The Story of the Expansion of Southern Africa

Front matter

THE STORY OF THE EXPANSION OF SOUTHERN AFRICA a London, T. ueorge PhiKp &■ Son.LcuioniLiverp jt Hsher Unwin THE STORY OF THE Expansion of Southern Africa BY| THE HON. A. WILMOT Member of the Legislative Council of the Cape Colony 3Lonoon T. FISHER UNWIN Paternoster Square mdcccxciv P R E F A C E The history of South Africa is full of adventure and romance. Something new of great interest has been constantly discovered, until this portion of the world stands before us as a land of diamonds and of gold, where the oldest auriferous workings of the world have become the newest 'diggings.' The nature, character and conduct of its native races are well worth study, while a narrative of the events during the Dutch rule of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries unfolds interesting details. From the romance of the Portuguese contemporaries of Columbus, Preface VI who first doubled the Cape of Storms, to the romance of the daring pioneers of the British Chartered Company, who conquered an empire, there have been events as vari able, as remarkable, and as well worthy of study, as those which have occurred in almost any other country of the world.

It is a mistake to look upon South African history as full of the details of colonial life which are only interesting to colonists. The con trary is the case. An attempt is now made to tell, in a brief but readable form, the story of the expansion of a country in which one of the greatest and richest empires of the southern seas is now in course of being built up. It is impossible to study thoroughly recent events in one part of South Africa, or developments in any portion of the con gerie of states and colonies into which its vast territories are divided, without under standing the subject of its history from the earliest times. There are links which bind Preface VII in one chain all the periods of the narrative. South Africa should never be studied piece meal when we are considering its past history or its future career ; and it is hoped that this work, by one who has lived in the country of which he writes — when many events to which he refers were occurring — may be acceptable as a contribution to a study which should now engage the attention of every citizen of the Empire who desires to appreciate its opportunities and understand its position. CONTENTS Introductory Note, page xiii

Chapter I

Chapter II

Early Portuguese Discovery — Diaz and Da Gama — Dutch and English visit the Cape— The Dutch East India Company forms a Settlement — Van Riebeek the First ' Commander,' - - 18

Chapter III

Events under Dutch East India Company Rule — The History of a Narrow Monopoly — Arrival of Huguenot Emigrants — The Rule of the Van der Stells — Shipwrecks — Capture of French Ships in Table Bay— War with the Hottentots and Bushmen, - 36

Chapter IV

The Baron Von Plettenberg — Local Discontent — Naval Engagement between English and French Fleets — The Heroism of Waltemade — The Loss of the Grosvenor — -Expansion of the Colony — Establishment of New Divisions— State of the Colony — Arrival of Commissioners of Inquiry — War between the French Republic and the Netherlands— The Prince of Orange requests the Colony to submit to Great Britain — Arrival of the British Fleet — Miserable and Discontented State of the People — Surrender of the Colony to the British Crown, - Contents X

Chapter V

The New Government under Great Britain — Discontent and Rebellion — Missionary Enterprise — Kafir War — The Cape of Good Hope reverts to the Batavian Republic under the Treaty of Amiens- New Government incomparably better than that of a Dutch East India Company — Cape re-captured by Sir David Baird — The Battle of Blaauwberg — Rule of the British Government — The Earl of Caledon — Hottentot Missionary Difficulties — Another Kafir War — Murder of Landrost Stockenstroom, - page 80

Chapter VI

Sir John Cradock — Kafir War and Battle of Grahamstown — The Rebellion and Trial of Bezuidenhout — Grievances of Dutch Colonists—The Settlers of 1820— The Poet Pringle and Liberty of the Press — Inflated Currency and Government Expenditure — Colonel Smith — Another Kafir War — Death of Hintza — Slave Emancipation — Sir George Napier — The War of the Axe — The Emigrant Boers — Christmas Day, 1850 — Another Kafir War — Sir George Cathcart — Expansion of the Colony — Representative Institutions, 103

Chapter VII

Brief Sketch of Natal History— The Voortrekkers— The Zulus— The Orange River Sovereignty, - - - - - - - 125

