KAFFRARIA, Kafferland, or Caffraria, a territory extending along the eastern shores of South Africa, from the eastern boundary line of the Cape of Good Hope to Delagoa Bay, a distance of between 600 and 700 miles. It extends inwards to the country of the Boshuanas, between 200 and 300 miles from the sea; but this frontier has never been properly explored, and consequently cannot be correctly defined. To this coast the Portuguese gave the name of Natal, which has been followed by navigators, but is of course not in use amongst the natives as a designation of their territory. Of this region of the globe, either as regards its physical aspect or natural productions, little is known, and that little is confined to isolated parts, and not to the country as a whole. In some portionsof itsandy plainsspread out in unfruitful barrenness for many miles; but others are exceedingly fertile, consisting of fine savannahs, intersected with small clumps of trees, and carpeted with a rich variety of herbaceous plants, whilst excellent streamlets, meandering amongst the shrubbery in the centre of the valleys, give life and beauty to the landscape. These are chiefly to be met with at the base of a chain of high mountains stretching into the vicinity of Delagoa Bay. The ridge was recently crossed by one of the missionaries resident in this quarter, who says, that on reaching the summit, fine grassy plains, thickly inhabited, were seen spreadingout in every direction, it being the summer residence and grazing-place of those clans who live along the base of the mountain. The pasturage was good and abundant, the climate remarkably fine, and the general aspect of the country, the trees, and shrubs, and other features, strikingly resembled those in many parts of England, whilst the whole appeared watered by numerous rills. The mountainous range which divides the sea-border from the interior is in some parts 6000 feet in height; and the most distinguishing geological feature which they possess is the presence of a superincumbent stratum of sandstone. High detached masses are found in many places standing some feet above the surface of the earth. The upper part of a mountain visited by the individual alluded to, presented to the eye immense precipices capped with large rhomboidal tables, and projecting angles forming a sort of cornice to the face. On the side of the declivities there was a description of prismatic quartz crystals in a corroded state, and evidently undergoing the process of decomposition; a circumstance which is observable in all the mountains of South Africa, and will no doubt yearly give rise to an increasing extent of soil. Iron-stone is everywhere found in Kaffraria, and also considerable quantities of ochre of various kinds, presenting itself under different circumstances. The coast of Natal has been described by one of the most recent authorities as looking like a large park, varied with hill and dale, displaying occasionally through a luxuriant valley the distant prospect of blue mountainous ridges. On other parts of the coast the landscape was equally beautiful; clusters of trees, hills, vales, and glens composing the foreground, whilst in the distance, divided by a deep valley or chasm, a range of craggy mountains extended in a parallel direction to the limits of vision. There are a great many rivers on the Kaffraria coast, of which the Kai or Ky, and Keiskamma, are amongst the largest. The entrance of the former is one of the most picturesque and extraordinary in the world, as it forms, by its abrupt and perpendicular heights, a natural lock, “wanting only a flood-gate to make it a wet dock.” That part of the coast where Port Natal is situated possesses so many advantages, that proposals have been lately made to the British government to have it regularly settled. The memorial of the merchants and other inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope embodies various reasons for laying the case before the “king in council and as it likewise conveys a description of the country, we shall give an abstract from it.

The arguments brought forward are, that the country in the vicinity of Port Natal was originally purchased by the Dutch, and held by them as a dependency of the Cape of Good Hope, and, of course, along with the latter colony, was ceded to Great Britain in 1814; that since the year 1824, Port Natal has been almost constantly occupied by British subjects, by permission of the governor of Cape Colony; that these persons had succeeded in opening a trade with the natives, which has gradually increased in extent, from the encouragement offered by the Zoolas, who are favourable to Europeans, but whose residence there is attended with great risk in the absence of a government establishment, which would be a protection to the trader, and likewise prevent the frequent collision of the Zoola and Kaffre tribes. The pastures of the country between these tribes are of a highly favourable description. It is well wooded with large timber, and watered by upwards of one hundred rivers and running streams, some of which are larger than the chief rivers of Cape Colony. The soil is fertile, and has produced three crops of Kaffre and Indian corn in the year. The rains are periodical, and the climate is cooler than that of the Cape, and highly salubrious. The bay of Port Natal is an exceedingly fine harbour, but the entrance is narrow, and has a bar of shifting sand. There are six feet of water on the bar, with a run of six feet, and at spring-tides the depth is fourteen. “There are a considerable number of natives, a laborious and well-conducted people, who are the remains of the tribes who formerly occupied the country purchased and ceded by the Dutch, and who, having attached themselves to the white inhabitants, are living in its vicinity under their auspices, unmolested by the Zoolas.” The memorial goes on to state, that such an establishment as that contemplated would prevent the irregular trading which is carried on at Port Natal, and advance the civilization and moral improvement of the neighbouring tribes, besides protecting the Kaffres. The ceded territory is said to extend about two hundred miles along the coast to the westward, and one hundred miles inland; and, from the capabilities of the country for maintaining a large population, and carrying on an extensive trade, a comparatively small military force is ail that is required.

