Page:Morel-The Black Mans Burden.djvu/62

 reefs, until, by the end of January, over 900 farm rights were issued, and half registered and pegged out, while nearly 10,000 gold claims were registered during the same period." The seizure of cattle, too, was in full operation and yielding excellent results, many herds being driven over the border into Bechuanaland by their capturers.

The Colonial Office was highly scandalised by these latter proceedings. Lord Ripon telegraphed to the High Commissioner:

The effect of this protest was as nugatory as all similar official representations had been from the beginning. The Chartered Company never cared a snap of its fingers for the Colonial Office. It was too well and too influentially supported to be in the least discomposed by well-meaning but faint-hearted remonstrances which came to nothing.

The story of the Matabele's cattle is particularly instructive. The total, officially estimated at 200,000 head at the time of the invasion, was stated early in 1895 to be 79,500; by December of that year it had fallen still lower, to 72,930. This appears to have been the actual number left at that time. Of this total the Company retained a further 32,000 head, and handed the balance over to the surviving natives. Thus, assuming native property in cattle to have been correctly estimated at 200,000 at the time of the invasion, it had sunk to 40,930 in two years! It should be remembered that, for the Matabele, cattle were not merely a source of riches, but an essential food product. The beasts were very seldom killed, but their milk, mixed with mealies, was one of the staple food supplies of the country. And it is more than likely, although I have not observed any record of it, that