Chapter VIII

Sir George Grey— The Kafirs checkmated — Sir Philip Wodehouse — Discovery of Diamonds — The South African Republic — President Burgers— Sir Bartle Frere — Kafir War — Difficulties with Cetywayo — The Zulu War — Isandhlwana — Rorke's Drift — Ulundi — Blunders — Annexation of the Transvaal— War with the Boers — Sir George Colley and Majuba Hill — The Land of Goshen— Expansion, --.... \^ Contents XI

Chapter IX

Natal again — Representative Institutions, Populations, etc. — The Orange Free State — Brief Sketch of History — Griqualand West as a Separate Crown Colony — Incorporation with the Cape Colony — Cape Events — Germany in Damaraland — The Matabele Nation — Chaka and Lo Bengula, ----- page 169

Chapter X

The Key to Native Politics — Religion — Lo Bengula — The Great Northern Gold Fields — Zimbabye — Monomotapa and Ancient Gold Diggings — The Chartered Company's Pioneers' March — Mashonaland — Difficulties with the Portuguese, - - 190

Chapter XI

Gazaland — Progress of Events in Mashonaland — Nature and Character of the Country — The Matabele persecute and hunt down the Mashonas — Chartered Company Interferes — War with Lo Bengula — Defeat of the Zulu Forces — Death of the King — Conclusion, ---.--.-. 208

Appendix

A. Charter of the British South Africa Company — Order in Council, 239

APPENDIX.

B. An Agreement between Her Majesty's Government and the British South Africa Company relative to Matabeleland and Mashonaland, dated 23d May 1894 — Despatch from the Marquis of Ripon, - - A very brief description or bird's-eye view of the country whose history is essayed seems desirable, the more so as much more attention has been generally paid in England to the study of the geography of ancient Greece and Rome than to that of colonies which are the principal props of British commerce, as well as new fields for the energies of a redundant population. South Africa extends from Cape Agulhas to the Zambesi, and British Central Africa, under the sway of the British Africa Com pany, extends far northward even of that river to the neighbourhood of the Great Lakes. This territory far exceeds that of any empire or kingdom.

Indeed, the country from the Cape to the Zambesi alone embraces an approximate area of one and a quarter million square miles, and thus is larger than British India, but the '3 total population certainly does not exceed 6,000,000, and out of these only 670,000 are of European extraction. The Cape Colony is the most southern and most populous portion, and to the northward of it are the Orange Free State, the South African (Transvaal) Republic, Natal, Zululand, Basutoland, British Bechuanaland, the Protectorate of Bechuanaland, Pondoland (now annexed to the Cape Colony), Swaziland, almost on the point of being swallowed up by the South African Republic ; and then there are the native states of Amatongoland, Matabeleland, and Ngamiland. The Portuguese possessions on the east coast stretch from Delagoa Bay to Mozambique, and on the west coast, north of the Orange River, are the territories of Great Namaqualand and Damaraland, part of which is under a German Protectorate.

Above all, are the great territories administered by the British Africa Company north and south of the Zambesi. The latter, including Mashona land and a portion of Matabeleland, styled ' Rhodesia.' One of the most beautiful and attractive parts of South Africa is the first to greet the eyes of the traveller who lands in Capetown, under the shadow of Table Mountain. He finds the metropolis of the colony like a homely picture in a magnificent gilt frame. The charming suburbs can be seen by a drive of twenty miles over the Victoria Road, round a large portion of the peninsula, along slopes washed by the ocean and overhung by mountains, through fertile valleys, smiling vineyards and woody gorges, until, passing through miles of forest, gardens and villas, the old Dutch castle is reached, and we are once more again in a town, founded so far back as 1652, which now comprises 50,000 people, 12,000 of whom are Malays.

Going inland by rail, we soon reach the wine districts par excellence of the Cape Colony. Stellenbosch, with its Dutch theologi cal seminary, is embowered in trees. The wine stores, factories and houses of Paarl stretch for several miles through beautiful cultivated country, filled with orange and lemon groves, peach gardens and vineyards, variegated with rows of oak, pine and other trees. Behind a neighbouring mountain range is the Tulbagh and Worcester valley, where the rock scenery is grand, and many fruitful valleys repay the cultivator. If the railway be left at Ceres Road, and the traveller proceed through Mitchell's Pass, he finds a favourite health resort, Ceres, which is 2000 feet above sea level. Ascending still further, the heights of the Cold Bokkeveld are reached, where the mountains attain their highest point (6840 feet) in the lofty Winterhoek peak.

