Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-04-12

The traveller. coming fresh from Eu-
rope into Damaralaud is struck by the
complete communistic freedom with
which every man appropriateS the land
and its natural products. Roads have
been worn through the thickets by foot
men and the heavy oN-wagOn, and the
chief villages are connected by kind
of highway, but no one is Obliged to
keep the roads il he does not want to.
They are of no more significance than
the zebra or rhinoceros tracks which
led 70 the drinking-paces before man
appeared in the country, and there is
no reason why the traveller should not
make new road at pleasure. The
pasturage is free for the Transfers
hungry cattle, the wood for the fire
needed to cook his supper. If stray
spark sets the grass on fire, no one
thinks of complaining; if hunter COM
mitS devastation among the game the
native may grumbe at the waste, but
he will not imagine that his rights are
trespassed upon, or venture to inter
fere with the proceedings, The game
is rs much the strange hunters as his.
If one sees a spot that pleases him he is
at liberty to settle upon it, and build
himself house there. If any objection
is made to the stranger, nothing worse
happens than that something unreason-
able is demanded Of him, in the same
way that people in other parts of the
world are not ashamed to overreach
strangers: this is not so easily done,
however, if the intruder is native or a
member of the same tribe; and even n
stranger, if he does not allow himself to
be scared away, is at last permitted to
remain undisturbed Whoever settles
in any particular spot must. however,
expect that other persons, finding it
well supplied with water and pasturage
will bring their herds there too; and it
is the practice of the IIerero, when they
wish to get rid of an unwclcome neigh
Dor, Notwithstanding their communism,
TO bring up SO many herds and establish
so many cattle-ranges about his house
that he becomes disguised with the
frequent intrusions, and is obliged TO
90 away from the exhausted tract
Some of the Herero chiefs have recently
begun TO drive single settlers away by
force, but they are actuated by Interior
political views. The people are not dis
posed TO grudge a stranger the particu-
lar spot of land he occupies, but they
wish to drive foreigners ont Of the
country altogether. An incident from
Damara history will help to illustrate
the extent to which this sense of com
munism goes When the Hereros had
succeeded, after nine years of warfare,
in shaking off the domination Of the Ma
maquas, to whom they had previously
been subjected the Namaqua chief Jan
Afrikaner. asked the missionaries to
help him make peace with them. The
missionaries proposed that the two
parties should fix n boundary between
themselves, which they would both re-
spect. Both refused 10 do this. They
were ready to make 4 peace, they said,
and keep it, but they would have the
land, over which they had fought so
hard. in common. The Herero chief,
Kamaherero, declared repeatedly that
Jan might live in any part of the land
he chose after the peace, and that he
should expect a fair proportion Of his
own people to be allowed TO liyeir Jan 5
land The peace contracted on these
terms lasted fully ten years. Popuiar
Science NOHHM.