South Africa: a sketch book of men, manners, and facts. With an appendix upon the present situation in South Africa, etc

Front matter

SOUTH AFRICA: A SKETCH BOOK OF MEN, MANNERS AND FACTS " Be through my lips to unawakened earth The trumpet of a prophecy ! " SOUTH AFBICA; A SKETCH BOOK OF 0_>cn, jQQanncrs ant) JKacis. JAMES STANLEY LITTLE. Author of ' ' What is Art .' " ,* "My Royal Father " ; "The United States of Britain," etc., etc " Not oo word spak he more than was needc." — Chaucer. IrfroiiD iPDttion in ©lie Folunir, WITH A NEW

Preface

. LONDON : SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, L0WREY & CO., PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 1887. Ca/e Town : j. c. juta ; darter brothers & walton ; King William's Town: hav brothers; Port Elizabeth; IMPEY, walton & CO. contents. CHAPTER PACE I. — The Dutch versus the English, ..... I II. — Colonial Cliquism, . . . . . . . . n III. — Colonists at Play, ........ 20 IV. — Colonial Thorns, 25 V. — Colonial Religion, ........ 35 VI. — Blots on a Fair Escutcheon, 42 VII. — Colonial Virtues and Graces, ...... 55 VIII. — Idiosyncratic South Africa 63 IX. — Cape Industries— Generally, 83 X. — Sheep Farming and Artificial Ostrich Rearing, . , 88 XI. — Wine Growing, ........ 94 XII. — Still apropos Cape Wine. Post-Frandial Anecdotes, . 102 XIII. — The Constantia Vineyards, ...... 107 XIV. — Cape Wheat anil other Cereals, . . . . .112 XV. — Malmesbury, 117 XVI.— The Garden of South Africa.

Prolific Natal, . . . 122 XVII.— Natal Sugar 129 XVIII.— The Bowels of South Africa 136 XIX. — Adamantia, ......... 142 XX. — Marine Treasures, ........ 150 XXI. — Colonial Wealth. Profitable Undertakings and Speculations, 157 XXII.— Cape Provisions 167 XXIII. — Curious Plants and Flowers, 171 XXIV— Capital and Labour 174 XXV. — Immigration Generally 185 XXVI. — The Gentleman Immigrant, 191 XXVII.— Reckless Immigration, 197 XXVIII.— The Land and its Masters 204 XXIX.— The Colonisation of Africa, 216 XXX.— Colonial Towns. Cape Town 225 XXXI.— Port Elizabeth, CONTENTS. VIII CHAPTER PAGE XXXII.— Durban, 234 XXXIII.— Durban to Maritzburg, 239 XXXIV.— Maritzburg, 247 XXXV. — Life in the Colonies and in England Compared, . . 253 XXXVI. — Natural Features of South Africa. The Climate. Its Relation to Health and Disease.

Fevers. Delagoa Bay, 260 XXXVII.— Robben Island. The Lepers, 270 XXXVIII. — Mountains, Rivers, Bridges, and Bars, .... 276 XXXIX. — Water Supply. Denudation of Forests. Artificial Irrigation 282 XL. — South African Railways, 290 XLI. — Anecdotal Locomotion, 29S XLII. — Cape Steamers, ........ 304 XLIII.— The Voyage to the Cape 311 XLIV.— The Voyage from the Cape, 318 XLV.— Madeira, 327 XLVI.— Cape Politics, 332 XLVII. — Confederation 339 XLVIII. — Imperial Federation and Colonial Neutrality, . . . 351 XLIX. — Imperial Federation in its relation to Party Politics, . 361 L. — The Future of Africa, ....... 374 LI. — Sport in South Africa, 379 LII. — A Shooting Jaunt in Natal 387 LIII. — The Natives of South Africa. The Malays, . . . 400 LIV. — The Imported Labour of Natal. The Coolies, . . 409 LV. — The Kaffirs of Natal.

