A Brief History

The collection of independent petty chiefdoms, partly subdued by Ndebele, which the European settlers found (or chose to find) in the late nineteenth century, does not truly reflect Shona history.

Soon after they arrived on the East African coast, the Portuguese heard tales of the great Mutapa who ruled the land from the Kalahari desert in the west to the Indian Ocean in the east. But when early traders and missionaries reached him, they were disappointed to find what appeared to them as no more than a petty chief living in a kraal of pole and mud huts. The ruler had moved down into the valley and his influence was waning.

The successors to the conquering Mutapa, Nyanhehwe, were unable to maintain a hold over widespread subject peoples, and the state of the Mutapa became a loose collection of independent chiefdoms, being forced only occasionally to pay tribute to a particular powerful Mutapa.

The Mutapa remained, however, an influential figure, and traders (both Muslim and Portuguese), missionaries and administrators continued to have dealings with his court. The Portuguese even built a small, rough fort near the kraal of the Mutapa in the Zambezi Valley. In later years, the state became disrupted by civil wars as branches of the dynastic family vied for power, sometimes abetted by Portuguese traders and administrators.

The conflict was settled in the seventeenth century when Mutapa Mukombwe came to power with the help of the Portuguese. He restored some stability to the state and redistributed the land to loyal subjects. Thereafter the power of the Mutapa declined and the title finally died after the defeat of Chioko, the last of the Mutapas, by the Portuguese in 1917.

Meanwhile in the interior, the Torwa state was under stress. By the middle of the seventeenth century it was split by internal strife. Possibly as a result of internal upheavals and population pressures, the capital at Khami was deserted and a new complex was built at Dhlodhlo and Nalatale.

At about the same time a group of Rozvi migrated southwards from the north-east of the plateau, probably fleeing the civil wars of the Mutapa state and also the aftermath of the war between the Barwe and the Portuguese. One group moved south-east to found most of the present Ndau dynasties.

A more significant group, attracted by the weakness of Torwa, traveled south-west and set up there the new dynasty of Changamire Mambos. Although the Rozvi take-over coincided roughly with the building of a new capital, it appears that the new rulers utilized the structure of the old Torwa state and recognised many of the old officials, with the result that the new and powerful dynasty was established with a minimum of social upheaval.

Aided by a strong military organization, the Changamire controlled a prolonged period of trade with the Portuguese: by this stage alluvial gold was becoming scarce, and the main trade consisted in ivory for cloth, guns and other eastern or European goods.

Presumably under the Changamire rule, the cult of the high god Mwari, which later survived the collapse of the state and the Ndebele invasion, was established in the Matopo Hills.

The Rozvi Changamire ruled in the south-west until they were defeated by the invading Ndebele. The dominance of the Rozvi over surrounding chiefly dynasties remains reflected in the instalment ceremonies of many modern Shona chiefs who must have the ritual approval of a member of the Rozvi clan.

Meanwhile, as the population expanded in central Shona country there were numerous movements involving groups of people breaking off from larger chiefdoms. Between chiefdoms and within chiefdoms, intrigues and petty feuds were common.

During these unsettled times, many peoples throughout Shona country had taken to building rough stone refuges on the tops of hills and in caves to which people could flee and where they could easily defend themselves against raiders. By the beginning of the nineteenth century the central plateau was becoming settled and most of the modern chiefdoms had been established.

By this time, they comprised a hotch-potch of chiefly dynasties with a variety of histories, united by geographical proximity and a common culture.

Before the arrival of the white settlers there were two influential settlements from the Nguni peoples of the south in the early nineteenth century. The first was by the Gaza Nguni who settled on the lower Sabi and the second was the invasion of the Ndebele, both off-shoots from the Zulu state.

The Gaza Nguni were led by Soshangane, the founder of the Gaza state, whose name has subsequently been applied not only to his own people but also to neighboring Ndau and Tsonga peoples. Soshangane's people settled in the far south-east of Shona country and infiltrated surrounding peoples.

They have been influential linguistically and culturally in the Ndau peoples, some of whom were incorporated into the Gaza state. Their realm of influence was mainly in what is now Mozambique, overflowing into the south-east corner of Zimbabwe. They did conduct occasional raids for cattle and for wives in that area.

Before finally moving to Portuguese territory, the Shangaans had become paramount over the Mashona tribes in the east. The Sanga and Dondo Mashona, who were incorporated in the Shangaan nation, abandoned their own language and assimilated Nguni customs, but they were the minority of the Mashona tribes to do so.