On one side the streams flow to the Oliphants River, which empties itself into the Atlantic, and on the other side flows the Breede River, which flows into the Indian Ocean, after winding through the districts of Worcester, Robertson and Swellendam. The great chain of the Hex River mountains, continued under other names from west to east, divides the country into two different spheres of character, temperature, and pro ductions. On the coast side are extensive divisions, containing groups of productive, well-watered valleys, raising a prolific yield of grain, wine, brandy, dried fruits and tobacco. Away above, on the plateau of the Karoo, there is the great silence of immense plains, bounded by low hills, on which, at far in tervals, farmhouses are found. As in India, so in South Africa, the mountains dominate the land, and there are immense subterranean treasures of water.

The rivers which occasion ally pass 'through these plains are merely drains, but their waters can be retained by irrigation works. The soil is most fertile, and could be made to produce grain for all South Africa. The fruits, where there is water, are of the best quality, and it is not too much to say that the Karoo will yet become one of the greatest treasures of the Cape Colony. Many persons are singularly attracted by the dry, pure, health-giving air of this plateau, which, indeed, may be called great, as it extends west to east from Calvinia to Middel burg, and south to north from the Zwartbergen to the Orange River, thus embracing an area which considerably exceeds 100,000 square miles. The best sheep walks in South Africa are here, and it is probable that the finest agricultural farms may yet exist, when the science of irrigation is practically applied to elicit the generosity of Nature.

There are great rivers in South Africa, but none of them are navigable. The Orange carries at times a volume of water estimated at 50,000 tons a minute, but frequently dwindles into a fordable stream, although it rises in the Drakensbergen, drains, with its tributaries, more than 300,000 square miles, and flows for 1000 miles from east to west, until it falls into the Atlantic Ocean. A glance at a map will b show that the southern portion of the continent is too poor to do without railways. They are an absolute necessity because of the want of means of water transit, and the mining centres have enabled lines to extend from the ports to Johannesburg in the Transvaal. In the west, we find a well-pastured country in the greater part of Damaraland, where there are vast herds of native cattle, but Namaqualand is a land of desolation, relieved by the richest copper mines in the world. ' The Kalihari Desert ' is somewhat of a misnomer, as in it are found many farmers who find both water and good pasturage for their flocks, but por tions of it are desert seas, with waves and billows of sand.

The eastern portion of South Africa far surpasses the western, as the highest moun tains, the most fertile valleys, the greatest forests, and the best sheep country are here. Forest, mountain and lake scenery combine to make George and Knysna districts most pic turesque and beautiful. The great primeval forests extend thence in an easterly direction to Humansdorp, and in them herds of elephants are still found. An immense extent of bush country is to be found still further east, and in the Addo Jungle, near Port Elizabeth, which extends inland for a distance of sixty miles, with an average breadth 'of twelve miles, not only elephants, but buffaloes and countless herds of wild deer (bucks) make this one of the best hunting areas in South Africa. There are two great features in the eastern province of the Cape Colony, or rather two sections of its territory, styled Karoo and ' Bush ' country.

One is specially suited for sheep, the other for cattle. Through great parts of those districts, this splendid banquet, spread by the hand of Nature, gives, not only to wild animals but to oxen and goats, both abundant supplies and adequate shelter. While, in the deep kloofs, carnivora still lurk, eager for their prey. Great chains of mountains stretch across, and to go up from any of the ports, is to ascend by gradations to levels varying from 3000 to nearly 6000 feet above the sea. After the bushy belt is passed, the Karoo is reached, or in the extreme eastern districts, rolling uplands and grassy basins and hills. Going eastward, we find in the Transkeian territories, vast masses of an uncivilised, almost savage people. Polygamy prevails, and witch craft has not yet been stamped out. This country and Pondoland are filled up with natives, many of whom periodically pour forth XX to take service at public works or with farmers.

