CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library DT 844.W74 History of the colony of the Cape of Goo 3 1924 028 730 566 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028730566 HISTORY OF THE COLONY CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. FROM ITS DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR 1819 BY A. WILMOT, ESQ. FROM 1820 TO 1868 BY THE HON. JOHN CENTLIVRES CHASE, M.L.C CAPE TOWS^ : J. C. JUTA, WALE-STREET. 1869. PRINTED BY WILLIAM POSTER, WALE-STEEET, CAPE TOWN. PREFACE. The History of the Oape Colony has hitherto appeared only in fragmentary portions illustrative of some particular period^ and never in one consecutive form. The object, therefore, of the present compilers was to supply the deficiency in as far as materials were available ; how far they have succeeded in doing so must be left to the judgment of the reader. They are themselves per- fectly conscious that after all the time and care bestowed, the present is only a ''pioneer^' work, with, no doubt, some omissions and inaccuracies, for which they crave favourable consideration. They are prepared to give every attention to kindly criticism, however adverse, and should their Volume ever reach another edition, will take advantage to add to or correct what may be wanting or erroneous. With these few words they now submit their joint labour to (what they hope to find) an in- dulgent Public. THE HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. CHAPTEE I. Legends regarding the Ancient Circumnavigation of Africa — Discovery of tlie Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese — Bartholomew Diaz — Vasco Da Grama — Visits of .V,arly Navigators — ^Disastrous Shipwrecks — English East India Company — Possession of the Cape taken by Captains ShUlinge and Fitzherbert — Sir Thomas Herbert's Account of the Country and the Natives. The history of the Cape Colony, to a comparatively recent period, is, in truth, the history of South Africa ; and a narrative of the progress of civilization in this vast region cannot fail to be fraught with interest. Nearly 400 years have elapsed since Diaz formally declared Southern Africa an appanage of the Portuguese Crown, and since then events so nurrferous and interesting have occurred, that it does not seem too much to assert that the history of no other British Settlement is so worthy of attention as that of the Cape Colony. The visits of early navigators, and the labours of pioneer travellers, merit a chronicle, and the contest between the Dutch and English for the possession of the Cape, as well as the mode of govern- ment adopted by each, deserve our notice. Honesty of purpose, and the exercise of niuch labour and patience is required, and the road is rugged because only partially travelled. However, so many portions of it have now been explored by able and trustworthy pioneers, that the work is much less arduous than formerly, and it may be hoped that a connected narrative of some interest can be compiled. A strange legend exists concerning the circumnavigation of Africa by the Egyptians, which Major Eennell, Professor 2 The History of the Cape Colony. [i^^"' Heeren, and Mr. Grote deem credible, but which is disbe- lieved by Dr. Vincent, Ukert, and Porbiger. It is to the effect that several vessels, manned by Phoenicians, com- menced their voyage from the Ked Sea, and sailed round Africa, so as to reach Egypt by the straits of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean.* A writer in Notes and Queries refers to a passage in Strabo relating to this voyage, and states that Budoxus, in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes the Second (170^117 b.c.) is reported to have made the attempt. Sir Thomas Herbert in his Travels learnedly descants upon this subject, and quotes " a like tradition of two Carthaginians, who at their return reported that they sailed from some part of India to the Atlantique Sea." If such voyages really did take place, it is quite clear that little gain to geographical knowledge was reaped from them, as we find Strabo describing the entire African Continent as less than Europe, and shaped like a right-angled triangle, the base being the distance of Egypt from the Pillars of Hercules. But it is to be observed that, even in the beginning of the seventeenth century, absurd and incorrect ideas of South African geography were entertained. Samuel Purchas, in his -Pilgrimage (published in 1611t), says that the Cape "hath three * The following passage in Herodotus (Melpomene iv. 42) should render us more disposed to believe that Africa was circumnavigated. Speaking of the adventurers sent out by Neco, King of Egypt, from the Red Sea, he says : — " When two years had thus passed, in the third, having doubled the Pillars of Hercules, they arrived in Egypt, and related what to me does not seem credible, but may to others, that as they sailed round Libya they had the sun on their right hand. Thus was Libya fii'st known." The ancients knew well that — " A time will come, in ages now remote, When the vast barrier, by the, ocean formed. May yield a passage ; when new continents And other worlds, beyond the sea's expanse. May be explored ; when Thule's distant shore May not be deemed the last abode of man." Seneca Medea, 1. 375. \ The following curious anecdote is related by this author : — " James Bottellier, a Portugal, to recover the favour of his Prince, John the Third, by the first bringing news of a happy accident that then befell 900 B.C.] Bisaovery of the Gape. 3 headlands, the westernmost whereof beareth the name of Oood Hope, the middlemost Cape Falso ; between which two capes runneth into the sea a mighty river, called by the Portugals Rio Dolce, which springeth out of a lake called Gale, situate among the Mountaines of the Moone. The third and easternmost is that of Agulhas or Needles, about five and twentie leagues from the first; both which seem as two homes, where- with it threatens the ocean, which in those parts is found oftentimes tempestuous, and when it cannot prevail against this rough-faced and horned promontory, it wrekes its whole malice upon the shippes, whose ribbes, in the enraged fittes, it would break if they were of iron, as Linschoten testifieth of his own experience." It appears that in the ninth century the Arabs were acquainted with the African coast so far south as Delagoa Bay, but it is by no means probable that they extended their voyages to the more southern part of the con- tinent. The Portuguese alone can prove a claim to the discovery of the Cape, as well as to the fame of having led the vanguard of European enterprise by that route to India. The circumstances connected with the discovery of America, and of the passage round the Cape, are in some respects analogous. It was in the same city (Lisbon), and almost in the same year, that both schemes were concerted. Both projects had the East Indies in view as an ultimate object ; Columbus merely finding the American continent in his endeavour, by a western route, to reach India. The results in each case have been of the utmost consequence to commerce, for although Columbus opened a new world to mercan- tile enterprise, Diaz and Da Gama may be said to in India, in a little boat or vessel scarce eighteen feet long and six broad, sailed from Cochin to Dabul, and from thence along the Arabian and African shores, doubling this terrible Cape, and missing Saint Helena, came yet safe to Lisbone worthily welcomed but for his message and the messenger that durst adventure to encounter Neptune's strongest forces, notwithstanding so weak furniture." — Quoted in the Cape Monthly Murjnzine, vol. i. B a 4 The History of the Cape Colony. [i4io— 84. have unlocked the gates of the old one, and thrown open for traffic one of the great ocean highways of the world. The lives of Columbus and Diaz were also, in some important points, by no means dissimilar. The former was virtually supplanted by Amerigo Ves- pucci ; the latter by Vasco Da Gama. Both were unfortunate, and treated with ingratitude while living, though commemorated and honoured after death, as if Honour's voice could " Provoke the silent dust, Or flattery soothe the dull cold ear of death." It is to the zeal and magnanimity of Prince Henry that many writers attribute the glory which has been acquired by the Portuguese discoveries and conquests in the East. In Knox's Voyages* after referring to civil wars, and other disabilities under which Portugal then laboured, the writer proceeds to say : — " This spirit of navigation not only sprung up, but prospered, notwithstanding that many of their statesmen were averse to such undertakings, from the dangers and difficulties that attended them ; nor could they, in all probability, have been carried into execution, but from the zeal of the clergy, who, out of a desire of propaga- ting the Christian faith, promoted them to the utmost of their power." The Infant Don Henry Duke de Visco obtained the Canary Islands from Ma9iot de Bethencourt (who held them under the King of Castile) for a valuable consideration, and Ferdinand de Castro was sent to take possession of them, under the idea that they might be of use in the endeavour to discover the coasts of the great Continent of Africa. For this important service, ships were fitted out so early as the year 1410. Prince Henry died in 1463. He was the fourth son of John I., King of Portugal, and the greatest and most enlightened man of his age. He became distinguished at the siege of Ceuta in 1415; but his grand ambition was the prose- cution of maritime discovery, and to the furtherance * Vol. i. p. 238. uio— 84.] Early Navigators. 5 of this object he devoted all the energies of his life. At Sagres he erected an observatory, and established a famous school of navigation, and it was expeditions fitted out by him that discovered Madeira in 1418, sailed round Cape Nun in 1433, and at last, in 1440, reached so far south as Cape Blanco. After this period self-supporting societies for the prosecution of discovery were organised under his patronage. Nuno Tristan doubled Cape Verd in 1446, and three of the Azores were seen by Gonsalez Vallo in 1448, and not many years afterwards the Portuguese sailed as far south as Sierra Leone. In one of the treatises prefixed to Mickle's translation of the Lusiad (vol. i., p. 47), it is stated that Prince Henry always professed that " to propagate the gospel was the great purpose of his designs and enter- prises. Certain it is that the same principles inspired, and were always professed by King Emmanuel, under whom the Eastern world was discovered by Gama."* Diego Cam reached 22° South Latitude in 1484 ; and a few years previously, Pedrao de Cavalhao had gone from Egypt to the Eed Sea, and thence to the East Indies, and back to Sofala, on the East African coast, so that there was every reason to believe, " as weU for the reason of the thing, as from the concurring opinion of the seamen conversed with," that a short and easy passage might be found round the Continent of Africa to the Indies. The prosecution of trade, and the acquirement of riches, as well as the extension of Christianity, were the ruling incentives to maritime discovery. The de- struction of the monopoly of Eastern trade enjoyed by the Italian Eepublics was the chief object which the Portuguese had in view when they fitted out expeditions to sail round Africa to India ; and we shall shortly see Holland, in its turn, endeavouring to supplant the new monopoly, by establishing one of its own. * As to life of Prince Henry, see Barros and Vido do Infante Don Henrico, by Candido Lusitano, translated into French, by the Abbe Cournand. A life of Prince Henry, by Major, has recently been published in Loudon. 6 The History of the Cape Colony. [i486. Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese navigator of noble birth, had the honour of commanding the first expedi- tion which doubled the Cape, and it was John II., King of Portugal, whose wisdom and enterprise sent it forth. At the court of this monarch, Diaz was brought into contact with many scientific men, chief among whom was the famous cosmographer, Behaim, who had accompanied Diego Cam to the African coast in 1484. No greater testi- mony to the ability and knowledge of Diaz could have been conferred than the command of the three vessels which, in 1486, formed under his guidance the humble expedition intended to carry the fame of Portuguese discovery into the Eastern Seas. This great voyage was comparatively uneventful, until, after having sailed very far south, they came in sight of a high cape, near which a dreadful storm was encountered, during which the victualling bark parted company. The crew of the ship commanded by Diaz then mutinied, complaining bitterly that it was too much to endure at one time the hardships of the sea and of famine. Upon this the commander represented to them that the former were not to be escaped by going back, and that the only means of preventing the latter was to proceed till they came to some place where refreshments could be pro- cured. Diaz, like Columbus, had to encounter the violent opposition of his crew when the principal object of the voyage was almost attained, and, like the dis- coverer of America, only conquered by means of daunt- less perseverance and energy.* The Cape was doubled without being seen, and a portion of the eastern coast, as far as the mouth of the Great Fish Eiver, reached. Setting sail again, a storm forced them to take shelter in Algoa Bay, where they anchored on the 14th of September, 1486, and there found the previously missing vessels, whose commanders reported that they had lost a number of their men through the treachery of the natives. So many privations and dangers had been suffered that the title of " Cape of Torments" was considered applicable * A brother of Columbus accompanied Diaz ia this expedition. 1487—1600.] Bartholomew Diaz — Vasco Da Gama. 7 to the promontory near which they had been experienced. Subsequently, as an old English writer states, the name of Cape of Good Hope was conferred on it by " John the Second, King of Portugal, for that hope which he conceived of a way to the Indies." As it was desirable to take formal possession of the country, as well as to commemorate their discovery, a large stone cross was erected by Diaz and his com- panions upon the little .islet in Algoa Bay (close to the mouth of the Sunday's Eiver), ever since named St. Croix. This ocean rock, whose inhabitants are seals and wild fowl, is thus connected with an epoch in South African history, and the cross erected upon it became a landmark of discovery and a symbol of the advent of Christianity and civilization to these shores. In December, 1487, Diaz returned to Lisbon, and was there received with an enthusiasm more apparent than real, as Vasco Da Gama received the chief command of the great expedition subsequently determined upon, while only a subordinate office in it was allotted to Diaz. But misfortune did not end here. They had only reached the Cape de Verd Islands when his imme- diate return to Portugal was ordered, and he thus lost the opportunity of reaching India via the Cape. Diaz, three years afterwards, sailed to Brazil, and became, with Cabral, one of its discoverers, and eventually, in a great storm on the 29th of May, 1500, found a mariner's grave off that Cape of Storms round which he had been the first to sail. The glory of finding the new highway to the Bast decidedly belongs to this great mariner— the Southern Ocean, into which he led the way, is his grave, and the Cape, which towers above it, his monument. Emanuel, surnamed the Fortunate, succeeded John the Second, King of Portugal, in the year 1497. Hernan Lopez de Castanada, a contemporary writer,* states that this monarch, earnest to prosecute what Don John had begun for the discovery of India, " ordered Fernan Lorenzo, treasurer of the house of the Myna (on the * Quoted in Mickle's translation of The Lusiad. 8 Tim History of the Gape Colony. [i«7. Golden coast) to build, with the timber that was bought in King John's time, two ships, which, after they were finished, he named the Angel Gabriel, being of 120 tons burthen, and the Saint Raphael, of 100 tons. The trans- port Correa was to go with them to the Bay of St. Bias (Mossel Bay), and there to be unloaded and burnt. Pedro de Alanquer, who had been pilot to Bartholomew Diaz, was appointed to the Admiral's ship Saint Gabriel; Nicolas Coello went in the caravel named Berrio ; Paulus da Gama commanded the Raphael; and Gonsalo Gomez the store-ship. A carrack destined for Delmina was placed under the charge of Diaz." Vasco da Gama, the leader of this expedition, was born at Sines, a small seaport of Portugal, and was the scion of a noble family who laid claim to Eoyal descent. He soon proved himself an intrepid naval commander, and seemed to King John of Portugal a man to whom the conduct of a great' enterprise could be intrusted with confidence. Manoel the Fortunate entertained the same opinion, presented personally to Da Gama the flag he was to carry into new seas, and added to his appointment such badges of honour as to give all possible pomp and dignity to the office. Letters to various Eastern potentates, in- cluding Prester John and the King of Cahcut, were intrusted to Da Gama, and the oath of fealty was taken on the cross. The day before his departure, their leader conducted the members of his expedition to a chapel four miles from Lisbon", where the entire night was spent in devotional exercises. On the following day the beach was crowded with thousands of the inhabitants of Lisbon, who looked upon the adventurous mariners as doomed to certain death. Processions of priests sung anthems and offered up invocations to Heaven for their success, and the expedition of small vessels, manned by only 160 men sailed out of the Tagus on Saturday, the 8th July, 1497. When we consider that the previous fleet of Diaz had been harassed by numberless difficulties, and almost destroyed by violent storms encountered in the pro- secution of a voyage only half as long as that on which this expedition was about to set out ; and when it is 1497.] Diaz Returns to Portugal. 9 remembered how comparatively inadequate, so far as vessels and equipment were concerned, the means seemed to be to accomplish the object in view, it is impossible to refrain from joining in that enthusiasm which has found an echo in the Lusiad, where is worthily commemorated, by the greatest Portuguese poet, the successful discovery of the ocean route to India by the greatest Portuguese discoverer, — '• Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon's shore Through seas where sail was never spread before, Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast. And waves her woods above the watery waste." Off the Canary Islands a severe storm was encountered, during which the Saint Gabriel was separated from the other vessels. All, however, met together eight days afterwards at the Cape de Verd Islands, the appointed place of rendezvous, and here it was, as already stated, on the 3rd of August, Diaz was compelled to leave the fleet and return to Portugal. In their fragile and small vessels they continued the longest voyage yet attempted — " O'er the wild waves as southward thus we stray, Our port unknown, unknown the watery way. Each night we see impressed with solemn awe Our guiding stars and native skies withdraw. In the wide void we lose their cheering beams ; Lower and lower still the Pole star gleams. Now pressing onward, past the burning zone, Beneath another heaven and stars unknown." But the religious spirit which animated Prince Henry, and sanctified the prosecution of discovery by the hope of winning unknown worlds to the knowledge of Christ, still found a ready response in the hearts of the Por- tuguese, and enabled them to see a memento of their faith and a sign of hope in the " Southern Cross." " While nightly thus the lonely seas we brave, Another Pole star rises o'er the wave ; FuU to the south a shining cross appears, Our heaving breasts the bHssful omen cheers ; Seven radiant stars compose the hallowed sign That rose still higher o'er the wavy brine." 10 The History of the Gwpe Colony. [1497. Throughout the voyage nature seemed to oppose ob- stacles by a succession of severe storms, so violent as almost to deprive the mariners of hope ;* but at last, after they had been nearly four months at sea, Da Gama joyfully descried land, along which the fleet coasted for three days. On the 7th of November a large bay in the present Malmesbury division was entered, and named Angra de Saint Helena. The natives appeared small, black, and ugly ; their voices were disagreeable, and the weapons they used were made of "wood hardened in the fire, pointed by the horns of animals." A few days after the arrival of the fleet, there appeared about ninety of the inhabitants, some on the sands and others on the mountains, upon which the Adfflaral landed, with all his men well armed, and, drawing near the shore, threw upon the land little bells, which the natives took up, and some came so nigh as to receive them out of his own hand ; when, venturing on shore with his men, he exchanged some red night-caps for ivory bracelets. A few days after above two hundred blacks came down, with twelve oxen and four sheep, and on the Portuguese going ashore they began to play upon four flutes, accompanied with several voices. The Admiral, striking in with this humour, ordered the trumpets to sound, while his men danced along with the natives.t * " To tell the terrors of the deep untryed, What toils we suffered, and what storms defyed, What rattlmg deluges the black clouds poured, What dreary weeks of solid darkness loured, What mountain surges mountain surges lashed. What sudden hurricanes the canvas dashed." The Lusud, Book v. f Camoens thus describes the natives — " My soldiers hastening from the upland wood Right to the shore a trembling negro brought, Whom on the forest height by force they caught. Horror glared in his look, and fear extreme In mien more wild than brutal Polypheme. From gai-ments striped with shining gold he turned The starry diamond and the silver spurned; 1497.] Ba Gama and the Natives. 11 Some negroes having been seen lurking behind bushes, treachery was suspected : the Portuguese retired, and subsequently, two pieces of ordnance having been shot off, so terrified the natives that they fled. Faria and Osorius say that the Portuguese caught one or two negroes who were busied in gathering honey on the mountain. They gratified one savage with a red cap, some glasses, and bells, and induced him to bring a number of his companions for the like trifles. Traffic was commenced. Da Gama behaved with great civility, and the fleet was cheerfully supplied with fresh provi- sions, for which the natives received clothes and trinkets. This agreeable state of matters was at last disturbed in the following manner : — A young Portuguese having been conducted to a hut, and an elegant repast, according to native ideas, in the shape of a sea calf, having been laid before him, he encountered a natural repugnance to eat, and left abruptly. The Hottentots followed him to the beach, where the Portuguese youth was seized with a panic, and called for assistance. Da Gama, who was Straight at my nod are worthless triakets brought, Bound beads of crystal as .a bracelet wrought, A cap of red, and dangling on a string, Some Kttle bells of brass before him ring ; A wide-mouth'd laugh confest his barbarous joy, And both his hands he raised to grasp the toy. ***** A naked crowd, and black as night their hue, Come trippling to the shore : their wishful eyes Declare what tawdry trifles most they prize. These to their hopes were given and void of fear, Mild seemed their manners and their look sincere." A romantic account of their treachery is given and of the fight that ensued — " And soon an arrowy and & flinty shower Thick o'er our heads the fierce barbarians pour. Nor poured in vain; a feather'd arrow stood Fixed in my leg, and drank the gushing blood. Vengeance as sudden every wound repays. Full on their fronts our flashing lightning plays, Their shrieks of horror instant pierce the sky, And wing'd with fear at fullest speed they fly." The Lusud, Book v. 12 The History of the Gape Colony. [1497. engaged in making a solar observation, was suddenly attacked, and a skirmish ensued, during -which the Admiral ■was wounded in the foot. Afterwards, it is recorded, Da Gama " made himself dreaded whenever the treachery of the natives provoked his resentment." On the 16th of November the expedition left St. Helena Bay, and shortly afterwards encountered a terrific storm,* during which the sailors mutinied and implored Da Gama to refrain from prosecuting the voyage in an ocean torn by continual tempests. A formidable conspiracy, it is said, was even formed against his life. The leaders of the mutiny were put in irons, and after a few days the storm ceased and they beheld the Cape of Good Hope. They then encountered a south-east wind, stood out to sea, and on the 24th of November entered what has since been named Mossel Bay, and anchored amidst great manifestations of joy. Trumpets were sounded, and as much eclat given to their arrival as possible. At some distance inland a collection of huts covered with straw were seen, the miserable owners of which were of a brownish-yellow colour, and seemed to speak the same language as the natives at St. Helena Bay. The Admiral erected a column, bearing the arms of Portugal, surmounted by a cross, which, on his return to the ships, he had the mortification to see the natives destroy. The store ship, now of no further use, was burnt. After a voyage of toil and danger, the country looked beautiful. As they proceeded along the coast, streams of water and herds of cattle were noticed ; and parts of the country seemed well wooded. " Here their sweet scenes the rural joys bestow, And give our wearied minds a lively glow. The tenants of the coast, a festive band. With dances meet us on the yellow sand; Their brides on slow-paced oxen ride behind The spreading horns with flowery garlands twined." * " With such mad seas the daring Gama fought For many a day and many a dreadful night, Incessant labouring round the stormy Cape, By bold ambition led." Thomson. 14970 Natal Discovered on GhrLstmas Day. 13 Nature smiled a welcome, and our burning November sun and blue skies constantly reminded them how far they were from home. One of the greatest dangers of the voyage had been overcome when the dreaded Cape of Storms was doubled in safety. The exaggerated notions regarding the perils to be encountered here are expressed by Camoens in the symbol of the frightful Spirit of the Cape, who thus addresses the Portuguese — " you, the boldest of the nations, fired By daring pride, by lust of fame inspired. Who, scornful of the bowers of sweet repose. Through these my waves advance your fearless prows. Hear from my Hps what direful woes attend, And bursting soon shall o'er your race descend, With every bounding keel that dares my rage. Eternal war my rooks and storms shall wage. The next proud fleet that through my drear domain With daring search shall hoist the streaming vane. That gallant navy by my whirlwinds tost. And raging seas shall perish on my coast. Then he who first my sacred reign descried A naked corse wide floating o'er the tide. Each year thy shipwrecked sons shalt thou deplore, Each year thy sheeted masts shall strew my shore."* After Da Gama's fleet had been driven about by severe storms, more easterly shores were sighted upon Christmas Day,t and named Tierra de Natal, in honour of our Saviour's nativity. * On the return of Da Gama to Portugal, a fleet of thirteen sail, under the command of Pedro Alvarez de Cabral, was sent out on the second voyage to India, when the Admiral with only six ships arrived. The rest were mostly destroyed by a terrible tempest at the Cape of Good Hope, which lasted twenty days. The day time, says Faria, was so dark that the sailors could scarcely see each other. As already mentioned, the great Bartholomew Diaz was among those who perished. f " Now shined the sacred mom, when from the East Three kings the holy cradled babe address'd. And haUed him Lord of Heaven. That festive day We drop our anchors in an opening bay. The river &om the sacred day we name." The Lusiad, Book v. It would thus seem that they anchored on the Feast of the Epiphany f Twelfth Dav). 14 1%- Uhditrij (jf llii'. (lii/i/i' ('iil')ihij. ipfM- ir/M. It seems strange that the Portuguese Oovcm merit did not see the advantage of estahli^hing a w'^tlemcnt at the Cape as a half-way pk.ee of fia)) for tb<;ir oatward and homeward bound vessels, hut cxugi^jorated accouDtn of tb violence, Da Gama was at Jast obliged to fight hi« way out of the harbour. On the homeward voyage several places were touch'^ at, and eventually, in September, ) 4')!>, the expedition arrived at Lisbon. Da Garna v,as recriferred on him, along with varixjus titles, among which was the rij^ of iirefizing " D'jm" tf> his name. CabraJ's w^^xaArm of thirteen ships, sent to in 'La with the view of estab- linLing BettJernents th'^re, was foUfrw'A by a great expedi- tion, consisting of twenty ships, placed und/^r Da Garna'» command, which set sail in 1.^02. The east fy>a>i of Africa wa« reaf;h<;4 in safety, and th*re the s'HtJernente 14()0-1M4.I DriUli iif l)ii (Idinil. 15 of Mozambique imd Sofalii wore (-itablishtid. The Portu- guoBO no doubt imaginod that this part of Africa offered many more advaiituKos to European commerce than the Bouthorn portion of the continent, but events have since proved how mistaken were their calculations. The un- healthy nature of the climate has ever been a most serious driiwbiiek, and it is apparent that the high and healthy lands of the int(^rior can bo best readied through the southern and toniperato regions of the continent. On the way across tlio Indian Ocean T>)i Gama captured a large and richly-laden vessel iillod with Mussulmans from all parts of Asia, on their way to Mecca. Those men being Mahomniedans, wore mistaken by the Portuguese for Moors, thoir hereditary and sworn enemies. Labouring under this improMHion, and actuated by impulse, they sot the ship on fire, and it is assorted that the entire crew and passongerH, throe hundred in number, were biirtKul, with the exception alono of twenty women and children. Having reached Calicut, the Portuguese bombarded the town, destroyed twenty-nino ships, and forced the Rajah to sue for yoace and to pay an enormous fine. The natives wore thus overawed, valuable alliances with native princes were secured, and the foundation laid of Portuguese power in India. At the close of 1503 Da Gama returned homo with thirteen richly- laden vessels, but from this period, strange to say, he remained unemployed for twenty years. Viceroy after Viceroy was sent out, and Da Gama was forgotten. At last tho incapacity of one of those lieuten- ants eausod tho old Admiral to again resume command, and in 15'.i t ho once more sailed to India. It is narrated, in proof of his firmness of mind, that when near their destination an unaccountable and alarming agitation of tho water terrified tho sailors. " Why fear ?" said Gama, " tho sea tronibleH before its conquerors." Under his sway tho Eastern settlements again began to flourish, but while in the midst of triumphs he was surprised by death at Cochin in Dooomber, 1525. It is thus hia character is described : — ' ' In Da Gama resolution was combmed with prudence and great presence of mind. His justice, loyalty. 16 ' The E'ktonj of the Gape Colony. [isas. honour, and religious fervour distinguished him above most of the great navigators and conquerors of his time."* The first voyages of this renowned mariner have been commemorated by a great poet, and in the Lusiad of Camoens his deeds are worthily sung. Although to Diaz belongs the honour of discovering the gateway of the new ocean high road, it was Gama who first opened it success- fully, and prosecuted the entire journey to India. The names of both will ever be inseparably connected with that Cape which was the turning point of their voyages and the monument of their success. It is almost impos- sible to estimate at its full value the advantages gained by them for Christendom and for civilization. Not only was their discovery the means of opening up new worlds to missionary and commercial enterprise, but it materially helped to check the alarming deluge of Mahommedanism which then threatened Europe. It created a new channel for Eastern enterprise, and con- siderably diverted the attention of Mahommedans from Western conquests. Their own citadels of strength in the East were attacked, and the Portuguese fought the infidels with as much fury in India as the allied Powers did at Lepanto or Belgrade. In the year 1500 Cabral, the discoverer of Brazil, entered Mossel Bay, and we have reason to believe that it was about the commencement of this century that the Kafir nations, emigrants from more northern portions of the continent, advanced so far south as the Great Kei Eiver, the present boundary of the Cape Colony on the east. A system of calling at South African ports com- menced, and letters were frequently left for the com- manders of ships, t Pedro de Nueva, for instance, is recorded to have found, in an old shoe on the Mossel JBay - shore, a written description of the state of affairs in Portuguese India, addressed to him by P. de Alayde. * For full information regarding Vasco Da Gama see Castanpeda and Lafitau Hist. Oonqu. Portugal; Cooley, History of Maritime Discovery; the Lusiad of Camoens, and the Degades of Barros. t These were generally placed under large stones, on which suitable inscriptions were carved. 1593,] B'AlriU'Idn Killed by the .Ya//t'o\ 17 In loOS Antonio de Saldanba, with a portion of Albuquerque's fleet, visited Table Bay, and gave it his own name. This harbour was called Saldanba Bay till 1601, when Spielberg transferred the title to the bay which still bears it. Some enterprising merchants of Eouen are said to have fitted out several vessels about this time for the. voyage to the East, round the Cape, which they placed under the command of M. Gonneville. According to the narrative, they experienced a great storm near the Cape of Good Hope, and, after having been driven upon unknown coasts, severe hardships were endured, and the members of the expedition were compelled to return to Europe. It was in 1510, and on the shores of Table Bay, that Francisco D'Almeida, Count of Abrautes, first Mceroy and Governor-General of Portuguese India, was killed by the natives.*' He was the conqueror of Qmloa and Mombassa. It is said that the rudeness of ' one of his servants provoked a quarrel with the Hottentots. His attendants, much against his will, forced him to march against the blacks. " Ah, whither" (he exclaimed) " will you carry the infirm man of sixty years ?" After plunder- ing a number of native huts, the Portuguese returned to their ships, and, when not far from the shore of Table Bay, were attacked by an overwhelming force of natives, who fought so desperately to rescue their children whom the Europeans had seized, that the Viceroy and fifty of his attendants were slain. Sir Thomas Herbertf thus * " With trophies plumed, behold an hero come. Ye dreary wilds prepare liis yawning tomb ; Though smiling fortune blest his youthful morn, Though glories' rays his laurel'd brows adorn, Quiloa's sons and thine Mombaze shall see Their conqueror bend his laurel'd heai to me." It is thought that D'Almeida was killed near the spot ou the Grand Parade, Cape Town, where the Commercial Hall now stands. The wizards of Cochin had predicted that he would never pass the Cape. f Some Years' Travels into Divers Parts of Africa and Asia the Great. By Sir Thomas Herbert, Bart. London, 1677. Page 91. It will be observed that this author fixes the date at 1510. " Hall's Chronology" states it to be 1508. C 18 The Histm-y of the Gape Colony. [iBio-1591. quaintly describes the event : — " Almeyda, one of the bravest captains the Portugalls ever had, after many gallant achievements in Asia and Afrie, return- ing, anno 1510, out of India, he, with eleven experienced captains and other gallants, upon a small affront putting some of the savages to death (who grew desperate in revenge), were unexpectedly set upon by those naked barbarians, who had the arma antiqua — that is, manus, ungues, dentes, and slain were every man of them." Kolben, writing upon this subject, says: — "The Portuguese, mortified at this disgrace, vowed revenge, and, knowing what a value the natives set on brass, landed a large brass cannon, loaded with several heavy balls, and to the mouth fastened two long ropes. The Hottentots, as directed, laid hold of the two ropes in great numbers, and then a great body of them extended in two files full in the range of the shot, when, the cannon being suddenly discharged, a terrible slaughter was made." This story does not seem by any means probable, and the source from which it is derived {Kolben's Travels) is enough to throw doubt upon it.* The Portuguese had subsequently to lament the miserable death in South Africa of another of their Eastern Governors — Don Emanuel de Souza, who had been several years Governor of Diu in India, had amassed great wealth, and was returning to Portugal with his beautiful young wife — Leonora de Sa. The vessel contained five hundred men, and all De Souza's riches were on board. According to the narrative, the ship was dashed " upon the rocks at the Cape of Good Hope," and one hundred men perished. Don Emanuel, his lady, and three children, with the remainder of the crew, marched into the country, which seemed to them to be a desert. Some died of famine, others perished from fatigue, and many were killed by the natives. The unfortunate Donna Leonora was above all to be- pitied. Her husband soon displayed signs of insanity, and, amid the stupor of grief, madly gave up to the savages the arms of himself and his company. No * See Barrow's opinion of Kolben's work, in his Travels in Southern Africa . 1310-1591.] DUciHlnuR j^li'(ji)i'i-ecli. 19 sooner had tbis been done than the blacks barbarously stripped the Europeans of their clothes, and left them to die of exposure and want. The tenderly-nurtured and delicate lady was exposed to the brutal insults of the natives, and, after having travelled some distance, her legs swelled, while her feet bled at every step. Having used the last remnant of her strength to cover her- self up to the neck in sand, she beheld two of her children expire, and then God permitted Donna Leonora's sufferings to terminate. Her last sigh was breathed in her husband's arms, who then, snatching up the remain- ing child, ran distractedly into the thickest bush, and soon fell a prey to wild animals. The Portuguese must have travelled in an easterly direction, us the sui-vivors (only twenty-six in number) subsequently arrived at an "Ethiopian" village, whence they found a passage to the Red Sea.* The last surviving vessel of the famous squadron of Ferdinand Magalhaens is said to have called at the Cape in 1622, and there is some reason to believe that, a few years afterwards, the Portuguese tried to form a settlement on Eobben Island. If an attempt, however, were really made, it was of such a character as to prove that the Portu- guese Government took no real interest in its success. The first EngUsh account of the Cape is from the pen of the liev. Thomas Stephens, a Catholic priest, who was wrecked at Agulhas in 1579. The ship was a Portuguese vessel bound to Goa. This clergyman speaks of the country as full of tigers and savage people, who kill all strangers. * Jerome de Cottereal has written an affecting poem on this disastrous shipwreck — see also Faria and Barros. In Book v, of the Lusiad it is referred to in the passage commencing — " The howling blast ye slumhering storms pi'epare ; A youthful lover and his beauteous fair, Triumphant sail from Indie's ravaged land ; His evU angel leads him to my strand — Through the torn hulk the dashing waves shall roar. The shattered wrecks shall blacken all my shore ; Themselves escaped, despoiled by savage hands, Shall naked wander o'er the burning sands." a 20 TJie Kistory of the Cape Golony. [1b99. The English East India Company was not established until the year 1599, and we find that, eight years previous to that period, British mercantile enterprise began to take advantage of the route to India by the Cape. In 1591 three ships, named the Penelope, Royal Merchant, and Edward Bonaventura, left Plymouth, under Captain Eaymond as admiral. The Penelope having unfortunately been lost at sea, the chief command of this expedition devolved upon Captain James Lancaster, who anchored in Table Bay (Agoada de Saldanha) on the 3rd of August, 1591. The natives were evidently frightened, as, although at first they saw a few, during fifteen days none made their appearance. At last some of the crew engaged in hunting found a negro, whom they so prepossessed by kindness and presents that he brought thirty or forty of his countrymen with oxen and sheep. The flesh of the former was rank and disagreeable, while the latter are described as fat, with extremely large tails, and covered with hair instead of wool. There were large numbers of penguins and seals on Eobben Island. Antelopes an^ many wild animals, including large baboons, were noticed on the shore. The rocks along the beach abounded with mussels and other shell-fish. The entire success of Portuguese enterprise in the Indian seas induced the Dutch to consider the advisa- bility of breaking through their monopoly, and obtain- ing at least a share of the commercial advantages to be derived from a trade with the East via the Cape of Good Hope. For upwards of ninety years Portuguese ships only had borne the spices and silks of India to Europe. The Moluccas, China, Japan, Cochin, and Ceylon, had all become tributaries to the increasing stream of commerce which bore wealth to their shores. The many unsuccessful attempts which had been made by the Dutch to discover a north-east passage from the European seas to China, made them despair of success in this direction ; so that no alternative remained but to follow the Portuguese round the Cape of Good Hope 1691.] Treachery of the Hotteniuts. 21 to India. To quote Mr. Justice Watermeyer* : — " An unimportant incident in Portugal, the imprisonment for debt, or, according to some, for political indiscretion, of a Dutch merchant in Lisbon, determined this course. Cornelius Hautman, a native of Gouda, a man of con- siderable sagacity, had, during his residence in Portugal, found means to inquire diligently into the mysteries of the Indian commerce, jealously concealed from all' foreigners, and the sources whence the Portuguese derived their untold wealth. He deemed justly that the possession of this knowledge would be highly valued by his countrymen in Holland, and offered to some traders of Amsterdam, if his release were purchased, to communicate the precious information which his curiosity and observation had enabled him to gain, and to pilot them to the land of fortune. His proposal accepted, his debts discharged, and his liberty secured, he gladly adhered to his promise. His revelations excited to the highest pitch of enthusiasm the minds of those to whom he owed his escape from incarceration. In the following year a squadron of four ships left Holland, under the auspices of the ' Association of Distant Lands,' for the East Indies, under the command of Jan de Molenaar, the commercial management of the expedition being entrusted to Hautman. These were the first Dutch ships that anchored in Table Bay, and the fruit of the voyage was an alliance with the King of Bantam in Java, — the foundation of the Dutch power in the East." An English pilot, named John Davis, who accompanied a Dutch fleet which visited Table Bay in 1598, has furnished an account of the mode of trading adopted, as well as a description of the natives. He states that the Hottentots, having been aggrieved by some injury, absented themselves for three days, and during that time alarmed the country by lighting large fires on the mountains. At the expiry of that period the natives returned with a large number of cattle, and when the * Lectures on the Cape of Good Hope, page 3. See also Verhaal der 0. I. Oompagnie, and Du Bois' Vies des Ooverneurs Generawx:, auoted by tMs author. 22 Tlw 'Hisiory of the Cape Colony. [leoi-iew. Dutch came near them for the purpose of barter, attacked them so suddenly and furiously, that they fled to the beach and immediately embarked. In 1601 the English East India Company fitted out several ships for the Eastern trade, including the Dragon, of 600 tons, commanded by Captain James Lancaster, the Hector, of 300 tons, the Susanna, ffeid the Quest. Saldanha (Table) Bay was named one of the plaices of rendezvous, and here they arrived on the 9th of September, 1601. The natives furnished cattle in ex- change for knives, nails, and other trifles ; only certain persons appointed were permitted to trade with them, and peace and goodwill prevailed. The sick were brought on shore and housed under canvas. The captain com- manding displayed his ingenuity in communicating with the natives his desire for oxen and sheep, by imitating the cries of those animals. The scale of prices was the following : — For each ox, two pieces of old iron hoop, eight inches long ; and one piece of the same size for each sheep. At this rate, no fewer than one thousand sheep, and forty-two oxen were purchased in twelve days. At the end of this time, however, the natives discontinued bringing any, which caused " the English to presume that they suspected their settling there." Perhaps, however, these children of nature thought that they had given suflicient cattle for old iron hoops, and began to suspect that they were losers by such commercial transactions. It was in 1601 that Paulus van Corniden touched at St. Sebastian's Bay, and afterwards visited a small inlet which he named Vleesch Bay, in consequence of his having succeeded in obtaining a number of cattle there. Another harbour was called Visch Bay, because of their success in fishing. The Dutch Admiral, Spielberg or Spielbergen, called at St. Helena Bay in 1601, and afterwards gave the name of "Elizabeth" to what has since been named Dassen or Babbit Island. It was on this voyage that he changed the name of Saldanha Bay to its present appellation, " Table Bay." While there he found it impossible to obtain any supplies, but 1601— I6i9,[ Eobhea Ittland a Penal Scttlcvienf. . 23 succeeded in getting sheep and penguins on Eobben Island. The Cape was now a place of call for the vessels of all nations. Table Bay was visited in 1607 by Davis, the famous Arctic voyager, and in 1608 by the Dutch Admiral Cornelius Maaklof, who is reported to have left a number of rams and ewes on Eobben Island ; Henry Middleton* touched here in 1607 and 1609, Sir E. Mechalborne in 1605, Captain Sharpey anchored in Table Bay in 1608, t Captain Keelay, or Kealing, in 1609, when he took from Eobben Island " some of the fattest sheep he ever saw," and left lean ones in exchange. The formation of a settlement on Eobben Island, which, it is stated, the Portuguese attempted about the year 1.525, was apparently tried on a small scale by Britain in 1614, when Captain Peyton brought there ten men, sentenced at the Old Bailey, in London, to banishment for crime. This was done at the request of the English East India Com- pany, with a Yiew, no doubt, to the passing ships being supplied with refreshments ; but, as might have been expected from the character of the men, they quarrelled '■■'■ General Sir Henry Middleton wrote an account of his voyage. He speaks of finding Dutch ships in Table Bay, whose crews were employed in obtaining oil from seals. t Sharpey found .iOO head of cattle, fowls, plenty of fish, and of fresh water. The inhabitants are described as very beastly, especially in their feeding, eating guts and garbage, — ^nay, the seals which the English had cast into the river, after lying there for fourteen days — after they were putrefied and swariied with maggots, as well as stunk most intolerably. Captain Nicholas Domiton, who visited the Cape in the Peppercorn, in 1009, with Middleton's fleet, writes that Table Bay was formerly " a comfortable retreat for the English, both outward and homeward bound," but laments ;i change for the worse, and attributes it to the depredations of tlie Dutch. In a subsequent voyage Dorniton landed a Hottentot called Koree who had been taken to England and treated there with every kindness. He became home-sick, however, and the East India Company consequently sent him back. On his return he cast aside the fanciful armour in which he had been trussed, and returned to the society and habits of his savage race. Afterwards, he made himself useful by endeavouring to obtain refreshments for Knulish shins. 24 f}i£ History of the Cape Colony. mm with the natives, and endeavoured to escape. The leader, named Cross, was killed, four of their number were drowned in trying to reach an English vessel, and three ■ managed to escape home, where they were subsequently executed for theft. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the atten- tion of Holland was specially attracted to Eastern com- merce, in consequence of the success of the expedition commanded by Jan de Molenaar, which had set out in 1595 under the direction of " The Association of Distant Lands." Companies were established at Amsterdam, Eotterdam, Middelberg, Delft, Hoorn, and Enkhuysen, all of which eventually joined a partnership, that obtained a charter on the 20th March, 1602, and became subse- quently famous as the Netherlands General East India Company. In spite of the edict of Philip II., King of Spain, ordering that any inhabitant , of the United Provinces who engaged in the Indian trade should be put to death, the best efforts of the Dutch were directed to obtain success in it ; and, as a means to this end, we find that on the 19th of August, 1619, the Chamber of Seventesn declared that it was advisable to found a fort at the Cape of Good Hope, "for the assurance of the refresh- ment necessary to the navigation of India, and the preservation of the seafaring people, which is of much importance." Holland not only succeeded in wresting commercial pre-eminence in the East from the Portuguese, but also held it for many }-ears against all comers. The imbecility of the Governmen!; of England under James I., and the civil wars between Charles I. and the Parliament, crippled British enterprise. Still, as ^Xti have seen, English fleets Avcre in the field, and it is now nece^saiy to chronicle the circumstances connected with the formal assumption of dominion over the Cape of Good Plope, made on behalf of that nation by two commanders in the fleet of the English East India Company. These officers, named Captains ShiUinge and Fitzherbert, after a consultation on the 3rd of July, lG20j erected the British flag on the shores of i6ao.] Tlte English take Possession of ilic. Gwpe. 25 Table Bay, and declared that they took possession in the name of King James. The reasons assigned by them for this step are worthy of being recorded, although they do not seem to have had any weight with the Home Government. Britain then, and subsequently, could not perceive the value of the Cape of Good Hope in connection with Indian trade, an im- portance not exaggerated in the conference between Lord Malmesbury and M. de la Croix, when the latter remarked, "If yod are masters of the Cape and Trinoomalee, we shall hold all our settlements in India, and the Isles of France and Bourbon, entirely at the tenure of your will and pleasure; they will be ours only as long as you choose we shall retain them; you will be sole masters in India, and we shall be entirely dependent on you."* A document preserved in the archives of the East India Company! contains the remarks, &c., of Captains Shillinge and Fitzherbert. The following is their proclamation : — "James, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. : Know all men by the present publication hereof, that according to our bounden duties to our Sove- reign Lord the King, James, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, &c., and the State; " We, Andrew Shillinge and Humphrey Fitzherbert, chief commanders of the two fleets at present bound for Surat and Bantam, &c., upon a good consideration, and by a consultation holdeu on shore, the 1st of July, 1620, of both fleets on the coast of Africa, in the Bay of Saldania (Tjible Bay) aforesaid, for and in the name of the said high and mighty Prince James, and for and in th^ name of the whole continent near adji)ining, so far to be extended as that at present no Christian- Prince or Potentate have any fort or garrison for plantation within the limits aforesaid ; and our Sovereign Lord the King to be thereunto entitled Lord or Prince, or by any other name or title whatsoever that shall seem best unto his gracious wisdom. " Dated, proclaimed, executed, and subscribed in the Bay of Saldania, the third day of July, 1020. (Signed) •' Humphrey Fitzheebert, "Andrew Shillinge." ■:■■ JJiiirow'n Travels in Sonlhciii Africa, vol. ii., page 218. I (■,|nytcd by Barrow, in the first edition of his Travels in Southern Jl'rlra. 26 The History of the' Cape Colony. [1620. What follows is an extract from their remarks : — " Notwitlistanding all which, may it please your worships to be certified, that we whose names are hereunto subscribed, tending His Majesty's supremacy and sovereignty more than our own safetys, and falling into the consideration of the coaveniency of the Bay of Saldania, by us so called, situated and being in the latitude of 34° or thereabouts, south latitude, for the better prosecution of your trade to the East Indies, upon a full and general consultation holden on shore by both your fleets, now bound for Surat and Bantam, the first day of July, in the year of our Lord 1620, have fully agreed to take possession of the said Bay of Saldania, for and in the name of our Sovereign -Lord the King, James, by the Grace of God, &c., and for and in the name of the whole continent near adjoining, so far to be extended as that no Chris- tian Prince or Potentate have at present any fort or garrison for planta- tion within the limits aforesaid, as by a deed published, executed, and subscribed in the said Bay of Saldania, the third day of July, 1620, herewith sent, your worships more plainly may appear ; which deed was published with great solemnity before the English and the Dutch, who seemed Uliewise much to approve the same. And in token of pos- session taken as aforesaid, and in memorial hereafter, we have placed a heap of stones on a hill lying west-south-west from the road in the said Bay, and call it by the name of King James his Mount. (This hill is that subsequently called the Lion's Rump or Signal Hill.) The main and principal reasons wliich induced us to do this without order are many. First, at our arrival in the Bay, we found nine great ships of the States ready to sail for Bantam, who declared to us plainly that the States did mean to make a plantation here the next year, and that they had taken a view of the Bay, and made a road in the country already some thirty or forty miles, &c., meaning, as we suppose, and it is not to be doubted, to make us hereafter pay for our water and an- chorage, towards defraying their intended plantation. Likewise this great country, if it were well discovered, would be kept in subjection with a few men and little charge, considering how the inhabitants are but naked men, and without a leader or policy. We also thought to entitle the King's Majesty thereto by tliis weak means rather than let it fall for want of prevention into the hands of the States, knowing very well that His Majesty is able to maintain his title by his hand against the States, and by his power against any other Prince or Potentate whatsoever ; and better it is that the Dutch, or any other nation what- soever, should be his subjects in this place than that his subjects should be subject to them or to any other. To which may be added the prac-. tice of all men, at all times and in all places, in the like cause entitling their sovereigns to be Governors where no Government is already instituted. Many more particulars might be alleged, as the certain refreshing of your fleets quickly acquired out of your own means by plantation, and to be hoped for from the blacks when a Government is Cfitablished to keep thorn in awe. The whale fishery besides persuades 1626.] Attemft to Fonnd a French Settlement. 