white man, who had hitherto
come in contact with the Kafirs only on the Zambesi and at a few points
on the south-eastern and southern coast, began that march into the
interior which has now brought him to the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Thenceforward the wars of the natives among themselves cease to be
important. It is their strife with the European conqueror that is of
consequence, and the narrative of that strife belongs to the history of
the European colonies and republics, which will be given in the two
succeeding chapters. This, however, seems the right place for some
remarks on the government and customs of the Kafir tribes, intended to
explain the conditions under which these tribes have met and attempted
to resist the white strangers who have now become their rulers.

The Kafirs were savages, yet not of a low type, for they tilled the
soil, could work in metals, spoke a highly developed language, and had a
sort of customary law. The south-east coast tribes, Zulus, Pondos,
Tembus, Kosas, inhabiting a fairly well-watered and fertile country,
were, as a rule, the strongest men and the fiercest fighters; but the
tribes of the interior were not inferior in intellect, and sometimes
superior in the arts. Lower in every respect were the west-coast tribes.
They dwelt in a poor and almost waterless land, and their blood was
mixed with that of Hottentots and Bushmen. In every race the
organization was by families, clans, and tribes, the tribe consisting of
a number of clans or smaller groups, having at its head one supreme
chief, belonging to a family whose lineage was respected. The power of
the chief was, however, not everywhere the same. Among the Zulus, whose
organization was entirely military, he was a despot whose word was law.
Among the Bechuana tribes, and their kinsfolk the Basutos, he was
obliged to defer to the sentiment of the people, which (in some tribes)
found expression in a public meeting where every freeman had a right to
speak and might differ from the chief.[9] Even such able men as the
Basuto Moshesh and the Bechuana Khama had often to bend to the wish of
their subjects, and a further check existed in the tendency to move away
from a harsh and unpopular chief and place one's self under the
protection of some more tactful ruler. Everywhere, of course, the old
customs had great power, and the influence of the old men who were most
conversant with them was considerable. The chief of the whole tribe did
not