South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA. As a geographical unit South Africa is usually held to be that part of the continent south of the middle course of the Zambezi. The present article (1) deals with that part of Africa as a whole, (2) outlines the constitution of the British possessions forming the Union of South Africa, and (3) summarizes the history of the country from the time of its discovery by Europeans.

I.-General Features In the geographical sense stated South Africa lies between 16° and 35° S. and 12° and 36° E., narrows from 1600 m. from west to east along its northern border to some 600 m. of coast facing south. Its greatest length south-west to north-east is also about 1600 m. It has an area of about 1,333,000 sq. m. It comprises the Union of South Africa (i.e. the provinces of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, with Zululand, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal); Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Swaziland and Southern Rhodesia, all British possessions; German South-West Africa, and the southern part of Portuguese East Africa. By some writers Northern Rhodesia is included in South Africa, but that district belongs more accurately to the central portion of the continent. Other writers confine the term to the British possessions south of the Zambezi, but in this case British South Africa is the proper designation. South African standard time, adopted in 1903, is that of 30° E., or two hours in advance of Greenwich.

Physical Features

There is a marked uniformity in physical features throughout South Africa. The coast line, from the mouth of the Kunene on the west to the delta of the Zambezi on the east, is little indented and contains only two sheltered natural harbours of any size - Saldanha Bay on the west and Delagoa Bay on the east. At Port Natal, however, the removal of the sand bar at its entrance has made available a third magnificent harbour, while at Table Bay (Cape Town) and at other places ports have been constructed. South Africa presents, however, a solid land mass without peninsulas of any size or any large islands off its coasts. Moreover, behind the low-lying coastlands, which extend in general from 50 to 250 m. inland, rise ramparts of hills shutting off the interior. This conformation of the country has been a powerful influence in determining its history and development. Here and there the mountains, which run in lines parallel to the coast, approach close to the sea, as at Table Bay. In the south-east, in the Drakensberg, they attain heights of Io,000 to Ii,000 ft., elsewhere the highest points are between 8000 and 9000 ft. They form terrace-like steps leading to a vast tableland (covering about 900,000 sq. m.) with a mean elevation of 4000 ft., the highest part of the plateau - the High Veld of the Transvaal - being fully 6000 ft. above the sea. In its southern part the plateau has a general tilt to the west, in the north it tilts eastward. This tilt determines the hydrographical system. In the south the drainage is to the Atlantic, chiefly through the Orange River, in the north to the Indian Ocean through the Zambezi, Limpopo and other streams. A large number of smaller rivers rise on the outer slopes of the mountain ramparts and flow direct to the sea. In consequence of their great slope and the intermittent supply of water the rivers - except the Zambezi - are unnavigable save for a few miles from their mouths. The central part of the interior plateau, covering some 120,000 sq. m., is arid and is known as the Kalahari Desert. The western region, both plateau and coastlands, specially that part north of the Orange, is largely semi or wholly desert, while in the Cape province the terrace lands below the interior plateau are likewise arid, as is signified by their Hottentot name karusa (Karroo). The southern and eastern coastlands, owing to different climatic conditions (see infra) are very fertile.

The geological structure is remarkably uniform, the plateau consisting mainly of sedimentary deposits resting on crystalline rocks. The Karroo system (sandstones and marls) covers immense areas (see Africa, § Geology). Intrusive dikes - locally known as ironstone - by preventing erosion are often the cause of the flat-topped hills which are a common feature of the landscape. The Witwatersrand series of the Transvaal includes auriferous conglomerates which have been worked since 1886 and constitute the richest gold-mines in the world. The diamondiferous areas at Kimberley and in the Pretoria district are likewise the richest known. Coal beds are widely distributed in the eastern districts while there are large copper deposits in the west, both at the Cape and in German territory.

Climate

The general characteristics of the climate are determined more by the physical conformation of the land than its proximity to the equator. The eastern escarpments (the Drakensberg, &c.) of the plateau intercept the rain-bearing winds from the Indian Ocean, so that over the greater part of the interior the rainfall is slight (5 to 24 in.). This, added to the elevation of the land, makes the climate in general dry, bracing and suitable for Europeans, notwithstanding that the northern part is within the tropics. Temperature is high, the mean yearly average lying between 60° and 70° F. Only along the south-eastern coast and in some of the river valleys is the climate of a markedly tropical character; here the rainfall rises to 50 in. a year and the coast is washed by the warm Mozambique current. The Cape peninsula and the western coast receive the cold currents from the Antarctic regions. Except in southern and western Cape Colony and along the Atlantic coast, summer is the rainy season.