37 tis that it would be profitable to defray part of your charges. The fruitfulness of the soil, together witli the temper of the air, assures us that the blacks, with the time, will come iu for their ease, and of necessity.'' Many years were, however, yet to elapse before any European country thought it worth while to form a per- manent settlement. It is stated certainly that the French endeavoured to found a colony at the Cape about the year 1630. But, even if the narrative of the attempt be correct,* it was of such a character and so futile that it scarcely deserves notice. Voyagers continually called, and the Dutch fleets organised a post-office of the most primitive description. Large stones, with the names of ships and officers engraved upon them, were left at certain spots, and under these despatches and letters were concealed. Similar means of communicating with each other were adopted by the Portuguese and English. Why Table Bay was preferred to other harbours is a question which may naturally be asked, and the probable answer to it is, that here the Amstel or fresh river ran into the sea, and abun- dance of most excellent water was always to be found, as well as supplies of cattle and sheep, while at Saldanha Bay no water was procurable. The natives were well disposed to barter and trade with strangers. Sir Thomas Herbert, Bart., whose travels have already been referred to, visited Table Bay in July, 1626, and his account of the country and natives is worthy of attention. It is one of the earliest descriptions of the Cape of Good Hope, and is from the pen of an educated Englishman. t This writer says : — " July 1st, 1626, we came to an anchor in Saldania (Table) Bay, so called from Antonio Saldania, ■■' See Videntyn's History of the East Indies. According to this writer, the Chevalier who commanded the expedition immediately com- menced by entering into hostilities with the Hottentots, and firing upon them. The natives rallied, assembled in overwhelmiug force, killed the French commander, and drove his followers away. f There is a copy of this work in the South African library, Cape Town. One of the pictures represents " ii man and a woman at the Cape of Good Hope." In the back-ground is a representation of Table Baj', where the mountains are named; — Herbert's Mount, tlio Table, Sui^ar Loaf, and Kinu James's '^Tnnnt 28 The Eistm-ij of the Gape Colony. [i626. a Portuguese, who being by King Eman sent with three ships after Alberquerque, through stress of weather was forced into this bay. It is twelve leagues short of that great Cape which meritoriously is now called of Good Hope. To the Table (Mountain) seamen for their recreation ordinarUy climb up. Most sweet and whole- some water is to be found here, which was a great refreshing to our scorched entrails." Sir Thomas is evidently very fond of displaying his learning, and descants in the most profound manner upon the ancient circumnavigation of Africa. He then descends to the terra firma of the Cape, which he thus describes : — " The soil here is exceeding good. Among herbs I saw betony, mint, calamint, sorrel, scabious, spinage, thime, cardicus benedictus, and coloquintida. The Hebrews have a pro- verb, ' There is not an herb upon the earth but has his mazall or star answering it, and saying, grow.' I know not 'how true that is, but here they prosper. The rivers yield trent, pike, pickrill, tench, eel. The country withal affords plenty of beasts of sundry sorts, as buffalos and cows, which are large, but lean and hunch-backed ; sheep with long ears like hounds, much unlike those in Eui-ope ; apes and baboons of extraordinary size and colour ; Hons, panthers, pards, jackals, wolves, dogs, cats, hares, and ziebrsB, as also elephants and camels, which three last we saw not ; and Garceas Hort, physician to the Viceroy of Goa, reports that he saw unicorns here, headed like a horse, if the zebrse deceive him not."* * The question as to whether or not unicorns have existed in Africa has received the serious attention of Barrow, who in his Travels in Southern Africa (vol. i,, page 275), brings forward the following evidence on the subject : — " Adrian van Versveld, of Camdeboo, in Grraafi'- Rcinet, shot an animal a few years ago at the point of the Bamboos- berg, that was entirely imtnown to any of the colonists. The description lie gave to me of it in writing, taken, as he said, from a memorandum made at the time, was as follows : — ' The figure came nearest to that of the quagga, but of a much larger size, being five feet high, and eight feet long : the gi-ound each side of the head, eleven of the same kind between the neck and colour yellowish, with black stripes ; of these were four curved ones on shoulder, and three broad ivayed lines runninc: lonaitudinally froro the shoulder to the thigh ; 1636.] Sir Tlioa. Herbert on ths Natives. 29 Ascending in the scale of creation, Sir Thomas now proceeds to describe the natives, who, "being propagated from Cham, both in their visages and natures seem to inherit his malediction. Their faces be very thin and their limbs well proportioned, but by way of ornament pinkt and cut in several shapes, as fancy guides them. Some, by way of dress, shave their skull ; others have a tuft atop ; but some, instead of shaving, have several other dresses for the head, as spur rowels, brass buttons, pieces of pewter, beads of many sorts, which the mirthful sailor exchanges for mutton, beef, herbs, ostrich egg-shells, tortoises, or the like. Their ears are extended by links of brass, stones, broken oyster shells, and like ponderous babies ; their armes and legs loaden with voluntary shackles of copper ; and about their necks they wear the raw guts of beasts. They wear a thong of leather, or a lion or panther's skin, about their waist ; others naked only. Upon their feet they have a sole or piece of leather, tied with a leather strap, which, while these Hottentots were in our company, their hands held, their feet having thereby the greater liberty to steal, which with their toes they can do exactly, all the while looking us in the face, the better to deceive. They have plenty of locusts brought mane short and erect ; ears six inches long, and striped across ; tail Uke the quagga ; on the centre of tlie forehead was an excrescence of a hard bony substance, covered with hair, and resembling the rudiments of a horn ; tlie length of this with the liair was ten inches.' About the same time, Tjardt van der Walt, of Olifant's Kiver, in Swellendam, in company with his brother, saw, near the same place, an animal exactly of the shape of a horse, and somewhat larger than a quagga. Martinus Prinslo, of Bruintje's Hoogte, saw behind the mountain several wild horses entirely different from either the quagga or the zebra, and the missionary Van der Kemp mentions a streaked horse of incredible swiftness, which is called by the Hottentots hamma ; and lie adds that the Imbo (a nation residing north-east of Kafirland) confirm the report of a unicorn existing in that part of the country. They represent it as a very savage animal ; they are horribly afraid of it, and it sometimes overturns their kraals, and destroys their houses. They say that it has a single horn placed on the forehead, which is very long, and that it is entirely distinct from the rhinoceros, with which they are well acquainted." Several intelligent writers on South Africa have since referred to this subject. 30 TJu' HUtonj of the Cape Colony . m-iH. hither by the winds, which, being sprinkled by salt, they eat greedily : the truth is, they ^yould commonly violate the graves of those dead men we buried and feed upon their carcases. But among these brutes, albeit; they have plenty of dead whales, seals, penguins, grease, and raw puddings, which we saw them tear and eat as dainties, for they neither roast nor boil, yet do they no less covet to destroy such as, through old age or sickness, are not able to pro- vide for themselves, leaving them upon some mountain destitute of help. And here the women give suck, the uberous dug being stretched over the shoulder. These may be said to be the descent of satyrs. During the time that I stayed among them I saw no signs of any knowledge of God. Anno 1600, Sir James Lancaster landing here, had one thousand sheep and fifty oxen for babies, and might have had more in plenty had not our emulous neighbours, the Dutch, after some disgust given the natives, rode with our colours out, which made them the less amicable to us. Cory, a savage brought thence to England in the year 1614, when, being civilized, he returned in a few years to this country, entering the woods in a copper-gilt armour, instead of a kind reception they butchered him. The cattle they sold us, had they not been secured by tying their heads to some stakes, would break after the savages upon one man's whistle. We found that a dozen muskets would chase one thousand, at every discharge falling down thunderstruck. To sum up their character, with that which Salvian, libra de vera judicio, gives of other Africans, when he says they are 'inhumani, impuii, ebiiosi, falsissimi, fraudulentissimi, cupidissimi, perfidissimi, et ohsccenis libidinum omnium, impuritati et blasphemiis addictissimi, &c. ;' and for a fare- well take that which Leo gives the Libyans— ' They have no letters, faith, nor law, living (if it be a life) like wild beasts for ignorance, like devils for mischief, and like dogs for poverty.' " CHAPTEE II. Wreck of the Dntch ship Saurhm — Jansz and Proofs Memorial to the Dutch East India Company, recommending a settlement at the Cape — Besolntion of the Chamber of XVII. — ^Despatch of the Expedition under Van Biehoeh — Arrival of the first Settlers — Detail of first events. The Dutch ship Haarlem, bound home from India, was wrecked in Table Bay in the year 1648, and the crew had to await for five months the arrival of the outward-bound fleet from Holland. During this period they had oppor- tunities of observing the country in the immediate neigh- bourhood, and of making themselves acquainted with the habits and dispositions of the natives. According to their reportj the " Ottentoos" were humane and kind, and dis- posed to trade in perfect friendship. Two of these ship- wrecked seamen, named Leehdert Jansz and Nicolaas Proot, after they had returned to Holland, addressed a memorial to the directors of the Dutch East India Com- pany, strongly urging the desirability of establishing a "fort and garden" at the Cape of Good Hope. In this " Eemonstrance"* they denied that the natives were savages or cannibals, and exceedingly treacherous, asserted that they only killed Europeans in defence of themselves or their cattle, and in order to prove that Dutchmen even were often to blame, stated that, in the previous year, when the fleet under the command of WoUebrandt Geluy- sen lay at the Cape, seven or eight cattle were shot and taken away without payment. It seems rather strange, however, if the natives were so friendly, that these mariners found it necessary to throw up a fort for their defence, and to live continually under its protection ; while the assertion that the Hottentots were not savages betrays a stronger desire to give weight to their arguments than to adhere to the truth. We shall see that in the time of Van Eiebeek, when these children of nature were * PuWislied in Moodie's Records. 32 The jrisioi'H of the Cape Colornj. \im. comparatively free from the " -sdces of civilization," treachery and barbarity were as much their characteristics as they have been those of all uncivilized races in eveiy age. Jansz and Proot naturally expressed surprise that neither the Spanish nor Portuguese had as yet made any attack at the Cape upon the Dutch ships returning from the East with valuable cargoes, as eight or ten vessels of war kept there on the watch might easily capture or destroy them all. The fruitfulness of the soil, the abundance of cattle, and the advantage to be derived from a whale fishery, are specially referred to, and they add : — "We say, therefore, that the Honourable Company, by the formation of a foiH; or redoubt, and also of a garden of such size as may be practicable or necessary at the above-mentioned Cabo de Boa^ Esperanza, upon a suitable spot in Table Valley, stationing there, according to your pleasure, sixty to seventy as well soldiers as sailors, and a few persons acquainted with gai'dening and horticulture, could raise, as well for the ships and people bound to India as for those returning thence, many kinds of fruit, as will hereafter be more par- ticularly demonstrated." An establishment for barter seems also to have been one of the principal objects in view, and, to make their arguments complete, it is urged that, " by maintaining a good correspondence with them" (the natives), " we shall be able in time to employ some of their children as boys and servants, and to educate them in the Christian religion, whereby the erection of the contemplated fort and garden will tend not only to the gain of the Company and the saving of many lives, but to the magnifying of God's holy name." As the Chamber of Seventeen had in 1619 adopted a resolution declaring the advisability of establishing a fort at the Cape of Good Hope, very little argument was required to prove the necessity of carrying out their own determina- tion. The " remonstrance" of Jansz and Proot was referred to Jan van Eiebeek, who had in 1649 visited the Cape as a surgeon in the fleet of Geluysen. The report of this officer, dated June, 1651, adverts to his " three weeks' experience" on shore in Table Bay, and strongly recom- 1651.] Qnnrrf'h hclwecn the Biitch and the Natives. 33 mends the proposed expedition. He repeats most of the arguments already made use of, hut distinctly declares that he has no confidence whatever in the honesty and fidelity of the Hottentots, saying, " Although Leendert Jansz does not appear to entertain much apprehension of interruption from the natives, provided only they are well treated, I say, notwithstanding, that they are by no means to be trusted, but are a savage set, living without con- science, and therefore the fort should be rendered tolerably .defensible. I have often heard, from men deserving of credit, that our people have been slain by them without giving the slightest cause." The truth is that unjustifi- able acts were committed both by Europeans and natives. The former were often unjust, and the latter were always treacherous and cruel. On one occasion the Hottentots were attacked, several of them murdered, and numbers of cattle forcibly taken possession of by Dutch traders, and at another time a battle was fought with the Namaquas, which lasted for three days, when the natives fled to the mountains, and thence repulsed the Dutch with arrows, assegais, and stones. After Van Eiebeek's report was written, the Dutch East India Company lost no time in establishing a fort and garden at the Cape, and this the more readily in order to anticipate the English, Portuguese, and French, in the formation of a permanent settlement. The following extract of " instructions" from the Chamber of Seventeen to the ofBcers of the expedition, clearly shows the object and intention of the company : — " That the board had for the benefit and protection of their trade resolved to form at the Cape of Good Hope an establishment for the refreshment of their ships. That, on the arrival of the expedition, a part of the people should land and erect a temporary building of wood, for shelter, and wherein they might deposit their various implements. That they should further construct a small defensive fort at the Fresh River, according to a plan already prepared ; that it should be called the Oood Hope, and should be sufficiently extensive to lodge from seventy to eighty men. That, this being effected, they should select the best ground for gardens, and the land most adapted to pasture, for the purpose of breeding cattle. That each individual should consider himseK called upon, in the most impressive manner, not to molest the D 34 The History of the Ga/pe Colony. [i65i. natives, nor take away their cattle, but, on the contrary, to gain their confidence hy kind and friendly treatment. That, as the main object in establishing this fort loas to obtain apUoefor refreshment, and to enable vessels to pass to St. Helena, it should he particularly ohserved what description of fruits could be best cultivated, consistently with the , climate and seasons. That the people should be governed according to the General Artikel Brief, to which they had sworn ; and that they should not be allowed to waste their time in idleness. That the com- mander should keep a journal, and endeavour to discover some means fc(r defraying the expenses which might be incurred. That as soon as the fort was in a state of defence, seventy men and the boats should be taken from the ships, to assist in building, and other necessary works, particularly in making a wooden beacon, or something of that description, to point out the anchorage to vessels entering the bay ; and that they should also plant four pieces of cannon upon each point of the fort." The Directors of the Dutch East India Company appointed Van Eiebeek leader of the expedition ; and three ships, named the Dromedary, Heron, and Good Hope, were fitted out. On the 14th December, 1651, the commander and his family embarked on board the first-named vessel, and on the 23rd of the same month they all set sail. " On the 5th of April, 1652," Van Eiebeek states in his Journal,* " about the fifth glass of the afternoon, we got sight, God be praised, of the land of the Cabo de Boa Esperanza." The next day (6th April) they could have entered Table Bay, but, fearing hostile ships might be there, the purser, Adam Hulsten, and the second mate, Adam van Steveren, were dispatched with the sloop towards the foot of Lion's Eump (Staart van Leeuwenberg), with orders, in rounding the point, to find out whether there were any vessels in Table Bay. These men having reported that there were no ships to be seen, the fleet proceeded with a fair southerly breeze, which arose just after sunset. On the * Frequent references will be made to this journal. The chief authorities for this portion of history are : — Van Eiebeek's Journal ; Hoodie's Records ; Historical Account of the Formation and Progress of the European Colony at the Cape of Good Hope, by the Rev. M. Borcherds ; Articles and Extracts on early Cape History in the Gape Monthly Magazine ; Mr. Justice Watermeyer's Lectures on the Govern- ment of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape ; Accounts of Early Travellers ; Hall's Chi-onology. 1651,] Arrival of tlw First Settlers at the Cape. 35 next morning, Van Eiebeek beheld the white sands of the Blaauwberg coast and the green plains extending down from Table Mountain. The peaks of the Hottentots Holland range bounded the inland horizon, and the settlers, who had so long been tossed about at sea, expressed delight on arriving at their new home, whose hilly shores seemed to hold out arms of welcome to receive them. The Dromedary and the Good Hope anchored opposite the Fresh Eiver, and the Heron remained outside till the next day (7th April) when Capt. David de Konink was sent on shore with a boat's crew and six armed soldiers to search for letters, and to obtain for the use of the sick a supply of herbs and fish. He found a box of letters left by Jan van Teylingen, the commander of the homeward-bound fleet. From these despatches it appeared that such difficulty had been experienced in obtaining supplies from the natives, that Teylingen was obliged to go on to St. Helena. In his letter to the captains of the other ships, this comnjander says : — "We have obtained here only one cow and one sheep for refreshment, though abundance of both has been seen inland by the crew ; but this savage, unreasonable people will bring us no more than what has been mentioned. God grant that you may have better luck. P.S. — You may freely set the horses on shore which you have on board, and desire the Ottentoo who speaks English to place them in the hands of the people who are coming to establish the fort, promising him a good reward for so doing. Vale." These horses (from Batavia, it is pre- sumed) were duly handed over to Van Eiebeek by the Ottentoo referred to.* As it seemed absolutely necessary * Previous to tlie commencement of the nineteenth century, it would seem that all our horses were imported from the East. Many were Arabs. Some Spanish horses, on their way to Buenos Ayras, captured during a war with France, are considered to have heen the progenitors of the blue and red roans, so well known for their endurance. Lord Charles Somerset, by importing English thoroughbreds, did a great deal to improve Cape stock, and his example has been followed since by such men as Messrs. Cloete, Melck, Kotze, T. B. Bayley, and M. van Breda. D. 2 36 The History of the Gwpe Colony. 0662. to provide for defence against the natives, a party was immediately landed, to discover the most suitable site for a fort. On the evening of the 7th, two of the natives fearlessly went on board the ships, where they were treated with hospitality. The commander says : — " Got two of the savages on board, one of whom speaks a little English, and whose bellies we blew out right bravely with meat and drink." On the following day, a fight took place between nine or ten savages of Saldania and a number of the strandloopers, or natives who frequented the sea-shore. The resolution of the Council held on board the Dromedary, inserted in the Eecords of CouncU, was as follows : — " Tuesday, 8tli AprH, 1652. "Having now, by the grace of God, whose name be praised, safely arrived with the ships Dromedary, Heron, and Good Hope, in the roads of Table Bay at Cabo de Bon Esperance, on the 6th and 7th inst., for the purpose of establishing a general rendezvous, according to the orders received from our superiors, the directors of the General Chartered Dutch East India Company, and for the attainment of that object to build a defensive fort or castle, in order, under its protection, to take possession of such lands as may be best suited for cultivation and cattle-breeding, for the refreshment of the Company's vessels, both home and outward bound, and for such other services as the interests of the Company may require ; for which purpose the vessels afore- mentioned have been laden with materials, and the commanders thereof directed to use their utmost endeavours to carry this plan into effect ; " The Council being assembled by the senior merchant, Jan van Biebeek, having maturely deliberated and well considered the subject, have ordered and directed "That, in the first place, the said Jan van Biebeek, accompanied by the commanders of the said ships, David de Konink, Johan Hoogsaet, and Symon Turver, shall land with some armed soldiers, to inspect and measure (as was provisionally done yesterday) a place fitted for the erection of a fort ; and, having fixed upon the same, shall immediately mark out the plan, so that no time may be lost in commencing the work, and the ships be enabled to pursue their voyage to Batavia with as little delay as possible. "And that everything may be done with regularity, and quickly finished, it has been further resolved to leave no more than thirty-eight men in each of the ships Dromedary and Heron, and eleven in the yacht Oood Hope, making together eighty-three men, to land the materials aud to procure water, ballast, &c. These men shall also be 16520 Vcm Biebeek assumes the OoDernment, 37 employed when convenient in fishing, so that the persons on shore may not be taken from their work. * * * "Relative to the guards, it is understood that both day and night watches shall be equally divided between the soldiers and sailors, and include even the carpenters, without any exception whatever. ^ ^ ^ ^ ii: ^ " Thus resolved and done on board the ship Dromedary, on the day and year above mentioned. " (Signed) Jan van Riebeek. David de Kokink. Jan Hoogsaet. Symon Tuever. P. VAN Helm, Secretary." Commander van Eiebeek assumed the government of the embryo Colony upon the 9th of April, 1652, when he issued a proclamation as " senior merchant," taking formal possession of the country, and enacting various regulations, among which is one providing that " whoever ill-uses, beats, or pushes any of the natives, be he in the right or in the wrong, shall in their presence be punished with fifty lashes, that they may thus see that such is against our will, and that we are disposed to correspond with them in all kindness and friendship, in accordance with the orders and the object of our employers." Another order expressly forbids and prohibits all j)ersons, of what- soever quality, from carrying on any barter or traffic with the natives, except with the knowledge and consent of the commander and council. Industry and energy distinguished the first proceedings of the Government. The erection of a fort was vigorously proceeded with, and Van Eiebeek visited the neighbour- hood of the Lion's Hill, Table Mountain, and obtained from Captains Hoogsaet and Turver reliable information concerning the nature of the adjacent country. Pine forests, abounding in game, then existed in the mountain kloofs ; tracts of fertile land seemed to invite the plough, and natm*e crowned all with a delicious climate which guaranteed plenty and health. Even at this early stage of our history it appears natural to ask — ^Why, then, was the progress of the settlement so slow, and its success so uncertain ? Why was this offspring of Dutch trade and 38 ^he History of the Cape Colony. [i652. enterprise puny and delicate, and so constantly weakened by the fever of discontent as ultimately to become the easy prey of an invading force ? The answer is to be traced in the narrow and limited objects the Dutch East India Com- pany had in view, and the restrictive laws with which, as in swaddling-clothes, they bound the infant Colony. The Cape was intended merely to be a place of call for Dutch outward and homeward bound ships, to the exclusion of all other Europeans. The settlers were servants, or rather slaves of the Company, restricted from barter with the natives, and obliged to sell to their masters at rates fixed by the purchasers. They could not even buy any- thing except from the Company, and at the prices named by its officers, for whose advantage many of the regula- tions seemed to be made. Strange ships were not to be supplied, and strangers were to be discouraged. The Governor's will was law, and his power extended so far, that he had the right even to prohibit fishing in the bays on the coast. The name of " Free Burgher" was a mis- nomer, and Commissioner Yerburg, in 1672, reported to the home authorities that " the Dutch colonists at the Cape of Good Hope bear the name of free men ; but they are so trammelled and confined in all things that the absence of any freedom is but too manifest. The orders and proclamations from time to time issued are so rigid that it would be impossible to carry out the penalties therein, except with the utter ruin of the burghers." Van Eiebeek's journal is evidently a truthful record of events in the infant settlement. . On April 13, 1652, he relates the triumphant purchase of a cow and a young calf for four pieces of flat copper and three pieces of copper wire, each three feet long. On the next day, Sunday, Divine service was performed, and after the reading of " Het Sermoen," " they went with all the boats to Salt Eiver to fish, where, with three casts, from 900 to 1,000 fine steenbras, harders, and other fish were caught."* f Van Eiebeek, in one place, speaks of fish of finer flavour than any in the fatherland. There are certainly none of these at the present day, but new fish have appeared in our waters, so possibly former 1652J The Neighbourhood of Owpe Town Explored. 39 The natives are more than once referred to as strand- loopers, who bring with them only lean bodies and hungry bellies, and the purchase of cattle from the Ottentoos is an object most anxiously sought after. On the 15th April, Van Eiebeek states : — " There came to anchor, God be praised, the ship Salamander, with the Honourable Dirk Snoek and Captain Jan Eyebrands, from Batavia the 25th January last, and through the Strait of Sunda on the 13th February, in company with the ships Oranje, Konnik David, Lastdrager, and Breda, under the command of the Honourable Dirk Vogel, as Vice-Commander." " We understand, from the report of the said Snoek, that by order of the Honourable Governor-General and Council of India, a variety of Indian seeds and plants, besides some horses, had been sent by the first ships from Batavia for this place, of which we will now be deprived." On the 24th of April, the Commander left the ship to reside in a temporary wooden hut, and on the evening of the same day a large hippopotamus was captured in the Salt Eiver. Various parties were sent out to explore the surrounding country, and two persons named Van der Helson and Verburg went to a distance of eighteen miles from Cape Town through the country behind Table Moun- tain. They reported the discovery of extensive forests, and that deer and game of all descriptions abounded. During the month of May two ships arrived from Holland containing fifty emigrants, and one of them (the Whale) brought tte Minister Bonkerias, who had been appointed chaplain to the settlement. A last and grand council was held on board the Dromedary, and upon the 12th of May the points of the little fort were named respectively the Dromedary, Whale, Elephant, and Heron, descriptions may have passed away. Dr. Pappe, in his Synopsis, p. 30, speaking of the Cape stock-fish, says : — " It is remarkable that this ish, a notorious denizen of the European seas, was utterly unknown at the Cape of Good Hope before the earthquake of 1809 (Dec. 4). At first it was scarce, and sold at exorbitant prices (4s. 6d.). Since that period it has yearly increased in numbers, and is now a standard fish in the market, being caught in great abundance." 40 The Eistonj of the Cape Golo'mj. [1652. in obedience to the orders of the Company, while the yacht Good Hope had the honour of giving its name to the entire fortification.* In the beginning of June a number of the settlers were sick, 54 out of 116 labourers being attacked with fevers, flux, and other diseases ; it was difficult to procure cattle, and the position of matters was certainly very disheartening. Much of the provisions they had brought was spoiled by heavy rains, so that Van Eiebeek exclaims, " that if the Almighty were not pleased to stay his chastening hand, it was evident that their labour would be tedious and of little profit ; but that, however, he still relied upon God's gracious assistance." So many deaths began to occur that the Commander, on the 10th June, writes :— " If the Almighty be not pleased soon to relieve us from this calamity, we see very little probability of completing our work, as many of our people die, and the greater part of the remainder are sick." On the 6th of June, 1652, the Chaplain's wife gave birth to the first European child born in the Colony. The Commander's house was' now finished, and the large quantities of whales seen in Table Bay rendered it probable that a regular fishery would be a profitable undertaking. Van Eiebeek nearly lost his life about this time when going to Seal (Eobben) Island. The first crime was committed by Jan Blank, who, for having ' been grossly insolent to the commander of the Good Hope, was dropped from the yard-arm of that vessel into the sea, and afterwards received fifty lashes. This man, or at least a person of the same name, figures subsequently as a deserter, who, with a few others, endeavoured to escape to Mozambique overland ! The * This fort was aa earthwork enclosure, conjectured to have beeu not far from the site of the present castle. Governor Wagenaar, in 1062, applied to the Home Government for " a little coarse window glass and lead to glaze the windows." Outworks were at a very early- date thrown up at Salt Eiver, and small forts were at various times erected along, the flanks of Table Mountain. The Dutch East India Company resolved, in 1G6j, to build a regular castle, which will ia due course be referred to. 16520 Gardens Laid Out. — The Fort Garrisoned. 41 poor fellows only got as far as Hottentots Holland. They then returned to the fort, where they were looked upon as malefactors, and " in God's name" received the following punishments :— Jan Blank, who had been condemned to death, was awarded (as a great favour) 150 lashes, to he keel-hauled, and to serve in chains as a slave for two years. This man pleaded that he had some time ago dreamt of a mountain of gold, which he had hoped to find, " and such-like childish pretences." Jan van Ley- den was also sentenced to slavery for two years, and as a ringleader, was tied to a stake while a ball was fired over his head. William Huytgen and Gerrit Dirkse were condemned to two years' servitude ; and two other persons, against whom there was not sufficient evidence, were set at liberty. In accordance with the fashion set by the Commander, this wretched Jan Blank also kept a diary, which he solemnly commences in the name of our Lord. From this document, scrawled with red chalk, it appeared that the deserters had with them four swords, two pistols, and a dog, but, in spite of this armament, displayed more discretion than valour, as they fled so precipitately from a rhinoceros as to leave behind " one sword and a hat." Keeping along the beach, they procured birds dind shell- fish for food, and at last they lay down to rest on a high mountain close to the sea. Having pursued the journey for six days, hunger and repentance forced them to return. In July the Commander had the inexpressible gratifica- tion to see the wheat he had sown spring up, and the vegetables begin to thrive. Large Government gardens were laid out, and on the 3rd of August every one left their temporary huts to reside in the fort, which was now sufficiently strong to stand a siege. Unfortunately, this month the imported provisions were found to be both scarce and stale, so that it was determined to demand a supply from any Dutch ships which might arrive, and, if refused, " to protest against them in equity for all costs, hinderances, damages, and inconveniences." Fightiag by proclamations and protests was always considered of vast service. 42 The History of the Oa/pe Colony. am. On the 24th of September it was ordered that a yacht should proceed to BKzabeth Isle (Dassen Island),, there to procure oil, &c. To quote mrlatim from the Eecords, this was determined upon by the Council, " in the name of the Lord, and as many casks as can be spared to hold sea-lblubber and a Ottentoo bag." Another State trial now demands our attention. Joost van der Laak, a corporal in the service of the Company, having in a fit of drunkenness insulted the Commander, was brought to trial before Symon Turver, captain of the Good Hope, Gerrit Abels, Paulus Petkouw, and Jan van Geluyk ; and in the Council on the 1st September, it was resolved that, as the prisoner's situation had become vacalnt, Paulus Petkouw, a native of Dantzic, should be appointed in his place, to whom therefore " the halberd of authority was ordered to be given in presence of the people." Beyond suspension from actual service, it is not clear that any punishment was inflicted on this prisoner. Far different, however, was the fate of Herman van Vogelaar, who, for the crime of wishing the purser at the devil, because he served out penguins instead of pork, -was sentenced to receive one hundred blows from the butt-end of a musket. In the month of October the Commander had the satis- faction of seeing the Saldanian Hottentots more frequently, and of transacting business with them. A sheep cost scarcely the animal's length of thin copper wire and a little tobacco. For a bigger sheep they wanted a larger price, but " we therefore did not accede to their demands that they might not acquire bad habits."* The tribe of Saldaniers consisted of 250 persons, and paid great respect to their chief. The " children sucked at the udders of the sheep vAich the mothers gave them, through the hind-legs — very curious to behold." A * Prices were not very high in those days. Three elephants' teeth were bought for copper and tobacco to the value of two stivers three pennings, and three young ostriches for one eighth of a pound of tobacco. 1652.] Ewrly Misfortunes of the Settlement. 43 Hottentot named Herry, who had been taken in an EngKsh ship to Bantam, was employed by Van Eiebeek as an interpreter, and is a very prominent cliaracter in the history of those times. The Commander soon had reason to suspect that this fellow was too friendly with the natives, and writes, " It were not amiss that we should contrive to coax him, with wife and children, as well as aU the strandloopers (i.e. those who brought nothing but hungry bellies) to Eobben Island." Herry, who was fond of the English, incited all Saldaniers to ask daily about them — so that it seemed as if the natives had the bad taste to prefer them to the Dutch, and to desire their presence. . In spite of Van Eiebeek's suspicions, Herry was led to suppose that he was thoroughly trusted, familiar converse was held at meals, and when the Hottentot sug- gested bloody and violent measures, the Commander temporised and answered evasively. The Watermen, Saldanha men, and the Fishermen were stated by the interpreter to be three tribes of natives near the settlement, and information regarding their numbers and mode of life was willingly supplied by him. Prosperity and adversity seemed to alternate. In September and October, 100 labourers were at work, the supply of meat was plentiful, and every one rejoiced. In November, violent south-east gales devastated the fields, and destroyed the newly-erected buildings. Twenty-four persons were in hospital, the only net for catching fish was almost unusable, and, above all, there were no natives to traffic with, so that the poor Governor was reduced to write that, " If the Lord God be not pleased to grant soon some relief, either by the Saldaniers bringing their cattle, .or by the arrival of ships from the mother country, we have little hope of being able to proceed with our work." The yacht which had been sent in September to Sal- danha and St. Helena Bays, returned about the middle of November, bringing no fewer than 2,700 seal-skins. The captain handed in a written account of the voyage, in which the bays and islands visited were described, and it is mentioned that a French vessel had been sealing on the 44 Tlie History of the Ca/pe Colony. cibbs. coast. Shortly after this the Salctaniers returned with cattle, and were treated with courtesy and kindness. The suspicious conduct of Herry, the interpreter, almost induced the Commander to send him, as well as the strandloopers, to Kobben Island, and the many thefts and irregularities of the Dutchmen made it necessary to appoint a " public executioner." For this of&ce, a colonist named Michiel Grieve was selected, and Jan Pieter Sten- water was the luckless wight upon whom the vengeance of the law was first inflicted. Van Eiebeek's life at the Cape was by no means a happy one. Beset with difficulties, and surrounded by constant danger, he had not only to provide against attacks from the natives, but to keep the servants of the Company in order, and to guard against their thefts and insubordina- tion. There was much work, and great risk, with little profit. The Commander, therefore, does not expect a successor, but " a deliverer," and looks forward to the termination of his period of exile as a " deliverance." However, in spite of all disasters, there was at the end of the first year a good d'eal to cheer and encourage the settlers. "We are, thank God," Van Eiebeek says, "so far advanced that the sick can be supplied with milk, and buttermilk, and eggs, and the fowls are breeding well." The cabbages began to close, and the carrots increased in size. Fresh meat was eat daily, and the churn provided fresh butter constantly. Ships could be supplied with refreshments, so that the chief object of the settlement was attained ; and as their relations with the natives were tolerably friendly, there was every prospect of a con- tinuous and successful trade. Hundreds of Saldaniers, with herds of cattle, were frequently within twelve or fifteen miles of the Fort. On the 13th of January, 1653, the first wheat grown at the Cape was reaped, and it is stated that on the 23rd of the month "it appeared as if the lions would take the fort by storm that they might get at the sheep." The Commander commenced the new year by extending mercy to Jan Blank, Gerrit Derkse, and "William Huytgens, the 1658J Van Bieheek asJcs to he Believed. 45 first of whom proved himself thoroughly undeserving, by shortly afterwards attempting, with some other men, to carry off tlie galiot. The natives now began to think that the settlers could not do without them, and to assume consequential man- mers. Frequent insults were received ; nevertheless fire- arms were only used to terrify the Hottentots. When they fled, leaving their cattle behind, these were subse- quently restored in a friendly manner. Van Kiebeek acted thus under express instructions from the Company as well as from prudential motives. One chief alone had eighty fighting men, and possessed 5,000 cattle and 2,000 sheep ; and the force at the disposal of the Commander was fully occupied in endeavouring to carry out the object of the settlement by raising and procuring supplies for the fleet of the Dutch East India Company. We cannot be surprised that the Commander became tired of his work, and in a despatch to the Chamber of Seventeen, dated 14th April, 1653, earnestly requested to be sent to India, where he could render better service than among those " dull, stupid, lazy, stinking people, where there is nothing to be done but to barter a few sheep and cattle." In January, the customary routine had been suddenly disturbed by the arrival of the galiot Black Fox, with news of war between Holland and England. The Good Hope was despatched with the intelligence to Batavia, and immediate steps were taken to put the fortifications in order, and to get salt penguins and young seals for the people whose provisions began to run short. When the Dutch fleet arrived in March, only one ration of bread remained. In April, four thousand and five Cape seal skins were sent home, but these, when examined by competent persons in Holland, were found to be very inferior. Trade with the natives began to increase about this time, and acquaintance was made with another tribe from the interior, whose friendship was valuable, as elephant and hippopotamus' tusks were received from them in exchange for small pieces of tobacco, or of copper wire. 46 The Eistm-y of the Cape Colony. am. In May, 1653, Van Eiebeek states that a German, named Marthinus Martini, reports favourably of the east coast, " where many maintain is the true Ophir, whence Solomon imported his gold." It was only by the arguments of the members of Council that the Commander was dissuaded from giving instructions that the gaUot should be sent to ascertain whether or not a trade in ebony, gold, and slaves* could be carried on with this commercial land of promise. A long despatch was written to the directors on this subject, and the enterprise was only postponed until their orders could be received. In July, three ships arrived from Holland, which were promptly supplied with refreshments; and the Phoenix brought the junior merchant, Jacob Eynierz, who was appointed second in command to the Governor. The first marriage at the Gape is thus chronicled in the records of Council : — " Saturday, 30th August, 1653. — Adolphus ten Bengevoorfc, of Amster- dam, boatswain, bachelor, and Zanneken Willems, also of Amsterdam, spinster, both on board the flute King David, bound to India, requesting permission to enter into the holy state of matrimony, according to the promises which they had made to each other, the Council, assisted by the principal persons belonging to said ship, asked them if they are betrothed or engaged to any other person, and being answered in the negative, consent to their being married as soon as possible ; and for that purpose allow two banns to be published to-morrow, and the third on Monday next, when the further solemnization will take place before the Council of the Fort Good Hope," &o.f A large French ship, carrying eleven guns, was observed sealing off the coast, and Eynierz, the second in command, was despatched in the galiot to observe her. Three men, who had been placed as convicts on a small island by the captain of this ship, were released, and taken into the Dutch service; and the Council resolved "not only to make every attempt to engage those who offer to quit the * Van Eiebeek was strongly in favour of the introduction of slavery at the Cape, and thought that an organised mercantile company should be established for trading with the natives in gold, ambergris, ostrich feathers, and sHns. fThe Minister had previously left the Colony in the Phcenix. 1654.] The Gompany^s Cattle Carried, Off. 47 French service to enter that of the Company, but also to preyail upon as many more as possible to accompany the people to the fort by land." After Divine service, on the 19th October, it was discovered that the interpreter, Herry, and the Hottentots had fled with the cattle, and that one of the boys in charge had been murdered at the foot of Lion's HiU. Armed men were vainly sent in different directions. Forty-two cattle had been stolen, and taken behind Table Mountain to Hout Bay, over such roads and passes that the mounted men declared it impossible to follow. Several attempts at pursuit were unsuccessful, and some time afterwards, a chief of Saldaniers expressed sympathy with the Dutch, and stated that he had seen Herry near Cape False, and had been offered a share in the booty. This act of treachery on the part of Herry and his companions, who had been always treated with kindness by the settlers, put Van Eiebeek more than ever on his guard ; but, at the same time, strict instructions were issued that no act of retaliation or revenge was to be committed. The ships Breda and Lam arrived from the Texel on the 22nd of December. In January, 1654, " a large quantity •of glittering ore was seen on the mountains," which, upon being tested, was declared to be a superior description of tin; but it does not appear that any benefit was ever derived from this discovery. On March 6, Van Eiebeek says : — " There was found on the mountain a dead bes- manneken, called in Batavia an ourang-outang, as large as a small calf, with long hairy arms and legs, of a dark grey colour, which our people eat from hunger, for there is httle nourishment in the pot-herbs." This shows to what straits the little settlement had been reduced, in consequence of the cruel robbery of their small stock of cattle, and the difficulty that then existed of procuring any supplies from the natives, who had retired into the interior. About this time a number of young girls were sent to the Colony from orphan institutions in HoUand. The advantage of a settlement at the Cape to supply vessels 48 The Eisionj of the Cape Colony. [iC54. was strikingly proved in February, 1654, when the ship Dmak " arrived full of sick and scorbutic, hardly able to manage the sail." The voyages at that time were much longer than at present, and the sailors were exceedingly subject to scurvy and other diseases, caused by their long abstinence' from fresh provisions and vegetables. A proclamation issued by Van Eiebeek on the 12th October, 1654, expressly and absolutely forbade all traffic whatsoever with the natives, on the ground that it injured the Company's trade, and induced the Hottentots to ask higher prices for sheep. The officers and crew of an English ship named the East India Merchant, which arrived on the 19th December, were treated with hospi- tality ; but the Commander lost nothing by their visit, as he is able to record that " on the 26th was sold to the English a lot of Madagascar ebony, in order to turn it to some account, as it was very bad and cracked, in exchange for two butts of English beer for our table." About this time Herry and his allies constantly gave trouble and impeded trade. Cattle were purchased with difficulty for tobacco and brass ; and supplies of birds' eggs and penguins had constantly to be obtained from the bays and islands on the coast. Large quantities of excellent timber were procured at a distance of three or four Dutch miles from the fort. As the Cape had become a sort of half-way house, or hotel, the Commander was naturally looked upon as the landlord, and constant demands were made upon his hospitality. Van Eiebeek at last, in a voluminous despatch, calls attention to the want of a public place of entertainruent, and as he is forced to entertain every one, begs the Government at least to send him five or six dozen pewter plates and three 6r fom- dozen dishes or basins. It is to be feared that in those days the arma antiquce had frequently to be used at meal-times in Government-house. The guests do not seem, either, to have been very particular in other respects, for Van Eiebeek remarks, in his despatch -, "that the consumption of linen for napkins and table- cloths is no trifle, for every one carries off what napkins 1651.] Proposal to make the _Ga^e an Island. 49 and dishes he can, thinking it is only Company's property." As Herry, the interpreter, evidently thought that advan- tages were to be derived from friendship with the settlers, he made up a story attributing the theft of the cattle to the Caepmans, and exonerating himself entirely. Van Eiebeek considered it the most prudent course to admit this excuse, and Herry was therefore nominally reconciled with the Commander. Shortly afterwards the wily Hottentot again showed himself in his true colours, when accompanying Corporal Muller and some others into the interior, where he traded with the natives entirely on his own account, and utterly disregarded the instructions of his employers. A decked boat of sixteen or seventeen tons, built near the fort, and named the Robhejacht, was launched on the 11th of September, 1655 ; and a curious proposal was gravely made during this year to make the Cape an island, and separate it from the continent by uniting the waters of False and Table Bays. The construction of a canal was to be the means of carrying out this idea — seriously entertained and laid before the Government. In the time of the Van der SteUs we shall see that this plan was again talked of, and that the forma- tion of a channel was carried on until the quantity of sand choking it up demonstrated the absurdity of the project. A despatch from the Governor-General and Council of the Indies, dated 25th December, 1655, states that — "As to the proposal of Mr. van Goens to cut off the Cape from the continent, such would indeed be a good thing if it could be easily effected. The formation of a stone pierj to extend seventy roods into the sea, we agree with you in thinking one of the most necessary things at the Cape." On the 17th of January, 1656, Van Eiebeek refers to a great drought which so injured the pasture that some of the cattle were left in the field through weakness. Droughts are evidently a chronic disease of South Africa, and are fully referred to by some of the old travellers. Fortunately, this country, although easily depressed, possesses great elasticity, and so quickly recovers verdute 50 The Eistffry of the Ga-pe Colony. mse. after a period of severe drought as to fully compensate for dearth by renewed and more abundant fertility. On the 25th March of this year a squadron arrived, consisting of four French ships of war, bound to Madagascar. The Hottentots were specially cautioned not to trust these Frenchmen, " as they would try to take their cattle, and to carry off their people, and what further might tend to produce dislike." Wild animals are to be ranked among the enemies of the settlers. So numerous and daring were they that stock was carried off close to the fort, and traces of the .footsteps of tigers frequently seen in the Commander's garden. One large lion, weighing no less than 426 lbs., was killed, and his skin hung up in the church as a trophy. As land at Eondebosch* had been granted to " Freemen," the Hottentots constantly grumbled at their dispossession, and showed evident signs of dissatisfaction. Herry and the Caepmans proved themselves particularly troublesome, and Van Eiebeek at last arrived at the opinion that this tribe should be seized, and their cattle taken from them. This was one of, the questions submitted for the decision of Commissioner Van Goens upon his arrival in March, 1656. This officer, however, was not in favour of harsh measures, and gave strict instructions that every endeavour was to be made to gain the goodwill of the natives. At the same time he blamed Van Eiebeek for attending more to the construction of buildings than to agriculture. The bm'ghers were not to be permitted to keep good corn-land for pastm-e, nor to grow tobacco, and the Commissioner saw little difficulty in penetrating by land in search of gold and ivory to the town of Spirito Sancto, and the city of Mono- motopa, the latter of which, he confidently states, is only distant about two hundred and ten miles to the northward. Wonderful to say. Van Goens allowed the freemen to trade in direct opposition to Van Eiebeek's opinion and desire. =1= In May, 16B6, a strip of land at " Rondebos" had beeu ploughed and sown with wheat, rice, and oats ; and about tliis time the first inn was established, with Annetge da Boeren as hostess. 16570 Strcmge Tales from the Interior. 61 This order, however, was speedily reversed, as by a placaat, bearing date 26th September, 1657, the freemen are ex- pressly warned not to buy from the natives. On the 9th October, 1657, the Chamber of Seventeen issued instruc- tions that water, but not provisions, could be supplied to strange ships.* A native woman named Eva was employed by the Com- mander as an interpreter, and some of the conversations carried on by her means with the natives were of an in- teresting character. The Saldaniers spoke of the exist- ence of a great Lord or Emperor in the interior, whom they described as Emperor over all the Cape Tribes, and known by the name or title of " Chobona." Strange tales were told, with an air of veracity, regarding lands where gold was found in the sand, large stone houses with beams were built, and white rice was sown.t As Kerry became enraged when he heard the name of Chobona mentioned, it was naturally suspected that he and the Caepmans were rebels against the authority of this ruler. The crew of the little vessel Robhejacht, whose launch has already been referred to, were attacked and plundered by the natives on the coast without any provocation, their boat was broken, and three "trusty Hottentots" subse- quently stated that it was intended not only to kill them but all other freemen. In a despatch, dated 17th December, 1657, the Home Government significantly states that the more the Cape establishment is circumscribed, the better * The following punishments are specimens of those inflicted at this time : — " Jan Wonters, assistant, sentenced for hlasphemous injuries against the characters of females at the Cape, including the Com- mander's wife, to beg pardon on his bare knees, to be bored through the tongue, to forfeit his wages, and to be banished three years." " Pasqual Rodrigo, soldier, for theft and desertion, sentenced to receive 100 lashes, confiscation of wages, and to serve his term of five years to all dirty wort." f They very possibly referred to the Portuguese settlements on the East Coast, and to the adjacent country inland, where gold has been found from time immemorial. Jesuit Missionaries established stations there in the sixteenth century. See Dr. Livingstone's Travels, Histoire de la Compagnie de Jesus par Joly, So. £ 2 52 The History of the Cape Colony. [16B7, and more profitable for the Company. It was in this year (1657) that the first importation of slaves from the Guinea Coast was made.* It may he interesting here to note the information regarding the population of the Settlement, communicated in the Kesolutions of Council, dated 30th May, 1658. Gamson, in number 80 Sick 15 European women and children 30 Slaves of the Company 98 Free inhabitants 51 Slaves of private people 89 Convicts ; 360 Of whom, deducting the sick, as well as slaves, convicts, women, and children, there only remained 113 men to defend the entire Settlement. Van Eieheek this year secured a grant of land for him- self, and in the interest of the Company ordered that cattle was invariably to be bought from him, and not from the natives. The price to be paid for wheat was also fixed. The Commander was constantly annoyed by the escape of slaves! and so frequently deceived by the natives that he emphatically declares them to be "all thieves and rogues, but Herry the father of them." At last, however, this arch-traitor was secured, and, under date July 10, 1658, it is stated : " This morning, about 10 o'clock, our former interpreter. King Herry, was transported by the ScheepjachUn to Eobben Island, as also two of his companions." * A work of great utility, which had been strongly recommended, consisting of a pier or jetty in Table Bay, was so far completed in January, 1658, that the Commander was then able to go along the beams of it into a boat. \ Rhinoceroses and elephants " in hundreds together" were seen by those who went out to capture runaway slaves, i'hese wretched serfs found a difficulty in obtaining a subsistence away from their masters, and one of them, when asked on what they would have lived, replied that they depended on Hottentot's ilesh. 