No, 
 
COMPENDIUM 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 
 
 OP 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 BY 
 
 / 
 
 GEORGE M'CALL THEAL, 
 
 LOVEDALE, SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 THIRD EDITiON, REVISED AND ENLARGED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS. 
 
 ALICE, SOUTH AFRICA : LOVEDALE MISSIONARY INSTITUTION. 
 
 1878. 
 
This work, printed at the Institution Press, Lovedale, South Africa, 
 was issued in Two Parts — Chapters I. to XXI. forming Part I., and 
 Chapter XXII. to end forming Part II. Two editions have been sold 
 in the Colonj'. This volume comprises both Parts, and is published in 
 this country, in the hope that in the present crisis the valuable information 
 it supplies will be found interesting to the British Public. 
 
PllEFAOE TO FIRST EDmON. 
 
 This book is publislied in the liope that it will supply a want very generally felt, 
 that of a cheap and accurate description and history of the land we live in. The 
 descriptive portion of it has already been before the public, in the pamphlet " South 
 Africa as it is," which, at the time of its publication, (January, 1871,) was most 
 favourably commented upon by the leading organs of the colonial press. Accuracy 
 and brevity have been the points chiefly aimed at. One object kept in view was to 
 point out the moral as well as the material advancement of the country. The public, 
 to whose favour it is submitted, must judge whether its merits or imperfections 
 predominate. 
 
 Free use has been made of any and every source of information that could be 
 considered authentic. With the press of the colony the compiler was connected for 
 several years, and while editing a newspaper, necessarily became more or less 
 acquainted with everything of importance that then transpired in South Africa. 
 The newspapers, magazines, gazettes, and bluebooks of the last eighteen years may 
 be classed generally as sources from which knowledge has been derived, but which 
 cannot be more definitely referred to. 
 
 ■ A list of books which have been consulted, and from whose authors the early history 
 of the colony has been drawn, follows this preface. To have quoted them at the 
 bottoms of pages or at the ends of chapters would have required greater space, 
 without any counterbalancing advantages. Most of these books are now so rare as 
 to be met with only by chance, and even t he most diligent collectors seldom succeed 
 in obtaining all the older works. 
 
 An intimate acquaintance with a very large portion of the surface of the country, 
 derived from extensive journeys, periods of residence in diticrent localities, and 
 several voyages between the principal ports, is the basis of the geographical and 
 descriptive sections of this book. From the excellent manual of South Afrir^an 
 geogriiphy by Mr. Henut Hall, of the Royal Engineers Department, the length of 
 most of the rivers has been taken, and that author's chronological table of events has 
 been used as a guide to historical i-esearch. 
 Lovedale, South Africa, January, 1874. 
 
 PREFACE TO SECOND EDFITON. 
 
 The favourable reception which the first edition of this book met witli Iihf hi<^' '. 
 the author to enlarge, and, hs he believes, otherwise contiderab'T i* • •> 
 much, he feels, ie due in return for the generous support and kindly notices lie hae 
 roi'civcd 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 In llio jivosent odition, tlie cliapters referring to earlj Kaffir lli^torv will be found 
 much more complete lliau they were in the first. Every one at all acquainted with 
 our records knows in what confusion this subject is involved, down to the War of 
 1835, of w hich the Hon. Robert Godlonton has given a thoroughly reliable history. 
 The writer, finding it impossible to form a satisfactory conclusion concerning 
 preceding events in any other manner, applied to various antiquaries throughout 
 Kaffirland, and by comparing their accounts with Colonel Collins' report and the 
 statements of Baeeow and Lichtensteix, is enabled to lay before his readers a 
 coherent narrative of the principal events in the history of these people since their 
 ancestors crossed the Kei. Kaffir proper names ai'e spelt in this book as they would 
 be by an educated native, so as to give the correct sound of the words. By an 
 English tongue some of them cannot be pronounced, no matter how they are spelt, 
 and they have no recognized English orthography, — eacli WTiter having followed his 
 own fancy in ihis regard. The mode of spelling adopted will enable the reader to 
 identify the individuals referred to, as well as any other would, and has the 
 advantage of being correct from a Kaffir point of view. The first edition was read 
 by some hundreds of natives, among whom w ere many of the teachers of mission 
 schools on the frontier, and as it is confidently anticipated that this issue will have a 
 still larger circulation among them, it is but fair that everything in the history of 
 their people, — even to the spelling of the names of chiefs of old, — should be accurately 
 given. 
 
 The writer desires to express his thanks to the Venerable Archdeacon Kittox, of 
 King William's Town, for the us(^ of a valuable library of South African books, 
 collected with great trouble and by means of agencies in England ; to Percy 
 NiGnTlNGALE, Esq., Civil Commissioner of Victoria East, for the use of various 
 bluebooks ; and to his fellow colonists generally, for enabling him by their support 
 to publish a second edition so soon after the first. 
 Lovedale, South Africa, January, 1876. 
 
 PKEFACE TO TIlIEl) EDITIOX. 
 
 In this, the third edition, some few alterations have here and there been made i)i 
 the text, either to simplify it or to make it more accurate. The results of the census 
 of 1875 and some statistics of crime have been added to the chapter on the Greography 
 of the Cape Colony, in which also conunercial statistics have b en brought down to 
 the close of 1876. In some of the historical chapters additional paragraphs have 
 been inserted, where it seemed advisable to enter more minutely into any particular 
 subject. The author w ishes again to ex])ress his thanks to the public of Soutli 
 Africa for the generous support which he has received, the best return for which he 
 believes to be an earnest eflfort to make each successive edition of this book an 
 improvement upon the one before it. 
 
 Lovedale, South Africa, Ji.ly, 1877. 
 
CONTENTS: 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Physical Divisions. Bays and Harbour.'?. The Coast. Rivers. Salt Pans and Vleis. 
 Islands. Peninsulas. Caries. Mountains. Deserts. Climate. Animals. Yegetables. 
 Minerals. Political Divisions. l*yge i* 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GEOGRArilY OF THE CAPE C0L0>'1'. 
 
 Area. Population. Statistics of Industry. Boundaries. Provinces and Electoral 
 Divisions. Description of Towns and Villages. Government. Administration of 
 Justice. Code of Laws. Educational Establishments. Roads and Means of 
 Transport. Telegraphs. Imports and Exports. Statislice of Ci-ime. Revenue. 
 Expenditure. Public Debt. Page 18. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 1 1 1 S r O K 1 C A L 1 K 0 1) L ' C • T ] O N . 
 
 Exploratio)! of the rortiiguesc along the African Coast in search of a passage to 
 India. Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartholomew Diaz. The theory of 
 CoUmibus, and his great discovery. Africa doubled by Vasco de Gama. First 
 Toyages of English ships round Africa. Portuguese conquests in the East. 
 Rise of the Dutcli Power, and enterprise of the Netherlanders. First Voyages of the 
 Dutch round Africa. Gallant Exi)loits of the Dutch in the East. Formation of the 
 Netherlands East India Company. Success of the Dutch in wresting territory 
 from the Portuguese. Con^titulion of the Netherlands East India Company. 
 Use ^}Kule of Table Bay by the Company's sin"ps. Memorial of two seamen wrecked iu 
 Table Bay. Van Ricbeclt's eiulorsement of the mcuiorial. Resolution of the 
 C.M.>i]>niy to form a ^■eKlemMit at tbc Cape of Gjod Hoite. I'age 37. 
 
vr 
 
 OaN J t.N J S. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AB0K1G1M:;S OF SOUTU AFRICA. — HOTTENTOTS. — BUSUMEN. 
 
 Page 48. 
 
 ClIAPTKIl V. 
 
 FORMATION OF THE NETHEKLANDS EA.ST INDIA COMPANY'S ESTABLISHMENT AT THE 
 
 CAPE. 1652 TO 1657. 
 
 Page 63. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 HISTORY FROM ].6o7 TO 1672. 
 
 Kegulations regarding Free Burghers and Natives. Importation of Slares. First 
 War with Hottentots. Proclamation regarding Religious Services. Introduction of 
 Young Women from Holland. Dismissal of G-overnor Yan Qiiaelberg for supplying 
 foreign ships with provisions. Occupation of Hottentots' Holland. Purchase of 
 Territory from Hottentot Chiefs. Page 73. 
 
 CHAPTER Yll. 
 
 HISTORY FROM 1672 TO 1689. 
 
 Second War with Hottentots. Introduction of Slaves f>om Madagascar. Ydlage of 
 Stellenbosch founded. Introduction of Agricultural Immigrants from Holland. 
 Condition of the Natives in the neighboui-hood of the Settlement. Occupation of 
 Drakenstein. Persecution of Protestants in Prance. Immigration of French 
 Refugees. Page 83. 
 
 CHAPTER Yin. 
 
 HISTORY FROM 1689 TO 17t6. 
 
 Capture of French Ships. Exploration of South Africa. Planting of Constantia. 
 Tyranny of Adrian van der Stell. His Recall. Settlement of the Tulbagh 
 A^alley. Expansion of the Colony. Descriptions of Cape Town. Form of 
 Government. Page 93. 
 
 CHAPTER TX. 
 
 HISTORY FROM 17u6 TO 1711. 
 
 Great Fire at St i'llcnhosch. Ravages of the Small Pox. Tyranny of Governor Yan 
 Noot, r.nd Romantic Account of his Death. Position of the East India Company. 
 Shipwrecks, leading to Simon's Bay being made use of. Extension of the Colony 
 to the Gauitous Rirer. Condition of the Natives. The First Missionary in Soutli 
 Africa. Page 102. 
 
CONTKNTS. 
 
 CITAPTKR X. 
 
 HISTOEY FEOM 1741. TO 1780. 
 
 Formation of the District and Village of Swellendam. Prosperity of the Colony under 
 Governor Tulbagh. Exports. Condition of the Slavec. Treatment of Hottentots 
 and Bushmen in the Frontier Districts. The Orange River visited by Colonel 
 Gordon. Petition of the Colonists to the Home Government. The Fiscal's 
 Statement of the Principle on which the Colony was governed. Permission granted 
 to the Lutherans to establish a Church in Cape Town. Extension of the Colony 
 to the Great Fish River. Page 111. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ABOEIGINES OF SOUTH AFETCA. — THE KAFFIBS. 
 
 Page 120. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HISTOEY FEOM 1780 TO 1795. 
 
 Attempt and Failure of the English to seize the Colony. Issue of Paper Money. 
 Formation of the District and Village of Graaff Reinet. Effort of the Colonists to 
 obtain greater liberty. Establishment of a Mission by the Moravians. First 
 Hostilities with Kaffirs. Arrival of Commissioners from the Netherlands to enquire 
 into the Condition of the Colony. Rebellion of the Burghers of Sv.'ellendam and 
 Graaff Reinet. Seizure of the Colony by the British. Review. Page 134. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ENGLISH OCCUPATION FROM 1795 TO 1803. 
 
 Capture of the Batavian Fleet under Admiral Lucas. Disturbances on the Frontier. 
 Kaffir Invasion. Commencement of the London Society's Missions. First 
 Expedition to Bechuanaland. Restoration of the Colony to the BataviaB 
 Republic. Page 146. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DESCBIPTION OF THE COLONY AND ITS INHABITANTS SEVENTY-PIVE TEAE8 AGO. 
 
 Page 156. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE GOTEENMENT OF THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC FROM 1803 TO 1806. 
 
 Regulations with regard to Natives. Foundation of the Missionary Village of 
 Bethelsdorp. Tour of the High Commissioner De Mist. Formation of the 
 Diatricta of Uitenhage and Tulbagh. Preparations for the defence of the Colony. 
 Battle of Blaauwberg. Capitulation of Cape Town and of the Colony to the 
 English. Review. Page 166. 
 
VITT 
 
 Oi).YTF.>'TS. 
 
 CIIAPTEK XVI. 
 
 HISTOKY FKOM 1806 TO 1819. 
 
 Unfriendly Relations between the Colonists and the Kaffirs. Effects of the 
 Suppression of the Foreign Slave Trade. Dr. Cowan's Expedition. Earthquakes. 
 Fate of Stuurman and his People. Establishment of Circuit Courts. Ejection of the 
 Kaffirs from the Zuurveld. Foundation of Grahamstown. Insurrection of Frontier 
 Farmers. Great Failures in Cape Town. Establishment of the South African 
 Public Library. Foundation of Beaufort West. Formation of the District aid 
 Tillage of George. Extension of Missions in the Colony. i*agf 174. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 KAFFIR HISTORY, INCLTTDINa THE WAR OF 1819. 
 
 Page 184. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 HISTORY FROM 1819 TO 1828. 
 
 Arrival of the British Settlers. Tyranny of Lord Charles Somerset. Great Floods in 
 Albany. Wars in Bechuanaland. Establishment of a Free Press. Formation of the 
 District and Village of Somerset East. Creation of a Council to advise and assist 
 in the Administration of the Government. Ordinance for making British Silver 
 Coin a Legal Tender at the rate of One Shilling and Sixpence for a Paper 
 Riidollav. Abolition of the Courts of Landdrost and Heemraden, and Substitution 
 of Resident Magistrates in their stead. Extension of Missions. Page 193. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HISTORY FROM 1828 TO 1835. 
 
 Condition of the Hottentots in the Colony. The Fiftieth Ordinance. Formation of 
 the Kat River Settlement. Expedition against the Fecani. Foundation of the 
 South African College. Occupation of Bushmanland. Formation of the Village of 
 Colesberg. Establishment of a Supreme Court. Creation of a Legislative Council. 
 Establishment of Missions by the Rhenish, Paris, and Berlin Societies. Page 204. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 KAFFIR HISTORY, INCLUDING THE WAR OF 1835. 
 
 Page 214. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 HISTORY FROM 1835 TO 1838. 
 
 Restoration of the Province of Queen Adelaide to the Kaffirs. Effects of that measure. 
 Appointment of Magistrates to Clanwiliiam, Cradock, and Colesberg. Establishment 
 of the Cape of Good Hope Bank. Emancipation of the Slaves. Great Emigration, 
 of Dutch Farmer.^. Page 223,, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 FEOM THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES TO THE WAR OF THE AXE. — 1838 TO 184G. 
 
 Condition of the Colony. Establishment of Public Schools under the Herschel 
 system. Creation of Eoad Boards, and Employment of Comdcts on Public 
 Works. Immigration. Eapid Increase in the production of Wool. Instance 
 of Kaffir Superstition connected with the death of the Chief Tyali. Ship- 
 wrecks in Table^Bay. Discovery of the Guano Islands off the Coast of Great 
 Namaquland. " Page 1. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE WAR OF THE AXE. — 1846-7. . 
 
 Page 9. 
 
 CHAPTER XXTV. 
 
 INTERVAL BETWEEN THE WAR OF 1846-7 AND THAT OF 1850-3. 
 
 State of British Kaffraria. Ee-occupation of the Frontier Farms. Formation 
 of the Division of Albert. Growth of Burghersdorp. Formation of Military 
 Villages on the Frontier. Arrival of Bishop Gray, and Eapid Extension of the 
 Anglican Church. Erection of a Lighthouse on Cape L'Agulhas. Successful 
 Opposition to the Introduction of Convicts. Page 20 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 THE GREAT NATIVE REBELLION. — 24tH DECEMBER 1850 TO 9tH MARCH 1853. 
 
 Page 29 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 FROM THE TERMINATION OF THE REBELLION TO THE MEETING OF THE FIRST CAPE 
 PARLIAMENT. — 9tH MARCH 1853 TO 3CtH JUNE 1854. 
 
 Arrangements for the Protection of the Frontier. Formation of the Division 
 and Village of Queenstown. Location of Europeans in the Kat Eiver Valley. 
 Government of British Kaffraria. Grant of a Constitution to the Cape Colony. 
 Cape Town in 1854. Page 41. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVII. 
 
 SIR G. GREV'S ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE WELFARE OF THE KAFFIRS. SELF-DESTRUC 
 TION OF THE AMAXOSA. PRESENT CONDITION OF THE KAFFIRS AND FINGOES. 
 
 Page 49. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 FROM THE FIRST MEETING OF THE PARLIAMENT TO THE INTRODUCTION OF 
 RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. — 1854 TO 1872. 
 
 Opening of the Copper Mines in Little Namaqualand. Eavages caused by Lung- 
 sickness among Horned Cattle. The Vine Disease. Immigration. Annexation 
 of British Kaflraria. Great Fire at Swellendam. General Depression throughout 
 the Colony. Discovery of Diamonds in South Africa. Disturbances on the 
 Northern Frontier caused by Koranna Marauders. Introduction of Eesponsible 
 Government. Foimation of the Electoral Division of Wodehouse — Marks of 
 Progress. Page 62. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 Page 73. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 NATAL BEFORE THE DUTCH OCCUPATION. 
 
 Page 70. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 ^HE EMIGRANT BOERS AT NAIAL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 SEIZURE OF NATAL BY THE BRITISH. 
 
 Page lOL 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE PRESENT COLONISTS OF NATAL AND THEIR GOVRRNMENT. 
 
 Page 107. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 ALIENATION OF THE PUBLIC LANDS OF NATAL. AGRICULTURE. COMMERCE. 
 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. ECCLESIASTICAL DISSENSION. 
 
 Page 116. 
 Page 123. 
 Page 132. 
 Page 137. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE NATIVES IN THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 TRANSVAAL OR SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXTX. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 THE COLONY OF GRIQUALAND WEST. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF GRIQUALAND WEST. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI I. 
 
 BRITISH BASUTOLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 ZULULAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 KAFFIRLAND. BECHUANALAND. GREAT NAMAQUALAND. 
 
 Page 154. 
 Page 158. 
 Page 169. 
 Page 172. 
 Page 186. 
 Page 192. 
 
 Page 199. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Statistics of Health. Table of Comparative Temperature. Table of Rainfall. 
 Notes on Books referring to South Africa, which have been consulted by the 
 Compiler of this History. Page 202. 
 
SOUTR AFRICAN HI^STORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER L . 
 
 JPhi/sical Divisions. — Bays and Earhours. — The Coast.— Rivers. — Salt Pans and 
 Vleis. — Islands. — Peninsulas. — Capes. — Mountains. — Deserts. —Climate. — 
 Animals. — Vegetables, — Minerals. — Political Divisions. 
 
 PHYSICAL DIVISIONS. 
 
 The great watershed of South Africa is a range of mountains following the 
 curve of the coast, and running nearly parallel to it at a distance of from 
 one hundred to two hundred and fifty miles from the sea. This watershed 
 divides the country into two parts differing greatly from each other : one 
 being an interior basin, the other, the belt of land bordering on the ocean. 
 The eastern part of the range is the loftiest ; it is there unbroken, and is 
 called the Quathlamba or Drakenberg. The southern portion is well defined, 
 but is divided into several sections, to which the names Stormberg, 
 Sneeuwberg, and Nieuwveld Mountains are given. The western portion 
 is also in sections, bearing the names of Roggeveld Mountains and 
 Kamiesberg. As it advances northward on this side of the continent it 
 gradually loses the character of a mountain range; north of the Kamiesberg 
 there is an immense gap through which the Gariep or Orange, the great 
 river that drains the interior basin, finds its way to the Atlantic, beyond 
 which the range reappears in the form of low chains of hills. The 
 interior basin presents the general appearance of an immense plain, tha 
 eastern portion of which is greatly elevated a.nd in parts fertile, the western 
 portion of less altitude and a barren desert. The basin, or the whole 
 country drained by the Orange Kiver and its tributaries, has an extent of 
 between three and four hundred thousand square miles. To the north-east 
 it is bounded by a great spur of the Quathlamba, called the Magalies. 
 Bergen or Cashan Mountains, which forms the watershed between the 
 basins of the Orange and Limpopo Eivers. On the north-west are 
 ranges of hills and elevated land in a desert country, in which rain 
 seldom falls, but beyond which what water there is flows in the opposite 
 direction. 
 
2 PHTSrCAL DIVISION'S. 
 
 L'Agulhas 
 
 (Ka) Kamiesberg, (Ro) Roggeveld Momitains. (Si) Nieawveld Mountains. (8b? 
 Sneeuwberg. (St) Stormberg. (Dr) Drakenberg or Qtiathlamba. 
 
 The belt of land on the seaward side of the great range is broken up into 
 a series of plateaux like steps of staii-s, which usually present a bold front 
 to the sea. The margins of these teiTOces are nearly parallel to the coast, 
 and viewed from that side exhibit the appearance of mountain ranges. On 
 reaching their summits, however, a flat country is generally found stretch- 
 ing away to the base of the next plateau. The portion of this belt which 
 borders on the Indian Ocean contain-s a gi'eat number of streams, but on 
 the Atlantic side few rivers are to be found, and these only in the south, 
 l^orthward of the thirty -first parallel of latitude the western coast belt is a 
 desert. Invariably, on the south and east the plateau adjacent to the coast 
 
 , C 
 
 ^ , B 
 
 ^ ^ A 
 
 ^ ^ Sea level. 
 
 (A) is the best watered and most fertile, the second in order (B) is only 
 adapted in parts to agriculture, and the interior or plateau bordering on 
 the great watershed (C) ia mostly adapted to grazing purposes only. In 
 general, the coast lands are very much broken up and present a succession 
 of hills and valleye, while extensive plains are the leading features of the 
 interior. 
 
BAYS AND 1IARI50UIIS. 
 
 3 
 
 Section on the Thirtieth Parallel, showing the conformation of the land. 
 
 BAYS AND HARBOURS. 
 
 The coast of South Africa is almost unbrokeu, there being no gulfs 
 whatever, and the bays generally having very wide mouths in proportion 
 to their depth. This places the country in an unfavourable position with 
 regard to commerce ; still, there are many places where safe harbours can 
 be made by means of artificial breakwaters and piers. The principal ports 
 are : — 
 
 Walvisch Bay, in lat. 22° 54' S., long. 14° 40' E. This is a safe harbour 
 for such vessels as frequent that part of the coast. It is open to the 
 north-west, but that point is to some extent protected by the trending of 
 the land in that direction. On the south and west it is protected by a sand 
 bank called Pelican Point. The anchorage is close to the shore, and there 
 is no swell or surf to be encountered in landing. 
 
 Ichaboe Channel, lat. 26° 18' S., long. 14° 58' E. Ichaboe is the largest 
 of a group of islets from which guano is obtained. It is a mere rock, with- 
 out fresh water or vegetation. The anchorage is between the islet and the 
 mainland, and is exposed to a heavy surf. Ships are compelled to put to 
 sea on the approach of boisterous weather. 
 
 Port NoUoth, where most of the copper ore of Little ^Namaqualand is 
 shipped, is a mere indentation in the coast, about two miles in extreme 
 length. Across the mouth there is a low reef of rocks, with a break in one 
 part, forming an entrance for small vessels. The distance from the reef to 
 the shore varies from one thousand to three thousand feet. A little islet 
 serves as a protection to the landing place. Port Nolloth is considered the 
 best harbour on the coast between Angra Pequina and Saldanha Bay. 
 
 Hondeklip Bay, in lat. 30° 20' S., long. 17° 19' E., is too small for ships 
 to enter ; but there is a reef of rocks running nearly across its mouth, under 
 shelter of which boats can lie in safety. The anchorage is in the open 
 ocean, at some distance from the shore, and ships must be prepared to slip 
 their cables and stand off to sea on the approach of a gale. It takes its 
 name (Hondeklip, a Dutch word meaning dog-stone) from an isolated rock 
 which forms a conspicuous landmark upon the high and level coast, and 
 which bears some resemblance to a crouching dog. 
 
 Table Bay is the principal port on the south-west coast of Africa. The 
 bay is spacious, but is exposed on the north-west. Many very disastrous 
 
4 
 
 sliipwrecks have taken place here. Ifc now possesses a magnificent and 
 commodious dock, in which ships lie in perfect safety. This dock was 
 commenced in I860, and was opened for traffic on the 17th of May, 1870. 
 It was named by the Duke of Edinburgh the Alfred Dock, a few weeks 
 later. The cost of construction was over half a million pounds sterling. 
 The breakwater runs out in a north-easterly direction, and the end is in 
 six fathoms water. Under its lee heavy moorings have been laid down, at 
 which vessels drawing twenty feet of water can ride in perfect safety in all 
 weathers. The outer basin is about eight hundred feet long and four hundred 
 feet wide. The inner basin, or dock, is one thousand and twenty-five 
 feet long, five hundred feet wide at the north end, and two hundred and 
 fifty feet wide at the south end. It is excavated in hard blue rock, the 
 whole of which has been blasted out and carried into the sea to form the 
 breakwater. The depth of water in the larger portion of the dock is twenty 
 four feet when the tide is out, gradually decreasing to twenty feet at the 
 south end, where a patent slip, capable of taking up vessels of two thousand 
 tons burden, has been laid down. A graving dock of snflScient size to 
 accommodate the largest man-of-war is now being constructed. Besides a 
 lighthouse on Cape Point, there is one on Robben Island, at the entrance 
 to the bay, in lat. 33^ 48' 52" S., long. 18° 22' 33" E., and there are two 
 within the bay, — one on Green Point and one on Mouille Point. Table Bay 
 had its present name given to it in 1601, by a Dutch navigator named 
 JoRis VAN Spilberg. Prcvious to that time it was called Saldanha Bay, 
 after Antonio de Saldanha, commander of a ship in Albuquerque's fleet, 
 who visited it in 1503. The name Saldanha Bay was transferred to the one 
 which still bears it by Paul van Kaarden in 1602. 
 
 Other ])]aces on the west coast where vessels occasionally call are, Angra 
 Pequina, Donkin's Bay, Lambert's Bay, St. Helena Bay, and Saldanha Bay, 
 the last, a spacious and excellent harbour, but useless for purposes of 
 commerce on aceoun^i of the suiTOunding countr}"- being nearly devoid of 
 fresh water. 
 
 T(^ the east of the Cape of Good Hope are the following ports :— 
 
 Palse Bay, a bight in the western side of which forms Simon's Bay, the 
 imperial naval station of South Africa. The anchorage is safe, and a slip 
 has been constructed iof the purpose of facilitating the repairs of vessek. 
 On account of its unfavourable position foi- commerce, this bay is seldom 
 used by merchant vessels, 
 
 St. Sebastian's Bay is the next to the eastward. This is an open and 
 dangerous roadstead. The Breede River falls into the bay. In calm 
 weather, small vessels can cross the bar at the mouth of the river, and, 
 when once inside, are perfectly sheltered. The mouth of the river is called 
 Port Beaufort. Vessels drawing only five or six feet of water can sail about 
 forty miles up the Breede River. 
 
 iMoBKcl Bay is open to the south-east, but enclosed on all other sides. It 
 is an accessible liarbour of refuge during thp prevalence of westerly gaks. 
 
BATS AJJD HARBOUES. 
 
 5 
 
 The auchorage is good, in from six to fourteen fathoms, and is within three 
 hundred yards of the shore. Boats can always get in and out in perfect 
 safety, a projecting reef protecting the landing place from all swell of the 
 sea. Of late years this port has been considerably improved by the 
 expenditure of a few thousand pounds of public money. Yasco de Gama 
 landed here in December, 1497, and called it the Bay of St. Blaize. This 
 name it retained until 1602 or 1603, when Paul van Kaarden surveyed 
 the south-east coast of Africa, and changed the Portuguese names of 
 places into Dutch ones. He called it Mossel Bay, from a great collection 
 of sea shells in a cave at some height above the sea level. This cave is 
 ninety feet in length, forty in width, and about twenty in height. The- 
 shells collected here caused a great amount of speculation to early 
 travellers ; from the debris found among them, and from the fact that 
 they all belong to edible shellfish, they are now generally believed to- 
 have been accumulated by human beings. The point at the western 
 extremity of the bay retains its old name of St. Blaize. It has a lighthouse 
 upon it. 
 
 The Knysna would be the best natural harbour on the south-east coast 
 of Africa, if it were not for the difficulty of getting in and out. It is formed 
 by the expansion of a river into a large lagoon, the southern extremity of 
 which is connected with the ocean. The entrance is one hundred and 
 eighty yards in width, and is between very high headlands, which makes 
 it impossible for a sailing ship to enter unless the wind is blowing in ; but 
 there being eighteen feet of water on the bar in its shallowest part, large 
 vessels can cross it. The anchorage for ships of heavy burden is round a 
 point to the westward of the entrance ; small vessels follow a passage 
 between islands some miles up the lagoon, and anchor close to the shore- 
 abreast of the village of Melville. 
 
 Algoa Bay is formed by a deep curve in the land to the north-west- 
 Like all other bays on this part of the coast, it is open to the south-east ; 
 but as the holding ground is good, vessels can ride out an ordinary gale in 
 safety. A very large amount of public money has been spent in endeavours 
 to improve this hsby ; but the only effect has been the formation of a great 
 bank of sand, which makes the landing and shipping of goods more difficult 
 than formerly. Through this port pass more than half the imports and 
 exports of the Cape Colony and of the countries north of the Orange River^ 
 There are three lights, situated respectively on Bird Island at the extremity 
 of the bay, on Cape Receiffe, and on the hill above the town of Port Elizabeth. 
 
 Port Alfred is at the mouth of the Kowie River. Small vessels can cross 
 the bar in fine weather, and find a perfectly safe harbour inside. The vast 
 accumulation of sand that formerly blocked up the entrance to the river 
 has already been partially removed by means of extensive harbour works^ 
 which are now in course of completion. 
 
 East London is at the mouth of the Buffalo River. For a couple of 
 miles this river is broad and deep-enough to make a most excellent harbour : 
 
ULYS AND HARBOURS. 
 
 but Oil account of the formation of a great bank oi sand across the mouth, 
 vessels drawing more than seven or eight feet of water can enter only when 
 ^ freshet sufficiently strong has removed the sand for a season. Harbour 
 works intended to remove the bar were commenced many years ago, and 
 are now being completed according to the plans of Sir John Coode, an 
 eminent English marine engineer. In the mean time the ordinary anchorage 
 is off the mouth of the river, in from nine and a half to twelve fathoms 
 -water. There is a light on the western side of the mouth. 
 
 The port of Natal is unlike any other in South Africa. A range of hills 
 running along the coast terminates to the northward in a headland two 
 hundred and fifty feet high, called the Bluff of Natal. Another range, 
 called the Berea, about four miles inland from the first, terminates at the 
 mouth of the Umgeni Eiver, about three miles north of the Bluff. In the 
 valley between these hills there is a shallow lagoon, about ten miles in 
 perimeter, and dotted over with small islands. The winds and sea have 
 thrown up a great sandbank nearly across its mouth; the entrance is narrow, 
 between the end of this sandbank and the Bluff. Two small streams fall 
 mto the lagoon, but the quantity of fresh water flowing out is far too 
 small to keep the entrance open, and it would long since have been filled 
 up, were it not for the action of the tides. The bank that nearly closes in 
 the lagoon from the sea is covered with a tenacious plant, so that it is now 
 like a gigantic dyke, forming a rampart undisturbed by the water on either 
 side. At high tide a vast quantity of water accumulates in the lagoon, 
 which must seek its level as soon as the ebb commences. It then rushes 
 with great velocity through the narrow opening between the point of the 
 sandbank and the opposite hills, keeping a long channel open by its scouring 
 action. The lagoon is so shallow that a great portion is dry at low water ; 
 but the channel generally remains in the same position. Sometimes the 
 entrance is deep enough to admit large vessels, at other times it is so shallow 
 that only boats can pass. The harbour works, upon which a great deal of 
 money has been expended though they are not yet completed, were designed 
 to make this entrance still narrower, and thus to deepen it. North and 
 west of the lagoon is a sand-flat, partly covered with dense, stunted bush, 
 extending to the Berea hills ; it is on this flat that Durban is built. Vessels 
 that have once entered the port lie as securely as in a dock, just inside the 
 point, where there is space sufficient for from twenty to thirty. The outer 
 anchorage is exposed, but the holding ground is good, and vessels can 
 generally get to sea with ease on the approach of a gale. There is a 
 light on the Bluff, at the south side of the entrance, lat. 29° 52' 50" S.5 
 long. 31° 3' 35" E. 
 
 Other places on the south-eastern coast, where vessels occasionally call, 
 are Struys Bay, Plettenberg Bay, St. Frances Bay, Waterloo Bay, Mazeppa 
 Bay, Mouth of the Umzimvubu or St. John's Eiver, and Delagoa Bay. The 
 last named is a very excellent harbour, and bids fair to rise greatly in 
 importance at no distant day. Its drawbacks are, that it belongs to the 
 
TlIK COAST. — RTTERS. 
 
 r 
 
 Portuguese, who make very little use of it, and tlrnt tlie eoTintry around it 
 is unhealthy for Europeans. 
 
 Besides the lighthouses mentioned above, there is one on the Roman 
 Rock in False Bay, and one on Cape L'Agulhas. Another is being erected 
 on Cape St. Frances, which will make thirteen in all on the South African, 
 seaboard. 
 
 THE COAST. 
 
 On the west coast the land is often covered with a thick haze, which 
 prevents it from being seen at any great distance. The shore is low, sand\ , 
 desolate in appearance, and a heavy surf is almost constantly rolling on it. 
 A current runs along it from the southward, and the prevailing winds are 
 in the same direction. Upon rounding the Cape of Good Hope the appear- 
 ance of the land alters. A bold rocky coast presents itself, undimmed with 
 fog or haze, but still bare and barren to the view. Two great ocean 
 currents meet here : one, which sweeps through the Mozambique Channel 
 and along the south-east coast ; the other, which flows in a north-easterly 
 direction from the Frozen Zone. The collision of these gigantic streams 
 is one of the causes of storms being so frequent off the Cape. Here a sub- 
 marine plateau is reached, which is the lowest of the steps from the ocean 
 depths beyond to the interior of the continent. Proceeding onwards over 
 this plateau, the coast gradually improves in appearance. The shore line 
 remains bold and rocky, but at length rolling grass-covered hills with 
 occasional patches of forest land come into view, while rugged m«untain 
 ranges, along whose slopes sparkling streams descend, form a magnificent 
 background. Such is the scenery along the coast of Kaffraria and Natal, 
 which forms a striking contrast to that of Namaqualand. Close in shore 
 there is a counter current, which is subject to much change in force and 
 position, but is of considerable assistance te ships bound eastward. 
 
 RIVERS. 
 
 In South Africa, not only is every flowing stream, however small, called 
 a river, but that term is commonly applied also to the nullahs in whicb 
 water runs only after the fall of heavy rain, and which, at other seasons, 
 are merely either a succession of stagnant pools or dry ravines. 
 
 The Orange .or Gariep rises in the Quathlamba Mountains, and, after 
 following a westerly course of about a thousand miles, debouches into the 
 Atlantic Ocean in latitude 28° 30' S. Its source being about seven 
 thousand feet higher than its mouth, this river, though in many places it 
 forms magnificent reaches, is so obstructed by rapids and falls as to be of 
 no use whatever as a channel of communication between the coast and the 
 interior. Its mouth is also blocked up with a great bank of sand, which 
 effectually prevents its being entered. The only large tributaries which 
 
8 
 
 BIVERS. 
 
 feed it ronstantly are the Caledon and the Vaal, both falhnor info it from 
 the northward ; but a considerable number of small streams run into it 
 from both sides along its upper course, and several nullahs of great length 
 join it further to the westward. In rainy seasons the river sometimes rises 
 to such a height as to inundate extensive tracts of country along its lower 
 course. To about the twenty-fourth meridian from Greenwich, the country 
 drained by the Orange and its tributaries consists of lofty table lands, 
 enjoying a delightful climate, and adapted in parts to support a dense 
 European population ; to the westward of that meridian, the whole basin 
 of the river on both sides is a desert. This stream is fringed along the 
 greater part of its course with willows and other trees, which give it a 
 beautiful appearance. 
 
 The other rivers of South Africa rise in the mountain ranges facing the 
 coast, and, in general, take the shortest course to the sea. Owing to the 
 great elevation of their sources above their mouths, nearly all of these 
 streams run in deep gorges, in some places presenting frightful chasms. 
 "When heavy rains fall in the highlands where they take their rise, they 
 rush along with great velocity, sweeping everything before them ; but 
 during seasons of drought, some of them cease to flow altogether. At the 
 mouths of all these streams, bars, or banks of shifting sand, are formed by 
 the action of the winds and currents along the coast. The water in many 
 of them, more especially when they are low, is exceedingly bitter to the 
 taste, owing to the chloride of sodium, sulphate of lime, &c., which it holds 
 in solution, and which form component parts of the soil and rocks through 
 which the streams flow. Those rising in well-wooded districts, such as 
 the Keiskama and Buffalo, usually have very sweet and pure water. The 
 Berg, Breede, and a few others, are navigable for large boats for several 
 miles above their mouths ; but as means of internal communication they 
 are all practically valueless. 
 
 Emptying into the Atlantic Ocean, south of the Orange Eiver, are the 
 Buffalo Eiver, about 100 miles in length, the Elephant River, about 150 
 miles in length, the Berg River, about 100 miles in length, and several 
 smaller streams. 
 
 Emptying into the Indian Ocean (proceeding eastwards) are, the Gauritz, 
 the Gamtoos, the Sunday, the Great Fish, the Kei, the Bashee, the Um- 
 zimvubu or St. John's, the Umzimkulu, the Umkomanzi, the Tugela, the 
 Umvolosi, and the Maputa, all of which have their sources in the high 
 range bounding the interior plateau ; and the Breede, the Kromme, the 
 Bushman's, the Kowie, the Keiskama, the Buffalo, the Umtata, the Um- 
 tamvuna, the Umlazi, the Umgeni, and the Umvoti, which rise in one or 
 other of the less elevated ranges bounding the plateaux of the coast belt ; 
 besides which there is an immense number of smaller streams and moun- 
 tain rills from five to fifty miles in length. 
 
 On the northern slope of the Magaliesbergen two large rivers rise. 
 They both run northwards for some distance, and then turning eastward, 
 
LITERS. — SALT-PANS ANIJ TLEIS. 
 
 9 
 
 make their way to the sea through enormous rents in the mountain 
 barrier. The smaller of the two is called the Elephant, the larger the 
 Limpopo or Crocodile River. So numerous are their feeders that the 
 Transvaal Republic is covered with a network of streams. 
 
 The first explorers of South Africa often gave names to streams from some 
 such circumstance as the finding game of a particular kind on their banks , 
 thereby causing no little confusion at the present day. Thus, for instance, 
 there is a Buffalo River on the west, on the south, and on the east, an 
 Elephant River on the west and on the east, &c. 
 
 SALT PANS AND VLEIS. 
 
 There are no lakes in that portion of South Africa inhabited by Euro- 
 peans, though there is ample evidence that very large areas were covered 
 with fresh water in a recent geological period. In some parts there are 
 large natural basins, which, during heavy rains, become filled with water, 
 that soon dries up and leaves an incrustation of salt upon the surface. 
 Such places are termed salt pans, and they are very numerous. The 
 largest, called the Commissioner's Salt Pan, in the desert country south of 
 the Orange River, has a circuit of eighteen or twenty miles. 
 
 In other places there are shallow pools, varying in extent according to 
 the fall of rain or dryness of the season. These are termed vleis (pron. 
 flays). The largest are Verloren Ylei, near the Karroo Poort, and Vogel 
 Vlei, near the Berg River. 
 
 In some maps of South Africa the country close to the coast westward 
 of the Knysna Lagoon is marked " The Lakes." But that term is misapplied 
 when used in reference to such diminutive and shallow sheets of water as 
 are to be found there. About two miles from the coast there are four vleis, 
 called respectively Groen Vlei, Zwart Ylei, Ronde Ylei, and Lange Ylei. 
 Groen Ylei is a sheet of fresh water, about three miles in length by a mile 
 in breadth, with no visible outlet to the sea. In seasons of drought it 
 diminishes perceptibly. Zwart Ylei is the reservoir of several mountain 
 streams. The Zwart River runs through it into the sea ; but, as the stream 
 is languid, a sandy barrier is formed at the mouth, which causes an 
 accumulation of water in the vlei. When the river forces its way into the 
 sea, a considerable quantity of the water is discharged, and a slight tidal 
 influence is perceptible. The vlei is about five miles in length by two in 
 breadth. Ronde Ylei is not connected with any river, nor is it affected by 
 tides. Its waters are brackish. It is about two miles in circumference. 
 Lange Ylei is fed by the waters of some small streams ; when very full it 
 discharges its superfluous water into the sea through a well-defined channel. 
 It is about seven miles long and one mile wide. These vleis are more or 
 less salt, according to the seasons. They are not connected with one 
 another, excepting that the last mentioned sometimes discharges a body of 
 water into Ronde Vlei. 
 
 G 
 
]0 
 
 TSIiANBS. — PE-MNSUIAS,— CAI**. 
 
 ISLANDS. 
 
 The islands lymg off the coast of South Africa are dirainutive in size and 
 few in number. I^early all of them are within the mouths of bays, and 
 none arc far from th.e mainland. They are in fact mere rocks, rising a few 
 feet above the suHace of the sea, and with one or two exceptions are 
 destitute of frewh water. 
 
 Several islets in the rainless region off the coast of Great Namaqualand, 
 — Ichaboe, Possession, Mercury, Pomona, Hollam's Bird, &c., — were at one 
 time of considerable importance ©n account of the great quantities of guano 
 that had been accumulating for ages upon them. TTiis has long since been 
 removed; but as the islets are frequented by myriads of penguins and 
 other sea-birds, a few ship-loads of girano are still obtained yearly from 
 them. 
 
 Dassen Island is a roek near the coast between Saldanha and Table Bays. 
 
 Kobbeu Island, on which is an asylum for lunatics and a hospital for 
 chronic sick, is at the entrance to Table Bay. 
 
 St. Croix is a rock in Algoa Bay, on which Bartholomew Diaz erected a 
 cross on the 14th of September, 1485. 
 
 The Bird Islands are a group of rocks in Algoa Bay, from which sea-birds' 
 eggs and some inferior guano are ojbtained. ; 
 
 PENIN*TJLAS» 
 
 The only peninsulas worthy of 3i©te in South Africa are the Cape 
 Promontory, between the Atlantic on the west and Talse Bay on the east 
 and the tract of land between St. Helena Bay and Saldanha Bay. The 
 first is a mountainous ridge, stretching nearly north and south for about 
 thirty-five miles, and is connected with the mainland by a flat, sandy 
 isthmus. 
 
 capes' 
 
 The principal capes of South Africa are : Point Pelican, at the entrance 
 of Walvisch Bay ; Cape Yoltas, near the mouth of the Orange Eiver; Point 
 Paternoster, near Saldanha Bay ; Cape of Good Hope, southern extremity 
 of the Cape Promontory and western point of False Bay, lat. 34° 22' S., 
 long. 18° 24' E. ; Cape Hangklip, eastern point of False Bay ; Cape L'Agulhus, 
 southern extren^ty of the African continent, lat. 34° 49' S., long. 20° 0' 40"" 
 E. ; Cape St. Blaize, south-western point of Mossel Bay, lat. 34° 10' S., long. 
 22° 18' E. ; Cape St. Frances, western point of the bight of that name ; 
 Cape Receiffe, western point of Algoa Bay, lat. 34° 1' S., long. 25° 40' E. ; 
 Point Padrone, eastern point of Algoa Bay ; Fish River Point, west of the 
 mouth of the Fish River; Cape Morgan, at the mouth of the Kei River; 
 and Point Natal, at the entrance to the bay of Natal. 
 
MOUNTAINS. — D?:SE11TS. 
 
 U 
 
 MOUNTAINS. 
 
 The mountains of South Africa form three distinct and nearly parallel 
 <Ghains, which are the retaining walh of as many plateaux. The interior 
 range is formed (commencing from the north-west) by the Kamiesbergen, 
 Roggeveld Mountains, Nieuw veld Mountains, Sneeuwberg, Stormberg, and 
 Quathlaraba. From the Sneeuwberg a spur strikes out in a south-easterly 
 direction, bearing the names, as it advances, of Tandjesberg, Winterberg, 
 and Araatolas. The central range includes the Cedar Mountains, Cokke- 
 veld Mountains, Wittebergen-, Little Zwartberg, Great Zwartberg, Great 
 Winterhoek, and Zuurberge?nb. This range gradually subsides near the 
 mouth of the Fish River. The coast range includes the Olifant's River 
 Mountains, Drakenstein, Hottentot's Holland Mountains, Zonder Einde 
 Mountains, Langebergen<, Outeniqua Mountains, and -Zitzikama Mountains. 
 This chain subsides near Cape St. Frances. 
 
 Besides these ranges there are many peaks and groups, such as Table 
 Mountain (S,582 feet) in the Cape Peninsula ; Koeberg, Tygerberg, Paarl, and 
 Riebeck's Kasteel, near the south-western coast ; Piquetberg, north of the 
 Be*;g Rivers Paardeberg and Babylon's Tower, east of False Bay ; Karrec- 
 berg, north of the Nieuwveld, &c., &c. None of the mountains reach the 
 height of perpetual snow. The highest peaks are in the interior range, 
 some of those in the Quathlamba being from ten to eleven thousand feet 
 above the sea level, and four or five thousand feet above the plateau on the 
 margin of which they stand. Viewed from the seaward side they preseot 
 a very imposing appearance. Compassberg, a peak of the Sneeuwberg, is 
 about eight thousand feet in height, and the Great Winterberg somewhafc 
 less. There are no active volcanoes, though ti'-ac^s €^f a^iicient volcanic 
 action are in many places visible. 
 
 The western pottion olt the interior basin and the belt of laud acijacefi'L 
 to it on the coast form an immense desert, which in some parts is uninha- 
 bitable, and is nowhere capable of supporting a dense population. North of 
 'the Orange River, the part contiguous to the coast is called Great Namaqua- 
 land, east of which is the Kalahari. On the south or colonial side of the 
 Orange Biver, the tract on the Atlantic coast contains rich copper mines, 
 •and the larger portion of the district further eastward is adapted for grazing 
 purposes. 
 
 The Great Karroo, a plateau to the southward -of the interior chain of 
 mountains, must be con sideied a desert, though it affords pibsturagc to a 
 vast number of sheep. It is about three hundred and fifty miles in 
 length by fifty in breadth. Wherever the soil can be irrigated it is re- 
 markably productive ; but the scarcity oi waiter Uipon it is so great that 
 the larger portion must ever remain unt-illed. 
 
12 
 
 CLlMlTE. 
 
 In a country of such great extent as that under review, it is but reason^ 
 able to expect a considei-able diversity of climate. The temperature of a 
 place is affected by its distance from the equator, by its height above the 
 sea leyel, by the nature of its soil and of that over which the prevailing 
 "winds blow, by its physical conformation, and by its distance from the 
 ^cean. In South Africa there are lofty mountain ranges, great plains 
 sloping in different directions, sheltered valleys, and tracts exposed to cool 
 sea breezes ; and the temperature of each must be very different. In the 
 great desert along the lower course of the Orange Eiver, rain sometimes 
 does not fall for years : the ground is therefore bare and reflects the sun's 
 rays so as to cause intense heat. But no sooner is the sun below the 
 horizon than the earth commences to cool rapidly, and in the course of a 
 few hours there will be a change in the temperature of forty or fifty degrees. 
 Yet in Namaqualand Europeans work without much inconvenience at the 
 copper mines, and they are also to be found in situations where agricultural 
 or pastoral pursuits can be carried on. The dryness of the air causes it to 
 be less unfavourable to health than it would be were the intense heat 
 accompanied by moisture> In the great karixjo the climate is nearly similar 
 to that just <lescribed, but is not marked by such rapid variations of heat 
 and cold. 
 
 The climate of the upper basin of the Orange River is as salubrious and 
 pleasant as any in the world. The country is subject occasionally to 
 protracted droughts ; bat neither heat nor cold is ever so great as to affect 
 health, or scarcely even comfort. It consists of plains from three to five 
 thousand feet above the sea level, and in the summer months frequent 
 thunder-storms keep the air cool and agreeable. Indeed, it is scarcely 
 possible to conceive of a more delightful climate than this region possesses. 
 The soft and balmy air, the invigorating breezes, and the absence of extreme 
 temperatures, are so conducive to health that sickness is in many parts 
 almost unknown ; and. the residents, — European and native, — ordinarily 
 attain extreme old age without having suffered serious illness during their 
 whole lives. 
 
 The coast region possesses also a fine, healthy climate. In some parts 
 the heat is unpleasantly great in midsummer, but never causes sickness. 
 It is a climate in which Europeans enj-oy life. The statistics of the British 
 army show that this part of South Africa is among the healthiest of all 
 colonial stations where troops are quartered. The soldiers have been scat- 
 tered in detached garrisons i^xsm Cape Town to Natal, over a thousand 
 miles, in many places in very inferio-r barracks, so that this testimony 
 ought to be conclttsive as to the general salubrity of the coast region. 
 
 The prevailing winds are from the south-east in summer, and from the 
 north-west in winter. Very i*arely, the wind blows from the interior over 
 the desert, and blights vegetation with its excessive- heat ; but this is in- 
 variably followed by thunder-storms, which cool the atmosphere immediate- 
 ly. The eastern portion of the coast region is the pleasantest, because the 
 
CLIMATEv 
 
 13 
 
 suminer is there the rainy season. It is noticeable that in South Africa 
 places within a few miles of each other often have very different tempera- 
 tiares. Thus, in a valley, the slope towards the north will be several degrees 
 h<3tter than that towards the south. A tract of land covered with trees is 
 naturally much cooler than an open plain, because on the latter the heat is 
 intensified by the reflection of the sun's rays. Height above the sea level 
 causes the most marked difference. Along the highest mountain ranges, 
 snow lies on the ground for three or four months of the year ; in the Cold 
 Bokkeveld, (an elevated plain) European fruits will barely ripen, while in 
 deep valleys at no great distance the heat is nearly insupportable. 
 
 The temperature of almost any part of the coast region can be moderated 
 by the industry of man. Astonishing changes are effected by tree planting, 
 and wherever water is to be obtained trees may be grown. In all parts of 
 South Africa, but more especially in karroo ground, the soil is exceedingly 
 fertile, and nothing is wanting but water to make it one of the foremost 
 agricultural countries of the world. The rainfall along the coast region, 
 in the upper part of the valley of the Orange River, and even in parts of 
 ■the karroo, is ample ; indeed, in some places it is greater than is necessary ; 
 but the drainage of the country is so perfect that it dries very 
 •rapidly. The soil usually covers a stratum of solid rock or hard clay, 
 impenetrable by moisture, and forming a ridge along which the water runs 
 off' without any possibility of retention. There are no extensive gravel 
 beds to serve the purpose of natural reservoirs. In the coast belt, of course, 
 each successive plateau, as it rises higher above the sea level, gets less of 
 the moisture which is drifted up from the ocean. Striking the first moun- 
 tain range, the storm clouds sometimes shed their contents for several 
 'days together, while very little is carried to the plateau above. Beyond 
 the interior range of mountains rain falls usually in heavy thunderstorms, 
 which become less frequent as the west coast is approached, until the rain- 
 less region of ihe Kalahari and Great Namaqualand is reached. Over a very 
 large extent of country what is required is not so much a greater rainfall 
 ^as a husbanding of the water that now runs to waste. This can only be ac- 
 complished by means of dams and artificial reservoirs, appliances which have 
 -already effected a vast deal of good in South Africa, but only a small 
 fraction of what might be done. There are places now blooming and lovely 
 <as any in the world, which have been reclaimed from the desert by means 
 of artificial reserroirs for water. They repay the cost of construction 
 by securing a certainty of ample returns for anything planted, by the sup- 
 port which they furnish to flocks and herds, and by making the culture of 
 trees possible. Arboriculture may at some future time entirely change the 
 •climate of South Africa. If large tracts of oo^untry were well-wooded, the 
 rainfall would be much greater than it now is^ the temperature would be 
 reduced and would not be liable to such great and sudden changes, and 
 less damage would be occasioned by violent winds, which sometimes prevail 
 to such an ^extent as to cause serious damage to buildings and crops, and 
 
14 
 
 ANIMALS. 
 
 even, in a few exposed situations, totally pi'6vent agriCLlltm'^. 'this will 
 likely be brought about gradually, as population increases and land becomes 
 more valuable. 
 
 In the abundance and variety of animal life South Africa at one time 
 exceeded an equal area of any other country in the world. For two hundred 
 years an incessant warfare has been maintained against its wild animala> 
 and nearly all the large game has now been exterminated or xit-iven far 
 back into the interior of the continent. A few elephants and buffaloes are 
 still preserved in the Knysna and Zitzikama forests, but the rhinoceros 
 and giraffe are extinct in all places where Europeans have settled. The 
 hippopotamus is extinct in the Cape Colony, but an odd one may yet be 
 found in secluded parts beyond. The same may be said of the lion and 
 eland. The zebra and quagga are now only to be found in the far interior 
 The gnu and blesbok are still plentiful immediately to the northward of 
 the Orange River, where also immense flocks of springbucks are frequently 
 met with. In the Cape Colony the smaller varieties of antelope Utill 
 hold their own in considerable numbers^ leopards and wild dogs are by 
 no means scarce, and hyenas and jackals are occasionally to be met with-. 
 Besides these, may be mentioned wild boars, baboons, monkeys, several 
 species of viverrse and small animals of the cat tribe, porcupines, jerboas^ 
 coneys, and anteaters, all of which, with many others less worthy of note^ 
 are tolerably abundant. On the sea-coast, a few seals are still to be found 
 in some places, notwithstanding the teiTible war which has been carried on 
 against them for the sake of their skins. 
 
 When the country was discovered, the ox, heavy-tailed sheep, and do(^ 
 were found in possession of the Hottentots, and the ox, goat, dog, and 
 barnyard fowls in possession of the Kaffirs ; the other domestic animals of 
 Europe have since been introduced, and have been found to thrive as well 
 as in any part of the world. 
 
 The variety of birds is also great, but th^y are less numerous ill 
 proportion than quadrupeds, and few are gifted with great powers of song« 
 The most prominent is the ostrich, which has recently been domesticated 
 and has been found to thrive well in a tame state. Carrion birds of 
 almost every description abound, and are extremely useful. Waterfowl 
 of several varieties are met with in most places where water is permanent, 
 and other edible birds, such as Cape partridges, wild peacocks, and deves-, 
 are tolerably plentiful. There are also many beautiful little birds, such as 
 the golden cuckoo, the lory, the sugar bird, &c., &c. i''inches and swallows 
 abound. On the sea coast, the albatross, Cape ipi^ou, penguin, and 
 numerous other ocean birds are found. 
 
 Among 'reptiles are, alligators, in the east atfd north; iguanas^ all 
 over ; many venomous serpents, as the cobra di capello, puff adder, mountain 
 -adder, night fcdder, tree snake, and ringhals ; a species of python, 'only ift 
 the ea^ ; chameleons and various kinds of liza«'d^-; fwgs in myriads ; and 
 tortoises 'in vast numbers. 
 
ANIMALS. — VEGETABLE PRODrCTTONS. 
 
 15 
 
 Fish are very plentiful along the coast, and great quantities are taken, 
 especially in Table and Algoa Bays. There is a considerable export of 
 fish from Cape Town to the Mauritius. The harder or mullet and the 
 springer or leaping mullet at certain seasons ascend the rivers, where 
 they occupy the attention of anglers. The eel is found in nearly all the 
 rivers of the coast belt, but not in the streams of the interior, where its 
 place is occupied by the barbel. Oysters, mussels, and some other 
 shell-fish are plentiful on the coast, and west of L'Agulhas crawfish are 
 abundant. The whale wag at one time very common in the seas about the 
 Cape, and an odd one still occasionally presents its back to the harpoon 
 there ; but its habitat is now fiar to the south, among the icebergs of the 
 frozen zone. 
 
 Insect life is abundant, and in some of its forms peculiar to the country. 
 The ravages committed by some families of these upon grass and crops of 
 grain is at times very great. Tracts of country are sometimes devastated 
 by immense flights of locusts, at other times swarms of caterpillars destroy 
 the crops of a district ; but, fortunately, such instances do not often occur. 
 The honey bee is to be found even in the deserts, the white ant covers 
 the face of the land with its habitations from two to four feet in height, 
 and beetles of many kinds swarm in almost every path. Insect pests of 
 almost every variety abound, and in some localities are exceedingly 
 troublesome. The mosquito, however, that scourge of swampy countries, 
 is here confined to a few localities. 
 
 VEGETABLE PHODITCTIONS. 
 
 The principal cereals produced in South Africa are wheat, oats, barley, 
 maize, and millet, which are grown in all parts, and rye in particular 
 localities. Vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbages, beans, peas, pumpkins, 
 sweet potatoes, onions, cauliflowers, carrots, radishes, watermelons, ^c, 
 may be cultivated wherever there is water ; and in the eastern portion of 
 the coast region, yams, groundnuts, arrowroot, ginger, and other tropical 
 plants thrive. The vine, every variety of the orange, the peach, pear, 
 plum, apple, apricot, fig, quince, medlar, pomegranate, walnut, almond, <fec., 
 are universal ; and, in the warmest parts of the coast region, the banana, 
 plantain, pineapple, and guava flourish luxuriantly. The olive tree 
 appears to thrive well. The cherry, currant, and some other fruits of a 
 colder clime can only be produced in perfection in the Cold Bokkeveld 
 and in the lofty valleys of the Sneeuwberg. Flax, hemp, and tobacco will 
 grow wherever there is sufiicient moisture, cotton grows well along the 
 coast, and the sugar cane and coffee plant flourish in warm localities. 
 The aloe, castor oil shrub, and many other medicinal plants are 
 indigenous. 
 
 The greater portion of South Africa is bare of trees ; but there are some 
 fine forests in the coast region. The timber obtained in these forests is often 
 
IG 
 
 VEGEtABLE PRODUCtlOXS. — MINERALS. 
 
 of great size : thus, iron-wood piles over fox-ty feet in length and sixteen 
 irches square when hewed have been taken out of the Knysna forests, 
 and yellow -wood trees twelve feet in girth are plentiful in the same 
 locality. The most valuable of these trees are, the stinkwood, furnishing 
 handsome and excellent timber for furniture; the assegai, hard pear, 
 iron-wood, white pear, and saffron, used in the construction of waggons ; 
 the yellow-wood, used for building purposes ; and the sneeze-wood, used 
 for telegraph poles and posts where great durability is required. The 
 variety of trees is very great, the above mentioned being but a limited 
 selection. The forests become more numerous as one advances eastward. 
 The mimosa thorn is found in various parts ; and the oak, pine, cypress, 
 poplar, Australian gums and willows, the mulberry tree, and others, have 
 been introduced and flourish in many localities. Several varieties of protea 
 are found in the west, none of which attain any great size. Wild fruits 
 are not plentiful, but several kinds are indigenous in different sections of 
 the country. 
 
 One of the most remarkable circumstances in connection with Sbuth 
 Africa is the provision which nature has so bountifully made for the 
 sustenance of animal life in situations where neither grass nor water is 
 obtainable. Succulent plants and shrubs are found in abundance in the 
 driest and most barren parts. The " karroo bosch " is the only food and 
 drink of millions of sheep, and cattle that are accustomed to it prefer it to 
 grass and water. The " kengwe " is the drink of carnivorous, as well as 
 both food and drink of herbivorous animals. Without these plants the 
 deserts would not only be uninhabitable ; they would be impassable. As 
 it is, they are the grazing grounds of myriads of antelopes and other 
 animals. Oxen can live upon them, and, by their means, man can cross 
 them, and make his home there if he be so disposed. 
 
 The coast regions, particularly to the eastward, are covered with a rich 
 carpeting of grass, enamelled with beautiful wild flowers of every hue. So 
 luxuriant is this grass that more than one navigator sailing along the 
 coast has mistaken it for crops of waving corn. On the plains in the upper 
 basin of the Orange Kiver, the grass sometimes grows to the height of 
 several feet, and causes the country to present the appearance of a great 
 natural meadow. 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 Very little is positively known about the mineral wealth of South 
 Africa, though many conjectures have been hazarded of its vast resources 
 in this respect. As yet, scientific explorations have been confined to a 
 few localities, and it has been almost entirely by chance that discoveries 
 have been made. 
 
 In Namaqualand there are rich and extensive mines of copper, some of 
 which have been successfully worked for the last twenty-five years.. 
 
ANIMALS. — POLITICAL DITISIOISFS. 
 
 17 
 
 Copper is also found in Kaffraria and in the Transvaal Republic, but the 
 quantity and quality are alike unknown. 
 
 Coal has been discovered in various localities along the Stormborg and 
 Drakenberg, and in some places it is used as ordinary fuel, but it is of 
 inferior quality. The difficulty and cost of transport are so great that but 
 little advantage has been derived from these coalfields, and even their 
 extent is not known. 
 
 Salt is obtainable in almost limitless quantities from the salt pans in 
 various parts of the country. 
 
 Alluvial gold in considerable quantities has been found of late years 
 along the Quathlamba, near the latitude of Delagoa Bay. Further north 
 and west, gold is found in quartz reefs, which extend over an immense 
 area. 
 
 Diamonds are found over a large extent of country bordering on the 
 lower course of the Vaal and of the Orange below the junction, though the 
 mines which are worked occupy each only a few acres of ground. A very 
 small per centage are of the best quality, but the number found is very 
 great, and the fields are by far the richest in the world. 
 
 Manganese of superior quality is obtained in the Drakenstein Mountains, 
 from whence it is taken by rail to Cape Town, and there shipped to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Lead is obtainable in the Transvaal Republic, and is there smelted in 
 sufficient quantities to meet the local requirements, but the cost of convey- 
 ance to the sea is so great as to prevent the development of mining 
 industry so far inland. 
 
 In addition to these, which have already been turned to account, iron is 
 known to be plentiful, though no use is made of it, very beautiful marble 
 is obtainable in several localities, and specimens of many other valuable 
 minerals have occasionally been brought to light. 
 
 POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 
 
 South Africa is at present politically divided into : I. The Colony of the 
 Cape of Good Hope, with its dependencies, Kaffraria and Basutoland. II. The 
 Colony of Natal. III. The Colony of Griqualand West. IV. The Orange 
 Free State. V. The Transvaal or South African Republic. YI. Zululand. 
 VII. Bechuanaland. VIII. Great Naraaqualand. 
 
 D 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 Area. — Population, — Statistits of Industry. — Boundaries. — Provinces and Electoral 
 Divisions. — Description of Towns and Villages. — Government. — Administration of 
 Justice. — Code of Laws. — Educational JEstahlishments. — Soads and Meam of 
 Transport. — Telegraphs. — Imports and Exports. — Statistics of Crime.— Bevenue. 
 Expenditure. — Public Deli. 
 
 Of the different States of South Afyica the Coloay of the Cape of Good 
 Hope is by far the most important. In size, in wealth, in the number of its 
 inhabitants, in its varied industries, it excels all the remaining European 
 settlements combined. It has a coastline twelve hundred miles in length, 
 and occupies one of the most commanding positions on the face of the 
 globe. Its area cannot be stated with accuracy, for though the coastline 
 has been minutely surveyed and laid down on charts, a regular measurement 
 of its inland boundaries is only now being made for the first time. The 
 usual computation is in round numbers two hundred thousand square miles. 
 About one third of its surface is still possessed by the government, the 
 remainder being held by individuals, in freehold, upon payment of perpetual 
 quitrent, or under terminable leases. The colony contains, according to 
 the census of 1875, a population of seven hundred and twenty thousand 
 nine hundred and eighty-four souls, made up of the following races : — 
 
 Europeans 236,783 
 
 Kaffirs and Bechuanas 214,133 
 
 Hottentots 98,661 
 
 Mixed Kaces 87,184 
 
 Fingoes 73,506 
 
 Malays 10,817 
 
 These numbers give an average of 3 6 to the square mile, but the 
 distribution is very unequal. Thus, in the Cape Division there are 79 39 
 to the square mile, and in the King William's Town Division 59*88, while 
 in Little Namaqualand there is but 0'59, and in Calvinia only 0*28. There 
 are in the colony 369,628 males to 351,356 females. The increase for the 
 ten years preceding the taking of the census was at the rate of twenty-four 
 per cent. 
 
OEO&RAPIIT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 19 
 
 The total extent of ground under cultivation ig only 274,412 morgeu,* or 
 nine hundred and seven and a half square miles, equal to one two-hundred- 
 and- twentieth portion of the surface. This produced in 187o one million 
 six hundred and eighty-eight thousand bushels of wheat, nine hundred and 
 eighteen thousand bushels of oats, four hundred and forty-eight thousand 
 bushels of barley, two hundred and fourteen thousand bushels of rye, one 
 million one hundred and thirteen thousand bushels of maize and millet, 
 three hundred and seventy-two thousand bushels of potatoes, sixty-one 
 thousand bushels of beans and peas, three millions and sixty thousand 
 pounds of tobacco, two millions six hundred and seventy-three thousand 
 pounds of dried fruit, four millions four hundred and eighty-six thousand 
 gallons of wine, and one million and sixty-eight thousand gallons of spirits. 
 
 The live stock owned in the colony consisted, at the time the census was 
 taken, of two hundred and six thousand horses, twenty-nine thousand 
 mules and asses, one million one hundred and twelve thousand horned 
 cattle, nine millions nine hundred and eighty- six thousand woolled sheep, 
 nine hundred and ninety thousand African sheep, eight hundred and 
 seventy-eight thousand Angora goats, two millions one hundred and 
 eighty-seven thousand common goats, one hundred and seventeen thousand 
 hogs, and twenty-one thousand seven hundred and fifty domesticated 
 ostriches. These figures show that pastoral occupations take precedence of all 
 other pursuits in the colony. 
 
 Manufactures, except for home consumption, do not exist. The manufacture 
 of greatest importance in the colony is that of waggons, which are made of 
 African wood and imported iron. There are one thousand six hundred and 
 ninety-five flour mills, three hundred and six tanneries of leather, fifteen 
 soap and candle manufactories, fortj'-six breweries, and four manufactorieg 
 of coarse hats. The proportion of the population engaged in such pursuits 
 is as yet very small, the industry of the country, over and above what is 
 required to raise food, being devoted to the production of raw articles for 
 sale in foreign markets. 
 
 * The Imperial Standard weights and measures, with the single exception of the 
 Land Measure, have been in general use in the Cape Colony since 1861. The old 
 land measure is still retained in tlios* districts where it cannot easily be supecseded. 
 In it the unit of measurement is the Rhynland foot, 1000 of which are equal to 1033 
 Imperial feet. 
 
 144 square feet (Rhynland) = 1 rood 
 
 600 roods = 1 morgen 
 
 1 morgen is therefore equal to 2*11654 English acres. 
 
 In the census returns the measurements are given in morgen, which I have here re- 
 tained for facility of reference, but throughout the remaining chapters of this book I 
 have reduced the measurements to acres, as being more familiar to English readers. 
 In the recently annexed districts the English laud measure is used. 
 
20 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 The colony is bounded on the north by the Orange River; on the east by 
 the rivulet Tees from its junction with the Orange to its source, thence 
 along the Quathlamba Mountains to the source of the Indwe River, the 
 Indwe to its junction with the Kei, and the Kei to its mouth ; on the south 
 bj the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The countries 
 adjoining it arc Great Namaqualand, the Kalahari Desert, Griqualand West, 
 and the Orange Free State, on the north ; Basutoland on the north-east ; 
 and Kaffraria on the east. 
 
 It is divided into the following Seven Provinces : — 
 
 I. The Western Province, which includes the Electoral Divisions of the 
 City of Cape Town, the Cape, Stellenbosch, and the Paarl. Seats of 
 Magistracy : Cape Town, Wynberg, Simon's Town, Stellenbosch, and Paarl. 
 Other Villages: Green Point, Papendorp, Mowbray, Rondebosch, i^J"ewlands, 
 Claremont, D'Urban, Somerset West, Wellington, and Franschelioek. This 
 province is the smallest of the seven, comprising only the districts settled 
 by the early Dutch and French agriculturists. A large portion of the soil 
 is exceedingly fertile, and is well tilled, producing grain, vegetables, and 
 fruit. The most important rural industry is the cultivation of the grape, 
 there being about forty-five millions of vines in this area, or two thirds of 
 the whole number in the colony. The vineyards of Great and Little 
 Constantia produce wines celebrated for their excellence all over the world j 
 but the quantity is small, and no other Cape wines are considered equal to 
 those from the south of Europe. Of late years, however, more attention 
 has been paid to their manufacture, so that they are improving in quality. 
 The quantity made is also rapidly increasing. Manganese ore in large 
 quantities has recently been discovered in a mountain range near the Paarl. 
 It is of superior quality, containing not more than from ten to thirty per 
 cent of dross. The locality in which it is found is so difficult of access, 
 that the ore is conveyed to the nearest point of railway by means of wire 
 ropes stretched across the intervening valleys from ridge to ridge, for a 
 distance of about five miles. Area of the Province, 1852 square miles. 
 Ground under cultivation, 29,081 morgen. European inhabitants, 41,184-. 
 Coloured inhabitants, 44,460. 
 
 II. The North- Western Province, which includes the Electoral Divisions of 
 Malmesbury, Worcester, Piquetberg, Clauwilliam, and Little Namaqualand. 
 Seats of Magistracy : Malmesbury, Worcester, Ceres, Piquetberg, Clan- 
 william, Calvinia, Springbokfontein, Hondeklip Bay, and Port Nollotli. 
 Other villages : Hopeficld, Darling, Goudini, and Tulbagh. In this province, 
 which faces the Atlantic coast and extends far inland, ever}'' variety of soil 
 is to be found, from the rich corn lands of the Berg and Olifant's rivers to 
 the sandy and barren wastes of Namaqualand. The best agricultural farms 
 in the colony are in Malmesbury, where wheat equal to any in the world is 
 produced. Parts of Worcester are well adapted to the cultivation of the 
 grape, and this district contains about five and a half millions of vines. 
 But the northern portion, stretching away to the Orange River, is fit for 
 
GEOGUAPHY Or THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 21 
 
 little else than pasture for sheep and horned cattle. In Namaqualand arc 
 exceedingly rich copper mines, from which about twelve thousand tons of 
 ore are extracted yearly. Area of the Province, 68,361 square miles. Ground 
 under eultivation, 90,700 morgen. European inhabitants 28,529. Coloured 
 inhabitants 45,875. 
 
 III. The South-Western Province, which includes the Electoral Divi- 
 sions of Caledon, Swellendam, Eiversdale, Oudtshoorn, and George. Seats 
 of Magistracy : Caledon, Bredasdorp, Swellendam, Robertson, Riversdale, 
 Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay (Aliwal South), George, and Knysna. Other 
 Villages : Genadendal, Villiersdorp, Napier, Montagu, Ladygrey, Port 
 Beaufort, Heidelberg, Ladysmith, Uniondale, and Plettenberg's Bay. This 
 province comprises the belt of land stretching along the Indian Ocean 
 from False Bay eastward nearly to the twenty-fourth meridian from Green- 
 wich. The river valleys and lands at the bases of mountains are fertile, 
 but a large portion of the surface is adapted only to pasturage. The wooUed 
 sheep number nearly a million, and ostrich breeding has become so 
 favourite an occupation that nearly ten thousand of these birds are kept 
 here. Along the coast, in the districts of George and Knysna, are the 
 largest forests in South Africa, from which most of the timber and waggon 
 wood used in the colony is obtained. Area of the Province, 15,422 square 
 miles. Ground under cultivation, 33,758 morgen. European inhabitants, 
 41,444. Coloured inhabitants, 40,240. 
 
 IV. The Midland Province, which includes the Electoral Divisions of 
 Beaufort West, Victoria West, Richmond, and Graaft" Reinet. Seats of 
 Magistracy : Beaufort West, Prince Albert, Willowmore, Victoria West, 
 Fraserburg, Carnarvon, Richmond, Hope Town, Graatf Reinet, and Mur- 
 raysburg. This province, like the North-Western, is of immense extent. 
 It consists almost entirely of a great plain stretching from the Orange 
 River to the Snceuwbergen, and of the Great Karroo further south. Here 
 and there, where water can be conserved, agriculture is possible ; but, as a 
 whole, it is only adapted to breeding stock. Much of it is laid out in great 
 sheep runs, upon which more than three millions of sheep, or nearly one 
 third of the whole number in the colony, are depastured. Ostrich breeding 
 is also largely carried on, there being about four thousand four hundred 
 tame ostriches in the province. Area, 67,090 square miles. Ground 
 under cultivation, 12,145 morgen. European inhabitants, 31,168. Coloured 
 inhabitants, 40,196. 
 
 V. The South-Eastern Province, which includes the Electoral Divisions 
 of Uitenhage, Port Elizabeth, the City of Grahamstown, Albany, and Vic- 
 toria East. Seats of Magistracy: Uitenhage, Jansenville, Humansdorp, 
 Alexandria, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Port Alfred, Alice, and Peddie. 
 Other Villages : Salem, Sidbury, and Bathurst. This province occupies 
 the seaboard of the Indian Ocean from about the twenty -fourth meridian 
 from Greenwich to the Keiskama River. It contains the thriving seaport 
 of Port Elizabeth, the city of Grahamstown, and a large area of rich agri- 
 
22 
 
 GEOGIlArilY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 cultural land. Its pastures are mostly better adapted for horned cattle 
 than for sheep. In stock, it grazes ne.irly two hundred thousand head of 
 horned cattle, over a hundred thousand Angora goats, more than half a 
 million of sheep, and nineteen hundred ostriches. Its agricultural resour- 
 ces are varied: the vine flourishes in Uitenhage, wheat grows particularly 
 well in Alexandria, oats are cultivated largely in Albany, and cotton has 
 been successfully tried along the coast. This last industry, however, has 
 not been carried on to any great extent, owing to the want of an adequate 
 supply of labour. The forests in this province are smaller than those in 
 the adjoining one to the westward. Area, 14,009 square miles. Ground 
 under cultivation, 30,252 morgen. European inhabitants, 35,876. Coloured 
 inhabitants, 61,349. 
 
 VI. The North-Eastern Province, which includes the Electoral Divisions 
 of Fort Beaufort, Somerset East, Cradock, Albert, and Colesberg. Seats 
 of Magistracy : Fort Beaufort, Seymour, Somerset East, Bedford, Cradock, 
 Burghersdorp, Colesberg, and Middelburg. Other Villages : Adelaide, 
 Pearston, Steynsburg, and Hanover. This province consists of the tract 
 of land extending from the South-Eastern Province northward to the 
 Oirange River. It is not so large as the Midland Province, which lies to 
 the westward ; but is more productive. The Divisions of Fort Beaufort 
 and Somerset East contain extensive tracts of land adapted to agriculture ; 
 but north of the Stormberg the country is only fit for grazing stock. Its 
 imstwi^s carry nearly two and a half millions of sheep, and it has three 
 hundi'ed and seventy thousand Angora goats, — a greater number than any 
 of the other provinces. The rearing of horned cattle and ostriches is also 
 largely carried on. In the division of Albert small seams of coal have been 
 discovered ; but hardly as yet in sufficient quantities to attract much 
 attention. Area of the Province, 21,494 square miles. Ground under 
 cultivation, 20,176 morgen. European inhabitants, 30,491. Coloured in- 
 habitants, 50,908. 
 
 VII. The Eastern Province, which includes the Electoral Divisions of 
 East London, King William's Town, Queenstown, Wodehouse, and Aliwal 
 North. Seats of Magistracy : East London, King William's Town, Queens- 
 town, Tarkastad, Dordrecht, Aliwal North, and Herschel. Other Villages : 
 Panmure, Maclean, Komgha, Stutterheim, and Whittlesea. This province 
 consists of a narrow belt of land extending from the Indian Ocean to the 
 Orange River. It is the colonial frontier, and has not been occupied by 
 Europeans longer than twenty-five or thirty years. Its agricultural re- 
 sources are greater than those of any of the other provinces. The river 
 valleys of the coast district are exceedingly fertile, and in the north there 
 are rich tracts of land lying along the mountains, where vast quantities of 
 grain could be produced if the population were more numerous. The 
 division of Wodehouse is the most elevated, and consequently the coldest 
 part of the colony, it being no uncommon occurrence for snow to lie on the 
 ground for several days at a time during the winter month?. On some of 
 
OEOGRAPHT OF THE CAPE COLOXT. 
 
 2:i 
 
 the ranges there are tolerably large forests of valuable timber. The greater 
 number of the inhabitants are natives, who live in locations set apart for 
 their use, where they cultivate extensive fields of maize and millet and 
 breed cattle, sheep, and goats. Four hundred and thirty thousand head of 
 horned cattle, or about two fifths of the whole number in the colony, are 
 owned in this province. More than two and a quarter millions of woolled 
 sheep and nearly half a million goats graze on its pastures. Area of the 
 Province, 11,722 square miles. Ground under cultivation, 58,300 morgen. 
 European inhabitants, 27,791. Coloured inhabitants, 201,173. 
 
 DESCKIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 
 
 Cape Town, the capital, founded in 1652, presents a very beautiful ap- 
 pearance from the sea, being built upon a slope rising from the southern 
 shore of Table Bay to the foot of Table Mountain, which forms a majestic 
 background. The government gardens cover a large extent of ground, 
 besides which there are forests on the mountain sides, so that there is no 
 lack of verdure in the landscape. The streets are laid off at right angles 
 to each other, and there are several fine squares. Many very handsome 
 public and private buildings adorn the city and its environs. The Parlia- 
 ment House, now being erected, will be the finest building in the colony. 
 Among its principal institutions are the Public Library, the South African 
 College, and the South African Museum. There are churches belonging to 
 nearly every Christian denomination, a Jewish synagogue, and Moham- 
 medan mosques. The Royal Observatory, situated about two miles from 
 Cape Town, is furnished with very superior instruments. There are two 
 public hospitals in the city, and an infirmary for indigent sick and lunatics 
 on Robben Island. The suburbs of Cape Town vie in beauty with those of 
 any other city in the world. On one side is Green Point looking out over 
 the sea, and on the other a cluster of villages embowered in foliage. The 
 population of thes« suburbs is 12,000 souls, that of the city proper 33,240. 
 Cape Town is a place of great commercial importance, and is amply provid- 
 ed with every convenience for transacting business. 
 
 Port Elizabeth is the principal seaport town of the eastern part of the 
 colony, and through it nearly the whole of the commerce of the countries 
 north of the Orange River passes. Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin, who visited 
 the place in 1820 for the purpose of locating the pioneer body of British 
 settlers, named it after his deceased lady. Its population at that time 
 consisted of thirty-five souls, and its buildings were the little Fort Frede- 
 ric, the commandant's quarters, a small barrack, a mess house, a few huts, 
 and a farm house. Its commerce was carried on by means of one little 
 coasting vessel that called at long intervals. It now contains many fine 
 buildings, among which may be mentioned the Town Hall, in which is an 
 excellent Public Library, the Provincial Hospital, Custom House, Grey 
 Institute, the Roman Catholic Church, Trinity Church, (Anglican), and the 
 
24 
 
 OEOGRAPHY OF THE OAPE COLONY. 
 
 Presbyterian Church. Ifc has also several very handsome stores, -ware- 
 houses, and private residences. The business part of the town is on a flat 
 of no great width, extending along the western side of the bay. Behind 
 this flat the ground rises abruptly and forms an extended plateau, upon 
 which most of the private residences are built. The country in its im- 
 mediate vicinity is sterile and devoid of verdure. By means of a large 
 expenditure of capital and labour, however, a park of some pretensions has 
 been laid out, which, with its avenues of trees, flowerbeds, and grass plots, 
 adds greatly to the comfort and beauty of the town. Population 13,049 
 souls. 
 
 Graharastown, founded in 1812, and called after Colonel Graham, is the 
 principal inland town of the South- Eastern Province. It is built in a 
 picturesque situation at the foot of the Zuurberg, close to the sources of 
 the Kowie Eiver, and about twenty-five miles from the sea as the crow 
 flies. The existence of this town is a proof that wonders can be accom- 
 plished in South Africa by means of reservoirs for collecting and retaining 
 water. There is a tradition that about the beginning of the present century 
 the site of Graham stown was occupied by a farmer, who was afterwards 
 compelled to abandon it on account of want of water for his cattle. This 
 may not be true, but it is by no means unlikely. In seasons of drought 
 there could have been little, if any, water to be found there, and the place 
 must have been almost a desert. At the present time, it is a very pretty 
 town, with plenty of foliage about it, and is well supplied with water 
 collected in artificial reservoirs. It is the centre of a considerable trade. 
 Grahamstown contains several handsome churches, some neat stores and 
 private residences, a public library, and a botanic garden. Its population 
 consists of 6,903 souls. 
 
 The Paarl, a village dating from 1687, takes its name from a great 
 boulder, which lies on the top of a hill and glistens in the sun, so that it 
 was supposed to resemble a gigantic pearl. The village consists of a single 
 street, six or seven miles in length, running along one side of a fruitful 
 valley near the source of the Berg Kiver. Its chief industry is the manu- 
 facture of wine, the district of which it is the centre containing more vines 
 than any other in the colony. The village itself is a series of vineyards, 
 orchards, aad gardens, overshadowed by rows of stately oaks. The Paarl 
 is thirty-six miles by rail from Cape Town. It has a population of 5,760 
 souls. 
 
 King William's Town, founded in 1835, is the largest centre of population 
 in the Eastern Province, and is at present growing rapidly. It is upon 
 the eastern bank of the Buffalo River, about thirty-six miles from its 
 mouth. King William's Town is well situated for purposes of commerce, 
 and commands nearly the whole of the trade of KaSirland. Its principal 
 edifice is the Native Hospital, a large and beautiful building, erected at the 
 expense of the Imperial government. It has a town hall, a pile of neat 
 and commodious public offices, large barracks and military buildings, eight 
 
HEOORAPIIY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 25 
 
 churches, and some handsome stores and private residences. It possesses 
 a public library aud a botanic garden. The town is well supplied with 
 water led out of the Buffalo River. It has a population of 5,169 souls. 
 
 Graaif Reinet, founded in 1786, and called after Governor Van de Guaafp 
 and his lady, whose maiden name was Reixet, is the largest village in the 
 Midland Province, and one of the prettiest in the colony. It is situated on 
 the left bank of the Suuday River, in a bend of the Stormberg, and is 
 about one hundred and sixty miles north of Port EUzabeth. Its streets 
 are spacious, intersecting each other at right angles, and most of them are 
 planted with trees, and watered by streams derived from the Sunday River. 
 It is a place of considerable trade, and is a thriving village. It has a Pub- 
 lic Library, College, Churches and Schools of the Anglican and Dutch 
 Reformed congregations, and a station of the London Missionary Society. 
 There are extensive vineyards and orange groves about the village, which 
 add greatly to its beauty, though of late years their value has been much 
 depreciated iu consequence of the vines and trees having been attacked by 
 rust. Population, 4,562 souls. 
 
 Worcester, the principal village of the North-Western Province, is situ- 
 ated on a plain between the Breede and Hex Rivers, in the midst of mag- 
 nificent mountain scenery. Its streets intersect each other at right angles, 
 so as to form squares of eight acres each. Each is eighty feet in width, is 
 lined with trees, and is supplied with a stream of water from the main 
 watercourse leading out of the Hex River. A large dam has been construc- 
 ted by convict labour for the purpose of increasing the supply of water. 
 Worcester is a very pretty village, with numerous churches, and handsome 
 stores and private residences, interspersed with gardens and orchards. 
 Though only sixty-three miles from Cape Town as the crow flies, it is one 
 hundred and nine miles by rail, it having been found impracticable to carry 
 the line over the Drakenstein Mountains, and hence a long loop to the 
 northward was necessary to clear that range. Worcester has a population 
 of 3,788 souls. 
 
 Uitenhage, founded in 1804, and called after the family name of the 
 Batavian High Commissioner De Mist, is a neat and flourishing village, 
 twenty miles by rail from Port Elizabeth. It has an excellent supply of 
 water derived from a never-failing fountain at the foot of the Winterberg, 
 and, consequentl}'', it has extensive gardens and orchards. There 
 are several churches and a Mohammedan mosque in the village. The 
 principal business is wool washing, which is carried on in numerous 
 establishments on the Zwartkops River. Population, 3,693 souls. 
 
 Stellenbosch, founded in 1681, and called after Governor Van deii Stele 
 and his lady, whose maiden name was Bosch, is situated on the north bank 
 of the Eerste River, at the head of a beautiful valley formed by magnificent 
 mountains. The streets are planted with oaks, and watered by running 
 streams, and there are numerous orchards, vineyards, and gardens, which 
 combine to make it a most delightful place. There are churches and schools 
 £ 
 
26 
 
 GE0GRA*P11Y or THE CAPE COL0€S:.Y. 
 
 of the Aivgtimn, Dutch Ret'oi|iiied, and Weslej^m denominations, and it is 
 also t\\@ siiation of a Rhenish Mission. The Theological Seminary of the 
 Du^ch Reformed Church is here. The village is tkirty-one miles from 
 Cape Town by rail, and twenty- six hy the common road. Population, 
 3,173 souls. 
 
 There arc no other villages in the colony with as many as three 
 thousand inhabitants. Those containing above one thousand are the 
 following: — Simon's Town, 2,447, Qnecnstown, 2,320, Somerset East, 2,231, 
 WelUngton, 2,192, East London and Panmur©, 2,134, Swellendam, 2,008, 
 George, 1,''37, Malmesbury, 1,840, Oudtshoorn, 1,837, Cradock, 1,712, 
 Beaufort West, 1,585, Aliwal South (Mossel Bay), 1,3(51, Burghersdorp, 
 1,34^*, Colesberg, 1,312. Ceres, 1,234, Aliwal North, 1,229, Riversdale, 1,177, 
 Montagu, 1,176, Midd«lburg, 1,163, Fort Beaufort, 1,146, Robertson, 1,104, 
 and Caledon, 1,038. 
 
 GOVERXMEXT. 
 
 Tlie government of the colony is vested in a Governor, who is also High 
 Commissioner, and who is advised by Ministers holding their offices as 
 long as they command the confidence of a majority in the Parliament. 
 Preyious to 1872 the members of the Executive Council cmild not be at 
 the same time members of Parliament, but in that year the system known 
 as Responsible Government was introduced, according to which the usual 
 practice is for the Governor to select a Ministry from among the 
 leading representatives of the predominant party. The Executive 
 Ceuncil consists of the Governor as President, the Lieutenant Governor, 
 the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer General, the Attorney General, the 
 Cemmissioner of Crown Lands and Public Works, and the Secretary for 
 Native Affairs. The Ministers have seats in both Houses of Parliament, 
 but vote only in that branch of the Legislature to which they are elected. 
 
 The Parliament consists of a Governor, who is appointed by the Crown 
 of England, a Legislative Council, and a House of Assembly, and was con- 
 stituted by an Order in Council of 11th March, 1853. Parliament must 
 meet once m every year, so that a period of twelve months shall not elapse 
 between the last sitting in one session and the first sitting in the next. 
 
 The Legislative Council consists of twenty-one elective members, exclu- 
 sive of the President, five of whom form a quorum. The Chief Justice of 
 the colony is ex ofiicio President of the Council, and may take part in any 
 debate, but has only a casting vote when the votes of the members are 
 equally divided. The members are elected for seven years. Each of the 
 Provinces returns three representatives to this branch of the Legislature. 
 Electors may distribute their votes as they please, or may give the whole 
 three to one candidate. In this mode of election the right of minorities 
 to be represented is fully recognized, and, in practice, it is found that the 
 electors usually do give all their votes to one candidate, or, at most, divide 
 
Q^EOQRAPUT OF *HE CAPK COLONY. 
 
 27 
 
 them between two. A membej* of the Legislative Council must have all 
 the qualifications of a voter,— he must be above thirt}'- years of age, and 
 must be possessed of landed property free of all encumbrances to the value 
 of £2,000, or of general property above all debts to the amount of £'1<,000. 
 
 The House of Assembly consists of sixty-eight members, namely, four 
 for the city of Cape Town, and two for each of the other electoral divisions. 
 The presiding member, called the Speaker, is elected by the House, and 
 has onlj^ a casting vote when the votes of the other members are equally 
 divided. Twelve members, exclusive of the Speaker, form a quorum. 
 The representation of minorities is not recognized in the elections for this 
 House, except in the instance of the city of Cape Town, where a voter may 
 divide his votes' or give all to one candidate, as he chooses. The qualification 
 for a member is merel}^ that he be a voter, not an alien with a deed of 
 burghership, and not an uncertificated insolvents. The members are elect,cd 
 for five years. The Governor has the power to dissolve the Ho.use of 
 Assembly by itself, or he may dissolve both houses at once. 
 
 The members of both houses are elected by the same persons. Erery 
 male born or naturalized subject of ^he Queen is qualified and entitrled to 
 be registered as a voter, who is twenty-one years of age, and who has 
 occupied for one year in any division a tenement or land of the value of 
 £25 sterling; or, in cas-e of joint occupation, if the land or tenement, when 
 divided among the occupiers, shall be of the value of £25 for each ; or who 
 has been for twelve months in receipt of salary or wages at the rate of not 
 less than £50 per annum ; or who has been for twelve months in receipt 
 of not le«s than £25 per annum, together with board and lodging. A fresh 
 registration of voters is made every alternate year. At present there are 
 about forty thousand electors in the colony. Persons possessing sufficient 
 property in two divisions are entitled to vote in each for members of the 
 House of Assembly, but not for members of the Legislative Council. 
 
 ADMINIST RATIO* OF JUSTICE. 
 
 The colony contains fifty-seven Fiscal Divisions, in each of which there 
 is a Eesident Magistrate, who holds a court in the principal village, and, in 
 some instances, periodical courts in other stated places. Before him all police 
 cases are summarily disposed of, and he also conducts preliminary examina- 
 tions in aggravated cases of crime. In trials for some offences, if a prisoner 
 pleads guilty, and there is otherwise suthcient evidence to convict him, the 
 Attorney- General has the power to remit the case to a magistrate, who 
 may then pass sentence not exceeding two years imprisonment with hard 
 labour and thirty-six lashes. But this sentence must be revised by a judge 
 in chambers, and cannot be carried out until his certificate of approval has 
 been obtained. In no case can a female be sentenced to be flogged. In 
 civil cases, a magistrate has power to determine suits in which the amount 
 contested does not exceed £20. or, when the debt can be proved byaliiiuid 
 
28 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF TUE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 document such as a note of hand, in which it does not exceed £100. The 
 person against whom judgnient is given has a right of appeal to the 
 superior courts. 
 
 In the frontier districts there are offieers stationed among the native 
 tribes, whose duties are to collect the revenue and preserve order iu 
 their several locations. They decide cases according to Kaffir law in 
 some instances where English law is not applicable, but as the natives 
 become civilized they come under the operation of the higher code. 
 
 A circuit court, presided over by a judge of the supreme court, sits 
 regularly twice a year in all the towns and large villages, for the purpose 
 of deciding such civil cases as are beyond the jurisdiction of the magistrates, 
 and for the trial of all persons charged with crime. A prisoner must be 
 convicted by a jury of nine, and the forms are similar to those of English 
 courts. In civil cases, an appeal lies to the Supreme Court. 
 
 There is a court for the Eastern Districts, which has its sittings in 
 Grahamstown, and is formed by two of the puisne judges, though, when 
 one is absent, the other may act with full power. In cases of disagreement 
 between ihese judges, the matter in dispute is referred to the Supreme 
 Court, to which also there is an appeal. 
 
 The Supreme Court of the colony sits in Cape Town, and is formed by 
 the chief justice and two puisne judges. Two of these form a quorum, 
 and, if they disagree, decision must be suspended until three sliall be 
 present. From this high and respected court of justice a final appeal still 
 lies to the judicial committee of the Privy Council of England, in any 
 case where the amount in dispute is over £'500. 
 
 By means of these different courts, justice is brought within reach of 
 every individual in the colony, and as they are presided over by the most 
 upright and talented men that can be obtained, their decisions are 
 universally received with respect. Before the introduction of Responsible 
 Government, the judges were appointed directly by the crown of England, 
 and the magistrates were appointed by the Governor with the approval of 
 the crown ; but since that time no appointment is made without the con- 
 currence of the Colonial Ministry. On the retirement of the Chief Justice 
 in December, 1873, the Attorney General immediately succeeded to the 
 vacant office. 
 
 LAWS OF THE COLONY. 
 
 The Roman-Dutch law, which consists of the civil or Roman law as 
 modified by the legislature of Holland and by the customs of that country 
 previous to the capitulation of the Cape in 1806, is the fundamental law of 
 the colony. A large body of statute law scattered throughout the British 
 Imperial statute book is also in force, and the residue consists of the Pro- 
 clamations, Placaats, and Ordinances of the Cape Legislature prior to 1854, 
 and the Acts passed in twenty-four sessions of the Cape Parliament since 
 that time. 
 
GEOGRAPilY OF TllK CAPE COLOJSY, 
 
 29 
 
 By tlie law of Community of Property, which is in force in tlic colony, 
 {Persons who marry, without having tirst made an antenuptial contract, 
 become joint possessors of all projierty, whether acquireel before or after 
 the marriage. The husband has the entire disposal of the whole during 
 liis life, and upon the death of either the survivor claims a moiety. The 
 operation of this law can be avoided, however, by antenuptial contracts, 
 creating separate estates of man and wife. 
 
 In 1874 the old law of inheritance was repealed, and free testamentary 
 disposition of property is now permitted. The estate of a person dying 
 intestate is divided equally among the children. 
 
 The laws relative to the acquisition of land from the government provide 
 for the sale and lease of farms. By an Act of 1860, ground when applied 
 for is sold by public auction to the highest bidder, the payment of per- 
 petual quitrent being one of the conditions of sale. An Act of 186-1' 
 provides for the lease of farms for periods not exceeding twenty-one years, 
 the amount of rent being determined by public auction. An Act of 1870 
 enables the tenant to purchase for sixteen and two thirds years' rent, but 
 a quitrent of one per cent upon the purchase amount is thereafter payable. 
 An Act was passed in 1870 empowering the Governor to sell plots not 
 exceeding five hundred acres in extent, at ten shillings per acre, together 
 with the expense of survey and title deeds, and a quitrent of one per cent 
 per annum upon the purchase amount ; but it has been allowed to remain 
 a dead letter. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISUMENTS. 
 
 In each of the principal towns and large villages in the colony, there is 
 a first class undenominational public school, with at least two teachers, in 
 which instruction is given in the ordinary branches of education, including 
 classics and mathematics. In smaller villages there are second class 
 schools, each with one teacher, in which instruction of not quite so high a 
 standard as in the former class is given. Eligible situations in agricultu- 
 ral districts are provided with third class schools, in which elementary 
 instruction is imparted. All of these schools are under the management 
 of local committees, and are injected periodically by the Superintendent 
 General of Education or one of his deputies. The government pays one 
 half of the salaries of the teachers, and the managing committees are res- 
 ponsible for the payment of the remainder. In the colony there are now 
 about two hundred undenominational public schools and several district 
 boarding schools receiving grants from the public funds. 
 
 There are also numerous private schools throughout the colony, and 
 several large denominational schools and colleges in particular localities. 
 The South African College, in Cape Town, the Graaff-Reinet College, 
 the Gill College, Somerset East, the Diocesan College, near Rondebosch, 
 the Grey Institute, Port Elizabeth, and the Stellenbosch Gymnasium, are 
 
30 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 important educational institutions, and receive liberal grants in aid from 
 the public chest. In none of the above mentioned public schools is colour 
 a bar to admission ; yet they are attended by European children almost 
 exclusively. Instruction is given in them through the medium of the 
 English language. 
 
 In 1873 the University of the Cape of Good Hope was incorporated, with 
 power to confer degrees upon those who can pass the necessary examina- 
 tions. 
 
 Mission schools aided by the government are established in eligible 
 situations, and are designed to provide elementary education for the 
 native youth. The teachers are young men or women who have been 
 trained at one or other of the missionary institutions, and are competent to 
 instruct their pupils in reading, writing, geography, and elementary 
 arithmetic. In the lowest of these schools the Kaffir language is chiefly 
 used, and the teachers receive not more than £20 per annum. A step 
 above these is a class of schools under certificated teachers, where the 
 English language as well as the Kaffir is taught, the government grant to 
 each being not less than £30 per annum. These salaries are usually sup- 
 plemented from funds raised by the native churches. Above these again 
 there are several Institutions where superior education is given, in two 
 or three of which there are industrial branches for the purpose of impart- 
 ing a knowledge of mechanical arts. These are liberally aided by 
 government, but are mainly dependent on Mission Societies in Europe. 
 Young men are received as boarders, and are educated to be ministers, 
 evangelists, teachers, and clerks, or are trained to be printers, book- 
 binders, carpenters, blacksmiths, waggo)imakers, &c. The printing of this 
 book has been done by native lads serving an apprenticeship at the 
 Lovedale Institution, which is the largest of the class. Altogether there 
 are about four hundred mission schools in the colony aided by the 
 government. 
 
 The census of 1875 gave the following as the result of the efforts made 
 during the last forty years to educate the people : — 
 
 Ptrcentage of 
 
 Can read 
 
 Can read 
 
 Can neither read 
 
 all ages. 
 
 and write. 
 
 only. 
 
 nor virife. 
 
 Europeans 
 
 62-35 
 
 3-93 ... 
 
 33-72 
 
 Mixed races 
 
 16-30 
 
 8-75 ... 
 
 74-95 
 
 Malays 
 
 7-41 
 
 2-69 ... 
 
 89-90 
 
 Hottentots 
 
 7-25 
 
 6-00 ... 
 
 86-75 
 
 Fingoes 
 
 5-07 
 
 3-37 ... 
 
 91-56 
 
 Kaffirs and Bechuanas 
 
 1-86 
 
 1-62 ... 
 
 96-52 
 
 HOADS AND MEANS OF TRANSrOUT. 
 
 In a country so broken by mountains and ravines, and with so sparse a 
 population, good roads are hardly to be expected ; yet the highways of the 
 
GEOGEAVllY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 81 
 
 Cape Colony are by no means worse than those of most other countries. 
 Immense sums of money have been, and are yearly, laid out in their 
 construction and maintenance. In each fiscal division there is an elective 
 council, which has power to raise money by levyincr rates, and whose 
 principal duty is to see that the roads are kept in order. Convict labour 
 has been largely devoted to them, and engineering skill has been expended 
 upon them in such places as Bain's Kloof, Sir Lowry's Pass, the Katberg, 
 and many more, where once a monkey must have found it difficult to make 
 progress, and where now the most delicate carriage can roll along smoothly 
 and comfortably. Bridges have been constructed over rivers in many 
 places where traffic is great ; still, the want of more is a great defect in 
 colonial roads. In rainy weather it frequently happens that rivers are 
 impassable, and communication between the opposite banks may sometimes 
 he suspended for several days. The construction of bridges over ravines, 
 like those in which the majority of South African rivers run, is accompanied 
 with great expense, but is being carried on as rapidly as the available 
 ivealth of the country will allow. 
 
 Of late years the construction of railways along the principal lines of 
 traffic has been commenced, and there are now about eight hundred miles 
 authorized by Parliament, at a cost of something like five millions pounds 
 sterling. The first line constructed in the colony was from Caps Town 
 through Stellenbosch to Wellington, a distance of fifty-eight miles. It 
 w-as commenced in 1859 and completed in 1863. The next was a line from 
 Cape Town to Wynberg, eight miles in length, commenced in 1862 and 
 completed in 1864. These were made by companies, but have since been 
 purchased by the government. Until 1869 there were no other works of 
 the kind in the colony. In that year the Cape Copper Mining Company 
 commenced to lay down a line of only thirty inches guage, from Port 
 Nolloth towards their mines of Ookiep and Springbokfontein in Little 
 Namaqualand. This line passes over a barren country for a distance of 
 seventy miles, and is used for no other purpose than in connection with 
 the mines. The railways now being made are (1) an extension from 
 Wellington by the way of Worcester to Beaufort West, (2) a branch line to 
 Malmesbury, (3) a line from Port Elizabeth through Uitenhage to Graaff 
 Reinet, (4) a line from Port Elizabeth to Cradock, (5) a line from Grahams- 
 town to be connected with the last, and (6) a line from East London to 
 Queenstown, with a short branch to King William's Town. 
 
 At the close of 1876 the firust was completed and open for traffic as far as 
 Worcester, one hundred and nine miles. It passes through the villages of 
 Paarl and Wellington, but Stellenbosch has been thrown off the main line 
 by a more direct route between the stations at Durban Road and Mulder's 
 Ylei, which saves about twelve and a half miles. The third was completed 
 for about fifty miles. The fourth was completed to within thirty miles 
 of Grahamstown. The sixth was open for traffic to within three or four 
 miles of King William's Town. 
 
32 
 
 GEOGUAPnY-OF THE CAPE COLOyT. 
 
 Goods are transported from one part of the colony to another mi huge 
 ■waggons, each drawn by fourteen or sixteen oxen, which travel at the rate 
 of about twenty miles a day. The loads on these waggons are sometimes 
 ten thousand pounds in weight. Transport riding is an important bi-anch 
 of South African occupations, and is followed by a great number of people. 
 At convenient distances from each other, along all the highways, large 
 tracts of land are reserved by government for outspan places, where trans- 
 port riders can let their cattle rest and graze on their journeys. Tolls are 
 established by the Divisional Councils, with the consent of the Governor, 
 and are numerous on the principal roads. 
 
 TELEGRAPHS, 
 
 Four years ago the only line of telegraph in the colony was one connect- 
 ing Cape Town with East London, passing through the principal villages 
 along the coast belt. Of late, branches running at right angles to the 
 main line have been constructed to the principal inland villages. One of 
 these branches has been carried across the boundary, and on to the diamond 
 fields. In some parts of the main line it has been found necessary to hare 
 double wires, so greatly has the number of messages increased with the 
 development of commerce. 
 
 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 
 
 No reliable figures can be given of the imports consumed and exportTS 
 produced in the colony by itself, as the customs returns necessarily include 
 everything that is transported by land to or from the countries beyond 
 the border. A small portion of the trade of the interior is enjoyed by 
 Natal, but the bulk of the imports and exports passes through the Cape 
 Colony. The ivory and some of the ostrich feathers exported come from 
 the far interior, and a large portion of the wool and skins comes from the 
 Orange Free State and Transvaal Eepublic. Diamonds make hardly any 
 show among the exports, as very few of them pass through the custom 
 houses. The trade of the interior has been rapidly developed within the 
 last few years, and great quantities of manufactured goods are now disposed 
 of far beyond the limits of the European settlements. 
 
 In favourable seasons the quantity of wheat grown in the colony is more 
 than sufficient for its requirements, and the surplus is then exported, but 
 years of drought necessitate large importations from Australia. Some of 
 the best grain producing districts are almost cut off from markets, through 
 want of cheap and reliable transport, so that the farmers cultivate no more 
 than they require for their own use. Such, for instance, is the case with 
 the Washbank lands in the division of Wodehouse ; but it may be antici- 
 pated that as soon as good roads are made into such districts, and railway 
 stations are brought within short distances, the colony will never be 
 
CUfOORAPHT OF TWI CAPS COLOfTT. 
 
 S8 
 
 dependent on foreign countries for a supply of breadsfeuffs. Tho tables 
 
 which follow show the value of the imports and exports, according to tho 
 customs' returns. The deficiency in the exports is, however, only apparent. 
 The diamonds sent out of the country by the mails and other conveyances 
 would more than make up the balance, and the account is kept even by 
 means of coin. 
 
 The imports consist principally of manufactured articles of all kinds, 
 such as woollen, cotton, silk, linen, and leather goods, hardware, cutlery, 
 glassware, machinery, furniture, oilman's stores, confectionery, stationery, 
 &c. ; of such provisions as coffee, tea, spices, sugar, and rice; and of iron, 
 timber, and coal. Tobacco, cigars, foreign wines, ales, and spirits, soap, 
 pickles, sauces, cheese, leather, &c., are still imported in considerable 
 quantities, owing partly to the manufacture in South Africa of these and 
 similar articles being as yet too limited to supply the demand, and partly 
 to a prejudice entertained by many against any article manufactured in 
 the colony, no matter how excellent its quality. This prejudice, however, 
 is fortunately dying out, and with increased facilities of transport, many 
 colonial made articles such as the above will come into general use. 
 
 IMPORTS OP THE CAPE COLONY DURING THI TEARS 1875 AND 1876. 
 
 
 
 1875. 
 
 
 ... 1876. 
 
 From Great Britain 
 
 
 ... £4,712,203 . 
 
 
 ... £4,631,305 
 
 „ Other parts of Europe... 
 
 58,511 . 
 
 
 52,714 
 
 „ British Possessions in Asia 
 
 93,P57 
 
 
 93,837 
 
 „ Other parts of Asia ... 
 
 34,723 
 
 
 22,852 
 
 „ Natal . . . 
 
 
 151,893 
 
 
 101,869 
 
 „ Mauritius 
 
 
 79,200 
 
 
 85,498 
 
 „ Other parts of Africa . . . 
 
 69,257 
 
 
 91,666 
 
 „ Canada ... 
 
 
 3,542 
 
 
 43 
 
 „ United States of America 
 
 129,705 
 
 
 133,332 
 
 „ South America 
 
 ... 289,878 
 
 
 ... 221,911 
 
 „ Australia 
 
 
 ... 118,450 . 
 
 
 ... 121,050 
 
 Total Value of Imports 
 
 ... £5,731,319 
 
 
 £5.556,077 
 
 TRADE OF DIFFERENT COLONIAL PORTS DURING THE TEARS 1875 AND 1876. 
 
 
 Imports. 1875 Exports. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 1876 Exports. 
 
 Port Elizabeth ... 
 
 £2,681,333 
 
 £2,832,523 
 
 £2,416,691 
 
 £2,222,454 
 
 Cape Town 
 
 2,144,750 
 
 690,454 
 
 1,950,572 
 
 546,809 
 
 East London 
 
 552,033 
 
 131,800 
 
 785.919 
 
 168,429 
 
 Mossel Bay 
 
 126,206 
 
 111,045 
 
 130,344 
 
 121,556 
 
 Port Nolloth 
 
 28,175 
 
 244,855 
 
 20,459 
 
 256,255 
 
 Port Alfred 
 
 187,008 
 
 51,370 
 
 239,922 
 
 77,693 
 
 Simon's Town 
 
 11,805 
 
 6,053 
 
 12.157 
 
 6.549 
 
 Port Beaufort 
 
 9 
 
 20,025 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Hondeklip Bftj 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 » 
 
 0 
 
 f 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 Average- Imports of the five ]^ears ending 31st December, 1871; £2,200,688 
 
 „ ' „ of the five years ending 31st December, 1876, £5,271,481 
 
 Average Exports of the five years ending 31st December, 1871, £2,522,561 
 
 „ „ of the five years ending 31st December, 1876, £4,010,818 
 
 EXPORTS OF THE CAPE COLONY DURING THE YEARS 1875 AND 1876. 
 
 Qimntity. 1875 Value. Quantity. 1876 Value. 
 
 Sheep's Wool 
 
 40,339,674 fts. 
 
 £2,855,899 
 
 34,861,339 lbs. 
 
 £2,278,942 
 
 Ostrich Feathers 
 
 49,569 ibs. 
 
 304,933 
 
 59,941 lbs. 
 
 341,020 
 
 Copper Ore 
 
 12,418 tons 
 
 248,537 
 
 12,869 tons 
 
 257,155 
 
 Goat Skins 
 
 1,303,624 
 
 158,404 
 
 804,551 
 
 90,907 
 
 Sheep Skins 
 
 1,558,628 
 
 147,842 
 
 1,550,344 
 
 126,553 
 
 Angora Hair 
 
 1,147,453 lbs. 
 
 133,180 
 
 1,323,039 fts. 
 
 113,967 
 
 Ox Hides 
 
 109,302 
 
 38,964 
 
 44,530 
 
 20,856 
 
 Ivory 
 
 143,682 lbs. 
 
 60,402 
 
 161,234 ibs. 
 
 58,626 
 
 Cured Fish 
 
 3,372,701 lbs. 
 
 17,823 
 
 3,593,375 Rs. 
 
 23,696 
 
 Diamonds 
 
 634 
 
 1,050 
 
 150 
 
 500 
 
 "Wine 
 
 57,942 gallons 14,173 
 
 60,973 gallons 13,730 
 
 Dried Fruit 
 
 603,931 Rs. 
 
 10,210 
 
 632,274 lbs. 
 
 7,797 
 
 Cotton 
 
 15,322 lbs. 
 
 628 
 
 574 lbs. 
 
 10 
 
 Aloes 
 
 374,142 as. 
 
 3,218 
 
 462,976 fts. 
 
 4,178 
 
 Argol 
 
 73,229 lbs. 
 
 2,293 
 
 187,301 fts. 
 
 5,542 
 
 Horns 
 
 114.266 
 
 2,300 
 
 102,176 
 
 1,975 
 
 Other South African Products 
 
 88,269 
 
 
 54,291 
 
 
 
 £4,088,125 
 
 
 £3,399,745 
 
 STATISTICS OF CRIME. 
 
 The elaborate returns furnished to the government and published 
 in blue books show that this colony is remarkably free of crime, 
 considering the condition of a large portion of the coloured popu- 
 lation. There are times when thefts of cattle are frequent in the 
 frontier districts, but no other offence is common. In the year 1875 
 there were fifteen thousand seven hundred and thirty persons committed 
 to prison, that is, one committal for every forty-six inhabitants. But if the 
 races are separated, there was only one European committed to prison for 
 every ninety-three of that colour resident in the colony, while there was 
 one native for every thirty-seven. In 1876 there were fifteen thousand six 
 hundred and fifty-eight persons committed to prison, the proportions being 
 almost exactly the same as in the preceding year. 
 
 A most gratifying feature in these returns is the exceedingly small 
 proportion of crime committed by children. The blue book classifies the 
 persons imprisoned as follows : — 
 
Natives. 
 
 
 1875 
 
 1876 
 
 iiLcii6s Over eigQiieeii years oi age. 
 
 JL\J,o\J4 •• 
 
 
 
 
 
 Males under eighteen years of age .. 
 
 Zoo 
 
 
 Females do. do. 
 
 47 .. 
 
 60 
 
 Males over eighteen years of age 
 
 . 2,415 .. 
 
 . 2,482 
 
 Females do. doi 
 
 92 . 
 
 78 
 
 Males under eighteen years of age .. 
 
 44 .. 
 
 25 
 
 Females do. do. 
 
 3 . 
 
 4 
 
 The total number of persons in confinement in the prisons of the colony, 
 on the 3ist of December, 1875, was : — Europeans, 134, or one out of every 
 1767 of the white population ; Natives, 929, or oiie out of every 521 of the 
 coloured population. On the 31st of December, 1876, the number was : 
 Europeans, 106, Natives, 976. 
 
 REVENUE. 
 
 The revenue has doubled itself within ten years, owing principally to the 
 great activity in trade caused by the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand 
 West. About one half is derived from duties levied upon goods 
 imported, the principal items of the remainder are land rents, stamps and 
 licenses, transfer dues, railway and telegraph receipts, postage, auction dues, 
 and land sales. It amounts altogether to about a million and a half pounds 
 sterling yearly. 
 
 REVENUE OF THE CAPE COLONY DURING THE YEARS 1875 AND 1876. 
 
 
 1875. 
 
 Customs 
 
 .. £735,380 
 
 Land Sales 
 
 .. 161,295 
 
 Land Rents 
 
 .. 120,078 
 
 Railway Receipts ... 
 
 .. 104,380 
 
 Stamps and Licenses 
 
 .. 96,760 
 
 Transfer Dues 
 
 .. 92,625 
 
 Postage 
 
 .. . 53,129 
 
 Auction Dues 
 
 .. 25,758 
 
 Fines and Fees of Court 
 
 .. 23,259 
 
 Bank Notes Duty .. . 
 
 .. 14,889 
 
 Telegraph Receipts 
 
 .. 10,099 
 
 Miseellaneous Receipts . 
 
 .. 64,449 
 
 Total 
 
 £1,502,101 
 
 1876. 
 £703,067 
 84,323 
 104,439 
 168,180 
 98,318 
 78,452 
 56,411 
 23,953 
 19,349 
 12,179 
 20,246 
 61,867 
 
 £1,430,784 
 
 Average Revenue for the five years ending 31st December, 1871, £629,249 
 u u for the five years ending 31st December, 1876, £1,345,988 
 
 EXPENDITURE. 
 
 The expenditure for many years prior to 1871 was greater than the 
 revenue, the deficiency having been made up by loans. Some of these 
 
86 
 
 ©EOSBAHIT or TBI CAFE COLOKT. 
 
 loans in former years were raised to meet the ordinary expenses of govern- 
 ment, but of late no money has been borrowed for any other purpose than 
 for the construction or purchase of public works. The ordir.ary expendi- 
 ture is now so far within the limits of the revenue that large sums can be 
 appropriated yearly to the improvement of the country. 
 
 EXPENDITUKE OF THE CAPE C0L05T DURING THE TEAR 1875. 
 
 
 1875. 
 
 Civil Establishments 
 
 ... £ 84,542 
 
 Administration of Justice 
 
 59,730 
 
 Educational Purposes 
 
 32,930 
 
 Medical Services 
 
 14,296 
 
 Police and Gaols 
 
 75,489 
 
 Pensions 
 
 23,468 
 
 Ecclesiastical Grants 
 
 14,562 
 
 Collection of Revenue 
 
 41,257 
 
 Hospitals 
 
 31,7S9 
 
 Rent and Transport 
 
 17,979 
 
 Conveyance of Mails 
 
 87,506 
 
 Roads, Bridges, and other Public Works 
 
 121,159 
 
 Maintenance of Convicts 
 
 27,260 
 
 Expenses of Parliament 
 
 13,545 
 
 Interest and Commission 
 
 106.033 
 
 Construction and Maintenance of Railways ... 
 
 1,131,524 
 
 Construction and Maintenance of Telegraphs 
 
 45,900 
 
 Immigration 
 
 31,129 
 
 Border Department 
 
 20,380 
 
 Colonial Defence 
 
 67,345 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 74,752 
 
 Total 
 
 ... £2,122,575 
 
 Average Expenditure of the five years ending 31st December, 1871, £6P6,811 
 „ „ of thefouryears ending 31st December, '75, £1,572,564 
 
 The Public Debt of the Colony on the 3ist December, 1876, was £4,068,159 
 
 Note. — The revenue and expenditure returns of the colony were formerly made 
 up to the 3l3t December of each year, and published in the annual blue books. In 
 1876 a new gystem came into operation, and the financial year is now made to ter- 
 minate on the 30th of Juno. The expenditure for 1876 can not be given on this 
 account, and the revenue for the eame year ie only approximate. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORIC Al INTRODUCTION. 1486 TO 1652. 
 
 Exploration of the Portuguese along the African Coast in search of a passage to 
 India. — Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope hy Bartholomew Diaz. — The theory 
 of Columbus, and his great discovery. — Africa doubled by Vasco de Qama. — First 
 Voyages of English ships round Africa. — Portuguese conquests in the East. — Rise 
 ff the Dutch Power, and enterprise of the Netherlanders. — First Voyages cf the 
 Dutch round Africa. — Gallant Exploits of the Dutch in the East. — Formation of 
 the Netherlands East India Company. — Success of the Dutch in wresting territory 
 from the Portuguese. — Constitution of the Netherlands East India Company. — 
 Use made of Table Bay hy the Company's ships. — Memorial of two seamen wrecked 
 in Table Bay. — Van Riebeck's endorsement of the memorial. — Resolution of the 
 Company to form a settlement at the Cape of Good Mope. 
 
 Four Hundred years a»o the Portuguese were the most enterprising of 
 the maritime nations of Europe. They were intent upon discovering a 
 route by sea to the wealthy regions of Southern Asia, the commerce of 
 which they wished to secure. At that time the Eastern trade was in the 
 hands of the Venetian Republic, and was carried on by means of caravans 
 which transported goods between the Mediterranean and Indian seas. 
 The extent of the African continent was then unknown, but the Portuguese 
 had for a long time been exploring the western coast, in hope of reaching 
 a point where it would tui-n and open an ocean road to India. 
 
 Expedition after expedition sailed with this object, each one pushing a 
 little further than its predecessor, until at length one under Diego Cam in 
 1484 reached a point near to the southern tropic. The perils of navigating 
 unknown seas were then incomparably greater than they are now, owing 
 to the vast improvements that have since been made in shipbuilding and 
 in the instruments used by mariners. The Portuguese exploring ships 
 were so clumsily built and rigged that the marvel is, not that so long a time 
 was spent in tracing the coast of Africa, but that with them it was ever 
 traced at all. The explorers kept as close as possible to the land, and 
 always endeavoured to gain the shelter of a hai'bour in stormy weather. 
 
 The expedition that was destined to make the grand discovery sailed 
 from Portugal early in the year 1486, under command of Bartholomew 
 Diaz. After passing the furthest point reached by Cam, the explorers in 
 their three vessels ran down the coast of Great Naraaqualand, landing 
 here and there to take possession of the country in the name of their king, 
 *nd to set up a cross as a token of his ownership. They were somewhere 
 iftear th« mOQtb of tb« Orange Biver wbeiv tWy encountered a violani 
 
38 
 
 mSTORICA.L IlfTRODUCTION. 1486 TO 1652. 
 
 storm whieh drove them away from the land. After tossing about for 
 some days they turned to the eastward again, in expectation of speedily 
 seeing the coast, but were perplexed to find nothing but open sea before 
 them long after they had reached the line where they thought to make the 
 laud. 
 
 They had rounded the continent, but as yet they did not know of their 
 success. At last there could no longer be any mistake about it. They were 
 at least six hundred miles to the eastward of the meridian of the last -land 
 they had seen, and still long ocean waves rolled in front as far as the eye 
 could reach. Then they turned their prows to the northward, and held 
 on that course till the high land of Southern Africa came in view. It was 
 the coast at the mouth of the stream known to us as the Great Fish River, 
 but to which they gave the name of the Rio Infanta. This was the most 
 distant point which they reached, for here another great storm was en- 
 countered, which compelled them to seek shelter in what is now known as 
 Algoa Bay. 
 
 In September, 14S6, Diaz took formal possession of the country in the 
 name of the Portuguese sovereign, and, as a token of having done so, 
 erected a cross upon a little islet in the bay. He was then anxious to 
 proceed on his voyage eastward, but was prevented by a mutiny which 
 broke out among his seamen. They complained of the scarcity of provisions 
 on board the fleet, and of the shattered condition of the ships, which would 
 make it dangerous to proceed further over an unknown sea. They had 
 already advanced more than fifteen hundred miles beyond the most distant 
 point reached by the preceding expedition, so that surely they had done as 
 much as their country had a right to expect of them. Diaz was compelled 
 to yield to the demands of the mutineers, and reluctantly returned to 
 Portugal. The most prominent of the Capes, off which such tempestuous 
 weather had been experienced, was named by its discoverer, who saw it on 
 his return, the Cape of Storms ; but subsequently this name was changed 
 by the king of Portugal into that of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Diaz did not reap the reward which he merited. He was slighted by his 
 government, and was overlooked in the next expedition. A subordinate 
 post was given to him in Cabral's fleet of thirteen vessels, which 
 discovered Brazil and made the second voyage to the East Indies. His 
 ship with several others went down at sea, and the discoverer of the Cape 
 of Good Hope found a grave in the Atlantic. (May 29th, 1500.) 
 
 While the Portuguese had been slowly making their way along the 
 coast of Africa, a Genoese sea-captain in their service had conceived the 
 bold idea of reaching the Indies by saiUng towards the west. He unfold- 
 ed his views to the king, who treacherously sought to deprive him of the 
 honour of the discovery, by secretly despatching a caravel in that 
 direction. Upon the return of this vessel unsuccessful, Christopher 
 Columbus in indignation left Portugal, and made his way to the court of 
 •EBRDiNANu and-JsABEiL^jfiSovemgns of AragocL and Castile. ThiS'Wa's- Ift 
 
HISTORICAL IlTTEODUCTIOy. 1486 TO 1652. 
 
 39 
 
 1484. ■ Three years later, Diaz made known that the road round Africa was 
 open, but so firmly convinced was Columbus of the feasibility of reaching 
 the Indies by sailing in a westerly direction, that he did not abandon his 
 project for an instant. 
 
 At length, in 1492, he was furnished by Isabella of Castile with three 
 vessels, and in seeking an ocean pathway to Eastern Asia, he discovered 
 the great Western Continent. Thus the same motive which led to 
 Southern Africa becoming known led also to a knowledge of America, and 
 the two events were only separated by a period of six years. To the 
 Portuguese belongs the credit of tracing the southern bounds of Africa ; 
 they might have had the additional honour of being the discoverers of 
 America, but for a single treacherous act of their king. 
 
 After the return of Diaz nearly eleven years elapsed, when another 
 expedition was sent in the same direction. This consisted of three small 
 vessels carrying one hundred and sixty men, and was placed under the 
 command of a talented navigator named Vasco de Gama. The little fleet 
 sailed from Lisbon on the 8th of July, 1497, the commander taking with 
 him letters from the king of Portugal to several imaginary eastern poten- 
 tates. After a stormy voyage, on the 7th of November De Gama discovered 
 and entered the Bay of St. Helena. On the shore he observed a number 
 •f the inhabitants, whom he described as small in stature, with clothing 
 made of the skins of animals, and with weapons formed of wood hardened 
 by fire and pointed with the horns of animals. For some days a friendly 
 intercourse was carried on between the natives and the Portuguese ; but a 
 misunderstanding at length arose, and in a skirmish De Gama and four of 
 his men were wounded, and the strangers were compelled to betake them- 
 selves to their ships. 
 
 On the 16th of November they sailed from St. Helena Bay, and on the 
 18th saw the Cape of Good Hope ; but as the wind was blowing from the 
 south-east they were unable to enter Table Bay until the 20th. At a short 
 distance from the shore they observed numerous huts of natives who were 
 similar in dress, language, and general appearance, to those they had 
 recently seen. De Gama did not remain long in Table Bay, and, keeping 
 close to the coast as he proceeded on his voyage eastward, on the 24th he 
 reached Mossel Bay, where he anchored. Here he landed and erected a 
 column with the arms of Portugal and a cross inscribed upon it ; but as 
 soon as he returned to his ship the natives destroyed the monument. On 
 the 8th of December he set sail again, and encountered stormy weather for 
 many days ; notwithstanding which he kept close along the coast and 
 observed the forests of Zitzikama and the islet of St. Croix. From 
 the latter point he stood out to sea, and did not come again in sight of land 
 until the 25th of December, upon which account he named the country 
 then discovered the Land of Natal. 
 
 Keeping up the eastern coast, he at length arrived at Melinda, where he 
 found Arab pilots acquainted with the navigation of the eastern seas. 
 
40 Hf8T0RICA.L IlTTKODCOTroy. I486 TO 1G52. 
 
 "With their assistance he reached Calicut on the Malabar coast in safety, 
 and returning by the same route he arrived at Lisbon in September, 1409. 
 Of the men who sailed with him only fifty-five reached home again, the 
 rest having died during the voyage. De Gama was warmly welcomed by 
 his sovereign and his countrymen. He was ennobled, a pension was 
 granted to him, and the title of Admiral of the Eastern ^^eas was declared 
 to be hereditary in his family. 
 
 From the date of De Gama's visit, different ports on the South African 
 coast were frequently entered by Portuguese fleets bound to or from the 
 East. For nearly a hundred years the new road to India was open to 
 them only, but they never attempted to colonize the extremity of the 
 continent, as they were of opinion that their settlements on the east coast 
 were more advantageously situated. 
 
 In 1509, Fhancisco D'Almeida, Governor-General of Portuguese India, 
 whilst on his voyage home, was killed by natives on the shores of Table 
 Bay. He had put some of them to death upon a slight provocation, which 
 so aroused the spirit of revenge in the savages that they attacked him and 
 B. large body of attendants, and slew them all. 
 
 In 1522, the Vittoria, Captain Sebastian del Gang, called at Table Bay. 
 This ship is famed as having been the first to sail round the world. She 
 was one of a fleet of five vessels placed by the Emperor Charles V under 
 command of Ferdinand Magellan (Fernando de Magalhaens) with instruc- 
 tions to explore a westerly route to the Moluccas. Of the other ships, one 
 returned to Europe before the coast of South America was reached, one 
 was lost in a storm, one was burnt, and one was abandoned. Of two 
 hundred and thirty men who sailed with the expedition only eighteen 
 returned. Magellan himself was killed in a skirmish with the natives of 
 the Philippine Islands. He has given his name to the Strait which he was 
 the first to pass through. 
 
 At length the English followed in the track of the Portuguese. The 
 first expedition that sailed from England to the East Indies left Plymouth 
 on the 10th of April. 1591. It consisted of three ships, the largest of 
 which, under command of Admiral Raymond, was lost soon after. The 
 command of the remaining vessels devolved upon Captain James Lan- 
 caster, — the same who was afterwards famed as an advocate for Arctic 
 explora*: ion, and whose name was given by Bylot and Baffin to the Sound 
 which terminated their discoveries in 1616. On the 28th of July the Cape 
 of Good Hope was first sighted. Scorbutic diseases had so reduced the 
 strength of the crews that it was deemed unadvisable to put into Table 
 Bay, and the Commodore therefore endeavoured to reach Mossel Bay, where 
 he believed refreshment could be procured without danger. But he wa8 
 baffled by contrary wiuds, against which he struggled until the 1st of 
 August, on which day he anchored in Table Bay. The sick and wearied 
 crews were at once put on shore, where they obtained abundance of fresh 
 food by shooting sefl^birds and gathering mussels and other shellfish 
 
HISTORICAL liNTRODH-TlOX. 14;&t3 10 1G52. 
 
 41 
 
 along the rocky beach. Some natives had been seen when the ships sailed 
 in, but they appeared terrified and at once removed inland. Captain 
 Lancaster visited Robbeu Island, where he found seals and penguins in 
 abundance. One day some hunters found a native, whom they treated 
 kindly, making him presents and endeavouring to show by signs that they 
 were in want of cattle. This judieious conduct had the desired effect, and 
 soon after the departure of the native a number of others made their 
 appearance, bringing with them forty head of cattle and the same number 
 of sheep. Trade was at once commenced, the price of an ox being two 
 knives, that of a sheep one knife. After the crews were somewhat 
 recovered. Captain Lancaster proceeded to the Indies with one ship well 
 manned, and sent the other back to England with the sick. 
 
 On the 22nd of April, 1601, a fleet of five vessels, under command of the 
 same Captain Lancaster mentioned above, sailed from Torbay for the 
 Indies, being the first fleet fitted out by the English East India Company. 
 On the 9th of September they arrived in Table Bay, by which time the 
 crews were so terribly afflicted with scurvy that only those of the largest 
 ship were able to drop their anchors. Captain Lancaster was obliged to 
 go in his boat to the aid of the other vessels, and personally assist in getting 
 them in. The sails of the ships were then taken on shore to serve as tents, 
 and the sick were landed as soon as possible. Trade was commenced with 
 the natives, and in the course of a few days forty-two oxen and a thousand 
 sheep were obtained in exchange for pieces of iron hoop. The fleet 
 remained for seven weeks, during which time nearly all the sick recovered. 
 From this date English vessels very frequently called at the Cape, though, 
 with the exceptions mentioned below, no attempt to occupy the country 
 was then made on behalf of that nation. 
 
 In 1614, ten criminals were sent from England and landed on Robben 
 Island. Most of these wretched persons perished miserably ; four of them 
 were drowned, one was killed in an encounter with natives, and three, who 
 managed to make their escape and returned home m an English vessel, 
 were there executed for crimes committed immediately after they landed. 
 
 In 1620, two English Captains, named Shillinge and Fitzherbert, 
 formally took possession of the Cape and the adjoining part of the conti- 
 nent, in the name of King James I, but without any authority from the 
 English Government or board of directors of the English East India 
 Company, and no notice was taken of their act. 
 
 During the period that intervened between the appearance of Vasco de 
 Gama in the Indian seas and the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 the Spaniards had made themselves masters of the Philippine Islands, and 
 the Portuguese had seized the most important stations on the coasts of 
 Africa, Arabia, Persia, and both the Indian peninsulas, besides possessing 
 themselves of the Moluccas, Ceylon, and the islands of Sunda, while their 
 settlement at Macoa secured to them the commerce of China and Japan. 
 At all these places they had erected forts, which enabled them Lg 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 148G TO 1652. 
 
 raandthe obedience of the native rulers of so many different countries, and 
 placed the entire commerce of the East in their hands, in 1580 the crown 
 of Portugal was seizeu by Philip II of Spain, and all these regions were 
 brought under the dominion of that monarch. 
 
 The power that was destined to form the first European settlement at 
 the Cape of Good Hope was now carrying on its glorious struggle with the 
 great empire of Spain. The United Netherlands, by exertions as heroic 
 as any recorded in the pages of history, had risen from the position of 
 oppressed provinces to that of a free and powerful republic. With the 
 Dutch people and government at that time, commerce was synonymous 
 with independence : they had no means of existence except by becoming 
 the agents through whom Europe and Asia should change their commodi- 
 ties. Yet it seemed the height of temerity for men situated as the Nether- 
 landers then were to attack their gigantic foe in his strongholds of the 
 east, and dispute with him there as well as in Europe for naval supremacy 
 and monopoly of trade. They did not hesitate to do so. At first they 
 made gallant efforts to discover a passage to the Pacific round the north 
 of Europe and Asia, and, when these failed, they undertook the passage 
 round Africa. Triumph awaited them, greater than the most sanguine of 
 their heroes could have anticipated. The astonishing successes of the 
 Portuguese in the east and the enormous wealth thereby procured had 
 corrupted them ; and the courage that had subdued so many nations no 
 longer existed among their effeminate desceadanta, upon whom the task 
 of maintaining their conquests now devolved. Their rapacity and the 
 many acts of cruelty of which they had been guilty had created a feeling of 
 detestation towards them among the natives of their vast possessions. In 
 addition to this, many of the Portuguese in India were in revolt against 
 the new authorities. Thus, immense as was the empire of Philip II in the 
 east, in geographical extent and commercial wealth, it was ready to become 
 an easy prize to the nation that could command the passage to it. 
 
 A great impulse to the vast traflSc afterwards carried on between the 
 United Provinces and the East was given by John Huygen van Linscho- 
 TEN, who, after a residence of thirteen years in the Indies, returned to 
 Holland and made known to his countrymen the commercial wealth of the 
 countries he had visited. He had resided in India in the character of a 
 Portuguese subject, and had thus acquired information not otherwise 
 obtainable, as the Portuguese were extremely jealous of foreigners, and 
 permitted none of the secrets of their trade to be divulged, while the geo- 
 graphical information published by them was purposely incorrect. 
 
 Among the heroes of that age none were more enterprising and enthusi- 
 astic than Linschoten, none more devoted to their country's service. 
 After his return from the East, he devoted his time to the advocacy of 
 polar exploration, as he was confident of being able to reach China and 
 India by way of the Arctic Ocean. In 1594 he sailed on a voyage of dis- 
 covery, and reached the Kara Sea, where the drift ice compelled him to put 
 
HTSTOTirCAL IXTltODUCTION. 1486 TO 1052. 
 
 43 
 
 back. With him, in a ship furnished by the city of Amsterdan), was 
 William Barendz, who coasted along the desolate islands of Nova Zembla 
 and added them to the known lands of the world. Nothing daunted by 
 the failure of the first effort, in the summer of the next year Linsghoten 
 sailed a second time, in a fleet of seven ships fitted out by the States 
 Greneral. He had worthy companions, for Barendx was with him again, 
 and Jacob Heemskerk, who was at a future day to win deathless renown, 
 was supercargo of one of the ships. But the ice of the polar seas was not 
 to be pierced, and the fleet returned defeated. The following season 
 Barendz lost his life in a third attempt, while Lijsischoten' staid at home to 
 put through the press an account of the observations, scientific, com- 
 mercial, and geographical, which he had made during his residence in the 
 East. 
 
 In the mean time a Dutch merchant named Cornelius Houtmann, being 
 detained at Lisbon for debt, had made an offer to the merchants of Amster- 
 dam that if they would procure his release ho would communicate to thera 
 every particular relating to the passage to India and the manner of carrying 
 on trade by the Portuguese there, knowledge which he had acquired during 
 his captivity. The period was opportune for such a proposal, as the public 
 mind was excited by the glowing verbal accounts of Linschoten. Hout- 
 mann's offer was therefore accepted, and his debts were discharged. Those 
 who contributed towards his release formed an association, under the name 
 of the Company of Distant Countries, and fitted out four vessels, which 
 they placed under Houtmann's command, with instructions to proceed to 
 India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, and to observe the coasts, the 
 inhabitants, the productions, and the trade of the different places he should 
 visit. Ihis was in 1595, when Linschoten was absent on his second polar 
 expedition. 
 
 Houtmann called at Table Bay, reconnoitred the coast, touched at the 
 Maldives, and visited the islands of Sunda, where he purchased a quantity 
 of pepper and valuable spices. Afterwards he entered into an alliance with 
 the ruler of Bantam, a city of Java. He then returned home, taking 
 with him several natives of the countries he had visited, chief among whom 
 was a pilot of Guzerat, a man of great ability and perfectly acquainted with 
 the different coasts of India. This man proved afterwards of signal service 
 to the Dutch in their eastern expeditions. Though Houtmann took home 
 little wealth, the results of his voyage raised great expectations, and the 
 merchants at once formed the plan of a settlement at, Java. Captain Nek 
 was sent out with eight vessels for that purpose. He succeeded in obtaining 
 four shiploads of spices and cotton goods at^Java; and then sailing to the 
 Moluccas, he established several factories and entered into treaties, with 
 some of the native rulers. He returned to Hollatud with immense- wealth. 
 •The result of this voyage was that Companies similar to that of Distant 
 Countries were at once formed in most of the maritime , and trading 
 towns of the Netherlands. • > - . . 
 
44 ursTOnrcAL txtkoductiox. 1186 to 1652. 
 
 Meantime, a stately fleet of galleons and smaller vessels, twenty-five in 
 all, commanded by Andreas Hurtado de Mendoza, was despatched from 
 Lisbon for the purpose of destroying the city of Bantam and chastising its 
 ruler for having presumed to trade and make a treaty with the enemies of 
 Portugal. Upon their ai'rival at the island, they found a Dutch trading 
 fleet of five vessels, manned by three hundred sailors, under command of 
 WoLFERT Hermann. To Mendoza's utter amazement the Dutch attacked 
 him ; and Hermann, whose whole force both of men and guns was inferior 
 to that of the enemy's flagship alone, managed the affair so well that after 
 several days fighting he captured two of the Portuguese ships, sunk some 
 of them, drove others into shallows, and, at last, put the whole of the grand 
 armada into such confusion that Mendoza was fairly compelled to run away 
 from him. Thus was Bantam saved, and eastern potentates made to see 
 the advantages of alliance with a power able to avenge the injuries they 
 had sustained at the hands of the Portuguese. This was but one of many 
 similar exploits performed by Dutch vessels in those seas. Soon afterwards, 
 the city of Batavia was founded, which is still the chief emporium of Dutch 
 commerce in the east. In a short time the republicans acquired a large 
 proportion of the trade of China, Ceylon, Malaya, the Moluccas, Sumatra, 
 and particularly of Java. 
 
 But it was evident that though single vessels might occasionally succeed 
 in destroying a whole fleet of the enemy, the Portuguese could never be 
 entirely driven from the eastern seas by means of individual enterprise 
 alone ; and, as the government had enough on its hands at home, it became 
 necessary to concentrate the wealth and power of the traders. For this 
 purpose the Netherlands East India Company was formed, with the exclusive 
 privilege of trading to the East Indies by the way of the Cape of Good 
 Hope. The capital was only £660,000, apparently a very small sum of 
 money with which to undertake so great an enterprise as that of carrying 
 on war vrith the Spaniards and Portuguese, but it was found ample for the 
 purpose. All the inhabitants of the United Provinces had the right, within 
 a certain time, to take shares. The charter was signed on the 20th of March, 
 1602, and gave the Company power to make treaties with Indian governments 
 in the name of the States General of the United Netherlands or of the 
 supreme authorities of the same, to build fortresses, appoint generals, and 
 enlist troops, provided such troops took oaths of fidelity to the States, or 
 to the supreme authority, and to the Company. The first fleet, consisting 
 of fourteen vessels under command of Wybrand van Warwtk, sailed before 
 the end of 1602, and was followed towards the close of 1603 by thirteen 
 other ships nnder Stephen van dkr Haoen. The equipment of these two 
 fleets cost £220,000. 
 
 The Company set out with great advantages. All the branches of the 
 Indian trade were by this time thoroughly understood, and officers and 
 seamen had been trained to the peculiar service. Strange, also, as it may 
 seem to readers of the present day, the Dutch gaHeots were then superior 
 
HISTORTCAL TXTRODUCTIOy. 
 
 1186 TO 165-2. 
 
 45 
 
 in sailing qualities to any other vessels afloat, so great a stride has since 
 been made in naval architecture. What the Aberdeen clipper of the 
 present day is to the Newcastle collier, was the galleot of the year IGOO to 
 the marine castles in which Medina Sidonia and Mendoza went forth to 
 conquer and returned disgraced. The galleot, now the butt of seamen, 
 was then a clipper that could choose her position and distance when in 
 action, or could sail away without danger of being overtaken. 
 
 The war in the Indian seas was long and bloody. Orders were sent from 
 Spain that all Dutchmen found there were to be put to death, and these 
 commands would undoubtedly have been carried out in letter and spirit, if 
 there had not been a serious difficulty in catching them before killing them. 
 They swarmed there. There was soon hardly a native power in the east 
 that did not openly trade with them, though the Spanish authorities issued 
 instructions that all who in any way countenanced them should be severely 
 chastised. The Portuguese were more numerous there than they ; but 
 they thought lightly of that. Steadily and surely they went on, fighting 
 and trading by turns, being masters of both professions, until nothing was 
 left to the Portuguese of all their vast conquests in the east but Macoa, Diu, 
 Goa, and Mozambique. 
 
 The possessions of the Company, under which a large portion of South 
 Africa was afterwards included, were subject to the jurisdiction of the 
 Batavian Council, which was composed of the governor-general of the Indies, 
 the director-general, five directors in ordinary, and a small number of 
 extraordinary councillors, who had no vote, and only supplied the place of 
 deceased directors in ordinary till successors were appointed. The council 
 gave laws to all the Company's settlements, and had the direction of 
 commercial affairs abroad. It was not, however, an independent body, but 
 was in subordination to the directory established in the United Provinces. 
 There were six chambers in the Netherlands, whose business it was to 
 dispose of the Indian merchandize, in proportion to the funds contributed 
 by each. The directory, or supreme governing power of the Company, was 
 termed the Chamber of Seventeen, and was composed of eight directors 
 chosen by the chamber of Amsterdam, four chosen by the chamber of 
 Zealand, one chosen by each of the chambers of Enkhuizen, Delft, Hoorn, 
 and Rotterdam, and one chosen by the State. It met two or three times 
 every year, for six years at Amsterdam, and two at Middelburgh. The 
 power of the Chamber of Seventeen, when the Company was at the height 
 of its prosperity, was almost equal to that of the States General. The 
 armed forces at its command contributed less towards this than the 
 extensive patronage it enjoyed, consequent upon the numerous offices at 
 its disposal. 
 
 The Company's galleots, like the ships of all flags that visited the Indian 
 seas, called at the Cape on their passages out and homeward. It became 
 a sort of halfway house, where they could get refreshments and obtain the 
 latest news. In those days, voyages to India usually took at least twice the 
 
irt ursTORic.vL TXTRonucTToy.— 1486 TO li)62. 
 
 time they do now, aud the means of preserving fresh meat and vegetables 
 had not been discovered. Accordingly, scurvy was wont to make sad 
 havoc among seamen, and the best remedy for it was known to be a good 
 run ashore and plenty of fresh food. A more suitable place than the Cap« 
 could not have been desired. The men could be indulged 'with leave to go 
 ashore without any danger of their running away, — a practice very prevalent 
 at all times with seamen, but more particularly at that period, when it was 
 considered necessary to enforce strict discipline by most severe punishments, 
 — and the Hottentots had abundance of stock, which they were in the habit 
 of exchanging for gewgaws and bits of old iron ; that is, when the commanders 
 saw fit to trade in preference to taking cattle by force and without the 
 trouble of any negotiations. From Holland, when the galleots sailed, they 
 brought stones of a peculiar shape, with the ships' names engraven upon 
 them, and directions that despatches and letters would be found either 
 under them or in specified positions. These stones were deposited in 
 places previously agreed upon, and served in lieu of a post office. A 
 simpler plan was afterwards found in leaving the despatches in charge of 
 trustworthy natives. 
 
 During the first half of the seventeenth century it was no uncommon 
 circumstance for ten or a dozen vessels at a time to be riding at anchor on 
 the waters of Table Bay. Scurvy-stricken mariners frequently made a 
 temporary abode on the site of the present city of Cape Town ; numerous 
 were there the graves in which the remains of white men from the far off 
 North reposed ; and yet, with the single exception of a resolution passed in 
 1619 by the Board of Directors of the Netherlands East India Company, 
 to the effect that it was advisable to build a fort and open a trading 
 establishment at the Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of procuring 
 refreshment for the crews of their fleets, no Power seems to have appreciated 
 the advantages to be derived from a settlement here. 
 
 In 1648 the galleot Haarlem, on her return from the Indies, was wrecked 
 in Table Bay. The crew got safely to shore, and were received and treated 
 in a friendly manner by the natives, until, five months afterwards, t-hey 
 were rescued by a squadron bound to the east. During the period of their 
 residence, some of them made extensive observations concerning the 
 capabilities of the country and the character of the natives, and, upon their 
 return home, two of them, named Leendert Jansz and Nicolaas Proot, 
 addressed a memorial to the Directors, in which they set forth the 
 advantages that might be derived by the Company from the establishment 
 of a fort and a garden at the Cape of Good Hope. In this document they 
 expressed surprise that the Spaniards and Portuguese had never yet made 
 use of Table Bay to lie in wait for the ships returning with valuable cargoes 
 from the east, for which purpose no fitter place in the world could be 
 found. The ships not arriving in company, (the memorialists continued) it 
 would be easy for the enemy, with eight or ten vessels on the watch and 
 ready for action, with slight trouble and no risk, to capture and carry off 
 
HISTORICAL INTJIODUCTION. — 148G TO 1G52. 
 
 47 
 
 all of them. From the experience they had gained, they enlarged on the 
 fruitfalness of the soil, the facilities for obtaining cattle, and the probable 
 profit of a whale fishery. With reference to the natives, they spoke in 
 favourable terms ; while their allusions to the conflicts between those 
 people and their own countrymen as well as other Europeans, do not 
 exhibit the latter in the most favourable light. As an instance of the 
 treatment to which the Hottentots were sometimes subjected, they informed 
 the Directors that when the fleet under command of Wollebrandt Gelijnsen 
 was at the Cape in the previous year, seven or eight cattle were shot and 
 taken away without payment, which would probably cost some lives if an 
 opportunity for revenge presented itself. 
 
 In that fleet of Gelijnsen's there was one Johan van Riebeck, a surgeon , 
 who, during three weeks that he remained in Table Bay, had observed the 
 advantages it offered as a place of refreshment, and who now likewise urged 
 upon the Directors the advisability of forming a settlement. He endorsed 
 all that Jansz and Proot had said, with the exception that his opinions 
 with regard to the natives were opposed to theirs. He remarked that the 
 savages were by no means to be trusted, and therefore a fort should be 
 made tolerably defensible. 
 
 The question was then taken into consideration, and it was finally 
 resolved to build a fort and form a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. 
 In no sense of the word was it intended to found a colony. A military 
 stronghold was what the Company had in view, where their ships might 
 be secured from molestation, and where refreshment could be obtained. 
 For the first purpose, a fort was to be erected, for the second, extensive 
 fruit and vegetable gardens were to be laid out and planted. The natives 
 were not to be interfered with, but every endeavour was to be made to win 
 their confidence and affection. They were to be treated with kindness, and 
 any attempt to injure them in person or in property was to be carefully 
 guarded against and severely punished. Ships of other nations were not 
 to be encouraged to visit the bay, but active resistance was to be offered to 
 the Portuguese only. (In 1640 that nation had succeeded in severing its 
 connection with Spain, and was now at war with the United Netherlands). 
 
 On the 25th of March, 1651, instructions were issued by the Chamber of 
 Seventeen to the captains of the galleots Drmnedaris and Reiser, and of the 
 yacht Hoop, to prepare their vessels for the expedition. It may be presumed 
 that they obeyed this order effectually, as they took the remainder of the 
 year for that purpose. A force of about one hundred men was to be sent 
 out, and the chief command was given to Van Riebeck, with the title of 
 Commander. All the details concerning the site and size of the fort, the 
 management of the men. &c., were settled by the directors, and very little 
 indeed was left to the Commander's discretion. 
 
 Thus one hundred and sixty- five years after the discovery of the Cape 
 of Good Hope by Diaz, a permanent settlement was about to bo foraied by 
 Europeans. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ABORIGINES OP SOUTH AFHICA. — HOTTENTOTS. — BUSHMEN. 
 
 The aborigines of the western portion of South Africa were Hottentots and 
 Bushmen, races which differ materially from all others found in the conti- 
 nent. The Hottentots appear to bear the same relation to the inland 
 tribes that the Celts in Europe bear to the Teutons. When the country 
 was discovered, they were being pressed upon from the north and the east, 
 and were too feeble to make any effectual resistance. The appearance of 
 Europeans upon the scene hastened the period of their subjugation, but it 
 was already in process of accomplishment. With the sea to the west and 
 the south, they were doomed either to incorporation with conquerors, or 
 more probably to extermination, when the white man took possession of 
 their country. But the tribes at the extremity of the continent knew 
 nothing of the danger which, though yet at a great distance, so surely 
 threatened them ; for there was no communication between them and those 
 on the border. 
 
 By the early Portuguese navigators the term Hottentot was first applied 
 to the people who have since borne that name ; it was not a term recognized 
 by themselves. Like the Kaffirs, they had only tribal appellations, and 
 no name for the whole race collectively. Their descendants are by this 
 time so completely changed that it would be impossible to describe their 
 exact position in the scale of humanity, at the period of their first intercourse 
 with Europeans, were it not for the descriptions, — often contradictory, — 
 given of them by early voyagers, compared with our knowledge of the 
 Namaqua and Koranna clans of the present day. All the rest have long 
 since lost the language, customs, and dress of their forefathers, and have 
 adopted European habits instead. They have no traditions whatever ; it 
 is from the white man they learn there was a time when they were lords 
 of the soil, and when European civilization was unknown among them. 
 
 When first visited, the Hottentots were divided into a great number of 
 clans or small tribes, which differed from each other in many respects, 
 according to the localities in which they lived. Those whose residence 
 was on the seacoast must have been the most degraded then, as they are 
 at the present day in Great Namaqualand. In personal appearance, they 
 differed greatly from all other people. They were small in stature ; with 
 thin faces ; high cheek bones ; eyes deep sunk, far apart, and set obliquely ; 
 noses flat ; lips thick ; foreheads low ; beard scanty ; their heads were but 
 sparsely covered with small tufts of wool ; their hands and feet were small 
 and delicate ; their colour varied from a pair yellow to a dingy brown. 
 
TH K irOTTF. VTOTS. 
 
 49 
 
 Their langaago was unique. To European ears it sounded like a continued 
 clattering of the teeth, and it was found, in consequence, to be next to 
 impossible to acquire it. The different clicks were made by striking the 
 tongue in various ways against the teeth or roof of the mouth. Many 
 words had quite different meanings, signified by a slight variation in the 
 clicks used. Europeans could at first detect no difference between them, 
 and it was not until white children were brought up in South Africa, and 
 accustomed from infancy to these inharmonious sounds, that they became 
 acquainted with the number and variation of them. Dr. Bleek, in his 
 Comparative Grammar of South African Languages, says that the structure 
 of the Hottentot language is monosyllabic, which means to say merely that 
 most words that are not monosyllables are at once i-ecognized as derivatives 
 and composites. Three fourths of the syllabic elements begin with clicks. 
 The liquid consonant I is not used in the language. Its nearest relations 
 are met with in Northern Africa, and it is totally different in construction 
 from other South African languages. It is still spoken by about twenty 
 thousand Namaquas and Korannas, and a large amount of missionary 
 literature exists in the Nama dialect. From its structure Dr. Bleek infers 
 that the Hottentots are descendants of tribes that migrated from Northern 
 Africa in very remote times. 
 
 There never was any difficulty in holding communication with them 
 concerning any material object. When Lancaster wanted an ox, for 
 instance, he imitated the lowing of that animal, and was at once understood. 
 These children of nature, too, were quick in picking up what words they 
 heard, and no long time elapsed after vessels began to frequent Table Bay 
 before some of the cleverest of them were able to converse with their 
 visitors either in Portuguese, English, or Dutch. Their own language 
 contained few words expressive of abstract ideas, and no word for any 
 number higher than ten. If they wished to indicate a number between 
 ten and one hundred, they could easily do so by repeating the tens and 
 adding the units : thus fifty-five would be five tens and five. Beyond one 
 hundred they could not proceed. As soon as they were thrown into 
 contact with other people, a great number of new words had to be formed 
 to express the new ideas gained and new objects seen. The language, as 
 spoken at the present day, is therefore much more copious than it was in 
 olden times. But the great majority of the Hottentot people have long 
 since lost all knowledge of it, and now speak broken Dutch. The original 
 language was divided into several dialects, which was the principal cause 
 of its becoming obsolete in the colony so soon after the European occupa- 
 tion. For, the different Hottentots, who were successively brought under 
 subjection, not being able to converse easily with each other, naturally 
 adopted the language of their masters. 
 