Flora and Fauna

In consequence of the deficient rainfall over the greater part of the country the flora is not luxuriant and there are no large forests. Coarse grasses are the characteristic vegetation of the tableland. On the plains where grasses cannot find sufficient moisture their place is taken by " bush," composed mainly of stunted mimosas, acacias, euphorbia, wild pomegranate, bitter aloes and herbaceous plants. Forest patches are found in the kloofs and seaward sides of the mountains; willows often border the watercourses; heaths and bulbous plants are common in some areas. In the semi-tropical regions south-east of the Drakensberg, i.e. the coastlands of Natal and Portuguese East Africa, the vegetation is abundant, and mangroves, palms, baobab and bombax trees flourish. Here, and also in the upper Limpopo valley, cotton, tobacco, and rubber vines are found. Among the timber trees are species of pine, cedar, ebony, ironwood, stinkwood and sneezewood. Flowering plants include numerous species of terrestrial orchids, the socalled arum lily (Richardia Africana), common in low-lying moist land, and the white everlasting flower, found abundantly in some regions of Cape Colony. Of non-indigenous flora are the oak, poplar, bluegum, the Australian wattle, the vine, and almost every variety of fruit tree and European vegetables. In suitable regions tea, coffee, sugar and rice, as well as tobacco and cotton, are cultivated. In the western districts of the Cape viticulture is largely followed. The cereal most grown is maize (known in South Africa as mealies); kaffir corn, wheat, barley and oats are also largely cultivated. The soil is everywhere rich, but the lack of perennial water and the absence of irrigation works on a large scale retards agriculture. Most of the veld is divided into huge farms devoted to the rearing of cattle, sheep, goats and horses. On the Karroo are numerous ostrich farms. Lucerne is very largely grown as fodder for the cattle.

The native fauna was formerly very rich in big game, a fact sufficiently testified by the names given by the early European settlers to mountains and streams. The lion, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, buffalo, quagga, zebra and other large animals were, however, during the 18th and 19th centuries driven out of the more southern regions (though a few elephants and buffaloes,. now carefully preserved, are still found at the Cape), the quagga being totally exterminated. In the Kalahari and in the eastern lowlands (from Zululand to the Zambezi delta) most of these animals are still found, as well as the eland, wildebeest and gemsbok. The leopard (called a tiger in South Africa) is still fairly common in all mountainous regions. Spotted hyenas and jackals are also numerous. The kudu is now the most common of the larger antelopes, the duiker and klipspringer are among the smaller antelopes still existing in large numbers. Baboons are common in some districts. Birds include the ostrich, great kori bustard, the eagle, vulture, hawk and crane, francolin, golden cuckoo, bootie, scarlet and yellow finches, kingfishers, parrots (in the eastern regions), pelicans and flamingoes. There are thirty varieties of snakes. Locusts are conspicuous among the common plagues of the country. In Rhodesia and on the east coast the tsetse fly is found and termites are widely distributed.

Inhabitants

The aborigines of South Africa are represented by the Bushmen and Hottentots, now found in any racial purity only in the Kalahari and in the southern part of German South-West Africa. All the other natives, popularly called Kaffirs, are members of the Bantu-negroid family, of whom they here form three distinct branches: (I) the Zulu-Xosas, originally confined to the south-east seaboard between Delagoa Bay and the Great Fish River, but later (19th century) spread by conquest over Gazaland, parts of the Transvaal, and Rhodesia (Matabeleland), (2) the Bechuanas, with the kindred Basutos, on the continental plateau from the Orange to the Zambezi, and ranging westwards over the Kalahari desert and the Lake. Ngami region; (3) the Ova-Herero and Ova-Mpo, confined to German South-West Africa between Walfish Bay and the Kunene River.

