her father (if well off) presents her with a cow from his herd.
This animal is called ubulungu or “doer of good” and is regarded as
sacred. It must never be killed nor may its descendants, as long
as it lives. A hair of its tail is tied round the neck of each child
immediately after birth. In large kraals there is the “dancing-ox,”
usually of red colour. Its horns are trained to peculiar shapes by
early mutilations. It figures in many ceremonies when it is paid
a kind of knee-worship.
The Kaffirs have three, not four, seasons: “Green Heads,” “Kindness” and “Cutting”; the first and last referring to the crops, the second to the “warm weather.” Women and children only eat after the men are satisfied. A light beer made from sorghum is the national drink.
Of the few industries the chief are copper and iron smelting, practised by the Tembu, Zulu and Swazi, who manufacture weapons, spoons and agricultural implements both for their own use and for trade. The Swazi display some taste in wood-carving, and others prepare a peculiar water-tight vessel of grass. Characteristic of this race is their neglect of the art of navigation. Not the smallest boats are ever made for crossing the rivers, much less for venturing on the sea, except by the Makazana of Delagoa Bay and by the Zambezi people, who have canoes and flat-bottomed boats made of planks.
The Kaffir race had a distinct and apparently very old political system, which may be described as a patriarchal monarchy limited by a powerful aristocracy. Under British rule the tribal independence of the Kaffirs has disappeared. Varying degrees of autonomy have been granted, but the supreme powers of the chiefs have gone, the Swazi being in 1904 the last to be brought to order. In the Transkeian Territories tribal organization exists, but it is modified by special legislation and the natives are under the control of special magistrates. To a considerable extent in Natal and throughout Zululand the Kaffirs are placed in reserves, where tribal organization is kept up under European supervision. In Basutoland the tribal organization is very strong, and the power of chiefs is upheld by the imperial government, which exercises general supervision.
See Gustav Fritsch, Die Eingeborenen Südafrikas, with atlas, 30 plates and 120 typical heads (Breslau, 1872); W. H. I. Bleek, Comparative Grammar of the South African Languages (London and Cape Town, pt. i., 1862; pt. ii., 1869); Theo. Hahn, Grundzüge einer Grammatik des Herero (Berlin, 1857); Dr Colenso, Grammar of the Zulu-Kafir Language (1855); Girard de Rialle, Les Peuples de l’Afrique et de l’Amérique (Paris, 1880); G. W. Stow, The Native Races of South Africa (London, 1905); G. McC. Theal, History and Ethnography of South Africa, 1505 to 1795 (3 vols., London, 1907–1910) and History of South Africa since 1795 (5 vols., London, 1908), specially valuable for the political history of the Kaffirs; Caesar C. Henkel, The Native or Transkeian Territories (Hamburg, 1903); The Natives of South Africa (1901), and its sequel, The South African Natives (1908); Dudley Kidd, The Essential Kafir (1904) and Kafir Socialism. The last four books deal with the many social and economic questions raised by the contact of the Kaffir races with Europeans.
KAFFRARIA, the descriptive name given to the S.E. part of
the Cape province, South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e. the land of the
Kaffirs (q.v.), is no longer an official designation. It used to comprise
the districts now known as King William’s Town and
East London, which formed British Kaffraria, annexed to Cape
Colony in 1865, and the territory beyond the Kei River south of
the Drakensberg Mountains as far as the Natal frontier, known
as Kaffraria proper. As a geographical term it is still used to
indicate the Transkeian territories of the Cape provinces comprising
the four administrative divisions of Transkei, Pondoland,
Tembuland and Griqualand East, incorporated into Cape
Colony at various periods between 1879 and 1894. They have a
total area of 18,310 sq. m., and a population (1904) of 834,644,
of whom 16,777 were whites. Excluding Pondoland—not
counted previously to 1904—the population had increased from
487,364 in 1891 to 631,887 in 1904.
Physical Features.—The physical characteristics of Kaffraria bear a general resemblance to those of the Cape province proper. The country rises from sea-level in a series of terraces to the rugged range of the Drakensberg. Between that range and the coast-lands are many subsidiary ranges with fertile valleys through which a large number of rivers make their way to the Indian Ocean. These rivers have very rapid falls in comparison to their length and when less than 40 m. from the coast are still 2000 ft. above sea-level. The chief, beginning at the south, are the Kei, the Bashee, the Umtata, the St John’s or Umzimvubu, and the Umtamvuna, which separates Kaffraria from Natal. The St John’s River rises in the Drakensberg near the Basuto-Natal frontier. The river valley has a length of 140 m., the river with its many twists being double that length. It receives numerous tributaries, one, the Tsitza, possessing a magnificent waterfall, the river leaping over an almost vertical precipice of 375 ft. The St John’s reaches the sea between precipitous cliffs some 1200 ft. high and covered with verdure. The mouth is obstructed by a sand bar over which there is 14 ft. of water. None of the rivers of Kaffraria except the St John’s is navigable.
