Japan, trade with East Africa, 39
Jesuits, mission at Chisha-washa,
128
Jigger, pulcx penetrans, 43
Johannesburg, people not cowards,
12, 270 ; commercial centre of
South Africa, 15 ; Uitlanders'
grievances, 13- 17, 337-343;
Jameson Raid, 264-273 ; feeling
of working classes, 289
Jones, Mr. E. H, evidence before
Griqualand West Committee, 288
KaF-FRAKIA Police, 227
Kakubi, Mashona witch-doctor, 154
Kershaw, Major, death of, 207
Khama, 117, 246-251
Kidd, Mr., 38, 59.
Kinglake, Mr., 156
Kotze, Chief-Justice, 13, 309, 313
Kruger, President: treatment of
Uitlanders, 13-15, 289, 339-342 ;
mistakes after Jameson Raid, 309 ;
will not fight unless attacked,
312 ; one of Transvaal deputa¬
tion, 313-316 ; demands with¬
drawal of Convention, 317 ; and
revocation of the charter, 326 ;
respect for the Queen, 323
Labour, 27, 45, 47, 52, 70, 97, 99 ;
forced, 185-192, 196-201
Laing, Major, 206
Lawley, Captain, 197, 212 ; Mr.,
33, 175
Le Sapi, 90, 95
Lions, 31, 32, 93, 204
Llewellyn, Captain Hoel, 206
Liquor legislation, 47, 58
Lobengula, 118, 182, 209, 253, 255
Locations, native, 87-89
Loch, Lord, 89, 104, 253
Locusts, 101
Lomagundi, 234, 241
Lowinger, Mr., Matabili Times, 195
Macheki, river, 122
Macfarlane, Captain, 203
Mackenzie, Rev. J., 118, 191, 263
350
INDEX
Madagascar, 29, 45
Maholis, 77, 184, 185, 186, 199
Makoni, 66, 91, 105-112, 144
Marandellas, 123, 125
Martin, Sir R., 136-139, 154, 160,
163, 205, 221, 231, 244
Matabililand, Order in Council, 87,
111
Matabili: morality, 77-79; census,
184 ; forced labour, 185-192, 196-
2(Jl ; rebellion, 193, 203-212;
necessity for amnesty, 241; faith
in Mr Rhodes, 332
Matibili Tinas, 195
Matoppos, 179-183, 201!, 20S
Mashayangombi's, 154
Massi-Kessi, 33, 34, 38, 41, 43
Mashonas : clothes and music, 40 ;
food, 61 ; superstitions, 63 ;
treatment of women, 76; former
condition, 81, 85 ; still unsettled,
123, 124 ; kraals, 148; caves,
151 ; use of dynamite against,
155-157 ; courage, 161 ; treach¬
ery, 162, 163 ; intelligence, 164,
217 ; disinclination to work, 97,
99, 164-167 ; treatment before
rebellion, 104, 230-240 ; necessity
for amnesty, 241
Melsetter, 34", 51, 127
Merriman, Hon. J. X., IS, 116, 296,
297, 321
Milner, Sir A., 19, 126, 241, 250,
251, 306, 320
Milton, Mr., 127, 212
Missionaries, 30, 34-38, 85, 86,
128, 167, 16S
Missions : South Africa General,
34 ; Jesuit, 35, 128 ; Wesleyan,
167
Morality, 76-81
More, Sir Thomas, 286, 308
Morris, Mr., 124
Mozambique Company, 25-30, 41,
42, 47, 50, 177
M'toko, patrol, 140
M'twani, 182, 1S3
Natal: Mercury, 291; native code,
78, 197
Native Commissioners, 75, 187, 230
Natives: treatment in Rhodesia,
2-5,175, 82, 99,104,113-121, 185-
192, 196-201, 230-243 ; grati¬
tude, 168 ; treatment in Trans¬
vaal and Orange Free State, 260 ;
and under British rule, 261 ;
future of, 120, 344
Nia Tandi, 65
Nicholson, Captain, 203, 206, 210,
225, 227
Nyanda, witch-doctress, 76, 154
Odzi, river, 59, 61
Odzana, river, 59
Ondand, Bond newspaper, 27S
Ooifoo, Mashona food, 61
Orange Free State : droughts, 8 ;
sympathy with Transvaal, 17,
321, 327; prosperity, 135 ; treat¬
ment of natives, 260 ; distrust of
England, 322 ; and of Chartered
Company, 325-327
Orpen, Mr., 127, 30S
Papenfus, Advocate, 14, 341
Paris, Makoni's son, death of, 145
Penhalonga range, 44 ; gold pro¬
spects, 47
Phillips, Mr. Lionel, 13, 264,269,308
Plumer, Colonel, 205, 206
Police: Mashonaland, 94, 137, 158,
219 ; native contingent, 143,
160; Matabililand, 210, 219-229
Pombani, evidence before Cape
Committee, 79
Portuguese, 8, 23, 28, 41, 55
Powell, Colonel Baden, 169, 207
Pretoria Press, 319
Prices in Rhodesia, 51, 122, 171
INDEX
351
Pringle, Mr., 115
Proclamations: High Commis¬
sioner's, 111, 112; Transvaal
Government's, 339
Prospector's declaration, 299
Raid, Jameson, 264-276
Railway, Beira, 30-33, 171-178 ;
how made in America, 129
Reed, Rev. Cullen, 167, 188
Revue, river, 33, 55
Rhodes, Right Hon. C. J., respon¬
sible for government of Rhodesia,
9; influence in South Africa, 10,
16, 277-297, 305, 338 ; plea for