All these mixed Bantu peoples are immigrants at various periods from beyond the Zambezi. The Bechuanas, who occupy by far the largest domain, and preserve the totemic tribal system, were probably the first arrivals from the north or the north-sea coastlands. As early, probably, as the 8th century A.D. Arabs had formed a settlement on the coast at Sofala, 130 m. south of the mouth of the Zambezi, but they got no further south nor do they appear to have penetrated inland, though they traded for gold and other articles with the inhabitants of the northern part of the plateau - the builders of the zimbabwes and other ruins in what is now Rhodesia (q.v.) The Asiatic inhabitants of South Africa of the present day are mainly Indian Population (1904). Estimates. 2 1907, coolies brought to Natal since 1860. The white races represented are mainly Dutch and British; colonization by European races dating from the 17th century. There are a few thousand Germans and Portuguese, chiefly in the territories belonging to their respective countries. The table on p. 464 shows the inhabitants, white and coloured, in the different territories into which South Africa is divided, and also the area of these territories.

It will be seen that the population is sparse, less than 62 persons per square mile. (Excluding the Bechuanaland Protectorate and German South-West Africa, which contain very large desert areas, the population is slightly over 7 per square mile.) In British South Africa the coloured races are nearly five times as numerous as the whites. The great majority of the coloured inhabitants are Bantus of pure blood, but the total coloured population includes in the Cape province 298,334 persons of mixed blood (chiefly white and Hottentot) and in Natal 100,918 Asiatics. Save in the German colony the official returns do not discriminate between the nationality of the white inhabitants. Those of British and Dutch origin are probably about equal in numbers, but a very large proportion of the British inhabitants live in the towns, the country population being in most districts predominantly Dutch. The chief cities are Cape Town (pop. 1904, 77, 66 8), Port Elizabeth (32,959), East London (25,220) and Kimberley (34331) in the Cape province; Durban (67,847) in Natal; Johannesburg (155,642) and Pretoria (36,839) in the Transvaal; and Bloemfontein (33,883) in the Orange Free State. Salisbury and Buluwayo are the chief towns in Southern Rhodesia. The only town of any size outside the British possession is Lourenco Marques (Pop. 1907, 9 8 49) in Delagoa Bay.

Economic Condition. - Originally regarded by Europeans merely as a convenient depot for ships on their way to India, the wealth of South Africa for long consisted in its agricultural and pastoral resources. Mealies and wheat were the principal crops. Wool, mohair and ostrich feathers were the chief exports, the only mineral exported being copper (from the Namaqualand mines). The opening up of the diamond mines at Kimberley (1870) followed (1886) by the discovery of the Witwatersrand goldfields completely revolutionized the economic situation and profoundly modified the history of the country. They led, among other things, to the improvement of ports and the building of railways, so that by the close of the first decade of the 10th century the. reproach of inaccessibility from which South Africa had suffered was no longer true. From the seaports of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Lourenco Marques and Beira railway lines run to Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria, while a trunk line extends north from Kimberley through Rhodesia (in which gold mining began on an extensive scale in 1898) and across the Zambezi below the Victoria Falls into the Congo basin, where it serves the Katanga mineral area. The distance from Cape Town to Katanga is over 2100 miles. The German territory is also provided with railways, intended eventually to link with the British systems. The standard gauge is 3 ft. 6 in. and in 1910 some 12,000 m. of railway were open. In nearly every instance the railways are state owned. While gold and diamond mining continue the greatest of South African industries other sources of wealth have been added. In the Cape, Natal and the Transvaal coal mining is largely developed; in the Transvaal and the Cape tobacco is grown extensively; sugar, tea and other tropical and sub-tropical produce are largely cultivated in Natal and the Portuguese territory, and, since 1905, mealies have become an important article of export. There are few manufactures; among the chief are the making of wine and brandy in the Cape province, and flour-milling. Cattle and mealies constitute the most valuable possessions of the natives. The imports are of a general nature, textiles and food-stuffs being the most important.

