ants. Relationships were fluid and ambiguous; both sides were continu-
ously probing and testing them.
These processes increased the social differences among both the con-
querors and the conquered. There were losers as well as gainers among the
Whites, and gainers as well as losers among the Africans. Before the end of
the century, there was a distinct class of Poor Whites--Afrikaners
who,
now that the frontiers had closed, were no longer able to live by rearing
cattle, hunting, and transport riding and had failed to make good as arable
farmers. There was also a rising class of modestly prosperous
African
peasant farmers, many of whom had had a mission education and were
imbued with the Victorian spirit of improvement.
In 1896-97,
the rinderpest carried off most of the cattle of the entire
region, and in 1899, a three years' war broke out-among the Whites-a
war that disrupted
many African communities,
as well as Afrikaners
throughout
the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. 30
British Imperialism and the South African War
Before 1896, the affairs of Southern Africa never held the attention of the
British public and government for more than brief, inter.mittent episodes,
occasioned by startling news of defeats by the Zulu or the Transvaalers, or