Polygamy, .... 413 LVI. — The Missionaries, ........ 426 LVII. — Native Difficulties and Perplexities, .... 433 LVIII. — Kaffir Habits and Costumes, ...... 440 LIX. — Kaffir Superstitions, Eccentricities, and Dialect, . . 448 44S LX. — Other Native Races, 454 Appendix, 461 Index 4S9

PREFACE.

. I CANNOT conceal from myself that in undertaking to write a book, however modest in character, upon South Africa, I have addressed myself to a by no means light or inconsiderable task. Not only does almost every topic treated of in these pages offer an open battle-field for con troversy, but, moreover, the fiercest conflicts — in which the slain can be counted by thousands and tens of thousands — have already been waged upon these very fields ; although but few of the contentions involved have as yet been de cided so decisively as to make it possible for any particular faction to claim the victory. I have, therefore, abstained, whenever my duty would allow me to do so, from pro nouncing arbitrary or conclusive opinions upon the vexed questions — social and political — with which I have been called upon to deal.

My object, if didactic at all, is only so in that I hope to throw a little light upon the difficult problems connected with these — by no means least important — dependencies of our great Empire. Upon these matters, albeit South Africa has occupied a very prominent place in the minds of Englishmen for some years past, our countrymen are singularly uninformed ; and such information as they have gleaned during the enactment of recent events, is, to say the least of it,

PREFACE.

. X a little mixed. I am ambitious of lifting aside the veil, which somehow or other enshrouds South Africa and its affairs, and in a chatty and readable manner I hope to have written a book which will not only instruct, but amuse. "That young man has no ordinary share of vanity," I can fancy I hear the gentle reader exclaim. Without pleading guilty to the soft impeachment, I will, in the manner of all persons who attempt to exculpate themselves, further criminate myself by giving the grounds for the faith which is in me. First, then, let me observe that I claim for my little work a right to be considered unique, in a certain sense, in its method of treatment of South African contemporary his tory. The idea popularly obtains in England, that South Africa is a place for missionaries, troublesome niggers, big mountains, big fights, and adventures in sport and in travel, and for these things alone.

This impression has its origin in the fact, that nearly all visitors to the colonies who have subsequently written upon their ■ experiences, have dwelt upon the foregoing matters, with all the adventitious colouring they could call to their aid, to the exclusion of the quieter and more everyday aspect of life, which most nar rowly affects the future progress, and present well-being of the colonists themselves. Whenever an exception to this rule has cropped up, as it did, perhaps, in a certain measure, in the case of Anthony Trollope, and in that of Anthony Froude, and possibly in a few other instances, the work has been attributable to a distinct motif ; and a suspicion of partisanship has marred the utility of the book. Moreover, I have as yet to learn that any writer has considered it to be worth while to go down into the bye-ways and hedges

PREFACE.

. XI of colonial life and experience, and by beginning on the lowly rounds of the ladder, endeavour to get a peep into every cranny, nook, and corner of the inner life of our fellow-subjects in the Cape dominions, by taking a good look into every window as he ascends to the house-top. This preparatory initiation should surely serve to help to explain much that a more complete survey from a higher altitude might be expected to unfold. It is some time since I left South Africa. On my return, I delivered in different parts of London several lectures upon what I had seen and heard there. Since those days, I have had time to reconsider many crude and immature opinions then propounded. The substance of a few of the earlier pages of this work has already appeared in the columns of a journal devoted to the interests of sociology.

Chapters 13, 24, 28, 29, 39, and 56 have also in a certain, though very limited, measure seen the light before, as leading articles or letters in the Natal Mercury, the Cape Times, and the Colonies and India. The various articles which have appeared in this country from my pen, have met, on the whole, with so flattering a reception from the colonial press, no less than from the organs of South Africa, issued in this country, that I have been encouraged to publish my thoughts in a more comprehensive, substantial, and permanent form ; the leading journal of South Africa, the Cape Argus, having expressed itself in terms which quite put the seal upon my resolve. I cannot but feel, however, that in writing a brief resume of the various phases of life and manners which came under my notice during my sojourn in "Afric's sunny

PREFACE.

