[1] The Ama-Fengu are regarded both by the Zulu and Ama-Xosa as slaves or out-castes, without any right to the privileges of true-born Kaffirs. Any tribes which become broken and mixed would probably be regarded as Ama-Fengu by the other Kaffirs. Hence the multiplicity of clans, such as the Ama-Bele, Aba-Sembotweni Ama-Zizi, Ama-Kuze, Aba-Sekunene, Ama-Ntokaze, Ama-Tetyeni Aba-Shwawa, &c., all of whom are collectively grouped as Ama-Fengu.
[2] Seventh in descent from Zulu, through Kumede, Makeba, Punga, Ndaba, Yama and Tezengakona or Senzangakona (Bleek, Zulu Legends).
[3] P. Topinard, Anthropology (1878), p. 274.
[4] This feature varies considerably, “in the T’slambie tribes being broader and more of the Negro shape than in the Gaika or Gcaleka, while among the Ama-Tembu and Ama-Mpondo it assumes more of the European character. In many of them the perfect Grecian and Roman noses are discernible” (Fleming’s Kaffraria, p. 92).
[5] Gustav Fritsch gives the mean of the Ama-Xosa as 1.718 metres, less than that of the Guinea Negro (1.724), but more than the English (1.708) and Scotch (1.710).
[6] Since the early years of the 19th century Protestant and Roman Catholic missions have gained hundreds of thousands of converts among the Kaffirs. Purely native Christian churches have also been organized.
KAFFRARIA, the descriptive name given to the S.E. part of the Cape province, South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e. the land of the Kaffirs (q.v.), is no longer an official designation. It used to comprise the districts now known as King William’s Town and East London, which formed British Kaffraria, annexed to Cape Colony in 1865, and the territory beyond the Kei River south of the Drakensberg Mountains as far as the Natal frontier, known as Kaffraria proper. As a geographical term it is still used to indicate the Transkeian territories of the Cape provinces comprising the four administrative divisions of Transkei, Pondoland, Tembuland and Griqualand East, incorporated into Cape Colony at various periods between 1879 and 1894. They have a total area of 18,310 sq. m., and a population (1904) of 834,644, of whom 16,777 were whites. Excluding Pondoland—not counted previously to 1904—the population had increased from 487,364 in 1891 to 631,887 in 1904.
Physical Features.—The physical characteristics of Kaffraria bear a general resemblance to those of the Cape province proper. The country rises from sea-level in a series of terraces to the rugged range of the Drakensberg. Between that range and the coast-lands are many subsidiary ranges with fertile valleys through which a large number of rivers make their way to the Indian Ocean. These rivers have very rapid falls in comparison to their length and when less than 40 m. from the coast are still 2000 ft. above sea-level. The chief, beginning at the south, are the Kei, the Bashee, the Umtata, the St John’s or Umzimvubu, and the Umtamvuna, which separates Kaffraria from Natal. The St John’s River rises in the Drakensberg near the Basuto-Natal frontier. The river valley has a length of 140 m., the river with its many twists being double that length. It receives numerous tributaries, one, the Tsitza, possessing a magnificent waterfall, the river leaping over an almost vertical precipice of 375 ft. The St John’s reaches the sea between precipitous cliffs some 1200 ft. high and covered with verdure. The mouth is obstructed by a sand bar over which there is 14 ft. of water. None of the rivers of Kaffraria except the St John’s is navigable.
Kaffraria is one of the most fertile regions in South Africa. The mountain gorges abound in fine trees, thick forest and bush cover the river banks, grass grows luxuriantly in the lower regions, and the lowlands and valleys are favourable to almost any kind of fruit, field and garden cultivation. The coast districts are very hot in summer, the temperature from October to April on an average varying from 70° to 90° F., while in winter the day temperature is seldom below 50°, though the nights are very cold. But the variation in altitude places climates of all grades within easy reach, from the burning coast to the often snow-clad mountain. Thunderstorms are frequent in summer; the winters are generally dry. On the whole the climate is extremely healthy. At St John’s are sulphur springs.