The Ndebele settled in the south-west, conquering the country of the Changamire. They incorporated large numbers of resident Shona into their state; these were considered socially inferior by the Ndebele.

The adopted Shona learnt to speak Zulu and even their Shona clan names were translated into Zulu; the language of the Ndebele remains remarkably free of Shona influences.

Ndebele also adopted the principal religious cult of the local Shona, namely, the cult of the high god Mwari which was fitted into the Ndebele spirit world.

The Ndebele arrived with the powerful military organization developed by the Zulu and were able to conduct occasional raids deep into Shona country, collecting women and cattle from defeated peoples. Nevertheless, these large raids centrally organized by the Ndebele king were infrequent occurrences.

On the outskirts of Ndebele country raiding between small Ndebele groups and the neighboring Shona was mutual. Indeed, by the time the British arrived, there were indications that a number of southern Shona chiefs were coming together in concerted resistance to the Ndebele.

Although the Ndebele took over the country of the Changamire, and although they expanded their state into Karanga country, it appears that the Shona who were not incorporated into the Ndebele state were on the whole unaffected by the Ndebele settlement.

So the early colonial view of the Shona as a collection of squabbling petty chiefdoms, subject to the Ndebele state, was clearly false. Shona history shows the rise and fall of a number of larger states, a long history of mining and a history of both internal and external trade. The Shona peoples had for the most part maintained their autonomy against various outside influences.

Partly as a matter of convenience, and partly no doubt deceived by the military inferiority of the Shona to the Ndebele invaders, the early white settlers regarded the Shona as unimportant subjects of the Ndebele king and no attempt was made to obtain from them concessions for mining or trading or settlement.

Nevertheless the Shona showed themselves reluctant to accept domination by these new invaders who tried to meddle with their way of life on a scale that no previous immigrant group had done.

When the Ndebele rose against the settlers in 1896, the Shona surprised the whites by joining in and maintaining a concerted resistance which lasted months after the Ndebele war had come to an end.

It is true that not all Shona joined in the rising, and that some used the war simply to settle internal conflicts, joining the settlers or the rebels as convenience directed; nevertheless, the petty feuding chiefdoms were able to show remarkable unity and resilience when their independence was seriously challenged.

The main rising of 1896 was followed by further lesser risings as British and Portuguese colonizers spread their rule. There was the Mapondera war in the north-east of what is now Zimbabwe around the turn of the century, and as late as 1917 the Barwe and neighboring Tavara peoples fought against the Portuguese.

But eventually the Shona had to bow to superior military strength, and to submit to the laws and taxes imposed by colonial governments.

THE EUROPEANS
The African attitude towards the solitary Europeans who had made their appearance from the 1860's onwards was ambivalent.

On the one hand, many Africans appear to have recognised the technological superiority of the white men, and the Ndebele at any rate were aware that they were members of a larger tribe, which they respected for virtues not at all incomprehensible to a military nation.

Yet one cannot but be impressed by the way that many of the chiefs greeted their early European visitors—rather in the relaxed manner of a member of the aristocracy receiving a formal visit from a person of respectable but decidedly inferior social antecedents.

By the time that the Pioneer Column came through, many of the chiefs throughout the country must have received such visits. From the African point of view, whether Ndebele or Shona, the occupation must have seemed like a Trojan Horse operation.

There was a sense of shock and outrage when it was realised that the character of these European visits had altered and that the white men had come to stay.

They intended, too, to break up all the old trading patterns and replace them with an economy which they controlled. And so the African attitude to the advent of the white people, in about 1892, began to change.

The story is told that on the morning after the whites had arrived and hoisted the famous flag at Fort Salisbury, they found a red ox tethered to the pole as a sign of welcome. But after some months, when the Pioneers had shown no signs of moving on, they found a black ox tied to the pole as a kind of delicate, but nevertheless emphatic, indication that they had outstayed their welcome.

Not merely had the whites remained, quite ignoring such warnings, but they were now rudely interfering with African life on an increasing scale. For instance, they expected an abundant supply of labor and when this was not forthcoming, there was no thought of offering greater inducements to work.

In one instance an Inspector Bodle led a police patrol to a kraal because the headman had refused to send his men to work, saying that “his men were not going to work for white men and that if the police came he would fire on them“.

The headman was arrested and fined a considerable quantity of stock and given 50 lashes in the presence of men of his own and other kraals.