. XII climes," that I labour under considerable disadvantages. The public palate has been sadly pandered to, with refer ence to Africa, and I fear it may refuse to be satisfied with anything tame or common-place about the great continent. A halo of romance, more or less justified by facts, always hangs around a new and comparatively unknown country. Africa has supplied a theme to countless writers, travellers, and others ; and the very incompleteness of the ascertained data concerning it, has left ample room for the exercise of a taste for poetical effusions and superlative imaginations. Much that has been written by gifted writers has evolved from their inner consciousness. I have no wish to point to any particular transgressor of the kind foreshadowed. Many of my readers will be able, mentally, to supply this omission for themselves.

In competing for popular favour with such as these, I am, in this day of sensationalism, decidedly handicapped. It would be easier for me to follow in the footsteps of some of my predecessors, and to allow my imagination to run riot. I might also dress in new clothes, and spice with fresh condiments, the experiences of others. Thus a book full of interesting and exciting situations might be produced. I do not fear, and I am quite willing to endure, the conse quences of this abstention. In eschewing the devious paths open to me, I ask my readers to believe, that all I have attempted to achieve, and all I desire to achieve, is to make as clear and attractive as possible, certain important facts and details connected with the general conditions of the colonies. In doing this, I have adhered strictly to my actual experience. When I have drawn upon that of others, I have, by statement or implication, acknowledged that I have done so. I have indulged in no apocryphal

PREFACE.

. XIII revelations. Should my more ambitious objects to instruct and amuse fail, I shall still hope, at least, that many readers, who may pick up this book to while away an idle hour, may be led to give a little anxious thought to pro blems and questions affecting the future of South Africa. We have great and urgent interests and duties in connection with our dependencies in that part of the world. If I can do something in this direction, and better still, if, in addition, I can remove certain popular prejudices and mistakes which act in a detrimental manner to South Africa ; and if I can throw the strong clear light of truth upon matters which have, as yet, been but fitfully and erratically illumined by rays from that holy lamp, I shall rest well content. I have avoided technicalities and statistics.

I have endeavoured to render clear that which was confused and obscure. I have preferred to make that attempt in a popular and attractive, rather than in a scientific or academic manner. Thus it will be seen that I distinctly disavow any claim to special or expert know ledge, and where I may have been able to treat subjects from a technical point of view, I have purposely abstained from so doing. Such information can be culled from the handbooks and guides to South Africa, of which there are several excellent volumes before the public. Whenever a book, or a series of articles, appears in Eng land upon South Africa, there is pretty sure to be an outcry from the colonial organs and public, that what has been written is over-coloured, garbled, and distorted. I cannot deny that I think too often the blame has been well deserved.

The greatest authors, after " a scamper through the country," found their works were reviewed in this spirit, and, of course, unknown I do not expect to escape. But,

PREFACE.

. XIV nevertheless, I must observe that there is too great a disposition on the part of colonists to kick, if even a little truth is told concerning them and their habits. There are many black sides to South African life, and the unimpas sioned critic is bound to present to view the reverse, as well as the fair side of African colonial society. I have wished to strike a fair balance. May I urge, on my own behalf, that, as I went to Africa, not as a great writer, but as a private individual, it was not worth the trouble on the part of any clique to seize upon me, that they might impress me with their views and notions, in order that I might reflect them at home ? Circumstances, and my own inclination, gave me opportunities of seeing, as much as the time at my disposal made possible, of almost every section of South African society.

From a mass of fleeting impressions my more lasting sentiments and opinions have evolved, which I offer to the world for what they are worth, only regretting that the actual performance should fall so far short of my ideals and aspirations. My manifesto would be incomplete, however, were I to omit to acknowledge my indebtedness to my worthy cousin, Wm. Hardyman Unwin Colyer, Esq., of Sea Point, near Cape Town. He has spent thirty years in South Africa, in the course of which time he has visited every part of the colonies, and many of the circumambient territories and states. He has, moreover, had ample opportunity to study every important colonial centre, for he has pitched his tent in each, from time to time. He has been near at hand during the writing of this book, and I have found his assistance most useful in helping my memory where it

PREFACE.