The name Kaífre (in Arabic Kafir, signifying an unbeliever or pagan) was given by the early Portuguese navigators to the natives of the entire eastern coast of Africa. The [7:12:660]Dutch settlers at the Cape, therefore, when, in their migrations eastward, they discovered a race of men entirely different from the Hottentots, called them Kaffres. This name, in its most extensive application, designates several African tribes, who are again distinguished by other appellations; and colonial usage has almost appropriated the generic term Kaffre to the tribe in closest contact with the colony, and who call themselves Amakósa. Their northern neighbours are called the Amatêmbu, which the Dutch have metamorphosed into Tembooger, and the English into Tam-bookies. Farther east is located the Amaponda or Amambo, which has been corrupted into Mambookies. The latter are the most industrious of the three nations, but the Amakósa arc considered the most warlike. Still farther to the east of the Amaponda are the Zoolas, to whom reference has already been made. The descent of these races of men has been attributed to the Bedouins or wandering Arabs; and this conjecture is by no means improbable, for they are distinct from both negroes and Hottentots; whilst the people above mentioned, having penetrated into every part of Southern Africa, may have reached this country by skirting the Red Sea, and journeying southward by the sea-coast, so as to avoid the great desert of sand by which Africa is divided into two parts. Their character, manners, modes of building, and other circumstances, also favour the assumption. The middle of the seventeenth century has been assumed as the period when they first acquired territory here from the native tribes. The Amakósa Kaffres have been frequently described by individuals who have visited their country. Their features are Asiatic, their physical endowments considerable, and their intellectual qualities respectable, although, from their remaining still in an uncivilized, and almost entirely savage state, the latter have not had a fair opportunity of developing themselves. But we shall recur to the subject of their character and future prospects at the close of this article.

One of the principal articles of trade amongst the Kaffres is the barter of cattle for young women of the Tam-bookie tribe, who are short, Stoutland muscular; and these are preferred by the chiefs to females of their own people. In the warm season a thin apron constitutes their sole bodily attire; but in winter a cloak is used, made of the skins of wild beasts, admirably curried. The head, even in the hottest weather, is never protected by any covering; and they seldom use shoes, except on undertaking a long journey, when they condescend to wear a rude substitute for them. The bodies of both sexes are tatooed; and those of the young men who correspond to the fops of more civilized nations paint their skins and curl their hair. Their arms are the javelin, a large shield of buffalo hide, and a short club. The women exhibit taste in the arrangement of their dress, particularly for the head, which consists of a turban made of skin, and profusely ornamented with beads. A mantle of skin, variously bedecked with beads and other showy trinkets, is worn; and the only distinction between the dress of the chieftain’s wives and those of the lower ranks consists in the greater profusion of ornaments possessed by the former, but of which all are alike vain. There is no change, the whole wardrobe of the female being that which she carries about with her, and sleeps in; for bed-clothes they have none. Their huts arc generally about twelve feet diameter, with a raised floor, and a gutter for a drain. They are constructed by setting up poles erect, then bending the tops till they meet, when they are tied together with fibres. This skeleton of a dwelling is then thatched outside with rushes, and plastered inside with clay or cow dung. Little time is spent in these primitive abodes, for the excellence of the climate admits of the people living much in the open air. The Kaffre hamlet generally consists of about a dozen of such huts; and the sites of these, as well as the cattle folds, are chosen with reference to the pasturage ground, as the safety and multiplication of their flocks is the chief care of these modern Arcadians. Horses have lately been brought amongst them, previous to the introduction of which the ox was their only beast of burden. Sheep and goats have greatly multiplied with them.