And there were, of course, some much more serious instances where there was considerable loss of life. Now whatever local Africans felt about the presence of white men in their country, most of the white pioneers were completely untroubled by the niceties of their constitutional position and regarded the country as having been taken over for their own benefit.

This attitude was expressed on occasion even by hostility to the Company when it attempted to bring about more order in relations between black and white.

One finds the position to be that a large European settler force was busy possessing itself of the choicest parts of Mashonaland on the basis of the fiction that this area was the territory of the Ndebele king who had authorised them to do so.

In the meantime the interests of the settlers were in complete conflict with those of the said Ndebele king whose actual relations with the area in question were those of a military parasite, alternately raiding its peoples and levying tribute by force.

The Shona, on the other hand, whether in the area subject to Ndebele influence or not, merely desired to continue their age-old way of life, which included a good deal of bickering among themselves.

White settlement brought about a show of unity among the Shona which the Ndebele raids failed to evoke. Despite all their outrages the Ndebele did not consider trying to change the way of life of the Shona, whereas from quite early times it was clear the Shona way of life and the European way of life were basically incompatible.

H.C. Thomson, a correspondent for The Times of London, captured the issue most succinctly at the time, when he heard that

Those resisting preferred the Matibili rule to ours, because under them they were troubled but once a year, whereas now their troubles come with each day's rising sun

The chief was reduced to a person lower than a constable in criminal matters and to the most inferior sort of civil magistrate whose every decision was open to appeal, often by men who could be chiefs' grandsons in age and whose knowledge of tribal law was taken from one or two rather incomplete and erratic textbooks left by early Native Commissioners.

The chiefs' mystical connection with the land was often shattered by imposed tribal movements, the suspension of practices which were deemed to smack of witchcraft, the onset of Christianity, and finally the removal of his right of allocation of land.

Loyalty to the chief and respect due to to him are connected with his sovereignty over the land. If a man was rebuked for passing his chief with little or no formal salutation, he might reply, "Where is the land?", implying that since the white people had dominion over the land the chief had lost his status.

This was transferred to agricultural authorities of the Government and it no doubt had a profound effect on weakening the authority of the chief over his people.

The association of the chief with the land is symbolized in the instalment ceremonies of chiefs all over Shona country. Thus in the instalment of Karanga Chief Ziki, the new chief opened his hands which were filled with two handfuls of earth while he was addressed: "You are now Ziki. We hand you the country to hold. Look after us well."

Similarly we find in the history of the Shawasha people that when their chief had occupied the country and killed the old Rozvi chief, he called his people together; when they gathered, one of his followers dug a handful of soil, mixed it with water and gave it to him saying, "Take this soil, Chinamhora". When he took it all the people clapped their hands in recognition of his chiefship.

Once a man has formally been given the soil, no one else can become chief until his death.

It is even less easy to sum up change in the field of family relations in a few words. The old forms continued to a large extent, but the goodness had gone out of them.

Generally, there was a weakening of all social authority, and with it a rise in the incidence of self-willed and antisocial behavior. Social norms to a very major extent rely on the regulative aspects of community life, social disapproval, the quest for social esteem, and so on.

Labour migration broke the bounds of the tribal social order and residence for long periods of time in the vast human melting-pots that we call towns completed the bad work.

During the first decade of the 20th century, it came to be realised that the earlier hopes of finding a second Witwatersrand were merely an illusion; but such hopes lived on. The end of the Anglo-Boer War was followed by a mining boom, but this collapsed during the financial crisis of 1903-4.

As a direct consequence of this, thoughts turned to the potential wealth of land; and an awareness grew of the important role the African agricultural sector had assumed in the economy and the threat it posed to the future labor supply of the Colony.

By 1908, when the white agricultural system began to expand, African agricultural opportunities gradually began to be reduced.

In order for white agriculture to be promoted, African agricultural competition had to be eliminated. The BSA Company began to charge rents to Africans living on unalienated land (land that had been appropriated but not yet sold by the BSAC), and a rent of £1 per year was levied on all Africans living on such land.

Native Commissioners (NCs) were told to warn natives that they must either move into reserves after the crops had been reaped or be prepared to pay the rent.

If Africans chose to move into the reserves, many would be forced to relinquish the ability to sell surplus agricultural products because of the general remoteness from markets of these areas.