1658.] Beei- Brewed at the Cape, 53 Eva, who had become his successor, was the cause of friendly relations being commenced between the settlers and the tribe of Chochaqua-s, from whom sheep and cattle were purchased. But this peace was hollow, and merely the calm which preceded a storm of native rsbge we shall shortly have to describe. On the 8th November, 1658, the ship West Friesland sailed, taking half an aum of Cape beer as a sample, so that brewing malt preceded vine cultivation at the Cape. Many expeditions to the interior took place, and in March, 1658, the first passage through the Berg Eiver Mountains was effected. CHAPTEE III. War with the Hottentots— Measnrement of the Cape Territory— Complaints of the Natives— The traveller Nietihoff's deBoription of the Colony — Origin, history, language, and onstoms of the Hottentot races — Departure of Van Bieheek— His character — Commanders Wagenaar and Qnaelberg — Dismissal of the latter, and appointment of Jacob Borghorst — Governor Goste — Cape Castle bnilt — Expeditions of Discovery — Free Bnrghers— Purchase of land from Natives. In the last chapter, details were furnished, trivial in nature, and only deriving consequence from the fact that they were the first noteworthy incidents which occurred in the infant settlement. Great dissatisfaction prevailed among the burghers, in consequence of being debarred from trading with the natives, and the difficulties of government were soon alarmingly increased by the hostile attitude of the Hottentots. At last, as war was imminent, it was resolved, on 1st May, 1659, to arm and embody the colonists ; Abraham Gabbema was appointed commander, and the force consisted of one hundred and fifty men, part of whom were drafted from the ship Honinghen. The chief Doman, with fifty or sixty of his people, made an attack upon the Company's cattle, and Eva, the interpreter, left the Port ostensibly to return to her brother. About this time the Caepmans and Gorachouquas became declared enemies. A prisoner of the former tribe being asked why his people injured the Dutch, answered, " that it was because they saw that we were breaking up the best land and grass, where they were accustomed to graze, trying to establish ourselves everywhere." Various skirmishes took place, in which the natives were repulsed, and war was carried on by proclamations offering one hundred guilders for the capture of the chief Doman, forty guilders for a common Hottentot, and half as much for the dead body of one. The Governor-General in Batavia, writing to Van Eiebeek in 1659, says : — " Now that the Hottentots have been once roused, the Company will not have an easy possession, as may be sufficiently ascertained from your prisoner's reason for the war — viz.. 1660.] War with Hottentot Tribes, 55 that they were tin-willing any longer to suffer us at the Cape, because you had occupied for your use the best lands, which had been theirs from tinae immemorial — a grievance of these savage men which we must admit. It is well founded, and yet we can herein afford them no satisfaction, while we continue to reside at the Cape." The skirmishes that occasionally took place scarcely deserve the name of a war, and the constant discomfiture of the Hottentots made them soon sensible that the contest was hopeless. On the 25th February, 1660, the Cape territory was measured, and then included only a small tract of country in the immediate neighbourhood of Table Mountain, the boundaries of which it was determined should be planted with thick hedges. It is recorded that during 1659 the difficulties of the Commander were increased by a con- spiracy among the foreign soldiers of the garrison, who wished to seize the Fort and murder the Dutch. Five of these men were sent to Batavia in the fleet of Admiral Sterthemius. On the 8th of December, 1659, the inter- preter (Herry) -managed to make his escape from Eobben Island, with another Hottentot prisoner, in a small two- oared boat kept there for fishing, and no doubt repaired to the tribe of Caepmans to assist them by his cunning and experience. Hostilities, however, did not continue much longer. Upon the 6th April, 1660, " peace was renewed at the Fort with Herry and the Caepmans," when the natives specially referred to the grievance they suffered in being dispossessed of their lands, and inquired whether they would be allowed to enter Holland, and do to the Dutch as Van Eiebeek and his associates had done to them ? " You come quite into the interior," they said, " selecting the best land for yourselves, and never once inquiring whether we like it, or whether it will cause us any injury or inconvenience." The Dutch objected to their having the joint use of the pasture with them, on account of the grass not being enough for both. To this the Hottentots replied, " Have we then no cause to prevent you from procuring cattle ? For, if you get many cattle, 56 The History of the Gape Colony. [leeo. you come and oecnpy our pasture with them, and then you say the land is not wide enough for both ! Who then can be required with the greatest degree of justice to give way — ^the natural owner or the foreign invader?" They insisted that at least they should be permitted to gather the roots and bitter almonds which Nature herself provided. But this even could not be allowed, for the reason that it would give too many opportunities to injure the colonists, and because the bitter almonds were needed for making the hedge to form a barrier against the natives; "but they insisted so much upon this point, that the true word must out at last, that they had now lost their land in war, and therefore they could but expect to be henceforth deprived of it, the rather because they could not be induced to restore the cattle which they had wrongfully, and without cause, stolen from us." The Dutch Government, both before and after the war, issued orders that the natives were invariably to be treated with kindness, and Van Eiebeek, who seems never to have had any wiU but that of his masters, strictly attended to these directions. If permitted, he would have acted differently, and in his journal he more than once states that it would be easy to seize the cattle of the natives, if he but received orders ; and, indeed, seems to regret the non-receipt of such instruc- tions, as by means of this seizure, he remarks, there would be no apprehension of the English destroying the cattle trade. John Nieuhoff, a traveller, who visited the Colony in those early days, states that the Company had erected a quadrangular fort, well provided with artillery and a good garrison, and that a small redoubt existed at the Salt Eiver, " all along the banks of which stream there were plantations and gardens." "The Dutch," he adds, "have planted many thousand vines on a hill near the Fort, but the wind blew so during the month of July as to tear up all by the roots. At this season of the year you may see ice of the thickness of the blade of a large knife." Nieuhoff was by no means prepossessed by 16600 The Hottentot Race. 57 the Hottentots, whom ■ he describes as a filthy set, whose food consisted of the entrails of animals, stinking fish, and roots. On occasions of betrothal or marriage, he says that the mother cuts off the first joint of her daughter's little finger, which is tied to her future husband's hand, and subsequently buried. Afterwards, a cow is killed.* As we have arrived at a period of Cape history when the first serious conflict between the settlers and natives took place, the time has now come when it is necessary to give some consideration to the origin, history, and language of the Hottentot race. The Dutch found them divided into numerous tribes, the names of which they understood to be Boekemans, Chenoquas, Caekouquas, Chainouquas, Goreoquas, Gonnemas, Griququas, Hotten- toos, Hameunquas, Kaapmans, Namaquas, Sousequas, Ubeqilas, Watemans. Probably many of these names were either corruptions of terms in use, or were conferred by the settlers themselves. Certainly the designation Hottentoo or Hottentot is not loi native origin. In the oldest records the title " Ottentoo" is used ; Lichtenstein speaks of " Hotnots," and Sir Thomas Herbert calls the natives " Hottentotes." "Hodmodods," or "Hadman- dods," were names also used, probably as a corruption. The term Hottentot, which was conferred by the Dutch, was given, it is conjectured, in order to convey, by the sounds Hot-'en-tot, some idea of the peculiar click or manner of talking of the savages. Prichard believes the name is a corruption of Outeniqua, the designation of a . particular tribe. However the origin be accounted for, certain is it that the, name was not known by the natives, who called themselves, collectively, Quai-quse, or Gkhuigkhui.t * Collections of Voyages and Travels, published at London in 1744 (page 141). Nieuhoff visited the Cape between the years 1652 and 1660. f In the Namaqua dialect they call themselves Koiboib; in the Koranna, Kuhkeul. According to Dr. Vanderkemp their name is Khuekhivena ; Kolben sayp Q-ena. By the Hottentots the Bushmen are called Sab. 58 The History of tlw Gape Colony. [leeo. M. Bory de St. Vincent, quoted by Dr. Prichard,* describes the Hottentots as differing most widely from what he terms the Japetic species of men, and adds that, " of all species, this race, approaching as it does in its form most nearly to the second genus of bimanous animals, is still more closely allied to the orangs through the inferiority of its intellectual faculties." In opposition to Lichtenstein and other writers, Prichard emphatically asserts that the Bushmen are not a distinct race, but a branch or sub-division of the once extensive nation of Hottentots, and quotes Professor Vater's asser- tion that a careful comparison of their language with that of the Korah, or other Hottentots, furnishes con- vincing proof that there is an essential affinity between them. As the Hottentot races are virtually extinct within the Cape Colony, it is absolutely necessary to quote the descriptions given by early travellers. In Kolben's workst a full account is furnished of the Hottentots. Accord- ing to him they were originally a powerful nation divided into tribes, each of which was presided over by a chief. Their riches consisted in flocks and herds, with which they roved about seeking pasture, and carrying with them, in their migrations, moveable villages, each hut of which was composed of poles or boughs covered with rush' mats. Their clothes consisted of sheepskins, and their weapons of bows and poisoned arrows. Bold and active in the chase, they were courageous in danger, although naturally of a mild and gentle disposition. Intellectual gifts, as well as the qualities of humanity and good nature, were possessed by them ; and this author states that he has known many who understood Dutch, French, and * Natural History of Man, p. 514. ]■ Kolben, Pieter, A.M. His book, originally written in High German, " Caput Bona Spei hodiernum" — " Tlie present state of the Cape of Good Hope." He left Holland in October, 1704, and embarked in Table Bay 0th April, 1713. There are two English editions of his work, the latter of which is dated 1738. Kolben -is absurdly prepossessed in favour of the natives. 1660.] Beligion of the Hottentots. 59 Portuguese to a degree of perfection. " They are even eraployed," he adds, " by European^ in affairs that require judgment and capacity. A Hottentot named Cloos was entrusted by Van der Stell, the late Governor of the Cape, with the business of carrying on a trade of barter for cattle with the tribes at a great distance, and he generally returned, after executing his commission, with great success." What he says about their moral qualities is even more in their favour. "They are, perhaps, the most faithful servants in the world. Though infinitely fond of wine, brandy, and tobacco, they are safely entrusted with them. Their chastity is remarkable, and adultery, when known among them, is punished with death." It appears, in fact, according to this writer, that the Hottentot races were almost perfect, except in as far "they were dirty in their habits, slothful and indolent, and, although capable of thinking to the purpose, hating the trouble of thought." Their religion, according to Kolben, consisted in the belief of a Supreme Power termed " Gounya Tekquva," or the God of all Gods, to whom they paid no direct adoration, but instead (and by way, possibly, of a relative worship) sacrificed to the moon at full and change, accompanying their devotions with shouting, swearing, singing, jumping, stamping, dancing, and an unintelligible jargon. Toutouka was the name of the evil deity, represented as an ugly, ill-natured being, who was a special enemy to Hottentots, and the author of all mischief. Pain and sickness were attributed to witchcraft, against which amulets and charms were used as protections. Although no idea of future rewards or punishments existed, there was evidently a belief in the immortality of the soul, as prayers were offered up to good Hottentots departed, and the dread of the influence of spirits was so great that, on the death of any one, the kraal in which he or she expired was immediately removed to another position. Perhaps the most singular religious custom of these savages was their veneration of a particular kind of insect (Mantis), the appearance of which was supposed to be an omen of good luck. The following extract from the Journal kept at the 60 The History of the Gape Colony. [I660. Cape of Good Hope in 1691* refers to this subject : — " 19th February. — His Honour (the Governor Simon van der Stell) entered into "a particularly ffiendly conversation with some Hottentots, who, in confidence, revealed to him that they worshipped a certain god, whose head was no larger than a fist, who had a hole on his back, and was large and broad of body, whom they implored for help when they suffered from hunger, or were in ally other peril. Their wives sprinkled his head with red sand, buchu, and other aromatic herbs, and made him. offerings of various kinds." The Bushmen are described by the missionary Adiilph Bonatz as of small stature and dirty-yellow colour, with repulsive countenances, in which there was a prominent forehead, small, deeply-seated, and roguish eyes, with a much-depressed nose and thick projecting lips. Their constitution is so much injured by their dissolute habits, and the constant smoking of durha, that both old and young look wrinkled and decrepit ; nevertheless, they are fond of ornament, and decorate their ears, arms, and legs with beads, iron, copper, or brass rings. The women also stain their faces red, or paint them. Their only clothing, by day or night, is a mantle of sheepskin, which they term a kaross. The dwelling of the Bushman is a low hut, or a circular cavity, on the open plain, in which he creeps at night, with his mfe and children, and which, although it shelters him from the wind, leaves him exposed to the rain. They had formerly their occupations among the rocks, in which are still seen rude figures of horses, oxen, or serpents.!' Many of them lived like wild beasts, in * Quoted in the Oape Monthly Magazine, vol. iii. p. 35. f Barrow thus describes some of these drawings (vol. i., p. 193) ; " On tlie smooth sides of the cavern were drawings of various animals that had been made from time to time by these savages. Many of them were caricatures, but others were too well executed not to arrest our attention. The different antelopes that were there delineated had each their 'character so well delineated that the originals from whence the representations had been taken could without any difficulty be ascertained, Among the numerous animals that were drawn, the figure 1660.] Customs of the Bushmen, 61 rocky retreats, to which they returned with joy after escaping from the service of the colonists. These fugitives were continually occupied with their bows and arrows.* On their return from the chase they feasted till they became drowsy, while in seasons of scarcity they were forced to be contented with wild roots, ants' eggs, locusts, and snakes. Most South African travellers speak in favour of the character and disposition of the Hottentots. Le Vaillant gives them, full credit for fidelity and attachment. Bur- chell testifies to their intelligence, and Barrow almost rivals Kolben in his praise of their "talents, activity, and great fidelity" when well ^treated, stating, at the same time, "that an opposite treatment has been productive of a zebra was remarkaWy well executed ; all tlie marks and character of this animal were accurately represented, and the proportions seemingly correct. Several crosses, circles, points, and lines were placed in a long row, as if intended to express some meaning," * Barrow thus describes the ancient bow and arrows of the natives (vol. i., page 99) ; — " These men carried the ancient weapons of their nation, — bows and quivers charged with poisoned arrows. The bow was a plain piece of wood from the guerrie bosch, which is apparently a species of rhus, and sometimes the assagai wood is used for the same purpose. The string, three feet long, was composed of the fibres of the dorsal muscles of the springbok, twisted into a cord. The stem of an aloe furnished the quiver. The arrow consisted of a reed, in one extremity of which was inserted a piece of highly polished solid bone from the leg of an ostrich, round, and about five Laches in length ; the intent of it seemed to be that of giving weight, strength, and easy entrance to this part of the arrow. To the end of the bone was affixed a small sharp piece of iron of the form of an equilateral triangle ; and the same string of sinews that bound this tight to the bone served also to contain the poison between the threads and over the surface, which was applied in the consistence of wax or varnish. The string tied in also at the same time a piece of sharp quUl pointed towards the opposite end of the arrow, which was not only meant to increase the difficulty of drawing it out, but also to rankle and tear the flesh, and to bring the poison more in contact with the blood. The whole length of the arrow was barely two feet. There are several plants in South Africa from which the Hottentots are said to extract their poisons ; but the poison taken from the heads of snakes, mixed with the juices of certain bulboua-rooted plants, is what they mostly 62 The History of the Cape Colony. nm. of a contrary effect. The poor Hottentot bears it with patience or sinks under it ; but on the temper and the turn of the mind of the Bosjesman it has a very different effect. He takes the first opportunity of escaping to his countrymen. With tales of cruelty he excites them to revenge ; he assists them in their plans of attack, tells them the strength of the whole district and of iudividuals." In Observations Relative to the Origin and History of the Bushmen, by Andrew Smith, M.D., M.W.S., &c.,* the Hottentots are stated to have been divided into distinct tribes, each of which was more or less governed by its own laws. Amongst those, one division always held a most conspicuous position, and has ever been proverbial for its troublesome character and universally outrageous con- duct. To this the other tribes, as well as its own mem- bers, applied the name of Saap or Saan. Dr. Smith quotes the Diary of a Journey made by Governor Van der Stell, and a document referred to by Dr. Philip f to prove depend upon." When an animal was killed by a poisoned arrow " they immediately cut away the flesh round the wound, and squeeze out the blood from the carcase, after which they know from experience that the flesh taken into the stomach wiU do them no injury." Sparrman describes the native quivers (vol. i,, page 200) to be two feet long and four inches in diameter, made of the branch of a tree hollowed out, or of the bark of one of the branches, the bottom and cover beiag composed of leather — on the outside bedaubed with nnotaous matter, which grows hard when dry. " Both the quivers I brought with me," he says, " are liued about the aperture with a serpent's skin. Besides a dozen arrows, every quiver contains a slender hone of sandstone for whetting the head, and a brush for putting on the poison, together with a few wooden sticks differing in thickness, but all the same length of the arrows." BurcheU says that the Kerree tree was mostly used for Bushmen's bows, and that their quivers were usually made of soma thick hide, as of the ox or kama, but the natives more towards the West Coast frequently use the branches of the aloe. In European Colonies, by John Hewison, the author says (vol. i., page 264) : "Mr. Eyneveld, the Civil Commissioner of G-raaff-Reinet, informed me that the venom extracted from the body of a large black spider was the kind of poison which the Bushmen esteemed best." * Published in the South African Quarterly Journal, No. ii., p. 171. t Researches in South Africa, vol. i. page 37. 1660J PerfidAj of the Bushmen. 63 that Bushmen tribes existed anterior to the arrival of Europeans, and were not called into existence by the persecutions of the colonists. The little intercourse which they had with each other, and the absence of almost every liind of property, rendered them strangers to the objects of laws, and consequently unconscious of the benefits of a regular government. They had therefore rarely either hereditary or permanently-elected rulers, and few were disposed to acknowledge any superiority except that which physical strength secured. In war or the chase, they unconsciously gave place in the former to the bravest and most dexterous, and in the latter to the most experienced and cunning. They had no established laws by which offences were tried, nor punishments by which aggressions were revenged ; every individual was his own law-giver, and every crime was punished according to the caprice of the sufferer, or the relative position and rela- tions of the implicated parties. This absence of any system rendered punishments very unequal, and extremely disproportionate. It often permitted the greatest injuries to be inflicted with impunity, and others of the most insignificant character to be visited with the most hideous vengeance. They appeared to look upon every stranger as an enemy, and only waiting a favourable opportunity to injure them. The dictates of their own hearts did not lead them to forgive injuries, so that it was only a con- viction or belief of inability that induced them occasion- ally to forego a punishment ; and as they were in the habit of feeling and acting in relation to others, so they naturally fancied others would feel and act in regard to them. Bushmen pertinaciously avoided communication with foreigners. They were deeply versed in deceit, and treacherous in the extreme, being always prepared to effect by guile and perfidy what they otherwise were unable to accomplish. Numberless proofs can be given of the treachery of these savages. A missionary at the Zak Eiver, sitting one sultry evening at his window, was startled by a shower of poisoned arrows shot into the room by a concealed party of Bushmen. The lives of 64 The 'History of the Gape Golony, am. harmless clergymen were never safe, and an unreasoning and deadly animosity to every white man seemed to animate the entire race. If we are to believe the Transactions of the Missionary Society, " they take no great care of their children, and never correct them except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them with severe usage. In a quarrel between father and mother, or the several wives of a husband, the defeated party wreaks his or her revenge on the child of the conqueror, which in general loses its Hfe. Tame Hottentots seldom destroy their offspring, except in a fit of passion ; but the Bushmen will kill their children with- out remorse on various occasions — as when they are Hi-shaped, or when they are in want of food. There are instances of parents throwing their tender offspring to the hungry lion, who stands roaring before their cavern, refus- ing to depart till some peace-offering be made to him."* The Bushmen were brave to an eminent degree ; but revolting cruelty was familiar to them, and revenge one of their ruling passions. Their eager desire for retributioi^ was so great that an innocent man, if he were only of the same nation as the offender, was made to pay the penalty of the crime. Extreme indolence, and a love of animal food incited to constant thefts, which brought down the vengeance of the irritated and impoverished farmers. The larvae of ants and grasshoppers, locusts and roots, served as food when no flesh meat was procurable, while great endurance under the sufferings of hunger was compensated for by brutal gluttony and intemperance when abundance was procurable.t The most rude and * Kioherer in Transactions of the Missionary Society, vol. ii. p. 8. •[• In a diaiy of a journey made by Governor Van der Stall, in 1685, occurs the following passage :— " They were all of them (the natives) very lean and of a slender make, which is the consequence of the great hunger and hardships they suffer. They have no food except the bulbs of plants, tortoises, a sort of large caterpillar and locusts. His Honour the Commander ordered a sheep to be killed and cooked, with which, in addition to rice and bread, they were feasted, and which they con- sumed so greedily that it seemed as if they never would be satiated. 1660J Ethnological Classification of Moitentots. 65 primitive clothing, the meanest superstitions, and the most wretched huts or holes for dwellings, proved that the natives were sunk exceedingly low in the scale of humanity. On the other hand, the strange anomalies of a certain advance in the art of drawing, shown in the caverns they inhabited ; in the possession of a high class of language, evidently Coptic ; and the display of un- looked-for intelligence and fidelity, serve to redeem their character from the unmitigated censure it would otherwise deserve. In the old ethnological classification of Blumenbaeh, the Hottentot races are styled " Ethiopian ;" but Dr. Latham places them under the division " Atlantidse," in the following manner : — A. Negro Atlantidas. B. Kaffre Atlantidas. C. Hottentot Atlantidas. 1. Hottentots. 2. Saabs. 3. Damaras. D. Nilotic Atlantidfe. Gallas, Agons, Nubians, &c. E. Amazirgli Atlantidae. F. Egyptian Atlantidas. G. Semitic Atlantidss. Syrians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Edomites, Jews, Samaritans, Arabs, Oanaanites, &o. Barrow, in his South African Travels* says : — " When we reflect on the Hottentot nation, which, with all its tribes, occupies, as it were, a point only on a great continent — when we consider them as a people differing in so extraordinary a manner from every race of men, not only upon it, but upon the face of the whole globe, the natural formation of their persons, their colour, language, manners, and way of life, being peculiar to themselves — conjecture is at a loss to suggest from whence they could have derived their origin." This writer sees a likeness to the Chinese, and attributes it to the fact that the He then presented them with some brandy, with winch they made themselves merry, and danced, sung, and shouted in a strange manner, so as to resemble a herd of calves which were let loose for the first time from their place of confinement. It was, without doubt, and according to their own acknpwledgment, that this had been the only meny day they had in their lifetime," * Vol. i. p. 238. F 66 The History of the Cape Colomj. [leeo. Egyptians and Chinese were originally one people, and that the Hottentots are descended from the former. Strange as it may seem, many powerful arguments can be adduced in support of the opinion that the Hottentots and Bush- men came from Nilotic lands, and that, driven by enemies, or incited by other causes, they migrated from a northern portion of the continent to its most southern shores. Barrow seems confident that the Bosjesmans or Bushmen were the Pigmies and Troglodytes who are said to have dwelt in the neighbourhood of the Nile, and quotes the character of some Ethiopian nations described by Diodorus Siculus, as agreeing exactly with theirs. The special points of likeness, according to this writer, are a gross brutality which prevailed in all their manners and customs; shrill, dissonant voices, scarcely human; language almost inarticulate ; and wearing no sort of clothing. Be- sides, the Ethiopian soldiers, when in battle, stuck poisoned arrows within a fillet bound round the head, and the Bushmen did exactly the same, for the double purpose of expeditious shooting, and of striking terror into the minds of their enemies. There can be no doubt that the Hottentot language belongs to the same family as the Coptic, the old Egyptic, and the Ethiopie, and we have the assurance of Dr. Bleek that the first-named preserves best the original structure of these languages. Of ,the Hottentot species there are said to be four distinct dialects, called the Nama, Cora, Gonah, and Cape — the first of which, still spoken in Namaqualand, is the purest.* The Bushman language * lu Sir George Grey's Library, Cape Town, interesting Hottentot vocabularies can be referred to in The Life of Ludolf, by Joncker, and Leibnitz's Gollecianea JSti/mohc/ica. On the Hottentot language are a Orammar and Vocabulary, by Henry Tindall ; the Rev. J. C. Walhnan's Hottentot Orammar ; the Library of His Excellency Sir George Ch-ey ; Philology, by W. H. I. Bleek ; and articles on South African philology in the Cape Monthly Magazine, by this writer. A valuable Hottentot vocabulary was sent to Holland from the Cape in 1664, which is referred to in the following terms by Governor Wagenaar, in a despatch to the Council of Seventeen : — " In the year 1659 there came hither as a volunteer a certain student, a native of Brunswick, 16600 Language of the Hottentots. 67 differs mainly from the Hottentot by possessing more clacks and nasal peculiarities. There is very good authority for saying that the Kafirs borrowed many of their customs, and the particular clicks in their language, from the Hottentots ; and Dr. Bleek is convinced that the Hottentots extended formerly far more to the north-east than we have any evidence of. Kafir aggression drove this people to the position in which Van Eiebeek and the Dutch settlers found them, so it must be remembered that, when they fell into a Dutch Charybdis, they only did so in trying to escape a Kafir Scylla. All the languages south of the Line, except that of the Hottentots and Bushmen, are now acknowledged to belong to the " Bantu" family, while, in some respects, a curious analogy can be drawn between the manners and customs of the Hottentots and those of North African nations. In opposition to the practice of the Kafirs and other South African tribes, the use of bows and arrows has always markedly distinguished the Hottentots, and we know that in Egypt and other North African countries the bow was constantly used in warfare. Kolben positively states that the Hottentots used to worship the moon, and the custom of refusing to eat pork and such fish as have no scales, as well as the habit of serving the parents-in-law for their named Georgius Fredeiickus Wreede, who having, from the date of his arrival here, had a great desire to acquire the language of these Hot- tentoos, has dUigently studied the same, and has now advanced so far that he has not only occasionally done good service to the Company with interpretation, but has now succeeded in committing to paper a vocabulary, or compendium, as he calls it, of the Dutch and Ottentoo languages, which latter he, for the present, expresses by Greek characters." The Chamber of Seventeen, iu reply, acknowledge the receipt of the vocabulary, and state that they had resolved to print it> Mr. Moodie, when compiling the Record of Cape Proclamations, &c., could find no trace of it, and in 1857 the Government of Holland, upon an application from Sir George Grey, through Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, made an unavailing search for it in their archives. 1868. — The Colonial Parliament has just authorised £100 to be paid to Br. Bleek to enable him to continue his great work, F 2 68 The History of the Cape Colony. aeso. wives, as Jacob did for Leah and Eachel, are all adduced, as arguments in favour of their North African origin.* We have already seen that, in Dr. Latham's ethnological classification, the Hottentot race is ranked under the same great division with the Nilotic and Egpytian Atlantidae ; so there seems good reason to conclude that the compara- tively puny tribes whom the Dutch settlers supposed to be aborigines of Southern Africa were merely refugees driven from their ancient homes in the north of the continent by means of wars and persecutions lasting throughout cen- turies. No records are preserved, either in songs or tradition, which can throw any light upon the events which occurred previous to the arrival of Europeans in South Africa, and the poor fragments of history which have been gathered from themselves are of a legendary character and refer to a comparatively recent period. Messrs. Arbousset and Daumas (French missionaries) allude to a Hottentot named Hemto, who informed them that some eight generations back there dwelt at the Cape a chief called Kora, whose name was conferred on a tribe (Korannas). According to tradition, the Eui'opeans be- sought Kora to give them as much land as they could sur- round with an ox-hide cut into thongs. This was granted, but soon the strangers began to encroach, and war Avas the consequence. Kora died young, and had Eikomo as a successor. This latter chief could not long resist, and was -:= Tlio reason tlie Hottentot men do not eat liares is stated as follows in Knudsen's Gross Naiiiaqualaiul fBarnien, 1848), quoted by Dr. Bleek: — " Tlie moon dies, and rises to life again. Tlic raoon said to the hare, ' Go thou to the men and tell them — Lilve as I die and rise to life again, so you sliall die also and rise to life again.' The hare went to the men and said, ' Like as I die and do not rise to life again, so you shall also die and not rise to life again.' When lie i-eturned the moon asked him, ' What hast thou said ?' ' I have told them, like as I die and do hot rise to life again, so you shall also die and not rise to life again.' ' What !' said the moon, ' hast thou said that ?' And he took a stick and beat him on his mouth, which by the blow got slit. The hare fled, and is still fleeing.'' " We are now angry with the hare," say the old Namaquaa, " because he brought so bad a message, and therefore we disdain to eat his flesh ." 1660.] A Strange Monster. 69 ultimately driven bact to the Eiver Braak. Proceeding further north, he arrived among a numerous tribe of Hottentots wandering on the banks of the Orange Eiver, and called Baroas (Bushmen). He entered into a treaty with them, settled in their country, and was succeeded by Kuebib, Kongap, Kuenonkeip, Makabute, and Kaup. Visions of El Dorado, and fanciful conjectures relative to lands where gold and ivory were abundant, filled the minds of the early colonists, and a spirit of adventure constantly incited them to send exploring parties into the interior. Jan Duckert and others set out in 1660, across the Berg and Olifants Eiver, with the intention of proceed- ing to " Monomatapa." They probably only reached Namaqualand, and must have been thoroughly disap- pointed with their South African travels. An Emperor of the Hottentot race, living in the far interior, was more than once referred to by the natives ; and the customs and manners of the savages, as well as the nature of the country, were investigated by several explorers. Among these travellers was Pieter Meerhoff, an under surgeon of the Company, who on one occasion was surprised by the apparition of a " monsterouse vis." He says, " I took my gun and went a little way down the river to shoot a bird, and I saw a living monster in the water with three heads like cats' heads, and three long tails."* On the 19th May, 1660, a large French ship, named Le Marischal, bound to the Bay of St. Augustin, in Mada- gascar, was driven from her anchorage in Table Bay, and wrecked at the mouth of the Salt Eiver. The passengers consisted of a Governor, a Bishop, and their attendants, all of whom were subjected to the ignominy of being made prisoners. While the vessel lay a wreck, and the Eoman Catholic Bishop was still on board. Van Eiebeek caused a proclamation to be read declaring that no divine worship * This Jan MeerliofF afterwards married Eva, the interpreter. There is a Bushman superstition (Moodie says, page 831) that many of their race are devoured by an amphibious animal with three legs. 70 The History of tlie Gape Colony. [leeo. except that of the Dutch Eeformed Church was to be permitted. As the Commander had frequently declared his wish to be removed, Mr. Gerrit Van Horn was appointed his successor. This officer, however, died on his voyage to the settlement, and on the 18th of June the vessel in which he had left Holland entered Table Bay. In a despatch from the Government, addressed to Van Horn, a reference is made to his desire to found a city, which is looked upon as an absurd 'and chimerical idea, to be at once abandoned. The "free burghers," constantly smarting under the restrictive regulations of the Company, consisted of an inferior class of men, including discharged sailors and soldiers, as well as wanderers from Germany, Denmark, Portugal, and Flanders, who were always prone to discon- tent, and proved a perpetual source of trouble and annoyance. Van Eiebeek having forwarded to the Govern- ment a petition from these men, for redress of grievance, was infonned in reply that he ought to have torn it up in their presence, as it was full of sedition and mutiny. By this time the number of burghers had considerably increased. In 1657, under instructions from Commis- sioner Van Gous, nine soldiers, sailors, and labourers of the Company had been released from their engagements, and given land to cultivate apart from the Government farms. Seed and implements were sold to them on credit, and certain specific conditions were made, which provided that after three years they should be put in possession of all the land that they had cultivated, forbade any traffic with the natives, and ordered that all purchases should be made from the Government at fixed prices. Stock and produce were to be disposed of to the Company, and one-tenth of the increase was to accrue to it. After the fruit and vegetables in the Government Garden had been disposed of, burghers might then sell to crews of Dutch ships, but not to those of foreigners. " On all which con- ditions," the contract states, " their freedom hath been granted." In 1658 the freemen were fourteen in number, 1663.] Character of Van Biebeelc, 71 and then earnestly begged to be permitted to enjoy the fruit of their industry, as "they did not become free in order to be the Company's slaves." On the 9th of April, 1662, Van Eiebeek • states, in a despatch to Government, that " the prices have seemed to you excessive." It is, therefore, clear, that they were fixed by the colonial authorities. As time rolled on, so did Burgher dis- satisfaction increase, and we shall soon find it assuming such proportions as to threaten to burst the bonds of monopoly and repression. Zacharias van Wagenaar, who had been appointed Commander, having at last arrived. Van Eiebeek was able to leave the colony for Batavia, with his wife and family, early in the year 1662. The character of this Governor has been both extravagantly praised and unjustly censured. He was an energetic and laborious man, who attended assiduously to the interests of his masters. Neither cruel nor revengeful to the natives, simply because it was impolitic to be so, and his instructions imperatively ordered him to pursue a different course, he was, at the same time, of opinion that the most troublesome Hottentot tribes should be made slaves and sent out of the country, and he strongly recommended the seizure of all their cattle. He. was neither liberal nor enlightened, fixed prices of articles at rates which even the Company considered excessive, and was easily persuaded to favour chimerical schemes. Patience, forbearance, and perseverance, however, are all distinguishable in his successful efforts to found a settlement ; and the Dutch East India Company pos- sessed in Van Eiebeek a most indefatigable and faithful officer.* * During his term of office Van Riebeek obtaiaed a grant of ground described at its sale in 1665 as " 101 morgan of cultivated land under the Bosohheuvel." This was within a few miles of Cape Town. Various assertions have been made with regard to a purchase of land fcom the natives by Van Eiebeek, but they are all without foundation. Van Riebeek's son eventually became Governor- General of the Dutch Indian possessions. 72 The History of the Gape Colony. [ie62. The new Cominander (Van Wagenaar) was formally installed on the 6th May, 1662, and had the satisfaction of being able to report that the Settlement was at perfect peace with the Hottentots and that he had heard of no thefts. This officer represents the free men as " lazy, drunken fellows, who care as little for their Dutch servants as for beasts," and observes " that they attempt in every way to undermine the Company in their cattle trade." As he found the windows of the Port only protected by cotton cloth, he begs for a supply of glass and lead, and some time subsequently has to ask for earthenware dishes, &c., as "he is ashamed that passengers should see the garrison and the greater part of the farmers eating without spoons." The loss of the island of St. Helena by the Dutch rendered the Cape a more valuable possession, and its retention was now absolutely necessary for the purposes of Eastern trade. In 1663,* the yearly Dutch fleet, to which Van Wagenaar was ordered " to give contentment," comprised fourteen ships and two thousand three hundred men, exclusive of women and children. At this time the Company's land produced 545 muids of wheat per annum, and the free men were able to raise 99 muids. The yearly expenditure amounted to /38,773 and the revenue to /32,000. It was frequently difficult to obtain sheep and cattle from the natives by barter, and the records of the early history of the Colony are full of uninteresting accounts of purchasing and bargaining. A petty huxtering system of trade had necessarily to be carried on, and the Hotten- tots, when they perceived how desirous the settlers were to obtain cattle, raised their prices considerably. At last, in 1664, the "unreasonable demand" was made for a cow of " a piece of tobacco long eupugh to reach from the point * A strange outrage is recorded to have been committed by a Dutch captain on an English crew on the 1st January, 1663. In order to make these men confess where certain supposed treasures lay con- cealed, lighted matches were placed between theif fingers, and other tortures resorted to, 1686.] •Condition of tlw Free Burgh&rs. 73 of the cow's tail over the hack to the horns, and the game proportion for sheep." Gn Sunday, 6th January, 1664, "the Lord's Day ended in the usual manner, hut, not- withstanding, we had to traffic with these heathens for only two sheep." In considering the subject of the Hottentot language, a reference has already been made to a native vocabulary reduced to writing in the Greek character by a volunteer named Wreede.* Encouragement was given to this man by the Government, and they showed some disposition to improve the condition of the natives. Wagenaar's regu- lations regarding the school provided that half a dollar per month should be paid to the teacher for each ten instructed, and that two children by Hottentot women should be taught pro Deo. As there was only one chaplain in the Settlement, and the office sometimes remained vacant, it can be imagined that no missionary effort of any consequence was attempted ; and in this respect the Dutch settlers, as well as the Home Govern- ment, appear to have been thoroughly indifferent. The Company certainly desired that the natives should not be ill-used, and several of their officers expressed a hope that many of the Hottentots might be converted, but no effec- tive effort was ever made to attain that object. The heathen were left to sit in darkness, and to learn only the vices of civilization. The free burghers were continually grumbling and giving trouble. Having complained to the Commissioner Overt- water that they had to pay very high wages to their ser- vants, the price of corn was raised to satisfy them. They were always poor and dissatisfied. Van Wagenaar, writing of them in 1666, says : — " Many have ceased to work, and have implored to be received back into the Company's service, or at least to be pernlttted to earn their subsistence in some other way, or to set up shops near the fort, to =:= Wreede misbehaved himself, and was consequently sent to Mauri- tius, but afterwards letumed, and was appointed to the charge of the Saldanha Bay fort. 74 The History of tlie Gape Colony. ami. retail brandy to the garrison or ships' crews." Of the worst characters he remarks : — " In the event of a hostile attack they would be the first to go over to the enemy, and to assist them ; aye, there be among them some who have long since wished and prayed that the English fleet might but come hither to convey them from this ' devU's land' (as they call it) to some other place." These men are styled " lazy and worthless" rogues. Three of them were sent to Mauritius, and it was probably some of this class of people who were sentenced by the Court of Justice to pay forty guilders and forty reals for stealing a cow be- longing to the Hottentots, which the Company had to replace. As the female population was not sufficient, a number of respectable young females were sent out from Holland to be married. Wagenaar was quite as tired of his government as Van Biebeek had been, and earnestly desired to be relieved. In one despatch he asks for two bells to enliven the farmers " in this lonely place," and his melancholy was increased by the death of his wife while residing at the Cape. Traffic in slaves had commenced. On the 8th October, 1664, the Lion, of 124 tons, arrived from Madagascar with a cargo of blacks, who are described as all sitting naked on board ship. The captain wanted no less than ^50 for each " of his lean slaves," and afterwards would not sell. Instructions having been given to Commissioner Isbrand Goske to build a new fort at a distance of sixty roods from the old one, that officer arrived at the Cape during the year 1665, and took precedence of Van Wage- naar. This year was further signalized by an unsuc- cessful attempt to surprise and capture an English man-of-war, named the King Charles, then lying in Table Bay.* * Wild animals abounded at this time. The cattle of the Company were often destroyed by them, and " furious and terrible lions" are frequently mentioned. Small-pox and measles were epidemic in 1663 and 1665. 1670.] Policy of the Dutch Hast India Company. 75 As Van Wagenaar could not be induced to remain by offers of an increase of salary, Cornelis van Quaelberg was at last appointed his successor. This officer reached the Colony in the ship Dordrecht, and his first proclama- tion, dated 20th January, 1667, strictly forbids anyone with malice prepense striking or beating any native. His hospitality and civility to a French officer of high rank, homeward bound, proved extremely distasteful to the Company. In a despatch from the Chamber of Seventeen, they express the greatest dissatisfaction that, independent of the kind reception given, Quaelberg should have quitted his post in the fort to welcome the Admiral, in direct opposition to military law, besides supplying him with all necessaries. Water is to be given to Europeans, but as " little refreshment as possible." The Company also found fault with the Commander for keeping too large a garrison and not charging more for provisions — ordered him at once to leave the Cape for Batavia, and appointed Jacob Borghorst his successor. This last-named officer reached Table Bay on the 16th of January, 1668, after a voyage of five months and nine- teen days. The new Commander found that the cattle trade with the Hottentots had much declined, and some time after his arrival received strict instructions that the garrison at the fort was not to comprise more than 187 men. The early records of the Colony are full of petty details, which, although of little interest, are occasionally useful in so far as they show the rigid and uniform policy which was carried out. The poor little settlement was cramped and fettered in every direction, and the motto of its rulers seemed to be that everything was to conduce to the pecuniary profit of the Company. In spite, however, of the narrow polity on which its system of domestic government was based, a spirit of discovery and enter- prise is always discernible. Several expeditions set out at various times to explore the interior and the coast. The Qrundel, hooker, was sent 76 The Histm-y of tlie Coupe Colony. [i670. by Commander Hackius in 1670, in a northerly direction, and afterwards went to the eastward. At the bay of " Os Medos de Oura," seventeen men, who had been dispatched in search of firewood and water, were left behind ; and on this voyage Kafirs were met with, who are described " as men of good disposition." The Flying Swan went in search of the lost sailors, but was, unfortunately, unable to find them. So far back as 1662, a party, under the command of Sergeant de la Guerre, sought for the Orange Eiver, which was then styled " Vigita Magna ;" and Corporal Cruise, with fifteen men, went to the east coast in 1668. Algoa Bay was first visited by the Dutch in 1669. In this last-mentioned year orders were received by Borghorst to take possession of Saldanha Bay, in consequence of the French having erected a column there on which their arms were inscribed. The Council of Seventeen being under the impression that valuable minerals might be obtained at the Cape, sent out several miners to search for the precious metals. We shall see that, at a subsequent period, futile efforts were again made in this direction. Pieter Hackius was appointed Commander in 1670, and was ordered to plant brushwood and trees for fuel. During this year the Dutch Eastern fleet had 4,000 men on board, and, at its departure, left 807 oxen and 6,182 sheep. Commander Hackius having died, Isbrand Goske was appointed as Governor of the Cape of Good Hope in the year 1672, and the building of the new Fort was commenced.* No purchase of land had yet been made from the natives, but in 1672, Commissioner van Overbeek was of opinion that, " for the prevention of much future cavil- ling," an agreement ought to be entered into with some Hottentots whereby they should declare the Dutch to be the rightful and lawful possessors of the Cape district and * The new Castle was placed sixty roods to the east of the old Port, which thus must have stood near the east end of the Grand Parade The site, in " the sink of Table Bay," was an exceedingly bad one^ commanded by the surrounding heights. 16720 Sale of Land by tlie Hotimtois. 7t its dependencies, in consideration of a specified sum of money. Such a contract was soon entered into with the Captain Manckhagou, alias Schacher, as Hereditary Sovereign (Erf Heer) of the lands. This Prince delivered over the whole district of the Cape of Good Hope, from Lion's Hill to Saldanha Bay inclusive, with dependencies, for 4,000 reals of eight paid in merchandize, and the Dutch agreed to allow him and his herds to come and go without hindrance near to the outermost farms of the district. Prince Schacher also specially undertook to assist in driving away any European invader. The deed is signed with the marks of Schacher and T. Tachouw, a Hottentot chief, and by Van Overbeek and Van Brengel, Dutch Commissioners. As the value paid was only nominal, this transaction must be looked upon as a sop to the Cerberus of European criticism as well as the foundation of a legal claim to the land against all comers. Van Eiebeek considered that the territory near the Fort had' been lawfully conquered in defensive war, and the settlers who landed with him never dreamt of purchasing land from savages.* Governor Isbrand Goske, on the 10th of May, 1673, refers to the contract just alluded to, and also to a separate one concerning Hottentots Holland, purchased from its lawful Sovereign, Prince Dhour.t =:■■ See Moodie's Records. f It is interesting to refer to some of the punishments iniiicted upon offenders. Tliuintje Van Warden, tlie wife of a burglier, having been convicted of evil speaking against other women, was sentenced to retract the slander, ask forgiveness, be bound to a post for one hour, and then suffer banishment for six weeks to Robben Island. A few years after- wards, two soldiers were flogged and sent to work in irons during four months for stealing a few vegetables, wliich was declared " to be an offence tending to the ruin of this growing Colony.' On the 10th January, 1072, the gibbet " upon which the female Hottentoo was recently hanged" had fallen down. " The said Hottentoo was again suspended on the gibbet for the satisfaction of justice;" A Hottentot woman having hanged herself, it is related that " on the body falling to the ground it was found that Satan had already taken possession of her brutal soul." The body was subsequently gibbeted " for the fowls of the air to devour." 78 The History of the Ccvpe Colony. iim. On the 9th of September, 1673, almost all the Com- pany's working oxen were drowned in the quicksands at the mouth of the Salt Eiver, and on the 4th of October of this year the fluyt Zoetendaal was lost near L'Agulhas. The shipwrecked crew underwent the most frightful priva- tions, and were reduced to eat grass and a drowned horse to sustain existence. About this time a Hollander named Ten Ehyne published a description of the Cape and the country of the Hottentots, which conveyed some idea of this terra Incognita to his countrymen. CHAPTER IV. Numerous Hacaats — "Positive Orders" — Building of the Castle — Governor Goske, Commander Crndax — Statistics — War with the Trihes under Gonnema — ^Dutoh Native Policy — Attempt to form a Settlement at Natal — Description of the Country — Arrival of the elder Van der Stell-— Foundation of Stellenbosch — Account of a Shipwreck by a Siamese Mandarin — ^Father Taohard's Expeditions- War between Holland and France — Narrative of the Capture of French Ships of War in Table Bay. If the possession of a cumbrous Statute Law were any sign of advanced civilization, we should be apt to suppose that the Cape progressed admirably. Van Eiebeek issued no fewer than seventy-five placaats or proclamations having the force of law, and his successors followed this example, while Commissioners continually left lengthy memoranda of instructions for the guidance of the Com- ma'nders at the Cape.* The confusion which naturally followed had become so great, that when Goske visited the Colony as a Commissioner, in 1671, he found it necessary to direct the formation of the " Positive Orders," a volume containing an alphabetical digest of all the instructions issued since the foundation of the Colony. The general tenor of these commands from the Home Government, whether issued in despatches or expressed by memoranda from Commissioners, earnestly desired that every endea- vour should be used to make the settlement as little burdensome to the Company as possible,t and also urged the encouragement of agriculture, and the treatment of the natives with forbearance, so as to avoid hostilities. The placaats of the Commanders in the Colony were of course echoes of the instructions received from home* ^= The numerous and conflicting orders of these Commissioners made it apparent that their interference was more injurious than useful.— (See these Memoranda, in extenso, in Hoodie's Records.) \ From 165D to 1681, the Cape Settlement cost the Company /1,005,207 14 10, after deduction of all the profits. The expenses of the shipping only amounted to/451,971 14 9, 80 The Histoi'y of the Cape Colony, ti67o. Prices were fixed and arbitrary regulations made, for the profit and gain of the Company ; stringent laws against trading with the Hottentots and planting tobacco were continually fulminated, and anything tending to provoke native animosity was sharply reprehended and punished. The administration of justice was one of the chief duties of the Commander, and the thievish propensities of both Hottentots and settlers furnished him abundant occupa- tion. Prom the memorandum left by Wagenaar, for the information of Van Quaelberg, it would appear that the Court of Justice, with whom the Commander occasionally decided such civil and criminal cases as were brought before him, consisted of " the Merchant and second in command (who had also charge of the money-chest, account-books, and storehouse), the Lieutenant, the Fiscal (C. de Cretser*), the Ensign, and the Junior Merchant." A record of decisions in criminal cases has been preserved, and although many of the sentences appear extremely severe, it must be remembered that they were in accor- dance with the spirit of the times, and inflicted among a community of an exceptive and peculiar character. A few of the punishments may now be quoted, as illus- trative of the manner in which justice was administered. 1672. — Feb. 11. — Four of Captain Gonnema's Hottentots, for assault and robbery of sheep. Sentence— first, second, and third prisoners to be flogged, branded, and banished to Eobben Island in chains for fifteen years ; fourth and fifth prisoners to be flogged, and banished for seven years. (Prisoners escaped to the main land on the 4th January, 1673.) Three soldiers, found guilty of violent assault with swords, and of prison-breaking, were condemned as follows : — First prisoner to be thrice flogged at the gallows,, sword to be broken at his feet, dismissed from the service, and to work six years in chains. No. 2, one hundred lashes, and one and a half years in chains. ^' This ]?iscal committed liomioicle, and fled from the colony. A despatch from the Chamber of Seventeea to Governor Goske, dated aSth September, 1073, states that " the Merchant Cornelis de Cretser was captured by the Turksj and is still a slave at Algiers." 1670.] Punishment of Orime. 81 No. 3, fifty lashes, one jeat in chains. Each to forfeit six months pay, profisco. On the 17th August, 1672, J. Jans, freeman, having been found guilty of picking the pockets of a drunken man, was sentenced to have his property confiscated, to be flogged, and to work in chains for three years. It is mentioned in aggravation that the prisoner not only got drunk himself, but intoxicated the dogs and pigs also, with sugar and eggs mixed with wine. Four soldiers, for inciting others to mutiny, and to demand a greater allowance of food, were sentenced as follows : — Two of the prisoners to be hanged, and the other two flogged, and to labour in chains for twenty-five years,— life or death to be decided by drawing lots. September 22, 1673. — Tryntje Theunissen, free woman, H. Cornel- lissen, and Jan Theunissen, her late servants, for concealing in her herd, and slaughtering two cows, apparently belonging to some of the Hottentots, sentenced as follows : — The first prisoner to be bound to a post at the place of execution, with a halter round her neck, and a cowhide above her head, to be severely flogged, branded, and confined on Eobben Island for twelve years, to make good the stolen cattle, and to forfeit all her property. The other prisoners to be flogged, a cow's hide suspended over their heads, to be placed in chains* at public works for six years, and to forfeit all their property. Three slaves, for desertion, and inciting others thereto (in hopes of reaching Angola, " not from want of proper support, but in hopes of having an easier life there"), sentenced to be severely flogged, their ears cut off, to be branded on the back and cheeks, and work for life in chains. On June 21, 1675, Aran, a slave, for killing a Hottentot accidentally, by discharging a gun which he did not know was loaded, sentenced to be flogged, branded, and to work ia chains for life, "with expenses." Two slaves, for stealing vege- tables, were placed in a pillory, with cabbages overhead, flogged, and afterwards branded, their ears cut off, and * The female cattle-stealer was relieved from the branding and the halter round her neck, and one of her servants from the flogging. G 82 The History of the Gape Colony. [i6*o. then placed in chains for life. On the 14th September, 1678, four Hottentots were condemned to be hanged for various robberies from cattle herds ; and in May following a sailor was executed for stealing horses and endeavouring to desert.