. XV required refreshing, and in supplementing important facts here and there. In conclusion, I may say that I cannot hope to have escaped giving offence to many friends by my opinions and plain speaking. I would that it were possible to avoid this unhappy result ; but such must ever be the lot of all who feel strongly impelled to speak what to their minds appears to be the truth. I expect attack from friends and foes, _nd I stand ready for the onslaught. J. S. L. 201 Piccadilly, W.

PREFACE.

TO SECOND EDITION. SOUTH AFRICA is like Ireland, and like the poor; it is always with us. In that unhappy land, event has followed event with kaleidoscopic rapidity, and to speak of these events here would mean to re-write my book. Let me briefly state then, what are the issues before us in the determination of the destiny of our South African dominions. Are we to frankly accept our responsibilities there, or are we to reject them ? Tardily, in Bechuanaland, and now in Zululand, we have adopted, in a half-hearted way, the former course. But there is no whole-mindedness, no thoroughness, no method — we still hesitate. Having put our hand to the plough, are we going to turn back? K we do, this will result: — The British and philo-British colonists of South Africa, finding themselves first maligned and then deserted by their Government, and discovering themselves shut off from the North — their land of promise — by a Boer cordon, will make common cause with the malcontented Dutch all over South Africa.

This marriage will eventuate in a Boer-Africander Republic — the United States of South Africa. The days of this Republic, if established, would be short indeed. So soon as the English, and progressive elements in its constitution, had sated of their dearly-bought revenge upon England, they would face toward the Dutch ; and internecine strife would devastate South Africa. Then wily Germany, having established herself at a safe and convenient distance, will be in a position to emulate the astute fox of the sable. She will pounce upon the booty. Thus will Germany possess herself of what she has so long desired — a ready made Colonial Empire. England, that has not shrunk from countless sacrifices in order to found a dominion which might prove the basis of a magnificent Anglo-African Empire, where her pent-up starving millions might have room and breathing space for further develop ment; will thus witness the first act in that drama of imperial dismemberment, for which the way has been prepared by her rulers with sedulous and unremitting assiduity.

Before the next century dawns all will be settled. England will have succeeded in forming the grandest and noblest United Empire the world has ever seen, or she will have sunk like Lucifer, never to rise again. Unless we let our sons in Austral asia, Africa, and Canada, speak and be heard with authority on matters which go to decide their destiny ; they will be for ever silent. That our children in the Colonies should speak for themselves is an absolute necessity, else England will sink into permanent insignificance and imbecility, which position she seems meanwhile to be willing to occupy ; for she tolerates rulers of both parties who have achieved successes unparalleled in our annals, in the way of making her an object of contempt and ridicule to her enemies, and of well nigh hopeless and heart-broken pity to her friends.

I cannot better express my feelings regarding South African policy, than by quoting those scriptural words, once quoted with such signal effect by my friend, Mr. Whistler. " Therefore is judgment far from us. We grope for the wall, like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes ; we stumble at noonday as in the night. We roar all like bears." JAS. STANLEY LITTLE. Royal Colonial Institute, Northumberland Avenue. I

Chapter I. The Dutch Versus The English

" A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES." " Two households both alike in dignity, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny." — Romeo and luliet. In order to present to my readers a clear view of the existing state of society in South Africa, it will be necessary to say something about the component parts of that society. In a country where political warfare has its root far more in the antipathies of races than in the clash of classes, politics become inextricably interwoven with social problems. It is no part of my present purpose to enumerate the various aboriginal races which either now, or in the past have peopled South Africa. Some are practically extinct, as the Bushmen ; others are becoming so, as the Hottentots ; while others, as the Zulus, show, as yet, no signs of decadence. But these races, in the aggregate, form a very important factor in the social economy of Europeanized Africa.

