THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN NATAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5731, 28 October 1905, Page 16

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN NATAL.

The members of the British Association in South Africa visited Pietermarizburg on August: 24. Next day an excursion was mad© to the native locations at Henley. Here the delegates witnessed a Kaffir danco performed by 1,000 natives, in the presence of Sir Henry McCullum, the -Governor, ns Supreme chief. This was followed by the marriage of tb© hereditary chief Mhlola to a young woman, daughter of a commoner, who is to become the chief wife and mother of the principal heir. The principals were variously clad in skins, feathers, beads, and cloths of gaudy colours. The majority, including the women were wearing the scantiest apology for a oustume, some of the girls wearing nothing but narrow bead bolts. The ceremony included such dancing, stamping, and capering to shrill cries and whistling. The bridegroom sat on a mat. hie party and the bride's party facing each other. The bride did not appear till after the women and girls of her party had given a dance. She then entered the arena, accompanied on each side by Oio Kaffir equivalent to groomsman and bridesmaid. All three were concealed under open umbrellas till they reached the bridegroom, when the bride raised him from the ground and sat him in a chair. She then joined in a dance Mhlola remaining seated. The important part of the ceremony was the question whether the bride would accept the husband. She answered, " I love him, 10 head of cattle have been given for me/' A parade of wedding presents followed, the gifts which were carried aloft' including a modern travelling trunk and many mysterious bundles. An important feature was also the robing of the bridegroom QJ the bride with bead belts and a headdress made by herself. , , . Finally there was a general dance ana a banquet, for which oxen were slaughtered on the spot. . _ An interesting incident of the tour has been the wedding of a young Indy me:uber of the party at Pietermaritzburg before the departure of the visitors. , The wedding was celebrated at the cathedial by a clergyman, who likewise is a member of the party, and the wedding breakfast was served on board the tram en route. Reaching Colenso on August 26 the party visited the battlefields. jVding the keenness with which mementoes were sought, a Kaffir woman offered an Oxford professor a 6m. shell lying outside her kraal. lier anxiety for its removal was explained when it was found that the shell was still nnexplocled. The I oiler was not accepted, the professor

preferring lo continue his pursuit after butterflies, beetles and lizards. Ladysmith wan readied on Aug. 27 and tho majority of the members drove to Cac-ars Camp and Wagon Hill. On lhe2dth tho travellers arrived at Johan, nolnirg. the day bflng devoted to excursions to the mine* and to the native and Chinese compounds. In the evening a reception was held in the Wanderers’ hall, at; which the Dari oi Selborno and Mr Goch, mayor, wore present. Work was resumed in the different sections on tbo 29th. Colouol D. Bmco, president of tho physiological section, in dealing with tho cattle plagues of South Africa, said with regard to the tsetse .flv investigation had shown that tho disease was not caused by a simple poison elaborated by tho fly, but by a minute hl>od parasite known asn trypanosoma, which signified a screw* liko body. Tho fly merely acted as & carrier. The latest trypanosome disoaso was “sleeping sickness/’ which was in all respects similar to tho teetso fly disease of South Africa, except that it was caused by another species of trypanosome, and carried from tho sick to the healthy by means of another species of tseise fly named tho glossina paipalis. He was sorry to say that, in spite of many experiments, no method of vaccination or inoculation had so fur boon discovered to combat those trypanosome diseases. Professor Darwin on tho 30th delivered the second part of his presidential ad-i dross, and dealt with various theorioa of celestial evolution. Ho advanced tho theory that sun and planets originated from gradual accretions of meteorio stones. Speaking of radium, he said they know tho earth contained radio-active materials, and it was almost certain that* tho gun was radio-activo also.