* Isbrand Goske had not been appointed " Commander," but " Governor,"t and drew pay at the advanced rate of /200 per month, and /1 00 additional, "in consideration of the trouble of building the new Portress." The defence of the Cape was considered a matter of great consequence, and the following is a brief resume of what was done with a view to provide for it. Mr. Albrecht van Breugel,! who had been appointed to act till the arrival of Goske, reports to the Chamber of Seventeen, on the 19th April, 1672: — " With regard to your Honors' directions relative to the yeomanry and their exercise under arms, a company of ninety-three fine, active fellows, very adroit in the management of their weapons, were reviewed within the Fort." The erection of the Castle occupied several years, and serious doubts about the advisability of proceeding with it were for some time entertained. On the 20th November, 1667, the Chamber of Seventeen informed Commander Borghorst and Council, that they had fully considered all the arguments in favour of completing the Fortress that had been commenced, but could not as yet yield their consent. The plan of the Castle had been first received by the ship Madenhlinic, so far back as 24th December, 1664, and on the 8th June following " it was marked out in five great points or bulvi'arks encircling the ■•!• Commissioner Van Goens, writing on the 20th Maroli, 1681. says : • — " You prooeed too readily to infamous punislimonts. It appears to liave grown into a practice to pay little attention to formalities and indispensable proofs." ■f- His successor, J. Bax van Herentals, was also appointed " Governor," but Simon van cier Stell was sent out merely as " Com- mander." I " 1073. Maroli 23.— Arrived, Mr. Albert van Breugel, appointed second in command, and to command until the arrival of Governor Goske," Coenraad van Breitenbagb administered the Government for a short time prtviously. 1670J Building of the Oastte, 83 Fort." On August 26th, the Council, after much delibera- tion, resolved that " the new Eoyal Portress" should be placed about sixty roods to the eastward of the Fort. Delay was caused by the hesitation just referred to ; but this having been overcome. Governor Goske so vigorously advanced operations, that in consideration of this service he was rewarded by being relieved from his duties at his own urgent request.* Johan Bax van Herentals, com- mander at Gale, became Goske's successor at the Cape, and completed the work. It was, however, soon perceived to be almost useless, as it was commanded by the adjacent heights. We subsequently find Commissioner van Goens stating, in his memorandum to Van der Stell : — "As to the Castle, we have important reasons for silence — the thing is done, and is irreparable." In the memorandum of instructions left by Goske for the information of his successor, he states that agriculture had daily retrograded during the whole of his residence at the Cape (three and a half years), and, notwithstanding every exertion, was little cared for by the inhabitants. The reoccupation of Saldanha Bay, as ordered by the Directors, is stated to have been postponed in consequence of the men having been much wanted to build the new Castle. Com- missioner N. Verburg's memorandum, dated 15th March, 1676, animadverts upon " the mode in which successive commanders and others had from time to time buUt one thing or the other, each according to his own whim and fancy," and remarks that " now so complete a Castle is in progress this system must be put a stop to." Eefer- ence is made to' the fact that no permanent schools had as yet been established, and Jan Wittebol, " a person of competent qualifications and good character," is appointed teacher. Verburg concludes by saying : — " The strength of the garrison is now 200 soldiers, besides about 150, consisting of officers, clerks, tradesmen, sailors, &c., over whom are three commissioned officers — a captain, a lieutenant, and an ensign. This number we conceive * Despatcb dated 3rd November, 1674. G 2 84 The History of the Cape Colony. 0676. sufficient for the present defence of this place, as they may be always increased in time of need from the passing ships." Johan or Joan Bax van Herentals, who succeeded Governor G-oske early in the year 1676, died at the Cape on the 29th June, 1678, to " the great grief of the freemen and the whole puhlic."* It is worth noticing that a drought which occurred in 1676 was so severe that the crops partially failed, while " the barrenness of the pasture in every quarter caused a great mortality among the Company's cattle, as well as those of the freemen." A despatch from Holland, dated 16th May, 1676, approves of some farmers having been induced to settle at Hotten- tots Holland, on fourteen years' loan, and trusts that their industry will entitle them to look forward to obtaining freehold titles. The advancement of agriculture, and the reduction of expenditure, is, as usual, specially dwelt upon. The Directors, with good reason, desired that corn should be cultivated in large quantities, as rice had to be sent from Batavia to the Cape; and it never seemed that adequate exertions were made by the freemen to raise sufficient crops for the use of the Settlement. Governor Bax van Herentals, on March 23, 1677, issued a proclama- tion, earnestly urging the farmers to energetic efforts, as the Directors had said in distinct terms "that the country cannot be called a colony which is not able to produce its own corn." The constant search for minerals had been rewarded by the discovery of a mine at the " Lion's Head," close to Cape Town ; but in 1677 operations were discontinued in consequence of the yield being only 6 to 12 per cent, of silver. Hendrik Crudop or Crudax,-f- the second in command, * A despatch (28th September, 1675) received iu 167fi, approved of the establishment of a board of Orphan Masters, Governor Goske having (20th May, 1674) brought to notice the frequency of re-marriage without provision being made for children. In Hall's Chronology the date of the establishment of this Orphan Chamber is erroneously given as 1673. \ It is often difSoult to find out the correct spelling of proper names. Moodie's Records, Judge Watermeyer, and others, by no means agree. 16790 State of Agricultv/re, 85 was nominated provisional Commander-in-Chief by Governor Bax van Herentals, previous to his death in June, 1678, and held office merely till the arrival of a successor. In a despatch from the Council of the Cape of Good Hope to the Chamber of Seventeen, dated 18th April, 1679, the following statistical intelligence is conveyed : — " The Cape burghers now consist of 62 families, comprising 83 free males, 55 women, 117 Dutch or mixed children, 30 Dutch servants, and 191 slaves of both sexes ; in all 486. Even in a favourable season, the crops will barely meet the annual consumption, and the grain besides does not go so far as rice in feeding the slaves," Moodie, in his Eecords, remarks that although agricultural failures were always attributed to the farmers, it does not seem that want of industry was the only obstacle to success, and instances a resolution, dated 27th November, 1679, in which it is determined "to assist some of the poorer farmers with oxen no longer on credit, or incumbered with any servitude of restitution, but in full property, jprmided that they be bound to pay the Company, previous to delivery, 24 guilders for each head. The cattle thus sold in full property, were not to be sold, killed, nor exchanged without express leave, and were to bear the Company's mark, and to be only used in agriculture, on pain of arbitrary correction. Among the Hottentot tribes, quarrels and dissensions continually prevailed, and for several years the Chief Gonnema, with his allies, carried on an annoying war against the colonists. It is to this war we must now direct attention. So far back as 1671 the settlers had reason to complain, and Acting Commander Van Breugel, writing to the Chamber of Seventeen (19th April, 1672), states that " some of our native neighbours, namely, those under the Chief Gonnema, about eight months ago, cruelly massacred two of our burghers. Others of the said barbarians ventured, some three or four months ago, to attack a shepherd who was attending his flock, about an hour's distance from this fort, and to rob him of all he had." A declaration made by three Dutchmen, dated 86 The Elstorij of the Oaj^e Golony. [ig74. 12tli November, 1672, states that having been licensed by- Governor Goske to shoot sea-cows, they proceeded to Berg Eiver, where Captain Gonnema, with thirty or forty Hottentots, robbed them of rice, tackling, powder, lead, knives, and tobacco, and threatened at the same time to take their lives if they spoke a word. Several other outrages were committed, and at last eight burghers having been surrounded and besieged on a point of land, so that they were in danger of perishing by hunger. Governor Goske considered it absolutely necessary to send out an armed force of thirty-six men, under Ensign Cruse, to deliver those people, and to take revenge upon Gonnema.* On the 14th July, 1673, the Bridegroom arrived from Saldanha Bay, bringing news that a corporal, a soldier, and two freemen had been murdered when bartering for sheep, and this intelligence effectually roused the Governor, who immediately sent eighteen mounted men to reinforce Cruse, and issued instructions that Gonnema's tribe should be entirely ruined and no males spared. As might have been expected, the Hot- tentots fled ; but 800 horned cattle and 900 sheep were secured. On the 20th of August, four of Gonnema's people who had been captured by the Dutch allies were brought to the fort by Captains Schacher and Cuyper, and were, given up to the tender mercies of their captors, who rushed upon them, calling out, "Beat the dogs to death," and, suiting their actions to these words, struck them with sticks until they expired. Governor Goske thus refers to another armed expedition sent out against the Gonnemas in March, 1674 : — " We therefore sent out fifty soldiers, and fully as many burghers, under the command of our ensign, accompanied by about 250 Hottentots, who attacked him, and so handled him that, to all appearance, he will not think of coming in this direction, or of annoying the burghers. None of our people were killed or wounded ; the greater part of the * The resolution of Council is dated 11th. July, 1673. Ensign Cruse and his party arrived too late. The eight burghers had been killed. Some remains of their clothes and other articles were found. 1677.] War with the Hottentots. 87 enemy's cattle, being fully 800 horned cattle and about 4,000 sheep, old and young, were taken as booty." In November, 1675, Gonnema attacked the Cape Hot- tentots (allies of the settlers), killed several of them, and carried off a large number of cattle. A party of horse and foot was shortly afterwards sent out by the Governor ; but, as usual, the pursuit of the enemy was unsuccessful. In March, 1676, under the rule of Bax van Herentals, three freemen were killed by a kraal of " Sonquas," who were known to be friends and dependents of the Gonnema tribe. His Excellency then proposed that this mischievous and hereditary enemy should be sought for without delay, and sent out an armed force imder Lieut. Cruse. Other attempts were made subsequently ; but none of them were crowned with complete success. The result of each expe- dition was that cattle and sheep were seized, and a few of the enemy killed. At last, in a despatch dated 14th March, 1677, Governor Bax van Herentals states it as his opinion that it would be well to "induce Gonnema's people to come to us themselves to pray for peace, as we conceive that we have now exacted sufficient revenge." On the 3rd of June, 1677, ambassadors from Gonnema stated at the Fort that this chief and his allies were in- clined to enter into a treaty of peace, and on the 25th of the same month articles were agreed to which included stipulations that Gonnema and Oedasoa, his ally, should request pardon of the Company, and pay a tribute of thirty horned cattle yearly. The entry in the journal, made on the day following (the 26th June), states that there is no reliance to be placed on the fidelity of those savage Africans, so that the subsequent partial and irregular payments of the cattle-fine must have created no surprise. The subject of the relations of the Dutch Government with the native tribes is one of importance, and has been viewed in far from an impartial manner by several writers. For instance, in Montgomery Martin's large work on the British Colonies,* Van Eiebeek's conduct to * Vol. iv., book 1. Cape of Good Hope, 88 The History of the Cwpe Colony. [i670. the natives is denounced in a manner certainly not justi- fied by the evidence ; and Dr. Philip has the amazing hardihood to say "that all the records of the Colony, during the first fifty years of the Dutch occupation, agree in praising the virtues of the Hottentots. It is related on the authority of Borgaert, that during the whole of that period the natives had never in one instance been detected in committing an act of theft upon the property of the Colonists."* Whatever be our opinion of the conduct of the Dutch Government in later years towards the native inhabitants, there can be no doubt that at first they endeavoured to conciliate the Hottentots, and acted with forbearance. It must be acknowledged that, from letters written by Governor Bax van Herentals, it would seem that cruelties were practised under the rule of Jacob Borghorst, although no reference to them appears in the official records. These letters speak of the shameful con- duct of the settlers in frequently despoiling the Gonnema and other Hottentots of their cattle, and firing upon them; so that such a formidable spirit of hostility was roused that twelve men in a body could hardly be despatched twenty miles without serious fears for their safety. It is only reasonable to suppose that individuals were often to blame, and that the Cape Eecords, from which our account of the Gonnema war has been extracted, may not contain all the information necessary to enable us to form a correct decision ; but it is very evident that the Directors of the Company, as well as the Government of the Colony, were thoroughly opposed to any war with the natives, t and * Besearches in South Africa, by the Rev. John Philip, D.D., vol. i. He states (p. 6) that he never knew an individual -who would not ac- knowledge the justice of the observation that the Hottentot, among his other good qualities, is master in an eminent degree of a rigid adherence to truth. f Even in Sunon van der Stell's time, Commissioner Van Kheede writes (16th July, 1685) :— '' A very great deal depends upon the preservation of peaceful relations and friendly intercourse with the inliabitants and Hottentots ; the manner in which, the Commander renders that people well-disposed towards our nation is most praise- worthy, and must be persevered in." 1670.] Diminution of tJie Native Races, 89 always ready to punish offences committed against them, as well as to tolerate Hottentot thefts and injuries, rather than, by resenting them, provoke the natives to armed resistance. In the memorandum written by Wagenaar for the information of his successor (Quaelberg), after nar- rating various outrages committed by Hottentots, this Commander proceeds to say that " he had winked at it all, and suffered it to pass unnoticed, for our masters in the fatherland recommend to us nothing more earnestly than to deal with those men in a quiet and peaceable manner." Several instances are mentioned of severe punishments accorded for thefts of Hottentot stock, and a Dutchman named Willems, who shot a native accidentally, had to fly from the Colony, and, although in HoUand he obtained an order releasing him from arrest, was, on his return to the Cape, banished to Eobben Island, and subsequently sent to Mauritius. From a very early period various causes began to effect a diminution of the native races. Small-pox and other diseases frequently raged like pestilences among them, and the love of ardent spirits had a more destructive effect. Even Van Eiebeek did not scruple to encourage this brutal indulgence. The customs of Europe were in favour of it, and every purchase of any consequence was concluded by dram-drinking. On one occasion " a tub of brandy and arrack mixed was set open in the middle of the esplanade of the Fort, with a little wooden bowl, from which these people (the Hottentots) made themselves so drunk, that they made the strangest antics in the world."* " The freemen" set a terrible example, as Van Eiebeek mentions t that " the greater number of them, whenever any ships are in the roads, may be daily seen as intoxicated as irrational creatures, with the strong driuk they obtain from the shipping." Brandy and tobacco soon became Hottentot gods, and to them were sacrificed health, * This occurred before tlie sermon on the Feast of the Ascension, and is recorded in Van Biebeek's Journal under date 6th May, 1660. f Keoords, p. 181. 90 The History of the Cape Colony. [ifl70. honour, and independence. Their territory was gradually annexed, while they were compelled to retreat inland, where they became a terror to the farmers, and such a constant source of danger and annoyance as to make the Dutch believe it necessary that their extirpation should be attempted. The Government of the Company were particularly culpable in making no systematic and generous effort to civilize the wretched natives. A purely mercantile spirit animated a policy which never exhibited anything deserving the name of philanthropy or generosity. To find gold and to discover cities were the chief objects of exploration. Cattle-barter and trade had also great attractions ; but we never hear a word about the extension of Christianity. Danckert was despatched in search of "Monopotoma" in 1660, and we have seen that Com- missioner Van Goens was fully persuaded of the existence of this and other inland towns.* Cruythoff and Meerhoff distinguished themselves as travellers, and a number of officers were sent at different times to obtain cattle from the natives by barter. In a memorandum from Com- missioner Van Odessen, dated 16th of April, 1663, he states : — " I cannot perceive any advantage to the Company in journeys to the interior, in order to barter cattle. Journeys of discovery ought to be continued." On October 11, 1663, Sergeant la Guerre went forth to the Namaqnas and tribes beyond the Eiver Vigita Magna (Orange Eiver) and there are frequent entries in the Eecords of a similar kind. The discovery of the Namaqualand mines was attempted on various occasions, and we shall soon have to refer to the interesting journey of Simon van der Stell to that part of South Africa. The * A copy of the work of Huygena de Linsohoten, published at Amsterdam (1623), is ia the Dessinian Collection, South African Library. The map contains many kingdoms and cities, among others Monomotopa, near the tropic, on the Rio de Spirito Sancto. The Rio Pescario runs nearly south from the tropic into Mossel Bay. Vigita Magna and Mossata are to the eastward of this river. Cartado is still more to the eastward, on Rio de Infante. 1687.] Ed'ploration of the Interior, 91 hooker Boecle, under Corporal Thomas Hobma, sailed up the West Coast in 1677 to a Portuguese fort named Sombeira, in 12° 47' south latitude. Hobma reported that although there were several excellent bays, he could find neither good land nor fresh water, and that the natives near Sombeira were all Hottentots. Some years subse- quently (in 1684) thirty-nine boers penetrated eastward through the entire Hottentot territory so far as where the outposts of the Kafirs were then located in the present Albany division. The Boers having seized a Kafir, this man conducted them to a large body of his countrymen who had never seen white men before, and who imme- diately commenced an attack with assagais and other weapons. The Dutch then fired, and the Kafirs were surprised to find that the bullets penetrated even through their leathern shields. They then fled, uttering tremen- dous yells, imagining that " nothing else than a legion of devils, armed with lightning and thunder, had invaded their country. They were astonished at the horses, which had also never before been seen. In their retreat they were followed by the boers, and many were instantly destroyed."* These Dutchmen subsequently returned safely to the Cape, after a journey of seven months. On the 18th of April, 1687, the Council at the Cape record the safe arrival of the captain and several seamen belonging to the ship ^tavenisse, wrecked at the Tierra de Natal, on the 16th February, 1686. They built a small vessel, in which they sailed to Table Bay. The natives are described as being very obliging, kind, and hospitable. As one part of the crew had set out overland and not been heard of, the little vessel called the Centaur, in which the captain of the Stavenisse had arrived, was sent in search of them, and fortunately picked them up between " Punta Primera and the bay De la Goa" (Algoa Bay). The cupidity and curiosity of the Cape Government were * MS. in the Dessinian Collection, South African Lihrary, quoted by Mr. J. 0. Chase in " Progress and Present State of Geographical Discovery in the South African Continent," published in the South African Quarterly Journal, page 99. 92 The History of the Cape Colony. [less. awakened by the exaggerated accounts of the richness and fertility of Natal, and the Noord was despatched on the 19tb October, 1689, to proceed direct to Eio de la Goa, and thence to the Bay of Natal. The information famished by the seamen of the Stavenisse regarding this country is very interesting. " One may travel (they say) 200 or 300 mylen without any cause of fear from men, provided you go naked, and without any iron or copper, for these things give inducement to the murder of those who have them. Neither need one be in any apprehension about meat and drink, as they have in every village or kraal a house of entertainment for travellers, where these are not only lodged, but fed also. Your servants travelled 160 mylen, to the depth of about thirty mylen inland, through five kingdoms, namely, the Magoses, the Makriggas, Matimbes, Mapontes, and Emboas. There are many dense forests, with short-stemmed trees ; but at the bay of Natal are two forests, each fully a myl square, with tall, straight, and thick trees, fit for house or ship timber." They found but one European, an old Portuguese, wrecked there forty years before, who had adopted the African language and customs, and " forgotten everything, his God included." " They cultivate three sorts of corn, as also calabashes, pumpkins, water- melons, and beans. Tobacco grows there wild. The country swarms with cows, calves, oxen, steers, and goats. The horses they, do not catch or tame, although they approach within ten or twelve paces." The object of the voyage to the eastward is thus stated by the Council : — " It was unanimously resolved to send the galiot Noord to the Bay of Natal, to fetch the remaining people of the Stavenisse, and to endeavour to purchase on the Company's account, under a formal and duly-executed written con- tract with the chief of that country, the said bay, and some of the land around it, for merchandize, such as beads, copper, ironwork, and such other articles as are liked by them . . . and that the galiot shall then return hither along the coast, and with all possible care sound and survey the bay of De la Goa (Algoa), to see whether it 16790 Fcdlm-e to Colonise Natal. 93 may not be suitable for tbe Company's homeward bound fleets." A purchase was effected, in accordance with these directions, for a nominal sum of 20,000 guilders, given in merchandize ; but although an endeavour was afterwards made to form a settlement, the attempt was unsuccessful. The Noorcl merely caUed into Algoa Bay on her return voyage, without anchoring, and the captain reported that it was only a bight, quite open to the sea, having three or four visible rocks in the middle, and fully as many in its entrance ! The Noord was afterwards wrecked near this Bay, under circumstances which proved the culpable negligence of the master, who would have been prosecuted by the Fiscal had not he and his crew undergone " a miserable land journey" to Gape Town, in which many of them perished. It is scarcely possible to estimate the sufferings that shipwrecked seamen endured at this time when travelling along the South African coast. An epitome of a narrative furnished by the survivors of the ship Goude Buys* will be found in the Appendix. On the 12th October, 1679, the ship Vtije Zee arrived " with our new Commander, Simon van der SteU, and family. Notwithstanding her long voyage, this ship had only sacrificed to Neptune 11 men out of 289." As there was no shipping in Table Bay at the time, nor anything of importance to be attended to, the Commander went to Hottentots Holland on the 8th of November, and was very much pleased with its appearance. Besides this tract of land, he inspected another at a distance of three or four hours' journey, supplied with an excellent river, ornamented by fine trees, and as the spot had never before been visited by any chief authority, it was now named Stellenbosch. The elder Van der SteU, whose rule lasted twenty- one years, was a man of prudence and ability. The * This vessel was abandoned at St. Helena Bay in 1694:. It is particularly ivorthy of notice, that the crew attributed their misfortunes to the extremely bad provisions on board, which soon incapacitated most of the men for duty, and necessitated their actually going ashore ia a savage country to search for food. 94 Tho History of the Cape Colony. [I682. same restrictive conduct towards free men and strangers of course was continued ; but it must be remembered that the Company is entirely responsible for this policy, and that the Governors were not allowed the slightest discre- tionary power. To use Judge Watermeyer's words,* " the most trivial relaxation of monopolist regulations was a far more serious crime in the eyes of the Council of the East India Company than the most violent tyranny exercised against the colonists." We have already seen that Commander Quaelberg was dismissed with ignominy for a courteous relaxation of the monopoly system in favour of foreigners, and we shall shortly have occasion to detail the terrible reception given by order of the Company to French vessels of war in Table Bay. One of Van der Stell's first acts was to cause the Government Gardens to be planted, and amongst his earliest proclamations is one (September 22, 1684) forbidding all barter with the natives. The customs of European society, whether good or evil, invariably find their way to the colonies; and duelling became so frequent at the Cape, that in the year 1682 a proclamation against it was issued, and another shortly afterwards forbade tradesmen to carry knives or other sharji weapons. As the garrison lived in a chronic state of discontent, it is not surprising that the captain of an English vessel which put into Table Bay in distress was able to induce forty- three of the soldiers to desert. Commissioner van Eheede tot Drakenstein having earnestly recommended the Home Government to send emigrants, fifty farmers and mechanics, with a like number of young women, were sent to the Colony during the year 1684. A grant of sixty morgen of land was made for the use of these people, who were located in the country named Stellenbosch and Draken- stein. " At this time," remarks Mr. Justice Watermeyer,t "the Colony had been a third of a century founded. Despotism had taken deep root. The foundations of •■'= Lectures, page 45. f Lectures, p, 3ti. 1685.] Ikfpeditwn to JSIaviaqualand. 9^ tyranny were firm. The term * colonial freeman' had lost all signification of the liberty which freemen in Europe enjoyed. The heads of the Government and the original burghers knew that freedom here was the mockery of a name ; that burghership was a state of subserviency to the Company, and the new comers, whatever their European views of the rights of citizenship, were constrained to bow then- heads and yield. Dependent on the Government, if in all things obedient, they might prosper in their private circumstances. But to assert any political right, or to murmur against exactions, entailed confiscation of their all, separation from their families, exile to the Mauritius, or some other penal station." Commander Simon van der Stell, being desirous to explore the country of the Amaqiias, to which various expeditions had already gone, set out for Namaqualand on the 25th of August, 1685.* The party comprised fifty-six wliite men, besides tAvo Macassars and three slaves, and the equipage consisted of a calash drawn by six horses, two field-pieces, eight carts, seven wagons, one boat, 289 draught and pack-oxen, besides saddle-horses and asses ; also six other wagons, each drawn by eight oxen, which were the property of the burghers, and only intended to accompany the expedition as far as the Oliiants Eiver. Having crossed a flat, damp country, with "the Tiger Mountains on the right and Table Mountain on the left," they came to a place called Stink Eiver, in a fine valley, protected all round by high hills. On the next day Sehacher's and Kuyper's Hottentots met them. The latter Captain presented the Governor with a slaughter ox, and received in return a flask of brandy. Passing tribes of Sonquas, who gained their subsistence by robbing other Hottentots, and proceeding via Paardeberg, they soon >i- The particulars of this journey are ohtained from a literal transla- tion of a Dutch mannsoript made by l^Ir. W. C. von B-uchonrodei-, published in the South African Qtiartcrlij Journal, page 39. In Hall's Chi-onologv tlie date of this journey is stated to be 168j. This journal is to be found also iu Hoodie's Papers relative to tlie Native Tribes, pp. iOO, et neq. 96 The History of the Gcijpe Gotomj. [i685. reached Eiebeek's Kasteel, " which derived its name from His Honour the Commander van Eiebeek." This moun- tain was overgrown with timber, and in it they found " an accessible grotto." The low country and the mountains on the other side of Berg Eiver appeared very pleasant, and the plains abounded with grass and water. A few days afterwards the expedition met a number of savages who " had a very rough and scaly skin, arising from the hunger which they had frequently to suffer, and from the want of fat with which to anoint themselves. His Honour the Commander made them a present of a sheep, and although these are people of no education, they had the consideration to give him, as a return, the skins of three bush-cats." Near Piquetberg a rhinoceros charged "the middle of our train" in great fury, and afterwards escaped with impunity. " The abovementioned Piquet mountain received its name from the circumstance that when His Honour Goske made war on the Gonnemas he made merry thereon, and there placed piquets." Having arrived at the Olifants Eiver, it is remarked that elephants are often found there in great numbers; and that the banks are clothed with a species of willow, and with thorn trees of uncommon size. " In this river a fish is caught resembling in shape the carp of Holland ; in taste, the salmon, and is of the size of a common codfish." The account of the country through which the expedi- tion passed is by no means interesting ; but one or two references to the natives are worth noticing. By means of inquiry it was discovered that Sonqua signified pauper ; and that each tribe of " Hottentots had their own Sonquas employed to give notice if they perceived any strange tribe. They never plunder from the kraals of the persons in whose service they are ; but do from others, and that as well in time of peace as in war; because they possess nothing but what they obtain in that way." " The Hottentots which we had with us went to the chase, each with a herrie in his hand, and arranged in an extended line, in which they beat along the fields ; and if a quail appeared, they hit it in its flight with great expertness. 1685.;) Native Chiefs and the Qovernment. 97 They hunted partridges, "hares, and other small game in the same manner." Previous to this period the Government had begun to exercise some species of control over the various Hottentot tribes, by appointing captains, or confirming the nomina- tions. Each of these chiefs was furnished mth a staff or baton of office. This feudal system of investiture gave the natives an idea of the paramount authority of the Dutch, and we find, accordingly, that when the Com- mander arrived at a kraal of Hottentots belonging to the Gregriqua nation, who had rebelled against their captains, they fled lest their cattle should be seized. As Van der Stell was very desirous to communicate with the natives, every endeavour was made to dispel their fears. A certain "Captain Nonce" arrived one day in answer to a summons. He rode on a pack-ox, and had with him eleven milch cows, and another pack-ox which carried his baggage. Upon the Commander asking if he were willing to barter. Nonce replied that "he had no cattle and was a poor devil." His Honour then said he could not take his sheep, as Dutch people would not receive anything from the poor, but rather give to them. The Hottentot was quite amazed by this answer, and entreated the Commander to accept six sheep, stating that he had abundance of cattle for barter, and was not one of those who had intended to go to war, but that he loas Master here and His Honour the Governor Master at the Gape. An attempt, said to be feigned, was then made to march to his kraal, " in order to see who would be master," when Nonce protested " that the other captains had said so, but not he." The son of this man, named Jonker, who had endeavoured to lead the expedition into the wrong road, claimed to be captain instead of his father. The Commander, however, decided against his pretensions, reduced him to the rank of a " soldier," and would have punished him severely but for the intervention of five Hottentot captains, named Oedeson, Harramac, Otwa, Haby, and Aoe. It is clear from the foregoiag that the Government claimed jurisdiction over South African H 98 The History of the Cwpe Colowy. [1686. tribes, and that they presumed themselves to be rulers over all colonial territory through which their officers travelled. Native rights never appear to have had any real signification in the minds of the Dutch ; and although, as we have seen, one or two nominal purchases were made, territory was annexed from time to time as conve- nience dictated. We shall soon have occasion to refer to the contiauous war waged against the native races by the colonial farmers individually, in small bands, and under commandos. This expedition of Van der SteU's was absent about fifteen weeks, and by its means the Koperbergen were explored and immense quantities of ore discovered. The distance from the sea-coast made the Governor despair of being able to work the mines successfully. The stipula- tions of a treaty made by Van der Stell with the Amaquas were to the effect that they should live in peace with the Company and each other, and that if they broke the latter agreement the Cape Government ivould have the right to interfere. Before referring at some length to the important immi- gration of French Huguenots, which took place between the years 1685 and 1690, it appears interesting to note what bears reference to the Cape, published by Le Pere Tachard in his interesting account of the French embassy to Siam, dispatched between 1685 and 1687, as well as to furnish an account of the capture of French ships of war in Table Bay. A mandarin named Occum Chamnam, who had suffered shipwreck at L'Agulhas in 1686, when proceeding in a Portuguese vessel to Lisbon, supplied this writer with a circumstantial account of the catastrophe, and of a land journey along the South African coast. In consequence of mismanagement, the vessel in which the mandarins were passengers struck upon rocks close to Agulhas at about midnight on the 27th of April, 1686. Every person on board was saved, but they were only able to secure a small stock of provisions. The Siamese were without any, and the Portuguese showed very little disposition to assist 16B6.] Slwpwreckecl among the Eottentois. 99 them. On the second day after shipwreck the party set out for the Dutch settlement at the Cape, walking all day through a forest, " or rather bushes, for we saw no tall trees." As very little water was met with, great torments were suffered from thirst. The first ambassador was left behind to die, with a faithful friend and an atten- dant, who, although able to leave him, refused to do so. On the fifth day of the journey three or four Hottentots were seen, who came with their assagais, in order to examine who they were. " The white men were seized with terror, in the prospect of being pitilessly massacred by those barbarians." At last the Hottentots went in advance, and made signs that the others should follow, pointing to some houses, or rather to three or four wretched huts on a hill. They were subsequently led to another village, consisting of about forty huts, covered with the branches of trees, and where there were four or five hundred natives. The most earnest efforts were made, by means of signs and gesticulations, to show that the white men were suffering from hunger, and desired some- thing to eat ; but the natives only responded by looking at each other and laughing immoderately. Strange to say, the Hottentots were able to utter two words, which they continued repeating — ' Tabac, pataque.'* Two large diamonds were offered, but they took no notice of them. The first pilot was the only one who found a few pataques. He gave them four for an ox, which they ordinarily sell to the Dutch for its length in tobacco. But what was this among so many half-famished wretches, who had eaten nothing but a few leaves for the last six days ? A mandarin, seeing that the Hottentots refused gold money, went to dress his head with some ornaments of gold, and appeared before them in this state. The novelty pleased them, and they gave the quarter of a sheep for trinkets which were of the value of more than a hundred pistoles. * The Portuguese would seem to have had frequent dealings with the natives, as " pataque" signified " pataca,'' a Portuguese colonial coin, worth about three shillings. H 2 100 The History of the Owpe Colowy. 0688. They passed the night in this place near a large fir© opposite to the huts of the Hottentots. The savages continaed howling and dancing till daylight, "which kept us on our guard, in the fear of being surprised, but there was no doubt, if they had been able to overpower us, they would certainly have done so." In this narrative the natives are termed "Cafires," and it would seem that this was the name at that time by which they were generally designated. The party made an attempt to penetrate inland, but they soon abandoned it as nobody knew the way, and the sea-beach afforded various descriptions of shell-fish. The mandarin, Oceum Chamnam, at last attained safety, after passing through innumerable dangers, which appear to have been aggra- vated by his own cowardice and that of the other Siamese. Father Tachard, who accompanied the French embassy to Siam and subsequently wrote an account of it, arrived at the Cape in 1685, and " was extremely surprised to meet with great politeness." It was reasonable that he should have been agreeably disaiDpointed, as strict in- structions had been issued in January, 1681, ordering the Governor " to take care that no refreshments were fur- nished to the French." Probably the unusual civility displayed on this occasion was owing to the circumstance that the Dutch outward-bound fleet, under the command of Baron van Eheede tot Drakenstein, was lying in Table Bay. Father Tachard writes, " that all these gentlemen, to whom must be added Mr. Van der Stell, Governor, or to call him by the Dutch title. Commander of the Cape, possess singular merit, and we were very happy to have the pleasure of meeting them during the stay which we made." An equally favourable reception having been given in 1688 to the second French expedition, which consisted of no fewer than six ships, the Government of the Dutch East India Company expressed extreme dis- pleasure at the friendly feeling which had been mani- fested, and animadverted severely on Van der Stell's want of caution in admitting French officers to a knowledge of the defenceless state of the settlement. The "visitors had 1688.] Difficulties with the Freneh. 101 ascertained that, as the Gastle was completely cojmnanded hy the neighbouring heights, it was almost entirely useless, and could be captured with great ease. Shortly after this p,eriod, a war between the allied powers of England and France against Holland was anti- cipated, and the Home Government endeavoured to supply Van der Stell with the latest authentic intelligence, in order th^t he might be fully on his guard. Towards the end of 1688, hostilities were supposed to be imminent, and the Stadtholder (William of Orange) was then perfecting his arrangements to dethrone James II. The Council of Seventeen, writing to the Cape, say: — "We send this despatch principally to give notice of the present per- plexed condition of time and things, and to inform you th^t we are, without any doubt, on the point of war with the Kings of Prance and England." They did not anti- cipate that in a few months William of Orange would he.come ruler of Oreat Britain, and were ignorant of the " great design" so shortly to be carried into effect. In R,nother letter, alarm is expressed lest a warlike expedi- tion, then fitting out at Cqrli, should be bound for the East ; and the Comni^nder is authorized to take ashore 150 soldiers out of the passing ships, " and in ease of neces- sity to add the freemei;!, of whom, as you have written a large number are qualified to perform active service. We trust that you will thus be able to r,epel any foreign attack. We are by no means pleased with the friendly reception which you gave to the French while in your port, or satisfied with your having allowed them so many privileges." In a despatch dated 12th March, 1689, it is stated that " the actual intention is not to make war on the English nation, the enterprise being directed against the King alone, so you are to refrain from being hostile to them unless they act on the offensive, in which case you will have to pay them in their own coin, and do them all the injury in your power. But, as regards the French, who have seized our ships, you shall in like manner take possession of their ships which may touch at the Cape, 9,nd detain them until further orders ; but, while taking 102 The History of the Cape Colony. 0689. care that they do not escape you, you are to treat the officers and crew with civility. If, however, they should attempt hostilities, you will deal vrith them in the same manner as we have directed in such case respecting the English." Subsequently, as the French had seized Dutch merchantmen, and captured in the Channel ships bound to Holland with specie, instructions were issued " to treat the French everywhere as enemies, and, as such, to cause them all possible loss and injury, keeping accurate entries and charge of all things seized, so as to be able to render a true account." Nothing could be more precise or positive than these directions ; and the unpleasant duty of carrying them into effect soon devolved upon the Cape Government. One of the ships of Father Tachard's Siamese expedition, named La Normande, arrived in Table Bay on the 26th April, 1689, on a homeward voyage from Pondicherry, with a cargo consisting principally of piece goods, valued at 150,915 rupees. After having anchored, her cutter was immediately lowered, and the respects of the captain sent to the Honourable Company by Ensign Le Chevalier de la Machefoliere. The moment this officer entered the Castle, he and his boat's crew were placed under arrest. The commanders of the Dutch ships Saamskigh and Nederland were in the meantime directed to attack the Frenchman, and if he refused to surrender, then at once to send boarding parties. The galiot De Noord was ordered to act as a reserve, and, if requisite, to fire into the Normande. But the rest of this account, as well as the narrative of the capture of Le Cache, fourteen days afterwards, is best told in the words of Commander van der SteU's despatch to the Supreme Government : — "Our shore boat, likewise full-manned, was ordered, as well as the boat of the Nederland, under the command of the first and second officers of that ship, to proceed on board of the Frenchman as soon as they saw that the boats of the Saamslagh were alongside. But Govert Eoos, captain of the Saamslagh, having received these orders from the Commander regarding the employment of our 1889.] Gapture of the Normande. 103 shore boat and the boats of the Nederlcmd, at once went on board, and, finding our boat alongside the Nederland, ordered her to remain there until he 'should strike his flag on board of the Saamslagh, as a sign that they should start from the Nederland to the Normande, which was in opposition to the orders given him by the Commander. " In the meantime the Commander caused the French boat to put off from our wharf well manned and under the French flag, with the order to be cautious not to approach the Frenchman so near that he could recognize the Company's people, and not to go alongside till the fight had begun. " Monsieur de Courcelles, captain of the Normande, seeing the boat coming off with the French flag, and suspecting no evil, ordered a salute of nine guns to the Castle, under the smoke of which the cutter and the boat of the Saamslagh came alongside without being discovered ; and, as he would not hear of surrendering, they at once fell to, and after eight of their men and two of ours had been wounded, they cried for quarter, which was granted. The ship had forty-nine men and sixteen guns — twelve and eight pounders. " Our people having in the afternoon, about three o'clock, taken to plundering, nothing was known on board of the Saamslagh of the signal which they were to give to the boat and cutter of the Nederland; and Captain Eoos omitted to give the sUghtest notice of what had taken place to the Commander, having, according to all appear- ance, determined on having the plunder of the French to himself. His Honour was therefore necessitated, about ten o'clock at night, to send off the ' dispensier' Freser, as we feared that if our people got intoxicated they would give the French an opportunity of which they might take advantage, with orders that Captain Eoos should send ashore the French prisoners whom he had taken on board of his ship — and who, including the officers, were stripped to the skin — and to take care that the orders were obeyed ; in contravention of which, the orlop, the gun-room, fore- castle, and cabin, and the whole ship, with the exception 104 Tlie History of the Gape Colony. 0689. of the hold, was plundered ; and here there would have been trouble enough besides, but for the good watch and care of the Fiscal and Commissioners, Captain Eoos being of opinion that whatever was found out of the hold was his prize and booty, in consequence of which the diamonds, jewels, and other articles shipped, are missing, and we have been compelled, on the part of the Company, to protest against him for all present and future damages. " The before-mentioned French Company's shipLe Coche, having parted from her consort, the Normande, by chance or on purpose, in the latitude of False Bay, arrived here on the 9th May opportunely, for the purpose of obtaining refreshments, laden with piece goods to the value of 261,881 rupees, manned with ninety-six men, and armed with twenty-four iron pieces (eight and six pounders), and six stone pieces. " Having come to an anchor towards evening, about half a musket's shot above the Company's ships, she saluted the Castle with nine guns, which were returned, and, after she had first saluted the French King's flag, which was flying from the Normande for the purpose of deception, and had received the ordinary return salute, those on board were quite at ease, and suspected nothing less than the impending evU. As it was near evening, and a swell was on, they sent off no boat ; but when at midnight the weather was somewhat more moderate, they dispatched a boat to the Normande, which was detained by our people. When they saw that the boat stayed away too long, and that three of our ships were nearing them, — the one for the starboard, another for the stern, and the third for the larboard, — they became suspicious, and began to shelter themselves with blankets and mat- tresses, to open the ports and point the guns, and to bring up those that were in the hold, and to make every prepa- ration for a gallant defence. " Upon this, Marcus Kok, the captain of the Nederland, who had approached within pistol-shot of the Frenchman, thought it best, in order to prevent bloodshed, to be beforehalfid with him, and about an hbur after midnight 1689.] Capture of Le Goche. 105 commenced firing with cannon and musketry. Upon this the English ship Nathaniel, haAdng received a shot in the hull from the Frenchman, did not remain in his debt, hut returned three balls. At length, finding the fire too hot, after the second broadside — their captain, Monsieur D'Armagnan, and two common soldiers, having been killed and eight men wounded — they begged for quarter. "They were again plundered, as shamefully as the Normande, and everything would have been carried off but for the firm opposition of the Fiscal and Commissioners, who shut the hold, where the sailors had already penetrated, the violence having been great, the discipline small, and the boats and cutters of the ships in the Bay alongside, against the orders given to the officers in full council, and the resolution had thereon. "The prisoners — in number about one hundred and forty — have been well secured, and forty of them have been sent to Batavia, the half by the Nederland, and the other half by the Sion. The rest will follow to Ceylon. The officers, priests, and Jesuits will be sent to Europe by the Batavian and Ceylon return ships, and the prizes La Nor- mande and Le Coche ; the former, now called the Good Hope, being consigned, with its lading, to the Praesidial Chamber of Zeeland, and the latter, now named the Africa, to the Chamber of Amsterdam. " The most important prisoners are Monsieur de Cour- celles, captain of the Normande ; Monsieur du Terte, his lieutenant ; Chevalier de la Machefoliere, his ensign ; De Beauchamp, major of the Siam Eegiment ; De Saint Marie, captain of the same Eegiment, who has been allowed, at his own request, to proceed to Batavia, there to await the expected pardon of his King for homicide committed by him in France ; Volant, captain and engineer, &c. "We intend to keep the French flag flying on the Normande as long as she lies at anchor here, in the hope theireby to mislead the French ship Le President, which is expected from Surat, and entice her to the anchorage, where she will be received with the same civility as the others have enjoyed." 106 Tlie History of the Owpe Colony. [1689. The French Government, although extremely annoyed at these occurrences, was, fortunately for Van der Stell, fully occupied in defending itself against the allied forces on the Continent of Europe. So, although the Comman- der was empowered to detain some of the eastward-bound ships, so that, " if the French should arrive, not only to beat them off, but, if possible, to capture them," no opportunity was afforded him of carrying these instruc- tions into effect. On one occasion, certainly, a hostile fleet was reported to be in sight, and the following order to the Landdrost and Heemraden* of SteUenbosch and Drakenstein was immediately issued : — " 28th August, 1689. " Good Friends, — As we are threatened with an attack by the enemy, and it is our duty to be prepared for it in time, you are ordered, on sight of these presents, and without delay, to collect your men, horse and foot, and to come hither with the Landdrost, fully armed and equipped, well provided with powder and lead, leaving only ten or twelve men to protect your wives and children and property against the Hottentots or other need. On which relying, " We are, " Simon van der Stell." Three ships were in sight, and three signal guns had been fired from Eobben Island. But as the fleet proved to be Dutch, not French, the order was withdrawn the same day. * The first Landdrost was Johannes Muller, appointed about 1685, " for tlie superintendence of the Company's farms Klapmuts, Tygerberg,. &c." " He is to be allowed a Company's horse and one slave, to have two Dutchmen to assist and keep him company, and to be sheriff and officer over the village of SteUenbosch." The Landdrost presided at the meetings of Heemraden, but this court had no criminal jurisdiction. " All the criminals are to be overtaken by the veldwugter under your commando, and prosecuted before the Honourable Court of Justice, leaving the Fiscal his rights." CHAPTEE V. The States-Geneial of the Netberlands deteimme to send French Befngees to the Cape — Conditions and Begnlations — ^Departure of the Ships — ^Family names of the Emigrants — Their treatment by the Cape -authorities — Discontent — Hetrospect — ^Natives — Acqniroment of Land — Slavery — Discovery — Abdication of Simon van der Stell — His character — Willem Adriaan van der Stell — Discontent among Colonists — ^Petitions to the Home Government — Discovery of the Conspiracy — Proceedings of ■ Government — Recall of Van der Stell — Van , Assembnrg Governor — Statistics. The States-General of the Netherlands had received with hospitality the Huguenots expelled from France by Louis XIV.; hut finding that many of them could not obtain employment, and learning that the Dutch East India Company had lately sought for emigrants from Holland, they proposed to the Directors to offer them a home at the Cape. A scheme of settlement was accordingly framed, but it was never earnestly carried out. The Company argued that as hostilities with France were feared, it would be dangerous to harbour in the South African Colony a very large number of French subjects. The true reason is stated by Mr. Justice Watermeyer to be* rather because the Chamber of Seventeen well knew that it would be dif&cult to bind in the trammels in which the "freemen" of the Cape were held, "too many at a time of those who had already sacrificed much." A few might be beneficially used, while many would be the destruction of despotism. The total number of French Protestants who arrived before 1688 did not amount in the whole to 300 men, women, and children. A despatch from Amsterdam, dated 16th of November, 1687, announces the intentions of the Company with regard to French emigrants in the following manner :-^ "We have resolved to send you, in addition to other freemen, some French and Piedmontese refugees — on the footing and conditions [of the regulations of which some * Lecture, page 37. 108 The History of the Gwpe Colony. [i689. copies, in Dutch and French, are sent herewith — all of the Eeformed religion, for the exercise of which we have likewise allowed them a minister, who is on the point of leaving with one of the ships of the Chamber of Zeeland. Among them you will find wine-growers, and some of them who understand the making of brandy and vinegar, by which means we expect that you will find the want of which you complain in this respect satisfied. It will be your duty, as these people are destitute of everything, on their arrival to render them assistance, and furnish them with what they may require for their subsistence until they are settled and can gain their own livelihood. They are industrious people and easily contented." The follow- ing is a summary of the regulations and conditions referred to in this despatch : — 1. Emigrants to be conveyed free to the Cape, upon taking the oath of fidelity to the Com^pany. 2. Nothing but apparel and necessaries for the passage to be carried, " money excepted," which any one may carry with him to such amount as he pleases. 3. Every one to settle at the Cape of Good Hope, and gain his living by tilling the land, or by exercising some art or trade. 4. To the party that shall apply himself to tillage, shall be given as much ground as he shall be enabled to bring into cultivation; seed and implements to be furnished, if necessary, on loan. 5. Every emigrant to remain five full years ; but it shall be open, by appeal to the Assembly, to obtain some remission of this term. 6, Certain regulations with regard to payment of passages by returning emigrants at the expiry of five years. If any passenger take mer- chandize with him it shall be retained, and applied to the profit of the Company. The ship Langemoyk, or Oosthuysen, left Holland with the first Huguenot emigrants* in the winter of 1687, and arrived in Table Bay m the beginning of April, 1688. About the same time a number of Piedmontese refugees * The foHowimg are the surnames of the Huguenots in the first ship : — Marais, Taboureux, Fouche, Basque, Bruere, Pinnard, Sebatie, Leroux, Malherbe, Paste, Godefroy. 1689.] The Huguenot InwrdgraUon. 