I allude especially to their utilization as servants and labourers. In Natal, if we leave out of the question the recently imported St. Helena women and Indian coolies, the manual work of the community is almost entirely performed by Kaffirs. On the Diamond Fields, and in the Dutch Republics, similar offices fall to the lot of the Zulus and other tribes. The domestic requirements of the older colony (Cape Colony) are met by Basutos, Fingoes, and allied — Kaffir — races; whilst in the neighbourhood of Cape Town itself, to the Mahomedan Malays, who are descended from the Sumatran slaves whom the Dutch brought into the country, we must add the mongrel residuum of the Hottentots, a residuum more or less tinctured by white blood, who are both employed in similar capacities. It is no part of my present purpose to deal with these — as I have said — by no means unimportant elements of African society.

I mention them here in order to give force to my subsequent remarks regarding the social and political jealousies of the two leading races of European descent, who divide between them the control of the southern portion of the African continent. These jealousies tinge the social life of Africa throughout; their existence constitutes one of the most difficult problems with which the Colonial Office here, and our Governors and the respective Local Ministries there, have to deal. The stranger finds the greatest enigmas which he is called upon to solve in studying the peculiarities of South African life, have their root in this divided feeling in the community. The feud between the western and eastern provinces is in some measure due to this cause, and so in a far greater degree have been our recent troubles in the Transvaal.

The existence of large masses of aborigines has had much to do with the creation and perpetuation of this animus. In the old days the Dutch came to look upon the natives as their exclusive property ; and the feeling of superiority which the possession, and almost absolute control, of a number of men of an inferior race gave them, made it most difficult for them to brook English interference and assumption. Englishmen coming into South Africa, finding that the Dutch despised manual labour, were not loath to take their cue therefrom, and they made use of the natives to the fullest extent of their power. Thus Dutchmen found Englishmen, who in this country would be glad of any chance work to turn a shilling, not only assuming perfect equality with themselves on the grounds that they, too, were above labour, and moreover that they belonged to the ruling race ; but in time, backed by a paternal Government at home, arrogating to them selves the right to dictate as to the manner in which those natives —whom the Dutch had for generations regarded as their own peculiar property — should be treated.

Thus the feud began and thus it has been continued, and in this chapter I shall endeavour to trace its progress and development. The Cape of Good Hope was discovered by the Portuguese WHAT IS ONE BLUNDER AMONG SO MANY! 3 some four centuries since, but they made no serious attempt to colonize the very small portion of modern European South Africa of which they took possession ; and when they ceded their terri tories to the Dutch, in the middle of the 17th century, they with drew entirely from the country. From that time until the beginning of this century — when Holland made over the whole of her South African dominions to England — the Dutch were the dominant race in South Africa; for the French refugees, who had been driven from France by religious persecution, soon lost their indi viduality, and their names remained the only index to their origin.

As might naturally be supposed, the descendants of the initial settlers viewed with no favourable eye the many innovations which their new masters were not slow to introduce ; and their determination to enforce the observance of more humane ideas regarding the treatment of subject races was especially distasteful to them. This feeling reached a climax when the abolition of slavery brought ruin to many of the most prosperous sheep-farmers and cultivators of the vine. It is a well-known fact that in many cases such was the result, despite the enormous sum of money which England voted to the slave-holders by way of compensation. The meagre information possessed at home, regarding the value and necessity of native labour to the Dutch, and, moreover, of the great difficulties which they experienced in procuring any kind of labour of a non-compulsory character, rendered the sums granted — large as they were — totally inadequate in themselves to meet the case ; but the absurd stipulation that no compensation money could be paid unless applied for personally in London, meant, in numerous instances, the total loss of the money.

It was swallowed up in legal and travelling expenses. The unfortunate circumstances which followed so closely upon the bungling of the home Govern ment did much to force a feeling of irritation into a much stronger sentiment. I allude to the public hanging of several Dutchmen for what was called high treason. The "taking off" of a native, had, in the old time, been too often looked upon by the constituted authorities, as too trivial a matter to call for investigation, much less for punishment ; and under certain conditions of sufficient provocation it was regarded as being a most proper, nay, laudable action. The English Go vernment very soon set about changing all this. A number of Boers becoming exasperated at the punishments which were in flicted upon them for ill-treating Hottentots, in one way or the other ; broke out into open rebellion, and the authorities singled out five ringleaders — members of the best Dutch houses — for pro secution, conviction, and death, according them but a very im perfect, and, I must add, unfair and one-sided trial.