 The principal property of the Hottentots consisted of horned cattle and 
 sheep. Of their cattle they were particularly fond, and their skill in training 
 them for various purposes was very great. Some were taught to guard 
 X 
 
oO THK HOTTKNTOTS. 
 
 the rest, as doc^s do slicop in several countries ; others were trained to 
 assist in war by charging the enemy and retreating upon a particular call 
 being made by their masters ; others again were used as pack oxen to carry 
 their owners or any burdens placed upon them. The milk of their cows 
 constituted the most important, article of their diet. They seldom killed 
 an ox for food, unless they possessed a superfluous number or intended to 
 have a great feast ; nevertheless, they ate all that died a natural death. 
 Some tribes were very rich in horned cattle. The ox of the Hottentot was 
 an inferior animal to that of Europe. He was a gaunt, bony creature, with 
 immense horns and long legs, his flesh was coarse, but he was hardy and 
 well adapted to supply the wants of his owner. The sheep were unlike 
 those of Europe. They were covered with hair instead of wool, were of 
 various colourSj and had long lapping ears and tails six or seven pounds in 
 weight. Their flesh was excellent. Even yet, in some parts of South 
 Africa, flocks of these sheep are preserved by wealthy farmers, on account 
 of the high estimation in which the flesh and the fat of the tail are held ; 
 though the Merino, owing to the value of its fleece, has nearly driven the 
 other from the face of the land. The Hottentots had great numbers of 
 sheep. They did not set so high a value upon them proportionately as 
 upon their horned cattle, and very readily parted with them to strangers 
 for next to nothing. They used their milk as well as their flesh for food. 
 Children were taught to suck the ewes, and often derived the principal 
 part of their sustenance from this source. 
 
 The only other domestic animal they had was the dog. He was an 
 unsightly brute, with a body shaped like that of a fox, and hair turned in 
 all directions. But, for all that, he was a faithful, serviceable animal of his 
 kind. 
 
 The food of the Hottentots consisted of milk, the flesh of game obtained 
 in the chase, meat from their flocks of tame animals, locusts, and whatever 
 wild roots and fruits were procurable. Those on the seacoast varied their 
 diet with the flesh of penguins, seals, and such dead whales as were washed 
 ashore. In short, nothing that would be considered eatable by a baboon 
 or a vulture came amiss to them. They had no fixed times for meUrls, but 
 ate when they were hungry or could obtain food. They usually cooked 
 meat before eating it, but sometimes devoured it raw. Their filminess 
 and greediness in eating can hardly be described. The gall was th^^ only 
 part of an animal that they rejected, the blood and intestines being with 
 them choice dainties. Of agriculture, even in its simplest form3, the 
 western tribes knew absolutely nothing. Those to the eastward adjoined 
 nations whose food was partly derived from gardens, and they must therefore 
 have been acquainted with the fact that the ground could be cuhivat^ji, but 
 their indolence and hereditary habits stood in the way of any use oeing 
 made of sach knowledge. It is certain that they were not cannibals, tlough 
 this charge was sometimes made against them by early travellers vhose 
 statements were based on supposition. , 
 
TEE H0TT£:NT0TS. 
 
 51 
 
 They understood the art of making an intoxicating liquor from honey, 
 considerable quantities of which could be obtained in the season of flowers. 
 They caused it to ferment by mixing with it a particular root reduced to 
 powder. The evils resulting from this knowledge must, however, have 
 been very limited. During the greater portion of the year no honey was 
 to be had, and the liquor when made would not keep longer than a day or 
 two. Much more pernicious was their use of dacha (a species of wild hemp) 
 for smoking. With a pipe made of the horn of an antelope, they inhaled 
 the smoke of this baneful weed, which produced temporary insanity, and 
 ended after long practice in the utter destruction of the nervous system. 
 It was, perhaps, fortunate for them that they were ignorant of agriculture, 
 as a constant and ample supply of dacha must have brought about their 
 extinction. We read, indeed, in old journals of rumours received of tribes 
 living in the interior and owning great plantations of dacha, with which 
 they carried on an extensive traffic ; but such plantations never existed in 
 reality. It is probable, however, that those who lived in places where this 
 plant flourished extensively used it as an article of barter, and that the 
 reports were thus based partly on fact. 
 
 Their dress was made of the skins of sheep and wild animals, usually 
 prepared with the hair on. After having been removed from the animal, 
 the skin was first cleansed of any fleshy matter adhering to it, and then 
 rubbed with fat till it became soft and pliable. The men used a kaross, or 
 number of skins sewed together, which they wrapped about them when 
 they felt cold and cast aside altogether when warm. A small triangular 
 piece of leather, suspended behind, completed their costume. The women 
 wore at all times a small apron or sometimes a bunch of leather strings 
 suspended from the waist, and in cold weather used a scanty kaross. 
 Children wore no clothing whatever. Kound their legs the females bound 
 strips of raw hide, like rings, which, when dry, rattled against each other, 
 and made a noise when they moved. Their heads were adorned with shells, 
 bits of copper, leopards' teeth, or any other glittering ornaments they 
 could obtain. Fi-om earliest infancy their bodies were smeared with fat 
 and rubbed over with clay, soot, or powdered buchu, and to this may be 
 attributed the intolerable stench of their persons. The coat of fat and 
 clay was not intended for ornament alone. It made their joints supple 
 and bodies pliable, and prevented them from being devoured alive by the 
 swarms of vermin that infested their huts and clothing. 
 
 Their habitations were mere hovels, being oval or circular frames of 
 wickerwork covered with mats, in the manufacture of which the women 
 possessed great skill. They were plaited of rushes, and were so nicely 
 made as to be waterproof. The huts were not more than five feet in height, 
 and the only aperture was a small hole through which the inmates crawled. 
 In cold or wet weather a fire was made in a cavity in the centre, the smoke 
 from which filled the wretched apartment. Their huts were arranged in 
 the form of a circle or an ellipse, the space enclosed being used as a fold 
 
52 
 
 THE nOITJi><'TOTS. 
 
 for cattle. With some of the tribes, however, the cattle folds were outside 
 of the circle of huts, thus plainly showing their unwarlike disposition. 
 They were not prepared to defend their cattle against the attacks of enemies , 
 otherwise the respective position of the huts and folds would have been 
 reversed. 
 
 Their weapons of war and the chase were bows and arrows, sticks with 
 clubbed heads, and assegais. They commonly poisoned their arrows, so 
 that a wound from one of them, however slight, was mortal. Some of 
 these savage tribes possessed the art of smelting iron, but were too indolent 
 to do more than make a few rough assegai heads of it. Horn was ready at 
 hand, was much more easily fashioned, and was almost as serviceable for 
 pointing weapons. Masses of solid copper were to be picked up in Nama- 
 qualand, and this metal appears to have been extensively spread over the 
 neighbouring country by means of barter, but was never used for any 
 other purpose than that of making uncouth ornaments, — principally ear- 
 rings. In the use of the assegai the Hottentots were very expert ; many 
 of them could hit with it an object the size of a man's hand at a distance 
 of fifty yards. The clubbed stick was almost as formidable a weapon. 
 It was rather larger than an ordinary walking cane, and had a round head 
 two or three inches in diameter. Boys were trained to throw this with, 
 so accurate an aim as to hit a bird on the wing at thirty or forty yards 
 distance. It was projected in such a manner as to bring the heavy knob 
 into contact with the object aimed at, so that antelopes and other animals 
 as large as goats were killed by it. 
 
 In addition to the manufactures already referred to, these people were 
 acquainted with the art of making a rude kind of pottery, but it was not 
 practised to any great extent. Earthenware vessels, of such great utility 
 to agricultural tribes, were almost valueless to them. They cooked meat 
 by throwing it on burning coals or laying it on a heated stone, so that pots 
 were not required. Their milk was preserved in skin bags, as it is with 
 other African tribes at the present day. Ostrich egg shells and ox horns 
 were used for carrying water and for every other purpose where small 
 dishes or basins would be required. It ceases, therefore, to excite surprise, 
 that a people so addicted to indolence should have neglected to make more 
 use of an art that could have added but little to their comfort. 
 
 Each kraal or village was under the government of an hereditary chief, 
 who was himself subject to the great chief of the tribe. The authority of 
 the chief was little more than nominal, as his subjects were exceedingly 
 impatient of control. Disputes between individuals were settled by a court 
 composed of all the men of the kraal, who sat in a circle and heard what 
 the disputants had to say. They then gave judgment, and the sentence 
 was executed on the spot. Disputes between kraals were settled in the 
 same manner by all the chiefs of the tribe. . Popular opinion was thus the 
 law of the land. There were no fixed punishments for stated offences, iu 
 short, there was nothing deserving the name of a code of laws. Polygamy 
 
THJ£ H0TTJCNTOT8. 
 
 58 
 
 Tvas permitted, and free love was practised,! for the marriage tie was even 
 more loosely held than in other African nations. It could be dissolved at 
 the pleasure of the man, when a new contract could immediately be entered 
 into, though there was a form of marriage ceremony, and the bridegroom 
 was required to pay an ox or two to the father of his bride. 
 
 Like all savages, these people were incapable of prolonged thought. 
 Even the slightest exertion of the mind, when it could be avoided, was 
 foreign to their nature. Yet they were fond of noisy chat and of telling 
 stories, which usual]}'- had reference to the doings of animals. The Hot- 
 tentots in the colony have lost the language and traditions of their ances- 
 tors, but it is probable that among the Namaquas and Korannas a mass of 
 folklore exists, which, if collected, would throw a flood of light upon the 
 ideas, habits, and beliefs of these people. 
 
 The Hottentots were superstitious, and held firm faith in ghosts and 
 witchcraft ; but they did not trouble themselves about a God. They had 
 not the faintest idea of a resurrection, or of a heaven and a hell. It is 
 generally assumed that a belief in ghosts implies a knowledge of the con- 
 tinued existence of the soul after the death of the body, but this involves 
 a train of reasoning beyond the capacities or inclination of these people- 
 A ghost was to them something which excited fear, but which was in itself 
 unexplainable. When told of the existence of a Supreme Being and a spirit 
 world, they expressed no surprise and intimated no doubts, simply because 
 they were willing to receive anything for granted that would spare them 
 the trouble of thinking for themselves. In charms they possessed the 
 rudiments of idolatry, but they had made no advance in the direction of 
 worshipping them. They believed a species of the mantis to possess the 
 power of conferring good luck upon an individual or a kraal that it visited, 
 and they paid great respect to this insect and would on no account harm 
 it. It has been asserted that they worshipped this insect, from which 
 circumstance it is commonly called by the colonists the Hottentot God, 
 but there seems to be no foundation for the statement. Departed great 
 ones were sometimes prayed to, though when questioned, they denied that 
 they considered them to be still in existence. 
 
 And yet, they were a merry, lighthearted people. In the bright moon- 
 light nights they would assemble, and dance and feast till morning dawn- 
 ed. So long as they had food they had no care nor grief, no anxiety or 
 thought for the morrow. The women collected roots, and the men hunted 
 or slumbered in front of their huts all day long,^ — they knew not the mean- 
 ing of the word toil. 
 
 Their great vices were idleness and filthiness. They abandoned the aged 
 and helpless as well as sickly and deformed children, and allowed them to 
 perish of hunger. But they called this mercy, not cruelty. What would a 
 helpless wretch or a cripple do in a state of society like theirs P Better 
 that he should die at once than linger on in misery ! For the same reason, 
 when a woman giving snck died, the child wap buried with its dead parent. 
 
THE EUSHMEX. 
 
 Whether the Bushmen are the true aborigines of South Africa, and were 
 driven in ages long past from the richest and best of their possessions in 
 the south-west of the continent by an invading army of Hottentots, or 
 whether they and the Hottentots are the same race, and the distinction 
 between them arose from the possession of domestic cattle on the one hand 
 and absolute poverty on the other, was long a matter of controversy ; one 
 thing only being certain, that as far back as the history of the Hottentots 
 could be traced, they have claimed to be a separate people. The question 
 was not set at rest until the late Dr. Bleek. made known the result of his 
 investigations into the two languages, as well as into the customs of these 
 people. He found that they resembled each other in their outward aspect, 
 in many of their habits and customs, and in their mythologies. But the 
 grammatical structure of their languages is entirely different, the relationship 
 between them being more distant than that between English and Latin, 
 though like these languages, they may have sprung from one source at 
 some very remote period. 
 
 This seems to be conclusive as to the fact of the Hottentots and Bushmen 
 being distinct races, or bi-anches thrown off from the same parent stock 
 with a very extended interval of time between them. The supposition of 
 Dr. Moffat, given in his Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa, 
 that a distinct language arose from parties of children being left to 
 themselves, is no longer tenable. 
 
 The Bushmen lived in the same manner as the ancient cave-men of 
 Europe, judging from the relics of the latter race which have excited so 
 much attention of late years. Both people were ignorant of the use of 
 metals ; both depended almost entirely on the proceeds of the chase, and 
 both used stone implements. It is remarkable that in South Africa an 
 agricultural race, acquainted with the use of iron, such as the Bechuanas, 
 a pastoral race, using iron to a less extent, such as the Hottentots, and a 
 race of hunters, using stone and bone only, such as the Bushmen, should 
 have been contemporary with each other. The Bushman had a much widei 
 range than the Hottentot, as he was found far in the territory occupied by 
 the Bechuanas and Kaffirs ; but everywhere his habits, his mode of living, 
 and his implements, were the same. And to this day, the few who still 
 exist remain almost unchanged. There has never been an instance of one 
 becoming thoroughly civilized, and in all important respects she Bushman of 
 the desert is a true representative of his fathers still. 
 
 When the white man came to South Africa, he found the Bushmen 
 inhabiting various parts of the country, and plundering the Hottentots 
 whenever opportunity offered. The hatred between the two races was in 
 most cases inveterate, and, according to their own account, had always been 
 80. Yet it was no unusual circumstance for a clan of Hottentots to have a 
 party of Bushmen attached to it. They did not reside together, however, 
 and the relationship between them partook of the nature of a treaty. The 
 Bushmen gave notice of approaching enemies and abstained from plunder- 
 
THE HUSIIMEN. 
 
 ing their allies, the Hottentots prevented them from starving when game 
 was not to be had. With these exceptions, the Bushman's hand was 
 against every man, and every man's hand against him. 
 
 They were pigmies in size, and caricatures of the ugliest S|.>ecimens of 
 the other native race. They possessed, however, bright sparkling eyes, 
 and were gifted with astonishing powers of sight. Their personal appearance 
 varied greatly with the abundance or want of food. In times of famine the 
 skin hung loosely over their shrivelled frames and they were perfectl)' 
 hideous, but an ample supply of meat for a single month made them fat 
 and sleek. 
 
 A cave with its opening protected by a few branches, or the centre of a 
 small circle of thorn trees round which skins of wild animals were stretched, 
 was the best dwelling-place that they aspired to possess. If neither of 
 these was within their reach, they scooped out a hole in the ground, placed 
 a few sticks or stones round it, and spread a skin above to serve as a roof, 
 or sometimes nothing more than a reed mat on the side from which the 
 wind was blowing. A little grass at the bottom of the hole formed a bed, 
 and though it was not much larger than the nest of an ostrich, a whole 
 family would manage to lie down in it. But, however miserable in point 
 of structure, the " house," as it is called by the Bushmen, plays an important 
 part in their stories of domestic life. 
 
 Their ordinary food was then, what it still is, roots, berries, wild plants, 
 larvae of insects, locusts, white ants, and reptiles of all kinds, together 
 with whatever wild animals they could kill or domestic ones they could 
 steal, the flesh of which they usually cooked when they were not nearly 
 famished with hunger. Like most beasts of prey, they were capable of 
 remaining a long time without food, and could make up for a prolonged 
 fast by gorging immense quantities of flesh when they were fortunate 
 enough to obtain it. They were entirely careless of the future, and were 
 happy if the wants of the moment were supplied. Thus, when a large 
 animal was killed, no pains were taken to preserve a portion oE its flesh , 
 but the time was spent in alternate gorging and sleeping until not a particle 
 of carrion remained. When a drove of domestic cattle was stolen, several 
 were slaughtered at once and their carcases shared with birds of prey, 
 while if their recapture was considered possible, every animal was imme- 
 diately killed. Such wanton destruction caused them to be detested by all 
 other dwellers in the land. 
 
 Their weapons consisted of bows and arrows only. Their bows were 
 about three feet in length, made of the toughest wood they could obtain, 
 and strung with a cord formed by twisting together the sinews of animals. 
 Their arrows were about eighteen inches long, made of reed pointed with 
 bone. The arrowhead and the lashing by which it was secured to the reed 
 were coated with a deadly poison, so that the slightest wound inflicted by 
 it caused death. They were acquainted with various kinds of poison, the 
 sorts in general use being obtained from certain roots, from a species of 
 
5^ 
 
 THE TJUSHMEX. 
 
 caterpillar, and from auakes. They carried their arrows in a quiver about 
 four or five inches in diameter, which they made by drawing the bark 
 entire off a piece of wood, then plastering it with some adhesive substance, 
 and fitting a bottom and a cap to it of serpents' skin. The arrow was 
 formidable solely on account of the poison, as it could not be projected 
 with accuracy to any great distance, and had but little force. In after 
 years the colonists always considered their clothing ample protection at 
 fifty yards distance. The Bushmen made pits for entrapping game, and 
 also poisoned pools of water, so that any animal drinking of it perished. 
 
 The stone implements which they used were, with one exception, all 
 natural chips or flakes, and received at their hands very little finishing and 
 no polish. Of bone and horn both they and the Hottentots made their 
 knives, scrapers, awls for piercing skins, and arrowheads. It would appear 
 as if it were only when a supply of these failed, that the Bushmen had 
 recourse to stone flakes. Certain it is that stone was not generally used 
 for any of these purposes when Europeans first came in contact with them, 
 nor are implements made of it found in any of their caves, though chipped 
 stone arrowheads and knives have been picked up in great abundance in 
 certain localities. The one stone implement which the Bushman was found 
 using was a heavy knob, employed to give weight to the stick with which he 
 turned up the ground so as to reach the bulbs of plants. It was one of the 
 round stones, from four to six inches in diameter, which are found in great 
 abundance in most parts of the country. Through the centre of this the 
 Bushwoman drilled a hole large enough to receive the stick used in digging. 
 With the tools at her disposal, this must have been a work requiring a long 
 period of time and a vast amount of patience, so that a stone when drilled 
 undoubtedly had a very high value in their eyes. On it they depended for food 
 in seasons of intense drought, when all the game had fled from their part of 
 the country. 
 
 The Bushmen wore few ornaments. Their clothing usually consisted of 
 a kaross only, if we except a belt which the poor wretches used to assuage 
 the pangs of hunger by tightening. They rubbed their bodies over with fat 
 and clay or ashes, which made them even more hideous in appearance than 
 they were naturally. When he expected to meet an enemy, the Bushman 
 fastened his arrows in an erect position round his head, so as to have them 
 in readiness for action, and at the same time to make himself appear as 
 formidable as possible. 
 
 They lived in small societies, often consisting of only a couple of families. 
 They have been uniformly described by travellers and colonists as passionate 
 and cruel in the extreme. Numerous instances have been recorded of their 
 sacrificing human life, even that of their near kindred, on very slight 
 provocation. But it would appear that their ferocity was a result of their 
 mode of life rather than an inherent quality, for some of those who have 
 been domesticated for a time in Christian households have shown themselves 
 humane and tenderhearted, especially towards children and animals. They 
 
THE BUSHMEN. 
 
 57 
 
 do not appear to have understood what quarter in battle meant, for when 
 surrounded so that all hope of escape was gone, they fought till their last 
 man fell, and they never spared an enemy who was in their power. Their 
 manner of living was such as to develop only qualities essential to a hunter. 
 In keenness of vision and fleetness of foot they were unsurpassed, they 
 could travel immense distances without taking rest, and yet their frames 
 were so feeble as to be incapable of any other kind of labour. 
 
 They possessed an intense love of liberty and of their wild wandering 
 way of life. Hereditary chieftainship and law were to them quite unknown. 
 It sometimes happened that the bravest or most expert of a party became a 
 €ort of leader in predatory excursions, but his authority never extended to 
 the exercise of judicial control. Each man was absolutely and entirely in- 
 dependent of every other. Even parental authority was commonly disregarded 
 by a youth as soon as he could provide for his own wants. Yet the head 
 of a family appears to have held a position of somewhat greater dignity 
 than that of other persons, and the rights of families to tracts of country 
 were recognized as hereditary. Thus, in this state of society the most 
 exalted personage was a patriarch without power or authority. 
 
 They reared no domestic animal except the dog, and had no fixed residence. 
 Their wanderings were indeed limited, as they required to be minutely 
 acquainted with the natural features of the country in which they hunted, 
 and therefore seldom crossed a range of mountains, but passed their lives 
 in following in a particular district the game upon which they preyed 
 precisely as other carnivora. They were firm believers in charms and 
 witchcraft, but the most observant of travellers could never ascertain that 
 they worshipped anything. It needed an intimate acquaintance with their 
 language and deep research into their traditionary folklore to bring to light 
 the workings of their minds, and to show the nature of their religion. It 
 is only of recent years that any attention has been directed to this subject^ 
 and to the present day the results of investigations into their ideas 
 have only been partially published. It is now known that they worshipped; 
 the heavenly bodies, and that like the Hottentots they prayed to deceasedi. 
 worthies, but yet did not believe in their own resurrection. 
 
 Even in a state of society such as this, the rudiments of trade were to be 
 found. There were individuals who were really more expert than others 
 in mixing poisons and making weapons, or who had the reputation of being 
 skilled in the use of such charms as would cause their wares to be more 
 deadly. These were the most important personagea in the community. 
 But their reputation hung on a very slender thread, since a few unlucky 
 shots would be taken as a proof that their charms were powerless. The 
 belief was universal that arrows could be bewitched, so that any which, 
 missed the mark two or three times in succession were thrown away as 
 likely always to fail their owners in time of need. 
 
 The Bushman language contained five distinct clicks, which were even . 
 more frequently used than in Hottentot, and it was besides particularly 
 I 
 
58 
 
 THE BUSHMEN. 
 
 disagreeable to a European ear on account of a deep guttural sound pro- 
 ceeding from the throat during its enunciation. It contained no word for 
 any number higher than three, anything beyond this being termed a great 
 many. 
 
 In their folklore the Bushmen speak of an ancient race which inhabited 
 the country before themselves. If such a race ever existed, they must 
 have been even more barbarous than those who supplanted them, and thig 
 seems almost incredible. It can hardly be supposed that the faintest gleam 
 can be cast upon occurrences of bygone ages through the medium of oral 
 traditions among such a people. In certain localities Bushmen may have 
 supplanted other tribes, and in this manner such tales may have originated 
 in facts. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of man living in a more degraded condition 
 than that of the Bushman. The rearing of cattle by the Hottentot placed 
 him on a much higher level, low as to us even that level may seem. And 
 yet the Bushman was in advance of the other in one respect. He was an 
 artist. On the walls of caverns and the sides of cliffs he drew pictures in 
 profile, rude but true to life, of the various animals with which he was 
 acquainted. The tints were made with different sorts of ochre, a choco- 
 late colour being used when the human form was delineated. In addition 
 to figures of animals and hunting scenes, these paintings sometimes exhibit 
 a number of marks of different shapes, such as squares, circles, and crosses, 
 but often consist of irregular daubs of colour. This has given rise to the 
 supposition that the Bushmen may have been acquainted with the rudi- 
 ments of hieroglyphic painting, but it seems more likely that these marks 
 were considered merely as ornaments, or they may have been the production 
 of apprentice hands, or possibly were simply tests of the quality of colours. 
 Their capability of withstanding the wear and tear of time is wonderful. 
 There are caves on the margins of rivers in Kaffraria, containing paintings 
 which have been exposed to the action of water during floods for at least a 
 hundred years, and the colours are yet unfaded where the rock has not 
 crumbled away. 
 
 The Bushmen of the far interior were probably superior in many respects 
 
 to those of the country south of the Orange River, — in stature and personal 
 appearance they certainly were, — but the pictures of their outward life, 
 given by intelligent travellers, convey an idea of what must have been the 
 condition of the southern members of the race. Chapman, who was a keen 
 observer and a trustworthy narrator, in his Travels in the Interior of South 
 Africa^ gives a large amount of information concerning these people. The 
 following paragraphs are from his work : — 
 
 " During the day we lighted upon a Bushman village of seven or eight huts, 
 consisting of a few forked eticke, about three or four feet long, set up against each 
 
THE BUSHMEN. 
 
 59 
 
 other, covered over with a few handsfiil of long grass. A small broken earthen pot 
 stood boiling some roots over a fire ; a calabash of water, a few tortoise shells for 
 dishes, and the hulls of innumerable bitter melons, lay scattered about, together with 
 a few bones ; but the inhabitants, saving one blind old man, had fled, leaving their 
 bows and arrows still hanging on the trees. We also discovered some Bushmen 
 graves, being excavations made in the large antheaps, raised by the white ant. In 
 these the body is placed, and the hill enclosed with strong thorn branches to protect 
 it from the vultures and hyenas." 
 
 " To my horror I was doomed to witness what they call the Porrah, or devil's 
 dance, under the influence of which they worked themselves up to such a pitch of 
 excitement, that they fell to the earth as if shot down with a gun, and writhed in 
 agony, foaming at the mouth, till relieved by letting of blood by the use of needles 
 or other sharp instruments. It was a wonder that some who thus fell were not 
 suflEbcated with the dust the rest raised as they danced in a circle round the fallen, 
 tramping to the time of one, two, three, — one, two, three, &c., and twisting their 
 bodies, arms, or legs, simultaneously at difierent stages of the dance and music. The 
 men carried fans of gnu-tails in their hands, a plume of black ostrich feathers waved 
 on their foreheads, and a moana seed-pod, which rattled at every tramp, encircled 
 their ankles. The women clapped their hands and stamped loudly to keep time with 
 their voices and the tramping of their husbands." 
 
 "From this Bushman I endeavoured to purchase the whole of his worldly 
 possessions, which, like all other Bushmen's, consisted of a bow with quiver, contain- 
 ing about twenty arrows, the blades of which are mostly made of bone, some few 
 being of iron, in the shape of a harpoon, and well plastered with poison. These 
 darts are so arranged in the shafts that they disconnect themselves from the latter 
 on striking an animal, without injury to either. Besides these fatal instruments they 
 carry generally a worn-out spear, a sharpened stick to dig up roots, two pieces of 
 wood with which they make fire by friction, an awl, and a needle, with some medicinal 
 roots, chiefly antidotes for snake-bites, and some surplus poison. The poison is obtained 
 from roots, also from a kind of grub, and sometimes from a species of bulb. One sort ia 
 extracted from a species of euphorbia. Besides these, they have several kinds which they 
 keep a profound secret. No antidote is known for these poisons, but they sometimes 
 cure a wound by sucking it out. All these articles are packed together in a sort of 
 knapsack, with a small tortoise-shell for a spoon. Nothing could tempt the Bushboy 
 to dispose of them." 
 
 " Having recovered from their panic, a young girl approached our guide, and 
 sprinkled him with a powder made from a red root, repeating some uninteUigible 
 words ; this, we were informed, was a usual ceremony, which would act as a charm 
 against Porrah, the evil spirit, doing him injury for having brought so great a 
 surprise on his friends. This ceremony being ended, another girl brought a dish of 
 pounded sweet berries for our guide to eat, and several for ourselves, and, this done 
 he had to relate the news, which he did, as is usual, in a sort of rhythm consisting 
 of measured sentences, each containing a certain number of syllables, to which the 
 listenerg made one and the same antiphonal response. The news related was 
 addressed to the father of the family only, and then the respective parties greeted 
 each other by clapping hands all round. Bushmen do not exchange this greeting 
 until the news has been told, so that it may be understood from the intelligenc 
 
60 
 
 THE BUSHMEJf. 
 
 giren whether the errand ig peaceful and friendly. No one dare give any information 
 in the absence of the chief or father of the clan, and Bushmen and other natires 
 never expect it, kno-tving their customs." 
 
 " Absurd and disgusting as some of their practices are, there are traits in the 
 character of the Bushmen in these parts which are much to be admired. Degraded 
 as they are in the scale of humanity, and even in the eyes of their superiors among 
 the native races, their morals are in general far in advance of those that obtain 
 among the more civilized Bechuanas. Although they have a plurality of wives, which 
 they also obtain by purchase, there is still love in all their marriages, and courtship 
 among them is a very formal and, in some respects, a rather punctilious affair. When 
 a young Bushman falls in love, he sends his sister to ask permission to pay his 
 addresses ; with becoming modesty, the girl holds off in a playful, yet not scornful 
 or repulsive manner, if she likes him. The young man next sends his sister with 
 a spear, or some other trifling article, which she leaves at the door of the girl's home. 
 If this be not returned within the three or four days allowed for consideration, the 
 Bushman takes it for granted that he is accepted, and gathering a number of his 
 friende, he makes a grand hunt, generally killing an elephant or some other large 
 animal, and bringing the whole of the flesh to his intended father-in-law. The 
 family now riot in the abundant supply, and having consumed the flesh and enjoyed 
 themselves with dance and song, send an empty but clean bowl to the young man's 
 friends, who each put in their mite, either an axe or spear, some beads, or trinkets. 
 After this the couple are proclaimed husband and wife, and the man goes to Uve 
 with his father-in-law for a couple of winters, killing game, and always laying the 
 produce of the chase at his feet as a mark of respect, duty, and gratitude. For the 
 father-in-law a young man always entertains a high regard, but after marriage he 
 shuns his mother-in-law, never perhaps speaking to her again for the whole of his 
 life ; and there seems to be a mutual inclination between them to avoid each other. 
 The same feeling exists on the part of the bride towards her father-in-law." 
 
 " Our friendly Bushmen, more fortunate than ourselves, are never at a loss at this 
 season to provide a meal with astonishing facility, at a few moments' notice. All 
 the different esculent roots known to them have already sprung out of the moist 
 ground, and meet them at every step. It is true that these are sometimes harsh and 
 unpalatable ; still, abiding by the principle that ' what won't kill will help to fill,* 
 they need not starve. Large bull-frogs are plentiful ; tortoises are to be found, and 
 turtles are easily taken in the ponds by those who understand the way ; birds' nests 
 are robbed, and a few dozen of mice easily killed and strung round their waist on 
 their girdle ; and, above all, the successive months direct them to different fields as 
 the various fruits and berries of the locality begin to ripen, and they fare sumptuously 
 for the time. Meat is nevertheless the idol they worship, and for this, of which 
 they are in constant pursuit, they will abandon everything else, and often risk their 
 lives." 
 
 " Recovering from their panic, several Bushmen came to see the white men and 
 their waggons, starting at our every movement. The chUdren seemed very fond of 
 their mothers, clinging to their naked and dusty bodies while squatting on the rough 
 stones, actively engaged with hands and feet, amidst clouds of dust, in grubbing 
 amongst the loose limestone for bulbs ; these they seemed to find without the aid of 
 their eyes, which were never withdrawn from us, and conveyed to their mouth with 
 
THE BUSHMEjr. 61" 
 
 V 
 
 great rapidity, free of pebbles. Covered, as I have said, vritli dust from their 
 baboon-like employment, they had a truly hideous and diabolical appearance. These 
 wretched creatures informed us very civilly that our cattle were in danger of getting 
 killed by some poisoned stakes they had planted by the water to kill game. Having 
 promised to remove them, we shot for them several gnus and zebras, of which animals- 
 we saw many thousands, and they undertook to conduct us to the nest water." 
 
 Note. — The researches of the late Dr. Bleek into the mythology, language,, 
 and traditionary literature of the Bushmen, must cause a modification of opinion 
 not only in regard to that particular people, but to savage races everywhere. 
 The observations made by even the most trustworthy and painstaking travellers are 
 found now to give but a very limited and superficial view of their customs, while 
 they throw little or no light upon the most important features of all, — their habits 
 and power of thought. Dr. Bleek, in his Report concerning Bushmen Researches 
 printed in May, 1875, and presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of 
 the Governor, states that his manuscript Bushman and EngUsh Dictionary contains 
 more than eleven thousand entries, — a startling statement, when it is remembered 
 that these people have always been considered, and probably with truth, as among 
 the very lowest in the scale of humanity. It may be inferred that the entries 
 include words used in several dialects, but the equally astonishing fact is made 
 known, that though only a small portion of the great store of Bushman traditionary 
 lore has been gathered, what has been collected amounts to seven thousand two 
 hundred half pages, a large portion of which has been translated. In his Report* 
 Dr. Bleek gives an analysis of this valuable collection, which is of itself the most 
 important paper concerning the Bushmen that has yet seen the light. He stat^s- 
 that " the most prominent of the mythological figures is that of the mantis, around 
 which a great circle of myths has been formed. Yet it does not seem that he is thc' 
 object of any worship, or that prayers are addressed to him. The heavenly bodies — 
 the sun, moon, and stars — are, however, prayed to, and thus the Bushmen are- 
 clearly to be included among the nations who have attained to sidereal worship.'* 
 A prayer to the moon, in two versions, another to the sun, also in two versions, and 
 a third to a star, probably to Canopus, are mentioned as included in the collection •■ 
 Rainmakers, sorcerers, water sprites, and charms, are found, as might have been 
 expected, to figure largely. An attempt is made to explain the origin of the heavenly 
 bodies. Thus, "the Sun, a man from whose armpit brightness proceeded, lived 
 formerly upon earth, but only gave light for a space around bis habitation. Some 
 children belonging to the first Bushmen were therefore sent to throw up the sleeping 
 Sun into the sky ; since then, he shines all over the earth." The moon was created 
 by a mantis, who threw his shoe into the sky. " The moon is also looked upon 
 as a man who incurs the wrath of the Sun, and is consequently pierced by the latter. 
 This process is repeated until almost the whole of the Moon is cut away, and only 
 one little piece left ; which the Moon piteously implores the Sun to spare for his 
 (the Moon's) children. From this little piece, the Moon gradually grows again 
 until it becomes a full moon, when the Sun's stabbing and cutting processes 
 recommence." " A girl of the ancient race wished for a httle Hght, so that the 
 people might see to return home by night. She, therefore, threw wood-ashes into 
 the sky, which became the Milky Way. The same girl, being vexed with her mother 
 
62 
 
 THE BUSHME3T. 
 
 for giring her too little of a certain red edible root, threw up portion* of it into th^- 
 sky, where they became stars.' The belief in the powers of the evil eye, common to> 
 all the natives of South Africa, is finely illustrated in the following myth : " A girl 
 when men should not hare been looked upon by her for fear of harm to them, saw 
 some people eating together at a rock-rabbit's house of branches. In consequence of 
 this, they and the house, fixed by her looks, became stars in the sky, and are now to- 
 be seen there as the Corona Australis." By a race of people such as the Bushmen, 
 human beingt and wild beasts are considered to be nearly on an equality. Some 
 animals, indeed, are believed to possess greater spiritaal powers than those of man. 
 It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that " a most curious feature in Bushman 
 folk-lore is formed by the speeches of various animals, recited in modes of pTonouncing 
 Bushman, said to be peculiar to the animals in whose mouths they are placed. It is- 
 a remarkable attempt to imitate the shape or position of the mouth of the kind of 
 animal to be represented. Among the Bushman sounds which are hereby afiected 
 and often entirely commuted, are principally the clicks. GThese are either converted 
 into other consonants, as in the language of the tortoise, or into palatals and compound 
 dentals and sibilants, as in the language of the ichneumon, or into clicks otherwise 
 unheard in Bushman, as in the language of the jackal. The moon, and it seems also 
 the hare and the anteater, substitute a most unpronounceable click in place of all 
 others, excepting the lip click. Another animal, the blue crane, difiers in its speech 
 from the ordinary Bushman, mainly by the insertion of a tt at the end of the first 
 syllable of almost every word." Childish and absurd as aU this may seem, it proves 
 that the Bushmen are possessed of greater powers of thought than they have ever 
 before had credit for. Humanity is therefore indebted to the late Dr. Bleek and to 
 his sister-in-law, Miss Lloyd, for showing that the lowest race on earth is more 
 elevated than has been hitherto believed. Under ordinary circumstances, the best 
 encouragement that government can give to literary labour is to let it alone, as 
 freedom is crushed by patronage. But there are special circumstances connected with 
 these Bushman records, which make it extremely desirable that means should be 
 provided from the colonial treasury for the publication of the collection already made, 
 and also that the lady whose zeal and industry in this department of science promise 
 a still greater result should be liberally assisted in prosecuting these researches. 
 The labour of collecting traditions and tales from such people as tbe Bushmen is 
 already enormous : a few years hence all that is not then collected will be lost for 
 ever, as the race is fast dying out. Anything approaching to a complete description 
 of the Bushmen must remain in abeyance until the publication of Dr. Blsik'b 
 record*. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 FORMAliON 0? TH£ KETHERLANDS EAST INDIA COMPANT's ESTABLISHMENT AT THB 
 
 CAPE. 1652 TO 1657. 
 
 On th'e 14th of December, 1651, Van Riebeck Tvith his family embarked 
 in the Dromedaris, and nine days afterwards the three vessels set sail. 
 A good look out was required to be kept during the passage, as the States 
 were at war with Portugal, and the ships conveying the expedition were 
 not prepared to meet an enemy. It was also believed that Prince 
 Eupert (who, after the downfall of the royalist party in England, had 
 turned corsair) was cruising somewhere in the Atlantic, and it was 
 considered advisable to avoid making his acquaintance on the high seas. 
 On the 5th of April, 1652, the fleet came in sight of the Cape, and next 
 morning a boat was sent to reconnoitre Table Bay and give notice if any ships 
 Were lying there. There were none, and the Dromedaris and Hoop there- 
 fore stood in and dropped their anchors, the Beiger remaining outside 
 until the following day. Van Riebeck, on the 9th, issued a proclamation, 
 taking formal possession of the country on behalf of the Company ; but, 
 at the same time, providing that the natives should be kindly treated. 
 Regulations were made that no one should trust himself among the 
 savages, lest he should be murdered or made captive, and no one, unless 
 specially authorized, should carry on any trade with them, lest the 
 Company should suffer from competition. 
 
 Yan Riebeck lost no time in landing, and immediately commenced the 
 construction of a fort with sod walls. The people under his command 
 consisted of soldiers and sailors, with a few artizans and gardeners. Some 
 tents were pitched on shore, and a large wooden shed, which had been 
 brought from Holland, was erected to serve as a storehouse ; but most of 
 the workmen were obliged to go on board the ships every evening until 
 huts could be constructed. Their life was one of toil and privation, for it 
 was necessary to run up the walls of the fort as rapidly as possible, and the 
 stock of provisions was already becoming small. The natives were friendly, 
 but were unable or unwilling to supply as many cattle as were required. 
 Two tribes were living in their neighbourhood. One of these possessed 
 nothing but hungry bellies, as the Commander quaintly remarked in his 
 journal ; the other was rich in cattle. To the former the Dutch gave the 
 name of beachrangers, the latter they called Saldaniers. These tribes were 
 not on peaceable terms with each other, and quarrels between them are 
 frequently recorded. 
 
64 
 
 HrSTOllY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1652 
 
 As soon as it could conveniently be done, a garden was laid out and 
 planted. It was on a small scale at first, but was gradually enlarged, and 
 plots were laid under wheat and oats. There were fine forests close at 
 hand, from which the timber required for building was procured. The 
 Commander was desirous of employing some of the natives to carry beams 
 to the fort, but they would not engage for any harder work than collecting 
 firewood. Rum and tobacco wiere the inducements held out as encourage- 
 ment to labour. Though the Company intended to breed cattle on its own 
 account, it was anticipated that it would not be difficult to purchase large 
 numbers from the natives, and with this view a stock of brass wire, copper 
 bars, and tobacco, was sent out. But it would appear that the demand for 
 these articles had already been met, as far as the Saldaniers were 
 concerned, for in the space of two months only one cow and a calf were 
 procured, though at times ten or twelve thousand head were grazing within 
 sight. The Commander frequently sent out small parties, with samples of 
 goods, to visit tribes at a distance, but these could not be induced at first 
 to part with their stock. 
 
 In May two galleots arrived from Holland, bringing fifty workmen and 
 a clergyman named Bonkerias, who had been appointed chaplain of the set- 
 tlement. The work of building and planting went on slowly, on account 
 of sickness among the people. On the 3rd of June Yan Riebeck recorded 
 that out of one hundred and sixteen labourers, fifty-six were laid up with 
 dysentery and fever. Vegetables, such as radishes, lettuce, and cress, 
 were beginning to grow. Ten thousand fish had been caught, of which 
 two thousand were presented to the Hottentots. 
 
 On the 6th of June, 1652, Mrs. Bonkerias had the honour of giving birth 
 to the first European child born in South Africa. The time was one of 
 general gloom, for the miseries of their situation were telling upon the 
 workpeople, and deaths were of frequent occurrence. Nevertheless, the 
 construction of the fort was pushed on, and by the 3rd of August it was so 
 far completed that the whole party could move into it. 
 
 The provisions brought from Holland had now become so low in quantity 
 and so bad in quality that great anxiety was expressed by the Commander 
 concerning the means of procuring a supply of food. All that could be 
 done was to pass a resolution to demand assistance from any passing Dutch 
 ships, and to make the most of what they could procure in the country. 
 They had evidently miscalculated the resources of the Cape, before leaving 
 home. The men were not allowed to grumble, for we find one Hermann 
 VAN VoGELAAR receiving a sentence of one hundred blows with the butt 
 end of a musket, for uttering maledictions upon the purser because he 
 served out penguins instead of pork. Towards the close of the year the 
 distress was partially relieved by the purchase of a few cattle from the 
 natives, though even then the ordinary food of the workmen continued to 
 be penguins and seals' flesh, varied occasionally with fish when they could 
 be caught. 
 
1652] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE Ci.PE COLONT. 
 
 65 
 
 In September, three of the garrison, weary of the hardships they were 
 enduring, resolved upon attempting to travel overland to Mozambique, 
 and thence endeavour to return to Holland. For six days they kept along 
 the beach, living upon shellfish, but at length they found they could go 
 no further, and so returned to the fort in hope of obtaining mercy. 
 Their leader, Jan Blank, was sentenced to receive a hundred and fifty 
 lashes, to be keelhauled, and to serve as a slave for two years. The 
 others were sentenced to two years penal servitude. These severe pun- 
 ishments were probably not carried out, however, for Blank is found soon 
 afterwards on his trial for a crime which could only be committed by a 
 free man. 
 
 The first extension of territory was made in October, when a small 
 redoubt was built at Salt River for the purpose of protecting a whaling 
 establishment, which was located there. Five soldiers were told off to 
 form a garrison. On the second day of occupation these brave fellows got 
 a sad fright. They fancied they were about to be attacked by a great 
 number of Hottentots who were in sight, and they therefore abandoned 
 the redoubt and made all haste towards the fort, pursued by seven or 
 eight natives. A party was at once despatched to rescue them, when it 
 was discovered that the pursuers were the wives of Hottentots who were 
 living in friendship close to the fort, and that their object in seeking an 
 interview with the Dutchmen was to beg for tobacco and bread. 
 
 The remainder of the year was occupied in attending to the gardens and 
 trafficking with the natives. The medium of communication between 
 the different races was one Harry, a Hottentot, who had been to Bantam 
 in an English ship, and who spoke English sufficiently well to make himself 
 useful as an interpreter. The Koo'p had been sent to explore the coast to 
 the northward, to trade with the natives, and to place marks of possession 
 on account of the Company wherever she touched, so as to exclude 
 foreigners. She returned in November, having visited Saldanha and 
 St. Helena bays. It had not been found possible to obtain anything in 
 barter, but the crew had killed two thousand seven hundred seals, and 
 preserved their skins. The captain reported that he had found a French 
 vessel taking seals on the coast. 
 
 A great amount of trouble was given to the Commander by the bad 
 conduct of some of his men, thefts and other crimes having become of 
 common occurrence. It must be remembered that these men were all 
 servants of the Company, and under military law ; that they had no voice 
 whatever in the formation of regulations ; that no prospect of personal 
 profit was then held out to them ; and that they had been suffering great 
 hardships ; so that it would have been surprising had no irregularities 
 existed. But some of the crimes committed were considered to be of so 
 serious a nature that it, became necessaiy to make an example, and accor- 
 iingly a public executioner was appointed, and one of the worst characters 
 suffered the extreme penalty of the law. 
 
 K 
 
66 
 
 HISTOKT OF THJi CA?E COLOITY. 
 
 [1658 
 
 Van Riebeck's journal, in which he entered minutely all that transpired, 
 
 has fortunately been preserved, and though the events recorded therein 
 are very petty, it is interesting on account of the vivid pictures of the 
 transactions of himself and his party which it presents. 
 
 In this journal nothing is mentioned of any attempt to improve the 
 condition of the natives. Jansz and PfiooT, in their memorial to th« 
 Chamber of Seventeen, had given as one reason for building a fort at the 
 Cape of Good Hope, that Christianity might be propagated; but the purely 
 mercantile assoeiation that formed the settlement had no such object in 
 view. Van Riebeck seems never to have thought of any thing of the 
 kind. He was at first anxious not to offend the natives, because that 
 might prevent them from bringing cattle for sale. But when he found 
 that, with all his efforts, only a few head could be obtained, he made a 
 proposal to the Directors to seize a herd by force, and to entrap the own- 
 ers into his power, so as to make use of them as slaves. Fortunately for 
 the Hottentots, the law of Holland declared that the aborigines of its 
 colonial possessions should be undisturbed in their liberty, that they 
 should be governed in the same manner as Europeans, and enjoy the same 
 measure of justice. The Cape was certainly not considered a colony, in 
 the sense in which the word is now used, but its inhabitants were classed 
 with those who could not be enslaved. The Commander was not permit- 
 ted to use his own discretion in dealing with them ; but was bound down 
 by minute instructions from the Chamber of Seventeen, so that their 
 liberty was for a time respected. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1653, the first cabbage was cut, and by that time 
 other vegetables were tolerably plentiful. A small quantity of butter was 
 also made, and the ofiicers had a sufliciency of fresh meat. The first wheat 
 grown at the Cape was reaped in January, and was found to be large and 
 full. In this month the yacht Hoop returned from her second voyage to 
 Saldanha Bay, with fifteen hundred seal skins. Meanwhile intelligence was 
 received that war had broken out between the Netherlands and England, 
 and in consequence thereof every exertion was made to get the settlement 
 into a condition for defence. Lions were very numerous, and bold in their 
 attempts to enter the fort to get at the sheep, but the walls proved too 
 high for them. 
 
 The vegetables obtained from the garden were soon consumed, and 
 famine again threatened the garrison. Some of the men entered into a 
 plot to make their escape in one of the galleots, but the conspiracy was 
 detected in time to prevent its execution. At length a fleet of five 
 galleots returning from India called at the Cape, greatly to the joy of the 
 garrison, for the very day on which they entered the last ration of bread 
 was issued. From these ships supplies were obtained, sufiBcient to last 
 until abundance could be drawn from the gardens. These had already 
 been planted on such a scale as to meet the demands of the next outward 
 bound fleet, in addition to their own requirements. 
 
1653] 
 
 HUTORY or THB CAPE COLOIfT. 
 
 67 
 
 The fleot sailed oa the 15th of April, taking despatches from Van 
 RiEBBCK to the Chamber of Seventeen, in which he stated that the 
 settlement was in a tolerable state for defence, in case of an attack by the 
 English. He recommended the employment of slaves to hunt seals and 
 collect salt, stated that they had already begun to enclose their fields and 
 pastures with a ditch, explained what goods were required for trade with 
 the natives, informed the Chamber that only two vessels had called at the 
 Cape between May, 1652, and the date of the arrival of the fleet, and 
 wound up by requesting that he might be transferred to India, where, he 
 thought, he could make better use of his talents. 
 
 Better prospects were now dawning on the settlement. The report that 
 copper was to be obtained there had found its way to tribes at a distance, 
 and some of these came with cattle for sale. The Commander was enabled 
 to make very satisfactory bargains with them, than which hardly anything 
 could have pleased him more. About this time some oxen were trained to 
 draw timber, which lightened the labour of the men considerably. 
 
 In July three galleots arrived from the Netherlands, and were supplied 
 with fresh meat and vegetables. They were the first to benefit by the 
 Company's establishment in South Africa. Jacob Rynierz, who had been 
 appointed second in command to Yan Riebeck, arrived in one of them. 
 
 A galleot was sent to Saldanha Bay for the purpose of endeavouring to 
 open a trade in cattle with the natives. Very little success was met with, 
 however, as the Hottentots of those parts were mostly of the beachranger 
 class. A French ship was found there, which had been engaged in the 
 capture of seals for some six months. On receipt of this intelligence at 
 the fort, the Bpirit of monopoly which governed all the Company's proceed- 
 ings in South Africa was at once manifested. An express was sent to the 
 officers of the galleot, instructing them to entice as many as possible of the 
 French sailors to desert, so as " to distress the ship on her homeward voy- 
 age, and destroy the inclination of her masters to come here again.'* 
 Four of the French seamen were secured, but they had been put on shore 
 and abandoned by their captain for complaining of the quality of their 
 food. 
 
 By supplying the ships that called in July, and the consumption of the 
 garrison, the number of cattle was reduced to forty-four head, and on the 
 19th of October, while the Dutch were attending Divine service, the beaeh- 
 rangers, with Harry the interpreter, murdered the European herd, and 
 absconded with forty-two of these. Pursuing parties were at once sent 
 out, but to no purpose. This was a very serious loss, for, independent of 
 furnishing meat, the oxen had been trained to draw a waggon, and the 
 cows were supplying milk and butter. It was hoped, however, that the 
 loss would soon be made good by barter, and, in the meantime, two 
 horses, which had been brought in one of the ships from Batavia, were 
 to be used in place of the oxen to draw timber. Information having been 
 S^ytn by some Saldaniers as to where the beachrangers were encamped, 
 
68 
 
 MISTOUT OF THl CAPS COLOIfT. 
 
 [165S 
 
 a corporal and seTcnteen soldiers were sent to retake the ©attle and 
 apprehend the robbers. They came in sight of them, but succeeded in 
 recapturing only one cow, as the beachrangers were too fleet of foot to be 
 overtaken. This is the first hostile expedition on record, sent by the 
 government against natives of South Africa. It is noteworthy that it 
 originated in theft of cattle, the cause of so much bloodshed subsequently. 
 
 At this time there was abundance of vegetables in the garden, enough 
 for the return fleet. Elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, and many 
 kinds of antelopes, were plentiful in the neighbourhood of the encamp- 
 ment, though they were not often killed. The Europeans had not yet 
 learnt to be expert hunters. 
 
 In December two ships arrived from the Texel with their crews suffering 
 from scurvy. They were supplied with vegetables and three oxen. Of 
 late it had become very difficult to obtain cattle, as the Saldaniers were 
 apprehensive that the theft by the beachrangers would be retaliated upon 
 them, and therefore kept at a greater distance from the fort than before. 
 Every exertion was made to restore confidence, but it was some time 
 before they could be induced to dispel their fears. 
 
 The year 1654 commenced gloomily. Animal food was so scarce that 
 the men had hardly strength to perform the labour required of them. 
 Penguins and other seabirds constituted the principal supply. The 
 Commander has placed on record that a dead baboon, as large as a small 
 calf, having been found on the mountain side, was eaten by the people from 
 very hunger, so little nourishment was there in their ordinary diet of 
 potherbs. The journal for some time is little else than a record of 
 interviews with parties of Hottentots who would not sell their cattle, and 
 of complaints of the audacity with which the natives committed petty 
 thefts. 
 
 The 6th of April, being the second anniversary of the landing, was set 
 apart as a day of thanksgiving to God for His protection and for the 
 success which had been attained. That success indeed does not seem to 
 have been great, but it was proportionate to the means which had been 
 taken to ensure it. It speaks well for the little band of Hollanders who, 
 without being aware of it themselves, were founding a Christian State, 
 that in the midst of no common distress they could thank their God for 
 the care He had taken of them. Were they in earnest, or was this 
 hypocrisy ? "When side by side with expressions of gratitude to the 
 Creator are found schemes for robbing and enslaving natives, the genuine- 
 ness of their religion may be questioned. But two centuries and a quarter 
 have rolled by since then, and men's minds have been greatly enlightened 
 during that period. In the seventeenth century the slave trade was not 
 deemed a crime, and savages had practically no rights. Van Riebbck 
 and his people were certainly not in advance of their age in liberal ideas, 
 but they were probably sincere in their profession of what they understood 
 to be Christianity. 
 
1654] 
 
 HI8T0ET OF THE CAPE COLOITT. 
 
 69 
 
 Another daj of thanksgiving was kept three months afterwards. On 
 this occasion it was to thank the Almighty for sending relief in the time 
 of utmost need. Two vessels, one from St. Helena, the other from Batavia, 
 had arrived with provisions, principally rice. 
 
 In August a vessel brought information that peace had been proclaimed 
 with the republic of England, which relieved the garrison from the appre- 
 hension of being attacked by English ships. 
 
 Though proclamations were repeatedly issued against unauthorized trade 
 with the natives, and severe penalties were attached to their infringementr 
 an illicit traflBc was constantly carried on. The men bought ivory, rhino- 
 ceros horns, ostrich eggs, and tortoise shells, for which they paid in copper 
 and tobacco. The amount of business done in this way must have been 
 very small indeed, though the Commander was of opinion that it was 
 sufficient to destroy the cattle trade. He could not otherwise imagine 
 why it was that only now and then a miserably lean beast was brought 
 for sale. 
 
 The year 1655 opened with fresh troubles. Up to this time the natives 
 in the neighbourhood had imagined that the stay of the Dutch would be 
 only temporary, but now they began to see that there was an intention to 
 occupy the country permanently, and this they seemed inclined to prevent. 
 Every thing that was exposed was instantly stolen, and threatening 
 language was frequently heard. The garrison lived in constant dread of 
 being attacked. The men were divided into three parties, one of which 
 mounted guard every third night. They did not venture to go to their 
 work in the gardens and in the forests without being armed, and the 
 utmost vigilance was constantly maintained. Owing to these pre- 
 cautions, probably, a collision was averted for the time. 
 
 In March an exploring party of seven volunteers, under command of J. 
 WiNTERvoGEL, was scut inland to learn something of the natives, and to 
 seek for precious metals. WiisTERvogel had been an explorer in Brazil, 
 where he had aided in discovering the silver mine of Chiera. The party 
 was provisioned for three weeks, and took six pounds of tobacco, six 
 pounds of copper, and some beads, as samples of goods to be obtained at 
 the fort. After proceeding some distance to the northward, they encoun- 
 tered a party of Bushmen, entirely savage, without huts, cattle, or any 
 thing in the world, and a great many small tribes of Hottentots, who 
 treated them with the greatest kindness. Similar parties were shortly 
 afterwards sent on journeys of discovery. At that time absolutely nothing 
 was known of the interior. The existence of a great city somewhere to the 
 north-east was believed in, and many efforts were made to find it, as it 
 was considered probable that its trade could be secured. It was even 
 thought possible to divert the commerce of Benguela overland to the Cape, 
 in which case a rich return was anticipated for the expenses incurred by 
 the establishment of the fort. Such illusions as this were not dispelled 
 until after the lapse of several years. 
 
70 
 
 HISTOXT OT THl CAPS C0L03IT. 
 
 [IG55 
 
 In April the Commander informed the Chamber of Seventeen that the 
 garrison consisted of from one hundred to one hundred and ten men. The 
 Directors had instructed him to seize and punish only the actual murderer 
 of the herd that was killed in October, 1653, and to take no more from the 
 robbers than the exact number of cattle stolen. Van Riebeck was too 
 faithful a servant not to obey in spirit as well as in letter the orders of his 
 superiors ; but he still attempted to argue them into allowing him to seize 
 a tribe for slaves, and a herd of cattle for the use of the Company. He 
 said that it would be impossible to find out the actual murderer, and that 
 as much irritation and hostility would be occasioned by seizing only as 
 many cattle as had been stolen as if all the Hottentots possessed were at 
 once taken. The experiment had been made of enticing a great number 
 into the fort at one time, and of getting them all intoxicated. It had 
 succeeded, and could be easily repeated. The men could then be used as 
 slaves, and be fed on seals' flesh. The women and children could be sent 
 to Batavia and sold there. The Company would thus acquire slaves, 
 money, and a good stock of breeding cattle, with very little trouble and 
 only the expense of a few gallons of rum. But the seizure must be on a 
 large scale, because it could not be repeated. He anticipated that those 
 not captured would flee so far away that they could not easily be reached 
 again. 
 
 In June, to the great surprise of the garrison, Harky made his 
 appearance at the fort, and brought with him a company of strange natives 
 with cattle for sale. He denied having had anything to do with the 
 murder of the herd or the theft of the Company's cattle, and as it was to 
 the Commander's advantage to be reconciled to him, he was admitted to 
 grace, and taken into favour again. Through the exertions which he made 
 to testify the sincerity of his attachment to the Dutch, sixty-seven head of 
 cattle and a dozen sheep were obtained in a few days, and barter went on 
 briskly for some time afterwards. 
 
 In September a decked boat of sixteen or seventeen tons, which had been 
 built near the fort, was launched, and named the Bobhejacht. She was 
 intended to be employed in the capture of seals. A great number of seal 
 skins had been exported to the Netherlands by this time, and hopes of 
 large returns were entertained ; but the skins were found, on arrival, to be 
 of an inferior description. 
 
 A source of trouble to Yan Riebeck was the occasional visit of an English 
 ship. The captains of these vessels insisted on being provided with fresh 
 provisions, or being permitted to trade with the natives on their own 
 account. The peace of 1654 had cost the Company a large sum of money, 
 which Cromwell demanded for damage done to English trade and shipping. 
 The shipmasters, holding commissions from the Protector, would not be 
 trifled with, and the Commander was compelled to make a virtue of necessity 
 and supply their needs, though he did it grudgingly, and always expressed 
 )uB joy ©n their departure. A French fleet of four vessels of war, which 
 
1656] 
 
 HISTORI or THE CAPE COLOITT. 
 
 71 
 
 called at the Cape, was also provided with fresh meat, to proTtnt the crawi 
 from helping themselves to what they wanted. 
 
 The despatches at this period are largely occupied with discussions 
 concerning the feasibility of converting the Cape promontory into an island, 
 by cutting a canal across the isthmus. It would appear that this scheme 
 was first proposed by the Councillor of the Indies Rykloff van Goens, and 
 was seriously entertained by the Company. If it were possible to effect 
 this, they deemed that the island could be held in safety, and would afford 
 ample space for all the garden ground and pasture land they would require. 
 But on inspection, it was found that it would cost millions of money, and 
 the plan was therefore abandoned. Yan Eiebeck proposed to compass the 
 same end by constructing a line of forts across the isthmus, and this was 
 resolved upon, though never carried out. It has been seen that native 
 rights in the soil and dominion over it were disregarded by the occupation 
 without consent of the land on which Cape Town is now built, but there 
 seems to have been a genuine wish on the part of the Directors to intrude 
 no further than was necessary for their requirements. It is indeed probable 
 that if the Hottentots had bartered their cattle more freely, so as always to 
 have kept up an unlimited supply of fresh meat for the use of the ships, 
 the isthmus would long have remained the limit of the Dutch occupation. 
 In that case the Company would have seen that by taking possession of 
 the land beyond, nothing could be gained to compensate for the hostility 
 which such an encroachment must occasion. 
 
 Yan Eiebeck had noticed that the wind often blows violently in Table 
 valley when it is quite calm beyond the mountains, and he was of opinion 
 that wheat would thrive better out of the range of the gales. As an 
 experiment, in May, 1656, a plot of land at Rondebosch was taken possession 
 of and converted into a farm. Some wheat, rice, and oats were sown in a 
 sheltered spot where they were likely to flourish, and a small guardhouse 
 with sod walls and thatched roof was built for the accommodation of the 
 cultivators and a couple of soldiers. With such facility could new domains 
 be annexed in those days, that the outpost, thus defended, was regarded 
 as secure. A small kraal of natives was found there, and when they were 
 requested to move away they scowled, but did not hesitate to comply. 
 They could hardly have acted otherwise, for a European with a musket 
 must have been to them what a lion is to a pack of jackals. The farm at 
 Rondebosch was a pattern in more than one respect of what South African 
 farms in general were to be for a couple of hundred years to come. It was 
 acquired in the same manner : the original proprietors — henceforth to be 
 considered as intruders — retiring with scowling brows, and muttering 
 threats as the European took possession. One acre was the extent of the 
 ploughed land in the centre of a thousand reserved for pasturage, and the 
 sod house was a model for a frontier residence, on which little improvement 
 was made as long as the Netherlands Bast India Company remained the 
 governing power of the country. 
 
72 
 
 HISTOIT OF TMl CAPE COLOirr. 
 
 [1656 
 
 About this time a sort of treaty was entered into with the Saldaniers 
 ^about the fort, that whenever anything was stolen by them, their cattle 
 ehoald be seized and detained until restitution was made and the thief 
 punished. It was more difficult to deal with the beachrangers, who were 
 expert thieves, and who possessed nothing that could be taken from them 
 in return. The soldiers and labourers were therefore instructed to keep a 
 watchful eye upon the movements of these people, and to back up the 
 order, they were held responsible for the safe custody of all the weapon's 
 and implements which they used. If anything entrusted to their sare was 
 stolen, its value was deducted from their pay, and they were liable besides 
 to corporal punishment. 
 
 The Cape had now been more than four years in possession of the East 
 India Company, and had already been of advantage to its ships. On the 
 whole, the settlement had been prosperous. It is true, on some occasions 
 it had been reduced to the brink of starvation, but relief had always in one 
 form or other appeared when it was most needed. The natives, though 
 evincing unfriendly feelings, and even giving utterance to threats when 
 they found the strangers occupying and claiming permanent possession of 
 the soil, had never dared openly to attack them, and, indeed, the Dutch 
 possessed weapons which placed them at such an immeasurable distance 
 above savages, that they had no reason to fear a contest. Sickness had 
 prevailed at times, and many of their number had died ; but now that 
 provisions were plentiful and wholesome, they were healthy enough. Wild 
 animals infested the country to an almost incredible extent ; but by night 
 the walls of their fortress, and by day their trusty muskets, defended them 
 from these. The territory actually under the dominion of Van Kiebeck at 
 this time extended no further in any direction than five miles from the 
 fort. 
 
 The great Company which owned and ruled the settlement was now at 
 the height of its power. 'Ihe most valuable portions of the Indies belonged 
 to it, — if we except the island of Ceylon and the coast of Coromandel, 
 which it did not succeed in wresting from the Portuguese till 1658. It 
 had become an object of the first importance to maintain the settlement at 
 the Cape, and to extend it so as to meet the requirements of the ships 
 vyhich now, in greater numbers than ever, were expected to pass to and 
 from the Indian seas. It was believed that this object could be attained 
 more easily by making use of a class of men who were hereafter termed 
 free burghers, than by paid servants of the Company. The design was 
 merely to fill up a few square miles in the Cape peninsula with people who 
 would produce grain and garden stuff at a cheap rate ; but it opened South 
 Africa to European colonization. 
 
CHAPTER yi. 
 
 FROM THE GRANTING OF LAND TO FREE BURGHERS TO THE PURCHASE Of TERRITOET 
 FROM HOTTENTOT CHIEFS. 1G57 TO 1672. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Regulations regarding Free Burghers and Natives. — Importation 
 
 of Slaves. — First War with Hottentots. — Proclamation regarding Religious Services. 
 Introduction of Young Women from Holland. — Dismissal of Governor Van Quael- 
 berg for supplying foreign ships with provisions. — Occupation of Hottentots^ Holland. 
 — Purchase of Territory from Hotteyitot Chiefs. 
 
 Governors : — Johan Anthonie van Riebeck, 
 
 As early as 1655 the Chamber of Seventeen had decided upon locating 
 Europeans on small farms in the neighbourhood of the fort, and had 
 authorized Van Riebeck to discharge from service as many soldiers and 
 sailors as would engage to remain in South Africa for ten years. Their 
 idea was virtually to retain these men in their employment, but to pay 
 them in proportion to the amount of work done instead of by monthly 
 wages. It was not until February, 1657, that the Commander was in a 
 position to carry out these instructions. Ten men were then released, and 
 ground to cultivate was allotted to them, subject to such regulations as 
 should be made by the Commissioner Rykloff van Goens, who was shortly 
 expected. These free burghers must be considered the first South African 
 colonists, in the ordinary sense of the word. 
 
 In the following month, Van Goens, who held the rank of Councillor 
 Extraordinary of the Indies and Commander of the outward bound fleet* 
 arrived at the Cape. As was the custom, he assumed command during his 
 stay, on account of being Van Riebeck's superior officer. The instructions 
 which he issued had for their primary object the reduction of expenditure. 
 In the first place, the Commander was directed to retain in service only 
 one hundred salaried servants. Second, to employ these only on the most 
 indispensable works, such as raising vegetables and grain. Third, to 
 encourage free burghers until their number became so great that the 
 salaried servants could be reduced to seventy, of whom fifty were to be 
 soldiers for the defence of the fort and the protection of cnltivaiors. 
 
 ZaCH ARIAS WaGENAAR, 
 
 cornelis van quaelberg, 
 Jacob Borghorst, 
 Peter Hackius, 
 
 COENRAAD VAN BrEITENBACH, 
 
 Albert van Brengel, 
 
 May 9, 1662. 
 Oct. 24, 1666. 
 June 18, 1668. 
 June 2, 1670. 
 Dec. 1, 1671. 
 March 23, 1672. 
 
 L 
 
74 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1657 
 
 The principal regulations -with regard to free burghers were : — They 
 were to be gOYerned by such laws and enactments as were in force in the 
 iSTetheriands and in the Indies, or such as should thereafter be set forth in 
 placaats or otherwise. After three years occupation they were to be 
 entitled in full possession to all land which they had placed under cultiva- 
 tion. They were not to cultivate tobacco, without special permission. They 
 were not to buy cattle, except with copper and tobacco obtained from the 
 Company ; they were not to give more for them than the Company gave ; 
 and they were not to sell anything except to the Company, with this 
 reservation, that three days after the arrival of a Dutch ship they might 
 sell to her crew any produce which the Company did not require. On no 
 account were they to supply a foreign ship with anything. They were to 
 pay to the Company for protection one tenth of all the produce of their 
 land. 
 
 With regard to the natives, the Commissioner's instructions were, that 
 if any of them did the settlers serious harm, those suspected should be 
 seized and placed upon Robben Island until they pointed out the offenders, 
 when they should be released, and the guilty persons banished to the 
 island for two or three years. If a native should murder a settler, no blood 
 was to be shed, without further orders from the Chamber of Seventeen, 
 unless the murderer was certainly known. "With the chief's concurrence 
 he should then be put to death, having the execution performed, if possible, 
 by the natives themselves. As a general rule, every means should be 
 tried to gain their good will. 
 
 Landmarks with the Company's arms upon them were to be placed on 
 Dassen Island and on the north side of Saldanha Bay. The Company's 
 charter was to be understood as unlimited over sea and land, east, north, 
 and south. Another great Mercantile Association of the Netherlands, — 
 the West India Company, — enjoyed the exclusive right of trading in all 
 seas and lands westward of the Cape of Good Hope ; and as its charter 
 could not be infringed upon, the word " west " was not added. 
 
 These regulations and instructions were issued at the fort of Good Hope 
 on the 16th of April, 1657. 
 
 The European population consisted at that time of one hundred and 
 thirty-four souls, viz., one hundred salaried servants of the Company, ten 
 free burghers, six married women, twelve children, and six convicts. There 
 were in the settlement three male and seven female slaves. They had six 
 horses fit for work, and were well stocked with horned cattle and sheep. 
 
 As the free burghers possessed nothing, the Company supplied them 
 with agricultural implements, seed, cattle, and food, together with muskets 
 and ammunition for their defence, all of which was charged to their 
 debit, and which they undertook to pay for in produce of the land. 
 In the course of the year about fifty men were discharged and became 
 farmers on these terms, all of them being located within a few miles of the 
 fort. 
 
1657] 
 
 HI8T0EY OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 75 
 
 The class of men introduced into South Africa in this manner was 
 neither then nor at any subsequent period that of which a prosperous and 
 independent community is formed. The sailors and soldiers of the Company 
 were not such men as had followed gallant Barendz to the polar seas or 
 heroic Heemskerk in his glorious career. The republic had barely sufficient 
 of these to serve her at home, and had there been myriads of them, the 
 Company's service was the last employment to which they would have 
 devoted themselves. For that service, — in its lowest branches, — had ac- 
 quired a most disreputable name in Europe. A scarcity of seamen had 
 first caused the Company to make use of a set of wretches whom they 
 termed agents, but who were known to every one else by the odious 
 designation of kidnappers. These persons were constantly busy endeavour- 
 ing to entice the unwary and vagabonds of all the countries of Western 
 Europe into the service of their employers. The Company paid them two 
 months' wages in advance for each individual they ensnared, which amount 
 was afterwards deducted from the pay of the victim. In this manner was 
 gathered together a motley crew of spendthrifts, vagabonds, and simpletons, 
 the very refuse of Europe. Yet among them were to be found men who 
 had once moved in the higher circles of society, but who now, by their 
 crimes or their misfortunes; were reduced to the general level of their 
 associates. This system, once commenced, could not be changed. To 
 keep in subjection a number of men like these, rendered desperate by the 
 circumstances in which they were placed, a discipline so severe was 
 necessary and was carried out with such determination, that no good 
 seaman or soldier would enter the service. Cause and effect were thus 
 continually reacting on each other. It is not surprising that men, to free 
 themselves from such a life, should be found willing to accept grants of 
 land in South Africa on the terms prescribed by Commissioner Van Goens, 
 and it is still less surprising that in general they made very unruly and im- 
 provident citizens. 
 
 By the assistance of a hundred men who were sent ashore from the 
 ships, a wooden jetty, which had been commenced some time before, was 
 now completed so far as to be of great utility. Previous to this, everything 
 landed or shipped had to be carried through the surf. 
 
 In March, 1658, one hundred and seventy Angola slaves, mostly young 
 boys and girls, were landed at the Cape, having been taken from a Portu- 
 guese slave ship captured at sea. The number was increased soon after by 
 the arrival from Guinea of one of the Company's own slavers, with two 
 hundred and twenty-eight on board, of whom one hundred and twenty-six 
 were retained in the settlement, and the remainder sent to Batavia. The 
 introduction of this class of people was a grave political as well as moral 
 error. Its ejffects were soon apparent in fostering a feeling of pride among 
 the Europeans, which made them despise manual labour of any kind. The 
 development of the agricultural resources of the country was thus in fact 
 retarded. The burghers were supplied with slaves on credit, and much of 
 
76 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1658 
 
 the Company's work was also performed by them. They were fed principally 
 
 on seals' flesh, and were subject to severe punishments for any offences. 
 Many attempted to escape, but were brought back by the Hottentots, who 
 detested them, and who received rewards for their capture. 
 
 In April the old interpreter Harry, who had always been considered a 
 rogue by Van Riebeck, was seized, and sent as a prisoner to Robben Island. 
 His cattle were taken possession of by the Company. A. niece of his, called 
 Eva by the Dutch, was now the principal interpreter, and there was another 
 in the person of one Damon, who had been to Batavia with the squadron 
 of Yan Goens. Many of the Hottentots living near the fort had by this 
 time acquired such a knowledge of the Dutch language as to render the 
 employment of an interpreter unnecessary. The seizure of Harry was not 
 resented by his countrymen, as he appears to have been disliked by all, on 
 account of playing first into the hands of one party and then of the other. 
 
 In May an order was issued that the burghers were no longer to purchase 
 cattle from the natives, but must buy such as they required from the 
 Company. They were not to buy cattle, sheep, or pigs, from each other, 
 without first obtaining the consent of the Commander. 
 
 It was ascertained that the crime of sheepstealing, which had of late 
 been prevalent, and which was attributed to the Hottentots alone, had 
 been committed by some burghers. Four of them were convicted and 
 sentenced to the following punishments : the ringleader to be flogged and 
 to serve sixteen years in chains, two others to serve six years in chains, 
 and the fourth to serve five years ; the culprits to stand for a time as a 
 public spectacle, with sheepskins upon their heads and shoulders ; and the 
 whole of their property to be confiscated. 
 
 With the outward-bound fleet of this year half an aum of Cape ale was 
 sent to Batavia as a sample. Beer was considered of such importance in 
 the early days of the settlement that a few years after this the Company 
 sent out one Jacob Louwen, from Deventer in the Netherlands, to introduce 
 the most approved method of brewing. 
 
 For some time past everything had been going on smoothly. Farming 
 operations had been gradually extended; wheat, oats, rye, and barley, 
 were giving large returns, maize, brought first to South Africa from the 
 coast of Guinea, was yielding well, European and Indian fruit trees had 
 been imported, small vineyards had been laid out, and even European 
 flowers had been introduced. But as the cultivated lands extended, the 
 jealousies of the natives increased. They saw themselves being rapidly 
 deprived of their pasturage, for the Dutch no longer permitted their cattle 
 to graze within the settlement, on the plea that there was not suflBcient 
 grass there for both. As each tribe had its ovrn territory, those in the 
 immediate vicinity of the Cape saw the danger they were in of losing with 
 their land their only means of existence — their cattle, and early in the 
 year 1659 they made an attempt to recover possession of their ancient 
 domains. They thought that by depriving the settlers of their cattle, they 
 
1659] 
 
 HISTOIir OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 77 
 
 could force them to leave the countr3% and, accordingly, they commenced 
 stock lifting on a most extensive scale. They did not molest the persons 
 of the settlers, except when resistance was made to their driving away 
 cattle ; but in a few months they brought the settlement to the very verge 
 of ruin. 
 
 Their triumph was of short duration. The Dutch were speedily reinforced 
 from ships that called, they were supplied with horses and even hounds, — 
 animals that caused great terror to their enemies, — the freemen were well 
 armed, and rewards were offered for the capture of Hottentots alive and for 
 their dead bodies. Some petty skirmishes were fought, in which the 
 Europeans with their firearms were of course invariably successful; and 
 the natives, finding it hopeless to carry on the struggle, were compelled to 
 submit. The Dutch had lost only two men killed, though several had 
 been wounded. 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1660, a conference took place at the fort between 
 the chiefs of the Cape tribes and the Dutch authorities. The chiefs had 
 come to solicit peace. They dwelt long upon the burghers taking every 
 day for their own use more of the land, which had been theirs from all 
 ages, and on which their cattle pastured. They did not object to the 
 Dutch occupying the fort, but to their taking the best land, without once 
 asking whether the owners liked it, or whether it would put them to any 
 inconvenience. They therefore insisted on being allowed free access to 
 the pasture. In reply they were told that there was not sufficient grass 
 for the burghers' cattle and theirs, and that this condition could not be 
 acceded to. They said : " Have we then no cause to prevent your getting 
 cattle ? for if you get many, you come and occupy our pasture with them, 
 and then say the land is not wide enough for both of us. Who, in justice, 
 ought to give way, the natural owner or the foreign invader ?" They 
 insisted much on their right of property, and on being permitted to gather 
 the bitter almonds and roots which grew abundantly in the parts occupied by 
 the Dutch. This could not be acceded to, says Van Riebeck, because 
 it would give them opportunities of injuring the colonists, and, besides, 
 the bitter almonds were required for a hedge which it was projected to 
 plant round the settlement. As they insisted on this point, they were 
 told that they had lost the land in war, and must expect to be entirely 
 deprived of it. The Dutch had won it, and intended to retain it. They 
 complained of the ill treatment they had experienced from some of the 
 colonists, who had beaten them, stolen sheep and calves from them, and 
 even taken beads and bracelets from them to give to the slaves, which 
 conduct, they said, was of itself sufficient cause for the war. They were 
 told in reply that redress could always be obtained for grievances of this 
 nature, by reportingthe circumstances to the Dutch authorities. Terms of 
 peace were then decided on : the Dutch to keep the land they occupied, 
 and point out roads which the natives could take in passing to and from 
 the fort, as well as boundaries which they were not to cross. Natives who 
 
78 
 
 HI8T0RT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1660 
 
 molested colonists were to be punished by their chiefs, colonists who mo- 
 lested natives to be punished by the Dutch authorities. 
 
 Through the disturbed state of the country, many of the burghers were 
 once more reduced to absolute want, and some of them, despairing of 
 being able to improve their condition as farmers, abandoned that occupation 
 and returned to their former employment as sailors or soldiers. 
 
 While hostilities were being carried on, a conspiracy was discovered, the 
 object of which was believed to be the surprise of the fort, massacre of the 
 garrison, and seizure of a galleot, in which the conspirators intended to 
 make their escape. The motley character of the Company's servants is 
 shown by the fact that four English and four Scotch soldiers, three Dutch 
 labourers, one black convict, and fifteen slaves, were engaged in the plot. 
 The ringleaders were sent to Batavia for trial. 
 
 A French ship, bound to St, Augustine Bay, Madagascar, put into Table 
 Bay in hope of obtaining refreshment. In a gale she was driven from her 
 anchors, and grounded near Salt Eiver. There was a bishop of the Latin 
 church on board, besides some officers of rank in the French service, and 
 one hundred and eighty men. They were all compelled to surrender their 
 arms and to keep within certain limits which were assigned to them, until, 
 by the earliest opportunity, they were sent away. "While they were land- 
 ing, a proclamation was issued by the Commander, that no religious 
 services except those of the Dutch Reformed Church would be permitted 
 within the settlement. For one hundred and twenty years this law was 
 maintained inviolable, and during the whole period of the East India 
 Company's government, no other services could be held without special 
 permission. 
 
 After the conclusion of peace, the trade in cattle became brisk again, 
 and commercial relations were opened up with new and distant tribes. 
 From this time Tax Eiebeck experienced greater difficulty in his relations 
 with the burghers than with the natives. These men soon found out that 
 their position was little better than that of hired servants. They were 
 prohibited from trading with the natives or with each other, everything 
 they required had to be purchased from the Company, and every thing 
 they had to dispose of they were compelled to sell to the Company, at its 
 own price. The attainment of independence under such circumstances 
 was impossible. They petitioned the Chamber of Seventeen for greater 
 liberty ; but Ya2v Eiebeck was informed that he should have torn their 
 petition to pieces in front of them, as it was full of sedition and mutiny. 
 Debarred from trading openly, they carried on a clandestine traffic with 
 the natives, and encouraged them to steal whatever they could lay their 
 hands on, they purchasing the stolen property. There was thus great 
 discontent and little order in the settlement. 
 
 Van Eiebeck had frequently requested to be transferred to some other 
 sphere of action, and at length the Batavian government appointed a 
 enccessor. who arrived and took over the reins of government in May, 1662. 
 
1662] 
 
 HISTORY or THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 79 
 
 The Chamber of Seventeeu had always charged Van Eiebeck to be just 
 and kind in his treatment of the natives, and had even suggested the 
 purchase of land from them. He appears to have carried out in good faith 
 any positive orders, yet he introduced a system that in course of time left 
 no native an inch of land in the country of his ancestors, for he gave the 
 free burghers leave to depasture their cattle wherever they chose. In his 
 time they were few in number, and dared not go far from the fort ; but 
 this liberty begat a spirit of aggression on the one hand and a feeling of 
 hatred on the other, that has only recently died out. He left the settlement 
 at peace with its neighbours, with encouraging prospects as far as the 
 Company's trade was concerned, with a considerable extent of ground 
 under cultivation, and with a good stock of cattle. One of his sons, born 
 at the Cape, rose in after years to the rank of Governor- General of the 
 Netherlands' Indies. 
 
 Commander Wagenaab, was not satisfied with his quarters at the fort, 
 and, soon after his arrival, sent a request to the Directors to supply him 
 with some glass for the windows of his apartments, calico having previously 
 been used for that purpose. He wished also for some common paintings 
 or illuminated plans of some of the chief cities of the Netherlands, to cover 
 the bare walls of his front hall, which was likewise used as a place of 
 worship. Further, he was in want of some spoons and earthenware dishes, 
 as, he observed, he felt ashamed when visitors from the ships called on 
 him, to see the garrison eating their food with shells, or dipping their 
 hands into the pots in which it was cooked. So primitive was the style of 
 living in government house at the Cape of Good Hope, in the year of grace 
 1662. The Directors, in their reply, promised him some window-glass, but 
 took no notice of his other wants. 
 
 In 1663 one George Frederick Wreede, a student and native of Brunswick, 
 who had been resident in the settlement since 1659, and had acquired some 
 knowledge of the Hottentot language, prepared in the Greek charaeter a 
 vocabulary of Dutch and Hottentot words, which he dedicated to the 
 Chamber of Seventeen, requesting that it might be printed, and some 
 copies sent to the Cape. This was done ; but the Directors at the same 
 time laid down the precept that the natives should learn the Dutch language 
 rather than the Dutch theirs. 
 
 A regulation of this year provided that a schoolmaster, who had been 
 industrious in teaching and catechising both Dutch and black (slave) 
 children, should receive for each of ten Dutch children half a rixdollar per 
 month, the children of Hottentots and baptized slaves to be taught for the 
 love of God. Previous to this, eleven slave children and at least one 
 Hottentot, — the interpretess Eva, — had been baptized. This Eva was in 
 the following year married to one Pieter van MEERnoFF, a Danish surgeon, 
 and the Company approved so highly of the match that they bore the 
 expense of the bridal feast, presented the bride with fifty rixdollars, and 
 promoted the bridegroom on the day of his marriage. 
 
80 HISTOltr OF THK CAPE COLOXT. [IG(>5 
 
 In 1665, in consequence of the war between England and the Netherlands, 
 an order was received to increase the garrison at the Cape by three hundred 
 men, who were to be disembarked from the ships. Soon afterwards, an 
 English man-of-war of twelve guns and ninety-five men, ignorant of the 
 war that had broken out, called at Table Bay on her passage home from 
 Surat. An attempt was made to capture her, but she managed to cut her 
 cables and escape. 
 
 In August, Commissioner Ijsbrandt Goske called at the Cape, and 
 assumed the supreme direction of affairs during the period of his stay. 
 He selected the site for a new fortress or castle, which the Company had 
 determined to erect, at a short distance to the eastward of the old fort. In 
 January of the following year the foundation stone was laid. 
 
 During Wagenaau's term of government, uninterrupted peace was 
 maintained with the natives. Those residing about the fort had by this 
 time attached themselves to Europeans as dependents, and did any light 
 work in exchange for food and tobacco, but yet resumed occasionally their 
 former style of living as beachrangers. These were made subject to Dutch 
 laws ; but the nomadic tribes were left in possession of their ancient rights. 
 A brisk trade in cattle was usually carried on. This commander entertained 
 no great respect for the free burghers, whom he styled lazy and worthless 
 rogues. In his despatches, he remarked that many of them had ceased to 
 work, and had implored to be received back into the Company's service, or 
 at least to be permitted to earn their subsistence in some other way, such 
 as setting up shops near the fort and retailing brandy to the garrison and 
 ships' crews. The greater number of t^em continued as poor as ever. 
 They were untrustworthy and treasonably inclined. " Aye," said he, " there 
 are among them some who have long wished for the English fleet to come 
 hither and relieve them." 
 
 With a view to improve the condition of the burghers and to fix them to 
 the soil, the Chamber of Seventeen determined to send to the Cape a few 
 respectable females and a competent instructor in agriculture. From the 
 Orphan Asylum at Amsterdam they were permitted to select a number of 
 young women, whose prospects in Holland were but poor, and who readily 
 •consented to emigrate to a new country where, they were told, wealth and 
 •comfort awaited them. They understood, of course, nothing of agricultural 
 work, but it was expected that as farmers' wives they would soon habituate 
 themselves to such duties. Care was taken to provide for their comfort 
 and safety during the passage out, and the Commander was instructed to 
 see to all their wants after arrival, and to make the best possible provision 
 for them. By this measure a character of stability was stamped upon the 
 nettlement, which it lacked before. The sailor-farmers who received these 
 young women in marriage now began to look upon South Africa as their 
 home, and endeavoured to gather property about them for the sake of their 
 families. A practical Dutch farmer was also sent out by the Directors, 
 but nothing is now known of his labours. 
 
1666] 
 
 HISTOET OP THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 81 
 
 The advantage of having a secure port of call at the Cape was showD in 
 the case of the Dordrecht, the ship iu which Commander Yan Quaelbeeg 
 arrived. Out of two hundred and ninety-four men who sailed from Hol- 
 land in that vessel, one hundred and twelve died on the passage. Shortly 
 afterwards another vessel arrived with sixty-two men dead and two 
 hundred and twenty sick, and again another with forty-eight men dead 
 and ninety sick. The island of St. Helena being then in possession of the 
 English, these vessels, with many others, must have been lost, had there 
 not been a place of refreshment between India and the Netherlands. 
 
 As it was found impossible to prevent the free burghers from dealing 
 with the natives by any ordinary measures, the Commander issued a procla- 
 mation that all Cape sheep in their possession should be delivered to the 
 Company, and that they should keep no other than European or half-bred 
 sheep, so that they might easily be detected should they continue to con- 
 travene the law. This was followed by proclamations forbidding all trade 
 and even intercourse between the free burghers and the natives under very 
 severe penalties. 
 
 Van Quaelberg grievously mistook his position as a servant of the East 
 India Company. On the occasion of a French fleet calling at the Cape, he 
 exchanged civilities with the officers, and supplied the ships with necessa- 
 ries. For this, he was summarily dismissed from the Company's service, 
 and positive instructions were issued that in future no provisions were to 
 be supplied to foreign ships. They were to be allowed to take in water, 
 and, for the rest, they must float upon their own fins. 
 
 During Commander Borghorst's term of office an outpost was establish- 
 ed at Saldanha Bay, on account of the French having erected a beacon 
 there. G. F. Wreede was appointed Commander of the station. The coasts 
 to the northward and eastward were explored, and search for mines was 
 made by experienced men sent from Holland. 
 
 In 1671 a regulation was made providing that male and female slaves 
 could be united as man and wife, but not formally married until baptized 
 and instructed in their mutual obligations. The Company's slaves were to 
 be forced to attend prayers. Children, the offspring of Europeans and 
 slaves, of whom twelve were then at school, were to be instructed in the 
 doctrines of Christianity, and particular care was to be taken that they were 
 not alienated so as to remain in constant slavery, but that the}' might in 
 due time enjoy the freedom to which in the right of the father they were 
 bom. 
 
 In the same year Commissioner Yan der Bronck, having called at the 
 Cape, removed some of the restrictions under which the burghers were 
 placed, and, according to the opinion of the Chamber of Seventeen, any of 
 the inhabitants who chose to pull their hands out of their pockets could 
 now procure a comfortable subsistence by honest industry. 
 
 The increase of population which had taken place of late necessitated an 
 enlargement of territory. Accordingly, the isthmus had been passed, and 
 
 M 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1671 
 
 not only were cattle grazed but farmers were located miles beyond it. The 
 Directors acknowledged this onward step by authorizing the occupation of 
 the tract of land known as Hottentots' Holland. 
 
 As the natives were beginning once more to make their presence felt in 
 an uncomfortable manner, five, who were caught in the act of theft of stock, 
 were tried and sentenced : three, to be flogged and branded, and to serve 
 fifteen years in chains, and two, less guilty, to be flogged and to serve 
 seven years. It was hoped that this severe punishment would deter their 
 countrymen from the commission of such crimes in future. 
 
 In March, 1672, Arnout van Overbeek, Commissioner and Commander 
 of a fleet, arrived at the Cape. He considered it advisable, in order to 
 prevent disputes, that a purchase of land should be made from the Hot- 
 tentots. Accordingly, an agreement was made with one Schachee, who 
 the Dutch pretended to believe was the hereditary sovereign of that part 
 of the country, whereby he ceded in perpetual property to the Company 
 the district from Saldanha to Table Bay, for 4,000 reals of eight, with 
 the understanding that he and his kraals and cattle might come freely and 
 without molestation, near to the outermost farms of the said district, 
 where neither the Company nor the burghers depastured cattle, and that 
 he should not be expelled from the same by force and without cause. 
 By a similar agreement with another so-called prince, Hottentots' Holland 
 was purchased for a like sum. The first was paid in tobacco, brandy, 
 beads, and bread, to the value of about £2 16s., and the last in merchan- 
 dize to the value of not quite £7. By the chiefs who agreed to it, this 
 purchase of property was probably looked upon merely as the recognition 
 of an existing state of affairs. The Dutch were already in possession of 
 the land, and it was to the advantage of the chiefs to obtain even the trifle 
 which they received in return for their signatures. That the Dutch 
 acquired a good title by this proceeding cannot in strict justice be main- 
 tained. The natives neither then nor at any subsequent period have ad- 
 mitted the right of their chiefs to alienate the land which is held for the 
 common good of all. Even among the Kafiir and Bechuana tribes, where 
 government is much stricter and the power of the rulers much greater 
 than among the old Hottentot clans of the Cape Colony, this power is not 
 recognized. The chief can give permission to aliens to reside in his country, 
 but even this license is held to expire at his death, and leave must be 
 obtained anew from his successor. The claim of the Dutch to South Africa 
 must be based simply upon the rights acquired by forcible occupation ; 
 the necessity, in the first instance, of securing Table Bay as a port of call 
 for their ships, and the impossibility of permanently limiting the extent 
 of the settlement, which has been experienced from the date of the esta 
 blishment of free burghers in the land until the present day. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FROM THE PURCHASE OP TERRITORY FROM HOTTENTOT CHIEFS TO THE ARRIVAL Of 
 THE FRENCH REFUGEES. 1672 TO 1689. 
 
 ^Principal Subjects : — Second War with Hottentots. — Introduction of Slaves from 
 Madagascar. — Village of Stellenbosch founded. — Introduction of Agricultural Im- 
 migrants from Holland. — Condition of the Natives in the neighbourhood of the 
 Settlement. — Occupation of Brakenstein. — Persecution of Protestants in France. — 
 Immigration of French Refugees. 
 
 Governors : — Albert van Brengel, 
 
 Ijsbrandt Goske, October 2, 1672. 
 
 JohanBax, January 2, 1676. 
 
 Hendrik Crudax, June 29, 1678. 
 
 Simon van der Stell, October 14, 1679. 
 
 After the purchase of the district, all natives residing within it were 
 considered and treated as subjects, but most of them removed beyond the 
 border, where they hoped to be permitted to follow their own way of living 
 undisturbed. There are no means of ascertaining what effect this 
 emigration had upon the intertribal relations of other clans, but from what 
 is known of later occurrences, it is tolerably certain that considerable 
 commotion was occasioned by it. It could hardly be otherwise. The 
 clans, even in the hour of greatest danger from the common foe, were 
 usually more jealous of each other than of the Dutch. If, then, 
 the refugees sought protection from any chief, it would most likely be at 
 the price of aiding him to make war upon a rival ; if they endeavoured to 
 remain independent, they would be treated as intruders. However that 
 may have been, their removal did noi free them for any long time of the 
 new dominion that had been established in the country. 
 
 Already the abundance of game had lured many of the burghers to be- 
 come hunters. This mode of obtaining a livelihood had to the unmarried 
 and restless among them an attraction which the advantages derived from 
 cultivating the soil could not counterbalance. An expert hunter could earn 
 even more money in this than in any other pursuit, as dried venison was 
 always in demand at the Company's stores and fort. An attempt was 
 made by the government to preserve the game within the limits of the 
 settlement, but, in utter disregard of native rights, licenses were issued to 
 hunt anywhere beyond the border. The Hottentots were incensed on seeing 
 the country traversed in all directions by these hunters, and the game, on 
 which they largely depended for subsistence, slaughtered in vast numbers 
 
84. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1673 
 
 or driven away. It often happened that Europeans, when thus engaged, 
 were murdered, and then a cry arose in the settlement that their innocent 
 blood ought to be avenged. One tribe in particular, under the chief 
 GoNOMOA, cut off several hunters, and further exasperated the colonists by 
 stealing many of their cattle. 
 
 In July, 1673, this tribe surprised the Company's post at Saldanha Bay, 
 murdered four Europeans, and plundered the trading station. It was in- 
 stantly resolved to punish the robbers, and for this purpose Ensign Cruze, 
 with a party of ninety men, was ordered to attack Gonomoa and his people, 
 and endeavour entirely to ruin them. The burghers were liable to be 
 called out at any time to take part in military operations, and on this 
 occasion as many as possessed horses were pressed into service. The ex- 
 pedition managed, soon after setting out, to secure a Hottentot belonging 
 to the hostile tribe, who was compelled, under threat of instant death, to 
 act as guide. A few days' march brought them to their destination, and 
 as the natives fled without resistance, they took possession of a large herd 
 of cattle and a flock of sheep, with which they prepared to return. But 
 they had hardly commenced to march, when they were pursued and 
 attacked by the Hottentots, whose principal object was to recover the cattle. 
 The burgher cavalry here performed good service, and so covered the 
 retreat that only a few old ewes and young lambs, which could not keep 
 up with the rest, were recaptured. The Dutch casualties were two horses 
 killed and one man wounded, and they delivered at the fort eight hundred 
 head of cattle and nine hundred sheep, the spoils of the first campaign of 
 the second Hottentot war. The expedition was absent thirteen days. 
 From eight to twelve of the captured cattle were presented to each of the 
 burghers, conditionally at first, but afterwards in full property. 
 
 A coalition of some other Hottentot tribes was now formed against 
 GoNOMOA, though for some time hostilities were not very vigorously carried 
 on. One occurrence that was recorded at the time shows the rancour that 
 existed between the clans. Four prisoners, who were secured by the allies, 
 were taken in triumph to Cape Town, and there beaten to death with clubs 
 by their captors. In April, 1674, Gonomoa advanced towards the Dutch 
 settlement, but was met by a force of fifty burghers, fifty soldiers, and two 
 hundred and fifty Hottentot allies, and driven back with considerable loss. 
 On this occasion, eight hundred cattle and four thousand sheep fell into 
 the hands of the victors. In the distribution of the booty, the allies as 
 well as the burghers received a fair share. 
 
 For eighteen months after this, the hostile chief remained at a distance 
 and kept quiet, but during that time he was gatherirg strength, and 
 towards the close of 1675 he made a sudden foray upon the allies of the 
 Dutch, and carried off a great number of their cattle. A party of horse 
 and foot was sent to the assistance of the friendly Hottentots, but, after 
 three days' absence, returned unsuccessful, the enemy having retreated 
 into the interior. From this date nothing more noteworthy than the 
 
1677] 
 
 UISTOEi' or THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 85 
 
 occasional murder of a burglier on the one side, or of a party of Hottentots 
 on the other, occurred until June, 1677, when a formal peace was concluded 
 between the belligerents, and the tribe of Gonomoa became tributary to the 
 Company. The amount of tribute agreed upon was thirty head of horned 
 cattle, to be delivered yearly upon the arrival of the homeward bound fleet. 
 It was very irregularly paid, and soon ceased altogether. 
 
 Stealing cattle always was a common offence in South Africa, and at 
 that time was not confined to the natives, though punishments that would 
 in these days be considered barbarous, were inflicted upon any European 
 convicted of it. As an instance, a woman, who was concerned in the theft of 
 two cows from Hottentots, was sentenced by the Court of Justice to be 
 scourged and branded, to stand as a public spectacle with a cow's skin 
 above her head and a halter round her neck, to confiscation of property, 
 and banishment to Robben Island for twelve years. Her accomplices, in 
 addition to flogging, were sentenced to be kept in chains at the public 
 works for eight years. By the intercession of some of the most respectable 
 females and the pitiful entreaties of her young children, the woman was 
 released from the branding and the halter round her neck, and the flogging 
 of one of her accomplices was remitted. 
 
 The Hottentots living in and about the settlement had by this time 
 acquired some knowledge of trade. As each tribe possessed territorial 
 rights, those who came from a distance to barter cattle at the fort had 
 always paid brokerage to the Cape tribes, or a small fee for the privilege 
 of passing through their land. But now some of the cleverest purchased 
 cattle on their own account, for the purpose of selling them again to the 
 Dutch. This did not accord with the ideas the Company entertained with 
 regard to their interests, and they therefore resolved to suppress the 
 practice with a strong hand. It was not alone because a higher price was 
 demanded for cattle that this resolution was made, but because the 
 government was prevented from carrying on a direct trade with remote 
 tribes, and thereby becoming acquainted with all the conditions and 
 resources of the country. Parties were equipped for trading purposes, 
 taking with them a quantity of beads, brass wire, and tobacco, and often 
 were absent for several weeks. Occasionally trustworthy Hottentots were 
 employed in this service, and received a liberal percentage on all purchases 
 made. The Hottentots in the immediate vicinity of the settlement had 
 become very poor in cattle ; but large numbers were at this time obtained 
 from tribes living further inland. 
 
 Commissioner N. Verbtjrg, who called at the Cape in 1676, left a 
 memorandum, in which he directed the local authorities to avoid an over 
 severe and rigorous system of government, so as to give some relief to the 
 settlers, who seemed to be dissatisfied. It was desirable that the colony 
 should be extended, and therefore settlers should be encouraged and 
 allowed as much freedom as possible. The fisheries, he thought, ought to 
 be thrown open to all. There was no permanent school in the settlement 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1677 
 
 at that time, and he was of opinion that a good one should be provided at 
 
 once, — schools being the best nurseries of the state. But these liberal 
 views were not entertained by the Chamber of Seventeen, and very little 
 effect was produced by the Commissioner's visit. 
 
 Meantime slaves had been introduced from Madagascar. The hardships 
 they endured must have been very great, judging from the frequent cases 
 of desertion from service that are recorded. They were no longer fed on 
 seals' flesh, but on the meat of hippopotami and other large game, which was 
 procured by hunting parties organized for the purpose. Some o{ these 
 slaves, who performed meritorious services, were emancipated and placed 
 upon the same footing as free burghers, and the number of half breeds was 
 fast increasing. 
 
 In June, 1678, Governor Bax died. He was succeeded by the second in 
 command, Hendrik Crudax, until an appointment should be made by the 
 supreme authorities. The deceased governor was held in general esteem 
 by the settlers, and his death was greatly regretted. It was during his 
 tenure of office that the castle was completed. 
 
 Soon after the arrival of Simon van der Stell, he inspected a beautiful 
 valley, with an excellent stream of water flowing through it, and ornamented 
 with fine trees. As the spot had never before been visited by any dignitary, 
 he named it Stellenbosch, after himself and his lady. The advantages of 
 this valley for a new settlement were obvious, and in a short time several 
 farmers were located there. A village was laid out, and in the course of a 
 few years a clergyman and a landdrost were appointed. It became the 
 centre of an important district, and was soon noted for its gardens and 
 orchards. 
 
 The Commander Simon van der Stell encouraged the burghers by 
 giving them tracts of land formerly held on lease ; but he represented to 
 the Chamber of Seventeen that the class of men then in the colony was not 
 likely to develop its resources, and recommended that a number of farmers 
 should be sent out from the Netherlands. He stated that for three years 
 after his arrival, the colonists had been depending upon the importation of 
 rice for food, as nearly all of them were engaged in pastoral, not in 
 agricultural pursuits. Henceforth he hoped they would raise sufficient 
 grain for their own consumption and that of the garrison, but a supply for 
 the ships could not be depended upon. 
 
 An event of the year 1682 showed that the settlement was far from 
 prosperous. An English ship, that had lost nearly the whole of her crew 
 by sickness, was towed into Table Bay by a galleot, and her captain repaid 
 the kindness by inducing forty-three of the garrison and colonists to 
 desert. Another English vessel sent a boat's crew to shoot the Company's 
 sheep on Dassen Island. But on behalf of the English it must be said that 
 they had no alternative. The first ship must otherwise have been abandoned, 
 or sold to the Company, for want of hands. In the second instance, the crew 
 was compelled to steal or starve. 
 
1685] 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLOirST. 
 
 87 
 
 Baron Van Hheede, lord of Drakenstein, who visited the Cape as Com- 
 missioner in 1685, made many important regulations, which, however, were 
 only observed for a short time. The slaves were to be treated mercifully, 
 and the Hottentots were to be considered as having the right of grazing 
 cattle equally with the Dutch within the limits of the settlement. None 
 but subjects of the State with good character were in future to be placed 
 in the position of free burghers, and all burghers who, in consequence of 
 dissipated or irregular habits, were incapable of performing their duties, 
 were to be sent out of the country. 
 
 The Commissioner concurred in the views of the Governor with regard 
 to the benefits to be derived from the introduction of agriculturists from 
 Holland, and endorsed his representations to that effect to the Chamber 
 of Seventeen. The Directors then agreed to the proposal, and made offers 
 of free passages to the colony and grants of land to a number of small 
 farmers. About fifty heads of families, including a few mechanics, agreed 
 to the terms proposed, and with their wives and children embarked in the 
 next outward bound fleet. They were located principally in the district of 
 Stellenbosch, where choice plots of ground, each sixty morgen in extent, 
 were assigned to them. At the same time forty-eight young women, 
 similar to those who came to the colony twenty years before, were selected 
 and sent out. These immigrants proved a most useful addition to the 
 population. They were steady, industrious and religious, and had they 
 been under a better government than that of the East India Company and 
 free from the baneful influences of slavery, they would speedily have tested 
 the capabilities of the country. But, being placed under the same restrictions 
 as the freed sailors and soldiers, and like them being provided with slaves, 
 in a few years they lost those habits of industry and steady application to 
 one pursuit, which elsewhere would have made them most valuable 
 citizens. 
 
 By this time the natives far beyond the settlement had become subject 
 to the Dutch authorities. After the punishment inflicted on Gonomoa's 
 tribe, none of the Hottentots ever even attempted to resist European 
 encroachments. They were still ruled according to their own forms of law, 
 but their chiefs had become the tools of the Company. In some instances 
 they were men appointed by the Governor, who gave them a staff of oflBce, 
 upon which was engraved the Company's arms, as a symbol that their 
 authority was derived from the Company alone. Disputes between them 
 were settled by the Company's servants. And yet, while depriving them 
 of their independence and their land, men like the Baron Van Eheede and 
 the Commissioner Van Goens directed that they should be kindly treated 
 and justly dealt with. It is not surprising that instances were rare of those 
 who appreciated such justice and kindness. Of what use could such 
 instructions as those issued by Van Eheede have been ? The natives were 
 to have the right of grazing cattle equally with the burghers within the 
 limits of the settlement. But the Dutch took land for agricultural purposes 
 
88 
 
 niSTORI OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 wherever they chose, and would sulfer no intrusion either upon or near it ; 
 and as soon as a district became dotted over with patches of ploughed land, 
 the natives were compelled to move beyond it, or sink to the position of 
 serfs. Even the waifs of the ocean were now denied to them, for the 
 Governor has placed on record that on the occasion of some dead whales 
 drifting ashore, they commenced to make a feast, which he speedily put an 
 end to, as they were defrauding the Company in its monopoly of oil. 
 
 The tyranny of the government was often displayed in trivial matters. 
 One day some women were observed with parasols, as the sun was shining 
 very hot. The Governor deemed this a token of idleness, something really 
 too bad to be endured, and therefore gave orders that they were not to be 
 used in future. 
 
 In October, 1687, an extensive fertile valley on the Berg Eiver was selected 
 by the Commander for a new location, and farms therein were allotted to 
 twenty-three burghers. The new district, which was called Drakenstein, 
 after the Commissioner whose visit has been recorded, lies to the north of 
 Stellenbosch, from which it is separated by a range of mountains. No 
 portion of the settlement was more capable of improvement than this, as 
 the land along the river consists of a rich loam in which almost anything 
 will grow to perfection. It soon became the granary of the colony, and is 
 to the present day celebrated for the excellence of its farm produce. Within 
 a few years the population there was largely increased, when vineyards 
 and orange groves were laid out in the valley to such an extent as greatly 
 to add to its natural beauty. Here, if anywhere in the world, the cultivator 
 should be richly rewarded for his labour ; but under the rule of the East 
 India Company the profit pertained to the government, not to the individual 
 proprietor, so that even this splendid tract of country remained a waste 
 comparatively to what it now is. 
 
 In November the Chamber of Seventeen apprised the Cape government 
 that they were sending out some French and Piedmontese fugitives, of the 
 reformed religion, among whom were vine cultivators and brandy distillers, 
 who would be useful in South Africa. 
 
 The seventeenth century was productive of great events in Europe, not 
 the least among which was the terrible persecution of the Protestants in 
 France. In 1598, Henry IV issued from Nantes an edict by which Protestants 
 were permitted to enjoy freedom of worship in all the towns where their 
 creed then prevailed. At that time they formed a party of considerable 
 power, and Henry, who had in his early years been a Protestant and their 
 political leader, was actuated by gratitude for the aid they had given him, 
 as well as by a desire to unite into one firm power the different factions 
 that were destroying the strength of France. The Protestants lived in 
 security while the edict was observed in its integrity. But, gradually, as 
 their political power decreased, severe laws were enacted against them, 
 until their ruin was finally determined upon. Louis XIV, who was one of 
 the most licentious men of his age, was entirely devoted to the Romish 
 
1688] 
 
 MIITORT OF THE CAPl COLOHT. 
 
 89 
 
 church. Ho was taught by his confessors that the salvation of his soul 
 required him to suppress heresy. Absolute monarch of France, his will 
 was law, and his orders were carried out relentlessly. At that time there 
 were at least a million and a half of Protestants in France, and they 
 comprised the most industrious section of the nation. Their exclusion 
 from public employment had been the means of causing them to devote 
 their attention entirely to manufactures, commerce, and agriculture, in all 
 of which they excelled. Their loyalty, their upright conduct, their pure 
 morals, are admitted by their enemies, and proved by the benefits they 
 conferred on all the countries which gave them shelter when they fled 
 from their homes. From the year 1665 the Edict of Nantes may be said 
 to have been practically set aside. The Protestants could no longer obtain 
 protection or redress for insult or injury. For twenty years they bore 
 their trials patiently, hoping that in time justice would be granted to 
 them. But at length the king, urged on by his Jesuit confessors and 
 Madame De Maintenon, his mistress, resolved to root Protestantism out of 
 the land at. once and for ever. The time seemed opportune for such a deed. 
 In April, 1685, James II, an avowed Romanist, was crowned king of 
 England. The French monarch had therefore nothing to fear from that 
 Power, which so recently under the Protector Cromwell had been the 
 bulwark of Protestantism throughout Europe. The other States in which 
 the Reformed religion prevailed were too weak to do more than remonstrate. 
 The Huguenots beheld in dismay the dreadful storm that was gathering 
 over their heads. Their love of France had hardly been weakened by those 
 twenty years of suffering, but they saw that the only choice left to them 
 was that of their country or their creed. As many as could convert their 
 property into money did so at once, and fled. Already their churches were 
 burning, and the king's dragoons were quartered upon them, with orders 
 to plunder and insult. 
 
 In October, 1685, Louis XIV issued the ordinance which revoked the 
 Edict of Nantes. It forbade all exercise of the Reformed religion, banished 
 all the pastors of the Reformed church from the kingdom within fifteen 
 days, commanded the baptism of all infants in the Romish church, 
 condemned to the galleys all except the pastors who should attempt to 
 expatriate themselves. These were its principal clauses ; but it contained 
 others nearly as severe, and some offering bribes to those who would 
 abjure their faith. The ordinance was enforced with a severity never 
 before witnessed in any religious persecution. From all parts of France 
 arose a wail of agony. Children of tender years were torn from their 
 parents' arms and thrust into convents. Men and women were hunted 
 down like beasts of prey. All pastors caught were put to death, as'also 
 were all others who were taken in the exercise of their religion. A price of 
 five thousand five hundred livres was put upon the head of every clergyman, 
 and anyone who harboured or assisted a clergyman was sent to the galleys. 
 When they attempted to flee, they found the frontiers guarded by troops, 
 v 
 
90 niSTOET OF THK CAPE COLOTs'T. [168^ 
 
 KO fchat it was only by stealth and by the sacrifice of all their property that 
 they could effect their escape. Death or the abjuration of their faith were 
 the only terms offered. The number of those who perished can never be 
 accurately known : it has been computed usually at between three and four 
 hundred thousand, including all who died in prison, in the galleys, under 
 torture, and on the scaffold, and those who were shot down when attempting 
 to escape. About the same number, including those who fled before the 
 revocation of the edict of Nantes, safely reached foreign countries. In 
 England, Holland, ^Northern Germany, Switzerland, and the United States 
 of America, (then British colonies), they were warmly welcomed, and each 
 of these countries benefited by their presence. Most of those who could 
 not escape from France were dragooned into apparent submission. But 
 Protestantism only slumbered, never slept ; and when the progress of 
 liberal ideas towards the close of the eighteenth century restored to men 
 their natural right of freedom of conscience, the descendants of the 
 Huguenots were found professing the faith for which their fathers suffered 
 so much. 
 
 In Holland the refugees might be welcomed ; but there was no room for 
 all who arrived, nor was there anything there for so many to do, by which 
 they could maintain themselves. Some indeed found employment in the 
 manufacturing centres, and the Stadtholder enrolled three or four regiments 
 of them as soldiers, besides manning a portion of his fleet with them ; but 
 the country was already teeming with people. The East India Company 
 might therefore have obtained some thousands of them; but there were 
 reasons for not sending many to South Africa. They did not want a 
 populous colony, but merely a victualling station. A small body of such 
 men as these refugees might be kept in subjection by a government like 
 that of the Company, a large body never. Of late, the number of burghers 
 at the Cape had been greatly increased by emigrants from Holland and 
 others discharged from service, and the Chamber of Seventeen did not 
 desire to be at a large expense for transport. It was therefore considered 
 advisable to send out only a select few, who would engage in those branches 
 of agriculture of which the Dutch were ignorant. Within a couple of years, 
 ninety-seven families, comprising about three hundred individuals, including 
 men, women, and children, arrived, and were located at Stellenbosch, 
 Drakenstein, Fransche Hoek, and the Paarl. Before leaving Holland, the 
 heads of families were required to take an oath of fidelity to the Company, 
 and to agree to conform to all regulations which might be made for the 
 South African settlement. This placed them on exactly the same footing 
 as the former colonists, that is, they had no freedom to carry on trade and 
 no voice in the government, but were in reality unpaid servants of the 
 Netherlands East India Company. 
 
 These were undoubtedly the best settlers the colony had yet received. 
 The immigrants from the Netherlands were all of one class, but these were 
 of various stations in society. Some had been of high rank in France, 
 
1688] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 91 
 
 •others were manufacturers, others again vinedressers or gardeners. Having 
 lost everything in their flight, they landed in so destitute a condition 
 that the authorities had to supply them in the same manner as discharged 
 sailors and soldiers ; but, by their industry and frugality, they soon placed 
 themselves beyond the reach of want. It is from the date of their arrival 
 that the manufacture of wine on a large scale was carried on. Previous to 
 this, wine had been made, and even exported, but in such small quantities 
 «s hardly to deserve notice. A stock of sixty-nine leaguers on hand and an 
 exportation of eighteen leaguers to Mauritius and Ceylon in 1688 was 
 considered by Commander Van deu Stell a matter of congratulation. 
 
 The French Refugees brought with them to this country an earnest 
 religious feeling, which was soon imparted to all of the colonists. In course 
 of time, through ignorance of every other book excepting the Bible, their 
 ■descendants came to hold views repugnant in many respects to those of a 
 progressive people, but it is hardly possible to over-estimate the value of 
 the religious principle which was so fully developed in them. It enabled 
 them to push their way singly into the interior, without schools or churches 
 •or shops, with only savages around them, yet without becoming savages 
 themselves. A people less strong in faith would assuredly have been 
 unable to do this. The practical part of their religion was drawn from the 
 Old rather than from the New Testament, but where has this not been the 
 case when Europeans have met races of another colour ? 
 
 The French language was introduced into South Africa by these people, 
 but was lost in the course of only a couple of generations. It had scarcely 
 any influence in modifying the Dutch, so far as the incorporation of new 
 words was concerned, but the sudden exchange of one tongue for another 
 by so large a proportion of the inhabitants was one of the earliest and 
 most potent causes which tended to break down in this country the 
 structure of the language of Holland and to build up in its stead the 
 expressive, though uugrammatical colonial dialect. The French language 
 was lost so soon, because the Company willed that it should be so. Eeligious 
 services were ordered to be conducted in Dutch only, and no other language 
 was permitted to be used in the courts of law or in any public transactions. 
 Thus a knowledge of Dutch became absolutely necessary, and their own 
 tongue was soon forgotten by the new settlers. In addition to this, the 
 intermarriages which after a few years became common between the colon- 
 ists of different nationalities tended to obliterate all distinctions between 
 them. 
 
 Though the French Eefugees and the agricultural immigrants from 
 Holland together formed but a small proportion of the Europeans who 
 arrived in this country during the government of the East India Company, 
 a very large number of the South African Dutch of the present day are 
 descended from them. This is owing to natural circumstances, and is in 
 accordance with laws of selection which prevail everywhere. With the 
 exception of those who had held superior appointments, comparatively few 
 
92 HIiTO»T or Till CLPE COLO^T. [ICSS 
 
 of the servants of the Company, discharged after this date, became the 
 
 heads of families. They were usually men already past the rigour of life 
 when their freedom commenced, and their habits had frequently been such 
 as to prevent them from being accepted as husbands by the young white 
 women of the settlement. To them most of the half breeds owe their 
 origin, though instances are not wanting of some among their number 
 acquiring not alone wealth, but distinction among the colonists. 
 
 Note.— The following is a list of the family names of the French Befugees who 
 
 came to South Africa at the time of the rerocation of the Edict of Nantes. It if 
 taken from a little book published in Cape Town in 1854, and entitled Geschiedenii 
 der Fransche Vlugielingen. Vertaald uit het Fransch, door A. N. E. Changuion. 
 Names — (slightly disguised, in some instances, under a Dutch form of speUing) — that 
 are now to be met with all over the country are printed in italic, while lome of the 
 others have entirely died out. 
 
 Avis 
 
 Debeurieux 
 
 Gounay 
 
 Maniet 
 
 Senecal 
 
 Barret 
 
 Decabrifere 
 
 Grellon 
 
 Maruc^ne 
 
 Senquette 
 
 Bachet 
 
 Delporte 
 Deporte 
 
 Jacob 
 
 Marais 
 
 Simon 
 
 Basson 
 
 Joubert 
 
 Martinet 
 
 Tabordeux 
 
 Bastions 
 
 Deruel 
 
 Jourdain 
 
 Menard 
 
 TaiUefer 
 
 Beaumons 
 
 Dumont 
 
 La Qrang» 
 
 Niel 
 
 Tenaumant 
 
 Beck 
 
 Duple 9SU 
 
 Lanoy 
 
 Norman 
 
 TerreBlanch9 
 
 Beneret 
 
 Dupres 
 
 Laporte 
 
 Nortie 
 
 Terrier 
 
 Bruet 
 
 Dutoit 
 
 Lapretois 
 
 Passeman 
 
 Terrout 
 
 Beta 
 
 Diirant 
 
 Leclair 
 
 Peron 
 
 VaUeti 
 
 Camper 
 
 DubuUson 
 
 Lecrivant 
 
 Pinardt 
 
 Vanas 
 
 Cellier 
 
 Desavoye 
 
 Lefebvre 
 
 Prevot 
 
 Vattr6 
 
 Cordier 
 
 Entreix 
 
 Le Qrand 
 
 Bassemut 
 
 Vaudray 
 
 Corprenant 
 
 Fracha 
 
 Le Riche 
 
 Betif 
 
 Verbal 
 
 Couteau 
 
 Fotich€ 
 
 Le Roux 
 
 Richard 
 
 Villiout 
 
 Couvert 
 
 Floret 
 
 Lombard 
 
 Bousseau 
 
 De ViUierg (3) 
 
 Crognet 
 
 Foury 
 
 Longue 
 
 Boux 
 
 Vyot 
 
 Daille 
 
 Qanche 
 
 Malan 
 
 Sebatier 
 
 Viton 
 
 Debuze 
 
 Gordiol 
 
 Malherbe 
 
 SeUier 
 
 Vitreux 
 
 At present there can be very few, if any, Dutch South Africans without a mixture 
 of Huguenot blood in their veins. In addition to the above, there are several French 
 names of long standing in the country, derived from individual* who came from 
 Europe at a later date. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 9B0M THB A.EEIVAL OP THE PEENCH EEPUGEES TO THE RECALL OP ADEIA5 VAN 
 DEE 8TELL FOE TYEANNT. — 1689 TO 1706. 
 
 Principal Subjects: — Capture of French Ships. — Exploration of South Africa. — 
 Planting of Constantia. — Tyranny of Adrian van der Stell. — His Recall. — Set- 
 tlement of the Tulhagh Valley. — Expansion of the Colony. — Descriptions of Cape 
 Town. — Form of Government. 
 
 Governors : — Simon van dee Stell, 
 
 Wlllem ADELA.N VAN DEE Still, February 11, 1699. 
 
 The recent increase in the number of burghers caused the Company to 
 hope that they would now be able to reduce the strength of the garrison 
 and to command a constant and ample supply of fresh provisions for the 
 crews of their ships. They expected also to raise a small revenue from 
 licenses to retail spirits and from fees upon the sale of fixed property, so as 
 partly, if not wholly, to cover the expenses of their South African 
 establishment. But their anticipations in these respects were groundless. 
 They were still compelled to maintain a strong garrison, to prevent rebellion 
 as much as to guard against a foreign foe, and as to revenue, it constantly 
 fell short of the needs of government, though, if the advantages connected 
 with having a secure port of call and place of refreshment be taken into 
 consideration, the Company had no reason to be dissatisfied. 
 
 In 1689, two French ships. La Normande and Le Coche, on their home- 
 ward voyage from Pondicherry with valuable cargoes on board, put into 
 Table Bay for refreshment. Their commanders were unaware that hosti- 
 lities were then being carried on between France and Holland. A small 
 Dutch fleet was there at the time, and partly by strategy, partly by force, 
 the French ships were seized. Their crews were made prisoners of war 
 and sent to Batavia. 
 
 In Simon van dee Stell's time much geographical information was ob- 
 tained concerning South Africa. The Commander himself, with a large 
 retinue, explored the country to the northward as far as Little Namaqua- 
 land, and discovered extensive copper mines there, which, however, were 
 considered to be at too great a distance from the sea-coast to be of any 
 value. Other exploring parties penetrated the country far to the eastward. 
 Simon's Bay was surveyed at this time, and named after the Commander. 
 The cultivation of the vine was rapidly being extended, mainly through 
 tk» •lertions of the French immigrants. The Commander himself carried 
 
94 ttlSTOET OF THE CA.PE COLOICl. [1695 
 
 ou farming on an extensive scale. It was by him tbat the celebrated 
 rineyard of Constantia was planted, the name given to the estate being 
 that of his wife. In the country districts, farmers were ordered to plant a 
 hundred oak trees on each grant of land, but this injunction was in most 
 cases disregarded. The destruction of timber trees was prohibited under 
 heavy penalties. Not only was the European population increasing rapidly, 
 but the settlers were becoming individually more wealthy, and many of 
 them began to construct neat dwelling houses and to ornament their estates. 
 Some few differences occurred between the French immigrants and the 
 Commander, but on the whole the period of his government was one of 
 prosperity to the settlement. This Governor, unlike all those who preceded 
 him, was attached to the country, and took a personal interest in its welfare. 
 Having secured the appointment of his son as his successor, in 1699 Simon 
 VAN DEB, Stell resigned, and retired to a beautiful estate near Stellenbosch, 
 where he spent the remaining thirteen years of his life. 
 
 In a country blessed with a constitution, the personal character of the 
 head of the government may not affect the people to any great extent ; 
 but where the ruler is absolute, the happiness and prosperity of all depend 
 upon his actions. The younger Van der Stell was a man of ability and 
 of considerable scientific attainments, but he was passionate, tyrannical, 
 and covetous of wealth. He took possession of an immense tract of 
 country at Hottentots' Holland, and by farming operations enriched him- 
 self and deprived the burghers of all hope of profit by the sale of produce. 
 In his corn-fields, vineyards, and gardens, the Company's servants and 
 slaves were employed, and the edifices he constructed were built of materials 
 belonging to the Company, so that he could well afford to supply provisions 
 at a cheaper rate than the burghers possibly could. By this time the 
 Company had pretty nearly relinquished growing grain ou its own account. 
 The farmers saw nothing but ruin before them. The Governor was not 
 wholly selfish, as he had favourites whom he allowed to do pretty much as 
 they liked. They were his younger brother, Fkans van der Stell, the 
 second in command, Samuel Elzivier, and a clergyman, Petrus Kalden. 
 Among them they monopolized everything. They bartered cattle with 
 the natives, and would permit no one else to do so. They erected mills, 
 and compelled all who were in their power to bring corn to be ground 
 there. They enjoyed an exclusive privilege of fishing. The burghers 
 soon felt that if the monopoly of buying and selling which was claimed 
 by the Company, but which could not be exercised in its entirety on 
 account of the great distance intervening between them and the seat 
 of power, was oppressive, the kind of monopoly that was exercised by 
 the Governor and his friends, who were on the spot, was unendurable. 
 They therefore framed two petitions, of course clandestinely, one of which 
 they managed to get conveyed to the government in Batavia, and the other 
 they intended to forward to the Chamber of Seventeen. In these they 
 prayed for redress of their grievances, and the removal from the settle- 
 
1705] HISTORY OF THK CAPK COLONT. »5 
 
 ment of the Governor and his friends. In addition to the charges made 
 conjointly against these, Vax der Stell was accused of neglecting the- 
 public business, receiving bribes, and oppressing the colonists in various 
 ways. 
 
 Of the clergyman, the petitioners complained that he paid more attention 
 to his farm than to his pulpit. It frequently happened that people who 
 came a long way to receive the sacrament, to have their children baptized^ 
 or to be united in marriage, were compelled to return home disappointed, 
 on account of his absence. He paid no regard to the murmurs of the 
 people, and did not hesitate to say that when the Governor and second 
 oflBcer in rank were absent from town, he saw no reason why he should 
 remain to preach to the vulgar. 
 
 In February, 1706, the Governor was apprised that complaints concer- 
 ning him had reached the authorities in India. Naturally passionate, his 
 fury now knew no bounds, and a reign of terror commenced at the Cape. 
 The first to feel his resentment was one Adam Tas, a resident of Stellen- 
 bosch, who was dragged from his bed at night and thrust into prison. In 
 his possession was found the copy of the petition intended to be forwarded 
 to Holland. The first name among the signatures was that of Jan Eotter- 
 DAM, a man of seventy years of age, and so feeble that he could barely walk. 
 He was ordered to leave the colony within twenty-four hours, and was 
 forced on board a ship bound to Batavia. Yan deb, Stell caused a docu- 
 ment expressing entire satisfaction with his government to be circulated, 
 and all who refused to sign it were treated as rebels. He even went so- 
 far as to issue a proclamation forbidding every one, under penalty of death, 
 from signing or persuading others to sign any petition against the 
 chief authorities of the settlement. Several of the best men in the 
 country were banished, others were imprisoned, and others again 
 were deprived of their land. But the Governor committed a blunder 
 fatal to himself in banishing his opponents. Some of those who 
 were thus sent to Holland found means to enlist the assistance of men 
 high in power there, through whose influence Van der Stell and his 
 associates in oppression were recalled. Tyranny and corruption were, 
 however, not considered by the Chamber of Seventeen to be crimes of 
 such magnitude as the infringement of their monopol3^ Van Quaelberg, 
 who had been guilty of the latter, had been degraded and dismissed from 
 their service. Van der Stell was merely recalled, and was permitted to 
 retain his rank and to draw his salary for some time afterwards. The 
 property which he had acquired in the colony, at the Company's expense, 
 was confiscated. At the same time an order was issued debarring the 
 chief officials of the settlement from carrying on farming operations on 
 their own account. The principal edifice erected by Van der Stell was 
 pulled down by order of the Chamber of Seventeen, and the lands held by 
 him, — some with fine buildings upon them, — were sold to a number of 
 farmers. 
 
MISTORl or THK GAPl COLOTfT. 
 
 [1706 
 
 During the government of Adrian van der Stell farms were given out 
 in the great valley in which the present village of Tulbagh is situated- 
 This rich tract of country was subject to the disadvantage of being beyond 
 a formidable mountain barrier, over which no attempt to construct a road 
 was made in those days. It followed from this circumstance that the 
 residents turned their attention almost entirely to the breeding of cattle, 
 and never cultivated the ground to a greater extent than their own 
 consumption required. At the present day the valley is in easy communi- 
 cation with Cape Town, not only by an excellent road through Bain's 
 Kloof, but by rail as well, so that large quantities of grain, fruit, and wine, 
 are produced there. But as long as the district had no outlet, few improve- 
 ments were made. And during the government of the East India Company 
 there was no inducement for the farmers to open a road for themselves. 
 They knew well that produce taken to Cape Town could only be sold at 
 the Company's stores at prices fixed by the purchaser, which were usually 
 from one fifth to one third of the rates charged for the same produce if it 
 was resold. Little encouragement this to till the land, or to make roads ; 
 and there is little cause for astonishment that under such a government 
 the only use to which the Tulbagh valley was applied was the grazing of 
 cattle. The new settlement was at first called Roodezand, or sometimes 
 Waveren, after the Waveren family of Amsterdam, who were relatives of 
 the Governor. 
 
 In 1702, an exploring party, consisting of forty-five burghers, travelled 
 eastward into the country occupied by the Kafiirs. Other parties travelled 
 far to the northward and north-eastward. In 1704 the foundation stone of 
 the Dutch Reformed church near the government gardens in Cape Town 
 was laid. Notwithstanding his tyranny, Adrian van der Stell's term of 
 office was marked by improvement. His memory ought to be held in 
 respect, if for nothing else, on account of his having been the first in 
 South Africa to construct artificial reservoirs for the preservation of water 
 wherewith to irrigate land. A great part of his success as a corn farmer 
 may be attributed to this. 
 
 At this time the settlement included the present divisions of the Cape, 
 Stellenbosch, the Paarl, Malmesbury, and parts of Worcester, Caledon, 
 and Tulbagh, that is, nearly the whole of the present wine producing 
 district of the colony. It was certainly very thinly inhabited, but the 
 richest farms were already given out. From this date, therefore, the 
 gupply of wheat, vegetables, and fruit, was always equal to the demand, 
 and in good seasons a considerable quantity of grain was exported. Had 
 the Company been more liberal in its dealings with the colonists, this 
 branch of industry might have been greatly enlarged, to the profit of the 
 government as well as of the cultivators ; but in the eyes of its rulers the 
 Cape never rose to be more than a place of refreshment for the Indian 
 fleets. Now, therefore, that agricultural produce was plentiful, a constant 
 ■apply of o^ttl* was the object most to be desired. The natives never 
 
1706] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 97 
 
 could be depeudod upon to provide as many oxen as were needed, and it 
 was already evident that this source of supply would ere long fail altogether. 
 To breed cattle purposely for sale was a step too far advanced for the 
 improvident Hottentots to take, and hence Europeans were encouraged to 
 embark largely in that occupation. 
 
 From this date different causes will be found in operation, tending 
 towards a rapid expansion of the colonial boundaries, one of these causes 
 being the policy of the government with regard to graziers, to whom great 
 tracts of land were leased almost at a nominal rental. The tyranny of the 
 authorities was another cause of expansion. Beyond the parts where 
 farms had been given out, there roved a number of Europeans, leading a 
 pastoral life, and caring nothing for the cultivation of the earth. They 
 had found in dried venison a substitute for bread, and lived almost 
 exclusively on a flesh diet. Whenever these people fancied that the govern- 
 ment oppressed them, they had merely to move a little further into tho 
 interior to be beyond the reach of authority. As they moved inland, the 
 places they had occupied were filled up behind them, and thus an expansion 
 was constantly going on. In advance of these rovers moved the bulk of 
 the Hottentots, who never attempted resistance, and whose rights to tho 
 soil were wholly disregarded. 
 
 While the colony was thus increasing in extent, its capital was gradually 
 assuming the appearance of a town. Pictures of it are given by so many 
 voyagers and travellers, that there is no difficulty in bringing it before our 
 eyes and ascertaining how its inhabitants lived, and throve with all the 
 disadvantages of an oppressive [government. In April. 1691, the English 
 ship Defence, from the Indies, called at the Cape. She had on board an 
 adventurous seaman named William Dampier, accounts of whose voyages 
 have ever since been read with interest. His description of Cape Town, 
 where he resided for six weeks, is exceedingly graphic. In April, 170G' 
 BARinoLOMEW ZiEGENBALGii and Henry Plutsctio, the first Protestant mis- 
 sionaries to India, touched here on their passage from Copenhagen to Tran- 
 quebar. In one of their letters a short description of the place is given, 
 special reference being made to the spiritual state of the people. And 
 Peter Kolbex, who resided in South Africa from 1705 to 1713, published a 
 book upon the country. 
 
 Dampier's ship approached the Cape in distress, as nearly the whole of 
 her crew were sick. The guns which were fired every hour were heard by 
 a Dutch captain, who put off in his boat, and, after ascertaining the state 
 of affairs, sent ashore for a hundred lusty hands to bring the Defence to 
 anchor. They took her in, stowed her sails, got everything snug on board, 
 and then went ashore again, having made prize of whatever they could lay 
 their hands on. Dampier followed them to land, and took up his quarters 
 with one of the residents, who charged him three shillings a day for board 
 and lodging, though bread and meat were as cheap as in England. Ho 
 found that the inhabitants depended to a considerable extent upon thus 
 o 
 
niSTOKY OF THE CAFE COLONY. 
 
 providiiip^ for strangers, and in purchasing trifles from sailors, "wfiich they 
 resold at a good profit to the farmers. His landlord was in the habit of 
 absenting himself from home for several days at a time, and Dampiek 
 ascertained that on these occasions he was trading with the Hottentots 
 inland, evading the Company's regulations by purchasing sheep for tobacco. 
 The price of a sheep was a piece of twisted tobacco of the same length as 
 the animal. To save appearance, one was purchased occasionally from the 
 Company's butcher, while those obtained illegally were slaughtered in the 
 night time. There were three licensed dealers in strong drink, but the 
 charge for a license was so great that a flask of wine cost eighteen pence, 
 whereas the crafty sailor found that he could purchase a flask of the same 
 quality from a smuggler for only eight pence. DiscoTery was sure to 
 bring ruin to those who carried on an illicit trade, but the profit was so 
 great that many persons were tempted to run the risk. Here, then, was 
 the result of over stringent government. 
 
 The accession of the Prince of Orange to the throne of England had 
 caused the crews of English ships to be better treated than formerly, and 
 the captain of the Defence, together with his sick men, were all on shore, 
 enjoying the comforts of the place. Those left on board were kept well 
 supplied with fresh meat and vegetables. The fish in Table Bay were 
 particularly good, and the Company's servants were not the people to 
 neglect catching them. A good many men were employed in this pursuit, 
 and great quantities of fish were preserved for the use of the garrison and 
 the ships' crews. Some of the choicest kinds were even exported to Europ^e. 
 The colonists were not allowed to catch fish for sale on their own account, 
 —a prohibition which appears to have been as unwise as it was harsh. The 
 consequence of this has been that the Dutch, who were the most hardy and 
 successful fishermen in Europe, have never turned their attention to that 
 branch of industry in South Africa. Dampier speaks in high terms of the 
 Company's gardens, where strangers were permitted to walk, and of the 
 fruit which grew in great abundance there. Such pomegranates he never 
 c^aw elsewhere. But then, strangers were not permitted to pluck them 
 without permission, as was proved one day by an acquaintance of his, who 
 made prize of half-a-dozen. A slave who detected hira raised a hue and 
 cry about his ears, threatened to march him off to the Governor direct, and 
 was only pacified on payment of a bribe. Nearly every family had a few 
 Hottentots as retainers, who carried messages and did any light work ir 
 return for their food. They lounged about all day, dressed m sheep skms 
 and made a great noise on moonlight nights, singing and dancing. Th 
 Defence was shorthanded, but no seamen were to be had from the Dutc) 
 ships, nor from two English East Indiamen that called at Table Bay whi) 
 ^he was there. Her captain managed, however, to induce nearly forty f 
 the townspeople and soldiers to take a trip to Europe with him, and thef 
 he conveyed on board of nights, and stowed them away so cleverly that il 
 Dutch officers could not find them. 
 
ntSTOU^ OF THE CAFE COLONY. 
 
 The missionariea drew a different picture. They found that most of the 
 residents in the town were Germans, who professed to be Lutherans, but 
 who said they could not serve God as well in Africa as at home, and there- 
 fore took no concern in religion. The Dutch were in a more hopeful condi- 
 tion, inasmuch as they had always their bibles ready at hand, and were 
 glad to take part in religious exercises. They found a youthful class 
 engaged in learning the catechism, and were overjoyed to hear some slave 
 "children answer readily to questions on the Christian religion. The ignorant 
 »nd wretched condition of the Hottentots moved them to a hearty compas- 
 sion, and they expressed amazement at the slaves being treated so harshly^ 
 They made mention of the Company's fine and spacious garden, which was 
 stored with "ali manner of rare and precious plants. It contained also a 
 collection of wild animals native to the country, among which they saw the 
 lion, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, zebra, eland, various kinds of small ante- 
 3 opes, &c. They made the acquaintance of some learned men in the town, 
 :and took up their quarters with a family, the head of which had formerly 
 fceen a student at one of the German Universities. 
 
 KoLBEN describes Cape Town as containing several wide streets, laid out 
 5&t right angles with each other, and nearly two hmidred houses, many of 
 them with large courtyazxis -and fine gardens. The streets, the courtyards, 
 •the houses, and everything in them, were kef)t extremely neat and clean. 
 The houses were built of stone, most of them only one -story high. None 
 were of more than two stories, on account of the violence of the winds, which 
 ^ow and then shook and damaged them, low as they were. Most of the 
 houses were thatched, but a few were covered with slates or tiles. Building 
 was encouraged by the Company, A roan who wished to build a house» 
 whether contiguous to the town or in the country, had ground sufficiently 
 extensive for a garden and building purposes allotted to him without 
 payment. Two hundred soldiers were quartered in the castle. There was 
 only one church, which was a spacious edifice, but very plain. There was a 
 feospital in the town for the sick. It was -situated near the Company's 
 ^garden, and was iarge enough for the accommodation of several hundred 
 ,patients. It was seldom that a shi^ .arrived at the Cape, either from 
 Europe or the Indies, without a considerable number of sick. From one 
 iiundred to one hiindred and fifty frequently arrived in a single vesseL 
 'The ship was no sooner at anchor than these were conveyed to the hospital, 
 where they were oarefully attended ta Such as were in a fair way of 
 recovery, if they felt so disposed, might walk in the Company's garden, 
 which furnished the hospital with abundance of vegetables. There was in 
 <the town a large b-mlding called the lodge, where the Company's slaves 
 were kept. The government owned about six hundred slaves, most of 
 whom were brought from Madagascar. Kolben's book is prefaced with a 
 view of Cape Town, in which a gallows is a conspicuous object. Two 
 other gibbets were afterwards erected near at hand, one >on each side of 
 the town, as a warning to the evil disposed. Hacks a«id otiicj- instrument i< 
 
100 
 
 msTour OF tke cape coLo^'l^ 
 
 [17GG 
 
 of torture stood opposite to the castle. In the neighbourhood, for eighty 
 years yet to come, wild animals abounded : hyenas performed the work 
 of scavengers in the streets by night, and jackals were plentiful in the 
 mountains. 
 
 At a short distance from the town were many beautiful gardens and 
 vineyards, two of them belonging to the Company. In one stood a fine 
 pleasure house belonging to the Governor, and near it was a grove of young 
 oaks, called the Eondebosch, from which the garden took its name. The 
 other was called Newlands, because but lately planted. Both of these 
 gardens were well watered, and a considerable quantity of vegetables and 
 fruit was obtained from them. Many charming estates adorned the settle- 
 ment. He was a farmer of little consideration who had not more than six 
 hundred sheep and one hundred head of horned cattle. Horses had 
 increased so greatly in number that they could be had for a mere trifle. 
 KoLBEN does not mention where the stock of these horses came from, and 
 it appears at the present day to be a doubtful matter. A few were brought 
 direct to the colony from Batavia, and a few more were left at St. Helena, 
 whence, after running wild for some time, they were brought to the Cape ; 
 but there must have been other and larger importations, accounts of which 
 are now lost. 
 
 The settlement was at that time divided into four districts : the Cape, 
 Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, and Waveren. The last two, however, did not 
 long remain separate. Both were subsequently united to Stellenbosch, 
 Drakenstein losing its landdrost but keeping a distinct heemraad, Waveren 
 losing both. The religious wants of the commimity were attended to by 
 three clergymen. There were in Cape Town, a petty court for the trial of 
 assaults and trespasses and the adjustment of trivial debts; an orphan 
 chamber, to guard the interests of orphans ; a matrimonial court, to see 
 that all contracts of marriage were properly made ; and an ecclesiastical 
 council. In each of the country districts there was a court of landdrost 
 and heemraden, which heard and determined all cases of debt, trespass, or 
 any other matter, wherein the amount in dispute was less than fifty rixdol- 
 lars, and which tried all persons accused of petty crimes and slaves charged 
 with the commission of any crimes or offences whatever. The heemraad 
 was formed by selecting a number of the most respectable burghers in the 
 district, whose duty was to act conjointly with the landdrost, and to inform 
 their fellow burghers of all new laws, ordinances, or regulations issued. 
 Two of the number retired every year, when others were selected by the 
 Governor from a list of names submitted to him by the Court. The 
 members of the heemraad received no salary, but the office was coveted 
 as being one of honour and distinction. Courts composed in this maimer 
 were usually popular, but very often their decisions, — especially in cases 
 between Europeans and natives, — were not given in accordance with strict 
 justice. In addition, the courts of landdrost and heemraden had power, 
 similar to that of Divisional Councils at present, to assess i-ates upon land- 
 
1706] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 101 
 
 owners for the purpose of making and repairing roads and br idges. But; 
 taxation of this kind was never popular, and the farmers wevQ not over- 
 burdened with rates when it could by any possibility be avoided. It waa 
 usual instead to call upon them for a certain amount of labour, which they 
 supplied through their servants or slaves. What would now be termed 
 good roads were, however, in those days, considered unnecessary, and it 
 wa'S only when the highways were impassable for the heavy bullock waggons 
 Vi general use, that any attention was bestowed upon them. The courts 
 of landdrost and heemraden were further required to keep registers of the 
 landholders in their respective districts, and they kept records of all 
 births and lists of all persons residing within their jurisdiction. Each 
 district had an office for the landdrost and a prison for delinquents, 
 the latter being, however, a mere hovel consisting of one unlit and filthy 
 apartment. 
 
 The government was vested in a Council, which possessed legislative 
 and judicial as well as administrative power. It consisted of the eight 
 officers highest in rank in the settlement. These were, the Governor, the 
 Second in Command or Lieutenant Governor, the Independent Fiscal or 
 Attorney General, the Commandant of the Castle, the Secretary of the 
 Council, the Purveyor General, the Officer in charge of the Company's 
 Warehouse, and the Agent for the sale of the Company's goods. The first 
 four of these ranked as Senior Merchants, the last four as Merchants, the 
 titles given to the Company's officers being purely mercantile. Thus the 
 clergymen and landdrosts ranked as Merchants, and were so entitled, while 
 the subordinate officers of government, such as lieutenants and clerks, 
 were called Under Merchants. This word Merchant (Koopman), in common 
 use in those days, must never be taken to mean a purchaser and seller of 
 goods, but simply an officer of a certain rank in the East India Company's 
 service. In the Council, sitting as a legislative body, the Governor 
 presided, and had nominally only a casting vote. But in reality he was a 
 dictator, as his commission empowered him to do as he chose, whenever 
 he was prepared to take upon himself the responsibility for so acting. 
 When sitting as a High Court of Justice or Court of Appeal, the Governor 
 and Second in Command usually absented themselves, and the Commandant 
 of the Castle presided. The Council had the management of everything 
 that affected the safety or interest of the settlement. It corresponded with 
 the government in Batavia and with the Chamber of Seventeen in Holland. 
 Appeals from its judgments lay to the Court of Justice in Batavia, and 
 finally to the Supreme Court of Holland ; but it may well be understood that 
 such appeals were never made. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 l?BOi£ 'TffiE RECALL OF ADRUN VAN DER STELL TO THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO fiSTABLIStt 
 A MISSION AMONG THE HOTTENTOTS* 1706 TO 1744. 
 
 Principal Subjects i^Grtat Fire ttt Stellenbosch.—Racaffes of the Small Pox.— 
 Tyranny of Oyternor Van Noot, and Romantic Account of his Death.—Posiiion of 
 the East India Con^any. — ShiptOreclcs, leading to Simon's Bay being made use of. 
 — Extension of the Colony to the Q-amtoos Riter. — Condition <^ the K^atiDes. — Th6 
 First Missionary in South Africa. 
 
 Governors:— JonAN CoRNELts d'Ableinkj, June 3,1706. 
 
 Louis van Assemburg, Febry. 1, 1708» 
 
 William Helot> Deer. 28, 1711. 
 
 Mauritz Pasques db Chavonnes, March 28, 1714 
 
 JoHAN DE LA FoNTEiNE, (acting) Sept. 8, 1724. 
 
 PiETER GiJSBERT VAN NooT, Febry. 25, 1728. 
 
 JoHAN DE LA FoNTEiNE, April 24, 1729, 
 
 Adrian van Kervel, Nov. 14, 1736. 
 
 Daniel van Henghel, Sept. 20, 1737. 
 
 Hendrik Swellkngrebel, April 14, 1739. 
 
 TnE recall of Adrian van der Stell was a warning to future governors not 
 to carry tyranny too far. No more liberty was granted to the burghers 
 than before, but they were relieved from such competition in farming 
 operations as that of which they had so justly complained. For a long 
 •■series of years little occurred that is worthy of being mentioned. Successive 
 governors came and went, but the position of the colonists remained 
 Unaltered. 
 
 In 1710 a very disastrous fire occurred in Stellenbosch. The churchy 
 council chamber, and all the dwelling houses except three or four, were 
 'destroyed. The whole of the buildings were thatched, and, as a high wind 
 Was blowing at the time, when the fire burst out it could not be arrested. 
 
 Before the arrival of Europeans, the natives of South Africa were 
 •fiingularly free of destructive diseases. Contact with foreigners brought 
 them into contact with foreign diseases, the most deadly of which was the 
 small pox. This loathsome complaint was brought into the colony by a 
 ship which had several of her crew laid up with it. It committed great 
 ravages among the colonists. Among the natives it spread with dreadful 
 effect, slowly travelling northward and eastward, and nearly extirpating 
 some of the tribes as it advanced. At the kraals and along the road-sides 
 the bodies of the dead lay exposed during the height of the pestilence. 
 
1715] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 103 
 
 the surrirors making no effort to remove them. This disease has frequently 
 visited the colony since that time, but on no other occasion has it been 
 80 destructive of life. The natives fell into despair on its approach, and 
 made no effort to help themselves. Their filthy habits, the wretched huts^ 
 in which they lived, their lethargy and despair, all tended to encourage the- 
 pestilence. 
 
 During the government of the Marquis De Chavonnes, an attempt wa& 
 made to establish a system of religious education in the settlement. The 
 schoolmasters were required to be of the Reformed faith, and to signify 
 their assent to the articles of the Synod of Dort. They were required tO' 
 teach the Lord's prayer, thecommandments, the creeds, prayers for morning- 
 and evening, grace to be used before and after meals, and the Heidelberg- 
 catechism. They were not permitted to use any other books than those- 
 authorized in Holland. Unfortunately, the system was not long in operation- 
 Like many similar attempts since that day, it failed on account of the- 
 absence of large centres of population, rather than from a want of apprecia- 
 tion of the value of education on the part of the colonists. 
 
 The wars which were frequently carried on between European Powers,, 
 especially since their attention had been directed to India, made the 
 Company anxious for the safety of its possessions, and as the Cape was 
 considered a station of great importance, it was thought advisable to 
 extend its fortifications. The castle was not in a good position, but sup- 
 plementary works might greatly increase its power of offering resistance- 
 to the fleet of an enemy. With this view the Chavonne battery was built 
 in 1719. 
 
 Very few of the early governors ever ventured far from Cape Town- 
 Governor Van Noot was an exception. He made a tour through the 
 settlement, and was absent for five or six weeks ; but, as he issued only a 
 few trifling orders for the improvement of roads and the construction of a 
 small bridge, he might almost as well have remained at home. This 
 Governor was a tyrant of the worst description. He was in the habit of 
 receiving bribes for the alienation of land from the heirs of deceasedE 
 persons, and, in many other ways, oppressed the people and filled his own 
 pockets. The pay of the soldiers being extremely small, a practice had 
 long been in vogue of allowing some of them to hire themselves to the 
 farmers, and the money they earned in this way was divided among the 
 whole garrison. This custom seems to have been encouraged by the 
 Company from motives of economy. The soldiers stationed at the Cape were 
 pretty much in the condition of Sir John Falstaff's band, as to apparel, 
 being shoeless and stockingless, and requiring a lengthy roll of names to 
 be called over before one decent coat could be found. In fact, they might 
 be described in the same words that Van Riebeck used regarding the 
 beachrangers, as possessing nothing but hungry bellies. For they were 
 half starved as well as half naked. But their miserable condition excited 
 no compassion in the callous heart of Van Noot, as he required all their 
 
104 
 
 HISTOllT OF THE CAPE COLOXT. 
 
 [1720 
 
 earnings to be paid to hiraself, on the pretence that he intended to supply 
 them with clothing, and then, when the money was in his possession, 
 would not expend so much as a penny for their benefit. Upon this, thirty 
 or forty of the garrison resolved to desert, and march along the coast until 
 they reached some settlement from which they could get to Europe. But 
 the conspiracy was discovered, and seven of the ringleaders were executed 
 by order of the Governor. 
 
 In 1729 Van Noot died very suddenly, to the great joy of the colonists. 
 Though he held office only fourteen months, he found means in that short 
 time to make himself universally detested. He is kept in remembrance 
 as the worst of all the governors under the East India Company. A very 
 romantic account of his death is given by a German author of the time, a 
 translation of which may be found in a Collection of Foems, Essays, and 
 Sketches by W. R. Thomson, and also in the Cape Monthly Magazine for 
 May, 1874. Condensed, it is as follows : — 
 
 " Among the seven soldiers who were condemned to die for the crime of 
 conspiring to desert, were two who had once been students of theology in 
 Germany. In their dreadful position, the folly of their past conduct came 
 home to them, and they now endeavoured to prepare themselves and the 
 others for death. For this purpose they were allowed twenty-four hours 
 after the sentence was read to them. On their way to execution, one of 
 them took three, and the other, two of their companions, comforting and 
 praying with them as they went. The prisoners were hanged in succession, 
 and one of the students was the last to suffer. The hangman was about to 
 put the rope round his neck, when he turned his face towards government 
 house and cried out " Governor Yan Noot ! I summon you in this very 
 hour before the judgment seat of the Omniscient God, there to give accoimt 
 of the souls ©f myself and m"y companions." After the execution, the 
 members of the Council, escorted by the guard, went to the Governor's 
 residence in the usual manner, to report that the sentence had been carried 
 out. They fonnd Van Noot seated in a chair at one end of the large audience 
 hall, but upon bowing to him they received no mark of recognition. They 
 approached, and found he was a corpse. A cry was raised, " The Governor 
 is dead," but it was not believed at first, for he had been seen only half an 
 hour before, healthy and hearty. The occupants of the castle rushed to the 
 spot, but a guard was placed over the door with orders to admit no one. 
 The members of the Council then withdrew to the house of Johan de la 
 EoN'TEiXE, the second in command, to deliberate as to what was to be done. 
 While they were there, a soldier who was under arrest in the castle heard 
 what had happened, and raised the joyful cry " Noot is dood," which was at 
 once caught up and echoed by all the soldiers, sailors, and workmen, " Noot 
 is dood, nu is er geen nood," (Noot is dead, now there is no need). A plain 
 coffin was then prepared, and the body, just as it was, being put into it, it 
 was carried out by slaves the same night, and buried in a place pointed out 
 by the captain of the guard." 
 