109 left in the China,* but in consequence of having to put back through stress of weather did not reach the Cape until the 4th of August. The despatch sent with these people states : — " You will be pleased to assist them with such support as they may need until they can support themselves. For this purpose you will point out to them at once how they should go to work. . . Among them are persons who understand the culture of the vine, who will in time, be able to benefit the Company and them- selves." The ship Oosterlcmdt left Middelburg on the 29th January, 1688, with Flemings, and a few Huguenots.t The Council of Seventeen, in a despatch dated the 1st April, 1688, states that " there are at present in the neigh- bourhood of Nuremberg near two hundred families, who were about a thousand souls, men, women, and children, who have since been greatly diminished in number and fallen to about six or seven hundred. They are farmers and industrious people, and nearly all of them understand some trade. . . . They are intended to settle at the Cape, and to earn their livelihood as colonists, and wish to be conveyed thither." In a subsequent despatch, dated the 2lBt July, it is said that these Piedmontese, " dread- ing the sea and the long voyage," refused to come out. Small parties of French refugees continued to arrive at different times. The ships Schelde and Zuid Bovelandt, which respectively entered Table Bay in June and August, brought a large number, and a third party, comprising forty persons, arrived in the ship Wafer van Alkmaer on the 27th January, 1689.: ■'■'- The following are the surnames of the Piedmontese:— Mesnard, Corbonne, AnthoHarde, Madan, Verdette, Jourdan, Rousse, Malan, Goviaud, Verdeaux, Grange, Corban, Resne, Pelanohon, Fraiohaise, Puret, Scaet. One despatch states :^" There will go over a colonist hy this opportunity, one Jacques Savoye, with his wife. He was for many years an eminent merchant at Ghent." Savoye left in the ship which sailed on the 29 fch January, 1688. f Surnames.: — De Savoye, Le Clerq, Carney, Nortie, Vyton, Du Plcssy, Menanto, Talifer, Briet, Avied, Claudon, De Buyse, Pariser. I A chronicle obtained by M. de Lettre, French Consul, states the names of the families which came in these three ships to have been the 110 The History of tlw Ca/pe Golony. [1689. A despatch of the 16th December;, 1688, advises that a passage by the ship Sion had been given to Pierre, Abra- ham, and Jacob de Villiers, and these people landed on the 6th May, 1689. A number of the emigrants died during the long passage, and many of those who . arrived were very weak and sickly. Commander Van der Stell did his best to assist them, and large voluntary subscriptions, both in money and cattle, were collected from the colonists for their benefit.* As it was the object of the Government to incor- porate the refugees with the Dutch inhabitants, lands within the Cape and Stellenbosch Districts were granted. The largest number were located at Drakenstein and other places along the Berg Eiver Valley. The French Protestants imagined that they would be permitted to exercise religious liberty at the Cape, and made an application to be allowed to elect their own vestry. The result of this request can be learned in the following important memorandum of a resolution of the Governor (Van der Stell) and Council, dated 2Bth November, 1689 : — " In presence of all the members, except Cornells Linnes, the Commander informed the meeting of the annoyance and the manifold difficulties occasioned to him by some of the French pretended refugees, who, under pretence of escaping persecution on account of their faith, quitted France, and went to other parts, particularly to Holland, under the cloak of zeal, as members and sup- following : — Avis, Basson, Bastions, Beaumons, Benezat, Bota, Bruet, Camper (pastor), Cellier, Cordier, Carpenant, Couteau, Couvret, Crogne, Daillean (pastor), Detuze, Debeurier, Decabriere, Delporte, Deporte, Deruel, Dumont, Dii Plessis, Dupre, Du Toit, Durant, Dubuisson, Extreux, Fraeha, Foury, Floret, Gauche, Grillon, Gardiol, Gounay, Hugot, Jacob, Joubert, Lanoy, Laporte, Laupretois, Le Clair, Lefebre (surgeon), Le Grand, Lecrivent, Lombard, Longue, Maniet, Martinet, Nice, Norman, Passeman, Peron, Pinnares, Prevot, Rassimus, Retief, Sellier, Terreblanche, Terrier, Tenayment, Terront, Vallete, Vaudray, Vanas, Valtre, Verbat, Villous, Viviers, Vyol, Villion, Vivet, Vitou, Yitronx. * The Government of India presented Jl,200 for the purchase of seed, implements, &o, 1689.] The French Refugees and the Oavernmmt. Ill porters of the Protestant faith, and led a lazy and indolent life ; and notwithstanding the Honourable Company, our lords and masters having allowed some of them passages to this place, to gain a livelihood here by agriculture, and whatever else they might be able to do, now they live in an expensive manner, and — without our reflecting on the good ones — have shown that they do not answer the expectations which the Company had of them. We scarcely received ten or twelve of them strong and well, and yet all were treated better than our own nation, and plentifully supplied with every necessary to help them to a settlement. They have, however, hinted to this one and that, and even to the Commander himself, that on the arrival of another Minister, and the accession of a number of their countrymen, they would be disposed to choose their ov^'n Magistrate and ruler, and thus to withdraw the obedience due from them to the Honourable Company. That to this end they applied to the Commander to be allowed to live together, and not to be attached to Stellen- bosch or Drakenstein, and mixed up with the Germans. That they finally, about one hundred and fifty in number, men and women, young and old, having become stout and strong, undertook, even against the judgment of their Minister Simond, to ask for a separate vestry (Kerkraad), not being satisfied with that which had lately been established at Stellenbosch, and for this purpose they chose from amongst them, under the conduct of Pierre Simond, four persons to wait on the Commander and Council, named Jacob de Savoye, Daniel de Euelle, Abraham de Villiers, and Louis Courtier, with the' request for a separate vestry. Upon which, upon mature delibera- tion, it was unanimously resolved, for the greater advantage of the Company, to restrain their French impertinences and all their plotting, and check it in time ; and by judicious punishments to expose their subterfuges to the community at large, and to warn them very seriously to do their duty." After this resolution was carried, the deputation from the French Protestants was admitted. Pierre Simond, as their spokesman, having expressed the 112 The History of Die .Gape Qolfmy, ima. wishes of the memorialjsts, the Governor read a>loud the path of allegiance* taken by them and all free people, and dismissed them with a serious warning to conform strictly to their oath, and to be careful for the futui'e not to trouble the Commander and Council with impertinent requests^ and to be satisfied with the vestry estabHshed at Stellen- ■bosch.t It is quite clear that the Chamber of Seventeen were perfectly correct in doubting the expediency of sending many French refugees to the Cape. Although, including men, women, and children, the number that arrived certainly did not exceed three hundred, they soon proved themselves troublesome to ihe Government, and enter- tained ideas of liberty, or of having their own way, by no means pleasing to Van der Stell, and of which the Directors could not have approved. Being comparatively few in number, they were forced to submit, and eventually became absorbed in the Dutch and German population. There was no actual outbreak under Simon van der Stell's government, although privileges which they considered rights were continually trenched upon. The French language was prohibited at all public services, except when the Bible was read, and it was considered a great conces- sion when, in 1690 and 1691, eight French refugees were chosen by the Commander to be deacons and elders at * The oath was as follows : — " I promise and swear to be subject and faithful to their High Mightinesses and States-General of the United Provinces, our sovereign masters and lords, to His Higliness our Lord the Prince of Orange, as Governor, Captain, and Admiral- General, and to the Directors of the Company General of the East Indies of this country ; likewise to the Governor-General of the Indies, as well as to all the Governors, Commandants, and others who, during the voyage by sea and afterwards on land, shall have command over us. And that I will observe and execute faithfully and in all points all the laws and ordinances made or to be made by Messieurs the Directors, by the Governor-General, and by the Coimcil, as well as by the Governor or Commandant of the place of my abode, regulate and behave myself in all particulars as a good and faithful subject — So help me God !" ■|- This memorandum is extracted from N. Z. A. Tydscluift, vol. v., pp. 364,, 205, and is quoted in the dqie Monthly Magazine for 1860, page 205. 17000 Retrospect. — Policy of the Oomrnment. 113 Stellenbosch. There is little doubt that the discontent of those emigrants was one of the principal causes of the civil disturbances under the younger Van der Stell, which will shortly be referred to. At the commencement of the eighteenth century it seems desirable to cast a retrospective glance at the policy of the Government, particularly with regard to natives, the system of slavery, and the acquirement of land. The nominal purchase of land from native tribes was only considered expedient during the first few years of Dutch rule. As Judge Watermeyer remarks :* " After this period (1684) there was no affectation of a desire on the part of the Dutch authorities that native claims to land should be respected, and that there should be an end to the extension of the colonial territory. Thus the land of Waveren,f subsequently called Tulbagh, was soon added, and — the authorities sometimes preceding the inhabitants, more frequently the colonist preceding the authorities — possession was taken from time to time of the lands to the north and the east, until the arid wilderness northwards and Kafir defiance eastward formed the boundary of European encroachment." Nothing can be plainer than the course followed. The native tribes were in the first instance so powerful that conciliatory measures, and the ostensibly fair means of obtaining land by purchase, had to be adopted. The Dutch soon gained strength in proportion as the Hottentots, enervated by European vices, and frequently defeated, became weaker and less able to resist. What at first was advisable soon became unnecessary, and land was annexed without form or pretext, as convenience dictated. The early colonists and the Government were strongly opposed to shedding blood, except in defence ; and at first, no -•= Lectures, page 26. ■f- Eoodsand, or Waveren, behind the Berg River Mountains, derived its name from a family of Amsterdam named " Waveren," the maternal ancestors of Simon van der Stell. Loan leases were granted in 1701 of land at Bokkeveld, Eoggeveld, Zwartberg, and Olifants Eiver. Constantia had been planted by Simon van der Stell about 1688. I 114 Tlie History of the Oa^e Colony. am doubt, prudential reasons contributed to this feeling. Indeed, " for the greater part of the first century of the Dutch occupation the Ufe of the black man was as sacred as that of the white, and the atrocities at which we shudder, of the men who hunted down Bushmen like wild beasts, were reserved for the end of the last and the commencement of the present century."* There is great reason, however, to fear that the Dutch policy was prompted more by selfishness than philanthropy. No effort worthy the name was ever made to civilize the natives. Christianity was evidently considered to be unfit for Hottentots, and at a time when Portuguese mission- aries were converting thousands of savages throughout the East Indies and in South America, the Dutch exhibited a sullen indifference to the redemption of the heathen, which soon bore fruit in the total alienation of the native races, and in their inveterate and continuous hostility. As we have already seen, the term " Cape Freeman" was always a misnomer, and restrictive regulations invariably fettered trade. The Commander and the Grand Council of Policy exercised the inconsistent functions of the Executive, the Legislature, and the Supreme Court of Justice, so that they could constitute any act a crime, and then punish it without check or control. It is true that a right of appeal to the Indian authorities at Batavia was nominally allowed ; but no one could dare to avail himself of it without incurring the hatred and hostility of those in power, and exposing himself to ruin. The Commanders in the Colony, as well as the Directors of the Companj'-, were in favour of slavery. A few slaves were procured so far back as Van Eiebeek's time, and a despatch from the Chamber of Seventeen, dated 7th November, 1666, states : — " We can easily conceive that slaves are very necessary to private farmers, and that, without them, they can scarcely maintain themselves."t * Lectures, page 27. f It would seem that tlis first slaves were brought by the English. On one occasion, under date lOth October, 1004, it is stated: — "The Commander, Fiscal, and others went on board the English slave-ship, 1700.] Retrospect.'— Importation of Sla/ves. 115 The Directors shortly afterwards ordered that a number should be sent from Batavia. In a despatch of the 14th May, 1667, the Chamber of Seventeen remark: — "We expected that we could have furnished you with some slaves from the coast of Guinea, or thereabouts, but as it does not appear that any are to be had there, we must think of other means." It seems never to have been thought possible to utilize Hottentot labour, although we read that, on the 7th October, 1672, "the Governor engaged thirty Hottentots, who generally loiter about the fort in idleness, to wheel earth for the new fort, on condition of receiving two good meals of rice daily, together with a sopie and a piece of tobacco-. These Africans undertook the work with great eagerness." Governor Bax van Herentals having asked (14th March, 1677) whether, upon the arrival of a number of slaves from Madagascar, he should lend or sell some of them to the farmers, was informed, in reply, that he might do so, and measures were taken accordingly. Various entries in the Eecords refer to the arrival of slave Cargoes, and on one occasion it is mentioned that, in 1678, the Voorhont procured two Kafir slaves on the East Coast, at a cheap rate, for clothing.* There is no trace in the Eecords of cruelty having been exercised tojhese unfortunate people (except in so far as the punishments inflicted on crimes committed by them were exceptionally severe) ; yet they were constantly plotting to escape, or deserting when an opportunity offered.f The Dutch possessions in the East furnished the best description of slaves, and the Cape formed a sort of penal settlement for Java and the Dutch factories in the East, and the most dangerous characters were shipped to this distant spot, where they could be rendered saw the slaves sitting on the orlop, the greater part of them very young, entirely naked, and perfect skeletons." * It is stated also in the entry ; " As to the question of haptizing slave children, you will be guided by the practice in Batavia." f Various regulations were made respecting the manumission of slaves. No slave of a private person could be bound to the whipping post and flogged, without the consent of the Commander. I 2 116 The Eistmf of the Ga^e Colony. tnoo. harmless by separation from their fello-w-eountrymen and co-religionists. As Malay intelligence was always highly esteemed, people of this race were eagerly sought for, and as there was a market and a demand at the Cape, the supply was easily afforded by vessels of the homeward- bound fleets. The Malays always retained a marked pre-eminence over the other coloured races, and have exhibited for many years the singular phenomenon of a large and increasing Mahommedan community among a Christian people, in a land where enormous sums of money have been expended in endeavours to convert the heathen to Christianity. Wedded to their own iustitutions, they are comparatively unchanged at the present day, and missionary efforts have neither been able to change their religion nor their customs.* It was iavariably the policy of the Company to extend their knowledge of South Africa, and to discover a country where they might secure a trade in gold, ivory, and slaves. Simon van der Stell, ever anxious to promote discovery, had in 1688 ordered Isaac Schyver to proceed to the Eio De la Goa, and in the following year Ensign Schuper was sent upon a mission to the Inqua Hottentots near the Gamtoos Eiver. It has already been stated that the territory near the Bay of Natal Avas purchased from the natives in the year 1690. This evident desire to extend the territorial possessions, or rather to increase the number of settlements of the Company in South Africa may seem inconsistent with their unwillingness to encourage immigration, and their policy of continuing a mere mercantile monopoly at the Cape ; but it was quite in accordance with the spirit of their operations. * A manuscript preserved in Sir George Grey's collection (South African Library) contains a curious ■ statement made by the Priest Goman Achmat, to the effect that the Priest Sikh Joseph (understood to mean chief or noblemanl arrived in the Colony about the year 1700, and was buried at Zandvliet, about half a mile from the dwelling-house of Mr. P. L. Cloete, and that subsequently his body was disinterred and conveyed to Malacca. " A finger, however, was kept aud remained in the tomb," Four attendants were also buried there, 1700.] Betrospect. — Retirement of Van der Stell. 117 Factories and stationB were wanted where trading could be advantageously carried on. Commerce, not colonization, was the object of the Company, and they did not wish to be embarrassed by an European population, which could only attain riches by becoming their successful rivals,* It would be a vain and unprofitable task to take note of the numerous Proclamations and Placaats which continu- ally expressed the will of various Governors. The colonists were almost always dependent upon the caprice of their rulers. "The Burgher Council"! (Mr. Justice Watermeyer remarks) " indeed existed, but this was a m.ere delusion, and must not be confounded with the system of local government by means of District Burgher Councils which that most able man. Commissioner De Mist, sought to establish during the brief government of the Batavian Eepublic, from 1803 to 1806, when the Dutch nation, convinced and ashamed of the false policy by which they had permitted a mere money-making association to disgrace the Batavian name, and to entail degradation on what might have been a free and prosperous Colony, sought to redeem their error by making this country a national colonial possession, instead of a slavish property, to be neglected, oppressed, or ruined, as the caprice or avarice of its merchant owners might dictate." Simon van der Stell abdicated in 1699, and retired from the labours of government to a farm near Stellenbosch, having first secured the appointment of his son, WiUem Adriaan van der Stell, to the office of Commander of the Settlement. He died thirteen years afterwards, in 1712, and was interred with great pomp and ceremony. The * Among the memorabilia of the seventeenth century an earthquake is recorded to have occurred on the 7th September, 1695. Forty-four years afterwards (in 1739), and on the same day of the same month (September), another shock of an earthquake was experienced. Again in July, 1766, and subsequently at long intervals, these convulsions of the earth have taken place, but, fortunately, little damage has ever resulted from them, although it is evident that South Africa is subject to their influence at irregular periods. f ThislConncil was originated by Commissioner Van Goen^inhia instructions to Commander Van Biebeek, dated 16tb April, 1657. 118 The History of the Gwpe Colony. [1700. elder Van der Stell was a vigorous and able administrator, although he had no conception of any liberty which clashed with the ideas of his employers. He looked upon grumbling and dissatisfaction as rebellion, and it will be seen that his son carried this notion to its furthest limit. The French refugees introduced sparks of discontent, which were not extinguished by Simon van der Stell. Disappointment, as well as loss of privileges, constantly fanned the flame, and they, as well as many of the other colonists, became at last so exasperated at the conduct of the younger Van der Stell as to address petitions to the Governor-General at Batavia and to the Chamber of Seventeen against him. About this time (1705) the free burghers of the Colony numbered 450, and their position was a very disagreeable one. Not merely debarred from commercial pursuits, they found that, in disobedience to orders from the Home Government, the Commander, with his relatives, carried on farming operations so extensively as to become serious competitors with them in the only pursuits by means of which they were able to earn a livelihood. The petition to Holland commences by stating — "Pressed down in utmost need, we, in all dutiful submission, take the hberty to utter our righteous com- plaints to your Honours ; and to this step we are the more constrained, because, by reason of the um'ighteous and haughty tyranny of the Governor, W. A. van der SteU, we are not alone grievously oppressed, but the rather treated as slaves; and inasmuch as we are free-born men and subjects of their High Mightinesses, it is readily to be understood that such unwonted treatment is doubly hard to be borne. We have therefore determined to lay before your Honours, as impartial champions of right and justice, as briefly as we can in the sequel, wherein this oppression consists."* The petitioners then proceed, in strong and * The chief authorities on the subjects of Cape political troubles early in the eighteentli century are a number of folio pamphlets to be found in the Pessinian Collection, South African Library, of which the 1705.] Oomplaints of the younger Van der Stell. 119 embittered language, to state that the Commander, contrary to law, seized upon such large and Taluable grants of ground cultivated at the public expense, that fifty farmers could gain a livelihood on them. His vineyard contained 400,000 vines, and his flocks and herds comprised 800 cattle and upwards of 10,000 sheep. Sixty Company's servants were employed to do the work, and one hundred Government slaves assisted them, while " his wagons, ploughs, &c., were made of the Company's iron, and the wood-work of wood cut in the Company's forests." The possession of fifteen cattle stations, and the cruel monopoly of pasture, are specially referred to, while the manner in which the large quantity of stock was obtained is thus explained: — "The Governor, and his brother, Frans the younker, the clergyman, Petrus Kalden, and others of the Company's servants, were the first who undertook the barter of cattle, for this was done by them in an underhand secret manner, without the knov/ledge of anyone else that the traffic had been opened. In order to carry on this trade, they dispatched a large number of men with powder and lead, who bartered indeed from some, robbed others in most scandalous wise, and forced the cattle from them ; and in such manner the barterers returned home well provided. For the rest, His Excellency has by foul means filched cattle from several burghers, &c. Now, when the Governor and the other gentlemen had bartered abundantly, he declared the trade open; but, after a little time, this was again forbidden by Placaat. Upon this, when the Directors again declared the free traffic open to the inhabitants, the order was withheld by the Governor, whUe he was himself busied with barter in his own behalf, having for the purpose sent away his following is a list : — Klagtsohrift in den Jare 1706 ; Korte Deiuetie van W. A: van der Stell; Neutrale Oedragten ; Gontra Deductie, by J. Van der Heiden and Adam Tas. These were published at Amsterdam, and contain not only tlie charges against the younger Van der Stell, but the replies of that officer to them. See also an excellent article in the Oape Monthly Magazine, 1857, p. 150 ; also Mr, Justice Water-! meyer's Lectures, p. 38, et seq. 120 The History of tJie Oape Colony , [1705. superintendent, who returned with 300 head. The impro- prieties committed herein have excited the Hottentots, and those, for the injuries suifered by them, wreak their vengeance on the innocent." But the Commander is by no means the only official attacked ; Kalden, the chaplain, is thus spoken of: — "He, too, is one of the largest farmers, and notwithstanding that he hath, beyond his other gains, 120 florins per month from the Honourable Company, it is nevertheless certainly true that he makes no account of religion, inasmuch as he is much more interested about his cultivated lands than about his pulpit ; he sometimes for a fortnight together enjoys himself on his farm. It hath often happened that people have come a considerable distance from the country to have their children baptized, and others to be joined in matrimony, but were compelled to return home sore disappointed. But how improper soever these things may be, he little cares, as he has ingratiated himself with the Governor. It will rarely occur that the Governor is at his country house but the clergyman betakes himself to his likewise. Of an absence for two Sundays, and that frequently, he thinks nothing ; and dares to say, 'If His Excellency and the second person are not at the Cape, what should I do there?' Your Honours may hence judge how little respect this so-called pastor has for rehgion. We could add many instances of his conduct, but these would be of a coarse nature, which we endeavour to avoid." After special mention is made of the persecution which the farmers who lived near the Governor's lands had to endure, the brother of Van der Stell is thus referred to : — * He is as full of mischief as an egg of meat Belying on his brother the Governor, he doth as much evil as his bile suggests. He is a most dangerous instrument — ^yea, a pest to the Cape, having his enjoyment in annoying the free burghers, considering it an honom- to practice decep- tion; and if it were in his power to destroy aU the burghers in one day, he would not take two for the purpose." This " younker" is charged with having, at the Governor's desire, bribed several men to assault and 1706.] Further Omwplamts of the Ooverncrr. 121 cudgel " two ancient burgher councillors, so that they should feel it." And, then, as a peroration to this part of the petition, it is said : " In truth, from the actions of these three gentlemen (the Governor, his brother, and the clergyman), it must be concluded that they not only imagine that they have license to do what they please, but that the whole land is their freehold, inasmuch as they attempt to play the master over all ; and were their power but fully equal to their will, most undoubtedly all the burghers would be banished the country." The most serious charge was made relative to the conduct of the Commander towards the wine-farmers. A tithe of their produce, it is stated, had always to be depo- sited at the Government stores, and the remainder could never be sold except at the prices fixed by the Company. When foreign ships required supplies, the planters had to seU at ten to twenty rix-doUars per leaguer to the Commander, who, in his turn, charged the captains at the rate of one hundred ducatons (or one hundred and fifty rix-dollars) per leaguer, thus making an enormous profit, which went into his own pocket. It is alleged that the corn-farmers had to part with their grain at half its real value ; that the right of fishing at Kalk Bay was denied to aU except the Governor's slaves ; and that title-deeds could never be obtained without "reasons that jingle" in the form of douceurs', " All which things are incontro- vertible proofs that the Governor is rightly deemed a scourge of the land's inhabitants, in that he not only envies them any prosperity, but would exhaust them utterly in as far as in him lies, and expose them to perdition, using for his maxim ' that a ruined community is easily ruled.' But this is no marvel, seeing that he is callous to virtue, and has not the least respect for an honest man ; but vile vagabonds who earn a liveli- hood by rascality and thieving are the Governor's best friends ; and such are in high grace with him, for they fiU his hands. Pui-ther, he lends his ears to vain babbling men and flatterers, being a coward before the truth." 122 The Mistory of the Owpe Colmvy. 11706. It has already been mentioned that two petitions, were sent. The first was addressed to the Indian authorities at BataTia, and the other (of which the tenor has now been given) to the Chamber of Seventeen. An oppor- tunity for forwarding the latter to Holland was being sought, when Van der Stell received intelligence from Java that the former document had reached the Governor-General of India. The members of the Cape Government were, of course, violently enraged, and every endeavour was made to discover the framers of a petition which had dared to attribute blame to the Commander and the principal functionaries. In a small community such an investigation could not be attended with much difficulty, and secret inquiries were soon rewarded by information which appeared to prove that Adam Tas, a farmer of Stellenbosch, was the principal ringleader of the disaffected. No sooner was this discovery made than Van der Stell, in conjunction with his principal adviser, Landdrost Starrenberg, commanded the arrest of Tas, and the seizure of all his books and papers. Starrenberg and three Members of Council, named Willem van Putten, Jan Brommert, and Hendrik Bouwman, were charged with the execution of this order ; and the Governor's carriage, together with an armed escort, were placed at their disposal. They arrived at the ringleader's house in Stellenbosch shortly before daylight on Sunday, 28th February, and, having secured all the approaches, rushed into the bedroom where Tas with his wife and family were asleep. The unfortunate man was borne away in the custody of two soldiers, and, after the chests and boxes had been searched and sealed, his writing-desk was secured and carried to Cape Town. This desk was found to contain a copy of the memorial and a list of the signatures to it, which Samuel Elzivier (the second person) immediately brought to the Governor. The Contra Deductie states "that His Excellency was so enraged in the acquisition of this precious jewel, that he determined to persecute us with fire and sword, and to doom us to the gallows and the wheel." This is a speci- 1706.] Seizure of the Qov&mm-'s Opponents. 123 men of exaggerated language which shows the direction of the entire, current of their remarks. Tas was thrown into prison on a charge of high treason, and bail was, of course, refused. It appears that the first signature to the memorial was that of a Hollander, seventy years of age, named Jan Eotterdam, who is said to have previously incurred Van der Stell's animosity by not rising in church on one occasion (according to the usual custom) when His Excellency entered.* The Political and Judicial Council, which was summoned upon the arrest of Tas, immediately issued the following order : — " The freeman and old Burgher Councillor, Jan Eotterdam, is hereby, by virtue of a resolution of Council held in this place, ordered to betake himself on board of the ship De Herstelde Leeuw within twenty -four hours ; therewith to proceed to Batavia, to answer to the Honourable Indian Government respect- ing such acts as he hath oftentimes committed, contrary to his honour, his oath, and his duty, against the lawful authority of the place." Vigorous measures were taken to arrest "the traitors;" but those who avowed that they had been misled were offered pardon if they would come before the authorities and declare their repentance. Seizure and incarceration were the punishments inflicted on the obdurate, while the friends of the Government were hospitably entertained at His Excellency's residence, and treated to pipes and tobacco, with copious draughts of beer. At a broad Council held on 4th March, 1706, at which several of the captains of vessels in port assisted, the following Proclamation was agreed on, of which the subjoined forms the most import- ant portion : — "We have heard, with sorrow and high displeasure, that, as well here at the Cape as in the country, there are within this Government malicious and wicked inhabitants, who have not alone been guilty of entering into a conspiracy against the lawful authority and Government of * It is stated that he aould not, but it is difficult to imagine how a man who was able to attend worship in a church could not rise on his feet. 124 The History of the Owpe Colony. urn. this settlement, but have also, by means of libellous writings against the Government, to which they, partly by persuasion and partly by force, obtained signatures, seduced others from their virtuous courses, and drawn them into their pernicious schemes ; and whereas aU such proceedings cannot be deemed in any other light than as public mutiny and sedition, and disregard of the lawful authority of Government, tending to the destruction and to the ruin of the people and of the country ; " Now, therefore, we, with the advice and concurrence of the Honourable the Commander and Council of the return fleet now in this bay, for the good of the Govern- ment and the preservation of the public peace, which has already been much disturbed by the said malicious and turbulent persons, and feeling it our duty to provide against the great evils which may arise from such proceed- ings, using thereto the means which Heaven and our Masters have placed in our hands, have forbidden and interdicted all and every inhabitant of this Colony, whom- soever, by the obedience due to us and to our Government, as we do by these presents interdict and forbid them, that no one shall enter into any combination, association, or conspiracy, or council with the said evil-intentioned inhabitants who have combined against the chief authority, nor shall sign any libellous nor seditious papers under penalty of punishment for sedition ; and that all who shall be discovered as inviting or persuading others to sign such papers shall be punished with death, without distinction of persons, as violators of the public peace ; and we do by these presents authorize the independent Fiscal and the Landdrost to inform themselves respecting all such persons, and to apprehend all such as may be under suspicion of being engaged in the disgraceful and slanderous conspiracy, wherever they may be found," and then follows the order already adverted "to: — "But, inasmuch as it is possible that some may regret their part in these proceedings, having been misled by the malicious ringleaders in the matter, these are informed that they must instantly appear before the authorities to avow their repentance for their 1706.] Pmdshm&nt of the Discontented. 125 misdeeds ; otherwise they shall receive the same punish- ment as the other seditious mutineers." The punishment of death was, however, never inflicted. The soldiery and police actively exerted themselves to capture the petitioners, and if these people did not at once recant they were either immured in prison, or banished to Mauritius, Ceylon, or Batavia. One of the principal complainants, Jacohus van der Heiden, an old Heemraad and Burgher Lieutenant of Stellenbosch, is stated to have been incarcerated in the same cell with a slave who had been convicted of murder and arson. The suspicions of the Governor were, with good reason, chiefly directed to the later Dutch colonists and the French refugees.* Nine residents of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, who had been summoned to Cape Town, disobeyed the order, and fled for concealment to the country near Twenty-four Eivers. Mounted soldiers under Landdrost Starrenberg pursued them, but in vain. As recusants they were convicted of sedition, declared infamous, each condemned to pay a fine of 200 rix-dollars, and sentenced to deporta- tion to Mauritius and imprisonment there for five years. t During these arbitrary proceedings, the Governor, if really guilty, committed an unaccountable error in banishing to Holland^ a burgher councillor named Henning Husing * To one of these latter the following allusion is made in a book published ia Holland in 1713 : — " This Meyer having escaped from the French King's dragoons, and having forsaken all tlie temporal advan- tages that God had given him. because he would bear no resti-aint on his conscience, lived for a time in Germany and elsewhere, and finally had come hither as to a secure retreat, where he hoped to spend the rest of his days in peace and in freedom. But he found himself mistaken indeed, seeing that the Governor, as well as the great King of France, ho,d dragoons at his command, through whom he could make the place intolerable, not only for refugees, but for his own countrymen." f Three of them were afterwards captured, but the sentence never took efi'ect, as the prosecutions terminated before they could be sent out of the Colony. X It is said that Van der Stell almost immediately repented his rash order, and in the galiot endeavoured unsuccessfully to overtake the ship in which the exiles were. 126 The History of the Cape Colony. iiloi. and four others of the most influential inhabitants. These men, as might have been foreseen, used their best endeavours to gain powerful friends, and soon succeeded in obtaining an order for the recall of the Governor and his principal officers. The despatch in which this mandate was conveyed reached the Colony in April, 1707, and caused the immediate liberation of all the prisoners, some of whom had been in gaol more than thirteen months. " We have had," it is stated in it, " the dissatis- faction to perceive that grave commotions and differences exist between a great number of the colonists and the Cape Government. Much paper hath been covered with complaints and refutations, which have occupied much of our time and given us much trouble. Of all this we say no more than that we expect that such like matters will not again arise ; and for the conservation of the public peace, and for other good reasons, we have resolved and do now order that the Governor, W. A. van der SteU, the Secunde Persoon, Samuel Elzivier, the Clergyman, Petrus Kalden, and the Landdrost, Johan Starrenberg, shall be removed and sent hither, retaining their rank and pay, but without any authority or office." In other parts of the despatch, it is ordered that " the great mansion shall be razed to the ground, inasmuch as such edifices as display ostentation, and are erected more for the sake of grand appearance than for the use of the Company's servants, as well at the Cape as in India, have always displeased us." The "younker" Frans is to leave the Colony forthwith ; all persons under punishment for conspiracy are to be released; and Van Assenburg is appointed Governor in the room of Van der SteU. In considering the events which have now been detailed, it is necessary to view the complaints made against Van der SteU with great caution. Many of them were evidently exaggerated, and the embittered feelings with which the petitioners regarded the members of Govern- ment lent venom to their shafts. In the Dedmtie published by Van der SteU after his return to HoUand, that officer endeavoured to vindicate himself, and states 1707.] Van der Stell's Vmd'lcaUon. 127 that his strict adherence to the orders of the Home Government, in preventing illicit trafBc and smuggling, was the cause of the malignity exercised towards him by a small but violent portion of the colonists. The Contra Deductie was published by Tas and Van der Heiden in answer to this ; and here new accusations are added to the former ones, and the alleged discreditable manner in which certain recantations of complaints, and testimonials, were obtained is minutely described. It is difficult to charge Van der Stell with exceeding his powers, when we know that complete and arbitrary control over the colonists had been placed in his hands. All who avowed repentance were at once pardoned; and the act of sending malcontents to Batavia and Holland does not show any desire to shun investigation. At this lapse of time, it is impossible to decide between the accusers and the accused. The Home Government evidently did not believe half the allegations of Van der Stell's enemies, whose charges are couched in terms so violent and exaggerated as scarcely to seem the language of truth. But it would answer no useful purpose to enter into further detail on this subject. It would indeed have been surprising if the Governor and high officials at the Cape had not abused their power. The will of the Commander was always above the law, or rather virtually formed part of it, and the salaries given to officials were so small as to supply a strong incentive to the use of the easy means of acquiring wealth which the Company had placed in their hands. In truth, it is the system, not the officers, which deserves blame, and, although Van der Stell was removed,* the Governor's power remained undiminished. The various Councils could never thwart him, and " the -■:-- The recalled Governor became celebrated ia Holland for Ma devotion to literature and science. He is referred to by Burmann, as the P iccitantissimus Botanophilus who did much for natural science when at the Cape. Van de Marre, the poet, sings the Governor's praises, and abuses the discontented burghers in Eer-liroon van de Kaaji dc Ooed Hocp. The courtesy of the Van der Stells is referred to in Father Tachard's account of the French expedition to Siam, 128 The History of the Oa^e Colony. wm. doctrine bywhich the East India Company instructed their Prefects to govern was, that the Colony should not be freely cultivated, or industry be freely exercised therein, lest the colonists should become opulent, powerful, and free." During the government of the younger Van der Stell, the foundation of the Dutch Eeformed Church near the Government Gardens was laid, and large exploring parties were sent into the country of the Kafirs and to Namaqua- land, Kolben, who visited the Colony at this period, describes Cape Town as large and regularly built, extend- ing from the sea-shore to the valley, and containing several spacious streets, with handsome houses. The dwellings were of stone, with large courts iu the front, and beautiful gardens behind them ; most of them are stated to have been only one storey high, " and none more than two, in consequence of the violence of the easterly wind." A large building called the Lodge was used for the Company's slaves, "which are mostly brought from Madagascar." A very handsome range of stables contained the Government horses, and Kolben remarks that the " Governor's body-coachman is esteemed a considerable person." In a map published by this writer, two gallows erected near the Castle are conspicuous ; and the Castle itself, as well as the old jetty close to it, the Government Gardens, and the Dutch Eeformed Church, are the most prominent objects. As regards the water supply, it is stated that "the stream from the Table Hill turns a mill belonging to the Company ; from thence it passes through long pipes to the Square or Place des Armes, between the Portress and Cape Town, where, through pumps, it plentifully supplies both the town and fortress with the most delicious water for drinking." The remarks of this traveller on the subject of the Hottentots have already received attention, and the narrative of his residence at the Cape seems scarcely worthy of an extended notice. Van Assenburg, who succeeded to the government in 1707,* found the Colony to comprise the present divisions * Johan Cornells d'Abbling acted until the arrival of Van Assenburg. 1710.] Agricultural Enterprise. 129 of the Cape, Stellenboseh, Paarl, Malmesbury, and part of Caledon and Tulbagh. The stock consisted of 130,000 sheep and 20,000 head of cattle, while the Europeans and free burghers were certainly fewer than 2,000, and the the slaves numbered rather more. In 1710 the cultivation of the land yielded 20,000 muids of wheat, 1,200 muids of rye, and 1,200 muids of barley.* The manner in which business proceeded was the following : — Tithes of aU the produce of the earth were paid to Government, and everything had to be sold at prices fixed by functionaries who were careful in aU cases to keep a share of the profits for themselves. Out of forty rix-doUars per leaguer for wine paid by the Company, thirteen rix-doUars were retained by the officials through whose hands the money passed, and the remaining twenty-seven given to the producer. The same rule extended to the traffic in other articles ; and it was considered a great boon, only obtained after much exertion, when the owners of surplus stores which the Company did not require were permitted to aell them to foreign ships upon giving a douceur to the Fiscal. ^ * Beschryving van de Eaap de Ooede Hoep. Valentyn. CHAPTEE Vl. k Canses of tlie Slow Progress of tlie Cape— Nature of the Government— GoTemors Van Assenbnrg, WiUiam Helot, and Marqnis De Chavonnes — Education — Expeditions of Discovery— Jan de la Fontaine— The Tyranny of Governor Van Noot — His nnjnst System — Conspiracy against him — His extraordinary death — Free Trade in Cattle and its Eesnlts— Murders and Eobberies by Natives— State of the Country- The Traveller Sparrman — Governors Van den Henghell and The stream of Cape colonial history does not rapidly increase in volume as it proceeds. Far different from the rapid progress of the American Colonies, the advance of the Cape was slow and unsatisfactory. A state of torpor, only broken by discontent, was its normal condition, and no real change was effected until the thraldom of mercan- tile monopoly was thrown off for ever. " It is clear that the unfortunate condition to which the country was reduced was the natural result of the false principles on which the Colony had been founded. The attempted union of a mercantile factory of a monopolist nature with a mongrel free colonization, was a signal failure. A commercial establishment, consisting merely of paid servants, receiving wages for duty performed, limited to the occupation of a sufficient market place for the purchase of the cattle required b/the passing ships, and a fort for their protection, might have "answered the wanljg of the Dutch traders. This would then have been no Co]pnj, nor the semblance of a Colony. There would have been no hope of prosperity in South Africa ; but the native owners of the soil would possibly not have been despoiled and exterminated. They would not have advanced into civilization ; but they would have been in existence. In the supposition that no other Europeans would have seized on the land, there would yet have been barbarism at the end of the last century; but the aboriginal inhabitants would not have been swept away by myriads. If the country were not profited, this curse, at least, had not beeu* inflicted. 1710.] The Slow Advamce of the Colony. * > 131 " On the other hand, had the European colonists not been trammelled, fettered, and repressed in every conceiv- able mode, wherever their welfare appealed to clash with the pecuniary interest of their masters; had they been permitted the free development of their energies, free commerce, and cultivation, to export what they could raise by their labour from the land, to import what they needed, to exercise their powers in the manner they deemed most conducive to their own prosperity ; it is lamentably true, indeed, that the process of extermination of the black man by the white would have been equally rapid, perhaps more rapid than it has been — his disappearance might have been even more complete than at present. Possibly no independent nation of coloured origin would now possess land on the South African continent. The principle which has been carried into practice here, as in the American colonies, that while the coloured races are supposed incapable of prosperity in close contact with the white, the white shall be deemed entitled to seize on all the land of the coloured races, would perhaps have received even yet more terrible and universal application. But the country itself, cultivated by its new energetic proprietors, would not have lost a century and a half of progress." These are Mr. Justice Watermeyer's remarks upon the early history of his own country, which had been the subject of his attentive observation and study; but the eloquent writer does not seem to appreciate the possible effects of an enlightened policy upon the coloured tribes. ' If a strong and just Government which looked upon* all men with impartiality could have been established at the Cape early last century, the natives would have found in it a powerful shield against the unbridled license of the colonial farmers. An effective endeavour to teach Christianity to the Hottentots would have been encouraged, and by this means native ferocity could have been softened and the frightful gulf created by prejudice between the white men and the blacks at least partially bridged across. It is not possible to conceive any policy more destructive to both races than the wretched mis- £ 2 132 » The History of the Cape Colony. am. » government of the Dutch Mercantile Association at the Cape. Neither giving commercial advantages to the Europeans, nor cisdlization and protection to the heathen, the Company drove the former into a constant War with the native i^ees, whose retaliation consisted in the constant perpetration of thefts and outrages. In April, '1708, a proclamation of Van Assenhurg restored freedom and political rights to the citizens who had been proceeded against by Van der Stell. In the nest year (1709) False Bay was duly surveyed and declared a safe harbour, ft was then very evident that the anchor- age in Table Bay was unsafe in winter; and this was sadly proved on the 20th May, 1737, when no fewer than eight Company's ships* were wrecked and 207 lives lost. This severe disaster induced the Home Government to give orders that their vessels should in future winter in Simon's Bay, and large buildings consequently had to be erected there. Van Assenburg's stay at the Cape was brief ; and his successor, Willem Helot, arrived in 1711. During this year the erection of the old gaol was commenced, and in the following year, as has already been mentioned, old Simon van der Stell died, and was buried with all the poTup which his former rank' and position demanded. Mauritz Pasquess, Marquis De Chavonnes, a French Huguenot nobleman, was appointed to the Government in 1714, and shortly after his arrival, ordered that the statutes of India, collected towards the end of the preceding feentury, should form a code of laws for the Colony. Education, but that of a very primitive kind only, received attention, and a definite system was adopted, providing for instruction in "the Lord's Prayer, commandments, creeds, prayers for morning and evening, grace before and after meals, and the catechism." To provide against the belief of the pupils being tampered with, the schoolmasters were obliged to signify their adherence to the Articles of the Dordrecht Synod. * Named the Goudman, Yperde, Flordi Paddenburg, Westerwyk, Buys, and Duyiibeelc. i72i.i Ikq)eMtions to^he East Coast. , 133 Several unfortunate expeditions to the East Coast require* mention. In 1721, vessels left Table Bay with the view of establishing a port at Natal ; but being unable to discover , it, proceeded to Algoa Bay instead. An establishment subsequeatlf formed at Eio de la Goa was always weak, and so (Jissevered from the Colony, that it became the victim of piratical attacks ,• while so much discomfort and inconvenience was suffered by the party of occupation,* that mutiaies of a serious nature broke out. " A plot at Terleton, on the Eio de la Goa,"+ is referred to in the biography of Captain Allemann, and thirty Europeans were massacred tjiere in 1729. To compensate for all this no eommeycial advantages were derived. A sample of oil was certainly seat to Europe, but it never appears to have been followed, by larger quantities; and two parcels ♦of " gold dust," when examined, were found to be nothing but sand. At last. Governor Van Noot was ordered to break up this settlement, and it, was finally abandoned in the year 1730. Undaunted by failure, an expedition was shortly afterwards dispatched to the " Tierra de Natal" ; but this, like its predecessor, was unsuccessful. Jan de la Pontaiue acted as Commander from the com- pletion of the Marquis De Chavonnes' term of office until the arrival (in 1727) of his successor, Piet Gysbert van Noot. At this time, as indeed at all times under the Company's rule, in consequence of the Governor's pc^wer being despotic, a bad ruler was g,ble to gratify his own inclinations with impunity. As the soldiers at the Cape received wretched pay, a system prev^ailed of permitting a certain number of them to go out as " free-tjicket men," and earn a monthly allowance of 9 florins 12'*stivers, * In 1736 the number in this party was 200. f There is great doubt as to where Rii3 de la Goa was. Algoa Bay was at one time called " De la Goa," and afterwards Plettenberg's Bay received the same name. " De la*Goa" also was the name given to the large Bay to the eastward which stiU bears tliis title. De la Ooa signifies the Bay of Waters. It is believed by some that Algoa and Delagoa were names conferred in connection with Portuguese voyages to and from Goa in the East Indies. '' 134 Tlie History of^tlw Ocupe Colony. nw. which was called service money, and equally divided among aU the soldiers in garrison. It is asserted that Governor Van Noot put this money into his own pocket, under the pretence of supplying shoes, hose, and other necessaries by means of it. The of&cers remonstrated to the best of their ability against this iniquitous arrange- ment, and even hinted that a mutiny would probably be the consequence ; but Van Noot remained deaf to all their arguments, and put an end to the discussion by declaring that his will was to be law. " Thereat," the contemporary historian states, "the soldiers in the service began to swear ; they murmm-ed, they complained, they prayed; but nought would avail; they were sUenced^with rude blows."* It ought to be explained that at this time there were two classes of people in the service of the Company in India and at the Cape, named Orlammen and Baaren ;t the former of whom consisted of well-knoTma persons who had served for several years ; and the latter of new-comers and comparative strangers.- The former, being considered trustworthy, had many opportunities of earning money among the burghers ; but the unfortunate Baaren had to eke out a wretched subsistence upon twenty-eight stivers ration money, and twenty-eight stivers subsidy money per month. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the deprivation of the service money was considered a most cruel hardship, and that a conspiracy, which we will shortly have to describe, was the consequence of this injustice. * The narrative of 6,vents under Van Noot's rule is taken from " The Biography of Mr. Rudolph Siegfried Allemann, formerly Captain of Militia,*Chief of the Garrison, and Commandant of the Castle, as also Chief Merchant in rank. President of the Senate of Justice, and Asses- sor of the Council of Police, in the service of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope — with an accurate description of that Promontory," first referred to at length in the South African Advertiser and Mail (June 16, 1866). A copy of this work (supposed to be by 0. F. Muntzel) was presented to the South African Library by Mr. Advocate Hiddingh. f From a corruption of two words in the Malay language, Oranglami, an old person or acquaintance ; Orangbaru, a new person. 1727.] Tyranny of Ycm Noot, 135 But the tyranny of Van Noot extended to other classes besides those in military service, and it is asserted that when the holder of a perpetual quitrent property died, and his heir requested the customary renewal of the lease, this was refused, on the pretext that, although he had inherited the buildings {opstalling), the land on which they were situated belonged to the Company. The property was then sold by auction, and the heir of the last possessor had to endeavour to get what compensation he could from the buyer for the buildings, " or break them down and go away." A second "instance of his malice" is thus related: — "Many young farmers annually associated together, and went elephant shooting. They had for that purpose often to go two hundred miles into the interior, to provide various wagons for the journey, a large quantity of provisions, a good supply of powder — in a word, they had to go to considerable expense. Their greatest profits on such expeditions are got by buying cattle and sheep from the Hottentots, in exchange for glass beads, knives, mirrors, little bells, brass buttons, and such like wares. As they never can undertake such an expedition without the knowledge and consent of the Governor, several such companies about this time prayed for permission from Governor Van Noot to undertake the journey. Their prayer was in no case refused ; they provided themselves with wagons and draught cattle, engaged several bastard Hottentots, and got together the necessary provisions for such a long and wearisome journey. But when they applied at the Company's stores to buy ammunition, tobacco, and the wares required for their trade, the store- keeper was forbidden to supply them ; and when they asked or prayed the Governor for an ordinance or permit, he had all sorts of excuses for refusing it. In short, the people had to remain at home, and were in many cases ruined by the expenses to which they had been put." The vyriter adds: "A governor who is a trickster can thus find a thousand opportunities to insult the officials and burghers, and do them all sorts of injury." He then proceeds to relate the particulars of the conspiracy 136 Tlie Eistory of the Gape Colony. ptso. (already referred to) caused by the withdrawal of service money from the Baaren and other men in military service, thiirty or forty soldiers, mostly new people, agreed among themselves to obtain a supply of powder ^.nd lead; to escape over the castle wall by means of a rope; and then to march along the coast until they reached some Portuguese or other settlement, whence they could proceed to Europe, The plot was ripening, and many had given in their adhesion to it, when one of the conspirators suddenly discovered all to the Governor. Van Noot immediately ordered those concerned to be arrested, and the Fiscal was sternly commanded to institute the strictest investi- gation. Eight persons, among whom was a German cavalier of very good family, named Herr Von E ,* and * The writer of Captain Allemami's biography states : — " It need not excite surprise that mention is here made of a German cavaKer who was going out to East India as a common soldier. There were more gentlemen of that class at the Cape. In the year 1735, a young soldier came to the Cape, who simply called himself D , and gave himself out to be an embroiderer, an art in which he was quite a master. The Governor of the day, Johan de la Fontaine, ordered him into his presence, gave him a piece of exceeding fine Chinese scarlet velvet, and silver cord to embroider it. When this coat was nearly finished it was accidentally destroyed by fire, which had sach an effect upon the poor workman as to cause his death. Subsequently, the Tiscal Independent received letters from Holland, in which he was requested to make inquiries whether the young Count D , a gentleman about 22 (who proved to have been the embroiderer) had not arrived at the Cape. About the same time, a Swedish Baron, Kayserfeldt, also arrived at the Cape. They wished to favour him before others, and he was soon pro- moted to the Governor's guard. But, gentle and refined cavalier as was the Count D ,|this baron was a great fool, and therefore was not kept long at the Cape, but packed off to Batavia." With regard to the truth- fulness of Capt. Allemann's biographer, we must ask our readers to judge for themselves. He displays considerable animus against "Van Noot, and it is very probable that most of his statements require to be taken cum grano satis. In one part of his book he represents this Governor as being uniformly kind and considerate to Mr. AUemann, and also to Capt. Rhenius, but adds, " the reader may not unnaturally be led to suppose that Governor Van Noot was a true friend to his kind, and a beneficent angel ; but he was nothing of the sort : he was, in the truest sense, an enemy to all — an incarnate devil." A draXna, successfully performed in Cape Town, is founded on the statements made by this writer. 