Kaffraria is one of the most fertile regions in South Africa. The mountain gorges abound in fine trees, thick forest and bush cover the river banks, grass grows luxuriantly in the lower regions, and the lowlands and valleys are favourable to almost any kind of fruit, field and garden cultivation. The coast districts are very hot in summer, the temperature from October to April on an average varying from 70° to 90° F., while in winter the day temperature is seldom below 50°, though the nights are very cold. But the variation in altitude places climates of all grades within easy reach, from the burning coast to the often snow-clad mountain. Thunderstorms are frequent in summer; the winters are generally dry. On the whole the climate is extremely healthy. At St John’s are sulphur springs.
A considerable area is devoted to the raising of wheat and other cereals, especially in the northern district (Griqualand East), where in the higher valleys are many farms owned by Europeans. Large quantities of stock are raised. Most of the land is held by the natives under tribal tenure, and the ease with which their wants are supplied is detrimental to the full cultivation of the land. Kaffraria is, however, one of the chief recruiting grounds for labour throughout South Africa. Most of the white inhabitants are engaged in trade.
Towns and Communication.—The chief town is Kokstad (q.v.), pop. (1904), 2903, the capital of Griqualand East. Umtata (2100 ft. above the sea, pop. 2342) on the river of the same name, capital of Tembuland, is the residence of an assistant chief magistrate, headquarters of a division of the Cape Mounted Rifles, and seat of the Anglican bishopric of Kaffraria. The principal buildings are the cathedral, a Gothic structure, built 1901–1906, and the town-hall, a fine building in Renaissance style, erected 1907–1908. Port St John is the chief town in Pondoland, and the only harbour of the country. Butterworth is the chief town in Transkei. Cala (pop. about 1000), in the N.W. part of Tembuland, is the educational centre of Kaffraria. A railway, 107 m. long, the first link in the direct Cape-Natal line, runs from Indwe, 65 m. from Sterkstroom Junction on the main line from East London to the Transvaal, to Maclear, an agricultural centre in Griqualand East. Another railway parallel but south of that described also traverses Kaffraria. Starting from Amabele, a station on the main line from East London to the north, it goes via Butterworth (132 m. from East London) to Umtata (234 m.).
Administration and Justice.—The Cape administrative and judicial system is in force, save as modified by special enactments of the Cape parliament. A “Native Territories Penal Code” which came into operation on the 1st of January 1887 governs the relations of the natives, who are under the jurisdiction of a chief magistrate (resident at Cape Town) with subordinate magistrates in the Territories. In civil affairs the tribal organization and native laws are maintained. No chief, however, exercises criminal jurisdiction. Since 1898 certain provisions of the Glen Grey Act have been applied to Kaffraria (see Glen Grey). The revenue is included in the ordinary budget of the Cape province. The expenditure on Kaffraria considerably exceeds the revenue derived from it. The franchise laws are the same as in the Cape proper. Though the Kaffirs outnumber the whites by fifty to one, white men form the bulk of the electorate, which in 1904 numbered 4778.
Religion.—Numbers of Protestant missionary societies have churches and educational establishments in Kaffraria, but, except in Fingoland, the bulk of the Kaffirs are heathen. The Griquas profess Christianity and have their own churches and ministers. The Anglican diocese of St John’s, Kaffraria, was founded in 1873.
Annexation to the Cape.—The story of the conflicts between the Kaffir tribes and the Cape colonists is told under Cape Colony. As early as 1819 Kaffirland, or Kaffraria, was held not to extend west beyond the Keiskamma River. The region east of that river as far as the Kei River became in 1847 the Crown colony of British Kaffraria, and was annexed to Cape Colony in 1865. The Transkeian territories remained in nominal independence until 1875, when the Tembu sought British protection. An inter-tribal war in 1877 between Fingo and Gcaleka resulted in the territory of the Gcaleka chief Kreli being occupied by the British. It was not, however, till 1879 that Fingoland and the Idutywa Reserve, together with the district then commonly called Noman’s-land, were proclaimed an integral part of the Cape. About this time most of the rest of Kaffraria came under British control, but it was 1885 before Gcalekaland, the coast region of Transkei, and the various districts comprising Tembuland—Bomvanaland on the coast, Tembuland Proper and Emigrant Tembuland—were annexed to the colony. By the annexation, the frontier of the colony was