1729] ]^ISTQ.aT OJP THE CAPE C.OJ,OJSJ. lOjSi;' 
 
 The chair in which the Governor died is now in the Sputh African 
 Museum, Cape Town, but the above narrative is probably overdrawn in 
 some of its details. The account of the ceremony of the public funeral, 
 which is taken from the same source, is more likely to be accurate, as it 
 accords perfectly with the state observed at the time. It is given un- 
 abridged : — 
 
 " The carpenters had after this to prepare a ma;gnificent coffin of Indian 
 ^eak, and as soon 9,s this was ready, the fijineral ceremonies were arranged 
 with an empty coffin. The two trumpeters, whom the Company allows to 
 the Governor at the Cape, wen^ before, v^ith their trvimpets muffled in, 
 black cloth. An ensign, with pil^e reverse^, and draped in^lack, le^ the 
 six hautboy-players, whose instrument? were also draped with black cloth 
 Then followed the commandant and all the other officers, wit^ the whole 
 jgarrison, marching with arms reversed ; the spontoons wer.e simply draped, 
 but both banners were completely enveloped in black. The drurns of the 
 ^rummers y^ere each wrapped round and muffled with three ells of black 
 cloth, and the sergeants had crape on their halberds. The adju^tant, appar- 
 ently 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 coat-of-arms, painted on a square board. Then ca,me the empty 
 coffin, borne by secretaries ■ and assis^n^s, surrounded by the Governor's 
 guard. Four under-merchants held the four, comers of the p^-ll. Behind 
 the coffin followed the Acting (joyernor, the Fiscal-Independent, the 
 clergy, n^erphants, and ^11 the people of distinction. In inarching past, the 
 guard at the gate presented ^rins, the pffice^s saluted, and the drummers 
 beat the drums. Every minute during the procession,, according to a 
 watch held in his h^nd by the constable, a gun was fired frpm t^e bastions 
 of the castle, ^nd answere^ from a^ the ships lying in ^he b^y, and at 
 each gun the flags on the ships, as well as the one flying on the Catellenbogen 
 1)astion of the castle, were dipped. After the coffin had ^een carried into 
 the church and interred in the vau,lt, the whole garrison fired three rounds 
 with sme^,ll ^rms, e^ch of whic^i was answered by the gijins frpm the castle, 
 9,nd thex\ t^he soldiers marched b^ck to tlae strain^ of lively music. As this 
 imposing funeral ceremouy had b^een qonducte^ ^ith an empty coffin, the 
 Con^i^on people foun^ cause to l^e^ieve and to relate that the devil ha^ 
 ma^e ^w^y even with t^ie soulless body of the deceased Goyernor Van 
 NooT." 
 
 De la Fonteine, who succeeded to ^he, goyeYUment, was of a very di:5erent 
 character. He was known to the colonist^ as " The man of the Pleasant 
 Face," and w^^s not only esteemed, but beloyed. For nearly a year after 
 Yan Noot's death he was merely acting till a successor could be named, 
 find when his own appointment was known, it gave hear^iy s^atisfaction. 
 One of his first acts was to release all prisoners unjustly confine^ Ipy his 
 predecessor, and this was followed bj the pEiyment in full, out of the deceased, 
 governor's estate, of all money due to the soldiers. 
 r 
 
106 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1730 
 
 By order of the Chamber of Seventeen, the colonists were shortly after- 
 wards relieved of one custom by which an unjust governor could extort 
 money from them. This was with respect to property in land held on 
 rental. Formerly, the government claimed the right of resuming possession 
 of such farms, with all improvements upon them, at the death of the 
 tenant ; though it was usual for an honest governor to permit the heirs of 
 the deceased to succeed to the land on payment of the same rental. Men 
 like Adrian van der Stell and Yan Noot, however, were always ready to 
 grant such farms anew to the one who was willing to give the largest bribe, 
 So that there was no incentive to build or make any other improvements, 
 and the heirs of those who did build sometimes lost all. The supreme 
 authorities now ordered that the heirs were to be at liberty to continue in 
 possession, upon paying the usual rent. But this was not to be considered 
 as a renunciation of the right to resume possession of a farm held on rental, 
 at any time when such farm might be required for the use of the government. 
 From this time forward a farmer might be tolerably certain that as long as 
 his rent was regularly paid, neither he nor his heirs would be disturbed, 
 though he held no other title than the receipt for the rent, issued year by 
 year as the money was paid. 
 
 The fortunes of the colony were so dependent upon those of the Company 
 which owned it, that it is necessary to notice at various periods the position 
 of that great Association. From its formation until the year 1665, when 
 its conquests were completed, the yearly dividends were at the rate of twenty 
 and three-quarters per cent, and the shares were selling sometimes as high 
 as six hundred and fifty per cent above par. From 1665 to 1728 the 
 dividends stood at about twenty-three per cent, when they commenced to fall 
 rapidly. Within the first fifty years of its existence, no less than three hundred 
 Portuguese ships, mostly laden with valuable cargoes of Eastern produce, 
 were taken as prizes, and brought in enormous gain. The Portuguese, who 
 met with little opposition from the unwarlike nations of India, had constructed 
 extensive fortifications and government buildings, nearly all of which with 
 the rich spoil contained in them fell into the Company's hands. The 
 management of affairs was conducted with vigour, and at the same time 
 without any ostentation or expense that could be avoided. The coasting 
 trade of Asia was secured, which gave the Company command of a powerful 
 fleet and numerous seamen, without the expense of maintaining men-of-war. 
 But such unexampled prosperity was the cause of final ruin. Luxurious 
 habits were acquired by the officers in the eastern settlements, and situations 
 were multiplied beyond reason or necessity. A desire for display succeeded 
 the primitive simplicity, corruption followed and extended through all 
 branches of the service, even to the very highest. The numerous forts 
 required garrisons, and though many were useless, pride prevented their 
 abandonment. It was the same with the trading establishments. A large 
 proportion of them did not pay expenses, but they were kept up for the sake 
 of appearance. Kivals were already in the field, and English ships w^re to 
 
1730] 
 
 HISTOET OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 107 
 
 be found pushing their commerce everywhere in India, and competinpf 
 with the Dutch in the markets of Europe. Heavy losses had been sustained 
 in the wars with England, and to a smaller extent in collision with native 
 powers. The manufacture of cotton goods was being extended in Europe, 
 and Indian calicoes were no longer in demand at such high prices as 
 formerly. The coasting trade of Asia fell into the hands of individual 
 merchants, and was lost to the Company. 
 
 In Holland itself matters were nearly or quite as bad. The directory was 
 secured by the members of great families, who were content to draw a 
 revenue without caring to correct abuses. Their influence was sufficient 
 to prevent the States- General from exercising the right of inspection into 
 the Company's affairs, and of seeing that its trade was carried on in such a 
 manner as not to be prejudicial to the interests of the Republic. With all 
 these causes combined, the ultimate ruin of the East India Company was 
 alreawiy foreseen, unless reforms should be introduced into its administration. 
 But it seemed impossible to alter the vicious system in which its affairs 
 were conducted, so corrupt were its officials, and so difficult would it have 
 been to replace them by other and better men. Many of them were openly 
 trading on their own account, and the only remedy that could be suggested 
 was to allow a commission on all transactions, which was to be divided 
 according to their rank among all the servants of the Company. This plan 
 was adopted, and was in force for a few years, but as it did not even lessen 
 the evil, it was discontinued, and matters were allowed to take their course. 
 Yet the Company managed for more than another half century to preserve 
 its existence, so enormous were the profits of the spice trade, of which it 
 retained the monopoly. Never before had there been anything like the 
 pomp and ceremony that was now displayed by the principal officers of 
 even the pettiest of its settlements. The Cape was no exception. The 
 Governor lived in a style of magnificence that would have dazzled 
 Commander Van Riebeck or his immediate successors. He was not to be 
 approached unless with the greatest humility, and when passing his 
 residence, even though he should not be visible, the common people were 
 obliged to uncover their heads. When his carriage was seen in the streets, 
 every one was required to dismount and stand hat in hand till he passed^ 
 This was not custom merely, but law, and punishments were prescribed 
 for the non-observance of these and a hundred other formalities. In the 
 old conquering days of the Company, the members of the Batavian Council 
 dressed as ordinary merchant skippers and sometimes met in their shirt 
 sleeves, to show the natives of the East how widely they differed from the 
 effeminate Portuguese ; and here were the servants of their successors 
 exacting homage as if they had been Asiatic despots. 
 
 On the 20th of May, 1737, during a very violent gale, eight of the 
 Company's ships were wrecked in Table Bay, and two hundred and seven 
 lives were lost. This great disaster caused the directors to issue an order 
 that in future their ships should make use of Simon's Bay during the 
 
108 HiSTokT 6f the caps colWt. [173^ 
 
 Winter months, the season when gales from the north-west are commonly 
 experienced. This necessitated the erection of several government buildings 
 as storehouses anA quarters for ofi&cers and men, and very shortly a small 
 village sprang ilp at the new |)ort. But nothing more than was absolutely 
 necessary was removed from Cape Town, though from this date Simon's 
 Bay has taken rank as an important haVal station. 
 
 About this time the Gamtoos Eiver was declaimed to be the eastern 
 1)oundary of the colony. This does not im-ply that no jurisdiction was to 
 be exercised over tribes beyond that river, but thait the farmers were 
 prohibited by order from occupying land there. This was done less with 
 the 6hject of preventing aggression thaii to enable the government t6 
 collect its rents easily. The graziers were acctistomed to make use of two 
 farms, often at a great distance from each other, so als to furnish change of 
 pasturage for their cattle, and Only paid rent to the government for one, 
 alleging that the other was beyond the boundary. Attempts were more 
 than once made to limit the exteft't of the colony, but were never attended 
 with success. Eestrictions which could not be enforced were insufficient 
 to prevent the gi'aziers from taking for their own use the best pasturage 
 within their re^ch. They were constantly moving onward, and all the 
 government could do was formally 'to '^nnex a new district as soon as it was 
 permanently occupied. 
 
 On the line of fi'ontier, wherever that Was £tt any given time, difficulties 
 were constSmtly arising with the natives. That these should rob the 
 graziers of their %tock was only what might have been expected, and that 
 those who were thufe plundered should feel exasperated was quite natural. 
 But ia bitterness 6f feeling towalrds the tinh^|)py aborigines, that could have 
 been 'prevented, was created by the system of defence adopted by the 
 Company. Neither soldiers nor police were employed in the interior, 
 solely to prevent esTpense, and the government armed the colonists and 
 left them to protect themselves. Officers entitled Field Commandants and 
 Field Coriiets were a|)pointed, who had power to call out all the adult male 
 inhabitants of their districts to 'ptinish thieves and marauders. A body of 
 farmers brought into service in this thanner was termed a commando. To 
 the persons aggrieved was thus left the f)unishmeht 6f the offeiiders, which 
 was often executed without mercy or moderation. 
 
 The conquest of one people by another more highly civiliized may prove 
 a blessing if the conquerors intermingle with the Vanquished, and give 
 them in exchange for their independence a better religion, better laws, 
 knd more comfortable mode of existence. The early colonists in South 
 Africa did nothing of the kind. As a people, they never bestowed a thought 
 upon the welfare of those whose lands they had seized. Most of the 
 Hottentots residiiig within the limits of the settlement were now sunk in 
 poverty and misery. The tribes that Van Riebeck found so wealthy in 
 cattle had disappeared, and in their place was a mere remnant, a large 
 ^portion of which was in a etate of servitude. The government, it is true. 
 
1737] 
 
 HIS^OEY OP THE CAPE COLOifV. 
 
 10^ 
 
 Tiad never formally enslayed them, — this could not be done in accordance 
 with the laws of Holland, — it had even inculcated the propriety of dealing 
 justly with them ; but it was powerless to prevent oppression. Sometimes 
 bartering cattle with those beyond the border was legal, at other times it 
 was prohibited ; but at all times there were individuals to be found, whom 
 the law could not reach, capable of committing violent acts for the purpose 
 of acquiring stock. In one instance of a raid upon native kraals, that had 
 been more than usually successful, we find the Governor complaining in 
 his despatches that he could not bring the criminals to justice, because so 
 many of the inhabitants of the settlement were implicated. Those native^ 
 who were in the employment of the settlers were in a position, as regards 
 comfort and happiness, inferior even to that of their ancestors. Their life 
 was one of toil, and the colonist seemed to think that if he supplied them 
 with tobacco and an occasional glass of brandy he was acting generously 
 towards them. Their conversion to the Christian faith was never attempted, 
 except in a few isolated instances. The idea seemed to prevail that because 
 they did not already possess the Christian virtues, they could never be 
 brought to cherish them^ 
 
 The Bushman, deprived of his land and of his game, could exist only by 
 plunder, and the Dutch either could not or would not discriminate between 
 him and the Hottentot. It is indeed highly probable that the Bushmen 
 'mnks had received many fecruits from the Hottentots whom hunger and 
 misery had made'desperate. Those who preferred an independent life to 
 one of subjection had hardly any Other choice than to live as Bushmen. 
 One or two clans, indeed, are supposed to have removed far away, beyond 
 the Orange Eiver, where their descendants are still found; but when once 
 impoverished, such a course was impbssible. Those who had sufficient 
 foresight to emigrate in time were so few that they can hardly be taken 
 into account when the condition of their countrymen as a whole is under 
 consideration. 
 
 Accounts of the condition of these people i*eached Europe from time to 
 time, and created among the benevolent a hearty desire to aid them. The 
 Moravian Society was the first to take the matter in hand in earnest. A 
 missionary was selected a.nd sent out to form an experimental station, s6 
 *that the Society might afterwards be guided by his experience. In the 
 year 1737 George Schmidt, the Apostle of the Hottentots, arrived in South 
 Africa. He appears to have met Vith no opposition at first, as he was 
 readily permitted to commence the work to which he had devoted himself. 
 At a place then called Baviaans Kloof, now known as Genadendal — the 
 Yale of Grace, — in the present division of Caledon, this zealous man 
 collected a number of Hottentots, whom he instructed in the principles of 
 the Christian religion. He opened a school, in which he taught the youth 
 'to read Dutch, and he even attempted to train several of them as artizans. 
 He cultivated a garden for his own use, and induced some of the Hottentots 
 to follow his example. In 1742 he considered fiv« of his pupils sufficiently 
 
110 
 
 HISTOfit 0^ TfiE CAPE COLOlTt. 
 
 [1742 
 
 advanced in Christian knowledge to be admitted to all the privileges of 
 Christian membership, and, at their own request, he baptized them. The 
 report of this proceeding roused the jealousy of the clergy at the Cape. 
 They disputed his right to administer the sacraments, as, according to law, 
 only clergymen of the Reformed Dutch church were at liberty to do so in 
 the colony. Henceforth he was subjected to much annoyance and opposition 
 from both the officials and the burghers. So little were his labours 
 understood or appreciated by the colonists, that they imputed to him the 
 design of making himself a chief of the Hottentots, or at least of enriching 
 himself by illegally purchasing cattle from his converts and their friends. 
 This was the reason assigned to the traveller SPAiiRMAN, thirty years 
 afterwards, for the treatment which Schmidt experienced. 
 
 The missionary himself appears to have looked forward to very great 
 results in a short time. Like others a hundred years later, he thought 
 the truths which he proclaimed were so grand that the savages who heard 
 them would at once believe and act accordingly. Like his successors in 
 the same work he was disappointed ; for so strong is conservatism, or the 
 force of hereditary habit, in all barbarians, tha^ the first stages of their 
 advancement towards civilization must always be slow and tedious. With 
 the knowledge that has now been gained, it is rather a matter of astonishment 
 that Schmidt was able to accomplish as much as he undoubtedly did, in so 
 brief a period as seven years. But knowledge is only an accumulation of 
 experience, and the missionary among such a people as the Hottentots then 
 were had no man's previous labours for a guide. Under such incessant 
 labour, far away from society, and deprived of everything like ordinary 
 comfort, it is no wonder that his strength and spirits began to give way. 
 In 1744, after taking an affecting farewell of his little flock, now numbering 
 forty-seven, and leaving them in charge of the most steady of their number, 
 he returned to Europe to recruit his failing health and obtain assistants for 
 the work. In the following year he applied to the East India Company 
 for permission to return; but an objection having been made by some 
 persons of influence, that the propagation of Christianity by the Moravians 
 among the Hottentots would be detrimental to the interests of the colony, 
 his request was refused, to his great grief and disappointment. A long 
 night of darkness and misery was yet before the wretched Hottentots. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 TROM THE ATTEMPT OF THE MORAVIANS TO ESTABLISH A MISSION TO THE EXTENSION 
 OP THE PRONTIER TO THE GREAT FISH RIVER. 1744 TO 1780. 
 
 Principal Subjects: — Formation of the District and Village of Swellendam. — Prosperity 
 of the Colony under Governor Tulbagh. — Exports. — Condition of the Slaves. — 
 Treatment of Hottentots and Bushmen in the Frontier Districts. — The Orange River 
 visited by Colonel Gordon. — Petition of the Colonists to the Home Government. — 
 Thp.FH^caVs Statement of the Principle on tohich the Colony was governed. — Permission 
 granted to the Lutherans to establish a Church in Cape Town. — Extension of the 
 Colony to the Great Fish River. 
 
 Governors : — Hendrik Swellengrebel, 
 
 Ryk Tulbagh, March 30, 1751. 
 
 Joachim van Plettenberg, August 12, 1771. 
 
 As early as 1740 a resolution was passed to form a new district out of the 
 great tract of land recently occupied eastward of Stellenbosch, and a site 
 was selected for government offices. In 1745 a landdrost and heemraden 
 were appointed, and a court was formally opened. The village was named 
 Swellendam after the Governor, Swellengrebel, and his lady, whose maiden 
 name was Damme. The district included all the country from the Breede 
 Kiver to the Gamtoos. The village was at too great a distance from a 
 market to prosper as rapidly as Stellenbosch. The roads were merely waggon 
 tracks across the country, upon which no labour worth mentioning had 
 been expended. The district was not occupied for agricultural, but for 
 pastoral purposes, and was therefore given out in large runs to graziers, 
 upon payment of a small yearly rental. 
 
 Governor Swellengrebel, who was a colonist by birth, took much paina 
 in improving his native town. It was during the period of his government 
 that the great parade ground in Cape Town was levelled and turfed. 
 
 In 1751 the Astronomer Lacaille arrived in South Africa, having come 
 hither for the purpose of measuring an arc of the meridian. His observatory 
 was in Cape Town, and he remained two years in the colony. The amount 
 of scientific work which he accomplished was very considerable, and, 
 considering the appliances at his disposal, his measurements were remarkably 
 accurate. 
 
 It was the policy of the Company to keep only two harbours open on the 
 coast. Their object in this was to prevent ships of other nations from 
 obtaining supplies, and they did not care to be at the expense of garrisoning 
 more than Cape Town and Simon's Town. In 1752 the Danish ship Crown 
 Princess was wrecked in Mossel Bay. The crew got safely to shore, and 
 
BISTORT OF THfi CAIK COLONT- 
 
 greeted a flagstaff in a prominent position, to serve as a guide to any ship, 
 that might wish to enter the bay, which was purposely very inaccurately 
 laid down on the charts. Immediately after the departure of the ship- 
 wrecked crew, the government caused the flagstaff to be removed, and 
 prohibited the erection of any building in sight of the harbour. 
 
 In 1753 the small pox appeared again in the colony. In Cape Town a 
 large proportion of the inhabitants perished of it, though in the interior it 
 was less destructive of life than on its first appearance forty years before. 
 But on this occasion also whole kraals of natives were swe^t off by this 
 fatal disease, for. which no remedy was then known. 
 
 In 1755 the English East India Company*s ship Doddington. wg^s wrecked 
 on one of the Bird Islands, in Algoa Bay, when upwards of twp hundred 
 lives were lost. Those who were saved 4«spatched two of their number in 
 a little boat to explore the neighbouring coast, and as they ni,ust have 
 landed on or near the site of the present town of Port Elizabeth, it is, 
 interesting to learn how they fared. Beaching the beach near nightfall, 
 and being vei;"y weary, they turned their skiff upside down, and crept under, 
 her to try i;,o get some rest. They were soon disturbed by the hyenas, 
 prowling about and sniffing under the gunwale, but nothing worse than 
 fright befell them from being in the company pf these voracious animals. 
 Next morning a party of natives, either Bi^shmen or Bea,ch Hottentots, 
 made their appearance, and robl?e^ the stranger^ of their clothing and 
 weapons. After this inhospitable recept^ion, the poor, fellows thought only 
 of saving their lives, and were tha-nkful to be permitte(^ to return in the 
 skiff to their comrades on the island. T^iere some m,onths were spent in 
 building a large boat, with \Yhich the wh,ole party ultimately escaped. 
 
 There were now some eight or ten thousand persons of European extrac- 
 tion in the colony. There had been no la,rge immigration from Europe, 
 since that of the French refugees, the increase being due to the discharge 
 of the Company's servants and; to 1;;he p.rolific nature of the settlers. The 
 colonists usually married at an early age, and were then, as now, noted for, 
 their large families. From ten to fifteen children was the usual number in 
 a household. The French as well as \he German settlers had lost their 
 nationality and th,eir lang\iage, an^ all had become blended into one race, 
 the individuals composing which i^ere undistinguishable from each other 
 save by their n^nies. All spoke the colonial dialect of the Dutch language. 
 No lands were granted, in freehold, excepting in the immediate vicinity of 
 Cape Town. In the nc^ly settled parts, the houses were seldom nearer to. 
 each other than an hour's ride on horseback. Farms rOjUging in size from 
 five thousand to twenty thousand acres were lea,sed at a yearly rental of less 
 than £5. Over the people scattered abou,t in such an extent of countiy the 
 government could have but little control. In Cape Town and its neigh- 
 ])ourhood the colonists were kept in such subjection that laws were even 
 made to regulate their clothing and that of their wives and children, and 
 ^0 determine who should, and who should not, carry an umbrella ; but oji 
 
1771] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONl. 
 
 113 
 
 the ever extending frontier the white man did exactly what he chose. The 
 graziers there led an indolent life, and not a few of them had become 
 nomads. They were exceedingly hospitable, so that though there was no 
 such thing as a wayside inn, a stranger found no difficulty in travelling 
 from one end of the colony to the other. Everywhere he was welcome to 
 stay as long as he pleased, but was expected to conform to the habits of his 
 hosts. From travellers the inhabitants got all the news they ever heard ^ 
 for there were neither newspapers nor posts in the country. Once in his 
 lifetime the grazier was compelled to visit Cape Town, for the purpose o£ 
 getting married, but many of them never visited it afterwards. They 
 obtained nearly all they required from their herds. What money they 
 needed was procured in exchange for slaughter cattle and sheep, which 
 were sent in droves to town upon the arrival of a fleet. Besides these > 
 butter was almost the only article they had to dispose of. This they sent 
 to Cape Town when they required clothing or ammunition. Their dwelling 
 houses were mostly rude buildings of two rooms each, with earthen floors 
 and unglazed windows, and were nearly devoid of furniture. Cattle had 
 become with them, as with the Hottentots, the sole source and represen- 
 tative of wealth. 
 
 In 1771 Governor Tulbagh died. He was very highly esteemed by the 
 colonists, and was the most popular of all the governors of the colony 
 during the rule of the East India Company. This was owing to the new 
 maxims which he introduced into the government, rather than to any 
 relaxation of the rigidity of the laws. None of his predecessors enforced 
 such a strict observance of etiquette, and in military matters he was a 
 perfect martinet. It was he who introduced the sumptuary laws of India 
 into this colony, — regulations which were intended to keep the common 
 people from imitating the expensive habits in dress and style of living 
 which characterized the officers of government. Laws of this nature had 
 been in force in South Africa long before, but none were so strict or so 
 minute in detail as those which Tulbagh introduced. By ability and 
 bravery he had risen from the rank of a private soldier in the Company^s 
 service, through the various grades of office, until he obtained the rank of 
 Senior Merchant and Governor of the Cape Colony ; and as he had done 
 his duty thoroughly in every station, so he required every one else to do 
 his. A man of sterling good sense and honesty, he was also keen in 
 business matters, and knew well how to bring money into the coffers of 
 his employers. During the twenty years of his government, the colony 
 entailed no expense whatever upon the Company, and yet no. new taxea 
 were levied upon the burghers. He was the fi:rst to encourage foreign 
 ships to call at the Cape for supplies, and by furnishing them with 
 provisions at high prices, he was enabled to purchase all kinds of farm 
 produce at rates remunerative to the growers, and yet leave a good margin 
 for the Company. Before his time so unfriendly was the reception usually 
 accorded to foreigners, that very rarely more than ten or a dozen vessel* 
 
114 
 
 HIBTOET OP THE CAPE COLOmT. 
 
 [1771 
 
 under any other than the Dutch flag called at Table Bay in the- course ef a 
 year. He saw that English and French ships reached India without 
 assistance, and that it was folly to withhold any thing from them which 
 they were prepared to purchase. Not only did he see this himself, but he 
 managed to induce the Chamber of Seventeen to allow him to act according" 
 to his own judgment. During the wars between France and England, the 
 ships of both those nations were supplied with provisions from the 
 Company's stores at the Cape, as long as Tulbagh was Governor. He 
 looked upon them as good castomers, from whom the Company could 
 make a handsome profit, and who cowld purchase elsewhere if he were to 
 decline dealing with them. At the same time be permitted no such thing 
 as free trade to the burghers : the Company bowght from them to sell 
 again, and if they received better prices than formerly, they ought to be 
 grateful. And grateful they were, for this period of prosperity was long 
 known to them and their descendants as " the good old times of Father 
 Tulbagh." 
 
 At this time the exports consisted almost entirely of wine and wheat. 
 The wine made at Constantia had become celebrated all over Europe, and 
 was sent in considerable quantities to Holland. The surplus wheat was 
 sent to Batavia. It amounted to about twenty thousand muids yearly, and 
 was grown principally in the Stellenbosch district. A few skins and ostrich 
 feathers, together with a little ivory, made up the balance of exports. There 
 was always abundance of fresh provisions ef every kind for ships that 
 called at Table Bay. 
 
 The slaves were giving a great deal of trouble to their masters. Many 
 of them were Malays, sent to this country by the Indian authorities, and 
 these were prone to murder their oppressors whenever opportunity offered. 
 Bands of fugitives infested the country, and were a constant source of 
 terror to the farmers. People were compelled to sleep with their doors 
 securely bolted and with loaded firearms at hand, and to be otherwise 
 constantly prepared for defence in case of attack. For a long time past 
 manumission had been discontinued, and the slaves were now equal im 
 number to the Europeans. It is probable that their treatment was, upon 
 the whole, less cruel in South Africa than in any other part of the world 
 where the system has prevailed. The horrors of a West Indian sugar 
 plantation, for instance, where the slaves worked in droves under the 
 supervision and lash of an overseer, could never have been displayed on 
 an equal scale in a country where agrieultural operations were limited, and 
 where the breeding of cattle was the principal source of wealth. Yet a 
 perusal of the authentic documents of the colony at this period is sufiicient 
 to startle the most callous, so vividly are the sufferings of slaves therein 
 portrayed, without any intention on the part of the writers to create 
 sympathy for the bondsmen. At the will of the man who happened to 
 own them, they could be sold at any moment, the members of a family 
 eould be separated for ever, they could be flogged, ill-fed, ill-houBed, com- 
 
1771] 
 
 HISTOBY OP f HE CAPfi COLONY^ 
 
 115 
 
 felled to perform any service. Their punishment for crimes against the 
 •community, adjudged by courts of law, was out of all proportion to that 
 inflicted upon fi?ee men for th« same offences. Yet many of these unfortu- 
 tiates were free bom, and while some had been enslaved for their crimes 
 Jand sent hither from India, the majority were guilty of no offence against 
 the white man. They were simpi,y ensnared-, or else were purchased from 
 some tribe with which their own was at war. 
 
 Occasionally a tragedy, long to be remembered, marked the importation 
 •of a fresh cargo. Such, for instance, attended the expedition of the East 
 India Company's ship Hooker de Mermiuy which sailed from the Cape to 
 -Madagascar to obtain slaves by purchase. Her captain hit upon a plan of 
 saving his merchandize for another market. He managed to entice a large 
 party of natives, together with fcheir chief, aboard his vessel, and then 
 seized them at a moment when they were incapable of resistance, put 
 them all in irons, and set sail for Table Bay again. The voyage was nearly 
 •over, when Captain Muller very imprudently permitted a large number of 
 his prisoners to be released at once. The usual plan was to relieve only a 
 few at a time of their irons, to permit them to remain on deck for an hour, 
 and then to exchange them for anoth^ party from the stifling hold. By 
 this means the voyage could be performed without much loss of life, and 
 with absolute safety to the captors. Why Captain Muller did not follow 
 the established usage is not known. He had a strong ci'ew, and probably 
 he did not imagine that his prisoners would seek to regain their liberty* 
 He was to pay dearly for his mistake. The slaves rose upton the crew, 
 •overpowered them, and put to death all of their late masters except 
 the captain, mate, and a few men to work the ship. They then direct ed the 
 vessel's head to be turned towards the east, the quarter from which they 
 Icnew they had come. The course steered by day was altered by night, 
 •and soon they came in sight of Cape L'Agulhas, which the mate informed 
 the savages was part of their own country. He further persuaded them 
 that the vessel required some repairs, and thus no opposition was made 
 when the anchors were dropped* Bottles containing an account of their 
 situation were thrown overboard at the ri&e of the tide, and by chance 
 were picked up by some people who happened to be fishing from the rocks. 
 The whole neighbourhood wa<s immediately roused, and a strong body of 
 armed men proceeded to the beach, taking care, however, not to approach 
 within sight. Some Hottentots were then sent to kindle a large fire on a 
 knoll, which, when the captain saw, he raised his anchors and ran the ship 
 ashore. The savages, seeing no Europeans on the beach and believing the 
 fire to have been made by their own countrymen, leaped into the surf and 
 •swam ashore as soon as the ship struck. They had hardly landed when 
 the commando made its appearance, and at once fired a volley among them. 
 They could not resist. Some ran into the sea and drowned themselves, 
 the remainder were re-enslaved. But the tragedy was not yet complete. 
 Captain Muller knew that he would be called to account for releasing his 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 [1771 
 
 prisoners, and rather than suffer the punishment which would fall upon 
 mm for that imprudent act, he chose to commit suicide. 
 
 Being of many different nationalities, the slaves were incapable of 
 uniting for the purpose of throwing off their chains. No pains were taken 
 to instruct them in the Christian faith. According to the Dutch law no 
 baptized person could be a slave, and this law, which was intended to raise 
 Christian bondsmen to the position of free men, effectually prevented 
 the propagation of Christianity among them. The act of baptism being 
 made equivalent to an act of manumission, it was to the owner's interest 
 to keep his slaves in ignorance, and thus a law made to encourage 
 Christianity actually prohibited it. In the long'settled parts of the colony, 
 where agriculture was carried on, slaves were comparatively much more 
 numerous than on the frontier, where the colonists were principally 
 graziers. 
 
 Herdsmen and domestic servants were therefore in demand in the newly 
 settled parts. These were obtained by compelling Hottentots and Bushmen 
 to take service, and very cruel measures were resorted to for this purpose. 
 The natives were hunted down by commandos in a manner which must 
 ever leave a stigma upon the memory of the frontier colonists of last 
 century. The usual course of proceeding was for a farmer to complain to 
 the landdrost that his cattle had been stolen by Hottentots or Bushmen ; 
 the landdrost reported the matter to government and requested a supply 
 of powder and lead, which was usually granted ; the farmers of the district 
 were then called together, and proceeded to attack the nearest kraals. No 
 mercy was shown to adults, but the children were spared to be parcelled 
 out as servants among the members of the commando. Many of the 
 reports made by the commanders of these expeditions to their landdrosts 
 have been published from time to time, so that it is not alone from the 
 statements of travellers that we are made aware of their proceedings. 
 They themselves made no attempt to conceal or gloss over what had been 
 done, for most of them really believed that they were doing God a service 
 by (as they expressed it) extirpating the heathen root and branch. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the Bushmen submitted to treatment like 
 this without any attempt at retaliation. Many farmers were entirely ruined 
 by their depredations, and not a few perished from the poison of their 
 arrows. It was impossible to make a treaty with them, since they had no 
 recognized head or any form of government. Some humane individuals tried 
 the experiment of treating them with kindness, but it failed. They collected 
 a number of cattle and sheep, and presented them to the Bushmen in their 
 neighbourhood, advising them to adopt a pastoral life, and live in friendship 
 with the whites. But the savages at a distance no sooner heard this, than 
 they attacked and despoiled their own countrymen. Others of the colonists 
 paid an annual tribute of sheep and cattle to certain hordes for protection. 
 But these were exceptions, as most of the frontier farmers never thought 
 of attempting to conciliate the natives. 
 
1778] 
 
 IttlSTOEY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 117 
 
 The servitude of the natives was of a different nature from that of the 
 imported negroes. They could not be bought and sold like these, and 
 therefore their masters took less interest in their welfare. They were 
 Bimply distributed among those colonists who needed them, and in return 
 for their labour, were provided with food, remaining in the service of the 
 •same master till death relieved them of their bondage. With respect to their 
 ohildren, the colonial regulations provided that all who were born while their 
 parents were in service, and all who during youth received food from a 
 colonist, should serve him till they were twenty-five years old. But, as 
 they could easily be kept in ignorance of their age, — though according to 
 law, every birth was required to be registered, — their term of service vir* 
 tually lasted till their strength was exhausted and themselves so decrepit 
 as to be useless, when they were discharged or provided for, according as 
 their master was cruel or humane. 
 
 In 1778, Colonel Gordon, commander of the garrison in Cape Town, 
 explored the country to the northward as far as the great river, which after 
 the title of the Stadtholder of the United Provinces, he named the Orange* 
 This name it still bears, though it is generally called by the Dutch Groote 
 Rivier, and is laid down in some maps as the Gariep, that being its native 
 designation. The Colonel saw the river near where Colesberg is now built, 
 iand knew nothing of its course further up or down, except what he could 
 gather from natives whose information was vague and limited. Its mouth 
 had been explored a century before, but it was reserved for a missionary 
 thirty-four years later to trace the course between, and to make known the 
 'existence of the cataracts that are midway. 
 
 Under "Van Plettenberg's administration the colony returned to the 
 same condition in which it was before the time of Tulbagh. Eeal liberty 
 had never been known, but the sweets of prosperity had once been tasted. 
 Now, however, there was neither liberty nor prosperity. At this time the 
 white population of the colony was being increased rapidly by the discharge 
 •of soldiers and sailors, while adventurers from Europe occasionally travelled 
 from one end to the other, ^and made the inhabitants acquainted with 
 ■events that were transpiring abroad. The Amencan colonies of Great 
 Britain had recently declared themselves independent, and the story of 
 how they were fighting for freedom was listened to with attention by those 
 who were themselves oppressed in so many ways. Henceforth the 
 -aspirations of the burghers were directed towards a new object: they, too, 
 became desirous of enjoying a share of personal and commercial freedom. 
 
 In 1779, those residing near Cape Town empowered four of their number 
 to draw up and present to the Home Government a memorial setting forth 
 their wrongs and praying for relief. In this petition they desired, among 
 'Other things: That the officers should be interdicted from carrying on 
 commerce, and that burghers should be empowered to sell their produce 
 to foreign vessels. That the fiscal should be prevented from arbitrarily 
 ■committing burghers to prison, and from compounding crimes by fines 
 
il8 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1779 
 
 which went to his private purse. That a prohibition should be issued 
 •against the seizure of the inhabitants and their deportation to the Indian 
 settlements, against their will and according to the caprice of the authori- 
 ties. That the laws in force should be clearly made known to them, so 
 that they might no longer be subjeGt to the arbitrary exactions of fiscals 
 ^and landdrosts in the extension and limitation of fines and penalties. That 
 they should be allowed a light of appeal from judicial decisions to the 
 courts of Holland instead of to the Batavian court. That they should be 
 •allowed a direct trade with Holland to the extent of purchasing annually 
 two ships' cargoes of goods there, and loading the same vessels with Cape 
 produce to be sold by the Company in Holland in payment for such 
 |3urchases. That they should be allowed some vessels to carry the produce 
 H3f the colony to India alter the requirements of the Company were supplied, 
 and to receive in return Wood, rice, and other articles of commerce. And 
 that they might be permitted to trade in slaves with Madagascar and 
 Zanzibar, so that foreigners might not secure all the profit of this traflBc. 
 
 This petition failed in its object. It was referred to the fiscal, W. C. 
 -Boers, whose report upon it shows clearly the principles upon which the 
 <;olony was governed. " It would be mere waste of words," wrote he, " to 
 dwell on the remarkable distinction to be drawn between burghers whose 
 ancestors nobly fought for and conquered their freedom from tyranny, and 
 from whose fortitude in the cause of liberty the very power of our republic 
 has sprung, and such as are named burghers here, who have been permitted 
 •as matter of grace to have a residence in a land of which possession has 
 been taken by the sovereign power, there to gain a livelihood as tillers of 
 the earth, tailors, and shoemakers. The object of paramount importance 
 in legislation for colonies should be the welfare of the parent state. No 
 great penetration is needed to see plainly the impossibility of granting this 
 petition. The dangerous consequences which would result to the State in 
 general, and in particular to the Honourable Company, from the concession 
 of free commerce to a colony situated midway between Europe and the 
 Indies, are manifest. It would soon be no longer a subordinate colony, but 
 an independent state," It was held to be a principle of law at the Cape of 
 Good Hope in those days, that no one could transfer any greater right than 
 he himself possessed, and that the descendants of the Company's freed 
 servants were therefore in precisely the same position as their ancestors. 
 This was not only the theory but the practice of the law, since citizens 
 could be, and were, seiied and banished from the colony at the pleasure of 
 the government. 
 
 The Eeformed Dutch Church had hitherto been the only one tolerated, 
 but in 1780 the Lutherans were permitted to establish a church in Cape 
 Town, with a pastor of their own persuasion. To this communion belonged 
 not only many of the inhabitants, but very often the principal ofiicers of 
 the garrison and a large proportion of the soldiers, so that a concession in 
 their favour was politic, if not neoessai^. 
 
1780] 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 119 
 
 In this year the Cango caverns, in the present division of Oudtshoom, 
 were accidentally discovered by a boer named Van Zijl, who was on a hunt- 
 ing excursion. They are believed to be the largest caverns in the world* 
 passages having been explored for a distance of at least a mile into the 
 mountain, without the end being reached, while on each side openings of 
 unknown depth occur at short intervals. The stalactites in some of the 
 chambers present a very grand appearance when seen by the light of 
 numerous torches. Being constantly saturated with water, they are semi« 
 transparent and of dazzling brightness, while they present innumerable- 
 varieties of fanciful and grotesque forms. Several of the halls and chambers- 
 that have been explored are of immense size, one being eight hundred feet 
 in length, another six hundred feet in length, one hundred in breadth, and 
 sixty to seventy in height. 
 
 By this time the colonists had reached the Great Fish Kiver, which was 
 to be the eastern boundary for nearly seventy years to come. As they had 
 advanced and occupied the country by successive stages, the government 
 had followed them, but here they met with the powerful and warlike 
 Kaffir tribes, by whom their progress in this direction was stayed. In 
 1764 the country as far as Algoa Bay was taken in. The next extension 
 was in 1778, when Governor "Van Plettenjbekg caused a beacon to be 
 erected on the bank of the Zeekoe River, a few miles west of the present 
 village of Colesberg, thus extending the boundary in that direction. The 
 Governor, attended by Colonel Gordon, was at the time making a tour 
 of inspection through the colony. Having arrived at Bruintjes Hoogte^ 
 in the present division of Somerset East, he sent the Colonel into Kaffirland 
 to invite the nearest Kaffir chiefs to visit him and arrange a boundary. 
 Eight of the chiefs accepted the invitation, and proceeded to meet the 
 Governor at his temporary quarters. There an agreement was concluded 
 that the Great Fish River was to be a permanent boundary between the 
 colonists and the Kaffirs, neither of which people had then reached its banks 
 except at a few points along its upper course. Two years afterwards the 
 farmers are found quite up to the river along nearly its whole length, and the 
 Kaffirs were moving onward just as rapidly hom the opposite direction.. 
 From 1780 then, the Great Fish River became the boundary, not because 
 Governor Van Plettenberg had proclaimed it as such, but because on the 
 other side was a race capable of holding its own against intruders. Had 
 none but Hottentots been there, the river would have been passed as so. 
 many others had been before, in contempt of all orders to the contrary. 
 From this date the Hottentot tribes must be considered to have lost all 
 semblance of independence in this part of South Africa. 
 
CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 ABOEIGIJ^ES OF SOUTH jLFEICA. — THE KAFFIES. 
 
 The people to whom the colonists had now become neighbours are known) 
 to us under the name of Kaffirs. Europeans have designated them thus- 
 ever since the discovery of the country, though they themselves cannot 
 even pronounce the word, as the English sound of the letter r is wanting- 
 in their language, i^in Kaffir words as now written, represents the same 
 guttural sound as g does in Dutch, or the Scotch sound of ch in loch ; thus 
 Karabe is pronounced Khah-khah-bay. They have no word by which to- 
 signify the whole race, but each tribe has its own title, which is usually the 
 name of its first great chief, with the plural prefix Ama, Aba, or Imi. A 
 very large portion of South Africa is occupied by these people. All along 
 the eastern coast as far southward as the Great Fish Eiver, from the sea ta 
 the great mountain range, the country is thickly populated with Kaffir 
 tribes. On the other side of the mountains, the Bechuanas, their near 
 kindred, are found stretching almost across to the Atlantic shore, from the 
 very heart of the continent southward to the Orange Eiver. 
 
 The country to the north-eastward of the Cape Colony and to the south- 
 westward of the present colony of Natal was found in the occupation of four 
 great tribes, — the Amampondomisi, the Amampondo, the Abatembu, and 
 the Amaxosa, — who formed nations as distinct from each other as are the 
 French and the Italians. Their language was nearly the same,, and their 
 laws and customs varied very slightly, but in all that respected government 
 they were absolutely independent of each other. The tribes further north* 
 ward differ somewhat from these, but not very materially. The difference 
 that exists has arisen from a mixture of Hottentot blood in the south- 
 western tribes, especially in those furthest in advance, by whom some of 
 the Ho-ttentot clicks have been incorporated into the language. The 
 Amamfengu tribe, now residing eastward of the Kei, is of recent formation- 
 and its history will be traced in ensuing chapters. The Amabaca, who are 
 living at present between the Cape Colony and Natal, are also only late 
 immigmnts. Of the four nations named as residing there in 1780, the 
 Amaxosa was the one bordering immediately upon the colony, and with 
 which the white man has had to contend for suprenaacy. It had recently 
 separated into two great sections : the Amagcaleka residing eastward of 
 the Kei, and the Amararabe westward of that river; but its subdivisions 
 were numerous and intricate. The Abatembu at that time occupied the 
 land between the Bashee and Umtata rivers, from which position they were 
 afterwards driven to the country about the sources of the Kei, where some? 
 of their claus came into collision with the Europeans^ 
 
THE KAFFIRS. 
 
 121 
 
 Since 1780 great changes have taken place with regard to the customs 
 as well as the government of a large proportion of the Kaffirs adjoining 
 the colony, but some of the tribes are yet independent, and as these have 
 not been influenced to any great extent by European civilization, a descrip- 
 tion of them as we see them to«day will be a correct representation of the 
 condition of the whole of their race a hundred years ago. 
 
 Each tribe is presided over by a great chief, whose government is, 
 however, but little felt beyond his own clan, each petty division being under 
 a ruler who is in reality nearly independent. All of the chiefs of the four 
 tribes mentioned, with a solitary exception, are descendants of one ancient 
 house. The offshoots of this great house, who are not themselves chiefs, 
 are of aristocratic rank, and are exempt from obedience to the laws which 
 govern the commonalty. The person of a chief is inviolable, and an 
 indignity offered to one of them is considered a crime of the gravest 
 nature. With regard to the common people, the theory of the law is that 
 they are the property of the rulers, and consequently an offence against 
 any of their persons is atoned for by a fine to the chief. Murder and 
 assaults are punished in this manner. Thus in theory the government is 
 despotic, but in practice it has many checks. The first is the existence 
 of a body of councillors about the person of each chief, whose advice be is 
 compelled to listen to. A second is the custom prevailing that a man who 
 can escape from a chief whose enmity he has incurred will be protected by 
 any other with whom he takes refuge, so that an arbitrary or unpopular 
 ruler is in constant danger of losing his followers. 
 
 The chief in council makes the law and administers it, but from the 
 courts of the petty chiefs there is an appeal to the head of the nation. Only 
 two kinds of punishment are known : fines and death. Lawsuits are of 
 frequent occurrence, and many of the Kaffirs display great ability and 
 remarkable powers of oratory in conducting them. The decisions of 
 celebrated chiefs in important cases are carefully preserved by the elders of 
 the tribes, and these precedents form a body of common law recognized 
 everywhere as binding. The judges have therefore something to guide 
 them in their proceedings, though most of them are exceedingly venal. 
 They will sit, however, with exemplary patience, for days together, to hear 
 all the details of a case, and, when bribery is impossible, their sentences are 
 usually in accordance with strict justice. 
 
 The manner in which the Kaffirs became divided into independent tribes 
 in ancient times is clearly shown by the law of succession to the chieftainship > 
 which is in force to the present day. The first wives of a chief are usually 
 the daughters of some of his father's principal retainers ; but as he increases 
 in power his alliance is courted by great famiUes, and thus it generally 
 happens that the last of his wives is the highest in rank. Probably she is 
 the daughter of a neighbouring chief, for it is indispensable in her case that 
 the blood of the ruling line should flow in her veins. She is termed the 
 great wife, and her eldest son is the principal heir. Another of his wives 
 
 B 
 
122 
 
 THE KAFFIRS. 
 
 i s invested at some period of his life, with the conseixt of his conncillors 
 and friends, with the litle of wife of the right hand, and to her eldest son 
 is allotted a portion of the tribe, with which he forms a new clan. The 
 government of this is intrusted to him as soon as he is full grown, so that 
 while his brother is still a child he has opportunities of increasing his own 
 power. If he is the abler ruler of the two, war between them follows 
 almost to a certainty as soon as the great heir reaches manhood and is also 
 invested with a separate command. Should peace be maintained, upon the 
 death of his father the son of the right hand acknowledges his brother as 
 superior in rank, but pays him no tribute, nor admits of his right to interfere 
 in any manner with the internal government of the new clan. Thus there 
 was always a tendency to division and subdivision of the tribes, which was 
 the gi'eat fault of the system. But while it operated against unity, it 
 tended towards a rapid expansion of the people in a country where only a 
 sUght opposition could be made by the earlier inhabitants. The less 
 powerful chief of the two would naturally desire to reside at a considerable 
 distance from his competitor, and thus a new tract of country would be 
 taken possession of. The practice was introduced by Gconde, six generations 
 back, of dividing each tribe into three sections, by the elevation of a third 
 son to power, with the title of representative of the ancients or son of the 
 left hand. But it was not generally adopted until Ngqika, about the beginning 
 of the present century, gave it his countenance, since which time this 
 custom has been almost universally followed by the Amaxosa, so that the 
 number of petty chiefs and little clans is now very great. 
 
 The KaflSr of the coast region is a model of a well-formed man. In general^ 
 he is large, without being corpulent, strong, muscular, erect in bearing, 
 and with all his limbs in perfect symmetry. His skull is shaped like that 
 of a European ; but here the resemblance ends, for his colour is a deep 
 brown, and his hair short and woolly. His intellectual abilities are of no 
 mean order, and his reasoning powers are quite equal to those of a white 
 man. He is haughty in demeanour, and possesses a large amount of vanity. 
 Before they came into contact with Europeans the men were handsomer 
 than the women, which was owing to the difference in their mode of living. 
 This is still the case with those who adhere to their ancestral customs, but 
 whenever they adopt European habits the females improve in appearance. 
 The reason is that in the former instance they are stunted in growth and 
 hardened in limb by excessive toil at an early age. 
 
 Their folklore, which is exceedingly rich, is not of a high moral character^ 
 but it displays a considerable amount of power of thought and imagination. 
 Until within the last few years, it breathed the sentiments, the religious 
 ideas, the hopes, and the fears of the people. It was a true picture of their 
 inner life, and just because of its being so, it had a firm hold upon their 
 affections, ^ow that many of them are adopting our ideas, the tales of 
 their ancestors are dying out, for these have lost their chief attraction. 
 There are many stories like our "Jack the Giant Killer," in which a 
 
THE KAFFIRS. 
 
 123 
 
 maneater figures ; but it would be as unfair to infer from this that the 
 Kaffirs were once a race of cannibals as that the English were. These 
 traditionary tales probably had their origin in the remembrances of a 
 period of devastating wars, similar to those of Tshaka, Msilikazi, and 
 DiNGAN, when the remnants of conquered nations were reduced for a time 
 by extremity of need to eat human flesh. Certain it is, that in those instances 
 of cannibalism which have occurred in modern times, the Kaffirs expressed 
 as much abhorrence of the practice as Europeans in similar circumstances 
 would have done. 
 
 Their language is rich in words, and is musical in expression, owing to 
 the great number of vowels used, and to a rule which requires the subordinate 
 words of a sentence to agree in sound with the principal one. The 
 noun is the governing word in this system of euphony, and the inflections 
 which are undergone by other parts of speech are very great. The 
 structure of the language differs so widely from that of all others spoken 
 out of Africa that it was a long time before Europeans could ascertain the 
 rules by which it is governed. There is no difficulty whatever in expressing 
 the most abstract ideas in it. By the western tribes it has been somewhat 
 degraded, through the introduction of a good many Hottentot words 
 rontaining clicks. These are now represented in Kaffir literature by the 
 letters c, q, and x. The women do not always use the same words as the 
 men, owing to a strange custom which prohibits females from pronouncing 
 the names of any of their husband's male relatives in the ascending line, 
 or any words whatever in which the principal syllables of such names 
 occur. The violation of this custom is considered as showing a want of 
 proper respect for superiors, and owing to its observance in many instances 
 almost a distinct dialect has come into use. Before the advent of the 
 white man they knew nothing of letters or of any signs by which ideas 
 could be expressed. Their history is thus traditional, and cannot be 
 considered authentic beyond three or four generations. There are old men 
 in every tribe who profess to be acquainted with the deeds of the past, 
 but their accounts of these seldom correspond in details. The genealogy 
 of the great chiefs, even, as given by them, is not the same beyond the 
 time of SiKOMO, the eighth in order from the present one, while, with 
 regard to minor chiefs, considerable confusion exists two or three genera- 
 tions later. They know of no other periods in reckoning time than the 
 day and the lunar month, and can describe events only as happening before or 
 after some remarkable occurrence, such as the death of a chief. The different 
 seasons of the year are indicated by the rise in the evening of particular 
 constellations, to which, as well as to several of the prominent stars and 
 planets, they have given expressive names. 
 
 Their dress was composed of skins of animals formed into a square 
 mantle the size of a large blanket, which they wrapped about their persons. 
 The skin of the leopard was reserved for chiefs and their principal coun- 
 cillors alone, but any other could be used by common people. Within the 
 
THE KAFFIBS. 
 
 lifetime of the present generation woollen and cotton blankets have como 
 into such general use that a fur robe is now very rarely seen. Married 
 women wear a short leather petticoat at all times ; in warm weather men 
 and children go quite naked. No covering is ordinarily worn on the head, 
 though a fillet, intended for show, is commonly bound round it, and a 
 fantastic head-dress is used by the women on certain festive occasions. 
 They are fond of decorating their persons with ornaments, such as shells 
 and teeth of animals, used as necklaces, copper and ivory rings on their 
 arms, &c. They protect their bodies from the effects of the sun by 
 rubbing themselves all over with fat and red clay, which makes them look 
 like polished bronae. Their clothing is greased and coloured in the same 
 manner. 
 
 They live in villages, large or small according to circumstances, and their 
 habitations consist ot huts shaped Hke beehives. These are formed of 
 strong wickerwork frames thatched with reeds or grass, and are proof 
 against rain or wind. The largest are about twenty*five feet in diameter, and 
 seven or eight feet in height at the centre. They are entered by a low, narrow 
 aperture, which is the only opening in the structure. A hard and smooth 
 floor is made of antheaps, moistened with water and then kneaded with a 
 round stone. When this has set, it is painted with a mixture of cowdung 
 and water, which is the material used ever afterwards for keeping it in good 
 order. In the centre of the floor a fireplace is made, by raising a band of 
 an inch or two in height and three or four feet in diameter, and slightly 
 hollowing the enclosed space. Tasty housewives bestow a great deal of 
 attention upon their fire-circles, often enclosing them with three bands, a 
 large one in the centre and a smaller one on each side of it, differently 
 coloured, and resembling a coil of large rope lying between concentric coils 
 of less thickness. Against the wall of the hut are ranged the various 
 utensils in common use, the space around the fire-circle being reserved for 
 a sleeping apartment. Here in the evening mats are spread, upon which 
 the inmates lie down to rest, the feet of each one being towards the centre. 
 Above their heads the thatched roof is glossy with soot, and vermin swarm on 
 every side. It is only in cold or stormy weather that huts are occupied 
 during the day, for the people spend the greater portion of their waking 
 hours in the open air. 
 
 To each family a piece of ground suitable for a garden is allotted by the 
 chief, all the remaining land being used as a commonage on which to 
 depasture cattle. The villages are usually in situations commanding an 
 extensive view of the surrounding country, and are always built on ground 
 with good natural drainage. The brow of a hill, with a clear flowing stream 
 at its base and fertile garden ground beyond, is the kind of site they 
 particularly delight in. 
 
 The Kaffirs are warlike in disposition and brave in the field, though when 
 fighting with Europeans they seldom venture upon a pitched battle, owing 
 to their dread of fire-arms. In olden times, their weapons of offence were 
 
THE ^AfFIBS. 
 
 125- 
 
 \fooclen clubs with heavy heads and assegais of javelins. The assegai consists 
 'of a long, thin, iron head, with both edges sharp and terminating in a 
 point, and is attached by thongs to a slender shaft or rod. Poising this first 
 in his uplifted hand and imparting to it a quivering motion, the Kaffir hurls 
 it forth with great force and accuracy of aim ; but, formidable as this 
 weapon is in native encounters, it is of little effect when opposed to fire* 
 arms. The club is used at close quarters, and can also be thrown to a 
 considerable distance. Boys are trained to the use of both of these weapons 
 from an early age. Of late years the Kaffirs have armed themselves with 
 guns, in addition to these. Before they became acquainted with European 
 weapons, the warriors used to protect their persons with shields made of 
 «oxhide, which varied in size and pattern among the tribes, but as these 
 have become useless they are now seldom seen. 
 
 Horned cattle constitute their principal wealth, and in days of old formed 
 •a convenient medium of exchange throughout the country. Great care is 
 taken of them, and particular skill is exhibited in their training. They are 
 taught to obey signals, as, for instance, to run home upon a certain call or 
 whistle being given. Every man of note has his racing oxen, and prides 
 iiimself upon their good qualities as much as an English squire does upon 
 his blood horses. Ox racing is one of the institutions of Kaffirland, and i» 
 connected with all kinds of festivities. The care of the cattle is considered 
 the most honourable employment, and falls entirely to the men. They 
 milk the cows, take charge of the dairy, and will not permit a woman 
 BO much as to touch a milksack. In addition to the ox, before the arrival 
 of Europeans, they had domestic dogs and an inferior breed of goats, 
 the last not considered of much value. Barnyard fowls were also found 
 in their possession, but adults made no use of either their flesh or their 
 eggs. The cocks were valued because they crowed regularly at midnight 
 «,nd at dawn, and thus served as timekeepers. 
 
 The Kaffirs are an agricultural as well as a pastoral people. They cultivate 
 the ground to a large extent, and draw the greater portion of their food 
 from it. A species of millet, called by the colonists Kaffir-corn, was the 
 grain exclusively cultivated by them prior to the advent of Europeans. Of 
 this they raise large quantities, which they use either boiled or bruised 
 into a paste from which bread is made. They are acquainted with the art 
 •of fermenting it and making a kind of beer, which they are fond of drinking, 
 ■and which soon causes intoxication. Of this grain they are careful always 
 to keep a good stock on hand. They preserve it from the attacks of weevil 
 •by burying it in airtight holes excavated beneath the cattle kraals. When 
 kept for a long time in these granaries, the grain loses the power of 
 germinating, and acquires a rank taste and smell. It is, however, none the 
 less agreeable to the Kaffir palate, though it is offensive to Europeans, 
 They had also pumpkins, a species of gourd, a cane containing saccharine 
 matter in large quantities, and a sort of ground nut. The other produ«tions 
 of their gardens, as we see them at present, have been introdueed Bince 
 
126 
 
 THE KAFFTES. 
 
 they became acquainted with the white man. Of those mentioned their 
 food consisted, with the addition of milk and occasionally flesh. The milk 
 is kept in, skin bags, where it ferments and acquires a sharp acid ta&te. As 
 it is drawn off, new milk is added, for it is only in this state that it is used. 
 Europeans soon come to be as fond of it as are the Kaffirs themselves, and 
 in warm weather it is perhaps the most agreeable and healthy beverage 
 that can be usod. The art of making butter and cheese was unknown to 
 the Kaffirs. They have two meals every day : a slight breakfast in the 
 morning, and a substantial repast at sunset. Boys before being circumcised 
 are permitted to eat any kind of meat, even that of wild cats and other 
 carnivora, but after that ceremony is performed the flesh of all unclean 
 animals is rejected by them. They use no kinds of fish as an article of 
 diet, and call them all snakes without distinction. 
 
 They have a system of religion which they carefully observe. It is 
 based upon the supposition of the existence of spirits who can interfere 
 with the affairs of this world, and who must therefore be propitiated with 
 sacrifices. These spirits are those of their deceased chiefs, the greatest of 
 whom has power over lightning. When the spirits become hungry they 
 send a plague or disaster until sacrifices are offered and their hunger is 
 appeased. When a person is killed by lightning no lamentation is made, 
 as it would be considered rebellion to mourn for one whom the great chief 
 has sent for. They have no idea of reward or punishment in a world to 
 come for acts committed in this life, and each one denies the immortality 
 of his own soul. In olden times, when common people died, their corpses 
 were dragged away to a short distance from the kraal, and there left to be 
 devoured by beasts of prey ; but chiefs and great men were interred with 
 much ceremony. A grave was dug, in which the body was placed in a 
 sitting posture, and by it were deposited his weapons of war and ornaments. 
 When it was closed, such expressions as these were used : " Remember us 
 from where you are. You have gone to high places. Cause us to prosper." 
 They believe in the existence of a Supreme God, whom they term Qamata, 
 and to whom they sometimes pray, though they never offer sacrifices to 
 him. In a time of great danger, a Kaffir will exclaim " 0 Qamata, help 
 me," and when the danger is over, he will attribute his deliverance to the 
 same Supreme Being. But of Qamata he knows nothing more than that 
 he is high over all, and that though he has helped him, in general he does 
 not interfere with the destinies of men. In fact, he can not himself explain 
 what he does believe and what he does not. He thinks as little as he 
 possibly can of such matters, though the influence of the unseen world is 
 ever acting upon him. Far nearer than Qamata or the spirits of his chiefs, is 
 a whole host of hobgoblins, water-sprites, and malevolent demons, who meet 
 him turn which way he will. There is no beautiful fairyland for him, for 
 all these beings who haunt the mountains, the plains, and the rivers, are 
 ministers of evil. This superstition influences all his acts and gives a tone 
 pf seriousness to his character. . : . . . o 
 
THE KAFFIES. 
 
 127 
 
 The rites of religion consist merely in sacrifices to appease the spirits;. 
 These are numerous. On great occasions they are performed by individuals 
 variously termed witchdoctors, conjurers, and priests, on ordinary occasions 
 by heads of families. No sacred days or seasons are observed. A corollary 
 to the belief in malevolent spirits is the belief in witchcraft. Certain 
 persons obtain from the demons power to bewitch others, and thus sickness 
 and death are caused. It is part of the profession of the priests to detect 
 those who practise witchcraft, and the punishment for this imaginary 
 crime is death and confiscation of property. This is a formidable engine of 
 cruelty in the hands of the priests and chiefs. To this day, among those 
 tribes which are not subject to European rule or influence, rich Kaffirs 
 stand in dread of a violent and horrible death, for as the property of the 
 accused is confiscated, the crime is always fastened on wealthy persons. 
 In this manner, indeed, the principal revenue of the chiefs is obtained, 
 and it is a source of supply constantly resorted to. Sometimes a person 
 pretends to have received revelations from the spirit world. If he is 
 believed, his power at once becomes greater than that of the highest chief, 
 and his commands are implicitly obeyed. Such an impostor has been 
 frequently made use of by a crafty chief for the purpose of exciting the 
 people to war, or of inducing them to approve of some measure which 
 would otherwise have been unpopular. The priests, in addition to their 
 other professions, pretend to have the power of making rain, and also of 
 causing the warriors of their tribe to be invulnerable in battle. They are 
 commonly skilful in the use of various herbs as remedies for light diseases, 
 and are well acquainted with different kinds of poison. When following 
 any of these occupations, they attire themselves most fantastically, being 
 painted with various colours, and having the tails of wild animals suspended 
 around them. It is seldom that they die natural deaths, as sooner or later 
 their impostures are discovered, when they are generally tied hand to foot 
 and cast into the nearest stream. Nevertheless, imphcit confidence is 
 placed in their successors, until they too meet the same fate. 
 
 It is singular to what an extent superstition deadens the power of 
 judgment of these people. To see men, sensible enough in many matters, 
 hanging a bit of wood or bone about their necks, and believing that it 
 preserves them from evil, is not at all strange ; for even in highly civilized 
 lands there are people who believe in lucky days, lucky coins, and a great 
 deal more nonsense of the kind. That form of superstition is identically 
 the same in Europe and in Africa. But to find men believing that persons 
 are drowned by spirits who pull them under the water, does excite surprise. 
 A party of Kaffirs, for instance, when travelling come to the bank of a 
 river. Each one picks up a stone and throws it upon a heap to propitiate 
 the spirit of the stream. In crossing, one of them gets into deep water 
 and is in danger of being drowned. The others make no effort whatever 
 to save him, but rush away frantically in search of cattle, which they drive 
 hastily into the river, hoping that the spirit will be satisfied with an ox 
 
128 
 
 THE KAPFIHS. 
 
 :»nd release their comrade. Cases, precisely similar to this, still occur 
 frequently, even among Kaffirs who have been in contact with civilization 
 for many years. 
 
 When about fifteen or sixteen years of age, the Kaffir youths are 
 circumcised. This rite partakes more of a civil than of a religious character. 
 By it a youth is enabled to emerge from the society of women and boys, 
 and is admitted to the privileges of manhood. Its performance is attended 
 with many ceremonies, some of a harmless, others of a revolting nature. 
 At a certain period in every year, unless the chief has a son somewhat too 
 young to undergo the rite, all the youths of a village who are old enougb 
 are circumcised. Thereafter for a couple of months or longer they Uve by 
 themselves, and are distinguished by wearing a whimsical head-dress amJ 
 a girdle of long grass about the loins, besides having their bodies covered 
 with white clay. During this period they have license to steal pretty freely 
 from their relatives, provided they can do so without being caught in the 
 act. After returning to their homes they are brought before the old men 
 of their tribe, who lecture them upon the duties and responsibilities which 
 they have taken upon themselves, and afterwards presents of cattle sud 
 weapons are made to them by their friends to give them a start in life. 
 A free rein is then given to all kinds of immorality, without let or hindrance 
 from their elders. In case a scion of the mUng house is growing up, the 
 performance of the rite of circumcision is generally allowed to stand aver 
 for a year or two, so that he may have a large number of companions. 
 These are all supposed to be bound to him by a very strong tie, in afljer 
 years they are to be his councillors and attendants, and in case of danger 
 are to form his body guard. Females who arrive at the age of puberty aare 
 introduced into the state of womanhood by peculiar ceremonies, whi-eh 
 extinguish all virtuous feelings within them. Men and women aUke aare 
 wholly given up to the lusts of the flesh. Chastity is unknown among 
 them, and licentiousness is considered no disgrace to either sex. 
 
 The Elaffirs are polygamists, and women hold a very degraded positi«>o 
 in their society. A woman is a drudge, upon whom the cultivation of the 
 ^ound and other severe labour falls ; her affections are not consulted in the 
 4ehoice of a husband, but she is sold by her nearest male relatives to th* 
 highest bidder; she can inherit nothing; and she is liable to seveue 
 castigation from her husband, without protection from the law. Only when 
 she i« permanently maimed can she obtain redress. Wealth is estimated 
 by the number of wives and cattle a man possesses, and the «ne is always 
 made lise of to increase the other. The husband is head or lord of the 
 establishment, for which his wives are expected to provide food in abundance. 
 Each has a hut of her own, which she and her children occupy, and the 
 husband uses his caprice as to which he shall honour with his society 
 any time. The descent of property is regulated in the same manner as the 
 succession to the chieftainship, so that there are always a great number g£ 
 poor among them. 
 
THE KAFFIRS. 
 
 129 
 
 Their manufactures display considerable skill and ingenuity. Foremost 
 among these must be reckoned metallic wares, which include implements 
 of war and husbandry and ornaments for the person. In many parts of 
 the country iron ore is abundant, and this they smelt in a simple manner* 
 Porming a furnace of a boulder with a hollow surface, out of which a 
 groove is made to allow the liquid metal to escape, and into which a hole 
 is pierced for the purpose of introducing a current of air, they pile up a 
 heap of charcoal and virgin ore, which they afterwards cover in such a way 
 as to prevent the escape of heat. The bellows by which air is introduced 
 are made of skins, the mouthpiece being the horn of a large antelope. 
 The molten iron, escaping from the crude yet effective furnace, runs into 
 clay moulds prepared to receive it, which are as nearly as possible of the 
 flame magnitude as the implements they wish to make. These are never 
 of great size, the largest being the picks or heavy hoes used in gardening. 
 The Kaffir smith, using a boulder for an anvil and a hammer of iron or 
 stone, next proceeds to shape the lump of metal into an assegai head, an 
 axe, a pick, or whatever is required. In this laborious operation a vast 
 amount of patience and perseverance is exercised, and the article when 
 completed is very creditable indeed. The beautifully grooved assegai heads 
 of our own day are made of iron obtained in trade from the colonists, but 
 their manufacture is still the same as it was a century ago. Now that all 
 kinds of goods of European manufacture are to be had in every corner of 
 Kaffirland, native smelting furnaces are seldom seen, but there are still 
 some rigid conservatives who scorn to depart from the customs of their 
 ancestors, and who therefore still obtain their iron in the ancient manner. 
 Before the advent of Europeans they were acquainted also with another 
 metal, namely copper, which they wrought into a variety of ornaments for 
 their persons. 
 
 Hardly less remarkable is their skill in pottery. Vessels containing 
 from half a pint to fifty gallons are constructed by them of earthenware, 
 some of which are highly ornamented and are almost as perfect in form as 
 if they had been turned on a wheel. Though they are frequently not more 
 than an eighth of an inch in thickness, so finely tempered are they that the 
 most intense heat does not damage them. These vessels are used as beer 
 pots, grain jars, and cooking utensils. The manufacture of earthenware 
 vessels, however, bids fair to be lost at no distant date. Already wooden 
 casks are rapidly taking the place of the large grain jars, as the Kaffirs find 
 by experience that far less labour is required to furnish the means of 
 purchasing a cask than is necessary in the manufacture of a jar, and the 
 one answers all the purposes of the other. Iron pots, too, are everywhere 
 euperseding the native cooking utensils. 
 
 In the manufacture of wooden articles, such as spoons, bowls, fighting 
 sticks, pipes, (since the introduction of tobacco), rests for the head when 
 sleeping, &c., they display great skill and no little taste. Each article is 
 made of a single block of wood, requiring much time and patience to 
 s 
 
130 
 
 THE KArFIBS> 
 
 complete it, and upon it is frequently carred some neat but simple pattern. 
 In their department the women are equally skilful. Baskets for holding 
 grain, rush mats, and bags made of grass are among the products of their 
 labour. The last are so carefully and strongly made that they are used to 
 hold water or any other liquid. Skins for clothing are prepared by rubbing 
 them for a length of time with grease, by which means they are made 
 nearly as soft and pliable as cloth. 
 
 Ingenious as they are, the men are far from being industrious. A great 
 portion of their time is spent in visiting and gossip, of which they are 
 exceedingly fond. They spend days together engaged in small talk, and 
 are perfect masters of that kind of argument which consists in parrying a 
 question by means of putting another. They pay very little regard to 
 truth, and are inveterate thieves. According to their ideas, stealing is not 
 a crime : it is a civil offence, and a thief when detected is compelled to 
 make ample restitution ; but no disgrace is attached to it, and they have 
 no religious scruples concerning it. 
 
 At the time of the extension of the colonial boundary to the Great Fish 
 River the Kafl5rs were rapidly spreading themselves out to the westward. 
 Hitherto they had found only Hottentots and Bushmen in their way, and 
 these they had easily conquered. They had driven a portion of the earlier 
 inhabitants before them, so that between them and the colonists the belt 
 of country was constantly becoming narrower and more densely populated 
 with refugees from either side. In some instances they destroyed the men 
 of the tribes with which they came in contact, and took the women to 
 themselves. The mixed offspring of such unions retained, however, no 
 characteristics of the Hottentot, except a somewhat lighter colour and the 
 clicks in speaking which have already been referred to, and they conformed 
 in all respects to Kaffir customs. 
 
 The traditional history of the Amaxosa, as related by their antiquaries, 
 is somewhat conflicting, but much of it appears to be founded upon truth. 
 They give the line of descent of their great chiefs as follows : (1) Xosa, (2) 
 Malangana, (3) Nkoziyamtu, (4) Tshawe, (5) Ncwangu, (6) Sikomo, (7) Togu, 
 (8) GcoNDE, (9) TsHiwo, (10) Palo. Before the time of Nkoziyamtu a law 
 was in force that a chief could have as many wives as he chose, but only one 
 son must be allowed to live, — all the rest must be destroyed in their infancy. 
 Nkoziyamtu introduced the custom of the right hand wife, and thus preserved 
 two sons alive. These were Cira, great son, and Jwaua, right hand son. 
 A third, who was destined to surpass both his brothers in barbarian fame, 
 was preserved by the flight of his mother, (a concubine of the great house), 
 to her father's people, the Abambo. Among them the boy,— Tshawe by 
 name, — grew up, and proved himself so valiant that a large number of 
 young men were given him as followers by the chief, for he was known to 
 be the son of Nkoziyamtu. At length he became desirous of visiting his 
 father and showing him his greatness, so at the head of his followers and 
 with immense herds of cattle he journeyed southward from Embo. On the 
 
THE KAFIIBS. 
 
 131 
 
 way he was joined by very many people, whose only weapons were clubs and 
 Btones, and who were glad of the opportunity of ranging themselves under 
 such a famous leader. Upon arriving in the country of his father, he found 
 that Nkoziyamtu ^s dead. His two brothers assembled their followers to 
 oppose him, and a great battle took place, in which they were completely 
 defeated, owing to Tshawe's original retainers being armed with assegais, 
 weapons unknown before to the Amaxosa. This battle established Tshawe's 
 supremacy in the land, and he was joined thereafter by the bulk of his 
 father's people, though he still acknowledged the superiority in rank of 
 CiRA. As for JwARA, after the battle he wandered away with a few followers 
 to the north, and died there. Tshawe is the hero of many legends, and 
 stands prominently out among the great ones of the misty past. The two 
 chiefs before him are often omitted in the line of descent, and he is then 
 termed the great one of Xosa's sons. He deserves, indeed, to be considered 
 the real founder of the nation, for in him the direct line of the great 
 chiefs was lost, though his tribe being the largest in number retained the 
 national title. 
 
 To Tshawe succeeded his son Ncwangu, and to him again Sikomo, of 
 neither of whom is much known. The great son of Sikomo was Togu, during 
 whose government the tribe moved westward as far as the Kei. The great 
 son of Togu was Gconde, who originated the house of the left hand, and 
 left TsHiwo, great son, Mdange, right hand son, and Tinde, left hand son, 
 whose mother was of Hottentot blood. 
 
 During the government of Tshiwo, an event took place by which an 
 individual who did not belong to the family of hereditary chiefs was raised 
 to the rank of head of a clan. Tshiwo,. like most other Kaffir potentates, 
 was in the habit of condemning many of his subjects to death and confisca- 
 tion of property when they were suspected of dealing in witcheraft. One 
 of his executioners was named Kwane. Instead of carrying out the orders 
 of his chief, this man usually permitted the victims to escape with their 
 lives, and contented himself with seizing their stock. On one occasion the 
 chief was sore pressed for men, when Kwane boldly presented himself 
 before his master at the head of all those whom he had thus spared, 
 and tendered his service and theirs. Tshiwo was so delighted in receiving 
 aid thus opportunely that he formed the former fugitives into an 
 independent clan, appointing Kwane to be its chief. The new tribe rapidly 
 increased in numbers and importance, and in the time of Cungwa, third 
 in descent from Kwane, it was a formidable foe of the colony. This clan 
 entitled itself the Amagqunukwebe, from what circumstance is not now 
 known. 
 
 TsHiwo's great son Palo was not born until after his father's death. His 
 right hand son Gwali was then in the prime of life, and being ambitious,, 
 he attempted to put his brother to death. A portion of the tribe, however, 
 rallied round the guardians of the infant chief, and Gwali was compelled to 
 flee. With his own adherents and the Amantinde clan he crossed the Kei 
 
132 
 
 THE KAjriES. 
 
 and took refuge with a Hottentot chief named Hintsati, who resided near 
 where the village of Somerset East now stands. Tradition points these 
 oat as the first Kaffirs to cross the Kei, and if this be correct, the date may 
 be fixed about the beginning of lasc century, or, possibly, a few years 
 earlier. Gwali was received in a friendly manner by Hintsati, to whom he 
 gave one of his sisters in marriage. After a long time an army was organized 
 to folloVv him up. Hintsati's kraal was surrounded in the night, the chief 
 was killed with many of his people, and his cattle were taken. The army 
 at once commenced its return march, but was followed closely by the 
 Hottentots. At the Koonap River it was overtaken, and an indecisive 
 battle was fought. Further on, at the Banzi ford of the Keiskama, another 
 engagement took place, and yet another on the Debe flats, where the 
 Hottentots recovered many of their cattle. About this time the Imidange and 
 the Amangqosini crossed the Kei, and they have remained on this side ever 
 since. Sparrman, who wrote in 1775 and 1776, mentions that MahutAt 
 chief of the Imidange, was then considered the most powerful chief in the 
 neighbourhood of the colony. This traveller found clans of mixed Kaffir 
 and Hottentot descent a long way westward of the Great Fish River. 
 
 The left hand son of Tshiwo was Tiso, who died without issue, upon 
 which Palo gave that house a representative in the person of his own son 
 Langa. As far as regards the petty chiefs mentioned above, a good deal of 
 discrepancy exists in the accounts furnished by different antiquaries. By 
 some, names are transposed, and by others several of them are placed a 
 generation further back. Authentic Kaffir history cannot be said to commence 
 until after this period. 
 
 At the time when the colonists and the Kaffirs first came into contact 
 with each other, Palo was great chief of the Amaxosa. He was an old man^ 
 and his two sons, Gcaleka and Rarabe, practically ruled the nation. The 
 first of these, being the son of the great wife, was the highest in rank ; but 
 in ability he stood greatly inferior to his brother. In such a case war was 
 inevitable, and in this instance it was waged with great bitterness. At 
 the commencement of the contest the nation was to the eastward of the 
 Kei, for as yet the Hottentots occupied the country up to that river, and 
 several kraals were even beyond it. The three small Kaffir clans who were 
 living on the west of the Kei were on terms of perfect friendship with the 
 Hottentots and were very much mixed with them by marriage. 
 
 The result of the war between Gcaleka and Rarabe was that the latter 
 determined to cross the Kei and take possession of a new district for himself. 
 The Hottentots prepared to make a stand, for the strip of country they 
 oould yet call their own was narrow indeed. Driven eastward by th^ Dutchr 
 westward by the Kaffirs, they were resolved to fight that one of their 
 enemies against whom they had some chance of success. "When Rarabe 
 with his followers reached the Kei, at the place now known as the lower 
 drift, he found the Hottentots ready to receive him. There was fought 
 their last battle for independence, and if half of what Kaffir antiquaries 
 
THE KAFFIBS. \ 133 
 
 relate of that day's action be true, they fought it bmvely and well. Each 
 side pressed its foremost men against the enemy and compelled them thus 
 to battle to the death. They met in the stream, which was soon so choked 
 with corpses that its water was red with blood. At last, by sheer force of 
 pressure, the Hottentots were driven back, and Rarabe won a footing on 
 the western bank. But this success was so dearly bought that he preferred 
 to negotiate rather than risk another such encounter, and so for a groat 
 number of cattle he purchased a tract of country between the head waters 
 of the Keiskama and Buffalo rivers from the wife and followers of the chief 
 who had fallen in the struggle. The name of this Hottentot chief tainess 
 was HoHO, and after her the Perie forest is still called by the Kaffirs "the 
 Forest of Hoho." From that time the Kaffirs and Hottentots were friends, 
 and though the former soon acquired undivided power as far as the Great 
 Fish River, many Hottentots held honourable positions among them, while 
 matrimonial connections tended to obliterate all distinctions between the 
 two races. Thus if the Dutch had appeared on the scene twenty or at 
 most thirty years sooner, they might have fixed the Kei as their eastern 
 boundary, without meeting with any resistance from the Kaffirs, so recent 
 was then the occupation by these people of the territory westward of that 
 river. 
 
 Rarabe, for a barbarian, was a man of very considerable ability. He 
 governed his people wisely, and was so greatly esteemed by them that his 
 name was adopted and is still retaiiied by all the clans on this side of the 
 Kei as their distinctive appellation. He was the favourite son of his father 
 Palo, who crossed the river with him and continued to reside near him as 
 long as he lived. Sparrman says that Palo died only a few years before 
 he wrote, but Le Vaillant speaks of him as still living in 1781. Sparrman 
 is most likely correct. By most of the colonists the old chief was called 
 Pharaoh, for they had got the idea into their heads that they were in 
 contact with the Egyptians, and the similarity between the two names 
 added to the delusion. 
 
 With the colonists Rarabe had very little intercourse, though collisions 
 occasionally took place between some of them and his most advanced out- 
 posts. It was not until after his death, towards the close of the century, 
 that the two races came into close and hostile contact with each other. 
 Rarabe died in battle. He had sent one of his daughters to be the wife of 
 a Tembu chief, who returned only a hundred head of cattle. Rarabe was 
 indignant that his daughter should be valued at so low a rate, and collecting 
 his bravest warriors he marched against his son-in-law and attacked him. 
 His forces were victorious, but he fell pierced with an assegai in the thickest 
 of the fight. His son Ndlambe and his grandson Ngqika were destined to 
 occupy prominent positions in the coming struggle between the two> 
 conquering races now face to face with each other. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FROM THE EXTENSION OF THE FRONTIER TO THE GREAT FISH RIVER TO THE SEIZURK 
 OF THE COLONY BY THE BRITISH. 1780 TO 1795. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Attempt and Failwre of the English to seize the Colony. — Issue 
 of Paper Money. — Formation of the District and Village of Chraaff Reinet. — Fffori 
 of the Colonists to obtain greater liberty. — Establishment of a Mission by the 
 Moravians. — First hostilities with Kaffirs. — Arrival cf Commissioners from the 
 Netherlands to enquire into the Condition of the Colony. — Rebellion of the Burg- 
 hers of Swellendam and Qraaff Reinet. — Seizure of the Colony by the British. — 
 Review. 
 
 Governors : — Joachim van Plettenberg. ^ 
 
 CoRNELis Jacobus van de Graaff, Febry. 14, 1785. 
 
 Johannes Isaac Rhenius, June 29, 1791. 
 
 Abraham Johannes Sluysken, Sept» 2, 1793, 
 
 Up to the date which has now been reached, the colony had never been 
 attacked by a European power, though its possession was coveted by every 
 maritime State. It was commonly believed to be little better than a vast 
 desert waste, peopled by a few savages and a handful of nomad boers ; but 
 the Cape Promontory was acknowledged to be one of the commanding^ 
 positions of the world, the ownership of which would ensure possession of 
 the Indian seas. It was thus too tempting a prize to be longer neglected by 
 those great combatants, France and England, to each of whom predominance 
 in India was a matter of paramount importance. Holland had greatly 
 declined in strength during the century now drawing towards its close,, and 
 the great East India Company was in a position of hopeless insolveu'cy. 
 Its most valuable possessions in India were left almost undefended, and the 
 garrison of Cape Town was so weak that little or no resistance could be made 
 to an invading force. While affairs were in this state, war was declared by 
 England against the Dutch, who naturally entered into alliance with 
 France. 
 
 With the intention of seizing the colony by surprise, an English squadron 
 was fitted out ostensibly for an attack upon some part of the West Indies, 
 and was placed under command of Commodore Johnstone, whose real orders 
 were to make himself master of Cape Town. The squadron consisted of 
 three line of battle ships, several frigates and sloops of war, transports 
 carrying three thousand soldiers under General Meadows, and some 
 merchantmen under convoy, making in all a fleet of forty sail. But its 
 destination was ascertained by some means, and was madie known to the 
 enemy by a spy named De la Motte, who was afterwards convicted and. 
 executed for the offence^ The Dutch, being thus warned, entreated aid from 
 
1781] 
 
 HISTORT OF THE CAPE COLONY 
 
 135 
 
 ^'rance, and that Power at once despatched Admiral SurrREiK in pursuit, 
 with a fleet of five ships of the line and several frigates. Some land forces 
 were embarked also, to strengthen the garrison of Cape Town. The English 
 Commodore, quite unsuspicious of an enemy being close behind him, was 
 victualling his fleet at Port Praya in the island of St. Jago, when Suffrein 
 sailed in and attacked him, 16th of April, 1781. The engagement lasted for 
 an hour and a half, when the French were beaten off, but Johnstone was 
 not in a position to follow up his success. Suffrein therefore continued 
 his voyage to the Cape, where he arrived on the 21st of June. Having 
 landed his troops, he set about constructing new fortifications and placing 
 the town in a condition for defence. As soon as his fleet was refitted, 
 Johnstone put to sea from Port Praya, but before reaching the Cape he 
 made a prize of the Dutch East Indiaman Held Woltemaade, just out of 
 Saldanha Bay, bound to Ceylon, with a valuable cargo and £40,000 in specie 
 on board. From her crew he learnt that it would be useless to attack Cape 
 Town, as it was now strongly garrisoned and fortified ; but he was informed 
 by some of his prisoners that five of the Company's largest ships were lying 
 at anchor in Saldanha Bay, out of the way of danger, as the Dutch authorities 
 thought. The English Commodore immediately steered towards Saldanha 
 Bay, with the object of securing these rich prizes. Upon his approach the 
 Dutch captains attempted to run their ships ashore, and abandoned them 
 without any attempt at resistance. The captain of the Middelhurg set fire 
 to his ship before leaving her, and she was blown into fragments, but all 
 the others were taken by the English. 
 
 It was a custom with the Batavian government to send criminals from 
 the eastern settlements, to be sold as slaves in South Africa, and they also 
 made use of the colony occasionally as a place of exile for political offenders. 
 At this time, two such prisoners, the native rulers of the islands Tidor and 
 Ternate, were at Saldanha Bay. They managed to get aboard one of the 
 English ships, where they were kindly received, and were rescued from 
 captivity. Commodore Johnstone then sent part of his fleet to India with the 
 convoy, — General Meadows and the troops proceeding there also, — and with 
 the remaining ships of war and his prizes he returned to Europe. So failed 
 the first English expedition sent to take possession of the Cape Colony. 
 
 To defray the expenses connected with Suffrein's visit and the cost of 
 erecting and repairing fortifications, Governor Yan Plettenberg was 
 compelled to issue paper notes to the amount of 925,219 rixdollars. No 
 security was offered for the redemption of this paper, except the good faith 
 of the government and a solemn promise that it would be called in as soon 
 as funds could be sent from Holland. This was the first issue of govern- 
 ment notes in Soath Africa, and was the introduction of a system that for 
 forty-three years caused great confusion in monetary matters. Between 
 1787 and 1789, notes to the amount of 825,904 rixdollars were redeemed, 
 either in specie or by bills on Holland, and this redemption made it easy 
 for future governors to issue paper rixdollars and force them into 
 
136 
 
 HISTOBT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1786 
 
 circulation on any emergency. Before 1795, notes to the amount of 
 611,276 rixdollars, then equivalent to rather more than £122,000, were thus 
 issued, without any security whatever. 
 
 The existence of these notes was a great temptation to unprincipled 
 persons to defraud the uneducated farmers of the interior. They were 
 «asily forged, and in this manner many persons became the victims of 
 swindlers. A few years after this, one of the complaints made by the 
 farmers of Swellendam was that they had thus been exposed to the dealings 
 x)i sharpers. But in the restricted condition of trade, as it was under the 
 East India Company, the quantity of forged paper in circulation could not 
 liave been very great. It was sufficient, however, when added to the fact 
 that the government notes could not be converted into coin, to cause a 
 great depreciation in the purchasing power of paper money compared with 
 that of gold and silver. 
 
 In 1786 the government determined to form a seat of magistracy somewhere 
 nearer than Swellendam to the eastern frontier. At that time there was 
 only one landdrost for all the country between the Breede Eiver and the 
 Great Fish, the consequence of which was that the inhabitants of remote 
 parts were living in a state of anarchy, and were almost independent of the 
 government at Cape Town. It was impossible for them to leave their 
 families and farms exposed to the attacks of Bushmen, whenever cases arose 
 that should have been submitted to the decision of the landdrost, and hence 
 it was usual for them to settle such cases by the law of the strongest. 
 The landdrost at Swellendam could not even ascertain what was transpiring 
 in all parts of the immense tract of country nominally under his jurisdiction. 
 Only recently, an English ship had put into Algoa Bay and landed a 
 number of men ill with scurvy, and he knew nothing of it until sixty-nine 
 days afterwards. This opened the eyes of the government to the danger of 
 some foreign Power taking possession of Algoa Bay, on the ground of no 
 jurisdiction being exercised there, and thus disturbing the Company in its 
 occupation of the half-way station to India. It excites surprise that no 
 steps were taken to form a new district at an earlier date. The establishment 
 of a landdrost's court cost the Company nothing, as all local expenses were 
 provided for out of a fund raised in each district, and the utility of an 
 officer whose duties were to preserve order and collect revenue could not 
 be disputed. But to the very last day of the East India Company's rule in 
 South Africa, the main object of the government was to make the country 
 a victualling station with unfailing supplies, and the enforcement of order 
 and law was a question of secondary importance. The frontier graziers 
 would have cattle for sale, no matter how they lived ; where then was the 
 necessity of troubling the Company to provide them with courts of law and 
 churches, even if they paid for such establishments themselves? Such 
 was the principle acted upon in former years, and most likely it would have 
 been acted upon still if it had not been for the visit of the English ship to 
 Algoa Bay. 
 
1786] 
 
 HISrOET OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 137 
 
 Mr. WoEKE, who was appointed landdrost of the new district, after a tour 
 of inspection, selected a site for the seat of magistracy on the head waters 
 of the Sunday Eiver, at a place then occupied as a farm by a burgher 
 named Dikk Coetze. The government made a liberal compensation to the 
 lessee of the farm, but provided no funds for the erection of buildings, so 
 that for years afterwards the landdrost's residence and the courthouse were 
 very little better than mud hovels. The new district was called Graaff 
 Reinet after the Governor and his lady, and the same name was given to 
 the village. The establishment of a district court at this place did not 
 bring with it the establishment of the supremacy of the law, for the farmers 
 had been so long accustomed to follow their own inclinations only, that it 
 was found impossible now to bring them under restraint. The taxes could 
 not be collected, and as the supreme government contributed nothing 
 towards the expenses of the new district, the officials there had poverty as 
 well as disorder to contend against. 
 
 In 1786 the colonists again endeavoured to procure an amendment of the 
 system of government, and for this purpose appointed four delegates to lay 
 their complaints before the Chamber of Seventeen, with instructions, if 
 redress were not granted by that body, to appeal to the States General of 
 the United Provinces. But dissensions between the delegates ensued, and 
 nothing was accomplished. 
 
 After the French troops were removed, a strong garrison, consisting 
 principally of mercenary troops hired in Germany, was kept at the Cape ; 
 but in 1790 it was considerably reduced, by two thousand four hundred men 
 being forwarded to Batavia. Previous to this, a regiment of Hottentots 
 had been raised, and as many burghers as could be mustered were trained 
 to act as dragoons. 
 
 Since the departure of George Schmidt from South Africa, the directors 
 of the Moravian Mission Society had not ceased to entreat the Chamber of 
 Seventeen to permit them to resume their labours among the Hottentots ; 
 but hitherto their prayer had been of no avail. From time to time accounts 
 reached Europe of the constancy with which some of the converts preserved 
 their faith, and these reports served to inflame the zeal of the Society. 
 Schmidt himself, at a good old age, had gone to his rest, praying that the 
 door might again be opened to mission work in this dark corner of the earth. 
 In 1792 his prayer was answered. In that year, through the influence of 
 friends in the Dutch government, the Chamber of Seventeen gave leave to 
 the Society to send out three missionaries. The men selected were Heenrich 
 Marsveld, Daniel Schwinn, and Johan Christian Kuehnel, who immediately 
 embarked for South Africa. On their arrival, they proceeded to Baviaans 
 Kloof, where they found an aged woman, by name Helena, who had been 
 baptized by Schmidt, and who still preserved a New Testament he had 
 given her. Under the shade of an old pear tree, planted by Schmidt, they 
 held religious services, and soon succeeded in drawing a large congregation 
 together. They obtained a grant of ground for mission purposes, a portion 
 T 
 
138 
 
 HISTORIC OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1792 
 
 of which they laid out in gardens. They taught the Hottentots to construct 
 better dwelling houses than those in which they had been in the habit of 
 living, and they gave to each family a garden plot to be retained during 
 good behaviour. In this manner a village soon sprang up about them. 
 Next they built a mill for grinding corn. Then, finding it necessary, in 
 order to civilize the Hottentots, to teach them some mechanical arts, and 
 at the same time to provide remunerative employment for a few of them, 
 they established a knife factory. Their knives soon commanded a ready 
 Bale all over the colony, and brought in funds by which the place was kept 
 constantly improving. Schools, with class and prayer meetings, were at 
 once established; but it was not until 1796, after the English had made 
 themselves masters of the colony, that they were allowed to erect a church. 
 
 The opposition to mission work on the part of some of the colonists was 
 very great, and was exhibited in every possible way. The causes assigned 
 for this hostility may be seen in an extract from a petition which they 
 presented to the Governor, desiring among other things "that the Moravians 
 should not be allowed to live in the country, and instruct the Hottentots ; 
 for, as there were many Christians in the colony who received no education, 
 it was not proper that the Hottentots should be made wiser than they, but 
 that they should remain in the same state as before." 
 
 Slavery under the Dutch government had some redeeming characteristics, 
 and,in early days, manumission was encouraged, when the freedman at once 
 enjoyed all the privileges of a European. But in the Cape Colony these 
 humanities of the law had fallen into desuetude. It has before been shown how 
 the conversion of slaves to Christianity was prevented by a law intended to act 
 quite differently, and, as this had now become apparent, in 1792 it was made 
 legal for them to be baptized and received into the communion mi the 
 church, without thereby acquiring a right to freedom. 
 
 For several years after the Great Fish River had been fixed upon as the 
 eastern boundary, no very serious disturbances took place in that quarter. 
 Quarrels indeed arose between the frontier colonists and the small clans 
 in their neighbourhood, in which first one party, then the other, had the 
 upper hand. Thus in 1781 the farmers were compelled to retire from the 
 district known as Achter Bruintjes Hoogte, and again a few months later 
 the Kafiirs were driven beyond the boundary and their villages were burnt. 
 But these petty disturbances must be regarded rather as the lawless acts 
 of individuals than as a state of declared war between the two races. The 
 government at Cape Town did not trouble itself in the matter, and no chief 
 of any importance took part in it. But it was impossible for peace to be 
 long maintained between the two advancing races of South Africa, and 
 now they were about to test each other's strength in earnest. Rakabe was 
 dead. His great son Mlau died before him, leaving a lad of tender years 
 as claimant to the paramount chieftainship of aU the Kafiir tribes westward 
 of the Kei. Ndlambe, younger brother of Mlau, was appointed regent 
 during his nephew's minority, but several of the clans disputed his 
 
1793] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 139 
 
 supremacy, and according to the traditional custom in sucli cases, moved 
 further westward to get beyond his reach. Over the Fish River they 
 found the three clans who had gone there nearly a century before, and 
 besides these they met with numerous parties of mixed Kaffir and Hottentot 
 blood, who were called Gonaquas by the colonists. These kindred tribes 
 readily combined, and almost immediately began to rob the farmers of 
 cattle. 
 
 An appeal to the government at Cape Town for assistance being disre- 
 garded, in 1789 the landdrost of GraafE-Reinet called out a commando and 
 took the field. But it was soon ascertained that the new enemy was not 
 to be dealt with so easily as the Hottentots had been, and the commando 
 efEected nothing. The farmers threw all the blame upon their landdrost, 
 Mr. WoEKE, some of them even asserting that he had been bribed by a 
 present of cattle to permit the Kaffirs to remain where they were. A state 
 of anarchy succeeded, and continued until 1793, when a new landdrost, 
 Mr. Meinier, was appointed, and a commando of Swellendam burghers, 
 under Landdrost Faure of that district, was sent to aid in expelling the 
 intruders. But this object was not attained. After a short series of 
 operations, which were conducted without any proper understanding 
 between the two commanders, an agreement of peace was made with 
 Ndlambe, according to the terms of which the Great Fish River was to be 
 considered a permanent boundary and neither party was to trespass upon 
 the territory of the other. But that chief was not then living in the 
 colony nor at enmity with the colonists, and as most of the clans who were 
 fighting were in rebellion against him, they declined to abide by the 
 conditions of the treaty, and the state of warfare continued as before. Soon 
 afterwards the Swellendam commando returned home, dissatisfied that 
 all their toil and exertion had been fruitless, and in a state of mutiny 
 against the government, which had promised a reward for every Kaffir 
 captured, but had failed to make its promise good. Mr. Meinier soon 
 became even more unpopular than his predecessor had been. He took the 
 Hottentots of the district under his protection and would permit no injustice 
 to be done to them, a course of action which caused him to be regarded as 
 a public enemy. Dissensions took place in the heemraad, and he was 
 unable to restore friendly relations between numerous parties who were 
 quarrelling bitterly with each other. His subordinates resigned their 
 appointments, declaring that they could not serve under him on account of 
 his hasty and inconsiderate orders. At length his commands were set at 
 nought by every one, and he was openly accused of favouring the enemy. 
 From this time forward a guerilla contest was carried on, in which small 
 parties of farmers acted entirely upon their own responsibility. The capture 
 and recapture of stock was the great aim of both the combatants, and the 
 amount of blood that was shed was not very great . In this ruinous condition 
 the frontier district remained until another and more formidable inroad 
 was made a few years later. 
 
140 
 
 mSTORT OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 [1793 
 
 The days of the East India Company were almost numbered. Its affairs 
 were in such a desperate condition that the government was obliged to 
 interfere, in order to preserve to Holland those valuable colonial possessions 
 which it had acquired but could no longer defend. In 1791 Commissioners 
 were appointed by the Stadtholder to examine into the state of the Com- 
 pany's affairs. Their instructions were to search into all abuses and evil 
 practices on the part of the administrators of the colonial governments, 
 to effect such reforms as they might deem proper in all branches of the 
 Company's trade and administration, and to endeavour to restore the affairs 
 of the several eastern possessions from their existing confusion to good order 
 and proper subordination. Great hopes were entertained by the colonists 
 that their troubles were at last drawing to an end, and that they would soon 
 be freemen in reality as well as in name. 
 
 In 1793 these Commissioners, Nederbukg and Fryslenius by name, arrived 
 in the colony and took the government into their own hands. They 
 were received with great joy, but performed nothing answerable to the 
 expectations that had been formed. They found the resources of the 
 government nearly exhausted, and the colony in a deplorable condition. 
 Yet the only measure of any importance that originated with them was the 
 establishment of the Lombard Bank, through which a quantity of paper 
 money was issued on loan to such inhabitants as could give security for 
 its repayment. In the town an advance was made to the amount of one 
 half the value of the property mortgaged, and in the country to the amount 
 of two thirds ; but they required as additional security the signatures of 
 two persons of means. This issue amounted to £136,000, upon which 
 interest at the rate of five per cent was paid yearly. Thus a large amoimt 
 of paper was thrown into circulation, of quite a different nature from that 
 which was already in use, and which tended to increase the confusion in 
 monetary matters. In the following year the Commissioners proceeded to 
 Java, having invested Mr. Sltjysken, an invalid returning to Holland, with 
 the government of the Cape. 
 
 The colonists were indignant and furious at the treatment they had 
 received. The Commission, from which they had expected so much, had 
 gone, and they were left in the same position as before its arrival. They 
 lost all hope of obtaining freedom under the rule of the Company, and 
 many of them broke out into open rebellion. In February, 1795, the 
 inhabitants of Graaff-Eeinet expelled their landdrost, Mr. Meinier, and 
 though they still nominally professed allegiance to the government, they 
 acted in fact as if they were independent. A Commission which was sent 
 to pacify them succeeded in installing another landdrost, but he had hardly 
 taken office when the burghers required him to acknowledge that he held 
 his authority from them. He and the secretary then considered it prudent 
 to return to Cape Town, upon which the heemraad, to which were added 
 five representatives of the people, appointed Mr. Gerotz to be landdrost, 
 and aesumed the entire administration of affairs. In Swellendam the 
 
1795] 
 
 HISTOBT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 141 
 
 burghers proclaimed a free republic, and elected what they termed a 
 National Assembly. They expelled the officers of the Cape government 
 and appointed others. Of this new republic Hermanus Steyn was chosen 
 chief magistrate. They declared commerce free, decided that every Hot- 
 tentot that could be caught should remain for life the property of the 
 captor, and issued a proclamation to the effect that no Moravian should be 
 permitted to instruct the natives. Sltjysken was so powerless that he could 
 not even attempt to suppress these insurrections. He dared not march his 
 troops out of Cape Town, for fear lest the inhabitants might revolt there 
 also. The people in the vicinity of the Cape were kept in awe by the troops, 
 but they were ready to take advantage of the first opportunity to plant the 
 tree of liberty and declare the country an independent republic. 
 
 Meanwhile events were transpiring in Europe which were destined to 
 change altogether the position of affairs at the Cape. At the breaking out 
 of the French revolution there were two parties in Holland, one of which 
 was opposed to the government of the Stadtholder. This party naturally 
 sympathized with the French revolutionists. The alliance of the Stadt- 
 holder with England drew the French armies upon Holland. In February* 
 1793, DuMOUBiEZ invaded that country, but it was reserved for Pichegku to 
 overrun it, which he did during the severe winter of 1794-5, when the 
 rivers were frozen so solidly that he could move his armies readily in any 
 direction. The democratic party gave the French an enthusiastic welcome. 
 The government was immediately remodelled, and an alliance, offensive and 
 defensive, between the French and Batavian republics was signed at the 
 Hague on the 16th of May, 1795. Nearly half of the Dutch navy had 
 already been seized by England, under pretence of keeping the ships from 
 falling into the hands of the French, and the Stadtholder had fled to 
 England and requested that Power to take possession of the Dutch colonies 
 and hold them in trust for himself. 
 
 The English government was quite prepared to do this, and a force of 
 about four thousand men was at once embarked in a fleet under command 
 of Admiral Blphinstone, with orders to take possession of the Cape Colony. 
 On the 11th of June, 1795, nine ships of war, forming part of this fleet, 
 entered Simon's Bay. The Admiral at once sent an officer to Governor 
 Slutsken, bearing despatches from himself and General Craig, in which 
 was enclosed a mandate from the ex- Stadtholder commanding the Governor 
 to admit the troops of the British king into the castle and elsewhere in 
 the colony, and also to admit British ships of war into the ports, and to 
 consider such troops and ships of war as the forces of a friendly power come 
 to protect the colony against an invasion of the French. 
 
 To this communication a reply was sent, which was signed by the 
 Governor and all the members of the Council of Policy. They expressed 
 their gratitude to His Britannic Majesty for the assistance offered to them, 
 and stated that they would avail themselves of it if any attempt at invasion 
 by a foreign power should be made. They informed the Bngliih 
 
142 
 
 HISTOHT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1795 
 
 commanders, however, that they were in such a position as to be able to 
 offer resistance to any foreign attack. They promised to give the necessary 
 orders for supplying the English fleet with fresh provisions, and requested 
 that none but unarmed men should be permitted to land. 
 
 The troops in garrison at Cape Town were not more than eleven or twelve 
 liundred strong. They consisted of some men of a German regiment in the 
 Dutch pay, some artillerymen, and a Hottentot corps. But to protect the 
 country the Governor claimed the right of compelling the burghers to 
 take up arms. 
 
 Several attempts were made by the English commanders to induce the 
 authorities of Cape Town to place the colony under British protection, but 
 they all failed. The Governor and the Council of Policy were unanimous 
 in declining these proposals, and finally sent word to Admiral Elphinstone 
 that they were prepared to defend the colony against any force that might 
 be sent against it by the French, and equally against the British fleet and 
 army. In the meantime the Governor had sent messengers to the 
 insurgents of Swellendam, entreating their assistance, and promising them 
 an amnesty for the past, with immediate examination and redress of their 
 grievances. They replied that they were surprised the Governor did not 
 respect the resolution of the National Assembly, but still addressed ofiicial 
 -communications to the landdrost whom they had deposed, and demanded 
 that in future all such communications should be addressed to Mr. Steyn. 
 They rejected the proposed grant of an amnesty, on the ground that its 
 acceptance would imply that they had been guilty of sedition ; and stated 
 that they were resolved to shed the last drop of their blood, if necessary, 
 in defence of freedom and the republic ; but they were willing to treat 
 with him and to render assistance if he would guarantee to them for the 
 future exemption from taxation of every kind, free trade, and the absolute 
 and unconditional slavery of all Hottentots and Bushmen. To these 
 conditions Sluysken could not assent, and thus the only aid received from 
 the Swellendam district was a company of seventy men who disapproved of 
 the conduct of the rebels. From Graaff Reinet no succour whatever was 
 sent. About one thousand six hundred burghers of the Cape and Stellen- 
 bosch districts rallied to the support of the government, and most of these, 
 with a company of armed slaves and a small detachment of regular troops, 
 were sent forward under command of Colonel De Lille to occupy the pass of 
 Muizenberg, which is a very strong position on the road between Simon's 
 Town and Cape Town. 
 
 Admiral Elphinstone now issued a proclamation, in which he stated that 
 the English could not allow the Cape to fall into the hands of the French, 
 and thus permit their Indian trade to be destroyed. Four hundred and 
 fifty men of the 78th regiment and three hundred and fifty marines, being the 
 whole military force under command of General Craig, were then dis- 
 embarked, and possession was taken of Simon's Town on the 14th of July. 
 As this force was very email for active operations, the General determined 
 
1795] 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLOIST. 
 
 143 
 
 to await the arrival of Sir A. Clarke with reinforcements which were daily 
 expected. But after waiting in vain for more than three weeks, the 
 English officers resolved to make an attempt to carry the strong position 
 held by the Dutch at Muizenberg. For this purpose eight hundred sea- 
 men were landed from the fleet, and were formed into two battalions, 
 commanded by Captains Spranger and Hardy, of the Rattlesnake and Echo 
 sloops of war. The road from Simon's Town to Cape Town runs on the 
 sandy beach along the western shore of False Bay until beyond the pass of 
 Muizenberg, which is merely a narrow passage between a steep mountain 
 and the sea. A little beyond this pass the road turns, and then crosses the 
 isthmus, passing through Wynberg. 
 
 The English Genei'al advanced to the attack at the head of about sixteen 
 hundred men, while a heavy fire was opened from the ships of war ranged 
 along the beach opposite the Dutch encampment. De Lille threw out 
 small parties of mounted burghers, Hottentots, and slaves, to annoy the 
 English by skirmishing ; but as these parties were easily driven back, he 
 was prevented from using his cannon against the advancing foe. Some- 
 companies of soldiers, with the naval brigades, following close behind the 
 fugitives, safely reached the hill-side above the pass, and easily put the 
 whole Dutch force to rout. They retired so hastily, and in such confusion, 
 that the sailors, in their eagerness to overtake them, threw away their 
 muskets, and rushed forward with cheers. The loss on the English side was 
 trifling, amounting only to nineteen killed and wounded. Having lost 
 Muizenberg, which should have been defended to the last extremity, De. 
 Lille rallied his forces at a place a little to the northward, where there 
 was a battery which enfiladed the head of the pass. But from this position 
 he retreated in disorder upon the first appearance of the English troops 
 issuing from the pass to attack him. The loss of the Dutch during the 
 day must have been considerable. General Craig encamped at Muizenberg, 
 where within a few days he was reinforced by three or four hundred 
 soldiers sent to his assistance from St. Helena. 
 
 Cape Town was now in a state of great excitement. The inhabitants? 
 still retained sufficient national pride to make them feel deeply ashamed of : 
 the result of the action at Muizenberg. They clamoured for the arrest of 
 De Lille on the charges of cowardice and treason. In the Dutch camp alL 
 was confusion. The regulars laid the blame of their defeat upon the 
 burghers, and the burghers hurled back the charge upon the regulars. 
 The Hottentots were discontented and loud in their complaints of ill; 
 treatment by the burghers. The Governor found it necessary to place De 
 Lille under arrest, in hopes of appeasing the citizens, and to pacify the^ 
 Hottentots by promises of increased pay and better treatment. To Major 
 Buissine was intrusted the command of the Dutch forces, whose principal 
 camp was formed at Wynberg. To increase the perplexity of the unfortunate- 
 Governor, on the 11th of August he received a letter from one Louis PiSAia^ 
 who styled himself Commandant of the Nationals, demanding a. reply ttt 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1795 
 
 previous communications, and threatening offensive measures if he would 
 not yield. 
 
 On the 4th of September the remainder of the British fleet, having on 
 board three thousand soldiers, anchored in Simon's Bay. Upon intelligence 
 of this reaching Wynberg, the burghers commenced to desert their colours 
 in such numbers that soon all chance of further resistance was gone. On 
 the 14th, the English force, now five thousand strong, marched to Wynberg 
 and took possession of the camp, after a slight brush with the Dutch, 
 hardly deserving the name even of a skirmish. The Dutch retreated 
 towards Cape Town. In this extremity Sluysken sent a flag of truce to 
 the English commander, requesting a cessation of hostilities for forty-eight 
 hours, in order to arrange conditions of surrender. Twenty-four hours 
 were granted. The Council of Policy then empowered two of its members. 
 Messrs. Van Ryneveld and Le Seur, to arrange terms of capitulation, and 
 on the morning of the 15th of September the colony was surrendered. It 
 was agreed that the inhabitants should retain their laws, customs, and 
 privileges inviolate, and that no new taxes should be laid upon them. The 
 privileges of the Dutch Reformed Church were also to be preserved. 
 Property of every description, except such as belonged to the East India 
 Company, was to be respected. The lands and houses belonging to the 
 East India Company were to remain as security for that portion of the 
 paper money which was not secured by mortgages on private property. 
 
 Sir James Craig was then installed Governor. All who continued to 
 hold office were required to take an oath of allegiance to the king of Great 
 Britain, on the ground that the Dutch National government had ceased to 
 exist. So ended the rule of the Netherlands East India Company in South 
 Africa, after an existence of one hundred and forty-three years. 
 
 During all this time our country had been considered merely as a place 
 of refreshment for the Company's ships. It had never been open to free 
 immigrants, nor had those whom the Company permitted to settle in it 
 been encouraged to develop its resources. When it was found that supplies 
 of provisions were not to be obtained from the natives, a few soldiers and 
 sailors were located on plots of ground near the fort, to try their hand as 
 farmers. This plan failed, and so three or four hundred Dutch and French 
 agriculturists were introduced, and as these furnished ample supplies of 
 grain and vegetables for the Company's use, not another one was ever 
 added to the number. Then, to secure a supply of meat, discharged 
 soldiers and sailors were turned into cattle breeders, and the country was 
 laid open before them until they spread so far as to be almost beyond 
 control. No attention was ever paid to the advancement of the colony on 
 its own account. Its internal improvement had been almost entirely 
 neglected. At the close of the period there were neither roads nor bridges 
 worthy of the name. The colony extended to the Great Fish River on the 
 east, and to Bushmanland on the north, and in all that area the only public 
 ©fificeg were at the Cape, Stellenbosch, Swellendam, and Graaff Reinet. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 145 
 
 With the exceptions of Table Bay and Simon's Bay, its ports were closed 
 to commerce, and even these were left just as nature had formed them. 
 In each a wooden jetty had been constructed, but no other improvements 
 had been effected. There was indeed a magazine for grain at Mossel Bay, 
 and a depot for timber at Plettenberg's Bay, but neither of these ports was 
 open to any but ships belonging to the Company. The revenue of the 
 colony was nearly always below the expenditure. The civil service was 
 corrupt, and the people were oppressed without the finances of the govern- 
 ment deriving any benefit. There was no such thing known as free trade. 
 There were no merchants in the colony, its commerce being exclusively in 
 the hands of the Company. The laws were complicated and unintelligible 
 to the people ; many were unjust and impolitic. The legislative, adminis- 
 trative, and judicial powers were combined in one body, a union incompati- 
 ble with justice. Personal liberty, where the government had power, did 
 not exist. A citizen who fell under the displeasure of the rulers was liable 
 at any moment to be seized and expatriated without trial. His slaves, 
 oxen, horses, waggons, and saddles, could be impressed for the service of 
 government at any time, without any remuneration whatever. Oflficials 
 travelling through the colony were thus forwarded from place to place 
 entirely at the expense of the farmers. The natives had well-nigh disap- 
 peared, and the whites in the interior were retrograding towards barbarism. 
 A few slaves and a score of Hottentots were the only accessions to Chris- 
 tianity. Industry was discouraged, and education neglected. Evil habits, 
 which were hardly eradicated in the next generation, had been formed. 
 The number of slaves had been constantly increasing, not only by impor- 
 tation, but by the retention in bondage of those whom the law of Holland 
 declared free. Such were the effects of the rule of the East India Company. 
 In a word, it was a curse instead of a blessing to the country. It 
 misdirected energy, crushed freedom, eradicated humanity. 
 
 If the English had not arrived, the rule of the Company would still have 
 ceased ; but anarchy would have resulted. The colonists were totally unfit 
 for self-government ; there would have been a reign of terror in Cape Town, 
 and liberty would have gone mad elsewhere. For freedom was understood 
 to mean the right of every white man to do as he pleased, and to deprive 
 the black man of all rights. Independently of the insurrection of the burg* 
 hers, and the seizure of the colony by the British, the rule of the East 
 India Company must soon have terminated. For as soon as Holland (then 
 the Batavian Republic) and France were allied, the Dutch ships were swept 
 from the ocean by the English navy, and a bankrupt commercial company, 
 with its trade destroyed, could no longer have borne the expense of main- 
 taining a garrison and government here. Thus nothing could have been 
 more beneficial to South Africa at the time than its falling under the power 
 of the English. 
 
 U 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 THE ENGLISH OCCUPATION FROM 1795 TO 1803. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Capture of the Batavian Fleet under Admiral Lucas. — Dis* 
 iurbances on the Frontier. — Kaffir Invasion. — Commencement of the London 
 Society's Missions. — First Expedition to Bechuanaland, — Restoration of the Colony 
 to the Batavian Republic. 
 
 Sir James Craig's first acts showed the colonists that they were now under 
 a better government. The racks, wheels, and other instruments of torture, 
 which stood exposed to view in Cape Town, were at once destroyed, and 
 the torture of suspected criminals was forbidden. Since that time no cri- 
 minal has been broken on a wheel, nor made to undergo such sufferings as 
 were previously inflicted for the purpose of extorting a confession of crime, 
 the details of which are too horrible for description. The expenses of the 
 government were reduced, and order was introduced into the finances. 
 Cape Town was placed under martial law ; but no unnecessary severities 
 were practised. The Dutch officers were sent to Holland, or remained as 
 prisoners at large upon their parol of honour, at their own option, and 
 those who chose to remain in the colony received the same pay as they 
 had when in service. The Hottentot troops were taken into the British 
 service, and the corps was gradually increased to seven hundred men. 
 Commerce with Europe was declared open to all. Taxation was readjusted, 
 and some burdensome imposts were removed. The old fortifications were 
 repaired, and new outworks were constructed. Especially, the pass of 
 Muizenberg was so fortified as to make it impregnable in case of an 
 invasion. 
 
 In Swellendam the National party made no opposition to the new 
 government ; but the burghers of Graaff Eeinet set the authorities at 
 defiance. In February, 1796, Mr. Bresler was appointed landdrost, but 
 upon his arrival at the village the farmers declined to submit to his 
 authority, and he was compelled to return to Cape Town. Sir James Craig 
 immediately ordered a body of troops to proceed to the disturbed quarter, 
 and quell the insurrection. Intimidated by this measure, the insurgents 
 sent a deputation to Cape Town with a letter, signed by some of the 
 
 Governors : — General J. H. Craig, 
 Earl of Macartney, 
 Sir Francis Dundas (acting), 
 Sir George Young, 
 Sir Francis Dundas (acting), 
 
 Sept. 16, 1795. 
 
 May 23, 1797. 
 
 Nov. 22, 1798. 
 
 Dec. 18, 1799. 
 
 April 20, 1801. 
 
1796] 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLOHY. 
 
 147 
 
 principal inhabitants, praying that the troops might be recalled, and 
 promising to observe order and obedience to the laws. The Governor was 
 disposed to accept this offer of submission, for just at that time a much 
 more important matter was occupying his attention. He therefore informed 
 them that past offences would be forgiven, and permitted Mr. Gerotz, — 
 who had been acting under their authority for the last twelve months, — 
 to remain in office until it would be convenient to send Mr. Buesler back. 
 
 In the meantime the Batavian government had resolved to attempt the 
 recovery of the colony. For this purpose a fleet was fitted out, consisting 
 of the Dordrecht, 68, Van Tromp, 64, JRevoJutionaire, 64, Castor, 40, Brave* 
 40, Syren, 24, Havoc, 24, Bellona, 24, and the Maria transport, armed en 
 flute, laden with military stores, and carrying 40 guns. On board this 
 fleet two thousand soldiers, principally German mercenaries, were 
 embarked, this number being considered suflBcient for the purpose as 
 it was anticipated that before their arrival the British fleet with a large 
 portion of the land forces would have left for the East Indies, and that 
 they would be joined off the Cape by a French squadron with troops from 
 the Mauritius and Java. It was expected also that the colonists would 
 join the Dutch army as soon as a landing was effected. The expedition 
 was placed under command of Admiral Lucas, who accepted the charge 
 with reluctance, as he believed the force to be too small and too poorly 
 fitted out to accomplish the end in view. So ill supplied was he, that his 
 provisions were nearly exhausted before he reached the colony, and he 
 therefore put into Saldanha Bay, with the double purpose of procuring 
 supplies and arming the colonists. On an island lying in the entrance to 
 the bay, he landed his sick, and began to construct fortifications. Here 
 he learnt that success was hopeless, unless the French fleet joined him 
 quickly, for none of the colonists went to his assistance, nor could he 
 obtain those stores of food of which he was so greatly in need. 
 
 On the 5th of August, 1796, information reached Cape Town that a 
 Dutch fleet had left Europe and might be expected at any moment. On 
 receipt of this intelligence. Admiral Elphinstone, who was then in Simon's 
 Bay, put to sea with a fleet consisting of the Monarch, 74, Tremendous, 74, 
 Ame)'ica, 64, Buby, 64, Stately, 64, Trident, 64, Jupiter, 50, Crescent, S6, 
 Moselle, 20, Sphinx, 20, Battlesnake, 16, and Echo, 16 guns. After cruising 
 about for some days without meeting the enemy, the British Admiral put 
 back to Simon's Bay, and was informed where the Dutch fleet was. On 
 the 14th he again set sail, and on the 17th arrived off Salda^nha Bay. 
 
 The garrison of Cape Town at this time consisted of the 28th Light 
 Dragoons, a corps of artillery, and the battalion companies of the 78th, 
 84th, 95th, and 98th regiments of foot; the grenadiers of these regiments 
 garrisoned Muizenberg, and the light companies, with the Hottentot 
 regiment, were cantoned as a reserved corps at Wynberg. But just at, 
 this critical moment a fleet of English East Indiamen, having on board the 
 25th and 27th Light Dragoons, the 33rd and 80th regiments of foot, and five 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1796 
 
 companies of the 19th regiment, put into Simon's Bay for refreshment. 
 All of these troops were at once landed, and a redistribution of the different 
 garrisons took place. General Craig had now a strong army at his 
 disposal, and leaving Major-General Doyle in command at Cape Town, he 
 marched to Saldanha Bay, throwing out before him detachments of dragoons 
 and light troops, which picked up several parties the Dutch Admiral had 
 sent out to reconnoitre. So well timed was General Craig's march that 
 he arrived at Saldanha Bay just two hours before the English fleet hove in 
 sight. 
 
 On descrying the fleet the Dutch were in great joy, imagining the ships 
 to be those of their friends the French ; but they were soon undeceived, 
 when to their great surprise the English drew up in line of battle across 
 the entrance of the bay. They now perceived that they were completely 
 shut in, and that no chance was left for escape. The Dutch officers had 
 some idea of running their vessels ashore, to prevent them from falling 
 into the hands of the English in a perfect state, and to attempt to make 
 their own escape into the country. General Craig, however, suspecting 
 they might have such intentions, sent an officer with a flag of truce to 
 inform the Dutch Admiral that if the ships were injured he would allow 
 no quarter. The next morning (August 18th, 1796) Admiral Elphinstone 
 sent a flag of truce to Admiral Lucas, requiring him to surrender without 
 delay. Resistance or escape was equally impracticable, and therefore, 
 after an ineffectual request for one of the frigates to convey him and his 
 officers to Europe, he surrendered at discretion. On boarding the prizes, 
 the Dutch forces were found to be completely demoralized. The English 
 Commander was obliged to place a strong guard over the Dutch officers, 
 to prevent them from being maltreated by their own men, so indignant 
 were these at being taken in such a trap. In some instances the men 
 were trampling on their own colours and casting the vilest terms of 
 reproach upon those by whom they believed they had been betrayed. 
 They were almost destitute of provisions, and had been on short allowance 
 so long that many of them appeared half starved. A large number of 
 the mercenaries and conscripts at once volunteered to enter the English 
 service. Admiral Elphinstone accepted their offer, and, as soon as he 
 reached Table Bay with his prizes, put them on board some Indiamen, 
 taking an equal number of able seamen in return. And so, the entire 
 force of ships and men, composing an expedition from which the Batavian 
 government expected nothing less than the recovery of the colony, fell 
 into the hands of the English, without a shot being flred or a drop of blood 
 spilt. 
 
 In the year 1796, Jager Afhikaner, the descendant of aline of Hottentot 
 chieftains, who had been for some time a shepherd in the service of a 
 farmer named Pienaar, driven to fury by ill-treatment and abuse, rose 
 against his master, murdered him, and took possession of several guns 
 which were in the house. He then raised a band of followers, with whom be 
 
1796] 
 
 niSTOfir OF THE CAPE COLOIfY. 
 
 140 
 
 fled to the lower banks of the Orange Rivsr, where he fixed his residence. 
 Some time afterwards he removed to Great Namaqualand, and there be- 
 came a terror to all the neighbouring tribes as well as to the farmers on 
 the colonial frontier. Commandos were sent against him, but to no purpose 
 Por several years he carried on such a career of devastation and bloodshed 
 as had never before been witnessed in those regions ; but he was at 
 length conquered, — by a missionary, — and, under the new name of Christian 
 Afkikanek, became a staunch friend and supporter of mission work in 
 Namaqualand. 
 
 On the eastern border for years past peace had been unknown, though 
 the condition of affairs there was not exactly that of war. The Kaffir clans 
 in the colony were about evenly balanced in strength with the farmers, 
 and thefts and recaptures of cattle were constantly taking place. But no 
 government force was in the field, nor even a regular commando, and the 
 colonists were acting in small parties without any proper organization. 
 They were so imprudent also as to involve themselves in a quarrel with 
 the regent Ndlambe. The Kaffirs with whom they had to deal were his 
 enemies as well as theirs, and though it would have been unsafe to seek 
 assistance from him, his neutrality could easily have been secured. But 
 they did not hesitate to exasperate him by entering his country in hunting 
 parties whenever they chose, and destroying the game there. Some of 
 them, who had cast longing eyes on the fertile and beautiful valleys of the 
 Kat River, sent a petition to the Governor, requesting to be allowed to 
 take possession of that part of the Kaffir country, and divide it among 
 themselves ; but they met with a stern and decided refusal, as they were 
 informed that the British Government would neither sanction nor permit 
 any action of the kind. They were ordered to keep on their own side of the 
 river, and were reminded of the treaty of 1793, according to which neither 
 party was to trespass on the lands of the other. But orders like this were 
 given in vain. From the government the borderers received no protection, 
 and as they had to fight their own battles they were resolved to act on 
 their own counsel. 
 
 This state of anarchy and confusion was followed by a fresh irruption of 
 Kaffirs, which threw the balance altogether on that side. Ngqika, son of 
 Mlau, had arrived at the age of manhood, and asserted his right to the 
 supreme chieftainship of the Rarabe tribes. Handsome in person, eloquent 
 in tongue, and possessing hereditary claims that could not be disputed, he 
 was supported by a majority of the people. Bat the old regent loved 
 power too well to relinquish it without a struggle, and as he too had 
 partizans, the tribe was plunged again in civil war. Ndlambe was defeated 
 and made prisoner. He was kept at the kraal of Ngqika for a time, but 
 he soon made his escape and fled with all his adherents over the Fish 
 River. As he advanced the colonists fell back, until the whole country 
 along the coast as far westward as Algoa Bay was in the exclusive possession 
 of the Kaffirs. All of the small clans there previously, with one exception* 
 
150 
 
 HI3T0EX OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1797 
 
 immediately made their peace with the powerful refugee, and joined their 
 forces to his. Cungwa, chief of the Amagqunukwebe, alone held back. 
 Between him and Ndlambe there was a bitter personal hostility, and as 
 there was more Hottentot blood in his clan than in any of the others, the 
 claims of kindred were less strong. He did not venture upon opposition, 
 however, but merely kept as far away from the other as he could. The 
 colonists were disheartened by this accession of strength to their enemy. 
 Ndlambe proclaimed that he would not molest them if they would return to 
 their farms, but they dared not trust themselves among his people. Their 
 lives, they knew, might be spared, but their stock, on which they depended 
 entirely for subsistence, would be swept off to a certainty. The government, 
 viewing the intruders in the light of political refugees, declined to send 
 troops to aid in their expulsion, and thus the farmers had no alternative 
 hnt to remove to other parts of the colony. 
 
 In May, 1797, the Earl of Macartney arrived in the colony and took over 
 the reins of government. Martial law in Cape Town was now superseded 
 by the action of the civil courts. The Governor resolved to send Mr. 
 ^RESLER back as landdrost to Graaff Reinet, and with him he sent Mr. 
 IBarrow, his private secretary, with instructions to endeavour to conciliato 
 ;the people, but to convince them that the British government, though 
 lenient in its proceedings, was not less firm in carrying them into execution. 
 'On their arrival they found the farmers disposed to submit and return to 
 ;their duty. The district was, in consequence, reduced to order without 
 ibloodshed, and a small garrison was placed in the village to ensure obedience 
 Tto the laws. 
 
 After settling matters in Graaff Reinet, Mr. Barrow visited the chiefs 
 [Ndlambe, Cunowa, and some others of less note, with the object of 
 inducing them to return to their own country. They gave him to under- 
 stand that they were willing to do so, but were afraid of Ngqika. Mr. 
 Barrow therefore proceeded to that chief, whom he found residing near 
 the present mission station of Burnshill, on the Keiskama River. He 
 was received in a friendly manner, and found no difficulty in obtaining the 
 chief's assent to a treaty of peace with the colony. The commissioner, on 
 the part of Lord Macartney, recognized Ngqika as paramount ruler of all 
 the frontier tribes, but mistook altogether the power attached to that 
 position. Nothing was then known of Kaffir customs, and as every native 
 alleged without hesitation that Ngqika had no superior in rank this side of 
 the Kei, it was naturally assumed that he was by right a king, and that 
 his enemies were rebels. It was therefore as the sovereign ruler of a 
 nation, not as chief of a clan, — superior indeed in rank to other chiefs, but 
 still no more entitled to rule than they were, — that Ngqika was treated 
 with by the colonial government. This mistake led from the very first to 
 misunderstandings, and paved the way to future wars. With reference 
 to the clans in the colony, Ngqika made no objection to their return, as 
 nothing could have pleased him more than to have them in his power. 
 
1797] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 151 
 
 But they never once thought of going back again, and all the conferences 
 held were a waste of time. No arguments or inducements could have 
 effected a reconciliation between the young chief and his uncle, for between 
 them there was a more deadly hatred than that produced by strife for 
 power. Ndlambe had treated his brother's son with the utmost kindness 
 while he was a youth under guardianship, and had him trained in all the 
 accomplishments known or valued by his people. Ngqika had requited 
 his care by entering into a criminal intrigue with Tutula, a young and 
 favourite wife of his uncle, thus proving himself to be without honour as 
 well as without gratitude. This being a very grave crime in Kaffir estimation, 
 on account of the near relationship of the parties concerned, as soon as it 
 became known, many of the people attached themselves to Ndlambe, whose 
 power was thus greatly increased. The state of anarchy in which the 
 frontier farmers had so long been living was well known to the old chief, 
 who saw no force that could drive him from the land on which he was then 
 located, and therefore resolved to occupy it permanently. 
 
 In November, 1798, Lord Macartney resigned the government, leaving 
 General Dundas at the head of affairs. No sooner was it known that the 
 late governor had left the colony than the farmers of Graaff Eeinet again 
 raised the standard of revolt. One of the most turbulent of their number, 
 Yan Jaarsveld by name, was charged by the Orphan Chamber with the 
 crime of having forged a receipt in the administration of an estate of which 
 he was trustee, and was arrested by order of Mr. Bresler, as landdrost of 
 the district in which he resided. His friends immediately assembled in 
 arms and rescued him from the officers of the court, after which they sent 
 a message to the landdrost desiring a conference. At this meeting they 
 professed to believe that Yan Jaabsveld was arrested on account of his 
 participation in former disturbances, and they alleged further that they 
 had no longer any confidence that the terms of the amnesty would be 
 observed. The landdrost endeavoured to convince them of their mistake, 
 but they could not be brought to see it. The garrison in the village was 
 too weak to offer any resistance, and so the farmers remained masters of 
 the position. 
 
 As soon as news of the revolt reached Cape Town, the Governor 
 despatched General Yandeletjr with a squadron of dragoons, a few companies 
 of infantry, and the greater portion of the Hottentot corps, to reduce the 
 district to subjection. Upon the approach of this force the insurgents 
 lost heart, and sent a messenger entreating grace. The General replied 
 that he would listen to no communications until they surrendered their 
 persons and their arms, and this step most of them were compelled to take 
 before the end of March, 1799. Nine of the ringleaders were sent to the 
 Cape for trial, and a fine was levied upon the rest, for the purpose of defraying 
 a portion of the expense of the expedition. It was resolved that the rebels 
 should be tried, not by martial law, but in a civil court composed of their 
 own countrymen. This was the first trial in the colony in a court with 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY or THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1799 
 
 open doors. The prisoners were found guilty, and three were sentenced 
 to deaih, but were never executed. They were detained in prison until 
 the change of government which soon afterwards took place, when, by a 
 general amnesty, they were restored to liberty. 
 
 The insurrection of the farmers at Graaff Reinet was hardly suppressed 
 when another disturbance took place on the border. The Hottentots there, 
 who were held in compulsory service, were extremely dissatisfied with their 
 condition, and some of them considered this a fitting time to attempt the 
 recovery of independence. They could not comprehend that it was impossible 
 for them to levy war upon their masters without coming into collision also 
 with the English authorities, since they had just seen the British troops 
 and the farmers opposed to each other. About five hundred of them 
 collected in a body, and having chosen one Klass Stuurman to be their 
 chiief, attacked several isolated farmhouses, which they robbed of everything 
 portable that they took a fancy to. A good many muskets and a considerable 
 quantity of ammunition fell into their hands, so that in a short time 
 nothing but military force could have reduced them again to subjection. 
 Marching through the district, they plundered it at will, but as yet spared 
 the lives of the farmers. Probably they thought that General Vandeleur 
 would^approve of what they were doing, for they applied to him for aid and 
 protection. The British commander was at a loss to devise a remedy for 
 the lawlessness that prevailed everywhere around him. With regard to 
 these Hottentots, he could not compel them to return to service, nor could 
 he permit them to remain as an armed body of marauders, while he knew 
 of no place where they could be located in safety, nor was it easy to 
 introduce a scheme by which they could maintain themselves honestly. 
 To gain time, he induced them to give up their arms and accompany him 
 to his head quarters at Bruintjes Hoogte, whence, after a short delay, 
 they were sent under charge of Mr. Barrow to Algoa Bay, there to remain 
 until something could be done for them. Upon his arrival at the Bay, 
 Mr. Barrow found a party of about a hundred and fifty of the plundered 
 farmers, who had gone there in the hope of obtaining military assistance 
 against their revolted servants. These were excited to the utmost fury 
 on seeing the Hottentots dressed in their clothing, and if a guard of seamen 
 from a man-of-war had not been promptly sent on shore to preserve peace, 
 an action between the two hostile parties would have taken place. But in 
 the mean time yet another enemy was coming to the front and upsetting 
 all General Vandeleur's plans for the settlement of affairs on the frontier. 
 
 There was then living in Kaffirland a man named Coenraad Buys, who 
 had fled from the colony some years before. He was not the only European 
 in that country who had thrown off all the restraints of religion and 
 civilization, for there was quite a party of them at the kraal of the great 
 chief. There were two brothers Lochenberg, a German named Cornelius 
 Eaber, and an Irish deserter from the army, besides several young men 
 connected with old and respectable colonial families. These miscreants 
 
1799] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THS Ci.PE COLOXl . 
 
 153 
 
 exercised an evil influence over the Kaffirs, and were the prime movers in 
 many acts of bloodshed and outrage. All of them died violent deaths within a 
 few years, some being hanged and others murdered or shot in battle. Buys 
 occupied the most prominent position among them, on account of the relation- 
 ship he had formed with Ngqika. He had taken that chief's mother into his 
 harem, and treated her with such attention as to gain the good will and 
 confidence of her son, so that he was now a man of high position in Kaffir 
 society. By this outlaw's pernicious counsel a new element of confusion 
 was added to those already existing in the distracted and suffering border 
 district. At this time he chose to call himself a Dutch patriot, and professed 
 to be actuated by an intense hatred of the English power. But if this were 
 the case, he did far more damage to his friends than to his foes. Very 
 possibly, he may have been at heart attached to Ngqika, for it does not 
 appear that he ever encouraged him to run the risk of war. With Ndlambe 
 he had no influence whatever, but Cungwa, who had recently visited Kaffir- 
 land, was easily induced to enter into a plot for the destruction of the 
 troops on the frontier. This chief had received frequent messages from 
 the colonial authorities, urging him to move over the Fish River, and pro- 
 bably he thought he would be attacked by the soldiers if he did not act on 
 the offensive. 
 
 General Vandeleur, having left a small garrison in the village of Graaff 
 Reinet, was on his march towards Algoa Bay with a view of embarking his 
 troops for Cape Town, and was unsuspicious of an enemy being close at 
 hand, when in a thicket a charge was made upon his line by Cungwa 's 
 followers aided by several of the renegade whites. In this, the first engage- 
 ment between Kaffirs and English troops, the assailants were repulsed 
 with heavy loss, though the nature of the ground was in their favour. 
 Unfortunately, a small detachment of the 81st, under command of Lieu- 
 tenant Chumney, was sui'prised when out of reach of assistance, and after 
 a desperate defence against overwhelming numbers, seventeen men, in- 
 cluding the commanding officer, were slain. The General then continued 
 his march to Algoa Bay, where he erected and garrisoned a small fort for 
 the purpose of securing that important position against a foreign enemy, 
 after which he took ship for Cape Town with the remainder of his forces. 
 
 While these events were transpiring, the Hottentots broke up their 
 camp at Algoa Bay, and entered into alliance with Cungwa. One of the 
 renegade whites had been tampering with them, and impressed them with 
 the belief that the English had only brought them there to send them away 
 as slaves. Eager for plunder and naturally restless, they needed little 
 persuasion to break away from the restraints imposed upon them. Thus 
 by the machinations of a few miscreants a host of savages was in the field. 
 But when the English General, who considered that neither glory nor profit 
 was to be obtained in such a contest, unexpectedly left the scene, neither 
 Kaffirs nor Hottentots could be induced to lay down their arms again. 
 The whole country with its flocks and herds was open before them, and 
 
 X 
 
HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 [1799 
 
 they could not forget that the farmers were their enemies of old. The 
 prospect of rich plunder was too great a temptation also for Ndlambe and 
 his followers to resist, so that they too joined in the war against the colony. 
 The united bands first ravaged the district of Graaff-Reinet, burning the 
 houses and seizing the cattle, and then advanced beyond the Gamtoos 
 Kiver, where they met and defeated a commando under Tjaardt van der 
 Walt, who fell in the engagement. With the death of this leader, who 
 was a man of bravery and military genius, the farmers lost all hope, and 
 thought of nothing but flight. The work of plunder and destruction was 
 continued as far as Cayman's River, near the present village of George ; 
 but there the raiders were met and defeated by the burghers of Swellendam, 
 aided by a small body of English troops. They then retired beyond the 
 Sunday River, and as there was no force to oppose them in that quarter, 
 they distributed what booty they had acquired, and settled down to their 
 ordinary pursuits. They had destroyed a vast amount of property, in 
 addition to that which they carried ofif, but they had not acted altogether 
 as savages, for no woman or child was molested during the whole period of 
 the disturbances. 
 
 Before the close of 1799, hostilities had ended, by the Kaffirs and Hot- 
 tentots being left virtually masters of the eastern district. It was already 
 uncertain whether the English would retain the colony much longer, so 
 that the government did not choose to be at the expense of compelling the 
 invaders to retire from it. General Dundas, indeed, entered into an agree- 
 ment of peace with them, according to the terms of which they were to 
 retain everything they had acquired. The Kaffirs and Hottentots had by 
 that time begun to quarrel over the spoil, and the Governor, thinking to 
 attach the Hottentots to the colony, was desirous of locating them by 
 themselves somewhere to the westward, but found them indisposed to enter 
 into any reasonable arrangement. Thus for a season, the current of European 
 progress was not only checked in that direction, but it was turned and 
 made to flow back again. 
 
 The last year in the last century is memorable as that in which the 
 London Missionary Society commenced its labours in this country. 
 Its first agents in South Africa were Dr. Vandzrkemp and Mr. 
 KiCHERER, who arrived at the same time. Of these, the first is 
 the most celebrated, on account of his extensive learning, his great 
 zeal, and the extraordinary sacrifices he made in devoting himself to 
 mission work. He had been an officer in the Dutch army, in his early 
 days, and was afterwards a physician of eminence. At the time he offered 
 his services to the London Society he was advanced in years, and was 
 living in retirement, in the possession of a good property. Upon his arrival 
 in South Africa he took up his residence at the kraal of the great chief 
 Ngqika, near the Keiskama River, where he remained for about a year. 
 But he found the Kaffirs indisposed to listen to his exhortations, and met 
 with even greater opposition from those of his own colour who were then 
 
1799] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE GA.PE COLONY. 
 
 155 
 
 residing with the great chief. These renegades not only sneered at hinfi 
 publicly, but even proceeded to rob him of the articles of comfort which he 
 had taken with him, until he was left almost destitute. They had no 
 scruples in prejudicing the chief against him, and in misrepresenting 
 the object of his mission. Among people such as these he was 
 helpless, and therefore he removed to Graaff Eeinet, where he 
 thought there was a better opening. Here he was more successful, as he 
 gathered a company of Hottentot converts about him, with whom in 1802, at 
 the request of General Dundas, he retired to a farm near Algoa Bay. This 
 station became a nucleus, round which those Hottentots gathered, who 
 were peaceably disposed, and here also collected a crowd of children and 
 infirm people, to maintain whom rations of rice were supplied by the 
 government. In the mean time Mr. Kicherer had attempted to establish 
 a mission among the Bushmen north of the colony, and though he failed 
 in this object, his effort led to the subsequent formation of flourishing 
 stations among the Griquas. The pioneer missionaries of this Society 
 were soon joined by others from Europe, when stations were formed at 
 various places within the colony, and also at several points beyond the 
 frontiers. 
 
 In November, 1799, during a terrific gale, eight ships were driven ashore 
 in Table Bay, one being a Danish man-of-war, and another the British war 
 ship Sceptre, whose crew of three hundred souls all perished. 
 
 In 1801, owing to the scarcity of cattle which was occasioned by the 
 large consumption of the military and naval establishments, two commis- 
 sioners, — Messrs. Truter and Somerville, — with a party consisting of twelve 
 white men, twenty-four Hottentots, and four slaves, were sent by the 
 government to the Bechuana country to endeavour to procure supplies ; but 
 did not succeed to the extent desired. This was the first regular expedition 
 to that country ever undertaken, and from it was obtained the first authentic 
 information concerning the Bechuana tribes. 
 
 On the 27th of March, 1802, the treaty of Amiens was signed. Europe 
 was exhausted, and required breathing time in order to prepare for still 
 greater struggles than those she had just gone through. One of the 
 conditions of peace, insisted upon by France and agreed to by England, 
 was that the Cape Colony should be handed over to the Batavian Republic. 
 In accordance with this agreement, a force was despatched from Holland to 
 relieve the British garrison and occupy the forts of the colony. The 1st 
 of January, 1803, was fixed for the evacuation, and the English troops had 
 actually commenced to embark, when, on the 31st of December a vessel ar- 
 rived which had left Plymouth on the 31st of October, with orders to delay 
 the cession, as it was probable that war would break out again immediately. 
 The Dutch troops were therefore cantoned atWynberg, where they remained 
 until February, 1803, when fresh orders from England were received and 
 the colony was given up. 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 DB3CRIPTI0N OF THE COLONY AND ITS INHABITANTS SEVENTY-PIVE YEARS AGO. 
 
 The conquest of the colony by the English effected a great change in its 
 condition, though the old laws were not subverted, nor were any innova- 
 tions made by violence. The Dutch language continued in use in the 
 courts and churches as well as in the farmhouses, and Dutch colonists 
 were still employed in offices of trust. The outward form of government 
 remained nearly the same, — almost the only apparent difference being that 
 the Council o{ Policy was abolished, — but its spirit was widely different. 
 Many harsh laws were permitted to become obsolete, many more were 
 interpreted in another sense. A few were modified, and a few were added 
 to the code. The changes thus brought about were all to the advantage of 
 the colonists. 
 
 At the commencement of the present century the colony contained about 
 one hundred and twenty thousand square miles of ground. Its boundaries 
 were, the Great Fish River to the east, and on the north a curved line 
 extending from near the present village of Colesberg to the mouth of the 
 Buffalo River in Little Namaqualand. It was divided into the four 
 districts of the Cape, Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, Swellendam, and 
 Graaff Reinet. 
 
 Of these the Cape was the smallest. The population of this district 
 consisted of about six thousand whites, and nearly twelve thousand slaves, 
 with a few free people of colour. 
 
 Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, though a district under the jurisdiction 
 of one landdrost, had distinct heemraden or councils. It extended to the 
 Buffalo River on the north and to the Breede on the east. Its population 
 consisted of about seven thousand whites, eleven thousand slaves, and five 
 thousand Hottentots. 
 
 The district of Swellendam extended from the Breede River to the 
 Gamtoos, and from the sea to the Zwartbergen. Its population consisted 
 of about four thousand whites, two thousand slaves, and five hundred 
 Hottentots. 
 
 The district of Graaff Reinet embraced the remainder of the colony. Its 
 population consisted of about four thousand whites, one thousand slaves, 
 and nine thousand Hottentots. 
 
 Thus the whole population of the colony, exclusive of the Kaffirs 
 temporarily occupying the Zuurveld, consisted of twenty-one thousand 
 whites, twenty-six thousand slaves, and fourteen thousand five hundred 
 Hottentots : sixty-one thousand five hundred in all, or a very little more 
 than one soul for every two square miles of ground. 
 
THJC CAPi: COLOIfT SEVfiKTT-riVJE TEARS AQO. 
 
 157 
 
 Cape Town contained between eleven and twelve hundred houses^ 
 inhabited by about five thousand five hundred whites and free people of 
 colour, and ten thousand slaves. Besides the castle, forts, and barracks^ 
 its principal buildings were, the Government House, the Dutch Reformed 
 Church, the Lutheran Church, the Town Hall, the Hall of the Court of 
 Justice, a Theatre, and a large building used as a government slave pen. 
 Many of the residents in the town were persons who had estates in the 
 country, and who, through their slaves, retailed farm produce ; others were 
 in the government service ; some were petty traders ; and some gained a 
 living by hiring out their slaves as artificers and labourers. The free 
 people of colour were mostly fishermen. Food was extremely cheap and 
 plentiful ; but firewood was very dear, as nearly all the large forest trees 
 in the vicinity of the town had long since disappeared. The births were to 
 the deaths as twenty-five to eleven, the rate of mortality being less than 
 three in a hundred annually. 
 
 The town was under the government of a body called the Burgher Senate^ 
 which consisted of a president and four members. The president received 
 a handsome salary, and remained in office for two years. He then retired, 
 and was succeeded by the senior member. To fill the vacancy thus caused, 
 the Senate itself nominated three persons, from whom the Governor selected 
 one. In addition to the ordinary powers of municipal bodies, the Burgher 
 Senate had complete control over the food supply of the town, and could 
 even prevent the exportation of corn. Its decrees, however, required to be 
 confirmed by the Governor. 
 
 The Cape district produced large quantities of fruit, grain, vegetables, 
 and wine. The farms were freehold, of one hundred and twenty acres each. 
 
 The district of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein produced also large quantities 
 of grain and wine, though a great portion of it was occupied by graziers. 
 The village of Stellenbosch contained about seventy houses, and was very 
 beautiful in the midst of its gardens, and with its streets lined with 
 spreading oak trees. It was the residence of the lauddrost of the district, 
 and contained a church with a resident clergyman. The village of the 
 Paarl contained about thirty houses, with a church and a neat parsonage. 
 There was also a church and a clergyman at Tulbagh, which was, however, 
 as yet a mere hamlet. The parts of this district near the Cape were held 
 in freehold farms of one hundred and twenty acres each, to the northward 
 the farms were held on rental, and contained at least nine square miles. 
 
 The produce of the district of Swellendam consisted of cattle, with some 
 grain and a little wine and timber. The farms were nearly all held on 
 rental. The village of Swellendam contained about thirty houses, with a 
 large church in the centre. The only clergyman in the district resided 
 here. 
 
 The district of Graaff Reiuet was entirely composed of farms held on 
 rental. A clergyman was appointed in 1792, and was resident in the 
 village for some years, but at this time there wag no minister in the district 
 
158 
 
 THE CAPE COLONY SEYENTi'-FIVE TEAES AGO. 
 
 except the missionaries of the London Society. The white inhabitants 
 consisted principally of graziers, who led a nomadic life, and lived almost 
 entirely on animal food. They were in a state of constant hostility with 
 the natives. The village of Graaff Keinet contained only about a dozen 
 houses, built of mud. 
 
 Land was held on the following tenures : — 
 
 (a) Freehold farms. These were originally granted to the early settlers, 
 and contained one hundred and twenty acres each. They were not so well 
 cultivated as they might have been, and seldom remained long in one 
 family. This was owing partly to the operation of the law of inheritance, 
 ,and partly to a universal tendency to buy, sell, and exchange lands. 
 
 (h) Farms on rental. These farms were all supposed to be of the same 
 size, and paid the same rental, viz., £4 16s. per annum, without any regard 
 tbeing had to the quality of the ground. There were in the colony, in 1798^ 
 -one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine such farms. The lease was 
 made out for one year only, but the payment of the rent was con.sidered as 
 ;a renewal ; so that the tenure amounted, in fact, to a lease held in 
 perpetuity. The buildings erected on such a farm, together with fruit 
 trees and vineyards planted; were called the "opstal," and were saleable 
 like any other property. The lease of the farm continued to the purchaser 
 of the opstal. When application was made for a farm, the person applying 
 fixed a stake where the house was meant to be erected. The overseer of 
 the district was then called to examine that it did not encroach on the 
 neighbouring farms, that is to say, that no part of any of the surrounding 
 farms was within half an hour's walk of the stake. In such case the 
 overseer certified that the farm applied for was tenable, otherwise not. The 
 disputes about these stakes, or baakens, as they were termed, were endless ; 
 and partly by accident, but frequently from design, they were so placed 
 that, on an average throughout the whole colony, the farms contained four 
 times the quantity of land allowed by government. 
 
 (c) Quitrent lands, which were plots of ground contiguous to freehold 
 estates, and upon which an annual quitrent of one shilling per acre was 
 payable. The leases were granted for fifteen years, but were renewable. 
 
 The public revenue was derived principally from the following sources, 
 which are here arranged in order of magnitude : — 
 
 (a) Licenses to retail wines and spirituous liquors, which were put up 
 to sale yearly. The highest bidder became the purchaser, and had a 
 monopoly during the ensuing year. This source of revenue brought in 
 about £12,000 per annum during the period of the English occupation. 
 
 (b) Auction dues, at the rate of three and a half per cent on the sales of 
 movable, and one and three quarters per cent on the sales of immovable 
 property. As nearly everything was bought and sold at public auction, 
 this was a very important branch of the revenue. 
 
 (c) Transfer dues on freehold estates sold, at the rate of four per cent 
 on the amount of purchase. 
 
THE CAPE COLONY SEVENTT-FITE TEAES AGO. 
 
 159 
 
 ((£) Land rents. 
 
 (e) Import and export duties, which varied in amount. During the 
 English occupation, all goods shipped in Great Britain, in British vessels, 
 ■were admitted free of duty. Other goods paid five per cent, if brought in 
 British vessels, ten per cent, if brought under any other flag. The English 
 East India Company had an exclusive monopoly of goods brought from 
 the East, and paid no duties. The export duties were about five per cent 
 on an average on everything sent out of the colony. 
 
 (/) Duty levied on farm produce brought to town for sale. This must 
 be regarded as a commutation of the tithes formerly paid, and it left 
 untaxed all produce required by the grower for home consumption. It 
 was, on an average, less than five per cent of the value of the different 
 kinds of produce. 
 
 {g) Interest on paper money lent through the Lombard Bank, which 
 amounted to about £5,000 per annum. 
 {h) Stamps and Stamped Paper. 
 
 (i) Duty on sales of opstals, at the rate of three and a half per cent on 
 the purchase amount. 
 
 (j) Port fees, at the rate of six pence per ton upon all ships dropping 
 anchor. 
 
 The revenue derived from these, and some minor sources, increased so 
 greatly during the period of the English occupation, that it was found 
 more than adequate to meet the expenditure. In 1798 it was £64,000, in 
 1799 £72,000, in 1800 £74,000, and in 1801 it rose to £90,000. Yet no new 
 tax was laid upon the people during the whole of this period, and many of 
 the old ones were considerably modified, so that this great increase, which 
 made the revenue more than three times as much as it had been during 
 the last years of the rule of the Netherlands East India Company, was 
 entirely owing to the general prosperity which had been occasioned by 
 the change from an arbitrary and decrepit government to a benevolent and 
 strong one. 
 
 In each of the country districts there was a court of landdrost and 
 heemraden, which decided police cases and civil cases when the amount 
 sued for did not exceed £30. In Cape Town there was a Petty Court with 
 rather greater power, as civil cases were therein adjudicated when the sum 
 sued for did not exceed £40. The Supreme Court, or High Court of 
 Justice as it was termed, was remodelled by Lord Macartney, and consisted 
 now of seven burghers chosen from the most respectable inhabitants of 
 the town. In the days of the East India Company the members received 
 no salaries as judges, apart from their income as officers of government, 
 but they were then permitted to take presents from one or both of the 
 parties who had suits before the court. Lord Macartney attached salaries 
 to the office, and prohibited the receipt of presents as tending to pervert 
 the course of justice. The proceedings of this court were always carried 
 on with closed doors ; no oral pleading was admitted, no confronting the 
 
160 
 
 THE GAPK COLOirr aETENTT-FITE TEAS8 AOO. 
 
 accnsed with witnesses, the deposition of each being taken down before two 
 commissioners on oath, and afterwards read to the court ; and all persons 
 excepting the parties concerned were excluded from the chamber. Two 
 irreproachable and concurring witnesses were required to substantiate a 
 fact against a delinquent ; one witness of good character produced on the 
 part of a person accused of felony was considered of equal weight with two 
 produced against him ; and even after sentence had been passed, until the 
 moment of execution, the condemned was allowed to bring forward evidence 
 in his favour. The extreme penalty of the law was never carried out, 
 when judgment rested on circumstantial evidence, however strong, until 
 confession of guilt had been made. Such confession, under the old 
 government, was sometimes obtained by torture ; but this was no longer 
 in practice. Of one hundred and ten capital convictions during the 
 English occupation, only thirty-three executions took place, principally 
 owing to the want of confession. The Fiscal, who acted as Attorney- General, 
 and the Secretary of this court, were supposed to possess legal knowledge. 
 The latter pointed out the law, upon which the court passed judgment by 
 a majority. From this court there was an appeal, during the Company's 
 rule, in the first instance to the supreme court of Batavia, and then to the 
 supreme court of Holland, and during the English occupation, in the first 
 instance to a court composed of the governor and lieutenant-governor, and 
 then to the king in council. 
 