The great Drakensberg range of mountains form a north-western wall or boundary both to these countries and to Natal. The territories between them and the coast comprise good agricultural lands and excellent pastoral dis tricts, while the charming scenery and genial climate secure comfort and health to the in habitants. The coast lands of Natal present beautiful scenes, where undulating country with sugar cane and forest are bounded by the sapphire blue of the Indian Ocean. In this lovely semi-tropical country there are abundant supplies of delicious fruit ; sugar is a well established article of export, and now the tea industry is becoming very successful. In the higher country, sheep and cattle farming are carried on advantageously. The crown of South Africa is Basutoland, which contains the highest mountains in this portion of the continent, and therefore is the cradle of great rivers which flow into the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

The country is now densely populated by an industrious agricultural people, whose superabundant grain crops can scarcely obtain adequate markets. To the northward there are the plains of the Orange Free State, where the little Republic, with its Volksraad in Bloemfontein, wisely administers the government of a country comprising an area of 70,000 square miles, with a population of 77,000 whites and 130,000 blacks, and an income of per annum. The railway from the Cape Colony to Johan nesburg passes over its vast plains, and con siderably adds to its revenue. The prairies formerly covered with coarse grasses, over which herds of wild game formerly wandered, are now so altered, that sweeter varieties of pasture provide food for the sheep and oxen of the farmer, while, in the 'conquered territory,' acquired from the Basutos, immense crops of cereals reward the agriculturist.

Crossing the Vaal, we are in the country of the South African Republic, which Mr Gladstone declared should not be retained, 'even were it as rich as it was poor.' It has, turned out that it contains treasures beyond the dreams of avarice, in the shape of the Johannesburg gold mines, from which more than 170,000 ounces of the precious metal are now produced each month. The yield of grold from the Transvaal alone now exceeds .£5,000,000 per annum in value, while the great auriferous regions of Mashonaland and Matabeleland are beginning to rise above the horizon. It is through veritable golden gates that civilisation is entering Southern Africa. The Transvaal Republic comprises an area of 114,000 square miles, at an elevation varying from 4000 to 7000 feet above the sea level, and the greater part of its surface consists of well watered, fertile soils and rich grassy pastur age, while its mineral treasures comprise gold, silver, galena, copper, lead, tin, and excellent mines of coal.

It is, indeed, a country worth fighting for. The white population is only about 80,000, and the coloured people number nearly three-quarters of a million. The government in Pretoria is really more an oligarchy than a republic, as a clique of prejudiced men, while grasping all the pecuniary advantages they can, at the same time refuse the franchise to the taxpayer and freedom to the people. No Catholic nor Jew can hold office in a state which vainly boasts of being free. Transitions must take place, and at last the real independ ence and liberty of the Orange Free State may be attained ; but, if hope be too long deferred, a revolution is possible, and if this take place, the British flag may again wave over the public offices in Pretoria. Johannesburg is a great centre of 50,000 people, to which all railroads from all ports now converge.

It is the centre of attraction, of wealth, and of speculation. The old Kaap fields at Barber ton, with their normal quartz reefs, are again, however, being worked, and the railway to Delagoa Bay, which will connect them with the sea, is in course of completion. Swaziland adjoins, and is a mountainous, pastoral mining country, under the sway of ill-conditioned savages, who protest very loudly against being handed over to the tender mercies of the Transvaal Boer. British Bechuanaland is a very sparsely peopled Crown colony, chiefly consisting of undulating prairies generally devoid of bush, but in exceptional cases dotted over with trees and patches of forest. A magnificent country for cattle ranches. Land varies in price from is. to 4s. id. per acre. The area of this terri tory comprises 60,000 square miles, and the population amounts to 6000 whites and 55,000 coloured people.

The Bechuana Protectorate is an enormous extension. There we behold 386,000 square miles, covering country between the Shashi and Macloutsie, and the important Tati gold fields, where are the excellent Blue Jacket and Monarch reefs. Well-watered and fertile regions, fine pastoral country, and also tracts which embrace the Kalahari Desert, and other regions where it seldom rains. Khama's territory is within it, where Christianity has had the effect of putting an end to polygamy, and to the sale of intoxicants to natives. Already the great trunk line from the Cape Colony has reached Mafeking in British Bechuanaland, and this railway should be extended over 400 miles of easy country to Tati, and thence across an intervening distance of 120 miles to Buluwayo. It is impossible to describe the various climates, soils, temperatures and productions of the vast country, comprising nearly a million square miles, ruled over by the British Africa Company.

