OCR Text |
Show Hide Signs of Wealth In every Bantu language there is a word to describe the action of a man who, owning a considerable herd of cattle, plants them out among his poorer relatives and neighbors so that he will not appear too prosperous. Everybody knows that they are his, and just how many he has, but he must avoid any appearance of ostentation. ostenta-tion. Similarly, it is not considered advisable to own too good a house or lands that are too well cultivated, culti-vated, Fear of exciting the envy of the chief is one of the motives that govern this attitude of mind, which always has been a powerful brake to the progress of Bantu agriculture in South Africa. |