Fox Bourne's Account of Native Customs
After describing the purpose of Blacks and Whites in South Africa: an account of the past treatment and present condition of South African Natives under British and Boer control, section 1 of the work details the natives of Transvaal prior to and after European contact. Fox Bourne gives a brief history of the three major native peoples of the region: the Bushmen, Hottentots, and Bantu. He stresses that due to their numbers, the Bantu are the most important to the attention of her majesty's subjects. His account, due to its brevity, is mostly factual.
Afterwards however, he dives into the local beliefs and customs of the African peoples. In doing so, he demonstrates a hostile perspective despite his moral appeal. Statements such as, "Like all ill-grounded forms of supernaturalism, however, they are easily abused. Priestcraft or witch-doctoring, as it is called, has among some tribes and communities been comparably harmless. Among others, in the hands of unscrupulous imposters, and turned to political uses, it has been an easy and potent instrument of persecution and tyranny" characterize his outside perspective (Fox Bourne p. 12). He implies that native beliefs are inferior to those of his civilized society as though the church of England was not subject to its own forms of abuse. He goes on to describe their polygamous practices and how European influence dissuades them. In essence, he uses the perceived flaws of the natives' culture to support his assertion that the natives need stewardship not to justify domination.
Section 1 makes it clear that Fox Bourne's work is not only a factual account since he weighs the positivity and negativity of cultural changes which subjects his judgments to his own personal biases. His account is characterized by his own industrialized European perspective and tells of the audience it appeals to. The perceptions exhibited in the first section of the book, polarized by his viewpoint and moral creed, color the remainder of the text.
