When Europeans came into contact with the Swazi, it was inevitable that, since the two cultures had not the same institutions, beliefs and practices, one and the same situation was criticized from different social viewpoints and judged from different standards of value. Even when certain actions were similarly classified, each milieu gave them its own distinct emphasis or pattern, while similar values were embodied in and maintained by very different institutions. Immediate practical considerations and the political theory varying with place and time determined to what extent the dominant culture controlled the development of the traditional African life. I have chosen to analyse the way in which the military organization of the, Swazi, one of the basic factors in the traditional culture, has reacted under that small arc of Western civilization which has impinged on the lives of the natives in the Protectorate.