Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/521

 other colonized nation. Her mode of action has been in many respects the same in either case, but the native element here differs so much from that in America that it was impossible for the same treatment to have a like effect. The European colonists were ruled by two very opposite prejudices; one party, overlooking the fact that the natives had been accustomed time out of mind to their burdens, regarded them as wrongfully oppressed; the other party deeming all negroes as of so inferior a race as to be scarcely human at all. Practical men who by long residence in the country had gained some insight into the native character, and who consequently took a more moderate view of the case, were in so great a minority, both with respect to numbers and position, that they were unable to exercise any influence.”

When I wrote my pamphlet in 1875 I did not know to how great an extent my ideas corresponded with those of many experienced colonists, but ultimately these ideas seemed to gain such ground that they became the basis of public questions.

There are certain tribes of South Africa who in their intellectual development and adult powers of comprehension seem to me to be about equal to children of our own of six years of age; and there are tribes that, according to their varying degrees of culture, possess separate tribal characteristics just in the same way as may be noticed amongst the individual members of a civilized family. One tribe, for instance, will be remarkable for its good-nature, one for its industry, and another for its thievish propensities. No doubt these various traits, as far as they are independent of association,