Those who chose to remain on white owned land came to play an important role in the development of nascent white agriculture. On occupied white farms, the landowners could exact rents or labor services from their tenants, and they could also charge grazing and dipping fees; thus they were not only contributing financially to white agricultural development, but forming an all-important labor force.

Those living on unalienated land were also welcomed as a source of revenue to the BSA Company. The government at this stage made no effort to evict Africans from the land because the white sector was still heavily reliant on African agricultural production.

The charging of rents to Africans residing on white land had the desired results, and from 1909 the rate of migration of Africans from white areas accelerated.

The proportion living in reserves increased from 54 per cent in 1909 to 64 per cent in 1922, and at the same time the rate of African production began to decline as poorer and more densely populated land was brought under cultivation. Thus, of necessity, many Africans were forced to seek wage labor.

The consequences of this policy were to have a greater impact on the Shona than on the Ndebele. The latter were used to paying rents and preferred to remain on their traditional lands in order to do so, rather than move into reserves.

In Mashonaland, however, there were fewer Africans in alienated areas - furthermore, many reserves were in close proximity to both mines and white farms and Africans were still able to market agricultural surplus.

As white farming developed and the marketing of African produce was discouraged, the Shona increasingly realised the necessity of seeking wage employment which, after many years of acquiring cash through sale of agricultural surpluses, they were reluctant to accept.

As early as 1903, one NC was heard to have said,

Whereas at present the natives living in these reserves cultivate as much ground as they please, the products which are in excess of their consumption and the large remaining surplus they sell to traders in order to meet their hut tax and by this mode of living the average Mashona does not require to look for work.

If a native owned a limited piece of land which would only produce sufficient grain for his own consumption he would be bound to go out in search of employment in order to earn enough money to pay his tax (NAR N3/6/3 NC Makoni, 1903)

Experimental farms were opened and extension facilities offered to white farmers. In 1912, a Land Bank was set up making credit available to persons of European descent only. The Bank gave loans of up to £2,000 for the purchase of farms, livestock and agricultural equipment.

It was obvious, even in the absence of restrictive land policy, that with such assistance the white farming sector would soon surpass that of the African sector.

The cattle industry expanded from the base provided by African cattle.

African cattle have been found to make an excellent foundation, being extremely hardy and immune, or nearly so to many diseases of the tropics, qualities which are transmitted to a considerable extent to their graded descendants ... Matabele cattle have served as a valuable foundation on which the European farmers have, by the use of bulls of British breeds, built up their present excellent breeds. (E.A. Nobbs, Director of Agriculture, Rhodesia Agricultural Journal vol 18, 1921, pp 258/9)

The white cattle industry continued to expand on the base of African cattle, which were purchased at very low prices, particularly in times of drought and famine.

Once the herds of white farmers had reached a moderate size, the prices offered for African stock decreased markedly and the last source of income available to the African, other than that of wage labor, dwindled.

In the south-west, all cattle were sold or killed in the famine of 1912. The old men are paupers, while the younger men are away at work. (NAR N3/11/1-3 Ndanga 21/8/1915)

When maize began to be grown in abundance in the gold belt area, it had the advantage ‘of having both the best soil and easy access to markets in the mining centres. African markets in this area were thus taken over by white farmers.

In addition, as the tobacco industry expanded with its preference for light sandy soils, many Africans in Mashonaland lost access to the land which they had traditionally cultivated. The expansion of the white cattle industry at the same time as that of the African, resulted in increased competition for grazing lands.

The whites began to challenge Africans for markets, cattle and land, beginning what was termed the squeezing-out process.

Prior to 1914, white farmers had not forced Africans off their land. If they chose to leave through pressure created by the imposition of taxes and other devices, they were free to do so, but whites were reluctant to force their eviction because at this stage they supplied crops, labor services and also revenue through fees and rents.

By 1914, however, competition for African labor between the mines and the farmers had increased. To complicate matters, white farmers required seasonal labor at precisely the same time that Africans planted their own crops, and they were reluctant to work for white farmers during this period.

To achieve the twin goal of both reducing African competition which had become a larger threat during the war years, and discontinuing the general refusal of Africans to work, white farmers began imposing higher rents, grazing and dipping fees on their African tenants.

Such action, it was hoped, would force more Africans into the reserves which were further away from the main markets. In this manner, both goals were achieved: competition was of necessity reduced, and Africans were forced to seek wage labor because of their inability to realise a sufficient cash income through the sale of agricultural surplus.

