Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/248

190 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. read is very small. On the other hand, not more than two hundred white children, or about one-twentieth of those at an age to receive instruction, are illiterate. The serious question of colonial defence is the reason why Natal still continues under the direct control of the Home Government. The colonists do not feel themselves yet strong enough to defend themselves. They are surrounded by populations whose smoiJdering hostility might easily be rekindled. On the south- west frontier dwell the Pondos, on the west the Basutos, on the north-west the Boers, on the north-east the Zulus ; while within their borders they might have at any moment to face a rising of the natives far outnumbering all the rest of the jwpulation together. In the presence of so many dangers they are fain still to look to the mother country for help. The colony is at present protected by a small British array of over a thousand men, which is divided into three corps, stationed at Maritzburg, Estcourt, and Greytown. These troops serve at the same time as a model for the formation of an effective body of colonial forces, comprising a squadron of two hundred and eighty mounted police and a regiment of volunteers over a thousand strong. In every to^vn companies of rifles have also been formed, which the Government encourages by the distribution of prizes, while, on the other hand, strictly forbidding the sale of arms and ammunition to the natives. Since the year 1856 it has also been made penal to seU or give them alcoholic drinks, under a penalty of fine or imprisonment. Unfortunately this humane law is often violated, especially by the Hindu dealers. The colonial budget, derived chiefly from customs and the native hut tax, usually shows a relatively heavy deficit, which has to be covered by loans. The consequence is that in 1888 the public debt approached £4,000,000. The European colonists themselves pay no direct taxes, while the postal and telegraph services and State railways cost the Government much more than they contribute to the revenue. The annual grant formerly set aside for assisted emigrants has under these circumstances had to be discontinued. On the other hand, the bill for the extension of the railway system to the two neighbouring Dutch republics, and the raising of a loan of £1,500,000 for that purpose, were passed through committee in the Natal legislature in March, 1888. For administrative purposes Natal is divided into eight counties and twelve divisions, which with their white population and chief towns will be found tabu- lated in the Appendix. ZULULAND. On repeated occasions the British and Dutch authorities have concluded treaties with the native chiefs of Zululand, guaranteeing to them the possession of the territory comprised between the Natal frontier, the border range, and the Portu- guese possessions. But, as in other parts of Austral Africa, official conventions were powerless to prevent a chronic state of hostility between the Europeans and the aborigines, manifested either by occasional incursions of armed bands or by simple plunder of land and live stock, but also at times breaking out into open warfare. The Zulu domain was thus inch by inch encroached upon, especially by