Kaffirs
Sik,—The contributor of a book-review which appears in your issue 01 March 13th states that the streets of Scottish cities in the eighteenth- century were as filthy as a "kaffir kraal." It is a little surprising to find those responsible for the liberal editorial policy of the Spectator Passing for publication a contribution containing such a statement. One is led to wonder whether those who are so quick to question the actions of the Governor of Kenya really know as much about the Contemporary African scene as they would like us to think; the cause of liberal moderation in African affairs is greatly damaged if those Journals who support it show themselves so manifestly ignorant.
The word " kaffir " is derived from the Arabic word for " heathen"; In the last century it was used as a generic term for all the indigenous native inhabitants of South Africa. It is now never used except as a term of abuse, and is disliked by the Bantu themselves even more than other slang terms in daily use—such as nig, coon and wog. I feel sure such terms as these would no more be used in the Spectator
than Yid, coolie or dago, which are no more offensive than kaffir.
When it is suggested that kraals are as dirty as your reviewer implies, however, the ignorance is even more evident. I have spent much time attending African patients in their homes, and I can assure you, Sir, that the interiors of the mud and wattle huts compare very favour- ably for cleanliness with the ordinary English working-class home, while the area round the huts is usually considerably cleaner than any street within a mile of where I write. I feel sure that if your reviewer wanted a simile by which to describe the state of eighteenth-century Scottish streets, one which would have been more significant to the ordinary reader and very much less misleading would have been the average English farm-yard in winter.—Yours faithfully, J. B. LOUDON.
London, E.C.3.
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