 A monstrous abuse was the power possessed by the Fiscal, in his capacity 
 of Police Magistrate, of compounding crimes for pecuniary penalties, of 
 which he was himself entitled to one third. Under the English rule the 
 sum that he could thus demand was limited to £40. 
 
 All persons in the colony who wished to marry were obliged under the 
 old government to appear before the petty court in Cape Town, to show 
 that no legal impediments to the marriage existed. When the burghers 
 o£ Graaff Reinet revolted, one of their first acts was to establish a 
 matrimonial court of their own, but the marriages which took place under 
 its licenses were subsequently pronounced illegal. In 1799, however, 
 matrimonial commissions were appointed for all the districts, so that the 
 necessity of making a journey to Cape Town from the remote frontier, for 
 the express purpose of getting married, was henceforth done away with. 
 The written consent of parents or guardians had to be produced by all who 
 were under twenty-five years of age. In case of the remarriage of a widower 
 or widow it was necessary also to produce a deed of kinder-bewijs, that is a 
 certificate from the Orphan Chamber that the estate of the deceased 
 husband or wife had been secured to his or her children, according to the 
 Roman-Dutch law regulating the descent of property. 
 
 There was not one good school in the colony, though the advantages of 
 education were fully appreciated in the capital. As far back as 1790 some 
 liberal minded individuals had subscribed sums of money for the purpose 
 of qualifying teachers, and particularly for the establishment of a school in 
 
THE CAPE COLONY 3EVENTT-F1YE YEARS AGO. 
 
 161 
 
 which the Latin and French languages should be taught. This fund was 
 continually being added to by donations, until in 1837, under the name of the 
 Old Latin School Fund, it was vested by Ordinance in the South African 
 College. In the country districts the children of the belter class of farmers 
 received a slight knowledge of reading and writing from itinerant teachers, 
 who did not always bear irreproachable characters, and in the town private 
 tutors were usually employed. At Genadendal, Graaff Reinet, and Dr. 
 Vanderkemp's institution, there were elementary schools for the natives ; 
 but a white man would have scorned to send his children to be taught at 
 any of them. There was not a single bookstore in the colony, nor a 
 newspaper previous to the year 1800, when the Government Gazette was 
 established. Before the English took the colony, the only printing press 
 in it was a small one used for printing the government notes or paper 
 money. At Dr. Vanderkemp's institution there was now a printing press, 
 with which the first book was printed in South Africa, in the year 1800. 
 It was a spelling book, intended for the use of the mission schools. The 
 nucleus of a public library existed, Mr. Yon Dessin having, in 1761, 
 bequeathed -nearly five thousand valuable works in trust to the Eeformed 
 Dutch Church in Cape Town for this purpose ; but it was seldom made 
 use of. 
 
 The exports did not amount, on an average, to more than £15,000 a year, 
 during the English occupation ; but it must be borne in mind that nine or 
 ten thousand men of the army and navy received their supplies of food 
 from the colony during this period. 
 
 The cultivation of the ground was carried on in a slovenly manner, the 
 implements used being of the most primitive description. A great 
 unwieldy wooden plough, with only one handle, was forced through the 
 ground by the united strength of eight or ten oxen, and in place of a 
 harrow a large bush was drawn over the soil. There was indeed an 
 Agricultural Society ; but it accomplished nothing worth mentioning. 
 Lord Macartney, who took a warm interest in the colony during his brief 
 administration of the government, brought out from England an experienced 
 agriculturist, Mr. Duckett, and caused a set of the very best English farm 
 utensils to be imported. A tract of land in the Stellenbosch district was 
 selected for a model farm, and there Mr. Duckett was placed, in hopes that 
 through his instructions and example a better system of cultivating the 
 land would be generally introduced. But the experiment failed. Some 
 bad seasons followed, and the crops did not turn out so well as had been 
 .anticipated. The boers thought the laugh was now on their side, and 
 could not be prevailed upon to abandon their old style of farming. Lord 
 Macartney also caused experiments to be made, in the botanic gardens of 
 Cape Town, in the culture of various plants, with the hope of introducing 
 new sources of agricultural wealth into the colony ; but though many of 
 these grew admirably, through the antipathy of the farmers to innovations, 
 his benevolent wishes were frustrated. The curse of slavery had settled 
 
 Y 
 
162 
 
 THE CAPF, COLONY SEYENTY-FIYE YEAES AGO. 
 
 on the land. The farmer, too proud and too indolent to labour himself, 
 entrusted the whole work of his farm to his slaves and Hottentots, and they^ 
 having no interest in that which could not benefit them, performed every- 
 thing in a careless, makeshift manner. As might have been expected 
 under the circumstances, a much greater interest was manifested in the 
 improvement of stock than in the improvement of agriculture. One of the 
 most enterprising of the colonists, — Van Eeenen by name, — is found long 
 before this time importing bulls of a superior breed from Holland, and a 
 better kind of goats from India. The same man, or another of the same 
 family, introduced Arab horses into the colony, and had Cochin-Chinar 
 fowls brought from Batavia. Nor was he alone in this respect, for many 
 wealthy farmers in the old districts tried to get the best breeding stock 
 obtainable, even at enormous prices. To be the owner of a span of fourteen 
 half-bred Fatherland oxen, of the same colour and size, was before the eye 
 of every youth who wished to commence farming respectably on his own 
 account. His marriage was not fashionable unless he proceeded to church 
 in a waggon drawn by such a team, nor was it considered becoming in him 
 to pay his addresses to a country maiden unless he made his appearance 
 mounted on a fine dashing horse of the best blood. Fashion became thus 
 in this instance the handmaid of improvement. It was customary for 
 parents on the birth of every child to select a few head of cattle, which 
 were marked with the initials of the child's name, the increase of which 
 was considered his or her property, thus enabling young people to make a 
 good start in life. 
 
 In Cape Town and its neighbourhood the ordinary comforts and 
 conveniences of life were obtainable, and were enjoyed by most of the 
 whites ; but on the loan farms in the interior, comfort, as it is understood 
 now-a-days, was an unknown word. The hovels in which the graziers 
 lived seldom contained more than two rooms, and frequently only one. 
 They were destitute of the most ordinary furniture. The great waggon- 
 chest, which served for a table as well as a receptacle for clothing, a couple 
 of campstools, and a kartel or two (wooden frames with a network of strips 
 of raw hide stretched across them) were the only household goods 
 possessed by many. Crockery ware, so liable to be broken in long land 
 journeys, they could not reasonably be expected to have had ; but it is 
 difficult to account for their being without such common and useful articles 
 as knives and forks. A great portion of their clothing was made of the 
 skins of animals dressed carefully for the purpose. Tanned leather 
 trousers and jackets, untanned calf skin vests, and homemade shoes of ox 
 hide, were commonly worn by the men. Their blankets, like those of the 
 natives, were karosses of skin. They lived in this manner, not from 
 necessity, but through choice and custom. Many of them were very 
 wealthy in flocks and herds ; but, having become accustomed to a nomad 
 life, they considered as a superfluity everything that could not easily be 
 removed in a waggon from place to place, without damage. A gun. 
 
THE CAPE COLONY SEVENTY-FIVE YEAES AGO. 
 
 163 
 
 ammunition, and a waggon, were the only products of mechanical skill 
 that were absolutely indispensable to a grazier ; with these he could 
 provide himself with every other necessary. Some cotton goods for shirts 
 and clothing for females, hats, coffee, and sugar, were almost the only 
 other articles he ever thought of purchasing. Those however who were 
 stationary and cultivated the land, lived more comfortably, and had some 
 of the conveniences of civilized life about them ; they were called corn 
 farmers. 
 
 Poverty, in that sense of the word which implies a lack of the means of 
 sustaining life, was unknown throughout the colony. Every white person 
 had food in abundance, and might have had all the comforts of life, if their 
 use had been known or their want felt. The people of the interior were 
 ignorant, and though kind and hospitable to those of their own race, were 
 harsh in their treatment of their dependents. This was the effect partly 
 of their holding human beings in slavery, and partly from their having had 
 for a long period the native races of the country at their mercy, without 
 any check from the government. Their ignorance must be attributed 
 entirely to the action of the government in scattering them at such a 
 ■distance from each other, over an immense extent of country. 
 
 The amusements of the people were few, owing also to their isolation. 
 Those who possessed numerous slaves usually had three or four of them 
 trained to the use of the violin, — the blacks being peculiarly gifted with an 
 ear for music, and easily learning to play by sound. They had thus the means 
 ■at hand of amusing themselves with dancing, and of entertaining visitors 
 with music. The branches of widely extended families were constantly 
 exchanging visits with each other. A farmer would make his waggon 
 ready regularly every year, when half the household or more would leave 
 home and spend a week or two with each relative, often being absent a 
 •couple of months. Birthday anniversaries of aged people were celebrated 
 by the assembling of their descendants, frequently to the number of eighty 
 or a hundred, at the residence of the patriarch, where a feast was prepared 
 for their entertainment. These different reunions were naturally pro- 
 ductive of great pleasure, and tended to cement the friendship and love 
 of those who otherwise might seldom see each other. The life led by the 
 people when at home was exceedingly tame. The mistress of the house, 
 who moved about but little, issued orders to slaves or Hottentot females 
 •concerning the work of the household. If the weather was chilly or damp 
 she rested her feet an a little box filled with live coals, while beside her 
 stood a coffee kettle never empty. The head of the family usually inspected 
 his flocks morning and evening, and passed the remainder of the day, like 
 his helpmate, in the enjoyment of ease. When repose itself became 
 wearisome, he mounted his horse, and with an attendant to carry his gun, 
 set off in pursuit of some of the wild animals with which the country then 
 abounded. The children had few games, and though strong and healthy, 
 were far from sprightly. At an early age there was a tendency to become 
 
164 
 
 THK CAPE COLONY S tVlCNTY-FlTE YliAEg AGO. 
 
 corpufent, and most people past thirty were uncomfortably fat. A grazier 
 was generally on terms of perfect peace and friendship with every other 
 white man in the colony except his nearest neighbonrs. With these he had 
 never ending disputes about the position of the boundary beacons between 
 them, and the trespassing of tlieir cattle on his grass. His ground might 
 be twenty thousand acres in extent, yet he thought the beacons should have 
 been a little further off. These quarrels lasted until the survey of farms 
 and issue of title deeds years later put an end to them. 
 
 From the French Eefugees the colonists acquired a deep religious feeling 
 which, often misdirected, yet preserved even those furthest removed from 
 places of worship from falling into barbarism. The cruelties inflicted upon 
 the natives were always justified by quotations from the Old Testament. 
 The boer compared himself to the Israelite of old, and the native to a 
 Canaanite whom it was doing God a service to destroy. In every household 
 religious exercises were regularly observed every day, and it was no unusual 
 circumstance for a farmer to make a journey occupying three or four 
 weeks, for the purpose of attending Divine service. A-t the administration 
 of the Communion, which took place every three months, there was always 
 a large gathering of people from distant parts. Like the Jewish festivals 
 of old, these seasons were made the occasions for holding fairs, when sales 
 by auction of land and cattle took place, and traders from Cape Town 
 supplied the farmers with such goods as they needed. The clergy often set 
 their faces against this combination of business and religion, but the 
 circumstances of the people left them no choice in the matter. During the 
 hours of Divine service on Saturday, or Preparation Day as it was termed, 
 business ceased, however, and was not resumed until Monday morning. 
 
 The slaves, who formed a very large proportion of the population, were 
 regarded in law simply as cattle. Their treatment varied with the disposition 
 of their owners. They were subject to terrible penalties for crimes, but no 
 severity could keep them entirely in subjection. The murder of a tyrannical 
 master was a matter of no unusual occurrence. Bands of runaway slaves 
 maintained their independence in several parts of the colony, and levied 
 contributions to their support from the neighbouring farmers. 
 
 The Hottentots were nearly all in service, either voluntary or compulsory. 
 They were in a most abject state, possessing nothing tbey could call their 
 own. They had lost to a great extent the use of their own language, and 
 spoke the colonial Dutch patois. The intercourse between them and the 
 whites and slaves had produced many mixed races, all of which were in a 
 state of subjection to the Europeans of pure blood. The residents at 
 Genadendal were somewhat better off than theremainderof their countrymen. 
 There the natives were acquiring habits of industry, and were being taught 
 the doctrines of Christianity. The men belonging to the station were in 
 the habit of hiring themselves as servants to the neighbouring farmers, 
 leaving their wives and children to cultivate their gardens, and returning 
 home themselveB as often as circurastanoes would permit. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE GOVBRNllEi^T OF THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC FROM 21ST FEBRUARY, 1803, TO 
 19th JANUARY, 1806 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Regulations mth regard to Natives. — Foundation of the 
 Missionary Village of Bethelsdorp. — Tour of the High Commissioner De Mist. — • 
 Formation of the Districts of Uitenhage and Tulhagh. — Preparations for the defence 
 of the Colony. — Battle of Blaautoberg. — Capitulation of Cape Town and of the 
 Colony to the Fnglish. — Review. 
 
 Governor : — Jan Willem Janssens. 
 
 The colony of the Cape of Good Hope ■n'as considered by the Batavian 
 Republic a national possession, to be protected as the most important 
 position in the great highway of eastern commerce. Yery liberal Tiews 
 were entertained as to its government, which was to be such as to admit 
 of the greatest amount of freedom compatible with a dependency, and every 
 facility was to be afforded for the development of its internal resources and 
 for the advancement of its inhabitants in prosperity. To collect information 
 upon the administration of the old East India Company, and to suggest 
 improvements and necessary alterations, a committee was appointed, who 
 entrusted the task of drawing up a report to a very able man, by name J. 
 A. DE Mist. This report coincided so perfectly with the views of the 
 Batavian government that Mr. De Mist was himself sent out as High 
 Commissioner, to receive the colony from the English, instal the Governor 
 — General J, "VV. Janssens — into his office, and make such regulations as he 
 should deem necessary for the welfare of the country. On the 21st of 
 February, 1803, the government was transferred to the Dutch, and the 
 Batavian flag was hoisted on the forts. The 1st of March was appointed 
 as a day of thanksgiving for the restoration of the colony, and on that 
 day, a general amnesty to political offenders was granted by the High 
 Commissioner, and a charter was promised for the colony. 
 
 A few necessary arrangements were made for carrying on the government, 
 after which General Janssens proceeded to the eastern frontier, in order to 
 attempt to restore order there. He found the KaSirs in possession of the 
 coast lands between the Sunday and Great Fish rivers, and the former 
 white inhabitants, who had survived the war, in great distress. Most of 
 them had taken shelter with friends and relatives in other parts of the 
 colony. For three years hostilities had ceased, with the exception of an 
 occasional raid on either side ; but, notwithstanding the peace that had 
 been concluded by the late government, the colonists continued to regard 
 
166 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1803 
 
 the Kaffirs as enemies and intruders. In May the Governor had an 
 interview with the chiefs Ndlambe, Cuxgwa, and some others of less note, 
 and endeavoured to prevail upon them to remove beyond the Fish River; 
 but without success. He afterwards proceeded to the Kat River, where he 
 met X&QiKA, and entered into a treaty of peace with him, but could not 
 prevail upon that chief to become reconciled to the Kaffirs in the colony. 
 With these, however, a treaty was made, by which they promised not to 
 molest the colonists in future. As some of them complained of having 
 received ill treatment from certain farmers, the Governor issued a 
 proclamation that any person who molested a Kaffir should be severely 
 punished, that all Kaffirs held as prisoners or servants by colonists should 
 be released immediately, and that after the 1st of June no colonist should be 
 permitted to engage a Kaffir as a servant, being in hopes by these means 
 to prevent a recurrence of such acts as those upon which the complaints 
 were founded. 
 
 With regard to the Hottentots, regulations were made by which they 
 were to be protected in person and property, and were only to be employed 
 as servants under written contracts. Some farmers who had been guilty 
 of acts of oppression and cruelty towards these people were punished. 
 The Hottentots and Kaffirs, who had so recently combined to ravage the 
 eastern parts of the colony, had fallen out over the spoil, so that the 
 Governor experienced no difficulty in inducing Klass Stuurman and his 
 followers to remove to a distance from their late allies. A tract of land on 
 the Little Gamtoos River was allotted to them, where they had liberty to 
 live without molestation. By these means order was restored, and friendly 
 feelings were established between the Hottentots and the whites. 
 
 The British garrison had been withdrawn from Fort Frederic in September, 
 1802, and as fears were entertained that as soon as the troops left, the 
 disaffected boers would fall upon the Hottentots belonging to the mission* 
 General Dundas had given Dr. Yanderkemp permission to retire with his 
 converts into the fort and remain there until such time as the Dutch 
 :government should reoccupy it. On the arrival of General Janssexs at 
 Algoa Bay, he was visited by a number of the late insurgents, who proposed 
 that the Hottentots should be seized and distributed among them as slaves, 
 but this proposal the Governor rejected with indignation. They then 
 urged the necessity of expelling the missionaries of the London Society 
 fi'om the colony, on the ground that most of them were Englishmen and 
 would therefore instil into the minds of their converts a hatred of the 
 Dutch government. But Dr. Vaxderkemp proved so plainly that the 
 missionaries were not political agents in any sense of the word, that the 
 Governor was satisfied on this point, and merely proposed that they should 
 correspond with the London Society through the medium of the Dutch 
 Missionary Society, and to this they at once assented. Permission was 
 then granted to Dr. Yaxderkemp to select a site for a permanent mission 
 station, which he did at the place since known as Bethelsdorp. Why he 
 
1803] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 1C7 
 
 chose this dreary barren spot, where the soil cannot be cultivated for 
 want of water, has never been satisfactorily explained. He could hardly 
 have made a worse selection, for it has never been found possible to 
 improve or beautify the place, while at no great distance there was then 
 abundance of land available. But as he desired it, a grant of the ground 
 was made to the Society, with a promise of all the aid and protection the 
 government could afford. Many of the Hottentots who were then scattered 
 over the district joined their countrymen who were already under Dr. 
 Vanderkemp's care, and formed a village that for many years remained a 
 central or head institution, from which branches were located in different 
 parts of the country. 
 
 With a view of making himself acquainted with the people and their wants, 
 the High Commissioner had in the meantime made a tour through the 
 north-western district, and issued some important regulations. He found 
 the farmers there suffering from the depredations of Bushmen and bands 
 of vagrants, and endeavoured to remedy the evil. Ascertaining that the 
 Bushmen were greatly incensed with the colonists on account of the 
 destruction of game by the latter in the country north of the boundary, he 
 strictly prohibited hunting parties from entering Bushmanland, and urged 
 upon the farmers the necessity of treating the savages with justice and 
 kindness. At the same time a vagrant act was promulgated, by which no 
 Hottentot was permitted to roam at large within the colony, unless he 
 could give satisfactory proof of possessing sufficient means to enable him 
 to live independently. This act was aimed direetly at the robber bands 
 that infested the northern districts. 
 
 The High Commissioner then made a tour to the eastward. Upon his 
 arrival at Genadendal he expressed great satisfaction with the work which 
 was being carried on there. As the funds of the establishment were then 
 very low, the missionaries were encouraged and assisted with money from 
 the government chest, and had rights of property in the station lands 
 guaranteed to them. Everywhere he found disputes concerning land 
 boundaries, and the farmers carrying on lawsuits with each other. As all 
 suits of an important nature had to be settled before the Court of Justice 
 in Cape Town, which entailed great expense, he issued instructions for a 
 Commission of Justice to make an annual tour through the colony ; but 
 before the necessary arrangements could be made, the government again 
 changed hands. Upon his arrival at Algoa Bay he had an interview with 
 the missionaries Yanderkemp and Eeid, and assisted them to the utmost 
 of his power. At that time there was a garrison of eighty men in the 
 fort at Algoa Bay, but only one family of white civilians resided there. 
 At Graaff Reinet he found affairs in the utmost confusion. The turbulent 
 spirit which its inhabitants had always manifested, their general ignorance, 
 and perverted ideas of liberty, made it next to impossible to place matters 
 on a satisfactory footing. The High Commissioner did all that was 
 possible under the circumstances. Had he even been so disposed, he 
 
16S 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLOlfT. 
 
 [1803 
 
 could not have reduced the farmers to order by means of troops, as the 
 English had done; and as the inhabitants professed attachment to the 
 Batavian government, he tried to conciliate them by means of attention to 
 their wants. There was at that time in the colony a very able man, by 
 name Stock.enstrom. He was by birth a Swede, but, having been in the 
 service of the colonial government, as secretary to the landdrost of 
 Swellendam, he had had an opportunity of displaying his abilities in this 
 country. The High Commissioner appointed him landdrost of Graaff 
 Reinet. He arranged the finances of the district, and provided funds for 
 the erection of a residence for the landdrost, a court house, and a church. 
 Further, on the 12th of February, 1804, a decree was issued that since 
 the district was too extensive for one jurisdiction, it was to be divided 
 into two. The southern portion, to which a tract belonging to the district 
 of Swellendam was added, was called Uitenhage, after the family name of 
 the High Commissioner, De Mist being his title. The first landdrost was 
 Captain Alberti, Commandant of the garrison of Algoa Bay. 
 
 In 1803 a monthly post, with Hottentot runners to carry the mailbags^ 
 was established between Cape Town and Algoa Bay. In the same year a 
 very disastrous fire occurred, by which the greater part of the beautiful 
 village of Stellenbosch was destroyed. 
 
 In 1804 the district of Tulbagh was formed out of the northern part of 
 the district of Stellenbosch. The residence of the landdrost was fixed at 
 the village of Roodezand, henceforth called Tulbagh. The first landdrost 
 was Henry van de Graaff, nephew of the former governor Cornelis van 
 DE Graaff. While the north-western parts of the colony were under the 
 jurisdiction of the landdrost of Stellenbosch, it was impossible for the 
 requisite care and attention to be bestowed upon them. Instances of 
 disobedience to the government were continually occurring among the 
 inhabitants ; their harshness towards their dependents and their quarrels 
 with each other were constantly increasing. The object in the formation 
 of the new district was to restrain and correct these evils, and also to 
 regulate the relations between the colonists and Bushmen of that quarter. 
 It was the earnest wish of the government to put an end to the disturbances 
 existino- there, by repressing the robberies of the Bushmen on the one 
 hand, and by compelling the colonists to treat them justly on the other. 
 
 The High Commissioner De Mist, having completed the duties entrusted 
 to him, left South Africa in February, 1805. This excellent man had been 
 unremitting in his endeavours to improve the colony, and had made many 
 important regulations for that purpose. Among others, he drew up a plan 
 for the establishment of public schools, promulgated a Church Ordinance, 
 and reformed the courts of landdrost and heemraden. He appointed a 
 commission to collect information and report upon the best methods of 
 encouraging and improving agriculture and the breeding of stock, and 
 made arrangements with a wealthy personage, the Baron Van Hogendorp, 
 by which experiments in various branches of agriculture were to have been 
 
1805] 
 
 IirSTOBY OF THE CAPE COLONY 
 
 169 
 
 made. 'I he public school " Tot nut van 't algemeen " was established in 
 Cape Town. The heraldic arms of Governor Yan Riebeck, three circleR 
 forming a trianglo about an anchor, were adopted as the arras of the 
 colony. 
 
 The Cape had hardly been transferred to the Dutch when war broke out 
 again between France and England. France and Holland were then so 
 united that war with one meant war with the other, and accordingly one 
 of the first acts of hostility was the seizure by the English of all the Dutch 
 vessels in British ports. It was certain that Great Britain would attempt 
 to recover possession of South Africa; but highly as this colony was 
 valued by the Batavian government, there was one other dependency of 
 that Power considered of greater importance, and to its defence all the 
 energies of the Republic were directed. That was the Island of Java, and 
 thither General Janssens was directed to send a great portion of the army 
 under his command, retaining only two thousand men in garrison at the 
 Cape. The Governor complied with these instructions, and immediately 
 took steps to increase his own power of resistance by arming and drilling 
 the colonists, and by organizing a battalion of Hottentots and a corps of 
 Malay artillery. He also caused magazines to be erected beyond Hotten- 
 tots' Holland, and military stores to be ccllected there, so that in the event 
 of Cape Town falling into the hands of the enemy, he would have something 
 to fall back upon, and by endeavouring to prevent supplies from reaching 
 the city, might possibly compel the invaders to retire. His plans were the 
 best that could be formed under the circumstances ; but the forces with 
 •which he was to contend were so powerful as to make all attempts at 
 resistance vain. 
 
 A few months before the death of England's great statesman — Pitt — an 
 armament was prepared for the seizure of this colony. It consisted of an 
 army of between five and six thousand men under command of Sir David 
 Bated, and a powerful fleet under Commodore Sir Home Pofham. It left 
 England almost without notice, as events of much greater magnitude were 
 then engrossing the attention of all Europe. For this was the year of 
 Napoleon's greatest successes. The Austrians had just capitulated atUlm, 
 and the French were on their march to Vienna when the fleet sailed. While 
 it was on its way to the Cape, the battles of Ansterlitz and Trafalgar were 
 fought, in comparison with which the fortune or fate of Sir David Baird's 
 expedition dwindled into insignificance. On the 25th of December, 1805, 
 an American vessel brought news to Cape Town that she had passed at 
 sea a great fleet under English colours steering straight for the colony. 
 The certainty of being attacked immediately being thus known, General 
 Janssens collected all his forces in the town, and made ready to offer the 
 utmost resistance in his power. 
 
 In the evening of the 4th of January, 1806, the fleet came to anchor 
 between Robben Island and the coast. It consisted of sixty-three ships, 
 the greater numbtr of which were transports carrying stores and India- 
 t 
 
170 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1806 
 
 men under convoy. It was General Baird's intention to laud his troops 
 next morning at the nearest possible point to the town, but this was found 
 impracticable on account of the heavy surf rolling in on the beach. There 
 was no time to be lost, as any hour might bring to the Dutch reinforce- 
 ments from Europe, so that it became necessary to select another place for 
 disembarkation. Various fleets were in motion when they left Europe, and 
 the English oflBcers were not aware that the navies of their enemies had 
 since been destroyed at Trafalgar, At Saldanha Bay a landing could be 
 effected at any time, but from that port the soldiers would be compelled to 
 make a long and weary march before meeting the enemy, and it would be 
 necessary in that case to keep open the communication with the fleet by 
 means of strong detachments posted at several stations along the route. 
 Another difficulty presented itself in the want of transport cattle to drag 
 the heavy guns, for there was but one regiment of cavalry, which was 
 considered so necessary for the eflficiency of the army that the horses could 
 not be used for that purpose. But there appeared to be no immediate 
 prospect of the west wind abating, and it was evident that while it lasted 
 the sea would continue to break with terrific violence on the unprotected 
 shores of Table Bay. The General and the Commodore concurred 
 therefore in considering it necessary to disembark the troops where it 
 could be done, and to trust to the gallantry of English soldiers to meet 
 the diflBculties that would follow. During the night of the 6th, the 
 Diomede, with some transports conveying the 38th regiment of foot, the 
 20th Light Dragoons, and some artillery under command of Brigadier- 
 General Beresford, set sail for Saldanha Bay. The squadron was preceded 
 by the Espoir, which was sent in advance to take possession of the bay 
 and secure as many cattle as possible. The remainder of the fleet would 
 have followed next morning, but at daybreak the surf was found to be 
 subsiding, as the fury of the west wind was spent. A careful examination 
 of the beach near Blaauwberg was then made, and it was found that with 
 some precautions a landing might be effected there. By noon all was 
 ready. The Diadem, Leda, Encounter, and Protector, were moored so as to 
 cover the heights above the beach with their heavy guns, and a small 
 transport was run ashore in such a manner as to form a breakwater outside 
 of the landing place. The 71st, 72nd, and 93rd regiments, which formed 
 the Highland Brigade, under command of Brigadier- General Ferguson, 
 were then conveyed on shore, though the passage was attended with great 
 difficulty. The sea was still breaking with considerable violence, but only 
 one boat was swamped. It contained thirty-six men of the 93rd regiment, 
 all of whom were drowned. On the 7th, the 24th, 59th, and 83rd regi- 
 ments were landed, together with sufficient water and provisions for the 
 immediate use of the army. The ships of war had covered the landing 
 place so effectually during the disembarkation, that only four soldiers were 
 wounded and one killed by the fire of the enemy, though a detachment of 
 Dutch sharpshooters was posted on a commanding height. 
 
1806] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 171 
 
 On the morning of the 8th, the army, which was formed into two brigaded,, 
 commenced its march towards Cape Town. The Dutch sharpshooters were 
 easily driven from their position, and then the ascent of the Blaauwberg 
 "was made. On reaching the summit, the Dutch forces were seen advancing 
 in readiness for battle, for as soon as General Janssens received authentic 
 information as to where the English were landing, he hastened to meet 
 them. His army was about five thousand strong, but only a small portion 
 of it consisted of regular troops, the remainder being composed of mounted 
 burghers and a battalion of French seamen and marines from the stranded 
 ships Atalanta and Najpoleon. He had twenty-three pieces of cannon, 
 while the English had only eight, but the troops commanded by General 
 Baird were veteran soldiers, which more than compensated for his deficiency 
 in artillery. To prevent his flanks from being turned, which was the 
 object of the enemy, the English commander extended his lines, and then 
 ordered his left wing to advance. The Highland Brigade, of which this 
 part of his army was composed, pressed steadily forward under a deadly 
 fire, answering shot for shot, while the artillery was playing upon their 
 opponents from another direction. The Dutch stood their ground bravely 
 until the Highlanders charged with the bayonet, when they broke and fled, 
 leaving seven hundred men dead and wounded on the battle field. General 
 Janssens attempted to rally the fugitives, but as this was soon seen to 
 be hopeless, he fell back upon Hottentots' Holland, after sending some of 
 his troops into Cape Town to assist Colonel Yon Prophalow in the defence 
 of the city. General Baird marched some distance further, and then 
 formed a camp for the night. His army was almost destitute of provisions 
 and no water could be found., but through the exertions of the seamen 
 belonging to the fleet, some supplies reached him in a few hours. When 
 the roll was called, it was ascertained that the loss of the English in the 
 battle of Blaauwberg was two hundred and twelve, killed, wounded, and 
 missing. 
 
 On the 9th the march towards Cape Town was resumed, no obstacle 
 presenting itself on the route except the roughness of the country to be 
 traversed. When at Salt River, free communication with the fleet was 
 obtained, and preparations were made for landing a battering train and an 
 ample supply of provisions. But the battering train was not needed, for 
 Von Prophalow had resolved to surrender the city without a struggle. 
 His flag of truce, requesting a suspension of hostilities for forty-eight hours, 
 in order to arrange the terms of capitulation, met the English at Papendorp. 
 General Baird would grant only thirty- six hours, and required immediate 
 possession of the outworks, with the alternative of taking them by storm. 
 His demand could not be refused, and that night the 59th regiment was 
 admitted into the outermost fort. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 
 next day, 10th of January 1806, the articles of capitulation were signed, by 
 which the city was placed in possession of the English. It was agreed that 
 the garrison should march out with the honours of war, before surrender- 
 
172 
 
 HISTOUT OF THE CIPE COLONY. 
 
 [1806 
 
 ing ; that officers who were natives of the colony, or married into colonial 
 families, or possessed of landed property here, might remain in South Africa 
 if they chose, and all others were to be sent to Europe on parole not to 
 serve until regularly exchanged. Txie citizens were to retain all their rights 
 and privileges, public worship was to remain unchanged, and the paper 
 money was to continue in use. Troops were not to be quartered on the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 General Janssens had in the mean time retreated to Hottentots' Holland, 
 with about twelve hundred men of all arms and twenty-eight pieces of 
 artillery. But if he had the slightest hope of being able to hold out for 
 any length of tiisie, that hope must soon have been abandoned. The 
 burghers could not be held together, and when they deserted, his army 
 consisted only of a few hundred men. There was no seaport open to him, 
 and consequently no means of escape from the colony. Three days after 
 the capitulation of Cape Town, the village of Stellenbosch was occupied by 
 the 59th and 72nd regiments, and the following morning saw the 83rd on 
 its way by sea to Mossel Bay, so that the thinly inhabited interior alone 
 was left open to the gallant but unfortunate Dutch General. Nothing 
 could be gained by falling back further, and resistance to forces of such 
 magnitude as those of the invaders was out of the question. The English 
 commander proposed honourable terms of surrender, which, after a short 
 delay, were accepted. On the 18th a capitulation was arranged between 
 Generals Janssens and BERESPoaD, and on the following day it was confirmed 
 by Sir David Baip.d and Sir Home Po?eam. Tae Batavian troops were to 
 march with all the honours of war to Simon's Town, and there deliver up 
 their arms. But they were not to be considered prisoners of war, and were 
 to be sent straight to Holland at the expense of the British government. 
 The Hottentot soldiers were to march with the others to Simon's Town, 
 and there be disbanded, or enter the English service, as they should choose. 
 The inhabitants of the colony were to enjoy all the rights and privileges 
 secured to those of Cape Town, except that the right was reserved of 
 quartering troops upon them in case of necessity. 
 
 Early in March the Batavian troops were sent to Holland, and a fiiae 
 transport, the ^eiZoua, was placed at the disposal of General Janssens, on 
 board which he embarked his family and a train of friends and attendants. 
 
 After the first fall of Napoleon, the government of the United Provinces 
 was remodelled by the Allied Powers, when the Prince of Orange became 
 King of the Netherlands. On the 13th of August, 1814, a convention was 
 signed by the ministers plenipotentiary of the sovereigns of Great Britain 
 and the Netherlands, according to which all the ^foreign possessions of 
 Holland, which had been seized during the war by England, were restored, 
 except the Cape of Good Hope, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. These 
 colonies were then ceded to Great Britain in return for six millions sterling, 
 with the stipulation that Dutch ships were to be permitted to obtain 
 refreebments and repairs at Cape Town on the same conditions as English 
 
1S06] 
 
 HISrOEi' or TIIK CAPE COLON!. 
 
 173 
 
 Vessels, and that tlie colonists should not be debarred from carrying on 
 trade with Holland. The possession of the colony was formally ratified to 
 Great Britain by the congress of Vienna in 1815, and no attempt has since 
 ')een made to wrest it from her. 
 
 The government of the Batavian Republic was extremely liberal in its 
 dealings with this colony, and all its measures tended towards progress 
 and prosperity. The ofScers selected to rule the dependency were men of 
 superior understanding and with a reputation for great abilities. Justice 
 was impartially administered during this period, and everything that was 
 possible done to elevate all classes of the people. Still, it was unquestion- 
 ably to the advantage of the country that it fell again into the possession 
 of Great Britain. Its position is such that its ownership is an object of 
 primary importance to a great maritime power. Since the construction 
 of steam vessels capable o! making the passage from Europe to India 
 without touching Rt aa inter :ne:-'?-i.e port, ani^., more especially, since tho 
 completion of the Suez caTial nas re-o . ened he ancient route of eastern 
 commerce, tae coiony has lost mucli of its importance as a victualling 
 station ; b:it iu mus' always remain ihe key of :' e i-ic'iRn Seas, in a military 
 point of view. "S71ii"'a :he possession of a weak naval power it must 
 therefore have remained unsafe and unsettled, f.na in this state could not 
 have enjoyed permanent prosperity. Not only was .Holland too weak to 
 furnis'ii the number of men necessary for its protection, she was too poor 
 to bear for any length of time any portion of its exoenses. Ilac. i j remained 
 a dependency of that power, tae colony would soon have had to pay not 
 only all the cost of its interual government, bub .he troops requisite for its 
 external defence. Cnder sucii a burden i: must have sunk. Paper money 
 to a considerable amount had been created by the late government, and a 
 new issue, which would soon have become imperative, would have made it 
 nearly valueless. Il%d the colony then been in its present position the case 
 might have been difierent. Its i nhabitants would have required no foreign 
 subsidies for the support o! internal government, and by being thrown to 
 a large extent upon their own resources, would have acquired a spirit of 
 self reliance and faith in lyhemselves which could not have failed to engender 
 prosperity. But in those days they were too few in number and too poor 
 in pocket for either self government or self defence. Great Britain, that 
 had spent no less a sum than £16,000,000 in taking the colony and guarding 
 it during her first occupation of it, was prepared to furnish garrisons and 
 naval defences free of cost. Under her rule absolute security was obtained, 
 and, at the same time, none of the advantages enjoyed under the Batavian 
 government were lost. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 prom; the conquest op the colony by the BRITISH IN 1806 TO THE KAmR 
 
 WAR OF 1819. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Unfriendly delations hetioeen the Colonists and the Kaffirs. — 
 Effects of the Suppression of the Foreign Slave Trade. — Br. Cotoan's Expedition. — 
 Earthquakes. — Fate of Stuurman and his People. — Establishment of Circuit 
 Courts. — Ejection of the Kaffirs from thp. Zuurveld. — Foundation of Grahamstown, 
 — Insurrection of Frontier Farmers. — Great Failures in Cape Toton. — Establish- 
 ment of the South African Public Library. — Foundation of Beaufort West. — 
 Formation of the District and Village of George. — Extension of Missions in the 
 
 The establisliment of British, rule in Soutla Africa for the second time was 
 not attended ■with any immediate change in the system of government. 
 The same laws as of old continued to be administered, and in the same 
 manner as before. The piincipal difference observable was in the very 
 large military force which Great Britain maintained here until after the 
 peace of 1815. The administration of Sir David Baird gave satisfaction to 
 the colonists, and tranquillity was generally maintained. After his departure 
 from the colony, which took place early in 1807, the Lieutenant Governor, 
 General Grey, held supreme command for a few months, until the arrival of 
 the Earl of Caledon. 
 
 One of the most important matters that claimed the attention of the 
 government was whether the Kaffirs should be permitted to retain undis- 
 turbed possession of the Zuurveld, — as the country they were occupying, and 
 which is now comprised in the Divisions of Albany and Alexandria, was 
 then termed, — or whether they should be expelled, since it was evident 
 that the clans of Ndlambe and Cungwa had no intention of removing of 
 their own accord. Their relations with the colonists had of late become 
 very unfriendly, and numerous instances of cattle theft were recorded 
 against them. In hope of suppressing these, a proclamation was issued, 
 making it legal to shoot any one caught in the act of theft ; but even the 
 fear of death was found insufficient to deter the Kaffirs from lifting stock. 
 Soon after this, Colonel Collins was instructed to examine into and report 
 
 Colony. 
 
 Governors : — Sir David Baird, 
 
 Jan. 19, 1806. 
 Jan. 17, 1807. 
 May 22, 1807. 
 July 5, 1811. 
 Sept. 6, 1811. 
 Dec. 3, 1813. 
 April 6, 1814. 
 
 Hon. H. G. Grey, (acting) 
 Du Pre, Earl of Caledon, 
 Hon. H. G. Grey, (acting) 
 Sir John Francis Cradock, 
 Hon. Robert Meade, (acting) 
 Lord Charles Henry Somerset, 
 
1808] 
 
 niSTOET OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 175 
 
 Tipon eastern frontier affairs. In his report, dated 6th of August, 1809, he 
 recommended that the Kaffirs should be expelled by force from the colony, 
 and that the Zuurveld should be parcelled out among white settlers, to 
 each of whom a farm of one hundred and twenty acres should be given. 
 But more than two years elapsed before any decided action was taken in 
 the matter, though all this time the Kaffirs were plundering the colonists 
 just as if war existed. 
 
 In 1808 the foreign slave trade was abolished by the British Parliament. 
 The effects of this measure upon the Cape Colony were soon perceptible. 
 Slaves rose in price almost immediately, and the labour of the natives 
 acquired a value it never had before. These effects would have been even 
 greater, had it not been that the Cape was selected as one of the stations 
 to which slavers, captured at sea by British cruisers, were brought for 
 condemnation. The negroes rescued from these vessels were apprenticed 
 for a term of fourteen years to those persons who needed them, and thus a 
 partial supply of labourers was obtained. 
 
 1808 an expedition was fitted out by command of Lord Caledon, with 
 the object of exploring the country between the border of the Colony and 
 the Portuguese Province of Mozambique. It consisted of twenty men of 
 the Cape Eegiraent, under command of Dr. Cowan and Lieut. Donovan, 
 with a Griqua and a farmer named Kruger as guides. The last authentic 
 intelligence received from the party was contained in a letter from Dr. 
 Cowan, dated on the 21st of December, 1808, at a native village on the 
 Molopo River. Nothing certain is known concerning the fate of the 
 explorers. According to native reports received during the next few years,, 
 they had all been murdered, but these accounts differed so greatly as to 
 pai*ticulars, that no reliance could be placed in them. It is now generally 
 supposed that they perished of fever, when not very far from Mozambique.. 
 
 On the 4th of December, 1809, several distinct shocks of an earthquake 
 were felt in Cape Town, and caused considerable damage to many houses^ 
 In 1811, on the 2nd and on the 19th of June, shocks were felt at the same 
 place. On these last occasions the walls of some houses were cracked 
 from top to bottom, but no very material injury resulted. No life was lost, 
 though the people were in a state of extreme terror. 
 
 Not long after this, the small pox was brought into the colony again, and 
 swept off a great number of people. So dire was the visitation that in 
 Cape Town even the churches and shops were closed for a time. A white 
 flag was suspended over every house in which the disease prevailed, and 
 all persons leaving such houses were required to wear a piece of white 
 ribbon round their arms, so that others might avoid coming in contact 
 with them. This disease, following close after the earthquakes, was regarded 
 by the people as a punishment inflicted upon them by the Almighty for 
 their sins, and many considered it useless to take any precautions against 
 it. It was partly owing to this belief that the small pox in the olden times 
 made such dreadful ravages in South Africa. 
 
176 
 
 HI8T0KT OF THE CAPE COLOKT. 
 
 [ISIO 
 
 The settlement which had beeu made by Governor Janssens of those 
 Hottentots who bad taken part in the invasion of the colony in 1799 was 
 viewed by the colonists as a constant source of danger. At this time there 
 was a general belief that David Stuuri'\n, who had succeeded his brother 
 Klass as head of these people, was in lear;ue with the Kal3r chief Cui^gwa, 
 and that another raid into the colony was meditated. Contrary to the 
 express commands of the government, Stuusmax permitted a considerable 
 number of Cungwa's followers to take up their residence on his ground, 
 thus defeating the prime object for which the land had been granted to 
 the Jottentots, which was to keep them isolated from the Kaffirs. But 
 the immediate event that led to the breaking up of the location, and the 
 mode in which that step was carried out, were of Buch a nature as to create 
 a large amount of sympathy, in Er gland as well as in this colony, for 
 Stuurman and his people. In 1310 the chief was called upon by a 
 neighbouring farmer to give up two men who were alleged to be runaway 
 servants, and as he declined to do so, the farmer obtained the assistance 
 of a fieldcornet and party of armed burghers, with whom he proceeded 
 to the kraal. STur?/tf ai*, knowing that tb'^ claim was unjust, prepared to 
 meet force by force, upon which the fieldcornet withdrew and reported the 
 matter to the landdrost of lUiteirbage. A summons was then issued for tha 
 appearance of the chief b3iore the landdrost's conrt, arid as he did not 
 obey, it was resolved to arresj him. This was accordingly done, and he 
 was sent to Oape Town, irhere he was tried before the High '^ourt of Justice 
 on a charge of resisting the an^^horities of his district, and was sentenced 
 to penal servitude in chains for life. Some years afterwards he nianaged 
 to escape into Kaffirland, where he remained for a time in safety; but a 
 desire to see his children again overcoming his apprehensions of danger, 
 in 1819 he returned to the colony, was recaptured, and sent as a convict to 
 New South Wales. luany years later the circumstances connected with 
 his trial were brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, who ordered ^ is immediate release ; but these irstructions came 
 too late, as Stuurman had died in 1S30. Upon the arrest of the chief, the 
 clan was dispersed, the diSereut families being distributed as servants 
 among the farmers, and the tract of land they had occupied was turned 
 into a farm . 
 
 In 1811 Lord Calssdon carried out the plan of Commissioner De Mtst 
 with regard to Circuit Court. He issued instructions that two members 
 of the High Court of Justice should make a tcur annually through the 
 colony, and try all the important cases in each district ; bat in civil cases 
 an appeal from their decisions was left to the Court of Justice in Cape 
 Town. This measure tended greatly to the promotion of order in all parts 
 of the country, but its immediate effect was the creation of a large party 
 on the frontier hostile to the government. For several years previously 
 charges against various farmers of violence and even murder of Hottentots 
 had been made by some of the missionaries, a.l of which were now referred 
 
1811] 
 
 HI3T0ET or THE CAJPK COLOXT. 
 
 177 
 
 to the Commiaaion of Circuit. Between seventy and eighty of these 
 accusations came before the first circuit for investigation, some of which 
 remained undecided for three years. In no case was wilful murder proved ; 
 but several persons were convicted of aggravated assaults, and were punished 
 by fines and imprisonment, besides being compelled to pay the costs of the 
 prosecution. These trials created general indignation among the farmers 
 of the frontier : there was hardly one who had not a connection or a friend 
 implicated, and though only a few convictions took place, it was felt by 
 thtm as a grievance that the accusations made by the missionaries should 
 hare been even noticed. 
 
 At no former period had the colony enjoyed greater prosperity than 
 now. The rule of the Earl of Caledon was mild and benevolent towards the 
 colonists, there was no jealousy or national hatred manifested between 
 the Dutch and English, — in the country districts there were as yet no 
 English settlers, — while a military force of four to five thousand men 
 created a demand for supplies which promoted the pecuniary welfare of 
 the farmers. The salaries paid to government officials were in those days 
 Tcry large. The Governor received £12,000 per annum, the Lieutenant 
 Governor £3,000, the Secretary £3,000, the Deputy Secretary (salary and 
 perquisites) £3,000, the Collector of Customs £1,200, the Treasurer Geneml 
 £1,200, and the Auditor General £1,000. These salaries were fixed in 
 sterling money, but were paid in the paper currency of the colony reckoned 
 according to the current rate of exchange. 
 
 The continual thefts and acts of violence practised by the Kaffirs in the 
 Zuurv«ld had by this time become so unbearable, that in 1811 it was 
 determined to drive them all out of the colony, and a large force was 
 placed under command of Colonel Graham for that purpose. At the same 
 time, Landdrost Stockenstrom, of Graaff Reinet, was sent to apprise the 
 chief Ngqika that no enmity was intended towards him, but that hostile 
 operations would be conducted solely against Ndlambe, Cungwa, and the 
 other Kaffirs who insisted upon remaining within the colonial border, but 
 yet would not desist from plundering the colonists. With this assurance 
 Ngqika was satisfied, and that chief took no part in the transactions that 
 followed. The British force entered the Zuurveld in three divisions, the 
 right under Landdrost Cuyler, the left under Landdrost Stockenstrom, 
 and the centre under Captain Frazer, the Commander-in-chief being with 
 the last-named division. On the 28th of December, Landdrost Stockenstrom, 
 with about forty men, left his camp for the purpose of seeking an interview 
 with Colonel Graham. On their way to head quarters they fell in with a 
 body of Kaffirs of the Imindange clan, and the chivalrous landdrost, who 
 was well known to these people and had always beeu their friend, hoping 
 to be able to persuade them to retire without bloodshed, rode in amongst 
 them and dismounted. He was followed not without apprehension of 
 danger, by some ot his party ; but this frank conduct seemed to have the 
 affect of eecnrioff the good will of the Kaffirs, and a friendly intercourse 
 2a 
 
178 
 
 HTSTOET OF THE CAPE COLOKY. 
 
 [1811 
 
 followed. vSuddenly, intelligence was brought that the right and central 
 divisions of the British forces had commenced operations, and that blood 
 had already been shed. This report infuriated the Kaffirs, and with wild 
 yells they fell upon the little party, fourteen of whom, with the landdrost, 
 they cruelly put to death. The remainder owed their escape to th© 
 fleetness of their horses. This inhuman act provoked a terrible retaliatioc 
 From that day all who resisted were shot, their cx-ops were destroyed, 
 their kraals burnt down, and their cattle seized. No prisoners were 
 made, and the wounded and infirm were left to perish. The chief Oungwa, 
 who was ill and unable to get away, was slain near the present village of 
 Alexandria, where he had long been residing. The murder of the landdrost 
 and his companions was fully avenged. About twenty thousand Kaffirs, 
 with the chief Ndlambe, succeeded in making good their escape across 
 the Fish River. The forces employed in the expedition consisted of some 
 English troops, a Hottentot regiment of foot that had been raised by Sir 
 David Baird and which afterwards became the Cape Mounted Rifle Corps, 
 a body of burghers, and some Hottentot levies from the missionary 
 institution of Bethelsdorp. 
 
 To prevent the return of the Kaffirs, several militaiy posts were then 
 established on the frontier. The head quarters of the troops engaged in 
 this service were stationed in a central position, to which in August, 1812, 
 the name of Grahamstown was given, after the commanding officer. No 
 better place could have been selected for the site of a town. It is at the 
 source of the Kowie River on a spur of the Zuurberg, about twenty-five 
 miles from the sea in a straight line. Being on the second terrace, it is 
 nearly two thousand feet above the sea level, but has an abundant rainfall, 
 owing to the peculiar conformation of the mountains above it. The river 
 is here too small to yield a supply of water sufficient for a town, but the 
 construction of reservoirs remedied this defect. Its advantage as a military 
 position was owing to its being the centre of an irregular semicircle 
 described by the Fish River from north-west round to south-east, nearly 
 every curve being within a day's march. For several years the post 
 remained a mere military cantonment, but as soon as the Zuurveld was 
 occupied by European settlers, its advantageous site caused it to become 
 the principal town in the eastern part of the colony. 
 
 On the 30th of May, 1815, one of the most disastrous shipwrecks ever 
 known on our coast occun'ed. The East India Company's ship Arniston 
 was lost on Cape L'Agulhas, and three hundred and forty-four persons, 
 among whom were Lord and Lady Moleswoeth, perished. 
 
 Lord Chahles Somerset, on his arrival, found the farmers in the interior 
 murmuring and discontented. They grumbled at some new taxes, and 
 made a grievance of a law enacted in August, 1813, by which their farms 
 were to be surveyed and quitrent charged upon them according to their 
 Talue, the beginning of the system under which most of the land in the 
 colony is held at the present day. This regulation was really to their 
 
1815] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 179 
 
 advantage, as it gave them permanent possession of farms of which before 
 that time they were only lessees, and was designed to encourage the 
 improvement of property; but they could not be persuaded that the 
 government had no sinister object in view in changing the old custom of 
 land tenure. They reflected more upon the increased amount of money 
 which they were called upon to pay, and the diminished size of their farms, 
 now reduced on an average to rather less than five thousand acres each, 
 than upon the advantages held out of being able to subdivide, let, or sell 
 their possessions, or to improve them for the benefit of their successors. 
 Another cause of discontent was that complaints made against them by 
 Hottentots were investigated by the different courts, and that they were 
 occasionally mulcted in fines for acts which they believed their colour gave 
 them every right to commit. This disaffection culminated in the year 
 1815 in an attempt at rebellion on the part of some of the most daring 
 among them. One Frederick Bezuidenhout, a resident in that part of the 
 valley of the Baviaan's River now known as Glen Lynden, was summoned 
 to appear before the circuit court upon a charge of ill treatment of a 
 Hottentot, and as he failed to attend, a warrant for his apprehension was 
 issued, and a small party of soldiers was sent to assist the officer of the 
 court in the execution of his duty. Upon the arrival of this force at 
 Bezuidenhout's house, he refused to surrender, and threatened to shoot 
 the first man who would dare to lay hands upon him. The oflicer 
 endeavoured to arrest him, but with one of his servants he managed to 
 escape into a jungle close at hand. After an hour's search, the fugitives 
 were discovered in a cave, where a quantity of ammunition and some rifles 
 had previously been stored, obviously with a view to make resistance in 
 case of an event like the present. The gleam of the sun upon a projecting 
 rifle barrel first drew attention to the cave, the entrance to which was 
 entirely concealed. The ofiicer again called upon Bezuidenhout to surrender, 
 but once more he declined to do so. A volley of bullets was then poured 
 into the cave, and Bezuidenhout fell, mortally wounded. The servant 
 escaped unhurt, and was afterwards tried for participation in resistance 
 to the execution of the law, but was acquitted on the ground that he was 
 acting under compulsion. The soldiers had hardly left the scene of the 
 tragedy, when the relatives and friends of the dead man gathered together 
 and resolved to attack the nearest military posts and endeavour to drive 
 the British forces from the frontier. Cornelius Faber, a brother-in-law of 
 Bezuidenhout, who had formerly lived in Kaffirland and was well acquainted 
 with Ngqika, at once proceeded to that chief's kraal and requested aid,, 
 offering in return possession of the Zuurveld and a share of whatever booty 
 they might obtain. Ngqika, however, wisely declined the offer. With his 
 natural shrewdness, he observed that he was sitting between two fires, and. 
 wished to see in what direction the wind would blow before ho moved. 
 
 The insurgents chose Hendrik Prinslo and John Bezuidenhout to be 
 their leaders, and then sent messages to the farmers of other parts of the- 
 
180 
 
 HTSTOET or THE CAPI COLO^T. 
 
 [1816 
 
 colony asking their assistance in expelling the English from the conntrj'. 
 The anthorities were soon informed of what was taking place, whereupon 
 preparations for suppressing the insurrection were immediately made. 
 Before the insurgents were aware that their treasonable proceedings were 
 known by the government, one of their leaders, Hendrik Pkinslo, was 
 arrested and conveyed to a military post on the bank of the Great Fish 
 River, He was taken at his farm, when in the act of preparing to leave 
 for the rebel camp. Two days afterwards between three and four hundred 
 armed men appeared before the post, and demanded that their leader should 
 be given up and the position surrendered. But the arrival of a body of 
 troops on the same day relieved it of danger, and two days afterwards, 
 Colonel CuYLEB, landdrost of Uitenhage and military commandant of the 
 frontier, arrived there also with a strong force. 
 
 Communications with the insurgents were then opened up with a view 
 of preventing bloodshed. A loyal burgher, Field-Commandant William 
 Nel, visited their camp and endeavoured to open their eyes to the perilous 
 position in which they had placed themselves, and tried to induce them to 
 throw themselves upon the mercy of the government. To counteract any 
 impression this worthy burgher might make, the rebel leader, calling all 
 his followers together at Slagter's Nek, caused them to form a circle and 
 then exacted from them an oath that they would remain faithful to each 
 other and never lay down their arms till the British were expelled from the 
 frontier districts. As soon as this became known, further attempts at 
 pacification were considered useless, and a movement was made by a 
 combined body of troops and loyal burghers, which resulted in the surrender 
 of about thirty of the rebels and the retreat of the remainder into the 
 fastnesses of the Baviaan's River. From these strongholds, however, they 
 were soon dislodged, when most of them dispersed ; but a few of the more 
 desperate contrived to keep together, and fled towards Kaffirland. These 
 were surrounded in a deep kloof of the Winterberg by a detachment of the 
 Cape Corps, when, as they refused to surrender, it became necessary to fire 
 upon them. Their leader, John Bezuidenhout, was shot dead, and several 
 of the party were severely wounded, but they were not seized until one 
 soldier was killed and another disabled. Eight prisoners were then made, 
 one of them a woman and another a boy fourteen years of age, both of 
 whom were arrested with guns in their hands. With their capture ended 
 one of the most insane attempts at rebellion ever recorded. 
 
 The prisoners taken on this occasion, with some fifty or sixty others who 
 in the meantime had been apprehended, were sent to Uitenhage to be tried 
 by a special commission from the High Court of Justice. After a preliminary 
 examination, thirty -nine were selected as the most culpable, and were put 
 upon their trial for high treason. Of these, Hendrik Prixslo, Stephanus 
 Bothma, Cornelius Faber, Theunis de Klerk, Abraham Bothma, and J. 
 Kruger, were sentenced to death. The others were sentenced to witness 
 the execution of their comrades, and, according to the degree of their 
 
1816] 
 
 HlBTOttT OV THJI CAPE COLOirr. 
 
 181 
 
 criminaUty, to be banished from the frontier districts with forfeitore of 
 their lands, to be imprisoned, or fined. Many of the prisoners were 
 connected with respectable families in the colony, who had taken no part 
 in the insurrection, and for whom therefore universal sympathy was 
 naturally expressed'. The six sentenced to death had for years been noted 
 for their antagonism to government, some of them had even been living 
 among the Kaffirs purposely to be free from all restraint. 
 
 On the 6th of March, 1816, the extreme sentence of the law was carried 
 out upon five of the criminals, Kruger's sentence having been commuted 
 by the Governor into transportation for life. The place selected for the 
 execution was the spot where the insurgents had taken their treasonable 
 oath. Hopes were entertained to the last by the friends of the condemned 
 that their lives would be spared, and on the day of execution a great number 
 of people from all parts of the frontier assembled there to beg for mercy^ 
 But the government felt that it was necessary to show these people, so 
 long accustomed to anarchy, that they must be obedient to the laws, and 
 that mercy in such cases as this could not be granted. The execution itself 
 was an unusually dreadful one. When the platform was removed, four of 
 the unfortunate men fell to the ground, and the spectators, imagining this 
 to be an intervention of Providence in favour of the condemned, were with 
 difficulty kept back by the military lines, and drowned all other noise by a 
 continued shout for mercy. The officer in command, who had of course no 
 voice in the matter, was compelled in the exercise of his duty to see the 
 sentence carried out. From that day order was maintained on the frontier, 
 and to all outward appearance the farmers were loyal ; but in their hearts 
 they preserved the memory of this event, which to them appeared an act 
 of cruelty and oppression, and which was one of the causes of that feeling 
 of animosity towards the English government which resulted in after years 
 in their voluntary expatriation. 
 
 After the general peace of 1815 a great reduction was made in the gar- 
 rison of the colony. Up to this time trade had been overdone, and when 
 BO many customers were withdrawn great depression resulted. The same 
 thing occurred in Cape Town then that has often since happened in different 
 frontier towns : great mushroom houses, that had sprung up solely on 
 account of the presence of a large military force, fell as soon as the troops 
 left, and for a time all hope of better days seemed gone. It required many 
 repetitions of the same lesson before the colonists could be brought to 
 nnderstand that a trade depending upon a garrison is subject to dangerous 
 fluctuations, and that the true commerce of the colony depends solely upon 
 the exchange of its productions for those of other countries. 
 
 The boundary of the colony to the northward remained as it had been 
 fixed by Governor Van Plettenberg ; but as far as the great river boera 
 were now to be found, occupying the choicest situations in the desert. 
 These men were refugees from the colony, who hoped to live in their own 
 way Wyo»<3 ibe reach of the law. Tbey could not go there without aomiag 
 
182 
 
 HISTOBY OF the' CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1818 
 
 into collision with the Bushmen, who were previously the sole occupants 
 of those regions, and who respected the right of the new comers in cattle 
 no more than the boers did theirs in land. Commandos were then organized, 
 and though the natives held their ground for a while, they were eventually 
 exterminated in some parts, and driven out of others. The London Society 
 had sent missionaries to reside in the country, and some hordes of 
 Bushmen were collected together at a couple of stations, when in 1816 the 
 teachers received a peremptory order from the government to return 
 within the boundaries of the colony. The only reason for this command 
 was the hostile attitude assumed by some of the boers towards the mis- 
 sionaries, who had endeavoured in some degree to act as protectors of the 
 people at their stations. It was believed tliat if they were permitted to 
 remain beyond the border, they would become involved in disturbances, 
 which would make it imperative on the Government to interfere in their 
 behalf, — a course of action the authorities had the strongest desire to 
 avoid. Thus the policy of non-intercourse, which at this time was attempted 
 to be enforced, waa in reality a policy that devoted the Bushmen to 
 destruction. 
 
 In 1818 the Public Library in Cape Town was established. For some 
 years its management was confided to a body of trustees appointed by the 
 Governor, and it was maintained by a tax levied on the whole community; 
 but in 1830 an ordinance was issued abolishing the tax and giving to 
 subscribers the right of electing a committee of management. The valuable 
 books bequeathed by Mr. Von Dessin in 1761 in trust to the Consistory of 
 the Dutch Reformed Church, to serve as the nucleus of a public library, 
 are kept in the same building, but remain under the charge of the Consis- 
 tory, who provide for their preservation out of a fund bequeathed by the 
 donor of the books. In 1860, Sir George Grey made another valuable 
 donation, consisting of five thousand volumes, comprising among other 
 works a unique collection of the native literature of ISTew Zealand and South 
 Africa. This endowment is also kept separate from the general library, 
 but is open to visitors as well as subscribers. Additions of costly works of 
 reference, as well as of the current literature of the time, have been made 
 yearly since its establishment, and the Library now contains nearly fifty 
 thousand books, forming the most valuable collection to be found in any 
 British colony. While nearly all of our towns of any importance are now 
 furnished with public libraries of their own, the one here referred to is in 
 a special manner the property of the colony, and is therefore called the 
 South African Public Library. 
 
 The village of Beaufort West, in the Great Karroo, which is soon to be 
 connected with Cape Town by rail, was founded in 1819. The site was 
 formerly a farm belonging to a grazier named Abraham de Klerk, from 
 whom it was purchased by the government, as being the best situation in 
 the district for the establishment- of public offices. A deputy landdrosib was 
 .fitationed there, ind the village soon grew to'be S-ii important 'centre of ti^e. 
 
1818] 
 
 HISTORY OF TTTE CAPE COLONY 
 
 188 
 
 At this place fairs were established for the purpose of dealing with the 
 Griqnas, Bechuanas, and Korannas, who brought ivory, skins, ard cattle, 
 from their country beyond the Orange River, to exchange for articles of 
 British manufacture. 
 
 The period from 1806 to 1819 was marked on the whole by progress. 
 For the purpose of affording legal protection to the colonists, in as great a 
 degree as possible, a new division, that of George, was formed out of 
 the eastern part of Swellendara and the western part of Uitenhage. A site 
 for the landdrost's residence was selected on a plain at the foot of a 
 mountain range, facing the sea, from which it is distant six or seven miles. 
 Hard by are the largest forests in South Africa, which stretch along the 
 coast to the eastward. This part of the colony, being fertile and well 
 watered, had attracted a considerable population, and the appointment of a 
 landdrost had become necessary to preserve order among the woodcutters 
 and to collect the revenue derived from licenses to fell timber. In addition 
 to Beaufort West, deputy landdrosts' oflSces were established at Caledon, 
 nearly midway between Stellenbosch and Swellendam, at Cradock, on the 
 upper waters of the Fish River, and about fifty-five miles east of Graaff 
 Reinet, at Clanwilliam, about seventy-five miles north of Tulbagh and 
 forty miles from the Atlantic coast, and at Grahamstown. By this means, 
 and by the establishment of circuit courts, criminals in even the most 
 distant parts of the colony were brought to justice, and respect for the 
 laws was maintained. The system of agriculture was being gradually 
 improved by the introduction of better implements, and wool now figured 
 in the exports, though to the amount of only a few thousand pounds 
 weight annually. But the event of this period which more than any 
 other has had a lasting influence upon the condition of the colony was the 
 great extension of missionary enterprise. A grand attempt to christianize 
 and civilize the natives was made, and stations for this purpose were 
 scattered over the land. In 1808, the Moravian institution at Groenekloof, 
 about thirty miles north of Cape Town, was founded, and in 1818 the same 
 society established a mission at Enon, on a little feeder of the Sunday 
 River. In 1816 the Wesleyan body commenced its missionary labours in 
 South Africa, by founding a station at Kamiesberg in Little Namaqualand. 
 The London Society had at this time, exclusive of Bethelsdorp, stations at 
 Zuurbrak, in the Swellendam district, Pella, in Little Namaqualand, and 
 Pacaltsdorp, close to the village of George, besides which it had agents 
 working among the slaves and other colonred people in different parts of 
 the colony. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 KATPIB aiSTORY, IKCLUDI.VG THK WAB Of 1819. 
 
 O^ealogxcal Table of the Principal Descendanti of Barahg. 
 
 Kakabe. 
 
 Mlau, Cebo,* Ndlambe. 
 
 f * \ I f ^ > 
 
 Ngqika, NiiMBo.f Mdushane. Mqati, Mhala- 
 
 ( ' ^ I , * ^ 
 
 Sandile, Maqoma, Tyali. Anta. Siwani, Siyolo. 
 
 * Cebo died without sons, and was succeeded by Mdushai«e, bod of 
 
 Ndlambe. 
 
 t Ntimbo left no sons, and was succeeded by Anta, son of Ng^^ika. 
 
 Of the chiefs here mentioned, Sandile and Siwani were not bom until 
 after the date of the occurrences recorded in this chapter. Siyolo and 
 Anta were then boys of only five or six summers. Maqoma, Tyali, Mqayi, 
 and Mhala were young men of twenty years of age, or thereabouts. Mqayi, 
 though the highest in rank of the sons of Ndlambe, never attained to much 
 power or distinction, as he was wanting in ability. His brother MhaL4 
 therefore easily succeeded in making himself the heir apparent to the chief- 
 tainship of the tribe. None of these young chiefs except Maqoma play any 
 part in the events of this date, but their names are given here, as they come 
 prominently forward in later years, that the relationship between them and 
 the great actors of the preceding generations may be seen at a glance. 
 
 The sons of Cungwa were Pato, Kama, and Kobi. The first of these was 
 a young man at this time, the last two were mere lads. Their fortunes 
 varied with those of Ndlambe, as their clans were under his protection. 
 
 After the expulsion of the Kaffirs from the Zuurveld in 1811, farms of 
 four thousand acres in extent were offered on perpetual quitrent to any 
 colonists who would settle there. A few individuals embraced this offer, 
 but most of them soon became disheartened and removed again. Though 
 instant death was the penalty denounced and inflicted upon every Kaffir 
 found within the colonial boundary, small parties managed to elude the 
 Tigilance of the troops and burgher commandos, and kept the country in 
 auch a disturbed state that it was impossible to carry on agricultural or 
 pastoral operations with any prospect of success. 
 
 In 1817, the Governor, Lord Charlbs Somerset, proceeded to the Kat 
 Hirer, where the Rev. Mr. Williams, of the London Missionary Society, 
 YuA fised bi!^ re«denoe during the preooding year. At the mission bonee 
 
1818] 
 
 HTSTOBT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 185 
 
 he had an interview with the chief Ngqika, and entered into a treaty with 
 him to the effect that any kraal to which stolen cattle could be traced 
 should be held responsible for restitution. This was in accordance with 
 Kaffir custom, and cannot fairly be considered unjust when applied to 
 people in their condition. But the mode in which it was afterwards carried 
 out was in the highest degree objectionable. Ngqika may possibly have 
 believed that reference would be made in every case to the Kaffir courts 
 of law, but he was then in such a position with regard to neighboaring 
 tribes that he was compelled to court the friendship of the colonial govern- 
 ment, and agree to any proposals made to him. Lord Chaeles Somerset, 
 believing that he was the only rightful hereditary ruler, treated him as 
 a king, while the other chiefs were not even noticed in the treaty, though 
 Ngqika himself attempted to explain that they were not his subjects nor 
 in any way under his control. The attention paid to him excited the 
 jealousy of the others, who, on that very account, became more prone than 
 ever to permit depredations upon the colonists. 
 
 In reality. Hints a was then, according to Kaffir ideas, the head of the nation, 
 and Ngqika, though the principal chief of the younger branch, was almost 
 constantly at war with his neighbours. His career hitherto had been such 
 as to bring him into general detestation. His intrigue with Tutula and 
 the early wars with Ndlambe, which resulted in that chief's flight, have 
 already been related. Afterwards he attacked the Gcalekas, worsted them, 
 and made prisoner of Hintsa, then a mere boy, but set him free again from 
 motives of policy. There was peace in the land for a short time, but when 
 Ndlambe was driven back over the Fish River in 1811, troubles commenced 
 once more. The adherents of each plundered the others of cattle, and 
 petty skirmishes became frequent, until at length a battle attended with 
 frightful carnage took place. 
 
 In 1818, Major Eraser, with four or five hundred men, was sent into 
 Kaffirland to recover some cattle traced to one of ISTdlambe's kraals, for which 
 that chief had refused to make compensation, and as he could not obtain 
 those he was in quest of, he seized indiscriminately all the herds within his 
 reach, and returned to the colony. Ngqika's enemies now denounced him 
 everywhere as the originator of the commando-reprisal system, and called 
 upon all true sons of Rarabe to assist them in avenging their wrongs 
 upon him. The defection of a powerful clan greatly weakened the Ngqika 
 side, and correspondingly strengthened the enemy. Cebo, right hand son 
 of E.AEABE, having died without issue during Ndlambe's regency, had been 
 succeeded by Mdushane, a son of the regent. This chief, whose abilities 
 were greater than those of any other in Kaffirland, had hitherto been at 
 variance with his father, but the old councillors of Ndlambe succeeded at 
 this time in effecting a reconciliation between them, and the Imidushane 
 at once changed sides in the contest. Several of the smaller clans also 
 were induced to range themselves under Ndlambe's standard by the advice 
 of a man whose influence was felt far and wide in Kaffirland. This was 
 
 2 b 
 
186 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE C0L0>'1. 
 
 ri'8i» 
 
 Makana, one of those extraordinary cliaracters who appear occasionally on. 
 the stage of savage as well as of civilized society. By the colonists he wa* 
 called LiNKScn, and by some of the Kaffirs Nxele, both words meaning left- 
 handed. Possessed of great powers of mind, he had framed a creed for 
 himself, by combining what he could learn of Christianity with different 
 native superstitions, and had announced to his countrymen that he was in 
 communication with the spirit world. It was he who taught them to bury 
 their dead, for before his time the corpses of common people were merely 
 dragged away from the kraals and exposed to be devoured by carrion birds^ 
 and beasts of prey. His bearing was that of a man who claimed superiority 
 even over chiefs, and who knew that his orders would be obeyed. Unlike- 
 all others of his countrymen in their uncivilized state, he scorned to beg^ 
 but he claimed as a right whatever he required. On one occasion he 
 demanded an ox from a rich man, and was refused. Ndlambe instantly 
 caused everything the man had to be seized, and the whole tribe apprehend- 
 ed that some calamity would befall them on account of the offender's 
 presumption, until Makana assured them that he was satisfied with the' 
 punishment inflicted. Ordinary witch-doctors often possess this power, 
 but Makana cannot in justice be ranked as one of these. He aimed at 
 moulding a nation into form, by uniting its fragments under a common 
 head, and giving it nobler aspirations than it had before. He was a hero 
 among his countrymen, and to this day his memory is held in reverence 
 hy thousands of them. 
 
 Ngqika's residence at that time was by the head waters of the Chumie, 
 in one of the most beautiful valleys of South Africa. Above his kraals 
 rose the grand mountain range of the Amatolas, the highest dome of which 
 is yet known by his name, while the hill sides and all the low lands along 
 the margin of the river were one great corn-field. A dense population 
 resided in the valley, which was as renowned for fertility then among the 
 Kaffirs as it is now among the Europeans and Fingocs who have succeeded 
 them in its possession. The stream, that springs in cascades from one of 
 the thick forests which clothe the deep kloofs of the Amatolas, was termed 
 the river of sweet waters, and it still preserves its right to that title. The 
 Kaffir has a keen eye for beauty of situation, and here his love of grand 
 mountain scenery was gratified to the full. In possession of such a land, 
 the tribe of Ngqika might have lived in comfort and tranquillity, if their 
 chief had been a wise and prudent man, but he had brought desolation 
 upon others, and now it was his turn to suffer. 
 
 Makana formed a plan to draw him away from his kraals, into an ambush 
 where his enemies would be certain of victory. For this purpose a large 
 party was sent out by night to seize the cattle belonging to one of his 
 subordinate chieftains, and then to fall back to the eastward. The 
 stratagem succeeded. Ngqika called his councillors together to devise a 
 fichemc of retaliation. One of his great men advised him to be cautious, 
 and not to erosft tho Keiskama under any circumstances, for fear of being 
 
1818] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPfi COLONY. 
 
 187 
 
 led into i trap. The one who gare this advice was Ntsik\n\, a Christian 
 •and the compoHer of the hjmn which bears his name. He was a man of 
 great influence among the Ngqika clans, and must hare liad a powerful 
 intellect, if we may judge from the words of his hymn, a strange wild chant 
 which iH capable of stirring the feelings of his countrymen more than any 
 other poetry yet written. Many of his speeches have been preserved verbatim 
 by KafRr antiquaries, and among others his advice to the chief on this 
 occasion : " Listen, son of Mlau, to the words of the servant of God, and do 
 not cross the Xesi. I see the Amangqika scattered on the mountains; I 
 ■see their heads spread out on the ground. The enemy is watching there, 
 and defeat awaits your plumed ones. Are there not cattle left, even many 
 cattle, the cattle of the great chief?" Ngqika. himself was disposed to be 
 guided by Ntsikana's advice; but one Maxxoyi, a warrior of note, urged 
 them not to listen to a prater who never went to battle, and did nothing else 
 but teach people to forsake the customs of their ancestors. This was in 
 allusion to Ntkikaxa's habit of itinerating among the people for the purpose 
 of preaching Christianity, a practice which he followed from the time of his 
 conversion through the agency of Mr. Williams to the day before his death. 
 All the other councillors sided with Manxoyi in recommending a raid into 
 Ndlambe's territory, and this was agreed upon. The line of march even 
 was settled, and was at once made known to Makana by his spies. 
 
 The warriors set out from the Chumie before sunrise of a winter morning, 
 and marched until they reached the Debe Neck. Then, on the plain belo-vr 
 their feet they saw the Amandlambe arrayed for battle and spread out like 
 a great red carpet. The plain is called by Europeans the Kommetje Flats, 
 from a great number of saucer-like cavities in its surface. By the Kaffiri 
 these depressions are called Amalinde, and from this circumstance the 
 battle of that day is still spoken of by them as The Battle of Amalinde 
 The Kaffir warriors are always divided into two bands. Of these, one is 
 composed of veterans, whose heads are adorned with feathers of the blue 
 crane, as a mark of distinction. They are supposed to attack those only 
 who have similar marks 6f honour, and hold every one else in disdain. The 
 other division is composed of young recruits, who go by the name of Round 
 Heads. At the commencement of an action, if the plumed ones come in 
 contact with round heads, they will merely protect themselves with their 
 shields without using their assegais, but in the heat of battle all such 
 distinctions are forgotten. As soon as the enemy came in sight, Ndlambe 
 sent his round heads up the mourxtain side to meet them, but these were 
 easily driven back, and the Ngqikas came rushing down after them, yelling 
 defiance. This was all that was desired, for now the plumed ones sprang 
 to their feet, and the fight commenced in earnest. Maqoma, the eldest of 
 Ngqika's sons, in after years to be known as the bitter foo of the white man> 
 was the hero of his father's side in this the first battle in which he was 
 ever engaged. He led his braves right into the centre of the field, aud 
 charged again aud again ;it the thickest mass of the foe. At IcngLli ho 
 
18S 
 
 IIISTOIIY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1818 
 
 was so sorely wounded that he was compelled to leave the field, narrowly 
 escaping being made a prisoner as he did so. The bravest on each side 
 engaged hand to hand with each other, and as soon as the plumes of one lay 
 low on the ground, another rushed forward to take his place. It was not 
 long past midday when the battle began, and all the afternoon it lasted, 
 till about sunset the Xgcpkas were driven from the field with dreadful 
 slaughter. As long as they could see, the Ndlambes pursued them, and 
 when darkness closed in, the victors returned to the scene of carnage and 
 kindled great fires, by the light of which they sought their wounded enemies 
 and put them to death with brutal ferocity. The night was bitterly cold, 
 and hundreds of poor wretches, who managed to crawl out of sight, 
 were found next morning dead and dying round the battle field. From 
 the time that Rarabe crossed the Kei, no such desperate combat had been 
 known among the border tribes, and it is yet an event frequently referred 
 to by the aged among them. 
 
 Ngqika fled westward to the Koonap, but his enemies appeared to be 
 satisfied with the punishment they had inflicted upon him, for they neither 
 followed up their victory at once nor showed any disposition to molest him 
 afterwards. But they took the precaution to strengthen their own position, 
 by drawing all the minor tribes in the neighbourhood into a confederacy 
 with them. These small clans are always eager to unite themselves with 
 the winning party in any strife, and hence a successful battle usually brings 
 a large accession of force to the victors. 
 
 Ngqika now appealed to the colonial government for aid, and as he was 
 considered a useful ally and had been treated with as the sovereign ruler 
 of Kafiirland, the Governor resolved to compel the confederates to submit 
 to his authority. Accordingly, in December, 1818, a force of between three 
 and four thousand burghers and soldiers, under Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Brereton, was sent to his assistance, when the Ndlambc clans and their 
 allies were attacked and driven from their villages with great loss of life. 
 The British commander found it impossible to restrain the savage passions 
 of the Ngqikas, who were mad with excitement and joy at being able to 
 take revenge upon their enemies, and were unwilling to show any mercy. 
 As soon as possible, therefore. Colonel Brereton withdrew his forces, 
 taking with him as spoil twenty-three thousand head of cattle. Of these, 
 nine thousand were handed over to Ngqika, some were distributed among 
 the farmers from whom cattle had been stolen, and the remainder were 
 sold to defray the expenses of the expedition. 
 
 This invasion of their country was considered by the confederate chiefs 
 an unwarrantable aggression, as they had declared that they were anxious 
 to remain at peace with the English, and merely claimed the right of 
 settling the internal affairs of the country without foreign interference. 
 As soon, therefore, as they could rally their forces, they prepared to attack 
 the colony. Makana, who up to that time had exerted himself to cultivate 
 frieadly relations with the white man, now spoke of nothing but war. He 
 
1819] 
 
 nisTonr of the caie colony. 
 
 189 
 
 encouraged the tribes by predicting that they would be aided supernaturally, 
 mid that their enemies would be driven into the sea before them. Acting 
 under his direction, they crossed the Fish River and swept over the 
 country as far westward as Algoa Bay. Several small military outposts 
 were taken, some patrols of soldiers were cut off, the Zuurveld was cleared 
 of the few farmers it contained, Theopolis and even Grahamstown were 
 attacked. 
 
 The garrison of Grahamstown consisted of some companies of the 38th 
 regiment of foot, a detachment of the Royal African Corps, and part of the 
 Cape Corps, three or four hundred men in all. This force was considered 
 by Makana so small as to warrant him in attacking the town. He was 
 made acquainted with the exact strength of the garrison, and with every 
 circumstance of importance that transpired by a spy who professed to be 
 an adherent of Ngqika, and who was employed as an interpreter. This 
 man, upon whom no suspicion rested, easily found means to obtain 
 whatever information he required, and to communicate it to the enemy. 
 Makana sent a message to Colonel Willsuire, who commanded in Grahams- 
 town, to the effect that he intended to take breakfast with him the next 
 morning ; but the Colonel took no notice of this, fancying it to be mere 
 bravado. 
 
 The attack was made soon after sunrise on the morning of the 22nd of 
 April, 1819, by between nine and ten thousand men. Colonel Willshire 
 being informed that the enemy was close at hand, left sixty men to defend 
 the barracks, and drew up the remainder of the garrison outside the town. 
 The Kaffirs formed into three columns, and upon a signal being given by 
 their leader, rushed forward with fierce war-cries. Two of these masses, 
 composed of the round heads, and led by Mdushane, hurled themselves 
 upon Colonel Willsuire's lines, but the soldiers stood firm till they were 
 within a few paces, and then poured a deadly volley of musketry into them. 
 This checked the advance for a moment, and immediately the troops 
 charged in their turn, and put the Kaffirs to flight. The heaviest of the 
 three columns, composed of the veterans, was directed against the barracks, 
 and was led by Makana in person. He had given his followers orders to 
 break their assegai shafts short off, and to close in a hand to hand combat. 
 Lieutenant Cartwrigiit received the enemy with a discharge of musketry, 
 but they seemed regardless of death when under Makana's eye, and pressed 
 eagerly on. The soldiers, fighting under cover, could not be reached by 
 their assegais ; but the Kaffirs were so superior in number that they might 
 have succeeded in breaking down all obstacles, had it not been for the 
 assistance given to the English by a party of Hottentot hunters who 
 happened to be in the town. These were excellent marksmen, and soon 
 picked off several of the best Kaffir leaders. And now some field pieces 
 were brought to bear upon the dense masses of the assailants, and played 
 upon them with terrible effect. They broke and fled, carrying their leader 
 along with them, and leaving at least five hundred of their bravest men 
 
190 
 
 HISTQRT OF THE CAPS COLOiS'Y. 
 
 [181^ 
 
 dead on the spot,* while nearly a thousand more were so hadly wounded that 
 they died before they could reach their own country. The English loss was 
 only three killed and five wounded. The spy, who had given Makai^a 
 information of the strength of the garrison, was in Grahamstown when the 
 attack was made, and joined the column that attempted to storm the bar- 
 racks. During the engagement he was made prisoner, and was immediately 
 shot. 
 
 The mission station of Theopolis had been repeatedly attacked by small 
 bands of the invaders, but the Hottentots who resided there, though unaided 
 by troops, had managed to maintain their position. The main object of the 
 Kaffirs was to take Grahamstown, then the head-quarters of the troops on 
 the frontier, and hence only small parties were detached for other purposes. 
 "When driven from that place, they at once abandoned the contest, and 
 retrcaied across the Fish River as rapidly as possible. 
 
 Every available burgher in the colony was now called into service, and 
 an overwhelming force was sent into Kaffirland in two divisions, one under 
 Colonel WiLLSiiiRE, the other under Landdrost Stockenstrom (a son of the 
 landdrost who was killed by the Kaffirs in 1811), for the purpose of 
 destroying the power of the confederates. The parti zans of Ndlambe were 
 driven out of the country they had occupied, which lay along the coast 
 between the Keiskama and Buffalo rivers, many of them were killed, and 
 their cattle, numbering about thirty thousand head, were seized. The 
 Gcalekas being in alliance with them, they had a secure retreat to fall back 
 upon, otherwise it is likely those clans would have passed out of sight 
 altogether. A prohibition was then issued against their occupying the 
 country again, and the commandos, having chastised them to the full extent 
 of their power, returned to the colony. The chiefs being still alive and at 
 liberty, large rewards were offered for their apprehension, but no one was 
 base enough to betray them. Makana now performed an act that should 
 have entitled him to the respect of all brave men. Knowing that as long 
 as he remained at large the Governor would not agree to terms of peace, 
 on the 15th of August, 1819, he voluntarily surrendered to Landdrost 
 Stockenstrom, upon assurance that his life would be spared. His bravery 
 and magnanimity made him deserving of a better fate than was awarded 
 to him. He was banished to Robben Island, and was drowned on the 
 following Christmas when attempting to make his escape in a boat. But 
 the generation to which he belonged passed away and another took its place 
 before his countrymen could be brought to believe that he was dead. When 
 
 *NoTB. — The above is derived principally from official sources. Captain STaEXCii, 
 ■who was one of the defenders of Grahamstown, in a comiuvniication to the Cape 
 Monthly Magazine in 1876, sbtb that about two thousand Kafllr warriors strewed 
 the field of battle. According to Captain Harding's account as quoted by Thomp- 
 son in his valuable work, upwards of thirteen liuudrcd were left dead on the ground. 
 
1819] 
 
 HT8T0RT or TITE CAPE COLOIfT. 
 
 191 
 
 told that he had been drowned, they would reply that it was false, as 
 Makana could not die. Long years afterwards his son had a small tract 
 of land near King William's Town given to him, in return for faithful 
 services performed for the English, and there ho now lives as a petty chief 
 with a little clan of followers. But for fifty years, under every change of 
 fortune, as a homeless fugitive, a policeman in the white man's pay, or the 
 acknowledged headman of a location, he clung to the hope of his father's 
 reappearance as a mighty conqueror. It was not until 1870 that the mats 
 and ornaments of Makana, carefully preserved during all that period, were 
 buried, and every expectation of his coming again was lost. Such was the 
 impression this man made upon his countrymen, and such was the wonderful 
 faith they had in his power. With Makana's surrender, hostilities ceased, 
 and the burgher commandos were immediately disbanded. 
 
 At the close of the war, the tract of country between the Koonap and 
 Great Fish rivers was annexed to the colony, and Forts Beaufort and Will- 
 shire were built beyond the frontier. An agreement was then made with 
 Ngqika that the remainder of the country between the Great Fish and the 
 Keiskama should be cleared of inhabitants and remain unoccupied, so as to 
 form a neutral territory between the two races. The object in this was to 
 prevent all intercourse between the Kaffirs and the colonists, but it was 
 soon found to be a failure, though very heavy punishments were denounced 
 against any one who should enter the neutral territory from either side. 
 The same restrictive system had been tried in the first days of the colony, 
 and with a like result. The profits of illicit trade were so great that men 
 were always found prepared to run the risk of detection. English troops 
 now guarded the frontier, but in spite of their vigilance, communication 
 was constantly carried on, and large numbers of cattle were obtained in 
 exchange for beads, copper wire, and cutlery. In course of time, it became 
 evident that there was greater danger of a collision to be apprehended 
 from this contraband traffic than from legal intercourse, and the restrictions 
 were withdrawn. But now, to such an extent was the policy of non-inter- 
 course attempted to be enforced, that even missionaries were prevented 
 from settling among the Kaffirs. Mr. Williams died in August, 1818, and 
 the government refused to sanction the appointment of a successor to his 
 irork. 
 
 It was with great reluctance that Ngqika consented to so large a district 
 being depopulated, but he knew the Governor's proposal was equivalent to 
 a command which he must obey. It was necessary to preserve at any price 
 the friendship of the English, — the children of Nonibe, as he called them 
 ever since the time when they went to his assistance after the battle of 
 Amalinde. For, beaten and humiliated as Ndlambe and his confederates 
 were, they still refused to acknowledge him as a superior, and wore ready 
 to fall upon him again if he was left to his own resources alone. They, of 
 course, denied that he had any right to make such an arrangement, and 
 were more embittered than ever against him on that account. 
 
192 
 
 nrSTOBT OF THE CAPE COLOJTT. 
 
 [1819 
 
 After a year or two the government employed as its agents and representa- 
 tives among the Xgqikas two or three missionaries, who were pflad to enter 
 Kaffirland in that capacity, since they were not permitted to go as the 
 representatives of mission societies. These men were not long in discover- 
 ing the blunder that had been made, and immediately communicated to 
 the Governor an accurate knowledge of the existing state of affairs among 
 the tribes. Some modifications of the restrictive system were then made. 
 The country was opened to mission work, and different Societies at once 
 sent their agents into the field. The Wesleyans founded their first station 
 near the kraal of Pato. an ally of Ndlamb?. and were soon brought into 
 contact with the different chiefs of the confederacy. Through the agency 
 of the Rev. Mr. Shaw, a nreeting took place between these chiefs and the 
 Commander of the Forces on the frontier, at which arrangements mutually 
 satis:;actory were agreed to. The chiefs with their adherents were permit- 
 ted to return to the country from which they h? i bean driven upon their 
 engaging to live at -pe?ce with the colonists and to prevent thefts of cattle. 
 A portion of the neutral ter.-itory was thus al'otted on sufferance to the 
 Gqunukwebe clans, who had occupied it previous to the war. Before this, 
 Xgqika and his sons had been allowed to resume the northern section of 
 it, so that in course of time the valley of the Fish River and a belt across 
 the centre of the d' strict comprised all that was left unpeopled. The 
 security of the colony, at that time and ever since, required that the jungles 
 along the banks of the Fish River should not be left in possession of the 
 Kaffirs. But no precautions were taken to ensure their retention by the 
 government in the event of another war. 
 
 The first attempt by the government to establish commercial intercourse 
 was ma'.e in 1821, when periodical fairs were commenced at Fort Willshire, 
 Licensed traders repaired to that place with their waggons laden with such 
 goods as the Kaffirs required. In the morning of the day appointed for 
 the fair, the natives were permitted to cross the river in parties under their 
 chiefs, the women carrying ivory and hides, the men driving horned cattle. 
 The traders then made presents to the chiefs, and between them they fixed 
 the relative value of everything to be bartered, before the common people 
 were allowed to make bargains. When these preliminaries were concluded, 
 trade commenced, the chiefs keeping order among their followers and 
 taking usually as a sort of tax about a moiety of what each one purchased. 
 These fairs were continued at intervals until General Bourele, when Governor 
 of the colony, permitted free trade in everything except munitions of war 
 and intoxicating liquors. Several trading stations were then immediately 
 established in KaflBrland itself, as well as on the colonial side of the fron- 
 tier. 
 
CHAPTER XVllL 
 
 IHTBRVAL BETWEElf THE KAFFIR WAR OF 1819 AND THE PASSING OF THE FIFTIETH 
 
 OUDINANCB IN 1828. 
 
 Principal Subjects: — Arrival of the British Settlers. — Ti/ranny of Lord Charles 
 Somerset. — Ghreat Floods in Albany. — Wars in Bechuanaland. — Establishment of 
 a Free Press. — Formation of the District and Village of Somerset East. — Creation 
 of a Council to advise and assist in the Administration of the Government. — 
 Ordinance for making British Silver Coin a Legal Tender at the rate of One 
 Shilling and Six Pence for a Paper Rixdollar. — Abolition of the Courts of Land- 
 drost and Heetnraden, and Substitution of Resident Magistrate in their stead. — 
 Extension of Missions, 
 
 Governors : — Lord Charles Henry Somerset, 
 
 Sir Rufane Shawe Donkin, (acting) Jan. 13, 1820. 
 
 Lord C. H. Somerset, (returned) Dec. 1, 1821. 
 
 Sir Richard Bourke, May 4, 1826. 
 
 Inducements of various kinds were frequently made to the colonists to 
 settle in the Zuurveld, but without avail, as that tract of country was too 
 much exposed to Kaffir irruptions to admit of its being occupied in security. 
 Even when a desert was created upon the eastern frontier and numerous 
 military posts were scattered along the border, bands of marauders managed 
 to penetrate into it and prevented the boers from taking possession of farms. 
 For several years following the European peace of 1815, a large amount of 
 distress was felt in different parts of England, and when Parliament met 
 in 1819 the government proposed that the sum of £50,000 should be placed 
 upon the estimates for the purpose of conveying a number of emigrants 
 to this country. The objects in this were to relieve England of a few 
 thousands of her surplus population, and to fill up the vacant portion of 
 the colony with settlers whose loyalty could be depended upon, and who 
 would serve as a barrier against which any future wave of Kaffir invasion 
 would be broken. Parliament granted without demur the amount required, 
 and applications for passages were at once called for. 
 
 The salubrity of the South African climate, and the beauty and fertility 
 of the country to which emigration was invited, were by this time so well 
 known in England that great numbers of people were eager to avail 
 themselves of the offer made by the government, and applications from 
 heads of families, representing in all over ninety thousand persons, were 
 sent. in. Out of these about five thousand were selected, who embarked • in 
 government transports, and landed at Algoa Bay during the year 1820. 
 Among these people were representatives of all classes of society and of 
 2 c 
 
194, 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1820 
 
 nearly every known occupation. There were half-pay officers, farmers 
 tradesmen, sailors, fishermen, artisans of all kinds, cotton spinners, and 
 day labourers. They were formed into parties of from ten to one hundred 
 families, each party having an elected leader or representative for the 
 purpose of transacting its business with the government, and each was 
 located by itself. Every head of a family was required before leaving 
 Eugland to deposit with the emigration commissioners the sum of £10, 
 two thirds of which was returned to him after his arrival in the colony, 
 and to each family a free grant of one hundred acres of land was made, 
 with the exception that a few persons brought out servants, for each of 
 whom they deposited £10 and received an additional grant of a hundred 
 acres. To every party of a hundred families the privilege was aecorded of 
 selecting a clergyman of any Christian denomination, whose salary was 
 paid from the public funds. The colonial government at that time exercised 
 the right of impressing waggons and draught cattle belonging to farmers 
 for public services, at fixed rates of payment, so that no difficulty was 
 experienced in providing conveyances for the immigrants from Algoa Bay 
 to their several locations. Arrangements were also made for the distribution 
 of rations to such as required them, until they could raise food for themselves, 
 the only charge made therefor being one third of the money deposited 
 before they left England. Further, farming implements and other necessaries 
 were sent to Algoa Bay, and there offered to the settlers at cost price. 
 
 Lord Charles Somerset was in England on leave of absence, and Sir 
 RuFANE Shawe Donkix was Acting Governor at the time of the location of 
 the British settlers. In him they found a friend willing to assist them to 
 the extent of his power. The mili*"ary forces on the frontier were so 
 arranged as to give them the greatest possible amount of protection, and 
 the labour of the men of the Cape Corps was partly placed at their disposal 
 until their temporary domiciles were erected. A site for a village, intended 
 to be the centre of the new settlement, was selected on the Kowie River, 
 where the scenery is magnificent, the land fertile, and wood and water in 
 abundance. A landdrost was appointed to reside there, whose jurisdiction 
 was to extend over the whole of the Zuurveld, henceforth called the district 
 of Albany. But Bathurst, as the village was named, never rose to be a 
 place of any great commercial importance, as circumstances transpired 
 which soon drew all the trade of the district to Grahamstown 
 
 The immigrants, of course, had many difficulties to contend with. Many 
 of them were unsuited for farmers, and they found the climate and seasons 
 80 different from those of their native country that even those among them 
 who were practical agriculturists committed many blunders at first. In 
 addition to other troubles, their wheat crops for several successive years 
 were attacked with rust, and the want of bread was severely felt. The 
 maize crops, however, throve well, and they had vegetables of all kinds in 
 abundance. Soon after their arrival, they began to complain that the 
 ground allotted to them was too small for their comfortable maintenance as 
 
1820] HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 1§5 
 
 graziers, and Sir Uufane Don kin granted to several of them farms similar 
 in extent to those of their Dutch neighbours. 
 
 Port Elizabeth dates its origin as a town from the arrival of the British 
 settlers. It was named after the deceased lady of Sir R. S. Donkin, to whose 
 memory a monument was erected by her husband on the hill overlooking 
 the bay. 
 
 In 1820 the Royal Observatory, near Cape Town, was founded by the 
 English Board of Admiralty. In the same year the village of Worcester, in 
 the valley of the Breede River, was laid out. It soon became a thriving 
 place of business, and of late years its growth has been so rapid that it is 
 now next to the Paarl the largest and most important station on the line 
 of railway in course of construction between Cape Town and Beaufort 
 West. 
 
 Lord Cir.vRLKs Somerset, having returned to the colony, resumed the 
 government on the 1st of December, 1821. At that time the Governor 
 was a despot, as there was neither Parliament nor Council intervening 
 between him and the people. In petty matters he did as he chose ; in 
 affairs of moment he carried out the instructions of the Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies. Lord Charles Somerset was tyrannical in disposition> 
 and vindictive towards all who dared to oppose him. Owing to a dislike 
 which he entertained for Sir Rufane Donkin, he dismissed many of th« 
 public officers lately appointed, whom he replaced with his own favourites* 
 and removed the landdrost of Albany from Bathurst to Grahamstown, 
 against the wish of the inhabitants of the district. For another act, then 
 quite as unpopular, he might have pleaded that he was guided by principles 
 of justice. This was his cancelling all grants of land which Sir Rufane 
 Donkin had made at a place in the ceded territory where a village called 
 Fredericksburg was laid out. Ngqika had agreed to permit British settlers 
 to reside there, but the very object for which the country had been 
 depopulated would thus have been frustrated, and no one knew better than 
 the Governor how the chief's consent was obtained. From the date of 
 this new agreement the district between the Great Fish and Keiskama was 
 usually termed in the colony the Ceded Territory, though it was never 
 formally annexed. 
 
 In 1821, Maqoma, right hand son of Ngqika, was allowed to take possession 
 of the Kat River valleys, which brought the Kaffirs again into contact with 
 the colonists. This event caused such alarm to the inhabitants of Albany 
 that some of them even abandoned the district and removed to other parts 
 of the colony. In vain they remonstrated with the Governor, for complaints 
 only made matters worse, until at length he went so far as to issue a 
 proclamation, 24th of May, 1822, prohibiting all persons from convening or 
 attending public meetings for political or other purposes, without having 
 first obtained the sanction of the Governor or of the landdrost of the 
 division. This law gradually fell into disuse, but remained on the colonial 
 statute book until its re{)eal in December, 1843. But one of this CJoveruor's 
 
IDG 
 
 niSTORI or TUE CAPE COLO>'T. 
 
 [1822 
 
 measures was certainly favourable to the immigrants. They complained 
 of being subject to the Dutch law of inheritance, which he abrogated so far 
 as they were concerned by issuing a proclamation that all persons married 
 in Great Britain who afterwards settled in the colony should be at liberty 
 to devise their property according to the laws of the land of their birth. 
 No persons married in South Africa, however, were entitled to the benefit 
 of this regulation, so that the children of the British settlers were left in 
 the same position as the Dutch colonists. 
 
 The arrival of the British settlers introduced the English language into 
 South Africa, for up to this date Dutch was exclusively spoken by European 
 farmers and their servants. All public business was conducted in that 
 language until 1825, when ordinances were first issued in English. Two 
 years later judicial proceedings were conducted in it, and in 1828 all 
 documents issued from the Colonial Secretary's oflBce were required to be 
 published in English. But as several generations of the old colonists had 
 used a dialect of the language of Holland, (though the majority of them 
 were not connected with that country), it had acquired a hold upon their 
 affections, and they were exceedingly averse to the change. In Cape Town 
 it soon became necessary, in ordinary as well as comiHorcial intercourse, 
 for the residents to have their children taught to speak English, but in 
 the country districts to the present day many farmers object to a change 
 of tongue. It is still found necessary to publish official notifications in the 
 Governmeyit Gazette in both languages, and only recently the introduction 
 of occasional English services in the colonial church met with decided 
 opposition from a considerable number of congregations. In towns and 
 villages, however, English is now almost universally spoken. 
 
 In 1823 two Commissioners of Enquiry arrived, having been sent out by 
 the British government with full power and authority to enquire into all 
 the laws, regulations, and usages prevailing in the colony, and into every 
 other matter in any way connected with the administration of the civil 
 government, the state of the judicial, civil, military, and ecclesiastical 
 establishments, the revenue, trade, and internal resources. Owing to their 
 investigations, many important and beneficial reforms were subsequently 
 introduced. 
 
 In October, 1823, great damage was done in the district of Albany by 
 terrible floods, which swept away not only the crops but many of the houses 
 of the settlers. To such distress were some of the immigrants reduced 
 that a committee for their relief was formed in Cape Town, by whose 
 means the sum of £3,000 was collected in the colony, and £7,000 in England 
 and India. This fund was distributed early in 1826, and was supplemented 
 by a loan of two hundred thousand rixdoUars from the government. 
 About the same time many of the settlers had large tracts of land given 
 to them. 
 
 At this time the country between the Orange Kiver and the Limpopo 
 was the theatre of awfully devastating wars. MsiLiKAZi,one of Tshaka's 
 
1823J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE t'AVE COLONY. 
 
 197 
 
 generals, having offended his master, fled north-westward acnms the 
 Quathlamba, and took with him a multitude of Zulu warriors. The 
 unwarlike Bechuanas, who inhabited the region into which he entered, fled 
 at his approach, and each tribe in its flight fell upon the one ne%t in 
 advance, until the tide of war rolled over all the land. The Matal>el!e, m 
 the invaders were called by the Bechuanas, took possession of the land 
 and the cattle, and, according to Zulu custom, incorporated in their aymie* 
 many of the youth of the conquered nations, exterminating the reniainder. 
 One vast horde of Basuto origin fled from the country about the sources 
 of the Vaal River. It comprised among other clans the Makololo who 
 afterwards under the chief Sebituane became second only to the Matabele 
 themselves as a scourge of South Central Africa, and the Bataung nnder 
 MoLiTSANE, now British subjects resident in Basntoland. 
 
 The approach of this horde to the mission station of Kuniman was 
 heralded by dreadful reports of their numbers and ferocity. Messrs, 
 Moffat and Hamilton', the missionaries, with diSiculty prevailed upon the 
 Batlapi chief Mothibi not to abandon his village and seek refuge in the 
 desert, and Mr. Moffat hastened to Griquatown to obtain assistance. By 
 his influence and that of Mr. Melvill, the government agent, the Griqua 
 chiefs Adam and Cornelius Kok, Bkrexd, and Waterboer mustered about 
 a hundred horsemen armed with guns, with whom they proceeded to 
 Kuruman. 
 
 The traveller Thompsox happened to be at Kuruman at the time, and 
 becoming impatient at the absence of anything like correct information 
 concerning the Mantati horde, he rode in the direction from which they 
 were known to be approaching, with a view of making personal observations. 
 With a single attendant he arrived at the town of Old Lithako, which was 
 situated in the midst of extensive millet gardens. He found the town 
 deserted. Its six or eight thousand inhabitants had fled in such haste 
 that they had left their cooking, utensils containing food upon the fires. 
 Not a single individual was left in the place, and the only living creature 
 in sight was a solitary vulture perched upon a loft}' camelthom. Riding 
 onward a few miles further, Mr. Thompson suddenly caught sight of the 
 Mantatis marching in one immense mass like a swarm of locusts. They 
 were not less than fifty thousand in number, and probably much more. 
 With this intelligence he returned to Kuruman, after seeing the Mantatis 
 take possession of the deserted town of Lithako. 
 
 The Griqua horsemen were joined by five or six hundred Batlapis under 
 Mothibi, a few Barolongs under Moroko, and the warriors of some other 
 little clans. Accompanied by Messrs. Melvill and Moffat, they advanced 
 towards Lithako, where on the 25th of June, 1823, they encountered a 
 division of the Mantatis about fifteen thousand strong posted outside the 
 town. There an engagement took place, which can with greater propriety 
 be termed a slaughter, for the Mantatis, though they made desperate 
 efforts, were unable to rcaeh the Griquas, the fire of whose guns told with 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY or THK CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1828 
 
 dreadful effect upon the crowded mass. At length, finding then* efforts 
 to close with their assailants fruitless, and seeing the ground covered with 
 their dead and dying, among whom were their two greatest chiefs, the 
 Mantatis fell back upon the town of Lithako, which they set on fire. The 
 whole horde then moved away to the north-eastward, followed for seven or 
 eight miles by the Griquas. In their flight they abandoned many of their 
 women and children, and their cattle fell into the hands of the pursuers. 
 
 This must be considered an event of some importance in South African 
 history, for had the Griquas been defeated an invasion of the colony from 
 the north would have followed. After the repulse at Lithako, the great 
 horde was broken into fragments. Sebituane with the Makololo moved 
 away to the northward, and after various adventures finally settled on the 
 Zambezi, where Dr. Livixgstone found them in 185 L. The Bataung turned 
 to the south-eastward, and hurled themselves upon the country now 
 known as Basutoland. 
 
 The mission station of Kuruman was the only place of any importance 
 in Bechuanaland that was not destroyed in t^ese wars. At the very lowest 
 computation, more than five hundred thousand persons must have perished 
 in the ravaged countries. Many became cannibals from the absolute want 
 of food. Over a thousand poor wretches, in a half dying state, managed 
 to crawl into the colony, where the government made arrangements for 
 their reception, and distributed them as apprentices for seven years to 
 such persons as were not slaveholders. 
 
 Previous to the year 1824< there existed no newspaper in South Africa 
 except the Government Gazette. On the 7th of January, of that year, the 
 first number of the South African Commercial Advertiser was issued in 
 Cape Town by Mr. Greig, and a fortnight later Messrs. John Fairbairn 
 and Thomas Pringle became editors of it. It was issued weekly, and was 
 published in both the English and Dutch languages. On the 5th of March 
 appeared the first number of a literary magazine called the South African 
 Journal, a two-monthly periodical, under the editorship of Messrs. Fair- 
 bairn and Pringle, the Zuid Afrikaansche Tijdschrift, commenced at the 
 same time, and edited by the Rev. Mr. Faure, being published month 
 and month alternately with the Journal. These periodicals were ably 
 conducted, but as they advocated liberal principles, they became offensive 
 to Lord Charles Somerset, who, on the 4th of May, directed the fiscal to 
 assume the censorship of the Advertiser. A struggle for the liberty of 
 the press then commenced. Messrs. Fairbairn and Pringle refused to 
 edit a paper under a censorship, and next morning Mr. Greig announced 
 that the publication would be discontinued until the decision of His 
 Majesty's government should be ascertained. This infuriated the Governor, 
 who issued a warrant directing that the press should be sealed up, and 
 ordered Mr. Greig to leave the colony within a month. A few days 
 afterwards the South African Journal was visited in like manner, and 
 discontinued. 
 
1824] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 19J> 
 
 These arbitrary measures created great excitement in Cape Town. The 
 Governor would not permit public meetings to be held, and enforced his 
 own law on the subject rigorously, as had been demonstrated in Grahams- 
 town only so late as the 5th of Febiniary, when a number of people, who 
 had assembled to testify their joy upon the arrival of His Majesty's 
 Commissioners of Enquiry, were arrested and committed to prison. There 
 was thus no mode of expressing public opinion, except by means of 
 petitions, and as it was deemed expedient to refer the matter to the very 
 highest authority, a memorial to the king in council was drawn up, and 
 very numerously signed, praying for the privilege of a free press. The 
 Governor then saw he had gone too far : he revoked the order for Mr. 
 Greig's banishment, and, sending for Mr. Pringle, endeavoured t© persuade 
 him to continue the Journal. But this Mr. Pringle resolutely declined to 
 do, unless the press were placed under legal protection. Thus the 
 interview terminated, and from that moment Messrs. Fairbairn and 
 Pringle were subjected to the relentless animosity of the Governor. To 
 such lengths did this extend that he refused to grant permission for the 
 establishment of a Literary and Scientific Society, because they and Dr. 
 Philip were connected with it, and threatened to put in force the law 
 against illegal meetings if the members should dare to assemble. 
 
 Mr. Pringle now gave up the contest, and soon afterwards returned to 
 England ; but Mr. Fairbairn continued in the colony, and when in August, 
 1825, authority was received from England to resume the publication of 
 the Commercial Advertiser, under license from the Governor in Council, he 
 became its sole editor, Mr. Greig, as before, being its publisher. For 
 while, matters went on smoothly, but in March, 1827, the paper was again 
 suppressed, on this occasion for copying from the Ti'm-es an article offensive- 
 to the Cape Government. Mr. Fairbairn then went to England to plead 
 his cause before the supreme authorities, and succeeded in obtaining for 
 the colony the inestimable boon of a free press. In 1828 he returned to 
 South Africa, and resumed the editorship of the twice resuscitated 
 Commercial' Advertiser. The colonists soon afterwards presented him with 
 a handsome piece of silver plate, in token of the high estimatio-ii in which 
 they held his services. 
 
 In 1824 the first lighthouse on the coast of South Africa, — that at Green 
 Point, — was completed. 
 
 In January, 1825, the division of Somerset was form-ed out of the 
 sub-district of Cradock, part of the district of Graaff Reinet, part of the 
 district of Albany, and a slip of territory to the eastward of the Great Fish 
 River. The site of the present village of Somerset East had for some 
 years previously been a government farm, established partly for the 
 purpose of raising provender for the horses of tire cavalry regiment then 
 in the colony, and partly to make experiments on a large scale in the 
 culture of tobacco. Commissariat stores were also established there for 
 the purpose of purchasing cattle and grain required for the consumption of 
 
200 HTSTOKT OF TUE CAPE OOLOXT. [182.'> 
 
 the troops on the frontier. It was from this establishment that food was 
 forwarded to the British settlers for two years after their arrival. 
 
 By an Order in Council, dated 9th February, 1825, the arbitrary power 
 hitherto possessed by the governors was somewhat limited, by the 
 •creation of a Council to advise and assist them in the administration of 
 the government. The council consisted of the chief civil and military 
 officers of the colony, who were all appointed by the Crown, and subject to 
 removal at any time. This was, in fact, going back to the same form of 
 government that had existed under the Netherlands East India Company, 
 but the spirit was Tory different. Ihe administration of a Governor and 
 Council appointed by the British crown to rule a dependency of the 
 Empire can hardly be compared with the administration of a Governor and 
 •Council appointed by a mercantile association to rule a victualling station 
 for its fleets. The colonists were desirous of more liberal institutions, and 
 had petitioned the home government to that, effect, but it was not then 
 considered advisable to grant their request. After this date the laws of 
 the colony were no longer issued as mere proclamations of the Governor, 
 but as ordinances of the Governor in Council. Yet in reality the people 
 gained very little by the change. Every question of importance was still 
 settled by the Secretary of State, and in trivial matters, the governors, 
 being relieved to a certain extent of responsibility, had less inducement 
 than hitherto to be cautious, while their actual power was hardly diminish- 
 ed. Still, as this was the first step towards a more perfect form of 
 govemment, it gave no little satisfaction. 
 
 At this time the entire population of the colony was about one hundred 
 and thirty thousand souls, of whom fifty thousand were Europeans or of 
 European descent. Cape Town contained about twenty thousand, and 
 Grahamstown about two thousand five hundred people. Port Elizabeth 
 was beginning to be a thriving place, and boasted of five hundred white 
 inhabitants. The exports of the colony amounted in yalue to about 
 £200,000 per annum. 
 
 In 1825 the value of the paper rixdoUar current in the colony was fixed 
 a,t one shilling and six pence sterling. This was done by a law which 
 made British silver coin a legal tender, and fixed the rate of exchange at 
 one shilling and six pence for a paper rixdollar. British copper coin was 
 also made a legal tender for any amount less than one shilling. Since the 
 1st of January 1826, the public accounts of the colony have been kept in 
 pounds, shillings, and pence, though in the country, rixdollars, schellings, 
 and stivers, as being more familiar names, continued to be used by the 
 old colonists until recently in making calculations. As, however, there 
 were no coins of these de»ominations, the practice of turning ideal amounts 
 into pounds, shillings, and pence, gradually accustomed the farmers to 
 the use of English money. 
 
 The amount of paper money in existence at this time was 3,000,000 rix- 
 dolltrs, which h»d been created on yarious occasions, as follows : — 
 
1825] 
 
 HISTOBY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 201 
 
 Debt of the East India Company 611,276 rds., and capital' of Lombard 
 Bank in 1795 680,000 rds. The last of these amounts was secured by 
 mortgages on private property, the first amount had no other security 
 than the good faith of the government, until the capitulation to the 
 English, when it was agreed that the public buildings should be pledged 
 as security to the holders of the notes. 
 
 The capital of the Lombard Bank was increased during the English 
 protectorate by 165,000 rds., issued in the same manner as before. 
 330,000 rds. were created for public purposes during the protectorate, and 
 when the colony was restored to Holland, naval and military stores to that 
 amount were handed over to the Dutch authorities. 
 
 Under the Batavian government the old notes were called in and new 
 ones were put in circulation, in which no distinction was made between 
 those which were issued by the Lombard Bank and those which represented 
 the public debt. At the time of the English conquest in January, 1806* 
 there were notes amounting to 2,000,000 rds. in circulation, of which 
 845,000 rds. only were secured by mortgage of property. Their purchasing 
 power was then about half that of gold or silver. 
 
 From this date until the close of the European war in 1815, trade was 
 very brisk, and at the same time great inducements were held out by the 
 Home Government to colonial vine growers, by the reduction of the duty 
 on Cape wines entering the English market to one third of that paid on 
 wines from the south of Europe, by offering premiums and rewards to the 
 largest and most successful cultivators, and in many other ways, which 
 caused great activity in this department of agriculture. The notes in cir- 
 culation were deemed by the government of the day insuflBcient to meet 
 the demand, and the capital of the Lombard Bank was therefore increased 
 by Lord Caledon to 1,345,000 rds. During the government of Sir J. F. 
 Cradock, another half million was created for the purpose of purchasing 
 and repairing buildings needed for public use. The total amount in circu- 
 lation was therefore 3,000,000 rixdoUars, of the nominal value of £600,000, 
 each rixdollar of the first two millions put in circulation being declared on 
 issue to be equal to forty-eight Dutch pennies, equivalent to four English 
 shillings. 
 
 But after the peace, when the reduction of the garrison caused a stagna- 
 tion in trade, and when the Home Government withdrew its protection of 
 Cape wines, so large a capital was no longer required, and the paper 
 rixdollar, not being convertible into coin, sunk in value until, at the 
 beginning of 1825, it was not worth more than Is. 5d. sterling. Its actual 
 value could only be ascertained from the rate of premium on Treasury 
 Bills, as its depreciation had forced gold and silver entirely out of the 
 country. 
 
 On the 6th of June the ordinance was issued, fixing the value of the paper 
 rixdollar at 1/6. Naturally, it gave great dissatisfaction to all who were 
 hoarding money in anticipation of its redemption at its nominal value, 
 2d 
 
202 
 
 HISTOKV ()!'■ THJ-; CAl'K COLO^'T. 
 
 [1825 
 
 Tvhicli many bopcJ that the Commissioners of Enquiry would recommend. 
 At the time of the last issue, the paper rixdollar was worth 2/3 in coin, and 
 as the new notes were declared equal in ralne with the old, the holder's 
 deemed that the faith of the government was thereby pledged to redeem 
 them at that late at least. They raised an outcry that the government 
 was compounding with its creditors at the rate of 7 '6 in the pound. But 
 that was an extreme view of the case. To have fixed the value of the 
 rixdollar higher than 1 '6 would have l)een unjust to every debtor in the 
 colony, except to the few who had borrowed money when the rate of 
 exchange was higher. The government was not pledged to redeem any 
 portion of the old Dutch debt, and as it was necessary in the interest of the 
 colony, that the inconvertible paper currency should be replaced by coin 
 of intrinsic value, its rate of exchange at the time was the fairest price to 
 put u])on it. Some cases of heavy loss and individual suffering undoubtedly 
 did occur, but no national fraud was committed. For the redemption of 
 the notes Treasury Bills were then issued at a premium of three per cent, 
 until the old currency was entirely replaced by English metallic coin. 
 
 In December, 1827, an ordinance was issued, making provision for the 
 creation of Justices of the Peace in the several districts of the colony. 
 This ordinance, which is still in force, gives the Governor power, whenever 
 he sees occasion, to appoint justices of the peace, whose principal duties 
 are to preserve order, and who have power to call to their aid any subject 
 of the crown of England for the purpose of assisting to quell any riot or 
 disturbance, and further to commit all rioters to prison, to enquire into all 
 crimes and offences committed within their jurisdiction, to summon and 
 examine witnesses upon oath, and to apprehend or cause to be apprehended 
 any criminal or offender. 
 
 At the same time the old courts of landdrost and heemraden were 
 abolished, and in their stead Resident Magistrates were appointed. The 
 duties which the landdrosts had performed, apart from the administration 
 of justice, were entrusted to the magistrates in their capacity as Civil 
 Commissioners of their respective districts. The abolition of the courts of 
 landdrost and heemraden gave great dissatisfaction to the old colonists. The 
 heemraad was a popular body, and served the useful purpose of giving 
 dignity to the most deserving men in a district, as well as of furnishing a 
 ready means of communication between the government and the people. 
 But the suppression of such courts had become a necessity, inasmuch as 
 their judgments were largely influenced by favour and prejudice. 
 
 The spirit of progress was visibly at work in the colony during this 
 period. Commerce was freed from many restrictions. Custom houses 
 were established at Algoa Bay and at the Kowie mouth, both of which 
 ports were declared open to shipping. Attention was dire(?ted to the con. 
 strnction of better roads, and one mountain pass had been opened by 
 military labour, at a cost to the colony of £7,000. For the purpose of 
 imparting some education to European youth, a free government school 
 
1827] 
 
 UISTOiiY OF THE CAPK COLONY. 
 
 203 
 
 had been establisliod in each villa,2;e, in which instruction was given in the 
 English language. New ideas liad been brought into the country, aud were 
 being diffused an)ong all classes of the inhabitants. In the east a civilized 
 people had taken the place oi" barbarous hordes, and were laying the 
 foundations of thriving villages and industries tliat in a few years wore to 
 produce a trade valued by millions sterling. 
 
 This period is remarkable for a great extension of missionary enterprise 
 among the natives, both Kaffirs and Hottentots. After t le death of Mr. 
 Williams no missionaries were permitted to enter Kaffirland until June, 
 1820, wdien the Rev, JoifN Buownlee, of the London Society, was sent by 
 the colonial government into the country, and founded a station in the 
 Ohumie valley, which was maintained until 1851. The Glasgow ^Missionary 
 Society was formed in 17P(i. In 1820 it turned its attention to South 
 Africa, and in the following year its first missionaries, the Rev, Messrs. 
 W. R. TiioMSOX and John Bkxxik, arrived, who, in Xovember, proceeded 
 to the assistance of Mv. Bkowxlek at the Chumie. These were soon 
 afterwards reinforced by others from Scotland, when stations further in 
 advance were opened. In 1824 a station was formed at Lovedale. In 1825 
 Mr. BiiowxLF.K left Chumie entirely to the Glasgow missionaries, and 
 founded, in connection with the London Societj^ a mission station on the 
 eastern bank of tlie Buffalo River, which now forms part of the borough of 
 King William's Town. In 182^5 the Wesleyans commenced a mission in 
 the country occupied b}- the sons of Cungwa, from which they proceeded, 
 in the course of a few 3'ears, to form a chain of stations through the heart 
 of Kaffirland to the border of Natal. This Society carried on mission work 
 vigorously wherever its members were settled, and its places of worship 
 for whites and blacks were now seen rising side by side in several of the 
 villages of Albany. The Anglican church was represented in the colony 
 bv many adherents among the British settlers, by the officers of govern- 
 ment, some residents in Cape Town, and by a large portion of the army. It; 
 had its chaplains with the different regiments, and a few other clergymen; 
 but as a rule did not at that time engage in mission work. Still, a com- 
 mencement had been made, as the Rev. Mr. Wright, in 1821, had founded 
 a school at Wynberg for the instruction of coloured children, and in 1822 
 had established another in Cape Town for the same purpose. Among the 
 Hottentots, the Moravians and missionaries of the London Socijtj^ were 
 working with zeal and effect. The former had founded two new stations, 
 and the latter were now to be found in nea.ly every village in the colony, 
 as well as at their own institutions. North of the Orange River they had 
 stations among the Namaquas, Griquas, and Bechuanas, and were beginning 
 already to exert a marked influence upon some of those tribes. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FKOM THE PASSI^^G OF THE FIFTIETH ORDINANCE IN 1828 TO THB KAFFIR WAR 
 
 OP 1835. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Condition of the Hottentots in the Colony. — The Fiftieth Ordi- 
 nance. — Formation of the Kat River Settlement. — Expedition against theFecani. — 
 Foundation of the South African College. — Occupation of Bushmanland. — Forma- 
 tion of the Village of Colesberg. — Fstablishment of a Supreme Court. — Creation of 
 a Legislative Council. — Establishment of Missions by thfi Rhenish^ Paris, and 
 Berlin Societies. 
 
 Governors :— Sir Richard Bourke. 
 
 The position of the Hottentots up to this time liad been wretched in the 
 extreme. They had access to the courts of law, but beyond this the 
 English occupation of the country had as yet been of no advantage to 
 them. Rather had it been the means of rivetting their fetters more firmly 
 than before. 
 
 In 1809 a proelaraatioM was issued by Lord Caledon, requiring the 
 inhabitants of all parts of the colony to arrest every Hottentot who had 
 no fixed place of residence and who was unprovided with a pass. As the 
 great majority of these people did not possess an inch of land, this procla- 
 mation virtually placed the whole race in a condition of serfdom. It 
 contained, indeed, clauses protecting the Hottentots from ill-treatment, 
 securing their wages to them, and permitting them to change their employers 
 upon fulfilling their terms of contract, but its object was to compel them 
 to enter into service. 
 
 Soon after this, a regulation was made that no Hottentot could take up 
 his residence at a mission station without the permission of the landdrost 
 of his district, and the boundaries of new stations were purposely so 
 circumscribed that it was impossible for any large number of people to 
 maintain themselves upon them by agriculture. In general, the stations 
 thus became receptacles for the old, infirm, and sick, while the young and 
 hearty were compelled to serve the farmers at wages fixed by the employers. 
 In some districts their condition was much worse than in others, as 8» 
 great a discretionary power was conferred upon the landdrosts that 
 whenever these happened to be humane men the position of the Hottentots 
 was made tolerable, but if that was not the case, they were liable to be 
 oppressed without chance of relief. 
 
 Sir Galbraith Lowrt Cole, 
 Lieut.-Col. T. F. Wade, (acting) 
 Sir Benjamin D'Urban, 
 
 Sept. 9, 1828. 
 Aug. 10, 1833. 
 Jan. 16, 1834. 
 
1828] 
 
 IllHlURV OF THE CIVE tULO.N 1. 
 
 205 
 
 In April, 18i-\ a [)roclarnatioii was issued by Sii* John Ckadock, in which 
 the lauddrosts of tlio several districts were empowered to bind as appren- 
 tices to any persons selected by themselves, for a period of t-en years, all 
 Hottentot children of the age of eight years, wliose parents had been in 
 service at the period of their birth. No regulation under the government 
 of the East India Company exceeded this in cruelty. The sufferings of 
 the natives in those days resulted principally from the anarch}- in which 
 the whites on the frontier lived; but now, under a strong government, the 
 laws were so modelled as to crush out their freedom and humanity. 
 This edict completely ignored the rights of Hottentot parents to their 
 children, and substituted government officers for the guardians appointed 
 by nature. 
 
 In this manner the first few years of the second English occupation of 
 the colony were marked by a disregard of the natural rights of the natives, 
 which no effort of reasoning can justify and no national feeling excuse. 
 In one matter only were the Hottentots looked upon in the light of citizens. 
 In April, 1814, among other regulations made, was one by which a poll tax 
 was levied upon the colonists, and which the residents at mission stations 
 were required to pay, upon the same principle and at the same rate as white 
 people. As the stations had become, under the operation of the colonial 
 Jaws, the only asylums in the country for the sick and aged, this impost 
 bore very hard upon them. Hepresentations to this effect were made to 
 the government by the missionaries, and in some few instances remission 
 was obtained for such as were absolutely helpless ; but these were 
 exceptional cases, and the tax was exacted from all who could by any means 
 pay it. 
 
 The goverimient claimed and exercised the right of impressing as many 
 able-bodied young Hottentots as were needed for the Cape regiment, and 
 of compelling them to do any kind of public work for the most trifling 
 reciuneration. 
 
 Owing to the mode of carrying out the laws, they could seldom get 
 reparation for injury. When a Hottentot who had been maltreated en- 
 deavoured to apply to a magistrate for redress, he had to run the risk of 
 being arrested as a vagabond, as, of course, he could have no pass at the 
 time. If he succeeded in reaching the office in safety, no sooner did he 
 make his complaint than he was lodged in prison, and was there detained 
 until the magistrate chose to investigate his case. If he was unable to 
 prove his assertions, or if the magistrate considered the injury he had 
 sustained insufficient to require redress, he was liable to be flogged severely 
 for bringing frivolous charges against his master. 
 
 The prisons in the country districts were at that time sinks of misery. 
 Into one small dungeon, unlit and unventilated, were crowded slaves and 
 natives of both sexes, charged with every degree of crime or with no crime 
 at all. The Hottentot, who preferred a charge of ill usage against his or 
 her master, did so on peril of being incarceiated with thieves or murderers 
 
206 
 
 HISTORY OP TIIa cape COLONY. 
 
 h)v a week or a montl], and of being flogged in addition, if the case should 
 break down. 
 
 The missionaries were suijjected to intolerable annoyance from any 
 magistrate who was desirous of showing authority : they were required in 
 a most arbiti'ary manner to furnish men for public works, to apprehend 
 runaways, and to collect taxes. The farmers had no sympathy with the 
 missionaries, and public opinion among the whites was mostly opposed to 
 the existence of the institutions. The cause of this requires explanation, 
 as, owing to the great moral progress since made in South Africa, these 
 old feelings of antipathy have died out, and the labours of the missionary 
 are now fully appreciated. 
 
 Fifty years ago mission work in tliis colony was yet in its infancy. The 
 zeal of the teachers was unaided by experience. It was never difficult to 
 draw a number of nominal converts together ; the real work lay in inducing 
 them to practics what they professed. To the colonists, a profession of 
 Christianity, which was unaccompanied by honesty and industry, seemed 
 valueless. By the mivssionary, it was regarded as at least a beginning, a 
 seed which could not fail ultimately to produce good fruit. A few un- 
 doubtedly set too high a value upon mere words, and were so indiscreet as 
 to draw {jictures of the results of their teacliing which to the colonists 
 appeared at variance with the truth. Reports published in Great Britain 
 found their way back to the colony, and were read with astonishment by 
 those who looked upon the converts from a very different standpoint. At 
 length the errors of a few came to be attributed by popular prejudice to 
 all who were ewgaged in the work of converting the heathen. Mission 
 reports were commonly spoken of as statements drawn up to deceive home 
 readers, and, as a natural consequence, the writers were held in little 
 estimation. 
 
 Further, it was plain that the mission stations tended to reduce the 
 number of labourers and to raise the })rice of labour. The natives were 
 there taught to wear European clothing, and became accustomed to the 
 use ol: many articles which were afterwards necessaries of life to them. The 
 servants required by the farmers were principally lierdsraen, as agriculture 
 was not carried on to any considerable extent except by the great slave- 
 holders near the Cape, and a Hottentot in a sheepskin kaross, who was 
 content witii a ration of quagga's flesh, made as good a herd as one who 
 wore jacket and trousers and required expensive food, while at the same 
 time the latter necessarily required more wages than the former. 
 
 Another reason is to be found in the new ideas concerning manhood 
 which the natives acquired at the mission stations. There, for the first 
 time, they learnt that they were yncii, and found themselves treated as 
 such. This was a lesson they could never forget, so that by those who 
 were accustomed to the instant obedience and abject submission of slaves, 
 the missio!! Hottentots soon came to be regarded as insolent and rebellious. 
 The salaries of otTir,inl.s in the country districts were small, and wci-c usually 
 
1S2S] 
 
 nisToiiv oj' riiK cum: aoLnyv. 
 
 207 
 
 supplemented by farming operations, so that the aympath}- of tliese officers 
 "^vas ahuost universally with the ■wliites against the natives, and thus it 
 happened that year by year fewer able-bodied Hottentots were permitted 
 to lake up their residence permanently at mission stations. 
 
 Several of the leading men in South Africa were desirous of seeing an 
 improvement in the condition of the Hottentots, and the pen of Mr. 
 Fairbairx, editor of the Commercial Advertiser, was continually employed 
 in their behalf. Bat to the Rev. Dr. Philip the honour is principally due 
 of being the means of obtaining for the aborigines of the Cape Colony a 
 restoration of their natural rights. He arrived in South Africa in 1819, 
 having been appointed by the London Missionary Society superintendent 
 of its institutions in and beyond the colony. Finding all his efforts for 
 the improvement of the Hottentots paralyzed by the colonial system, under 
 which these people, though called free men, were in reality mere serfs, he 
 devoted himself to the task of effecting their emancipation, and though he 
 encountered great opposition, he persevered until his object was attained. 
 After endeavouring in vain to obtain from the local government redress 
 for his clients, in April, 1828, he made an appeal to the people of England, 
 by the publication of his Researches in South Africa, in which the posi- 
 tion of the Hottentots was clearly shown. A great outcry was raised by a 
 section of the eolonists against the author ; but he had taken such pains to 
 prove his statements that his position was unassailable. Some of the 
 noblest men in England at once rancred themselves on Dr. Philip's side ; 
 Mr, Powell Buxton gave notice of motion in the House of Commons that 
 the rights of freemen should be restored to the Hottentot people, and 
 Brougham, Macintosh, and a host of others, prepared to take part in the 
 debate. 
 
 Intelligence of what was going on there having reached the colony, the 
 Governor and Council determined to be beforehand in the matter. On 
 the 17th of July, 1828, the Fiftieth Ordinance was issued, which placed the 
 Hottentots on the same footing as Europeans. The wording of this im- 
 portant document was entrusted to Captain Stockenstro.m, an earnest 
 friend of the natives, so that its clauses might not be made to bear a double 
 interpretation. In the meantime, Sir George Murray, then Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies, had made himself master of the case, and on the 
 19th of July, the day fixed for the discussion of Mr. Buxton's motion, he 
 announced in the Commons that the Imperial Government was prepared 
 to grant all that was desired. This was accomplished by the Fiftieth 
 Ordinance being confirmed, January 15th, 1829, by an Order in Council, 
 and by the addition of a clause that it should not be competent for any 
 future colonial administration to repeal any of its provisions. Had it not 
 been for this clause, it is probable that the Cape government must have 
 given way, so violent was the opposition to this Ordinance, and the great 
 boon of personal liberty might have been withheld from the Hottentots for 
 many years. In these days, when not one man in a thousand can be fonnd 
 
20S nrsTORT of the cape colony. [IS2S 
 
 to deny the justice and expediency of this {measure, it is difGcult to enter 
 into the motives which actuated so many of the colonists of that time, and 
 caused them to consider the rights granted to one portion of the inhabitants 
 as wrongs inflicted upon another. 
 
 The Hottentots and free people of colour, who were all included in the 
 Fiftieth Ordinance, from this date rose rapidly in the scale of civilization. 
 They remained, indeed, in the position of labourers and serrants, from 
 which, without the possession of land, they could not reasonably be expected 
 to have elevated themselves ; but as free peasants they soon acquired 
 comforts which as serfs they never enjoyed. The mixture of Hottentots 
 with other persons of colour has since then been so great that there are 
 now very few individuals of pure Hottentot blood in the colony, if the 
 Koranna clans in the north be excepted. 'I hey have apparently passed 
 that crisis, which is so dangerous to all savages brought into contact with 
 civilization, and which results either in their extinction or in the formation 
 of an entirely new character. The vitality of the Hottentots would pro- 
 bably not have been sufficient to enable them to stand this shock, had they 
 not been mixed with other coloured races. There is no possibility of form- 
 ing an accurate estimate of their numbers at the time of the Dutch invasion ; 
 but it is a well established fact that the coast lands, if not the interior, of 
 the present colony were then thickly peopled. At the time the Fiftieth 
 Ordinance was promulgated there were not more than thirty-two thousand 
 persons in the colony to benefit by it. This number includes Hotentots, 
 Bushmen, freed persons of colour, and all the different races of mixed 
 blood. The reduction in number must therefore have been very great. 
 The mixed race is now increasing, the best proof that the crisis in their 
 fate has passed. Throughout tlie colony they have long since adopted 
 the clothing and food of Europeans, they have entirely lost the use of their 
 own language and speak the colonial Dutch, a few possess a good share 
 of property, and most of them profess Christianity. Since their acquisition 
 of freedom, it cannot be doubted that they have more happiness and 
 less suffering than their ancestors had before the white man first visited 
 them. 
 
 As soon as the Fiftieth Ordinance was promulgated, the friends of the 
 Hottentots began to urge upon the government the desirability of granting 
 them land for settlements. But this could only be done to a limited extent, 
 for it would have been impossible to withdraw the whole race from service 
 without ruining the farmers. Facilities, however, were afforded for them 
 to acquire land at mission stations, and one settlement on a large scale 
 was planned. The valleys of the Kat River were selected for the purpose. 
 Maqoma, the ablest of the sons of Ngqika, had been permitted to reside 
 there for the last eight years, but he had proved a most troublesome 
 neighbour to the colonists. His followers were constantly plundering 
 the farmers of cattle, and he was known to be preparing for war. Even 
 then he Wivs excrtini^ himself to bring about a reconciliation between iyp 
 
1829] 
 
 TTTSTORT OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 209 
 
 followers and his father's old enemies, with a view of making a combined 
 attack upon the colony. He had just fallen upon one of the Tembu clans, 
 which he defeated and pursued into colonial territory. The government 
 then interfered, and in May, 1829, Colonel Somerset, with a mixed military 
 and burgher commando, was sent to eject him from the Kat River. 
 Maqoma retired without resistance to the country along the Chumie. 
 
 Captain (afterwards Sir Andries) Stockenstrom, who was then 
 Commissioner General of Frontier Affairs, after whom the district was 
 subsequently named, suggested that the vacant land should be allotted to 
 Hottentots, who would thus form a barrier between the Kaffirs and 
 European farmers. This suggestion was approved by the government, 
 and was at once acted upon. Several small streams unite to form the Kat 
 River, and in their valleys the land is easily irrigated and is of great 
 fertility. The plan adopted was to form a number of villages, each divided 
 into plots of from four to six acres in extent, upon which a family was to be 
 placed. Ground not adapted to cultivation was to remain as a commonage, 
 each family having the right to graze cattle thereon. The settlers were to 
 remain five years on probation, at the expiration of which period those 
 who had built cottages and brought the ground under cultivation were to 
 receive grants in freehold, but all garden ground not improved within that 
 time was then to revert to government. 
 
 The number of applicants was very great, and it was impossible to make 
 a selection where all had equal claims. About four thousand persons were 
 in the course of a few years located at the Kat River, the majority of whom, 
 having just emerged from virtual slavery, were ill qualified, without some 
 previous training, to occupy the position of independent landowners. 
 Most of them were without any means, and had all the vices common to 
 men in a state of bondage. If this be taken into consideration, the 
 rapidity with which the settlement rose to a flourishing condition was 
 almost marvellous. Watercourses for irrigating the land were at once 
 made, and a large extent of ground was placed under cultivation, the 
 richer settlers in the mean time assisting the poorer, while many derived 
 their principal sustenance from the wild fruits of the earth. Two 
 missionaries established themselves among the people : one, the Rev. "W. 
 R. Thomson, supported by the government, and the other, the Rev. J. 
 Read, sent thither by the London Society. 
 
 This, the largest settlement then in the colony. Cape Town excepted, 
 was singularly free from crime, considering the antecedents of the 
 residents ; for many years neither a magistrate nor a policeman was 
 required, while the judges of the circuit court had reason to congratulate 
 themselves upon the trifling amount of labour they were called upon to 
 perform in connection with it. At the same time, the Hottentot location 
 was looked upon with great distrust by many individuals in the colony, 
 more especially when the settlers there were provided with firearms by the 
 government, for the purpose of protecting themselves in case of an attack 
 2e 
 
210 
 
 HISTORY or THE CAPF. fOLONT. 
 
 [1827 
 
 by the Kafl5rs. It was apprehended that they were more likely to unite 
 with the Kaffirs and use these arms against the colonists, than to emplo}' 
 them in their own defence. But the immediate results were satisfactory, 
 and there is no reason to doubt that this institution would ultimately have 
 realized the utmost expectation of its founders, had not influences, which 
 were not then foreseen, in after years been brought to bear upon it. 
 
 The wars which originated with Tshaka, chief of the Zulus, and which 
 turned a large part of south-eastern Africa into a desert, disturbed even 
 the native tribes on the colonial frontier. For ten or twelve years past, 
 bands of fugitives had been entering Kaffirland from the countries now 
 known as Basutoland and Natal. Some of them came as suppliants, 
 asking for nothing but to be allowed to live. These were doomed to 
 slavery, but under the name of Fingoes they will be found to play an 
 important part in future South African history. Others came with 
 weapons in their hands, pillaging the country and committing the most 
 dreadful atrocities until they were exterminated. They were known to 
 colonists and natives alike by the general name of Fecani, a word which 
 means simply robber bands. 
 
 The most formidable body of these marauders was that which fell upon 
 the Abatembu in the years 1827 and 1828. It was led by Matiwana, a 
 chief who had acquired a terrible reputation for cruelty. His tribe, the 
 Amangwana, had been driven from their country about the lower course of 
 the Tugela by a Zulu army, and had fled -westward over the Quathlamba, 
 scattering and driving before them the clans that were in their line of 
 march. Matiwa^a mixed in the whirlwind of confusion that existed at 
 the lime in Basutoland, and then with a horde, of which the remnant of 
 his original clan was only the nucleus, he crossed the Quathlamba some- 
 where near the principal source of the Umzimvubu. Proceeding in a 
 south-westerly direction, he ravaged the country through which he passed. 
 Near the Hangklip mountain, in what is now the district of Queenstown, 
 the Tembus tried to make a stand, but were defeated and dispersed. 
 
 The invaders next prepared to attack and destroy the Gcalekas. There 
 can be no doubt that they would have succeeded in exterminating or 
 driving out the original inhabitants of Kaffirland, just as the Zulus had 
 exterminated and driven out those of Natal, if the colonial government 
 had not interfered. But the cry for help which the perishing tribes sent 
 forth could not be disregarded. Apart altogether from philanthropic 
 motives, there was imminent danger that a large section of the Tembus 
 and Gcalekas would be precipitated upon the colony as a body of destitute 
 fugitives. To prevent this, a commando was sent against Matiwana. 
 
 In August, 1828, the colonial forces, aided by a horde of those natives 
 to whose assistance they had gone, fell upon the main body of the Fecani, 
 and defeated them with tremendous loss. All Kaffirland was aroused, and 
 the scattered fragments of Matiwana's horde were attacked on every side 
 and nearly annihilated. A few succeeded in making their escape into 
 
1829] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE CAPE COLO>Y. 
 
 211 
 
 Basutoland, a few more were permitted to live as slaves. Matiwana himself, 
 with a handful of followers, fled towards the land of his birth, being in 
 hopes of obtaining the protection of Dingan, who had succeeded Tsuaka 
 as chief of the Zulus. But in this he was disappointed. Dingan caused 
 the followers of Matiwana to be butchered, the eyes of the fallen chief 
 were then put out, after which his neck was twisted. 
 
 In 1829 the South African College was founded, the necessary capital 
 being subscribed by a number of colonists who were anxious to provide 
 superior education for their sous. For this purpose they formed a Company, 
 which was incorporated by an Ordinance in 1837. The government of the 
 College was vested in a Council of seventeen members, fifteen of whom 
 were elected by the shareholders and two were appointed by the Governor. 
 The Ordinance provided that in addition to ordinary teachers there should 
 be four Professors, namely, one of English Literature and Classics, one 
 of Dutch Literature and Modern Languages, one of Physic^al Science, and 
 one of Mathematics. A sum of money which, with some immovable 
 property, had been bequeathed for educational purposes by various persons 
 about the end of the last and the beginning of the present centuries, was 
 made over to the Council, and the government advanced £2000 for building 
 purposes, on which interest at the rate of four per cent per annum is yet 
 paid. Several valuable donations have since been made, so that the College 
 has now a number of scholarships at its disposal. It continues to the 
 present day to hold the first place as an educational institution, though 
 several other excellent colleges have more recently been established in 
 different parts of the colony. 
 
 The village of Malmesbury, about forty-five miles north of Cape Town, 
 received its present name in 1829, being called after the lady of Sir Lowry 
 Cole. Before that time it was a hamlet containing nothing more than a 
 church for the convenience of the neighbouring farmers ; but being in the 
 heart of a splendid corn-growing district, as soon as roads were made its 
 growth was rapid. 
 
 In 1830 the village of Colesberg was founded, in a narrow valley not far 
 from the Orange Eiver. It was named after Sir Lowby Cole. The country 
 around it not being adapted to agnculture, the village depended for its 
 existence upon trade with the Griquas and nomad farmers, which was not 
 very great, so that for many years the place remained a mere hamlet. 
 
 In 1830 a good road was completed through Sir Lowry's Pass, in the 
 Hottentots' Holland mountains. Previous to this, communication by 
 land with the districts eastward of Stellenbosch had been difficult, so that 
 the opening of this pass on the main line of road along the coast was of 
 great benefit to the country. In 1831 the South African Fire and Life 
 Assurance Company was established, an institution whose success caused 
 the formation of similar companies in different parts of the colony. 
 
 In 1834 the old High Court of Justice was superseded by the present 
 Supreme Court, under authority of a Charter of Justice issued by the King 
 
212 
 
 HISTOEI or THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [IS34- 
 
 in Council. The old Orphan Chamber ■was abolished, its duties being 
 entrusted to the blaster of the Supreme Court. 
 
 In 1834 another step was made towards a more perfect form of government. 
 By Letters Patent issued at "Westminster on the 23rd of October, 1833, 
 His Majesty directed that there should be a Legislative as well as an 
 Executive Council for the Cape Colony. The Legislative Council thus 
 created was to consist of not less than ten nor more than twelve members, 
 exclusive of the Governor. Five of the members were to be holders of 
 office under the Crown, and the remainder were to be selected by the 
 Governor from the principal landowners and merchants who had been 
 resident in South Africa longer than two years. The laws of the colony 
 were made by the Governor and such a Council conjointly for the next 
 twenty years. 
 
 In the north the system of warfare so long pursued against the Bushmen 
 was still continued. No change of government made any change in the 
 relationship between the colonists and these wretched creatures. It was 
 believed to be impossible for Europeans and Bushmen to dwell together 
 on the same soil, and therefore the sooner the savages were got rid of the 
 better. They were hardly regarded as human beings by any except a few 
 missionaries. Thus we find even Lord Macartney, the most philanthropic 
 of all our governors before the arrival of Sir Peregrine Maitland, author- 
 izing landdrosts to raise commandos for their destruction whenever they 
 should think proper to do so. The country between the interior chain of 
 mountains and the Orange Eiver, which had always been peculiarly a 
 hunting gi'ouud of these people, and which was then known as Bushmanland, 
 was not yet formally annexed to the colony, but it was considered to be 
 in some measure the property of the colonial government. Boers were 
 constantly in the habit of entering it and selecting farms in places where 
 water was procurable. The ordinary course of proceeding was then to 
 apply to the nearest magistrate for permission to settle on the selected 
 farm ; the magistrate forwarded the application to government, and it was 
 usually granted. A tract of land held in this manner was called a request 
 place, until such time as it could be surveyed and classed as a quitrent 
 farm. As soon as it was thus taken possession of, the Bushmen were 
 considered intruders upon it, and if they plundered the stock of the new 
 occupant, a commando was called into requisition. In course of time most 
 of the springs Avere thus alienated, and the game being driven out or 
 becoming extinct, the remnant of the Bushman race had no resource but 
 to retreat into the Kalahari desert. From this time they cease to require 
 notice as a distinct race within the British settlement, and according to the 
 census of 1875, there are now only four hundred and twenty-one Bushmen 
 in the whole colony. 
 
 The Rhenish Missionary- Society was founded in 1828, and during the 
 next year three missionaries were sent to this country. They established 
 themselves first at Stellenbosch, where they laboured among the colcured 
 
niSlORY or Tlt£ CAi»E tOLOM. 
 
 213 
 
 population ; but soon afterwards they founded stations in other part^ of 
 the colony and even in the far interior. The Paris Evangelical Missionary 
 Society was founded in L822, and in 1829 three of its missionaries were sent 
 to South Africa. One of them took up his residence at "Wellington, where 
 he labourevl among the slaves, the others devoted themselves to the 
 Bechuanas. Subsequently, being reinfoiced, they carried the Word of 
 God to the Basutos, among whom their labours have been eminently 
 successful. The Berlin Missionary Society was founded in 182-i. In 183-i, 
 four of its missionaries arrived in South Africa, who were followed by 
 others in successive years. The first station occupied was Beaufort West, 
 but they soon spread themselves among the Korannas, Bechuanas, and 
 Kaffirs in and beyond the colony. All of these societies still continue 
 active operations in South Africa. 
 
 During this period the colony maintained a steady advance in prosperity. 
 The progress of the eastern districts, especially, in agricultural and 
 commercial wealth was very marked. Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth 
 had become important centres of trade. The country was dotted over with 
 comfortable farmhouses, the owners of which, having overcome their early 
 difficulties, believed that fair prospects were before them. The English 
 settlers were living on friendly terms with their neighbours of colonial 
 origin, and intermarriages were becoming not uncommon. From the valleys 
 of Albany, Alexandria, and Somerset, the Kaffir pick had disappeared, and 
 in its stead might be seen the English plough. The difference between 
 these implements was not less marked than the moral difference between 
 the old order of things and the new. Substantial buildings were rising not 
 only in the villages founded by the British settlers, but in the older ones 
 of Gi-aaff Eeinet and Uitenhage in the east, and George, Swellendam, and 
 others in the west. In all of these, stores and shops exhibited the 
 appearance of commercial activity. The chief villages of the colony and 
 the military stations were connected by regular weekly posts, the mails no 
 longer being conveyed by Hottentot runners at irregular intervals, as in 
 days gone by. Grahamstown, as well as Cape Town, now had its bookstore 
 and its newspaper, — the Journal, established in 1829 under the able manage- 
 ment of Mr. Robert Godlonton. Churches and schools were certainly 
 not as plentiful as they are now ; but there was scarcely a hamlet without 
 a place of worship, and education was not altogether neglected. 
 
 Such was the condition of the country immediately before the Kaffir 
 War of 1835. For years past thefts of stock had been frequent, but as 
 1834 wore on, a dread of greater evil than this was felt throughout the frontier 
 districts. The Ngqika clans were unusually restless, and a suspicious 
 circumstance was that horses rather than horned cattle were selected by 
 robbers. The military force had of late years been considerably reduced, 
 and at this time the defence of the whole line of frontier from the 
 Winterberg to the sea was entrusted to about seven hundred and fifty men 
 of all arms, with a small reserve at Cape Town. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 KAFFIR HISTORY, INCLUDING THE WAR OF 1835. 
 
 Since t"he events recorded in a previous chapter, a great change had taken 
 place in the relationship of the border clans to each other. The old chief 
 Ndlambe had died, and with him were buried those bitter feelings of hatred 
 and resentment which had divided the Kaffirs on the frontier into two 
 sections arrayed against each other. Mdushane also was dead, and his son 
 SiYOLO, intent upon securing as much power as possible while his brother 
 of the great house was yet a child, was courting the friendship of the 
 Ngqikas. Maqoma was now unquestionably the chief of greatest influence 
 in Kaffirland. A man of only medium stature, but strong and muscular, 
 he was I'enowned among his countrymen for personal bravery and great 
 power of endurance, and was accredited also with the possession of more 
 than ordinary mental ability. For a long time he had been regarded by 
 his father as a formidable rival, rather than as a dutiful subject. Restless 
 and daring adventurers from all the clans were constantly swelling the 
 number of his followers, and his great place (as the residence of a chief of 
 rank is called) was a refuge where lawless and dissatisfied characters were 
 sure to meet a welcome. Their proximity to the farmers of Albany and 
 Somerset gave them an opportunity of displaying their skill in stocklifting, 
 which they were always ready to engage in. The system which was then 
 in force, of making reprisals by means of commandos, served to keep up 
 constant irritation, and united the clans in a common feeling of hostility 
 to the white man. 
 
 Some instances of the operations of commandos will illustrate the 
 relationship in which the Europeans and Kaffirs stood towards each other 
 at this period. In December, 1823, Major Somerset received orders to form 
 a combined military and burgher commando, with which he was to seize 
 the cattle of the chief Maqoma. He stated in his official report that he 
 succeeded in surprising the kraal of Maqoma at daybreak of the 6th, and 
 that he secured seven thousand cattle, with which he retreated to Fort 
 Beaufort, without a single man in his commando being hurt. This affair 
 was termed in the Oovernment Gazette a gallant and meritorious exploit, 
 and there is not the least doubt that it was considered as such by the 
 colonists. But there is just as little doubt that the Kaffirs believed they 
 had been surprised and plundered. In this instance, the cattle were driven 
 to Fort Beaufort, where those who had suffered losses by theft were 
 compensated, after which the remaining cattle were sent back. In 1830, 
 part of a commando that had entered Kaffirland to make reprisals for stolen 
 cattle arrived at the kraal of Szko, a chief of high rank, being the brother 
 
1830] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 215 
 
 of Ndlambe and uncle of Ngqika. Here, although no stolen cattle were 
 discovered, those belonging to the kraal were seized ; but, upon the chief's 
 remonstrating, the milch cows were returned, and permission was granted 
 to him to accompany the commando to Fort Willshire, there to state his 
 grievance, upon condition that he and some of his followers should assist 
 in driving the cattle. Upon the road, some of the tribe, hovering in the 
 rear of the commando, attempted a rescue by whistling in a peculiar manner, 
 their cattle being trained to follow such signals, upon which the chief and 
 six of his people were shot dead on the spot. In whatever light this affair 
 was viewed in the colony, the Kaffirs regarded it as an outrage of the 
 gravest nature, as, according to their customs, the person of a chief of high 
 rank is inviolable. 
 
 On the ^th of November, 1829, the old chief Ngqika died at his great 
 place on the Keiskama River. This had always been his favourite residence, 
 and there, close to Burnshill, his remains were buried. His principal heir, 
 Sandile by name, was yet a child, and so Maqoma was appointed regent 
 during his brother's minority. At the head of the united clans, he was 
 now the most powerful chief on the border. His principal kraals at this 
 time were in the Chumie valley, whither he had retired after he was expelled 
 from the Kat River. There also lived his brother Tyali, of the left hand 
 house, a man of less ability, and distinguished for nothing beyond his 
 handsome personal appearance. Meantime thefts of cattle from the colonists 
 were constantly increasing, so that the Governor considered it necessary 
 to drive the marauders further from the border. The territory between 
 the Keiskama and Great Fish Rivers was still claimed under Ngqika's 
 cession, and Maqoma was held to be living at the Chumie only on sufferance. 
 In December, 1833, the clans were expelled from the valley, and were driven 
 some distance to the eastward. As this was in the middle of the growing 
 season, they were obliged to leave their crops of millet behind, which were 
 afterwards destroyed. It was hoped that this severe lesson would teach 
 them to abstain from robbery, but it was given in vain, for they were 
 already preparing for war. 
 
