of a homely reminiscence: no wonder the labourer
gladly tramps hack from the large towns, where his
existence is a compound of work and restriction, to
the family life of the kraal. There freedom is combined
with gaiety and excitement, wants are few, and
their food simple and to hand. But the cry frequently
heard from Europeans is that the government “ should
make the niggers work,” and this by imposing heavy
taxation. The advocates of this doctrine are often
speculators, who believe that civilization consists in
acquiring gold, and that the Kafir race should become
one huge corps of miners to enable them to cany out
the operation. For myself I often envied the simple
wants and few troubles of these happy Magwamhas.
During the dance, the unfortunate ox that was
doomed “ to make a Kafir holiday stood a quiet spectator
of the scene, hut was assegaied as the afternoon
progressed, and the process of flaying was commenced
before the animal was quite dead. Kafirs have no regard
for animal sufiering; they carefully tend their oxen while
alive, hut when once it is decided to slaughter an
animal, all consideration for the beast vanishes and the
same individual can he as cruel a butcher as he was
formerly a kind and attentive shepherd. The meat
was quickly stripped from the carcass, numerous small
fires were made, and the ox was soon a thing of the
past. I t is during such feasts that savage instincts
are really seen, and we recognize that self-restraint
and gentle manners after all are the true marks of
civilization. «
The authenticity of many travellers accounts oi
the religious beliefs and origins of customs among
so-called savage races have been long doubted, and
on this journey I found the utmost difficulty in
extracting any reliable or exact information from the
Magwamhas. I could only he told by one what was
too often contradicted by another, and this, not because
of their untruthfulness, hut simply owing to our mutual
ignorance of each other’s meaning. Nor was it due to
a want of knowledge of their language, as my host was a Magwamba A ssegais and Shield .