The area of France, Germany, Austria and Italy all combined is far surpassed in size by this new and gigantic empire recently placed under the British flag. There are low districts, in which fever prevails ; there are great high plateaux, such as Gazaland, which are magnficent countries for the agriculturist and stock farmer, where both men and the lower animals enjoy a salubrious and de lightful climate. Vast tracts can be covered with the best rice in the world, and coffee can be grown to an unexampled extent with every prospect of success. There is no product of nature almost which cannot be raised ; and the mineral treasures of Rhodesia — the real foundation of all material prosperity for the Com pany — are such, that in a short time the last El Dorado will be proved to be one of the richest.

The evidence on this point is very conclusive, although it is not desirable to refer to it more fully here. Certainly there is no instance since the discovery of America in which greater opportunities have been offered than those now given to the civilised world through the efforts of men who, while attend ing to their own interest, throw open vast fields for energy, capital and labour. Mineral centres have revolutionised South Africa. They created railways, markets for farmers, and general prosperity, when the diamond mines of Kimberley were found. The discovery of the Johannesburg ' Banket ' reefs opened up a new era, not only for the Transvaal, but for the Orange Free State and the Cape Colony ; while now the gold of Rhodesia is stimulating railway extension from every port, and will form a very powerful factor in the work of consolidating various and varied interests.

A consummation devoutly wished for is the assimilation of customs duties, railway tariffs, postal and telegraph regulations, with free trade between all sections, so that it may be practically, if not in name, ' the United States of South Africa.' The expansion of the congerie of countries south of the Zambesi has really only commenced. The Cape of Good Hope has been the Rip Van Winkle of colonies, which went to sleep in the seventeenth century, and only awakened to real life and action when diamonds were discovered at Kimberley in 1870. All the other states are of yesterday, and can be looked upon as children with a great career before them. A few statistics will make this clear. Here are one and a quarter millions of square miles, comprising a larger territory than British India, with a population of five millions, including only six hundred and seventy thousand people of European extraction.

Imports of the annual value of exports, and in the latter case we must calculate that gold amounts to more than ,£6,000,000, and diamonds to nearly ,£4,000,000. Here is indeed room for the overflowing populations and energies of the old world. Every natural advantage of climate, soil, pastures and mineral wealth ! The story of the expansion of the past can be written in a small volume, but history now is made in the southern hemisphere so rapidly, that the time is not far distant when our chronicles, like our prosperity, will ex pand. In the meantime, this contribution to the history of the beginnings of an empire is respectfully laid before the public. ERR A TA . Page 200, line 1 from top, " 400 Pioneers " should read, " 200. 210 ,, 6 and 7 from top, "The Great Pioneer Expedition, &c," should read " The cost of the road contract alone of the Great Pioneer Expedition cost the Chartered Company £89,000." 213 ,, 2 and 3 from top, should read, " The territories of the Company stretching northward to the great lakes." 217 ,, 3 from bottom, " Lendi " should be spelt, " Lendy.A 218 ,, 1 Note at bottom of page, " Lendi " should be spelt " Lendy." 219 ,, 3 from bottom, " Calenbrander " should be " Colenbrander." 22i ,, 6 from top, " Major Willoughby was chief in command," &c, should read " Major Forbes was Commander of the Company's forces.

Major Sir John Willoughby, Bart., Senior Military Officer and Military Adviser to His Honour the Administrator, Dr. Jameson, who under took," &c. 223 ,, 4 from bottom, " Henny " should be spelt " Heany." 229 ,, 5 from bottom, " Sheloh " should be spelt " Shiloh." 231 ,, 1 from top, " 33 officers and men " should read " 34 officers and men." 231 ., 6 from bottom and seq. should read "Although the bodies of the white men were stripped, they were not mutilated, the natives being so struck with admiration at the manner in which they not only fought, but died." The Story of the Expansion of South Africa

