THE KINGDOM OF THE ZULU 45
besides this there was no use for wealth.1 On the other hand, the wealth of a commoner attracted dependants and gave the rich man political status. Moreover, the kinsman of a wealthy man would not quarrel readily with him, so that there was little likelihood of his kinship group breaking up. However, there were few ways in which a commoner could acquire wealth: he might by magical practice, or as a reward from king or chief for some deed, or as booty in war. I have been told that only important men owned cattle. The rich Zulu loaned out cattle to other people to herd for him; they could use the milk, and also the meat of animals which died, and this contract made them dependent on the cattle-owner because he could inflict great hardship on them by taking away his cattle. When the chief did this, it gave him a hold over his people and prevented them from easily changing their allegiance and going to some other chief.2 Wealth therefore attracted followers, and as they increased and had children the wealthy man could collect about him a substantial group of dependants which was a political unit. Kinship alone, within a lineage, also created political units; even the head of a homestead had political duties. A notable feature of Zulu political organization throughout Zulu history is the creation of new groups as people moved about, settled and increased, and the heads of all these groups were minor political officers who might in time achieve prominence. Since leadership was personal, these groups were not merely absorbed into existing political groups; their leaders became officers within the organization.
There was thus a constant creation of new officiate which, with the rise in rank of brave warriors and wise men, permitted of a high degree of social mobility. Any man, whatever his rank by birth, could become politically important if he had the ability, though those already established in high positions watched jealously over their rights and privileges. Thus it is said that sometimes if a chief became jealous of an inferior he would kill him on a trumped-up charge of sorcery, though it seems that more often these charges were brought by other men in the chief's court. They were (and are) frequent in court circles.
1 To-day the position is. different. Wealthy men can build European houses and buy motor-cars, clothes, ploughs, &c.
2 A certain chief in Zululand to-day has a remarkable hold over his people: he has 16,000 cattle (out of a tribal total of 54,000) loaned out among them.