1730.] Ooftam Allemawi's Narrative. 137 two theologic*! candidates, were considered to be the ringleaders of the plot, and imprisoned in a dungeon where those condemned to death were coflfined. The escape of the leader (Yon E ) was dexterously planned by Lieutenant AUemann, " yho had taken a great interest in him when he heard that he was a countryman of high birth." He persuaded Von E to feign illness, so that his removal to the hospital wa§ effected, and shortly afterwards secretly conveyed him on board a foreign ship lying in the Bay.* '* It has been thought better to give the identical words of this narrative, as there is little or no corroborative testimony regarding the details famished : — " As regards the seven other prisoners confined in the ' blackhofe,' a process was framed against them, and when the trial was over, they were condemned by the Senate of Justice each to run the gauntlet ten times, and thdn to be sent to Batavia as sailors. But this sentence did not please the Governor. He cried out, like another Wallenstein, ' They shall all hang, the brutes ! they shall all hang !' The Fiscal- Independent and the whole Senate protested against this, and remon- strated that these people could not receive sentence of death, since they had only planned a desertion, but had not carried it out, and had, besides, been driven to it by being deprived of privileges to which they had a right. But their arguments and pleadings were of no avail. The Governor interrupted them with the authoritative sentence, ' I take the responsibility,' and the Senate had to be silent. A criminal sentence was made out against them, with the usual Dutch formalities, that they were to he hung with a rope from the gallows until death followed. The Governor immediately signed his name on the margin, with the terrible death warrant, ^aiS exeeutio ! " The following morning early, between eight and nine o'clock, the sentence of 'death was read to the seven prisoners, and they were informed that the execution would take place the next day at nine o'clock. As soon as the sentence had been communicated to them, the second minister of the Keformed Church entered the now opened but doubly guarded dungeon to prepare the condemned for death. But one of the theological candidates requested the minister to be pleased to go hack to his house, remarldng that he and his companions all belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and that he and the other candi- date would try to console and prepare themselves and their companions for death. The minister announced this to the Governor, and he, who generally showed no feeling for rehgion, was quite content to let Tiim depart. On the same day the prisoners were, according to custom fed from the Governor's kitchen, and supplied with everything they 138 The History of the Oa^e Colorvy. aiw. The preceding account of these transactions is fur- nished by a contemporary writer, whose book breathes hatred to Governor Van Noot. If this Comniander were ivanted. But they ate little, and spent most of the day in singing and prayer. " The following morning early, at eight o'clock, the whole garrison, with the free-ticket men who had uniforms, paraded in the Castle-yard or field of arms, and at nine o'clock marched past the Governor's house, but, as usual on such occaSons, commanded by only one officer. The prisoners were brought from their dungeon by a guard, and the sentence of death and the notice of their crime were again read to them from the top of the steps which, running up both sides of the entrance^ to Government-house, form a sort of small balcony. Thereupon the garrison marched off and paraded at the place of execution, forming in circle round the gaUows. The prisoners were then gently led away and brought to the spot. The one candidate took three and the other two of their companions, and comforted and prayed with them as they went. A large tent is on such occasions erected at the place of execution, and hither the whole Senate of Justice is escorted by the Governor's guard. The sergeant of the guard marched in front with six grenadiers ; then follows the messenger of justice with a long thorn wand, mounted with silver at both ends, in his hand, and carrying his hat under his arm. Behind him came all the members of the Senate, walking two and two, and the corporal of the guard with six grenadiers closed the procession. The members of the Senate seated themselves in the chairs provided for them in the tent, and watched the whole execution from beginning to end. The two candidates knelt down with their companions at the place of execution, prayed with great feeling and edification, and took most afiectionate and impressive leave of each other, as one after the other they were led away to execution. Millions of tears were shed by the soldiers and spectators standing around ; even the members of the Senate of Justice could not conceal their tears and emotion. At last the turn came to the first of the two candidates, and they said farewell, in the hope and assurance of soon meeting again in the holy tabernacle above. Last of all the second candidate was also led to the ladder. The hangman was about to put the rope round his neck, when he interrupted him, ' Pardon me a moment ; I have some- thing to say.' The executioner stopped, and the candidate turned his face towards the Castle, and the Government-house beyond the gate, and cried with a loud voice, ' Governor Van Noot, I summon you in this very hour before the judgment-seat of Omniscient God, there to give account of the souls of myself and my companions. Now, in God's name,' said he, turning to the hangman, allowed the rope to be fixed round his neck, and ascended the ladder with a firm step, when another rope was put round his neck, and when both had been fixed to the 1730J Allemawn's Nanaldve contwmed. 139 guilty of the excessive cruelty and injustice laid to his charge, he was a monster in human form, whose memory merits execration. But there is a lack of cross-beam, the hangman pushed Mm from the ladder, and there he hung, dead, without a single struggle. "After the execution, the whole Senate, escorted by the guard in the order before mentioned, returned to the Castle and to the Governor's house to report to him, as duty and custom required, the execution of the sentence. They entered together into the large audience-hall, in which the meetings of the Senate were held, and in which also the Governor's table was spread at midday. The Governor was sitting at the end of the hall in an arm-chair. They bowed to him ; but the Governor did not make the least sign of recognition. The gentlemen drew nearer to address him, when, merciful God ! they saw that he sat motionless in his chair.* He was dead ; despair was on his counten- ance, and he had such a horrible look, that all the gentlemen sud- denly and together stepped back, greatly alarmed, and quite overcome with wonder and horror. From this first shock they could scarcely recover themselves or think what they were doing. An alarm and cry got up, ' The Governor is dead !' but no one could or would beheve it ; for he had been seen only half-an-hour before healthy and hearty. Every living being in the Castle rushed to the spot ; but the guard at the door of Government-house at once got orders to admit no one. The doors were locked, and the Senate adjourned to the house of Acting-Governor La Fontaine, to deliberate as to what had best be done. " One of the remaining prisoners under arrest, a man named Winkel- man, had a sudden idea, and shouted out, ' Noot (Need) is dead ; now there is no need !' {Nood is dood ; nu is er geen nood.) This was the signal to the other prisoners, who shouted out in chorus, and in a moment all the soldiers, workmen, and sailors in the Castle — nay, it would not be wrong to say everything that had life — echoed the cry, ' Nood is dead ; now there is no need !' This very Winkelman, who was afterwards promoted to be sergeant, used, when relating the tale, suddenly to get quite enthusiastic when he remembered and vividly pictured the great joy which possessed all. " As soon as the gentlemen of the Senate had recovered themselves and calmly weighed the matter, they gave orders to the carpenters to prepare a very mean coffin or shell, and, when that was brought into the Governor's house, his slaves were to take up the dead body and put it in just as it was. At midnight, the captain of the guard ordered a small gate, which opened from the back of the Castle into the open * The chair in which Van Noot died is preserved in the South African Museum, Cape Town. 140 The Eistm'y of the Oofe Oolony. [ivso. evidence on the subject, so that it is necessary to receive Allemann's narrative with great caution. The dramatic manner in which the wicked Goveeaor is summoned to field, and which was called the sally-port, to be opened, and the slaves had to take the shell with the bo4y and bury it at a spot pointed out to them. They were forbidden, upon pain of death, to speak of the matter, and still less to reveal the opot where they had buried him. Thus the matter remained a secret ; aad it was only presumed that he had been interred on an islet at the head of the Bay, called Faarden Island. " The carpenters had after this to prepare a magnificent coffin of Indian teak, and, as soon as this was rea^y, the fiuieral ceremonies were arranged with an empty coffin. The two trumpeters whom the Company allows to the Governor at the Cape, went before, with their trumpets muffled in black cloth. An ensign, with pike reversed, and draped in black cloth, led the six hautboy-jlayers, whose instruments were also draped with black cloth. Then followed the Commandant and aU the other officers, with the whole garrison, marching with arms reversed ; the spontoons were simply draped, but both banners were completely enveloped in black. The drums of the drummers were each wrapped round and muffled with three ells of black cloth, and the sergeants had crape on their halberds. The Adjutant, apparently in deep mourning, but inwardly rejoicing, bore aloft on a pole covered with black cloth, and with long pieces of crape fluttering from it, the Governor's ooat-of-arms, peiinted on a square board. ' Then came the empty coffin, borne by secretaries and assistants, and surrounded by the Governor's guard. Four under-merchants held the four corners of the pall. Behind the coffin followed the Acting-Governor, the Fiscal- Independent, the clergy, merchants, and all people of distinction. In marching past, the guard at the gate presented arms, the officers saluted, and the drummers beat their drums. Every minute during the procession, according to a watch held in his hand by the constable, a gun was fired from the bastions of the Castle, and answered fcom all the ships lying in the Bay, and at each gun the flags on the ships, as well as the one flying on the Catteneienbogen bastion of the Castle, were dipped. After the coffin had been carried into the church and interred in the vault, the whole garrison fired three rounds with small arms, each of which was answered by the guns from the Castle, and then the soldiers marched back to the strains of lively music. Never was the weU-known return-march, ' Praise God that he is dead ! praise God that he is dead !' played more gaily than it was played by the drummers on this occasion. As this imposing ceremony had been conducted with an empty coffin, the common people found cause to believe and to relate that the devil had made away even with the soulless body of the deceased Governor Van Noot." 17S0.] The Oa^e in the Eighteenth Century. 141 judgment seems copied from several tales of the same nature to be found in European history. The ipsissima verba of Allemann have been purposely furnished to enable our readers to draw their own conclusions from them. Jan de la Fontaine acted as Governor upon the death of Van Noot, and was eventually confirmed in the office. " It would be a mere waste of patience to narrate a change of functionaries from time to time, without a variation in the mode of administration, or in the actual position of the country. Varied names, and unvaried complaints, though extending over a succession of years, revealing the same state of circumstances throughout, would afford but a dull and uninstructive lesson."* Unfortunately, the chief historical features of the eighteenth century are discontent and disaffection on the part of Europeans, t tyranny of Government functionaries, and thieving in- cursions of the Bushmen, followed by, severe re- prisals. No immigration took place, and the annoy- ances suffered from the spirit of independence displayed by the French Protestants no doubt tended to render the Government disinclined to encourage any. Of course individuals s^ho had retired from the Company's service, including discharged soldiers and sailors, were from time to time permitted to settle, and it is particularly necessary to bear in mind that many of the alleged acts of tyranny committed towards them were based on the special terms of their deeds of burghership. * Watermeyer's Lectures, p. 48. f " Had the English fleet not arrived at a propitious time to relieve the country from the feeble yet oppressive misrule of the once mighty merchant monarchs of the East, it is at least historically probable that, although the Dutch flag may have continued to wave in the fort at Cape Town— from Hottentot's HoUand to the Zuurveld, where the Boer abeady held possession, throughout Swellendam and Graafi'- Eeinet, the standard of independence would have been successfully raised, and a free State would have been established on the ruin of the Company's sway, before, the close of the last century. The Kepublic of Potgieter and Pretorius would have been anticipated by fifty years, and within the limits of the old Colony."— Watermeyer, p. 47. 142 The History of the Oa/pe Colony. Ptst. Adrian van Kervel succeeded Governor De la Fontaine in 1736, and Daniel van den Henghell ruled the Colony for nearly two years,* from 1737, and was succeeded in 1739 by Hendrik SweUengrebel, after whom the great division and the village of Swellendam were named. Sparrman says, " AU such peasants as live in Eoodezand, and the whole of that tract of country that Kes to the eastward, are under the jurisdiction of SweUendam, and are obliged, at a certain time of the year, to appear before the Landdrost and perform their exercise. This falls very heavy on such as live at a great distance, some of them dwelling, perhaps, five hundred miles off ; on which account likewise they frequently pretend impediments, or else submit to pay the fine at once." Stellenbosch was the other grea,t division to which the uihabitants of "Camdeboo, Sneeuwberg, Bokkeveld, Eoggeveld, and Anamaqua" had to repair ; while the Cape burghers, and the Tygerberg peasants went to Cape Town.t The Colony was fast extending in size. Loan places beyond Piquetberg were granted in 1742, and the Gamtoos Eiver was considered as the eastern boundary dividing the Dutch possessions from Kafirland. When the free trade in cattle was allowed, it was on * Adrian van Kervel was the immediate successor of Jan de la Fontaine, but only remained in the Colony a few months. •f- It is said that some converts (Parliamentary Papers, 1835, p. 18) resided at Sergeant's River, a smaU branch of the Zonder End, and one of these, according to Sparrman, " used to perform her devotions every morning on her bare knees by the side of a spring." The Moravian Society received frec[uent reports expressing the desire of the Hottentots that Schmidt should return ; but their repeated applications to the Dutch East India Company for leave to establish a mission were refused. At length, in the year 1792, they obtained permission to send three ministers, who established themselves at Baviaan's Kloof, and held their meetings under a large pear tree planted by Schmidt half a cehtury before. The old convert mentioned by Sparrman (a woman named Helena) was stiU alive, and read to the astonished missionaries the narrative of our Saviour's birth. For details on the subject of the Moravians in South Africa, see Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren, by Holmes. 1742.] Retrospect. — Proceedings of Traders. 143 condition that no force or compulsion should be made use of. As might have been foretold, this license was con- verted into a means of oppression, and large bands of armed colonists frequently forced the natives to give up their cattle for inadequate compensation, and then divided the spoil among themselves. This subject is one of importance, and i]b is therefore necessary to give a retrospective glance at the proceedings of the traders, and to endeavour to illustrate the manner in which their operations were conducted. In 1702, one of these parties, comprising forty-five persons, returned to the settlement with 2,000 cattle, which they had forcibly seized from the Hottentots. From the inquiry instituted by Governor Van der SteU, it appeared that they took some Bushmen as prisoners, whom they compelled to show them the kraal of a Captain Snell. Taking this SneU with them as an interpreter and guide, they advanced four days' journey further into the interior, when they were met by natives* armed with assagais and shields, who, as they were afterwards informed, had come out in this manner to " massacre" them. The assailants were easily repulsed, and one, taken alive, was afterwards beaten to death by Hottentots, at the command of the Dutch. Continuing their march, two kraals of " the Hovisons and Gonaquaas" were sm-prised, and no fewer than 2,270 cattle and 2,500 sheep captured. At the earnest request of the Hottentots, forty head of old cows and a small flock of sheep were left with them, and a few presents of tobacco and beads given. Several men, women, and children had been shot, and one Dutchman was killed by an assagai during the first encounter. This party of adventurers arrived near the Cape after a homeward journey of fourteen days, when th^y immediately divided the spoil, and signed an agreement binding themselves not to betray each other. This conduct incited the natives to acts of savage retalia- tion from which many innocent people suffered, and induced the Government to repeal the permission for cattle * They are styled " Gaffers ;" but this is a name which was frequently applied iudiscrimiaately to all the coloured races. 144 TJw History of the Oape Colony. 11742. trading granted! in the year 1700. But the authorities scarcely dared to punish the j3olonists, because, says a despatch of the Governor and Council, "haK of the Colony would be ruined, so great is the number of the inhabitants implicated."* Subsequently, the cattle trade was again sanctioned, and there is no doubt that feelings of intense animosity between the Europeans and the native races were engendered by it. Such a system had been in practice previous to 1723, that complaints made by the Hottentots in that year were laid before the Council by the churchwardens at the Paarl,! and in 1727 the cattle trade was again temporarily prohibited, in consequence of the poverty to which the natives were reduced by it. As illustrative of the manner in which bargaining was conducted under Government auspices, and of the state of the country early in the eighteenth century, it is desirable to insert a few extracts from the journal of the Landdrost Johannes Starreberg Kupt, on his journey to the Gonnemaas, Grigriquaas, and Namaqua Hottentot^: — " On Friday, the 16th October, 1705," he says, " we left the Cape. ... On the 20th, in the afternoon, it was reported to us that the Gonnemaas Hottentots (who were the nearest) did not like to traffic with us, and for that reason had travelled over the mountain into the land of Waaveren, out of our road ; but that a captain called Boatsman was living with his kraal beyond the Twenty- four Eivers, towards which we accordingly directed our course, and arrived there at sunset. As soon as we had pitched our tent, we saluted this Chief with a dram aq^ a good tabutje, in the name of the Honourable Company, and gave him to understand that we came to barter for some working cattle, — that His Honour the Governor, being informed ^jthat he was a good feUow, and rich in cattle, had ordered us to go to him, and that it was expected he would assist us. We then gave him a second dram, but it availed us nothing. He made reply that we * See Parliamentary Papers, No. 584, for 1830, p. 2. t Parliamentary Papers, 1836, p. IT. 1742.3 Retrospect. — Proceedings of Traders. 145 must go first to the other Gonnemaas. ... I then said that he must be a fool to think I was come with so many- wagons and people so far to traffic for three oxen ; that he might take them also back, and that I should break up and depart. At last I obtained nine fine young oxen and nine sheep, for which we gave ten strings of copper beads, thirteen pounds of tobacco, glass beads, and brandy. These cattle we left with him till our return. On the 26th we arrived at; Hannibal's kraal. Here six captains had joined, and formed altogether twenty-three huts. I asked how it was that they had so few cattle, as the Honourable Com- pany had never trafficked with them ; on which they informed us that a certain free man, going by the name of Drunken Gerrit, some years ago, accompanied by some other people, had come to their kraal, and without saying a word had fired upon them from all sides, chased away the Hottentots, burnt their huts, and carried off all their cattle, without their knowing the reason for it, since they had never offended any of the Dutch. That, in consequence of having lost all their cattle, they were obliged to go to the bordering Dutch to collect some, and to rob their own countrymen ; and whenever they could get any, they drove them into the mountains and feasted till all was consumed; then they went to fetch other cattle, and in this they succeeded several times, and had still a few of the cattle left. From another quarter they are also plagued with robberies from a nation of Hottentots liviug on the other side of Elephants Eiver, in inaccessible mountains, and whose country is called in their language Thynema, and the captains of these robbers Throgama, Tkousa, Deodie, Skerringrood. By these they are constantly plagued, and but seldom able to revenge themselves. But their most bitter and exasperated complaints are about the wicked behaviour 6f this Drunken Gerrit, who has been the cause of all the calamities and bloodshed that has since occurred in several encounters with the Dutch. They were obliged, they said, in order to save the small quantity of cattle left them, and to procure victuals for their wives and children, to fight daily with the elephants, and thus obtain subsist- ence with the greatest danger of their lives. They added 146 The Eistm-y of the Cape Colony. 0742. that they set great value on the benevolence and friendship of the Honourable Company, which I commended so highly to them, and wished much to embrace the same on all opportunities. And, verUy, I have discovered in the manners and behaviour of these people, and by our intercourse with them, much more genuine good nature than in other Hottentots. . . . 28th. — Fourteen head of cattle, for which we gave eighteen strings of copper beads, eighteen pounds of tobacco, glass beads and brandy. This is a very disagreeable country. Throughout the whole way we found nothing but sand-hills, and valleys full of stones and mole-hills, where cattle and horses sink continually up to the knees ; it is full of bushes, but destitute of grass. In former times, large herds of elephants were found in this and the country we had passed through. The reason there are few now is that the circumjacent Hottentots, sunk in the deepest poverty, have been compelled to have recourse to the hunting of elephants, and thus to kill and drive away these animals. They still allow them no rest; for as soon as one is spied by their Sonquas, who wander daily in the fields to catch dasjes, jackals, and other animals, the whole kraal is advertised of it ; all the young men assemble, and assail those animals till from fatigue, and wounds from assagais and arrows, they expire. 4th November. — We proceeded with the bartering, and after a great deal of talking and haggling, we succeeded in procuring thirty-three head of cattle for thirty-three pounds of tobacco, thirty-three strings of copper beads, thirty-three strings of glass beads, and thirty-three tobacco pipes ; and also fourteen sheep for seven pounds of tobacco. We also made a present to the captains and then- followers of four strings of copper beads and two pounds of tobacco. I was much vexed to have found during a journey of twelve days along such a tedious and troublesome road no more than two kraals, and which, although mustering ten captains, were so badly provided with cattle. Prom this I have learned with sorrow how, by the lately opened free traffic and the misbehaviour of these vagabonds, the whole country has been ruined; for when one kraal was robbed by the Dutch, 1742.] Miserable Gondiiion of the Hottentots. 147 the sufferers were driven to rob others, and these again their neighbours. With the plunder they retired into the mountains and feasted till it was consumed, when they went again in search of other booty. And thus from a people living in peace and happiness, divided into kraals under chiefs, and subsisting quietly by the breeding of cattle, they are become almost all of them huntsmen, Bosjesmen, and robbers, and are dispersed everywhere among the barren and rugged mountains." When the writer concludes his journal he had been fifty-two days actively employed, and had only obtained 179 oxen.* * The following narrative of an encounter with a lion is extracted from Kupt's Journal. The generous bravery of the native who interposed his own person and life to protect the strangers is especially worthy of notice : — " We pitched our tent a musket-shot from the kraal, and after having arranged everything, went to rest, but were soon disturbed, for about midnight the cattle and horses, which were standing between the wagons, began to start and run, and one of the drivers to shout, on which everyone ran out of the tent with his gun. About thirty paces from the tent stood a lion, which, on seeing us, walked very deliberately about thirty paces farther, behind a small thorn-bush, carrying something with him which I took to be a young ox. We fired more than sixty shots at that bush, and pierced it stoutly without perceiving any movement. After the cattle had been quieted again, and I had looked over everything, I missed the sentry from before the tent — Jan Smit, of Antwerp, belonging to the (Jroenekloof. We called as loudly as possible, but in vain — nobody answered, from which 1 concluded that the lion had carried him off. Three or four men then advanced very cautiously to the bush, which stood right opposite the door of the tent, to see if they could discover anything of the man, but returned helter-skelter, for the lion, who was there, still, rose up and began to roar. They found there the musket of the sentry, which was cocked, and also his cap and shoes. We fired again a hundred shots at the bush. We continued our firing ; the night passed away and the day began to break, which animated everyone to aim at the lion, because he could not go from thence without exposing himself entirely, as the bush stood directly against a steep kloof. Seven meu, posted on the farthest wagons, watched him, to take aim at him if he should come out. At last, before it became quite light, he walked up the hill with the man in his mouth, when about forty shots were fired at him without hitting him, although some were very near. I gave permission to some to go in search of the man's corpse, in order to bury it, on condition that they should take a good party of armed Hottentots with them, and L 2 148 !rhe t^^tovy 0/ th Oxtf^e Colony. rxm. At various times complaints were made by the natives of mutders and robberies committed by the colonists. In 1739, several of these statements having been submitted to the Fiscal for examination, that officer reported against the Hottentots, and a commando was therefore sent out to reduce them to order. A species of predatory warfare was commenced in very early times by the Bushmen, who directed their attacks against the Dutch and their posses- sions so cunningly and continually as to exasperate the farmers to the utmost. According to Sparrman,* "the inhabitants of the more distant Sneeuw Mountains were sometimes obliged entirely to relinquish their dwellings and habitations on account of the savage plundering race of Boshiesmen, who, from their hiding places, shooting forth their poisoned arrows at the shepherd, kill him, and afterwards drive away the whole of his flock, which perhaps consists of several hundred sheep and forms the chief, if not the whole, of the farmer's property. What they cannot drive away with them they kill and wound as much as the time will allow them while they are made them promise that they would not ran into danger. On this, seven of them, assisted by forty-three armed Hottentots, followed the ti-aok, and found the Uon about half a league farther on, lying behind a little bush. Oa the shout of the Hottentots, he sprang up and ran away, on which t\\6y all pursued him. At last the beast turned round, and rushed, roaring terribly, amongst the crowd. The people, fatigued and out of breath, iii-ed and missed him, on which he made directly towards them. The captain or chief head of the kraal here did a brave act in aid of two of the people whom the lion attacked. The gun of one of them missed fire, and the other missedliis aim, on which the captain threw himself between the lion and the people, so close that the lion struck his claws into the kaross of the Hottentot ; but he was too agile for him, doffed his kaross, and stabbed him with an assagai. Instantly the other Hottentots hastened on, and adorned him with their assagais so that he looked like a porcupine. Notwithstanding this, he did not leave off roaring and leaping, and bit off some of the assagais, till the marksman, Jan Stammansz, fired a ball into his eye, which made him turn over, and he was then shot dead by the other people. He was a tremendously large beast, and had but a short time before carried off a Hottentot from the kraal and devoured him." * Vol, ii,, p. 141. W2J M^osjpeei.'^Bushmm, 149 making their retreat. It is in vain to pursue them, they heing very swift of foot, and taking refuge up in the stee^ mountains, which they are able to run up almost as nimbly as baboons or monkeys. From thenCe they roll down large stones on any that is imprudent enough to follow them. The approach of night gives them time to withdraw themselves entirely from those parts by ways and places with which none but themselves are acquainted. Those banditti collected together in bodies to the amount of some hundreds, coming from their hiding-places and the clefts in the mountains, in order to commit fresh depredations and robberies. One of the colonists, who had been obligfed to fly from these mountains, testified that the Boshiesmen grew bolder every day, and seemed to increase in numbers, since people had, with greater eagerness, set about extirpating them. It was this, doubtless, which occasioned them to collect together into large bodied, in order to withstand the encroachments of the colonists, who had already taken from them their best dwelling and hunting-places. An instance is recorded of a Boshiea- man having besieged a peasant with his wife ^lid children, in their cottage, till at length he drove them off by repeatedly firing among them. They had latel^r carried off from a farmer the greater pait of his cd.ltW, Not long before this, however, they had suffered a considerable defeat in the following manner. Several farmers, who perceived that they were not ablb tb get at the Boshiesmen by the usual methods, shot a sea-cow, and took only the prime part of it for themselves, leaving the rest of it by way of bait, they themselves, iii the meanwhile, lying in ambush. The Boshiesmen, with their wives and children, now came down from their hiding-places, with an intention to feast sumptuously on the sea-cow that had been shot ; but the farmers, who came back again very unexpectedly, turned the feast into a scene of blood and slaughter." " Pregnant women and children in their tenderest years were not, at this time- neither, indeed, are they ever — exempt from the effects of the hatred and spirit of vengeance constantly harboured 150 The Eistory of the Ga/pe Colony. lim. by the colonists with respect to the Boshiesman nation ;* excepting such, indeed, as are marked out to be carried away in bondage." Sparrman travelled in South Africa during the years 1775-6, and may consequently be looked upon as an authority on the subject of the relations of the Dutch colonists towards the native tribes, though it must be admitted that he seems prejudiced against the former. There can be no doubt, however, that there is suf&cient evidence to prove that lamentable feelings of hostility continually existed between the European farmers and the Hottentots, inciting the former to drive " the heathen" from their ancient settlements, and to treat them as "black cattle," neither deserving of the exertions of Christianity nor worthy of being treated with common humanity. Frightful acts of rapine, murder, and pillage were continually comniitted by the Bushmen, which so exasperated the Boers as to make them suppose a war of extermination justifiable ; and arguments, based on the conduct of each other, were easily and constantly found by both to foster mutual animosity. It is true that the Government of the Colony took no other part in the cruelties exercised by its subjects than that pf, rarely taking any notice of them; presuming, no doubt, that^ in most instances they had been justified by the conduct of the savages. The mere mercantile Deputy Government, which held the reins of power in Cape Town, was, indeed, not only indisposed, but really unable, to * This is a gross exaggeration. However vindictive the Dutch may have been, smarting under constant thefts of stock, they, as a rule, spared the women and children. Sparrman says: — "Does a colonist at any time get sight of a Boshiesman, he takes fire immediately, and spirits up his horse and dogs, in order to hunt him with more ardour and fury than he would a wolf or other wild beast. On an open plain a few colonists on horseback are always sure to get the better of the greatest number of Boshiesmen that can be brought together. In the district of Sneeuwberg the Landdrost has appointed one of the farmers, with the title of veld-corporal, to command in these wars, and, as occasion may require, to order out the country people alternately in separate parties." 1742.] The HoUentoia divided into two Classes, 151 check the fierce passions of half-civilized farmers, scattered over a very extensive country, and smarting under the severe thefts and outrages of beings whom they looked upon as created by God to be their slaves and inferiors. "We have akeady seen that efforts had been occasionally made by the authorities to check the evils arising from unjust trading, and it must not be imagined that all the colonists were in favour of native persecutions. Sparrman, who is not likely to err in favour of the Dutch, emphati- cally says : — " I am far from accusing all the colonists of having a hand in these and other cruelties, which are too frequently committed in this quarter of the globe."*' It would be uninteresting, if it were even possible, to give details of the aggressive movements of the Dutch against the Hottentot tribes, and of the skirmishes and encounters which the advanced guard of colonists were so frequently engaged in with the Bushmen. By degrees the natives became divided into two classes — one of which sank into servitude as herds and domestics, while the other retreated to remote districts or to mountain recesses, from which they could harass and rob the Europeans. Complaints from farmers became so numerous that in 1774 the first of a series of commandos was sent out by order of Government, whose proceedings will have to be referred to when the subject of the native races is again discussed. The lack of missionary enterprise is * This writer adds (vol. ii., p. 144) : — " While some of the colonists plumed themselves upon these cruelties, there were many who, on the contrary, held them in abomiaation, and feared lest the vengeance of Heaven should, for all these crimes, fall upon their land and posterity." This traveller says (vol. ii., p. 21) : — " Many of the ignorant Hottentots and Indians not having been able to form any idea of the Dutch East India Company and the Board of Direction, the Dutch, from the very beginning, in India, politically gave out the Company for one individual powerful prince, by the Christian name of Jan or John. This likewise procured them more respect than if they had actually been able to make the Indians comprehend that they were really governed by a company of merchants. On this account I ordered my interpreter to say, farther, that we were the children of Jan Company, who had sent us out to view this country, and collect plants for medical purposes," 152 Tho Eistorij of the Gape Colony. [1742.. strikingly observable in tbe early history of the Colony, and the first systematic attempt to convert the heathen appears to have been made by the Moravian minister George Schmidt, who preached to the Hottentots near the Eiver-Zonder-End, in the present Caledon division, between the years 1739 and 1742. His efforts were disapproved of, and he did not succeed in securing the goodwill of either the Boers or the Government. He was prohibited from christening the natives, and banished from the country for the offence of having " illegally made himself a chief among the Hottentots in those parts, in order to enrich himself by their labour, and the presents they made him of cattle."* * It is said that some converts (Parliamentary Papers, 1835, p. 18) resided at Sergeant's Eiver, a small branch of the Zonder-End, and one of these, according to Sparrman, " used to perform her devotions every morning on her bare knees by the side of a spring." The Moravian Society received frequent reports expressing the desire of the Hottentots that Schmidt should return ; but their repeated applications to the Dutch East India Company for leave to establish a mission were refused. At length, in the year 1792, they obtained permission to send three ministers, who established themselves at Baviaan's Kloof and held their meetings under a large pear tree planted by Schmidt half a century before. The old convert mentioned by Sparrman (a woman named Helena) was stiU alive, and read to the astonished missionaries the narrative of oar Saviour's birth. (For details on the subject of the Moravians in South Africa, see Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren, by Holmes.) ■ CHAPTEE VII. Arrival of Baron Imhoff — Commancler Absou — Le Caille— Governor Eyk van Tnlbagh — State of Society — "Praolit, and Pi-aal" — Sumptuary \Regnlations— Financial State of the Colony one hundred years ago — Statistics — Slavery— Loss of the British Merchant Ship Doddington — ^Discovery and Mercantile Enter- prise — ^Death of Tulbagh — New Hospital and Barracts — Sparrman the Traveller — Captain Cook — Description of the Cape — ^The Loss of the Ship Jonge T!u)mas — Heroism of Woltemade — Baron Von Flettenherg Governor — Migration to the Interior — Lawlessness and Discontent— Petitions for Bedress of Gi-ievances sent to Holland. Baron Imhoff, twenty-seventh Governor-General of Dutch India, arrived at the Cape in 1742, and was received with great ceremony. In 1744, Commander Anson, in the Centurion, visited Table Bay, and Le Caille, the French astronomer, took up his residence in Cape Town in 1751, for the purpose of measuring an arc of the meridian.* In this last-mentioned year one of the most famous and most popular of Cape rulers, Eyk van Tulbagh, who had been formerly a private soldier, was appointed Governor, and, during the long term of twenty years during which he held office, appears to have given unqualified satisfaction. Being a strict disciplinarian, and an enemy to luxury, Tulbagh thought it his duty to oppose any departure from strict simplicity of life, and he consequently lost no -time in adapting to the Cape the provisions of a law against ostentation, introduced by Governor-General Jacob Mossel into the Indian possessions of the Netherlands. Before quoting from these " Praal and Praacht" Eegulations, it is necessary that we should understand the social position of colonists about the middle of the eighteenth century. There were only four " Opper Koopmannen," or Senior * He finished his work in 1753. Le Caille is said to have lodged at No. 2, Strand-street. At the time of his visit, Cape Town extended east as far as Plein-street. An attempt to construct a stone pier in Table Bay is said to have been made in 1745. 154 The History of the Cape Colony. [i75i. Merchants — ^namely, the Governor, Mynheer de Seeunde (sometimes called the " Vice-Gouverneur"), the indepen- dent Fiscal, and the Commandant of the Castle. The High Court of Policy, the Executive and Legislative Councils, as well as the Court of Justice,* were formed by these four of&cers, assisted by the Secretary of the Council, the Purveyor-General, the Storekeeper (Pakhuismeester), and de Winkelier (agent for selling Company's goods), on whom the title of merchants was conferred. The junior merchants were more numerous, consisting of about thirty of&cers, including the Secretary of the Court of Justice, Lieutenants in the Army, the Accountant, Assistant Fiscal, members of the Municipal Council, and Commandants of Militia, the Clergyman, and the Landdrosts of Stellenbosch and Swellendam. As there were nine thousand inhabi- tants of European extraction, and eight thousand slaves, the higher or privileged classes formed but a small proportion of the community. Article 4 of the Sumptuary Eegulations provides that every person, without exception, shall stop his carriage and get out of it when he shall see the Governor approach ; and shall likewise get out of the way, so as to allow a convenient passage to the carriage of any of the members of the Court of Policy. As regards " large umbrellas," it is ordered (Art. 6) " that no less in rank than a junior merchant, and those among the citizens of equal rank, and the wives and daughters of those only who are, or have been, members of any council, shall venture to use umbrellas." Art. 7 provides that "those who are less in rank than merchants shall not enter the Castle in fine weather with an open umbrella." The female sex is especially referred to in the following terms : — "No women below the wives of junior merchants, or those who among citizens are of the same rank, may wear silk dresses with silk braiding or embroidery, nor any diamonds nor mantelets ; and, although the wives of the junior merchants may wear these ornaments, they shall * The Governor and M. de Seeunde were generally absent from the Court of Justice, in which case the Commandant of the Castle presided. 1751.] Van Tulbagh's 8umpiua/nj Laws. 155 not be entitled to allow their daughters to wear them. All women, married or single, without distinction, are pro- hibited, whether in mourning or out of mourning, under a penalty of twenty-five rix-dollars, to wear dresses with a train." Dust was not to be strewn before the house door as a sign of bereavement, nor more than one undertaker employed, except in case of the death of a Governor, or a member of the Court of Policy. The placaat further enters into minute details as to the number of servants and horses that each rank might have, the dresses of various classes, and specially those of brides and their friends at wedding ceremonies.* These preposterous laws seem to have caused no dissatisfaction, and as the strict discipline of Tulbagh was never carried out with unneces- sary severity, the people were contented and happy. So little, indeed, did colonists feel the want of what are styled free institutions, that the period of Tulbagh's rule was considered the golden age of the Cape ; and about the close of last century old inhabitants used to discourse of the blessings and advantages which resulted from this Governor's paternal sway. Having how arrived at a period in Cape history a hundred years ago — midway between the arrival of Van Eiebeek and the present day — it is desirable to advert to the financial state of the Colony and to its sources of wealth. We have already glanced at the social position of the people, and at the manner in which the Courts of Law and the Councils of Government were constituted. According to a census taken in the year 1769, the total number of the " Company's servants" was 1,356 ; sick in hospital, 399 ; and colonists of European extraction, 7,949 ; while the slaves comprised no fewer than 7,187 adults and 917 children.t * This Plaeaat ia so illustrative of the tunes when it was pro- mulgated, and otherwise so interesting, that it is printed in the Appendix. I Company's live-stock : — Cattle, 3,231 ; horses, 307 ; sheep, 344,558 ; cattle, 38,012. This information is taken from tables published in the large edition of Martin's British Colonies. The 156 The History of the Gwpe Colowy. aim. From the statistics of the period, it -would seem that, in round numbers, the revenue ranged from £14,000 to £17,000 per annum, and that the expenditure reached the very disproportionate sum of upwards of £50,000* a year. All trade was in the hands of the Company, whose sales of European manufactures averaged 100,000 florins, or £8,340 a year, at a time when the total value of imports was £16,680 annually. Rather more than 6,000 leaguers of wine were made, and of these about 1,500 were sold to the ships, and 120 (of Oonstantia) sent to Holland. 175,000 muids of wheat were produced in the year, of which 20,000 were sent to Batavia, and 5,000 retained by the Company. The entire value of the crops of the Colony was £100,000 per annum. The taxes were mostly paid in kind, and consisted principally of tithes on produce. From wheat 15,104 guilders, or £1,263, and 25,000 muids were obtained. On barley a tenth was paid, sources of revenue in Cape Town were, in 1773, according to tlie same authority — Sale of wine ^^9,600 Sale of brandy 32,000 Sale of beer 5,400 Duty on spirits sold to foreigners 9,300 Sale of Cape wine at Rondebosch and False Bay ... 8,300 Sale of wine and brandy at Stellenbosch and Dra- kenstein 800 Expenditure in 1773 for the Colony : — Shipping /184,488 Ordinary rations 78,878 Ordinary expenses 30,902 Extraordinary expenses 3,866 Biuldings and repairs 17,783 Fortifications 1,155 Company's slaves 18,969 Condemnation and confiscation 4,575 Boats 9,615 Pay of shipping 14,169 Salaries on shore 146,497 * Of course this included the large expenditure on the outward and homeward-bound Dutch fleets. 8 florins Cape currency were equal to 04 Dutch. Governor Tulbagh's salary was 4,300 guilders, or J350 per annum. 1769.] Oondition of the Cffimtry .T-E^oation, Sfc, 157' amounting in value to £312 13s. 4d. A public sale was held annually of the right to retail wines, and the purchaser hecame the "paohter," to whom each farmer was bound to deliver the quantity desired at a fixed rate of twenty-seven rix-dollars per leaguer. The chief pacht generally fetched between ^64,000 and £5,000 a year. The " Stellenbosch pacht," together with the beer and foreign wine duties, scarcely realized £800 a year. From stamps and transfer dues (2|- per cent, on the purchase amount) upwards of £700 was obtained, and land-rents amounted to about £800 annually. Each ship that came to Table Bay was charged £16 IBs. 4d. as anchorage dues, and about the year 1750 the average yearly number of vessels which had to pay was twelve. At this period there was neither printing-press, post- office, nor education worthy of the name. Three clergymen were considered sufficient for the Colony, as the spiritual necessities of the natives were not thought worthy of attention. At the remote farms bread was a luxury rarely attainable, and although the scattered colonists paid some outward attention to religious worship, we cannot wonder that semi-barbarism soon began to prevail among them, and that its effects were too often perceptible in their conduct towards natives and slaves. There were no bridges, with the exception of two small ones over the Laurens Eiver, near Stellenbosch,* and no roads, except those formed by Nature and the tracks of farmers' wagons. As all trade was in the Company's hands, there was a fair field for neither commercial nor agricultural industry. Numbers of colonists found it advisable to trek into the uncivilized interior, and a spirit of discontent was roused which increased with time, and at last found vent by a rebellion in the Swellendam and Graaff-Eeinet divisions. The very large number of slaves in the Colony, as * A man named Grimpen built one of these. In return, the Government exempted him and his descendants from the performance of burgher service. Governor Van der Stell built the other as a means of approach to one of his farms. 158 -TJie History of the Oape Colony. [Wa. compared with the inhabitants of European extraction, was the cause 6f constant anxiety and alarm. Doors had to be securely bolted, and every means of precaution adopted, while the outbreaks of slaves who roamed about in bands were frequent and alarming. Sparrman* states that in 1772, in " broad daylight," he "narrowly escaped being plundered by a troop of slaves, who had some time before run away from their masters, and who were suspected at that time to have their haunts about Table Mountain;" and on another occasion he mentions that, having reached an " elegant house, the property of a private gentleman, there came out a heap of slaves, from. sixteen to twenty," who behaved in such a rude manner as to lead him to suspect that they had no better will towards him than to others of a different nation from themselves, "who are accustomed to sell them here, after having, partly by robbery and open violence, and partly in the way of bargain or purchase, got them from their native country, and thus eventually brought them to the grievous evils they then sustained." The ill effects of slavery on public and private morals were clearly perceptible at the Cape, and no religious effort worthy of the name was made to reclaim those unfortunate people from infidelity and vice. A "baaken," or token of possession, was erected by order of the Company near the mouth of the Zwartkopst in 1754, and it was in the following year that the sad shipwreck of the Doddington, English East Indiaman, occurred on a roekt forming one of the Bird Islands at the eastern entrance of Algoa Bay. This vessel left England for India on the 23rd of April, 1756, and doubled the Cape "= Sparrman' s Voyages, vol. i., p. 37. + Until a few years back; the Dutch East India Company's posses- sional mark on a stone existed on the sand-hill on the south side of Baaken's River, near Port Elizabeth. I This vessel could not have struck on the " Doddington rook," as in that case she would have gone down immediately, and could not have reached an island upon which, according to the narrative of th^ survivors, she lay, with the port side out of the water, 175B.] Wreclt of the " Doddington." 159 of Good Hope on the 5th July. About one in the morning of the 17th of this month, the chief mate was violently awakened from sleep by the shock of the vessel striking, and when he hurriedly rushed upon deck a terrible scene of confusion niet his sight ; leaden-coloured rocks were perceptible close at hand, and the sea broke with wild fury over the ship, sweeping away the seamen with every wave. The mate, expecting instantly to be carried away, was overwhelmed by a huge breaker, which left him stunned and senseless. Eecovering in the morning, he perceived that he had been forcibly attached to a plank by a nail which had forced itself into his shoulder. With the greatest exertion he managed to extricate himself from the wreck and reach the shore, where he found, on a desolate unknown rock, twenty-three wretched-looking survivors, out of 220 souls who had been on board the ill-fated ship.* Having succeeded in finding a box of * The following affecting incident is narrated in the journal:— " While searching along the beach they found the body of a female, which was recognized as Mrs. Collett, the wife of the second mate, who was then himself at a little distance ; and, knowing the mutual affection which subsisted between the couple, Mr. Jones, the chief mate, engaged Mr. Collett in conversation, and took him to the other side of the island, while his companions dug a grave, to which they committed the body, after reading the burial service from a French Prayer-book which had been washed ashore with the deceased. They found means in a few days to gradually relate to him what they had done, and restore to him the wedding-ring which they had taken from her finger. He received it with great emotion, and afterwards spent many days in raising a monument over her grave." It appears that, in hopes of finding treasure, which was rumoured to exist on the island, this, grave was subsequently opened, and the toonument destroyed. Some years ago. Her Majesty's steamer Styx, on her voyage from Port Elizabeth to the Bufialo, having during the night been compelled to let go her anchor in the midst of breakers, was found at daybreak to be lying between the reefs and Bird Island, whence she was fortunately able to steam out. This showed the evident danger to navigation in this neighbourhood, and a lighthouse was consequently erected on the largest island. Relics of the Doddington have been recently found, and on Stag Island very ancient-looking anchors, much worn, supposed to have belonged to wrecked Portuguese vessels, have been discovered. 160 Ths Sistory of the Ccupe Colony. ai&s. candles, some brandy, one or two casks of fresh water, and a small supply of provisions, as well as some canyas, which served to afford -a little shelter from the wind and rain, they exerted themselves to the utmost to build a sloop, thirty feet long by twelve broad, the keel of which was laid down by the carpenter on the 24th of July. In September, a few men succeeded in reaching the main- land, after the boat had been upset and one of their number drowned. The savages at first treated them inhumanly, and took all their clothes, but were afterwards friendly, and gave them food and roots. At last, after seven months' residence on this inclement rock, which they called Bird Island in consequence of the number of sea-fowl which visited it, their sloop, named the Happy Delirerance, was successfully launched. After coasting some time, and frequently landing to obtain provisions in exchange for trinkets from the natives, they steered for Delagoa Bay, which they reached on the 20th of May, 1756, and here, fortunately, met an English ship, which took them to India.