 On the 2nd of December, 1834, a party of eleven soldiers and four burghers 
 was sent into Kaffirland to recover four horses stolen from a farmer twelve 
 days before, or to make reprisals for the theft. The spoor had been traced 
 to one of the kraals of Nqeno, chief of the petty clan Amalanga or Amambala, 
 who had been permitted to reside in the ceded territory, but whose people 
 had abused this privilege by making frequent forays upon the frontier 
 farms. On this occasion Nqeno had promised to make reasonable compensa- 
 tion for the theft, but had failed to keep his word. The patrol seized forty 
 head of cattle, and was returning to Fort Willshire when it was attacked. 
 The oflBcer in charge was severely wounded, but the party reached the 
 fort without further casualties, and even succeeded in preventing the 
 recapture of the cattle. Colonel Somerset, commandant of the frontier, at 
 once took measures to punish the Amambala. With a detachment of the 
 
210 
 
 UTSTORT OF TIIK CAPE GOLOJfT. 
 
 [1834 
 
 Cape Mounted Rifles lie proceeded to the Keiskama, summoned the chief 
 to his presence, and demanded the deUvery of one hundred and fifty head 
 of cattle together with all the stolen horses in possession of the tribe, and 
 the immediate removal of the people of the offending kraal from the ceded 
 territory. Nqeno submitted, and gave up one hundred and thirty-seven 
 head of horned cattle and thirteen horses, which were distributed among 
 those farmers who had suffered most severely from depredations. 
 
 On the 11th of the same month, a military patrol was sent out to remove 
 some trespassers on colonial lands and make reprisals for stolen horses. 
 This party, having seized some cattle belonging to the chief Tyali, was 
 attacked, and with difl&culty succeeded in retreating to Fort Beaufort, with 
 only one man wounded, after having killed two Kaffirs and wounded two, 
 one of whom was a chief of rank, Xoxo by name, a brother of Maqoma and 
 Tyali. The chief was merely scratched in the forehead, and two days 
 afterwards no trace of the wound was perceptible, but this occurrence was 
 put forward by the Kaffirs as a pretext for war. **The blood of a chief," 
 said Maqoma to his warriors, " must not be shed with impunity." 
 
 An attempt had previously been made by Maqoma to draw the Hotten- 
 tots of the Cape Corps into rebellion. A portion of that regiment was 
 stationed at Fort Willshire, and some of tliese promised to deliver the fort 
 into his hands, if an opportunity offered. He accordingly surrounded it 
 with a large party of followers, who lay in ambush in the neighbourhood for 
 thirty-six hours, but the conspirators were unable to fulfil their agreement. 
 
 Immediately after this, the Kaffirs commenced to attack isolated farms 
 and drive off cattle, intelligence of which having reached Grahamstown, 
 every possible preparation for defence was at once made by the inhabitants. 
 On the 22nd, a horde of warriors, usually estimated at ten or twelve 
 thousand in number, crossed the boundary, and in a few days spread them- 
 selves over the whole country as far westward as Uitenhage, pillaging 
 and burning farm houses, sweeping off stock, and murdering those farmers 
 who were unable to escape. Men were butchered with savage ferocity, 
 but only in a few instances were women or children put to death, (and in 
 these it would appear to have been done undesignedly), though several 
 died subsequently of privations and suffering caused by the war. After 
 ravaging the country, the main body of the Kaffirs retreated about the 
 30th and 31st, carrying with them an immense booty. 
 
 The inhabitants of the frontier districts were thus suddenly reduced to 
 the greatest distress. As regards the British settlers, the fruit of fourteen 
 years' perseverance and industry was at once swept away, and they were 
 now as homeless and helpless as on the day they landed. From all sides 
 the scattered inhabitants fled to Grahamstown for the preservation of their 
 lives, and about two thousand people, most of whom a few weeks previously 
 had been in comfortable circumstances, were assembled there in complete 
 destitution, all property having been necessarily abandoned in the hurry of 
 flight from their farmb. 
 
18J]4j HISTORY OF THE CIPE COLONY. 217 
 
 The positioa of the missionaries in Kaffirland was most perilous. At 
 the outbreak of hostilities Maqoma had given orders that they were not to 
 be molested, because, said he, " we are fighting with those who go on 
 commandos, not against men of peace who have come to our country to 
 teach us." Bat in the excited state of the people, the commands of the 
 chiefs were not always attended to. Several traders had been murdered, 
 and the missionaries felt that the same fate might be theirs at any moment. 
 At Mr. Kayser's station, on the Keiskama, a trader took refuge in the 
 mission house. A party of men approached and asked him to come out 
 and give them his goods, promising that if he would comply his life should 
 be spared. Being entirely in their power, he had no alternative, and when 
 only a few paces from the door, he was struck down with assegais. Mr. 
 ELiYSER begged them not to murder the helpless man, but they told him to 
 go inside quickly, or they would do the same to him. He has brought 
 many commandos into our country," said one, " and therefore we kill him." 
 At Mr. Brownlee's station, on the Buffalo, another trader took refuge. 
 Most of the people there were subjects of the petty Amautinde chief 
 TsHATSHU, and professed Christianity, so that no immediate danger was 
 apprehended. But Tshatshu's followers were soon driven away by a lawless 
 band, Mr. Browxlee's cattle were swept off, and then the mission house 
 was surrounded and a demand made for the delivery of the trader. The 
 missionary, however, succeeded in protecting him till nightfall, when they, 
 together with Mr. Brownlee's family, made their escape, and ultimately 
 succeeded in reaching Wesleyville in safety, where they were protected by 
 the Gqunukwebe clans. In the hour of greatest danger and distress, the 
 missionaries received assistance where it was least to be expected. Sutu, 
 widow of Ngqika and mother of the paramount chief Sandile, was then re- 
 siding at Burnshill, one of the Glasgow Society's stations. She had naturally 
 great influence over the ^NTgqika tribes, and though a heathen, she declared 
 herself the protectress of the Christian teachers. To Burnshill then fled 
 all the missionaries in the Ngqika country, except Messrs. Chalmers and 
 Weir, who with their families escaped from the Cliumie station to the Kat 
 River. Under Sutu's eye they were safe, and there they remained until 
 towards the close of January, when a strong patrol from the colony reached 
 them, and rescued four traders and thirty-five members of mission families, 
 all of them completely destitute. 
 
 Intelligence of the invasion reached Cape Town by express on the night 
 of the 31st of December. Orders were immediately issued to despatch 
 every • available soldier to the seat of war, and to assemble burgher 
 commandos and Hottentot levies to follow as quickly as possible. Colonel 
 (afterwards Sir Harry) Smith left Cape Town the same night, and arrived 
 in Grahamstown six days afterwards, where he assumed command and 
 initiated measures to prevent further inroads into the colony. Martial 
 law was proclaimed in force in the ravaged districts, and every male in- 
 habitant capable of bearing arms was called into service. 
 2 F 
 
HISTORY OF THE CAW. COLONY. 
 
 [1835 
 
 Meanwhile the chief Tyali had made overtures for peace, but on termg 
 that could not be granted. He caused a letter to be written to the 
 Governor, in which he attempted to justify himself and his people for 
 having made war, and asked for two hundred head of cattle as payment 
 for the wound inflicted on Xoxo. 
 
 Sir Benjamin D'Urban, having appointed a Provisional Government to 
 act during his absence from Cape Town, arrived on the frontier on the 
 20th of January. One of his first acts after reaching Grahamstown was to 
 appoint a Board for the relief of the destitute, giving them power to draw 
 from the Commissariat such supplies as were requisite to alleviate the 
 existing distress. Committees were afterwards formed in Cape Town and 
 the principal villages of the colony to raise subscriptions in assistance, and 
 even in India, the Mauritius, and St. Helena, considerable sums were 
 collected and forwarded. During the remainder of the year applications 
 representing over eight thousand persons were made to the Board for 
 relief. As soon as burgher commandos could be organized and brought to 
 the front, an attempt was made to strike a decisive blow. It was ascertained 
 t-hat the Kaffirs in considerable force were in one of the fastnesses of the 
 Fish River, within a day's march of Grahamstown, and a combined move- 
 ment of troops and burghers took place with a view of surprising them 
 there. But it was unsuccessful, as the enemy with his cattle fell back 
 upon the Amatolas. 
 
 It was by this time certain that the Gcalekas, who professed to be 
 neutral, were connected with the war party, as one trader in their country 
 had been murdered and two others plundered of evei'vthing, and a large 
 portion of the stock collected in the raid on the colony had been driven 
 ! hither for security. In March a messenger was sent by Sir Benjamin 
 D'Urban to the chief Hintsa, but could obtain no satisfaction. The 
 Governor, therefore, with a small but well-equipped force, invaded the 
 Gcaleka country, leaving behind him his lieutenants to cope in the Ama- 
 tolas and other fastnesses with the Rarabe tribes. On the 15th of April 
 the troops crossed the Kei, Hintsa's western boundary. As there were 
 still hopes of a satisfactory arrangement being made, a general order was 
 iesued to the effect that the territory then entered was not to be treated 
 as an enemy's, and no act of hostility was to be committed against the 
 inhabitants. The advance guard was entering the river when a solitary 
 Kaffir made his appearance on the eastern bank. True to the policy of his 
 chief, he requested to be told the name of the stream. He was informed 
 that the Governor knew it was the Kei, and intended to cross it, but with- 
 out hostile intentions if Hintsa would come to an amicable arrangement. 
 With this message he wa-s sent to the chief, and the troops then moved 
 on to the mission station of Butterworth. They found the mission house 
 and chapel in ruins, and learnt that the whites who had been residing in 
 I be country had all fled to the Tembu chief Vusani for protection. A 
 patrol was immediately sent to their relief, and was successful in bringing 
 
1835] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 219 
 
 to the camp about a hundred persons who had lost everything but their 
 lives. HiNTSA having declined to make his appearance, and a stragf^ler 
 from an express party having been murdered, on the 24th war with the 
 Gcalekas was formally declared. Patrols were at once sent out, and within 
 a few days nearly twenty thousand head of cattle were seized. The rapidity 
 with which the troops moved and the evident impossibility of successfully 
 resisting them, struck such terror into the great chief that, under promise 
 of personal safety, he visited the British camp and arranged terms of peace 
 These were, the restoration of fifty thousand head of cattle and a thousand 
 horses which had been driven into his country, assistance in bringing the 
 Rarabe tribes to submission, the punishment of the murderers of two British 
 subjects, the payment of three hundred head of good cattle to each of the 
 widows, and the delivery of two hostages to be detained until the terms 
 should be fulfilled. This was on the 30th of April, 1835. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the British forces in Hlntsa's country, they were 
 joined by a great number of Fingoes. These people consisted of the 
 remnants of once powerful tribes that had been dispersed and driven 
 southwards by the conquests of Tshaka, with whom were afterwards 
 united a few of the Fecani who had been routed by the colonial commando 
 in 1828. Since the loss of their independence, they had been living in 
 bondage among the Amaxosa, by whom they were treated with great 
 cruelty. Their persons and property were alike always at the disposal 
 of the tyrants whose gardens they cultivated and whose cattle they herded. 
 A Fingo was commonly addressed by a Kaffir as " dog," and was regarded 
 exactly as if he was one. The arrival of British troops offered to many of 
 them an opportunity of escape from this deplorable condition, of which 
 they availed themselves with gladness. There were, of course, many others 
 who could not make their way to the British camp , as an attempt to do so 
 would have subjected them to immediate massacre, and of these some were 
 not rescued until 1851. The Governor determined to release from slavery 
 as many of these people as possible, and to give them a tract of land on 
 the eastern bank of the Great Fish River, where he hoped they would, 
 under British protection, become a thriving and friendly tribe. On the 
 2nd of May the troops commenced their march homewards, driving before 
 them the herds of captured cattle, and accompanied by sixteen thousand 
 Fingoes, men, women, and children, together with some converts from the 
 Wesleyan mission stations of Butterworth. Clarkbury, and Morley. These 
 latter resolved to accompany their teachers, who had been appointed by 
 the Governor to be the instructors of the Fingoes in the country ho intended 
 them to occupy. On the 15th they arrived at their destination, now the 
 district of Peddie, where a settlement was formed which afterwards became 
 of great importance to the colony. 
 
 The hostages detamed for the due fulfilment of the terms of peace were 
 Sabili, the chief's great son, and BuEU, the chief's brother. Hintsa him- 
 aslf volunteered to accompany a military party under command of Colonel 
 
220 
 
 IIISTOKY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1835 
 
 Smith, who was deputed by the Governor to receive the cattle and horBes. 
 His object may have been to lead the patrol into an ambush where it could 
 be destroyed, or, more probably, he may have been desirous of making it 
 appear impossible to collect the cattle he had agreed to deliver. On this 
 point nothing positive is known, for as the party was marching according 
 to his directions, he attempted to escape, having previously issued secret 
 instructions that the cattle were to be driven beyond reach. He managed 
 to get away from the troops, and had gained a thicket on the bank of a 
 small stream, when he was shot dead by a colonist who pursued him. He 
 was permitted to carry a bundle of assegais, and one of these was poised 
 in his hand ready to be thrown at his pursuer when he received his death 
 wound. Leaving his dead body to the care of his people, several of whom 
 were in sight at the time, the patrol made a hasty march along a great 
 cattle spoor running eastward, and succeeded in capturing three thousand 
 head, but not until they had crossed the Bashee. There they learnt that, 
 according to Hlntsa's orders, all the remaining stock had been driven over 
 the Umtata, so that further pursuit was useless. The patrol accordingly 
 returned to head quarters. The death of Hintsa raised his son Sarili to 
 the chieftainship. He was at once liberated by the Governor, and a treaty 
 of peace was made with him. 
 
 To the westward of the Kei the tribes were yet unsubdued. They had 
 suffered very greatly, and had been driven out of all their strongholds 
 except the Amatolas, but there they stood at bay. Parties of them still 
 continued, however, to make incursions into the frontier districts, and 
 every head of cattle that was not well guarded was instantly captured. 
 Military reinforcements had meanwhile arrived in the colony, and in August 
 the Kaffirs were attacked so vigorously and their losses were so great, that 
 they were compelled to sue for peace. They offered to surrender the 
 sovereignty of the country, and promised to conduct themselves thereafter 
 as orderly and obedient subjects. On these terras peace was concluded at 
 Fort Willshire on the 17th of September, and the district between the 
 Great Fish and the Kei rivers was proclaimed a British province. A 
 Commission was then appointed, with Colonel Smith as its president, for 
 the purpose of locating the different tribes, defining the boundaries of their 
 respective possessions, and generally reducing the country to order. 
 
 On the 11th of November the missionaries, who were still in the colony 
 and anxious to resume their work, received official intimation that they 
 were at liberty to return to their stations, and would receive, on application 
 to the Governor, grants of land for mission purposes. 
 
 The direct loss of the colonists in this war amounted to nearly £290,000 ; 
 one hundred and twenty-eight persons in all were killed and wounded on 
 the British side. On the Kaffir side the loss of life was very great, and, 
 although they Bwept off an immense number of cattle in the great raid, they 
 were much poorer when the war ended that when it began. It entailed 
 misery upon thousand?, both black, and white, and some of its effects were 
 
1835] 
 
 III8T0EY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 221 
 
 of a lasting nature. For many years after this, the disposition of the 
 British settlers towards the Kaffir race was less friendly than it had been 
 previously. The remembrance of their murdered relatives, of their desolated 
 farms and pillaged homesteads, coupled with the knowledge that, so far as 
 they were concerned, the invasion was unprovoked, caused them in after 
 years to regard with constant suspicion the race irom whose hands they 
 had suffered so much. 
 
 In this war nearly the whole of the Amaxosa were united against the 
 colony. After the death of Ndlambe, (February, 1828,) the petty clans that 
 had been in alliance with him gradually went over to Maqoma, with the 
 exception of the Gqunukwebes under Pato, Kama, and Kobe. Mqayi declined 
 the overtures of the Ngqikas, and at the commencement of hostilities went 
 to reside with Pato. He had, however, very few followers, as his brother 
 Mhala, who w\as by far the abler man of the two, had succeeded in securing 
 the allegiance of the greater portion of the tribe. Mhala warmly espoused 
 the Is gqika cause, and was very active in the war. The Gqunukwebe clans 
 showed their friendship to the colony by protecting as many missionaries 
 and traders as sought shelter among them. The Wesleyan missionaries 
 had great influence with these people, which, together with their hereditary 
 hostility to the house of Ngqika, may account for their not joining their 
 countrymen. The Tembus preserved during this war a neutrality that was 
 more favourable to the Europeans than to the Amaxosa. 
 
 There was a general impression among the Karabe tribes that they 
 would be joined by the Hottentots of the Kat River settlement. A few 
 evil-disposed individuals had made representations to that effect to the 
 chiefs, and had been active in urging on hostilities. Such an alliance was 
 deemed not improbable by the colonists, and they especially distrusted the 
 fidelity of a great number of squatters of mixed Kaffir and Hottentot blood, 
 who had gradually located themselves at the Kat Eiver, and through whose 
 means sedition might easily be spread. When the great raid was made 
 upon the colony, cattle belonging to the Hottentots were not seized, and a 
 few, which accidentally fell into the hands of the Kaffirs, were restored by 
 order of the chiefs. But if any treasonable intentions existed, they were 
 checked by the judicious measures adopted by the officer sent to take 
 charge of the settlement. There were some eighty men of mixed European 
 and Hottentot extraction, whose loyalty could be thoroughly depended 
 upon, and it was easy to convince the Hottentot landowners that their 
 interests were all on the side of the colony. With these to aid him, he 
 assembled the whole of the inhabitants, and without betraying any distrust 
 of those whom secretly he believed to be rebelliously inclined, he led them 
 to commit themselves by taking an active part against the enemy. From 
 that time they proved faithful, though the Kaffirs, who at first could hardly 
 credit the fact that these people were now in arms against them, made 
 repeated attacks upon the settlement, and succeeded in driving off a good 
 raany cattle. The Hottcntcts of Thcopolis defended their station with 
 
222 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLOI^T. 
 
 [1835 
 
 great bravery, when it was attacked, and afterwards were of material 
 
 assistance to the colonists. In common with the European resii^ents of the 
 frontier, they lost nearly everything they had possessed. A considerable 
 part of the force that invaded KafRrland was composed of Hottentot levies 
 raised in different parts of the colony. 
 
 The Governor's intentions with regard to the country lately acquired 
 were, to cover the Fish Eiver fastnesses by filling up the district as far as 
 the Keiskama, — that is, the old ceded territory, — with Fingoes and 
 European settlers, among whom those sufferers by the late war who chose 
 to receive grants of land were to have been included ; and to reserve the 
 district between the Keiskama and the Kei for the conquered Rarabe tribes. 
 These were to be governed through their own chiefs, and according to their 
 own customs so far as these were not opposed to the laws of the colony 
 and to common morality. A magisterial control was to be kept over them, 
 missionaries were to be encouraged to settle among them, commerce, except 
 in munitions of war and intoxicating liquors, was to be unrestricted, and 
 order was to be enforced by the formation of a chain of forts running 
 through the country and garrisoned by British troops. A site was selected 
 for the seat of government, and named after the reigning prince King 
 William's Town, the district being called after his spouse the Province of 
 Queen Adelaide. Had these plans been carried out in their integrity, 
 there is little doubt that future wars would have been prevented, while the 
 natives would have been brought under civilizing influences, and would, 
 in time, have regarded their conquerors as benefactors. Experience since 
 then has proved that nothing could have been better devised for their 
 improvement. A paramount power, external to themselves, appears to be 
 absolutely necessary to prevent the clans from continually waging war 
 upon each other. 
 
 The extension of the boundary to the Kei secured a frontier line preferable 
 to that of the Fish River. The valley of the latter stream contains a wide 
 belt of dense jungle, in which an enemy like the Kaffirs could readily find 
 shelter, and which was a secure lurking place for robbers. The river has 
 numerous fords, and, except when flooded, offers hardly any obstruction to 
 the retreat of marauders. The valley of the Kei is open, the banks of the 
 river are in many places sheer precipices, and the fords are few, so that 
 this line can be more easily defended in war and more securely guarded in 
 peace. On this account the arrangements made by Sir BenjamixV D 'Urban 
 were to the advantage of the colony; but as the greater portion of the 
 territory thus taken in was reserved for the natives, the area of European 
 occupation would not have been much enlarged. 
 
CHAPTEK XXL 
 
 TKOM THE KAFHE WAE OF 1835 TO THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES IN 1838. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Restoration of the Province of Queen Adelaide to the Kaffirs. — 
 Eff'ects of that measure. — Appointment of Magistrates to Clanioilliam, Cradock, 
 and Colesberg. — Establishment of the Cape of Good Hope Bank. — Emancipation 
 of the Slaves. — Great Emigration of Dutch Fanners. 
 
 Governors : — Sir Benjamin D'Ukban. 
 
 Sir George Thomas Napier, January 22, 1838. 
 
 Unfortunately for all parties, accounts had reached England concerning 
 the causes of hostilities, and the manner in which the war had been 
 conducted, which induced Lord Glenelg, then Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, to consider the ICaffirs as the aggrieved party, and the war 
 justifiable on their part. In a despatch, dated 28th of December, 1835, he 
 said : — 
 
 "In the conduct which was pursued towards the Kaffir nation by the 
 colonists and the public authorities of the colony, through a long series of 
 years, the Kaffirs had ample justification of the late war; they had to 
 resent, and endeavoured justly, though impotently, to avenge a series of 
 encroachments ; they had a perfect right to hazard the experiment, however 
 hopeless, of extorting by force that redress which they could not expect 
 otherwise to obtain ; and the claim of sovereignty over the new province 
 must be renounced. It rests upon a conquest resulting from a war in 
 which, as far as I am at present enabled to judge, the original justice is on 
 the side of the conquered, not of the victorious party." 
 
 This despatch, — particularly the above extract, — created great indignation 
 in the colony. The minister who wrote it was a member of a society that 
 had for its object the protection of the rights of aborigines, and that has 
 more than once fallen into grave errors by ascribing the same objects and 
 applying the same principles to barbarians as to civilized nations. He 
 received his information from the leaders of a small party in the colony, 
 who maintained that the Kaffirs were possessed of virtues such as no 
 barbarous tribes have ever had, that the accounts of their depredations had 
 been exaggerated, and that if treaties were made with them they would be 
 respected. The Rev. Dr. Philip and the Editor of the Commercial Advertiser, 
 men whose names must ever be respected in South Africa as promoters of 
 liberty and civilization, unfortunately held and advanced these opinions. 
 Their representations were credited in England, and by one more fully 
 than by Lord Glekelg. 
 
224 
 
 nCSTORY OF THK CAPE COLOXT, 
 
 [183G 
 
 lu reality, war had been inevitable from the time when the two nations, 
 so very different in character, but each in its own way a conquering race, 
 came in contact with each other. By good management it might have been 
 postponed for a time, but there could have been no lasting peace until a 
 trial of strength had been made. 
 
 The war had been hastened by the vacillating, and frequently weak, 
 policy of the government, which at one time would mercilessly avenge a 
 petty theft, and at another submit quietly to wholesale robbery ; by the 
 commando-reprisal system ; by the indignities to which some of the chiefs 
 had been subjected; and by encroachments upon the Kafi&r territory. To 
 the first of these causes the colonists of that day attributed the outbreak, 
 the last three were those which the Kaffirs put forward as justifying them 
 in commencing hostilities. But for the general policy towards the natives, 
 the successive Secretaries of State for the Colonies were alone responsible, 
 as the colonists had then no voice whatever in the government, and their 
 representations were constantly disregarded. 
 
 Undoubtedly, a vast amount of injustice was perpetrated under the 
 commando-reprisal system. Not unfrequently reprisals were made from 
 kraals innocent of the theft for which they were thus made answerable, 
 and instances are on record where cattle were seized as compensation for 
 others which had strayed, though these were afterwards restored when 
 those' supposed to have been stolen were found. And with all the evils 
 occasioned by the system, there was no corresponding benefit, for it did 
 not in the least check theft, much less prevent it. How that is to be 
 effectually accomplished is to the present day one of the most difficult 
 questions for solution in South Africa, and will probably so remain until 
 Christianity and civilization produce a complete change in the great body of 
 the Kaffir people. The other complaints made by the natives were not without 
 foundation, but the acts upon which they rested were the consequences of 
 their own thieving propensities. Seko was killed, Xoxo was wounded, and 
 Maqoma was repeatedly insulted, all by patrols in search of stolen cattle. 
 It was with a vain hope of preventing stock-lifting that Lord Charles 
 Somerset pressed upon Ngqika the cession of the district between the 
 Great Fish and the Keiskama, it was in punish-ment for stock-lifting that 
 Maqoma was pushed further and further back. 
 
 There were indeed incidents in the war of such a nature as to cause a 
 man like Lord Glenelg, with a high sense of honour and no acquaintance 
 with savage life, to disapprove of the conduct of his countrymen. Reports 
 of the burning of villages and destruction of crops, and accounts of Kaffir 
 losses, in which women and children figured among the killed and wounded, 
 must have been read by him as records of wanton cruelty, while the 
 disproportionate loss o{ life by the Kaffirs may have occasioned a suspicion 
 that the ordinary rules of warfare had not been observed. His standpoint 
 of observation being so far distant, his views and those of the colonists 
 could hardly fail to be different. To one on the spot, the burning of a 
 
18361 
 
 HIsrOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 225 
 
 native village was known to bo nothing more than the destruction of a 
 few days' labour of the women belonging to it, a matter of little consequence 
 in native estimation, and frequently a necessity in a military view. Crops 
 were destroyed for the purpose of reducing the commissariat supplies of the 
 enemy, a practice nowise repugnant to the usages of civilized nations. 
 Women and children were killed and wounded only when mixed with men 
 upon whom a sudden attack was made, and the enormous loss of the Kaffirs in 
 life arose from the circumstance that they could be reached with firearms 
 when their opponents could not be reached with assegais. Many irregular- 
 ities were to be attributed to the nature of the war, which was a series of 
 surprises and skirmishes without one pitched battle, and to the employment 
 of burgher forces, not subjected to high discipline, and exasperated by the 
 destruction of their property in the great raid. 
 
 An inquiry by a Committee of the House of Commons took place, 
 and evidence was adduced which tended to strengthen Lord Glenelg's 
 convictions. The Governor, the chief military officer, the colonists, all 
 remonstrated, but to no purpose. The inevitable consequences of restoring 
 the conquered territory were clearly pointed out, but the Secretary took 
 the responsibility upon himself. In a subsequent despatch, he indirectly 
 admitted that he had wronged the inhabitants of the eastern districts by 
 charging them with aggression ; but he continued, nevertheless, to abide by 
 the policy he had originated. The British settlers, who thought they were 
 entitled to some compensation for the enormous losses they had sustained, 
 petitioned successively the King in Council, the Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, and the House of Commons, to take their case into consideration, 
 and to appoint a Commission of Enquiiy to investigate on the spot the 
 charges made against them; but all to no purpose. Their prayers for 
 compensation and for adequate protection in future were alike unheeded. 
 
 On the 1st of August, 1836, Captain Stockenstrom, late Commissioner 
 General of Frontier Affairs, arrived from England, with the appointment 
 of Lieutenant Governor, and with instructions to carry out the views held 
 at the Colonial Office with reference to the Kaffirs. In December the 
 arrangements were completed, when British sovereignty was withdrawn 
 from the Province of Queen Adelaide. The boundary line was fixed from 
 Gaika's Kop along the ridge of the Chumie mountains to a point on the 
 Kat River a few miles south of Fort Beaufort, thence along the Kat River 
 to its junction with the Great Fish, and along the latter river to the sea. 
 This line left the Hottentot location within the colony, but restored the 
 remainder of the ceded territory to the Kaffirs. The British government 
 reserved the right to construct fortresses and make roads within this 
 territory, should it be found necessary to do so. It was agreed that the 
 Fingoes should retain solo and undisturbed possession of the land upon 
 which they were located. Matters were thus placed in almost the same 
 position as that m which they had been in 1818. Treaties were afterwards 
 fentered into with the different chiefs, in which the terms were dictated Vj 
 2 G ■ 
 
226 
 
 niSTOET or THl^ CAPE COLOXT. 
 
 [IS36 
 
 the strictest justice and fair dealing, and, to prevent the possibility of 
 aggression by the colonists, the commando-reprisal system was abolished. 
 The farmers of the frontier districts had by this time begun to rebuild 
 their houses and restock their farms. But any attempt to carry on pastoral 
 occupations in the vicinity of the Kaffirs proved to be hopeless. With them 
 as with all uncivilized tribes, nothing ia more respected than physical 
 power, nothing more despised than physical weakness. The Amaxosa had 
 enslaved and cruelly treated the wretched remnants of tribes of their own 
 race who had sought shelter among them ; they had never receded, never 
 spared. The views which actuated the British goverament in restoring to 
 them the land they had lost in war could not be understood, much less 
 appreciated. In their eyes concession was nothing but a result of weakness. 
 One of those sudden fluctuations of power which mark the history of 
 barbarian hordes had been experienced, they thought, by their late enemies. 
 Upon the conclusion of peace, the garrison of the frontier was considerably 
 reduced, and this tended to strengthen the opinion, now gaining ground in 
 Kaffirland. that the predictions of ]^^AKA^•A were being fulfilled, as the white 
 man's power was waning. The treaties, to which the chiefs had so recently 
 affixed their marks, were of no more value than so much waste paper, A 
 course of robbery commenced such as had never been equalled before. 
 Cattle were swept off by the Kaffirs, just as if a state of war existed. 
 Occasionally, houses were burnt and men were murdered. The frontier 
 colonists were compelled to endure all this suffering, without any attempt 
 at redress ; for the government seemed determined to bolster the opinions 
 of the Secretary for the Colonies, and therefore ignored what was going on. 
 This was the normal condition of affairs for the ten years following the 
 restoration of the Province of Queen Adelaide. 
 
 As early as the year 1823 some farmers began to move into the Bushman 
 country on the north-east of the colony, which is now comprised in the 
 Divisions of Albert. Aliwal Xorth, and Wodehouse. From that time colonists 
 continued to settle tliere, taking possession of the best lands, and on the 
 14th of October, 1835. the district was annexed by a proclamation of the 
 Oovemor. But upon the restoration of the Province of Queen Adelaide to 
 the Kaffirs, it was determined to give up this tract of country also, and on 
 the 5th of December. 1836. British sovereignty was withdrawn from it. A 
 few of the settlers joined the stream of emigration then setting to the 
 northward, but most of them remained where they were, and retained 
 possession of the territoiy until its re-annexation in 1847. 
 
 Fort Peddie was founded at this time. The fort and some other buildings 
 were erected for the accommodation of a small garrison, placed there to 
 protect the Fingocs who had been located in the neighbourhood. Most of 
 the frontier villages had a similar origin. Round a fort as a nucleus 
 gathered tradesmen and artizans, whose habitations were generally at first 
 of a temporary nature. If the site proved to be a good one, the village 
 graottially extended, in couree of time the originnl wattle and daub htits 
 
183G] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE CAPE COLOXT. 
 
 227 
 
 gave way to afcone or brick bouses, churches were erected, and municipal 
 regulations were introduced. 
 
 In 1836 Clanwilliam was made a seat of magistracy, it having been 
 before only a sub-district. In the same year an important ordinance was 
 issued, by which municipal boards were established in towns and villages. 
 
 In 1837 magistrates were stationed at Cradock, which had formerly been 
 a sub-district, and at Colesberg. The establishment of the Cape of Good 
 Hope Bank at this time was the commencement of extensive banking 
 operations throughout the colony. 
 
 Ever since 1808, when the foreign slave trade was suppressed, it was 
 evident that slavery was destined to extinction in British possessions 
 throughout the world. The champions of liberty, often defeated but never 
 subdued, were winning their way step by step towards final victory. The 
 record of their struggle belongs to the history of England, and it is 
 unnecessary to refer to it here, except as regards its effect upon this colony. 
 The importation of slaves into South Africa took place during the govern- 
 ment of the East India Company, and the evil effects of the measure have 
 been pointed out in the chapters devoted to the history of the colony 
 during the period that it was a mere victualling station for the Indian 
 fleets. 
 
 On the 11th of April, 1803, the Batavian Governor Janssens issued an 
 ordinance prohibiting the importation, or even the landing, of any more 
 slaves. There were then, according to Mr. Barrow's estimate, which was 
 probably too low, about twenty-six thousand slaves in the colony. This 
 enactment of the Dutch government remained in force after the conquest 
 of the colony by the English in 1806, and, according to the author of The 
 State of the Cape of Good Hope in 1822, was then the only hindrance to a 
 large importation of slaves from Mauritius. For by an Act of the Imperial 
 Parliament, passed in July, 1819, provision was made for the exportation of 
 slaves from one British colony to another, and the price of a labourer in. 
 Mauritius was at that time only one fourth of the price in the Cape Colony. 
 From 1803 no slaves were imported and retained here in a condition of 
 permanent bondage, except a few who were landed in 1807. By 1820 the 
 number had increased to rather more than thirty-four thousand, but from 
 this date it was nearly stationary for the next fourteen years. 
 
 The slave population of the Cape Colony was composed of three distinct 
 classes. There was first the pure black, whose ancestors were brought from 
 Madagascar and the Mozambique coast, and who was employed as a field 
 hand on the farms or as a hewer of wood and drawer of water in Cape 
 Town. He was just a drudge, and though tolerably well fed and clothed, 
 was regarded as being very little superior to a horse. 
 
 The second class was composed of the olive complexioned, long haired 
 Malays. The men were employed as coachmen and mechanics, the women 
 were house servants. The great majority were owned in Capo Town and 
 it6 neighbourhood. Mahometans in religion, the Malays held the other 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY or TUK CAPi: COLONT. 
 
 [1838 
 
 Blaves in contempt, and never asBOciated with them. Many of these 
 Asiatics had managed to purchase their freedom, and these were very 
 active in endeavouring to rescue their co-religionists from slavery. No one 
 dared to illtreat a Malay slave, for fear of vengeance that would certainly 
 be inflicted by others of the class. Among the free people of colour they 
 were propagating their religious opinions, perhaps less through zeal for 
 Mahometanism than with the object of strengthening their party. Clever, 
 daring, and resentful, they avenged themselves upon their enslavers by the 
 fear which their presence occasioned. 
 
 The third class was that of mixed blood. So many years had passed 
 away since Europeans first settled in Southern Africa that many of these 
 slaves were nearly white. The males were employed as domestic servants 
 or as mechanics, the females were house servants. The young women 
 were placed in that dreadful position where their only hope of freedom, 
 for which they naturally longed, lay in courting the addresses of wealthy 
 Europeans. To become the mother of children by their owners secured 
 their freedom according to law, and it was a common occurrence for quadroon 
 and octoroon slave girls to be purchased and manumitted by men whose 
 affections they had gained. The females of this class of slaves scorned to 
 form any connection with the blacks. Such a low state of morality as is 
 here exhibited was a natural consequence of holding human beings in 
 bondage. 
 
 No marriage ceremony was considered necessary between slaves, and 
 the changes of ownership to which they were subjected often made new 
 connections necessary. It was not usual in this colony to traffic in slaves, 
 but in case of the distress or insolvency of their owners, they were sold at 
 public auction like so many cattle. 
 
 In 1826 Sir Eichard Bourke issued an ordinance calculated to afford the 
 slaves some little protection. It denounced their undue punishment, and 
 provided for the appointment of a guardian whose duty it was to see that 
 they were treated with humanity. One of its clauses was to the effect that 
 a slave might compel his owner to sell him his liberty, if he could com- 
 mand a price fixed by impartial appraisers. This local ordinance was 
 superseded in February 1830, by an order in Council, the provisions of 
 which were even more stringent. It not only denounced under heavy 
 penalties the excessive punishment of slaves and provided guardians to see 
 that the law was observed, but required every slaveholder to keep a record 
 of all punishments inflicted on his slaves, to the correctness of which he 
 was to make oath twice a year. Excitement rose high in the colony as soon 
 as this became known. From all parts of the country delegates were sent 
 to Cape Town, whore, being joined by the slaveholders of the neighbour- 
 hood, a mass meeting was held, at which resolutions were carried not to 
 make the record required, and to march in a body to government house 
 and inform the Governor that they would not. Between three and four 
 thousand persons agreed to, these resolutions. A deputation having been 
 
1838] 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 229 
 
 sent in advance to announce their approach, Sir Lowrt Cole was prepared 
 
 to receive them, when their spokesmen, Messrs. Muntingh and Cloete (the 
 latter afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court and author of Five Lectures 
 UPON the Emigration of the Dutch Farmers) announced in the name of all 
 the slaveholders in the colony that they could not and would not comply 
 with the law. The Governor promised them to report to the Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies the excitement this regulation had occasioned, and 
 soon afterwards they had the gratification of learning that it was not to be 
 enforced. 
 
 Many of the slaveholders were men of liberal views in other matters, 
 but as regarded their own peculiar institution they were conservatives to a 
 man. They looked upon the emancipation of their bondsmen as an experi- 
 ment that would almost certainly bring ruin upon themselves, and 
 they were also of opinion that the slaves would not be benefitted by the 
 change. But, as they clearly foresaw that the British people would not 
 rest satisfied until emancipation was effected, they devised a plan which 
 they put forward as intended to bring this about in a gradual rather than 
 in a sudden manner. They formed what was termed the Philanthropic 
 Society, whose object it was to purchase young females for the purpose of 
 manumission. In 1830 an Ordinance was issued, empowering this society 
 to carry out its intentions, and to bind as apprentices to fit and proper 
 persons all females whose freedom it should purchase, until such females 
 should reach the age of eighteen years. The society hoped to obtain a 
 yearly grant of £7,000 or £8,000 from the Imperial Parliament, but failed 
 in its application, notwithstanding which some two or three hundred 
 young females were by its means redeemed from bondage. It is evident 
 that a scheme like this held out little hope of destroying slavery within a 
 reasonable time, and therefore could not have received the countenance of 
 the English people. 
 
 In August, 1833, Mr. Buxton's bill became the law of the empire. It 
 provided that all slaves should be freed on the 1st of December, 1834, but 
 their masters were to be entitled to retain them as apprentices for four 
 years longer. The total value of the slaves within the British dominions 
 was £50,000,000, and partly to compensate the slaveholders for their loss, 
 the sum of £20,000,000 was voted by the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 The number of slaves in the colony at that time was thirty-five thousand 
 seven hundred and forty-five. This was an increase at the rate of only 
 a hundred a year for the last fourteen years, and shows that manumission 
 bad become common during that period. Mr. Bird, in his account of the 
 Cape in 1822, states that the 60th regiment was disbanded here shortly 
 before that time, when the men found wives entirely among emancipated 
 slave girls. The practice of emancipating deserving slaves by will had also 
 become common of late years. 
 
 Appraisers were appointed by government, who classified and valued 
 the slaves, and it was ascertained that £3,000,000 would be required to pay 
 
230 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 [183S 
 
 the full value set upon them, which amounted on an average to about £85 
 each. The same course had been pursued in the other slaveholding 
 colonies of Britain, and, upon a proportionate division of the grant, the 
 amount to which the Cape Colony was entitled was found to be £1,200,000. 
 Thus every slaveholder lost three-fifths of the appraised value of his slaves. 
 But, by the mode of payment, the loss to most of them was even greater 
 thaia this. The compensation money was made payable at the Bank of 
 England only, and thus a prospect of a rich harvest was opened to agents, 
 who were enabled to purchase the requisite certificates at a rate much 
 below their nominal value. 
 
 Many of the slaveholders had been tottering on the brink of bankruptcy 
 before the passage of the emancipation act, and these were now reduced 
 to ruin. Others, — and they were not a few, — whose slaves had been 
 mortgaged, but who were otherwise free of debt, were proceeded against 
 by their creditors, and in many instances were brought to poverty. A few 
 were so indignant at the forcible liberation of their slaves without full 
 compensation being made, that they refused to receive the allowance 
 offered them, though tendered again and again. 
 
 The 1st of December, 1838, was looked forward to with the greatest joy 
 by the slaves, with the greatest dread by their masters. These apprehended 
 not only poverty to themselves personally, but a complete disruption of 
 society, attended by riots and all the results of legalized vagrancy through- 
 out the colony generally. Never were men more mistaken. In very few 
 instances indeed did the freedmen remain over the day in the service of 
 their late masters, but their conduct everywhere was most exemplary. 
 Many were affected with religious fervour, and spent the first day of their 
 liberty in giving thanks to God for the great blessing conferred upon 
 them, others congregated together and spent the day in festivity. The 
 knowledge that they were really free elevated them above all thought of 
 crime. Thirty-five thousand people in utter poverty, without food or homes, 
 without anything excepting their bodies to call their own, and yet rejoicing 
 with a wild delirious joy, abstaining from theft and all manner of crime : 
 such was the sight witnessed in the Cape Colony on that memorable day, 
 the first of December, 1838. 
 
 The emancipators have had no reason to blush on account of the conduct 
 of the freedmen since. For a time, indeed, many of them withdrew from 
 the service of the farmers, preferring to gain their living by working in 
 villages. Agriculture thus received a temporary check, but only to be 
 carried on afterwards with redoubled energy and increased success. So 
 far from society being disturbed, there has never been any such danger 
 since the emancipation as there was before it, when bands of escaped slaves 
 infested the country, plundering the farmers and frequently imbruing their 
 hands in blood. The slaves and their descendants quickly and quietly 
 became merged into the great body forming the labouring class of the 
 colony, which is as free from crime as any peasantry in the world. 
 
1838] 
 
 BJSTOUY or Tl\K CAPE COLOKT. 
 
 231 
 
 There was now taking place an extensive emigration of Dutch colonistp, 
 principally the descendants of those whose turbnlente gave such trouble 
 to the government about the close of the last and beginning of the present- 
 century. They were dissatisfied with all the recent acts of the British 
 government with regard to the colony, more particularly with the elevation 
 of the Hottentots, the restoration of the ceded territory to the Kaffirs, and 
 the emancipation of the slaves. For a hundred and fifty years emigration 
 beyond the colonial boundary, wherever that might happen to be at the 
 time, had been continuous, but never before had it been on such a large 
 scale, nor conducted in such an organised manner as now. The elevation 
 of the Hottentots to a political equality with the whites caused such dis- 
 satisfaction that many families left the colony, but the insecurity of life 
 and property that arose from the arrangements with the Kaffirs in 1836 
 tended more than anything else to extend the emigration movement. It 
 Reemed at this time as if whole districts would be depopulated, so general 
 was the desire to escape from the dangers to which the frontier farmers 
 were exposed. 
 
 The reduction in the number of Europeans, and connequently in the 
 military strength of the colony, was urged in the strongest language by 
 the British settlers in their petitions to the Home Authorities, as a reason 
 why they should receive adequate military protection, so as, if possible, to 
 check the abandonment of the country; but very little notice was taken of 
 their prayers. The emancipation of the slaves, following so closely upon 
 these other events, spread the desire to emigrate into districts far removed 
 from Kaffir depredations. Stragglers from the west now joined the great 
 stream flowing away from the colony. Their subsequent career forms part 
 of the history of Natal, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal 
 Territory. 
 
 That these people, many of whom were accustomed from infancy to a 
 semi-nomad life, should have resolved to leave their native land when they 
 felt themselves aggrieved without the power of resistance, can be little 
 matter of surprise. In this they were only following, though in a different 
 cause, the example of those brave Huguenots whose blood ran in their 
 veins. There was much that was good in their character, and they were 
 decidedly free from prominent vices. But with regard to the black man 
 their opinions were at variance with those of enlightened men of our day. 
 In their eyes he was an inferior being, who ought to be kept in subjection 
 to a white master. Neither they nor their fathers considered it a sin to 
 disregard native rights, when those rights interfered with the white man's 
 prosperity. 
 
 It is a matter of surprise that they were permitted to leave the colony in 
 the manner they did. They went avowedly with the purpose of seeking a 
 home where they could be beyond the reach of English law. They were 
 themselves in doubt as to the legality of their proceedings until they 
 were apfenrefi by the l ieutenant-rrovernor that he knew of no law to prevent 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [183S 
 
 a British subject from leaving one conntry and settling in another, and 
 
 that if such a law did exist, it would be tyrannical and oppressive. This, 
 the declared opinion of the officer second in rank in the colony, gave great 
 impetus to the emigration movement. From the Divisions of Albany, 
 Somerset, Uitenhage, Graaff Keinet, Cradock, and Colesberg, the farmers, 
 forming themselves into strong armed bands, now moved northward. 
 Under the very eye of the government, and with its implied sanction, some 
 thousands of individuals, providing themselves with arms, ammunition, and 
 accoutrements, even to cannon, organized themselves into military bands 
 under leaders chosen by themselves, and left the colony, renouncing all 
 allegiance to the British crown, and claiming the right to make war when 
 and upon whomsoever they chose. They attempted in some instances to 
 take their former slaves with them, but were prevented by military inter- 
 ference from doing so. In no other respect was any endeavour made to 
 check their proceedings. Many of them advertised their farms for sale, 
 and so candid were they, that the intention to emigrate was generally given 
 as a reason for desiring to sell. The commotions afterwards caused by 
 this movement could not then have been anticipated, nor, on the other 
 hand, was it possible to foresee that immense tracts of country were about 
 to be added to the domain of civilization by these hardy pioneers. 
 
 One effect of this emigration was to place in the hands of the British 
 settlers some of the finest sheep-walks in the colony. They had already 
 become convinced of the value of wool as an article of export, but the land 
 they originally occupied was not well adapted to the rearing of sheep. 
 They now began to disperse over the whole of the eastern districts, and 
 from this time the quantity of wool which was yearly exported rapidly 
 increased. This industry had been tried as far back as the early days of the 
 government of the East India Company. During the short rule of the 
 Batavian Republic it had heer> encouraged, and great hopes were entertainod 
 of its success. But it had never advanced so far as to become an important 
 source of colonial wealth. With the Dutch colonists the heavy tailed African 
 sheep continued still the favourite breed, and with them it was only slowly 
 and gradually that the Merino supplanted the old stock. 
 
 This period marks a great turning point in South African history. The 
 abolition of the commando-reprisal system and the emancipation of the 
 slaves were measures of incalculable benefit to the community. As long 
 as those systems endured, moral progress was impossible. When they 
 were destroyed, men acquired clearer and juster ideas of their duties and 
 responsibilities. More humane and liberal opinions began to be formed, 
 and in course of years have spread among the whole European race in 
 South Africa. 
 
SOUTH AFKICAN HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 FROM THE EMANCIPATION OT THE SLAVES TO THE WAR OF THE AXE. 
 
 1838 TO 1846. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Condition of the Colons/. — Establishment of Puhlic Schools 
 under the Serschel system. — Creation of Road Boards, and Employment of Con- 
 victs on Puhlic Works. — Immigration. — Rapid Increase in the production of Wool, 
 ^instance of Kaffir Superstition connected with the death of the Chief Tyali. — 
 ShipiorecJcs in Table Bay, — Biscovery of the Guano Islands off the coast of Great 
 Namaqualand. 
 
 Governors : — Sir George Thomas Napier. 
 
 Sir Peregrine Maitland, March 18, 1844. 
 
 The history of South Africa from the landing of Van Riebeck to the date 
 now reached, a period of one hundred and eighty-six years, has run on in an 
 unbroken stream, to which the transactions of native tribes were merely 
 tributaries. Up to 1838 there was but one civilized government, — that of the 
 Cape Colony, — at this extremity of the continent, all beyond its jurisdiction 
 being yet solely occupied by independent barbarians. Henceforth the 
 stream of European occupation will be seen separating into several channels » 
 spreading the benefits of civilization rapidly and widely through the land. 
 
 The most interesting and important events of this period took place in 
 connection with the emigration of the Dutch farmers and their struggles 
 with the Zulu tribes of the north and east. Compared with the deeds of 
 men who were exploring what was then a wilderness and there laying the 
 foundations of thriving states, the record of occurrences within the limits 
 of the old settlement seems so tame as to be hardly deserving of notice. 
 It is necessary, however, in order to avoid confusion, to refer the history of 
 those more stirring events to future chapters, and to confine our attention 
 for the present solely to the Cape Colony. 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1838 
 
 During tlie ten years that followed the renunciation of British sovereignty 
 over the Province of Queen Adelaide, the condition of the frontier districts 
 was deplorable. The old colonists were moving away in large bodies, 
 preferring, as they said, to run the risk of danger elsewhere rather than 
 remain longer exposed to constant violence and destruction of propert3\ 
 Farms, now worth thousands of pounds, were being sold for a couple of 
 hundred, or exchanged for a few cattle or a waggon. Many were parted 
 with for even less than this, as the owners had resolved to abandon them 
 altogether if no purchasers could be found. Speculators were thus enabled 
 to get titles at their own prices, and, in not a few instances, by laying out 
 of paltry purchase amounts for a few years, a profit of two or three 
 thousand per cent was gained. Some of the farms thus vacated were 
 immediately occupied by Albany settlers, but this transference of inhabitants 
 from one part of the frontier to another rather weakened the country at the 
 time than strengthened it. The force was too small to be spread over such 
 a large firca. Progress was out of the question in districts infested to such 
 an extent with robbers that open war could hardly have been more ruinous. 
 Very little assistance in suppressing or preventing robberies was to be 
 obtained from the chiefs, and there was no police to apprehend the 
 marauders. Sir George Napier, who succeeded Sir Benjamin D'Urban as 
 Governor at the beginning of 1838, on his arrival in the colony held the 
 same views as Lord Glenelg with reference to the policy to be pursued 
 towards the Kaffirs, and persistently shut his eyes to what was going on. 
 The six years of his government make up one of the darkest periods of 
 frontier history in times of nominal peace. But he saw enough to cause 
 him to change his views before he retired from the government in 1844, 
 and he stated afterwards, when giving evidence in England on native affairs, 
 that he was convinced Sir Benjamin D'Urban was right in bringing the 
 Karabe tribes under control and surveillance. His successor, Sir Peregrine 
 Maitland, came to South Africa with a thorough missionary spirit. He 
 was a man of very advanced age, and an earnest Christian. His chief 
 motive in accepting the appointment, as he himself stated, was that he 
 would thereby be enabled to do something for the spiritual and temporal 
 improvement of the natives. But, before any thing else could be attempted, 
 it was necessary to restore order on the frontier by preventing the constant 
 inroads of marauders. This was no easy matter to undertake, for it was 
 quite impossible to guard the whole frontier line with only a handful of 
 soldiers backed by the scattered and impoverished farmers. The Governor 
 resolved, as one step towards the desired end, to erect a fort in the Ngqika 
 country, for the purpose of holding in check the principal chiefs. Practically, 
 this was a reversal of the Glenelg policy of dealing with them as independent 
 powers, and of trusting to treaties alone. When the conquered lands were 
 restored, not a single post was retained in Kaffir territory, even Fort 
 "Willshire, on the western bank of the Keiskama, which had been occupied 
 since 1819, being then abandoned. Fort Beaufort was on the colonial side 
 
[1844 
 
 ITISTOET or THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 3 
 
 of the border, and Fort Peddie was in the country occupied Ijy the Fingoes. 
 The paramount chief Sandile was induced to give his consent to the 
 estabhshment of a post a few miles on the Kaffir side of the boundary, but 
 as soon as the work was commenced he withdrew his word, on the ground 
 that he had ^acted before without the advice of his councillors. Post 
 Victoria, however, was built and g-arrisoned as a matter of necessity. 
 According to a clause of tlie treaties, the power to erect forts and make 
 roads was retained by the government; but the treaties had not been 
 observed for eiglit days by the.^'Kaffirs, and now, after the lapse of eight 
 years, all parties might well consider them obsolete. The erection of tlie 
 fort was years too late to be of any service. Instead of the chiefs being 
 overawed, they became more insolent in their demeanour, and made active 
 preparations for war. Colonel Hare, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander 
 of the Forces on the Fi'ontier, made several armed demonstrations with the 
 few troops at his disposal, but without any good effect. Robberies and 
 murders became even more frequent than before. One of the last victims 
 was an inoffensive German missionary, who, while travelling towards 
 Kaffirland, was mistaken for another person and killed by some men of 
 Pato's tribe, just before the formal declaration of hostilities. Pato was 
 called upon to deliver up the murderers to punishment, and promised to 
 do so, but failed to keep his word. His people had not been able to resist 
 the temptations to jDlunder placed in their way by the Glenelg treaties, and 
 he had joined hands with his old enemies and was now a leader of the w^ar 
 party. 
 
 In the western districts, the emancipation of the slaves caused a 
 temporary derangement in farming affairs and consequently a stagnation in 
 trade. For a short period, indeed, that is, until the compensation money 
 was spent, the importation of articles of luxury was larger than usual, so 
 that judging by the customs' returns the colony appeared to be flourishing ; 
 but this money soon found its way abroad again, and w^ith it departed the 
 purchasing power of the people. It required some years for the country to 
 adapt itself to the new order of things. Slowly at first, but more rapidly 
 as years rolled on, the farmers who beforetime had commanded the service 
 of bondsmen accustomed themselves to the employment of free labour, and 
 found to their astonishment that the change was to the advantage of all. 
 But while the new and better system of paid labourers and improved 
 implements was only in its birth, these districts appeared to be in a state 
 of stagnation. Amidst the general depression, however, the seeds of 
 future prosperity were being sown. 
 
 A great extension of the educational machinery of the colony took 
 place at this time. Many attempts had previously been made to diffuse 
 elementary education among the European children of the settlement, but 
 none had been successful. There was a free government school in each of 
 the principal villages, and a few private schools had been established, 
 raor^tly in the eastern districts, l)ut thcj^ fell far short of the requirements 
 
4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1839 
 
 of the people. The returns of 1839, indeed, show only five hundred pupils 
 attending the government schools throughout the colony. The farmers 
 depended, as in days gone by, upon itinerant teachers, who spent a few 
 months at each house, and instructed the children in reading, writing, and 
 getting the Heidelberg catechism by rote. Sir John Herschel, the 
 eminent astronomer, who resided in the colony from 1834 to 1838, interested 
 himself greatly in the cause of education, and suggested a plan for the 
 establishment of district schools, which was adopted by the government 
 and carried into effect. Afterwards, when he returned to England, he 
 busied himself in selecting and sending out suitable teachers. These services 
 have recently been acknowledged in a becoming manner by a district 
 being called after his name. Under the Herschel system pecuniary aid 
 was given to properly conducted schools, in which instruction, religious 
 and secular, was imparted, wherever a sufficient number of pupils could be 
 got together. School Commissions, presided over by the Civil Com- 
 missioners, and of which the resident clergymen and justices of the peace 
 were members, were appointed in each district, by which means the system 
 was soon in thorough working. Aid was also given to mission schools, 
 intended for the education of coloured children. This class of the 
 inhabitants had hitherto been cared for solel}^ by mission societies, which 
 were dependent for funds upon the benevolence of people in Europe. 
 Through the exertions of Dr. Philip and other philanthropists, a system of 
 infant schools, costing a mere trifle for maintenance, had been for some 
 time in operation at most of the stations, and at several of them really good 
 schools for youths had been established; but what had already been 
 accomplished was only a trifle compared to what remained to be done if 
 money was forthcoming. From this time, therefore, the extension of 
 schools has been a prominent feature of mission work, while a desire for 
 education has taken firm hold upon the coloured races, as well as upon the 
 Europeans of thercolony. Under the Herschel system, rivalry between 
 different denominations of Christians, such as might cause a deepening of 
 the lines of distinction between them, was a danger to be apprehended. 
 But the country was too sparsely inhabited and churches were too few at 
 that time for thislelement of discord to come into operation. In course of 
 time, however,3he evil began to show itself, but the colony was then ripe 
 for the establishment of undenominational schools, such as are now scattered 
 broadcast over the land. 
 
 The result of the various efforts made within the last forty years to 
 educate the people of the colony is shown in the census returns of 1875. 
 Out of every hundred Europeans of all ages, sixty-two can read and write. 
 Of coloured people, only six in a hundred can read and write, but this 
 percentage includes the whole of the Kaffirs westward of the Kei, as well 
 as the numerous Bechuanas and other foreigners who have come into the 
 colony within the last two or three years. In the scale of education the 
 different races stand in the following order : — 
 
[1S13 niSTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 5 
 
 PcvGCutcigc of 
 
 Can vccici 
 
 Cciu VCttcl 
 
 CcDi ncitJiG)' vcad 
 
 11 f I uyto. 
 
 
 only. 
 
 11 or %vyit6. 
 
 Europeans ... 
 
 ... 62-35 ... . 
 
 o vo 
 
 QQ- '7.') 
 
 66 
 
 Mixed races . . . 
 
 ... 16-30 ... . 
 
 8-75 ... 
 
 74-05 
 
 Malays 
 
 ... 7-41 ... . 
 
 2-69 ... 
 
 89-90 
 
 Hottentots . . . 
 
 ... 7-25 ... . 
 
 6-00 ... 
 
 86-75 
 
 Fingoes 
 
 ... 5-07 ... . 
 
 3-37 ... 
 
 91-56 
 
 Kaffirs and Bechuanas 1*86 ... 
 
 1-62 ... 
 
 96-52 
 
 Another measare of this date that has since proved of great service to 
 tlie colony was the establishment of Koad Boards and the turning of convict 
 labour to some profitable account. In 1843 an ordinance was passed by 
 the Legislative Council, under which Divisional Road Boards were created, 
 with taxing powers, for the purpose of making and keeping in repair branch 
 roads. These boards, which consisted of the Civil Commissioner of the 
 district and a number of members elected by the landowners, are still in 
 existence under the name of Divisional Councils. The same ordinance 
 created a Central Board of Commissioners of Public Roads, consisting of 
 three official and three unofficial members, all appointed by the Governor. 
 This central board was endowed with very considerable powers. It had 
 control of all convict labour, it could establish tolls, levy rates not exceeding- 
 one penny in the pound on fixed property, and make use of any land 
 required for main roads. Up to this period very little had been done 
 towards forming really good thoroughfares in the colony. Even Cape 
 Town itself was as yet isolated from the back country by the sandy downs 
 of the isthmus, some sixteen or seventeen miles in extent. Through this 
 sand, waggons laden with two thousand pounds of produce were dragged 
 at the rate of two miles an hour by from fourteen to twenty oxen, while 
 the post cart took the better part of a day to reach Stellenbosch. This 
 being the state of affairs close to the capital, it can readily be understood 
 that the interior was left pretty much as nature had formed it. The 
 treasury chest was nearly always empty, and if ever there happened to be 
 a surplus of reveime over expenditure, it went to pay the Imperial govern- 
 ment for the redemption of the old paper currency. Hitherto, convict 
 labour had been frittered away, with hardly an attempt to utilize it. Each 
 district had the use of its own convicts, but their labour without proper 
 supervision or engineering skill was of very little value. The ordinary 
 prison discipline was not calculated or intended to qualify criminals for 
 labourers. The excessively harsh treatment of former days was no longer 
 permitted ; but, owing to the want of proper accommodation, the cells 
 were frequently still crowded to suffocation, and in many instances the 
 prisoners slept with their feet in stocks to prevent their escape. Under 
 the Central Road Board, all criminals sentenced to long terms of 
 imprisonment were massed together under competent overseers, and 
 employed in the construction of roads through difficult mountain passes 
 and in other places where a great deal of labour was re<piired. The lirst 
 
6 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1844 
 
 mountain pass converted by this means into a liighwaj' of traffic was called 
 after the Colonial Secretary, who was chairman of the board and yevy active 
 in promoting the object for which it was formed. Montagu Pass is in the 
 Division of George, on one of the main thoroughfares of the colony. An 
 excellent road was made over it, and opened in 1844. An immense 
 improvement in the means of communication was effected by ih.e Central 
 Eoad Board within a very few years, and in a manner that was not 
 burdensome to the inhabitants, considering the advantages gained. With 
 the introduction of representative government some years later, it ceased 
 to exist, since which time the most important main roads are constructed 
 by parliamentary grants from the general revenue, and are now included 
 in the Public Works Department, which is under the supervision of a 
 responsible minister. All other roads, whether main or branch, are 
 attended to by the Councils of each Division, the necessary funds being 
 raised by rates on landed property and the proceeds of tolls. 
 
 After the emancipation of the slaves, two schemes of introducing 
 lal^ourers were set on foot. By one, some six or seven hundred boys and 
 girls of good character, from twelve to sixteen years of age, were sent out 
 in small parties from England, under the auspices of the Children's Friend 
 Society, and were apprenticed to colonists by commissioners appointed for 
 the purpose. The scheme did not answer the expectations of the Society, 
 and was abandoned as soon as it was seen that except in occasional instances 
 the juvenile immigrants were not likely to prosper. The other source of 
 supply was the island of St. Helena, where captured slave ships were 
 taken by English cruisers. A few thousand liberated Africans were 
 brought to the Cape b}' means of private subscription; but the su':)ply was 
 precarious as dependent upon chance, and many persons in the colony 
 objected to this class of immigrants. Through the long-continued exertions 
 of the missionaries, the coloured inhabitants were now rising rapidly in 
 intelligence as well as in morality, and it was considered undesirable at 
 this stage to bring in a mass of barbarism which might have the effect of 
 checking their progress. 
 
 During this period sheep's wool rose to the prominent position it has 
 since occupied as the most valuable export of South Africa. In 1838 less 
 than half a million pounds were clipped, but every year saw a large increase. 
 In 1846 over three and a quarter million pounds were exported, two-thirds 
 of which was shipped at Algoa B^y. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1842, the chief Tyali died after a long illness, when, 
 according to custom, a witchfinder was employed to " smell out" the 
 sorcerer who had caused his death. The accusation fell upon Sutu, mother 
 of Sandile ; but she received notice in time, and fled to the house of Mr. 
 McDiARMiD, one of the missionaries at Burnshill. Intelligence of her 
 dangerous position being conveyed to Mr. Stretch, the representative of 
 the government with the Kaffir tribes, immediate steps were taken to bring 
 what influence the colonial authorities yet ])osscsscd to bear in her favour. 
 
[181-2 
 
 IITSTOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 Yery fortunately., the chief Nqkno and liis son Stokwe protested against 
 " smelling out" a person of Sutu's rank, and the dela}^ thus caused gave 
 time for Colonel Hare to remonstrate with the other chiefs. They then 
 thought better of the matter, and Sutu was saved from the terrible fate 
 that had so nearly overtaken her. Read by the light of subsequent events, 
 there can be little doubt that she was selected as a victim on political 
 grounds. But what a picture of heathenism is here ! Maqoma consenting 
 to, if not instigating, the murder of his father's favourite wife ; Sandile, 
 then about twenty je^irs of age, agreeing to the death by torture of his 
 own mother ; the people believing the word of a miserable witchfinder, even 
 when that word was directed against one whom under other circumstances 
 they felt bound to respect and obey. What a strange scene is this also, 
 regarded as an example of vicissitude in life. Seven years before, Sutu 
 had protected a number of mission families when their lives were in 
 danger ; now, one of them is performing the same friendly, act for her. 
 
 In 1842 several disastrous shipwrecks took place in Table Bay. On the 
 28th. of August, the transport Ahercromhie Bohinson, with detachments of 
 troops on board, went ashore. Fortunately, the ship was sound and held 
 together until her crew and passengers got safely to land. At the same 
 time the Waterloo, a convict ship bound to Tasmania, which had put in 
 for refreshments, drifted on to the beach. This ship was quite rotten, and 
 within a few minutes after striking she crumbled to pieces. There were 
 no means of saving life at hand, either on board the hulk or on shore, and 
 though the wreck was close to land and an ordinary boat could reach her 
 in safety, little or nothing could be done by the erowd of spectators assembled 
 on the beach. Many of the unfortunate people on board were crushed to 
 death amid the fragments of the ship, many more were drowned. Altogether, 
 within a few minutes, one hundred and ninety persons perished, of whom 
 one hundred and forty-three were convicts. This disaster led to the 
 providing in Table Bay of the usual means for preserving life in cases of 
 shipwreck, including a lifeboat and appliances for throwing lines over 
 stranded vessels. 
 
 About this time a mine of wealth was opened in South Africa, and one 
 of the most desolate portions of the country became for a short period a 
 wonderful scene of activity. An American sea-captain named Mokeell, 
 who had been in charge of a vessel engaged in whaling and sealing, published 
 in a pamphlet a description of the south-western coast of Africa, in which 
 the existence in a rainless region of certain islets frequented by myriads 
 of sea-birds was mentioned. In 1842 a copy of this pamphlet happened to 
 fall into the hands of a Liverpool broker, by whom three small vessels 
 were secretly despatched to search for the islands, in hope of finding 
 deposits of guano upon them. The speculation was unfortunate. One of 
 the vessels put back before the voyage was ended, and another, after 
 reaching the coast and finding no fresh water there, at once sailed away. 
 The thii-d was successful in finding the island of Ichaboe, and took in 
 
8 
 
 niSTORl OF TUE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1843 
 
 three-fourths of a cargo of guaiio ; but having parted her cables in a gale, 
 she bore away for England, and reached the port of Bristol in safety. 
 There litigation followed, owing to the losses sustained, and the existence 
 of the guano islands was communicated to the public. Before this date 
 the Peruvian islands were the sole sources of supply of this valuable manure, 
 which was then selling at £9 5s. per ton in the English market. A firm 
 in Glasgow and another in Liverpool at once sent out a large number of 
 vessels, most of which arrived on the African coast before the close of 1843. 
 The island of Ichaboe, a rock less than a mile in circumference, the highest 
 point of which is only thirty feet above the sea level, was found to have 
 upon it a deposit of guano varj'ing from forty feet in depth at the northern 
 to ten feet at the southern end. This is the principal guano island, though 
 there are several others upon which large deposits were found. Shipping 
 stages were erected, and the fleet was laden. So successful did the 
 speculation proye that immediately great numbers of people embarked in 
 the enterprise. Just then the shipping business was depressed elsewhere, 
 and this gave additional impetus to the new trade. Before the end of 1844- 
 as many as three hundred vessels were lying at once in the Channel of 
 Ichaboe, and by February, 1845, the whole of the deposit was removed. 
 During the busiest period, when some thousands of labourers were engaged 
 on shore, there was a tendency on the part of the unruly to create 
 disturbances and riots, and the presence of a frigate was requisite to support 
 a committee of shipowners and agents in keeping order. The quantity of 
 guano from these islands that entered the English market at this time 
 was about three hundred thousand tons (254,527 tons in 1845 alone), which 
 being sold at an average price of £7 per ton, was equal in value to £2,100,000. 
 Tlie importers cleared about £2 pOx* ton, freight being £4, and charges for 
 shipping and lauding about £1. Only a few shiploads were taken to foreign 
 countries. The guano from our islands contained less ammoniacal salts 
 than that from Peru, and was consequently of less value. Though this 
 large amount of wealth was found on our coast, but little money was 
 brought into South Africa through the discovery, and that little almost 
 entirely in return for supplies required at the islands. It was not until 
 the rocks were cleared that the business fell into colonial hands. Since 
 1845 the islands have been regularly swept clean two or three times every 
 3-ear, the quantity of guano exported being limited to the fresh deposits. 
 For several years it averaged about six thousand tons, but recently the 
 quantity has decreased. 
 
CHAPTER XXIIT. 
 
 THE WAR OF THE AXE. — 1846 — 7. 
 
 Governors : — Sir Pebegrine Maitland. 
 
 Sir Henry Pottinger, 
 Sir Henry G. W. Smith, 
 
 January 27th, 1847. 
 December 1st, 1847. 
 
 By the beginning of 1846 the war party in Kaffirland was read}' for 
 immediate action. From the first, the concessions of the English government 
 had been altogether misunderstood, being attributed to weakness, which 
 inspired contempt. What the Kaffirs hoped to gain by war was the ejection 
 of the white man from the country as far to the westward as they knew 
 anything of it. In rank, Sandile was now the first of the Rarabe chiefs. 
 He was a man of less mental power than his brother Maqoma, and was 
 deficient in physical energy, owing to one of his legs having been withered 
 from childhood. But he was a great boaster, and was wont to express 
 himself freely as to what he would do when the time came. A message of 
 his to some other chiefs, to the effect that he was ready, having come to 
 the ears of the traders in Kaffirland, they wisely withdrew from the country 
 early in the year. Maqoma was opposed to war, probably on account of 
 the jealousy he felt of his brother. A miserable life he was leading, even 
 for a savage, that crafty chief of the Ngqikas. Missionary effort had been 
 concentrated on him to no purpose, for though his words to the teachers 
 were ever good, his acts were those of a heathen. The same man that 
 said to a missionary in reference to his work among the Kaffirs, " The rock 
 is hard : you may not be able to break it to pieees, but you must hammer 
 away and you will get bits off it," in a moment of jealousy compelled one 
 of his wives to bury her new-born infant alive, and was in the constant 
 habit of causing wealthy subjects to be murdered and of confiscating their 
 property, on the charge of dealing in sorcery. He had acquired a passionate 
 taste for brandy, and much of his time was spent in intoxication in the 
 canteens of Fort Beaufort. When in this condition, he was a source of 
 terror to his wives and attendants, whom he assaulted at will, as it would 
 have been deemed a dreadful crime to resist a chief of his rank. 
 
 The immediate event which led to a declaration of war was a very petty 
 crime. A Kaffir was detected at Fort Beaufort in the act of stealing an 
 axe. He was an old offender, and it was therefore resolved to send him to 
 Grahamstown to be tried. He was manacled to a Hottentot, who was 
 likewise being sent to the nearest court of justice, and both were placed 
 under charge of a small guard. On their way the guard was attacked by 
 
 c 
 
10 
 
 HISTORI OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1846 
 
 a large party of Kaffirs, whose object was to liberate their friend. This they 
 succeeded in doing without difficulty, since it would have been folly to 
 resist them. They freed him from his companion by severing the arm 
 of the Hottentot, as they were too impatient to get the handcuff off in any 
 other manner. The Hottentot being without assistance bled to death, the 
 guard having succeeded in escaping. This outrage took pla^e within the 
 colonial boundaries, on the highway between the two most important 
 military stations in the frontier districts, so that it could not be overlooked. 
 The Governor demanded of the chiefs the sun'ender of the murderers, and 
 when this was refused he declared war, 31st of March, 1846. It is from 
 this circumstance that the war which followed is termed by the Kaffirs The 
 War of the Axe. 
 
 The tribes on the immediate frontier of the colony at this time were : — 
 
 I. The Amagqunukwebe, under the chiefs Pato and Kama. They 
 occupied the seaboard of the old ceded territory, and were in close proximity 
 to the Fingoes around Fort Peddie. Kama and his followers who had 
 been converted to Christianity aided the colonists in the war. Pato and 
 his followers were among the most active of the enemy. 
 
 II. The Amamfengu in the neighbourhood of Fort Peddie. These were 
 "under the protection of the British, and fought faithfully with them. 
 
 III. The Amambala, under Stokwe and So>'TO. They occupied the 
 central portion of the old ceded territory, and were with the war party. 
 The principal clan of the Imidange, under the chief Tola, resided also in 
 this neighbourhood. They had been among the most noted for daring 
 robberies and acts of violence, and took a very active part in the war. 
 
 ly . The Amangqika, under Sandile, !Maqoma, Ais'ta, and numerous other 
 chiefs, who were all in arms against the colony. They occupied the 
 remainder of the ceded territory, and the district in which the Amatola 
 mountains are situated. 
 
 To the eastward of these tribes, and occupying the remainder of the 
 coast lands to the westward of the Kei, were the Amandlambe and 
 Imidushaue, whose principal chiefs were Mqayt, Mhala, Siwa^'I, and Siyolo. 
 Mqayi with a few followers went to Grahamstown and resided there until 
 the termination of the war. This chief, whoce attachment to the English was 
 unwavering, had repeatedly informed t'le government of the preparations 
 for hostilities that were being made by his countrymen. The three last 
 named, with numeri>us other chiefs of lower rank and less importance, 
 were allied with the Xgqikas. 
 
 An attempt was made to seduce the Hottentots of the Cape Corps from 
 their allegiance, but it failed. They, as well as all of that race, remained 
 faithful throughout the war. 
 
 For some time after the commencement of hostilities disasters attended 
 the British forces. The campaign was opened on the 15th of April by an 
 attempt to occupy Saxdile's great place on the Keiskama, and from thence 
 to scour the Amatolas. For this purpose a force of about fifteen hundred 
 
1846] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 11 
 
 men, consisting of companies of the 91st infantry, the 7th dragoons, and 
 the Cape Mounted Rifles, together with some Hottentot levies from the 
 Kat River, was sent forward from Fort Beaufort, where Colonel Hare had 
 established his head quarters. The column of invasion was commanded 
 by Colonel Somerset, and was accompanied by a train of nearly a hundred 
 waggons laden with baggage, stores, and ammunition. On the march no 
 opposition was encountered and the country passed through appeared to 
 have been abandoned, the position at Burn's Hill being reached as quietly 
 as if war was an unknown word. A camp was formed in the centre of a 
 jungle, and parties were then sent out in different directions to seize the 
 enemy's cattle. Had Sandile himself planned the entire movement, he 
 could not have devised it more to hia own advantage. As soon as the 
 troops had dispersed, the Kaffirs, who were lying in wait in great force, 
 attacked the camp, when it was immediately seen that the position could 
 not be held. An attempt was then made to withdraw into a more open 
 country, but the only road passable for waggons was so narrow that they 
 were compelled to proceed in single file. Selecting a favourable spot, 
 where the path was lined with jungle, the Kaffirs attacked the train, cut 
 some of the oxen loose, and turned a waggon across the road. The soldiers 
 could make no effectual resistance, and thus fifty-two waggons were seized 
 and burnt, their contents being appropriated by the enemy. The scattered 
 troops, attacked on all sides, united with great difficulty and severe loss, 
 and, hotly pursued by the Kaffirs, fell back towards Fort Beaufort. On 
 reaching the Chumie, after three disastrous days, they found that the 
 mission buildings of Lovedale, which were built of stone, could afford them 
 shelter, and as the missionaries had already retired to the Kat River, they 
 took possession of the premises and strengthened them for defence. There, 
 within a day or two, they were joined by the Governor, Sir Peregrine 
 Maitland, who assumed the command. 
 
 The Kaffirs at once poured into the colony and laid waste the frontier, 
 firing the buildings and driving off the stock. Most of the inhabitants 
 had fled in time to the villages or had concentrated in eligible positions 
 for defence, but here and there one was overtaken and murdered. The 
 enemy was so active that they even burnt the grass close to Grahamstown, 
 so as to prevent cattle from being kept there. The blazing homesteads of 
 the farms in the vicinity could be seen lighting up the horizon at night, 
 and the town itself was considered to be in such danger that a detachment 
 of troops from the front was sent to aid the small garrison in its defence. 
 
 Early in May Post Victoria was burnt and abandoned, that fort being 
 considered of less importance than the station at Lovedale nine or ten 
 miles further in advance, and the number of troops in the field being 
 insufficient to hold both. The only other stronghold held by the English 
 beyond the colonial boundary was Fort Peddie, which was surrounded by 
 the enemy. It was necessary to make an attempt to throw in supplies for 
 the garrison. Accordingly a waggon train was despatched from Grahams- 
 
12 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1846 
 
 town, under command of Captain Campbell, but while it was ascending 
 the hill from Trompetter's Drift on the Great Fish River, the Kaffirs 
 attacked it and succeeded in capturing forty-one waggons with their 
 contents. This was on the 22nd of May, and six days afterwards a most 
 determined attack was made upon the fort itself. The Fingoes had driven 
 their cattle nnder the walls for protection, and fought bravely in their 
 defence. The garrison could act only on the defensive, and hence, though 
 the fort was saved, nearly the whole of the Fingoes' cattle were captured. 
 In this attack, Jan Tshatshu, chief of the Amantinde, took part. Previous 
 to this time Tshatshu was a professed Christian, having been educated at 
 Bethelsdorp, where he had been placed by his father under Dr. Yander- 
 KEMp's care. After the war of 1835 he visited England, where he was 
 treated as a very distinguished person. Upon his return to Kaffirland he 
 was puffed up with pride and self importance, and as he had acquired a 
 fondness for strong drink, his career thenceforward was most unsatisfactory. 
 Still, it was not generally believed that a man who lived in a house built 
 after the European model, and who had adopted European customs 
 generally, would take part in a war which he must have known could only 
 terminate in the subjugation of the Kaffirs. His defection was of little 
 importance in a military point of view, as his clan was small , but it tended 
 greatly to discourage those who were anxious for the civilization of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 Within a few days after the attack on Fort Peddie supplies in abundance 
 were thrown in, so that henceforth the position was safe. Colonel 
 Somerset, who had been despatched by Sir Peregrine Maitland to take 
 measures for the defence of Albany, having done all that was possible there, 
 took command of a train of waggons from Grahamstown, and by making a 
 circuit round by one of the upper fords of the Fish River, succeeded in 
 conveying relief to the garrison. 
 
 As soon as war broke out troops were sent for from England, and large 
 bodies of burghers, Hottentots, and liberated slaves were equipped and 
 sent to the front. The colony was suffering from a prolonged drought, 
 so that it was very difficult to move with cattle. Owing to this circumstance 
 the Kaffirs were enabled to lay waste the frojitier districts with ease, 
 before any sufficient force could be mustered to oppose them. Their 
 success brought them allies from among the Tembus, and for a time they 
 must have considered themselves invincible ; still, they took the precaution 
 to send the captured stock away into the heart of Kaffirland, where it was 
 taken care of by the Gcalekas under the chief Sarili. 
 
 The first stage of the war, — the furious, destructive onset which marks 
 the commencement of every such contest, — was now, however, past. The 
 irregular colonial forces were rapidly arriving on the frontier, and some 
 transports with troops on board had fortunately called at the Cape, when 
 the soldiers were detained and hurried to the scene of action. Measures 
 could therefore bo taken for the protection of the most cx[)oscd portions of 
 
[1846 
 
 HISTOET OP THE CAPE COLOWX. 
 
 13 
 
 the colony, while heavy columns were sent forward. Owing to the drought 
 and to the jungles of the Fish River valley being in the occupation of the 
 enemy, it was necessary to land troops and stores somewhere on the coast 
 of Kaffirland. Waterloo Bay, an open roadstead afeout a mile and a half 
 to the eastward of the mouth of the Great Fish River, was selected for the 
 purpose, and was found to answer. 
 
 On the 7th of June an event took place of which old KafRrs still tremble 
 when they speak. A great number of their ablest warriors had assembled 
 in the open valley of the little rivulet Gwanga, a few miles from Fort Peddie, 
 and were there feasting on captured colonial cattle, when they were 
 surprised and attacked by Colonel Somerset, who had with him a strong 
 patrol of cavalry. The KaflBrs were massed too thickly together to fight 
 to advantage, and when the dragoons and the Cape Corps charged upon 
 them they became helpless with fear. They attempted to escape, but their 
 retreat was cut off, and they were ridden down and sabred by hundreds. 
 Several escaped by stretching themselves out on the ground and feigning 
 death. The casualties of the British were only one soldier killed and 
 three ofl&cers slightly wounded. Between two and three hundred KaflBr 
 corpses were counted on the field, and probably an equal number died 
 afterwards of wounds received there. Many of the survivors retained 
 such a vivid remembrance of what they saw on that day that they could 
 never be induced by their chiefs to meet a European in battle again. 
 Mhala's power was broken at the Gwanga. He lost there his brother and 
 chief councillor, Mxamli by name, and many of his ablest and most 
 influential followers. 
 
 Colonel Somerset then proceeded to the Kei, for the purpose of recovering 
 some of the cattle which had been driven in that direction. He had with 
 him, in addition to his regular troops, a party of burghers and a large body 
 of Fingoes, The forward march was made without opposition, the river 
 was crossed, and a few thousand head of cattle were seized. It was necessary 
 to return at once, on account of the distance from support if it should be 
 needed and the want of everything except beef for food. The horses, too, 
 were perishing, as the drought had been so severe in the country passed 
 through that there was little or no grass. In falling back the commando 
 was harassed day and night by the enemy, who hovered in the rear and 
 lay in ambuscade in every thicket, but did not venture to make a stand on 
 open ground. Many of the captured cattle were lost again, but the patrol 
 reached head quarters without any serious casualties. The Gcalekas had 
 another enemy besides the English to contend with. Faku, chief of the 
 Amampondo, whose country was to the eastward of theirs, deemed this a 
 favourable opportunity to increase his stock of cattle at the expense of 
 his neighbour. He therefore proclaimed himself an ally of the English, 
 and took the field. He succeeded in capturing several thousand head of 
 cattle, after which he was easily induced to agree to terms of peace. 
 
 About the end of July operations were commenced with a, view of getting 
 
14 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1846 
 
 possession of the Amatolas. A body of fifteen hundred bnrghers and 
 native levies, under Sir Andeies Stockenstkom, and a division of regular 
 troops one thousand strong, under Colonel Hare, moved forward for that 
 purpose. Ten years before. Sir Andries STOCKExsTnoii had acted as the 
 agent of Lord Glenelg in restoring the authority of the chiefs over this 
 same country, and had maintained the justice and expediency of the 
 measure. In carrying out that disastrous policy he had sacrificed the 
 confidence of the bulk of his fellow colonists, rather than swerve in the 
 least from what he considered right. But the events that followed had 
 the same effect upon him as upon Sir George Napier, and now he had 
 come forward as a volunteer to aid in rectifying the mistakes then made. 
 He had already expressed his opinion thai the Kaffirs, by their conduct, 
 had forfeited all right to the Amatolas, and had stated that when they 
 were again driven out, he would exert any influence he might have to 
 prevent their being permitted to return. To him and his irregular forces 
 was intrusted the duty of scouring the wooded kloofs and fastnesses of the 
 mountains, while the soldiers under Colonel Hare operated along the 
 base. It was a difficult matter to drive the Kaffirs out of the jungles in 
 which they had entrenched themselves, and was not accomplished without 
 considerable loss of life. But within a few days several salient points in 
 these strongholds were secured, when the enemy fell back to the eastward, 
 burning the grass in their rear. 
 
 Sir Peregrine Maitlaxd then found it necessary to move the bulk of 
 his forces to a camp near Fort Peddie where they would be within reach of 
 supplies, as the men and horses were so worn out as to demand immediate 
 rest. Some of the burghers of the w^estern districts were permitted to 
 return to their homes, and a period of partial inactivity commenced. The 
 chiefs at this time declared themselves anxious for peace. They had not 
 driven the white man into the sea, as they had expected to do. The severe 
 drought of the previous year had left them almost without food, and 
 hunger was already wasting their toUowers. The planting season was at 
 hand, and it was necessary to get their gardens in order. On the 21st of 
 August Stokwe abandoned the contest, by voluntarily surrendering to 
 Colonel Somerset. The l!s"gqika chiefs shortly afterwards sent a message 
 to the Governor, requesting to know on what terms peace would be granted. 
 The reply was that the Kaffirs must surrender their arms, restore all the 
 stolen colonial cattle, and submit to the loss of sovereignty over the 
 country as far eastward as the Kei. With these terms, Colonel Johnstone, 
 of the 27th regiment, accompanied by the Eev. Mr. Calderwood, of the 
 London Missionary Society, and an escort of six Cape Mounted Eiflemen, 
 was sent to meet the chiefs. The conference took place, — 30th of September, 
 — on the eastern bank of the Chumie, about a mile from the present village 
 of Alice. On the slope of a hill called Sandile's Kop, the Kaffirs were 
 massed in a phalanx at least a mile square. In front of this imposing 
 array the chiefs met the English messengers, and after hearing the terms 
 
1846] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 15 
 
 of peace rejected them with disdain. It was evident, however, that some 
 of them were anxious to submit, but dared not express themselves to that 
 effect in presence of the others. This was notably the case with Maqoma, 
 who was suffering from protracted illness. The Governor, therefore, as 
 soon as it was possible, moved towards the Chumie with a column of troops, 
 consisting of the 90ih regiment, part of the 45th and of the 7th dragoons, 
 and some artillery. Reinforcements, consisting of the Rifle Brigade and 
 the 6th infantry, had recently arrived in the colony, and were then on the 
 march to the seat of war. This demonstration had the desired effect. 
 Scarcely had the troops reached their destination when Maqoma gave 
 himself up. He was soon followed by Mhala and Siyolo, and on the 17th 
 of December by Sandile. The great chief brought with him the axe 
 stealer and the murderer of the Hottentot prisoner, and professed to 
 think that in giving them up to justice he was making ample amends for 
 all that had transpired. Still, there were a few, — among others, the chief 
 Pato, — who would not submit, and who continued to carry on a guerilla 
 warfare. Sarili, also, was still harbouring the stolen stock, so that 
 another invasion of his country became necessary. This was accomplished 
 in December, 1846, and January, 1847, when several thousand head of 
 cattle were recovered. 
 
 The principal chiefs, except Pato, had now submitted, but peace seemed 
 yet far distant. The frontier districts continued to be infested with bands 
 of robbers, whose capture was extremely difficult. Over these the chiefs 
 professed to have no power. The work of hunting them out was harassing 
 to the last degree, for no sooner was one locality cleared than they appeared 
 in another. Great numbers of horses had perished in the campaign, and 
 it was found impossible to supply their places with fresh ones. At this 
 time those of the dragoon regiment were being fed on damaged biscuits, so 
 scarce was ordinary provender. To meet this difficulty. Sir Peregrine 
 Maitland determined to assign sufficient land to each chief without delay, 
 so that they might collect their followers about them, after which the 
 robber bands would be considered and treated as outlaws. The country 
 westward of the Chumie and Keiskama was declared forfeited. The Rev. 
 Mr. Calderwuod was appointed Commissioner, with instructions to locate 
 the chiefs who had submitted beyond this boundary. But now another 
 great mistake was made. The Governor was desirous of excluding the 
 Kaffirs from the Amatolas, but Mr. Calderwood induced him to restore 
 that tract of mountain land to them. The Commissioner afterwards had 
 occasion deeply to regret having given this advice. 
 
 While these steps towards pacification were in progress, a new Governor 
 arrived at the Cape. Soon after the commencement of the war. Lord John 
 Russell had become Premier of England, with Earl Grey as Secretary for 
 the Colonies. The Earl considered that Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had 
 seen fifty-four years service in the army, should be succeeded by a younger 
 man. Sir Henry Pottinger, an officer in the East India Company's service. 
 
16 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1847 
 
 who had acquired brilliant renown in the war with China, accepted the 
 appointment, on condition that it should not interfere with his advancement 
 in India. In January, 1847, he arrived in the colony, with the power of 
 High Commissioner for the settlement of affairs beyond the boundary, in 
 addition to that of Governor. He was the first to hold these two offices 
 conjointly, but each succeeding Governor has been High Commissioner as 
 well. With him arrived General Sir George Berkeley, who had been 
 appointed Commander of the Forces, as the rules of the service did not 
 permit an officer of the East India Company's service to hold a command 
 in the national army. 
 
 Sir Henry Pottinger continued the plans of his predecessor without 
 any material alterations. To the chiefs who professed to be submissive 
 tracts of country were assigned, and a considerable number of Fingoes, who 
 had fought loyally with the English, were located on the western bank of 
 the Chumie. Several new military posts were established in commanding 
 positions, and others were strengthened. By degrees the robber bands 
 were driven over the border. But during this time Pato was making a 
 most obstinate resistance, while there is little doubt that he was actively 
 assisted by the others. While they professed to be sitting still, and were 
 busy harvesting their crops, many of their followers were engaged in the 
 war. The district between the Buffalo and the Kei had become the principal 
 stage of operations. The kind of warfare pursued was something as follows : 
 An attack upon a bushy ravine, from which the Kaffirs would immediately 
 flee to another, then an attack upon this, from which they would return to 
 the first; a waylaying of small parties of troops by the enemy; and an 
 extraordinary activity shown on both iides in the capture of cattle. The 
 Governor at length gave orders that all captured cattle which would 
 incommode the troops in marching, or which could not be herded without 
 inconvenience, should be shot. 
 
 The hostile Kaffirs were well supplied with ammunition, and as Sir Hbnry 
 Pottinger was convinced that this was obtained from the nominally neutral 
 party, who again procui'ed it from secret traders, he forbade all traffic of 
 every kind with any of the tribes then or recently in arms against the 
 colony. Any person caught trading with them was to be considered and 
 treated as if he were in treasonable intercourse with the enemy. As the 
 penalty for this was death, transgressors could be tried by court martial, 
 and shot if found guilty. An order such as this, prohibiting traffic of all 
 kind with people who appeared to be intent only upon cultivating as much 
 ground as possible, may seem severe ; but it was necessary under the cu'- 
 cumstances. There have never been wanting men so lost to honour and 
 integrity as to imperil the lives and property of their countrymen for the 
 sake of gold. And those industrious gardeners, so recently engaged in 
 war and now apparently so devoted to peace, could not conceal their anxiety 
 to become possessed of powder and lead. The advantages of martial law 
 are seen on occasions like these, when the rules by which society is usually 
 
1847] 
 
 TTrSTORT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 17 
 
 governed are found powerless to preserve order. In point of fact, many of 
 these neutral Kaffirs boasted afterwards of having cleverly outwitted the 
 whites, by securing a suspension of hostilities during the growing season. 
 It was a truce, they said, and ridiculed the idea of its being called paace. 
 Had free trade continued, or the punishment for disobedience been less 
 severe, there can hardly be a question that they would have obtained such 
 supplies of ammunition as would have enabled them to do much more 
 harm than they afterwards did. 
 
 The shifting of the scene of hostilities made it necessary to find a port 
 further to the eastward than Waterloo Bay, where troops and stores could 
 be landed. The mouth of the Buffalo River, now the port of East London, 
 was selected. A line of military posts was established along that river, 
 and Sir George Berkeley was anxious to keep open communication by sea. 
 In April, 1847, the Frederick Huth discharged a cargo of military stores 
 there, after which Fort Glamorgan was built and the place was permanently 
 occupied. In July a regiment was landed there from the steamship 
 Rosamond. There is a popular belief of the existence of an ancient 
 prediction among the Kaffirs, that when sea- waggons should find a resting 
 place in the mouth of the Buffalo, Kaffirland would die. It is certain that 
 no such prediction was handed down from times of old. But the landing 
 of soldiers and munitions of war at the Buffalo mouth was not the less the 
 means of discouraging the Kaffirs. They saw at once that it was in the 
 power of the white man to attack them at any time in the rear of their 
 mountain strongholds, to surround them, as it were, with a circle of fire. 
 It was probably this that deterred many of the minor chiefs from again 
 taking up arms when Sandile soon afterwards was proclaimed a rebel. 
 
 From the time of his surrender the conduct of Sandile was suspicious, 
 and it soon became evident that his sole aim in submitting was to 
 gain time to plant crops of corn. But the government was so anxious 
 to conciliate him that little or no notice was taken of his designs until 
 they ended in an overt act of hostility. He refused to surrender a thief, 
 and when some troops were sent to his location, his followers waylaid 
 and fired upon them, killing two and wounding several. The Governor 
 then proclaimed him a rebel, 7th of August, 1847. Sandile at once retired 
 to the Amatolas, and occupied the old fastnesses from which he had been 
 driven with such difficulty. About tliis time the troops that had garrisoned 
 the Lovedale mission buildings since the retreat from Burn's Hill, removed 
 to a new fort just across the Chumie River, which was called after the late 
 Lieutenant-Governor Fort Hare. 
 
 The Governor now applied himself to the organization of a powerful 
 force of burghers, Hottentot levies, and Fingoes, and to the collection of 
 large supplies of provisions and military stores. Sir George Berkeley, 
 on his part, drew all the soldiers available from the different garrisons. 
 By the middle of September three great columns were ready, which entered 
 the Amatolas at different points, and scoured them in every direction. 
 
 D 
 
18 
 
 HISTORT OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1847 
 
 The great chief was pursued as long as his whereabouts could be ascertain- 
 ed. At length, with a few retainers, he concealed himself in a secluded 
 woody ravine, but even there he narrowly escaped capture. Hunger 
 forced him from that retreat, when he had no choice left but to surrender 
 unconditionally, — 19th of October. With his brother Anta and his chief 
 councillors he was sent under escort to Graharastown, where he was placed 
 in confinement. 
 
 Pato still held out. He was hunted from place to place, until, on the 
 19th of December, he, too, was compelled to relinquish the unequal contest. 
 *' I am no longer a man, but a baboon," said he as he surrendered to 
 Colonel Somerset, " for I have been living among the monkeys." He and 
 those of his followers who accompanied him looked haggard indeed, for 
 they had held out till their only choice was to starve or surrender. Hunger 
 had been keenly felt by the hostile tribes towards the close of the war, as 
 their gardens had been destroyed and their cattle seized. 
 
 A few days before the surrender of Pato the government again changed 
 hands, for the second time within ten months. Sir Henry Pottixger had 
 received the appointment of Grovernor of Madras, and it had become 
 necessary to select some one to succeed him. For some time past it had 
 been admitted at the Colonial Office that the Glenelg system of dealing 
 with the natives was a failure. The war had cost a vast sum of money, 
 and thus the fact was impressed much more forcibly than it ever had been 
 by the prayers of the plundered colonists. Sir Harry Smith, who had 
 been in the former war an active supporter of the plans and views of Sir 
 Benjamin D'Urban, and who had since gained military fame by his 
 splendid victory at Aliwal, was sent out as Governor and Commander-in- 
 chief. He hastened to the frontier, and on the 17th of December, 1847, 
 issued a proclamation extending the colony to the Orange River on the 
 north, and on the east to the Keiskama from the sea to the junction of the 
 Chumie, and along the Chumie to it? source. 
 
 From the territory thus annexed on the eastward, the Araararabe were 
 expelled, with the exception of those few who had taken no part in the 
 war. The territory received the name of the Division of Victoria East. 
 Two Mag'strates were appointed to reside in it : one at FDrt Peddie, whose 
 principal duty was to superintend the Fingoes in that neighbourhood, the 
 other at Block Drift, now the village of Alice. Some large tracts of fertile 
 land in the upper part or the Division were set apart for the use of those 
 Fingoes and Hottentots who bad assisted in the war. In these grants to 
 Kngoes, the plan fallowed was that of allotting large blocks to separate 
 elans, thus perpetuating the evils of chieftainship and tribal holding. In- 
 stead of each man having his own plot of ground and looking up to the 
 magistrate as his immediate superior, he held of his chief, who was in theory 
 the magistrate's delegate, in reality an aspirant for independent power. It 
 was the feudal system of the natives themselves, but its evils were so 
 apparent that it causes surprise to find it perpetuated in an English colony. 
 
1847] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 19 
 
 when so favourable an opportunity for abolishing it occurred. In the 
 unreserved portions of the district, farms were afterwards surveyed and 
 offered for sale, some of which fell into the hands of speculators and were 
 not occupied for many years. The land regulations of that day did not 
 admit of farms being offered to colonists under military tenure, as in the 
 system afterwards introduced by Sir George Cathcart. 
 
 On the 23rd of December the Governor met the chiefs at King William's 
 Town. He had released Sandile and Anta when he passed through 
 Grahamstown, so that all were present except Maqoma, who was in 
 confinement at Port Elizabeth for creating a brawl in the streets when in a 
 state of intoxication. With a great deal of theatrical display, Sir Harry 
 Smith there announced himself as the great chief of the Kaffirs, and 
 proclaimed British sovereignty over the country between the new colonial 
 boundary and the Kei. The district was to be reserved for occupation by 
 the natives, the same as when it formed part of the Province of Queen 
 Adelaide. It was now called British KafEraria. The people within it were 
 to be governed by their chiefs under the superintendence and control of 
 British officers. The chiefs were to consider themselves British subjects, 
 and were to exercise no more power than should be delegated to them by 
 the Queen's representative. To all these terms they agreed for themselves 
 and their people, and were even profuse in expressions of gratitude to the 
 Governor for the restoration of peace. On the 7th of January, 1848, 
 another meeting took place, when they took the oath of allegiance, and 
 promised good behaviour. The pacification of the border was then 
 proclaimed with a great deal more ostentation than was prudent under the 
 circumstances, much of the ceremonies being unintelligible to the Kaffirs. 
 
 The war had been protracted for a period of twenty-one months, and had 
 been much more expensive to the Imperial Government than the one which 
 preceded it. The colonists had also suffered more severely both in life and 
 in property, a careful estimate, made at the time, showing the value of the 
 losses to exceed half a million sterling. The natives engaged in hostilities 
 were more numerous, and many of them were supplied with firearms. They 
 were therefore able to hold out longer, and to do greater damage than they 
 had done before. But their losses were out of all proportion greater than 
 those of the Europeans. Towards the close of hostilities, hundreds of 
 them were compelled to subsist upon wild fruits of the earth, hundreds 
 more now sought service among the farmers for the sake of food. The 
 missionaries, too, had suffered very severely. Most of the stations had 
 been abandoned in haste, and these were all pillaged and burnt. The 
 missionaries were now invited to return and rcoccupy their stations under 
 the protection of the government, which they did without delay. 
 
ClIAPTEli XXIV. 
 
 INTERVAL BETWEEN THE WAR OF 1846-7 AND THAT OE 1850-2. 
 
 Principal Subjects: — State of British Kaffraria. — Re- occupation of the Frontier 
 Farms. — Formation of the Division of Albert. — Growth of Biirghersdorp. — Forma- 
 tion of Military Villages on the Frontier. — Arrival of Bishop Gray and Rapid 
 Extension of the Anglican Church. — Erection of a Lighthouse on Cape V Agulhas. 
 — Successful Opposition to the Introduction of Convicts, 
 
 Governor: — Sir Henry G. W. Smith. 
 
 As soou as peace was proclaimed, the Governor paid a visit to Natal, where 
 his presence was urgently needed. While he was away, the an-angements 
 for the settlement of the Kaffirs were carried out, apparently to their 
 satisfaction. It was intended that such of their laws and customs as were 
 not in violation of justice should remain undisturbed, but punishment for 
 the imaginary crime of sorcery, by torture and confiscation of property, 
 was prohibited. The power of the chiefs was curtailed, but no more 
 authority was taken from them than was necessary to secure the means of 
 improving their followers. In theory, nothing can be more satisfactory 
 than arrangements like these. Carry them out, and the first and most 
 difficult step towards civilization is surmounted. But the government of 
 that day found it very difficult to put them in practice. In the first place, 
 power — the power to enforce an order when given — was wanting. The 
 Imperial Government had again withdrawn most of the troops, when 
 nothing but military force could enable the colonial authorities to command 
 obedience. A body of Kaffir police had been enrolled, but their sympathies 
 were all with their countrymen, and they were never to be depended upon. 
 In the next place, the Kaffirs were still in possession of the Amatolas, and 
 as long as those fastnesses remained in their hands they could not forget 
 their former independence. Too much, also, was expected from the chiefs. 
 That men in their position and with their training should submit to the 
 loss of absolute power, without any adequate compensation, could only 
 result from necessity. And in their case, when the troops were withdrawn, 
 that necessity seemed to be wanting. 
 
 The suppression of punishment for sorcery was viewed by the Kaffirs 
 in a light almost incomprehensible to Europeans. We can easily understand 
 that the chiefs would be opposed to such a regulation, because by it they 
 lost the principal source of their revenue. But that the people, — especially 
 those possessing property and who were therefore themselves in perpetual 
 danger of violent death, — should have opposed it also, seems at first sight 
 to be passing strange. The cause is to be found in their belief concerning 
 
1848] 
 
 HISTOllY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 21 
 
 sorcery. With them there was no question, not the shadow of a doubt, 
 that evil disposed persons could and did bewitch others, thereby causing 
 sickness and death. It followed as a corollary, that the new government, 
 by prerenting the condign punishment of such persons, was wantonly 
 exposing the people to destruction. This was their view of the case, 
 similar to what ours would be if assassins were permitted by law to 
 wander about unmolested. From all these causes, it was not long before 
 a spirit of discontent began to be visible ; chiefs and people alike chafed 
 under the yoke, and could not be kept under that restraint which was so 
 necessary for the welfare of all. 
 
 In other respects the new system worked satisfactorily. The farmers on 
 the border were not subjected to the same annoyance from robbers as 
 formerly, and were thus enabled to pursue their occupations with profit. 
 In a short time many of their homesteads were rebuilt and their farms 
 restocked. Probably no country in the world recovers from disasters 
 more rapidly than the Cape Colony. Drought, floods, war, have all at 
 times brought it to apparent ruin, when two or three years afterwards it 
 has been as prosperous as ever. 
 
 In January, 1848, the recently annexed territory between the Stormberg 
 and the Orange River was placed under the jurisdiction of a magistrate, 
 and received the name of the Division of Albert. The seat of magistracy 
 was fixed at Burghersdorp, a village that like many others in the colony 
 grew up round a Dutch church as a nucleus. The farmers selected the 
 site as being in the centre of the district, and as having a good supply of 
 water. Otherwise, the locality presented few attractions. In a narrow 
 gorge, between bare rocky hills and surrounded by open plains, parched 
 with heat in summer and exposed to snow and sleet in winter, it did not 
 seem likely that Burghersdorp would ever become a village of much 
 importance. But as the country around it was found to be admirably 
 adapted for sheep walks, the farmers quickly increased in number, and as 
 a natural consequence places of business were established. The settlement 
 of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic shortly afterwards 
 brought a stream of traflBic through the village, which tended greatly to 
 promote its prosperity. Owing to these favourable circumstances, in a 
 few years it became one of the most thriving villages in the interior of the 
 colony. 
 
 With a view of increasing the defensive force of the colony, some military 
 villages were at this time formed close to the new boundary. A number of 
 men, discharged from the 27th, 90th, and 91st regiments of foot, and from the 
 7th dragoons, were located on choice plots of ground so as to form several 
 villages. Each man had twelve acres of good agricultural land and the 
 right of an extensive commonage. They were provided with seed corn 
 and implements of husbandry, and had besides a waggon and two spans of 
 oxen for every twenty men, on loan for a certain term, with the privilege 
 of purchasing them at a cheap rate. For twelve months they were 
 
22 
 
 HISTOEY OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1848 
 
 furnished with rations free of charge. They were liable to be called out 
 for service, if required, and rrere then to receive 2s. 6d. each per day. 
 According to the official return, the following was the number of individuals 
 assigned to each village, but the number of actual residents varied very 
 greatly at different times : — 
 
 
 Men. 
 
 Women. 
 
 CJiildren . 
 
 Total. 
 
 Johannesberg 
 
 71 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 75 
 
 Woburn 
 
 71 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 71 
 
 Auckland 
 
 63 
 
 12 
 
 42 
 
 117 
 
 Ely 
 
 U 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 58 
 
 These little settlements were from the first wanting in all the elenaents 
 
 of prosperity and permanency. The proportion of women to the whole 
 number of inhabitants was altogether too small, and the men, as a rule, 
 were not adapted to become tillers of the ground. A few, indeed, made a 
 living in that way, and a few more found employment in cutting timber in 
 tho neighbouring forests, but with the stoppage of rations the bulk of them 
 abandoned their ground and made their way to other parts of the colony. 
 Those who remained at Woburn and Auckland lost their lives at the 
 commencement of the next war, and at the present time hardly a vestige 
 of any of these villages remains by which their sites can be ascertained. 
 Experience has since shown that military settlements of this kind are not 
 adapted to South Africa. The experiment was afterwards repeated, but 
 failed, except in one instance, where a body of married pensioners had 
 cottages built for them within the borough of King William's Town. 
 
 In 1848 the braneh of the Anglican church in South Africa was greatly 
 strengthened by the arrival of its first bishop. Dr. Robert Gray. Funds 
 for the endowment of the see were provided by Miss Burdett-Coutts, a 
 wealthy English lady, through whose liberality several colonial bishoprics 
 have been founded. The last of the great Protestant bodies to enter the 
 mission field, the Anglican Church has shown itself one of the most vigorous 
 and successful. When the bishop arrived, he found hardly any congregations 
 outside of Cape Town, no schools, and no missions among the heathen. 
 He was accompanied and followed by a large staff of active clergymen, 
 who were stationed in the country villages, where they usually founded 
 schools and mission chapels beside their churches. From the day of his 
 appointment, the Bishop devoted much of his attention to the spread of 
 education within his diocese. No long time elapsed before he had made a 
 worthy commencement of that long list of colleges and high schools of the 
 English church, which are now dotted over South Africa, by the establish- 
 ment of the Diocesan College for Europeans and the Zonnebloem Institution 
 for natives, both of which are in the suburbs of Cape Town. The last was 
 intended as a sort of High School, in which the sons of chiefs and men of 
 influence could be educated, and to which the most intelligent pupils from 
 the station schools throughout South Africa could be drafted, there to 
 receive such training, as well as instruction from books, as would qualify 
 
1849] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 23 
 
 them to fill important posts among their countrymen. The Anglican 
 Church entered the mission field with this advantage over all other 
 pre-existing bodies there, except the Wesleyans, that its operations were 
 directed from the colony itself, not from distant Europe. This vastly 
 increased its power for aggressive warfare against heathenism. Owing to 
 the liberality of churchmen in England and of Societies there, it had also 
 the command of a much greater amount of money, in addition to which it 
 was largely aided by grants from the colonial treasury. The see has since 
 been divided again and again, and with each new bishop the staff of 
 clergymen has been enlarged, so that now it has a greater number of 
 ministers than any other Christian Society in the country. 
 
 In 1849 a lighthouse was erected on Cape L'Agulhas, the southern 
 point of the African continent, where, before that time, a great many wrecks 
 had taken place. On no coast in the world are lighthouses more requisite 
 than on this. Harbours where ships can take refuge are few and far distant 
 from each other, the coast is rocky and dangerous, and the current along 
 it does not always run with the same velocity and in some places sets on 
 the shore. Many vessels have struck at night when supposed to be far 
 from land until it was too late to get beyond the breakers. This lighthouse 
 and several others which have been erected more recently have gone far 
 towards making navigation less dangerous than formerly. 
 
 The most notable event of this period was the determined opposition 
 made by the colonists to an attempt of Earl Grey to convert the Cape into 
 a convict settlement, a measure which was more dreaded than a dozen 
 Kaffir wars. The only convicts that had ever been received into South 
 Africa were criminals from the Indian settlements, sent here to be sold as 
 slaves during the government of the Dutch East India Company. No 
 white man known to be a felon was permitted at any period of our history 
 to set foot on South African soil. To a people whose pride it was, and is 
 still, to be singularly free of the graver kinds of crime, any idea of the 
 pollution of society was naturally most abhorrent. Once before a similar 
 scheme for making the colony a receptacle for England's criminals had 
 been proposed by a British Minister, and had been indignantly rejected 
 by the people of South Africa. That scheme was to form a great 
 penitentiary on Eobben Island, in which juvenile convicts were to serve a 
 short term of imprisonment, after which they were to be apprenticed to 
 farmers or any other persons who might need their services. It had been 
 proposed at a time when, if ever, the colonists might have been expected 
 to agree to it, for the country was then believed to be sinking into ruin 
 from a dearth of labourers. The emancipation of the slaves had taken 
 place only three years before, and the freedmen were still clustered together 
 in the villages, endeavouring to support life without engaging in farm 
 work. Certainly, if the vinedressers and corngrowers, whose lands were 
 lying untilled in 1842, preferred to meet poverty boldly in the face rather 
 than employ convicts, it could not be expected that in 1849, when their 
 
24 
 
 HTSTOET OF THE CAPE COLOJfT. 
 
 [1849 
 
 greatest difficulties were surmounted, they would be less inclined to use 
 such labour. 
 
 Earl Grey could hardly have been ignorant of the manner in which the 
 proposal had been received at the Cape seven years before, and assuredly 
 nothing had occurred since then that could lead him to believe he might 
 succeed where his predecessor had failed. During that period, short as it 
 was, the colonists had made a great advance in liberal ideas, they had seen 
 the ruinous Glenelg treaties torn into fragments by the storms of war, 
 they had been earnestly engaged in the work of education, and had been 
 preparing themselves to take an active part in the government of the 
 country. Throughout the colony the people were imbued with an intelligent 
 patriotism, they were conscious that a great and prosperous future was 
 before them, if they were only true to themselves. In 1842 Mr. Fatrbaiex 
 had advanced an opinion in the Oommercial Advertiser, " that a pestilence 
 sweeping off half the population should be preferred to an infusion of vice 
 which would render the whole unworthy to live," and the words had echoed 
 from the Atlantic to the eastern frontier. A memorial of that date, after 
 referring to the promising appearance of Cape society and the progress of 
 education and morality among the coloured people, declared that '" the 
 introduction of convicts would be fatal to the morals, industry, and very 
 existence of the native population of Southern Africa," and concluded with 
 a pledge " not to employ criminals of any description, nor to receive them 
 into their establishments on any terms." Was it likely that the repugnance 
 to have the land flooded with vice, the determination to oppose the measure 
 by every possible means, would be less strong in 1849 ? The Secretary of 
 State seemed to think so, but he was destined soon to be undeceived. 
 
 When, towards the close of 1848, the first intimation reached South 
 Africa that the design had been renewed by the Imperial Government, 
 inasmuch as by an Order in Council of the 4th September of that year the 
 Cape was included among those colonies to which convicts might be sent, 
 petitions and remonstrances began to be framed. Never was such unanimity 
 displayed as on this occasion. From village and farmstead, from vine-clad 
 valleys of the west where the descendants of the Huguenots passed their 
 peaceful lives, from eastern sheepwalks where the sons of British settlers 
 guarded their flocks with rifle in hand, alike from boer and Englishman, 
 went forth the firm resolve to keep untainted the land which was to be 
 their children's home. Their remonstrances were insufficient to turn Earl 
 Grey from his purpose. The Cape would make a most convenient convict 
 station, according to the Minister ; the scheme would relieve England of a 
 pressing difficulty in disposing of her felons, and assuredly it was the 
 duty of the colony to bear a portion of the Imperial burden. It would 
 almost appear as if he held the same views as did Fiscal Boers in days of 
 old, that the paramount object in dealing with colonies should be the 
 welfare of the parent state. Fortunately for themselves and for future 
 generations, the people of South Africa held a different opinion. 
 
1849] 
 
 mStORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 25 
 
 The local government, viewing the matter in the same light as the people, 
 and believing that the petitions then on their way to England would be 
 favourably received, issued a notice on the 14th of November, 1848, that 
 none but political offenders would be sent to this country against the wish 
 of the colonists. This promise, backed by Sir Haiiuy Smith's declaration 
 that he would resign his appointment rather than be Governor of a penal 
 settlement, partially allayed the excitement ; but when in the following 
 March intimation was received through an English newspaper that a convict 
 ship wae under orders to sail, the feeling rose almost to frenzy. 
 
 During the period of the famine caused by the failure of the potato crops 
 in Ireland, a number of persons were convicted of agrarian offences, and 
 were transported to Bermuda, But for some reason, it was considered 
 advisable or necessary to remove them, and the transport Neptune was 
 sent to convey them to the Cape. The character of these men was less 
 objectionable than that of any other class of convicts, as the crimes for 
 which they were suffering had been committed under the pressure of want, 
 and were such as in this colony they would be free of all temptation to 
 repeat. Nevertheless, the principle of receiving them with tickets of leave 
 was the same as if they had been criminals of the deepest dye, and if they 
 were permitted to land, the door would be open to as many as England 
 might choose^to send thereafter. 
 
 It is impossible to conceive of people placed in a more embarrassing 
 position than were the colonists at this juncture. At the extremity of a 
 vast continent inhabited by heathen and savage tribes, a few score thousands 
 of white men had made their homes. Among them, in contact with them, 
 were freed slaves, Hottentots, Bechuanas, Fingoes, outnumbering them 
 in the proportion of two to one, all moving onward in the path of civilization, 
 but all still far from the goal. If the northern border was partially 
 protected by desert wastes, on the east were powerful tribes prone to war 
 and eager to destroy. Was this a country in which to let loose the vicious 
 and depraved, the wretched outcasts of English prisons ? How easy it was 
 for Europeans, once lost to self respect, to sink to the level of savages, to 
 associate with them, to instruct them in villainy, the colonists had seen 
 again and again. All the labours of the missionary, the schoolmaster, the 
 civilizer, would be swept away before this torrent of vice, progress like 
 safety would become an unknown word. And if their children escaped 
 the dreadful infection, where would be their patriotism, for who could be 
 proud of or love a land teeming with the base and the vile ? Truly, no such 
 danger had ever menaced the country before. On the other hand, no more 
 loyal people were to be found in the Empire than among the South African 
 colonists. The east was thoroughly English in blood, language, and senti- 
 ment. And if in the west men mostly spoke Dutch, all, old colonists and 
 new colonists, English and Dutch, appreciated the advantages of English 
 protection, of English ships to guard the coasts, of English soldiers in 
 time of war. Suppose this protection should be withdrawn, that England 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLON! . 
 
 [1849 
 
 should fortify Simon's Bay, and while retaining it as a naval station, 
 abandon the colonists as a punishment for the opposition now made. 
 There were not wanting members of the Imperial Parliament who were 
 prepared to approve of such a step, as the easiest way of getting rid of all 
 responsibility with regard to colonial defence. Here, then, was another 
 danger standing out in huge proportions before the loyal people of South 
 Africa. They perhaps could not s-ee it so distinctly in 1849 as a few years 
 later, when British sovereignty was actually withdrawn from an African 
 colony as large as England itself ; but that such a policy was openly 
 advocated by a large party at home, and might at any moment be carried 
 out, was known to all. Of the two dangers, however, this was the least. 
 And so the colonists resolved to rely upon English honour and English 
 interest not to desert them, while they opposed in every way short of armed 
 rebellion the Minister's attempt to force convicts upon them. 
 
 In Cape Town an Anti-Convict Association was formed, with ramifications 
 extending throughout the colony, so as to provide for union and concerted 
 action. The Neptune, meanwhile, had put into Pernambuco for supplies, 
 and was detained there for some time, owing to sickness having broken 
 out among the prisoners. While the convict ship was lying there. Earl 
 Grey received despatches from the Cape, in which he was informed that 
 the opposition to his project was certain to prove more formidable than he 
 had anticipated, in short, that the colony was agitated from one end to the 
 other, and that the consequences could not be foreseen. All classes of the 
 people were united, and had bound themselves by a solemn pledge "not to 
 employ or knowingly to admit into their establishments or houses, not to 
 work with or for or associate with, any convicted felon or felons sent to 
 this colony under sentence of transportation, and to discountenance and 
 drop coimection with any person who should assist in landing, supporting, 
 or employing, such convicted felons," Petitions were following each 
 other in rapid succession, petitions to the Queen and to both Houses of 
 Parliament, petitions to the British and Foreign Bible Society, to Mission 
 Associations, to the mayors and corporations of various cities, entreating 
 them to use their influence to get the Order in Council rescinded. The 
 colonial officers of government, even to the nominee members of the 
 Legislative Council, were resigning their situations and taking the pledge. 
 In the Commons, the rights and privileges of the colonists were being 
 defended by Mr. Ciia;iles Adderley, who had secured large and influential 
 support. In the fa o of all this resistance, the Minister concluded that it 
 was necessary to abandon the design and get out of the difficulty with as 
 much grace as possible. He had no doubt that the convicts in the Neptune 
 would be allowed to land, but since the colonists were so sensitive he would 
 send no more. This was the reply received by Sir Harry Smith, who 
 communicated it at once to the public. 
 
 The Association regarded the concession with disdain, Not one single 
 convict would they have, not so much as the shadow of such a disgrace 
 
1849] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 27 
 
 should be cast over the colony. In Cape Town the people deliberately 
 resolved to cut off all supplies of food from the officers of government, the 
 garrison, and even the naval department at Simon's Town, if an attempt 
 should be made to land the convicts. Some of them even spoke of annulling 
 all government contracts, forgetting that by so doing they would hurt no 
 one but themselves. The party that advocated such extreme measures 
 presently rose to the ascendant, and .then as a matter of course exemplified 
 on a small scale the nature of popular tyranny. They would brook no 
 opposition, no holding of more moderate views. There were those who 
 thought the best course would be to work cordially with the local govern- 
 ment, which was as much opposed to the introduction of convicts as were 
 the colonists themselves. But this was scouted by the extreme party. 
 Riots, not, however, on a very large scale, took place, in which a few of the 
 moderates were assailed, and some property was destroyed. The Governor 
 forebore to make use of the military in suppressing the disturbances, as he 
 did not wish to exasperate the colonists still further. He endeavoured 
 rather to quiet matters, by promising that the convicts should not be landed 
 until further instructions were received from Earl Ghey. 
 
 At daybreak on the 20th of September, the sounding of the fire alarm 
 gong of the town house, followed by the tolling of the bells of the English, 
 Dutch, and Lutheran churches, announced to the inhabitants of Cape Town 
 that the Neptune had arrived in South African waters. At ten o'clock of 
 the preceding evening she had cast anchor in Simon's Bay, having two 
 hundred and eighty-eight convicts on board. The leaders of the Associ- 
 ation had met at midnight an ' appointed a com mitree, who had immediately 
 left for Simon's Town to communicate with the naval officer commanding 
 there, and to see that nothing was supplied to the dreaded ship. There 
 were no sales on the market that morning, no shutters moved from the 
 windows of the stores. No thought of buying or of selling entered people's 
 minds that day. An excited crowd at an early hour poured into the old 
 square in which the town house stands, and there awaited till after midday 
 the Governor's reply to a letter which the Commissioners of the Municipality 
 had addressed to him, almost demanding that the Neptune should be 
 instantly ordered away. His Excellency answered that to do this was 
 beyond his power. Next morning a monster meeting was held, when 
 a letter addressed by Mr. J. B. Ebden, the Chairman of the Association, 
 to the Governor, was approved of. In it. His Excellency was informed 
 that " the words of the pledge, to drop connection with any person who 
 should assist in supporting convicted felons, included all departments of 
 the government by, or through, or under the authority of which, supplies 
 of any kind might be conveyed to the Neptune, until that vessel's destination 
 should be changed." And from that hour, the Cape Town branch of the 
 Association resolutely acted upon this declaration. The Governor explained 
 that if he were to order the Neptune to sail, the further detention of the 
 prisoners on board would be illegal ; but the explanation was thrown away. 
 
28 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLOXY. 
 
 [1849 
 
 Every person that had anything to do with the convict ship was treated as 
 if he had some horrible and contagious plague, and the attempt to starve 
 those who were only obeying lawful orders was persevei ed in to the last. 
 
 Throughout these troublous times Sir Harry Smith acted with great 
 forbearance, though he certainly never forgot that he was the servant of 
 the Imperial Government. He was guided largely b}^ the advice of the 
 Attorney General, Mr. William Porteh, one of the ablest public officers 
 this colony has ever had, and one of its truest friends. It is to be regretted 
 that the Governor was not always treated with the respect due to his 
 position, but great allowances must be made for the intense excitement 
 that prevailed everywhere. At a time when people believed the country 
 to be placed by the temporary controller of its destinies in gi*eater peril 
 than it had ever known before, a gallant chivalrous soldier such as Sir 
 Harry Smith could excuse them for any indignities offered to himself, 
 and could close his ears to language that sounded strangely disloyal and 
 rebellious. Himself a man who often said hard words when in a passion, 
 and just as often regretted having said them as soon as hia temper was 
 cooled, he could quite understand the defiant tone of the colonists and 
 appreciate it at its true value. But he was in no wise inclined to be starved, 
 and intimated that neither he nor his troops would go hungry as long as 
 they had arms in their hands. Nor did they, though their arms were not 
 needed, for it was simply impossible to cut off every source of supplj^ 
 
 Five months the convict ship lay in Simon's Bay, five weary months 
 they must have been to the wretched prisoners on board. At last an order 
 arrived for her to proceed to Tasmania, and in February, 1850, she sailed. 
 Then only, when all danger was over, was the Anti-Convict Association 
 dissolved, and the usual course of business resumed. 
 
 The action of the colonists on this occasion not only prevented the 
 country being made a penal settlement, but created a respect for them- 
 selves in England greater than any they had hitherto enjoyed. There were 
 indeed incidents connected with the demonstrations in Cape Town which 
 could not be approved of anywhere ; but, setting these aside, the spectacle 
 exhibited was that of an earnest, united, intelligent people standing fear- 
 lessly on its honour and its purit}', a spectacle that could not but command 
 the esteem of Englishmen. Such a people was deserving of free institutions, 
 could safely be trusted to manage its own affairs. And later on we shall 
 see that even while the order for the Xeptune to leave was being borne over 
 the Atlantic, the most liberal constitution ever granted toaforeignpossession 
 was being prepared in London for the Cape Colony. A long, harassing, 
 destructive war, added to various other causes, prevented its being put in 
 force at once ; but the preparation of the Constitution was coincident with 
 the resistance to the introduction of convicts. The boon of representative 
 government would have been conferred upon this colony if the anti-convict 
 agitation had never been heard of, yet it is open to doubt if in that case it 
 would not have assumed a less perfect form. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE GREAT NATIVE REBELLION. — 24tH DECEMBER, 1850, TO 9tH MARCH, 1853. 
 
 Governors : — Sir Harry Smith. 
 
 Sir George Cathcart, March 31st, 1852. 
 
 Early in the year 1850 it became evident to the frontier colonists that 
 another struggle with the Kaffirs was at hand. The Ngqika chiefs had 
 submitted apparently with good grace to the loss of independence, but 
 their only object had been to gain time to recruit their forces and enlist 
 allies. These objects they endeavoured to attain without attracting notice, 
 but in this they were unsuccessful. At their instigation, or at least with 
 their concurrence, an imposter was busy inciting their people to war. 
 This man's name was Mlanjeni. The chiefs patronized him, the people 
 gave credit to his wild predictions of superhuman aid in driving the white 
 man into the sea. They believed that certain charms which he gave them 
 would prevent musket balls from hurting them, and would cause cattle 
 to follow them wherever they chose to lead. The farmers saw their servants 
 flocking homewards at the call of Mlanjeni, and they knew what was coming. 
 The Governor, who thought the fears of the colonists were only imaginary, 
 paid a visit to the frontier, and called a meeting of the chiefs. Sandile, 
 the highest in rank of them all, refused to appear. In vain he was summoned 
 and assured of personal safety, he could not be induced to meet the 
 Governor. He was therefore deposed from his authority, — 30th of October^ 
 1850, — so far as the colonial government was concerned, but this act had 
 no effect upon his followers. They still regarded him as their chief, whose 
 orders they were bound to obey to the death. The Governor returned to 
 Cape Town, believing that there was not the slightest cause for alarm. 
 He relied so much upon the prestige of his name, and was so thoroughly 
 convinced that the Kaffirs appreciated the civilizing tendencies of English 
 rule, that he would not permit any steps to be taken which would imply 
 the possibility of another war. But he had scarcely reached the seat of 
 government when he received accounts which caused him to hasten back 
 again at the head of all the troops available. His arrival at King William's 
 Town with these reinforcements would, he was certain, prevent any 
 disturbances that might have been in contemplation. Sandile had in the 
 mean time concealed himself in a thicket on the head waters of the Keis- 
 kama, and as it was impossible to secure his person, on the 20th of 
 December he and his brother Anta were outlawed. The government of 
 the tribe was intrusted to Sutu, with the title of regent, and a body of 
 councillors was appointed to assist her. 
 
30 
 
 HISTOBl OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1850 
 
 At daylight on tlie morning of the 2-4th, a coUinin of troops seven 
 hundred strong, consisting of detachments of the 6th, 45th, and 73rd 
 regiments of foot and of the Cape Mounted Rifles, left Fort Cox on the 
 Keiskama, and proceeded up the river. The patrol was commanded bv 
 Colonel Mackinxon, and was accompanied by a large party of the KaflSr 
 police. The objects of this movement were, first, to arrest the deposed 
 chiefs or drive them from their lurking place, second, to dispel the fears 
 of the farmers by making what was expected to be a peaceful march 
 through the most dangerous part of the country. It would be a test of the 
 perfect submission of the Kaffirs, for up to this moment the Governor did 
 not believe that they had any notion of war. So infatuated was he, that 
 the infantry were not permitted to load their muskets, lest some untoward 
 accident should take place in the event of Kaffirs being met with. The 
 police, whose loyalty was then generally unsuspected, knew the particulars 
 of the expedition and the line of march long enough before they set out to 
 communicate the information to their countrymen. After marching some 
 miles along the footpaths which led towards Keiskama Hoek, in the course 
 of the morning the patrol reached the Boomah Pass, a rocky defile so 
 narrow that the horsemen could not move two abreast. The tops of the 
 hills were seen to be covered with Kaffirs, but as yet no shot had been fired. 
 The police entered the pass first, then the Cape Corps, and afterwards the 
 infantry. Just as the last horseman was through, an attack was made 
 upon the line by thousands of Kaffirs who were lying in ambush behind 
 rocks and in thickets. SA^■DILE himself, who never personally took part 
 in an engagement, had just left the spot with two of his councillors. The 
 troops fought their way through with a loss of twenty-three killed and 
 about as many wounded. That night they lay on their arms while resting 
 at Keiskama Hoek, and next day they made a circuit to Fort White, a post 
 several miles to the eastward of Fort Cox. On the way they found the 
 remains of fifteen men of the 45th, stripped and horribly mutilated. A 
 small patrol had been surprised, when every man was put to death without 
 mercy. In this manner the great rebellion was commenced. Before 
 midnight of the 24th it was known over all Kaffirland, by the signal fires 
 that flashed the news from peak to peak. 
 
 Another inhuman massacre took place on Christmas day. The Ngqikas 
 were particularly embittered against the military settlers on the west bank 
 of the Chumie, because they were occupying what had once been the 
 favourite lands of the tribe. There had also been a great deal of ill 
 feeling caused by the impounding of cattle trespassing on gardens. The 
 kraals of Oba, son of Tyali, were on the eastern side of the valley, and his 
 herds frequently crossed over the river, when they were driven to the 
 pound and trespass fees were charged. In cases of this kind, when damage 
 is sustained during daylight, Kaffir custom sanctions nothing more than 
 for the women to drive cattle so trespassing into the gardens of their owners, 
 because cultivated ground is supposed to be carefully watched from 
 
1850] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 81 
 
 morning till night. Compensation is only recoverable when cattle destroy 
 crops during the night, that is, during the time when every one is supj)osed 
 to have his stock securely kraaled. Another and greater cause of enmity 
 was the violation by some ignorant soldiers of the grave of the chief 
 Tyali, in expectation of finding treasure deposited there. The defenceless 
 state of the three military villages in the Chumie valley was, however, the 
 principal cause of their male inhabitants being doomed to death by the 
 Kaffirs. For some time previous, much uneasiness had been felt at the 
 warlike preparations going on in the neighbourhood, but the authorities 
 had asserted so positively there was no cause for alarm that the villagers 
 had allowed their fears to subside. 
 
 On Christmas morning a patrol of three men of the Cape Corps was 
 sent from Fort Hare to warn the people of dangor, by announcing that war 
 had commenced ; but the message was too late. About nine o'clock a horde 
 of warriors armed with guns and assegais appeared at Woburn, the central 
 village. The officer in charge, Stagey by name, with thirteen or fourteen 
 followers made a gallant resistance, but in a few minutes every man was 
 killed. The cottages were then set on fire, after which a party was 
 detached to destroy Johannesberg, while the remainder proceeded towards 
 Auckland. "Woburn was situated on a> gentle slope in the centre of the 
 valley, facing Johannesberg, which was four or five miles further down. 
 The last named village was built on a plateau commanding an extensive 
 view, so that the residents, seeing the smoke of "Woburn, became alarmed, 
 and as soon as the Kaffirs appeared, most of them fled and reached Alice 
 in safety. Three men were, however, overtaken and murdered. The 
 village was committed to the flames. At the ver)^ head of the valley, in an 
 amphitheatre formed by the Amatolas, lay the village of Auckland. A 
 more romantic and beautiful situation cannot be imagined, but no worse 
 site could have been selected for a military post. The rich land, 
 the charming stream, the numerous cascades that come tumbling over the 
 cliffs around, the patches of dark evergreen forest on the slopes, the grey 
 rocks towering far overhead, all gave beauty, but not strength. Behind 
 and on each side the mountains were almost too steep to be scaled, while in 
 front a low spur extending nearly across the valley entirely shut out the 
 view. Auckland was so secluded that the villagers could not see the 
 smoke of "Woburn, and so situated that escape was impossible from a foe 
 coming up the valley. But no danger was apprehended by the doomed 
 people, who were engaged in the festivities usual on Christmas day. So 
 entirely off their guard were they that they took no heed of the warlike 
 appearance of their visitors, but invited them to be seated and to partake 
 of food. Suddenly, on a signal being given by their leader, the Kaffirs fell 
 upon the defenceless people and murdered the greater number of the men. 
 A few, with the women and children, took refuge in a sod house, which 
 they barricaded and defended during the night. Next morning the women 
 and children were permitted to leave, after being stripped nearly naked. 
 
32 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLOXT. 
 
 [1850 
 
 The meu defended themselves till then- ammunition was expended. Great 
 fires were then made round the house, which forced them out, and all were 
 murdered. The village, after being plundered, was given to the flames. 
 Altogether, on the Keiskama and the Chumie, eighty-four lives were 
 sacrificed to the fury of the Kaffirs during the first three days of the 
 insurrection. 
 
 On the western side of the valley, a couple of miles from Woburn, was 
 the mission station of Gwali, then occupied by the Rev. Mr. Cumxixg. It 
 was the oldest station among the Kaffirs, having been founded by Mr. 
 Brownlee in 1820. After its formation, Ngqika promised that it should be 
 considered a sanctuary, and though it had been abandoned in former wars, 
 it now served as a secure retreat for all who could reach it. On Christmas 
 day arrived there the Rev. Mr. Niven with his family, five European men, 
 and the three soldiers of the Cape Corps who had been sent up the valley 
 in the morning with the notice of danger. Two of the men were naked 
 when they reached the station, having been stripped by the Kaffirs, but 
 not otherwise injured. On the following day the women and children 
 from Auckland, some thirty in number, reached the place. Once there, 
 they were safe, and were sheltered by the missionary until they could 
 leave without danger. The station was of necessity abandoned some months 
 Ipvter, when it was destroyed, and has never since been re-occupied. 
 
 At the time of these occurrences, Sir Harey Smith was at Fort Cox,, 
 which was immediately besieged by the whole power of the enemy. On 
 the 29th, Colonel Somerset, with two hundred men of the 91st and the 
 Cape Corps, together with a party of Fingoes, attempted to relieve the 
 Governor, but failed. After proceeding some six or seven miles from Fort 
 Hare, he encountered such numbers of Kaffirs that he considered it 
 necessary to retreat. In falling back, the patrol was vigorously pressed 
 by the enemy, when the soldiers were seized with a panic, and became 
 incapable of resistance. Twenty men and two oflficers were killed, and had 
 a party of the 45th not been sent out to their relief, the whole of the rear 
 guard would probably have been cut to pieces. On the 30th His Excellency 
 resolved to liberate himself. At the head of two hundred and fifty Cape 
 Mounted Riflemen, he made a dash through the enemy, and succeeded in 
 reaching King William's Town in safety. 
 
 Most of the Kaffir police had by this time deserted, and had gone over to 
 their countrymen with their arms and horses. There is reason to believe 
 that those who accompanied Colonel MacKinnon's expedition on the 24th 
 would have done so at the Boomah Pass, if their wives and children had 
 not been at Fort Cox at the time. Two days later ninety of them deserted 
 in a body, and these were followed by all the rest, except fifty who remained 
 faithful throughout the rebellion. Then followed the usual accompaniment 
 of a Kaffir war : a raid into the colony. Again the frontier districts were 
 overrun and laid waste, the farmers being compelled to flee for their lives, 
 leaving all they could not carry away to be destroyed by the invaders. 
 
1850] 
 
 KTSTORT OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 33 
 
 In this war the Amararabe were somewhat differently divided from what 
 they had been in the last. The principal clans in arms against the colony 
 were : The Ngqikas, under Sandile, Maqoma, Anta, and Oba ; the Tmi- 
 dange, under Tola ; the Amambala, under Stokwe ; and the Imidushane, 
 under Siyolo. Those that remained faithful to their promise of allegiance 
 were : The Amagqunukwebe, under Pato and Kama ; the clan of the Ama- 
 ndlambe under Mqayi ; and the clan of the Imidushane under Siwani. All 
 these did good service on the English side. Pato kept the main road near 
 East London open, and furnished escorts for waggon trains. Kama was 
 of great assistance in the defence of Whittlesea. Mqayi was useful in 
 bringing slaughter cattle from Fort Peddie to King William's Town, and 
 Siwani conveyed the mails over the same line of road when it was closed 
 to the ordinary posts. Mhala professed to be sitting still, but many of his 
 people were with the Ngqikas. He took care of their own cattle and also 
 of those which they brought out of the colony, in consequence of which Sir 
 Harry Smith fined him a thousand head. Throughout the rebellion he 
 acted a suspicious part, but was never openly in arms. Tshatshu undertook 
 to keep open the road between King William's Town and Fort Murray. 
 But many of his people were with the enemy, and his own behaviour was 
 such that the Governor deprived him of a portion of the ground which 
 had been allotted to him in 1848. The remaining petty Earabe clans, an 
 enumeration of whose titles and chiefs would only cause confusion, were 
 ranged, some on one side, some on the other, according to their location. 
 All the clans along the Amatolas, and in the remaining portion of what was 
 termed the JNgqika country, were in refeellion, while those on the seaboard 
 were either neutral or were actively engaged on the colonial side. That 
 none of the clans on the seaboard took an open part in the rebellion was 
 owing mainly to the judicious conduct of Captain John Maclean, who filled 
 the post of Commissioner with the Ndlambe tribes, and had acquired 
 great influence over them. 
 
 The Gcalekas, under Sarili, were aiders and abettors of the insurgents. 
 The Tembus were divided into two sections. One, under the regency of 
 NoNESi, the mother of their infant chief, took no part in the war, and, to 
 avoid becoming mixed up with it in any way, moved eastward to the 
 Bashee. The other sided with the rebels. The Fingoes fought loyally 
 with the British. 
 
 But to the old enemies of the Europeans was now added a new ally, 
 more dangerous because better disciplined than they. The rebellion of a 
 large number of Hottentots made this the most expensive and destructive 
 of all the wars yet waged in South Africa. No reasonable cause for the 
 treason of these people has ever been put forward by any of their number. 
 Twenty-two years had passed since their wrongs were redressed, and 
 during all this time they had been on a perfect political equality with the 
 white man. They had every inducement to remain loyal which the 
 possession of liberty and complete protection of property could hold out. 
 
 F 
 
HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLON!. 
 
 [1850 
 
 But they were suspicious of the intentions of the colonists towards them, 
 arising from the urgency with which a stringent vagrant act had been again 
 and again pressed upon the legislature by a large section of the European 
 inhabitants. Such an act had been passed in 1834, but, being vetoed by 
 the Imperial Government, had never been enforced, and at this time it 
 would have been impossible to procure a legal enactment depriving of their 
 liberty those who were earning their living honestly. But the opinion was 
 prevalent among them that the colonists were only seeking an opportunity 
 to reduce them again to their old state of bondage, and that this would be 
 done under the plausible name of a vagrant act as soon as a representative 
 government came into power. That this would soon be, was no longer a 
 matter of doubt. A constitution had already been prepared, and through- 
 out the colony meetings had been held, petitions had been framed, and 
 party feeling had run high, while a leading topic of conversation was the 
 change that would take place when the colonists should be empowered to 
 legislate for themselves. 
 
 At the Kat River settlement the people had been for a long time in a 
 state of irritation. They had suffered severely in the last two wars, and 
 were impressed with the idea that they had been unfairly treated in the 
 distribution of captured cattle and in compensation for active military 
 service. The villages, instead of presenting the prosperous appearance of 
 former years, were now crowded with idle worthless characters, who had 
 gradually found their way into the settlement, and remained there as 
 squatters, discouraging those who were inclined to be industrious by their 
 incessant demands for food. To appeals of this kind the Hottentots were 
 unable to turn a deaf ear, hospitality towards the poorer individuals of their 
 race being a predominant trait in their character, and thus the once thriving 
 community had become an assemblage of paupers. Real, substantial 
 grievances, they had none. But they believed that there was an entire 
 absence of friendly feeling towards them on the part of many of their 
 European neighbours, an impression which was certainly founded on fact. 
 In short, there was no sympathy between the two races. The Hottentots, 
 uneducated and unreasoning, were drawn into rebellion without counting 
 its costs and its dangers. Some of them entered deliberately into treason, 
 but others followed their leaders without thought until they were too deeply 
 involved to withdraw. The residents at Theopolis, Shiloh, and many of 
 those at the Kat River, joined the Kaffirs, and a considerable number 
 deserted from the Cape Mounted Rifle Regiment and went over to the 
 enemy. But this defection was far from general. The conduct of the men 
 of the Cape Corps, with the exception of those who deserted at the out- 
 break of the rebelHon, was satisfactory, and numerous Hottentot levies 
 rendered good service to the colony throughout the war. 
 
 At a place called Blinkwater, in the vicinity of the Kat River Settlement, 
 there was living a man named Hekmanus Matroos, the son of a Kaffir woman 
 and a slave who had ©scaped from the colony. He spoke the Dutch 
 
1851] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 35 
 
 language fluently, and had been for many years an interpreter in the service 
 of the colonial government. About him had collected a horde of Kaffirs 
 and people of mixed blood, who looked up to him as a sort of chief or leader, 
 This man's land had been taxed, and he had been compelled to pay quitrent. 
 much against his will. Before the outbreak of the rebellion he became an 
 active partizan of the Ngqika chiefs, and served as a means of communication 
 between them and the Hottentots. He was one of the principal instigators 
 of the insurrection, but was so crafty that he avoided drawing suspicion 
 upon his conduct. An application for arms and ammunition which he 
 made to the authorities, to aid, as he averred, in defending the border, 
 would have been granted if there had been any to spare. On the 7th of 
 January, 1851, with a horde of Kaffirs, Hottentots, and mixed breeds, he 
 attacked the village of Fort Beaufort, A small garrison was stationed 
 there, but the commanding officer thought it prudent to act on the defensive 
 only and declined to permit the soldiers to leave the military buildings, as 
 he feared that the enemy might in that case gain possession of them. The 
 inhabitants, left thus to protect their property themselves, acted in a most 
 courageous manner. They met the assailants as became men to whom 
 defeat meant certain ruin, and after a short but sharp action drove them 
 from the village with a loss of fifty killed, including Hermanus himself. 
 
 Among the pensioners from the Cape Mounted Riflemen there was a 
 man named Willem Uithaalder, who was possessed of considerable 
 ability and great ambition. He had no wrongs to avenge, but he had 
 conceived an idea of the formation of an independent Hottentot nation, 
 with himself as its head. Such a result could only be attained by rebellion 
 and alliance with the Kaffirs. This man was chosen as their leader by the 
 rebel Hottentots, and round him soon rallied over a thousand of that people, 
 all of whom were accustomed to the use of firearms. Some of them rivalled 
 the Kaffirs in deeds of cruelty. The people of Theopolis had been suspected 
 of treasonable intentions, and many of them had been disarmed shortly 
 after the commencement of the rebellion, but it was not until the end of May 
 that they formally committed themselves. Some Fingoes were residing 
 among them. Early one morning they raised an outcry, and as the 
 Fingoes rushed out of their huts to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, 
 the rebels shot most of them in cold blood. 
 
 For several months nothing could be done to check the insurrection. 
 The Governor called the loyal inhabitants, both European and native, to arms, 
 but some time elapsed before an adequate force could be collected on the 
 frontier. The troops were too few in number to commence active operations 
 until reinforcements should arrive. Under these circumstances, the eastern 
 portion of the colony was at the mercy of the insurgents. They made a 
 second raid into it, driving off great herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, and 
 burning and pillaging the country on their line of march. Still, they met 
 with several reverses. They repeatedly attacked the village of Whittlesea, 
 and were always driven back with loss. A good many of them fell also in 
 
HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLOKY. 
 
 [1851 
 
 sereral petty engagements which took place. It was impossible to bring 
 them to a pitched battle, but towards the close of the year several of their 
 strongholds were stormed, and large numbers of them were shot in guerilla 
 warfare. Their own cattle, together with those they had taken from 
 the colonists, had been driven across the Kei and placed under the charge 
 of Sarili. In December two columns of troops were directed to that 
 quarter, with the double object of punishing Sarili and depriving the 
 rebels of their sources of supply. One of these columns, under command 
 of Colonel Eyre, was crossing the lower ford of the Kei when it was attacked 
 by the enemy, who had constructed breastworks to defend the passage of 
 the river. A smart engagement followed, in which the soldiers were 
 yictorious, but so bravely were they met that more than a hundred of the 
 enemy were killed before they would retreat. The troops then scoured 
 Sarili's country, doing great damage to the crops and kraals, and on several 
 occasions repulsing the natives with considerable loss. On the 11th of 
 January, 1852, the principal column returned to King William's Town with 
 thirty thousand head of cattle, besides horses and goats. The other 
 column left Butterworth on the 13th, and brought out some thousands of 
 Fingoes released from slavery and thirty thousand head of cattle. 
 
 Christmas Eve was kept in the colony as a day of solemn humiliation 
 and prayer before God, in respect of His judgment of war upon the land. 
 On this day the Tembus were defeated by a burgher force, when a great 
 number fell, and some fine herds of cattle, horses, and sheep, as well as 
 several stand of firearms, were captured. 
 
 Very few burghers had hitherto taken the field, as they dared not leave 
 their property behind them unprotected. Some volunteer companies 
 had been formed and had done good service, but hostilities were carried on 
 mainly by regular troops and Fingo and Hottentot levies. On the 6th of 
 February, 1852, the Governor called upon the farmers of the frontier 
 districts to assemble in commandos and assist in expelling the rebels from 
 their fastnesses, but to this appeal they did not respond in sufficient 
 numbers to be of any material assistance. 
 
 The loss of the steam transport BlrJcenhead, rendered memorable by the 
 almost unparalleled heroism of the soldiers on board, was one of the saddest 
 events of this year. She was conveying reinforcements to the seat of war, 
 when at 2 o'clock in the morning of the 25th of February, she struck 
 suddenly on Danger Point. So violent was the concussion that her frame- 
 work was shattered, and she instantly began to fill with water. The 
 terrified passengers rushed on deck, where, by command of Colonel 
 Seaton, of the 74th, the soldiers drew up as if on parade. Only two boats 
 could be got out, and then commenced the disembarkation of the women, 
 children, and sick, who were all safely landed. When this was effected the 
 order was given that the men should jump overboard and try to reach the 
 shore on bits of plank and broken spars. If the ship had held together a 
 few moments longer most of the men would probably have been saved. 
 
1852] 
 
 HISTOBY OI' THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 37 
 
 But before they could leave her deck she went to pieces, and four hundred 
 of England's braves met death in the boiling surf. Upwards of two 
 hundred lives were saved, when, had the men not been under the influence 
 of discipline, the boats would have been swamped at the outset, and all 
 must have perished. 
 
 On the 31st of March Sir Haruy Smith was superseded by Sir George 
 Cathcart, as the Home authorities were not satisfied with the manner in 
 which the war was being conducted, and thought it might speedily be 
 brought to a close. 
 
 At this time Sandile was still in possession of his old haunts in the 
 Amatolas. Maqoma, with two or three thousand followers of his own, 
 together with numerous rebel Hottentots and a clan of Tembus, occupied 
 the Kroome Mountains, within the colonial boundaries. From these 
 fastnesses, bands of marauders were continually harassing the country even 
 as far distant as Cradock and Somerset. Siyolo, Stokwe, and Tola, aided 
 also by rebel Hottentots and Tembus, held the Fish River jungles and nearly 
 the whole of the Division of Victoria East. Their bands were frequently 
 swooping down upon the Divisions of Fort Beaufort and Albany, carrying 
 off all they could get hold of, and then retiring to their fastnesses so speedily 
 aa to defy pursuit. Mlanjeni was at the height of his glory, for the crops 
 of maize and millet which had been cut down by the troops early in the 
 season had sprung up again, and he asserted that this was a miracle 
 performed by himself. The Kaffirs believed him and were elated. The 
 Tembus north of the Amatolas were not yet entirely subdued, though they 
 had been so far crushed that if it had not been for the presence of some 
 rebel Hottentots among them, there would have been no difficulty in 
 settling matters there. The farmers of Albert and Cradock were, however, 
 yet exposed to frequent inroads from parties of these marauders. On the 
 Gcalekas very little impression had yet been made. After the evacuation 
 of his country by the troops in January, Sauili professed to be anxious for 
 peace. He was informed by Sir Harry Smith that if he would pay fifteen 
 hundred head of cattle as a fine for his destruction of mission and other 
 property and as a mark of good faith, and would further cease from 
 sheltering and aiding the ISTgqikas, he would not again be molested. But 
 these terms he declined with contempt. Soon afterwards he took part in a 
 raid into the colony, but was met by Captain Tylden at the head of a large 
 force of burghers and native levies, and was driven back with great loss. 
 Still he continued to be defiant, treating the Governor's very moderate 
 demands with haughty disdain. Uithaalder seemed to be ubiquitous. He 
 had his followers thoroughly organized and under control. He assumed 
 the title of General, and sent word to the British commander that he was 
 prepared to fight or make peace on equal terms. The troops were worn 
 out by fifteen months of harassing guerilla warfare, and needed some 
 repose. Especially, the cavalry horses were so thin as to be incapable of 
 performing duty. A few weeks rest was necessary. 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY OP THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1852 
 
 During this interval Sir George Cathcakt was arranging for a vigorous 
 campaign. There was now a large regular force in the country, consisting 
 of the First Battalion Rifle Brigade, the 12th Lancers, the 60th Rifles, the 
 2nd, 6th, 12th, 43rd, 45th, 73rd, 74th, and 91st regiments of foot, the Cape 
 Mounted Rifles, Artillerymen, Engineers, &c. As much of this force as 
 could be spared from garrison duty was formed into two divisions, one, 
 under command of Major- General Yorke, to whom the duty of clearing the 
 Amatolas was assigned; the other, under command of Major- General 
 Somerset, was intrusted with the task of blockading the Kroome Moun- 
 tains and driving Maqoma from the Waterkloof and other fastnesses there, 
 which he had hitherto held with the utmost tenacity, though they had been 
 scoured again and again. The Governor saw that it was useless to drive 
 the enemy out of any stronghold, unless it could be permanently held 
 afterwards. There could be no such thing as territory left vacant in war- 
 fare like this. But forts such as had hitherto been constructed in South Africa 
 were enormously expensive, and required half a regiment at least to 
 garrison them. They were built as if they were intended to stand a siege 
 by regular troops provided with cannon and scaling ladders, whereas 
 something far simpler would answer the purpose equally as well against 
 such enemies as the Kafl&rs. He resolved therefore, as soon as a mountain 
 stronghold was cleared, to build small defensible turrets in commanding 
 positions, and to surround them with stone walls in such a manner that a 
 large party could take shelter under them. Stores could then be kept there 
 in safety under a guard of fifteen or twenty men, while the surrounding 
 country could be constantly patrolled. Though two hundred of these 
 redoubts could have been built for the same money that some of the old 
 forts cost, they were found to answer in every respect the purpose for 
 which they were designed. Sir Harry Smith had made King William's 
 Town his centre of operations, from which he had worked in both directions ; 
 the new Commander-in-chief made Fort Beaufort his head quarters, and 
 determined to work forward from that point. 
 
 There had hitherto been an enormous expenditure of public money in 
 organizing native levies and keeping irregular forces in the field. Horses, 
 arms, clothing, rations for themselves and their families, liberal pay, and a 
 share of captured cattle, were demanded by the levies, and though they did 
 not always receive as much as they thought they were entitled to, the ex- 
 pense of keeping them in the field was very great. Sir George Catucart 
 determined to reduce the number of these auxiliaries, and to employ in 
 their stead a force of armed and mounted European police, the efficiency of 
 which became so soon apparent that it has continued in existence ever 
 since. The men of this service provide themselves with everything. They 
 are ready to move at a moment's notice, and have proved themselves most 
 admirably adapted to South African warfare. This force was raised in the 
 Imperial service, and during the continuance of the rebellion was paid by 
 England, but was afterwards taken over by the government of the colony. 
 
1852] 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 39 
 
 In the course of a few weeks six hundred men were enrolled in it, and 
 henceforth the frontier districts were kept comparatively free of marauders. 
 
 The colony being thus protected, in July the Governor called upon the 
 burghers to aid in an invasion of Sarili's country. He closed the procla- 
 mation by stating that if the colonists would not help themselves, the 
 troops would very likely be withdrawn. He soon had as many burghers as 
 he needed. In August, at their head and aided by some regulars, he 
 crossed the Kei, burnt Sarili's principal kraal, and captured ten thousand 
 head of cattle. This campaign brought the Gcaleka chief to terms, and he 
 was henceforth most anxious for peace. 
 
 During the month of September the Kroome Mountains were thoroughly 
 cleared, and forts were established in such positions that they could not be 
 re-occupied by the enemy. Maqoma, who had held these fastnesses for 
 twenty-one months despite the most heroic exertions of the troops, now fell 
 back upon the Amatolas, where he joined the other rebel chiefs. He was 
 followed at once by such a force that within a fortnight these strongholds 
 also were cleared and dotted over with military posts. The power of the 
 insurgents was by these means completely broken. In October, Siyolo, 
 in whose country Tamacha Post had been erected, gave up the contest by 
 surrendering himself. His example was followed by those of the Tembu 
 chiefs who were still living. The others were seeking places of conceal- 
 ment, their followers having dispersed among neutral tribes. A reward of 
 £600 and a free pardon was offered to any one who would apprehend 
 UiTHAALDER, and £50 for any of his subordinate leaders, dead or alive; 
 the remainder of the Hottentot rebels were assured that their lives would 
 be spared if they would surrender at once. Most of them gave themselves 
 up, and were sentenced to short terms of imprisonment. 
 