The natural consequence of this movement of increasing numbers into the reserves during these years was the acceleration of congestion in these areas. Access to markets was denied them owing to the remoteness of many reserves from the main centers of economic activity.

African crop production began to decline, partly as incentive waned with diminishing market potentials, and partly as the practise of extensive methods of agriculture became increasingly difficult to execute under congested conditions.

Furthermore, cattle numbers increased rapidly during this period, placing more pressure on the land, and incentives to dispose of this surplus through sale deteriorated with the collapse of the cattle market in the 1920s.

An additional consequence of the slump in the early 1920s was that many Africans moved into the reserves, having no incentive to pay rent when sale of produce was being uneconomic.

Having made this decision to migrate to reserve areas, future possibilities of gaining financial requirements through sale of crops was negligible.

Thus, whilst for white farmers the slump was merely a temporary downward trend in the business cycle, for the African this situation was, in many ways, irreversible.

The instability of white agriculture in the late 1920s and the simultaneous increase in their political power, gave rise to a great deal of aggression towards Africans living on white land.

The white farmers, if they could not achieve satisfaction through the framework of government aid, were more determined to achieve security through other means. The form these desires assumed were pressures for segregation.

The main pressure for segregation, then, came from white farmers who sought to consolidate their position, for although they were the main pillar of economy in the 1920s, their position was by no means secure.

The main reason for this was the lack of a viable staple crop, hence they still had reason to fear competition from the Africans who were also cultivating maize, and who, if given an opportunity, could do so at far lower cost of production than could whites.

They were also alive to the fact that should Africans purchase land in their midst, with easy access to markets and the availability of good quality soil, their potential as competitors would be vastly increased.

White farmers were also aware that the possibility of Africans purchasing land in their midst was becoming a more feasible proposition as their earning capacity increased.

The white farmers were the largest sector demanding segregation; nevertheless, they were supported in this field by the missionaries. The missionaries were opposed to Africans coming under what they considered, in many cases, to be the corrupt influence of the white sector of the economy.

Initially, the missionaries were of the opinion that Africans were "uncivilised barbarians" who must be civilised at all costs.

By the 1920s, however, they came to realise that there were many aspects of tribalism which were worth preserving. The missionaries were of the opinion that attempts to assimilate Africans into the white economy before they were ready, would result in their adoption of many of the less desirable aspects of the white sector.

With the passage of the Land Apportionment Act, white farmers had achieved their objectives. Africans were prevented from purchasing land in potentially good farming areas, and they were pushed into areas remote from markets.

Furthermore, the clause giving Africans a six year period in which to move into their own areas ensured the acceleration of congestion therein, the consequent cessation of agricultural competition and the concurrent necessity for Africans to seek an alternative source of income through wage labor.

It prevented wealthy Africans from purchasing land in areas in close proximity to white farms, and the Purchase Areas ensured that there would be no conflicting interests with whites: their access to both railways and markets was restricted.

Over half of the purchase areas assigned, lay on the borders of the country, and approximately 4,000,000 acres of the total assigned comprised five large, remote, low-lying, tsetse ridden areas in Darwin, Bubi, Bulilima-Mangwe and Gwanda (R.H Palmer, Land and Racial Domination, pp. 182/3)

Disruption of the Africans' traditional agricultural system began with the arrival of whites, although the manifestations of this were not apparent for at least two decades.

Population increased with the introduction of medical facilities and cessation of inter-tribal warfare. In 1902 the population was estimated at 530,000, which tilled approximately 500,000 acres and owned 55,000 head of cattle.

The creation of reserves was itself responsible for the cessation of the nomadic form of life. Under such conditions, the practice of shifting cultivation could no longer be efficiently executed, resulting in continuous cultivation of the soil.

By 1924, the evils of soil erosion were making themselves felt and no longer passed unnoticed.

Segregation retarded the African's development but in some ways that was its purpose. Reserves were neither served by roads nor given sufficient agricultural extension advice or to technical services provided to Europeans. Through segregation Africans were entrenched in primitiveness. ( D. J Duignan, Native Policy in Southern Rhodesia, 1961, p. 307)

Increased use of the plough by African cultivators added to existing problems. African farmers saw the plough as a labor-saving device, and it was for this reason that many adopted it so readily.

Use of the plough in the absence of improved methods of cultivation accelerated the already decreasing fertility of the soil.

Africans were correct in assuming that a light scratching of the ground with a hoe was the most efficient method under Southern Rhodesian climatic conditions. Indeed, by 1905, white farmers were already questioning the wisdom of deep-ploughing.