* * The Doddington contained a quantity of treasure, one box of which, rescued from the wreck, was subsequently found by the officers broken open. It was rumoured that the officers buried a quantity of valuables, including money, on one of the Bird Islands, or at Woody Cape, and a book has been published in Holland, styled " Singular Adventures of Gerrit Cornells van Bengel, principally at the South- Eastern Coast of the Cape of Good Hope, in the years 1747-1758. Compiled and edited from posthumous papers by Advocate Simon Proot, LL.D. Printed by Van der Post Brothers, Utrecht, 1860." It is related in this work that Van Bengel, corporal in the service of the Dutch East Indian Company, arrived in the Colony by the ship Veldhoen, during 1747, and ten years afterwards met with a sailor who had been shipwrecked in the Doddington, who not only communicated the particulars of this disaster, but stated that great treasures had been buried by the officers for fear of plunder and mutiny. This seaman further stated that, having on one occasion lauded at Woody Cape, he saw bags of money lying behind bushes, under a cliff, but fear of being cut off by the tide forced him to return to his companions before he could secure any of it. Upon hearing all this, Van Bengel, who had saved something out of his pay of twelve guilders per month, petitioned Governor Ryk van Tulbagh to be made a free burgher, and, as he had 1755.] Ravages of the Smcdl-pox. 1(51 During last century small-pox proved a frequent scourge, and, as usual, its ravages were principally confined to the coloured races. In 1755 this disease was peculiarly destructive in Cape Town, and both measles and small-pox were epidemic in 1767. Under the govern- ment of Van Tulbagh the foundation of the Town-hall was laid by Barend d'Artoys on the 18th November, 1755; and fortifications were, in the following year, first erected at Muizenberg Pass, a strong position commanding the road from Simon's Bay to Cape Town. Tulbagh did not neglect to chooae a handicraft, stated his wish to be styled a tailor. No sooner, however, had he obtained his burger priviliijie. than he hid himself in the hold of an outward-bound East Indiaman, named the Zujaartvisch, and after encountei-ing a storm, and coasting for a number of days, had the satisfaction of seeing the vessel anchor under the lee of the Bird Islands. Van Bengel visited all the rooky islets of the group, but found such an impenetrable crust of guano on the surface that he had to give up the task of seeking the treasure there. Three of the ship's crew were bribed by two hundred guilders (the savings of ten years) to put him ashore at Woody Cape. The boat upset in the surf, and Van Bengel narrowly escaped with his life, while his companions were drowned. Entering a grotto in a cleft of the rock, which seemed to answer the description of his informant, he searched everywhere for treasure, but only found a rusty cutlass and a portion of an old Dutch blunderbuss. Digging in the ground was equally fruitless, and at last Van Bengel had to console himself for his disappointment by copious draughts from a bottle of Schiedam. After ^sitting in a reverie for some time, the embers of the fire which he had lit seemed to blaze up, and a large number of men, dressed in sailors' garb, issued from the back of the cavern, who diverted the channel of a small stream, and, digging in its bed, brought up no fewer than a dozen iron chests, which were all opened by one of the party with a ponderous key. Van Bengel approached the treasure, but unfortunately slipped his foot and fell in the midst of the strange visitors, who immediately ran away, leaving the poor adventurer to search in vain for the vast wealth he had beheld. Van Bengel, it is said, journeyed overland to Cnpj Town, and the extraordinav}' adventures of the overland journey are iiaiTiited in the book from which we have quoted. The whole matter was subsequently laid before Governor Van Tulbagh, who, instead of sending ships to bear away the treasure, ordered the immediate deportation of Van Bengel to Holland, where the poor fellow ultimately became insane, and died in an asylum. The strangest part of the book is Mr. Proofs belief in the existence of the treasure and the occuiTence in the M 162 The Hisiory of the Gape Cotomj. [i77ii to prosecute discovery, and in furtherance of this object dispatched an expedition, under Hoppe, to the northward, in 1761, and caused a careful report to be prepared by C. Eykvoet, upon the subject of the extensive mines of copper which were known to exist in Namaqualand. It must not be omitted that, in the year just quoted, Mr. Dessin made his munificent bequest, in trust to the Dutch Eeformed Church, of nearly 5,000 volumes and several choice paintings, which eventually became the property of the South African Library. English ships had already begun to take a leading part in mercantile enterprise. Com- mander Anson was followed by Captain Wallis, in the Dolphin, in 1768, and we shall soon have to note the remarks on the Colony made by Captain Cook and members of his expedition, who visited the Cape between the year 1771 and 1780. Governor Eyk van Tulbagh died in 1771, after having ruled for twenty years in such a mtoner as to secure the esteem and love of all classes of colonists. Although a strict disciplinarian, he was no tyrant ; and his just yet compassionate disposition engaged the confidence and love of the people. He was neither a man of great talent nor of extended views ; and his sumptuary regula- tions were framed in strict accordance with the narrow spirit which actuated the Government he served. If he had been less conservative, his memory would not have been so much venerated. Certainly one of the principal causes of this universal respect was the contrast which could be drawn between his conduct and that of other Governors. The author of " L'Afrique Hollandaise" com- pares Tulbagh's conduct with that of Plettenberg, and testifies that " the Cape Colony lost all in losing him. They have not forgotten the last words of this good father. Stretched upon the bed of death, and about to render his pure soul into the hands of God, he said to those who cave. A drama, named The Treasure at Woody Cape, or llie Days ofBykvaii Tulbagh, ionniei upon this legend, has been successfully produced at Port Elizabeth. 1771.3 Cajpt. Coolers Bescrvption of Oape Town. 163 surrounded him, and who wept bitterly at his approach- ing death, ' My friends, my children, it is not yet the time for tears. You will have too much occasion for them three or four years hence, when I shall be no more.' "* Baron Joachim von Plettenberg succeeded Governor Tulbagh in 1771. In the year following, the foundations of a new Hospital, and of the Main Barracks, were laid. Sparrman, the traveller, arrived in 1772 ; Masson collected plants for the new Botanic Gardens at Kew in that year ; and Captain Cook, outward bound, again called in to Table Bay.t This voyager, describing his first visit (April, 1771), thus refers to the Colony I :— "The only town which the Dutch have built there is, from its situation, called Cape Town, and consists of about one thousand houses, neatly built of brick, and in general whited on the outside; they are, however, covered only with thatch, for the violence of the south-east winds would render any other roof inconvenient and dangerous. The streets are broad and commodious, all crossing each other at right angles. In the principal street there is a canal, on each side of which is planted a row of oaks that have flourished tolerably well, and yield an agreeable shade. There is a canal also in one other part of the town ; but the slope in the ground in the course of both is so great that they are furnished with flood-gates or locks, at intervals of little more than fifty yards. A much greater proportion of the inhabitants are Dutch in this place than in Batavia ; and as the town is supported principally by entertaining strangers, and supplying them with necessaries, every man, to a certain degree, imitates the manners and customs of the nation with which he is chiefly concerned. The ladies, however, are so faithful to the mode of their * His body was interred in the centre of the great Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town, and a suitable slab was placed over the grave. f The King of Madura was, in 1772, ooniined on Robben Island by order of the Dutch East India Company. I The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook B,!• The chief instigators of this massacre were, according to the Kev. John Brownlee, some of the Amandanliae tribe, many of whom, if wo are to believe Kafir testimony, were massacred by the Dutcli without any provocation. — See Thompson's Southern Africa, vol. ii., p. 338. Pringle (quoting from the Journal of Lieutenant Hart) states that during the war of 1811-12, " the Kafirs were shot indiscriminately, women as well as men, wherever found, and even though they offered no resistance; the females were killed unintentionally, because the ]Boexs oottld not distinguish them from meu amoug the bushes," 1812.] Qfakom^s Town Established, 255 blame to the British Government for carrying ont the advice of their Commissioner. The Kafirs were notorious robbers, who impoverished the farmers by constant thefts;* the boundary line had long before been distinctly defined to be the Great Fish Eiver, and the Kafirs had no right to be on the Colonial side without a permission, which their own conduct had rendered it impossible to grant. As they had received ample warning, they had only themselves to blame for the destruction of their crops. t It was not till the year 1815 that the Burgher forces could be disbanded. In the meantime severe penalties were inflicted on any Kafir found within the Colony, a corps of Hottentots was raised, a strong line of posts formed along the Frontier, and Graham's Townl established as the head-quarters of the troops.§ =i- TliB humane Sir John Oradook describes the Kafirs as " a race of beings deaf to every reasonable proposal (liowever beneficial to them- selves), and who only seemed to exist for the annoyance of their neighbours." f From evidence to he found in Parliamentary Papers, 1835, Part i., pp. 170, et seq., as well as statements made by Kaj"-, Pringle, Brownlee, and others, it might bo supposed that the Kafirs wore an ill-used and persecuted people. Audire alteram partem is very necessary here. The Kafirs were invariably blood-thirsty robbers, and anything like concession was always imputed by them to weakness. The wars were, forced on the Colony by the Kafir tribes. No doubt many errors and crimes were committed by Europeans, but the broad facts of the case are as stated. \ This name was given to show the Governor's respect to Lieutenant- Colonel Graham, through whose able and successful exertions the Kafirs had been expelled from the Zuurveld. The establishment of a military command on the Frontier led to greater regularity in the employment of this description of force, and from this date there is no excuse for the statement that Kafir wars were caused by " the lawless inroads of barbarized Boers." In order that the people of the Western Districts should assist in the war, they had to pay the commando tax, by means of which j£45,750 were raised. (For particulars see Proclamation of 4th December, 1812.) Sir John Cradock styles the commando system " the true and constitutional defence of the Colony." § The village of Zwartberg, now Caledon, was founded in 1811 ; Graham's Town in 1813. Sub-Drostdys of Cradock and ClanwiUiam were formed in 1813. Sir John Cradock gave the name of Albany to the Zuurreld in 18M. It was in 1813 that Spauisli wool from tliQ 256 The Histonj of the Cape Colony. [isia. Under Lord Caledon's government it was found absolutely necessary to establish an efficient administration of justice throughout the country districts. The Boards of Land- drost and Heemraden could only take cognizance of minor offences, and the vast extent of the divisions (especially those of Graaff-Eeinet and Uitenhage) rendered recourse to these tribunals in many cases impossible. Two of the members of the Court of Justice were therefore appointed as " a Commission of Circuit," to hold a Court annually in each district. Mr. Justice Cloete, in referring to the subject, says :* — "But it cannot be denied, and experience soon showed, that justice, by being brought so much nearer to their homes, also bi'ought to light various offences which had hitherto remained unexamined and unpunished ; and the very first circuit which proceeded through the Colony was furnished with a calendar containing between seventy and eighty cases of mm-ders, aggravated assaults, and the like, which the missionaries. Dr. Van der Kemp and the Eev. J. Bead, constituting themselves the protectors of the Hottentot race, deliberately brought forward and trans- mitted to the local Government as charges against the members of almost every respectable family on the Fron- tier."t Colonel Collins, when Commissioner, had certainly interior was allowed to enter the Cape Town Market free. Dr. Biir- cliell, the traveller, arrived at the Cape in 1810. The Missionary Camphell made Ids first journey in 1812. Dr. Latrobe arrived in 1813. Wesleyan Missions were fii'st established in 1816. Worcester was founded that year. * Five Lectures on the Emigration of the Dutch Farmers from the Colony of the Cape of Qood Hope, dc. By the Hon. H. Cloete, LL.D., Recorder of Natal, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court, Cape Town. ■]■ The same writer states (page 11) : — " As a curious instance of the extent to which some of these informations had been received, and had been readily adopted by the missionaries. Van der Kemp and Read, without properly investigating them before bringing forward such serious criminal charges, I may mention that at Uitenhage a widow of one of the most respectable inhabitants in the district was tried on the charge of wilful murder, in having ordered a young Hottentot, some years before, to be brought into her house, for having directed a boiler of hot water to be prepared, arid for having by force pressed down his feet into the boiling water. This woman liad, of course, to be plaoed 1815.} The Graaff-Beinet BebelUon. 267 not looked favourably upon the Bethelsdorp roissionaries' statements, and the cause of religion, as weU as the interests of the native races, appear to have been damaged by their exertions. Serious charges of oppressing the natives were brought against Landdrost Cuyler by Dr. Van der Kemp and Mr. Eead, a Commission was appointed, and the missionaries summoned to Cape Town. In the meantime Sir John Cradock* was appointed Governor in 1811, and Dr. Van der Kempf died. In the year 1815 a farmer named Fredrik Bezuidenhout in the dock and tried as a criminal on this atrocious charge. It was clearly proved that the young Hottentot having been brought home one night with his extremities benumbed from the efifects of a snow-storm, this lady endeavoured to restore animation, and from the kindest motives used hot water for his feet. The lad lived for years after in her service, and died from disease quite unconnected with this injury. This widow was of course acquitted, with every expression of sympathy by the Judges on the position in which she had been placed ; but it is evident that such prosecutions, in . which nearly 100 of the most respectable families on the Frontier were implicated, and more than 1,000 witnesses summoned and examined, engendered a bitter feeling of hostility towards the administration of justice in general, and more particularly against the missionaries." * It may be interesting to note here the salaries given to the high officials of the Colony early in this century. The Governor received .£13,000 per annum. Lieutenant-Governor 3,000 „ Secretary to Government 3,000 „ Deputy Secretary (with perquisites) 3,000 „ Collector of Customs 1,200 „ Comptroller of Customs 1,000 „ Treasurer-General 1.200 „ Auditor- General 1,000 „ Paymaster-General 1,000 „ The Public Prosecutor was entitled by law to claim double fees. f Van der Kemp was born in Germany and educated at the Univer- sity of Leyden. He seiTed sixteen years in the army under the Prince of Orange, with whom he quarrelled. He then studied medicine, and subsequently became a missionary. In Africa he purchased the free- dom of seven slaves and made one of them his wife, " a mistake he lived to see and regret." A Parliamentary commission eventually examined into the charges of oppressing the natives, but the s abject i i far too extensive to be fully referred to here. 9 258 The Eistory of the Ca^e Colorvyi tieie. refused to appear before the Landdrost and Heemraden of Graaff-Eeinet on the charg^ of ill-treating a HottentOtj and a small force of twenty men of the Cape Gorpa, under Lieutenant Eousseau, was dispatched to compel his attend- ance. Upon approaching his residence, near Baviaan^s Eiver Poort, they were fired upon by Bezuidenhout, who then, with a servant, hastily escaped to the dense bush in the neighbourhood. The " spoor" was tracked to a ledge of rocks where it would have been impossible to discover them had not the shining muzzles of their rifles been seen protruding from a hole in a precipitous krans. In answer to a summons to come out and give himself up, Bezuiden- hout replied that he would never surrender but with his life. The soldiers then hastily scrambled along, threw up the two projecting barrels, while one of the party fired into the cave and shot Bezuidenhout through the head and breast. The servant crawled forth uninjured,* and an in- spection of the cave proved that a quantity of ammunition had been collected and every preparation made for defence. Immediately after the departure of the military the relatives and friends of Bezuidenhout assembled to commit his remains to the grave, and on this occasion a brother of the deceased pronounced an inflammatory harangue, in which he contended that a burgher could only be legally arrested by his field-cornet or the civil authorities, and called upon the Boers to avenge this outrage by expelling the British forces from the Frontier. Cornells Faber, a brother-in-law of the Bezuidenhouts, started to confer with the Kafir Chief Gaika; circulars were disseminated, and it was arranged to meet in arms on a given day " to expel the tyrants from the country." Mr. Van der Graaff, the Deputy Landdrost of Cradock, having been informed of these movements, communicated with Captain Andrews, who immediately sent out a military party and captured Prinsloo, one of the leaders. A few days after,, between 309 and 400 men called upon, Andrews to surrender his post and deliver up the prisoner. •:= He was subsequently tried at Graaff- Reinet and acquitted. 1816.] Execution of Behels at " SlcicUer's l^ek." 259 Faber at this time joined the farmers with the tmsatis- factory intelligence that Gaika had merely promised to call a meeting of his councillors. On the same evening Major Fraser succeeded in communicating with Captain Andrews' post, and two days after Colonel Cuyler, the Frontier Commandant, arrived. In spite of the exertions of Field-Commandant Nel to dissuade the rebels from further proceedings, their leaders, Faber, Bezuidenhout, and others, succeeded in obtaining from them a solemn oath to persevere in the struggle. As there was now no chance of submission, Colonel Cuyler marched out of Captain Andrews' station at the head of a troop of the 21st Light Dragoons, and accompanied by a band of Burghers under Commandant Nel. On the advance of this force, thirty rebels threw down their arms, and the remainder retired with their wagons and cattle into the fastnesses of the Baviaans Eiver. By means of a com- bined movement this retreat was surrounded and cleared, most of the rebels succeeding in effecting an escape by passes with which they were familiar. The principal leaders contrived to escape so far as the Winterberg, but they were surprised and surrounded in a deep kloof by a detachment of the Cape Corps under Major Fraser. A skirmish ensued, in which Bezuidenhout was shot, Faber and his wife both wounded, and the rest taken prisoners. Eventually fifty or sixty rebels were secured, and a Special Commission appointed to try them. Six of the leaders were condemned to death (the others to undergo various degrees of punishment), and on the 6th of March, 1816, five of this number were executed at " Slachter's Nek."* * The very spot where the leaders had obliged their followers to swear that tliey would expel the tyrants. The execution was a dread- ful one, as the scaffold broke down witii the weight of the five men, and the crowd around joined with the unfortunate victims in a vain cry for mercy. The sentence of the law had of course to be carried out. Judge Cloete remarks, " Thus ended the rebellion of 1815, the most insane attempt ever made by a set of men to wage war against their Sovereign. It originated entirely in the wild, unruly passions of a few S 2 260 The History of the Ca^e Colony. tisiT. Lord Charles Somerset was appointed Governor of the Colony in 1814,* and in the following year the Cape of Good Hope was definitely ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris. It was on the 30th of May, 1815, that the frightful shipwreck of the Armiston, East Indiaman, took place on Cape L'Agulhas, when no fewer than 344 persons (including Lord and Lady Molesworth) perished. On the 16th December, 1817, a large ship named the Amsterdam, after having been dismasted in a severe gale, was run ashore between the mouths of the Coega and Zwartkops Eivers in Algoa Bay (not far from the present town of Port Elizabeth). Only three' out of a crew of 217 were drowned. The cargo (from Java) was very valuable, and several presents for the King of the Netherlands were on board. The extensive calcareous tract of country about eighteen miles from Port Elizabeth, on the road to Graham's Town, was named Amsterdam Flats in conse- quence of the wreck of this vessel on the neighbouring shore.! The Kafirs, who had been driven from the Zuurveld in 1811, found means by degrees to recover a considerable portion of the lost territory, and recommenced such a system of plunder that the Frontier inhabitants were in 1816 obliged to state that they would have to abandon their farms unless effectively protected. This position of affairs induced Lord Charles Somerset to hold a conference with Gaika and other great Chiefs in April, 1817, which re- sulted in a short interval of tranquillity. A solemn treaty was entered into, the minutes of which were carefully clans of persons who could not sufifer themselves to be brought under the authority of the law." Its effect, however, was to raise up a bitter feeling against the British, and to frequently give rise to the expression, " We can never forget Slachter's Nek." . * The Hon. Robert Meade was Lieutenant-Governor from the 3rd December, 1813. |- The Amsterdam was commanded by Captain Hofmeyr (generally styled Colonel) of Cape Town. The widow of an officer of high rank, named Marais, and an officer of the name of AspeUng, of a Cape family, were landed from a boat in Algoa Bay, and hospitably received at Mr. Korsten'a residence at Cradock Place. i8i8,j Ocdhco Pmwmmnt Kafir CUef, 261 recorded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bird, Colonial Secretary. It was distinctly agreed that Gaika should be recognized as Paramount Kafir Chief, although he himself stated that other Chiefs claimed equality. As representing the Kafir nation, Gaika pledged himself to put a stop to the continual depredations committed on the Colonists, and agreed that in future the kraal to which cattle stolen from the Colony, could be traced should be made responsible, and should be bound to make reparation from its own herds.* This treaty encouraged the Government to call upon the farmers to again inhabit Albany under a military tenure, which secured them their grants upon three years' occupation. But in spite of the treaty of peace, it was soon perceived that it was vain to expect honour, moderation, or honesty from savages. As the herds of the farmers increased, so did the insatiable cupidity of the natives ; and in 1818 the system of plunder was carried on to as great an extent as formerly. T'Slambie was the first Chief of consequence to show his utter contempt for the treaty. He refused restitution of stolen cattle traced to one of his kraals, and ordered Field' Commandant Muller and his party away, while he justified to them the system of plunder which his tribe had recom- menced. Major Fraser was immediately dispatched against him with 450 m6h, who crossed the Fish Eiver at Trompetter's Drift, and soon after encountered T'Slambie at the head of 2,000 armed retainers. This Chief, after some parley, promised to restore the stolen cattle, but soon proved that he only gave the pledge in order to gain time. Major Fraser then carried out his instructions by seizing all cattle which were known to belong to T'Slambie. An attempt made to recapture the stock was defeated, and 2,000 head were brought into the Colony ; 600 of these were identified as having been stolen from the farmers, * Williams (missionary) in his journal says that Gaika very readily agreed to these propositions, and said " that it would be the right way to prevent in future any from secreting the thieves." This writer speaks of the greedy manner in which Gaika received his presents, and " then fled instantly to the other side of the Kat Eiver like a thief." 262 Th& Hisiory. of the Oc(pe Gohny. [isis. and the remainder T??ere distributed among the. people who had been robbed. Previous to< Fraaer's expedition, S-aita had warned his uncle, T'Slambie, " not to delay the return of the plund^E seized and detaiiied in defiance ol a public agreement;" but the latter was jealous of his nephew's supremacy,, and determined to resist his authority. He soon commenced an open rebellion, in which he induced Hintza and several other Chiefs to join. The maintenance of a predatory system was the avowed object of the con- federacy, and this became so popular as to attract large numbers, and to terrify Gaika into urgently requesting prompt assistance from the Colonial Government. This was of cojirse guaranteed ; but before any succom* could be sent, Gaika wa^ defeated in battle at the Koonap, and forced to fly, aftet a loss of no fewer than 6,000 head of cattle. A great commando of military and burghers, com- prising 3,352 men, was now assembled under Lieutenant- Colonel Brereton, with a view to restore Gaika to his supremacy and dominions. This force entered Kaffraria by De Bruin's Poort on the 3rd of December, 1818, and was then joined by Gaika with 6,000 fighting men. They crossed the Kat Eiver on the 5th, and, falling upon the hostile kraals, put the inhabitants to flight and captured several thousand cattle. On the 7th the allied forces crossed the Chumie and Keisksi(ias\ma Eiyers, and, having driven T'Slambie's adherents from their villages, attacked them with shells in the dense bush to which they had fled for safety. No opposition was attempted, Gaika was reinstated in his former position, and no fewer than 11,000 cattle were handed over to him by the victors as compensa- tion. While these military operations were going on in Kafirland, the confederate Chiefs took advantage of the absence of our forces to invade the Colony. They crossed the Pish Eiver in numerous bodies, drove in the small military posts, and ravaged the Frontier Districts. Before additional troops could be sent to the front,* the tribes * The advance of the levies was very much impeded by lung-sickness among horses, which has at certain Intervals caused frightful mortality in stock. J819.] Mtaak on Ghnham's Town, 26S of T'Slambie and Congo, incited to fanaticism by a witch doctor named Makanna or Lynx,* marched a force of between 8,000 and 10,000 men out of the Great Fish Eiver Bush and attacked the head-quarters of the military at Graham's Town. Providentially a small force, with two six-pounders, was at hand, and the attack was repelled. This, however, was only effected with the utmost difficulty ; the field-pieces had thrice to be limbered up and taken to the rear, and it was only when under cover of the few houses of Graham's Town that the firing became so effective as to force the Kafirs to retreat.t As it was physically impossible to protect the Frontier effectively so long as the dense Fish Eiver Bush remained in the hands of the enemy, orders were given to expel them from the country between the Fish Eiver and the Keiskamma. This was very successfully done by a large force under Colonel Willshire. Inconceivable as it may seem, a determination was arrived at to bestow this extensive territory on Gaika, although many of his men had been engaged in the attack on Graham's Town, and his chief interpreter (Nootka) was shot in the act of attempt' ing to stab Colonel Willshire. But before adopting any measure of this description. Lord Charles Somerset pro- ceeded to the Frontier in 1819, and there concluded a treaty with Gaika and the other Kafir Chiefs, when it was agreed " that all Kafirs should evacuate the country between the Great Fish Eiver and the Keiskamma." It was further arranged that this country should remain unoccupied and form a neutral territory between the two nations. Of course, as might have been foreseen, a * The influence of witch doctors has exercised the most haneful effect upon the Kafir tribes. This man (Lynx) was subsequently cap- tured and sent to Kobben Island. When endeavouring to escape in a boat he and his companions were drowned, t If the advance had been made at night it would have been successful. It was delayed by Makanna for the purpose of sending a vainglorious message to the Commandant (Colonel Willshire) announc- ing that he would breakfast with him the next morning. To resist 9,000 Kafirs there were only 350 European troops and a smaU corps of disciplined Hottentots. 1,400 Kafirs are said to have been slain. 264 The History of the Gape Colony. [I819. convention of this nature was only made to be broken, and so soon as the Governor had turned his back numbers of Kafirs found their way into the forbidden land. Subsequently Sir Eufane Shawe Donkin obtained a modification in the terms of the treaty, so that it was arranged that British military posts could be stationed between the Fish River and the Keiskamma. ANNALS OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. ANNALS, &c. SECTION I. state of England in 1819 — Condition of the Cajio at that peiiod — Emigration to South Africa proposed by the British Government — Emigrants leave England — Arrive in the Colony in 1820, and are located in the Zmn'veMen* — Native relations at the time — First international (reprisal) system between Colony and Eafira established. The -writer of the foregoing History of the Cape Colony closed his labours in the year 1820. At his request, and the urgent solicitations of numerous friends, I have been induced to resume the chronicle from that period, inas- much as it is one which is believed to have had an extraordinary influence over this extensive possession of Her Majesty's empire, and in a great manner changed its character. To register the circumstances which led to the successful settlement of the Eastern portion of the Colony by the introduction of British immigrants, from which the original Dutch Settlers had been several times ejected by the in- truding savages, to trace the development of its resources, the history of the separation of the Colony into two Provinces, the strangely chequered progress of trial, and triumph of the East, with its present prospects, is the task fallen to my share ; and perhaps I may presume to say that " having had a perfect understanding of all things from the very first," as one of the Settlers of 1820, an eye- witness of many of the transactions related, and with opportunities afforded by a long career in the Colonial Civil Service, my record may possibly command some attention, * Sour-fields, a country covered with sour pasturage. Zouteveld is where the grasses are sweet. Oebrahenveld, or broken field, where these two are mixed, and the best adapted for stock. 268 Annals of the Cape Oolony. however deficient in style, rude in narration, and devoid of literary graces. My predecessor in this volume, I fancy, has had the advantage of recording the more romantic periods — treading the flowery paths, while mine is to travel over that of stubborn fact, prosy detail, and dry statistics, for which I crave the pity and indulgence of my readers. To elucidate the following narrative it wUl be as well at this starting point to take a hasty glance over the con- dition of the Colony at the time my colleague terminated his work, for which there exist ample materials.* The area of the Colony then included 128,150 square miles, bounded by a conventional line beginning. at the mouth of the Eiver Koussie, on the Atlantic littoral, running east- wardly by Governor Plettenberg's Baaken, on the Seacow Eiver, and thence southward to the Tarka, and down to the estuary of the Great Fish Eiver, on the Southern Ocean. The population numbered 110,380 souls, of whom 47,988 were white, 28,835 Hottentots, and 33,557 slaves or apprentices. The relative population of what is now designated Eastern and Western Province was as follows : —West, 75,425; East, 34,954 souls. The number of towns in the whole Colony was ten only. The oppor- tunities for public worship were very limited in the East. At Graaff-Eeinet, there was a clergyman of the Dutch Eeformed Communion ; a church, with a missionary chapel for the coloured classes ; in Uitenhage, a pastor of the same persuasion ministering in something little better than a barn ; in Graham's Town, a chaplain to the troops cantoned there, officiating in a similar structure ; — indeed, it was remarked at the time that the Sabbath had halted at the Sundays Eiver and found it difficult to get across. The relations of the Colony with its barbarous neighbours were even then not very " comfortable." The year 1819 had witnessed the expulsion for the third time of the intruding Kafir clans from the fertile fields of the Eastern Districts, which they had for a considerable period of * State of tlie Oape in 1822. By a Civil Servant of the Colony (the late Wilberforce Bird). London: Murray. 1833. OonMion of the Colony in 1820. 269 years settled upon with a dogged persistency — plundering, destroying, and forcing the terrified inhabitants from time to time to abandon their homesteads, and spreading their ravages full two hundred miles westward of the Colonial boundary. The commerce of the Colony was entirely restricted to Table Bay; a few articles, such as butter, salt, soap, and some whale-oil and skins, being the sole exports from Algoa Bay from 1812 to 1820. The foreign trade of the whole Colony in 1821 amounted in imports, £454,566 ; exports, £150,909 (including the great staple of wine, £82,170) ; total, £605,475. The currency was a depreciated paper issue, with a rate of exchange against the Colony reaching in September, 1821, to 161 per cent., and in May, 1822, 195 per cent. The shipping resorting to Table and Simon's Bays in 1821 for landing cargo em- ployed 30,865 tons; and for refreshments, 40,854 tons. The public revenue in the same year was — receipts, £109,763 ■ (including £987 postage) ; disbursements, £93,743, with heavy liabilities of the Government Ex- chequer.* The Government itself was formed upon the old Tory model, exacting, arbitrary, oppressive, and ruled by favouritism. Press there was none, beyond a weekly vehicle for proclamations, and a medium for advertising. Public opinion did not exist, and if it ever sought vent was stifled at its first utterance. The people generally were abject and flunkeyisb, and in the remote Eastern districts poverty stricken, being harassed by the ever- encroaching savage ; their houses, or more properly hovels, were barely furnished— camp stools and wagon chests being the chief articles, and their clothing the tanned skins of sheep, which the writer was told by a Scots military friend, when it was still in vogue, was "the claith of the country." Such is a retrospective "bird's-eye view" of the "exact position of Her Majesty's Colony at the Cape of Good Hope" at the period referred to, when a sudden and '!■■ 1867— Imports, ^2,406,409; exports, ^2,304,825; revenue, ^808,828 (inoluding postage, ^38,209); expenditure, ^£671,071; tonnage inwardsj 867,785 ; outwards, 358,137; 270 Annals of the Cape Colony. unlooked-for change came over its hitherto dreary existence of 168 years, to relieve it from its lowest ebb tide. It has ceased to be an unsolved problem whether the advent of the immigrants from England into the Eastern districts of South Africa was opportune or attended with beneficial consequences to the old inhabitants, to the immigrants themselves, to the Colony as a whole, or even to the parent State. Tears have settled this once dis- puted question. It was no doubt a bold experiment on the part of its projectors, for failure would have imperilled the national character and the fortunes of the exiles. Without the experience of any similar Government under- taking, during an unfavourable political and commercial crisis, the attempt was made, although at a comparatively trifling cost. It is therefore one of the objects of the writer to show to persons at a distance, unacquainted with the history — for a lamentable ignorance still prevails regarding our affairs — that the experiment has 'well repaid the Imperial outlay* (despite the expenditure of three devastating Kafir wars, all of which, had the represen- tations of the residents on the spot been attended to, might have been avoided) by the increased value of the Colonial commerce, mainly created by the immigraiits, and the large amount of exports of raw material, the products of their industry, giving employment to thousands of the Home population. I commence my Sequel to the Colonial Annals in the year 1819, and if what I have to relate shall sometimes throw into shade the transactions of the older Settlement, it is the fault, if fault there be, of the events in the reno- vated Eastern quarter taking precedence by their number * 2'he Brit'uli Settlement, Eaetern Province, Gape of Good Hope, in account with Great Britain. Di-i Or. 1819. To vote o( PaiUament £50,000 1830 to 1868. By Imports from 1822. To vote additional 200,000 England ^28,413,909 18SC. To cost Kaflr War 800,000 1880 to 1868. IJy Exports to Eng- 1847. To Do. Do 1,000,000 land 32,960,299 1661. To Do. Do 2,000,000 je8,B60,000 £61,864,868 Why th6 British Settlers came here. 271 and prominency, and not from any wish of the annalist to elevate one portion of the Colony at the expense of the other. The termination of the Continental wars in the year 1815, which enabled Great Britain to disband her large mihtary and naval armaments, restoring to other countries a portion of the commerce and carrying trade which she had almost exclusively monopolized during the long-pro- tracted contest, threw out of employment a very large proportion of her population, and effected throughout the United Kingdoms extensive and almost general distress, for, however triumphant and glorious the close, it was dimmed by intense suffering, which continued with un- abated force to the beginning of 1819. At this juncture, too, political questions of grave im- portance aggravated the difficulties of the Administration. A loud and deep demand, long pent up, arose for Parlia- mentary EefOrm, both from the enlightened and less informed classes of society, which the Tory Government of the day resisted. Public meetings began to be held throughout the land, especially in the manufacturing districts, where distress more particularly prevailed, and where designing men, taking advantage of the troubled times, inflamed the minds of the ignorant by exaggerated statements of their sufferings and the tyrannical disposi- tion of the Government. Seditious papers and insurrec- tionary speeches led to covert military training, and an unwise yeomanry interference with a Pieform meeting held at Manchester, resulting in death and injury to several of the populace, gave such an impetus to the spirit of disaffection and irreligion that demagogues such as " Orator" Hunt, of " Eadical white-hat" notoriety, Dr. Watson, and others, with one E. Carlisle, who opened a shop in the leading thoroughfare of the metropolis, whence he vomited forth reprints of Eepublican and blasphemous tendency, such as Paine' s Age of Reason, Rights of Man, Toldoth Jeschu, and more modern attacks upon Christianity, found ready and willing votaries to their wild schemes of what they called social regeneration. The Ministry unfor- 272 Annals of the Cape Colony. tunately fanned the destructive flame by its violence towards the friends of the people, who deprecated unconsti- tutional methods of repression, while the passing of the celebrated " Six Acts" appeared to fill up the vial of popular indignation. A revolutionary crisis and the break- up of all the time-honoured institutions of the country seemed impending, and everything betokened a dissolution of society which the near approach of a much-dreaded reign rendered more than probable. Happily for the country and the civilized world, the ancient oak of the British Constitution was too firmly rooted to be seriously injured by the passing storm. It reared its venerable head pnce more, and there is little doubt but that the tempest it now resisted, with the warn- ing given of its vulnerability, tended to add to it additional strength and permanence ; for from time to time the parasites which fastened upon its branches have been swept away. Eeligious disabilities, corn monopolies, rotten boroughs, unequal representation — which then it was treason, or at least sedition, to denounce — have been gradually lopped off, and "the brave old tree," semper virens, is as flomishing and vigorous as ever. Esto perpetua. It was, however, during the height of the hurricane that " on the 12th July, 1819, being the last day of the session, Mr. Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, made that far-famed speech which was the leading cause of the embarkation for the Cape of Good Hope of more than four thousand Settlers of various descriptions. Lord Sidmouth, in the House of Lords, harangued to the same purport, and fanned the deluding flame which had been lighted up in the Commons. Mr. Vansittart is reported to have said, ' The Cape is suited to most of the productions both of temperate and warm climates, to the olive, the mulberry, and the vine, as well as to most sol-ts of culmiferous and leguminous plants, and the persons emigrating to this Settlement would soon find themselves comfortable.' The cohsiderate and grave character of two Ministers so at was; heretofore with everything like fancy or fable caused Care taken m the Choice of 3mdgra/nis. 273 their statements to be received with full credit and confi- dence, and they were regarded as a warrant of success. It is strange to relate such to have been the infatuation, that those who disagreed on all other subjects agreed in this alone."* On the representation of the Minister, the "faithful Commons" at once and unreluctantly voted £50,000 to carry the emigration into effect. The promulga- tion of the governmental scheme was received with avidity by the public, and the applications for permission to avail themselves of the facilities offered were numerous beyond expectation. The number to be accepted was restricted to 4,000 souls, and the disappointment of the unsuccessful candidates, amounting to above 90,000, was bitter beyond conception. The utmost care was employed in the selection of the emigrants. The regulations issued from Downing- street required certificates as to character from the ministers of parishes,! or some persons in whom the Government could repose confidence ; offered passages to those persons who, possessing the means, would engage to carry out at the least ten able-bodied individuals above eighteen years of age with or without families ; that a deposit should be made of =£10 for every family of one man, one woman, and two children ; others beyond this number to pay £5 each, &c.,t so that, notwithstanding an ungenerous sneer of the "Civil Servant" "that it was the wish of the Ministry to get rid of the dangerously disaffected," Government had reserved to itself the right, and exerted it success- fully, to prevent the migration of such useless and iU-assorted characters for its new Settlement. The two first vessels with the adventurers (the Chapman and Nautilus, transports) left Gravesend on the 3rd of December, 1819, lost sight of the white cliffs of Albion on the 9th, and arrived in Table Bay on the 17th March * Vide State of the Oape in 1823. The author of which, one of the advisers of Lord C. Somerset, was, however, most hostile to the new Settlers, and from the date of their arrival predicted their failure. f The emigrants were principally members of the Church of England. \ Vide Circulars issued from Downing-street, London, July, 1819. 274 Annals of the Owpe Colony. following, on the 9tli April anchored in Algoa Bay, and safely debarked on the following morning at its little fishing village with anxious, beating hearts, made still more uneasy by the forbidding and wild aspect of the shore. This, however, was quickly relieved by the hearty welcome of the few of&cers of the little garrison, and others, whose kindness and solicitude was beyond aU praise. Alas ! as this is penned, hardly one of these now survive to receive the acknowledgments of gratitude, and but few of the pioneers by these vessels live to make those acknowledgments.* Upon landing, the Settlers were disappointed to find their locations distant full one hundred miles from the port, although one party had solicited to be set down near the mouth of the Great Fish Eiver, where some of the most sanguine had already planted — in imagination — " sufferance wharves," and dreamt of innumerable vessels to be anchored in that estuary. t Wagons were, however, provided by Government in suflicient number, at the cost of the immigrants, a debt which was afterwards most con- siderately remitted, as was the charge also of rations issued for several months ; in fact, the British Govej.'mnent of that day behaved with the greatest liberality to the young Plantation. On the 18th of April, the first or " Chapman party" commenced their inland progress in ninety-six wagons from Algoa Bay, afterwards named Port Elizabeth, which at that time numbered thirty-five souls * Among these were the old Commandant of Fort Frederick, Algoa Bay (Capt. Frances Evatt), Lieutenant-Colonel O'EieUy, and the CHef Magistrate of Uitenhage, Colonel (afterwards General) Cuyler, an American loyalist. The family of this gentlemen preserve with great care an interesting reUc, the portraits of their grand-parents, painted by the imfortimate Major Andre, who was executed as a spy by General Washingtoii, in 1780, and whUe he was a prisoner at New York (Albany), of which city Colonel Cuyler's father had been Mayor. f How well do I remember myself and friends, previous to our decision to emigrate, poring over a military map of the Colonial Frontier, by Lieut. WyUe, of the 38th Regiment, and speculating upon the character of the country on the banks of the Great Fish Eiver, and indulging day-dreams of its poit.— rJ. C. C. The Neutral Territory, 277 command of Colonel Willshire (afterwards Sir Thomas, the hero of Khelat), the barbarians were once more ejected, several Chiefs surrendered, and the arch-instigator of the inroad, the prophet Lynx, or Makanna, was taken and deported to Eobben Island, and the Zuurveld in this its desolated state was destined to be the abode of the British Settler. On the cessation of hostilities the Governor, Lord C. Somerset, had another interview with Gaika at the Gwanga, on the 14th October, and in the spirit of report made to the Government in 1809, and the recommendation of the elder Stockenstrom, in 1810, then Chief Magistrate of Graaff-Eeinet, Colonel Brereton and Colonel Cuyler repre- sented to Gaika that it appeared impracticable to secure the repose of the Frontier as long as the Kafirs had ready access to the Great Fish Eiver jungles ; that therefore, in order to protect the Colony from depredations and Kafir- land from the visits of the Colonial troops to punish aggression, the Fish Eiver ought no longer to be the boundary, but the Chumi Eiver and Keiskamma. Gaika, his son Macomo, the Chiefs Eno, Botman, Congo, Habana, and Garetta, with their interpreters, the Governor and his staff — his interpreter being Captain Stockenstrom (after- wards Sir Andries) — being present, agreed to the proposal, engaged at once to move beyond the new limits, that the troops should destroy every vestige of a kraal within them, and that military posts should be erected between the two rivers to prevent the future occupation of the ceded territory by any petty Chief.* This territory, often interchangeably named " ceded" or "neutral," intervened between the new immigrants and '■•■ Vide Oovernment Qazette, October 30, 1819, in which the Governor at the same time invites the Datoh inhabitants " to form settlements on the borders of the Great Fish Eiver, particularly the Zuurveld, un- rivalled in the world for its beauty and fertility, and which he is deter- mined to defend by a strong and vigilant miUtary force.'' The inhabitants did not, however, respond. After having been driven out by the Kafirs several times — " a burnt child dreads the fire" — it was the fate of the British Settlers of 1820 "to take out the chesnuts." 278 Arnials of the Cofpe Colony. the Kafirs, a breadth of about thirty miles by fifty — a country, in fact, not originally belonging to them, but to the Gonnah Hottentots, and known as " Gonaqualand." It was only taken possession of by the Kafirs after the year 1762, when an Ensign Benteler found them to the east of the Kei Eiver, which river they crossed somewhere about 1760, under Khakhabe, the grandfather of Gaika. SECTION II. ^irmittisttation of actmgiiSobetnor ^mtmrnts^mml Sit Uufmz S^ato ©onfein, MM.IS, Feom Januaky 13, 1830, to Deoembek 1, 1831. 1820 — SirB. S.DonldnActmg-GaTemor — ^Visits Frontier — EsiablislieB Fort Elizabeth and Bathorst — First failure of Settlers' crops. 1821 — Second visit — Establishes Iffilitarj Settlement of Frederichsbnrg — Appoints Settlers as Magistrates — Light- house at Table Bay — Second failure of crops — Lord C, Somerset resumes his Gov- ernment — Commences reversal of Grovemor BonMn's measures. 1822 — Kafirs com- mence plundering — Settlers contemplate removal — Attempt to hold a public meeting forbidden — Appeal to England — Third failure of crops — Change in Inheritance Law obtained. 1823 — Fresh memorials sent to England — Violent Storms. 1824 — ■ Koyal Commissioners of Inquiiy arrive — Eejoicings in Graham's Town — Govern- ment denounce the Settlers — ^Commissioners vindicate the character of the Settlers • — Attempt to establish Free Press stopped. 1825 — Effects of Visit of Commissioners of Inquiry begin to develop — A Council to assist the Governor established. By the end of the year 1820 most of the emigrant ships had touched at the Cape and proceeded to Algoa Bay, and by its close there had been landed there 4,659 persons, which number was soon supplemented by the relations and friends of the first arrivals, so that in the total 5,000 souls settled in the new Colony in the Zuurvelden or Sour- fields, a belt of land extending eastwardly from the Sun- days Eiver to the Great Fish Eiver, and southwardly from Graham's Town to the sea, an area of some 3,000 square miles. The Governor of the Colony, Lord Charles Somerset, having gone to England on leave, the administration devolved on that talented, amiable, but subsequently iU- fated officer. Sir Eufane Shaw Donkin, who after dis- patching some of the earlier Settlers' ships as they arrived in Table Bay, himself soon followed. Landing in Algoa Bay he called the village he there founded " Port Eliza- beth,"* after his late wife, who had recently died in India, * Algoa Bay first discovered by Bartolomeo Diaz (the precursor of Vasco da Gama) in 1486. Taken possession of by the Dutch in 1785. The English in 1798 built a stone defence on the Hill above the 280 Annals oj- the Cape Colony. marking the event by erecting a pyramid on the Hill, dedicated to her memory, little creditable it must be said to the taste of the architect, but still of some use as a beacon for shipping. He then visited the several loca- tions, encouraging the new comers by cheering words of kind encouragement, founded a town and magistracy at Bathurst on a branch of the Kowie Eiver, the Mansfield, as the nucleus of the Settlement, at which place he had providently collected Commissariat stores of food, imple- ments and other necessaries. Up to nearly the close of the year everything portended success ; the season was genial, the crops luxuriant and promising, the cattle which the Settlers had purchased from the Dutch farmers from the interior were fat and healthy, and joyous expectancy filled the bosoms of all, alas ! how soon to be extinguished, for in November the wheat crops began to exhibit the symptoms of that fatal disease, the rust, which became general throughout the Settlement before the time of harvest. The blow was severe — disheartening, and much distress and despondency followed, for all the breadstuff remaining to them was very limited, and they were chiefly obliged to have recourse to maize (Indian corn), a food to which none had been accustomed. 1821 — The ensuing year, thus commenced gloomily enough ; but hopes were still indulged that better times were in store. The majority of the immigrants were young, healthy, and naturally sanguine ; the fact too, known to them, that the Colony had the credit of producing the finest wheat in the world, sustained their confidence ; and their firm reliance upon Providence inspirited them to renewed exertion. In June Sir Eufane Donkin again visited the Locations, sympathized with the disappointed, and animated the trusting. Provisions, in consequence of the failure, continued to be issued from the Government stores at a reasonable rate, on credit ; an increase to the landing place, still existing, and called it, after the Duke of York " Fort Frederick." Barrow, in Ms travels, published in London, 1806 describes the state of this almost terra incognita in 1797 and foretells with prophetic foresight its future as a successful seat of commerce. Vindidiveness of Lord Charles 8(ymerset, 281 miserably insufficient grants of land (originally only 100 acres for each adult) was promised ; a Military Settlement founded in the ceded or neutral territory between the Great Fish and Kieskamma Eivers, with a Fort at Frede- ricksburg on the G-ualana Eiver, calculated to keep the lately expelled barbarians in check ; a popular Chief Magis- trate, a Colonel Jones, was appointed for the District of Albany, and with him were associated two of the leading Settlers as Heemraaden [i.e., assessors) to his Court, viz., Captain Duncan Campbell and Mr. Miles Bowker, both gentlemen possessing the good opinion of the immigrants. Confidence was thus restored, and the Settlers began again to till the land which had proved so ungrateful for past attentions, when adverse circumstances arose to scatter their fondest hopes. Unfortunately for the peace and progress of the Settle- ment, differences .having arisen, out of some infraction of military routine, between Sir Eufane and the son of the absent Governor (an officer on the Frontier), occasioned such a breach, that it began to be rumoured that Lord Charles Somerset, whose return was daily expected, being moved by his son, had expressed entire displeasure at all the acts of Sir Eufane, and was disposed vindictively to reverse them — a rumour too quickly realized ; to add to the alarm occasioned by these reports, symptoms of that cruel scourge, the rust, reappeared, and the wheat crops for the second time entirely failed. Lord Charles arrived on the 30th November, harbouring feelings of resentment against the immigrants, who naturally held strong senti- ments of gratitude to their benefactor, the Acting-Gov- ernor, and were disposed to espouse his cause, the fatal results of which were at once exhibited, and he treated that officer with humiliating disrespect.* The annals of the Western portion of the Colony at this period afford little of value to warrant notice. Affairs there went on in their usual routine, the supplies required for * Vide Letter on the Government of the Cape of Good Hope by Lieutenant-General Sir Bufane Shaw Donkju— London, 1837. 282 Annals of the Ccupe Colowy. the use of the Settlers gave good and profitable employ- ment for a portion of its capital pour " les miserahles" in the East, and the only events of real value were the commencement of a Light-house, the first on its coast, on Green Point, at the entrance of Table Bay, and the foundation of the Cape Town Library. atjmtnistration (wsumelj) of (Soberncn: %oxtt Oli&artes Somerset. Feom December 1, 1821, to Februaby 8, 1826. One of the first acts of "the Eestoration" was the removal from the Magistracy of the British Settlement of Albany of Colonel Jones, " a gentleman of noble descent, and a brave, open, and kind-hearted man." This ungracious procedure was adopted too within six days of His Excel- lency's arrival, and in the most offensive manner. The successor appointed was a person known to be a staunch supporter and proteg6 of Lord Charles, and conseq^uently, although a man of ability, not very acceptable to the Settlers, soured by misfortune, and now become distrustful of the Government. Such early indications of temper at head-quarters, added to the gloom occasioned by the adverse dispensations of Providence, and the prospect of political persecution to which the adventurers on the Frontier had in no way made themselves obnoxious, heightened the dismay. The animosity the returned Governor displayed in the instances just recorded was soon made farther apparent by the treatment of Sir Eufane's favourite and judicious settlement of Fredericksburg. Immediately on His Excellency's arrival it was industriously circu- lated that he intended to suppress it, and the privates of the Eoyal African Corps, who had been disbanded, but placed under contract with the officers, grantees, and others for a limited period of service, began to desert without the slightest check. To aid the dissolu- tion, an order was also issued for the withdrawal of Aggressions by the Kafirs. 283 the small military post quartered for the protection of the village, as well as for the discontimiance of the road to it, then constructing at Kafir's Drift, across the Great Fish Eiver. The effect of these and other hostile measures tended to embolden the Kafirs, who, taking advantage of this unstable policy and manifest indication of weakness, threatened the new little Colony, commenced robbing the Settlers on both sides of the Pish Eiver, and committed several barbarous murders ; so that before the end of March, 1822, the whole of the Fredericksburg party were forced to retire, leaving houses and standing crops to the mercy of the delighted barbarians, who soon burnt the village. Beyond this the safety of the Albany Settlement was also compromised by the permission given to that insubordinate and worst foe, the Chief Macomo, to occupy on sufferance a portion of these lands so vacated, and by sundry ill-planned military movements, ending in disgrace- ful failures, afforded the ever-ready enemy a colourable pretext for his recommencement of encroachments. Another token of His Excellency's utter disapproval of the Donkin system was the removal of the Albany seat of magistracy from Bathurst to Graham's Town, which, although in itself probably a necessary change, was felt at the time as a vexatious proof of hostility. Dispirited by the past, and suspicious of the future, many of the Settlers now began seriously to contemplate removal to some more favoured home : New South Wales (the present great Australian Colonies then " were not"), Canada, the United States, and even the little isolated Island of Tristan d'Acunha, were speculated upon.