Chapter I

Early History — The Hottentots, Bushmen and Kafirs — Customs, Manners and Characteristics Four hundred years ago Southern Africa was unknown to the civilised world, except in mystic fable or obscure conjecture, to-day it is one of the most flourishing and prosperous regions in the southern hemisphere. The adage that 'there is nothing new under the sun' finds exemplification in the fact that the most ancient gold mines in the world have become its most modern ' diggings ' — the ' Ophir ' of King Solomon reappearing in the rich auriferous fields of the Transvaal and of the Chartered British South Africa Company. A Diamond mines of unexampled wealth yield gems to the value of about four million pounds sterling per annum, the copper mines of Nume queland are in richness second to none in the world.

But when we consider the vast extent of these territories, and the fact that they have only been very partially explored, it is not too much to say that the immense mineral treasures of the South African Republic, Swazieland and Matabeleland are, as it were, merely rising on the horizon. We are only beginning mineral discovery in South Africa, and, day after day, hear of new mines of gold, iron, silver, coal, tin and quicksilver. Our sheep walks and cattle runs are not surpassed in excellence any where, enormous tracts of irrigable land await cultivation, the wheat of the Cape Colony is of first-class merit, and Southern Africa can be made one of the granaries of the world. In this vast section of a vast continent, extending for thousands of miles in length and in breadth, comprising all the country from the River Zambesi to Cape Agulhas, there are, of course, a variety of climatic conditions, but, speaking generally, Nature has crowned all its benefits by a delightful, exhilarating and healthful climate.

The existence of the coloured races is an immense benefit, as, by means of them, cheap labour is obtainable, and large agricultural supplies can be constantly procured ; but Southern Africa, although its population chiefly comprises the descendants of stalwart nomadic races who have migrated from a northern portion of the continent, is eminently a white man's country, where homes can be found for millions of the overflowing populations of Europe. Four hundred years ago a few Hottentots and Bushmen dwelt in the country between the Great Fish River and Table Mountain, and the fierce Kafir nations were in course of migrat ing in a southerly direction, but had scarcely reached the present confines of the Cape Colony. The history of South Africa, preceding the arrival of the first European navigators, is shrouded in mystery.

We are told by Strabo that the Phœnicians sailed down the Red Sea, doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and then sailed up the African coast, so as to reach their own country by the Straits of Gibraltar. There is better evidence that in the ninth century the Arabs were acquainted with the coast as far south as Delagoa Bay ; and now we find by discoveries at the ruins of Zimbabye and other forts in Matabeleland, that a people of Asiatic extraction i worked for gold in mines at a period so remote, that native tradition even can give us no information respecting them. In the south of the continent there were Hot tentots and Bushmen. The language of these people was essentially the same, and was a pure form of the ancient Coptic tongue of Egypt. At least, this is the confident opinion of Dr Bleek,2 who devoted his life to the study of the subject.

According to his theory, the Bosjesmans of South Africa are identical with the pigmies of Herodotus, and these people, together with the Hottentots, to whom they were allied, have by degrees, through many centuries, been driven southward by more powerful tribes, until at last Table Mountain and the ocean became barriers to a further migration. If this be so, we have no trace whatever of any aboriginal races of Southern Africa. The Dutch Settlers necessarily came in con- 1 See Bent's explorations, likewise Works of Selous. The latter by no means agrees with Mr Bent, and advances good arguments in favour of the opinion that the ancient gold workers from Asia took wives in the country, and eventually became a portion of the native tribes of the continent. " Librarian of the Grey Collection South African Library.

His work on the native languages of South Africa is very valuable. His conclusions are not admitted by Dr Hahn and other writers. tact with Hottentots, and the latter were, so far as we know, the earliest inhabitants of Southern Africa. They styled themselves Khoi- Khoi — ' men of men,' and were originally a powerful nation divided into tribes, each of which was presided over by a chief. Their riches consisted in flocks and herds, with which they roved abaut seeking pasture, and carrying with them in their migrations moveable villages, each hut of which was composed of poles or boughs covered with rush mats. Their clothes consisted of sheepskins, and their weapons of bows and poisoned arrows. Bold and active in the chase, they were courageous in danger, although naturally of a mild and gentle dis position.