 A settlement of the Tembus was next effected. A tract of country to the 
 westward of the Indwe, since called the Tambookie Location, was reserved 
 for their use.' Nonesi was invited to return with her people and occupy it. 
 Mr. J. C. Warner was placed there as the representative of goverament, 
 and found no diflBculty in preserving order and maintaining his own 
 supremacy. All the remaining Tembu lands were forfeited. The clans of 
 this tribe that were engaged in the war had been nearly exterminated. 
 Mapasa, their principal chief, had been killed, and now the survivors were 
 permitted to disperse among the followers of Nonesi. 
 
 The pursuit of a few wretched fugitives being all that remained to be 
 done, in November the Governor withdrew two thousand of the troops for 
 an expedition to Basutoland. After arranging matters there to his satis- 
 faction, he returned to the colony and took steps for the final settlement of 
 affairs on the border. In February, 1853, peace was formally concluded 
 with Saeili. He had previously paid the larger portion of the fine imposed 
 upon him, and the remainder was now remitted. 
 
 In the meantime the Rarabe chiefs with a few devoted followers, hunted 
 from place to place, had fled across the Kei. But they had no desire to 
 
40 
 
 HISTOKI OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1853 
 
 place themselves under Sarili's protection, even if he were willing to 
 receive them ; for his yoke, they knew well, would be heavier to bear than 
 that of the white man. From their retreat on the Tsomo, Sandile, acting 
 for all, despatched two messengers to Pato, and begged him to intercede 
 for them with Colonel Maclean. The messengers were to say, their 
 strength was gone, they were beaten and driven from their country 
 and only asked that a place might be assigned to them where they could 
 rest in peace. On the 13th of February, Mali and Mani reached Fort 
 Murray with this word from their chief, which was immediately communi- 
 cated to the Governor. Enquiries made during the next fortnight proved 
 that they were in earnest in tendering their submission, since they were 
 really in desperate cu'cumstances. On the 2nd of March the Governor 
 issued a proclamation, granting mercy and pardon to the rebels, upon con- 
 dition of the surrender of theu- arms and future good behaviour. Seven 
 days afterwards a meeting took place at the Yellowwoods, six miles from 
 King William's Town. The chiefs had hastened back from the Kei upon 
 receiving news of the Governor's clemency, and nothing more remained to 
 be done but to make arrangements for their location. Sandile, Maqoma, 
 Anta, Oba, Stokwe, and Tola, were all there. They were informed that 
 the Amatolas were forfeited for ever, and that any of them found there 
 would be dealt with summarily under martial law, but that the large tract 
 of open land from the Kei to the great northern road, northwards from 
 Mhala's location to the Thomas River, was theirs as long as they conduct, 
 ed themselves as loyal and obedient subjects of the Queen. With this 
 scene, — the brave soldier, who was so soon thereafter to fall at Inker man, 
 gi*anting in the name of his sovereign pardon to the fallen chiefs, and they, 
 warm in expressions of gratitude and loyalty, — the great rebellion termi- 
 nated. It had ruined its instigators and hundreds of colonists besides. It 
 is supposed to have cost Great Britain upwards of two millions sterling and 
 the lives of four or five hundi'ed soldiers. Among those who fell were 
 several men of distinguished ability and high position. There was no 
 braver officer in the British service than Colonel Fordyce, of the 74th, who 
 lost his life in one of the numerous skirmishes in the Waterkloof. 
 
 The names of Sarili and the Rarabe chiefs will appear again, Mlanjeni 
 and Uithaalder now pass out of sight. The former sank into contempt, 
 became an object of derision among his own people, and died a few months 
 after the restoration of peace. Uithaalder wandered for some years an 
 outcast beyond the border. Without followers or friends, in constant 
 danger, and sunk in abject poverty and want, he clung to his dream of an 
 independent Hottentot nation. His final plan was to obtain a grant of land 
 from Sarili, and collect the outcasts of his race there. But it did not suc- 
 ceed. Sarili declined to entertain the proposal, and Uithaalder, sunk in 
 despaii', committed suicide. 
 
CHAPTER XXTI. 
 
 FROM THE TERMINATION OF THE REBELLION TO THE MEE-TING OF THE FIRSi' 
 CAPE PARLIAMENT. 9tH MARCH, 1853, TO 30tH JUNE, 1854. 
 
 Principal Subjects: — Arrangements for the Protection of the Frontier. — Formation of 
 the Division and Village of Queensfown. — Location of Europeans in the Kat River 
 Valley. — Goiernment of British Kaffraria. — Grant of a Constittition to the Cape 
 Colony. — Cape Town in 1854. 
 
 Governors : — Sir George Cathcart. 
 
 Lieut. -Gov. C. H. Darling, (acting), May 26, 1854. 
 
 Upon the conclusion of peace, arrangements were made which greatly 
 altered the relative position of the frontier clans to each other. The 
 Christian chief Kama had a large and fertile tract of land along the 
 Keiskama given to him in reward for faithful services, and his clan being 
 joined by numerous refugees from others soon swelled to be a powerful 
 tribe. The Ngqikas, having lost most of their cattle as well as the rich 
 valleys of the Amatolas, were poor and weak. The Fingoes had some of 
 the choicest lands in the country allotted to them, a large portion of the 
 Chumie and Upper Keiskama valleys being added to their former posses- 
 sions. Some considerable strips of land were retained as Government 
 Keserves, to be used in future for any purpose, as occasion might arise. 
 
 The forfeited Tembu lands north of the Amatolas were to a large extent 
 filled up with European settlers. Farms, not exceeding four thousand acres 
 in extent, were surveyed there, and offered to colonists under a system of 
 military tenure. Young men who were possessed of some property and had 
 been active in the defence of the frontier had a preference given to them in the 
 allotment of these farms. They were bound to reside on their grants, to 
 arm themselves efficiently, and to maintain in addition to themselves one 
 armed man for every thousand acres over the first thousand of which their 
 farms consisted. Under these conditions the district was at once occupied 
 by a class of men well qualified to defend it. A Land Commission was 
 appointed, to which applications for grants were sent in, and from the list 
 of names the most suitable were selected. The portion of the forfeited 
 territory allotted to Europeans contained about four hundred farms, while 
 there were at least three times as many applicants. 
 
 Tracts of land at Lesseyton, Kamastone, Oxkraal, and Windvogelberg, 
 were set apart for the use of natives who had been loyal. The strip of 
 country known as the Bontebok Flats was left unoccupied for a time. It 
 adjoins the Amatolas, but on account of there being no wood upon it and 
 its being particularly exposed to cold winds in winter, it was not likely to 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1853 
 
 be chosen as a place of residence by either whites or blacks. It forms, 
 however, an excellent summer grazing ground for sheep and cattle, for 
 which purpose it has since been used. The district received the name of 
 the Division of Queenstown. The farms were held under military tenure 
 until 1868, when an act was passed by which the grantees were released 
 from their obligations, on the ground that such burdensome conditions 
 were no longer necessary. From that date land in this and in the other 
 frontier Divisions has been held under the ordinary quitrent tenure of the 
 colony. 
 
 A village was established in an excellent situation on the Komani River, 
 (a feeder of the Kei), on a plain where abundance of water could be led out, 
 and where superior building material was plentiful. The plan of Queens- 
 town differs from that of other colonial villages, whose streets run 
 commonly at right angles with each other. From an open space in the 
 centre, called the Hexagon, its streets radiate to different points of the 
 compass, an arrangement which was adopted to facilitate defence. Fifty 
 building allotments, half an acre in size, were sold at its establishment for 
 £4* 10s. each, on condition of being built upon immediately, fifty others 
 were sold at £7 10s each, on condition of being enclosed, sites were granted 
 free for Episcopal and Wesleyan churches, and ten acres were presented to 
 the Dutch Reformed congregation, with a view of inducing them to build 
 a place of worship there. The growth of Queenstown was extremely rapid, 
 as its position on the great northern road from East London, and in the 
 centre of a fertile district fully occupied, gave it great commercial advan- 
 tages. It is at present being connected by rail with the seaport, which is 
 about one hundred and forty miles distant. 
 
 In Victoria East, after the Fingoes had received ample grants, there 
 still remained much unoccupied land. Of this, a large portion was in the 
 hands of speculators, who had been enabled before the rebellion to purchase 
 extensively, under colonial regulations then in force, which required all 
 crown lands to be sold to the highest bidder at public auction. What 
 remained was now laid out in farms and granted to settlers under military 
 tenure, the same as in the Queenstown Division. 
 
 The forfeited lands of the rebel Hottentots at the Kat River were given 
 to European settlers. Very few titles had ever been issued there, owing to 
 some neglect on the part of government. This was certainly one of the 
 causes of the thriftless state into which so many of the people, who had 
 once promised so well, liad of late years fallen. Had titles been issued at 
 the proper time to those who fulfilled the conditions of occupation, it is 
 probable that many of them would have disposed of their ground, and thus 
 in a measure have defeated the object contemplated in the formation of 
 the settlements. But such a weeding out would have reduced the number 
 only to increase the wealth and intelligence of the people, and, if an evil 
 at all, would have been one of less magnitude than that occasioned by 
 leaving the erfholders without that stimulus to industry which is found in 
 
1853] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 43 
 
 the possession of titles. This being now apparent, the requisite documents 
 were issued without delay to those who had remained loyal. A new vil- 
 lage, named Seymour, — after Lieutenant Colonel Cuarles Seymour, who 
 was Sir George Cathcart's military secretary, and who afterwards fell at 
 Inkerman, — was laid out at Eland's Post, on one of the sources of the 
 Kat River, and a magistrate was stationed there. Its situation is pleasant, 
 but, not being on any of the great routes of commerce, it has not risen 
 to much importance. 
 
 The frontier line was now occupied by a compact body of hardy Europeans, 
 all accustomed to the use of arms, and by Fingoes whose loyalty could be 
 depended upon. Behind these were the friendly chiefs Mqayi, Siwaxi, and 
 ICama, along the eastern bank of the Keiskama, while further north the 
 Tembus, friendly also, were separated from the colonists by a mountain 
 range. The Amatola country, held as a crown reserve, was garrisoned by 
 numerous military posts. The Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, sta- 
 tioned at the most exposed situations, were ready for any emergencies that 
 might arise, Never before had the border been so secure, nor the con- 
 fidence in permanent peace so widely felt. 
 
 During the war Colonel Mackinnon had resigned the situation of Chief 
 Commissioner in British Klaffraria, and had been succeeded by Colonel 
 Maclean, formerly Commissioner with the Ndlambe tribes. A very simple 
 form of government was in force in the province, there being as yet only 
 about twelve hundred Europeans, exclusive of the military, resident there. 
 The natives were as heretofore governed directly by their own chiefs, who 
 were supposed to act under the guidance of European officers stationed 
 with them. To have deprived the chiefs of authority would have been to 
 reduce the people to a state of anarchy, as they were entirely unprepared 
 to come under the operation of English laws administered by English 
 officers. The Governor's design was, gradually, and yet as rapidly as 
 possible, to raise them in the scale of civilization, by suppressing the worst 
 parts of their own laws and customs, and by bringing them under the 
 influence of missionaries. This was no new plan, as it originated with Sir 
 Benjamin D 'Urban, not with Sir George Cathcart, and Sir Harry 
 Smith had done his best to carry it out ; but it never had a fair trial 
 until now. 
 
 The missionaries were encouraged to resume their labours, which had 
 been generally suspended during the continuance of the war. The 
 Governor was desirous of forming industrial schools in connection with 
 some of the stations, which should be partly supported from public funds, 
 but his early departure from the colony prevented their establishment at 
 that time. In most instances the missionaries had to commence their work 
 afresh, as their property had been destroyed, and their stations were now 
 occupied by stranger clans. From this date, however, their means of 
 improving the natives have been greater than before. They have been 
 released from subjection to the whims and caprices of petty heathen chiefs, 
 
44 
 
 HISTORl OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1854 
 
 the exactions of some of whom were next to intolerable. The law of the 
 land has been with them, and the grossest vices of heathenism have been 
 suppressed. They have had all the advantage of working with the govern- 
 ment of the people they are seeking to improve, instead of being opposed 
 to it. But that their former labours were not fruitless was evident from 
 the fact that not less than fifteen hundred Christian natives had refuvSed to 
 rebel at the bidding of the chiefs, and had taken refuge at King William's 
 Town, where they remained while the war lasted, without a single charge 
 of any kind being brought against any one of them. 
 
 The time had at length amved when the colonists were permitted to 
 take part in the management of their own affairs. They had long and 
 anxiously desired this privilege. Notwithstanding the destruction of 
 property in the frontier districts, caused by the Kaffir wars, the colony had 
 of late years greatly increased in material wealth. Sheep farming had been 
 found to pay in immense tracts of country not long since considered 
 valueless, and the production of wool in large quantities was bringing the 
 dependency into notice abroad. Immigration, though neither constant nor 
 large, was sensibly adding to the number of European inhabitants. During 
 the four years from 1847 to 1851, about three thousand six hundred indi- 
 viduals, mostly families selected from the working classes, had been brought 
 out from Great Britain at the public expense, and had been distributed over 
 the colony. This method of introducing Europeans was then abandoned 
 for a time, but stragglers were frequently landing upon our shores. The 
 yearly trade returns showed steady progress. Internal improvements, 
 such as the construction of good roads and the erection of necessaiy 
 public buildings in country villages, were being effected. Municipal 
 institutions had been largely developed, and had served to train men to 
 take part in public affairs. The Divisional Road Boards had acted in the 
 same manner. More noticeable still was the moral progress that had taken 
 place during late years. What the mission schools had done for the natives, 
 the free government, district, and private schools had done for Europeans. 
 A generation had grown up with sufficient education to be able at least to 
 read and judge for themvselves. Newspapers too had been circulating 
 widely over the colony, and had done much to educate the people. Old 
 prejudices were dying out, — slowl}'- perhaps but not the less surely, — and 
 the broad fact was generally recognized that legislation should be directed 
 so as to secure the common welfare of all classes. The union of interests, 
 which alone can weld together races of different origin, was no longer 
 ignored, save by a very few. It is true that incomparably greater progress 
 has been made since that period than was thought of then by any bat the 
 most sanguine ; yet the foundations of all our later improvements were 
 already securely laid. Under these circumstances it was impossible that 
 the colonists could be satisfied with a Legislative Council composed entirely 
 of nominees, even if these were recommended, as was the case in one 
 instance, by the Divisional Road Boards. 
 
1854] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLOKY. 
 
 45 
 
 As early as the year 1841 the inhabitants of Cape Town had petitioned 
 the Home Government for representative institutions, and the Governor, 
 Sir George Napier, had recommended compUance with the request. The 
 question continued to be the subject of despatches until the appointment 
 of Sir Henry Pottinger, who was required to report specially upon the 
 fitness of the colonists for such a change, but who was unable to do so on 
 account of his whole time and attention being taken up with the war then 
 raging. As soon as peace was concluded. Sir Harry Smith entered into 
 the matter, and in 1848 reported in favour of a representative government 
 being granted. The Home Authorities were quite willing to gratify the 
 wish of the colonists, and accordingly referred the subject to the Committee 
 of the Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations, to suggest the 
 best mode of carrying it into execution. 
 
 In January, 1850, the Committee presented their report, in which they 
 recommended the creation by Letters Patent of two elective chambers, 
 leaving the details to be settled by the existing Legislative Council. They 
 thought that the colony was too extensive for one government, and that 
 therefore two separate legislatures should be created, an opinion that had 
 been held by the Imperial Commissioners of Enquiry in 1823, and was 
 strenuously advocated by a considei-able section of the inhabitants of the 
 frontier districts. But the Governor's official advisers, including the 
 bench of judges, were unanimous in opposing the division of the colony, 
 and the Committee, relying upon their superior local knowledge, gave way 
 to their judgment. They proposed that an ordinance be passed in the 
 colony, subject to the approval of Her Majesty, fixing the number of 
 members of which each chamber should consist, the franchise of the 
 electors, the mode of dividing the colony into electoral districts, and all 
 other details. This was the plan pursued, but much delay was encountered, 
 owing partly to the rebellion, partly to great differences of opinion among 
 the members of the Legislative Council. 
 
 It was not until the 11th of March, 1853, that the preliminary arrangements 
 were concluded, on which day the Constitution was confirmed by an Order 
 in Council. It was more liberal than that of any other dependency of 
 Great Britain. The Upper Chamber, called the Legislative Council, at its 
 creation consisted of fifteen elective members and the Chief Justice as 
 President. The whole colony was divided into two electoral districts, called 
 the Eastern and the Western Province, the former of which returned 
 seven and the latter eight members. Half the Council retired every five 
 years. The Lower Chamber, called the House of Assembly, consisted of 
 forty-six members, elected by twenty-two Divisioils, one of which — the 
 City of Cape Town — returned four, and the others two representatives each. 
 No elected member of either Chamber could hold any office of profit or 
 trust under the Crown. Such, at its establishment, was the Constitution, 
 under which this colony has since made most gratifying progress. With the 
 growth of the country in material wealth and in intellectual power, it also 
 
46 
 
 HISTOEY OP THE CAtE COLONT. 
 
 [1854 
 
 has grown to greater perfection; but considering the circumstances of 
 the people, who had never before been permitted to take part in legislating 
 for themselves, — (except in the solitary instance mentioned in a preceding 
 paragraph, when Sir Harry Smith considered it necessary to ascertain the 
 wish of the colonists respecting the form of the Constitution, and therefore 
 requested the Divisional Eoad Boards to nominate persons from whom he 
 could make a selection), — it was exceedingly liberal. 
 
 On the 30th of J une, 1854, the representatives of the people met for 
 the first time in Cape Town, and settled such preliminary business as the 
 taking of the necessary oaths by the Councillors and the election of a 
 Chairman by the members of the Assembly. The ceremonies to be observed 
 on the occasion of the formal opening of Parliament for business had been 
 ari-anged by Sir George Cathcakt before his departure from the colony, 
 which had taken place on the 26th of May. The duty of carrying out these 
 arrangements devolved upon Lieutenant Governor Darling. Under a royal 
 salute, the Administrator was received at the door of the state-room of 
 Government House, and was conducted to an elevated seat, on each side 
 of which the consuls of different nations, public officers, and other persons 
 of note were grouped. The members of the House of Assembly, preceded 
 by the Speaker, were then admitted, and the opening speech was read. 
 The Administrator then retired, the members of the Assembly proceeded to 
 the Masonic Lodge where they were to hold their meetings, and the business 
 of the first session was entered upon. 
 
 Two hundred and two years of time had passed away since Van Riebeck 
 on a memorable April morning stepped on the shore of Table Bay, and set 
 about the construction of his fortress of mud. We have seen the changes 
 that took place during those years, how rapidly the colony grew in territorial 
 extent, how slowly in all that makes a country really great ; we have followed 
 its moral progress from the days when no religion was tolerated but that 
 of the state church to those in which a Mahometan, a Romanist, a Lutheran, 
 and a Calvinist were equal before the law ; we have seen slavery give way 
 to freedom, ignorance to intelligence, despotic rule to representative 
 government. How was it faring now with the old South African town 
 which Van Riebeck had founded, and where a free Colonial Parliament had 
 just met ? It no longer directed public opinion so exclusively as it did in 
 days of old, since Grahamstown for years past had given a tone to the 
 political thought of a majority of the people of the east ; but its influence 
 was still undivided in the west, and paramount in the colony as a whole. 
 The idea of Grahamstown was a division of the colony, with local govern- 
 ment for each of the districts and a federal government over all, or, if that 
 could not be, the removal of the seat of government to the east ; but Cape 
 Town influence was opposed to both these plans, and Cape Town influence 
 prevailed. As a shipping port, the old town had sunk to the second rank, 
 Port Elizabeth taking the lead, especially in exports. But the real trade 
 of Cape Town was superior to that of the eastern port, for though the whole 
 
1854] 
 
 HISTOET OP THE CAPE COLOKY. 
 
 47 
 
 of the eastern trade passed through Port Elizabeth, it did not centre there. 
 In the number and importance of its pubHc institutions, its benevolent, 
 friendly, and religious societies, Cape Town was unrivalled. It had seven 
 newspapers out of fifteen published in the whole colony, and three banks 
 out of twelve. It had a Chamber of Commerce, and Insurance Companies, 
 Life, Fire, and Marine. Railway stations and telegraph offices were as yet 
 nowhere to be seen in South Africa. 
 
 Could the storm demon, who by ancient mariners was fabled to have his 
 abode on Table Mountain, have looked down now from that lofty height, 
 what a wondrous transformation would have met his gaze. The forests on 
 the slopes were there once more, but the trees were not those of the southern 
 land. Further down, the very form of the vale was changed. Little hills had 
 disappeared, and, stranger still, that limpid purling stream, whose sweet 
 waters refreshed the weary voyagers of old, no longer ran murmuring 
 down to meet the sea. The lean-visaged, famine -stricken beachrangers, 
 and the Saldaniers with their sleek herds, had all passed away ; they might 
 have belonged to another world, so few vestiges of their presence had they 
 left in this. Even less than the Bushman had they traced their records on 
 the sands of time, for he, as he flitted over a scene, dropped at least a 
 boulder ring and marked a rock as memorials of his existence. Their 
 names and their deeds, their joys and their sorrows, had all vanished into 
 the land of shadows. Gone, too, was the greensward spangled with its 
 myriad flowers, where by the light of the silver moon the revels of that 
 perished race were held. The mountain, sombre and majestic, the fleecy 
 cloud suspended along its brow, with which the storm demon was wont to 
 screen himself from human eye, the sea, dashing its billows on the shore 
 of the bay, were changeless all ; men, races of men, might come and go, 
 but mountain, cloud, and bay remained the same. By these alone could 
 the fiend have recognized the domain over which, as poets averred, he 
 once held boundless sway. And not all gone yet was his power, for coming 
 years were to witness whole fleets of gallant ships lying stranded on that 
 rock-bound shore. The day was yet distant when the mariner, safe within 
 the walls of a splendid dock, could bid defiance to the raging storm. 
 
 Even Father Tulbagh, could he have revisited the scene where his 
 memory was so long and so fondly cherished, would have had a difficulty 
 in recognizing some of its features. The early governors, whose thoughts 
 often turned to their dearly loved fatherland, bethought them that a town 
 without canals was not the correct place for honest Hollanders to live in. 
 Accordingly, they had projected a system of huge open drains, canals in 
 miniature, which they regarded with pleasure and pride. But Englishmen 
 had come, and had turned up their dainty English noses, had prated and 
 plotted, till the best and goodliest of the canals had become things of the 
 past. The great warehouses of the Company were there still, but needed 
 no longer in the days of free trade, they had been turned into barracks for 
 English troops. The gardens so famous in days gone by, the great parade 
 
48 
 
 HISTOUT OF THE CAPE COLOXt. 
 
 [1854 
 
 ground carefully levelled and turfed by Governor Swellexgkebel, the 
 castle with its bastions and its moat, as yet defied the hand of time, but 
 around them and stretching away on every side were streets and rows of 
 stately buildings which Father Tulbagh would never have known. Church- 
 es and schoolhouses, stores and shops, printing offices and banks, all 
 had sprung into existence in modern days. Here and there a windmill, 
 lazil}' spreading its sails to the breeze, stood out as a relic of the past ; but 
 the steam engine was busy turning the stones that now ground the 
 Malmesbury corn. The one solitary jetty, over which the commerce of 
 the Company was borne, had become three, and shining on the shore of 
 the bay were guiding stars which never gleamed of old. The galleots, 
 with their enormous poops, low waists, and rounded bows, were well nigh 
 forgotten, while in their stead rode a fleet of ships of modern build, over 
 which waved fair and free the flags of many nations. Among them were 
 some which to Father Tulbagh would have seemed of magic power, propelled 
 as they were by a force which bid defiance alike to torpid calms and to the 
 strength of the wild storm king. Dancing over the waters of the bay was 
 many a fisherman's boat, for from the rich storehouses of the deep came 
 much of the food used by the labouring poor. And over all, on land and on 
 sea, the spirit of freedom reigned. The Malay artizan in his wide trousers, 
 hip jacket, and conical hat, the swarthy coolie, less sumptuously clad, were 
 as free to come and go, to sell their labour to the highest bidder, or to live 
 if they could without labour at all, as if they had been born and bred under 
 English skies. The poet and the painter might sigh for the days of the 
 storm demon, no one surely could wish to recall the good old times of 
 Father Tulbagh. 
 
 The suburbs, where grandeur and beauty are blended by nature, were 
 still further adorned by the hand of man. On one side, Green Point, on 
 the other, Wynberg, Clermont, Newlands, Eondebosch, and Mowbray, were 
 covered with charming residences, many of them embowered in the most 
 beautiful foliage. The same strong winds that in the olden times had 
 caused Van Riebeck to lay out the first South African farm beyond the 
 limits of Table Valley, still blew at times with such violence there as to i-aise 
 the sand and drive it about like a storm of sleet ; but away from the valley 
 its power was gone. In pleasantness of climate as well as in beauty of 
 scenery, the suburbs of Cape Town may be said to be almost unrivalled. 
 The air is pure, fresh, and healthy, and even when a gale is blowing the 
 other side of the mountain, at the villages named it is felt as a soft and 
 gentle breeze. Plantations of firs and avenues of stately oaks are seen 
 side by side with trees and shrubs native to the land. Vineyards and 
 gardens fill up the foreground of the picture, while away in the distance are 
 lines of dim and hazy mountains or the vast expanse of the horizon- 
 bounded Atlantic. 
 
CHAPTER XXYIT. 
 
 SIR GEORGE GREY's ARRAXGEMENTS FOR THE WELFARE OP THE KAEFIHS. SELF- 
 DESTRUCTIOX OF THE AMAXOSA. FRESEXT COXDmOX OF THE 
 KAFFIRS AXI) FJXGOES. 
 
 Sir George Cathcart was called awaj to the battle fields of the Crimea in 
 May, 1854. He was succeeded in December of that year by Sir George 
 Grey, who, after spending a few weeks at the seat of government, proceed- 
 ed to the frontier to investigate matters there. It had now come to be 
 pretty generally recognized that there were but two courses open in deal- 
 ing with the Kaffirs, one being to civilize them, the other periodically to 
 fight them. Seventy years intercourse had cleared away all the mists that 
 once hung over this question, and left the fact naked and plain that per- 
 manent peace was impossible with neighbouring tribes barbarous ai\d 
 unprogressive. They might be beaten, — they had been over and over 
 again, — but the fruit of conquest was always lost with the recall of the 
 imposing military force which war brought to the front. Their vitality 
 seemed unconquerable, crushed to-day they were more powerful than ever 
 to-morrow. Hitherto very little had been done, except by missionaries 
 and mission societies, to induce these people to adopt an improved mode of 
 life. Mission schools within the Cape Colony were aided from public 
 funds, but not a sixpence was spent on the education of the natives along 
 and beyond the eastern border. The colony was too poor to er.gage in such 
 philanthropic efforts towards the reclamation of its hostile neighbours, it 
 had need of all its funds and more at home. 
 
 The arrangements made by Sir George Cathcart were admirable in a 
 military point of view, but they needed to be supplemented. That friendly 
 wall of flesh which he had built up along the frontier required to bo 
 strengthened, or it might at any moment tumble to pieces and ruin the 
 country once more by its fall. Sir George Grey came with the means as 
 well as the will to deal thoroughly in the matter, as the Imperial Govern- 
 ment placed at his disposal a large sum of money to be used in improving 
 the Kaffirs. Having inspected the locations in British Kafi^raria and made 
 himself acquainted with every particular, he directed a succession of 
 vigorous blows at the very life of the heathenism dominant tiicre, a life 
 made up largely of ignorance, superstition, and indolence. 
 
 The first was aimed at ignorance. To the missionaries of various 
 religious denominations he offered pecuniary assistance in the establish- 
 ment of large industrial schools, in which native lads should be taught not 
 only to read and write, but to work as mechanics, and where thoy should 
 
 H 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1855 
 
 be trained in orderly and decorous habits. Such of these lads as should 
 qualify themselves for situations as teachers at outstations in connnection 
 with the mission bodies, he promised to support with suitable salaries, 
 hoping by their means to diffuse elementary education among the masses 
 of the people. Several Societies accepted the Governor's offer and opened 
 industrial schools, which continued in operation until the arrival of Sir 
 Philip Wodeuouse, when, in consequence of an alteration m the scale of 
 the grants in aid, all were discontinued except one at Lovedale in con- 
 nection with the Free Church of Scotland. Recently, however, the plan 
 has been reintroduced, and it now meets with general favour. 
 
 The superstition of the Kaffirs was a barrier in the way of their improve- 
 ment, that could not be assailed in too many w^ays, nor too soon be broken 
 down. The misery it caused, the many murders and confiscations of 
 property it gave rise to, the power it communicated to chiefs and people 
 in time of war, had often been witnessed by the colonists. And the time 
 was close at h^and when, prompted by that dire superstition of theirs, the 
 Kaffirs would commit an act unparalleled in the world's history for its 
 folly, a deed of madness such as nowhere else had ever been seen. They 
 were themselves about to give the death blow to that monstrous faith 
 which the English Governor was seeking to destroy. But just then there 
 were no indications of the tragedy so soon to be performed by the children 
 of XosA. These hardy barbarians, true stoics when suffering from the most 
 painful wounds or accidents, w'ci'e yet helpless with fear when attacked 
 by any kind of disease. For why ? The nature of a wound they could 
 understand, but disease was caused by the malice of an enemy operating 
 mpon them by means of witchcraft. Their doctors of medicine were 
 acquainted with the powers of many plants and herbs, of which they made 
 free use, but the operation of these was considered secondary and far 
 inferior m importance to the detection of the bewitching matter and the 
 punishment of the person suspected of having administered it. The anti- 
 dote to a system by which, for instance, a man was treated for rheumatism 
 by digging up a bit of bone from the ground where he usually slept and 
 then falling upon the cattle of one of his neighbours, was to cure him by 
 skilful medical treatment. This, it was thought, would break his belief in 
 the power of witchcraft and of every species of witchdoctor. Accordingly, 
 a splendid hospital was erected in King William's Town, where medicine, 
 attendance, food, and comforts such as they had never known before, were 
 offered free to any sick who chose to come. The design was as prudent as 
 it was benevolent ; but, unfortunately, it was frustrated before its effects 
 could be tested by time. 
 
 The Kaffirs were indolent. "What need had they to labour, when all that 
 they knew of comfort and luxury could be obtained without the sweat of 
 the brow ? New wants must be created, new habits formed, to counteract 
 this hereditary love of idleness, attended as it was with many a kindred 
 vice. Traders were encouraged to open shops and offer for sale articles 
 
1855] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY, 
 
 51 
 
 useful and ornamental in native eyes. Only the sale of spirituous liquors 
 and munitions of war was forbidden, for the people were to be improved, 
 not encoui-aged to destroy themselves or their neighbours. Public works, 
 such as roadmaking and the construction of a harbour at the mouth of the 
 Buffalo River, were undertaken, so as to provide employment for all who 
 were desirous of obtaining it. Long before this, the Kaffirs had acquired a 
 knowledge of the use of money ; here was an opportunity of earning it, 
 without going far from their homes or losing the society of their friends. 
 They offered themselves by hundreds, and thus while the country was 
 being strengthened by an improvement in its means of communication, its 
 people were being taught that lesson they needed so much, — the use and 
 value of honest labour. 
 
 The chiefs were 3'et regarded by the people with a devotion of attswihraent, 
 which no misfortunes had been sufficient to weaken, much less to destroy. 
 Their will was the law of their followers, a law to be obeyed to the death, 
 openly if circumstances would permit, secretly if the English power 
 appeared for the moment too strong to be resisted. A.nd these chiefs, 
 though possessing much greater authority now than Sir Harry Smith had 
 left in their hands, were yet compelled to resign to British officers the most 
 important of their prerogatives, without any equivalent or compensation 
 that could reconcile them to the loss. Let the nation recover its wasted 
 strength once more, and this dethronement of its hereditary rulers would 
 assuredly cause the land to be deluged again with blood. Sir George Grey 
 attempted to secure the attachment of the chiefs by the payment of salaries 
 or pensions sufficiently large to provide for all their requirements. A form- 
 al bargain was concluded with them, by which, in return for these salaries, 
 they relinquished the privilege of levying contributions from their 
 adherents and surrendei'ed their judicial power in important cases. 
 Apparently, they entered cordially into this agreement, but little more 
 than a twelvemonth passed away before they show<3d their real feelings 
 undisguised, and proved what a hold the love of independence yet retained 
 in their hearts. 
 
 These arrangements were made during the year 1855 and the early 
 months of 1856, at which time the Kaffirs appeared to be prospering and 
 contented. The Governor believed that they were rapidly becoming 
 tiivilized, the colonists forgot the'ix sufferings and losses in the cheering 
 prospect of permanent peace. From this pleasant dream they were sud- 
 denly awakened to a sense of danger greater than any th>ey had known 
 before. The Amaxosa were preparing for a last and desperate s^truggle, a 
 contest that could have no issue but victory or destruction utter and 
 complete. 
 
 One morning in May, 1856, a girl named Noxgqause, daughter of a 
 councillor of Sarili, went to draw water from a little stream that flowed 
 past her home. On her return, she informed her father that she had seen 
 hy the river some men who differed greatly in appearance from those she 
 
52 
 
 ItlSTOEl OF THE CAl^E QOLO^t. 
 
 [1856 
 
 was accustomed to meet. Mhlakaza went to see the strangers, and found 
 tliem at tlie place indicated by his daughter. They told him to return 
 home and purify himself with the usual ceremonies, after which he was to 
 offer an ox in sacrifice to the spirits of the dead, and to come back to them 
 on the fourth day. There was that in tlieir appearance which commanded 
 obedience, and so the man did as they bade him. On the fourth day, 
 purified and clean, Mhlakaza went to the river again. The strange people 
 were there as before, and, to his astonishment, he recognized among them 
 his brother who had been many years dead. Then, for the first time, he 
 learned who and what the}' were. The eternal enemies of the white man, 
 they announced themselves as having come from battle fields beyond the 
 seft, to aid the Kaffirs with their invincible power in driving the English 
 from the land. Between them and the chiefs, Mhlakaza was to be the 
 medium of communication, the channel through which henceforth instruc- 
 tion would be given. For strange things were to be done, stranger than 
 any that had ever been done before, if the proffered assistance was wel- 
 comed. And first, he must tell the people to abandon dealing in witchcraft, 
 to kill fat cattle and eat. 
 
 Such is the tale which the Kaffirs told each other, of the manner in which 
 Mhlakaza and Xongqai'se became acquainted with the secrets of the spirit 
 world. Mhlakaza and Isongqal'se ! What terrible visions of suffering 
 and death are called forth now at the mention of those two names ! 
 
 Sartli hailed the message with joy. It may be that he was a dupe, or 
 perhaps, as many believe, he was the instigator of the whole scheme. His 
 great word went forth that the command of the spirits was to be obeyed, 
 that the best of all the cattle were to be slaughtered and eaten. Messen- 
 gers from him hastened to the chiefs on this side of the Kei, to inform 
 them of what had taken place, and to sohcit their co-operation. Instantly 
 all Kaffirland was in a state of commotion. Maqoma, Mhala, Pato, Stokwe, 
 and many other men of note, joined hands with Sarili and commenced to 
 kill. The Governor sent word to the Gcaleka chief that though in his own 
 land he could do as he pleased, he must cease fi'om instigating those who 
 were British subjects to destroy their property, or it would become neces- 
 sary to punish him. But little cared he for such a threat, since the time 
 was at hand when the tables would be turned and the punished become the 
 punisher. Sa>dile hesitating and timid, acting, too, under the eye of the 
 Xgqika Commissioner, now the Secretary for Native Affairs, declined at 
 first to obey Mhlakaza's bidding. The Christian Kama not only refused 
 to go with the rest, but did all in his power to counteract the mischief they 
 were causing. Many of his heathen followers, however, finding that cither 
 their loyalty or their national faith must be abandoned, preferred to sur- 
 render the first. Siwa>i and his people escaped the general infection. 
 jMqayi was dead. 
 
 The revelations communicated through Mhlakaza and ISToNGQArsE grew 
 apace. The girl, standing in the river iu i)resencc of a multitude of 
 
1850] 
 
 HISTORY OF TitE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 53 
 
 deluded people, heard strange unearthly sounds beneath her feet, which 
 her father pronounced to be the voices of the spirits, holding high council 
 over the affairs of men. The first order was to slay cattle, but the greedy 
 ghosts seemed insatiable in their demands. More and more were killed, 
 but still never enough. And thus the delusion continued month after 
 month, every day spreading wider and embracing fresh victims in its grasp. 
 By and by Sandile gave way to the urgent applications of his brother Ma- 
 QOMA, who asserted that he had himself seen and conversed with the spirits 
 of two of his father's dead councillors, and that these commanded Sandile 
 to kill his cattle if he would not perish with the white man. Before this 
 time the last order of Mhlakaza had been given, that order whose fulfil- 
 ment was to be the final preparation of the Kaffirs, after which they would 
 be worthy of the aid of a spirit host. Not an animal out of all their herds 
 must be left living, every grain of corn in their granaries must be des- 
 troyed. But what a future of glory and wealth was predicted for the 
 faithful and obedient ! On a certain day, myriads of cattle, more beautiful 
 than those they were called upon to kill, should issue from the earth and 
 cover the pastures far and wide. Great fields of waving corn, ripe and 
 ready for eating, should in an instant spring into existence. The ancient 
 heroes of the race, the great and the wise of days gone by, restored to life 
 on that happy day, would appear and take part in the joys of the faithful. 
 Trouble and sickness would be known no more, nor would the fi-ailties of 
 old age oppress them, for youth and beauty were to return alike to the 
 risen dead and the feeble living. Such was the picture of Paradise painted 
 by the Kaffir prophet, and held before the eyes of the infatuated people. 
 And dreadful was to be the fate of those who opposed the will of the spirits, 
 or neglected to obey their commands. The day that was to bring so much 
 joy to the loyal would bring nothing but destruction for them. The sky 
 itself would fall and crush them together with the Fingoes and the whites. 
 
 Missionaries and agents of the government tried in vain to stay the mad 
 proceedings. A delirious frenzy possessed the minds of the Kafiirs, and 
 they would listen to no argument, brook no opposition. White men were 
 scowled upon and warned to take care of themselves, natives were silenced 
 in a summary manner. Yet these fanatics, with their imaginations fixed 
 on boundless wealth, were eagerly purchasing trifles from English traders, 
 bartering away the hides of two hundred thousand slaughtered cattle. It 
 is certain that most of them acted under the influence of superstition alone, 
 though there is no doubt that some of the leaders viewed the entire j)ro- 
 ceeding as calculated solely for purposes of war. To throw the whole 
 Amaxosa nation, fully armed and in a famishing state, upon the colony, 
 was the end kept steadily in view by these. The terrible odds against the 
 success of such a venture they were too blind to see, or too excited to 
 calculate. Some there Avere who neither, believed the predictions of Mhla- 
 kaza nor looked for success in war, and who yd destroyed the last 
 particle of their food. Blku, Sakili's uncle, was one of these. It is the 
 
54 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1857 
 
 chief's command," said he, and then, when nothing more was left, the old 
 man and his favourite wife sat calmly down in their empty kraal, and died. 
 Sauili's principal councillor opposed the scheme till he saw that words 
 'were useless. Then, observing that all he had was his chief's, he gave the 
 order to kill and waste, and fled from the place a raving lunatic. Thus it 
 was with thousands. The chief commanded, and they obeyed. 
 
 In the early months of 18-57 an unwonted activity reigned throughout 
 KaflBrland. Great kraals were being prepared for the reception of the 
 •cattle so soon to oppear like stars of the sky in multitude. Enormous 
 sacks were being made to contain the milk shortly to be like water in 
 plenty. And even as they worked some were starving. To the eastward 
 of the Kei the prophet's command had been obeyed to the letter, but the 
 resurrection day was still postponed. It was in mercy to the Ngqikas, 
 said MhlakaZA, for Sandile had not finished killing yet. Nothing surely 
 was ever more clumsily arranged, more blindly carried out than this mad 
 a,ct of the Amaxosa. Here was one section of the nation literally starving — 
 while another section was still engaged in destroying its resources. Mr. 
 Brownlee had not been able to save the Ngqikas, but by keeping Sandile 
 from killing so long he had done much towards preventing a desperate 
 raid into the colony. 
 
 The government did all that was possible to protect the frontier. Everj' 
 post was strengthened, and every available soldier was sent forward. The 
 colonists, too, were prepared to meet the expected shock, come when it 
 would. And then, after defence was provided for, stores of food were 
 accumulated for the purpose of saving life. For there could be no heart so 
 cold as not to feel pity for those misguided beings wlio were rushing so 
 frantically into certain destruction. 
 
 At length the morning dawned of the day so long and so ardently 
 looked for. All night long the Kaffirs had watched, with feelings stretch- 
 ■ed to the utmost tension of excitement, expecting to see two blood-red suns 
 rise over the eastern hills, when the heavens would fall and crush the races 
 they hated. Famished with hunger, half dying as they were, that night 
 was yet a time of fierce, delirious joy. The morn, that a few short hours, 
 slowly becoming minutes, would usher in, was to see all their sorrows end- 
 icd, all their misery past. And so they waited and watched. It came, 
 throwing a silver sheen upon the mountain peaks, aud bathing hill-side 
 :and valley in a flood of light, as the ruler of day appeared. The hearts of 
 the watchers sank within them ; " what," said they, " will become of us if 
 Mulakaza's predictions turn out untrue ?" It was the first time they had 
 asked such a question, the dawn of doubt had never entered their thoughts 
 till the dawn of the fatal day. But perhaps, after all, it might be midday 
 that was meant, and when the shadows began to lengthen towards the east, 
 perhaps, thought they, the setting of the sun is the time. The sun weut 
 down behind clouds of crimson and gold, aud the Amaxosa awoke to the 
 reality of their dreadful position. 
 
1857] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 55 
 
 A blunder, such as a child would hardly have made, had been committed 
 by the managers of this horrible tragedy. Under pretence of witnessing 
 the resurrection, they should have assembled the whole nation at some 
 point from which they could have burst in a body upon the colony. This 
 had not been done, and now it was too late to collect them together. An 
 attempt was made to rectify the blunder, and the day of resurrection was 
 again postponed, but fierce excitement had given place to deepest despair. 
 The only chance of life that remained was to reach the colony, but it was 
 as suppliants not as warriors that starving men must go. 
 
 The horrors that succeeded can only be partly told. There are men 
 living now, intelligent Christian men, then wild naked fugitives, who can- 
 not recount the events of those days. The whole scene comes home to 
 them as a hideous nightmare, or as the remembrances of one in a state of 
 delirium. In many instances all the ties were broken that bind human 
 beings to each other in every condition of society. Brother fought with 
 brother, father with son, for scraps and shreds of those great milk sacks 
 so carefully made in the days when hope was high. The aged, the sick,, 
 the feeble, were abandoned by the young and vigorous. All kinds of wild 
 plants, and even the roots of trees, were collected for food. Many of thoso 
 who were near the seacoast endeavoured to support life upon the shellfish 
 found there. Being unaccustomed to such diet, they were attacked by 
 dysentery, which completed the work of famine. In other instances whol& 
 families sat down and died together. From fifteen to twenty skeletons 
 were afterwards often found under a single tree, showing where parents 
 and children met their fate when the last ray of hope had fled. A conti- 
 nuous stream of emaciated beings poured into the colony, young men and 
 women mostly, but sometimes fathers and mothers bearing on their backs 
 half-dying children. Before the farm houses they would sit down, and ask 
 in the most piteous tones for food, nor did they ask in vain. 
 
 Worse instances of suffering even than these remain to be told. Charred 
 human bones, fragments of skeletons afterwards found in many a pot, 
 revealed the state to which the most desperate had fallen. One instance 
 has been authenticated of a man and a woman eating the flesh of their 
 own child. But there is no need of prolonging unduly the tale of misery,, 
 of raking up other horrors from the oblivion that time is casting over them. 
 Let a few figures tell all that is yet necessary to complete the record. 
 Between the first and last days of 1857, Sandile's clan decreased in number 
 by death and flight from thirty-one thousand to three thousand seven 
 hundred souls ; when the famine was over, Maqoma, Pato, and Stokwe had 
 less than a thousand people among them ; Mhala had six thousand five 
 hundred remaining out of nearly twenty-three thousand ; even Christian 
 Kama had lost three thousand six hundred out of thirteen thousand souls. 
 The official returns of British Kaffraria show a decrease in the population 
 during that fatal year from one hundred and five thousand to thirty-eight 
 thousand of both sexes and all ages. And this was in the territory adjoin- 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONI . [1857 
 
 iug the colony, a territory with King William's Town in its cenire, where 
 food was distributed to thousands. What then must have been the loss of 
 life in the Gcaleka country, with no such storehouse, and from which flight, 
 except to rival and unfriendly tribes, was next to impossible ? Tlie lowest 
 computation fixes the number of those who perished on both sides the Kei 
 at twenty-five thousand, ordinary calculations give double that number. 
 
 Among those that perished was Miilakaza himself. Nongqause escaped, 
 and is still living. For prudential reasons she has ever since resided in 
 the colony, where she preserves an unbroken silence concerning the deeds 
 in which she played so prominent a part. In speaking of these matters 
 now, most of the Kaffirs admit that they were infatuated; they say they 
 were never thoroughly conquered by the English, for they only made 
 peace in 1835, 1847, and 1853, to gain breathing time, but that by destroy- 
 ing their substance they ruined themselves. A few still hold firm in the 
 ancient faith, and maintain that something must have gone wrong in 
 carrying out the instructions of the spirits, or Mklakaza's predictions 
 would certainly have been fulfilled. 
 
 From the blow thus inflicted upon itself, the Amaxosa required many 
 years to recover. For a long time the bulk of its young men and women 
 remained in service among the farmers of the eastern districts, where they 
 lost that antipathy to Europeans which was so strongly felt before. The 
 power of the Rarabe chiefs was completely broken. Many of them have 
 passed away since the date of these occurrences, and even their names bid 
 fair to be soon forgotten. But to show the effects of the dispersion, a brief 
 account of their subsequent careers is necessary. 
 
 Maqoma, the ablest of them all, was convicted of having been accessory 
 to the murder of a petty chief who refused to destroy his cattle at the 
 bidding of Miilakaza, and was sentenced to transportation for twenty-one 
 years. He was removed to Kobben Island, and was there treated more as 
 a prisoner of state than as a convict, being allowed the company of his 
 favourite wife and as many other indulgences as could be granted under 
 the circumstances. In 1870, under a promise of good behaviour, he was 
 released and permitted to return to the country of his birth ; but as he 
 began immediately to foment disturbances, he was once more removed to 
 Robben Island, where he died at an advanced age on the 9th of September 
 1873. Throughout his life he was always an attentive listener to the 
 exhortations of missionaries, but never embraced Christianity. One of his 
 sons has recently purchased a farm in the Waterkloof, — where jMaqoma 
 stood at bay so long, — and now resides there with a number of families 
 belonging to the clan. Though not a Christian, he is a well disposed man, 
 and seems anxious for the instruction of those about him. 
 
 Saxdile still resides on a part of the location granted to him by Sir 
 Geokge Cathcart. He receives a pension from the government, and 
 occasionally makes a tour about the country, collecting contributions from 
 the Ngqikas and expressing wonder at the improvements going ou. He 
 
1S7G] 
 
 msTOEr OP THE cape colony. 
 
 57 
 
 appears to be perfectly satisfied with bis position, and places great confi. 
 dence in the special magistrate in charge of the location. Sandile has had 
 ten wives, of whom nine are still living. His great wife, Nopasi by name 
 had two daughters, but no sons. To provide an heir she therefore adopted 
 GoNYA, the eldest son of Nokwazi, the wife next in rank in the great house. 
 But the heathen section of the tribe will not acknowledge Gonya as 
 qualified to succeed to his father's dignity, because he was never circumcised, 
 having been educated at Zonnebloem in the Christian faith. He was 
 baptized by the name of Edmund Sandile, and is now engaged as interpreter 
 and clerk in a magistrate's office. His full brother, Bisset, is at school at 
 Lovedale. The family of Sandile is a small one for a chief of his rank and 
 age, he having altogether but seven sons and the same number of 
 daughters. 
 
 Anta, also, is still on his location, but his name is not often heard now. 
 Oba (usually called by his retainers Ngonyama — the Lion— on account of his 
 conduct during the last war), in 1874 collected sufficient moiiey among the 
 members of his clan to purchase a large farm on the Keiskama, where he 
 and they now reside. Though all were heathens, the chief immediately 
 offered the farmhouse as a residence for a missionary', if one would come to 
 live with them. But this must not be taken by itself as sufficient evidence 
 of a desire for improvement, nor as flattering the missionaries, for it may 
 have proceeded from quite a dificrent motive. The chiefs have come to 
 consider the presence of a European teacher as adding dignity to them- 
 selves, and are willing, like many people more highly civilized, to sacrifice 
 a good deal for the sake of appearance. 
 
 Mhala's subsequent career was one of crime and misery. None of the 
 chiefs had been more active than he in carrying out Mhlakaza's instruc- 
 tions. He had even threatened with death members of his' own family 
 who were not disposed to waste their substance, and would have carried 
 his threat into execution if they had not fled. At the dispersion, a consi- 
 derable number of his remaining followers were removed from his influence 
 by the government, and located beyond the Kei. The chief with about a 
 dozen adherents then attempted to live by robbery, moving from one 
 locality to another so frequently and stealthily as for some time to elude their 
 pursuers. But at length Mhala was captured by a native policeman, was 
 tried, and sentenced to imprisonment on Robben Island, where he was 
 detained for five years. Of all the strange occurrences that have taken 
 place since the white man and the Kaffir first met, the capture of Mhala is 
 the strangest, for the man who tracked the son of Ndlambe to his lair and 
 there arrested him was no other than Mjuza the son of Makana. How 
 difficult it is to comprehend the thoughts, or to account for the actions of 
 these untutored beings, may be realized from the fact that at this very time 
 Mjuza was carefully preserving the personal property of his father, in the 
 firm belief that he would yet appear to lead his race to victory. And yet 
 he hunted down and arrested the man whom it might be supposed, under 
 
 I . 
 
58 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLOXT. 
 
 [1S7G 
 
 such circumstances, lie would be most anxious to serve. But Mhala was 
 not his chief, and therein lay the secret of his obedience to the commands 
 of his employers. In 186-i the exile was permitted to return to KafEraria^ 
 but his power was gone for ever. Henceforth his name was seldom heard 
 abroad, and when he died a couple of years ago, it was not as if a great 
 chief had passed out of the world. The people seemed almost to have 
 forgotten him. One of his sons, like the son of Sandile, was educated at 
 Zonnebloem, entered the service of the colonial government, and is now 
 engaged as a clerk in a magistrate's office. 
 
 SiWANi set his face steadily against the cattle killing mania, and with 
 such success that he not only saved his people, but was able to increase 
 their number by the incorporation of nearly a thousand fugitives. He is 
 still living on his old location along the Keiskama. 
 
 Pato was sent to Robben Island for a time, and after his return found 
 himself forgotten. His pension supported him till he passed away almost 
 unnoticed, Stokwe passed also into oblivion. His son is now the propriet- 
 or by purchase of the farm on which Fort Willshire once stood, in the 
 midst of territory owned by his grandfather Xqeno. Siyolo, after some 
 years of banishment, returned to his old home on the Keiskama, where he 
 still resides in absolute obscurity. 
 
 Kama saw his clan grow from the smallest to be the greatest in British 
 Kaffraria. He lived in comfort, with his people prospering about him, till 
 in 1875 the aged Christian passed peacefully to his rest. His son William 
 Shaw Kama, — who had boon educated for but had not entered the Christian 
 ministry, owing to the urgent representations of his friends that he could 
 be of greater use as a layman, — then became chief. The tribe is yet largely 
 heathen, and from the very fact of their having resisted their chief's wishes 
 so long, many families among them are now more hardened against the 
 doctrines of Christianity than almost any others in the country. 
 
 Over the whole of the Rarabe clans British dominion is now firmly 
 established. The principal and many of the petty chiefs and councillors 
 receive small salaries from government, and are supposed to aid in main- 
 taining order. Kaffir law is still administered in some cases, but is being 
 gradually supplanted by the laws of the colony. The efforts made by 
 missionaries for the conversion and civilization of these people have been 
 productive of considerable results. Not that any great number have 
 embraced Christianity, for the majority still cling to heathenism. Perhaps 
 no race of men in the world is more tenacious of ancestral customs than 
 this. But faith in their ancient superstition has been shaken, and though 
 they retain their old customs, that which gave life to these is gone. As a 
 whole, these people have thus made one step forward. With those who 
 have adopted Christianity, an earnest desire exists for the education of 
 their children, and numerous schools have been estabhshed for their 
 benefit. Hundreds of native young men are now engaged as teachers in 
 elementary schools, in which situations they receive salaries ranging from 
 
1876] 
 
 HISTORX OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 53 
 
 £25 to £40 per annum. Several have been ordained as ministers of the 
 Gospel. This section of the race has adopted the clothing of Europeans, 
 and a few individuals have constructed dwellings after the European 
 model. The quantity}. of manufactured goods used by them increases 
 largely every year. They are grouped around mission stations, and are 
 kept in order by the magistrates without much difficulty. Of late years 
 many of them have become owners of considerable flocks of sheep, and are 
 otherwise increasing in wealth. 
 
 The other and larger section" seems bent upon ruin. Free trade in 
 kitoxicating liquors has placed a temptation in their way which they cannot 
 resist. Prior to 1865 no person in British Kaffraria was permitted, under 
 heavy penalties, to sell strong drink to a native. In that year the prohibition 
 was removed, 'and since then drunkenness has spread rapidly and widely. 
 Those who will receive nothing else from the white man receive brandy 
 with eagerness, and are bartering their very existence for it. 
 
 Though the Gcalekas are beyond the border, their history is so intertwined 
 with that of the colony that it is necessary to touch upon it in this chapter. 
 Sarili had acted the leading part in the cattle-killing tragedy, and his 
 people had suffered more than the others. When the famine was over, he 
 found himself almost without followers, so many had perished, so many 
 more had fled away. The Governor had intimated to him that if he 
 persisted in instigating the Rarabe clans to their destruction he would be 
 punished, but Sarili had declined to take warning. In February, 1858, a 
 detachment of the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police was sent over the 
 Kei, and drove him and the remnant of his people across the Bashee. The 
 vacant territory remained in the occupation of the police until 1865, when 
 it was parcelled out among different native tribes. By this time the 
 Gcalekas had somewhat recovered their strength, so that it became necessary 
 to allot them a place to live in. A tribe with a country of its own must 
 always be more inclined for peace than one that is homeless, as in the 
 former case they have something to lose, in the latter case, nothing. The 
 seaboard of their old territory was therefore restored to them. Since that 
 time the Gcalekas have lived at peace with the colony, though their 
 conduct on several occasions has been somewhat suspicious, in one 
 instance so much so as to cause quite a panic among the farmers on this 
 side of the river. Between them and the Tembus there has been a bitter 
 feud for the last five or six years, owing to GangKlizwe's brutal treatment 
 of his wife, Sariu's daughter. Christianit}^ has not made much progress 
 among these people as yet, for, in spite of their experience, the old 
 superstition is still tenaciously clung to. There are at present two or 
 three European missionaries and some half dozen native teachers labouring 
 among them. In other respects, they show cheering signs of improvement. 
 They cultivate and sell large quantities of leaf tobacco, and graze a 
 sufficient number of sheep to furnish them yearly with more than three 
 hundred bales of wool. There ai'o about twenty trading stations in their 
 
60 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1S76 
 
 country, where a profitable business is carried on by the sale of clothing, 
 blankets, ploughs, and other manufactured articles, and by the purchase of 
 their produce. 
 
 The north-eastern portion of the vacant territory was given to the Tembus 
 in exchange for the country west of the Indwe, which they had been 
 occupying since the war. Gangelizwe, the paramount Tembu chief, agreed 
 to this, but his mother, the old chieftainess Noxesi, who still ruled a 
 section of the tribe, declined the offer. She was therefore deposed 
 (November, 1865,) and the Tambookie Location was broken up. The people 
 have made about the same progress as the Gcalekas. Having been 
 beaten by the Gcalekas and threatened with destruction, in 1874 they 
 applied to be received as British subjects. Their request was acceded to, 
 and since that time they have been under the jurisdiction of an officer who 
 receives his instructions from the Secretary for Native Affairs. But the 
 danger had hardly passed away when the tribe complained that their chief 
 was not treated with the respect they considered due to him. In point of 
 fact, he was deprived of that state and authority which the other chiefs 
 retain, as his hands were so red with blood that he could not with decency 
 be employed as an officer under government. He was accorded a pension 
 of £200 a year, and openly as well as practically set aside. The consequence 
 is a restlessness among the Tembus which, if it were possible for them to 
 take up arms, might endanger the peace of the country. 
 
 The Fingoes had increased wonderfully in numbers and in wealth since 
 their removal into the colony. Their locations in Victoria East had 
 become over populated, and as they had always been faithful and their 
 loyalty could be depended upon, in 1867 the north-western section of the 
 vacant territory was offered to those among them who wished to remove . 
 About forty-five thousand are now settled there, and though another 
 emigration has taken place even more recently, to the territory of St. John, 
 the original locations are still fully peopled. Such an instance of rapid 
 increase in number has never been known elsewhere. It may be owing to 
 the fact that of all the tribes of South Africa with which Europeans have 
 come in contact, none have shown such an adaptability for improvement as 
 these Fingoes. A glance at the present condition of that little tract of 
 country now known as Fingoland, with its forty-five thousand inhabitants, 
 will show how far they have already risen above the position of barbarians- 
 
 In 1874 (according to the report of Captain Blyth, the very able officer 
 who then represented the government there) the number of day schools in the 
 territory was forty-six, the number of trading stations forty-five, and the 
 yearly value of the import and export trade at the lowest computation was 
 £150,000. Most of the people are well dressed in European clothing. 
 They cultivate the ground very extensively, using ploughs, and raising 
 large quantities of grain for sale. Fine flocks of sheep graze on their pastures, 
 the fleeces of which are exchanged at the shops for useful manufactured 
 articles. Nearly every man is the owner of a horse with saddle and bridle, 
 
1876] 
 
 HISTORY OF TUE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 61 
 
 and many of them possess good transport waggons and teams of cattle. 
 Their Agricultm-al Shows would be creditable to any division of the colony, 
 both for variety and quality of produce and stock exhibited. They have 
 made roads in their country, and though not all Christians, they have built 
 many churches and schoolhouses. Within the last three years they have 
 raised something like £3,000 by voluntary rates towards the establishment 
 of an industrial school. A few of their young men, having served an 
 apprenticeship at one or other of the industrial institutions in the colony, 
 are now engaged as mechanics, and this class is steadily growing. A tax 
 of ten shillings on each hut, collected without difficulty, covers the 
 expense of their government, the machinery of which is simple but effective. 
 Forty years ago these Fingoes were outcasts and slaves, less than one third 
 of their number to-day. Their present condition is due to English 
 protection and missionary teaching, agencies which bid fair to raise them 
 very much higher yet in the scale of civilization. 
 
 Those who remained in the colony have made even greater progress, 
 owing to their being less under the influence of chiefs and to many of them 
 being possessed of titles to the ground they occupy. Over the Kei the 
 land is held in common, a system which the chiefs naturally cling to, as it 
 tends to secure their influence and power. A man with his own title deeds 
 is independent of a chief, not so one without, who is a kind of tenant at 
 pleasure of his superior. Yet a considerable advance beyond barbarism 
 must be made before a native can appreciate the advantages of being a 
 landowner. His chief says to him : *' Why do you want that paper .P You 
 must pay the surveyor, you must pay quitrent every year, and then if 
 the ground is not good you cannot move from it to another place. The 
 old custom is better. Under it you pay only the hut tax of ten shillings a 
 year, and you are free to stay or to go elsewhere as you please." Such is 
 his mode of reasoning, and it accords with the ideas of an uncultivated 
 people. The Fingoes in this colony are as a class beyond this stage. As 
 landholders they are entitled to vote for members of Parliament, and large 
 numbers avail themselves of this privilege. In other respects, the 
 description of their kinsmen in Fingoland applies to them also. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 JROM TKE FIRST MEETING OF THE PARLIAMENT TO THE INTRODUCTION OF RESPON- 
 SIBLE GOVERNMENT. 1854 TO 1872. 
 
 Principal Subjects : — Opening of theHChpper Mines in Little Namaqualand. — 
 Ravages caused hij Lung-sickness among Horned Cattle. — The Vine Disease. — 
 Immigration. — Annexation of British Kaffraria. — Great Fire at Stvellendam. — 
 General Depression throughout the Colony. — Discovery of Diamonds in South 
 Africa. — Disturbances on the Northei'n Frontier caused by Koranna Marauders. — 
 Introduction of Mesponsible Government. — Formation of the Electoral Division of 
 W odehouse — Marks of Progress. 
 
 Governors : — Lieut.-Gov. C. H, ^Darling, (acting) 
 
 In the north-west of the Cape Colony there is a belt of land which possesses 
 in perfection all.the characteristics of a desert. From the margin of the 
 great plateau known as Bushmanland, it falls away by a series of enormous 
 steps to the shore on^which roll unceasingly the billows of the Atlantic 
 A long, narrow belt, twenty thousand square miles in extent, it presents 
 to the eye nothing but a dismal succession of hill and gorge .and .'sandy 
 plain, all bare and desolate. In this sterile region, scorched as it is by 
 the rays of an unclouded sun, the fall of rain and dew together scarcely 
 exceeds four or five inches in the year. A land of drought and famine, of 
 blinding glare and fiery blast, such is the country of the Little Namaquas. 
 From time immemorial it had been the home of a few thousand wretched 
 Hottentots, who were almost safe in such a desert from even European intru- 
 ders. Half a dozen missionaries and two or three score of farmers were the 
 sole representatives ofjcivilization among these wandering savages. One 
 individual to about ".three square miles ofjground was all that the land was 
 ca|>able of^supporting. 
 
 Yet few parts of the world arc richer in mineral wealth"] than, this 
 inhospitable, uninviting'][region. On its eastern side, at an elevation of 
 tsomething like three-fifths of a mile above the surface of the sea, are 
 enormoua masses of ore capable of yielding thirty per cent of pure copper. 
 At various points along that lofty ridge, for a distance of at least one 
 
 Sir George Grey, 
 
 Lieut.-Gov. R. W. Wynyard, (acting) 
 Sir George Grey, (returned) 
 Lieut.-Gov. R. W. Wynyard, (acting) 
 Sir Philip Edmund Wodehouse, 
 Lieut.-Gov. Hay, (acting) 
 Sn' Henry Barkly, 
 
 Dec. 5th, 1854 
 Aug. 20th, 1859. 
 July 5th, 1860. 
 Aug. 15th, 1861. 
 Nov. 2nd, 1861. 
 Nov. 7th, 1868. 
 Aug. 19th, 1870. 
 
1854] 
 
 HISTORY or THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 G3 
 
 hundred and twenty miles, these rich lodes are found scattered, each 
 imbedded in solid rock. Here it was that the natives obtained metal for 
 their rude trinkets, long before Yan Riebeck planted the Netherland flag 
 on the shores of Table Bay. From this source came the copper which, 
 being spread among the south-western tribes in small quantities by means 
 of barter and war, attracted the attention of early Dutch governors, and 
 caused SnioN van der Stell to leave his comfortable quarters in the castle 
 and make a weary journey to what was then the far and imknown north. 
 The metal bearing country was discovered, and, subsequently, qualified 
 persons were sent out to explore the district and report upon the mines- 
 Certainly, the East India Company would not have neglected such a chance 
 of increasing its revenues as these veins of copper presented, if it had been 
 practicable at that early day to get the ore to the sea. But the steep 
 declivities, the frightful ravines, the wastes of sand, the harbourless coast, 
 were physical obstacles too great to be oveicome. And so for another 
 hundred years the copper mines of Little Namaqualand were lost to view. 
 
 Towards the close of last century they were brought under observation 
 for a little while, through a feeble attempt made b}^ an Englishman to work 
 one of them ; but the effort was unsuccessful, and for fifty years afterwards 
 no one resumed it. 
 
 After being disregarded for such a length of time, the mineral wealth of 
 Namaqualand was at last to be turned to account. There is a good deal of 
 discrepancy in the different published statements as to how, when, and with 
 whom, the idea of working the mines first originated. It may have 
 suggested itself to several individuals at the same, or nearly the same 
 time. This much is certain, that as early as 1848 a lease of ground for 
 mining purposes was obtained from the resident Hottentot chief by Mr. 
 Donald McDougall, who was then the proprietor of a trading establishment 
 at Alexander Bay, near the mouth of the Orange River. The ground thus 
 obtained was situated on the south bank of the river, about sixty miles 
 above its mouth. The fact that such a lease had been made was known to 
 several merchants in Cape Town, though it is no less certain that no 
 immediate use was made of it. It was not until about six years later that 
 the Kodas mine was opened there, by a Port Elizabeth Company, and was 
 found not to answer the expectations formed of it, though the river offered 
 easy means of transport, as it is navigable from Missionary Drift close to 
 the mine to within a few miles of its mouth. 
 
 In 1852 the firm of Philips and King, of Cape Town, commenced 
 operations at Springbokfontein, which was for a long time the most 
 valuable mining centre known in the district. Soon afterwards a host of 
 prospectors and explorers, bent upon discovering and appropriating copper 
 mines, poured into Namaqualand. A perfect mania for forming companies 
 set in, and quickly spread throughout the colony. They were called 
 mining companies, though many of them had no intention of sinking bo 
 much as a single shaft, for it was generally believed that there was 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 sufficient ore on the surface of the ground to occupy the entire labouring 
 power of the colony for many years. And in the eagerness to secure 
 shares, no one thought it worth while to ascertain whether this was fact or 
 merely fiction. 
 
 The fatuity reached its height in 1854, by which time companies had 
 been formed in all the principal villages as far east as Grahamstown. Cape 
 Town decidedly took the lead in this matter. Shares in the Alliance, the 
 Colonial, the Cape of Good Hope, the Eagle, the Equitable, the JSTabas, the 
 'New Burra Burra, the No. 6, the South African, the Tradesmen's, the 
 Union, the Western Province, and several more, were eagerly taken up. 
 Even the usually quiet unexcitable Paarl had its mining company, called 
 by its own name. Parties of labourers were got together and sent by sea 
 to Hondeklip Bay, many of them being under the charge of incompetent 
 overseers. Some were sent to localities where there was not sufficient ore 
 to meet the expense of removing it, others to places where there was no ore 
 at all. Early in 1855 the bubble burst. A feverish anxiety to dispose of 
 shares prevailed for a time, and ended in the dissolution of most of the 
 companies. A good deal of capital had been thrown away, many grand 
 expectations had been shattered, but the colony had added to its exports 
 an article that is now worth over £300,000 a year. 
 
 For, amidst the general failures, one company achieved a splendid 
 success. The mines of Springbokfontein and Spektakel, owned by the firm 
 of Philips and King, proved to be immensely rich and productive. The 
 only difficulty experienced was in the matter of transport, for the animal 
 power of the country was insufficient to convey the ore to the coast as fast 
 as it could be got ready. Mules were imported, but as their forage had to 
 be brought from distant parts of the colony, the expense of keeping them 
 was very great. Still, up to 1871, all the ore that reached the sea was 
 brought down by mules or oxen. Some years before that date, the firm of 
 Philips and King had transferred their property in Namaqualand to the 
 Cape Copper Mining Company, who, in 1869, commenced the construction 
 of a railway. Hondeklip Bay, hitherto the principal shipping place, was 
 passed by, and Port ISTolloth, some sixty or seventy miles further to the 
 northward, was selected as the seaboard terminus. Ookiep, a new and 
 extremely rich mine, only a few miles distant from Springbokfontein, was 
 the inland point aimed at. The rails on this line are only thirty inches 
 apart, and the cost of construction has averaged less than £2,000 a mile. 
 As different sections have been opened for working, the quantity of ore 
 brought down has increased, only five thousand six hundred tons being 
 shipped in 1870 against thirteen thousand six hundred tons in 1874, the 
 difference being mainly attributable to the railway. 
 
 Another firm was successful in working the Concordia mine, but its 
 operations were on a smaller scale than those just mentioned. This firm 
 subsequently disposed of its rights to the Concordia Mining Company, 
 which is still actively engaged in the district. 
 
1855] 
 
 HISTOllY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 65 
 
 A virulent contagious disease, known as lung-sickness, was at this time 
 spreading through the colony and sweeping off great numbers of horned 
 cattle. It was introduced by. a bull imported from Holland and landed' 
 at Mossel Bay. South Africa has never since been free from this disorder, 
 for which no remedy has yet been discovered. Its ravages, however, have 
 been very materially reduced during late years by the practice of inoculation, 
 that is, by communicating the disease in a mild form to cattle when they 
 are in the best condition to bear it. 
 
 This plague was speedily followed by another. The grape vines were 
 attacked by a disease caused by insects so minute that their individuality 
 could only be detected under the most powerful microscopes. Under their 
 attacks the vines withered away, and even the small quantity of fruit that 
 was produced was of an inferior description. From this cause the 
 manufacture of wine fell off greatly, until a remedy was discovered in the 
 application of sulphur to the plants. 
 
 Large tracts of land in British Kaffraria having become depopulated by 
 the national suicide of the Amaxosa, the Governor caused farms of about 
 fifteen hundred acres each to be surveyed there, which were offered to such 
 persons as were prepared to occupy and hold them on military tenure. 
 They were at once taken up by farmers from the colony, and thus a power- 
 ful body of European settlers was located in advance of the Amatolas. 
 Some regiments of men belonging to the German Legion, which had been 
 raised by Great Britain during the war with Russia, were sent to this 
 country upon the conclusion of peace, and were located in villages in 
 British Kaffraria. Many of these military settlers have prospered, and they 
 have undoubtedly been of great advantage to the colony, but as a whole 
 their villages have been failures. The men were better adapted for artizans 
 than agriculturists, and, even had they been inclined to till the soil, the 
 plots of land allotted to them were at too great a distance from their 
 homesteads to be of any service. In addition to this, the proportion of 
 women was altogether too small to give reasonable hope of permanency to the 
 settlements. Most of the men thus introduced dispersed over the country 
 as soon as the issue of rations ceased. 
 
 Quite a different class of immigrants was introduced shortly afterwards. 
 These were agricultural labourers selected from the hardy peasantry of 
 Northern Germany. The men were accompanied by their wives and 
 children, and were all inured to toil and accustomed to privation. In 1858 
 and 1859, these people, to the number of two thousand and eighty-one 
 landed at East London. They were sent out under a contract between the 
 Governor of the colony and a merchant of Hamburg, and were bound to 
 refund within a certain time the passage money of themselves and their 
 families, and to pay £1 per acre for the plots of land that were allotted to 
 them. They were located in different parts of the frontier districts, but 
 chiefly in the valley of the Buffalo River. Better immigrants could ndf 
 have been introduced. By their industry, in the course of a few years 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 HTSTORT OF THE CAPE COLONT. 
 
 [1859 
 
 they became possessed of a considerable amount of stock and brought their 
 httle farms to a high state of cultivation. As market gardeners they are 
 unrivalled in South Africa. Frugal, temperate, industrious, and religious, 
 they have contributed very largely to the prosperity of the frontier districts. 
 
 In 1858 the small pox again appeared in the colony. On former occa- 
 sions it had spread among the native tribes, creating great havosf among 
 them, but by means of precautionary measures -which were strictly 
 enforced, it was now confined to Cape Town. There, however, it carried 
 off between two and three thousand of the inhabitants. 
 
 The Province of British Kaffraria remained nominally inddpendent of 
 the Cape Colony for nearly seventeen years. The Governor, in his capa- 
 city of High Commissioner, was the supreme authority in the little 
 dependency, but the Cape Parliament had, in theory, no voice whatever in 
 legislating for it. In practice, as soon as an Act was passed in Cape Town^ 
 the High Commissioner proclaimed it as of force in British Kaffraria, and 
 thus secured uniformity in the laws. The revenue was small, and required 
 to be supplemented by grants in aid from the Home Government. The port 
 of East London, with a rayon of two miles about the port office, belonged to 
 the Cape Colony until April, 1860, and thus the duty on goods landed there 
 was lost to the province until that date. The executive and judicial de- 
 partments were modelled according to military forms until October, 1860, 
 when Letters Patent were promulgated, establishing a civil government. 
 Colonel Maclean then took the title of Lieutenant Governor, and shortly 
 afterwards King William's Town was erected into a municipality, a 
 supreme civil court of justice was established, and several other reforms 
 were made. But the people were never permitted to have a voice in their 
 government, and the High Commissioner's power to legislate was contin- 
 ued. The inhabitants were dissatisfied, but they preferred to remain under 
 the government as it was rather than be brought more directly into 
 connection with the Cape Parliament. They were in hopes that a Legisla- 
 tive Council would be appointed, and that by the settlement of the country 
 between the Kei and the Bashee a sufficient number of Europeans would be 
 brought into the province to support an efficient independent government. 
 Such a scheme was at one time in contemplation, and applications for 
 farms in that territory were actually called for and sent in, when the High 
 Commissioner changed his mind and filled the vacant district with natives. 
 From that moment the continued existence of the province as independent 
 of the Cape Colony became an impossibility. 
 
 By order of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, proposals to annex 
 British Kaffraria had on several occasions been made to the Cape Parlia- 
 ment, and had as often been rejected. The Imperial Parliament finally 
 passed an Act of Union, which was, however, only to take effect after the 
 lapse of a certain period, and provided the Cape Parliament did not in the 
 meantime annex the province. Armed with this document, Sir Philip 
 WoDEHOUSE introduced a Bill which provided for the incorporation of 
 
1865] 
 
 HISTOm OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 67 
 
 British Kaft'raria as two electoral divisions, — King William's Town and 
 East London. It created also the now electoral divisions ot Piquetbcrg, 
 Little Namaqualand, Victoria West, Riversdale, Oudtshoorn, Richmond, 
 Aliwal North, and Queenstowu, and increased the number of members of 
 the Legislative Council from fifteen to twenty-one. This Bill, after much 
 opposition, was carried through Parliament and became law in 1865. 
 
 On the 17th of May, 1865, the village of Swelleudam was destroyed by 
 fire. The houses were mostly roofed with thatch, according to the old 
 colonial custom, which was certainly more conducive to comfort than the 
 present one of covering buildings with iron, though it was attended with 
 constant danger. The frequent occurrence of fires, — seldom, however, so 
 disastrous as the one here mentioned, — has caused many municipalities in 
 the colony to prohibit the use of thatch for roofing within the limits of 
 their jurisdiction, and the high premiums charged by insurance companies 
 on buildings covered with this material have tended further to prevent its 
 use, so that the danger from fire is much less now than in former years. 
 
 At this time great depression was felt in every branch of industry 
 throughout the colony. A severe and almost universal drought, which 
 lasted for several years, completely paralyzed the farmers, and upon their 
 operations the fortune of all other classes materially depends. Business 
 everywhere was exceedingly languid, and many artizans who were thrown 
 out of employment removed from South Africa to other countries. Money 
 was so scarce that eight per cent per annum, with the best security, was 
 considered a low rate of interest. Landed property was almost unsaleable. 
 The public revenue was inadequate to meet the ordinary expenditure, and 
 further taxation was considered impossible. A retrenchment scheme was 
 adopted by Parliament, according to which certain districts were even to be 
 deprived of courts of justice. It was at this gloomy period that a discovery 
 was made which created a revolution in the country, and brought it rapidly 
 to its present state of prosperity. 
 
 In 1867, a Dutch farmer named Sciialk van Niekerk, who resided in the 
 Division of Hope Town, happening to call at the house of a neighbour, 
 observed one of the children playing with a remarkably brilliant pebble. 
 The mistress of the house, on hearing Mr. Van Niekerk express his ad- 
 miration of the stone, without any ado made him a present of it. Some 
 little time after this, a trader named O'Reilly was in Van Niekerk's 
 company, when the stone was shown to him as a curiosity. He instantly 
 suspected it to be a diamond, and, after obtaining possession of it, sent it 
 first to Grahamstown to Dr. Atheristone, and afterwards to Cape Town to 
 M. Herite, the French consul, to be tested. These gentlemen decided 
 that it was a diamond, and the colony was startled by the announcement. 
 The gem weighed twenty-one carats, and was sold to the Governor, Sir P. 
 E. WoDEUOLSE, for £500. Search was immediately commenced by several 
 persons in the Hope Town Division, and no long time elapsed before a 
 second diamond was found. Then, a third was picked up on the bank of 
 
08 
 
 HISTORY or THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1868 
 
 the Vaal River, and attention was drawn to that quarter. Daring 1868 
 several gems were found, but it was not until towards the close of 1869 
 that any great number of people were attracted towards the diamond fields. 
 In March of that year the Star of South Aprica was obtained from a 
 native sorcerer, who had been in possession of it for a long time without 
 the least idea of its value other than as a powerful charm. It was a mag- 
 nificent brilliant of eighty-three carats weight when uncut, and it was 
 readily sold for £11,000. By this time it had been ascertained that the 
 largest deposits of diamonds were along the banks of the Yaal River, in 
 the country now known as Griqualand West, and in all the districts of the 
 colony parties of diggers began to be formed. Some of them were success- 
 ful beyond expectation, though all were not equally fortunate. The roads 
 were now covered with trains of waggons, conveying diggers and supplies 
 of all kinds to the previously solitary and little known region where such 
 boundless wealth was stored. 
 
 The effect was almost magidil. Money flowed into the country, an 
 extraordinary impetus was given to trade, farmers found a remunerative 
 sale for their produce, artizans readily obtained emplo3^ment at rates of 
 payment unheard of before. Landed property rose in value everywhere, 
 and within three years the imports from abroad were doubled. Of greater 
 advantage than all this were the new ideas gained by the people generally. 
 The prejudices of race, that had kept the colonists of English, Dutch, and 
 German descent apart for so many years, were rapidly lost when all were 
 engaged in a common pursuit and freely associated together. Men learned 
 at the diamond fields that there is dignity attached to labour, a salutary 
 lesson to thousands whom pride rather than indolence had previously kept 
 from doing anything for themselves or their country. From Europe, 
 America, and Australia, men now found their way to South Africa, and 
 communicated broader views in many subjects than the colonists had 
 hitherto held. It is as yet impossible to forecast the changes which the 
 discovery of diamonds may bring to pass ; this much is certain, that the 
 country has made an enormous stride in material prosperity within the 
 last few years, owing principally to that event. 
 
 In February, 1869, a portion of the Knysna district was laid waste by a 
 most destructive fire. The country was parched by drought, when a hot 
 wind set in and continued for some days. The grass commenced to burn 
 in several places simultaneously, and the fire spread rapidly over a belt 
 of country, destroying everything as it advanced. Great damage was 
 done to the forests, which were previously supposed to be proof against a 
 conflagration of this nature. 
 
 In the northern districts some trouble was given at this time by parties 
 of marauding Korannas, who committed depredations on such an extensive 
 scale that many farms were abandoned. A detachment of the Frontier 
 Armed and Mounted Police, under Commandant Currie, was sent against 
 them, upon the approach of which they took shelter in certain almost 
 
1SG9] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAP." COLONY. 
 
 69 
 
 inaccessible islands in the Orange River. The fcask of bringing them to 
 submission was a difficult one, owing more to the nature of the locality 
 than to any resistance they could offer, but it was satisfactorily effected in 
 August, 1869, when their island strongholds were stormed. A body of 
 men, termed the North Border Police, was then raised to patrol that part 
 of the country. This force is still maintained, but it has been united to 
 the Frontier Armed and Mounted PoHce, for the sake of uniformity of 
 discipline and management. 
 
 The Constitution had hardly been promulgated when its defects became 
 apparent. A permanent Ministry, appointed by the Crown and indepen- 
 dent of the representatives of the people, frequently came into collision with 
 the Chambers, and, when neither party would give way, a deadlock in 
 government was the result. The Constitution gave the Governor power to 
 select the place where Parliament should meet. "With the exception of one 
 session, it has always met at Cape Town, where the offices of the Heads of 
 Departments are situated. In 1863, Six* P. E. AYodehouse encountered 
 such opposition in the House of Assembly that he summoned the Parliament 
 to meet at Grahamstown in the following year. By this means he carried 
 through the Houses certain Bills, nearl}' all of which were subsequently 
 repealed in Cape Town. The Governor then found that even this power of 
 removal was of no avail, and that the business of the country could not be 
 carried on smoothly without some change. In the very first session of the 
 Cape Parliament an attempt was made to introduce responsible govern- 
 ment. It was defeated then by an overwhelming majority, but was repeated 
 in almost every succeeding session, and gradually the colonists were 
 brought to favour the measure. Sir Philip Wodehouse proposed to do 
 away with both the Chambers, and to substitute in their stead a Council 
 largely composed of government nominees. He told the colonists that 
 they must adopt either this measure, and so secure the preponderance of 
 the Executive, or responsible government, which would give supremacy to 
 the Parliament. In October, 1860, he dissolved the House of Assembly, and 
 appealed to the country on this issue. The result of the election was a 
 majority in favour of responsible government. But the Legislative Council, 
 which had not been dissolved, held out against the measure until 1872, 
 when it was caiTied through by eleven votes against ten. The Bill, which 
 had been introduced as a government measure, having received the royal 
 assent, became law, and a new Ministry was formed shortly afterwards in 
 the usual manner, that is, by the Governor selecting the Heads of Depart- 
 ments from among the leading members of the most powerful party in 
 Parliament. 
 
 In the north-east of the colony, a new Electoral Division,— that of 
 Wodehouse, — was formed in 1872. The object in this was to create an 
 equality of members in the House of Assembly for the two provinces into 
 which the colony was then divided, and thus to remove a grievance of 
 which the easterns had long and justly complained. A tract of valuable 
 
70 
 
 niSTOET OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 1872] 
 
 agricultural laud lying along the western base of the Quatlilamba, and 
 which had hitherto been unoccupied, was included in the new Division. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great depression of the half dozen years preceding 
 the discovery of the diamond fields, the period embraced in this chapter 
 was marked by many signs of substantial progress. As regards public 
 works, the formation of a spleudid dock and outer harbour in Table Bay 
 must take the first place. This work has been of great benefit to the 
 colony, though the completion of the Suez caual has diverted much of the 
 eastern commerce from the route round Africa, and has therefore reduced 
 the importance of Table Bay as a port of call. Shipwrecks were formerly 
 frequent there, and were sometimes attended with great loss of life. In 
 1856, and again in 1865, a whole fleet of vessels was driven ashore, and a 
 vast amount of property was lost. Such disasters are now effectually 
 prevented. In other ports, also, harbour works were commenced, though 
 nowhere else were they completed. Eoads and bridges were attended to. 
 In the construction of railways and telegraphs a commencement was made 
 on a small scale, not by the government, however, but by companies to 
 whom a certain percentage on their outlay was guaranteed by government. 
 The districts through which railways passed were required by the Act to 
 make up one half of whatever deficiency might occur. It was proposed to 
 construct two lines in this manner, of which, the one from Cape Town to 
 Wellington was completed; but the people of Gi-ahamstown and Port 
 Elizabeth, which towns were to have been connected by the other, declined 
 to bind themselves by a sub-guarantee, and hence nothing was done in that 
 quarter. It was not until 1871 that Parliament resolved to construct railways 
 at the public cost. In the sessions of that year and of 1872 the commence- 
 ment of a line -from Port Elizabeth towards Graliamstown, and the 
 extension of the Wellington line towards Worcester, were authorized ; but 
 the works were not begun until after the introduction of responsible 
 government. The villages along the coast from East London to Cape 
 Town were connected by electric telegraph. Steam communication with 
 England was developed, and two lines of powerful steamers were running 
 in 1872, leaving fortnightly, and making the passage from Southampton to 
 Table Bay in less than twenty-five days. On the coast, steamers were 
 constantly plying from Natal to Table Bay, calling at all the intermediate 
 ports. Postal communication was opened up, even with the most insigni- 
 ficant villages of the interior. Banks, newspapers, markets, schools, and 
 public libraries, were established in all the leading villages. The cultivation 
 of cotton was commenced on the eastern seaboard, and would doubtless 
 have succeeded, had it not been for the scarcity' of labour which followed 
 the discovery of the diamond fields. Angora goats were imported, and 
 mohair rose to be a valuable item of export. The ostrich was added to the 
 list of domestic birds, and was made to contribute its plumes to the 
 advancement of commerce. Immigration was limited, and at one time 
 emigration was going on, yet the population increased rapidh% and large 
 
1872] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONI. 
 
 71 
 
 tracts of crown land were occupied. Thus, on the whole, this period was 
 characterized by many marks of solid improvement. 
 
 With the introduction of responsible government perfect political 
 liberty was obtained by the people of the colony. The will of the majority, 
 acting through elected representatives, is now the supreme governing 
 power of the land. The destiny of the country is in the hands of its own 
 children. For good or for evil the future is our own. 
 
 Upon every elector rests a responsibility which, being generally felt, 
 must of itself tend to elevate the masses of society. The progress of the 
 past, the active and intelligent political, commercial, and religious life of the 
 present, alike point to a prosperous future. Never was the cheering name 
 " Good Hope" more appropriate than now, for the colony is a land of good 
 hope to half the continent. From it northwards and eastwards civilization 
 is rapidly making its way. The missionary and the trader, using the Cape 
 as a base of operations, are passing beyond the southern tropic, and the 
 day cannot be far distant when its influence will be felt by tnbes now 
 wandering almost unknown in the dark interior. It has taken two hundred 
 and twenty years for the white man to reach the Limpopo ; it is probable 
 that within another twenty his banner will wave over the Zambezi. It 
 will be well for Africa if it be so. For to-day the children of Europe 
 appear as liberators and friends, no longer as enslavers and tyrants. The 
 mission of the Cape Colony is a noble one, marked out by a higher hand 
 than that of man : it is to bring into the sisterhood of nations the people of 
 a continent hitherto steeped in misery and vice. And if those who have 
 made this land their home are but true to themselves and the cause they 
 represent, the future cannot be other than grand and bright. 
 
 The leading events of the last three years are here recorded under brief 
 headings : — 
 
 1873. 
 
 Commencement by Government of railway constraction on a large scale. 
 Cape Town and Wellington line purchased from private proprietors. 
 Purchase of Cape Town and East London telegraph by the Government, 
 and commencement of inland extensions. Establishment of the University 
 of the Cape of Good Hope. Immigration from Europe, — particularly of 
 labourers to whom employment for a certain time is guaranteed, — 
 commenced at the public expense. 
 
 1874 
 
 Colony divided into seven provinces, instead of two as formerly, for the 
 purpose of elecling members of the Legislative Council. Construction of 
 three bridges over the Orange River authorized by Parliament. Act 
 passed permitting free testamentary disposition of property. (December) 
 Floods along eastern frontier, destroying immense amount of property in 
 buildings and crops, besides sweeping away several bridges and causing 
 heavy losses of stock. 
 
72 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 [1875 
 
 1875. 
 
 Voluntary Bill passed by Parliament, according to which no state aid 
 will be given to the clergymen of any denomination after the death, 
 resignation, or removal of the present recipients. Confederation of South 
 African colonies and states brought prominently forward by a despatch 
 from Earl Carnarvon. Rejection by the House of Assembly of the propo- 
 sal of the Secretary of State for a conference, on the ground that such a 
 measure should be initiated in the colony. Desire for union of some kind 
 universally expressed. Two parties developing ; one desiring confederation 
 under a central government of limited power, of a number of small provinces 
 into which the country as far north as the Limpopo should be divided, each 
 with a local government ; the other contemplating the gradual absorption 
 of all the existing states and colonies into one, under a strong government. 
 Decennial census taken, showing increase of population in last ten years 
 to have been at the rate of twenty-four per cent, and giving the following 
 particulars : — 
 
 POPULATION OF THE COLONY. 
 
 Europeans 
 
 Kaffirs and Bechuanas 
 
 Hottentots 
 
 Mixed Races 
 
 Fingoes 
 
 Malays 
 
 236,783 
 214,133 
 98,561 
 87,184 
 73,506 
 10,817 
 
 Total 720,984, or 
 3'6 to the square 
 
 POPULATION OF TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 
 
 Cape Town and its suburbs 
 Port Elizabeth 
 Graham stown 
 Paarl 
 
 King William's Town 
 Graaff Reinet 
 Worcester 
 Uitenhage 
 Stellenbosch 
 Simon's Town 
 Queen's Town 
 Somerset East 
 Wellington 
 
 East London and Panmure 
 Swellendam 
 George 
 
 mile. 
 
 45,240 
 
 Malmesbury 
 
 1,840 
 
 13,049 
 
 Oudtshoom 
 
 1,837 
 
 6,903 
 
 Cradock 
 
 1,712 
 
 5,760 
 
 Beaufort West 
 
 1,586 
 
 5,169 
 
 Aliwal South (Mossel Bay) 
 
 1,361 
 
 4,562 
 
 Burghersdorp 
 
 1,349 
 
 3,788 
 
 Colesberg 
 
 1,312 
 
 3,693 
 
 Ceres 
 
 1,234 
 
 3,173 
 
 Aliwal North 
 
 1,229 
 
 2,447 
 
 Rivers dale 
 
 1,177 
 
 2,320 
 
 Montagu 
 
 1,176 
 
 2,231 
 
 Middelburg 
 
 1,163 
 
 2,192 
 
 Fort Beaufort 
 
 1,146 
 
 2,134 
 
 Robertson 
 
 1,104 
 
 2,008 
 
 Caledon 
 
 1,038 
 
 1,937 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 On the south-eastern coast of Africa, facing the Indian Ocean, lies the 
 Colony of Natal. Its northernmost point runs up like a wedge between 
 the two republics, to near the 27th parallel of latitude ; its southernmost 
 point is at the mouth of the Umtamvuna, about latitude 31 ® * The country 
 is shaped something like a diamond with broken edges, and has its northern 
 and southern points nearly on the same meridian. On a coastline of a 
 hundred and fifty miles there is but one harbour, —the port or bay of Natal. 
 No complete survey of the colony has yet been made, so that its area cannot 
 be stated with accuracy ; probably it covers nineteen thousand square 
 miles of ground. It is thus only one tenth as large as the Cape Colony ; 
 but it contains fully half as many people. No census that can be depended 
 upon has been taken, and the numbers here given are therefore only 
 approximate, yet they cannot be far from correct. From the number of 
 huts on which the tax is paid, an estimate of the native population may be 
 formed. They may be set down at three hundred and fifty thousand, 
 Europeans at nineteen thousand, and Indian coolies at nine thousand, 
 three hundred and seventy-eight thousand in all. 
 
 Natal is bounded on the north-east by the Buffalo River from its source 
 in the Quathlamba to its junction with the Tugela, and by the Tugela 
 from thence to the sea. Beyond the upper course of the Buffalo is the 
 Utrecht district of the Transvaal Republic, and beyond the lower course of 
 the Buffalo and the Tugela lies Zululand. On the south-east of the colony 
 is the Indian Ocean. On the north-west is the Quathlamba or Drakenberg 
 range, beyond which is the Orange Free State. The south-western boundary 
 is an elbow of the Quathlamba, beyond which is Basutoland, the upper 
 course of the Umzimkulu River and a range of hills, beyond which is 
 Griqualand East or St, John's Territory, and the Umtamvuna River, 
 beyond which is Pondoland. 
 
 Natal consists of a series of terraces rising from the sea to the Quathlamba 
 mountains. The lowest of these, or that which lies along the coast, presents 
 a tropical appearance. The Roil is rich and is drained by numerous small 
 streams, many of the kloofs are wooded, and the vegetation is extremely 
 luxuriant. The rainfall is ample, being between forty and fifty inches 
 yearly, and the mean temperature is high. It is washed by the hot 
 Mozambique current, which makes it fit for the cultivation of sugar cane, 
 coffee, arrowroot, and other productions of a torrid clime. This terrace 
 reaches a height inland of about a thousand feet. 
 
 L 
 
74 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 The central plateau rises to a height inland of from two to three thousand 
 feet above the sea level. Here the injBuence of the Mozambique current is 
 not felt, and the productions of the soil are therefore unlike those of the 
 coast region. The rainfall is less, but is yet, in ordinary seasons, ample 
 for agricultural pui'poses. Wheat, oats, maize, and similar plants, here 
 attain perfection. 
 
 The upper terrace extends from the central to the base of the Quathlamba 
 mountains, some of the peaks of which tower above it to the height of over 
 ten thousand feet from the sea level. In this district agriculture gives 
 place to pastoral occupations, though many localities are well adapted to 
 the growth of cereals. By the time the sea breezes reach it, they have 
 deposited most of their moisture. The rainfall is therefore less than in 
 the central plateau, and is principally derived from thunderstorms. No 
 large forests are found here, but along the dividing line between this and 
 the central terrace many of the kloofs are wooded, and there are also 
 some patches of timber land on the slopes of the Quathlamba. 
 
 These terraces are so broken up as rarely to form plains of any great 
 extent. The hills assume an endlfess variety of form ; many of them have 
 precipitous faces and broad table lands upon their summits. The rivers 
 mostly run in very deep channels, and are therefore nearly valueless for 
 the purpose of irrigation. Three of them, — the Tugela, Umkomanzi, and 
 Umzimkulu, — rise in the Quathlamba, and fall more than six thousand feet 
 before they reacla the sea ; four, - the Umvoti, Umgeni, Umlazi, and 
 Umtamvuna, — have their sources at tlie base of the inland plateau ; and 
 some nineteen or twenty others rise within a few miles of the sea. 
 They all flow with great velocity, owing to the inclination of the country. 
 In some of them beautiful cascades may be seen, as they come tumbling 
 down an abrupt descent or bounding over a sheer precipice. One cataract 
 of the Umgeni, a couple of hours' ride from Maritzburg, is three hundred 
 and twenty-three feet in perpendicular height, and is a very grand sight 
 when the river is in flood. 
 
 The climate of Natal is extremely healthy, as stated in the Army Medical 
 Eeports, and borne out by ample testimony. The drainage of the country 
 is perfect, and the air is kept pure during the hot summer months by sea 
 breezes along the coast and thunderstorms inland. There are no virulent 
 diseases peculiar to the country, while j^ellow fever, Asiatic cholera, and 
 other deadl}'- complaints are entirely unknown. 
 
 The rainfall is almost confined to the period from October to March, that 
 is during the prevalence of the south-east winds ; thus the seasons are 
 appropriately termed the dry and the rainy. From April to September the 
 winds are light and variable, and the sky is generally unclouded. In tlie 
 central and upper terraces, during the months of June, July, and August, 
 the temperature frequently falls so low during the clear calm nights that 
 the dew is dei)Osited in the form of hoar frost. At this season of the year 
 the clirnato cannot be excelled for comfort and health. Natal is sometimes 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 75 
 
 visited by hot winds from the north-west. While they last both animal 
 and vegetable organizations suffer, but the former recover as soon as the 
 winds cease. They are usually followed by rain. 
 The colony is divided into the following 
 
 ELECTORAL DISTillCTS. 
 
 The Borough of Maritzburg. This is the seat of government, and 
 contains a population of about seven thousand souls, one half of whom are 
 of European descent. It is in a picturesque situation, and is a very pretty 
 town, with abundance of foliage about it. It is fifty-four miles inland from 
 Durban, with which it is connected by electric telegraph. Owing to the 
 nature of the country, however, it will require at least seventy miles of rail 
 to reach the port. 
 
 The Borough of Durban. The town is built upon a sand flat extending 
 from the shore of the Bay of Natal to the Berea hills. It contains many fine 
 buildings, and being the only seaport of the colony, a stream of traffic, 
 outwards and inwards, is constantly passing through it. The population 
 is about nine thousand, of whom rather more than half are Europeans. 
 
 The County of Victoria, situated upon the seaboard, and containing the 
 principal sugar plantations of the colony. Chief village : Yerulam. 
 
 The County of Maritzburg, on the central plateau. Principal villages, 
 exclusive of the capital : Eichmond, York, Howick, and Edendale. 
 
 The County of Klip River, on the inland plateau. Principal village : 
 Ladysmith. 
 
 The County of Newcastle, on the inland plateau and occupying the 
 northern point of the colony. Until 1873 it was a division of Klip River 
 County, but was then erected into a separate electoral division. The only 
 village bears the same name as the county. There are deposits of coal in 
 this district, but to what extent is not accurately known. 
 
 The County of Weenen, on the inland plateau. Principal villages : 
 Estcourt, Colenso, and Weenen. 
 
 The County of Umvoti, on the central plateau. Principal villages : Grey- 
 town and Hermemsburg. 
 
 The County of Durban, on the seaboard. Other villages besides Durban : 
 Pinetown, Clair, New Germany, and Isipingo. 
 
 The United Counties of Alexandra and Alfred, on the seaboard. These 
 counties are as yet so sparsely inhabited by Europeans that they are not 
 considered of sufficient importance to be represented separately in the 
 Legislature. 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The government is vested in a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed by the 
 crown of England. In rank he is inferior to the Governor of the Capo 
 
76 
 
 GEOGRAPIIT or THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 Colony, and he has no power such as the latter possesses in virtue of his 
 ojBice of High Commissioner. 
 
 The Legislature consists at present of the Lieutenant-Governor and a 
 Council of twenty-eight members. Of these, fifteen are elected by the 
 people, viz., two for each of the five electoral districts first named, and one 
 for each of the remaining five. The following officials have seats and 
 votes : the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer General, the Attorney General, 
 the Secretary for Native Affairs, and the Protector of Immigrants, In 
 1875 an Act was passed, which is to have force for five years, and which 
 gives the Governor power to nominate eight unofiicial members, viz., four 
 from the coast and four from the up-country districts. The nominees 
 must be colonists of two years' standing and be possessed of fixed property 
 to the value of one thousand pounds. Ten members form a quorum, and 
 a majority of two-thirds of those present is requisite to impose any new 
 tax upon Europeans. The Lieutenant-Governor has the power of approving 
 of a bill passed by the Council, rejecting it, or reserving it for the consider- 
 ation of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 The Executive Council consists of the Lieutenant-Governor, Chief 
 Justice, Senior Military Officer, Colonial Secretary, Treasurer General, 
 Attorney General, Secretary for Native Affairs, Protector of Immigrants, 
 and two of the elected members of the Legislature selected by the Governor. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Justice is administered in a manner similar to that of the Caoe Colony. 
 The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges, 
 from which there is an appeal in highly important cases to the Privy 
 Council of England. Stipendiary Magistrates, of whom there are at 
 present fifteen, are scattered over the colony, with power to try petty 
 cases, and to conduct preliminary examinations in cases where individuals 
 are charged with the commission of crimes of magnitude. There is also a 
 High Native Court, before which natives charged with serious offences are 
 tried according to their own laws. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS, 
 
 A few schools of different classes, aided to a small extent by public 
 funds, are established in the colony. In Maritzburg and Durban there are 
 High Schools, in which a superior education is imparted, as well as Public 
 Elementary Schools, in which a merely nominal fee is exacted from pupils. 
 These are under the supervision of an officer entitled the Superintendent 
 General of Education. Several private schools have also been established, 
 and it may be said that adequate means exist for imparting an ordinary 
 education to European children, A few thousands of the native children 
 
GEOGHAPIIT OF THE COLOXT OF NATAL. 
 
 77 
 
 arc being educated in mission schools, which also receive aid from the 
 public treasury, but tlie great majority of the youth of this class of the 
 population are growing up in absolute ignorance of book learning. 
 
 There are a few public libraries in the colony, which receive small yearly 
 grants from government. Of these, the most important is the one belong- 
 ing to the Natal Society, in Maritzburg, which contains nearly four thou- 
 sand books. The society has it in contemplation to erect a handsome 
 building, to contain a museum, library, and lecture rooms. It receives a 
 yearly grant of £100. Next in importance is the library of the Durban 
 Mechanics' Institute, which also receives £100 a year. The Verulam 
 Mechanics' Institute and the Pinetown reading room receive £50, the 
 Greytown, Lady smith, and Richmond reading rooms £25 each. 
 
 ROADS AND MEANS OF TRANSPORT. 
 
 The roads of Natal are similar to those of the Cape Colony, excepting 
 that fewer rivers are bridged. Here also the transport of goods is effected 
 by means of waggons drawn by bullocks. The only railway open for traffic 
 is a line about five miles in length, between the Point or landing place for 
 goods and the Umgcni River. The section of this line between the Point 
 and Durban was constructed in 1861 ; the extension to the Umgeni a few 
 years ago was principally to facilitate the transport of stone from the 
 quarries there to the harbour works. For many years past the colonists 
 have been alive to the importance of railways for developing the resources 
 of the country, and several schemes have been floated from time to time. 
 One, known as Mr. Welborne's, which was approved by the legislature, 
 was to lay down lines four hundred and forty miles in length ; but the 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies vetoed it on the ground of the conces- 
 sions in land being too great. 
 
 A commencement, however, has been made by the government, and on 
 the 1st of January, 1876, the first sod of a line to connect the port and the 
 capital was turned by the Lieutenant Governor with much ceremony. 
 This, together with a short branch along the south coast and a continuation 
 of the existing line northward as far as Verulam, will be constructed by 
 Messrs. Wythes and Jackson under a contract with the government. The 
 money required will be boi rowed in England. These are the only lines 
 authorized as yet, but it is evident that the main line, to be successful,, 
 must be pushed far beyond Maritzburg to meet the requirements of the 
 interior trade, so that an extension in that direction is almost certain at no 
 distant date. The line to Verulam will be of gi'eat advantage to the sugar 
 planters of Victoria County, but it too will require to be pushed further. 
 The south coast line will open up a district of great value, which has 
 hitherto been neglected, owing almost entirely to the wai>t of cheap' 
 communication with the seaport. 
 
78 
 
 GEOGRAPHT OF THE COLOXT OF NATAL. 
 
 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 
 
 Revenue.— 1873, £204,922. 1874, £247,259. 1875, £260,271. 
 Expenditure.— 1873, £201,148. 1874, £306,364. 1875, £306,412. 
 Public Debt (in 1874) £331,300. 
 
 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 
 
 The figures under tbese returns represent the trade with transmarine 
 nations of the colony and also of a large back country of which, the Bay of 
 Natal is the natural port. They do not therefore give a correct idea of the 
 industry and wealth of the British province alone. Natal is one of the 
 high roads to the interior, and the bulk of the trafl&c that passes through 
 it is in foreign articles, though there is a considerable trade carried on with 
 the productions and manufactures of the colony itself. Among these the 
 principal articles are sugar, coffee, and arrowroot; but hams, bacon, 
 butter, jams (notably pineapple jams in tins), a variety of preserves, pickles, 
 and sauces, fine cut tobacco in tins, and some other articles, all in small 
 quantities, go to swell the list. The imports consist principally of English 
 manufactured goods. Sheep's wool is the principal export, amounting in 
 value to more than everything else combined. The greater portion of it 
 comes from beyond the border. Sugar ranks next, about seven thousand 
 five hundred tons being exported yearly, of the value of £150,000. This, 
 with a small quantity of coffee, arrowroot, and cotton, comes entirely from 
 Natal. Skins of wild animals, ivory, ostrich feathers, and gold, come 
 altogether from the interior. Hides and skins of domestic animals are 
 partly from Natal, partly from beyond the border. It is supposed that a 
 good many diamonds pass through Natal, without being notified to the 
 customs' department. Most likely, if their value could be ascertained, the 
 difference between the exports and imports of the last five years would be 
 reduced to a mere trifle. The amounts, according to the customs' returns, 
 are as follow : — 
 
 Imports. Exports. 
 
 1872 £825,252 £622,797 
 
 1873 £1,011,465 £651,028 
 
 1874 £1,121,948 £769,988 
 
 1875 £1,268,838 £535,643 
 
CHAPTEB XXX. 
 
 NATAL BEFORE THE DUTCH OCCUPATION. 
 
 From the period of its discovery by Vasco de Gama, 25th of December, 
 1497, Natal was occasionally visited by Earopeans, most of whom vt^ere the 
 crews of vessels wrecked upon the coast. A few belonged to slavers, whose 
 traffic, however, was very limited so far south. The instruments for deter- 
 mining longitude at sea were not so perfect a couple of centuries ago as 
 they are now, besides which the coast line was laid down on the charts in 
 ordinary use considerably to the westward of its real position, so that in 
 foul weather and at night ships sometimes ran ashore when their captains 
 thought they were a long way from land. 
 
 In the records of the Cape Colony there is a graphic account of the 
 adventures of the crew of a Dutch vessel named the Stavenisse, which was 
 wrecked at the entrance to the Bay of Natal in February, 1686. It was 
 written for the use of the directors of the Netherlands' East India Company, 
 and contains a good deal of interesting information concerning the country 
 and its inhabitants. Near at hand an English vessel had been lost a few 
 months previously, and still another was driven ashore a few months later. 
 All the wrecked seamen were received with kindness by the natives ; they 
 were supplied with food, and what property they could save was respected- 
 By the united efforts of the Dutch and English, assisted to some extent by 
 the natives, a vessel fifty feet long was constructed, partly from the wreck 
 of the Stavenisse and partly from timber foand growing there. In this 
 little craft, the captain, three officers, and seven seamen of the Stavenisse, 
 with nine English sailors, set sail for Cape Town, taking with them 
 abundance of provisions and three tons of ivory obtained in exchange fo 
 some beads and copper saved from one of the wrecks. They made th 
 passage from Natal to Cape Town in twelve days. An English vessel 
 which had opportunely called before they sailed, took some others away 
 and they left at Natal forty-seven of the crew of the Stavenisse, one 
 Frenchman, and four Englishmen. Upon their arrival in Table Bay, the 
 Cape Government purchased their tiny vessel, fitted her out, and deepatche 
 her to make discoveries along the coast and rescue the remaining seamen 
 
 In the meantime most of those unfortunate people had attempted t 
 make their way overland to Cape Town. Some perished on the journey 
 and, nearly a twelvemonth after their departure, nineteen of them were 
 picked up on the coast of Kaffirland by the little vessel they had assisted 
 to build at Natal. They had by this time been living two years among the 
 natives, whom they described as friendly, hospitable, obliging, and ingenious, 
 with laws and customs the same as those of the Kaffirs of the present day- 
 
80 
 
 NATAL BEFORE TUE DUTCH OCGUPATIOX. 
 
 Of the countries in which they had resided and through which they had 
 travelled, they spoke in high terms of praise. 
 
 In October, 1688, the Cape Government despatched the galleot Noord to 
 explore and survey the south-east coast. Her commander was also directed 
 to endeavour to purchase the Bay of Natal and the adjacent country from 
 the resident chief, for beads, copper, and cutlery, or anything that would 
 please the natives, to the value of twenty-nine thousand guilders. The 
 Noord arrived at Natal on the 4th of January, 1689, and entered the bay, 
 there being at the time a considerable depth of water on the bar. In the 
 evening of the same day the commander accompanied two of the sailors of 
 the Stavenisse, who had gone on board, to their residence, where they had 
 been living in plenty since the loss of their vessel, and were then in 
 possession of several head of cattle. The commander was conducted to a 
 neighbouring kraal, where he was feasted on milk and fresh millet, and 
 found the people civil and kind. The native women carried water to the 
 boats in large pots, and a kind of market was established, where a quantity 
 of milk and bread was bought for a few beads, a fowl for three beads, and 
 pumpkins for a bead each. During the nineteen days that the Noord 
 remained in the Bay of Natal, the utmost harmony was maintained between 
 the natives and Europeans. Exploring parties were sent out in different 
 directions, one of which was absent from the vessel eight days, and was 
 guided and provided for in the most friendly manner. The commander 
 purchased the bay and surrounding country from the resident chief, for 
 some beads, copper, iron, &c. ; but it is quite evident that he did not 
 comprehend what he was doing in thus disposing of the land. 
 
 Having taken the two men of the Stavenisse on board, the galleot sailed 
 on the 23rd to the south, in search of the other missing men of that vessel, 
 and on the 28th cast anchor before the mouth of a river, in sight of a party 
 of natives. A heavy surf was rolling in on the beach, but a boat was got 
 out, and after approaching as near the shore as possible, a seaman swam 
 to land, with a letter to be given to the natives for delivery to any 
 Dutchmen who might be in the neighbourhood. The sailor had hardly got 
 back to the boat when two white men were observed hastening down to the 
 beach, one of whom swam off, but the other was left there, as he could not 
 swim, and it was impossible to get the boat through the surf for the purpose 
 of rescuing him. These seamen were not the only Europeans who had 
 been kindly treated by the natives, for they found an aged Portuguese in 
 the country, who had been wrecked on the coast forty years before, on his 
 homeward voyage from India. This man had forgotten the language of 
 his youth, and even his God ; he had adopted the native customs, and had 
 wives and cattle in plenty. 
 
 A few years afterwards the Cape Government isent an expedition to 
 Natal to take possession of the bay and form a trading establishment. 
 But, on their arrival, they found that the chief from whom the purchase 
 was miidc was dead, and his son, who had succeeded him, repudiated the 
 
NATA.L BEFORE THE DUTCH OCCUrATlOK. 
 
 81 
 
 agreement. " My father," said he, " is dead ; his skins are buried with 
 him in his house, which has been burnt over him, and the place is fenced 
 in, over which none must now pass. As to what he agreed to, it was for 
 himself, — I have nothing to say about it." The natives would not admit the 
 right of a chief to alienate the lands of his people, and so the Dutch did not 
 succeed in their object. But they never relinquished the claim founded 
 upon the sale above-mentioned, though they never had a factory in Hiatal, 
 except for a short time about the year 1721. 
 
 The friendly treatment experienced by the seamen of the Stavenisse at 
 the hands of the natives forms a strong contrast to that accorded to the 
 crew and passengers of the English East Indiamau Grosvenor, ninety-six 
 years later, by tribes a little further to the southward. While on her 
 homeward passage from India in 1782, this splendid ship was lost on the 
 coast of KafRrland, and seldom has a sadder tale been told than that of the 
 sufferings of the unfortunate people then cast helpless and destitute upon 
 an inhospitable coast. 
 
 The weather had been squally and the sky overcast for several days, 
 •when Captain Coxon, who believed himself about three hundred miles from 
 land, was startled by the cry of " breakers ahead " from the look-out aloft. 
 Befo.e the ship could be put about, she struck heavily on the rocky coast, 
 and in a few minutes became a total wreck. The stately Indiaman was now 
 lying on a reef, with a chaniiel of deep water inshore. Her masts were 
 at once cut away to keep her from going to pieces, and then the boats were 
 got out, but were instantly swamped. On the deck, cold and drenched by 
 the pitiless storm, were huddled together the passengers, many of them 
 women and children on their way from India to England. A raft was 
 made with great diflSculty, but was washed away by the heavy surf, and by 
 this time some twenty men had been drowned. Before morning, however, 
 the wind changed, the sea went down, and at low tide the remainder of the 
 crew and passengers got safely to land near the southern point of what is 
 now the Colony of Natal. 
 
 With daylight came a horde of natives, who acted the part of wreckers, 
 by taking possession of all that was saved. The unfortunate people then 
 resolved to attempt to make their way to the Cape, as the only chance of 
 saving their lives. A sad procession they must have formed, toiling along 
 that rockbound coast, with no food but shellfish, except when they could 
 procure a little corn in barter for some article of dress. Some sat down 
 by the way and died of exhaustion. They broke up into little companies 
 at last, the strongest pushing on ahead, the weakest lagging behind. One 
 hundred and seventeen days after leaving the wreck, a small party of 
 haggard unclothed skeletons of men reached a Dutch farm house, from 
 which they were forwarded to Capetown, where they were treated with the 
 utmost kindness by the Government and the residents. Captain Coxon 
 remained with the females, but his fate and theirs is uncertain. Accordiu<? 
 to popular belief, the women were seized and compelled to be the wives of 
 
 M 
 
82 
 
 XAtAL TTKFORE TSE DUTCH OCCt'PATIOX 
 
 natives, but there is no absolute proof that such was the case. It seems to 
 be just as probable that all of them perished of hunger and misery. 
 
 At the commencement of the present centur}' Natal was densely popula-' 
 ted, probably not less than a million of people being resident within its 
 present borders. They cultivated the ground to a greater extent than did 
 the KafRrs on the frontier of the Cape Colony, and were, — possibly on that 
 rery account, — more peaceable in disposition. In colour they were some- 
 what darker, and their dialect of the common language contained fewer 
 clicks. There was a slight difference also in the construction of their huts, 
 but their laws, customs, and religion, were identical. Their artizans had 
 acquired considerable skill, the various trades known to them being 
 hereditary in certain families who- never communicated their knowledge tO' 
 others. Guilds of blacksmiths and of pedlars, for instance, were to be 
 found on African soil, as careful of the secrets of thei/ callings as any in 
 Europe ever were. At times war would break out among the different 
 tribes, but, except on rare occasions, the victors were satisfied with 
 conquest, and did not seek to exterminate their foes. The land yielded 
 abundance of food, so that the reductian in numbers by these internecine 
 wars was compensated by the natural increase. Up to this period it 
 appears to have been a rnle with the tribes in the north, as well as with 
 those on the frontier of the Cape Colony, not to destroy women and 
 children in war. They, in fact, farmed part of the spoil, often the part 
 most prized by the conquerors. 
 
 About the year 1812 first app^red the harbingers of a more ten-ible 
 storm of war than had ever before swept over these fair regions. Tshaka 
 had already commenced that career of bloodshed which was soon to make 
 his name dreaded throughout South-Eastern Africa, and one of the tribes 
 of the north, in its flight from him, crossed the Tugela into Xatal. Others 
 soon followed, some of them wild, spiritless fugitives, seeking only to get 
 beyond the reach of Tshaka's raurdereus bands, some, enraged at having 
 lost their own possessions and determined to inflict upon others the 
 miseries they were themselves enduring. Thus tribe after tribe passed 
 into or through the land, in their efforts to escape from the Zulu spear,, 
 until all was one wild whirl of confusion, war, and massacre. Then, about 
 the year 1820, the source of all this woe, the ferocious Tshaka himself,. 
 spi*ang like a fierce lion on the bleeding, suffering nations. His warriors 
 were trained to spare neither age nor sex, neither those who resisted nor 
 those who submitted. As far as the Umzimvubu his path was marked 
 with fire and blood, no tribe could resist him, none could obtain his mercy. 
 
 The ancestors of the people now called by the natives Amamfengu (that 
 is, wanderers), by the colonists Fingoes, were among those who then 
 occupied the country along the Tugela and further to the northward. 
 They formed there three distinct tribes, named the Amabele, the Amazizi, 
 and the Abambo, each of which was again subdivided into powerful clans. 
 Their antiquaries traced the line of their chiefs for many generations up- 
 
NATAL BEFORE THE DUTCH OCCUPATION. 
 
 83 
 
 wards, but not so far as to arrive at a common head. Had these cLms 
 combined at the right moment, thc} might have succeeded in holding 
 their own, but combination in time of danger, apparently so natural^ 
 •appears seldom to be resorted to by uncivilized nations. Frequently, on 
 account of some pet-ty jealousy, they rejoice at the downfall of a neighbour- 
 ing tribe, and lack the foresight to see that their own turn will come next. 
 It was so with the Fing-oes. One after a,nother, the tribes, whoso 
 remnants they are, were attacked, and though they fought desperately, 
 ^lU were overpowered and ruined, ^ome of the feats of valour performed 
 by isolated pai'ties ^re yet pi-eserved in th^ memory of the aged, of which 
 the following may serve as a specimen : 
 
 Mjoli, chief of thc Abasekunene, a clan of the Abambo, had taken to 
 wife a woman named Gubela, of the Amabele tribe. She was a person of 
 most courageous disposition, and as her husband's character was just the 
 reverse, she placed herself at the head of his warriors, and resolved to die 
 rather than flee. For a long time she succeeded in defending herself 
 and the portion of the clan that adhered to her, for after her first achieve- 
 ments she separated from her craven husband, and the people were divided 
 between them. Her name soon grew to be so famous that a song was 
 composed in her honour, two lines of which read as follows : — 
 At Gubela's they don't use bars to the kraals^ 
 But close the gates with the heads of men. 
 
 Such isolated instances of valour, however, though they created a feeling 
 of pride in the breasts of the unhappy people, could not save them from 
 destruction. The three tribes mentioned would have been exterminated 
 altogether, if some wretched remnants had not been able to make good 
 their escape, either westward across the Quathlamba, or sc^athward to the 
 Amaxosa, who held them in bondage until the English liberated them. 
 
 Of the other inhabitants of Natal, many were slaughtered, but a few 
 managed to conceal themselves in deep thickets or secret retreats of the 
 mountains, and some of the youth were incorporated with the conquering 
 tribe. The young men were compelled for a time to carry the burdens of 
 the Zulu armies, but if they showed a desire to unite with them as warriors, 
 they were usually permitted to do so. To all appearance they became 
 ^ulus themselves, but in after years most of them returned to the country 
 -of their birth as opportunities offered. 
 
 The objects of this terrible invasion were merely slaughter and rapine. 
 There was no provocation, no necessity for an enlargement of territory, no 
 desire for removal on the part of the Zulus, no jealousy of the power of the 
 other tribes, nothing but a lust for human blood and a resolution to live 
 3.nd reign alone. Natal was desolate. The hum of human voices was no 
 longer heard, the cattle that had lately browsed in vast herds upon the 
 hills were gone, the villages were burnt, all was ruin. Only here and there 
 a few panic-stricken men and women could be found, subsisting upon wild 
 fruits and game when they could get it, or preying upon each other whew. 
 
84 
 
 NATAL BEFORE THE DUTCH OCCITT-ATION. 
 
 no other food was to be had. They dared not attempt to cultivate the 
 ground, for that would have drawn the attention of enemies to their retreats. 
 Wild animals multiplied to excess in the lonely land, and men learned to 
 be more savage than even the fiercest of these. For many, driven at first 
 by hunger and misery to cannibalism, continued the horrible practice 
 afterwards from choice. The records of nations in modern times will be 
 searched in vain for another such instance of the complete destruction, by 
 massacre and famine, of the people of so extensive and fertile a region, in 
 so short a time. 
 
 Within three or four 3^ears after these events, a party of adventurers, 
 whose subsequent careers were both stirring and interesting, arrived 
 at iSTatal. Their object was to colonize the vacant country and open up a 
 trade with the regions beyond. They were Englishmen, and were under the 
 leadership of Lieutenant Farewell, Lieutenant King, and Henry Fynx. A 
 more daring, but at the same time more impracticable, scheme for settling 
 a country was never undertaken. Both the Imperial and Cape governments 
 refused to countenance the project, and it was not supported by any 
 Company or Association with meaus to carry it on. The adventurers were 
 dependent upon their own resources alone, and their only hope of being 
 able to induce others to follow them lay in attracting them by their own 
 success. A vast expanse of rich soil almost untenanted, on either side 
 hosts of savages with ivory and hides to barter, a healthy climate, and a 
 sheltered bay, seemed to them capital sufiicient to build a colony upon. 
 And there can be no doubt that Natal did at that time present a favourable 
 field for colonization, if it had been undertaken by immigrants in numbers 
 large enough to protect themselves, and under some recognized authority. 
 It was otherwise with the little party of Europeans who, upon their arrival, 
 found themselves subject to the caprice of the Zulu despot, without any 
 bond of cohesion among themselves. They applied to Tsiiaka for permission 
 to reside in the country, and gained his favour by means of presents. He 
 appears to have regarded them mei*ely as traders deserving of encourage- 
 ment, and to have had no suspicion that their power might ever increase 
 so much as to make them formidable. 
 
 They had hardlj'- gained a footing upon the soil when they fell into an 
 error that entirely destroyed their only chance of success. One of them 
 collected together a number of the dispersed natives, who were without 
 leaders and were disposed to submit to the government of any one capable 
 of directing them. With these as a following, he moved to a defensible 
 position a few miles from the bay, and there established himself as a chief. 
 The example was contagious. Then arose quarrels among themselves, 
 each struggling for snpremacy and endeavouring to increase the number 
 of his retainers at the expense of the others. The semblance of an orderly 
 European society ceased, for when the leading men assumed the position 
 of Kaffir chiefs and took to themselves harems of native women, control 
 over the others was no longer possible. 
 
NATAL BEFORE THE DUTCn OCCUPATION. 
 
 85 
 
 Yet they did not abandon the primary objects of their settlement ab 
 Natal. If in some respects they had become Kaffirs, they had not lost the 
 energy of Europeans. The vessel in which King arrived had been wrecked, 
 and out of her timbers, together with some wood obtained on the shores of 
 the bay, they were building a schooner, which, after about three years' 
 labour, they finished. By this time they had acquired such influence with 
 TsiiAKA that he consented to send two of his principal officers under their 
 guidance to the Cape Colony, to arrange a friendly commercial treaty. In 
 April, 1828, Farewell and King sailed from Natal for Algoa Bay, taking 
 Tsiiaka's envoys with them ; but upon their arrival they found the colonial 
 authorities disposed to condemn their proceedings. The schooner was 
 detained in Algoa Bay for three months, and then a ship of war was sent 
 to convey the ambassadors back to Natal, without having accomplished 
 the objects of their mission. The return of the envoys in this manner was 
 an alarming event for the European settlers. Tsuaka had been friendly to 
 them hitherto, but his temper was capricious, and as they were wholly in 
 his power, they feared that he might take offence, and fall upon them in 
 revenge. But nothing of the sort happened, and he remained on the same 
 good terms as ever with them. 
 
 Shortly after his return to Natal, King died, of illness aggravated by dis- 
 appointment and gloomy forebodings. His hopes of founding a colony and 
 adding fresh regions to the domains of commerce had been completely 
 shattered, while the realities of such a life as he had been leading must 
 have been too wretched to be longer borne. The next to disappear was the 
 great destroyer of nations, the far-dreaded Tsiiaka. He was murdered on 
 the 23rd of September, 1828, by his brother Dingan, who fell upon him at 
 a moment when no help was at hand. No child of his had ever been per- 
 mitted to live, so that Dingan's succession to the government of the Zulus 
 was undisputed. Within a year. Farewell followed, being murdered in 
 Pondoland in September, 1829. He had gone to the Cape Colony to 
 purchase some goods, and was on his way back to Natal, accompanied by 
 several Englishmen and a large party of natives. There had been living in 
 Pondoland for some time a man named Locuenberg, who had created 
 various disturbances in that part of the country. Associated ever since 
 1793 with renegades from the Cape Colony, this man had been notorious 
 years before among the southern tribes, but the fate that had overtaken 
 his early companions seemed tardy in reaching him. His career, however, 
 had at last come to a close. At the head of a party of marauders, he at* 
 tacked a tribe that was at war with Faku, the paramount Pondo chief, and 
 was killed in battle. When Farewell arrived in that country, Faku warned 
 him against visiting his enemies, since these were so greatly exasperated 
 by the conduct of Locuenberg that they would probably murder any 
 European who might come in their way. In spite of this Wiarning, FakE' 
 well and his companions proceeded, relying upon their former acquaint- 
 ance with those people. They were received, apparently, in friendship ; 
 
86 
 
 IfATAL BEFORE THE DtJTCH OCCUPATION, 
 
 hnt as they lay sleeping towards dawn of the next day, they were attacked, 
 and Farewell, with two Englishmen named Walker and Thackwray, 
 and five native servants, were murdered. The remainder of the party 
 escaped with difficulty. Farewell's death was followed by the partition of 
 iiis clan, then the largest in the country. Two Englishmen, named John 
 Cane and Henry Ogle, who had at one time been in his service, immediately 
 divided his people and cattle between them. 
 
 One of the first acts of Dingan, after assuming sovereignty, was to put 
 to death all those to whom his brother had shown any particular favour, 
 &nd the Europeans in Natal were consequently in a position of extreme 
 danger. But after taking the precaution to prepare for flight, if necessary, 
 upon the shortest notice, they determined to await the course of events 
 without exhibiting any signs of alarm. John Cane had been sent to the 
 Cape on business by Tshara, and did not return until after the death of 
 that chief, when, as he was afraid to visit Dingan to report the result of his 
 mission, he sent some presents by natives, and remained himself at the 
 bay. Dingan then sent for Cane and Fynn to visit him at his kraal ; but 
 they, considering such a journey highly dangerous, declined to go. Upon 
 this, the great chief sent an army to annihilate them and their people ; but 
 they received intimation in time, and fled across the Umzimkulu with 
 about three thousand followers, losing all their cattle and a few warriors in 
 their flight. At the same time the other Englishmen in Natal made good 
 itheir escape. They returned, however, soon afterwards, with Dingan's 
 permission, though he refused to restore their cattle. Subsequently he 
 took several of them into his favour and conferred many privileges upon 
 them. In 1831 he appointed Fynn to be his principal officer in Natal, that 
 is, to rule all the people there for him. But the dignity of Lieutenant- 
 Governor under Dingan gave Mr. Fynn so little satisfaction that he 
 voluntarily resigned it, and left the country in 1834. 
 
 The last of the original European leaders had now disappeared from the 
 stage on which they had performed so sti'ange a part. They had come 
 upon it in the character of pioneers of civilization, and had left it as 
 Kaffir chiefs. A greater contrast between the beginning and the end was 
 impossible. B.it throughout their career they had retained an energy and 
 3 power of direction which enabled them to bind together the rude frag- 
 ments of native society. They passed away, and their places were at once 
 iilled by others less capable of directing affairs, men who had never known 
 iiny higher ambition than to be the heads of Kaffir clans. 
 
 In 1835 the name of Durban was given to an embryo village on the 
 northern shore of the bay, by a few traders who had established themselves 
 there. Some of these men were offshoots from the original English party, 
 and others were stragglers who occasionally found their way to Natal, and 
 remained there in spite of danger and discomfort. They were in hope of 
 securing some recognition or protection from the Cape government, of 
 which Sir Benjamin D'Urban was then the head, but in this the\^ were 
 
KAI^AL BErOEE THE DTJTCH OCCUPATIO]<r. 
 
 87 
 
 disappointed. Some thousands of natives had by tliis time formed them- 
 selves into clans under chiefs English born. These men possessed absolute 
 power over their followers, and therefore had an opportunity of leading^ 
 them forward towards civilization ; but this they never attempted to do. 
 They themselves had adopted Kaffir customs to a large extent, and ruled 
 entirely according to Kaffir law. Their principal aim seemed to be to 
 provide their people with muskets aftd ammunition, and to train them as 
 warrioi's. Over them all Dingan was sovereign lord. In this year the first 
 missionaries made their appearance at Natal. They were sent by the 
 American Board for foreign Missions, and, assuredly, they could not have 
 selected a country requiring their labours more. At the same time, Captain 
 Allan Gakdiner, of the Eoyal Kavy, paid a visit to Natal and Zululand. 
 He had an interview with Dingan, and obtained the great chief's consent 
 to the establishment of a mission near the bay. The Zulu despot was 
 ■unwilling at that time to receive a teacher at his own kraal, but at a later 
 period he agreed to this also. 
 
 The government of the European chiefs in Natal being to native ideas 
 exceedingly mild, it frequently happened that individuals fled from the 
 tyranny of the Zulu monarch and sought an asylum with them. These 
 refugees were mostly persons who had been incorporated against their 
 will with the Zulu tribe, but the anger of Dingan was roused by their 
 desertion. Captain Gardinejei entered into a ti^aty with him, according to 
 the terms of which all the refugees then in Natal were pardoned, but any 
 one endeavouring to find an asylum there in future was to be sent back. 
 The British residents refused to carry out the ti'eaty, but some deserters 
 were handed over by Captain Gardiner himself, and were put to death by 
 starvation. Sixteen years later, on the desolate coast of Patagonia, a 
 tnission party of seven individuals perished for want of food. Their leader 
 was the same Captain Gardiner who, through mistaken ideas of the 
 obedience due to a barbarian chief, at this time consigned the refugees 
 from Zululand to a like painftil death. He certainly did not anticipate 
 such a fate for them when he took them back, but he had received 
 abundant warning, if he had been inclined to listen. The English residents, 
 as well those who were traders as chiefs, considered themselves under the 
 authority of the Zulu king, but generally managed to evade any of his 
 orders which did not coincide with their own views. Their remotene&s 
 from the seat of his government, which was some distance to the north of 
 the Tugela, was a great advantage to them, and he was not disposed to 
 quarrel lightly with the only persons who could procure for him many 
 articles of great value in his estimation, and who were paying him a heavy 
 tribute in the form of frequent costly presents. Upon his second visit to 
 Natal, in 1837, Captain Gardiner attempted, under the terms of an 
 Imperial Act, to exercise magisterial jurisdiction over the settlers ; but 
 they ignored his authority entirely, and would have nothing whatever to 
 do with him. He was accompanied from England by the Reverend Mr- 
 
88 
 
 NATAL BEFORE THE DUTCH OCCUPATION". 
 
 Owen, of the Church Missionary Society, who took up his residence at 
 Dingan's great place. 
 
 At this time the whole country from Delagoa Bay to the Urazimvubu 
 acknowledged the sway of the Zulu monarch. His power had hitherto 
 been irresistible, but he was now about to meet an enemy before whom he, 
 in his turn, must submit. The Emigrant Boers were on the march to 
 Natal. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXT. 
 
 THE EMIGRANT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 From the Cape Colony emigration on a very extensive scale was now going 
 on. Many of the farmers who believed that great injustice had been done 
 to them by the Imperial Government, had resolved to remove beyond the 
 boundaries of British rule. This they thought they could easily accomplish, 
 as Lord Glenelg, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, had disclaimed 
 an intention on the part of the British Government to assert authority over 
 any territory in South Africa beyond the Cape frontiers. From the first, 
 the emigrants were well aware of the danger in which they were placing 
 themselves, but they had fully made up their minds to meet it. They left 
 the colony in large bands, well armed, and under leaders of recognized 
 ability. For years their great tent waggons were the only homes that most 
 of them had, as they moved from place to place in the wilderness. But 
 this was the normal condition of many of them when in the colony, so that 
 to them there was no hardship in it. What they had most to fear was the 
 loss of their flocks by plunder, disease, or want of pasturage, and the 
 enmity of the tribes with which they should come in contact. For the sake 
 of liberty, as they understood the word, they risked the first, and depended 
 on their stout hearts and good weapons for the rest. 
 
 A pioneer party, in fourteen waggons, was sent from Uitenhage in 1834 
 to explore the country to the north-eastward and select a locality for a new 
 settlement. This party passed along the eastern base of the Quathlamba 
 mountains, and reached Natal after a tedious, but uneventful journey. 
 The upland country was uninhabited, so these pioneers carefully examined 
 its capabilities, and found it well adapted for both agricultural and pastoral 
 pursuits. They then returned to their friends, and reported so favourably 
 that a large number left at once for the land of promise and others followed 
 
THE EMIGRANT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 as soon as possible. By this time, however, a better route was discovered 
 than that the pioneer party had taken, and henceforth the Emigrants made 
 their way through what is now the Oi-ange Free State. 
 
 It was no easy matter to move through a country in which there were 
 no roads and no other resources except game. Their waggons were laden 
 with hojsehold goods, provisions, and ammunition, and their cattle were 
 driven on in herds. Sometimes, if the grass was good and water plentiful, 
 they would remain for weeks together at one encampment, but if the pas- 
 turage was poor they pushed on as rapidly as possible. A party of young 
 men on horseback was always sent on a little in advance, to scour the 
 country and point out the best route. When danger was apprehended, % 
 simple but effective fortress was formed by drawing the waggons up in a 
 circle close to each other, on a plain or on rising ground. The climate of 
 South Africa makes such a life as this not only possible, but pleasant to 
 people educated as the Emigrants were. They had milk and meat in plenty, 
 they were strong and healthy and free, they could worship the Creator just 
 as well under the vault of heaven as in a building of brick and stone. And 
 every evening they sang the pi-aises of that God who had led Israel out of 
 Egypt to a land of rest, and put up their petitions that He would deal 
 likewise with them. 
 
 By the close of 1837 upwards of a thousand waggons had arrived, and 
 tlie farmers had spread themselves over the greater part of the present 
 Counties of Klip River and Weenen. This tract of country they found 
 unoccupied, but that it had at one time contained a large population was 
 clearly indicated by the remains oE thousands of stone cattle-folds. In 
 general, they located themselves in parties, consisting of families nearly 
 related to each other, with some aged and respected patriarch at their head. 
 To follow the instructions and advice of such a leader came easy to men of 
 their simple habits, but it is evident that government of this kind must 
 have been exceedingly weak. Society, in fact, had reverted to a very 
 primitive form. 
 
 Among the different leaders of parties, however, there was one whose 
 influence was universally felt, and who was to some extent the recognized 
 head of the first Emigrants who crossed the Drakenberg into^^Natal. This 
 man's name was Pieter Retief. He was the descendant of a respectable 
 Huguenot family, and had received an education greatly in advance of the 
 generality of his countrymen. When a young man he had left his ancestral 
 home in one of the vine-clad valleys of the west, and had entered into 
 large contracts with the government for the supply of provisions and 
 erection of public buildings in the newly settled districts along the Kaffir 
 frontier. In the war of 1835 he took part as Commandant of burghers, 
 having been among those who suffered most severely from the first great 
 inroad of the enemy. The conclusion of peace found Retief a poor man, 
 and when the Glenelg treaties were made he lost all hope of recovering a 
 competency in the colony. It was then that an inconsiderate remaj'k of 
 
90 
 
 THE EMIGEANT BOEIiS AT NATAL. 
 
 Sir Andriss Stockenstrom caused him to join the ranks of the disaffected^ 
 and turn his steps first towards the Yaal Kiver and thence to Natal. 
 
 Eetiei was a man of high principle, and was therefore desirous of making 
 a formal purchase of ground from the native owner. He was well aware 
 that this would not prevent hostilities, whenever the Zulus might be 
 disposed for war, but it would give his countrymen a more rightful claim 
 than that derived from occupation alone. Accordingly be visited Dingan 
 at his great place, where he arranged with him for a cession of the territory 
 occupied by the boeri, upon condition of their recovering for him a number 
 of cattle which Sikontila, a chief residing in Basutoland, had recently 
 stolen. 
 
 On their passage over the Drakenberg the Emigrants had become 
 acquainted with the particulars of the raid made by Sikonybla's people. 
 It appears that DiNQAif suspected the farmers themselves of having swept 
 off his herds, as the robbers were dressed in European clothing, were 
 mounted on horseback, and carried guns. The chief accused Retief of 
 this and also of having fired on his people, but apparently was easily 
 convinced that his suspicions were groundless. He appointed two of his 
 officers and a party of men to accompany the farmers to Sikonyela's country, 
 where Retief asserted the stolen cattle would be found. 
 
 The boers fulfilled their part of the agreement, and Retief delivered the 
 recovered cattle to the two ofiicers of Dingan. He then returned to his 
 party, which was encamped near the junction of the Bushman's and Tugela 
 rivers, and made ready to pay a second visit to Dingan, and formally 
 conclude the arrangement between them. But by this time many of the 
 farmers had acquired such a feeling of uneasiness as induced them to urge 
 their loader not to venture again into the Zulu despot's power. A man 
 whose life was of less value to the community, they thought should be 
 sent, and there were not wanting many who nobly volunteered to fulfil the 
 dangerous task. But Retief was deaf to their entreaties, for he would 
 send no one where he feared to go himself. They urged him then to take 
 only two or three companions, arguing that the weakness of such a party 
 would be its best security ; but he thought to create a favourable impression 
 by the presence of a goodly escort. 
 
 On the 2nd of February, 1838, Retief accomj5anied by sixty-six of the 
 most respectable and picked men from among the farmers, with about 
 thirty Hottentot servants riding or leading spare horses, arrived at the Zulu 
 capital. Dingan expressed himself highl}^ satisfied with what had been 
 done, and exhibited every appearance of friendship. Mr. Owen, who by 
 that time had acquired some knowledge of the Zulu language, and who had 
 managed also to engage a competent interpreter, was requested to draw up 
 a formal deed of cession. This he did in the English language, and caused 
 it to be translated to the chief, who, with some of his principal officers 
 affixed their marks, after which it was given to Retief. Under no circum- 
 stances would such a cession, in native estimation, have meant more than 
 
THE EMIGRANT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 91 
 
 the mere permission lo occupy the ground during the hfetime of the 
 reigning chief, whose supremacy as feudal lord would have been assumed; 
 but DiNGAN from the first was only seeking to lure the farmers to destruction, 
 and never intended his cession to mean anything. Upon pretence of 
 entertaining his visitors in a worthy manner, he had assembled a great 
 number of warriors, and for two days sham fights were enacted, in w^hich 
 the different modes of barbarian warfare were represented. In these 
 exhibitions the Zulus took great delight, and the farmers were entirely 
 thrown off their guard by the trouble that was taken apparently to amuse 
 them. 
 
 On the morning of the 5th, Retief and his party prepared to return to 
 their friends, and went to take leave of Dingan, whom they found, as 
 usual, surrounded by warriors. Great care had been taken to show them 
 that according to Zulu custom no one could approach the chief armed, and, 
 consequently, when they were requested to leave their guns outside the 
 kraal, they did so without suspicion of danger. They were received in the 
 ordinary manner, and were pressed to seat themselves and partake of 
 some beer, which was being handed round freely. While in this defence- 
 less position, into which they had been so carefully entrapped, Dingan 
 gave the order for their murder, and immediately they were attacked by 
 three or four thousand warriors armed with sticks. Those who were not 
 instantly massacred drew their knives and maintained a desperate conflict 
 for half an hour, but they were ultimately all beaten down and killed, and 
 their mangled corpses were thrown upon a hillock close by, to be devoured 
 by vultures and beasts of prey. 
 
 While the massacre was taking place, Mr. Owen sat in his hut, expecting 
 every moment to hear the footsteps of the messengers of death. Dingan 
 sent word to him that the farmers were being killed because they were 
 wizards, but that he need not fear for himself. Notwithstanding this 
 message, he felt that his life was in imminent danger, since the chief 
 appeared to delight in nothing so much as in treachery. He was spared, 
 however ; but the horrors of that day made such an impression upoii him 
 that he left Zululand as speedily as possible. It is from his account that 
 the details of the massacre are known. 
 
 Some ten thousand Zulu warriors instantly marched towards Natal, with 
 the intention of falling upon the immigrants before they could hear of the 
 murder of their friends and prepare for hostilities. Dividing themselves 
 into several detachments, at early dawn they burst upon the foremost 
 parties near the present village of Weenen, which has obtained its name, 
 meaning wailing or weeping, from the sad events of that day. Men, 
 women, and children, were barbarously murdered, and every European in 
 that part of Natal must have met with this fate had not, fortunately, two 
 or three young men escaped, who hastened to inform those further on of 
 the imminent danger in which they were. These at once made the best 
 possible preparations in their circwmstances, by intrenching themselves 
 
92 
 
 THE EMIGRANT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 in laagers or encampments formed by drawing their waggons in a circle 
 abont them. Haivily had they time to effect even this simple arrangement 
 when they were assailed, but in no instance were the Zulus able to penetrate 
 these encampments, though great numbers perished in the attempt. At 
 one place on the Bushman's River they persevered for a whole day in endea- 
 vouring to reach the farmers, whose ammunition was nearly exhausted 
 when a shot from a three-pounder, in ploughing through a mass of the 
 assailants, struck down several of their leading men, which caused the 
 remainder to retreat precipitately. In the defence of the laagers the women 
 were nearly as serviceable as the men, those who were unable to use 
 muskets themselves loading spare ones for their husbands and brothers. 
 
 As soon as the savages retired, the farmers sallied out of the different 
 laagers to learn the fate of their friends, when they found that all who had 
 not had time to intrench themselves had been murdered. All their cattle 
 had been swept off, and their household goods had been destroyed. The 
 waggons had been broken to pieces and burnt for the sake of the iron about 
 them, and beside the ruins lay the corpses of young and old, men and 
 women, in some cases horribly mutilated. In one place two girls about 
 ten or twelve years of age were found still living, though one had received 
 nineteen and the other twenty-one stabs of the assegai. They were tended 
 with care, and recovered, though they ever after remained cripples. Alto- 
 gether, thirty-three men, ninety-five women, two hundred children, and 
 one hundred and eighty coloured servants, besides those of Retief's party, 
 were thus cut off without warning by the merciless barbarians. 
 
 The survivors of this fearful massacre, after ascertaining the full extent 
 of their loss, held a consultation to decide upon what was to be done. 
 One Dr two proposed to withdraw from the country, but they were shamed 
 by the women, who declared that they would never leave Natal till the 
 blood of their relatives was avenged. The earnest, deep-seated religion of 
 the Emigrants supported them in this hour of distress, and gave a tone to 
 all their proceedings. What had happened, said one, was in punishment 
 for their sins, but let them call upon God and He would certainly help them. 
 And then from that sorrow-stricken camp went up their cry to the God of 
 heaven, that He would not forsake His people nor let the heathen triumph 
 over them. The discussion was not so much, what was expedient for them 
 to do, as what was it their duty to do. The resolution they arrived at was 
 that it was clearly their duty to punish the murderers of their friends. 
 For this they were then too weak, but they were not left long without 
 assistance. A large party which had lagged behind on the Quathlamba, 
 and had thus escaped the onslaught, hurried forward, together with many 
 small parties that were on their way to the district. 
 
 By April they were ready to take the field. Leaving their laagers under 
 adequate protection, about four hundred men, in two divisions, under the 
 command of Pieter TJys and Hendrik Potgieter, advanced towards the 
 Zulu capital, intent upon destroying the power of Ding an. Take the fact 
 
THE EMIGEAITT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 9a 
 
 of their being mounted and armed with muskets into consideration, and 
 this action must still remain one of the most daring on record, considering 
 that DiNGAN could bring into the field at least fifty times their number of 
 men, trained to despise death in battle, disciplined to move in concert, and 
 armed with the deadly stabbing assegai. The loss of their horses at any 
 moment must have been fatal to the commando, which was without a 
 commissariat and at one time five days' journey from the encampment of 
 their friends. Until their arrival within a short distance of the great chief's 
 residence, their march was unopposed, the country they passed through 
 appearing to have been abandoned. 
 
 Having at length come in sight of a division of the Zulu army, they 
 attacked it impetuously, and were drawn into a skilfully planned ambuscade. 
 One of the approaches to the great place was a long defile between two 
 ranges of hills, and into this the farmers were led by the Zulus apparently 
 retreating before them. When in the narrowest part of this gorge, they 
 found themselves surrounded by an immense force which had been lying 
 in ambush, and by which they were so hemmed in that they could not fall 
 back rapidly after firing and again load and charge, as was their usual 
 mode of fighting. They accordingly directed all their fire upon one mass of 
 the enemy, when, having cleared a path by bringing down hundreds at once, 
 they rushed through and escaped. Their loss was eleven men, including 
 their gallant leader, Pieter Uys, who, upon being mortally wounded, called 
 out to his followers to leave him and fight their way out, for he must die. 
 The Commandant was accompanied by his son, a boy twelve years of age, 
 who might have escaped with the rest, but he refused to abandon his 
 father, and fell at his side. After this experience of Zulu strategy, the 
 commando had no course open but to return to their friends with a report 
 of failure. 
 
 The English chiefs in Natal deemed this a favourable opportunity for 
 throwing off their allegiance to Ding an. At the same time that the farmers, 
 under Uys and Potgieter, were advancing upon the Zulu capital, they 
 made a successful raid upon the kraals of two of Dingan's great captains, 
 and carried off about three thousand head of cattle and a number of women 
 and girls. The success of this foray elated and excited them so much that 
 t hey determined upon repeating it on a larger scale, and, accordingly, a 
 band of about three thousand Kaffirs, with a few Hottentots, under 
 eighteen or twenty Englishmen, invaded Zululand. This band styled itself 
 "The Grand Army of Natal;" about four hundred were armed with 
 muskets, the others carried assegais and shields. After crossing the 
 Tugela, they destroyed a kraal, in which a detachment of the Zulu army 
 was lying, but immediately afterwards they themselves were attacked by a 
 Zulu force of over ten thousand meu. The retreat of the Dutch commando 
 had left Dingan at liberty to deal with these rebel subjects of his, a 
 contingency they had not calculated upon before they were too far advanced 
 to retreat. 
 
94 
 
 THE EMIGRANT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 A desperate battle ensued, and ended only when the Army of Natal was 
 annihilated. The death of John Cane, the principal leader, was the turning 
 point of the battle. He had been wounded with an assegai, when one of 
 his followers came to his aid. Cane, mistaking this man for an enemy, shot 
 him dead, and at the same moment fell himself a corpse. The action took 
 place above a steep bank of the Tugela, and over this precipice the fugitives 
 were compelled to leap when attempting to escape. A division of the 
 Zulu army had made a detour to cut off their retreat and put the fugitives 
 to death as they crossed the river. Three or four Englishmen, as many 
 Hottentots, and a few Kaffirs, were all that escaped, while the Zulu chief 
 lost some thousands of his best warriors in this dreadful engagement. 
 
 Dingan's army at once marched to the Bay ^ but, fortunately, a small 
 vessel vras lying at anchor there, and on board of her the surviving Eng- 
 lishmen took refuge. The Zulus destroyed all their property, drove off the 
 cattle, and then returned to their own country. 
 
 The farmers now gave up all hope of acting on the offensive for the 
 present, but sent messengers imploring assistance from their friends in the 
 Cape Colony and the present Free State. Many parties, on hearing of 
 their distress, came to join them, but this, at the moment, only increased 
 their misery. Their cattle having been swept off by the Zulus, and having 
 been prevented from cultivating the land, they were actually in a state of 
 famine. Disease, caused by anxiety and want of sufficient food, broke out 
 among them, and had their countrymen at the Cape not sent them some 
 supplies of provisions, medicines, and other necessaries of life, but few 
 could have survived the hardships of the next six months. In August, 
 DiNGAN attacked them again, but they were prepared to give him a warm 
 reception. At every laager the Zulu forces were defeated with great 
 slaughter, while the lives of only two or three boers were lost during 
 several successive engagements. 
 
 A man, whose name was often to be heard in connection with the most 
 daring deeds of the Emigrants during the next fifteen years, came upon the 
 stage of Natal at this critical time. Andries Wilhelmtjs Jacobus Pretorius, 
 formerly a plain farmer of Graaff-Reinet, joined the stream of his countrymen 
 pouring out of the old colony, and passed over the Drakenberg just when 
 an able commander was most needed. The heads of the three principal 
 parties that had moved into Natal, — Pieter Retief, Cert Maritz, 
 and Pieter Uys, — were all dead, and there was no one of sufficient note to 
 command general confidence when, in November, 1838, Pretorius arrived. 
 Like most of the farmers of that day, he had received so little education as 
 to have no knowledge of geography, modern history, or the condition and 
 relative strength of European nations, but in Bible history he was 
 thoroughly well versed. It was because he was a model of piety, accord- 
 ing to the ideas of the farmers, and an embodiment of their ruling passions, 
 — hatred of control and of sudden innovations, love of freedom and of 
 abundant space to move about in, — as well as on account of his ability and 
 
THE EMIGEANT BOBKS AT NATAL. 
 
 95 
 
 bravery, that Pretorius came to be the hero of the Emigrants. At this 
 time he was in the noontide of life, being thirty-nine years of age, and was 
 possessed of unnsual vigour and strength of body. A calm, nnexcitable, 
 plainly dressed farmer, unassuming in manner, slow in counsel, but quick 
 in action, such was the man who was now elevated by public suffrage to 
 the rank of Commandant General. 
 
 By the beginning of December the Emigrants were able to take the field 
 with four hundred and sixty mounted men, under the command of Pue- 
 Tomus, supported by another but less powerful body under Carl Landman. 
 They had advanced far into Zululand, when, at early dawn of Sunday, 16th 
 of December, 1838, they were attacked by Dingan's forces, ten or twelve 
 thousand strong. For three hours the enemy continued to press upon the 
 camp in which they had intrenched themselves, until PnETOiiius, observing 
 that the Zulus were concentrating all their efforts upon one point, ordered 
 two hundred horsemen to sally out and attack their flanks. These, by 
 pouring deadly volleys into the immense mass crowded together within a 
 small space, at length put the enemy to flight with fearful loss. About 
 three thousand Zulus bit the dust ; and theu' defeat must have been felt by 
 themselves to be decisive, as Dingan fled panic-stricken, set fire to hia 
 capital, and hid himself with the remnant of his army in the woods skirt- 
 ing the Umvolosi River. 
 
 The farmers, having had only five men killed and as many wounded, 
 advanced at once upon the Zulu capital, which they found still burning. 
 On a hillock outside of the town they discovered the remains of RetiBf and 
 his companions, who, ten months before, had fallen victims to Dingan's 
 treachery, and whose deaths they were then avenging. The bodies 
 appeared never to have been disturbed by man since the day of the 
 massacre. Most likely, the superstitious fears of the Zulus prevented them 
 from visiting the spot where the remains of those whom they considered 
 mighty wizards were lying, as even the clubbed sticks with which Retief 
 and his party were murdered lay strewn around, and the riems with which 
 the dead bodies were dragged to the place were still attached to the 
 skeletons. All the skulls were broken, showing how thoroughly the 
 murderers had done their work. The skeleton of Retief was recognized 
 by a leathern pouch which he had suspended from his shoulder, and in 
 this was found the deed of cession of Natal, from the Tugela to the 
 Umzimvubu, written by Mr. Owen on the day previous to the massacre, 
 and signed with Dingan's mark. The document was in such perfect 
 preservation that a sheet of paper in which it was wrapped was used by 
 the Commandant that same day to write a letter on. After interring the 
 remains of their unfortunate countrymen, the farmers fell back, taking 
 with them some five thousand head of cattle, which they distributed among 
 themselves as the hard earned spoils of the campaign. 
 