* The mechanics too, as well as others, began to disperset into the other districts of the Colony, a movement which it was vainly attempted =i= In April a subscription was entered into for the purpose of gaining information of the capabilities of Buenos Ayres, Brazil, Van Dieman's Land, &c. f This dispersion, like many others, had nevertheless a beneiicial effect upon those places and peoples to which it was directed. The surrounding Dutch districts gladly and kindly received the fugitives, who carried with them the example of their European industry, their 284 Annals of the Ca/pe Colony. to arrest, and there was every symptom of a general dis- rnption of the Settlement. At length a Select Committee of twelve gentlemen was appointed to draw up a statement of the aspect of affairs, to be laid before the Cape Town Government, and in May (11th) a requisition was addressed to the leading Settlers to meet on the follow- ing 24th at Graham's Town, " to consider the best means to be adopted at the present crisis," but this British and constitutional method of seeking redress was met by a furious Government proclamation, bearing the same date, declaring the proposed meeting unlawful, and threatening " arrest and the bringing to justice all and every individual who shall infringe the ancient laws of the Colony."* Foiled in their legitimate course the Settlers prudently abstained from any public demonstration, but undaunted by their harsh repulse at once prepared (at private meetkigs, held at their respective homes) and transmitted to the Imperial Government memorials containing full representations of their present condition and futm'e prospects, repelling the insinuations of disaffection, and indignantly denying, as they were designated in the Governor's proclamation, they were " either ignorant, malevolent, or designing persons." To increase the general dejection, disease in the wheat crops began once more to appear, and by the end of September a general failure — the third — was announced, the malady even spreading among the hitherto secure artistic skill, superior knowledge and education, their freedom of thought and fearlessness of expressing it, and their English language, which soon spread widely ; in fact tliey leavened the whole mass of the Eastern population and welded the African-Dutch and British of the Province into one. It has been correctly observed that the Eastern Province is more perfectly English than any other portion of South Africa. The effect of intercourse was noticed by Mr. H. Eutherfoord, an eminent Cape Town merchant, in his evidence before the Committee on Aborigines, in 1836, where he says, " The Boers on the Frontier generally possess a greater degree of intelligence than those in other parts." * These " Antient Laws" against public meetings were wisely repealed, 13th December, 1848. Lord Charles Somerset's Proclamation. 285 Bengal variety. Dui-ing the year also, an unpopular and impotent attempt was made to incorporate the im- poverished and harassed Settlers into a Yeomanry Corps, and to impose upon them an Oath of Allegiance, which, under the circumstances, was resented as a slur upon their conscious loyalty. The two Special Heemraaden, Captain Campbell and Mr. Bowker, now felt themselves bound to resign their commissions ; and the Kafirs, after robbing the Settlers and committing some murders, and assembling in masses within their own country on the Border, seemed to menace attack. The only ray of hope now left to the unfortunate immigrants was furnished by rumours, fondly accepted, that the Home Government were preparing to inquire into the fate of their South African experiment in the remote pastures of the Zuur- velden. The other events of this period, as they affect the whole Colony, may be summed up in a few words, viz. : — The establishment of a description of Savings Bank at Cape Town, which did not succeed; the arrival of several Scotch gentlemen as schoolmasters for the country districts, to teach, inter alia, the English language — a wise and statesmanlike measure ; the promulgation of a proclama- tion (12th July) exempting Settlers from being subject to Dutch laws* in the matter of testamentary dispositions of * " It shall be considered lawful and of full force to all residents and settlers in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, being natui'al-bom subjects of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to enjoy the same rights of devising their property, both real and personal, as they would be entitled to exercise under the laws and customs of England; provided, however, that in case any such natural-born subject shaU. enter into the marriage state within the Settlement without making a previous marriage settlement, (ante-nuptial contract) his property shall be administered according to the Colonial Law." Grave doubts of the legal force of this proclamation have been maintained by two of the Cape Attorneys-General, and the consequence has been that several of the Settlers, after accumulating large wealth, have removed to England to enjoy their birthright; and capitalists thus deterred from settling or remaining in the Colony, the creation of a permanently reeideut monied aristocracy has been prevented, or at least postponed. 286 Annals of the Cape Colony. their property ; and the appointment of a Eesident Agent among the Griquas, a tribe of half-castes arising from intercourse between the Dutch farmers on the extreme North-Western Border of the Colony and Hottentot females, who, migrating from the Colony to the North of the Orange Eiver, were there collected by Missionaries into a settled abode at Griqua Town, and who are now divided into two clans — one under Waterboer, and the other under Adam Kok. 1823. — Weary of waiting for the expected inquiry into their grievances, the Settlers, on the 16th March, 1823, again addressed Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, with full explanations of their position, and as the principal difficulty therein enumerated still remains unre- dressed, although urged year after year, it is given here in as condensed a form as possible : — " We do not complain," say they, " of the natural disadvantages of the country to which we have been sent. We are actuated by one un- divided feeling of respect and gratitude to the British Government, which future reverses will never efface ; but it is a peculiar hardship being placed in a remote corner of the British dominions, with our interests and prospects committed to the control of one individual, and that our situation is neither thoroughly understood nor properly represented ; that we have been debarred all means of expressing om* collective sentiments upon matters of the utmost importance to our common interests. It has long — and from the most distressing proofs — become evident to the Settlers that the Colonial Government, situated at the opposite extremity of the Colony, where every particular, whether of soil and climate, or the constitution, pursuits, and interests of society, is totally different, possesses no adequate means of ascertaining their actual wants. That under this conviction it was contemplated by a smaU number of the principal Settlers to consult together upon the most advisable mode of making His Excellency the Governor acquainted with their situation, but this iuten- tion was not only met by positive prevention but by pubhc imputations against the views and motives of the Settlers Ajppeal of the Settlers to the Emne Goverwment. 287 in general," &c. This document was signed by 374 indi- viduals of the most respectable classes. After transmitting this appeal they awaited patiently the progress of events, when to their delight the expected " Eoyal Commissioners of Inquiry"* arrived on the 12th of July at Cape Town, where they were duly sworn in at Government-house. To fill up, as it were, their cup of calamity, violent tempests of wind and rain now visited the Eastern Districts in the month of October — still remem- bered as " The Flood" — causing the destruction of much life and property, and leaving the apparently doomed Settlement at its zero point of depression. 1824. — Buoyed up by the hope of relief from the Eoyal Commissioners, the new year (1824) was hailed with pleasure, not unmixed with anxiety, by the almost ruined and nearly despairing immigrants. On the 5th February these gentlemen arrived in Graham's Town, where they were received by the authorities with sullen courtesy — by the people with open arms ; the then little town was illumi- nated, and great rejoicings exhibited under the belief that the " Eeign of ' Gubernatorial' Terror"t was at an end. They were, however, for a time mistaken- In the evening of that day a few of the most respectable of the people who had assembled in the streets to witness the rejoicings were * Tlie names of the Commissioners were J. T. Bigge, Colonel, W. M. G. Colebrooke, and W. Blair. \ At this distance of time it will hardly be credited that the most petty and pitiful means were employed by tlie Cape Town. Government and its minions on the Frontier to harass, disgust, and insult the Settlers, many of them belonging to British aristocratic families, and numerous others gentlemen by birth and education ; in fact, to do the utmost to effect a total failure of the Home Grovernment's beneficent intention of forming the Settlement. The new Magistrate who superseded Colonel Jones, and a clergyman of the Establishment, the Rev. Mr. Geary, just sent to Graham's Town, were furnished with " proscription lists" con- taining the names of those persons who were to be shunned and narrowly watched, and these were the most intelligent and mentally independent. Both were fortunately superior to this dirty task ; but the clergyman especially refusing to be a party man, and having ex- pressed gratification at the arrival of the Commissioners of Inquiry, was summarily removed. 288 Annals of the Oa/pe Oolony, charged hy the mounted men of the Cape Corps, and were hauled off to the common prison, with the threat of incar- ceration ; and a most cruel and mendacious semi-official statement was published in the Government Gazette of the 21st of February, designating the affair as "Eiots in Graham's Town," accusing the people — ^who it called a rabble — ^with insulting the Government and " firing upon the soldiery." This distortion of a natural and harmless demonstration was intended to abuse the minds of the Commissioners, in which it signally failed, and for the purpose of hoodwinking the Imperial Government by representing the body of immigrants as belonging to that violent class of political reformers of 1820 opprobriously designated as "Eadicals." The Commissioners on the spot were not so easily to be duped, and in their report to the Honourable the Secretary of State, dated the 26th September, 1826, they thus nobly vindicated the character of the maligned immigrants : — " The introduction, however, of the English Settlers, and the right of free discussion which they have claimed and exercised, together with the bold defiance they have given to the suspicions entertained of their disloyalty and dis- affection to the Government, have had the effect of exciting in the Dutch and native population a spirit of vigilance and attention that never existed before, and which may render all future exertion of authority objectionable that is not founded upon the law." No doubt encouraged by the visit of the Commissioners of Inquiry, an attempt to establish a free press in- the Colony, a thing hitherto unknown, was now made ; and early in the year (January 7) Mr. John Fairbairn and a British Settler, Mr. Thomas Pringle (the sweet lyrist of Glen Lynden, whose muse has immortahzed the scenery of the Frontier and Kaffraria), published the first number of a newspaper called The South African Commercial Advertiser, printed in Cape Town by Mr. George Greig. A South African journal was also begun by the same party, and the Eev. Mr. Faure, the pastor of the Dutch Beformed Church, commenced a similar work, entitled Tyranny of Lwd Charles Somerset. 289 De Zuid-Afrikaansche Tydschrift. This dawn of a free press was hailed with universal pleasure, but unfortunately destined in such Tory times to be of short duration. A German philosopher, Borne, somewhere in his terse writings remarks that " Luther well kneio tohat he was about when he threw his ink-bottle at the DeviVs head; there is nothing the Devil hates more than ink," and so, true to the saying, the hatred of the Colonial Government to free journalizing was soon exhibited. On the 17th May, Lord Charles Somerset assumed the censorship . of the press; The Advertiser was suspended, the types and presses seized by the Fiscal (Anglice, Attorney-General), and an order for the banishment of the proprietor, Mr. Greig, issued ; but very soon, through fright, this was recalled. The natural result of these violences was pasquinading and the promulgation of manuscript libels against the actors in the stupid crusade. At length the temper of the Colonists was roused, and memorials from both Cape Town and the Eastern town were transmitted to the British Government, and the inestimable privilege of a free press was granted (AprU 30, 1829) after a long and weary struggle, mainly through the exertions of Mr. Fairbairn, to whom the public presented a silver vase, as a testimony of gratitude for his consistency and public spirit, which he richly deserved. 1825. — The effects of the Royal Commission began now gradually to develop themselves. In March, the huge monopoly of the Government Farm under the "Bosch- berg" at Somerset East, established ostensibly for the advantage of the Cavalry Force on the Frontier, but in fact for the Governor's benefit whose name it bore, was abolished, and the present village thereon and district founded, while on the 2nd of May instructions issued by His Majesty George IV. were received, for the erection of a Council of seven members, including the Governor, to advise and assist him,* thus placing the * Instructions dated 9th February named the following as members : —The Governor, Chief Justice, Colonial Secretary, Officer next in command, Colonel BeU, Auditor-General, and Receiver-General. U 290 Annals of the Ca^e Colony. Imperial representative under some very slight but whole- some restraint. There are but few more incidents occur- ring ^to be catalogued, except that on the 6th June the South African Museum was established, which after some few years languished to almost entire extinction, but is now resuscitated and appropriately housed in that splendid edifice, the Library in the Government Gardens, at Cape Town. Under the present Curator's valuable management (E. L. Layard, Esq.), this institution has assumed its highest value. On the 13th October, the first steamer in our Colonial waters, the Enterprise, entered Table Bay, but was not followed by any other until the lapse of six years, when the Sophia Jane came in — so slowly was this magnificent invention appreciated. SECTION III. atdttittistratiott; of ilteutmant=®ob«not Sir iaicjarb Fbom Pebhuaky 8, 1836, to September 9, 1838. 1826 — Lieut.-GoTemor Bonrie arrives — Changes in System of Native Eelations — Eeport of Eoyal Commissioners of Inquiry pnblislied — Important provisions not adopted, but some changes made. 1827 — Charter of Justice granted — Old Courts ahoUshed. 1828 — Commissioner-General of Border appointed — ^Fetcani threaten Kafir tribes — They apply for aid and are succoured by Colony — Legislative Assem- bly called for — Green and Cowie's fatal Expedition to Delagoa Bay — ^Fiftieth Ordinance enactment — Sir L. Cole Governor — Public Works. 1829 — Macomo expelled Eat Eiver — Chief Gaika dies. 1830 — Paper Currency withdrawn — ^A Commando against Kafirs — Chief Zekoe killed — Wool exported. 1833— Dr. Smith's Expedition into Northern Interior — Colonel Wade Acting-Governor. 1826 introduced a new, and it was anticipated, a more promising regime than the foregoing. On the 9th of February Sir Richard Boui'ke arrived, and on the 5th of May following Lord Charles Somerset left the Colony, ostensibly on leave of absence, to rebut, as at the time reported, certain charges preferred against him, but it was well known for a final departure, after an administra- tion of twelve years, notorious for arbitrary government, but with the one redeeming quality of having improved the breed of the Cape Colonial horses. On his assumption of ofSce the Governor's attention was forcibly arrested to the state of the Frontier. Disapproving the (Somerset-Gaika) "reprisal" system instituted in 1819, he made the fu'st change in the " Native Eelations" by an order, dated 11th April, directing that no invasion should be made of the Kafir country for equivalents of stock stolen, although the places were known where it had been secreted. Attempts were to be made to overtake thieves while zvithin the Border, but no armed pursuit beyond it. All activity and vigilance was recommended to be used to prevent depredation, but on no occasion, except robbers being in view, should troops cross the boundary ; yet indi- viduals might proceed to the ueairest Eafir kraal and u 2 292 Annals of the Gape Colony. demand that the traces should be then taken up by its inmates. This system of " forbearance, mischievous and criminal, as far as the Colonists were concerned,* soon produced its fruits," for as the Colonists were ordered not to fire unless resistance was shown, upon pain of trial for manslaughter should death ensue, the thieves walked quietly off with their plunder, and on applications being made to the nearest kraal, the Chiefs, afraid of their people, and not disinclined to shelter their braves, omitted to take any steps. The despoiled farmers were forced to submit, depredations were carried on more than ever, and this state of a;ffairs lasted until February, 1829, when the next Governor, seeing the impolicy of these arrange- ments, reverted to the reprisal system, with some modifi- cations. In addition to the reversal of the Somerset reprisal system, now condemned as "irritating" to the natives, and with the benevolent but vain hope of subduing the love of plunder inherent in these savages, the Governor in September issued an Ordinance (No. 23, 1826) to facilitate commerce with the Kafirs by permitting private trade under licence beyond the boundary, instead of restricting it to the locality of Fort Willshire, where a fair had been established, and a short time before he left the Colony he promulgated another favourable enactment (Ordinance No. 49, 14th July), admitting the tribes beyond the Frontier to enter the Colony as labourers or residents at missionary institutions, thus affording them every oppor- tunity of honest intercourse that possibly could be expected, with what result the subsequent history will show ; but it may be here observed in anticipation, that the latter indulgence, by sanctioning in so facile a manner their entrance among the inhabitants gave them increased and more favourable opportunities of theft, of which they were not slow or sparing to avail themselves, and it was obliged to be suspended by the succeeding Governor, with the intention, however, to relax it at a more favourable * Vide evidence before Aborigiaes Committee— Colonel ^Yad.e, Majsr Dir.idas, &e,, in lb35-3(i. Beport of Royal Commission. 293 time; this was, however, precluded by the conduct of the Kafirs, when in 1830 they became more unsettled and predatory than before. The next most important event, as it refers to the Colony in general, but more particularly the Eastern Province, was the iDublication of the Eeport of the Eoyal Commissioners of Inquiry, dated the 6th September. From that able document it appeared His Majesty George rV. had already been "graciously pleased to direct the Civil Government of the two Provinces should be kept distinct and independent of each other" that, among other things, the Eastern Province should be presided over by a Lieutenant-Governor, residing at Uitenhage ; that Cape Town should remain the Seat of Government of the Western Province, "although inconvenient of access" overland, and " because Table Bay is the principal resort of shipping and the deposit of all exports that are the produce of the Colony." Notwithstanding these recommen- dations, not one was carried out in the spirit intended. A Lieutenant-Governor was indeed appointed, but a mere sham, denuded of all power; the Provinces were not, and have not been, made " distinct," except in name ; while Table Bay, although nominally the chief port, has lost that distinction — in reality ceased to be the emporium of " all the exports," for it now ships less than one-fourth of the Colonial productions, while the Eastern port of Algoa Bay contributes the remainder.* The influence of the Eoyal Commission in other matters, however, began to be gradually but sensibly felt. The "job" appointment of "Wine-taster," with his establish- ment, was abolished. The people, recovering from the stupor of gwasi-serfdom, actually dared to memorialize for an elective Burgher Senate, or Town Council, and some absurd restrictions on trading intercourse with the natives were relaxed, 1827 witnessed considerable ameliorations in the ad- ministration of local affairs, and several successful efforts * Exports Western Province, 1868 ^433,712 Eastern Province, 1868 ^1,783,179 294 Annals of the Gwpe Colony. were made to cleanse the Augean stable of the Colony. The old monopolies of the Dutch Government began to tremble in the balance ; the exclusive right by Government of the retail sale of wines and spirits, called the " Pacht," previously farmed out to the highest bidder, was discon- tinued, and licences granted to quaUfied persons. The office of Vendue-master, or Government Auctioneer, who had the sole privilege of selling all property by public competition, was abolished. The Burgher Senate, which had become effete, was abrogated. Justices of Peace, Eesident Magistrates, and Clerks of the Peace were created in certain districts, and to crown all a " Eoyal Charter of Justice" was issued by the Sovereign, establishing a Supreme Court with a Bench of British Judges, with trial by jury in criminal cases. The old Court of Justice was dissolved, the members of which held their offices "at pleasure," some of whom were not gentlemen exactly fitted for the position by legal acquirements, but were occasionally selected from the Military, Civil Service or mercantile community; indeed in 1822 a Judge of Circuit, although a most upright citizen, was a Cape Town wine merchant. The Boards of Landdrost and Heemraaden — inferior County Courts — were done away with, the Presidents, formerly the Chief Magistrates of the districts or divisions, being now designated as " Civil Commissioners," and the Heemraaden or Assessors, generally chosen for their Government tendencies or as being personal friends of the Magistrate and mere nomi- nees, were "thanked" for past services and retired,* 1828. — To watch over the barbarian tribes on the Colonial border. Captain Stockenstrom, at that time the Chief Magistrate of Graaff-Eeinet, on the 1st of January was appointed Commissioner-General of the Eastern Frontier —a sort of " Warden of the Marches ;" — but harassed and fettered by the remote Table Mountain Government, very * These bodies were resuscitated in 1855 under the title of •' Divisional Councils," the Civil Commissioners acting as Chairmen, with six members elected by the inhabitants of Wards. Defeat of the Mcmtatees, 295 ill-informed of the nature of Frontier matters, all his efforts to benefit the Border were rendered nugatory ; and after repeated remonstrances at the galling restraints to which he was subjected by the Colonial authorities — indisposed to concede, and he perhaps too exacting — ^he retired in disgust in 1833. No man was so conversant with Frontier matters and the interests of the Colonists, so independent and appreciative of the real character of the natives, of whom he had written to Government in 1817, " to get possession of arms and ammunition is more than an inducement for a Kafir to betray his own father," and it is matter of deep regret he was not at that time entrusted with ample powers. For a considerable period rumours had been rife that an overwhelming body of savages, reported to be cannibals, were advancing through Kafirland towards the Colonial Frontier. These Mantatees, or Fetcani, believed originally to have been settled near Delagoa Bay, but put into motion by the conquests of the Zulu Chieftain Chaka, had as early as 1822 appeared among the Beohuanas, but at length, in 1827, headed by a Chief named Matuana, precipitated themselves on the Tambookies, who, under the Tambookie Chief Vusani, held them in check. They then turned south-eastwardly on the Galekas, when Hintza urgently craved assistance from the Colony. By authority of Government, Major Dundas, of the Eoyal Artillery, Chief Magistrate of Albany, assisted by a body of the British Settler youth, met and defeated the invaders on the 26th July at the Bashee ; and in the succeeding month. Colonel Somerset, with the troops, engaged and completely routed them at the sources of the Umtata, thus rescuing the Paramount Kafir Chief, his people, and nation, from utter annihilation,* who, with true native gratitude, were all the * At the affair near the Umtata Eiver, Hintza's people, nearly 20,000 in number, hovered around the troops without giving the least assistance ; but when the enemy, after defeat, retreated in complete confusion, the atrocities committed by the Kafirs, as represented in official documents, were appalling — cutting off the arms and legs of their living victims in order the more easily to secure tUeir brass bangle ornajneuts, mutilating the dead, &o. 296 Annals of the Cape Colony, time plundering the Colony, so much so that while the troops were absent, it was found requisite to leave behind a detachment of the 55th Eegiment and a body of burghers intended and prepared to assist Hintza, in order to save the farmers from incessant robbery. An ardent desire for more hberal institutions now displayed itself in the Colonial metropolis, where, on the 14th June, a large and influential meeting was held, praying for the institution of a Legislative Assembly, which was followed in the same month by the people of Albany ; and generally the voice of the united Colony was in favour of the measure, but it was not gratified for more than a quarter of a century. Among the notabiHa of this, year should be recorded the setting out in July of the adventurous overland journey undertaken by Dr. Cowie, the District Surgeon of Albany, and Mr. Benjamin Green, a young merchant of Graham's Town, to Delagoa Bay {via Natal), which former place they reached on the 24th March, 1829. On their return, these intrepid men, the first to explore those distant and deadly regions, perished in the wilderness — the Doctor on the banks of the Mapoota, and Green, after some s^ort time, at a point nearer Natal. Fortunately the few notes of the last-named were reco- vered and placed by his directions in the hands of the writer, who published, in 1830, an account of the journey, as well as a map of the country traversed by the unfor- tunates, which filled up the hitherto void in the previous charts of Southern Africa between the Eiver Kei and Delagoa. Not long after the departure of Cowie and Green, two British Settlers, Messrs. CoUis and Cawood, visited Natal by land, and thus an intimate knowledge of the intervening fertile and magnificent coast country began to be acquired, and two Albany traders, Messrs. A. G. Bain and B. Biddulph, reached Letabaruba, near Kolobeng, in the country of the Bechuanas. Chaka, the monster murderous Chief of the Zulus, sent envoys to treat with the Cape Government at the end of this year, but they w6re very contumeliously repulsed — an act to be regretted, as probably some of the evils affecting the first Sir Lowry Cole enters on Office. 297 adventurers in the Natal Settlement might have been prevented. It inuat not be omitted to mention that before Sir E. Bourke left the Colony in September, he prepared another important enactment, for which he himself deserves the entire credit, although there have been other claimants to the distinction. This, "An Ordinance (No. 50) for Improving the Condition of Hottentots and other Eree Persons of Colour," was passed through the Council 17th July, 1828 (since repealed by a more comprehensive law). Previous to the promulgation of this humane provision an erroneous idea had become prevalent in the Colony that Hottentots, the original proprietors of the soil, could not hold land. A principle so atrocious and a tenet so unfounded therefore required some declaratory enact- ment, and this was provided by the one in question. ^timinisittatwn o( ©obwnor Sit ©aliraitf) HototB Fkom September 9, 1838, to August 10, 1834. 1829. — The Western Annals of 1829 are singularly barren of incidents. The opening of the South African College (8th October) and the commencement of those great public works, in the item of roads, so lavishly bestowed upon the West to the neglect of the Eastern Province, present the prominent figure, the latter com- mencing at Hottentot's HoUand, where a grand opening in the Mountain was constructed, called after the Governor, Sir Lowry Pass. Beyond the publication of an Ordinance establishing the freedom of the Press, and the institution of a Literary Society in the Metropolis, nothing can be gathered of interest, while Frontier events begin again to crowd the Colonial archives. The impolicy of permitting the Kafirs to occupy the ceded neutral territory was now made ominously apparent. Macomo, the son of Gaika, to whom alone the pri- vilege had in the first instance been accorded, soon 298 Annals of the Ccvpe Colony, associated with himself other Chiefs, and in the preceding year made an unprovoked and sanguinary attack upon the Tambookies living on the Zwarte Kei Eiver, driving and following them into British territory, where one of their Chiefs, Powana, was slain, the people despoiled of 5,000 head of cattle, reduced to starvation, and dependent for existence upon Colonial charity. An official inquiry was instituted on the spot at the Klaas Smits Eiver, and Maeomo, with the concurrence of the Commissioner-General, was expelled the Kat Eiver, having, after timely notice, evaded to restore the plunder or give satisfaction. This act he never forgot nor forgave, but immediately, in revenge, employed all his influence over his fellow Chiefs against the Colony, causing such serious alarm that the prospfect of an immediate outbreak was confidently anti- cipated by the military authorities. In the month of September, therefore, the Governor visited the distm-bed Border, had a conference with Gaika, and then, on the advice and with the concurrence of the Commissioner- General, founded the celebrated but afterwards notorious Kat Eiver Settlement.* This visit for the time acted as a sedative ; robberies, which had been numerous and extensive during the last two years, rather decreased, the age and sickly state of the Chief Gaika, who died in November, probably accounting in some measure for the lull and discontinuance of preparations for actual war, and the Governor left the Border Chiefs (with the exception of Gaika, who was too ill, and^M£|,como too sulky to attend) under the impression they were satisfied and had forgotten all former imagined injuries, although His Excellency had been compelled, as an act of Justice to the Colonists, at the beginning of his administration, to adopt the more efficient and older mode of checking their disposition to thieve, by reverting to the system of reprisal. * This Institution was conceived in a spiiii of benevolence and strict justice to the Hottentot race — the plan somewhat Utopian when Latin and Greek were attempted to be taught to the semi-civilized Certain of the Superintendents too were badly selected, and as far as regards the natives, the choice could not have been more unfortunate. WitMrawal of the Pajper Gumncy. 29& A few other events belong to this period. The wreck of L'Eole, a French vessel, on the 12th April, at the Guanga Eiver, to the west of the Bashee, where the commander, four passengers, and seven others perished. The remainder were rescued by a trader when the Kafirs were about to put them to death. They were then sent to a missionary station, and thence forwarded to Graham's Town, where they were most hospitably entertained. The Wesleyan missionary, the Eev. Mr. Arehbell, and two traders, Messrs. Schoon and McLucMe, penetrated the far unknown regions to the north of the Colony, and the Eev. Mr. Moffatt, of Kuruman, with the Eev. Mr. Arehbell, visited the Zulu devastator of the unfortunate and semi-civilized tribe of Bechuanas, Moselikatze, who they found had now settled down at the Magaliesbergen or Kashan Mountains, in about Lat. GG", Long. 28°. 1830.— The nature of occurrences in the Western por- tion of the Colony, where peace is the normal condition, and that of the Eastern, is generally of so different a character that with every disposition to blend them into one consecutive series I find it difficult and often im- possible, and therefore, unless where practicable, must continue to treat them separately, giving, however, the pas, as a matter of courtesy, where I can, to the elder and venerable sister. The earliest event then of note is the withdrawal of the cartoon or Paper Currency, the value of which had by authority been reduced to eighteen- pence the rix-dollar (originally issued, on security of public property, at the rate of four shillings), and substituting silver coinage in exchange. In July the first examination of the pupils of the South African College, lately estab- lished, gave great satisfaction to the people of Cape Town, and this institution, as it was hoped, has had the most beneficial effects upon the Colonial youth, showing their capability for literary and scientific attainments, and that those who have been sent thence to collegiate establish- ments elsewhere were fully able to compete with Europeans for academical honours. To these events there is to be added another of an unpleasant kind regarding the then 300 Annals of the Oa/pe Colony. one great Colonial staple, and which I shall quote verbatim from a Cape Town authority : — " November 6th. — Very unfavourable accounts ' from England of the prices and demand for Cape wine' are received, ' caused partly by a glut of the article, and partly by the disgraceful trash prepared and vended by some pretended wine-merchants in the Colony.' " In the East, notwithstanding the late arrangements for its pacification, it was found necessary to dispatch a commando against certain native villages whose inhabi- tants had been guilty of the common crime, cattle-lifting, on which occasion a Chief named Zekoe was justifiably shot — a circumstance, however, giving rise afterwards to much angry discussion, and involving in the sequel the character of one of the leading Dutch Colonists. In the early part of the year, the eminent Superintendent of the London Society's Missions, the Eev. Dr. Philip, and the talented editor of the South African Commercial Advertiser, Mr. Fairbairn, visited the Frontier and Border Kafirs ; and it was generally believed that, actuated by a morbid philanthropy, they indulged in indiscreet communications with the barbarians in regard to what they considered wrongs, by holding out prospects of a surrender by the Colony of the ceded territory,* and thus adding to the latent flame of discontent and restlessness. Be this as it may, the circumstance it is impossible to omit, for it initiated an unfortunate estrangement thus early between the Frontier inhabitants and these gentlemen, and which was aggravated by the gifted editor, who in an evil hour lent his powerful pen to ridicule and asperse the Settlers while smarting under the unprovoked and intolerable depredations of the savages — a line of conduct, it is to be regretted, he pursued for a series of years to their injury and that of the Colonial character. At this time, too, a London Mission School was planted in the Kat Eiver Settlement, where, as already remarked, intrusted to * Vide evidence before Parliamentary Committee on Aborigines in 1836 and 1836, given by Col. Wade, Eev. Mr. Young, Major Dundas, and others ; Sir B. D'Urbau's Despatches, Boyce's Notes. Wool Farming. -^Colesberg Founded. 301 improper persons, it became the prolific source of future misfortunes, " native rights" being too zealously taught, to the neglect of inculcating their corresponding " duties." Wool, the farming of which had so lately been intro- duced at the Eastern end of the Colony, began now to figure for the first time among its exports, the quantity being 4,500 lbs., value £222; while that of the West, commenced in 1812, stood at 38,907 lbs., value £1,945.* Another town (Colesberg) was added to the Eastern Province this year by its foundation on the old boundary line of the Colony, near Plettenberg's Baaken ; and Graham's Town initiated a movement for municipal privileges. 1831. — In March an institution new to the native-born Colonists was first attempted at Cape Town — " The South African Fire and Life Assurance Company" — the success of which was so marked that similar corporations have since been established throughout the Colony. In April (13fch) another and costly, but important mountain pass was opened at the Houw Hoek, leading from the East to Sir Lowry Cole's Pass, and in the same mountain range ; and in the same month one of the Cape Town streets (St. George's) was lighted up by oil lamps for the first time, and by subscription. Since then, the town — " the metropolis" — had for a short period the benefit of gas lights, but through the niggardly economy of the Town Council for some years past, up to the present (1869), the inhabitants are denied that — not luxury but — essential, probably satisfied, good pious people, with the ejaculation ■ — " Lucerna ijedibus meis." A new Savings Bank was successfully established in Cape Town by J. Marshall, Esq., branches of which now extend far and wide, and have been of great service to the middle classes of society. In the Eastern Province the only circumstance deserving farther, but not unimportant, notice is the establishment of the Graham's Town Journal (December 30), a periodical which, * Kelative progress of wool farming in the two Provinces :— West, in 1866, 5,022,010 lbs., value ^275,391. East „ 30,508,853 „ l,r35,29S. 302 Annals of the Cape Colomy. amid the wreck of many other more pretentious papers, and carried through very stormy political crises, still survives.* 1833. — The discoveries made within the last few years from the Colony by sportsmen, travellers, traders, and others in the vast interior on the North, nearly to the tropic and North-East, stimulated the people of Gape Town to undertake similar enterprises. The matter was first taken up by the Literary Society in that metropolis, and on the 24th June a large meeting was held, when it was decided to equip an expedition into Central Africa, with the patronage and generous aid of Government, and supported by public subscription, under the management of the celebrated naturalist, Dr. Andrew Smith, M.D., aided by a staff of artists, scientific and other gentlemen, all unpaid, and volunteers. This party did not leave until the month of July the following year, but the result may as well be anticipated here. Furnished with all the appliances for success, for some reasons, never satisfactorily explained, it reached no farther than the country of the Zulu Chief Moselikatze (Lat. 25° 24', Long. 27° 47'), no geographical facts were added to our knowledge, no narrative of the journey was ever produced by the doctor, and the only gratification the public received for their subscriptions and the intense interest excited, was the exhibition at Cape Town of some beautiful drawings of scenery, &c., from the facile pencil of Charles Bell, Esq., * The first number of this periodical was printed by a press brought from England in 1820 by Mr. Godlonton (now a member of the Legislative Council) and two other British immigrants, with the intention of estabhshing a newspaper in the Albany Settlement, hoping to estabUsli a means of intercommunion of thought between themselves and the Dutch inhabitants ; but this did not suit the arbitrary Q-overn- meut of that period, so the authorities at Cape Town took possession of the infectious maoliine while tlie Settler ship (the Oluqim-an) was in Table Bay, and paid for it. Some years afterwards, it was sent to Graaff-Reinet to print Government notices and other innocuous matters, and then, after a considerable interval, was repurchased by Mr. Godlonton, and, strange to say, fulfilled its original mission. It is now preserved in " cotton and lavender" as one of the South African " curiosities'' of literature." Colonel Wad^s Administration. 303 the present Surveyor-General, and subjects of natural history, splendidly pourtrayed by George Ford, Esq. The latter were published in England by Dr. Smith.* atjministratiott of actin8=(Sfoi3ettttit %mtmmU(^s)\oml K, dP. amaue. FaoM August 10, 1833, to January 16, 1834. 1838.— His Excellency Sir L. Cole having left the Colony in August, its government devolved on the next in com- mand, Lieutenant-Colonel Wade, a gentleman much respected, of high attainments, and decided character. The short period of his office afforded no great opportunity for the display of his abilities, but some idea may be formed of his talents by a perusal of his evidence before the Aborigines Committee in 1836; for nothing can be more straightforward, lucid, and well arranged than the statements he laid before the members of that body. Before entering upon the succeeding Government, one of the most important in the Colonial history, it may be summarized that during 1833 serious complications with the native tribes on the Border had arisen, mainly attri- butable to the indulgent vacillations in the conduct of the chief military authority there, and the cupidinous cha- racter of the Kafirs threatening — what they meant to accomplish — some dire disaster,! * Vide Steedman's Wanderings and South African Adoenturcs, where will be found a considerable amount of information regarding this expedition, and the progress of discoveries made in the continent from the Cape of Good Hope. ■\ The depredations for ten years, i.e, from 182i to end of 1833, had been at the rate of 7-k horses and 1,464 cattle annually, few of which were recovered ; and, to show the persistency of this tliievish disposi- tion on the part of the Kafir races. Professor Liclienstein, the traveller, may be quoted, who says the Colonists then (1801) had lost 858 horses, 8,030 sheep and goats, and 39,940 horned cattle. SECTION IV. atimittigttatton oe ^obwnor S« 58. m'mUn, dSiMM. Fbom Januaey 16, 1834, to January 22, 1838. 1834 — Arrival of Governor and Sir John Herschel* — The Governor delayed at Cape To^n — Vagrancy — Kat Kiver agitation — Its effect on the Kafirs — Disturbances on Border — Eintza's conduct — Macomo commences hostilities — Colony invaded, 21st December — State of British Settlement at the time. 1835 — Confederate Chiefs propose Peace — Hintza aiding Confederates — Governor sends Envoy to him— He declines an interview — Governor declares War — Hintza's Eraal surprised — ^He arrives at Head-guarters — Conditions of Peace offered to him. 1834. — On the 16th of January the new Governor, Sir Benjamin D'Urban " The Good," arrived in the Western metropolis, where, by unavoidable circumstances, at a most critical period of Frontier affairs, he was too long delated ; but his presence at the seat of Government was rendered almost imperative, for the following reasons : — Swing to the extensive prevalence of thefts of stock by andering natives, Hottentots and others, an universal demand arose for some legislation to repress the growing and intolerable evil which even the Commissioner-General, * In the same vessel with the Governor arrived Sir John Herschel. This illustrious astronomer remained in the Colony for a period of four years, where he examined in the exactest manner, and under our favour- able skies, the whole Southern Celestial Hemisphere. He also suggested meteorological observations being taken, since which a commission has been created (1859), and is now in full operation. Sir John's " expedi- tion to the Cape was undertaken at his own expense, and he declined to accept the indemnity afterwards offered to him by the British Govern- ment." On the publication of his work on the Southern Hemisphere the Astronomical Society voted liim a testimonial. While in the Colony he took a deep interest in all its affairs, especially in the cause of education. He became President of the South African Literary and Scientific Institution, sitting in Cape Town, and here he displayed that wonderful condescension, not altogether common in savam of such high attainments as his own, by making the subjects of his lectm-es, even the most abstruse, comprehensible to hearers of intelligence infi- nitely inferior to his own, and was always ready and solicitous to afford explanation to a querist. Tlw Slave Brnmievpatiffti. 305 as expressed in a letter of the 20th February, addressed to the Clerk of the Council, D. M. Percival, Esq., considered necessary. General Bourke's Ordinance of 1828 (the 50th) had emancipated the Hottentots, or rather defined the actual rights of all coloured people, about which difference prevailed, but it was at the same time intended to supple- ment that provision, good and wise per se, by some explanatory enactment to protect property and put down vagabondism. This was neglected, and so General Bourke reaped the laurels of a " Liberator," leaving all the obloquy of a restraining law to his less fortunate successors. Another reason also for the Governor's detention was that he awaited an " Order in Council" from home relative to the Slave Emancipation. On the 11th May His Excellency laid before his Legisla- tive Council the draft of " An Ordinance" (applicable only to those who had no homes or visible means of subsist- ence) " for the Better Suppression of Vagrancy in this Colony,"* and invited the opinions of the magistrates and others upon the subject. No sooner was this draft pub- lished than a howl of indignation was commenced by all the soi-disant friends of the coloured races. The Rev. the Superintendent of the London Missionary Society at the Cape set the example of opposition, in a memorial to the Legislative Council, dated the 29th of May, which was * " We have a notable good law at Corinth, Where, if an idle fellow outruns reason, Feasting and junketing at furious cost, The Sumptuary Proctor calls upon him And thus begins to sift him. You hve weli ! But have you weU to live ? You squander freely ! Have you the wherewithal ? Have you the fund For these outgoings ? If you have, go on. If you have not, we'll stop yon in good time. Before you outrun honesty ; for he Who lives we know not how, must live by plunder ; Either he picks a purse, or robs a house, Or is accompKce with some knavish gang ; — This a well-ordered city will not suffer — Such vermin we expel." DiPHiLus of Sinope (circa B.C. 200), 306 Annals of tlie Qa/pe Goloiiy's followed by missionaries of some other dehoininations. The extremest resistance, however, was at the Hottentot Settlement at the Kat Eiver, where the resident teacher, a white man, married to a Hottentot or half-caste, had extensive influence ; hut even here there was a difference of opinion. Among the Hottentots had been located a number of other coloured people, whom the nomenclature of the day somewhat coarsely denominated " Bastaards" (as the Griquas were originally and correctly named) ; these were under the religious instruction of the Eev. Mr- Thomson, eighty of whom signed a memorial in favour of the Vagrancy Act, themselves being possessed of some property, and having experienced the evils so generally complained of. So furious was the enmity displayed by the Hottentots, that the lives of these dissidents were imperilled, and to keep the agitation alive the teacher very inconsiderately wrote to other missionaries, recom- mending them and their congregations to hold the 18th August as a day of humiliation and prayer to Almighty God that it may please Him to arrest the impending evU.* This turbulence immediately on the boundary was keenly- watched and adroitly taken advantage of by the ever- ready plotting Chief Macomo, who steadily fanned a flame likely to kindle the embers of more than latent discontent among all his tribe. He therefore simulated piety, attended prayer-meetings, and worked upon the minds of these people so successfully that, as deposed by the Chief Tyali and otherst after the war, " it was the language of the Hottentots that set us on fire." And there can be little doubt that, but for a very prudent and precautionary disposition of the military force under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Armstrong, commanding at the Kat Eiver, overawing the disaffected, they would then (as they did in 1851) have joined the Kafirs in their invasion. On the 20th November an incident occurred which * Letter of Kev. Mr. Eeed to Kev. Mr. Thomson, 14th August, 1834. t Vide Minutes of Proceedings of Court of Inquiry, held at Fort Willshii-e, August and September, 1836, upon death of Hintza ; eridenca of Tyali, Eno, Botman, Xoxo, and other Kafir Chiefe. Misoondmt of the Eafirst 307 precipitated hostilities between the Kafirs and Colonists, expected by the borderers, but unforeseen by the Cape Town Government, proving not only the intention of the Kafirs, but how well and how long they had prepared for the conflict. A farmer named Nel had seven horses stolen from him, which were traced to the village of the Chief Eno, living on Colonial sufferance, and on condition of good behaviour, on the ceded neutral territory ; restora- tion was demanded, and as usual shirked. A patrol of military was then sent, and, after vain attempts to get redress, some cattle were seized, in value considered sufficient to meet the farmer's losses. On driving these animals away, the Kafirs followed in numbers, with menaces, and on the officer (Ensign Sparkes) threatening to fire if they continued to molest, he was told he " dared not" (" It is a lie ; what is said they dare not do"). He was dogged by the pursuers, and at length wounded by an assagai thrown by one of them. Coupled with this audacious outrage, there were other suspicious circumstances in the conduct of the Kafirs. For some considerable time, their depredations had been chiefly confined to horses, an indication of covert mischief. The demeanour too of the natives nearest the Colony, upon which they were crowding, despite the alleged oppressions of the Colonists, had become insolent and overbearing, and the Paramount Chief Hintza, who claimed authority over the whole Amakosa nation, and who lived near the Wesleyan Missionp-ry Station, " Butterworth," west of the river Kei, began to ill-treat and plunder British subjects, 250 of whom were residing and trafficking in his country with his permission, and under his pledged protection ; and at length his violence culminated in the murder, on the 13th July, of a trader named Purcell, living close to the Chief's kraal, and the robbery of his store, for which no redress was afforded ; and on its perpetration Hintza removed northward to the Amava, one of the affluents of the Kei, where he could have readier and less watched intercourse with the Gaika Chiefs, Tyah, Macomo, and others. X 2 308 Annals of the Ga/pe Oolowy. The affair with Ensign Sparkes could not, of course, be overlooked or tolerated, and a party of the Cape Eifles, under Lieutenant Sutton, of the 75th Eegiment, on the 11th December, was therefore ordered to remove all the Kafirs living in the neighbourhood of the Umguela. Here he found the natives assembled in considerable force, and on ordering them to move away, they showed unmistake- able indications of resistance. At a ravine near the Kat Eiver military post, to which some horses stolen from Fort Beaufort had been clearly traced a few days before — to Tyali's kraal, ten miles within the boundary — ^the patrol captured some cattle, and informed the Kafirs that these would be retained only until Nel's horses were restored. The Kafirs then attacked the patrol, and a skirmish ensued ; one of the Gape Corps was wounded, two Kafirs killed and two wounded, and the patrol, after being obliged to abandon the cattle, were only rescued by a detachment from Fort Beaufort. Among the Kafirs wounded was Klo-Klo, a brother of the Amagaika Chief Tyali, one of the principal fomentors of the coming hostilities. Of the events following this affair, up to the 18th December, the Eev. Mr. Chalmers, a Missionary residing with the Kafirs, gives an interesting and lucid account. It is evident from his statements the barbarians were eager for the fray, for which the late affair gave them, as they thought, a favour- able excuse. A deep-laid plan to entrap and get into their clutches Lieut. -Colonel Somerset, Commandant of the Frontier, was got up, which fortunately failed ; and on the 21st Macomo commenced actual hostilities by robbing and murdering some farmers on the lower part of the Kat Eiver ; and two days after, the terrific storm, with all the force and intensity of a tropical hurricane, broke over the British Settlements, aided by the firebrand and the deadly assagai. The reader is requested to take here a hasty glance at the aspect of the doomed British Settlement as it appeared but one week before this tremendous and unprovoked onslaught. The little Colony, so lately commenced, not- withstanding all its previous difficulties, had established a The Kafir War of 1835. 309 growing centre of civilization, and fully recovered from the natural effects of transplantation from another soil. From innumerable happy hamlets the curling smoke- wreath ascended amid the forest trees surrounding the humble but comfortable dwellings. On the soft sward of the homesteads gambolled " legions" of blithesome little innocent children, unsuspicious of clanger. Sleek cattle and sheep by thousands grazed on the verdant hills and along the lovely valleys threaded by some bubbling stream. From the woods resounded the axe — the hammer on its anvil beside the glowing forge. The plough quietly followed the steady-going oxen, showing how busily engaged were the inhabitants in their industrious occupations, little dreading the " Damocles" weapon so suddenly to descend. From being an entirely consuming community, as at first, the Settlers had secured more than daily provision, established a commerce with the home they had left — in very many instances poor adventurers — to the annual value of ^125,000, and that despite obstacles enough to appal the most steadfast; but, as Lord Bacon says, "It was not with them as with other men whom small things could discourage, or small discontents cause to wish them- selves home again." They had at length set their feet on the high road to prosperity ; but, alas ! within less than fourteen days, the labours of fourteen years were at once annihilated. Forty-four persons were at once murdered, 369 dwellings consumed, 261 pillaged, and 172,000 head of live-stock carried off by the savage, who had no cause of quarrel against the peaceful inhabitants. What aggra- vated this wicked inroad was the fact that during the great 'part of the year the Governor had commenced special negotiations for new, and to them (the Kafirs) a most advantageous system of relations, the details of which His Excellency had, through the Eev. Dr. Philip, then on a tour in Kafirland, entered into with the Chiefs, and all except Tyali had expressed satisfaction. The enemy, in overwhelming force of from 8,000 to 10,000, entered the Settlement in the night between the 21st and 22nd of December, just before the looked-for 310 Aimals of the Oa/pe Oolony. Christmas festival, and along a line of thirty miles of frontier, without even attracting the notice of the Missionaries among them, so covert were the conspirators, boasting that now they would build their huts and villages at Algoa Bay ; and by the 26th December their vanguard was already in the vicinity of Uitenhage, nearly one hundred miles westward of the Great Fish Eiver, and only twenty from that of their threatened destination. So sudden and irresistible was the invasion that several extraordinary, and, in any other circumstances,, ludicrous hairbreadth escapes took place. One in particular, among many others, came to the writer's personal knowledge, where a lady was in the homely act of preparing the conventional and time-honoured Advent pudding — in fact, " welding" the ingredients, when her husband rushed in, caught her up, to her surprise, as she was then attired, thrust her on a horse, and galloped off for " dear life." His houses — one a very handsome and costly structure, just finished, with two others of lesser pretensions on neighbouring farms belonging to him — were burnt to the ground, his large herds of cattle swept off from all three properties by the blood-stained and infuriated invaders, and this gentleman, like very many others, who in the morning arose in the most prosperous circumstances, was that night little better than a beggar, without a change of apparel for himself and family. Before the close of the year all that remained of the flourishing District of Albany was Graham's Town, the village of Salem, and the Missionary Station of Theopolis, into which places the inhabitants had fled for shelter. Within eight days from the time the savages burst into the Colony, a body of them, with their booty, returned into Kafirland, as the Eev. Mr. Chalmers describes, " exulting in their own might and wisdom, because they have been able to obtain so much ill-gotten gain ; and unless a check be given," wrote he, " they will in a few days return to the Colony with redoubled fury. They are a wicked and ungodly race. They expect the Hottentots of Kat Eiver will not fire upon them, but stand neutral, Effects of the Kafir Raid. 311 ior itJaey ■sues ilieir friends."* This statement appears in a (Sommtimcation from the reverend gentleman, dated Chumi, Ist January, 1835, where a meeting was held, the Mis- !sionaries forced to be present, trembling for their lives ; ior, as they wrote, " an angry look just now would be .sufficient to send us all into eternity." Here the Eev. Mr, Weir was compelled to pen a letter from the Chiefs with "overtures for peace," a proposal to abstain from farther hostility until they could get an answer to a demand for eompensation for wounding Klo-Klo, some charges against Colonel Somerset, all of which were without foundation, sand this insolent document was dictated and dispatched