The grain which they chiefly cultivate is a kind of millet, holcus sorgium ; a small quantity of Indian corn, and some pumpkins, arc likewise grown; but a species of sugar-cane called mifi is produced in great abundance, and of this they are extremely fond. Their diet, however, is chiefly milk in a sour, curdled state. They abhor swine’s flesh, keep no poultry, are averse to fish, but indulge in eating the flesh of their cattle, which they prepare in a very disgusting manner. They are nearly strangers to spirituous liquors, but have as substitutes a kind of mead, and a tolerably good beer prepared from malted millet. Although naturally brave and warlike, they prefer an indolent, pastoral life, hunting being an occasional pastime. They arc excellent herdsmen, and extremely expert in the management of their oxen, which they train to obey with perfect docility the will of their masters. They are carefully sheltered and secured in pens, and milked morning and evening in their folds. The hides are made into garments by the men, who also exhibit some dexterity as artisans in fashioning weapons, axes, and the like. The women, however, officiate as the architects of the dwellings; and they also weave a superior sort of mat from a fine rush, which displays some taste in the execution. Their whole household .utensils consist of a sleeping mat, a leathern milk sack, a calibash, and an earthen pot for cooking.

Their form of government is that of hereditary chieftains, or clansmen. The chiefs are legislators as well as judges, but the old men of the tribe assemble on necessary occasions, forming a sort of jury, and they have also a voice in decisions, which are generally founded on precedents, orally and faithfully transmitted from sire to son. Their laws are few and simple. The courts, which all have the privilege of attending, are held in the open air, and each party to a suit pleads his own cause. In their religion, although no regular system of idolatry exists amongst them, they are addicted to sorcery, spells, and charms. They reverence a Supreme Being, and believe in the immortality of the soul, yet never associate with it the idea of future rewards and punishments. With the exception of a few unimportant matters connected with the burying of the dead, their religious or solemn ceremonies present nothing worthy of particular notice.

Much light has recently been thrown on the present condition and future prospects of this people, by papers relative to the Cape of Good Hope, which were laid before government in 1835. From these it appears that a system of aggression, and an unjustifiable appropriation, on the part of the whites, have from time to time roused the savage energies of the Kaffres, and impelled them to make severe reprisals on their European spoilers. The longing of the colonists for the well-watered valleys of the Kafffes, and of the latter for the colonial cattle, which are much superior to their own, still are, as they have always been, the sources of irritation. The Dutch boors, an unscrupulous race of men, seem from time to time to have treated the aboriginal population very unceremoniously. In the year 1834, matters arrived at a crisis. A portion of land on the western side of the Keiskamma had, for many years, been occupied by the herds of the Kaffres, by permission of the colonial government. This indulgence was said to have been abused, and the immediate expulsion of the transgressors took place. This happened in November 1833. The Kaffres retaliated, and, at the close of 1834, the depredations in the colony had reached an alarming height. The savages poured into the colony in great numbers, [7:12:661]wasted the farms, drove off the cattle, and murdered not a few of the inhabitants. An army of 4000 men was marched against the invaders, who were driven far beyond the boundary line which formerly separated Kafferland from Cape Colony, and not only forced them to confine themselves within the new limits prescribed, but to pay a heavy fine. Treaties have been entered into between some of the native chiefs and the colonial government, by which the river Ky is constituted the boundary of the colony; an arrangement which deprives the Amatêmbu people, who did no harm, of their independence. Tractsof country have been assigned to the Kaffre chiefs of several families, who acknowledge themselves to be subjects of Great Britain, and who are to pay a fat ox annually as a quit-rent for the lands which they occupy. They are now, so far at least, brought within the pale of the English government; but how the plan will succeed is still a matter of uncertainty and speculation. (For further particulars on this subject, see Edinburgh Review, vol. lxiii.)