As early as 1905, then, many white settlers had seen the value of the reasoning behind African methods of hoe cultivation. Deep ploughing without accompanying cultivation of the land, manuring and irrigation, would only result in soil erosion and decreasing yields.

The most fertile soil was the top soil, and Africans therefore saw no reason to plant crops deep in the ground.

They were shifting cultivators, and it was usually virgin soils which they cultivated, thus the necessity for deep ploughing was never experienced by them.

It now appears that under a system of shifting cultivation a relatively sparse population was in ecological balance with the environment. The problem today is that the environment was changed.

Population has increased. European occupation has limited the land supply available for shifting cultivation by African producers. Nevertheless, many traditional methods have persisted, taking a heavy toll on the soil. (M. Yudelman, Africans on the Land, p.13.)

Thus, although shifting cultivation might have sufficed in the late nineteenth century, the conditions which brought it into existence no longer applied, and a new type of agriculture was required.

As mentioned, the introduction of the plough increased the deterioration of the land. African farmers had realised that much time and effort could be saved by utilizing this implement.

There is reckless ploughing …. I know cases where single natives plough sufficient land to reap 500 bags of grain while he actually reaps 50 bags only. The cause of bad ploughing is the want of proper clearing of the land, and they plough at the beginning of the rains and again towards the end of the season. The consequences are the shortage of grazing grounds, and the destruction of roots and grass which would retain the rainwater and moisture. (NAR N9/2/1-3 NC Half yearly reports. NC Murehwa 1923)

Fields were not properly cleared before the plough was applied, trees were left standing and the ground was ploughed around them; the ground was not stumped or levelled, nor was manure applied or land irrigated. Several NCs comment on this misguided use of the plough and its effects,

It will be several years before the use of the plough by the natives can be considered an improvement on their own method of preparation of the soil for crops; the ploughing is in most cases badly done especially in the lands where stumps have been left and they very often select land to be turned over by the plough just because there are no trees in it, that would have been a waste of time to turn over with the hoe. (NAR CNC Annual Report 1929)

EARLY HISTORY: CHINAMHORA
Crops are splendid, mainly mhunga, but little rapoko. Since the war no revenue has been collected. The expenditure consisted of N.C.s salary and wages of messengers.

31st March, 1899: There are very few cattle, sheep or goats - The Natives would like to buy some. They say: "Money is a nice thing to have but it does not breed like cows and goats."

There is a large population. On the average three per hut, altogether 11,403 (in the whole of Salisbury District). There is very little crime, it is a little short of marvelous and speaks well for the disposition of Mashona. Revenue £1,821. An unusual number of deaths, mainly from dysentery and mainly amongst children.

31st March, 1900: Large swarms of locusts and rice was a failure. Dysentery is still the prevailing disease. Supply of labour would be doubled or trebled, if there were cattle in the country which the natives could buy. The population is now 12,684 in 69 kraals. Revenue £2,273. Tax was paid very well and most of the money was paid in gold.

An epidemic of smallpox broke out on the Eastern border around October. 4,212 children were vaccinated. Very few adults required vaccination, as they had inoculated themselves during the last epidemic which passed through this country.

31st March, 1903: Crops were so good that they did not bother to reap the whole of it but left it standing on the lands. The natives of this country are very subject to chest conditions and lung complaints.

This I consider attributable to the fact the natives wear overcoats and thick jackets all through the day, no matter how hot it might be and after the sun begins to set, they will strip themselves of everything with the exception of their waist skins and sit and lie about in that state for the rest of the night.

The natives loathe work as much as ever, and in spite of all advice and persuasion they prefer to idle in their kraals and drink beer. A native will probably work for one or two months and earn from 30 to 50 shillings. This will suffice to pay his hut tax and buy everything he requires for the next 12 months and he will retire to his kraal.

There was a great loss of stock from redwater.

31st March, 1906: Several fresh cases of leprosy. Syphilis and venereal disease appear on the increase mostly caused by alien natives from Zambezia. Revenue £5,940. Population 16,062.

One old man said he still remembered the raids by Matabele impi. Although he could not recall any details as he was then too small, he heard all the stories from older children who had been abducted by the Matabele but returned to Chinamhora after the defeat of Lobengula.

Had he noticed any changes in the "Reserve" during the last 70 years? His comment was that apart from the fact that now people had more clothes to wear, life was very much the same as it had always been.