 On their return, they found that Sir George Napiee, Governor of the 
 Cape Colony, had sent a small detachment of troops to take possession 
 
96 
 
 THE EMIGEANT BOEE9 AT NATAL. 
 
 of the Bay of Natal. This was done, as stated in a proclamation of the 14th 
 of November, 1838, " from a desire to put an end to the unwarrantable 
 \Dccupation of part of the territories belonging to the natives, by certain 
 emigrants from the Cape Colony, being British subjects." The proclamation 
 gave the officer commanding power to " search for, seize, and retain in 
 militaiy possession, all arms and munitions of war which, at the time of 
 the seizure of Port Natal, should be found in possession of the inhabitants." 
 It was difficult for an English Minister to decide upon the course to be 
 pursued under the extraordinary circumstances of this emigration move- 
 ment, and the Governor of the Cape appears to have been left almost 
 without instructions. He hardly knew what to do. Here was a body of 
 men fleeing from British rule, and waging war with the natives at the very 
 time that the Glenelg system of upholding the independence of the tribes 
 was being tried. Clearly it was his duty to interfere; but in face of the 
 massacres which had brought on the war, to deprive the Emigrants of 
 their arms, without at the same time undertaking to protect them, was 
 something like consigning them to certain death. 
 
 The officer commanding the detachment at Natal acted with great tact, 
 and showed such a friendly disposition towards the farmers as to gain their 
 entire confidence. He seized, indeed, some of their ammunition, but soon 
 afterwards restored it, on their engaging not to use it in aggressive hostilities 
 with the natives. From that time an amicable intercourse was kept up 
 between the troops and the farmers, which was strengthened by their 
 being dependent on each other for various necessaries. No attempt was 
 made to interfere with the civil government established by the Emigrants. 
 This was certainly an anomalous condition of affairs, and though it might 
 answer for a season, it was evident it could not long continue. 
 
 At this time the present capital of Natal was founded. A very beautiful 
 site was chosen, on a plain at the foot of a range of hills, where the clear 
 sweet water of the Little Bushman's Eiver could easily be led out. Several 
 wide streets, parallel to each other, were marked off, between which the 
 ground was divided into plots of about two acres each, so that every family 
 might have a large garden and orchard, with a double frontage. A quiet, 
 tree-embowered village, with a big church standing in an open square, with 
 houses faced with high stoeps and standing far apart, and streams of 
 limpid water running down the sides of the streets, a village scented with 
 oi-ange blossoms and sweet smelling flowers, its roadways lined with weep- 
 ing willows whose thick foliage would veil the rays of the fiery summer 
 sun : this was the ideal of the founders of Pietermaritzburg. The coming 
 of the English soon afterwards spoilt the plan to some extent, but to the 
 present day the town bears the impress of the Arcadian tastes of its original 
 founders. It took its name from Pieter Retief and Gert Maritz, the last 
 of whom, besides being the leader of a party into Natal, had done excellent 
 service in a war that will be mentioned in the history of the Transvaal 
 Eepublie- 
 
THE EM [GRANT BOKllS AT NATAL. 
 
 During the year 1839 the farmers were undisturbed, but Dingan had not 
 yet given up the hope of exterminating them. The losses which the Zulus 
 had recently sustained were tremendous, but still insufficient to humble 
 them. Within a few months after his defeat by Pretorius, Dingan was 
 again at the head of the most powerful native army in Southern Africa. 
 Over the proceedings of the farmers he kept a constant watch, by means 
 of spies sent professedly to arrange terms of peace. The farmers informed 
 him that they would not enter into any treaty, unless he first restored 
 their cattle and sheep, nor until the value of their property, taken and 
 destroyed by him and his people, had been made good to them. This would 
 seem to be explicit enough, but Dingan proved himself a perfect master of 
 the art of spinning out negotiations. First he sent an empty message, 
 then some three hundred horses, next a few compliments, then again an 
 embassy with protestations of his desire for peace. At the end of several 
 months spent in this manner, he had not restored one tenth of the farmers' 
 cattle. His messengers were directed to make promises, to appoint places 
 of meeting, to apologize for mistakes, to do anything to gain time. At 
 length, in an unguarded moment, one of them admitted that he had really 
 been sent to report whether the farmers were still in laagers or were 
 scattered over the country. The proceedings were then abruptly terminated. 
 
 While affairs were in this state, a revolution was commencing in the Zulu 
 country, by the formation, under Mpande, a brother of Dingan, of a party 
 intent on putting an end to the destructive wars in which the nation had 
 been engaged. ISTo sooner was the Zulu chief made aware of this, than he 
 determined to'put his brother to death, but was unable to accomplish his 
 design, as Mpande with his followers fled across the Tugela, and sent 
 messengers requesting the aid of the farmers. This was looked upon at 
 first as a stratagem designed to separate them, but the fugitive chief 
 succeeded in proving to their satisfaction that he was in earnest. An 
 alliance, offensive and defensive, was formed ; and in January, 1840, four 
 hundred mounted Emigrants under Pretorius, accompanied by a Zulu 
 force of four thousand men under Mpande, crossed the Tugela, and advanced 
 to attack Dingan. On their march, they were met by a messenger from 
 the Zulu king, with an offer of Dcace ; but he and his attendant were seized, 
 tried for being concerned in the murder of Eetief, and executed by the 
 farmers, in violation of all the usages of war, among savage as well as 
 civilized nations. 
 
 A few days after this was fought a desperate battle between Dingan and 
 Mpande, which terminated for ever the Zulu march of conquest. Before 
 the action Dingan had with him the strength of the nation, but as soon as 
 the fight began several of the young regiments went over to Mpande, 
 turning the scale numerically in his favour. In acting thus, these 
 regiments pledged themselves to conquer or die, as defeat after that meant 
 certain destruction. And now nothing was left to the faithful troops but 
 to fall as became Zulu warriors, for they scorned to yield to the traitors 
 o 
 
98 
 
 THE EMTGKANT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 who had deserted their lawful chief, or to follow their base example. The 
 veterans who had won their plumes under Tshaka sold their lives dearly 
 in this their last and most stubborn fight. Regiment after regiment on 
 each side perished. The flower of the Zulu army was destroyed, when a 
 shout was raised that the boers were coming. When the battle commenced, 
 the commando was miles away, but now it was seen hurrying towards the 
 field of slaughter. The remnant of Dingan's army, the men who could 
 not flee from a foe armed with shield and spear, gave way before those 
 dreaded horsemen who had power to deal out death without meeting it 
 themselves. A bushy country spread out before them, and favoured their 
 escape. The battle was over, the terror which the Zulu name had inspired 
 for thirty years had passed away. Not until those who were boys should 
 grow to be men could another army be raised, and long before that time a 
 stronger power would arise and hold the destiny of the land. 
 
 Tlie spoils of the war, consisting of immense herds of cattle, remained to 
 be distributed by the conquerors. The farmers contented themselves with 
 thirty-six thousand head, and permitted Mpande to take the remainder. 
 But they took possession of the whole country from the Umzimvubu to the 
 Umvolosi and St. Lucia Bay, and claimed besides a right of suzerainty over 
 Mpa^de, whom they installed as king of the Zulus. 
 
 The end of Dingan was in keeping with his life. After the battle in 
 which his power was annihilated, he fled northwards, and fixed his 
 residence in a secluded part of the country he had taken from the 
 Amaswazi. There he was assassinated by one of his own captains, in open 
 day, and in sight of his body guard, who sprang to his assistance, but too 
 late except to strike down the murderer. The faithful ones who had 
 adhered to him in his misfortunes then tendered their submission *to 
 Mpande, by whom they were received with every show of favour. 
 
 The Emigrants were now in full and peaceable possession of Natal ; for, 
 not only were the natives entirely submissive to them, but the British 
 garrison at the Bay had been withdrawn, December 24th, 1839, as the 
 regiment to which it belonged was under orders for home. By the farmers 
 this abandonment of the country was not unnaturally considered equivalent 
 to a recognition of their independence by the British Government, and 
 they at once proclaimed a Republic. The form of government which they 
 adopted was extremely democratic. They divided the country into twelve 
 wards, each of which elected yearly two representatives to a Council in 
 which were vested supreme executive, legislative, and judicial powers. 
 This Council, or Volksraad, was required to assemble at Maritzburg every 
 three months. At each meeting a chairman was chosen from among the 
 members present, to regulate the order of their proceedings ; but he had 
 not in any other respect the slightest power or authority over the rest. 
 The members performed their duties gratuitously. Two or three of 
 those who lived in or near Maritzburg were formed into a Committee 
 (called the Commissie Raad), and had power to decide upon and 
 
THE EMlGBJlNT BOERS AT NATAL. 
 
 99 
 
 carry out any executive or administrative duties requiring immediate 
 despatch ; but they were bound at the next general meeting of the Council 
 to report their proceedings, and submit them for sanction or disapproval. 
 At Maritsburg, Durban, and Weenen, landdrosts were stationed, each of 
 whom exercised a certain limited authority. The most important officer of 
 this government was the Commandant General, who was invested with 
 considerable authority in military matters. 
 
 The population was now rapidly increasing by arrivals from the Cape 
 Colony, and a period of prosperity appeared to have commenced. As soon 
 as peace was secured, the farmers began to settle down to their ordinary 
 peaceful occupations, believing that their principal troubles were ended. 
 Each selected for himself a tract of land seven or eight thousand acres in 
 extent, thus introducing into Natal a system which hardly admits of much 
 progress. Other people besides emigrants from the old colony were looking 
 towards these lonely plains and vallej^s as to a land of hope. The remnants 
 of various tribes, which had been scattered and impoverished during the 
 period of Zulu supremacy, commenced to emerge from their retreat and 
 come under the protection of the Republic. In their government of the 
 natives the Emigrants were strict and, to English ideas, severe ; but those 
 who had been under the tyranny of Tshaka or Dingan regarded the new 
 lords of Natal as models of beneficence and justice. In their own expressive 
 way of speaking, they could sleep without fear under the shield of the white 
 man, whereas before when they lay down it was in doubt if they would 
 ever rise. It was true, the boers laid a labour tax upon them by calling their 
 young men out now and again for a few days, but what was that compared 
 to being the slaves of Zulu warriors. Then, too, there was food in the 
 land that the white man ruled, and what had they eaten under Tshaka J 
 And so commenced an influx which in five or six years brought the 
 population up to one hundred thousand. 
 
 At that time there was no desire on the part of the English government 
 to extend its dominions in South Africa. Very likely, if the Emigrants 
 had acted with greater prudence, they would have been permitted to retain 
 their own government, and Great Britain would merely have reserved the 
 right of placing a garrison at the Bay, whenever necessary, to prevent any 
 other European Power from taking possession of it. To this end events 
 seemed tending, when the attention of the Cape government was again 
 directed to Natal, 
 
 Some of the farmers' cattle having been stolen, a commando assembled, 
 according to the ancient colonial system, and fell upon the kraals to which 
 the robbers belonged, with a view of punishing them as well as of making 
 reprisals. The tribe thus attacked was one which had fled from Tshaka 
 into Pondoland, and had there been a terror to all its neighbours. That 
 Faku, the paramount Pondo chief, encouraged them to punish an enemy 
 whom he feared, is maintained by the boers, and is now generally believed 
 to be true. The tribe resisted, but the commando seized three thousand 
 
100 
 
 THE EMIGKANT liOEIlS AT NaTaL. 
 
 }iead of cattle, killed several natives, and carried away seventeen clnldrefi. 
 At tlie very time of this occurrence, the Emigrants were corresponding 
 with Sir George Napier, urging him to induce the Queen formally to 
 recogniae them as an independent people, and promising on their part to 
 make no aggressions upon the natives, and to prohibit slavery. The action 
 of the commando showed how very differently the words aggression and 
 slavery can be interpreted. Sir Geoiigb Napier believed that the Emigrants 
 had been gailty of aggression in attacking the Amabaca, they maintained 
 that they had punished a band of robbers in the only possible way. The 
 English Governor spoke of the seventeen children that had been carried 
 etff as being held in slavery, the farmers of the comroando' termed them 
 destitute and helpless persons who were taken care of out of eharity. 
 
 Throughout South Africa the system of indenturing destitute children to- 
 trustworthy people is in force to the present day, it is in the Cape Colony 
 as well as elsewhere the usual way of providing for them. And when- 
 ever due provision is made to ascertain that children so indentured are 
 really destitute^ that the persons to whom they are allotted take proper care 
 of them, and that they are kept in service no longer than the legal terra 
 of apprenticeship, no reasonable objection to the system can well be made. 
 But whenever the goveniment is too weak to enforce order or to curb the 
 unruly, the custom is liable to great abuse. Children, for instance^ found 
 at kraals from which their parents were driven by force of arms, have on 
 more occasions than one been kept to labour for many years. The case of 
 the Baca youths was of this nature. ■ Their retention, indeed, was disap- 
 proved of by a majority of the Emigrants^ on moral as well as political 
 grounds ; but under the government which they had established every one 
 could do nearly as he chose in matters such as this. 
 
 Paku bad been willing enough for the farmers to attack the Amabaca, 
 but he seems to have suspected that he was not altogether safe himself. 
 He applied to Sir George Napier for protection, and^ accordingly, a small 
 body of troops consisting of two hundred and fifty men of the 27th regi- 
 ment, a few Cape Mounted Riflemen, and some artillerymen with two field 
 pieces, was sent to bis country, and formed a temporary camp there- 
 Meanwhile the correspondence with the Natal farmers was continued, but 
 they were now distinctly informed that their independence could not be 
 recognized, and that military possession of the Bay might at any time be 
 taken. In October, 1841, a letter to this effect was received, and as the 
 Volksraad was then in session, a reply waa at once drawn up, in which 
 the members asserted their independence, and declared that they would 
 not consent to receive a garrison in the country. In other words, they 
 were determined to resist by force an > attempt to bring them under 
 control. When the issue was thus simplified, Sir George Napier proclaimed 
 his intention of taking military possession of Natal, aud Captain Smith 
 was directed to move foivvard from Pondoland for that purpose. The 
 count, y was again about to change its musters;. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 StilZUEE OF NATAL BY THE I^RITISIL 
 
 About the middle of March, 184'2, Captain Smith broke up his camp oil 
 the southern border of Pondolaud, There was no road through the country 
 he was about to traverse, and heavy rains had recently fallen, so that the 
 rivers were swollen and nearly impassable. The Emigrants never imagined 
 that a body of soldiers could be transported through such a country at such 
 a time, and so they made no preparations for defence. The first notice 
 they had of Captain Smith's movement was when, on the 4th of May, he 
 presented himself before Durban. With seven hundred bullocks to draw 
 his waggon train, he had overcome all the obstacles of the route. For days 
 together the rain had fallen in torrents, but the expedition had still marched 
 on, fatigue parties being sent forward every morning to clear a path for 
 the waggons. Ninety miles from Port Natal a small detachment was 
 posted to keep open communication to the southward, and there the sick 
 were also left. 
 
 Captain Smith formed a camp on a slight eminence close to Durban, by 
 drawing his waggons up in the form of a triangle, with a gun at each point. 
 An abundant supply of water was obtained from two wells which were 
 sunk as soon as the site for the camp was fixed upon. The republican flag 
 was then pulled down, and a notice was issued to the farmers, offering 
 them fifteen days in which to tender their submission, and threatening 
 them wiih severe penalties if they did not yield within that time. 
 
 A few days after the an-ival of the troops, the brig Filot entered the bay; 
 bringing from Cape Town some stores, a supply of ammunition, and two 
 brass field pieces. Shortly afterwards, the schooner Mazeppa arrived with 
 further supplies. To protect these stores when landed, and to hold the 
 entrance to the bay. Captain Smith formed an outpost at the Point, and 
 placed there a guard of twenty-five men under a sergeant. 
 
 Up to this moment neither the Home nor the Colonial Government 
 appears to have realized the magnitude of the emigration movement or the 
 extent of the opposition which the farmers were capable of making. Sir 
 George Napier, indeed, considered the puny force he had ordered to 
 Natal sufficiently strong to take and hold the country without any trouble. 
 Blindness like this, which was not altogether unmixed with disdain, could 
 only lead to unfortunate results. 
 
 The farmers, as soon as their astonishment at Captain Smith's overland 
 march had subsided, determined to attempt the recovery of their seaport. 
 They were encouraged to resist the introduction of English authority by 
 promises and false statements made to them by the supercargo of a Dutch 
 trading vessel which had recently been in the bay. This man, Smellekamf 
 
102 
 
 SElZtlHE 01' NATAL BY THE ENGLISH. 
 
 by name, had ingratiated himself with them, and had worked upon their 
 vanity and credulity to an almost incomprehensible extent. He informed 
 them that not only were the principal merchants and leading men of Holland 
 interested in their welfare, but that the king himself sympathized with 
 them, and was prepared to take them' under his protection. He made 
 them believe that arms and ammunition would be forwarded to them, and 
 induced the Volksraad to pay his travelling expenses to Europe and to 
 appoint him the representative of the Republic at the court of Holland. 
 That country, he told them, was one of the most powerful in Europe, and 
 so little versed were they in such matters that they gave credit to all his 
 statements. 
 
 Acting under this delusion, they employed the fifteen days allowed them 
 for consideration in collecting their forces, and in forming a camp at 
 Congella, near the head of the bay. They sent word to Captain Smitk 
 that the Republic was under the protection of the king of Holland, and 
 demanded that he and his troops should instantly leave Natal. Finding 
 that he took no notice of either their intimation or their demand, on the 
 23rd they seized the greater number of his oxen, thus committing an overt 
 act of hostility. 
 
 The same night Captain Smith attempted to surprise the farmers' camp 
 at Congella, but was driven back with considerable loss. The attacking 
 force consisted of eighteen men of the Royal Artillery, nine Sappers, one 
 hundred and nine men of the 27th regiment, and two Cape Mounted Rifle- 
 men. The camps were distant from each other about three miles, and the 
 road between them ran through a patch of dense bush. In this the 
 farmers had posted a body of men, who opened a deadly fire upon the 
 advancing English soldiers. The guns were drawn by oxen, some of which 
 were wounded, and, breaking loose, rushed furiously through the ranks, 
 causing great confusion. There was no alternative, so the troops retreated. 
 They left behind them their guns, seventeen killed, thirty-one wounded, 
 and three missing, and fell back to their camp, followed closely by the 
 farmers. 
 
 The attack upon Congella was planned without any knowledge of the 
 ground, or of the strength of the enemy, whose military power had up to 
 that time been treated with contempt by Captain Smith. With so little 
 forethought had it been undertaken, that the soldiers were relying upon 
 assistance from a large boat, which could have reached the head of the bay 
 at high water only, whereas by the route they followed they could advance 
 only when the tide was out. The force they had to oppose consisted of 
 between three and four hundred men quite as well armed as they were 
 themselves, and better acquainted with the locality. 
 
 The wounded were treated by the farmers with great humanity. They 
 were not considered prisoners of war, but were sent back to their friends 
 as soon as possible. The bodies of the slain were also forwarded to the 
 British camp to be interred by their late comrades. 
 
SEIZURE OP NATAL BT THE ENGLISH. 
 
 103 
 
 The provisions brought from Cape Town were still at the Point, when on 
 the morning of the 26th the guard stationed there was surprised by a force 
 of about a hundred farmers. Two of the soldiers were killed, and two 
 others were wounded, when the rest, seeing that resistance was out of the 
 question, surrendered, and were sent as prisoners of war to Maritzburg, 
 where they remained in confinement for about six weeks. Eight English 
 residents of Durban were also made prisoners and forwarded to Maritz- 
 burg for security. At the same time the Pilot and the Mazejjpa were 
 seized, but, with the exception of the captains, their crews were not 
 removed from them. The British camp was then closely invested, and a 
 heavy fire was opened upon it. 
 
 Captain Smith prepared to defend himself to the last extremity. He 
 caused deep trenches to be dug, in which the soldiers could remain in 
 security, and he increased his small stock of provisions by slaughtering 
 his few remaining oxen and horses and drying their flesh. The men were 
 put upon short allowance, which, as the siege advanced, became less and 
 less, until they had nothing more than a few ounces of biscuit-dust and 
 dried horse-flesh daily. 
 
 A young man named Richard King, one of the English residents of 
 Durban, now undertook to ride overland to the Cape Colony, and acquaint 
 the authorities there with the turn affairs had taken. Such a feat in 
 travelling has seldom been performed. There were no roads through the 
 wild country, no places of refi-eshment along the route. There were rivers 
 to be forded or swum by the solitary messenger, who kept on his headlong 
 course night and day, riding one of his horses and leading the other by 
 turns. Once he fell sick, or rather exhausted, and was compelled to rest 
 for twenty-four hours. On another occasion he was in danger of being 
 stopped by unfriendly natives, but by tact he succeeded in getting past 
 them. Nine days after leaving Natal he rode into Grahamstown, and the 
 journey of four hundred miles was over. 
 
 The number of the farmers was continually increasing, until the force 
 under command of Pretorius was raised to six hundred men. They 
 fortified the entrance to the bay, and pressed the siege of the British camp 
 with vigour. Their cannon balls having become exhausted, they manu- 
 factured others by casting leaden ones over a link of a chain cable or a 
 piece of bar iron. But so well were the soldiers protected that the fire of 
 the enemy was almost harmless, only seven men being killed and eight 
 wounded on the British side during the whole period of the siege, and even 
 this small loss was sustained principally during sorties. Mr. W. Cowie, a 
 trader of Durban, managed to convey a few cattle into the camp by night, 
 but this having been discovered, he was obliged to conceal himself, and a 
 reward was offered by the farmers for his apprehension. All property 
 belonging to the English settlers was then confiscated, and whatever was 
 portable was removed to Maritzburg. 
 
 There were a few women and children with Captain Smith's detachment, 
 
101- 
 
 SEIZURE or NATAL BY TKE ENGLISH. 
 
 and these, together with the wives and children of the EngUsh settlers, 
 twenty-eight in all, were permitted to take refuge on board the Mazeppa. 
 On the 10th of June, the crew of this vessel managed to slip the cable and 
 get to sea, being in hopes of meeting with a British war-vessel, from which 
 relief could be obtained. There was very little food and no ballast on board 
 the schooner at the time, and she had to run the gauntlet at the Point, 
 sailing slowly along, with a light breeze, at a distance of only thirty yards 
 from eighty farmers armed with muskets and a four pounder. Her sails 
 and rigging were pretty well cut up, but no one on board was hurt. She 
 ran northward as far as Delagoa Bay, and then, having met with no assis- 
 tance, put about and encountered the frigate Southampion at the outer 
 anchorage of Natal. 
 
 Famine was beginning to tell upon the soldiers, and they could have held 
 out only a very short time longer, when in the evening of the 24th of June, 
 thirty-two days after the commencement of the siege, a rocket flashing 
 through the air over the outer anchorage tinnounced that relief was at hand. 
 All that night and the next day the famished soldiers watched and waited 
 m vain. As night fell on the 25th, rockets were again seen shooting sky- 
 ward, and soon after dark the booming of heavy guns far to seaward was 
 heard. That night the fire of the farmers was heavier than it had been for 
 three weeks before, for they knew that their only chance now was to take 
 the camp at once. The soldiers knew just as well that the next day would 
 bring them relief, and so they answered the farmers, shot for shot, that 
 their friends in the ships outside might know they were yet holding out. 
 
 When Richard King reached Grahamstown with intelligence of the 
 disasters at Natal, the grenadiers of the 27th, mustering one hundred and 
 twenty men, were at once marched to Port Elizabeth and embarked in the 
 schooner Conch. Captain Bell, the master of this vessel, had been to 
 Natal before, and was well acquainted with the harbour. The Conch 
 arrived at the outer anchorage on the 24th, and sent up the rockets and 
 blue lights that evening which were seen from the camp. As soon as the 
 news reached Cape Town, a portion of the 25th regiment, under command 
 of Colonel A. J. Cloete, was embarked in the frigate Southampton with all 
 possible speed, and sent to Natal. Two other ships of war and a transport 
 followed, but arrived too late to be of any service. The authorities seemed 
 determined at last to make up by vigorous measures for that fatal 
 negligence which had led to the disaster. The Southampton arrived 
 during the night of the 25th, and it was the booming of her guns in answer 
 to the rockets from the Conch, which announced to the farmers that a new 
 foe was at hand. 
 
 The next day (Sunday, the 26th of June, 1842) a light breeze was 
 blowing from the south-eastward, of which the British commander 
 determined to take advantage. The entrance to the bay was protected by 
 cannon, and by a body of three hundred and fifty men, who could pour 
 down a torrent of musket balls upon the deck of any vessel attempting to 
 
SKIZUIUO OF NATAL BY THE ENGLISH. 
 
 105 
 
 pass. But the English made light of these obstacles. The Soutliampton 
 was brought as close to the bar as was considered prudent, and from that 
 position she opened her broadside and dispersed all who were within reach 
 of her heavy guns. To the hundred and twenty men already on board the 
 Conch, thirty-five more were now added, and eighty-five were embarked in 
 boats and taken in tow. A line was then run along the schooner a couple 
 of feet above her bulwarks, and covered with the soldiers' blankets, to 
 prevent the men on deck from being aimed at. Having taken this precau- 
 tion, the Conch set all sail and stood in, passing to the inner anchorage 
 with the loss of only two men killed and four wounded. The troops were 
 then landed without difficulty, as the farmers were already in full retreat. 
 "Within two hours from the time the boats left the Southamjpton, the 
 emaciated soldiers in the camp were relieved, and the British were masters 
 of Port I^atal. 
 
 The farmers retreated in great confusion, and formed a camp about 
 twelve miles from the bay. Some of them retired to their homes, but 
 about four hundred still remained under arms, though midecided how to 
 act. They had four or five field pieces, but their stock of ammunition 
 was small. 
 
 Colonel Cloete, who, as senior in rank, had assumed the command of 
 the troops, was unable to follow up his success at once. He had no 
 draught cattle of any kind, and the Bouthainpton had been driven to sea in 
 a gale with all his stores on board. Under these circumstances, he did not 
 scruple to make use of means which can only be justified by necessity. 
 The number of natives in Natal had of late been increasing very rapidly by 
 immigration, and some hundreds of these were then hovering about the 
 camp. Colonel Cloete called upon them to bring him all the horses and 
 cattle they could get, and they, interpreting this order into a general 
 plundering license, commenced to rob and murder peaceable settlers as 
 well as those who were under arms. Pretokius complained bitterly of this 
 proceeding, and remonstrated by letter with Cloete, who replied that he 
 would endeavour to prevent excesses, but that he could not recall the 
 order. " You," wrote he, " have caused this state of things by rebelling, 
 and you must bear the consequences." 
 
 The farmers were not the men to submit quietly to treatment like this. 
 They retaliated by falling upon a kraal and shooting fifty or sixty of the 
 occupants, which struck such terror into the hearts of the natives that the 
 robberies at once ceased. The commando then retired to Maritzburg, 
 where a meeting of the Volksraad was held, and by the advice of Pre- 
 TORius a resolution was carried that they should tender their submission, 
 upon condition of a general amnesty. But, at the same time, their 
 delegates were instructed to inform the British commander that the 
 country was under the protection of the king of Holland. 
 
 Colonel Cloete received the deputation with civility, and, at their 
 request, visited Maritzburg, where, on the ir)th of July, the articles of 
 
 V 
 
lOG 
 
 SEIZURE OF NATAL ET THE ENGLISH, 
 
 submission were drawn up. The farmers agreed to acknowledge the 
 authority of the Queen, to release their prisoners, to give up their cannon, 
 and to restore all confiscated property. The British commander agreed to 
 a general amnesty (four persons only excepted^ who were afterwards virtually 
 included), to respect all private property, to permit the farmers to return 
 to their homes wit'i their guns and horses, and to protect them against 
 the natives. He agreed further not to interfere with the tenure of their 
 lauds or with the existing administration and civil institutions. Until 
 the pleasure of the Queen should be made known, the Yolksraad was to 
 retain its power over the whole country, excepting the Bay and a small 
 strip of land about it, which was to be under the exclusive control of the 
 commander of the troops. The natives were t© remain in undisturbed 
 possession of the lands they were then occupying. 
 
 Hostilities being thus ended, Colonel Cloete returned to Cape Town 
 with the 25th regiment, leaving Captain Smith in command of a garrison 
 numbering three hundred and fifty men. Matters remained in this state 
 until May, 1843, the farmers being virtually independent during that 
 interval. Then a special Commissioner was sent to Katal to prepare for 
 the introduction of another form of government. This mission was in- 
 trusted to Mr. Henry Cloete, a brother of Colonel Cloete, and afterwards 
 Becorder of Natal. 
 
 The Commissioner, on his arrival, found matters in a very unsatisfactory 
 state. Smellekamp had recently returned from Holland, but when the 
 vessel in which he was a passenger put into the Bay, she was at once 
 ordered to sea again by the English commander, and the agent who had 
 already worked so much mischief was not permitted to land. The farmers 
 were incensed at this treatment of their envoy, and a war party was again 
 forming. From beyond the Drakenberg commandos were hastening to 
 assist in opposing the introduction of English rule. The country was in a 
 complete state of anarchy, of which Mr. Cloete gives the following proofs : 
 
 A judgment of the landdrost's court of Maritzburg, requiring a farmer 
 in the neighbourhood to restore some cattle seized from a Hottentot, had 
 been lying for three months a dead letter, because the farmer had threat- 
 ened to shoot any one who should act as messenger of the court, and no 
 one could be found who would run the risk. At the meetings of the 
 Volksraad the members came armed, and used the most violent language 
 towards their opponents. 
 
 Many of the most respectable farmers were in favour of any change that 
 would restore order and give strength to the government. The arrival at 
 Durban of military reinforcements, which the Commissioner had requested 
 to be sent from the Cape, gave this party an opportunity of openly express- 
 ing its views. Pretorius and several other leading men then counselled 
 moderation, and endeavoured to show how vain was the hope of holding 
 Maritzburg, let alone the open country, against trained English troops. 
 Early in August a meeting of the representatives of the people took place, 
 
SEIZURE OF NATAL BY THE ENGLISH. 
 
 107 
 
 at which the twenty-four members for Natal were present, and also some 
 forty-five or forty-six chosen by the commandos from beyond the 
 mountains. It seemed probable that a collision between the two parties 
 would take place, as all were armed. But a declaration of the Commission- 
 er, that the Quathlamba would be considered the boundary of Natal, was 
 the means of restoring order, as it gave to the disaffected a hope of being 
 left to themselves on the other side. They accordingly withdrew, and on 
 the 8th of August the Volksraad unanimously accepted the terms offered 
 by the Commissioner. Natal was to be an English colony, and the existing 
 government was to remain in force only until the Queen should appoint a 
 staff of officials. Those farmers who were determined not to be ruled by 
 English laws now lost no time in crossing the Quathlamba into the country 
 north of the Orange River ; but a great many Dutch families settled down 
 peaceably on their farms, where some of them and their descendants still 
 remain. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE TErSEXT COLONISTS OF NATAL AND THEIR GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Natal had now become an English possession through force of circum- 
 stances, and not from any desire on the part of the Imperial Government to 
 establish its dominion there. The sun shone on no fairer land, on none 
 more capable of furnishing happy homes for tens of thousands of Euro- 
 peans, if soil and climate alone are considered. But it was like some gem 
 of the ocean, surrounded by a stormy sea ever threatening to bury it 
 beneath the black waters. The Zulus on the north, the Basutos on the 
 west, and the Pondos on the south, were elements that required to be 
 taken into account when estimating the value of the new colony. On the 
 soil of that colony itself were now gathered a hundred thousand native 
 refugees, many of them claiming to be the heirs of the original owners. It 
 could not be looked upon as an empty land, inviting settlers from Europe 
 and promising them peace and plenty. With a populatijn of five to the 
 square mile, it was already more densely peopled than is the Cape Colony 
 at the present day. That number is indeed small, when the capabilities of 
 the soil are considered, but it was sufficiently large to deter Europeans from 
 making Natal their home. The land was known abroad as the theatre of 
 savage wars and inhuman massacres, and it was generally believed that 
 these might at any moment be repeated. It is not surprising therefore 
 
108 THE PKESENT COLONISTS OF NATAL AND THEIE GOVEEiNMENT. 
 
 that immigrants from over the sea were not attracted to its shores in any 
 considerable numbers. And though thirty-three years have since passed 
 away, the muster roll of the white inhabitants does not yet reach to twenty 
 thousand souls. 
 
 Those who amved first were mostly traders, whose object was to carry 
 on business with the Dutch settlers and the natives. Some of these in 
 course of time became possessed of large tracts of gi'ound, and turned 
 their attention to agricultural or pastoral pursuits. Occasionally a few 
 mechanics reached the colony, and parties of hunters were now and again 
 attracted by the abundance of game. But it was only a ripple, not a wave, 
 of immigration that set on the shore. 
 
 Five years after the landing of the English troops there were fewer 
 white people in Natal than on the day the Conch sailed over the bar. 
 With the capitulation many of the Dutch had abandoned the settlement, 
 and again in 1847 a large number moved away to the north-west. The 
 regulations regarding the natives made by the English government, parti- 
 cularly the setting aside immense tracts of the best land in the colony for 
 their exclusive use, caused a disaffection which threatened to depopulate 
 the country of Europeans. 
 
 Sir Hakey Smith made his appearance among the farmers just in time 
 to prevent a general exodus. The war of the axe was barely concluded in 
 the old colony, when that energetic governor hastened with all speed to 
 Natal, with a view of settling matters there. In January, 1848, he arrived, 
 and found a train of waggons in readiness to cross the Drakenberg. He 
 brought the first authentic intelligence that the Glenelg system of dealing 
 with the natives was abandoned, — a piece of information which made him 
 wonderfully popular with those who attributed most of their troubles to 
 the carrying out of that policy by Great Britain for so many years. The 
 High Commissioner found no difficulty in conciliating the disaffected; 
 he entered freely into conversation with them, and made himself acquaint- 
 ed with their grievances, which he endeavoured as far as possible to rectify. 
 Possibly, a portion of his success in indiicing them to remain where they 
 were arose from a proclamation which he issued, asserting British 
 sovereignty over the country between the Orange and Yaal rivers, which 
 led them to see that crossing the Drakenberg would not relieve them of 
 the" presence of the English flag. In another proclamation, the High 
 Commissioner offered free grants of farms to European settlers, a measure 
 that caused a considerable influx of people from other parts of South 
 Africa. 
 
 In 1848 a party of agricultural labourers from Northern Germany was 
 brought out by Mr. J. Bergtheil, a merchant of Durban, with a view of 
 testing the capabilities of the country for the cultivation of cotton. The 
 original design, however, was abandoned after their landing, and they were 
 located at New Germany, a few miles inland from Durban, where they 
 established themselves as market gardeners, and soon placed themselves 
 
THE PRESENT COLONISTS OF NATAL AND TlIEIll GOVEllNMENT. 100 
 
 ill comfortable circumstances through their industry and frugality. They 
 were in all only one hundred and eighty-three souls. The success which 
 these people attained as agriculturists, the proofs which they furnished of 
 the capabilities of the soil, and the strength which a body of industrious 
 peasants always imparts to a country, clearly pointed out one of the classes 
 of immigrants most suited to ISTatal. But no effort was made by the 
 government to bring out others of the same stamp, for just at that time 
 a scheme of colonization from England on an extensive scale was set on 
 foot. 
 
 With this object an Association was formed in London, under the 
 management of Mr. J. C. Byrne, to work in union with the colonial 
 government. The Association offered to convey people to Natal, to sup- 
 port them for six months after arrival, and to give them plots of land in 
 freehold varying from ten to two hundred acres in extent. The charge for 
 all this was £45 for a man and his wife, £7 10s for a child, and £25 for a 
 single man. During the years 1849, 1850, and 1851, between four and five 
 thousand persons were thus sent out ; but the scheme failed as far as the 
 introduction of an agricultural population was concerned. The immigrants 
 in general were entirely unsuited for farm work, without some previous 
 training, which it was too late to acquire after their arrival in a new 
 country. The consequence was that they suffered great hardships at first? 
 and in their reports and letters to their friends at home they represented 
 the country in such a light that others were discouraged from following. 
 The scheme was ill planned and badly carried out. Many of the immi- 
 grants were located in situations where as gardeners they could have no 
 markets for their produce, while for the cultivation of articles fit for 
 exportation they were too poor. As mechanics, clerks, and labourers 
 those among them who could obtain employment did much better. They 
 infused a thoroughly Enghsh spirit into the colony, which, up to that time, 
 had been in the matter of society something like what secluded districts in 
 the Transvaal Republic are at the present day. 
 
 In 1858 a system of immigration, under the auspices of the government 
 was commenced. Agents were employed in Great Britain, and such persons 
 as were approved of were assisted to the colony. Any resident could get 
 out relatives, friends, or servants, upon payment of £10 towards the pass- 
 age money of each individual. In the first year the number that arrived 
 was about a hundred, but it rose steadil}^ until lt62, when four hundred 
 were brought out. From that date it fell off rapidly, and soon ceased 
 altogether. The government continued, however, to offer free grants of 
 land, varying in size from fifty to two hundred acres according to the 
 amount of capital possessed by the immigrants, and to contribute £10 
 towards the passage money of each one approved of by the English Emi- 
 gration Commissioners. The inducement was insufficient to fill up tlie 
 waste lands with European settlers. 
 
 Years passed away, and along the great ocean road round the southern 
 
110 THE PEESEKT COLOITISTS OF NATAL AND THEIE GOTERNMENT. 
 
 capes sailed fleets of ships conveying brave hearts and strong hands to 
 build up giant colonies in the islands of the east, but never a one dropped 
 anchor here. Natal seemed as if forgotten by the swarms that the over- 
 peopled hive of Europe was constantly sending forth. Her trade returns 
 were calculated to produce an unfavourable impression abroad, and in 1865 
 commercial disasters occurred which ruined her prospects for years. The 
 European population was at that time nearly as great as it is to-day. But 
 many of those who were then in the colony have left, and others have 
 since arrived. 
 
 A large proportion of the present settlers consists of persons who have 
 from time to time been attracted from England and the Cape Colony by 
 the prospect of amassing wealth as sugar planters, farmers, or traders ; of 
 mec-hanics who were attracted from the old colony by the high wages that 
 ruled prior to 1865 ; of professional men, officers of government, and mis- 
 sionaries ; of officers and soldiers who have left the army ; and of waifs 
 whom chance has landed there. The establishment of an Immigrants' Aid 
 Office, supported by voluntary subscriptions, has helped somewhat in 
 introducing settlers. In 1874 the office was embodied in the Immigration 
 Department of the government, and an agent is now employed in England 
 to encourage and promote emigration to the colony. 
 
 The government of Natal since 1843 has undergone more frequent 
 changes, perhaps, than that of any other dependency of the British crown. 
 The province was ruled by a Special Commissioner for a short time. Then, 
 on the 31st of March, 1844, Letters Patent were issued, by which it was 
 annexed to the Cape Colony. Another twelvemonth brought another 
 change, for on the 29th of April in the following year it was erected into a 
 distinct colony, with a Legislature of its own. The magistrate of Grahams- 
 town, Mr. Martin West, received the appointment of Lieutenant Governor, 
 and arrived with a staff of officials towards the close of the year. A 
 Legislative Council was established, consisting of four officials appointed 
 by the Crown. The whole machinery of government was as simple as 
 possible, but well suited to the condition of the country. Magistrates 
 were appointed to various localities, and a Recorder's Court was establish- 
 ed in Maritzburg, from which an appeal could be made to the Supreme 
 Court of the Cape Colony. The number of magistrates has since been 
 increased from time to time, and a bench of three judges has taken the 
 place of the Recorder. 
 
 On the 1st of August, 1849, Mr. "West died. Colonel Boys, as senior 
 military officer in the colony, then administered the government for a few 
 months, until the arrival of Mr. Benjamin C. C. Pine, who was appointed 
 to the vacant office. For a few years no change took place in the form of 
 government, but considerable improvement was made in the manner of 
 conducting public affairs. In 1854 municipal privileges were conferred 
 upon the towns of Maritzburg and Durban. 
 
 In 1856 the European inhabitants were first permitted to have a voice in 
 
THE PRESENT COLONISTS OF NATAL AND THEIR GOTERNMENT. Ill 
 
 their government. In that year a Charter was issued by the Queen in 
 Council, according to which legislative power was intrusted to the Gover- 
 nor and a single Chamber termed the Legislative Council. In the Chamber 
 twelve members elected by those colonists who were possessed of the 
 necessary qualifications were to have seats, together with four of the 
 heads of the principal departments, that is, twelve elective members were 
 added to the old Council. They were to hold their seats for four years, 
 unless the Governor chose to dissolve the Council sooner. It is rarely 
 that a mixed body such as this works harmoniously, and in Natal the 
 ordinary experience has been verified. There has been little else but 
 constant discord between the two elements in the Chamber. The govern- 
 ment has often found itself fettered, while the representatives of the people 
 have been powerless to do any thing more than obstruct. Yet, under the 
 circumstances of the country, it was the only form of legislature possible, 
 if the colonists were to be represented at all, unless Great Britain would 
 concede the power of ruling the natives to a mere handful of white men 
 scattered among them. With the Charter a new governor, Mr. John Scott, 
 was sent out. 
 
 In December, 1864, Colonel John Maclean was transferred from the 
 government of British Kaffraria to that of Natal ; but, on account of ill 
 health, did not long retain the office. Upon his resignation. Colonel Bisset 
 acted as Administrator of the government until 1867, when Mr. Kobekt W . 
 Keate was appointed. This Governor's term of office was marked by con- 
 tinual strife between the elective members of the Council and the 
 Executive. For several years prior to 1865 the colony was supposed to be 
 in a flourishing condition, and expensive civil establishments were then 
 created. The Governor's salary, which had originally been only £800 per 
 annum, was raised to £2,500, the other officials obtaining a proportionate 
 increase. Subsequently, the colonists considered it necessary to reduce 
 the expenditure ; but the elected members of the Council and the Executive 
 could never agree as to the manner in which retrenchment should be 
 effected. The Council claimed control over the revenue, and refused to 
 adopt the estimates submitted by the government. Then occurred dis- 
 putes and wranglings of no ordinary kind. Money which was voted for 
 public works and other purposes was taken by the Governor to pay the 
 officials. The Council argued that salaries had been raised when every- 
 thing bore very high prices, and as the cost of living was now reduced and 
 the colony in great distress, it was only fair that the officials should 
 receive less pay. The Governor gravely asserted that in his department 
 the only possible retrenchment was in the salary of a native messenger, 
 from £12 to £9 per annum. Neither his own salary, nor that of any of the 
 Heads of Departments or clerks, could bear the slightest diminution. He 
 did not even affect to feel sympathy with the people or interest in the 
 colony. 
 
 In 1869 the Council requested the Imperial Government to allow six 
 
112 THE PRESENT COLONISTS OF NATAL AND THEIR GOVERNMENT. 
 
 more elective members to be added to it, and to deprive the nominee 
 members of the right of voting, Umiting them to debate only. The expen- 
 diture was then greater than the revenue, and the colony for some years 
 had been sinking into debt. To rectify this, it was proposed to increase 
 taxation, and to require the natives to contribute at an average rate of at 
 least four shillings each. At the same time it was resolved to reduce the 
 Governor's salary to £1800 a year, to amalgamate the offices of Secretary 
 for Native Affairs and Colonial Secretary, to reduce the salaries of those 
 officers holding seats in the Council by £100 per annum each, to reduce 
 the salaries and pensions of the judges, and to effect retrenchment in 
 various other ways. 
 
 These proposals and resolutions were submitted by the Governor to the 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies, who refused to sanction them, on the 
 ground that the circumstances of N"atal did not warrant a diminution of 
 the power of the Crown in the Legislative body. " So long as Her Ma- 
 jesty's troops remain in the colony," wrote he, "the Home Government 
 must retain its control over the taxation and government of the natives 
 and of all that falls under the head of native policy ; and experience shows 
 that this cannot be done without retaining an effectual control over all 
 policy, whether European or native." But in order to make the acts of 
 the Executive Council more popular, the Governor was empowered to 
 appoint to the Executive two elected members of the Legislature, to hold 
 office till the dissolution or other termination of the Council from which 
 they were selected. 
 
 The opposition was rather increased than diminished when this became 
 known. The Governor then dissolved the Council and appealed to the 
 people. With one exception, the same members were re-elected. But 
 already the signs of prosperity resulting from the discovery of diamonds 
 in Griqualand West were becoming visible, and the necessity for retrench- 
 ment no longer existed. The appointment by the Governor of a commis- 
 sion to enquire into the adequacy of the civil service was accepted as an 
 act of conciliation, and gradually the quarrel died out. The commission 
 recommended (1871) the abolition of certain offices to which salaries 
 amounting in all to upwards of £5000 were attached, and the re-arrangement 
 of other salaries by which a yearly saving of £3000 more would be effected. 
 
 Upon this, a Supplementary Charter was sent out by the Secretary of 
 State, in which the salaries of the principal officers were fixed and placed 
 beyond the control of the Council, and the power of that body was in other 
 respects clearly defined. A document such as this could not fail to renew 
 the opposition which for a time had ceased. The elective members persis- 
 tently ignored it, on the ground that by removing a large portion of the 
 expenditure beyond their control, rights were annulled which had been 
 conferred upon them by the Charter itself. In this view, it was not a 
 Supplementary Charter, but a revocation of the Charter. The contention 
 thus occasioned did not cease until 1875, when a change in the Constitu- 
 
THE PRESENT COLONISTS OF NATAL AND THEIE GOVERNMENT. 118 
 
 tion was made, which obliterated all previous differences between the re- 
 presentatives of the people and the Executive. 
 
 A very popular Governor, Mr. Antuoxy Mu.sgrave, arrived in 1872, but 
 his tenure of office was very short. Being promoted to a more important 
 government in Australia, he left Natal on the 30th of April, 1873. His 
 successor, — after a short period during which Colonel Milles administered 
 the government,— was Sir Benjamin C. C. Pine, who assumed office on the 
 22nd of July. This gentleman, known as an energetic officer and a warm 
 friend of the colony twenty years before, was very cordially welcomed by 
 the old residents. 
 
 In 1873 the Council was enlarged by the addition of one official and three 
 representative members, namely, one for the united Counties of Alexandra 
 and Alfred, one additional member for the County of Victoria, and one 
 for the new County of Newcastle. 
 
 The session of 1874. was marked by a successful effort on the part of 
 some of the elective members to carry a resolution in favour of responsible 
 government. It might be thought that in a country so sparsely inhabited 
 by Europeans as is Natal, and where such a constant pressure was main- 
 tained by the official element, there could be no room for the formation of 
 antagonistic parties. It has unfortunately been otherwise. Between the 
 coastlands and the up-country districts a spirit of jealousy has existed, 
 which has more than once been destructive of harmony in the Council 
 Chamber. On this occasion the two sections of the country were arrayed 
 against each other. The upland members carried the measure unanimously, 
 but only after the coast members had left the House and the Speaker 
 had ruled that the nominees could not vote on the question, as they would 
 be personally affected by it. The resolution thus carried was, however, of 
 no avail, for after a time came the decision of the Secretary of State, which 
 was to the effect that responsible government could not be conceded* 
 England was unwilling to subject more than three hundred thousand 
 natives to the government of a party consisting of a majority in a consti- 
 tuency of less than twenty thousand colonists. 
 
 During Sir Benjamin Pine's tenure of office an insurrection of a power- 
 ful native clan took place, an account of which will be given in another 
 chapter. The Governor promptly stamped out the rebellion, and this 
 action met with the approval of the colonists, but the Secretary of State 
 treated him precisely as Lord Glenelg had treated Sir Benjamin D 'Urban 
 in 1836. He was condemned and recalled, but took with him, when he left, 
 the hearty sympathy of the European inhabitants. Sir Garnet "Wolseley, 
 the most celebrated English General of the day, was then sent out, and 
 took the oaths of office on the 3rd of April, 1875. He was accompanied by 
 a staff of distinguished men, who brought Natal into prominence during 
 the short period of their stay. The principal object of the Secretary of 
 State in sending out an officer of Sir Garnet Wolseley's standing was to 
 obtain the consent of the colonists to the virtual annulment of the Charter. 
 
114 THE PBESENT COLONISTS OF IfATAL AND THEIR GOTEENMENT. 
 
 Changes in the policy to be pursued towards the natives were meditated at 
 the Colonial Office, and it was considered necessary to make snre of no 
 opposition on the part of the local legislature. Yet there was really no 
 reason to apprehend resistance to any measure calculated to improve the 
 condition of the natives, for the colonists and their elected representatives 
 have ever been anxious for the advancement of these people in civihzation. 
 There might be obstruction in other matters, but not in this. The power of 
 the Crown in the legislature of Natal was already sufficient to ensure the 
 approval of any reasonable measure that might be proposed, even if the 
 colonists had not been so thoroughly at one as they were in desiring to 
 raise their swarthy neighbours out of the slough of barbarism. Not only 
 could the Secretary of State or the Governor disallow any bill, but of the 
 twenty members of the Council five were officers who received their 
 appointments from the Colonial Office, and whose only choice was to vote 
 as directed or to resign their situations. Whenever the votes of six out of 
 the fifteen elective members could be secured, there was a majority for the 
 government, and it may safely be said that any native policy for which that 
 proportion of votes could not be obtained must either be unjust or 
 dangerous. Earl Carnarvon, however, thought differently, and so another 
 change in the government was made. 
 
 Theoretically, the Sovereign has the power of altering, amending, or 
 annulHng such Charters as that of Natal ; practically, the power of aunul- 
 ing them is never exercised. The usual coui'se is to obtain by some means 
 the consent of the legislature to its own extinction. For such a purpose, 
 no abler man than Sir Garnet Wolseley could have been selected. In 
 him great ability was united with winning manners and a rare power of 
 leading men. He had the reputation of being a skilful diplomatist as well 
 as a successful general. The colonists felt that their country was considered 
 of some importance when such a man was sent to govern it, they saw 
 Natal noticed at length by the leading English periodicals, they were 
 persuaded that a strong garrison would be sent to guard their land. The 
 Governor made a rapid tour through the colony, — it was as much like a 
 triumphal march as nineteen thousand scattered Europeans could make it. 
 Pleasant words were spoken everywhere, addresses of welcome were pre- 
 sented, and flattering replies were made. 
 
 After this preparation the Council was summoned, and the bill which 
 was to rob it of power was produced. The form it took was that of adding 
 ten more nominee members, to make fifteen in all against the same number 
 of representatives of the people; but as the presiding officer was to be 
 chosen from the electives, the government would have a clear majority at 
 all times. There was a party in Natal that would have prefeired to do 
 away with a Council altogether, and thus throw the whole responsibility of 
 government upon the Secretary of State, rather than accept the bill in the 
 form in which it was introduced. It was seen at once that the elective 
 members would never agree to it as it then stood. But many of them 
 
THE PEESENT COLONISTS OP NATAL AND THKIR GOVERNMENT. 115 
 
 admitted that a strong government was not only desirable, but absolutely 
 necessary to the prosperity of the country. 
 
 The real strength of every government is based on the solid foundation 
 of the co-operation of the people governed, but no such thing is attainable 
 at Natal through an elective Council. There, the franchise is limited to 
 the Europeans, nineteen thousand at the most, while three hundred and 
 fifty thousand natives are unrepresented, and must remain so for a long 
 time to come. In this case the expression " a strong government " is taken 
 to mean an Executive that can at all times command a majority in the 
 Legislature. 
 
 The principal reason assigned by the Executive in favour of the measure 
 proposed was that it would enable them without any obstruction to reform 
 the native policy. The strangest feature in the debates was this plea, for 
 the alterations in the mode of dealing with the natives now desired by the 
 Home Authorities were precisely such as the elective members of the 
 colonial legislature had been for years fruitlessly endeavouring to effect. 
 
 After a warm discussion, the bill was read a second time, and then a 
 compromise was effected. In committee such alterations were made as to 
 give the government power to accomplish what it professed to be so anxious 
 to do, and yet so as not to deprive the colonists of the benefit of represen- 
 tation. The ten nominee members were reduced to eight, who were not to 
 be office holders, and who must be possessed of fixed property in the country 
 to the value of £1000, and also have resided in Natal for at least two years. 
 The colonists were to some extent protected by a clause providing that no 
 new tax should be laid on them without the consent of two-thirds of the 
 members present at the time of its being put to the vote. Finally, the 
 duration of the bill was limited to five years. Thus modified, it was read 
 for the third time, and carried by five official and five representative votes 
 agamst the votes of seven elective members. The Secretary of State 
 agreed to it, and it is at present the law of Natal. Thus, the long struggle 
 for power between the Council and the Executive has terminated for the 
 time being in favour of the government, and the colony presents the rare 
 spectacle among the dependencies of Great Bintain of having its political 
 privileges much reduced. 
 
 The stay of Sir Garnet Wolseley in Natal was limited to five months, 
 but the experience gained by him during that time has since been made 
 use of in England to promote the interests of the colony, so that the 
 advantages gained by having so distinguished a man as Administrator 
 were not altogether lost upon his departure. It may be taken for granted 
 that the action of the Secretary of State towards Natal will for some time 
 to come be largely influenced by the counsel he may give, and as he made 
 himself thoroughly acquainted with the resources as well as the wants of 
 the country, it is probable that some measures may be devised for develop- 
 ing these reso'^rces and supplying these wants. Sir Garnet Wolseley was 
 succeeded on the 3rd Sept. by the present governor, Sir Henry Bulweb. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
 
 JLLIEWITION OF THE PUBLIC LANDS OF NATAL. AGRICULTURE. COMMERCE. 
 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. ECCLESIASTICAL DISSENSION. 
 
 As the Port of Natal is the only harbour on the long line of coast between 
 East London and Delagoa Bay, the colony is admirably situated for 
 communication with the interior, and hence the majority of its European 
 inhabitants are engaged in commerce and in the transport of goods. Nearly 
 half of the whole number reside in Durban and Maritzburg, and if to 
 these be added the residents in the villages, a very small proportion will 
 be left for the cultivation of the soil. Immense tracts of fertile land are 
 either lying waste altogether, or producing nothing beyond what is yielded 
 under the rude and imperfect tillage of the natives. In some parts, one 
 may travel for hours together without observing any signs of this being 
 an English colony, except an occasional wayside hotel or trading station. 
 The causes of this condition of affairs are to be found in the system under 
 which land has been alienated, and in the presence of a very large and 
 constantly increasing native population. 
 
 The early Dutch colonists took possession of tracts of land from five to 
 eight thousand acres in extent, the right to which was confirmed to those 
 among them who remained after the seizure of the colony by the English. 
 Since that time similar grants have on various occasions been made to 
 European settlers, so that at the present day nearly six millions of acres 
 are held in this manner ; that is to say, about half the area of the whole 
 colony, — and that, too, the most fertile and easily accessible portion, — has 
 been alienated as if it was fit for nothing but sheep runs. In thus parting 
 with the ground, the government made no provision for its occupation, 
 beyond the imposition of a petty tax upon absentee proprietors, and thus a 
 door was opened to speculation on an enormous scale. A single Association 
 formed in England, — the Natal Land and Colonization Company, — was 
 enabled to purchase for trifling sums nearly three quarters of a million of 
 acres, without doing anything to introduce European settlers, and other 
 companies were not slow in embarking in the same speculation, happily, 
 however, to a smaller extent. 
 
 The result is that for every European man, woman, and child, engaged 
 in agriculture in Natal, a thousand acres of land have been alienated. The 
 proprietors of great estates, in many instances, lease their ground in small 
 holdings to native tenants, who live after the manner of their ancestors, 
 and thus Europeans are practically excluded. Any attempt to eject the 
 native tenantry in a body, or to compel them to retire to the locations, 
 would be attended »vith danger, as it might kindle a flame of disaffection 
 that blood alone could quench. Awakened at length to the magnitude of 
 
AGEICULTURE IN NATAL. 
 
 117 
 
 the error that has been committed, the government is endeavouring to 
 devise some scheme by which the proprietors may be compelled to occupy 
 and improve their land. The question has even been mooted in high 
 quarters whether the peculiar circumstanees of the colony do not demand 
 the resumption by the State, at a fair value, of a portion of the property so 
 recklessly squandered in bygone years. For the government has now very 
 little land at its disposal that immigrants would care to settle on. Two 
 millions of acres are reserved for the use of the natives, between three and 
 four hundred thousand acres have been granted to Missionary Societies or 
 laid out in townships, and only about four millions of acres remain, of 
 which much is useless and nearly all is situated in secluded districts. 
 Even what is left cannot be considered vacant ground, for in many places it 
 is occupied by native squatters. 
 
 In the upland districts the farms occupied by Europeans are principally 
 used as sheep runs. The Dutch settlers brought only horned cattle with 
 them, and up to 1855 there were but few sheep in the colony. In 
 that year the lung-sickness reached Ifatal, and spread through the herds 
 with most destructive effect. The graziers then saw that it would not do 
 to depend any longer upon one kind of animal only, and therefore they in- 
 troduced sheep to their pastures. Since that date the production of wool 
 has gone on constantly increasing. The most profitable plan of sheep 
 breeding has been found to depasture the flocks during the summer 
 season on the elevated plains beyond the Quathlamba, as the grass of 
 ISTatal is then too rank and rich to be healthy. In the winter they are 
 brought down again, for then the grass on the highlands is dried up, and 
 the cold winds often cause large numbers of the weaker animals to perish. 
 In these upland farms agricultural operations are limited to the supply of 
 food for the graziers' own use. The defective means of communication 
 with the coast, and the absence of markets near at hand, leave no room 
 for profit on the growth of cereals. 
 
 In the midland districts, also, more attention is paid to the breeding of 
 stock than to agriculture, though here grain and vegetables are raised to 
 supply the market of Maritzburg. Horses are reared in some parts, and 
 bacon is cured in small quantities for exportation. In former years, 
 sufficient butter was made to supply the needs of the colonists, and also to 
 export a few thousand pounds worth yearly, but disease among the cattle 
 has recently reduced the quantity. Since 1855 the colony has never been 
 free of lung-sickness, and a few years ago another fatal disorder, known as 
 red-water, broke out. It first swept off the horned cattle from the coast lands, 
 and then spread over the interior districts, causing great loss among the 
 draught oxen. At one time traffic by means of bullock waggons nearly 
 ceased, owing to this scourge, but its ravages have now somewhat abated. 
 
 The principal industry of Natal is confined to the narrow belt of low 
 land lying along the coast. This belt is very much broken up, but for the 
 most part it consists of rich soil capable of yielding large returns under 
 
118 
 
 AGRICTJLTFEE IN NATAL. 
 
 cultivation. Here are to be seen gi'owing various kinds of tropical plants, 
 chief among which is the sugar-cane, the first plant of which was introduced 
 in 1847. In 1851 an old settler named Moreland, residing some thirty-five 
 miles north of Durban, produced a sample of sugar manufactured by 
 himself out of cane grown on his farm. He had no machinery except a 
 simple wooden crusher and a common iron pot, so that the sample was very 
 unlike the fine sugars made at the present day. Nevertheless, it was a 
 proof that the coast lauds of the colony were capable of being turned to 
 account in the production of an article as yet confined to hot and unhealthy 
 regions. Several persons immediately commenced to plant cane, and 
 within a few years the manufacture of sugar became the leading industry 
 of Natal. People were attracted from abroad by the prospect of realizing 
 wealth as planters in a healthy and pleasant climate, where land was 
 obtainable at a trifling cost. 
 
 Wherever the sugar cane arrives at perfection it is found to pay better 
 than any other crop. But in the early years of its culture a great deal of 
 money was lost, and many situations, now known to be among the best in 
 the colony, were abandoned in despair. In time, as experience was gained, 
 all the early difficulties were overcome. A large amount of capital is 
 required when the same person grows the cane and manufactures the 
 sugar, and the exorbitant interest on which money was borrowed by many 
 planters twenty years ago was sufficient of itself to ruin them. Now-a- 
 days, there are manufactories in central positions, to which the neighbour- 
 ing small planters can take their canes, and thus they are not crushed as 
 formerly under a load of debt. The large planters and companies have 
 sugar-mills of their own. 
 
 This industry is carried on mainly by means of Indian coolie labour. 
 The managers of plantations, the engineers, and a few skilled mechanics 
 are Europeans, but in the field work Asiatics and Africans only are engaged. 
 It was soon found by experience that African labour alone could not be 
 depended upon. There was no necessity for the natives to work, as their 
 wants were few and easily supplied, and by nature they are extremely indo- 
 lent. A plantation depending upon them was almost certain to be a failure. 
 Not only was the labour obtained from them scanty and precarious, but 
 it was of the simplest kind only. They could do nothing which demanded 
 skill, and care and attention were wholly wanting in them. The supervision 
 they required was such as to make them nearly valueless except when they 
 could be massed together on rough work. It therefore became necessary 
 to look to foreign countries for hands to till the fields and tend the mills. 
 India was selected as the cheapest market in which a supply could be easily 
 obtained. The experiment was made of bringing to Natal about five 
 thousand coolies, under contracts for a term of ten years, to be sent back 
 when that period expired. The government, in the first instance, met the 
 expense of their passages, but the planters, to whom they were allotted for 
 five years, were required to refund two thirds of the amount. 
 
AGEICULTURE IN NATIL. 
 
 119 
 
 By means of the labour thus obtained,— which pro«^ed to be satisfactory, 
 — large areas were laid under cane, and a greater degree of stability was 
 imparted to sugar planting. The experiment having been successful, the 
 planters were desirous of continuing the importation of coolies, but owing 
 to dissensions between the two branches of the legislature, it was 
 suspended for several years, and only recently has been resumed. Another 
 labour market has also been opened, among tribes living near Delagoa Bay. 
 These, not enjoying the same security for property as do those of Natal, 
 are naturally much poorer, and consequently their young men are willing 
 to take service for some years. They are engaged and forwarded by agents 
 appointed by the government, and as they cannot leave when they please, 
 they are eagerly sought by the planters. After a little training, they are 
 found to make tolerably good field servants. 
 
 Another product of the coast lands is coffee, which has now for a quarter 
 of a century been grown in Natal, though not to any great extent, as the 
 largest crop has not exceeded a thousand tons. It is a more tender plant 
 than sugar cane, and its returns are very uncertain. In good seasons it 
 yields a large profit, but blight often entirely ruins the prospect of the 
 cultivators. 
 
 Arrowroot, cotton, pepper, ginger, and tobacco, are also grown to a 
 small extent. Upon the whole, the portion of the coast lands which is 
 occupied by Europeans is more highly cultivated than any other part of 
 South Africa. Many of the estates are beautifully laid out, the coffee 
 plantations in particular presenting very charming pictures. But some of 
 the best lands are reserved for the use of natives, and a large district in 
 the south is almost unoccupied, owing to the want of easy communication 
 with the seaport. 
 
 The commerce of Natal is very considerable for a colony containing only 
 nineteen thousand European inhabitants. The natives purchase some 
 kinds of manufactured goods, but they produce very little that can be sent 
 abroad in return. It is the trade of the interior that largely makes up the 
 imports and exports. 
 
 When the colony was taken possession of by the English, there were only 
 a few small shops in Durban, but within two or three years trading stations 
 were to be seen right up to the Drakenberg. Hides, butter, ivory, and 
 ostrich feathers were obtained in barter, and of these the exports of those 
 days consisted almost entirely. About the year 1845 some merchants in 
 England had their attention drawn to the favourable position occupied by 
 Natal, as a gateway through which vast regions might be reached, and 
 from that date goods began to be poured in. 
 
 In 1849 the Natal Fire Assurance and Trust Company was established, 
 with a nominal capital of £10,000, which was afterwards increased to 
 £30,000. There being no bank in the colony at the time, the Company 
 undertook to receive money in trust, and also discounted bills, charging 
 from twelve to fifteen per cent. The immigrants under Byrne's scheme 
 
120 
 
 COMMEEUE OF NATAL. 
 
 were then beginning to arrive, and commercial prospects seemed to be 
 particularly bright. In 1854 the l^atal Bank was established. Its paid-up 
 capital is now £80,000, which it has power to increase to half a million. 
 In 1857 a great impetus was given to commercial speculation by the 
 granting of large tracts of land to the settlers. In many cases these grants 
 were immediately mortgaged or sold, and the money obtained was invested 
 in goods. Individuals were thus enriched at the expense of the State, and 
 a door was opened to that system of land jobbing which has locked up a 
 large proportion of the resources of the country. 
 
 In the exuberant spirits of its youth, Natal was acting the part of a 
 spendthrift. The colony became a centre of speculation, based partly upon 
 the facility with which money could be obtained. For now in rapid 
 succession came branches of the Standard Bank of British South Africa and 
 of the London and South African Bank, the Colonial Bank of Natal, with a 
 capital of £50,000, the Marine Insurance and Trust Company, with a capital 
 of £100,000, the Commercial and Agricultural Bank, with a capital of £50,000, 
 and several other institutions of a similar nature, besides private agencies 
 for the employment of foreign capital. A system prevailed of dealing on 
 credit and by means of notes of hand which the banks readily discounted. 
 The trader who was unwilling to part with his goods for mere promises to 
 pay had to keep them, anything saleable could be had for paper, and that 
 was convertible into coin until the funds of the monetary institutions 
 became exhausted. Discounts, which had been from twelve to fifteen per 
 cent, fell to ten, and then to eight, so keen was the competition between 
 the banks. The character of the business done at this time cannot be 
 better shown than by the following figures : 
 
 Imports. Exports. 
 
 For the five years ending 31st December, 1849, £ 231,655 £ 61,187 
 
 1854, 551,204 117,449 
 1859, 566,361 371,749 
 1864, 2,542,164 764,965 
 
 Thus the excess of imports over exports during these twenty years 
 amounted to no less a sum than £2,576,034, or nearly twice the total value 
 of the exports. Making every allowance for money brought by the troops 
 and immigrants into the colony during that time, it is evident that Natal had 
 been living far beyond its means. 
 
 The crisis came in 1865. One after another, houses of business 
 surrendered or compromised, until merchants at home became alarmed and 
 stopped further supplies. Numbers of mechanics who had been attracted 
 to the colony were suddenly thrown out of employment, poverty and 
 distress stared very many in the face, and the name of Natal sank low in 
 the estimation of the commercial world. 
 
 But the great crash paved the way for the introduction of a better and 
 safer method of conducting business. Henceforth credit was not so easily 
 obtained by men of straw, and when trade rallied again after a time, it was 
 
coirMr:::cK of xatal. 
 
 121 
 
 unaccompanied by the wild speculation of former days. The colony had 
 passed the period of thoughtless extravagance, and was entering upon a 
 term of vigorous, honest life. The customs' returns of the next ten years 
 show the extent of the change : 
 
 Imports. Exports. 
 
 For the five years ending 31st December, 18G9, £1,685,854 £1,274,538 
 
 1874, 3,860,636 2,988,901 
 
 The principal discrepancy of the first term was in 1865, the year of the 
 crisis, and probably the money brought into the colony for investment, 
 together with the diamonds exported during the last term, but not registered 
 at the custom house, would nearly, if not quite, equalize the purchases and 
 payments made. A noticeable feature in these returns is the fact that 
 within five years the exports have more than doubled. 
 
 The discovery of the South African diamond fields was an event of great 
 importance to Natal. It opened a new and excellent market where very 
 high prices were obtained for all kinds of home produce, and enabled the 
 merchants to extend their trade in imported articles. Many of them 
 established branches at the fields, where they competed successfully with 
 others who imported their goods through Algoa Bay or East London, 
 though these had the advantage of much shorter land carriage. Natal 
 coffee and sugar could of course be sold at a good profit cheaper than 
 similar articles brought through the Cape Colony, on which duty had been 
 paid. Trains of waggons laden with farm produce crossed over the 
 Drakenberg and through the Free State to the diamond fields, and took 
 back ready money, thus giving an impetus to legitimate enterprise, both 
 agricultural and commercial. Just as in the Cape Colony, so also in Natal, 
 the progress made since the discovery of the diamond fields has been very 
 much greater than that of previous years. 
 
 One of the greatest drawbacks to the prosperity of the colony has been 
 the want of easy and cheap communication with the seaport. Unless 
 when exceptionally high prices can be obtained, as was the case at the 
 diamond fields from 1869 to 1874, the cultivation of the ground in the 
 inland districts is of necessity limited to local requirements, as the cost of 
 conveying produce to the seaport more than absorbs the profit upon its 
 sale. For several years past the colonists have been desirous of seeing 
 lines of rail across the country, and the question as to how such expensive 
 works should be undertaken has been the most prominent one in and out 
 of the Council. In 1873 the Legislature decided to embrace an offer made 
 by Mr. J. W. Welborne on behalf of certain capitalists. According to the 
 main outlines of this plan, a Company was to be formed in England to 
 construct between four and five hundred miles of railway, in several lines 
 leading from Durban inland. The government was to grant a subsidy of 
 £40,000 a year for twenty years, dating from the completion of the lines, 
 and proportionally as different sections were opened to traffic, to endow 
 the Company very richly with waste lands, and to confer a monopoly of 
 
 01 
 
122 
 
 THE BISHOP OF XATAL. 
 
 certain mining privileges. But the Secretary of State refused to sanction 
 the contract, as in his opinion the colony could not afford to part with its 
 waste lands in this manner, even though the Company should be bound to 
 introduce a few thousand European immigi-ants. He preferred to see the 
 government constructing some of the most important Unes with capital 
 borrowed in England, which there would be no difficulty in raising, as the 
 credit of Natal stood high. Tlie government then undertook to lay down 
 three lines, one from Durban to Maritzburg and the others along the coast, 
 for which a contract was entered into with an EngUsh firm. The work was 
 commenced early in 1876. It is tolerably certain that the upland line will 
 be extended at an early date so as to open up the coalfields of Newcastle 
 and to tap the trade of the Transvaal Republic. 
 
 Natal has attracted the attention of the outside world more perhaps by 
 ecclesiastical than by commercial transactions. In this little colony and 
 among these nineteen thousand Europeans, a case arose on the issue of 
 which depended the future relationship between the Crown, the Church of 
 England, and the episcopal churches in all the British possessions abroad. 
 In 1853 the episcopal see of Cape Town, which had hitherto included the 
 whole of South Africa, was divided into two portions, and Dr. J. W. Colenso, 
 an eminent mathematician, was appointed by Her Majesty's Letters Patent 
 Bishop of Natal. There were not many white people in the colony among 
 whom churches could be planted, for the majority of the few European 
 residents were presbyteriaus of one denomination or other ; but the mission 
 field was wide and only partly occupied, though the American Independents, 
 the Wesleyans, and several other Societies, were fast extending their 
 labours in it. It was therefore principally as a missionary bishop that Dr. 
 CoLEXSO went to Natal, and he has been distinguished ever since his arrival 
 by a very warm attachment to the natives, combined with an untiring zeal 
 for their improvement. What Las Casas was in the Spanish Indies, Dr. 
 CoLENSO would have been in Natal, if there had been the same or similar 
 grievances to redress. This implies a strong partizanship, and, whenever 
 it has been possible, the Bishop has assumed the position of Champion of 
 the Natives. Thus, as a colonial bishop, an author of numerous books in 
 different branches of mathematics, and a representative of the natives of 
 South-Eastern Africa, Dr. Cole^so was known throughout the English- 
 speaking world. 
 
 He was to be yet more widely known by the publication of a work of bibli- 
 cal criticism, which he found time to write amidst such varied occupations as 
 few men are capable of undertaking. The book was at once condemned 
 as heretical by the great majority of Christians everywhere. The author 
 was ealled upon to retract the opinions he had expressed, and, upon his 
 declining to do so, he was cited by the Metropolitan Bishop of Cape Town 
 to appear before a court composed of all the South African bishops, to be 
 tried on the charge of heresy. Dr. Cole Nso then showed that a knowledge 
 of law must be classed with his other attainments. Taking his stand 
 
THE ElSUOl* OF NATAL. 
 
 123 
 
 upon the Letters Patent of the Queen^ he ignored the authority oC the court 
 of bishops, and when he was pronounced guilty of heresy and sentenced to 
 be deposed, he declined to abide by the judgment. The highest tribunal 
 in England, to which an appeal was made, maintained him in his position. 
 The colonial churches were declared to be nothing moi-e than voluntary 
 associations, bound by no law to the established church of England, and 
 in them no person can be compelled to yield obedience to another, unless 
 a formal agreement to that effect has been made. The Bishop of Natal 
 was therefore not subject to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of any man or 
 body of men, and as long as his partizans chose to recognize him he could 
 not be deprived of his office. 
 
 In ISTatal itself a party seceded from Dr. Colenso, and elected as their 
 bishop Dr. W, K. Macroiue, who was consecrated on the 25th of January, 
 1869, in the cathedral church of Cape Town, by the bishops of Cape Town^ 
 Grahamatown, St. Helena, and the Orange Free State, and took the title of 
 Bishop of Maritaburg. His adherents style themselves members of the 
 Church of the Province of South Africa, in contradistinction to the ad- 
 herents of the Bishop of Natal, who term themselves members of the 
 Church of England. The property acquired before the disruption remains 
 in the hands of Bishop Colenso, by decision of the civil courts, while 
 Bishop Macrorie is mainly supported by English Societies and foreigij 
 sympathizers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 *tHE NATIVES IX THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 When the English took possession of Katal, there were about one hundred 
 thousand natives within its borders. They did not form a compact tribe, 
 but were broken up into little clans> mostly under chiefs of recent elevation. 
 There was no bond of cohesion among them, and all looked up to the Euro- 
 pean for protection and willingly submitted to his government. The number 
 was constantly being increased by refugees from the surrounding tribes 
 and by fugitives returning to their former home. 
 
 In 1846 tracts of land amounting in all to about two millions of acres 
 were set apart for their use. There they were allowed to live under the 
 immediate government of their chiefs, and to preserve their own laws and 
 customs. A few magistrates were scattered about the country, who 
 exercised jurisdiction over them generally, and kept watch over their 
 proceedings, but did not interfere with the control of the chiefs over their 
 
124 
 
 THE NATIVES IN THE COLONT OF NATAL. 
 
 followers. The Governor, in his dealings with them, was styled their 
 supreme chief, and the Secretary for Native Affairs was his montlipiece. 
 They were required to pay a tax of seven shillings per annum on each hut. 
 
 This system did not tend to promote civilization among the natives. In 
 the locations they passed their lives in idleness, leaving the cultivation of 
 the ground to the women just as in days oE old, and only exerting them- 
 selves for a little when the time for paying the yearly tax came round. So 
 long as no one was put to death for sorcery, they were free to indulge in all 
 the vile habits of heathenism, without let or hindrance from the government. 
 This freedom from restraint, added to the security which they enjoyed, 
 caused Natal to become "the happy land" of the natives far and wide, 
 and accordingly they migrated to it in such numbers that in thirty years 
 they have increased from one hundred thousand to three hundred and 
 fifty thousand souls. At first, the constant influx of refugees was regarded 
 with favour by the European settlers, for it was held to be good policy to 
 build up on the soil a native power strong enough to keep the tribes 
 beyond the border in check. No danger was apprehended from the 
 refugees themselves, as they might reasonably be supposed to be faithful 
 to the country which gave them shelter, and being located in isolated 
 situations, they might, in case of necessity, be pitted against each other. 
 And this holding the balance of power was considered the chief security of 
 the Natal government, the only means of enabling it to maintain its 
 authority. 
 
 The fault of this system was that it could only be temporary. The 
 opportunity of educating and training a docile people then as obedient and 
 loyal as could be wished, of improving them for their own sakes and for 
 the common good of all, was entirely neglected. The locations were 
 permitted to remain so secluded that roads even were not made through 
 many of them. The ret iamation of the people was consigned mainly to the 
 efforts of a few missionaries supported from abroad. A new generation 
 was allowed to grow up, as ignorant as their fathers, and without a feeling 
 of dependence for safety upon the white man. Restrictions to which the 
 first refugees would have submitted cheerfully could not be imposed upon 
 their children. 
 
 For thirty years the natives seldom gave the colonists or the government 
 any trouble worth mentioning. In no part of the world was life or property 
 safer than in Natal : a European could at any time traverse the country 
 unarmed, without the slightest danger of being molested. Now and again 
 a chief resisted the authority of the government, but there was little 
 difficulty experienced in deposing such a one and driving him out of the 
 colony. In such cases one clan always gave aid against another. The 
 most noticeable instance of the kind happened in 1857, when an attempt was 
 made to arrest a chief who was implicated in the murder of a man suspect- 
 ed of causing the death of another by witchcraft. The accused declined 
 to give himself up, and with his clan took refuge in a jungle. A native 
 
THE NATIVES IN THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 125 
 
 force iiuder a European officer was then stationed at his location to watch 
 his growing crops and prevent his return. His cattle were seized, and in 
 an attempt to rescue them thirteen of his people and two loyal natives were 
 killed. Some twenty-five other rebels were killed subsequently, and then 
 the chief with a few men fled to Zululand and the remainder of the clan 
 submitted. Not a single European lost his life in an^ of the petty 
 disturbances during all these years. 
 
 So matters remained until 1873. The young men who had grown up in 
 barbarism under the shelter of the ISTatal government knew nothing of the 
 feuds of former days, and a combination of the different clans was there- 
 fore within the compass of possibility. An injudicious law, which imposed 
 a fee of £5 on every native marriage, — thus practically encouraging 
 polygamy, as it increased the difficulty of obtaining even one wife by the 
 very poor, while it left to the rich the power of purchasing as many wives 
 as they chose, — created much disaffection, not on the ground of the 
 immorality to which it so directly led, but on account of the money payment. 
 By many of the natives the white man began to be considered as seeking 
 only their labour in his service and their money for his undertakings. An 
 event then took place whicH exposed the peril in which the colonists were 
 living. 
 
 Among the tribes which in olden times had their homes along the Tu- 
 gela, the Abambo was one of the most powerful. It was divided into three 
 sections, the Amahlubi, the Abasekunene, and the Amareledwane. These 
 bore to each other the same relationship that exists between the Gcalekas 
 and ISTgqikas on the Cape frontier, the Amahlubi being the highest in rank, 
 and their chief being entitled the great chief of the nation. This branch 
 resided further northward than the others, between the Tugela and Um- 
 volosi rivers. In Tshaka's time the tribe met with the same fate as its 
 neighbours ; it was broken up, the direct line of its rulers was cut off, and 
 many of its members were slaughtered. Some of the Amahlubi escaped 
 and fled southward, to become in the first instance slaves of the Amaxosa, 
 and afterwards to be liberated by Sir Benjamin D'Ukban and to form with 
 others the now prosperous Fingo tribe. One section remained intact, and 
 took refuge in the mountains of Basutoland, where it preserved its inde- 
 pendence for some years. 
 
 At length, after the assassination of Tshaka and Dingax, there wa.s peace 
 once more in Zululand, and the Amahlubi were enabled to return to the 
 gardens cultivated of old by their fathers. Their chief, Langalibalele, 
 then a young man, became famous as the most potent rainmaker in all the 
 land, and was acquiring wealth as well as renown when a quarrel with 
 Mpande in 1848 drove him and his people into exile again. Poor and 
 powerless they reached Natal and threw themselves upon the mercy of the 
 colonial government. They were located at the foot of the Quathlamba, to 
 prevent the Bushmen coming down to plunder the farmers in the valleys 
 below. In their new home the Amahlubi prospered, and once again be- 
 
126 
 
 THE NATIVES IN TUE COLONY OE NATAL. 
 
 came rich and powerful. Mpande sent tlieir chief a message that if he 
 made a ladder reaching to the skies he would catch and kill him even 
 there. But Mpande knew his own interest too well to attack any one 
 under British protection, and so he wisely did nothing but talk. 
 
 The chief Langalibalele was a man of less than average intelligence, 
 and was greatly addicted to intemperance. His tribe acquired the reputa- 
 tion of being restless, but his location was so secluded that very little was 
 known by the colonists of him or his people. At length the diamond fields 
 were discovered, and many young men were attracted to them by the 
 facility with which guns could there be obtained. One of the laws of 
 Natal, intended as a measure of security, is that no native may possess a 
 gun without its being registered. Accordingly, the chief was called upon 
 to account for the guns his young men had brought home with them, but 
 he declined to do so. Message after message was sent, requiring him to 
 appear at Maritzburg, but he made excuses and never went. Meanwhile 
 Mr. Shepstone, the Secretary for Native Affairs, left Natal for a short 
 time on an expedition to Zululand to crown Cetywayo at the wish of his 
 people, and Langalibalele and his guns were neglected for a season. But 
 upon the return of the expedition, a messenger was again dispatched to 
 the Hlubi chief, and was on this occasion treated with indignity. 
 
 Langalibalele was already preparing to rebel. He had entered into 
 correspondence with Molapo, a Basuto chief, and expected to obtain from 
 him a refuge under any circumstances, and most likely active aid. The 
 Cape authorities became aware of this, and promptly communicated the 
 intelligence to the Natal Government. Nothing more was known at the 
 time, but it has since been ascertained that Langalibalele was plotting in 
 other directions. His family was a very large one, and numerous near 
 relatives were dispersed throughout Kaffirland. One brother was at the 
 head of a small clan in St. John's Territory. From him assistance was 
 expected, and the Hlubi chief most likely thought that he would have 
 active sympathy from the dispersed Fingoes of the Abambo tribe. He 
 reckoned further on the co-operation of clans with whom he had been 
 plotting in Natal, so that his position must have appeared to himself to be 
 a strong one. His own clan numbered somewhei^e about ten thousand 
 souls, all told. 
 
 Peaceable means having failed to secure the obedience of the chief, an 
 armed party was sent to enforce the demands of the government. Upon 
 its approach, Langalibalele abandoned the women, children, and aged of 
 the tribe, and with the cattle he and most of his warriors fell back upon 
 the mountains. In the Bushman's Pass, Major Duiineoiid and a small 
 party of volunteers overtook the rearguard of the rebels. The chief was 
 in advance, and as the volunteers had orders not to fire first, they 
 attempted to hold a parley in order to communicate with him. The induna 
 in command pretended to have sent for the chief, and while waiting for 
 him to arrive, the volunteers were being surrounded. At the same time 
 
THE NATIVES IN THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 127 
 
 tlireatening gestures and language, coupled with taunts, were used towards 
 them. They fell back in a panic, when too late, and as they did so three of 
 them with their interpreter and another loyal native were shot down. 
 
 The colonists at once awoke to a sense oE their danger. They were 
 surrounded by twenty times their own number of natives, and they knew 
 not how far the inclination to rebel extended. Of one thing they were 
 certain : that nothing but the prompt punishment of the Hlubi clan would 
 prevent all who were disaifected from rising in arms. Volunteers at once 
 came forward, and pursuing parties were organized. All the Europeans 
 in South Africa sympathized with them. The British Resident in St. 
 John's Territory collected a large native force to prevent the advance of the 
 rebels in that direction. The Cape Government sent strong detachments 
 of the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police to Basutoland and Kaffirland, 
 and the Commander-in-chief sent all the available troops from Cape Town 
 to Durban. The diggers at the diamond fields tendered assistance, and 
 the governments of the Free State and Transvaal Republic were very 
 ready to aid in the emergency. Every one saw that it was not the peace 
 of Natal only, but of all South Africa, that was imperilled. Once let 
 other tribes join the Amahlubi, and a general war was inevitable. 
 
 The neighbouring clan of the Amangwe, numbering some five thousand 
 souls, under the chief Putili, was suspected of being in league with the 
 rebels. The evidence against them was deemed conclusive by the supreme 
 chief, and under his orders the location was surrounded by a body of loyal 
 natives and a few volunteers, when the chief and his councillors were 
 arrested, the clan was disarmed and broken up, and six thousand head of 
 cattle, with a few horses, sheep, and goats, were seized. There being no 
 absolute proof of their guilt, the treatment this clan received was neither 
 in accordance with justice nor with the usual conduct of the colonists and 
 the government towards the natives. It can only be attributed to the 
 abnormal state of feeling produced by the presence of great and sudden 
 danger, or, which amounts to the same thing, what was believed at the 
 time to be such. The Governor himself must have felt that severity like 
 this was only warrantable under extreme circumstances, for as soon as 
 the disturbance was quelled, he permitted the Amangwe to return to their 
 location, but placed them under the direct charge of a European magis- 
 trate, leaving the chief and his family in obscurity. 
 
 The pursuing forces from i^atal consisted of eighty European volunteers 
 and fifteen hundred natives, under Captains Allison and Hawkins. One 
 column went towards Kaffirland, the other searched among the mountains, 
 as the direction in which Laxgalibalele had gone was yet unknown. After 
 several days spent fruitlessly, the two columns effected a junction on the 
 head waters of the Orange, and struck the trail of the rebels leading to- 
 wards Molapo's kraal. 
 
 During this time the excitement of the Xatal colonists was naturally 
 very high, and some excesses were committed which are to be deplored. 
 
128 
 
 THE NATIVES IN THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 In a time of extreme danger, when men's utmost energies are devoted to 
 self-preservation, acts are frequently committed that are afterwards keenly 
 regretted by the perpetrators themselves. The employment of large num- 
 bers of uncivilized natives,— men whose passions when once aroused cannot 
 easily be restrained, and who look upon plunder as the end of war, — must 
 always be attended with deeds of violence. It was so in this instance, 
 though happily to a very limited extent. The warriors of the Hlubi clan 
 who had not gone with the chief had retired to fastnesses among the 
 mountains, and in dislodging them it is supposed that from one hundred 
 and fifty to two hundred were killed. Something was to be done with the 
 women and children left on the location. The government resolved to inden- 
 ture them as paupers to the colonists for a period of three years, but as 
 soon as the excitement was over, this harsh resolution was rescinded, and 
 they were permitted to disperse among other clans. 
 
 If there was any inclination on the part of the Basuto chiefs to aid 
 Langalibalele, it was destroyed by the presence of the mounted police. 
 MoLAPO himself sided with the government and arrayed his clan against 
 the rebels, who were now hemmed in on all sides. On the 11th of Decem- 
 ber, 1873, Langalibalele and eighty-four of his followers arrived at Mola- 
 po's kraal and suffered themselves to be disarmed by the police, when the 
 chief, five of his sons, and four principal men were made prisoners, 
 and the remainder were permitted to disperse among the Basuto 
 villages. On the following day two hundred more quietly surrendered, 
 on condition that their lives should be spared, but the main body 
 took up a strong position in the mountains and prepared to defend 
 themselves. They were then attacked by the police, and, after losing 
 ten men, were compelled to disperse. Their cattle were seized, and 
 of these two thousand were distributed among the Basutos as a 
 reward for their assistance, and the remainder were handed over to 
 Captains Allison and Hawkins, who arrived on the 13th. Mr. Orpen 
 with a party of natives from St. John's Territory accompanied a body of 
 two hundred police sent in pursuit from that direction, but they did not 
 reach Molapo's kraal till ten days after the surrender, and therefore, 
 though their exertions had been most commendable, they received no share 
 of the captured stock. The prisoners were delivered to the Natal oQicers , 
 who took back with them five thousand head of cattle, exclusive of calves, 
 two hundred and seventy horses, and one hundi'cd and forty guns, sur- 
 rendered by the rebels. 
 
 An extraordinary court was constituted for the trial of Langalibalele. 
 It was composed of the Governor, in his capacity of great chief of Natal, 
 the Secretary for Native Affairs, three magistrates, three native chiefs, 
 and four native officers under government. The prisoner was tried 
 according to native law, and was not permitted to have counsel. Such a 
 court was ill qualified to secure respect for its decisions, and it is not sur- 
 prising that persons abroad have been found to call in question the justice 
 
THE NATIVES IN THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 129 
 
 of the treatment the Hlubi clan received, basing their knowledge and their 
 opinions on the fact that the principal prisoner was condemned before 
 being tried. For the judge was the same governor who had previously 
 outlawed him and offered a hundred cattle for his head. Langalibalele's 
 crime was notorious, and no one who knows how nearly he brought about a 
 general war would maintain that he did not deserve punishment ; but it 
 would have been more satisfactory if he had received a fair trial by un- 
 biassed judges. Before the court he admitted the truth of the most serious 
 charges brought against him, but assumed throughout an appearance of 
 stolid indifference to what was going on. The trial commenced on the 
 16th of January, 1874, and judgment was delivered on the 9th of the 
 following month. The prisoner was sentenced to banishment for life, but 
 at the time Natal had no place to banish him to. Application was there- 
 fore made to the Cape Government, and an Act was passed by the Cape 
 Parliament authorizing his imprisonment on Robben Island. Thither he 
 and one of his sons, who was sentenced to banishment for a term of five 
 years, were conveyed accordingly. The Hlubi clan was broken up, and the 
 ground they had occupied was resumed by the government. 
 
 The details of these occurrences were published in England, and as it 
 happened to be a time when nothing of an excising nature was taking place 
 in Europe, a large amount of attention was bestowed upon Natal. The 
 ease with which the rebellion had been suppressed caused many to think 
 that the danger had really not been so great as represented. An influential 
 and powerful philanthropic society at once condemned the action of the 
 Governor and the colonists as unnecessarily severe, and the principal 
 organs of the press took the same view. Bishop Colenso, as the champion 
 of the natives under all circumstances, published a huge pamphlet on the 
 case, which was largely circulated in England. It was quite useless for 
 the Natal clergy, — some sixty ministers and missionaries of various 
 denominations, —to forward a counter document, or for the South African 
 press, with hardly an exception, to approve in general of the course that 
 had been pursued in stamping out the rebellion in its infancy ; public opin- 
 i ion in Britain once formed was not to be changed. It was assumed that 
 Langalibalele could only have been running away through fear, and that 
 he could have had no intention of returning after his cattle were placed in 
 safety. All the circumstances of the case, the previous plotting, the refusal 
 of the Hlubi chief to appear before a magistrate, the overt act of rebellion 
 in firing upon and killing five men at the Bushman's Pass, the final stand 
 made in Basutoland by the main body of the insurgents, these and other 
 proofs of guilt were simply ignored, or, if an attempt was made to explain 
 them, they were attributed to the fear which the clan entertained for the 
 colonists. It was considered absurd to suppose that Langalibalele meant 
 to rebel, for what could he gain by such a course ? That a barbarous chief 
 should take up arms through caprice, or passion, or a mere spirit of rest- 
 lessness, without ever perhaps weighing the likelihood of success, or even 
 s 
 
THE NATIVES IN THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 enquiring about the strength of his adversary, seemed quite incompre- 
 • hensible. 
 
 In December, 1874, a despatch from the Secretary of State was forward- 
 ed to South Africa, in which he announced that Sir Benjamin Pine would 
 ' be relieved of office immediately, that Langalibalele and his son must be 
 removed from Robben Island to a location in the Cape Colony, and that 
 compensation must be made to the Amangwe for the losses which they had 
 sustained. Nearly two hundred of the Amahlubi, including several sons 
 -of the chief, had been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and 
 fliheir punishments were to be mitigated. Otherwise, the despatch was 
 vwritten in a friendly tone, and the colonists were exonerated from the 
 charge of cruelty. It contained the important announcement that the 
 Secretary of State contemplated a great reform in the native policy of the 
 future, such a reform as would gradually replace barbarism by civilization. 
 Nothing could be more in accordance with the wishes of the colonists than 
 such a change. But the removal of the Governor in the manner indicated, 
 — though he had frequently expressed an intention ©f retiring on account 
 of ill health, and this was referred to by Lord Carnarvon, — called forth 
 warm sympathy for the man whose energetic action in the hour of peril, as 
 was believed, had saved South Africa fi'om a general war. 
 
 With regard to the removal of Langalibalele and his son from Robben 
 Island, an Act was passed by the Cape Parliament, under which they are 
 now detained on a farm near Cape Town, where they have liberty to do 
 pretty much as they please. Some of the old chief's wives have joined him 
 there, and are maintained in comfort at the expense of the Natal government. 
 The amount of compensation to the Amangwe was assessed by Sir Garnet 
 WoLSELEY at £12,000, which he proposed should be paid to them in useful 
 articles, at the rate of £3,000 a year for four years. To this Lord Carnarvon 
 agreed. The first instalment of £3,000 was placed on the Natal estimates 
 for 1875, was voted by the Council, and has since been expended, principally 
 in the purchase of blankets, agricultural implements, and cattle. Indivi- 
 dual cases of distress among the Amahlubi have also been relieved by 
 small grants of money. 
 
 The indirect results of the disturbance bid fair to alter the complexion 
 of many matters in Natal. To it may be traced the administration of the 
 government by Sir Garnet AVolseley and the change in the constitution 
 of the Legislative Council. The creation of the native high court, the 
 codification of native law, and the appointment of several additional 
 magistrates, are steps towards the better administration of justice among 
 the coloured people. The repeal of the Act imposing a fee of £5 on every 
 native marriage has removed a stain from the statute book, while the 
 increase of the hut tax to fourteen shillings per annum will furnish funds 
 for opening roads into the locations and establishing schools therein. The 
 advantage of co-operation among the different South African colonies and 
 states has been brought out conspicuously by the Hlubi disturbance, and 
 
THE NATIVES IN THE COLONY OF NATAL. 
 
 131 
 
 the desire for union of some kind has been widely expressed both 
 here and in England. The invitation of the Secretary of State to a 
 conference in London was cordially accepted by the legislature of Natal, 
 and delegates have been appointed to represent the colony. 
 
 The natives of Natal have not profited by missionary instruction to the 
 extent that was anticipated thirty years ago. It is only now beginning to 
 be recognized that from barbarism to civilization is a step too great to be 
 taken by the mass in one generation, though individuals may succeed in 
 rising to the higher life. Several thousands of these people, however, have 
 embraced Christianity, and a growing desire for education is manifested 
 by many of them. Industrial training has been neglected, and the most 
 that can be said on this subject is that a considerable number have learned 
 the use of the plough in agriculture. At Amanzimtote, one of the Ameri- 
 can Mission Stations, some natives have been induced to become sugar 
 planters and to pay for a sugar mill. The government has encouraged 
 others to grow canes, and a few have taken advantage of a mill that was 
 erected for their benefit several years ago, at the Umvoti Mission Station. 
 But the whole number engaged in this and similar occupations is less than 
 one in a thousand. The vast majority live upon the products of their 
 herds and gardens and the wages received for occasional service. 
 
 The sale of intoxicating liquors to natives has been prohibited, but 
 cannot be entirely prevented. Drunkenness, however, through this 
 restriction, is made less common and destructive of order than it is in the 
 old colony, where the sale of brandy is open to all. In the locations a 
 considerable quantity of beer is made whenever there is millet to spare^ 
 and of late years some of these people have discovered a method of con- 
 verting treacle into an intoxicating drink. Where missionary influence 
 prevails, the natives are as sober, orderly, and well behaved as could be 
 desired, but the love of the untutored barbarian for strong drink amounts 
 here as elsewhere to a passion that leads into excess on every opportunity 
 of indulging it. This is one of the greatest barriers in the way of their 
 improvement, and the Natal government has acted wisely in reducing 
 temptation as much as possible. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 Area about forty-five thousand square miles. As no survey has yet been 
 made, this cannot be stated with accuracy. 
 
 It is bounded on the north-west and north by the Yaal River, which 
 separates it from the South African Repubhc ; on the east by the Quath- 
 lamba Mountains, which separate it fr'om Natal ; on the south-east by an 
 irregular line, partly formed by the Caledon Eiver, which separates it from 
 Basutoland ; on the south by the Orange Eiver, which separates it from 
 the Cape Colony ; and on the west by an artificial line, which separates it 
 from Griqualaud "West. 
 
 Population probably about forty thousand souls, of whom fifteen thousand 
 are coloured. These numbers are conjectural, as no census has been 
 taken. The Free State is the only country in South Africa in which the 
 European population is numerically in excess of the native. 
 
 general description. 
 
 The country consists of an immense plain, with a gradual and continuous 
 slope towards the west. The northern portion is drained by the Vet 
 River and a few other feeders of the Yaal. The Caledon, which falls into 
 the Orange, and the Riet and Modder, which unite near the western 
 boundary line and thence flow westward into the Vaal, are the only other 
 streams of any importance. Low ranges of hills and hummocks are 
 scattered over the surface, but nowhere except between the Caledon and 
 Orange Rivers is it much broken. It is entirely destitute of forests, has 
 very little ground fit for cultivation, but is admirably adapted for sheep- 
 walks. 
 
 The population is thinly scattered over the surface, the farms being very 
 large and seldom having more than one or two European families upon 
 each. The chief industry is sheep farming, the only exports being wool 
 and skins. In consequence of there being so little running water, 
 artificial reservoirs are requisite and have been constructed on most of the 
 farms. These are so situated as to receive as much of the drainage of the 
 surrounding country as possible, and by this means a supply of water is 
 obtained sufficient for the flocks and herds of the proprietors, as well as for 
 the irrigation of small plots of garden ground to which orchards are 
 usually attached. 
 
 The climate is particularly healthy. The rainfall is considerable, especially 
 in the eastern and more elevated portions. During the summer season 
 
GEO GRAPH r OF THE EliEE STATE. 
 
 133 
 
 thunderstorms are so frequent along the Drakenberg that agriculture can 
 there be carried on without irrigation. The valley of the Caledon Eiver 
 is on this account considered the granary of the State, though its area is 
 small. The heat of summer is tempered by the elevation of the country, 
 which is from four to five thousand feet above the sea level, and for the 
 same reason the nights in winter are always cold and frequently frosty. 
 
 Previous to the discovery of diamonds along the Yaal Eiver, most of the 
 farmers in this State were compelled to be satisfied with but few of thg 
 comforts and conveniences of life. The discovery of diamonds brought the 
 best market in South Africa within easy reach, and since that time they 
 have greatly improved in circumstances. For the most part their dwellings, 
 being built of red brick and without architectural taste, are far from 
 ornamental. There is little to relieve the eye about these homesteads : 
 there are no out-buildings, and, with the exception of fruit trees in the 
 orchards and occasionally a few willows, arboriculture has been entirely 
 neglected. A number of stone kraals for enclosing cattle and sheep, and 
 some heaps of manure cut like peat and dried for fuel, comprise all of 
 man's handiwork that is to be seen in addition to what has been already 
 mentioned. In summer the grass is beautifully green, and the plains, 
 dotted over with herds of sleek cattle and flocks of fat sheep, with 
 hundreds of springbucks and occasionally gnus and blesbucks sporting 
 over them, seem full of life ; but in winter, when the grass is dried up 
 and animals of all kinds are impoverished, dreary indeed is the view that 
 meets the eye. 
 
 The villages are small, but some of them are neatly built and ornamented 
 with gardens and trees. The principal are; Bloemfontein, the seat of 
 government, a neat and thriving place ; Smithfield, on a petty feeder of 
 the Caledon, a pretty village and a place of considerable trade ; Bethulie, 
 near the junction of the Caledon and Orange rivers ; Fauresmith, in the 
 west of the State ; Harrismith, in the east ; and Winburg and Kroonstad, 
 in the north. Besides these there are several hamlets scattered over the 
 country. Many of the residents in the villages and hamlets are English or 
 German by birth, the commerce of the State being in their hands. To 
 these nationalities belong also the mechanics and most of the professional 
 men. The farms are occupied principally by African Dutch, many of whom 
 possess houses in the villages or hamlets, but occupy them only for a few 
 days every three months, when they attend the services of the church. 
 
 The official language of the Orange Free State is Dutch, but English is 
 now generally used in the villages, and is the language of commerce. The 
 newspapers are published in both languages on the same sheet, but usually 
 the larger portion of each is in English, 
 
 There is very little land left in the possession of government, nearly 
 the whole territory being divided into farms, or rather sheep-runs, from 
 six to twelve thousand acres in size, which are held on payment of a small 
 quitrent. Most of these farms were originally free grants, but of late years 
 
134 
 
 aEOGEAPHT Of THE FEEE STA.TE. 
 
 no public property has been disposed of except by auction to the highest 
 bidder. 
 
 The people are attached to their government, and order is well maintained 
 but there can be little doubt that the country would be more prosperous if 
 it formed one in a confederacy of South African States. All its imports 
 pass through British territory, and pay duties, in which it does not parti- 
 cipate, to one or other of the colonial governments, and its suppUes of 
 ammunition can at any time be withheld ; so that, though nominally free, it 
 is really a dependent State. By the British government it is not regarded 
 in the light of a foreign power, for it is treated with through the Secretary 
 of State for the Colonies, not through the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 FISCAL DIVISIONS. 
 
 In the Free State there are thirteen Divisions or Districts, over each of 
 which a landdrost or magistrate presides. These are subdivided into 
 forty-one wards or fieldcornetcies. The districts are named after the seats 
 of magistracy, as follow ; Boshof , Winburg, Kroonstad, Hamsmith, Jacobs- 
 dal, Fauresmith, Bloemfontein, Smithfield or Caledon River, Philippolis, 
 Bethulie, Rouxville, Bethlehem, and Ladybrand. 
 
 GOVEENMEXT. 
 
 The Constitution of the Orange Free State was adopted on the 10th of 
 April, 1854, by the representatives of the people assembled in convention 
 at Bloemfontein. It contains sixty-two articles, the first of which declares 
 all white inhabitants, who have resided in the country for six months, to 
 be burghers. The remaining articles prescribe the duties and powers of 
 burghers, of the different branches of the government, of officers of justice 
 and military officers ; declare the Eoman-Dutch law to be the fundamental 
 law of the State ; and guarantee the equality of all in the eye of the law, 
 the right of property, personal freedom, and the liberty of the press. 
 
 Under this constitution, the government is administered by a President, 
 who is elected by the burghers from candidates nominated by the Yolks- 
 raad, for a term of five years. There is nothing to prevent the same person 
 from holding the office more than one term. The President is the principal 
 executive officer of the State, he superintends all public departments, and 
 the carrying out of all business connected with the public service, but he is 
 responsible to the Yolksraad, and his administrative acts are liable to be 
 reviewed by that body. He is required to make a yearly report of the 
 state of the country and of the public service to the Volksraad, and must 
 visit the district villages frequently, and make himself acquainted with the 
 interests and wishes of the people. All appointments made by him are 
 provisional and require the confirmation of the Volksraad : he can suspend 
 public functionaries but not deprive them of office ; with the consent of a 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE FREE STATE. 
 
 135 
 
 majority of the Executive Council, he can exercise the prerogative of mercy 
 in criminal cases ; with the concurrence of the Volksraad, he can declare 
 war, make peace, enter into conventions, and conclude treaties. By courtesy 
 the President is styled " His Honor.'* 
 
 The Executive Council is composed of the State Secretary, the Land- 
 drost of Bloemfontein, and three unofficial members chosen by the Volks- 
 raad, and holding office during the pleasure of that body. The State 
 President is chairman, and has a casting vote. 
 
 The Volksraad or Chamber of Representatives of the People is the 
 supreme and sole legislative power of the State. Each of the thirteen 
 seats of magistracy and each field-cornetcy is entitled to elect a represent- 
 ative, who must be a burgher, resident at least one year in the State, over 
 twenty-five years of age, possessed of unmortgaged landed property of the 
 value of £200, and never have been convicted of crime. The members are 
 elected for four years, and are eligible for re-election ; but half of them 
 retire every two years. The President, — or the Government Secretary in 
 the President's absence, — has the right of addressing the Chamber, but 
 not of voting on any measure. Twelve members form a quorum. The 
 Volksraad meets yearly at Bloemfontein, and chooses a chairman at each 
 session. The State President or a majority of the Executive Council can 
 call extraordinary meetings, if considered necessary. Laws passed by the 
 Volksraad are signed by the Chairman or the State President, and have 
 effect two months after date of publication, unless otherwise stated. The 
 Volksraad has power to impeach the President and other public func- 
 tionaries for treason, bribery, or other grave offences, and can dismiss, if 
 they are found guilty, but not otherwise punish them. The President can 
 only be convicted by three-fourths of the members present in a full 
 assembly. In case of the President's office becoming vacant by any means > 
 the Volksraad has power to fill it provisionally. All proceedings must be 
 conducted with open doors, unless in cases where secrecy is indispensable. 
 No alterations can be made in the constitution, unless carried by three- 
 fourths of the members of the Volksraad in three successive sessions. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION Or JUSTICE. 
 
 In each district there is a landdrost, whose power of jurisdiction extends 
 to £37 10s in civil, and to the infliction of three months imprisonment with 
 hard labour in criminal cases. On the first Wednesday of every month a 
 court of landdrost and heemraden is held. There are six members of 
 heemraad appointed by the Volksraad for each district, who retain this 
 honorary appointment for two years. Of these, two in rotation sit every 
 month. The courts thus composed, in which the votes of all the members 
 are equal, have power to try civil cases of the value of £75, and to inflict 
 four months imprisonment with hard labour in criminal cases. Appeals 
 lie to the circuit court, which in the early days of the republic consisted of 
 
136 
 
 GEOGKAPHY OF THE FREE STATE. 
 
 three landdrosts, but now of a judge qualified by legal training, where 
 advocates plead and juries decide, the same as in the Cape Colony, The 
 Supreme Court is formed of three judges, and holds its sittings in Bloem- 
 fontein. The judgments of the various courts are respected by the com- 
 munity, and are considered to be as much in accordance with strict justice 
 as those of similar tribunals in European states. 
 
 ' EDUCATION. 
 
 Of late years most praiseworthy efforts have been made to establish 
 schools wherever a sufficient number of pupils could be got together. The 
 government stands ahead of all others in South Africa in the proportion 
 of public revenue devoted to educational purposes, and the principle is 
 universally recognized that one of the first duties of the state is to educate 
 those who are to be its citizens. The difficulty in the way of carrying out 
 a comprehensive scheme of national education lies in the isolation of very 
 many of the farmers, who reside at great distances from each other. 
 These, unless wealthy enough to send their children to boarding schools, 
 are still compelled to continue the old system of engaging such itinerant 
 teachers as are obtainable, to instruct their children at home for a year or 
 two. The public schools in the villages and other centres of population 
 are well attended, and are kept up to the mark by the inspection and 
 supervision of an officer at the head of the department. A High School 
 in Bloemfontein, termed the Grey College, receives liberal support from 
 the public funds. The education imparted in the public schools being 
 unsectarian, some denominations of Christians have established schools in 
 which their own doctrines may be promulgated. The South African 
 branch of the English Church is taking the lead in this direction, and its 
 college in Bloemfontein stands high as an educational institution. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 The Dutch Reformed is the state church, in so far as it is supported by 
 the government, and the majority of the people are members of it ; but its 
 clergymen possess no political privileges that are not enjoyed by those of 
 dissenting bodies. Various other Protestant bodies have received small 
 subsidies from the state. There is a branch of the Anglican Church, under 
 a bishop residing at Bloemfontein, and the Wesleyans have a good many 
 adherents residing in the villages. 
 
 Among the natives, missionaries of different societies have long been 
 labouring. Their success has been about equal to that of their brethren 
 in other parts of South Africa. 
 
 A branch of that very exclusive community, known as the Doppers, is 
 found in the Free State. Their habits and dress are peculiar to them- 
 selves, and they rarely intermarry with those of another creed. They 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 137 
 
 separated from the Dutch Reformed Church some time ago on very slight 
 grounds, and will probably remain a distinct sect. They are more nume- 
 rous in the Cape Colony than in the Free State. In the former country 
 they possess several churches, and have established a theological seminary 
 at Burghersdorp, while in the latter their principal settlement is the little 
 village of Reddersburg. 
 
 REVENUE AXD EXPENDITURE. 
 
 The revenue is derived principally from quitrents on lands, transfer 
 dues, licenses, native hut taxes, stamps, and auction dues. It amounted 
 in 1873 to £119,680, in 1874 to £103,092, and in 1875 to £113,041. Of the 
 expenditure, about one fifth comes under the heading civil and judicial, 
 and one seventh under the heading educational. Churches are subsidized 
 to the amount of about £4,000 yearly. The total amount expended in 1873 
 was £117,547, in 1874 £95,682, and in 1875 £116,979. 
 
 In 1865 and 1866, owing to the Basuto war, the government was com- 
 pelled to issue notes to the amount of £130,000, of which, however, from 
 fifty to sixty thousand pounds was lent to burghers. These notes, 
 termed bluebacks, had a forced circulation within the State, but were 
 valueless beyond the border, though they rested on the security of public 
 lands. They fell rapidly in exchange against gold, and had the effect of 
 forcing coin out of circulation. The prosperity of the State since 1869 has 
 enabled the government to call in and destroy the greater portion of the 
 bluebacks, and the public debt, represented by these notes, is now so small 
 as not to deserve mention. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE- 
 
 The aborigines of the country now known as the Orange Free State were 
 Bushmen. At what period other tribes began to occupy the soil and to ex- 
 clude the original possessors cannot be ascertained. The Basutos have been 
 in possession of the country they now reside in for at least six generations, 
 and probably very much longer. At the commencement of the present 
 century their outposts were extended much further to the westward and 
 northward than they are now. At that time a few Koranna clans were 
 X 
 
188 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 found along the banks of the Vaal and Orange rivers, and some petty 
 Bechuana clans had possessed themselves of other parts of the soil, but 
 the total number of inhabitants was very small. 
 
 Among these fevr war was almost constantly being waged. No clan 
 respected the property of another, and the little that each possessed could 
 only be held with the strong hand. Early in the present century the 
 people now known as Griquas arrived in the western part of the country. 
 Being armed with muskets, they proved more powerful than any of the 
 other races, and soon became undisputed masters of that section. They 
 had not long been there when a few farmers from the Cape Colony began 
 to arrive. These men were nomads, who observed that at certain seasons 
 the grass on the plains north of the great river was richer than they had 
 seen it elsewhere. Game also was to be found in exceeding abundance, so 
 that there was little left that they could wish for. Still, for several years 
 it was only as visitors or residents for a few months that they appeared, 
 their homes being considered by themselves to be in the colony, where 
 their friends were, and where the church of which they were members was 
 situated. 
 
 At length, in 1828, one of them settled down permanently, and then 
 another followed, and another, until the attention of the colonial authorities 
 was directed to the emigration that was taking place. Attempts to prevent 
 it were then made by means of proclamations forbidding removal beyond 
 the frontiers, but they had no effect whatever. 
 
 The farmers found the central portion of the country without inhabitants, 
 and there they located themselves, each one taking possession of a tract 
 of ten or a dozen square miles. Gradually, as their numbers increased, 
 they found themselves coming in contact with the Basutos on the east 
 and with the Griquas on the west. But land was of so little value in those 
 days that they had no difficulty in purchasing hundreds of square miles 
 for goods which cost perhaps less than five pounds. It frequently 
 happened that there were several claimants to the same tract of country, 
 and in such cases the farmers took upon themselves to decide who was the 
 rightful owner. This was usually the one who was willing to dispose of it 
 on the easiest terms, and titles once acquired by purchase, no matter from 
 whom, were considered to confer an indisputable right of possession. 
 MosHESH, the chief of the Basutos, claimed the greater part of the country, 
 but at that time and for twenty years to come, it was as much as he could 
 do to preserve a few mountain strongholds between the Orange and the 
 Caledon from his numerous enemies. The wars of Tshaka had nearly 
 ruined him, and in the very heart of his territory he was now contending 
 for existence with bands of powerful intruders. His pretensions to 
 dominion over outlying districts were therefore wholly disregarded, the 
 more so as he refused to sell so much as an inch of what he claimed, 
 alleging that he had no power to alienate the possessions of his people. 
 In the course of six or seven years a good deal of land was brought into 
 
HISTORY OF THE ORANQK FREE STATE. 
 
 139 
 
 occupation, though as yet the immigrants were too few in number to 
 think of renouncing their allegiance to Great Britain and setting up a 
 government of their own. They tried as much as possible to avoid 
 attracting the attention of the Cape authorities, and therefore prudently 
 settled any differences between themselves without reference to courts of 
 law. So matters stood when the great emigration of farmers from the 
 Cape Colony took place. 
 
 The first party to leave consisted of about thirty families, headed by 
 Carl Triechard, of the Division of Albany. It was towards the close of 
 the year 1835, and the Emigrants, not caring to venture through Kaffirland, 
 kept close along the edge of the interior plateau, being in hopes of finding 
 a passage through the Drakenberg into Natal. In this they did not 
 succeed, and keeping on their journey they at length arrived in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Delagoa Bay. There they were attacked with fever, of which 
 many of them died, when the remainder fell back to the healthy highlands 
 of the interior. There they were surprised by a band of JVIsilikazi's 
 warriors, who butchered twenty-four of their number, and carried off all 
 their stock. Of this unfortunate party, only two persons survived this 
 accumulation of disasters, and they did not reach Natal until a couple of 
 years after setting out on their journey. 
 
 The next to leave was a party of about fewo hundred persons, under 
 Commandant Hendrik Potgieter. This party proceeded to Thaba Nchu, 
 where they were received in a friendly manner by the Barolong chief 
 MoROKO. Here they waited a while, and then proceeded further northwards, 
 together with some stragglers that in the mean timehad joined their camp. 
 While thus journeying onward unsuspicious of danger, a small party in 
 advance was attacked by one of Msilikazi's bands, when twenty-five persons 
 were massacred, and all their property was swept off. A few, however, 
 escaped to the larger party behind, who immediately retreated to a good 
 position for defence, and formed a camp. They had fifty waggons with 
 them, which they drew up in a circle, filling every aperture with thorn 
 trees, and lashing the whole together with riems. These arrangements 
 were barely completed when the Matabele attacked them. The number of 
 fighting men with Potgieter did not exceed forty, while the Matabele were 
 at least five thousand, but the boer encampment proved to be impregnable. 
 The Matabele rushed on furiously with their stabbing spears in hand, and 
 were received with volleys of slugs and buckshot, discharged at arm's 
 length from the heavy guns of the farmers. This warm reception caused 
 the assailants to fall back for a moment, but they immediately reclosed 
 their ranks and rushed forward again. Once more they were met with the 
 discharge of the farmers' guns, and again they fell back, but only to rally 
 and charge as furiously as before. This kind of fighting, however, was too 
 hot to last long, and fifteen minutes after the first attack the Matabele were 
 in full retreat, driving before them all the farmers' stock, consisting of six 
 thousand head of horned cattle and forty-one thousand sheep, but leaving 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY OE THE ORANaE FREE STATE. 
 
 a hundred and fifty dead and dying warriors before the camp which the^^ 
 had vainly tried to storm. 
 
 The loss of their cattle was a ruinous blow to the farmers, who could now 
 neither advance nor retreat. They therefore sent messengers in all haste 
 to MoROKO, and that friendly chief supplied them with oxen and assisted to 
 bring them back to his country. Upon arriving there, they found several 
 encampments of Emigrants who had left the colony soon after themselves, 
 among others a large and wealthy party from Graaff-Eeinet, under the 
 leadership of Gert Maritz. A general meeting was at once held, at which 
 it was resolved to punish the heathen for the wanton shedding of Christian 
 blood. 
 
 Early in January, 1837, a commando, consisting of one hundred and 
 seventy farmers and about a hundred friendly natives, left Thaba Nchu 
 under the guidance of a former subject of Msilikazi, who had now engaged 
 to betray his old master. The party was under the orders of Gert Maritz, 
 who had been elected Commandant. Marching in a north-westerly direc- 
 tion, the commando crossed the Yaal and Hart rivers, and a fortnight 
 after setting out reached Mosega, one of the chief military kraals of the 
 Matabele. The guide had conducted them so skilfully that they were 
 able to attack the kraal unawares, m fact, to act exactly as they had been 
 acted by. Some four hundred persons were shot, without any loss on the 
 farmers' side, and the commando recovered seven thousand head of cattle 
 and several waggons which had been taken when Triechard's party was 
 massacred. Having thus avenged the blood of their kindred, the farmers 
 returned to Thaba Nchu, where there were by this time at least two 
 thousand Emigrants, while fresh parties from the colony were constantly 
 arriving. 
 
 It became necessary now to discuss the question of future action, but on 
 account of a feeling of rivalry which broke out among the various leaders 
 of parties, nothing definite could be agreed upon. At length, in April, a 
 small party arrived, having for its head a man who commanded the 
 confidence of the whole of the Emigrants. This was Pieter Eetiep, whose 
 tragic fate has been recorded in a previous chapter. He was immediately 
 elected Commandant-General, and shortly afterwards drew up a document, 
 to which the Emigrants in public meeting assembled agreed without demur. 
 In it they renounced their allegiance to England, bound themselves 
 together as an united army, and engaged to obey their officers when in 
 discharge of duty. 
 
 Retief then entered into treaties of peace and friendship with the 
 different native clans inhabiting the country between the Orange and 
 Yaal rivers. From the Barolongs, under Moroko, the Emigrants had 
 received many favours, and the treaty of friendship then made has never 
 since been broken. The clan still occupies the country about Thaba Nchu, 
 a little territory surrounded on every side by Free State farms, and 
 Moroko, long since converted to Christianity, is yet at the head of his 
 
HISTOET OF THE ORANGE FEEE STATE. 
 
 141 
 
 people. He is supposed to be now over ninety years of age, but yet retains 
 his mental powers in full vigour, and is never more pleased than when the 
 children of those whom he succoured forty years ago favour him with a 
 visit. The other chiefs with whom treaties were made entered readily into 
 professions of friendship with the Emigrants, but in most instances this 
 good feeling proved to be of short duration on both sides. 
 
 Parties of farmers still continued to arrive from the Cape Colony, and 
 the country about the sources of the Riet, Modder, and Yet rivers was 
 fast being filled up, when the stream of emigration took another turn. A 
 large party from Uitenhage, headed by the patriarch Jacobus Uys and his 
 son PiETER, passed through on the way to Natal, and halted close to the 
 mountains. As yet no means of descent from the interior highlands down 
 to Natal had been discovered nearer than a pass at the northern extremity 
 of the district. "While the party under Uys was waiting till winter was 
 over before proceeding further, some others announced their intention of 
 moving in the same direction. The Commandants Potgietee. and Maritz 
 were among the number, and as soon as influential men like these made up 
 their minds to go on to Natal, the desire to accompany them became 
 general. Retief himself was carried away by the popular movement and 
 by the glowing terms in which the country under the Drakenberg was 
 described by those who had already visited it. Pieter Uys had been there 
 with an exploring party from Uitenhage, and he and Retief were fast 
 friends. The Commandant General then sent out a number of young men 
 to search among the mountains for passes through which waggon roads 
 could be made, and two or three were discovered in convenient positions. 
 
 As soon as winter was over, long lines of waggons began to move, and 
 before the year 1837 had come to a close the bulk of the Emigrants had 
 taken their departure from the plains of what is now the Free State. A 
 thousand waggons had descended into the rich pastures of Natal, while 
 every here and there among the mountains was to be seen an encampment 
 of farmers, for they often halted for a month or two in choice situations 
 where grass and water were plentiful. Now that they were far away from 
 their oppressors, there was no need of doing things hastily, and whether 
 they reached the Klip River in six weeks or six months was a matter of 
 little moment. The large party under Uys was still on the highlands, for 
 though it had communicated the impetus to others, it was the last to move 
 on. The history of these Emigrants for the next five years is the history 
 of Natal during that period, and has been traced in a previous chapter. 
 
 Those who remained behind were few in number, and though henceforth 
 parties of Emigrants were constantly passing through to Natal, it was 
 not often that any settled down by the way. But in 181-2 a great change 
 took place in the condition of affairs. The English made themselves 
 masters of Natal, and back over the Drakenberg came strings of waggons 
 whose owners hoped to find some place in the far interior where they 
 could live unmolested and free. Commandant Potgieter came with the 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OF THE OllANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 rest, but he moved a^vay north of the Vaal, and many more followed him. 
 Of the other Commandants of note, Eetief had been murdered, Pieter 
 Uys had fallen in battle, Maritz had died, Pretorius and Landman remained 
 in Natal. There was no one to take the lead between the Yaal and the 
 Orange, and now that the stream of emigration was turned in this direction 
 and the plains were again occupied, the need of a government strong enough 
 to enforce order began to be keenly felt. 
 
 In a very short time the country was in such a state of anarchy that the 
 most sensible of the Emigrants were prepared to submit even to English 
 authority rather than let matters remain as they were. Early in 1844, a 
 memorial, signed by five hundred landholders, was forwarded to Commission- 
 er Cloete, who was then at Maritzburg, stating that the majority of the 
 inhabitants were willing to be placed on the same footing as those in 
 Natal, and requesting his assistance in bringing about the desired change ; 
 but Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland, to whom the memorial was referred, 
 replied that the appUcation could not be entertained. From this date 
 there were two parties in the country, one inveterate in hostility to 
 English rule, the other prepared to purchase order at the price of 
 submission to British authority. The first party was strongest in the 
 northern districts, the second was strongest in the south. 
 
 Complaints were constantly reaching Cape Town from the Griquas, of 
 the manner in which they were being dealt with by the Emigrants. Sir 
 Benjamin D'TJrban had entered into treaties with the chiefs Andries 
 Waterboer and Adam Kok, and these people considered themselves 
 entitled to protection. Kok was fast losing his ground, not altogether by 
 violence, but partly by the purchase or lease of farms from his subjects. 
 The Emigrants claimed supreme authority in all matters affecting the 
 country and its inhabitants, and exclusive jurisdiction over all persons of 
 European blood and in all cases in which Eui'opeans were concerned. They 
 would not even permit white men to be tried by the ehiefs for offences 
 committed within native villages. The English government was loath to 
 interfere, for the Ministry of the day was desirous of avoiding an extension 
 of the colonial dominions, and looked upon the country north of the Orange 
 as altogether waste and valueless. One of the judges of the supreme court 
 of the Cape Colony, who was at Colesberg on circuit in the year 1842, pro- 
 claimed the sovereignty of Her Majesty over the country, but his procla- 
 mation was immediately repudiated by Sir George Napier. Sir Peregrine 
 Maitland declined at first to have anything to do with transgariepine 
 affairs, but he was at length compelled to interfere. 
 
 In April, 1845, an express reached the colony from Adam Kok, in which 
 he stated that if assistance were not rendered without delay, it would be 
 too late. He had been obliged to take the field with all the forces he could 
 collect, and could hold his own against the farmers for a short time only. 
 Upon receipt of this intelligence, a few companies of soldiers were sent 
 across the Orange. They found Adam Kok and his Griquas drawn up on 
 
HISTORY OF THE OBANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 143 
 
 one side of a wide valley, and a boer commando on the other, each waiting 
 for reinforcements. They had wasted a good deal of powder in firing 
 towards each other, but had been careful not to approach so near as to do 
 any damage. 
 
 The arrival of the soldiers caused the Griquas to wax valiant, and an 
 attack was made upon the farmers, when two or three persons were killed, 
 and the Emigrant commando was driven back. This petty action, which 
 has since been known as the battle of Zwart Kopjes, was the means of effect- 
 ing a change in the government of the country. The territory was not 
 annexed to the British dominions, but a British officer was stationed at 
 Bloemfontein, to whose authority all parties were expected to submit. They 
 all, — Emigrants, Griquas, Basutos, Barolongs, and Korannas, — were left to 
 govern themselves as they chose, but they were required to keep peace with 
 each other, and when any dispute arose between them they were expected 
 to refer the matter to the British Resident, who would act as arbitrator. A 
 handful of troops was left at Bloemfontein, as a guard for the Eesident, 
 and with this puny force it was hoped he would be able to maintain his 
 authority. An arrangement was also effected, by which a portion of the 
 territory claimed by the Griquas was declared permanently inalienable, but 
 the remaining portion of it could be sold by its owners if they chose to 
 part with it. This was Sir Peregrine Maitland's method of bringing the 
 conflicting elements of society into order. 
 
 It soon became apparent that the controlling power must be supreme in 
 all matters affecting the inhabitants of every class. The arbitration court 
 was a complete failure. Dissensions between the Emigrants and the natives 
 became more frequent, and the power of the Resident was too weak to 
 prevent or settle them. The country could nat be said to enjoy a day's 
 peace. The interests of the farmers and the Griquas on one side, and of 
 the farmers and the Basutos on the other, were continually clashing, and 
 none of the contending parties scrupled to resort to force. 
 
 Affairs were in this condition when Sir Harry Smith arrived in South 
 Africa. He had occasion to visit Natal almost immediately, in order to 
 prevent, if possible, a general exodus of the Emigrants from that colony. 
 Onhis way he met some of the native chiefs in the country north of the Orange, 
 and he obtained their consent to the introduction of another, and, as he hoped, 
 a stronger government. Passing onwards to Natal, he found on the banks 
 of the Tugela a large number of Emigrants ready to move away over the 
 mountains. Andries Pretorius was with the party. The Commandant 
 bowed to the force of circumstances when the English seized Natal, and 
 from that time until 1847 he had been living in obscurity. Then, as the 
 representative of the Emigrants, he visited the old colony, in the hope of 
 obtaining from the Queen's representative some modification of the system 
 of government under which his countrymen groaned at Natal. Sir Henry 
 Pottinger had made Graham stown his head quarters, and thither Preto- 
 rius directed his steps. The Governor refused to see him or to receive 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 any communication from him, tliougli everywhere throughout the colony 
 a warm feeUng of sympathy for him and his cause was expressed by the 
 Dutch inhabitants. Peetorius returned to Natal with the resolution to 
 make another move for freedom. He called the Emigrants together, and 
 at the head of a large party he was just leaving Natal when Sir Harry 
 Smith reached the Tugela. 
 
 The Governor entered the boer encampment as a professed friend, and 
 did his utmost to conciliate the disaffected. He requested them to make 
 known their grievances unreservedly, and promised them every liberty 
 which British subjects could enjoy. Perhaps his politeness had as much 
 effect as his arguments and promises. At one meeting there was present 
 an aged patriarch, of venerable appearance, who stood leaning on a staff. 
 The Governor was seated, but instantly rising, he offered him the chair. The 
 act was graceful, and the kind words which accompanied it made a 
 remarkable impression upon those simple people. After that, most of 
 them were easily persuaded to return to their farms, though Pretorius and 
 a few others were not to be moved from their purpose. 
 
 On the 3rd of February, 1848, Sir Harry Smith issued from the Emi- 
 grant encampment on the Tugela a proclamation extending British 
 sovereignty over the country between the Yaal and the Orange, In doing 
 so he fancied that he had put an end to the movements which now for 
 twelve years had kept all South Africa in commotion. He had no intention 
 to disturb the native chiefs in their possessions, or to prevent them from 
 exercising authority over their own people. But by this means the Euro- 
 peans would be brought under control, and further migration would be 
 prevented. In precisely the same manner had nearly the whole of the 
 Cape Colony been brought under the dominion of the white man in bygone 
 years, but never before had native rights been so carefully guarded. The 
 territory received the name of the Orange Eiver Sovereignty. 
 
 There was a large party among the farmers to whom the proclamation of 
 British sovereignty was acceptable, offering as it did a prospect of the 
 establishment of order. But those who were opposed to the introduction 
 of British rule were in the majority, and the arrival of Pretorius gave 
 them a leader round whom they could all rally. Dissension among them 
 at once ceased when he was elected Commandant General, and a course of 
 action was decided upon. The Resident,— Major Warden, — immediately 
 sent despatches to Cape Town, reporting the condition of affairs, and re- 
 questing reinforcements of troops, but the Governor could not be brought 
 to believe that any large body of farmers would take up arms. He feared 
 the Home Government would not approve of the annexation he had made, 
 if it were necessary to hold the territory with military force, and he trusted 
 much to the influence which he thought he had acquired over the Emi- 
 grants. Thus time passed on, and no assistance was sent to the little gar- 
 rison at Bloemfontein, 
 
 Meanwhile Pretorius was not idle. He was prepared to call out a large 
 
IITSTOUY OF THE OEA.NOE FREE STATE. 
 
 145 
 
 commando of farmers from both sides of the Vaal, and was endeavouring 
 to compel those who were friendly to the English government to join his 
 standard. For this purpose he issued proclamations informing all " who 
 would not take part in the just cause of freedom that they must cross the 
 Orange River without selling their ground ; that no one would be allowed 
 to remain neutral ; and that every person acting against the Emigrant 
 Association, whether by word or deed, would be treated as a rebel and 
 punished forthwith by court-martial." Early in July the commando was 
 called out. Advancing near to Bloemfontein, Pretorius formed a camp, 
 and then sent word to tlie Resident that he must leave the country within 
 a given time, taking all his subordinates with him, failing which, he would 
 be attacked and expelled by force. The garrison was very small and the 
 commando was large, but officers and soldiers alike were ready to intrench 
 themselves as Captain Smith had done at Natal, and attempt to hold 
 out till relief could be sent to them. Major Warden, however, resolved to 
 abandon his post, and with the other officials, the soldiers, and a few loyal 
 farmers, he crossed over to the colonial side of the Orange River, and 
 there formed a temporary camp. 
 
 l^ow that there could be no doubt about the intentions or the strength 
 of Pretorius, the Governor determined to act with vigour. He immediate- 
 ly gave orders for a body of troops to march from Grahamstown to the 
 Sovereignty, and left Cape Town himself in time to overtake them before 
 they should cross the Orange. At a ford a few miles from the village of 
 Colesberg the Governor joined his little army and the party under Major 
 Warden. The river was in flood, but the troops had brought a couple of 
 india-rubber pontoons with them, by means of which the whole force, to- 
 gether with a train of baggage and commissariat waggons, was conveyed 
 across without accident. The march was then continued towards Bloem- 
 fontein. Shortly after crossing the river, the column was joined by about 
 two hundred Griquas, under the chief Adam Kok, which brought the total 
 strength up to eight hundred and fifty or nine hundred fighting men. 
 The troops consisted of two companies each of the Rifle Brigade, the 45th, 
 the 91st, and the Cape Mounted Rifles. 
 
 On the 29th of August the column reached Boomplaats, and there found 
 the Emigrant commando, over a thousand strong, waiting to give them 
 battle. The farmers were all mounted, and were armed with heavier guns 
 than those carried by the soidiers. The nature of the ground was also in 
 their favour, for it had been selected with a view to their lying in an am- 
 bush from which they could fire upon the troops, and then fall back to a 
 position of great strength. 
 
 But the engagement which took place showed that this advantage in 
 numbers and in position was not suSicient to compensate for the difference 
 of discipline between South African farmers and English soldiers. The 
 Emigrants were driven from one rallying point to another, and after a 
 sharp action of three or four hours duration, they broke and fled. Their 
 
 u 
 
146 
 
 HISTORY OF THE OEAXGE FREE STATE. 
 
 loss was about a dozen killed and wounded, while the English casualties 
 were at least four times that number. The disparity arose from the nature 
 of the engagement, — tlie farmers fighting under shelter or out of reach of 
 the soldiers' guns, the troops charging in full exposure. 
 
 The battle of Boomplaats decided the fate of the Sovereignty. Pjretorius 
 had made provision against defeat by having everything in readiness to 
 cross the Vaal. Accordingly, as soon as the action was over, most of the 
 farmers gave their horses the rein, rode to their waggons which were 
 drawn up some miles distant, and before the next morning were beyond 
 reach of their pursuers. The remainder retired to their homes, and awaited 
 the course of events. 
 
 Sir Harry Smith continued his march the same day towards Bloem- 
 foutein. On the 30th some Griqua horsemen, who were scouring the 
 country in search of cattle and other supplies, captured a farmer and an 
 English deserter, both of whom had taken part on the Emigrant side in 
 the action of Boomplaats. These men were taken to Bloemfontein, where 
 they were tried by court-martial, found guilty of high treason, and execu- 
 ted. They were the only individuals who suffered the penalty of death, as 
 a consequence of taking up arms, those who were subsequently convicted 
 of participation in resistance to British authority being punished by fines. 
 
 Major Warden was reinstated at Bloemfontein, and a larger garrison 
 than before was left to preserve peace in the country. A reward of £2000 
 was offered for the apprehension of Pretorius, but the offer only roused 
 the indignation of the Emigrants. In their eyes Pretorius was a patriot 
 and a liero, a man whom any country or people might be proud of. He was 
 now far away over the Vaal, where were also all those who were most 
 bitter in hostility to English rule. 
 
 A good many European families, who were well disposed towards the 
 British government, now moved in from the Cape Colony, and occupied 
 the lands of those who had gone beyond the Vaal. Unfortunately, the 
 disputes concerning boundaries between the natives themselves, and be- 
 tween the natives and Europeans, continued as before, and mutual thefts, 
 — which they termed reprisals, — were of constant occurrence. Major 
 "Warden at length proclaimed war with the Basutos, but the military force 
 at his disposal was too small, and the natives friendly to him were too 
 weak, to enable him to cope successfully with that powerful tribe. The 
 result was that the Sovereignty for some years was in a condition not far 
 removed from anarchy. 
 
 On the 22nd of March, 1851, Letters Patent were issued under the Great 
 Seal of the United Kingdom, by which the territory was erected into a 
 separate and distinct government. The High Commissioner, or the Lieut- 
 enant Governor of the territory, was empowered, with the advice and con- 
 sent of a Legislative Council, to make laws bindino upon all persons there- 
 in, except the followers of any native chief, and except in regard to acts 
 committed within the limits of jurisdiction of any native chief or peoi)le. 
 
HISTORY OF TUE ORANGE IRE K STATE. 
 
 147 
 
 The country was divided into four districts, over each of which a magis- 
 trate was placed, and a Lieutenant Governor, — with the title of British 
 Resident, — was appointed, A Legislative Council was formed of the 
 Resident, the four magistrates, and eight landholders, two for each district, 
 nominated by the High Commissior^er. The Resident was instructed to 
 maintain the government of the native chiefs over their people and lands 
 in the utmost integrity, and not to interfere with them in any other manner 
 than that of arbitrator in cases of disputes respecting boundaries, rob- 
 beries, and reprisals between them. It was thus in the interest of the 
 natives that sovereignty over the country was assumed, and not from any 
 desire to extend British dominion at the expense of the aborigines. 
 
 From this time the government was incessantly endeavouring to define 
 boundaries and to maintain peace. This would have been an easy matter 
 if a large body of troops could have been stationed there, but the want of 
 physical power was accompanied in the Sovereignty, as indeed in all parts 
 of the world where savages are found, with a sad want of moral influence. 
 Sir George Cathcart was compelled in 1852 to take the field against 
 MosHESH, the paramount chief of the Basutos, and a temporary peace was 
 patched up, which lasted until the next change of government. 
 
 Unfortunately, a large party of influential men in England, being imper- 
 fectly acquainted with the causes which led to the proclamation and 
 enforcement of Her Majesty's sovereignty over the recently annexed terri- 
 tory, urged the Secretary of State for the Colonies to withdraw from it. 
 Its retention was considered as involving a large expenditure of Imperial 
 funds, without any adequate return. The government of the day viewed 
 the question in the same light, and Sir George Clerk was sent out as 
 Special Commissioner, with instructions to abandon the Sovereignty. 
 
 The colonists protested against the measure, as fraught with serious 
 danger. Their relations with the Basutos, and those of the Basutos with 
 the other tribes, were such that they feared war would be inevitable as 
 soon as British supremacy over all should cease. Many of them, especially 
 those resident in the villages, had been induced to take up their abode in 
 the country on the strength of its being a British province, and they con- 
 sidered themselves entitled to protection. The natives also viewed the 
 measure as a dire calamity. They had a lively remembrance of what bocr 
 commandos were, and they anticipated nothing else than the resumption 
 of hostilities to be carried on in the old style of warfare. They begged the 
 government not to abandon them. But remonstrance and entreat}- were 
 alike in vain. 
 
 On the 23rd of February, 18e54, was signed at Bloemfontcin a convention 
 by which the government was handed over to an Assembly consisting of a 
 President and twenty-four Delegates of the People. The convention con- 
 tained nine Articles, and guaranteed to the inhabitants of the territory 
 political independence and freedom from allegiance to the British Crown. 
 It provided for the mutual delivery of criminals to justice, prohibited 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY OF THH OIlA>"GE FRKE STATE. 
 
 slavery, and was profuse in expressions of friendship and good-will. In the 
 second Article the British Government renounced all treaties with native 
 chiefs north of the Orange, with the exception of Ad^m Kok, and engaged 
 not to interfere in native affairs to the prejudice of the new republic. This 
 Article has since been interpreted very differently by the two contracting 
 powers, and Great Britain now claims and exercises the right of annexing 
 the territory of any tribes whose chiefs apply to become Her Majesty's 
 subjects. 
 
 A Constitution was adopted by the Yolksraad in April, and soon after- 
 wards Mr. J. A. BosHOF was elected President, that office having previously 
 been held provisionally by Mr. J. P. Hoffman. The attention of the new 
 government was immediately directed to the settlement of boundary ques- 
 tions with the different native tribes. Moshesh's claims covered a great 
 portion of the State, and could not for a moment be entertained. Fortu- 
 nately for the Europeans, his claim to suzerainty over other chiefs in his 
 neighbourhood was repudiated by them, or he would have been more than 
 a match for the infant republic. He asserted that they were his subjects, 
 because they were living on ground that had once been in possession of 
 his ancestors. They claimed to be independent through having obtained 
 their lands by conquest. Moroko maintained that he had purchased the 
 territory he was living in from Moshesh in 1823, when the Barolongs were 
 driven from their own country by the Makololo invasion. The Basuto 
 chief argued that the cattle received by him were tribute, not payment. It 
 was not possible to satisfy every one or any one, it was simply a case for 
 the strongest to decide and the weakest to submit. 
 
 The Free State had no military force, and could only carry on war by 
 means of commandos. The government was therefore most anxious to 
 preserve peace, and for the first four years of its existence managed to 
 avoid open hostilities. At length, in ^larch, 1858, war, — which had virtu- 
 ally been carried on by the Basutos for some time previous, — was declared ; 
 but after testing each other's strength, the Free State requested Sir 
 George Grey to act as mediator, and he laid down a boundary line to 
 which MosHESH agreed. A treaty of peace, known as the first treaty of 
 Aliwal, was thereupon concluded, in September, 1858. For the next five 
 years there was nominally a cessation of hostilities, but in reality bands of 
 Basutos were constantly plundering the farmers on the Free State side of 
 the line, though it is doubtful if Moshesh can justly be held liable for these 
 acts. There were numerous small bands claiming to be his subjects, but 
 yet acting independently of him, and often disobeying his positive com- 
 mands. 
 
 Mr. BosHOF resigned the Presidency in 1859, and was succeeded in 1860 
 by Marthinus Wessels Pretorius, a son of the celebrated Commandant 
 General. During his tenure of office matters remained unchanged on the 
 Basuto border ; but in 1863 he too resigned, and when in February, 1864, 
 the present President assumed office, he immediately directed his attention 
 
HISTORY OFTJIE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 149 
 
 to a settlement of the question. With Moshesh's consent, Sir P. E. Wode- 
 HOUSE was requested to act as arbitrator, with full power to define a per- 
 manent boundary. His award, delivered in October, 1864, was entirely in 
 favour of the Free State, and Moshesh agreed to respect it. But his people 
 continued to plunder the farmers as before, and it soon became evident 
 that they had no intention of abiding by the arbitrator's decision. They 
 were at that time impressed with the idea that they could easily overrun the 
 Free State. 
 
 Seven months after the award was made, war was again declared. The 
 farmers endeavoured to confine hostilities to the Basuto border, but they 
 could not prevent raids into the State. They defeated their enemy in 
 almost every engagement, and took some of his strongholds, but they were 
 twice repulsed from Thaba Bosigo. At last the Basutos admitted that 
 they were beaten. Molapo, — next to Letsie the most powerful of Moshesh's 
 sons, — was the first to give up the contest. He was admitted as a subject 
 of the Free State, on his pledge to be faithful, and, to his honour be it said, 
 he never afterwards broke his faith. The old chief then sued for peace. 
 The terms offered him were so severe that only a people reduced to the 
 last extremity could have accepted them. The Basutos were required to 
 pay a considerable number of cattle as an indemnity for having provoked 
 the war, and to cede the richest and best of their lands to the victor. Tch 
 gain breathing time, Moshesh consented to the terms, and on the 3rd o£' 
 April, 1866, the treaty of Thaba Bosigo was signed. 
 
 The ceded territory was divided into farms, and offered to settlers under 
 military tenure. But before it could be occupied troubles again arose. The 
 chiefs Letsie, Molitsane, and Mopeli applied to be received as subjects of 
 the Free State, and to have ground allotted to them. The application was 
 not immediately granted, but many of their followers commenced to make 
 gardens on the ceded lands. Mopeli was received as a subject in July^ 
 and had a tract of country given to him, but there were difficulties in the 
 way of receiving the others. They were, however, permitted to remain in 
 a portion of the ceded territory for a time. In March, 1867, a commando 
 was called out, and the intruders were driven from the remaining portion. 
 
 In May, 1867, Letsie was received as a subject, and a tract of country 
 was allotted to him. Arrangements were being made to locate Molitsane 
 and his people on a tract of open land near Kroonstad, when it was ascer- 
 tained that these two chiefs were fortifying the mountain strongholds 
 where they were. Shortly afterwards, Letsie dismissed a government 
 officer who was sent to reside with him, and two Europeans were murdered 
 in cold blood by near relatives of Molitsane. The murderers were de- 
 manded of Moshesh, but he refused to give them up. It was now evident 
 that the treaty of Thaba Bosigo was nothing more than a truce, and in 
 August, 1867, war was again proclaimed. 
 
 The Free State entered upon the struggle with a determination to make 
 it a final one, for the burghers felt that there could be no prosperity until 
 
150 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE, 
 
 peace was permanently secured. The civil courts were closed, and martial 
 law was proclaimed. Xotes, issued by the State, were forced into circula- 
 tion, and heavy war taxes were levied. The whole strength of the Eepublic, 
 financial as well as military, was put forth. A great commando attacked 
 the Basutos, who at once withdrew from the open field, and retired to 
 mountains and caves, which they fortified with stone walls. Some of these 
 were taken by storm, but after the commando had been in the field a few 
 weeks it began to lose its energy. Such a force, composed as it is of men 
 with families dependent upon them, is not adapted to carry on sieges, and 
 indeed cannot be kept together for an}^ length of time. It lacks too 
 that essential qualification for success, — strict discipline, and on the first 
 appearance of discontent or disaster it is apt to become a disorderly rabble. 
 It was not until a large number of adventurers from all parts of South 
 Africa, attracted by the pay and the nameless charm which such a life has 
 in the estimation of rovers, joined the Free State commandos, that any 
 decisive successes were gained. Then stronghold after stronghold was 
 taken, with terrible loss to the Basutos, until at last only Thaba Bosigo 
 remained. The crops were destroyed, the cattle were seized, and the once 
 proud and powerful tribe was all but swept out of existence. 
 
 In this extremity Moshesh sent urgent entreaties to the High Com- 
 missioner to receive him and the remnant of his people as British subjects. 
 His followers were dispersing, and many of them were already seeking 
 refuge in the British colonies. The terms of peace demanded by the Eepublic 
 were such as must have driven many more into exile in a state of destitu- 
 tion. The High Commissioner then interfered. On the 12th of March, 
 1868, he issued a proclamation declaring the Basutos British subjects and 
 their country British territory. The Free State felt itself aggrieved in the 
 matter, and a lengthy correspondence ensued, in which the second clause of 
 the convention of 1854 was interpreted by the Republic to mean that Great 
 Britain had debarred herself for ever from interfering in matters north of 
 the Orange. A deputation was sent to England to represent this view to 
 Her Majesty's government, but returned unsuccessful. 
 
 At length, early in 1869, an arrangement was made, and by the second 
 treaty of Aliwal a permanent boundary line was laid down between the 
 Orange Free State and British Basutoland. The Republic acquired an 
 extensive tract of country west of the Caledon River, a district which is 
 now, perhaps, the very best in the State, The settlement thus effected 
 was furthermore advantageous in bringing a strong government into the 
 country beyond the border, thus dispelling the fear of future wars and 
 securing the punishment of marauders. 
 
 On the north the Yaal River separated the Orange Free State from the 
 South African Republic. But that river is formed by the junction of 
 several streams which issue from the Drakenberg, and between the two 
 governments there was a dispute as to which of these was the boundary. 
 In the early days of their independence, these neighbouring States had 
 
HISTORY or THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 151 
 
 not been on friendly terms, bnl of late ycar.s a better nnderstandi ng exist- 
 ed between them, and hence the question of the boundary was referred to 
 the arbitration of the Governor of Natah In February, 1870, Mr, Keatb 
 announced his decision, which was in favour of the South African Repubhc. 
 There remained now oul^- the western boundary line which could be called 
 in question by any one. 
 
 The distinction between alienable and inalienable Griqua territory was 
 done away with during the British occupation of the country, and even 
 before the abandonment of the Sovereignty the improvident Griquas had 
 disposed of many of their best farms. After that date purchases of land 
 by Emigrants from Griquas became of common occurrence, and as the 
 boers maintained that transfer of property in land included transfer of 
 government also, Adam Kok saw himself in a fair way of losing his country. 
 The High Commissioner offered him a vacant tract of land on the western 
 border of Natal, the capabilities of which were vastly greater than those of 
 the district he was then occupying. He and his tribe resolved to remore. 
 There was no difficulty experienced in finding purchasers for the remaining 
 farms, which were mostly sold for a mere trifle. The purchase money, 
 however small, was looked upon as clear profit by the individual, who had 
 himself paid nothing for the ground, and was now about to obtain a much 
 better farm, also for nothing. The chief transferred all the public lands, 
 together with his sovereign rights, to the Orange Free State, for the sum 
 of £4000. In 1862 this branch of the Griquas left the country, and Water- 
 BOER became the neighbour of the Kepublic. In 1855 a line had been laid 
 down between the countries of Kor and Watekboer, which has since been 
 known as the Yetberg Line, and this was now claimed as the new boundary. 
 
 North of the Yaal a large tract of country was claimed by the Free 
 State as having been included in the purchase from Adam Kok, but the 
 right to this was disputed by Waterboer. It was at length referred to the 
 arbitration of Sir P. E. Wodehouse, but of so little importance was its 
 settlement considered, that the High Commissioner left South Africa 
 without giving any attention to it. It seemed indeed of very little conse- 
 quence to the other States of South Africa, how much or how little of the 
 desert either of the claimants was entitled to. Sixpence an acre in those 
 days would have been considered a high price for the best land in it. But 
 all at once the dispute between Waterboer and the Free State became the 
 first political question of the day. Diamonds were discovered along the 
 Yaal, and parties of diggers were making their way into the lonely land. 
 
 The territory in which the principal diamond fields are situated had for 
 many years formed part of the Free State. The district between the Yaal 
 and Modder Rivers, now included in Griqualand West, contained, in fact, 
 several farms held under certificates granted by the British Eesident 
 during the period of the Sovereignty. But Waterboer's agent now laid 
 claim to the whole country as far eastward as a line from David's Graf, 
 near the junction of the Riet and Modder Rivers, to Platberg, on the Yaal, 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 
 
 and offered to transfer it to Great Britain. General Hay, then acting High 
 Commissioner, forthwith appointed an officer to administer justice among 
 the diggers on the north bank of the Vaal, and proposed to refer the ques- 
 tion of the Griqua boundary to a court of arbitration, composed of persons 
 resident in South Africa. 
 
 The Free State at first refused to submit the land soutu of the Vaal to 
 arbitration at all. The Volksraad made a stand upon the convention of 
 1854, and contended that its title there could not be called in question. 
 An ambassador was sent to England, but was there referred to the High 
 Commissioner in South Africa, against whose proceedings he had gone to 
 complain. In this extremity the Free State offered to refer the question 
 of territory, together with an interpretation of the convention, to the arbi- 
 tration of a foreign potentate, such as the Emperor of Germany, the King 
 of Holland, or the President of the United States of America, but the 
 proposal was rejected. England, it was said, could not permit another 
 Power to interpret an agreement made with her own subjects. In October, 
 1871, the High Commissioner, Sir Henry Baiikly, proclaimed the territory 
 of Griqualand West a British province, and fixed its eastern boundary from 
 David's Graf to Platberg, which included the diamond fields. A detach- 
 ment of the Cape Frontier Armed and Mounted Police was sent to take 
 possession, and the officers of the Free State withdrew under protest. 
 
 The forcible possession thus taken in the name of Waterboer, of a tract 
 of country over which that petty chief had neither right nor power to 
 exercise jurisdiction, was productive of much ill feeling towards the British 
 authorities on the part of the citizens of the Free State, and called forth 
 throughout South Africa an expression of sympathy with the RepubUc. 
 The difficulties regarding boundaries were legacies of the Sovereignty, 
 bequeathed to the Free State against its own will, and the government 
 had therefore a right to expect the most considerate treatment from Great 
 Britain. But harsh as the proceeding undoubtedly was, it is questionable 
 if it was not to the advantage of the Free State. The High Commissioner 
 might have put forth the plea of necessity with a very fair show of reason. 
 For it was plain that the diamond fields could not long have been ruled 
 from Bloemfontein, and that disturbances, originating there, might affect 
 all South Africa. 
 