amnesty, 113 ; Glen-Grey Act,
127 ; Beira railway, 173, 175,
176; arrival in Rhodesia after
rebellion, 205 ; police, 224 ; not
aware of much that went on in
Rhodesia, 245 ; conversation with
Mr. Greeff, 252 ; and with Cap¬
tain Donovan, 253 ; declares that
Cape has reversion of Rhodesia,
255; obtains Matabililand, 263 ;
comparison with Clive and Hast¬
ings, 285 ; the De Beers profits,
279-284 ; not a Progressive, 297 ;
influence over Matabili, 332 ;
effect of his policy, 338
Rhodesia: Hindu traders in, 39, 43,
44; labour difficulty, 45,52,70,
97, 99; gold prospects, 48; justice,
57 ; liquor law, 58 ; morality,
76 ; administration, 95, 244 ;
agriculture, 67-72, 134 : forced
labour, 185-192, 196-201 ; treat¬
ment of natives, 230-245 ;
rebellion, 202-216 ; police, 209,
219-229 ; executions, 241 ; de¬
velopment of, 298-308 ; feeling
of settlers to Chartered Company,
257, 300, 336 ; and of the natives
to Mr. Rhodes, 332 ; question of
the charter, 333-337
Rickartz, Father, 167
Ridley, Major, 153
Rinderpest, 44, 68, 125
Hitter, Mr., Natal magistrate, 217
Rosmead, Lord, 208
Kobinson, Sir H., 273-274, 315
Routledge, Mr., heroic death of, 1 68
Rukui, Mashona chief, 63
Salisbury, 126, 205, 221
Sauer, Hon. J., 116, 283, 297
Schreiner, Hon. W. P., 11, 170, 283 ;
Mrs. Cronvvright, 301
Scottish Africa Ld., 129
Seduction : punishment in Natal
and Transkei, 78, SI ; necessity
for punishment in Rhodesia, 81
Seki, attack on kraal, 139
Sikombo, 169, 195, 245.
Serejo, Captain, 55
Shaungwe, Mashona stronghold,
142
Sheep, 69, 70, 134, 135
Shepstone, Sir T., 83, 243
Shimmin, Rev. Mr., 189
Sigcau, 251, 257
Snakes, 56
Solomon, Mr., 116
South Africa: right of other States
to bring pressure upon Transvaal,
15; unity of feeling of Dutch
in, 17, 310, 321 ; right of Great
Britain to intervene in, 19 ; in¬
fluence of missionaries in, 35 ;
treatment of natives in India and
in, 117; as a sheep country, 135;
danger of native revolt, 170 ;
forced labour in, 185-192, 196-
201 ; concessions from native
chiefs, 251 ; importance of native
question in, 120, 263, 345 ; influ¬
ence of Mr. Rhodes in, 277-297
President Kruger's proposal for
confederation of, 315 ; not a true
colony, 343
352
INDEX
South Africa General Mission, 34
Sprigg, Sir Gordon, 170
Steyn, President, 18, 312, 321, 341
Stockenstroin, Sir A., 88
Straker, Captain, 180
Suzerainty, 19, 313-318, 324, 337
Taylor, Mr., Chief Native Com¬
missioner, Matabililand, 185, 190
Tamplin, Major, 116
Tengu Jabavu, 117, 2G0, 332
Tete, 26
Thomas, Mr., 242
Times, the, 201
Transport, 29, 45, 51, 172
Trappists, 12S
Trollope, Mr. Anthony, 311
Truck Act 23 of 1887, 280-284
Turner, Captain Scott, 46
uitlanders, grievances, 14-17,
310, 323, 339-342
Ukulobola, 77, 80
Umlugulu's, death of Major Ker¬
shaw at, 207 ; dance-doctor, 195
Urn tali, 46-57, 173, 306
Umzwitzwe's, capture of, by Major
Ridley, 153
United Rhodesia Ld., 129
Usher, Fort, 179, ISO
Uwini, capture and execution of, 207
Venter, Mr., evidence before South
Africa Committee, 260
Victoria, 252 ; Agreement, 254
Vintcent, Chief Judge of Rhodesia,
57, 163, 212, 241 '
Warren, Sir C., 121, 255, 261, 263
Watermever, Judge, 241
Watson, Lord, 257
Watts, Major, capture and execu¬
tion of Makoni, 108-112
Wesleyan. mission, 1(37
Wesselton mine, 2S7
Wet, Sir J. de, 269
Whitaker, Mr., evidence before
Bulawayo Chamber of Mines, 198
White, Rev. J., 188, 231-240
Williams, Mr. Justice Vaughan, 287
Willoughby, Sir J., 13, 273
Wolff, Dr., 267
Wolseley, Viscount, 19
Wood, Colonel, on the Mashonas,
217
Xigubu, Frank, Zulu missionary, 90
Zambesi, 10, 11, 27, 29, 30, 50, 54,
84, 187, 245, 263
Zeederberg, Messrs., 246
Zonga, Mount, 93
Zulu, morality, 77 ; view of Chris¬
tianity, 86; school-girl's essay,
86; missionary, 90; will keep
faith, 163; mode of fighting,
181 ; conquest of Matabililand,
183 ; Zululand, 308
Zumbo, 76, 160
Trinted by Ballantyne, Hanson &■> Co.
Edinburgh <5^ London
3 9002 03806 4391
YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
HOWELL WRIGHT COLLECTION
of Rhodesiana and
South Africana
mmm