Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/227

TUE FIN008. 178 All Europeans who kuvc tukcn purt in the education of the children amongst the numurous KuHr tribon, [nvxr witnonn to the kron vivacity of their intelligence. Their mental vigour would almoNt seem to be too iutease, to judge at least from the great number of idiots found amongst them. The customs of the KaBrs, which api)ear to have originally re^mblod those of the allied Hechuuuu {leople, have already been profoundly modified by contact with their European neighbours. Formerly those Katirs who had acquired some religious notions through their intercourse withthe surrounding peoples, applied to the supremo being the name of Thiko, from the Hottentot Uti-ko, the " Evil-doer," or better, the " Mischief- maker." The Fixoos. The Fingos (Ama-Fingu, or "Wanderers," "Vagabonds"), who formerly dwelt much farther to the north in the Tugela River valley, whence they were expelled by the Zulu conqueror, Chaka, have retained little of their Kafir nation- ality beyond the name. After their expulsion they had fallen into the hands of the Ama-Eosas, who had gradually reduced them to the jwsition of slaves, at the sunie time distorting their name so as to give it the meaning of '* Dogs." Hence sprang a deadly hatred between the two nations, calling for the ultimate interven- tion of the English to put a stop to the intolerable oppression of the Ama-Kosas. Accepting the offer of lands made to them by the colonial Government, the Fingos emigrated in abody and settled on the banksof theGreat Fish River. Here they again l>eeanie freemen, and on puyment of the hut tax ol ten shillings, acquired the owner- ship of the land cultivated by themselves. They, moreover, became the steadfast allies of the English against their former masters, and it was largely through their cooperation that the Ama-Kosas were at last compelle<l to acknowledge themselves vanquished. East of the Kei River they surrendered vast tracts, which, by a sort of Nemesis, were assigned for the most part to the very " Dogs," whom they had long treated with such dire cruelty. At present the Fingo Kafirs have become largely intermingle<l with the settlers of European origin, and this mixed people number altogether about a hundred thousand souls, settled partly in the colony properly so called, and jjartly in the Transkei district. They now wear the same clothes as the whites, guide the ])lough after the fashion of the English and German peasants, send their children to sehools supported by their own voluntary contributions, edit newspapers, translate European poetry, and even compose musical tunes for their national songs. Nearly all call themselves Christians, and constitute the proletariate class in the eastern districts of the South African colony. The two chief centres of population in the Fingo territory within Kafirland properly so called, and east of the Kei, are Namaqua and Butit'itcorth, both of which places are situated on eastern affluents of that river.