THEAFRICANS
and the northern Nguni chiefdoms to their northeast, the Xhosa receiving
iron and copper goods in exchange for cattle.f" There were also trade links
between the mixed farming communities and the hunters and herders, who
bartered such goods as copper ornaments and tobacco for such items as
meat and cattle."?
Nevertheless, there were no professional merchants, no marketplaces in
Southern Africa, and the farmers made scarcely any use of oxen for por-
tage. The trade was predominantly a relay trade. The mixed farmers had
strong acquisitive instincts. They entered into barter transactions
with
people from neighboring villages as a means of increasing their prestige
and their wealth by accumulating large numbers of livestock, especially
cattle. The sum of such exchanges constituted the long-distance networks
that moved goods from areas where they were plentiful to areas where they
were in short supply.
In southeastern
Africa natural hazards were less severe than in the
tropics. Except for the lowveld in the northeast, the region was free of
anopheles mosquitoes and, thus, of malaria. Locusts, however, frequently
ravaged the crops and rains were exasperatingly irregular. Most areas
experienced a drought about every eight years and some droughts were