 It was fortunate for the Free State that it had at this time a President 
 •of Mr. Brand's ability. By carefully avoiding collision with the British 
 authorities, he averted the danger which a great number of exasperated 
 and foolhardy burghers were anxious to rush into. A very lengthened 
 correspondence was carried on with reference to arbitration, but no satisfac- 
 tory arrangements could be made. After a time, however, the despatches 
 from England became more friendly in their tone. A new Ministry came 
 into power, and Earl Carnarvon, as Secretary of State for the Colonies, was 
 anxious to bring about a closer union than had hitherto existed between 
 the detached territories of Southern Africa. He invited delegates from 
 
HISTORY OF THE ORAXGE FREE STATE. 
 
 153 
 
 the different Colonies and States to meet him in London. Early in 187G 
 the Yolksraad requested the President to visit England and confer with 
 Earl Caexartox, empowering him to settle the boundary question, but 
 giving him no authority to take part in any debate having reference to con- 
 federation. 
 
 There being now a desire on both sides to come to an amicable arrange- 
 ment, all hindrances in the way were quicklj- overcome. The boundary 
 line was slightly modified, and Great Britain agreed to pay £90,000 to the 
 Free State, with an additional £15,000 in the event of a railway being 
 constructed to ^he Cape Colony. The Imperial Government was to advance 
 the money, and recoup itself from the revenues of Griqualand West. With 
 this arrangement, the Republic obtained a fixed permanent boundary on all 
 sides, and the questions which have occupied her legislature unceasingly 
 for twenty-two years are set at rest for ever. 
 
 While engaged in this long struggle with her neighbours, the Free State 
 has not been unmindful of the necessity of keeping pace with the progres- 
 sive spirit of the age. The attention of the Volksraad, especially of late 
 years, has been directed to the spread of education among the people, to 
 the establishment of superior courts of justice, and generally to the inter- 
 nal improvement of the country. The postal system has been perfected, 
 and the construction of electric telegraphs is now under discussion. The 
 planting of trees is encouraged by the Government, and, under certain 
 circumstances, public funds are devoted to tliat purpose. Mauy new 
 villages have sprung up, in which churches, schools, and courts of law 
 have been established. 
 
 The issue of a Government paper currency has been mentioned, in con- 
 nection with the Basuto war. By 1869 it had depreciated to such an 
 ■extent that a golden sovereign would purchase more than two pounds in 
 bluebacks. So scarce had coin become that the Blocmfontein Bank was 
 compelled to issue good-fors representing very small sums in silver, and 
 merchants and traders of all kinds had followed the example. Commerce 
 was fast returning to the primitive form of barter, and all classes of the 
 inhabitants were involved in difiSculties. The exertions made during the 
 war had taxed the strength and resources of the country to the utmost. 
 While it lasted, excitement and patriotism sufficed to preserve at least an 
 appearance of prosperity, but at its close a reaction set in. The civil courts 
 were closed during the continuance of the struggle, and debtors were safe 
 from pressure by their creditors ; but, with peace, justice resumed her 
 ordinary course, and the result, in the case of many individuals, was bank- 
 ruptcy. It was at this time that crowds of people were making their way 
 to the diamond fields. At once Enghsh gold began to fiow into tlie State 
 in return for agricultural produce and slaugliter stock. The bluebacks 
 rapidly rose to par, and the Treasury was soon in a jiosition to commence 
 calling them in and destroying them. Since that time tlic Vwo State has 
 enjoyed a career of prosperity undreamt of before. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXYIII. 
 
 TKAXSYIAL OE SOUTH AFRICAN EZPUBLIC. 
 
 Area, according to the boundaries given below, about one hundred and 
 twenty thousand square miles, or three-fifths of that of the Cape Colony. 
 
 Tlie boundaries, as claimed by the government, are, on the north and 
 north-west, the Limpopo Kiver; on the west, the Hart and Notuane Kivers; 
 on the south,, the Yaal and Klip Kivers, separating it from the Orange 
 Free State, and the Buffalo E-iver, separating it from the County of New- 
 castle in Is'atal; on the east, the Bloed and Pongolo Rivers, separating it 
 from Zululand, and the Lobombo Mountains, separating it from the 
 Portuguese possessions. But these boundaries are constantly changing, 
 and those only a;re fixed which separate the Republic from civilized States. 
 The Lobombo Mountains were agreed to as a convenient boundary, in a 
 treaty between the Transvaal and Portuguese governments, dated 27th of 
 August, 1869. This line extends the Republic eastward to considerably 
 beyond the thirty-second meridian. The Zulus dispute the line further 
 south. In the north, various native tribes are actually in possession of 
 large portions of the territory claimed. An agreement was entered into 
 between Her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, the chief of the 
 Batlapin, and Mr. Marthtxus Wessels Pketoriits, President of the South 
 African Republic, on the 1st of March, 1871, according to which the 
 settlement of the western boundary line was referred to the arbitration of 
 Mr. R. "W. Keate, then Lieutenant Governor of I^atal. On the 17th of 
 October, 1871, Mr. Keate delivered his award, which was in favour of the 
 chief, and cut off from the Republic nearly the whole of one of its districts ; 
 but the Volksraad ignored the act as illegal, the President having no 
 power to enter into such an agreement. As matters now stand, a portion 
 of this territory is included in the British Province of Griqualand West, 
 and the jurisdiction of the Republic is Hmited in the remainder. 
 
 No census of the population has ever been taken, and it is hardly 
 possible to make an estimate. The Europeans are commonly supposed to 
 be from twenty-five to thirty thousand in number, and the natives are 
 n.«?ually spoken of as being twenty to one of the whites. 
 
 GENERAL PESCRiniON. 
 
 The South African Republic is a laud of magnificent promises. It 
 consists principally of a great plateau, elevated from five to seven thousand 
 
GEOGRAPHY OP THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 155 
 
 teet above the sea level. On its eastern side, the Drakenbergen or 
 Quathlamba Mountains form a ridge, one of whose slopes faces the sea, the 
 other inclines westward. The Lobombo Mountains, which separate the 
 Eepublic from the Portuguese territory, are just a continuation of the 
 supporting wall of the upper terrace in Natal. But that terrace in the 
 north is more broken, and is diversified with beautiful and valuable patches 
 of forest. To the westward of the Quathlamba, the southern part of the 
 Republic is in the valley of the Orange River, inasmuch as the numerous 
 small streams which drain it all fall into the Yaal. The Magaliesbergen 
 or Cashan Mountains, a spur of the Quathlamba, run east and west across 
 the country, and form the watershed between the Orange and the Limpopo. 
 On the northern side of this range rise a great number of streams, 
 tributaries either of the Limpopo or of the Olifants River. The surface is 
 in general very much broken, though there are several plains of consider- 
 able extent. It is abundantly supplied with water, and long droughts are 
 of rare occurrence. Except in the north, where fever prevails, the climate 
 is healthy. 
 
 It contains within itself such an abundance and vai^iety of agricultural 
 resources that it is commonly termed the garden of South Africa. In the 
 river-valleys of the north, tropical plants, such as coffee and sugar-cane, 
 thrive, while in other situations all kinds of European grains, fruits, and 
 vegetables, attain perfection. The mountain valleys not unfrequently 
 contain fine forests of timber trees. The pasturage can hardly be excelled 
 for horned cattle, but for sheep it is too rich unless it is kept constantly 
 cropped. 
 
 Its mineral wealth ivS believed to be very great. Iron, copper, lead, and 
 coal are found in many different localities. Excellent building stone, slate, 
 and varieties of stone fit for ornamental purposes are abundant. Salt is 
 obtainable from numerous pans. Gold is found near Marabastad (lat. 
 about 24° S., long, about 29^° E.) and in the Lydenburg district, further 
 to the east and south. Specimens of other metals have from time to time 
 been exhibited, but as the country has not yet been thoroughly prospected, 
 the full extent of its resources is matter of conjecture only. With the 
 exception of gold, no metal is exported, but lead is smelted in considerable 
 quantities for home use. 
 
 Game is fast disappearing before the rifle of the hunter, but in some of 
 the secluded districts the largest and finest of South African mammalia 
 are still to be found. The smaller antelopes are abundant nearly 
 everywhere. 
 
 The villages are mostly very small, and some of those mentioned as 
 seats of magistracy do not contain more than half a dozen houses. The 
 largest is Potchefstroom, on the Mooi River, not far north of the Vaal- It 
 was called after Commandant Hendeik Potgieter, the first syllable of the 
 word being derived from his name, and the second from his rank as chief 
 
15G 
 
 GEOGEAPHT OF THE SOUTU AFEICAK EEPUBLIC. 
 
 of the first party of Emigrants that occupied the fertile plain through 
 which the stream flows. The seat of government is Pretoria (called after 
 Commandant General Andries Pretorius), lat. 25 deg. 40 min. S., long, 28 
 deg. 35 min. E. 
 
 FISCAL DIVISIONS. 
 
 The South African Kepublic is divided into 
 tracies, over each of which a landdrost presides. 
 Zoutpansberg, in the north, chief village 
 Waterberg, in the north-west, „ 
 Marico, in the west, „ 
 Eustenburg, in the west, „ 
 Pretoria, in the centre, „ 
 Middelburg, in the centre, „ 
 Ljdenburg, in the east, „ 
 Bloemhof, in the south-west, „ 
 Potchefstroom, in the south-west, „ 
 Heidelberg, in the south, „ 
 Wakkcrstroom, in the south-east, „ 
 Utrecht, in the south-east, „ 
 
 twelve districts or magis- 
 They are : — 
 Schoemansdal, 
 Nylstroom, 
 Zeerust, 
 Eustenburg, 
 Pretoria, 
 Nazareth, 
 Lydenburg, 
 Christiana, 
 Potchefstroom, 
 Heidelberg, 
 
 Marthinuswesselstroom, 
 Utrecht. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT CONSISTS OE 
 
 A President, elected for five years. The present holder of the ofiice, the 
 Eev. Thomas Francois Burgers, was inaugurated on the 1st of July, 1872, 
 
 An Executive Council, consisting of the President, the State Secretary, 
 and three unofficial members appointed by the Yolksraad. 
 
 The Volksraad, consisting of forty representatives of the people, viz., 
 three for each of the twelve districts, and one for each of the villages of 
 Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Eustenburg, and Lydenburg, who hold their seats 
 for two years. The members must have resided three years in the State, 
 and be possessed of landed property. No member can be elected by less 
 than forty votes in his favour. The electors must be burghers, over 
 twenty-one years of age, possessed of landed property, and (according to 
 the Constitution) members of the Dutch Eeformed Church, though this 
 last qualification is now obsolete. The Grondwet, or Constitution, was 
 adopted on the loth of February, 1858, and under it the Volksraad is the 
 supreme authority of the land. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Each division has its court of landdrost and heemraden, but as these 
 officers arc elected by the burghers of their respective districts, absolute 
 
CtEOGeapht of tue south afeicax republic. 
 
 157 
 
 and impartial justice is not always the rule of their courts. In fact some 
 of them are so swayed by popular opinion that law is very often just what 
 the electors may choose to dictate. The Supreme Court consists of the 
 Executive Council, and criminal prosecutions are conducted before it by a 
 lawyer with the title of State Attorney. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 The education of youth is limited to instruction given in district schools,, 
 which are supported by the government, and to that imparted by itinerant 
 teachers. There are a few private schools, but none of a very high class. 
 
 EELIGIOX. 
 
 There is now no State Church in the South African Eepublic. The 
 great majority of the European residents belong to the Dutch Eeformed 
 Church, but there are a few Anglican, Wesleyan, and Lutheran congrega- 
 tions. Missionaries of various European Societies are labouring among 
 the natives. The Dutch Reformed Chtirch also has stations in the 
 northern part of the country. 
 
 REVENUE. 
 
 The revenue has never been sufficient for more than the ordinary 
 expenses of the government, and conseqtiently no public works of any 
 magnitude have been carried out. In time of peace taxation is light, but 
 whenever war breaks out the burghers are liable to be called upon for 
 heavy contributions, as well as for their personal services. The yearly 
 revenue, according to official returns, for 1872, 1873, and 1874, averaged 
 £60,000. At the close of 1874 there was a public debt of £70,000, but it has 
 since been enormously increased, and is now (October, 1876) probably not 
 less than three times that amount. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC, 
 
 'Sixty years ago the immense territory included between the Limpopo and 
 the Yaal, the Drakenberg and the Kalahari Desert, was thickly inhabited 
 by tribes of Bechuanas. These people were pursuing their ordinary 
 peaceful occupations, tilling their ground and tending their herds, when 
 an enemy as powerful as he was ferocious appeared among them. The 
 wars of TsHAKA were making desolate the whole coast region of Africa, 
 from Delagoa Bay to the river of St. John, and only a mountain chain lay 
 between the ravaged countries and the land of the Bechuanas. Over that 
 chain came Msilikazi, vrith an army of Zulu warriors. He had been one 
 of Tshaka's greatest generals, but he had offended his master, and was 
 compelled to flee for his life. 
 
 The Bechuanas looked with dismay upon the athletic forms of the 
 Matabele, as they termed the invaders. They had never before seen 
 discipline so perfect as was that of these naked braves, nor weapon so 
 deadly as the Zulu stabbing spear. Msilikazi hardly needed to fight, for 
 most of the clans fled in terror upon the first rumour of his approach. 
 Those that attempted to resist him he exterminated. Following the 
 example of Tshaka, he spared none but the comeliest girls, and a few of 
 the young men to carry his burdens. From these he filled up any gaps 
 in his ranks, and they were all led to hope that by faithful service they 
 might attain the position of soldiers. 
 
 The clans that fled from Msilikazi fell upon those further in advance, 
 and soon learned to be as cruel as the Matabele. Famine marched w^ith 
 them, so that their course was marked by lines of skeletons. A few were 
 fortunate enough to escape in time to the western desert, which offered 
 them a retreat secure from the attacks of their murderous foes. Some 
 others concealed themselves in ravines among mountains or in the depths 
 of gloomy caverns, but a very large proportion of the old inhabitants 
 disappeared from the face of the earth. 
 
 When the land was thus depopulated, Msilikazi settled down in the 
 fertile and beautiful region about the head waters of the Limpopo, and 
 there the Old Lion of the North, as he was called, lay in wait to spring 
 upon any one that should dare to approach his lair. Parties of Griquas, 
 trusting to their guns and their horses, more than once made raids into 
 his domain, but in most cases they paid with their lives for their temerity. 
 
HISTORY OF THK SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 159 
 
 Bands of Matabele warriors were frequently sent out to scour the country 
 to the southward, and wipe out of existence every living creature they 
 came across. Affah^s were in this condition when the first parties of 
 emigrant farmers crossed the Yaal. Their surprise by the Matabele 
 bands, the massacres, and the first actions of Potgieter and Maeitz have 
 already been related. 
 
 Those actions were the beginning of a struggle which did not end until 
 MsiLiKAZi was driven out of the country. A large commando, of which 
 Maeitz was elected commandant, assembled and marched fearlessly into 
 the old lion's den. In conducting operations against their savage enemies, 
 the Emigrants were not troubled with any qualms of conscience, but 
 sought only how to subjugate them most thoroughly. In common 
 conversation, they constantly compared themselves to the Israelites fleeing 
 from Egypt, and their foes to Canaanites whom it was not less their duty 
 than their interest to subdue. They shot them down with as little 
 compunction as if they had been so many wolves. 
 
 Three days Msilikazi stood at bay, putting forth his strength in vain 
 against those terrible horsemen who were so fearfully avenging the 
 Christian blood he had shed. Then, crippled and bleeding, he gathered 
 his forces together and fled. But the pursuers were close behind, panting 
 still for further vengeance. At the Little Marico River he made his last 
 stand, and there sustained a defeat that utterly broke his power. The 
 Lion of the North was now driven like a timid antelope far beyond the- 
 Limpopo, to a tract of country near the Zambezi,, from which he never 
 returned. 
 
 The original inhabitants, venturing at last from their hiding places,, 
 hailed the conquerors as deliverers. From that time a stream of immigra- 
 tion, small at first but constantly increasing, set in, and spread over the 
 Transvaal country. An Act of the Imperial Parliament, dated in August,- 
 1836, providing for the punishment of British subjects who should commit 
 offences within any native territories south of the twenty-fifth parallel of 
 latitude, tended to promote emigration to the far north. Some of the- 
 parties then leaving the colony thought it safest to get beyond this 
 boundary of English law, but where was the twenty-fifth parallel to be- 
 found ? No one could tell. And so they travelled on till they were sure' 
 that it must at least be behind them. 
 
 Thus, in the course of a few years, parties of Emigrants were found! 
 scattered over the whole country as far north as the Limpopo. Unfoi'fe'unate- 
 ly, there w'as little or no organization among them. They were ready 
 enough to unite and help each other in war, but they made no attempt to 
 set up a single strong government to which all should be subject in times 
 of peace. So matters remained until 1848, when English authority was 
 firmly established in the Sovereignty south of the Yaal. After the battle 
 of Boomplaats, there was no other country open to those who were seeking 
 
IGO 
 
 IIISTOEY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUELIC. 
 
 to escape from British rule, and hence the European population received 
 a large accession to its number. With others came the Commandant 
 General Axdkies PfiETORius, who was at once invested with the chief 
 military command over all the Emigrants along the Magaliesbergen, 
 though the High Commissioner was then offering a reward of £2000 for 
 his head. 
 
 A government was estabUshed, similar to that which had been tried at 
 Natal. Under it every officer, no matter what his rank, was elected 
 directly by the people. The hberty of the citizen was so guarded that the 
 government had very little power indeed. It was probably the purest 
 democracy on the face of the earth. But the influence of Pretorius was 
 so great that the defects in the form of government were not immediately 
 felt. His counsel was sought on every important occasion, and his advice 
 was implicitly followed in the general management of affairs. He had 
 once been accused of selfish views, but he had outlived the calumny, and 
 ever3"one now knew that he was without other ambition than to promote 
 the happiness and prosperity of the people. 
 
 During the years 1849, 1850, and 1851, a great many farms were 
 occupied, so that the central and southern districts of the present 
 Hepublic began to assume as much of a settled appearance as a countrj' 
 can that is divided into cattle-runs of eight or ten thousand acres each. 
 The Emigrants were not interfered with from abroad, and they were 
 careful to do nothing that might provoke an attack. They had found at 
 last a land where they could do as they chose, and now all they asked was 
 to be let alone. 
 
 The English government of that day was entirely disposed to leave them 
 to themselves. It was useless to follow them up, because as soon as they 
 were beaten in one district they moved further northward to another. 
 They had all Africa at their back to retreat into, and England, so far from 
 coveting more territory, was contemplating the abandonment of some 
 already in her possession. She was anxious also to throw off all respon- 
 sibility for the actions of these Emigrants, who were imitating on a small 
 scale the deeds of their Teutonic ancestors fourteen centuries before. 
 Accordingly, on the 17th of January, 1852, a treaty was entered into between 
 W. S. HoGGE and C. M. Owex, Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners, 
 on the one part, and Commandant General Axdiiies Piietorius and a depu- 
 tation of fifteen members from the Emigrant Farmers, on the other part, 
 which recognized the existence of the South African Eepublic. 
 
 The treaty contained nine clauses. In the first, the Assistant Commis- 
 sioners " guaranteed in the fullest manner, on the part of the British 
 Government, to the Emigrant Farmers beyond the Yaal Piver, the right 
 to manage their own affairs and to govern themselves without any inter- 
 ference on the part of the Government of Her Majesty the Queen, and 
 engaged that no encroachment should be made by the said Government 
 
niSTOlIT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUl'.LTC. 
 
 ICL 
 
 Oil the territory north of the Vaal River." In the tliird clause, the 
 Commissioners disclaimed all alliances with natives north of the Vaal River. 
 The fonrth prohibited slavery. The sixth prohibited the sale of ammunition 
 to the native tribes by either of the contracting parties. The remaining 
 clauses had reference to regulations concerning trade, to the mutual deli- 
 very of criminals to justice, to the validity of certificates of marriage issued 
 by the Emigrant authorities, and to the liberty of removal from one country 
 to another. 
 
 The convention was confirmed by Sir George Catecart, acting under 
 authority from the Home Government, and from that date the indepen- 
 dence of the Republic has been unchallcuged. But thougli all the farmers 
 north of the Vaal were included in this treaty, they were not at the time 
 all under one government. There were then at least three separate parties 
 in the country, and it was not till some years later that their union was 
 brought about. The party that recognized Pretortus as Commandant 
 General was, however, of vastly greater importance than either of the 
 others, or than both combined. 
 
 After the ejection of MsiLiKAzr the tribes that he had dispersed began to 
 gather together again. They owed their deliverance to the Emigrants, 
 and consequently were at first willing enough to submit to their govern- 
 ment. But as they grew strong, — and African tribes in a state of peace 
 grow wonderfully fast, — it was found more difficult to manage them. The 
 troubles they had gone through had imparted to the usually gentle and 
 home loving Bechuanas a ferocity and a restlessness which it required years 
 of quiet life to eradicate. It can hardly cause surprise, therefore, to learn 
 that some of the tribes got involved in difficulties with the farmers. They 
 would murder a few Europeans and steal their cattle, or commit some 
 other atrocity of the kind. It was a principle with Rketorius, in all such 
 cases, to inflict such a punishment as would prevent the guilty from offend- 
 ing again, and be also a warning to others. In his view, this line of action 
 was the most merciful in the long run. And in carrying it out, the one 
 object kept constantly in view was to do the greatest amount of damage in 
 the shortest possible time. Tlie rules of warfare, observed by civilized 
 nations towards each other, were held by the Emigrants not to be appli- 
 cable in fighting with savages. They sought to inspire the natives witli 
 fear, under the belief that nothing else would give l)irth to respect and 
 obedience in untutored minds. 
 
 One of the articles of the convention uiuler which Great Britain recog- 
 nized the Republic was that no slavery should be permitted within its 
 limits. The Emigrants embodied the same declaration in their constitu- 
 tion, and have always maintained that slavery as an institution has never 
 been permitted by them. Yet hardly a traveller or a public writer but has 
 accused them of dealing in slaves. The truth is, there was a system in 
 force by which persons were held to involuntary servitude, and could even 
 be transferred from one master to another ; but the Emigrants denied that 
 
162 
 
 HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUELIC. 
 
 this w.as .=;lavory, while other people maintained that it was. After a battle, 
 or the punishment of a clan for robbery or murder by shooting down the 
 offenders, the children were seized and allotted to burghers until they were 
 of full age. These wretched orphans were registered to their masters and 
 could not be transferred without the approval of a landdrost, they were 
 legally free after serving a certain number of years, and were therefore 
 more properly called apprentices than slaves. But hardly any condition 
 could be more pitiable than that of these unfortunates. In spite of the 
 law, they were sometimes openly sold or bartered away, and they could 
 easily be detained beyond the allotted period of their servitude. 
 
 The clans that were willing to live in an orderly manner were required 
 to pay a light tribute, which was exacted in the form of labour, A field- 
 cornet or other officer was empowered to make a requisition upon the 
 kraals in his district for as many men as the burgheis required. Some 
 restrictions were placed upon the roving habits of the natives, but in most 
 respects they were left pretty much to themselves. They seemed quite 
 satisfied to barter their independence for the protection which they enjoyed 
 under the Emigrant Government, for they regarded the Europeans as ex- 
 ceedingly lenient masters. They saw indeed robber}^ murder, resistance 
 to authority, stamped out with a terrible energy, but they looked upon this 
 as nothing more than justice. They knew they had nothing to fear as 
 long as they conducted themselves properly. 
 
 After settling various native difficulties, PRETORirs paid a visit to Natal, 
 for the purpose of endeavouring to open up commercial relations between 
 that Colony and the new Republic. It was just ten years from the time 
 when he had tried to compel Captain Smith to surrender, that he arrived 
 at Durban, where he was received with every mark of respect, and was 
 publicly entertained by the leading English inhabitants. The result of 
 this visit was the opening up of a trade and the establishment of friendly 
 relations between the people of the two countries. 
 
 Shortly after the return of Pretorius, a commando was sent against the 
 Bakuena, with whom Dr. Livingstone was then residing. This tribe was 
 one of those which had been compelled by the Matabele invasion to take 
 refuge in the desert, and did not appear to the Emigrants sufficiently 
 grateful for deliverance. The chief Sechele not only asserted his 
 independence, but protected some persons accused of robbery, who fled to 
 his village, and further allowed a free passage to hunters and traders 
 through his country. This last was a serious matter in the eyes of the 
 Emigrants, for they were constantly fearing that the natives would be 
 provided with firearms by such travellers. Sechele was suspected of 
 having a large number of guns in his possession, and it was reported that 
 a trade in firearms and ammunition was carried on at his place. These 
 reasons were considered sufficient to justify the destruction of his kraal. 
 The commando sent for that purpose consisted of four hundred farmers 
 and six hundred natives, under the orders of P. E. Scholtz. 
 
UISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 16a 
 
 The Bakuena were defeated with great loss, about twelve hundred 
 prisoners — mostly children — were taken, and the victors retired with three 
 thousand head of cattle, forty-eight guns, two waggons, and other spoil. 
 The kraal was set on fire, and every thing in it was consumed. Dr. 
 Livingstone's house was pillaged, and all his property was carried away or 
 destroyed, as was also the property of some English hunters, which had 
 been left in Sechele's charge. In Commandant Scholtz's report of this 
 expedition, he states that he lost only three killed and six wounded, but in 
 Sechele's letter to Mr. Moffat, quoted by Dr. Livingstone in his account 
 of the transaction, the number of farmers killed is stated to be twenty- 
 eight. This probably includes the loss sustained by the native contingent, of 
 which the Commandant would take no notice. Of the Bakuena, sixty were 
 killed and a large number wounded. 
 
 Not long after this, the Emigrants lost the services of the man who for 
 fifteen years had been their most daring leader and most trusted guide. 
 On the 23rd of July, 1853, died Andries W. J. Piietorius, only eighteen 
 months after the independence of the Transvaal country was recognized 
 by Great Britain. Incessant mental labour had told upon an iron consti- 
 tution, and an attack of dropsy, for which no medical treatment could be 
 obtained, brought his life to a close. For a month he lay upon a couch of 
 sickness, where he continued to display those admirable qualities which had 
 made him worthy of being the hero of the Emigrants. Feeling that his 
 end was near, he put all the papers relative to the government in order, 
 and then sent for the commandants, field-cornets, and other influential men, 
 to hear his last advice. They assembled round his bedside, when he en- 
 treated them to preserve a cordial union among themselves after his death, 
 and not to let party strife or ambition find a place among them. He 
 recommended them to give heed to the exhortations of the minister. Dirk 
 VAN DEii HoFF, and to promote morality and civilization by every means in 
 their power. Afterwards, several native chiefs were admitted to see him. 
 They had heard of his illness, and had come to pay their respects. The 
 relatives of the dying man were much affected on seeing these heathen ex- 
 hibit intense grief, as they knelt successively and kissed his hand. To 
 them he had appeared as a preserver of order in the land, as a gracious and 
 humane master. Everything connected with this world having been 
 settled, Pretorius devoted his remaining hours to praise and prayer. He 
 expressed perfect resignation to the will of the Almighty, and satisfaction 
 at the prospect of being speedily transferred to a region where trouble and 
 sorrow are unknown. Then, having committed his soul to his Saviour, he 
 calmly and quietly breathed his last. 
 
 Thus died Andries W. J. Pretorius, the ablest leader and most perfect 
 representative of the Emigrant Farmers. To get a key to his character, it 
 is necessary to go back thirty-three centuries in the world's history, and 
 to set up for an ideal a Caleb or a Joshua. Born and brought up in aland 
 where slavery was tolerated, accustomed f/om infancy to hear of the native 
 
164 
 
 HISTORY OF TRK SOUTH AFEICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 races only as of depredators, inheriting a feud towards tliem which the 
 massacre of near relatives had bitterly intensified, Pretorius could hardly 
 have been expected to fashion his native policy in accordance with modern 
 English ideas. But there was another and stronger feeling at work, which 
 was the cause of such acts as the attack upon the Bakuena and numerous 
 exploits of a like nature. The Emigrants believed that they were the 
 chosen people of God, and that the heathen were given into their hands for 
 an inheritance. There can be no doubt that Pretoeius thought he was 
 acting in accordance with divine command in treating the natives as he 
 did. The injunctions given in the twentieth chapter of Deuteronomy were 
 therefore followed to the letter : " When thou comest nigh unto a city to 
 fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make 
 thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be that all the 
 people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall 
 serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war 
 against thee, then thou shalt besiege it : and when the Lord thy God 
 hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof 
 with the edge of the sword. But the women, and the little ones, and the 
 cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou 
 take unto thyself ; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the 
 Lord thy God hath given thee." 
 
 For twelve or fifteen years after the death of Pretorius, very little was 
 known of the country by those not intimately connected with it. No 
 newspapers were published, and English travellers were regarded with 
 suspicion, as the farmers were afraid that if the capabilities of the 
 country became generally known, England would discover some pretext 
 for claiming them again as subjects. Sometimes a rumour of the des- 
 truction of a native tribe would reach the outer world, and furnish matter 
 for an article in a newspaper, but article and republic and native tribe 
 would all be forgotten in another week. The principal immigrants of that 
 time were relatives of the first settlers and occasional fugitives from the 
 Cape Colony. 
 
 The convention of 1852 fixed no boundary but that of the Vaal River. 
 The Emigrants thereupon claimed jurisdiction over every part of Africa 
 north of that stream, wherever they could form a settlement. The Repub- 
 lic, in fact, had no limit in the opinion of its citizens except their inability 
 to extend further. Thus, gradually, district after district was claimed, 
 until it obtained its present dimensions. 
 
 The discovery of diamonds on the banks of the Vaal drew the attention 
 of outsiders to the magnificent country beyond. For some years progres- 
 sive ideas had been gaining ground, and the old notions concerning the 
 correct manner of treating disobedient Canaanites were fast dying out. 
 Occasionally, indeed, a party would set out in search of Zion, believing it 
 could not be far distant, and would light upon some lovely valley where 
 they would conclude to abide ; but in general a more correct knowledge of 
 
IIISTOIIY OP THE SOUTH AiniTCAN liEi'UELIC. 
 
 165 
 
 geography, as well as a different view of Christianity, had been diffused \)y 
 the various teachers and preachers settled among them. 
 
 Contact with diggers of all races at the diamond fields had a greater 
 effect upon the boers of this country than the gold which they obtained in 
 exchange for their farm produce and cattle. The party of modern ideas 
 immediately came to the front, and in 1872 secured its ascendency by the 
 election of Mr. T. F. Burgers to the Presidency. At the same time another 
 cause was operating in raising the Transvaal country out of the isolation 
 and obscurity of former days. This was the discovery of gold at Maraba- 
 stad and at Lydenburg. 
 
 At the first of these places the precious metal is found imbedded in 
 quartz reefs. Crushing and other expensive machinery being requisite, 
 a considerable amount of capital is needed. It was therefore not an 
 attractive field for individual diggers, but a Gold Mining Company was 
 formed, and has since been working there successfully. The alluvial gold 
 fields in the district of Lydenburg attracted to a greater extent the 
 attention of the outside world. These fields are situated amidst magnifi- 
 cent scenery on the eastern slope of the Quatlilamba Mountains, which do 
 not here present a precipitous face seaward, as they do further south, but 
 fall away by a succession of broken steps. Clothed with rich grass, 
 abundantly watered with mountain streams, and in places covered with 
 forests of valuable timber, this region is one of the most fertile and beauti- 
 ful in all South Africa. In certain gullies gold is found imbedded in the 
 soil, from which it is obtained by washing. It is in the form of specks 
 like dust, and of nuggets, some of which weigh over a hundred ounces. 
 During the last five years, a mining population, fluctuating from five 
 hundred to a thousand Europeans, has been engaged here. 
 
 The Lydenburg gold fields and the diamond fields of the Yaal lie on 
 opposite sides of the Republic. The road between them passes through 
 the heart of the country, and along that road a small strearq of traffic is 
 constantly flowing. Such a highway causes modern ideas to flourish as 
 surely as water running over dry ground causes grass to spring up. From 
 Europe and from the Cape Colony a few settlers have of late been attracted 
 by the beauty and fertility of the country, the low price of land, or the 
 prospect of amassing wealth by commerce. Several newspapers have 
 been established, one of which, published at the gold fields, is entirely in 
 English, and the others, published at Pretoria and Potchefstroom, find it 
 necessary to give a large portion of their space to English readers. 
 
 Perhaps the change in the policy of the Eepublic, and in the ideas of its 
 citizens, has been too sudden and too great to be durable. From being 
 without ordinary roads, and with its rivers all unbridged, the State would 
 at once begin to construct railways. In 1874 the Volksraad resolved to 
 borrow £300,000, on security of five hundred farms of six thousand acres 
 each, and with the money to lay down a line of rail to Delagoa Bay. The Pre- 
 sident was sent to Europe to negotiate the loan, and to make the necessary 
 
166 
 
 HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 arrangements with the Portuguese government. Great was the joy through- 
 out the Republic when he returned and it was reported that he had been 
 successfuL But every one was deceived, even the members of the Volks- 
 raad and the State Secretary, while the President himself was so carried 
 away by enthusiasm as to believe that an enormous blunder was a great 
 success. Of the £300,000 loan, only £90,000 was taken up, and there seems 
 no likelihood now that the balance will ever be subscribed. A large 
 quantity of material, purchased prematurely, was landed at Delagoa Bay, 
 and is now lying there useless. Such a waste of public money, where the 
 taxpayers are so few, may have the effect of producing a temporary 
 reaction against any attempt to develop the resources of the country by 
 the government. Over and above this financial blunder, the past few 
 months have been the most disastrous ever known in the history of the 
 Republic. 
 
 One of the principal rivers of the Transvaal is called the Olifants. 
 Rising in the Magaliesbergen, it flows first in a northerly direction, and 
 then sweeps round to the east and finds a passage through the Drakenberg 
 to the sea. Along its course it is joined by numerous small streams, and 
 in the neighbourhood of the mountains these flow through a country 
 exceedingly rugged and wild. In this region so strongly fortified by 
 nature, the tribe of the Bapedi has for generations had its home. 
 
 When Commandant Hendrik Potgieter arrived here in 1846, he found 
 that the tribe had been scattered and impoverished by the Amaswazi. He 
 liked the appearance of the country, and accordingly settled down in it for 
 a time. At the present day, the Bapedi claim that Potgieter and his 
 people were permitted to settle there as friends by the chief Sekwati, 
 while the Transvaal government claims that Potgieter purchased the 
 district from the Amaswazi for a hundred head of cattle, they having 
 conquered it and dispossessed the original proprietors. After a time, 
 however, most of the Emigrants moved away, and the dispersed Bapedi 
 returned and reoccupied the vacant ground. 
 
 In 1857 a treaty was entered into between Sekwati and his nearest 
 European neighbours, the then existing Republic of Lydenburg, in which, 
 though the terms are rague, the independence of the chief is admitted. 
 Not long after this, the Republic of Lydenburg was united to the South 
 African Republic, and it may be inferred that the Bapedi then stood in the 
 same relation to the large state as they had previously stood in to the 
 small one. The treaty between the South African Republic and the 
 Kingdom of Portugal in 1869 gave to the former a boundary far to the 
 eastward of the Bapedi country, but in that treaty native rights were 
 simply ignored by both the contracting Powers. 
 
 The existence of the South African Republic, however, gave the Bapedi 
 an opportunity of becoming a powerful tribe, which it would not otherwise 
 have had. The feud between it and the Amaswazi would have led to its 
 destruction, if there had not been a general controlling power in the land, 
 
HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN EEPUBLIC. 
 
 167 
 
 without wli05Je consent no assegai could be thrown in war. So matters 
 went on for j^ears. Sekwati died, and was succeeded by bis son Sekukuni, 
 the present chief. Missionaries came from Germany, and were at first 
 encouraged, but were afterwards driven away. The diamond fields were 
 discovered, and to them flocked thousands of the Bapedi, every one of 
 whom returned with a gun. This indiscriminate and open sale of imple- 
 ments of war, in violation of the terms of the conventions to which the 
 Kepublics owe their existence, was protested against by both the Trans- 
 vaal and Free State governments, but to no purpose. In three or four 
 years the various tribes of South Africa were supplied with firearms, and 
 their management became henceforth a matter of greater difficulty. 
 
 The Bapedi, as soon as they were armed, commenced a series of encroach- 
 ments upon their white neighbours ard upon those natives who were well 
 disposed towards the Republic. Acts of violence were committed, such as 
 no government could tolerate, the object evidently being to provoke hos- 
 tilities. At length, in June, 1876, the Yolksraad determined to chastise 
 the offenders, or rebels as they were termed, for the government claimed 
 them as subjects, though the right to do so has not yet been proved to the 
 satisfaction of outsiders. A large commando was called out, consisting of 
 farmers and friendly natives, and marched into the country occupied by 
 the hostile chief. 
 
 A mountain stronghold was attacked, but just as success was within 
 reach, the commando was seized with a panic and fled. Some days after- 
 wards, the stragglers reached Pretoria, completely demoralized, when all 
 hope of bringing the troubles speedily to an end was necessarily 
 abandoned. The Yolksi-aad was hastily called together, when amidst great 
 confusion it was resolved to entrust the prosecution of the war to a 
 company of volunteers, or free lances as they would be termed elsewhere. A 
 German named Von Sculickman, who had been an officer in the army that 
 invaded France in the late war, was commissioned to raise a corps wherever 
 he could get men to enlist under his standard. The volunteers were to be- 
 provided with everything, to receive £5 a month as regular pay and a farm- 
 of four thousand acres as soon as the war should be concluded. Under 
 these conditions it was an easy matter to collect together a band, motley in 
 character as in nationality, but ready to do any kind of desperate work, 
 under a leader in whom they could place confidence. To meet the necessary 
 outlay, heavy war taxes were levied upon the inhabitants. 
 
 The old commando system appears to have broken down for ever. 
 The investigation into the causes of the " retreat '^'^ showed an utter- 
 absence of discipline, as well as a want of organization in every depart- 
 ment. The commissariat was a failure, for many of the men were half 
 starved. A large proportion mustered without guns or ammunition, and 
 there was no source from which they could be supplied. In short, it was 
 clearly shown that though a body of men brought together in this way 
 might be capable of inflicting enormous loss upon an enemy armed with 
 
16S 
 
 HISTOET or THE SOUXn APRTCAX REPUBLTO. 
 
 assegais, in a campaign lasting only a few days or a few weeks at most, 
 they became an unruly rabble in front of a foe armed with guns, and when 
 the campaign seemed likely to be protracted over months. 
 
 The dispersion of the commando was followed as a matter of course by 
 the devastation of the districts bordering upon Sektjkuxi's country. For 
 a time a large portion of the Republic appeared to be at the mercy of the 
 Bapedi, but they were afraid of advancing far from their strongholds. 
 The condition of affairs in October is almost as bad as can be imagined. 
 The free lances have as yet done nothing to weaken the power of the 
 enemy, while the employment of such a force is regarded with disfavour 
 by the other South African countries. The horrible barbarities committed 
 by the native contingents, such as butchering women and children in cold 
 blood, have prevented much sympathy being felt for the Republic by out- 
 siders, though the government cannot fairly be charged with authorizing 
 any suc^-« acts of cruelty. President Burgers claims the Bapedi as subjects ; 
 Sektjkuxi not only asserts his independence, but lays claim to a great 
 tract of country that has been occupied by the Boers for the last thirty 
 years. The RepubUcan Treasury is empty, and the burghers assert their 
 inability to pay the war tax. The burden of the public debt, for which 
 nothing can be shown, presses heavily upon the people. The diggers at 
 the gold fields are clamouring for British protection. 
 
 It is evident that the paramount South African Power cannot permit 
 affairs to remain in this state much longer. The peace of all the colonies is 
 imperilled, and unless a change takes place within a few months, interfe- 
 rence will be a necessity. Meantime the opinion is gaining ground in the 
 Transvaal that the easiest way out of these difficulties is by a return to 
 allegiance to Great Britain. The party holding this view is yet in a min- 
 ority, but any further disasters would have the effect of converting it at 
 once into a majority. Under any circumstances, it must become a majori- 
 ty in course of time. For there is a yearning after union with the other 
 countries of South Africa, and it is beginning to be recognized by even the 
 most conservative of the Boers that such an union can only take place 
 under the flag of England. 
 
CHAPTEE XL. 
 
 THE COLONY OP GBIQUALAXD WEST. 
 
 Area about 17,800 sqnare miles. 
 
 The population is more fluctuating than that of any other country in 
 South Africa, At present it may amount to fifteen or twenty thousand 
 souls, but of these the majority are diggers and natiye labourers, who are 
 constantly coming and going. 
 
 It is bounded on the south by the Orange Eiyer. which separates it from 
 the Cape Colony, on the east by an artificial line which separates it from 
 the Orange Free State, and on the north-east, north, and west, by artificial 
 lines separating it from native territories. 
 
 GEXERAL DESCRIFTIOy. 
 
 Griqualand West consists of a continuation of the great plain of the 
 Orange Free State, and hundreds of square miles of its surfece are un- 
 broken by a single hiU. The plain becomes more arid as one advances 
 westward, and the pasturage becomes gradually thinner, until finally the 
 desert is reached. The soil consists, in general, of only a few inches of 
 sand overlying strata impenetrable by rain. It is therefore a country in 
 which agriculture cannot be carried on, except in a few situations where 
 water can be conserved. Yet it is believed that at one place the Taal 
 Kiver could be led out so as to irrigate at least a quarter of a million of 
 acres, which might thus be made one great garden in the midst of a desert. 
 For here, as everywhere else in Africa, the soil is not lacking in fertility if 
 moisture is supplied. 
 
 The country is subject to periods of protracted drought and to terrible 
 electrical storms. When rain falls, it is often in a destructive deluge, and 
 is usually confined to a narrow belt of country. A bank, whose blackness 
 is intensified by streaks of the most vivid Hghtning playing upon it, is seen 
 rapidly advancing over the plain. The air is oppressively calm and hot, 
 and as the storm-cloud rushes on, far in advance may be heard a low 
 moaning sound, caused by the vibrations which it communicates to the 
 atmosphere. Beneath the cloud, water is falling, not in drops but in sheets, 
 while the roar of the thunder is continuous and deafening. In the midst 
 of a storm Uke this the stoutest heart is appalled, and even wild animals 
 are helpless with fear. In from five minutes to an hour the bank passes 
 over, and leaves behind it miniature lakes in every hollow and gullies on 
 every slope. Several years may pass without such a storm, but very 
 z 
 
170 
 
 GEOGEAPBY OF GKTQUALANT) WEST. 
 
 grand olectrical displays, in which no rain ialls, are frequent. In the 
 summer season, sand or dust storms are prevalent, and occasion much 
 discomfort. These storms are greatly dreaded at the diamond fields. The 
 hills of silted sand are exposed to every breeze, and at times an object 
 twenty yards distant is quite invisible. 
 
 The plain being lower than that of the Orange Free State, the heat in 
 summer is greater, and is intense during the day, though the nights are 
 often cool and pleasant. During this season, Europeans are subject to 
 attacks of low fever and dysentery, particularly along the margins of the 
 rivers. The winter months are healthy, with a temperature from 6 p.m. to 
 9 a.m. so low that cold is generally complained of. 
 
 The banks of the Vaal, Orange, and Modder rivers are shaded here and 
 there with willows, and a few mimosas are found in favourable positions ; 
 but in the whole country there is not a single timber tree. A large extent 
 of ground is required for the maintenance of a few cattle or sheep, as grass 
 and other herbage, except just after heavy rain, is scanty and poor. 
 
 Large game, never abundant in this sterile region, has now disappeared, 
 but great flocks of springbucks still frequent the country. A few other 
 antelopes are found, as also several species of carnivora, including now and 
 then a stray lion. Venomous reptiles and insects are abundant, and no 
 part of Africa is more favoured by locusts. 
 
 The richness of the mineral kingdom compensates for the barrenness of 
 the dreary waste. In the eastern section of this region are the richest 
 diamond fields in the world. Iron, copper, and lead, are found in the 
 western section, and though none of these metals have as yet been turned 
 to account, there exists a general belief that some of the mines are 
 surpassingly rich. Beautiful stone for ornamental work is also found there- 
 in abundance. 
 
 A very large portion of Griqualand West may correctly be termed desert, 
 but there are considerable tracts of country within its borders adapted to 
 pastoral occupations. The eastern section is decidedly the best. The 
 only rivers are on that side. They are, the Yaal from Platberg to its 
 junction with the Orange, the Modder from David's Graf, and the Hart 
 from Boodschap, to their respective junctions with the Vaal. The western 
 section, or three fourths of the whole territorj^ is without a stream. The 
 Orange is the southern boundary, but below the junction of the Vaal, a 
 strip of land to the north' of it, upwards of ten miles in breadth, is an utter 
 desert. Mr. Stow, a geologist who inspected the district, has explained 
 the cause of this. It is bounded inland by the Campbell Eandt, the 
 retaining wall of a plateau above. Here the strata dip towards the north- 
 west, so the few springs to be found are quite insignificant. 
 
 Land such as this possesses so few ordinary attractions that even the 
 native population has always been extremely scant. Prior to the discovery 
 of diamonds the only Europeans residing within it were a few sheep and 
 cattle faa-mers to the east of the Vaal. Excepting by means of missionary 
 
GEOGRAPHY OP GEIQtlALAIsD WEST. 
 
 171 
 
 travels and records, the western parts were almost unknown. No one 
 attached any value to the countrj^, or conceived it possible that it should 
 ever be of any political importance. 
 
 ELECTOEAL DIVISIONS. 
 
 The Province contains the following Electoral Divisions : — 
 
 Kimberley. In this Division are the celebrated dry diggings, or diamond 
 fields on the farms Bultfontein, Dorstfontein, and Vooruitzigt. A circle, 
 with a radius of two miles, would enclose the four mines known as 
 Bultfontein, Du Toit's Pan, Old De Beer's, and the Colesberg Kopje or De 
 Beer's New Eush. The camp at De Beer's is now known as the town of 
 Kimberley. Many of the inhabitants live in tents, but there are several 
 long streets of iron stores, dwelling houses, churches, and buildings used 
 for various purposes. Incessant industry is the characteristic of the town. 
 The other three camps are similar, but on a smaller scale. There are two 
 or three hundred good pastoral farms in this Division, but every other 
 industry sinks into insigiiihcauce when compared with diamond digging. 
 
 Barkly. This Division contains the river diggings and the pastoral 
 lands bordering on the Hart and Vaal rivers. The village of Barkly 
 includes the old camps of Klipdrift and Puiel, Once the most important 
 diamond fields, but long since worked out. It contains the best buildings 
 in the Province, some having been constructed of stone, but its population 
 IS now very small. 
 
 Hay. This Division covers the whole of the western desert. The 
 hamlet of Hay, first known as Klaarwater, then as Griquatown, is the seat 
 of magistracy. 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The government is vested in the High Commissioner, and, in his 
 absence, in an Administrator appointed by the Crown of England. 
 
 There is a Legislative Council, composed of four elective and four 
 official members, of whom six form a quorum. The Division of Kimberley 
 returns two members to the Council, each of the other Divisions returns 
 one. The Administrator is President of the Council, and has a casting 
 vote. The Governor has the power of vetoing a Bill, and the Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies possesses the same privilege. The Council must 
 meet at least once every year, but it can be convened, prorogued, or dis- 
 solved, at the pleasure of the Governor. The elective members retain their 
 seats for three years, unless the Council is dissolved during that time, or 
 unless they accept office under government, in which case they must 
 resign, but are eligible for re-election. If a member resign his seat and no 
 successor bo elected within three months, the Governor has power to fill 
 the vacancy. Every male British subject, over twenty-one years of age 
 
172 
 
 GEOGKAPHT OF GEIQUALA^D WEST. 
 
 and uuGouvicted of ciime, is entitled to be registered as a voter, upfon payment 
 of a fee of two shillings, provided that he has occupied for six months a 
 building of the value of £25, or has been a registered claimholder, or has 
 been in receipt of a salary not less than at the rate of £100 a year or £50 
 with board and lodging. Any registered voter, who receives a requisition 
 from twenty-five others, may become a candidate for a seat in the Council. 
 
 The Executive Council consists of the same officials who have seats in the 
 Legislative Council. 
 
 ADilLS'ISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 There are several magistrates, whose powers are much greater than are 
 those of similar officers in other parts of South Africa. The Supreme 
 Court consists of a single judge termed the Recorder, but in civil cases an 
 appeal to England can be noted. 
 
 EEVENUE, 
 
 The revenue for the four years 1872-3-4-5 averaged nearly £66,000, 
 but the expenditure being greater, the colony is now in debt to a consider- 
 able amount. The revenue is principally derived from licenses to dig for 
 diamonds or to carry on business of some kind, and from stamps. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF GRIQUALANH WEST. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of agents of the London Missionary Society in 
 South Africa, their attention was drawn towards a horde of savages then 
 leading a nomadic life on the great plains south of the Orange Eiver. 
 These people had European blood in their veins, as they were descended 
 from the offspring of colonists and Hottentot women. They spoke the 
 colonial Dutch language, but in all other respects were more like Hottentots 
 than Europeans. When Mr. Anderson, the missionary, arrived among 
 them, they were without any other clothing than karosses, and were abso- 
 lutely ignorant of agriculture. For four years he accompanied them in 
 their wanderings, but in 1803 he induced them to settle permanently by a 
 great spring of water some distance to the north of the Orange River. 
 There a mission station was formed, and a village sprang up which received 
 
UlSTORT OF CtEIQUALA>'D WEST. 
 
 173 
 
 the name of Klaarwater. Desiccation has been going on in the country 
 since that time, and no water now rises to the surface of the ground ; but 
 in those days the fountain gushed up in a strong stream, and its supply 
 was ample for the irrigation of large gardens and cornfields. Messrs. 
 AyDEESON and Keamee instructed the people in the principles of the Chris- 
 tian religion, and induced some of them to cultivate the ground and to 
 erect more substantial dwellings than mat huts. 
 
 The nucleus of a settlement being thus formed, some of the suiTounding 
 savages were drawn towards it. It became also a secure retreat for free 
 blacks and Hottentot refugees from the Cape Colony. Among others, Adam 
 KoK, with a few followers, removed to it from Little Namaqualand. The 
 population went on increasing slowly, and out stations were formed 
 wherever sufficient water could be found. 
 
 The little settlement was yet in its infancy when the Colonial Govern- 
 ment looked upon it with a suspicious eye. It was feared that it might 
 become a refuge for escaped criminals and slaves, and that a community 
 hostile to the colony might spring up there. In 1804, a commission was 
 sent to inspect and report upon it. They found six villages already 
 established, with a population numbering in all about a thousand souls. 
 Their report was to the effect that no danger was to be apprehended, and 
 the government, acting upon this opinion, permitted matters to take their 
 course. 
 
 The settlement now enjoyed several years of prosperity. The people 
 profited by the labour of the missionaries, and adopted many of the habits 
 of civilized life. They did not acquire habits of industry, as neither 
 precept nor example could rouse them from their innate indolence ; but 
 the chase, of which they were excessively fond, was a mine of wealth. 
 They became mighty hunters, and with the ivory, ostrich feathers, and 
 skins, which they procured, they carried on an extensive trade with the 
 colonists. They found means to purchase waggons, ammunition, guns, 
 English clothing, coffee, sugar, and many other articles, the value of which 
 they were not slow to appreciate. Their flocks and herds increased 
 rapidly, since they obtained from the chase nearly all the animal food they 
 required. The missionaries led out the water from the spring, and 
 irrigated a large tract of land which they placed under cultivation. They 
 also planted willows along the watercourses and fruit trees in their 
 gardens, and when these grew up the village assumed a very pretty 
 appearance. In 1811 and 1812 the English traveller Burchell visited the 
 country, and resided for some months at Klaarwater. From his account 
 it would appear that the people were then morally in a fair condition. 
 
 In 1812 the Rev. John Campbell was sent out by the London Society 
 to make a tour of inspection through South Africa. In 1813 he proceeded 
 into the inteiior as far as Lithako, passing through Klaarwater both 
 in going and returning. He found the people without a code of 
 laws, and indeed without any ordinary governmental machinery. He 
 
HISTORY OF GllIQUALAKD WEST. 
 
 ■drew up a number of regulations, in which the punishment for crimes was 
 fixed, and induced the people to accept them as the future laws of the land. 
 In order to carry them out, a court with nine judges was constituted. 
 Officers with limited jurisdiction were also appointed, and it was agreed 
 that the two recognized headmen, KoK and Beiiend, with two missionaries, 
 should form a court of appeal. The headmen were to be the military 
 commanders in case of war, and were to be entitled Captains. The name 
 the people had hitherto borne being offensive to European ears, Mr. 
 Campbell induced them to change it for that of Griquas, as some of them 
 professed to be descended from a tribe that once lived near Saldanha Bay 
 and bore a somewhat similar name. The government was to be territorial, 
 not tribal, and Klaarwater, henceforth termed Griquatown, was to be 
 considered the capital of the country. Mr. Campbell, in the account of his 
 journeys, states the number of inhabitants at that time to have been two 
 thousand six hundred and seven, of whom one thousand two hundred and 
 sixty-six were Griquas, and the remainder Korannas under Griqua 
 protection. There were also a few Bushmen and Bechuanas in the 
 country, but no estimate of their number is given. 
 
 The colonial government appears to have claimed supremacy over the 
 settlement, as in 1814, Mr. Andekson, the pioneer missionary, received 
 instructions to send to Cape Town twenty Griquas for service in the Cape 
 Begiment. None of them would go, and so incensed were they by the 
 order that Mr. Anderson himself fell under suspicion of being a spy, and 
 was obliged to remove. He was succeeded by Messrs. Moefat and Helm, 
 whose instructions from the Society were not to mix themselves up with 
 the government. They found Griquatown without a government at all. 
 Beeend had gone to reside at Daniel's Kuil, far to the north, and declined 
 to appoint a representative. From Daniel's Kuil he afterwards removed 
 to Boodschap, and finally abandoned Griqualand altogether and joined the 
 Wesleyan mission in Basutoland. Adam Kok and his people had also left 
 Griquatown for another part of the country. Under these circumstances, 
 the missionaries advised the people to elect a chief. They agreed to this 
 counsel, and their choice fell upon Anduies Waterboeji, who was at the 
 time an assistant teacher in the mission school. 
 
 The election of Waterboer put ah end to the anarchy into which the 
 people had fallen. His government was strict, and order was soon restored 
 in the village and outposts, but meantime a large party of the worst 
 characters had decamped. These took up their residence in the Langeber- 
 gen, to the west of Griqualand, and, being joined by ruffians and marauders 
 of all kinds, commenced to carry on a series of exterminating forays 
 against all the tribes within reach. Under the name of Bergenaars, they 
 soon acquired a terrible notoriety in the countries north of the Orange, 
 "With the plunder obtained in their murderous forays, they purchased from 
 unprincipled traders what guns, ammunition, and horses they required. 
 Griquatown itself was several times attacked by them, and narrowly esca- 
 
HISTOUT of aillQUALAND WEST. 
 
 175 
 
 pcd destruction. For several years the Bcchnanas of the north-east, as well 
 as the powerful Basnto tribes of tlic east, were kept in constant terror. 
 Many of their outposts were destroyed, and thousands of their cattle were 
 swept off. Against the guns of the Bergenaars their assegais were useless. 
 The cruelties practised by the banditti were such as to excile the indigna- 
 tion even of savages. After killing the men of a kraal which they had 
 surprised, and securing the cattle, they were accustomed to cut the hands 
 off the women in order to get their armlets, and to butcher little children 
 for mere sport. At length, however, they met the fate they deserved, by 
 being exterminated. 
 
 At this time the countrj' far to the northward was the arena of war in its 
 most cruel form. The Makololo, or Mantatees as they were then termed, 
 fleeing from Msilikazi, in their turn fell upon the nations in advance of 
 them, until their course was checked by a large party of mounted Griquas 
 under Waterboer. These, having firearms, were able to cope with vastly 
 superior numbers, and, with no loss to themselves, they routed the enemy 
 with great slaughter. The Makololo then separated into two bodies, one 
 of which fled towards the north-east, and finally settled on the Zambezi. 
 The other took refuge on the upper waters of the Caledon, and there be- 
 came a pest to the neighbouring Basutos. The victory of the Griquas over 
 the Mantatees raised them considerably in the estimation of their neigh- 
 bours, but it had a far greater effect upon themselves. From that moment 
 their self-importance rose to a very high degree, and thenceforth they laid 
 claim to the sovereiguty and possession of a tract of country ten times 
 greater than that actually occupied or required. 
 
 The Griquas were now divided into three clans. Over one Adam Kok 
 was chief. He resided at this time between the Yaal and Riet rivers, but 
 moved to Philippolis in 1826. Upon his death, his sons, Aruaiiam and' 
 Adam, contended for the succession. Adam was victorious. In 1835 he 
 was recognized as an independent chief in friendly alliance with the British 
 Government, and a subsidy, amounting afterwards to £300 a year, was 
 granted to him. In 1861 he sold his rights to the Orange Free State, and 
 with his followers, removed to Nomansland (now St. John's Territory), on^ 
 the western border of Natal, where he resided until his death in 1876. 
 
 Over the other clan Cornelius Kok was chief. He resided at Campbell, 
 north and west of the Vaal River, but he ruled over a large extent of terri-- 
 toYj between the Yaal and Riet rivers, which was mostly sold to the Emi- 
 grant Farmers during the period of the Sovereignty, or shortly afterwards. 
 In 1857 Cornelius Kok abdicated in favour of his nephew Adam Kok, and 
 the territory over which he ruled was included in the sale by the latter in 
 1861. But Cornelius Kok's right to rule and to abdicate was afterwards 
 disputed, and upon this question rested the claim of the Orange Free State 
 to the Campbell grounds. On one side it was contended that Kok had no 
 such right, but was merely a chieftain subordinate to Andries AVaterboek. 
 The Free State contended that Cornelius Kok was a supreme chief, inde- 
 
17G 
 
 HISTOBY OF GETQUALAND WEST. 
 
 pendent of Waterboer, and that he had been recognized as such by the 
 Colonial Government. The High Commissioner adopted the arguments 
 adverse to the claims of the Free State, and settled the dispute in his own 
 favour. 
 
 Over the third clan Andries Waterboer was chief. His government 
 differed in some respects from that of the others, and was certainly more 
 effective. In the districts ruled by the two Koks, the land was held by 
 individuals, and could be sold without the assent of the government. 
 Owing to this, large tracts were alienated, and the clans were constantly 
 in danger of being broken up. But, in Waterboer's district, the chief was 
 sole possessor of all the land, which was thus safe from alienation. It may 
 be partly owing to this law, which discouraged all improvement, that the 
 Griquas of the present day are in civilization behind their fathers, but it 
 prevented their destruction as a people. In addition to an immense tract 
 of country west of the Yaal, Waterboer claimed jurisdiction over the land 
 enclosed by the Modder and Orange rivers and a line from David's Graf to 
 Eamah, the district since known as Albania. In 1834 a treaty was entered 
 into between this chief and the British Government, and he was subsidized 
 to the amount of £150 a year, in consideration of his protecting the colony 
 from inroads from the north. In 1852 A^^juries Waterboer died, and was 
 succeeded by his son x^icholas. He applied for a renewal of the treaty 
 which had been made with his father, but as the Imperial Government was 
 then inclined to withdraw entirely from that part of South Africa, his 
 proposal was not entertained. 
 
 These Griquas, in the mean time, had been falling back instead of pro- 
 gressing. Their country had been drying up, the game had been destroyed, 
 and their wealth was disappearing. Other and abler hunters were now in 
 the fields of the north, and traders were among them, with Cape brandy as 
 the principal article for sale. The Griquas acquired a love for this baneful 
 liquor, and many of them bartered their existence for it. Then came the 
 lung sickness and swept off the cattle. Deeper, and yet deeper, in poverty 
 they sank, too indolent to make any exertion for a living in a manner 
 different from that to which they had been accustomed. As their wealth 
 departed, so did their power, until, just before the annexation of the 
 country to the British dominions, the government of ^Nicholas Waterboer 
 was virtually confined to the few hundred Griquas still remaining, and was 
 held in contempt by the other tribes in the neighbourhood. A few years 
 previously, he had granted farms in Albania to European settlers, in the 
 hope of strengthening his position, but, in doing so, he had introduced an 
 element which, before the lapse of many years, must have caused the 
 destruction of his power as a chief. 
 
 The most wonderful of all discoveries yet made in South Africa took 
 place in 1867. At the time nothing was further from any one's thoughts 
 than that this sterile, dreary, thinly-peopled district would shortly become 
 the busiest and most interesting part of the country. Belief in the existence 
 
HISTORY OF GIIIQUALAND WEST. 
 
 177 
 
 of diamonds there was at first limited to a few. Even after a score or so 
 had been found, people could hardly believe that the gems had not been 
 accidentally lost, or concluded, as did a professed expert who was sent out 
 by a diamond merchant in England to inspect the locality and report upon 
 it, that ostriches had conveyed them thither from some far distant region 
 of the interior. But by the close of 1869 all doubt was ended. Then, a 
 rush to the banks of the Yaal took place. The whole of the colonies and 
 independent states were at that time in such a wretchedly depressed con- 
 dition that a large proportion of the population was ready to embark in 
 any enterprise that would provide a subsistence. Diamond seeking held 
 out even more than that. Fortunes were to be made there, thought 
 mechanics and clerks, professional men and labourers, farmers and mer- 
 chants, all who had nothing particular to do at the time. The banks of 
 the Vaal, hitherto so lonely, now resounded with the bustle and din of an 
 activity such as Africa never before had witnessed. 
 
 It was extremely hard work, digging for diamonds, but men, whoso 
 whole lives had been passed in idleness, laboured there with a will. 
 Emulation and excitement brought out powers hitherto latent, which 
 surprised the diggers themselves. Along the Yaal the diamonds were not 
 found where they had originally been formed. An ancient deposit, similar 
 perhaps to the Colesberg Kopje, liad been eaten into and worn away by 
 the river, which did not always flow in its present channel. The diamonds 
 were washed down and deposited amid debris of all kinds, of which 
 enormous boulders formed the principal ingredient. These masses of rock 
 had to be removed before the ground could be taken out and convej^ed to 
 the river, there to be washed in a cradle and the pebbles remaining to be 
 sorted. Under a broiling sun this labour was performed, willingly and 
 cheerfully. 
 
 Along the banks of the Vaal, on both sides, great camps of canvas rose 
 as by magic. If a diamond were discovered in a new locality, the next 
 day saw a camp there, the ground marked out, and diggers at work. From 
 Hebron up the river to Sifonel far down, a crowd of diggers swayed back- 
 wards and forwards. The largest camps were at Klip Drift and Pniel, but 
 at one time or other thousands of men were working at Cawood's Hope, 
 Delport's Hope, Gong Gong, and other places. Life along the river was a 
 capital prelude to life at the dry diggings. All the comforts of existence were 
 not parted with at once. The river was there to bathe in, its water was 
 delicious to drink, and the trees on its banks afforded a grateful shade 
 from the glare of a fiery sun. There was less sickness in the river camps 
 than might have been expected. Fever and dysentery cut off a few, but 
 the proportion was small, especially if the unaccustomed exposure to which 
 all were subjected be taken into consideration. 
 
 The government of the different camps was varied according to locality. 
 At Hebron, the highest on the north bank of the river, the South African 
 Eepublic was acknowledged and obeyed. Those on the south bank con- 
 2 a 
 
178 
 
 HISTORY OF riTlIQUALA^fl) WEST. 
 
 sidered themselves within the jurisdiction of the Orange Free State, and 
 as that government was popular, no difficulty was experienced in main- 
 taining order there. On the north bank, below Hebron, the diggers found 
 no government existing at all. The South African Eepublic claimed a 
 portion of the country, so did the Free State, but neither was in actual 
 possession. There were no Griquas there, and in the camps the most pro- 
 found ignorance existed of Waterbger and his claims. Tkere was, in fact, 
 no visible representation of any authority whatever, civilized or savage. 
 This gave rise to the formation of a really independent government in each 
 of these camps, a system which afterwards made it compulsory upon the 
 High Commissioner to take possession of the entire diamond fields. Com- 
 mittees were elected to frame regulations and carry them into execution. 
 At Klip Drift a regular government was established, and Mr. Theodore 
 Parker was elected President. Such was the state of affairs until Febru- 
 ary, L871. 
 
 It is evident that the High Commissioner could not permit matters to 
 remain in this condition. Most of the diggers were British subjects, and 
 to allow them to form governments when, where, and how they chose, with 
 the probability that these must sooner or later come into collision with the 
 neighbouring states, could not be thought of. There is an Act of the 
 Imperial Government existing, according to which British subjects com- 
 mitting offences in any country south of the twenty-fifth parallel of lati- 
 tude, and not under the jurisdiction of any civilized community, can be 
 brought to justice in a colonial court. Under this Act, Mr. John Campbell 
 was sent by the High Commissioner to Klip Drift as Special Magistrate. 
 Upon his arrival, President Parker very prudently and patriotically 
 resigned, and thus terminated the new diamond field republic. But it was 
 found that the powers under which Mr. Campbell acted were not sufficient 
 to warrant him in opening a court. He could have sent a British subject 
 to the colony for trial, but he could not try him on the spot. It became 
 necessary to provide him with that power, and a commission was obtained 
 from Nicholas Waterboer, under which he was appointed magistrate. 
 
 This commission of Waterboer's took the diggers by surprise, as his 
 claims to the territory, which had recently been made known by the publi- 
 cation of despatches between the High Commissioner and the President of 
 the Free State, were generally believed to have no foundation. The fact 
 was apparent that no Griquas were to be seen or heard of within fifty 
 miles, and no one could learn that Waterboer had ever exercised jurisdic- 
 tion there. But the measures adopted by the High Commissioner were 
 acquiesced in as having been based upon necessity and in accordance with 
 the only policy that could preserve order and peace. The government of 
 the Free State complained of the proceeding, but it was in accordance with 
 precedents in Transgariepine history. The Emigrant Farmers, in days 
 gone by, had taken upon themselves to decide who was the rightful owner 
 of the land they desired to purchase, and usually their verdict was in 
 
HISTORY OP GEIQUALAND WEST. 
 
 179 
 
 favour of the one who offered to sell it at the cheapest rate. The High 
 Commissioner had done exactly the same thing. 
 
 At this time Klip Drift and Pniel were almost worked out. There were 
 already rumours that other and richer deposits were to be found far away 
 from the river. Some children of a boer had picked several small diamonds 
 from the mud walls of their dwelling, and forthwith a search was made in 
 the place from which the mud had been taken. The search was successful, 
 and the news spread. A party of diggers hastened to Du Toit's Pan, and 
 found several farmers, friends of the proprietor, already at work. They 
 asked permission to dig, and offered to pay a reasonable fee to the owner 
 of the land, but were ordered away. The farmer did not want them there. 
 But, as they would not leave, he at last came to terms, and Dorstfontein 
 was opened to the public. 
 
 The farms on which the dry diggings are situated are held under Free 
 State titles, in which no reservation of minerals to the government is made. 
 The land thereabouts was believed to be good for nothing but pasturage, 
 and as such only it had been occupied for twelve or fifteen years. Twenty 
 pounds per thousand acres would have been considered a fair price for it 
 before the discovery of diamonds. It had cost the original proprietors 
 nothing at all. A thousand pounds would have amply repaid them for all 
 their improvements. But now, relying upon the casual omission of an 
 important clause in the title-deeds, companies were formed and purchased 
 these farms, Dorstfontein, Bultfontein, and Vooruitzigt. The farmers were 
 seriously frightened at what they saw going on before them, and were glad 
 to sell out for a few thousands each. The object of the new proprietors 
 was to monopolize digging in the best places, and to enrich themselves by 
 a charge of heavy licenses from others. 
 
 The proprietors and diggers speedily came into collision. The law was 
 on the side of the proprietors, but the diggers claimed that justice and 
 common sense were with them. Disturbances took place. Bultfontein 
 was forcibly taken possession of, and claims were marked out up to the 
 very door of the dwelling house. But this act was generally disapproved 
 of, and, after a little persuasion, the invaders withdrew. At length, in 
 May, 187 L, a compromise was effected, and a basis of government was 
 clearly defined. The diggers wished the Volksraad to take over the land 
 from the proprietors at a reasonable valuation, as is done in other countries, 
 where railroads rsquire to be constructed through private grounds, or 
 whenever the interests of the public imperatively demand it. They argued 
 that the land had really been granted for grazing purposes alone, and that 
 the proprietors would suffer no injustice by the proposed arrangement. 
 But the government saw difficulties in the way of this, and the pro- 
 prietors stood upon their titles, which gave them absolute and unquali- 
 fied ownership of the ground and its contents. It was then arranged that 
 for each claim of nine hundred square feet, a monthly license of ten 
 shillings should be paid. Of this, the Free State was to receive 5s. for the 
 
180 
 
 IIISTOIIY OF GEIQUALAJS'D WEST. 
 
 purpose of defraying the expenses of government, the proprietors were to 
 receive 4s., and the diggers' committee Is. The local committee of each 
 camp was invested with municipal power. Mr. Trutee, lauddrost of Pniel, 
 who was a very popular magistrate, was located at Du Toit's Pan, a Post 
 Office was established there, and an attempt was made to enrol a bod}- of 
 police. 
 
 In June the first diamond at the Colesberg Kopje was discovered. 
 Prospecting was then actively carried on, and this particular spot had 
 twice before been examined and abandoned. By this time the diggers had 
 learnt from experience that solid blocks of ground could not be worked to 
 advantage. Already, many of the inner claims at Bultfontein, Dorstfontein, 
 and Old De Beer's, were not only difficult, but dangerous, to reach. The 
 diggers were compelled to reserve a portion of the claim on which to 
 deposit the ground taken from the remaining section. Under these 
 circumstances it was impossible to sink to any great depth, and at least 
 half the ground was lost. 
 
 The Colesberg Kopje, when first laid out in claims, was a gentle swell 
 above the general surface. It is hardly a mile from the rim of the great 
 pan, on the northern slope of which the Dorstfontein and Bultfontein 
 diggings are situated. Seven hundred plots of ground, each containing 
 nine hundred square feet, were marked off, and immediately taken 
 possession of. But many of these were afterwards found to be beyond the 
 reef, or caldron of rock which contained the diamondiferous soil, and were 
 therefore valueless. Many even of those within the reef were soon found 
 not to be worth working, and less than seven acres is the actual dimension 
 of that portion of the kopje which has yielded so amazingly as to reduce 
 the price of diamonds throughout the world to a mere fraction of their 
 former valae. Twelve roadways, each fifteen feet in width, were left 
 across the kopje by a regulation which required each claimholder to 
 reserve one fourth of his plot for that purpose. Between these roads great 
 trenches were opened, all the ground taken out being conveyed beyond the 
 reef and there sifted and carefully sorted. Hills of sifted band, rivalling 
 in magnitude the natural elevations of the country, rapidly rose around 
 the kopje now fast changing its form to that of a crater. These hills, the 
 roads, and the trenches, swarmed with life. In that little spot thirty 
 thousand men, white and black, were working at once. The reports of the 
 enormous quantities of diamonds found attracted strangers from all parts 
 of the civilized world. Natives from all the tribes of South Africa flocked 
 there too, allured by the prospect of a month's wages to be earned in a 
 week. The river diggings were almost deserted. Those who by mere 
 chance had secured rich claims for nothing, when they were first allotted, 
 could now readily obtain a thousand pounds for half their ground. 
 
 Close packed around the kopje were tents of all sizes and forms. Streets 
 and squares were laid out, and iron buildings rose along them. Churches 
 and schools, banks and newspaper offices, concert rooms and theatres, 
 
UlSTORY OF ORIQUALANI) WES T. 
 
 181 
 
 hotels, canteens, and gambling houses, with stores and shops of every 
 description, and diamond buyers' offices everywhere, were all to be seen 
 before the close of the year. Along the streets passed a stream incessant 
 of waggons, carts, carriages, and pedestrians. It was the same at Du 
 Toit's Pan, but on a smaller scale. Bultfontein and Old De Beer's were 
 mere camps, where diggers lived and worked, but they took their pleasure 
 and made their purchases elsewhere. 
 
 Life at the great dry digging camps, in their early days, was far from 
 pleasant. Water was scarce and bad. The best was brought in casks 
 from a farm five or six miles away. When, at length, it was obtained by 
 sinking wells, much of it was found to contain lime in solution, and to 
 increase rather than quench thirst. It was only after a great many wells 
 had been sunk, and a selection eould be made, that this discomfort was got 
 rid of. For a long time the camps were in a filthy state, and even the air 
 was tainted with decomposing animal matter. The dust storms were 
 terrific. An evil scarcely less than any of these was the amazing abundance 
 of insect life. A writer of the last century informs us that the people of 
 Cape Town were accustomed to pray for deliverance from fleas, flies, and 
 the winds. They could not have had greater necessity to do so than had 
 the diggers. The winds, the filth, and the vermin, brought on sickness 
 which, during midsummer, prevailed to an alarming extent ; but the death 
 rate never was very high. 
 
 On the 2nd of June an Ordinance for regulating the government of the 
 diamond fields was passed by the Yolksraad of the Orange Free State. In 
 effect it did little more than confirm the agreement made on the 15th of 
 May between the diggers and proprietors of Du Toit's Pan, and which met 
 with the approval of the government officials then present. The ninth 
 clause provided for the establishment of a Committee of Management in 
 each camp, to consist of six members elected by the diggers, with the 
 Government Inspector as Chairman. The tenth clause gave to the Com- 
 mittees of Management power to frame such regulations as might be found 
 necessary for the good order, local circumstances, and social management 
 of the diggings, subject only to the approval of the Executive Council. 
 Henceforth these Committees were considered by the diggers the actual 
 governing bodies of the fields. 
 
 Under this system of government, good order was maintained in the 
 camps. Class legislation to a limited extent prevailed. Natives were not 
 allowed to roam about the camps after nine o'clock at night, canteen keep- 
 ers were prohibited from selling intoxicating liquor to them unless with 
 the written permission of their employers, and they were not permitted to 
 traffic in diamonds. But these regulations were carried out in such a 
 manner as not to oppress any one unnecessarily. Natives were never 
 disturbed when walking quietly through the streets, even after nine o'clock, 
 and those who wore clothing and presented a respectable appearance were 
 not prevented from digging for themselves. 
 
182 
 
 HISTORY OF GRIQUALANB WEST. 
 
 How long affairs might have remained in this state cannot be said. The 
 camps were virtuallj independent, and without doubt would have been so 
 d'cclared if the Yolksraad had interfered with the diggers. The peace of 
 South Africa might have been disturbed at any moment. The High Com- 
 missioner could not look on unconcernedly and without taking any steps 
 to avert the threatening danger. 
 
 The declaration of British sovereignty over the diamond fields has seem- 
 ed to many a harsh and ungenerous proceeding towards a helpless State, 
 which had independence forced upon it by the abandonment of the mother 
 country. But, fairly considered, it was to the advantage of the Free State 
 that a strong government should be established at the fields. There was 
 no alternative from British sovereignty other than an independent diamond 
 field republic. The Free State might have kept a weak grasp of the dig- 
 gings for a time, for months perhaps, but not for years. Had the diggers 
 chosen to declare Du Toit's Pan or the New Eush the seat of government, 
 the Volksraad could not have prevented it, except by consenting to seces- 
 sion. And, be it observed, there could be no lasting sympathy between 
 the easy-going farmers of the Free State and the excitable, energetic, 
 independent diggers. 
 
 In the mean time, Nicholas Waterboer — through an agent in whose 
 hands he was nothing but a passive tool — had laid claim to the whole 
 country now termed Griqualand "West, and had petitioned Her Majesty to 
 declare it British territory. The High Commissioner supported his claim, 
 and proposed to President Brand to have the matter settled by arbitration. 
 The Free State refused at first to submit any portion of the land south of 
 the Yaal to arbitration, but ultimately agreed, provided the arbitrator was 
 the head of a foreign government. The High Commissioner and the Secre- 
 tary of State for the Colonies would consent to nothing but a local court, 
 and hence no amicable arrangement could be made. 
 
 On the 27th of October, 1871, a series of proclamations, seven in number, 
 were issued by the High Commissioner, in which "Waterboer and the 
 Griquas were received as British subjects, the limits of the new province 
 were defined, and regulations were made for its government. On the 4th 
 of November a small party of the Cape Frontier Armed and Mounted Police 
 took possession of the dry diggings, and hoisted the British flag. A few 
 days afterwards Mr. Truter withdrew under protest, and the rule of the 
 Free State ceased. 
 
 The new government was entrusted to three Commissioners, Messrs. 
 Campbell, Thompson, and Bowrer, of whom the two former resided at 
 Klip Drift. The latter hardly made an appearance in the province, and 
 after a short time was succeeded by Mr. R. W. Giddy. The diggers were 
 mostly opposed to the change of government. After having had their own 
 way all along, it was natural that they should object to their liberty being 
 checked. They feared also that the existing regulations, particularly those 
 which referred to the natives, would be disturbed. Much satisfaction 
 
HISTORY OP GRIQUALAND WEST. 
 
 183 
 
 was therefore expressed when one of the Commissioners, on the day of 
 annexation, took an opportunity to assure thcra that no immediate change 
 would be made in this respect. The laws of the Cape Colony were to be, 
 as far as practicable, the laws of the new province, but could be altered to 
 meet the requirements of the fields. 
 
 Unfortunately, nothing could be done in the way of government without 
 the sanction of the High Commissioner, who was resident in Cape Town, 
 and whose will was really the law. Until the appointment of Mr. Giddy, the 
 Commissioners appeared to have no sympathy with the diggers and made 
 no effort to conduct affairs in a popular manner. Mr. Bowker was absent. 
 Messrs. Campbell and Thompson resided at Klip Drift, twenty-five miles 
 distant, and seemed intent only on introducing ofiicialisra and red tape. 
 The camps were left without a police, other than the few men of the 
 Frontier Force who attended upon the magistrates. Sanitary measures 
 were entirely neglected, though nothing could have been more urgently 
 needed. The post office regulations were the most absurd imaginable. 
 Canteens were opened to the natives, and there was no longer any restraint 
 upon their movements. Thefts, from which the camps had previously 
 been remarkably free, now became common, and the quiet of night was 
 disturbed by the deafening din of native dancing parties. A general 
 feeling of insecurity began to prevail. Great mass meetings of diggers 
 were held, and the condition of affairs was freely discussed. Petitions 
 were forwarded to the government, only to be disregarded. 
 
 At length riots took place. On the 17th of December a mob at 'New 
 Rush took the law into its own hands, and proceeded to inflict summary 
 punishment upon certain canteen keepers who were known to have 
 purchased stolen diamonds from native servants. The canteens with their 
 contents were burnt, and sundry other acts of violence were committed. 
 The excitement in the different camps was intense, and did not subside 
 until several important concessions had been made by the Commissioners. 
 Yery few, if any, of the residents at the fields approved of lynch law or 
 were inclined to be seditious. But every ordinary plan of obtaining 
 protection from the government had been tried without avail. As soon as 
 the proper authorities began to bestir themselves in an endeavour to 
 maintain order and to carry out the aims of justice, they found the bulk 
 of the digging community not only willing but eager to aid them. Perhaps 
 the government would in time have rectified the evils of which the 
 diggers complained, without such pressure as was brought to bear upon 
 it. At any rate, from this time forward it became more effective, and 
 many of the principal causes of complaint were removed. 
 
 It was not until July, 1872, that disturbances occurred again. During 
 this interval the value of diamonds had fallen very greatly, while the cost 
 of digging had increased. The trenches at the New Rush were now from 
 fifty to eighty feet in depth, and the roads between them had crumbled away 
 and become impassable. Ropes were stretched from the margin of the crater 
 
184- 
 
 HISTOEY OF GRIQUALAND WEST. 
 
 to the claims below, and along these the ground was drawn up in buckets. 
 The claims were mostly subdivided into quarters and eighths, and a large 
 proportion of these small sections was worked on shares, the owner receiving 
 ■one half of the gross proceeds. More native labourers were required than 
 formerly, and that class of the population had increased, while the Euro- 
 peans were diminishing in number. Poverty was beginning to be felt by 
 many. Trade was overdone. Owing to these circumstances, the riots of 
 July were more serious than those of the preceding December. People 
 took part in them who had nothing to lose, and who might hope to gain by 
 disorder. Diamond stealing by native servants was at that time known to 
 be carried on more extensively than ever, and the recipients of the stolen 
 property were generally suspected, though no legal proof of their guilt 
 could be obtained. A mob assembled and wreaked its vengeance by the 
 destruction of everything belonging to them that could be found. For 
 two days the riots continued, but they ceased upon Commissioners Campbell 
 and Giddy agreeing to issue provisionally the regulations demanded. These 
 were such as could have been devised only at a time when passion ran high, 
 and were directed against colour as much as against crime. They might 
 perhaps have checked theft, but they would certainly have driven the 
 natives in crowds from the fields. The object of the Commissioners was 
 probably merely to gain time until the friends of order could rally, and in 
 this they succeeded. Sir Henry Barkly, of course, refused to sanction 
 the decrees that had been extorted, but he paid an immediate visit to the 
 fields, and endeavoured, as far as possible, to enact such laws as would 
 satisfy the community and also be strictly in keeping with justice. The 
 government by a triumvirate was now an admitted failure. It was therefore 
 :abolished, and in January, 1873, Mr. Eiciiard Southey, formely Colonial 
 Secretary of the Cape of Good Hope, was appointed sole Administrator. 
 
 The object the High Commissioner had constantly in view with regard 
 to the government of Griqualand "West was to annex the territory to the 
 Cape Colony. In August, 1871, His Excellency was empowered by the 
 Cape Parliament " to take such measures as might appear to him to be 
 necessary and practicable for the maintenance of order among the diggers 
 ;and inhabitants of that territory, as well as for the collection of revenue and 
 the administration of justice." This resolution was the basis of the pro- 
 clamation of British sovereignty over the fields in the following October. 
 But in 1872 responsible government was introduced, and the Cape Parlia- 
 ment then declined to annex the territory, at least until an amicable 
 arrangement concerning its eastern boundary had been made with the 
 Free State. The inhabitants of the fields were almost unanimous in their 
 objection to annexation, and were desirous of an independent representative 
 government of their own. On all sides it was conceded that the existmg 
 administration was a failure, and that disorder must be expected while it 
 continued. There was thus no alternative but to erect the territory into a 
 Crown Colony. 
 
IITSTOIIY OF (IRIQUALAND WEST. 
 
 185 
 
 The present Constitution was published on the 17th of July, 1873. Mr. 
 SouTiiEY remained as Lieutenant. Governor, and various departments wc/e 
 created after the model of older colonies. But the new government worked 
 quite as badly as the one it superseded. The machinery was too expensive 
 for so small a State, and its maintenance pressed heavily upon the diggers. 
 They complained also that the popular element in the Council was so small 
 that they were practically unrepresented. Disputes with the proprietors 
 of the ground kept the camps in a constant state of excitement. The 
 Council attempted to limit the proprietors' power of charging whatever 
 rents they chose, but the Act was disallowed by the Imperial Authorities 
 as being an infringement of rights. At length this difficulty was solved, 
 so far as the principal mine was concerned, by the government purchasing 
 the farm Yooruitzigt for £100,000, and selling the business stands which 
 before had been held on lease. 
 
 As the crater deepened at the 'New Rush, the expense of digging 
 increased. Powerful pumping machinery was required to keep the claims 
 free of water, and everj^ now and again a landslip would take place, or a 
 great fall of reef, which thousands of pounds of money would be needed to 
 remove. And all this time diamonds were declining in value. From two 
 to three million pounds worth a year were still ?ent out of the province, but 
 the quantity required to lepresent that sum was iiicreasing year by year 
 at an alarming rate. Heavy taxation, under these circarastauces, was 
 loudly complained of. IjkI lii:.^ diggers complained even more of the 
 absence of adequ-ate i)rotection for property, of the want of sympathy on 
 the part of the principal officers of government, and of the manner in which 
 pubhc affairs were conducted. lb seemed to them as if the great interests 
 of the country were quite uncared for, while every petty document was 
 carefully tied with red tape and docketed. 
 
 An Association was at length formed for mutual protection, with its 
 members fully armed, and drilled under military leaders. The line of 
 actual rebellion was ap])ro;iched so closely tliat the government considered 
 its authority in danger, and early in 1S75 a body of troops was sent from 
 the Cape Colony to its assistance. The leaders of the Association were 
 then arrested, and put upon their trial, but the jury refused to convict 
 them. The Province was punished, however, by the expense of the 
 military expedition being charged. against its revenues. 
 
 Earl Carnarvon then conchided that it was necessary to make another 
 change in the government. In August, 1875, Mr. Southka' was required 
 to make way for a successor, and Mr. Currey, the Government Secretary, 
 was obliged to retire from the service of the Province. Major Laxyon was 
 shortly afterwards sent out to fill both the vacant offices, and at the same 
 time a special Commissioner, Colonel Crossman, was sent to report upon 
 all matters connected with the revenue, expenditure, and liabilities of the 
 colony. The result of this change has been a considerable retrenchment 
 in the expenditure, while the government has become more popular. 
 2 B 
 
186 
 
 HLSTORY OF GUTQUALAND WEST. 
 
 But Griqualand West must soon cease to exist as a separate colony. 
 Diamond digging is no longer an attractive occupation, and with the 
 repeal of the clause in the Mining Ordinance, which limits the quantity 
 of ground that can be held by one individual, the mines will most likely 
 fall into the hands of a few companies, when the European population will 
 quickly dwindle away. The settlement by Lord Carnarvon of the long 
 standing dispute with the Free State has added £90,000 to the debt of the 
 Province, and thus made still further retrenchment necessary. But it has 
 removed the only plea of the Cape Parliament against the annexation of 
 Griqualand. The Secretary of State maintains that the Imperial Govern- 
 ment only sanctioned the extension of British authority over that territory, 
 upon the passing of resolutions by the Cape Parliament that it was 
 desirable to do so, and he is now urging the incorporation of the Province 
 with the Cape Colony. Most likely, another twelve months will not pass 
 away without the union being effected. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 BRITISH BASUTOLAND. 
 
 Population, according to the census of 1875, one hundred and twenty- 
 seven thousand seven hundred souls, of whom three hundred and seventy- 
 eight were Europeans. 
 
 The territory of Basutoland is a dependency of the Cape Colony, but is 
 reserved exclusively for the use and occupation of the native inhabitaiits. 
 It is a small tract of country lying between the Orange Free State, Natal, 
 Kaffraria, and the district of Herschel in the Cape Colony. It consists 
 principally of lofty mountains and deep ravines, and is in the south-east so 
 rugged as formerly to have been considered nearly inaccessible. But the 
 volunteer and native forces employed in November and December, 1873, in 
 pursuit of Langalibaj.klk and his followers from Natal, succeeded in 
 crossing the Quathlamba in three different places. Though it was mid- 
 summer at the time, they suffered much from cold while on the mountains, 
 and at elevations of over ten thousand feet above the sea level, ice was 
 found under rocks sheltered from the sun's rays. But lower down the 
 climate is delightful. In the summer season, thunder storms occur nearly 
 every afternoon, so that the heat is seldom oppressive. 
 
 The territory is divided into the four districts of Leribe, Thaba Bosigo, 
 
BRITISH Bi-SUTOLAND. 
 
 187 
 
 Berea, and Cornet Spruit. In each of these a European magistrate is 
 located, and over all is an officer with the title of Governor's Agent. Tlie 
 people are ruled according to their own laws, but practices antagonistic to 
 morality have been suppressed, and no charge for dealing in witchcraft 
 can now be investigated. The hereditary chiefs are permitted to exercise 
 considerable authority, but cannot inflict punishment, and an. appeal from 
 their judicial decisions lies to the courts of the magistrates. A native 
 police force of one hundred men is maintained, George Moshesh, an edu- 
 cated man and son of the late paramount chief, being its commanding 
 officer. 
 
 The different clans in Basutoland are branches of the Bechuana family, 
 speaking a dialect of that language and having similar customs. At the 
 present day they are further advanced in civilization than any other South 
 African tribe, the Fingoes perhaps excepted. A larger quantity of grain 
 is produced than is required for consumption, and with the surplus British 
 manufactures are purchased. In 1873 about three hundred thousand 
 bushels of wheat, maize, and millet, and two thousand bales of wool, were 
 sold to traders. The commercial prosperity of the territory is further 
 shown by its containing at least fifty trading establishments. A large 
 quantity of stock is owned by the Basutos, Those who have no cattle are 
 in the habit of leaving the country and seeking employment for a few 
 years in the Cape Colony and in the Free State, where they are eagerly 
 sought after as labourers. Their earnings in this manner ^ire usually in- 
 vested in cows and sheep. The census returns of 1875 show them to be 
 possessed of 35,357 horses, 217,732 head of horned cattle, 303,080 sheep, 
 215,185 goats, 299 waggons, and 2749 ploughs. 
 
 There is very little crime committed in proportion to the number of 
 people. The revenue in 1875 was £16,523, the greater portion of which 
 was derived from a tax of ten shillings per annum on each hut. It was 
 found more than sufficient to defray the cost of government. In 1873 
 there were ten thousand three hundred church members, and two thousand 
 children attending the forty-four mission schools of the Paris Society. 
 European clothing is commonly worn, and there are instances of stone and 
 brick houses having been erected by some of the chiefs. Such signs of 
 rapid advancement and prosperity show the wonderful elasticity of African 
 tribes. As recently as 1867 this people was in extreme indigence and 
 misery ; peace and good government since that time have raised them to 
 their present position. 
 
 When the Basutos first became known to Europeans by the explorations 
 of missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Society, they were in a deplorable 
 condition. The wars of Tshaka and Msilikazi had all but destroyed them. 
 Before that period they oecupied the eastern portioii of what is now the 
 Orange Free State, as well as their present country, where each clan was 
 ruled by its own chief, but all acknowledged the paramount authority of 
 the House of Monahexg. Their tranquillity was first disturbed by an 
 
188 
 
 EEITISH BASUTOLAyi). 
 
 invasion of Mantatis, under the mother of the chief Si konykla, who made 
 good their footing in the country, and kept up constant war with the original 
 owners. Next to the Mantatis came the Hhibis from JTatal, under the 
 chief Bajjgazeta, or Pakaleta as he was called by the Basntos. Following 
 hardnpon these came the Amangwana, or Fecani, under Matiwaxa, fleeing 
 from the terrible Tskaka. From the opposite direction appeared the Ba- 
 taung, under Molitsane, latel)^ the ally of the Makololo chief Sebituane, but 
 who had been defeated by the Griquas and Barolongs at Lithako. Each 
 of these tribes was an enemy of all the others, and among them the Basuto 
 clans were broken and scattered like flocks of sheep before packs of wolves. 
 Their herds were swept awa}'-, and if they attempted to cultivate the 
 ground, their crops were seized as soon as ripe. Many of them were 
 driven to cannibalism as the only means of existence. 
 
 After a time a party rallied round a chief of remarkable mental power, 
 named Mosiiesh, the son of Mokachane, of the great House of Monaiieng. 
 This chief took np liis residence on the top of an almost impregnable rock 
 fortress named Thaba Bosigo, and there devised measures for the deliver- 
 ance of his country. His enemies assisted him by destroying each other. 
 Bangazeta was killed by Matiwana, and the Hlubis, almost cut to pieces, 
 were ultimately glad to get out of the country again. Their subsequent 
 career has been recorded in that portion of the history of Natal referring 
 to the rebellion of Langalibalele, who is the grandson of Bangazeta. 
 Matiwana, then crossed the mountains and attacked the Tembus. These 
 he defeated in a great battle, and he was laying waste their country when 
 the colonial government sent a commando against him, which, with the 
 aid of the Tembus and the Gcalekas, put him to flight and completely 
 broke his power. 
 
 There still remained the Mantatis, the Bataung, and the Barolongs. To 
 the last JMosnESK assigned a tract of countrj^ round Thaba Nchu, where 
 the chief Mouoko and his people still reside. Mention has been made of 
 them in the history of the Orange Fj-ec State. Molitsane, chief of the 
 Bataung, was gained over by MosirESii, and assisted him to destroy the 
 power of the Mantatis. A tract of country round Mekuatling, west of the 
 Caledon, was assigned to the Bataung, but when that district was allotted 
 to the Free S*^ate by the second treaty of Aliwal, Molitsane and his people 
 were removed to the extreme south of Basutoland. There the old chief still 
 resides, with his fifty-six sons, thirty-four of whom are headmen of villages. 
 Sikonyela's son is now in Sfc John's Territory, where many of the Manta- 
 tis took refuge. 
 
 The country being thus reduced to order once more, tlie Basu<"os who 
 had been scattered over South Africa commenced to return to the land of 
 their fathers. But their troubles were not yet over. Msilikazi sent an 
 army against them, from which they withdrew to the top of their mountain, 
 and waited till hunger compelled the Matabcle to retreat. Scarcely had 
 these departed w^hcn the unfortunate Basutos Avcre attacked by the Berge- 
 
BRITISH EASUTOLAXD. 
 
 naai's and Koraiina marauders, armed with guns and mounted on horses. 
 It was some years before these scoundrels could be exterminated, and 
 while the struggle was going on, the French Protestant missionaries 
 arrived in the country. 
 
 MosHESH encouraged the teachers and followed their advice. Under his 
 protection flourishing stations soon arose, from each of which useful 
 knowledge spread through the land. The great chief learned to rely upon 
 the missionaries for counsel in all important matters, and the result was 
 that the nation rapidly grew strong again. MosiiESifs advice to his people 
 was that they should embrace Christianity and civilization thoroughly, and 
 not become half converts. His words to that effect are still quoted by the 
 Basutos as a paramount authority, but unfortunately he did not apply 
 them to himself on all occasions as sincerely as he might have done, and 
 hence they lost some of their weight. 
 
 A few years after the arrival of the missionaries, the emigration of the 
 colonial farmers took place. Disputes concerning jurisdiction over large 
 tracts of country then arose between the Emigrants and the Basutos, as 
 the former were in the habit of taking possession of any vacant land that 
 suited them, and repudiated native sovereignty over Europeans everywhere. 
 This led to stock-lifting on an extensive scale, in which the Basutos were 
 experts. 
 
 At length Major Warden, British Resident in the Sovereignty, relying 
 upon the assistance of some petty tribes, declared war with Moshesh. The 
 military forces at his command were quite insignificant, and his allies 
 being easily beaten, he discovered that he had made a great mistake. The 
 Basutos had the best of it until the suppression of the rebellion on the 
 eastern frontier of the Cape Colony left the troops engaged there at liberty 
 for other service. 
 
 General Cathcart at the head of a force of about two thousand men, with 
 four field pieces, then marched to Basutoland, and formed a camp at Plat- 
 berg, a deserted mission station on the Caledon River. Here he received 
 information that Mosjiesii was collecting all his warriors, and would proba- 
 bly only submit to terms under compulsion. On the day following his 
 arrival, — l-4th December, 1852, — the General sent a message to the great 
 chief, in which he termed the Basutos a nation of thieves, and demanded 
 the delivery within three days of ten thousand head of cattle and one 
 thousand horses. On the 15th, Moshesii visited the camp and had an 
 interview with the British commander, when he promised to endeavour to 
 collect the cattle and pay the fine, but his sincerity was doubted. However, 
 on the 18th, Nehemiaii Moshesu, an educated son of the great chief, brought 
 in three thousand five hundred head, which were received on account. No 
 more cattle appearing, a forward movement was then made. Eight hundred 
 men with two cannon were left to hold Platberg and guard the stores, while 
 General Cat ii cart conducted offensive operations with the remainder. 
 Thaba Bosigo was the point aimed at. The line of march led past the 
 
190 
 
 BRITISH BASUTOLAND. 
 
 Berea, a flat-topped mountain several miles in perimeter and having very 
 steep sides, upon the summit of which great herds of cattle were seen 
 grazing. With the object of seizing these, the British force was divided 
 into three brigades, one of which was to pass along the eastern base of the 
 Berea, another along the western base, and the third over the top, with the 
 intention of forming a junction at the southern extremity, close to Thaba 
 Bosigo. The uneven nature of the ground prevented the enemy from 
 being seen, but they had selected this position for an engagement, and were 
 lying in ambush, the cattle having been purposely exposed as a decoy. 
 
 About two thousand warriors were concealed among rocks, and these 
 were mostly armed with muskets. But the reliance of the Basutos was 
 on their cavalry, six thousand strong. According to General Cathcart's 
 despatches, these horsemen were very little inferior in military efficiency 
 to irregular cossaeks. Most of them had good saddles, wore European 
 clothing, and carried guns. The skirmishers fired first upon the British 
 troops, and then the cavalry charged, but were driven back with heavy loss. 
 Nothing daunted, on they same, again and again, until the plateau was 
 covered with five or six hundred of their dead. Then they lost heart and 
 retired. Of the British, sixty were killed, and a good many wounded; but 
 they kept possession of the battle-field, and secured a few thousand cattle 
 as booty. 
 
 MosHESH called his councillors together, and at midnight, with their 
 concurrence, dictated a letter to the British commander. His son Nehemiah 
 was the secretary. He desired peace, thought his punishment had been 
 sufficiently severe, and offered to become a vassal of t^e Queen. 
 
 General Cathcart was prepared to accept his submission, as from his 
 point of view there could be no possible gain by prosecuting the war. On 
 the contrary, it might lead to a necessity of stationing garrisons in the 
 country, and prevent the contemplated abandonment of the Sovereignty. 
 The number of cattle surrendered and seized was still considerably short 
 of the fine imposed, but that unpleasant subject was permitted to drop. 
 Peace was declared, though the causes of the war still remained as they 
 were before. No boundary line was agreed to. Mosuesu and his people had 
 not been punished to such an extent as to deter them from stealing in future. 
 In fact, no sooner had the British troops retired, than the great chief spread 
 the report far and wide that he had gained a victory at the Berea. Mo- 
 suesh's letter was made use of as a pretext for getting out of a difficulty 
 graver than had been anticipated, and virtually the Basutos were left 
 masters of the situation. 
 
 The wars between the Basutos and the Orange Free State have been 
 already chronicled. They were legacies of the Sovereignty, for at the time 
 of the abandonment it was evident that peace could not long be maintained. 
 No boundary line, such as both parties would respect, had yet been fixed, 
 while on one side there was constant irritation caused by thefts of stock, 
 and on the other the same feeling was maintained by loss of territory. The 
 
BRITISH BASUTOLANl). 
 
 191 
 
 Basutos avoided a pitched battle with their enemies> but made raids into 
 those parts of the Free State left unprotected, and fortified number- 
 less mountains and caves in their own country. No part of Africa is more 
 capable of being defended after this manner. Some of the isolated moun- 
 tains can be held by a handful of men ag-ainst any army. Several of them 
 have nearly perpendicular sides, and tracts of level land on their summits 
 sufficiently extensive for the grazing of large herds of cattle. By only one 
 or two paths, steep and winding, often leading along the face of a sheer 
 precipice, can these plateaux be reached. Whenever water is found on such 
 a mountain, — and it is usually in abundance, — the position would be con- 
 sidered impregnable by a body of courageous defenders. Some of the 
 caves also, in which large parties took refuge, are so situated as to make 
 every other means of taking them, except by siege, quite hopeless, had 
 they been defended with bravery. 
 
 But war carried on after this manner could not be otherwise than ruinous 
 to both parties. For years all the resources of the Free State in men 
 and money were taxed to the utmost to maintain hostilities, while the 
 Basutos were sinking into extreme poverty. Peace, when patched lap,. 
 was only maintained until strength was gathered for a renewal of war. 
 Towards the close of 1867 and early in 1868 several important strongholds 
 were taken by the republican commandos, and Thaba Bosigo itself must 
 soon have fallen if Moshesu had not entreated the High Commissioner to 
 receive him and his people as British subjects. They were then suffering 
 from famine and from disease caused by want of food and exposure, their 
 stock had been swept off, their villages were destroyed, and all power of 
 further resistance was completely gone. Several of the clans had abandoned 
 the country, and the remainder had lost all organization. 
 
 On the 12th of March, 1868, the Basutos were proclaimed British subjects, 
 and a squadron of the Cape Frontier Armed and Mounted Police was sent 
 to occupy the country. The Free State protested against this act, and it 
 was not until February, 1869, that peace was formally concluded at the- 
 conference of Aliwal North. The boundary then agreed upon gave to the 
 Kepublic the lower valley of the Calcdon and the upper valley north-west 
 of that river. 
 
 Until June, 1871, the Basutos were left pretty much to the government 
 of their own chiefs, who were well pleased at being protected without loss 
 of power. But this arrangement was unsatisfactory, and it became neces- 
 sary to establish a fixed government in the country. The plan adopted 
 was to appoint a number of magistrates to administer justice according tO' 
 a code framed to meet the requirements of the people, with an officer above 
 these who should receive instructions from the Secretary for Native Affairs 
 in Cape Town. At first a secret opposition was experienced from the 
 chiefs, who naturally preferred the exercise of judicial power themselves, to 
 the transfer of authority to the magistrates, but this has been overcome. At 
 one time, indeed, it was feared that a conspiracy existed, having for its object 
 
192 
 
 BlllTTSli BASUTOLANI). 
 
 the subversioTi of British rule, but it is very niihkcly that many had 
 seriously contemplated such an event. The great bulk of the people have 
 always been loyal, and are thoroughly convinced that their interests lie in 
 supporting the government. The facility with which Langalibalele's 
 capture was effected, when he fled to Basutoland in the hope of obtaining 
 shelter and assistance there, had a good moral effect upon the dis- 
 affected chiefs. When the moment for action arrived, and they saw the 
 government with a strong body of colonial police and the great majority of 
 the common people quite prepared to aid it, they felt that resistance was 
 certain destruction, and from that time they have behaved as dutiful 
 subjects. Letsie, who by the death in 1871 of his father Moshesh became 
 the first chief in rank in Basutoland, and his brother Molapo, who occupies 
 the second position, aided materially in the capture of the rebel tribe. 
 From the latter Langaltbalele undoubtedly expected active assistance, 
 and it was to his village that the rebels fled, but only to find Molapo and 
 his people in arms against them. It was there that the fugitive chief and 
 his advisers were made prisoners, his followers disarmed, and his cattle 
 seized. To the Basutos two thousand head of captured cattle were allotted 
 as a reward for their loyalty. 
 
 In common with all parts of South Africa, Basutoland is indebted to the 
 diamond fields for much of its prosperity. The high wages obtained there 
 drew thousands of the Basutos from their homes, and these returned with 
 new ideas as well as with a considerable sum of money. Large quantities 
 of grain were also sold to traders for consumption at the diamond fields, 
 and thus industry was encouraged and civilization promoted. 
 
 A great drawback to the country has been its want of good roads. In 
 wet weather it is impossible for transport to be carried on, and even with 
 the most favourable weather the difficulty of conveying moderate loads 
 along the ordinary routes is very great. JN'o attempt to construct waggon 
 roads has yet been made by any South African tribe except the Fingoes, 
 i)ut the government of Basutoland is now bestirring itself in this matter. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIII. 
 
 ZULU LAND. 
 
 The country north of Natal, between the Transvaal Eepublic and the sea, 
 is called Zululand. It may be fifteen thousand square miles in extent, but 
 this cannot be accurately stated, as its northern boundary is ill defined, 
 
ZULULA^"I). 
 
 19e3 
 
 and tlie possession of a largo tract of countr}' is disputed with the Transvaal 
 Republic. 
 
 Zululand is in mau}- respects a counterpart of Xatal ; but, as it lies nearer 
 the equator, the climate is warmer. Like xsatal, the land rises in three 
 terraces from the sea level. The lowest plateau is reputed to be not only 
 more fertile, but more capable of cultivation than the coastlands of Xatal. 
 In many places a plough might be put in, and a furrow made in a straight 
 line for miles withont meeting an obstacle. The climate of this region is 
 moist, and not over healthy. In some parts, as for instance about St. 
 Lucia Bay, fever is prevalent during the summer months. The next 
 terrace is very hilly, but is well adapted for the grazing of cattle. Here 
 also the soil in many parts is capable of cultivation. Beyond this midland 
 tract, the surface is broken and mountainous, but occasionally it stretches 
 out in great plains, which are dotted over with little conical hills. 
 
 Zululand is liberally watered. Eivers and rivulets are numerous. Of 
 these streams the Umvolosi is the most considerable. It enters the sea 
 at St. Lucia Bay, and is partly the cause of that lagoon. The mouth of 
 the Umhlatusi, about fifty miles from !N"atal, is believed to be navigable. 
 
 In the coast belt there are broad river valleys, covered with a thick but 
 useless description of bush. In such localities, tropical fruits may be 
 grown, but they are by no means healthy situations for the residence of 
 white men. There are extensive forests of large timber in the country. 
 Yellow-wood and other useful trees are abundant, and from time to time 
 rare and curious trees and plants, possessitig valuable commercial 
 properties, are heard of. Successful experiments have been made in the 
 cultivation of sugar-cane, arrowroot, and other tropical jilauts. The coast 
 l)elt, with its rich alluvial lands, is well adapted for a sugar producing 
 district. 
 
 Game is not now so plentiful as it was in former times. Year after year 
 parties of white and native hunters have been carrying on a war of exter- 
 mination, and immense numbers of elands, ])uffaloes, elephants, hippopotami, 
 lions, and antelopes of various kinds, have been destroye l. Still, there are 
 localities in which wild animals arc yet to be found in large numbers. 
 This country is noted for its immense herds of homed cattle. In former 
 days these were even more plentiful than now, as the ravages of lung 
 sickness have been very destructive. 
 
 What is known of Zululand is sufficiently convincing of its fitness for 
 the support of a large population ; but the highest estimate made of the 
 Zulu tribe is less than a hundred and fifty thousand. In some parts one 
 may travel for miles without seeing a ki-aal or other sign of human life. 
 This state of things is attributable to the political condition of the country 
 during the last sixty or seventy years. 
 
 The Zulus owe the terrible notoriety they achieved in South Africa fifty 
 years ago to the genius and ferocity of one man. They are neither more 
 bloodthirsty in disposition, nor more powerful in frame, than their 
 2 c 
 
19^ 
 
 ZULVLAJsD. 
 
 neighbours of the coast region, but the training they received under 
 TsiiAKA was such as to make them for a time tigers iu disposition and Hons in 
 strength. History affords no stronger proof of the power of discipline 
 than is shown in the career of this remarkable man. 
 
 At the time of Tshaka's birth the Zulu tribe was small and without 
 influence. It was not even independent, being tributary to the Abatetwa. 
 The only reputation this people had acquired was that of being keen 
 traffickers, expert pedlers of such wares as then constituted the basis of 
 commerce in South-Eastern Africa. Tshaka, though the son of the chief 
 Senzexgakona, was not the heir to the government of the tribe, his brother 
 DixGAX being higher in rank than he. But before he reached the age of 
 manhood he excited the jealousy of his father, and was compelled to flee 
 for his life. He took refuge with Dixgiswayo, chief of the Abatetwa, his 
 father's feudal lord. 
 
 This DixGiswAYO was a man who had gone through some curious 
 adventures, and had seen some strange vicissitudes of fortune. In his 
 younger days he had striven to raise a rebellion against his father Jobe, 
 and only escaped capture and death through the devotion of his sister. 
 Finding then his life in danger as long as he remained within reach of his 
 father's influence, he fled away to the unknown land of the south, and in 
 course of time reached the Cape Colony. How long he remained there 
 cannot now be ascertained, but it was long enough for him to learn one 
 lesson in civihzation, and that lesson was the training of men to war, the 
 organization of an army. 
 
 After a time Jobe died, and the Abatetwa, not knowing where to look for 
 the rightful heir, raised one of his younger brothers to the vacant chief- 
 tainship. But by some means Dingiswayo came to hear of his father's 
 death, and sent word to the tribe that he intended to return. The message 
 was followed by news of his approach, and it was announced that he was 
 mounted on an animal of wonderful strength, beauty, and speed. The 
 Abatetwa had not yet seen a horse, so that the eclat of their lost chief's 
 return was considerably heightened by his making his appearance on the 
 strange animal. There could be no doubt as to his identity, for he bore 
 the mark of the wound inflicted upon him the night he escaped from the 
 executioners sent by his father to despatch him. He was received with 
 rapture by the bulk of his late father's subjects. His brother made a feeble 
 resistance, but was easily overcome and put to death. 
 
 DiXGiswAYO now set about turning the lesson he had learned to some 
 account. He formed his men into regiments, and appointed officers of 
 various grades to command them. As soon as this was accomplished, he 
 made war upon his neighbours, but was satisfied with conquest, for though 
 warlike, he could not be termed cruel. Such was the man under whose 
 protection Tshaka placed himself. The Zulu refugee became a private 
 soldier in one of Dixgiswayo's regiments, from which position he raised 
 )iimself by dint of courage and ability to a situation of command. 
 
ZULULAND. 
 
 195 
 
 When Senzengakona died, the Zulus feared to acknowledge his rightful 
 heir as his successor, as by doing so they might displease Dingiswayo. 
 They therefore applied to him to appoint a chief over them, and he, trusting 
 to the fidelity of Tshaka, who was then in high favour, nominated him to 
 the vacant chieftainship. As long as Dingiswayo lived, Tshaka and he 
 worked harmoniously together. But at length, in a skirmish with a tribe 
 which he had made war upon, the Umtetwa chief was made prisoner, and 
 was put to death by his captor. 
 
 The united Umtetwa and Zulu army then did what armies in such 
 circumstances are prone to do : it raised its favourite general to supreme 
 power. Tshaka had been more than a pupil to Dingiswayo. He had 
 conceived schemes of conquest on a vast scale, and had devised a much 
 more perfect system of discipline and organization than had before existed. 
 It was now in his power to carry out these ideas. 
 
 The united tribes with their vassals that acknowledged his sway were 
 divided into regiments, or bands of about a thousand men each. Each 
 regiment had its own kraal, or portion of a kraal when several were 
 stationed together. The soldiers were not permitted to marry without the 
 consent of the chief, and this was only given to a regiment after long and 
 meritorious services. The regiments were distinguished from each other 
 by the pattern and colour of their shields, and a spirit of emulation between 
 them was encouraged and kept up by various devices. 
 
 As soon as a youth was fit to bear arms he was required to join the army, 
 and thereafter he had no companions but soldiers until the chief's 
 permission to marry, accompanied by a present of a sufficient number of 
 women, was obtained by his regiment. The practice of circumcision was 
 abolished, as being useless now that another mark of manhood had taken its 
 place. The army was provided with food mainly from the herds captured in 
 war, and upon the female portion of the community rested an obligation to 
 furnish what grain was needed. The women were formed into working bands 
 for the purpose of tilling the ground, and upon a requisition for grain being 
 made, they carried it to the military kraals. Constant drilling, i-eviews, 
 and mock fights, occupied the time of the soldiers when they were not 
 engaged in actual war. No other nation in modern days has been so 
 thoroughly organized, so perfectly equipped for aggressive purposes. 
 
 The old national weapon was an assegai, or light javelin, which was 
 thrown at the enemy from a distance. Tshaka substituted in its stead a 
 heavy short-handled spear. It was the soldier's only weapon of offence, 
 and he who returned from battle without it forfeited his life. To protect 
 his person, he carried an enormous shield of stout ox hide, upon which 
 he received the assegais hurled against him. 
 
 The world has probably never seen men trained to more perfect obedience 
 than were these. The army became a vast machine, but entirely under 
 the command of its head. There was no questioning, no delay, when 
 an order was intimated, for to presume upon either was to court instant 
 
196 
 
 ZULULAND. 
 
 death. From the highest iudmia to the youngest recruit, the obedience 
 of every one was perfect. Most extraordinary tasks were sometimes 
 required of a regiment to prove its efficiency in this respect. At a 
 review, an order would sometimes be given which meant death to 
 hundreds, and the jealousy between the regiments was so great that if one 
 hesitated for a moment the others were ready to cut it down. Some 
 instances of the exercise of this power would be incredible, if they were 
 not thoroughly well authenticated. 
 
 TsHAKA had heard from some one or other of a place of eternal punish- 
 ment by fire. At the next review, he ordered a great quantity of dry wood 
 to be collected and piled up. When it was ready he caused it to be set on 
 fire, and as soon as it was thoroughly ablaze he commanded a division of 
 recruits to march through it and put it out. Many perished, many more 
 were frightfully burnt, but they stamped out the fire. Thus will I quench 
 that other flame I have heard of, said the tyrant. He would send a regi- 
 ment to bring him a living, unwoundcd, hippopotamus or a lion, and it 
 would be done. 
 
 One day, some years after the establishment of his power, a white man 
 was at his kraal. In the morning earl}^ a string of women and girls 
 approached from a distance, each bearing on her head a pot of beer, it 
 being their turn to supply the body-guard with that beverage. For some 
 reason or other, which the European visitor was unable to ascertain, Tshaka 
 was displeased with the kraal from which the women came. He said 
 something to the induna standing by him, who merely left his side for a 
 moment, but immediately a company of soldiers arose and put the un- 
 fortunate women to death. It seemed such an ordinary affair that no one 
 took any particular notice of it. 
 
 Under such training the army came to attach so little value to human 
 life that the order to exterminate an enemy was executed witliout scruple. 
 The dense population, that had formerly inhabited the coast region south- 
 ward from Delagoa Bay, perished before this monster and his highly 
 trained legions. There was no hope for any tribe, except to throw itself at 
 his feet before war against it was begun. Such clans as did this were 
 incorporated with the Zulu tribe, and were immediatelj'- subjected to the 
 same discipline. 
 
 Before his death in 1828, Tshaka had made himself master of the whole 
 coast region from Delagoa Bay southward to the Umzimvubu Kiver, while 
 tribes fleeing from him had laid waste the present Transvaal Republic, the 
 Orange Free State, British Basutoland, and a portion of Kaffraria. Those 
 who perished through his means, directly or indirectly, must be numbered 
 by milHons. When in the very height of his power, he was one day sur- 
 prised and assassinated by his brother Di^gan, from whom he seems to have 
 anticipated no danger. Dingan was the rightful heir to the chieftainship of 
 the original Zulu clan, but that was a mere fraction of the tribe as it tlien 
 existed, so that Tshaka never thought of finding a rival in him. 
 
ZULU LAND. 
 
 197 
 
 The murdered chief left no child living. He had sought to do away with 
 all fear of rivalry from members of his own family, by the destruction of 
 his offspring even before their birth. Mother and child were in every 
 instance doomed to perish by this monster in human form. Dingan was 
 thus his nearest heir, and as such he was hailed chief of the Zulus. 
 
 The character of the new ruler was, if possible, even more execrable than 
 that of his predecessor. It cannot be denied that Tshaka had splendid 
 abilities, though he used them to destroy his fellow men. Dixgan was 
 without talent of any kind, he was a mere copyist. Then there was a 
 certain openness about Tsuaka, whereas Dingan delighted in treachery. 
 The army demanded new victims, the burden of its petitions constantly 
 being for leave to attack distant tribes. The twelve years of Dingan's 
 government were therefore years of terror to the native races that yet 
 remained in South-Eastern Africa. He destroyed less than Tshaka, only 
 because Tshaka had left so little within his reach to destroy. 
 
 In 1840 the Zulu power was broken by the Emigrant Farmers. Dingan 
 fled to the north, where he was assassinated, and his brother Mpande was 
 installed chief by Piietorius. The army had nearly perished. Under the 
 military system inti'oduced by Tshaka, the population could not increase, 
 it could not even keep up its strength, prolific as are Africans generally. 
 There was thus no possibility of the Zukis ever recovering the position 
 they had lost. 
 
 Mpande was without genius of any kind, and so long as he was permit- 
 ted to rule in peace, he was quite willing to let others alone. Under him, 
 the established order of things was not interfered with, but was allowed 
 gradually to fall into decay. Such a system is so opposed to the ordinary 
 and natural habits of human beings, that it cannot be maintained for any 
 length of time. There w^ere still military kraals in Zululand, but the 
 perfect discipline, the implicit obedience, of the soldiers of Tshaka and 
 Dingan had departed for ever. The nation, however, did not lose its fero- 
 city so quickly as its subjection to unnatural restraints. Cases of violent 
 death were still of frequent occurrence, and massacres on an extensive 
 scale were often perpetrated. 
 
 For many years the sons of Mpande kept the country in a state of com- 
 motion, owing to their contentions as to which of them should be recog- 
 nized as his heir. At length, in December, 1856, a battle was fought, in 
 which the question was decided in favour of Cetywayo, and his rivals 
 must have perished, as they were never afterwards heard of. In this civil 
 war the Zulus exhibited as much ferocity as their fathers had displayed in 
 the days of Tshaka. After the last battle, the defeated party attemj)ted to 
 flee to Natal, and though some thousands succeeded in getting across the 
 Tugela, great numbers were killed by the pursuers. 
 
 Mr. W. C. Baldwin, author oi African Iliinting from Natal io the Zambesi, 
 relates that he was on his way through Zululand to Natal at the time of 
 this occurrence. For twelve miles beyond the Tugela the air was tainted 
 
198 
 
 ZULULAND. 
 
 "witli effluvium emanating from dead bodies. Men, women, and children, 
 were lying along his path, the men with their war-dress on, but all in a 
 •dreadful state of decomposition. There were women with babes on their 
 backs, both pierced with the same weapon, and children of all ages stabbed 
 between the shoulders. Thousands had been stabbed or drowned in 
 attempting to cross the Tugela. The victors lost heavily also, so that 
 fully one fourth of the whole Zulu nation must have been destroyed. Ce- 
 TYWAYO did not attempt to pursue the adherents of the opposite faction 
 into Natal, as he was desirous of securing the favour of the colonial 
 government. 
 
 Since this time the Zulus have been at peace among themselves and 
 with their neighbours. Until his death in 1872, Mpande remained nomi- 
 nally the chief, but in reality Cetywayo governed the triba. He is a man of 
 considerable ability, and has always shown himself disposed to cultivate 
 friendly relations with his neighbours of Natal. With the Transvaal 
 Eepublic there has been for some years a dispute concerning the ownership 
 of a large tract of country, and but for the influence of the Natal govern- 
 ment, Cetywayo would most likely have appealed to the issue of war. 
 
 At the desire of the tribe, Cetywayo was crowned king of the Zulus by 
 Mr. Shepstone, the Secretary for Native Affairs of Natal. But neither the 
 chief nor his people acknowledged the paramount authority of the British 
 government by this act, the Natal officer's influence with the tribe being 
 entirely personal. A good deal of ceremony was observed on the occasion, 
 and handsome presents were made on both sides. A few simple laws, in- 
 tended to form the groundwork of a constitution, were agreed to by the 
 chief and people, at Mr. Shepstone's request; but they have not been 
 faithfully observed. Human life is yet held so cheap in public opinion that 
 the most important of these regulations, — that which requires an individual 
 to be tried before being put to death, — is entirely disregarded. 
 
 For many years missionaries have been labouring among the Zulus, but 
 they have not met with much success. The political condition of the 
 country offers the greatest obstacle to the efforts they are making. Their 
 persons and property are, however, as safe as anywhere in the world, and 
 they are treated with kindness and respect by the people generall}'. 
 
CHAPTEE XLIV. 
 
 KAFFIRLAXD.—BECHUAyALA>'D.— GREAT XAMAQU ALAND. 
 
 The tract of country lying between the Quatlilamba Mountains and the 
 Indian Ocean, and between the Cape Colony and Natal, is called KafErland 
 or Kaffraria. It comprises an area of about fifteen thousand square miles. 
 The soil is in many parts very fertile : it is capable of producing grain of 
 all sorts in the highlands, and semi-tropical fruits and plants along the 
 coast. In the uplands the surface is undulating, in the lowlands broken 
 and hilly. Kaffirland is exceedingly well watered, no part of South Africa 
 having a greater number of rivulets within an equal area. The mouth of 
 the Umzimvubu can be entered by small vessels, and, probably, at no 
 distant date, will be made use of largely for purposes of commerce. In 
 several localities there are extensive forests of valuable timber. Large 
 game, excepting a few hippopotami in some of the rivers, is no longer to be 
 found, having been exterminated by white and native hunters ; but several 
 species of antelope are still abundant. 
 
 The population consists of native tribes, most of whom are under the 
 jurisdiction of the Cape Colony. Those that still preserve a semblance of 
 independence are the Pondos, in the south-east, and the Gcalekas, in the 
 south-west of the territory. The total population of Kaffraria probably 
 approaches half a million of souls. Among these Africans, a few hundred 
 Europeans reside with as much safety as if they were in the colony. They 
 are magistrates exercising jurisdiction over clans that have placed them- 
 selves under British protection, agents of various missionary societies, and 
 traders who exchange blankets, beads, European clothing, cutlery, &c., for 
 cattle, horses, goat and sheep skins, leaf tobacco, and wool. 
 
 There are also a few hundred Griquas in the north-east, who emigrated 
 from the Orange Free State with Adam Kok in 1862. The tract of country 
 in which they settled was then known as Noraansland, now as St John's 
 Territory. It was ceded by Faku, the chief of the Pondos, to the English, 
 with a view of bringing in a government on that side strong enough to 
 interpose between him and his enemies. On the death of Kok in 1876, it 
 was formed into a magistracy. 
 
 Meanwhile the two great clans of the Pondomise, between whom civil 
 war was chronic, though there was a permanent feud between them and the 
 Pondos, applied to be received as British subjects, and were accepted. A 
 number of little clans, Basuto and other, living along the Drakenberg, had 
 previously been placed under the charge of a magistrate. The last received 
 were the Tembus under Gangelizwe, whose motive in applying to become 
 British subjects was to escape destruction at the hands of the Gcalekas. 
 
K A F F m r . ,V X T) — 1 ; 1 C CI I U A X A L A N U , 
 
 'J'he history oi' tlieso clans is so interwoven with that of the Cape Colony- 
 that it has already of necessity been given. Under English authority they 
 are making perceptible progress in civilization, they live at peace with 
 each other, and Christianity is gradually gaining ground among them. 
 
 BECIIUANALA^•D. 
 
 'The country lying between the Kalahari desert on the west, the South 
 African Republic on the east, and Griqualand on the south, is usually 
 called Bechuanaland. The southern portion is dry and is subject to 
 electric storms similar to those of Griqualand. It is only in a few localities 
 that gardens can be made. In the north more rain falls, and agriculture 
 is there extensively carried on. 
 
 The inhabitants of this territory are of kindred race with the Kaffirs of 
 the coast region, and, like them, form many distinct clans governed by 
 hereditary chiefs. Their language is similarly formed, but is without 
 clicks, and sounds harsher than Kaffir to a European ear. It is not 
 understood by the coast tribes. The Bechuanas are less robust and 
 vigorous than the Kaffirs, but are more ingenious and skilful. Their 
 manufactures of domestic utensils, clothing, and agiicultural implements, 
 are superior. Their dwellings are circular in form, but are decidedly 
 more comfortable than those on the coast lands. The roof is lofty, is very 
 trhick, and projects over the wall so as to form a verandah round the hut. The 
 interior is kept tolerably clean, and is cool even at midday. The huts are 
 frequently surrounded by enclosed yards, and are grouped together^ 
 without apparent order or regularity, into large villages. 
 
 In the field the Bechuanas lack the courage of the Zulu, but this may be 
 from defective training. In former days it was no uncommon circum- 
 stance for whole clans to be destroyed by small foraging parties of Mata- 
 belc. The first charge of these, with their short stabbing assegais in hand 
 usually settled the matter. Yet Msilikazi enrolled great numbers of 
 Bechuana boys in his armies, and, under Matabele leaders, these became 
 as fierce as his born subjects. It was in this manner that the loss sus- 
 tained in his terrible campaigns was made good. Formerly, the most 
 efjective weapon of the Mochuana was a light assegai, now he is usually found 
 with a gun in his possession. 
 
 The religion was similar to that of the Kaffirs, but the punishment in- 
 flicted upon persons convicted of witchcraft was less cruel. The rainmaker 
 was with them a very important personage. Missionaries, principally of 
 the London Society, — among whom may be mentioned the honoured names 
 of Moffat and Livingstone, — have laboured among these people for nearly 
 fifty years, and some of the clans have improved considerably under their 
 teaching. 
 
 The government of the Bechuanas is mild, the chiefs feeing surrounded 
 by councillors, without whose concurrence nothiiig can be done. In their 
 
UREAT NAMAQUALAND. 
 
 201 
 
 social economy a custom prevails similar to that of tlie deoeiulencc of 
 clients upon a patron in Imperial Rome. Tn the Kalahari desert and in 
 the wildest and most barren districts of Bechuanaland, wretched specimens 
 of humanity are to be found, who maintain a miserable existence by the 
 chase, and who acknowledge their dependence upon some powerful man in 
 one of the villages, to whom they are bound to yield the furs of the animals 
 they capture. These people are the remnants of tribes destroyed by war. 
 In the desert there is no water, but wild melons are found, upon which life 
 can be supported. 
 
 Of late years a considerable trade has been carried on in Bechuanaland, 
 and it is now being developed very rapidly. Ivory, ostrich feathers, wax, 
 karosses, and a few cattle, are exchanged for British manufactures. 
 
 GREAT NAM/VQUALAND. 
 
 The tract of country bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, extending from 
 the Orange River northwards to the tropic, is called Great Namaqualand. 
 It is a desolate waste of sandy plains and stony hills, without running 
 water and almost without verdure. There are portions of this country in 
 which no rain has been known to fall for thirty years. It never falls in 
 any part except in terrible thunderstorms. The heat of summer is nearly 
 insupportable, and the glare of the sun upon the sand is so intense as to 
 cause partial blindness. Yessels frequenting the coast, when lying at 
 anchor" with the wind l^lowing off the land, have had their decks covered 
 with fine white sand, while the air has felt like a blast from a heated oven. 
 
 Between Great Namaqualand and Bechuanaland lies the Kalahari desert, 
 which has very rarely been crossed, on account its being absolutely without 
 water. To reach the interior from the coast, a long detour to the north- 
 ward must be made. 
 
 Great Namaqualand is believed to possess very rich copper mines, Imtno 
 attempt to work them is made. Neither Europeans nor natives would 
 care to labour in such a climate, even if water could be conveyed to them. 
 Nature appears to have doomed this region to perpetual sterility and de- 
 solation. 
 
 Yet even here some twenty or thirty thousand Hottentots mauage to live. 
 There are a few springs in the country, some of them hot, others salt, but 
 wherever there is water, a few families are to be found. These little clans 
 are independent of each other, and of all foreign control. They are mostly 
 to be found in the north, which is the least desolate part of the country. 
 There they contrive to keep a few cattle, sheep, and goats. The language 
 is a dialect of the Hottentot, but many of the inhabitants are descendants 
 of refugees from the Cape Colony, and speak the colonial Dutch. These 
 wear European clothing when they can get it, and" profess themselves 
 Christians. The only Europeans in this region are ten or a dozen mis- 
 sionaries and traders. A little traflic is carried on in the skins of wild 
 animals and a few ostrich feathers. 
 
 2 D 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 STATISTICS OF HEALTH. 
 
 The following table, compiled from the annual medical reports laid before the 
 Imperial Parliament, show-; the rate of sickness and mortality of British troops in 
 various parts of the world. Sickness and deaths from accidents, punishment, 
 wounds, &c., have been excluded. A mean has been taken of the five years 1859, 
 1860, 1861, 1862, and- 1863, when most of the troops were scattered in outposts all 
 over the frontiers of the Cape Colony, and were not, as has since been the case, 
 comfortably accommodated in commodious barracks. It must be borne in mind, 
 further, when making a comparison by means of a statement like this, that the Cape 
 Colony was then to a large extent garrisoned by troops sent here from sickly 
 stations, such as Mauritius, purposely to recruit their health, and that, therefore, 
 the rate of mortality was higher than it would have been if only such troops as were 
 sent to Canada had been sent here. Sickness and death rate of white troops only 
 have been noticed in making this statement. For every thousand soldiers there are 
 yearly in 
 
 Cases of Sickness. Deaths. 
 
 535 68 
 
 476 7-3 
 
 923 8-3 
 
 769 9-1 
 
 590 13-3 
 
 1,222 18-8 
 
 787 20-5 
 
 1,689 22-5 
 
 1,387 23-2 
 
 1,819 33-3 
 
 Canada ... 
 New Zealand 
 GTreat Britain 
 South Africa 
 Australia 
 Madras ... 
 Mauritius 
 Bombay 
 Ceylon ... 
 Bengal ... 
 
 TABLE OP COMPARATIVE TEMPERATUEE. 
 
 The following table shows the mean temperature of the different months of the 
 year at Cape Town, Graaff Ecinet, and Maritzburg, as compared with that of 
 London: — 
 
 J anuary 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 December 
 
 Mean 
 
 Cape Town. 
 
 Graaff Reinet. 
 
 Maritzhtirg. 
 
 London. 
 
 69-1 
 
 1^-1 
 
 71-0 
 
 36-3 
 
 69-2 
 
 73-2 
 
 71-8 
 
 39-6 
 
 66-6 
 
 691 
 
 69-6 
 
 420 
 
 633 
 
 62-2 
 
 65-3 
 
 47-6 
 
 58-1 
 
 58-2 
 
 59-2 
 
 55-4 
 
 55-4 
 
 54-5 
 
 55-7 
 
 59-3 
 
 54-4 
 
 53-4 
 
 59-4 
 
 62-9 
 
 55-5 
 
 57-8 
 
 59-6 
 
 62-9 
 
 57-5 
 
 60-7 
 
 65-0 
 
 57-7 
 
 61-2 
 
 66-5 
 
 65-2 
 
 50-8 
 
 64-5 
 
 67-3 
 
 670 
 
 42-4 
 
 67-6 
 
 74-4 
 
 70-1 
 
 38-7 
 
 
 
 
 
 61-9 
 
 64-4 
 
 64-9 
 
 49-6 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 203 
 
 TABLE OF RAINFALL. 
 
 The subjoined table sliows the rainfall in inches at Cape Town, Graaflf Reinet, 
 and Maritzburg, as compared with that of London : — 
 
 
 Cai^e Town. 
 
 Graaff Reinet. 
 
 Maritzhurg. 
 
 Loadoi 
 
 January 
 
 0-880 
 
 1-453 
 
 3-690 .. 
 
 . 1-959 
 
 February 
 
 0-653 
 
 2-664 
 
 4-676 .. 
 
 . 1-482 
 
 March 
 
 0-846 
 
 0-970 
 
 2-975 .. 
 
 . 1-299 
 
 April 
 
 1-846 
 
 1129 
 
 1-394 
 
 1-692 
 
 May 
 
 3-576 
 
 0-810 
 
 1-201 
 
 . 1-822 
 
 June 
 
 4-311 
 
 0-306 
 
 0-117 
 
 . 1-920 
 
 July 
 
 2921 
 
 0-510 
 
 0-269 .. 
 
 . 2-657 
 
 August 
 
 3 323 
 
 0-292 
 
 0-745 .. 
 
 . 2-125 
 
 September ... 
 
 2-332 
 
 0-824 
 
 1-350 .. 
 
 . 1-921 
 
 October 
 
 1-014 
 
 1-563 
 
 3-941 .. 
 
 . 2-522 
 
 November . . . 
 
 1-090 
 
 1-567 
 
 4-675 .. 
 
 . 2-998 
 
 December ... 
 
 0-516 
 
 ri07 
 
 5-044 .. 
 
 . 2-427 
 
 Total 
 
 23-308 
 
 13-195 
 
 30-077 .. 
 
 . 24-804 
 
 NOTES ON BOOKS REFEEEING TO SOUTH AFRICA, WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED BY 
 THE COMPILER OF THIS HISTOEY, 
 
 The colony of the Cape of Grood Hope possesses in its archives a mass of official 
 records, dating from the landing of Van Riebeck, which forms a tolerably complete 
 history of its government. The most important of these journals, despatches, letters, 
 <fec., have from time to time been translated and published in magazines, and the 
 colonial parliament has recently made provision for the arranging and publication of 
 them aU. Some years ago Mr. D. Moodib published a volume of these Colonial 
 Records, but so rarely is it now to be met with, that the writer has been unable to 
 obtain a perfect copy, though enquiries have been made on his behalf throughout 
 South Africa. In 1846 Lieut.-Col. Sutheeland published a work called SoiUk 
 Africcm Tribes, which is principally a copy from Moodie of such records as refer to 
 the natives, with comments upon them. From the extracts in tbis book many 
 details concerning the early history of the colony have been derived. 
 
 Peter Kolben, a German, was sent by the Baron Yon Krosick to the Cape of 
 Good Hope, for the purpose of making astronomical observations, and resided in the 
 colony from June, 1705, until April, 1713. Upon his return to Eui-opehc published 
 two books, one, A Particular Account of the Several Nations of ths Hottentots, the 
 other, The Natural JSistory of the Cape. These books had a wide circulation at the 
 time in Germany, and in 1731 they were translated into English and published in 
 London. Eolben had better opportunities of observing original Hotfcentot customs 
 than any writer before or since his time. At that period the Dutch settlements had 
 not extended very far from Cape Town, and the Hottentot tribes of the interior still 
 retained their national customs unchanged. Previous travellers had seen only the 
 residents on the coast, but Kolben made several short joui-ueys inland on purpose 
 to become acquainted with Hottentots who were yet unaffected by intercourse with 
 Europeans. The first-named work is of considerable value ; but, unfortunately, it 
 contains many exaggerations an«l misstatements, and requires much discrimination 
 
204 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 before the real can be separated from the ideal with which he has miicd it. His 
 accounts must be carefully compared with those of later travellers, and a great 
 portion of the marvellous scenes he describes must be rejected. 
 
 Andeew Spakrman, M. D., Fellow of the Swedish Royal Academy of Science, 
 arrived in South Africa in April, 1772. In November of the same year he left the 
 Cape in the Resolution, being attached to the English exploring expedition as a 
 naturalist, and sailed with Captain Cook round the world. In March, 1775, the 
 Resolution reached the Cape again, and Dr. Spaeeman at once set out upon a tour 
 through the colony, which occupied him until April, 1776. His work, which is 
 entitled A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antarctic Rolar Circle, 
 and round the World ; hut chiefly into the Country of the Hottentots and Kaffirs, 
 from the year 1772 to 1776, was originally written in the Swedish language ; but was 
 soon translated into English and Grerman. In England it was so popular that a 
 second edition, in two volumes, was published in London as early as 1786. 
 Spaeeman's work is most interesting, his observations are to the point, and his 
 descriptions of the country and people are most accurate. 
 
 A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Euro- 
 peans in the East and West Indies. By the Abbe Raynal. The edition in my 
 possession is a translation published in six volumes in Edinburgli in 1782. The 
 early history of the Netherlands' East India Company is mainly drawn from this 
 work. I am also indebted to this author for an account of the cause of the popu- 
 larity of Governor Tulbagh, who ruled the settlement at tlie Cape of Good Hope 
 when the book was written. 
 
 Mr., subsequently Sir John, Baeeow held the offices of secretary to Earl 
 Macartney, Auditor General of public accounts at the Cape of Good Hope, and 
 secretary to General Dundas during his administration of the government. His work, 
 entitled An Account of Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa, is a standard 
 authority. To the first volume (London, 1801) is annexed A Description of the 
 Present State, Population, and Produce of the Colony, and the second volume 
 (London, 1804) contains A Statistical Sketch of the whole Colony, compiled from 
 Authentic Documents. Mr. Baeeow was extremely prejudiced against the Dutch 
 inhabitants and could see nothing good in their character, so that his descriptions of 
 the colonists ought to be compared with those of a more impartial writer. 
 
 An Account of the Cape of Good Hope, containing an historical view of its original 
 settlemsnt hy the Dutch, its capture by the British in 1795, and the different policy 
 pursued there hy the Dutch and British governments ; also a sketch of its geography, 
 productions, the manners and customs of its inhabitants, S^c, cfc, with a vieio of the 
 political and commercial advantages lohich might be derived from its possession hy 
 Great Britain. By Captain Eobeet Percival. London, 1804. Tliis book is so 
 full of errors as to ba utterly valueless as a work of reference, except in purely mili- 
 tary matters. 
 
 Heney Lichtenstein, Doctor of Medicine and Philosophy, and Professor of 
 Natural History in the University of Berlin, was tlie author of a work entitled 
 Travels in Southern Africa in the years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806. It was 
 originally written in German, but was translated into English and published in 
 London in 1815. Tliis voluminous work is one of the most interesting descriptions 
 of South Africa ever published. The author came to the colony as tutor to a son of 
 
AJ?P£NDtX. 
 
 205 
 
 Q-eueral JaNSSENS ; he was one of the party that accompanied the High Commissioner 
 De Mist in his tour, and he afterwards made a journey to Bechuanaland as an agent 
 of the Batavian government. At different periods he made other trips into the 
 heart of the country, specially for the purpose of acquiring information. lie was 
 present at the battle of Blaauwberg, as a surgeon in the Dutch army, and returned 
 in the suite of Greneral Janssens to Europe. With opportunities for seeing the 
 country and its people as they really were, such, as few other travellers have had. 
 Dr. LiCHTENSTEiN was possessed of a keen spirit of observation and a most impartial 
 and philosophic turn of mind. A few mistakes into which he has fallen are easily 
 rectified. The works of Lichtenstein and Bareow often treat of the same subject 
 from different points of view, and should be compared with each other. 
 
 William J. Buechell, an Englishman, arrived in South Africa in Novemb er, 
 1810, his sole object being the acquisition of knowledge by means of travelling. 
 After a residence of six months in the colony, he visited the G-riqua country, where 
 he remained for some time, and then made a fruitless attempt to pierce through to 
 the Portuguese settlements on the west coast. The flist volume of his travels was 
 published in London in 1822, the second followed in 1824, Both ai'e profusely 
 ornamented with coloured plates, illustrative of scenery in tlie countries he passed 
 through, portraits of various natives, &c., &c. Mr. Buechell was a naturalist, and 
 in the course of his journeys ovsr the colony and beyond it, made it his business to 
 collect rare specimens of animals and plants, and much of his voluminous work is 
 taken up with descriptions and catalogues of these. But he throws no little light 
 upon the history of that period, and aa all his observations were ma le with the 
 strictest regard to veracity and in a truly impartial spirit, his book ranks among 
 the best that have been written concerning the country. 
 
 The Rev. John Campbell arrived in the colony in October, 1812, having been 
 sent by the London Society to inspect its stations in South Africa, and report upon 
 them. He journeyed to the northward as far as Lithako, and was the first European 
 to trace the course of the Hart River. From its junction with the Yaal he followed 
 the latter river to its confluence with the Orange, and kept along this stream till he 
 reached Pella in Little Namaqualand. His work is entitled Travels in South Africa, 
 undertaken at the request of the London Missionary Society. Two editions were 
 published in London in 1815. This book contains a complete accownt of the G-riqua 
 settlement at that time, and a large amount of useful information concerning the 
 other districts passed through. In 1819 Mr. Campeell paid a second visit to South 
 Africa, and on this occasion peneti'ated the interior a hundred and twenty miles 
 further than during his first journey, thus opening up new ground for the Society to 
 labour in. An account of his explorations was given to tlie public in two volumes, 
 published in London in 1822. The Narrative of a Second Journey in the Interior of 
 South Africa is exceedingly interesting, but as a work of reference it is less valuable 
 than the former volume. 
 
 The Rev. C. I. Lateobe travelled in South Africa in the years 1815 and 1816. 
 His object in visiting the colony was to inspect the mission stations of the Moravian 
 Brethren at Genadendal and Groenekloof, and to select a suitable site for a new 
 settlement. With this object he traversed the colony from west to cast, as far as the 
 Great Fish Riv^er. His work is entitled A Journal of a Visit to South Africa, with 
 some account of the Missionary Settlements of the United Brethren near the Cape of 
 
201) 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Good Sope. It docs not coutaiii mucli historical or general information concerning 
 tke country, if the accounts of the Brethren's mission stations be excepted. 
 
 GEOEaE Thompson", a merchant of Cape Town, who had travelled all over the 
 colony and had then been eight years resident in it, published in 1827 a work in two 
 volumes, entitled Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa^ comprising a vieiv of 
 (ke present state of the Cape Colony. It contains a great amount of information con- 
 cerning the trade and general condition of the country, the then-existing state of 
 aflfairs in Bechuanaland, the condition of the British settlers, &c., &c. It is a book 
 that can ill be spared from a South African library. 
 
 Thomas PEiNaLE, one of the heads of the British settlers of 1820, who was 
 resident in South Africa for several years, and whose name has been mentioned in 
 connection with the struggle for a free press, published in 1834 (some years after it 
 was written) a volume entitled African Sketches. It contains some charming poetry 
 and the Narrative of a Residence in South Africa. Mr. Pringle who, after his 
 return to England, became secretary of the society for the abolition of slavery, was a 
 man of liberal tendencies and great humanity, and his writings were intended to 
 expose the injustice to which the native races of South Africa were at that time 
 subjected. There is much valuable information in his book, but some deductions 
 must be made for his free use of the license accorded to a poet. 
 
 Travels and Researches in Caffraria : describing the character, customs, and moral 
 condition of the tribes inhabiting that portion of Southern Africa ; tvith historical and 
 topographical remarks illustrative of the state and prospects of the British Settlement 
 on its borders, the introduction of Christianity , and the progress of civilization. By 
 the Eev. Stephen Kay. London, 1833. This book contains all, and more than all, 
 the information its title would lead one to expect. 
 
 A^^)EEW Steedman, for many years a resident in the Cape Colony, was the 
 author of a work in two volumes, published in London in 1835, and entitled 
 Wanderings and Adventures in the Interior of Southern Africa. The author travel- 
 led over a great extent of counti*y, but has not made many original observa- 
 tions of much interest. The appendix, however, contains some valuable matter. 
 
 TJie Wild Sports of Southern Africa ; being the Narrative of a Hunting Expedition 
 from the Cape of Good Hope, through the Territories of the Chief Moselekatse, to the 
 Tropic of Capricorn. By Captain William Coenwallis Haeeis. The copy before 
 me is of the fifth edition, published in London in 1852. Of all the books on hunting 
 in Southern Africa, this is the most valuable. The author was something more than 
 a butcher of game, and his writings are therefore not mere catalogues of animals 
 destroyed. He was an explorer, tlie country he visited being then almost unknown, 
 though now it forms part of the South African Eepublic. He was there in the 
 eventful year 1836, when the Emigrant Farmers came into collision with Msilikazi's 
 hordes. Of the massacres and the retaliation by the farmers he gives a short account. 
 His work is specially valuable for a description, from personal observation, of MsiLi- 
 KAZi and his people. 
 
 Narrative of an Exploratory Tour to the north-east of the Colony of the Cape of 
 Good Hope, in the year 1836. By the Revs. T. Aebousset and F. Daumas, of the 
 Paris Missionary Society. Translated from the original French, and pubhshed in 
 London in 1852. This book contains a great deal of information concerning the 
 native tribes north of the Orange River. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 207 
 
 A Narmtwe. of the Irruption of the Kaffir Hordes into the Eastern Province of the 
 Cape of Good Hope, 1831-35. Compiled from official documents and other authen- 
 tic sources, by Mr. R. aoBLONTON, Editor of the Grahamstown Journal. Grahams- 
 town, 1836. A very complete history of that war, Avith all its details, casualties, &c. 
 
 Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa. By the Rev. Robert Mof- 
 fat. London, 1842. A deservedly popular book. 
 
 A Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa. By James Back- 
 house. London, 184,4. The author was a member of the Society of Friends, and 
 was travelling for the purpose of visiting mission stations and aiding in works of 
 philanthropy. His book, of over six hundred pages, contains some useful informa- 
 tion, but it has to be extracted from a mass of matter of no interest to a reader of 
 the present day. 
 
 Shortly after the ultimate establishment of British authority over the country 
 between the Grreat Fish and Kei rivers, a Compendium of Kaffir Laws and Customs 
 was carefully compiled by Messrs. Dugmore, Warner, Brownlee, and Ayliff, 
 for the use of the government, and was published by direction of Colonel Maclean, 
 Chief Commissioner of British Kaffraria. This is a standard authority, and is a 
 valuable book, but is not now obtainable, except by chance. 
 
 Bistorij of Natal. By the Rev. W. C. Holden. London, 1855. To this book I 
 am indebted for most of the details concerning the parties who attempted to colonize 
 Natal under the leadership of Farewell, King, and Ftnn. 
 
 The Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration. By Earl Grey. 
 London, 1853. 
 
 Five Lectures on the Emigration of the Dutch Farmers from the Colony of the Cape 
 of Good Hope, and their Settlement in the District of Natal, until their formal submis- 
 sion to Her Majesty\s authority, in the yeir 1843. Delivered to the Natal 
 Society at Pietermaritzburg, by the Honorable Henry Cloete, L.L.D., Re- 
 corder of the District. Cape Town, 1856. These lectures have been used by 
 me as a basis for the history of the insurrection of the frontier farmers in 1815 and 
 of the migrations of the farmers in 1836 and following years. An acquaintance with 
 near relatives of some of those who took a leading part in these events has enabled 
 me to acquire additional information, and thus to enlarge upon Judge Cloete's 
 account. 
 
 Southern Af rica : a Geography and Natural History of the Country, Colonies, and 
 Inhabitants, from the Cape of Good Hope to Angola; together with notices of their 
 origins, manners, habits, customs, traditions, superstition, religious usages, languages^ 
 past and present conditions, manufactures, loeapons, Sfc, Sfc.^ Sfc. By the Rev. 
 Francis Fleming. London, 1856. This be ok is very pleasantly written, but does 
 not fully realize the expectations formed on reading the title. 
 
 Correspondence of Lieut.- Gen. the Hon. Sir George Cathcart, K. C. B, relative to 
 his military operations in Ka.ff'raria until the termination of the Kaffir roar, and to his 
 measures for the future maintenance of peace on that frontier, and the protection and 
 welfare of the people of South Africa. London, 1856. A standard Avork. 
 
 Three Lectures on the Cape of Good Hope under the government of the Dutch Fast 
 India Company. Delivered at the Cape Town Mechanics' Institute, by E. B. 
 Watermeyer (late judge of the supreme court). Cape Town, 1857. A most 
 admirable outline history of the colony from 1652 to 1795. 
 
20S 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Caff res and Caff're Missions ; with preliminari/ chapters on the Cape Colony as a 
 field for emigration and basis of missionary operation. By the Eev. H. Calderwood. 
 London, 1858. A considerable au::ount of trustworthy information is contained in 
 this work. 
 
 The Story of mi/ Mission in South-e%stern Africa: comprising some account of the 
 European Colonists : ivith notices of the Kaffir and other Native Tribes. By the 
 Rev. William Shaw, late Wesleyan G-eneral Superintendent in that country. 
 London, 18B0. This book contains a great amount of descriptive and historical 
 information. 
 
 The Okavango River : A Narrative of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure. Bv 
 Charles John Andersson. London, 1861. The portion of South Africa explored 
 by Mr. Andersson is beyond the limits of that treated of in this book. But three 
 chapters are devoted to a description of the south-western coast, which is not with- 
 out considerable value. The concluding chapter contains a description of the Island 
 of Ichaboe and the discovery of guano there, upon which I have based the account 
 given in this book. The quantity of guano exported to England is taken from the 
 Trade Returns given in McCtjlloch's Commercial Dictionary, and the Avhole 
 account has been otherwise verified. 
 
 The Basutos ; or twenty-three years in South Africa. By the Rev. E. Casalts, 
 late Missionary, Director of the Paris Evangelical Mission-house. London, 1861. 
 A very complete account of that nation. 
 
 A Popular Account of Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa. By 
 the Rev. Dr. Livingstone. London, 1861. A very excellent book. 
 
 The Past and Fvture of the Kaffir Races. By the Rev. William C. Holden. 
 London, 1866. An interesting and valuable book. In the first edition of this history 
 the author drew largely upon Mr. Holden for information concerning the Zulus. A 
 paper by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Secretary of Native Affairs in Natal, read at 
 a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute in London, has since supplied otlier 
 reliable information. But nearly the whole of the history of the Kaffirs given in this 
 book has been derived directly from native sources, compared, whenever possible, 
 ■with previously existing publications. 
 
 Travels in the Interior of South Africa, comprising fifteen years Hunting and 
 Trading ; with journeys across the Continent from Natal to Walvisch Ray, and 
 Visits to Lake Ngami and the Victoria Falls. By James Chapman, F.R.Gr.S. In 
 two volumes. London, 1868. This book contains a large amount of geographical 
 and general information. 
 
 The Cape of Good Hope Almanac and Annual Register. Compiled from the most 
 •authentic sources by B. J. tan de Sandt de Yilliers. Each volume of this book con- 
 tained an epitome of remarkable occurreiices of the previous year, which, together with 
 a vast amount of other information, made it particularly valuable. The publication is 
 still continued by Messrs. Saul Solomon & Co., of Cape Town, but the title has 
 been changed to The General Directory and Guide Rook to the Cape of Good Hope 
 and its Dependencies. 
 
 Notes on Natal: an Old Colonists Rook for Neio Settlers. By John Robinson, 
 F.R.G.S., (of the Natal Mercury). Durban, 1872. 
 
 The Natal Almanac, Directory, and Yearly Register. Edited by Mr. P. Davis, 
 Maritzburg, and published yeai-ly since 1863. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 HIGHSMITH #45230 
 
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