No wonder, then, that the hatred of the old settlers to the new regime reached fever pitch ; especially when we take the fact into consideration that the whole weight of the most influential families at the Cape, and, in short, of the entirely Dutch community, was thrown into the scale to prevent the sentence of death being carried out. Smarting under this and subsequent interference with their liberty, and with their deeply rooted ideas regarding the natives, all of which intermeddling appeared to them to be intolerable wrong, they determined to migrate across the Vaal River. Thus it was, that the Dutch Republics were founded. Since this time, Englishmen have done very little to soften old asperities. The first offences were national — they were com mitted by the Government of the day ; the more recent offences have come from the colonists themselves.

It must be remembered, in this connexion, that the original Dutch settlers, and the French refugees, with whom they amalgamated, were scions of the best blood of Holland and France. They did not bring with them, in any marked degree, their servants or their underlings ; as they found native labour, or the imported labour of which I have already spoken, amply sufficient to supply their requirements. Now, on the contrary, the vast majority of the immigrants with which England has favoured South Africa have been persons of a very low social status. I am speaking of the mass ; of course there have been many notable exceptions. I am sorry to say that the bearing of Englishmen, and especially of Londoners, in South Africa, towards the older settlers of Euro pean race, is not calculated to redound to our credit either as gentlemen or as men.

I can personally testify to the fact that there is a peculiar self-assertiveness and assumption about nine SOUND AND FURY. 5 out of every ten British colonists, which is absolutely disgusting. Wherever you go — to hotel, store, theatre, or church — the same thing prevails. I will exemplify what I mean by quoting a few of the remarks one so often hears, as specimens of the kind of swagger to which our countrymen descend whenever a dispute may arise between them and colonials of Dutch extraction. " Oh ! you are but a miserable Africander." "Who cares for a nigger like you ? " "What else can we expect in this infernal country?" "At home we do, or have, this, that, or the other; but in this hole we have to put up with so and so, or so and so." Can this be palatable to men, proud of their descent, and proud of the land of their birth, of their country, in fact? for in what other light can we regard it, seeing that the colony has ceased to be a Batavian dependency for nearly a hundred years, and the colonists of Dutch extraction no longer look upon Holland as their Father land ?

These proud men feel such slights deeply, and are not slow to resent them. It is true that they come in the main from men who make an assumption of their importance over there, in direct ratio to their insignificance here ; and whose boisterous assertions of what they used to do or be at home, with a marked comparison to the disparagement of what they have to put up with yonder, are mere sound and fury, signifying nothing ; for on examination it is often discovered that the highest mental or social enjoyments which these bombasts can lay any fair claim to having left behind them, are the music-hall, the pit of a theatre, the pub lic billiard-room, the suburban racecourse, or the assembly-rooms dance. It will be said that better men ought to be above caring about the sneers and odious comparisons of such upstarts ; but it should not be forgotten that this questionable element is so strongly represented all over Africa, and that so many of the most impor tant men in the place have sprung from this class, and consequently force their way into society, and even have the audacity to obtrude their jibes upon a mixed company where the Africander feeling may be strongly represented, before the irritation and constant friction resulting from such conduct can be understood.

The flotsam and jetsam of our great cities which becomes a peripatetic element in the colonies, is, it is true, the chief sinner in this matter, but I may add that it is a regrettable fact that cadets of so many good English families, and especially men belonging to the military caste, (I allude here more particularly to retired or cashiered officers), of whom no inconsiderable proportion have left their country for their country's good, are not behindhand in adopting a similar attitude. Many a long-stringed adjectival and adverbial sentence interlarded with the strongest expletives have I heard hissed forth from lips parched by alcoholic rather than climatic heat ; lips owned by men who, as far as birth goes, had few superiors. It will be readily understood how difficult it is for human nature to endure all this.