Irrigation

The scanty rainfall in many parts of South Africa and its unequal distribution necessitates a system of artificial irrigation unless much of the land be allowed to remain uncultivated. But in many regions the soil is deficient in phosphates and nitrates, and large irrigation works can be profitable only in districts where the soil is exceptionally fertile. Before 1877 little was done to make use of the water resources of the country. In that year the Cape legislature provided for the constitution of irrigation boards. Later boring operations were undertaken by the government, and the advice of engineers acquainted with Egyptian and Indian irrigation works sought. A report was drawn up by Sir (then Mr) Wm. Willcocks in 1.901 in which he estimated that there were in the Cape, Orange Free State and the Transvaal, 3,000,000 acres which could be brought under irrigation at a cost of about £30,000,000. The value of the land, in its arid condition almost nil, when irrigated he placed at some £100,000,000. None of the South African governments was, however, then in a position to undertake large works. At the Cape the census of 1904 gave 415,688 acres as the area under irrigation, an increase of 105,827 acres since 1891. In the Robertson district a canal (completed in 1904) 21 m. long took off from the Breede River and fertilized a large area, with the result that Robertson ranks as the second richest district in the province. Over the Karroo and other arid regions some io,000 boreholes had been sunk to depths varying from 50 to 500 ft., their yield being 60,000,000 gallons a year. The value of land under artesian well irrigation (e.g. in the Graaff Reinet district) has increased from 20s. to £200 per morgen. More important, however, are the supplies to be derived from the control of flood water, millions of cubic feet of the best soil being annually washed into the sea. The Boer governments had done little to promote irrigation, but during1905-1907a strong intercolonial commission investigated the subject as it affected the Transvaal and Orange Free State, and their final report, issued at Pretoria in 1908, contains full particulars as to the irrigation possibilities in those provinces. At least 350,000 acres in the Transvaal could be remuneratively irrigated, and a proportionally large area in the Orange province. In Natal an act of 1904 gave power to the government to forward irrigation schemes. Under that act the Winterton Irrigation Settlement (18,000 acres) was formed on the upper Tugela. In 1909 an irrigation congress representative of all the governments of British South Africa was held at Robertson, in the Cape province.

Commerce

All the British states and territories are members of postal, telegraphic and customs unions. The customs are of a protective character, while there is a rebate on goods from Great Britain and British possessions' (see below, History). There is internal free trade throughout the Union of South Africa. The customs tariff in the Portuguese possessions is of a highly protective nature; goods coming from Portugal pay one-tenth of the dues levied on foreign goods. In German South-West Africa no discrimination is made as to the country of origin of imports.

A South African Customs Statistical Bureau, which deals with the external trade of British South Africa,' was established in July 1905. The statistics issued by the bureau showed a total volume of trade in 1905 of £72,910,000 made up as follows: Imports £29,859,000 (including £4,208,000 received through Portuguese ports); exports £43,050,000. Of this amount £25,644,000 was put as the value of raw gold exported, and £9,257,000 as the value of the diamonds shipped. Only £414,000 worth of goods was exported via Portuguese ports. For 1907 the figures were: Value of total trade £74,153,000; imports £25,920,000, exports £48,233,000. Goods valued at £4,036,377 received through Portuguese ports are included in the imports, and goods valued at £507,000 shipped at Portuguese ports in the exports. The value of raw gold exported in 1907 was £29,510,000, of diamonds £8,973,000. In 1908 the figures were: Total trade £70,093,000; imports £24,438,000 (including £4,641,000 via Portuguese ports); exports £45,655,000 (including £513,000 from Portuguese ports). The raw gold exported was worth £32,047,000 but the export of diamonds fell to £4,796,000. In 1909 the value of the imports into British South Africa was returned at £29,842,000; the value of the exports at £51,151,000.3 Of the imports over £16,850,000 came from the United Kingdom, over £2,240,000 from Australia, £2,450,000 from Germany, and £2,195,000 from the United States. Of the exports raw gold was valued at £33,303,000, diamonds at £6,370,000, wool at £3,728,000 and ostrich feathers at £2,091,000. The value of the imports through Delagoa Bay and other Portuguese ports was £6,795,000, the exports from Portuguese ports were valued at slightly over £500,000. In the four years the imports from the United Kingdom were about 58%, from other parts of the empire 13%. Of the exports the United Kingdom took some 95%; a considerable quantity of South African produce, especially wool, shipped to England ultimately, however finds its way to other countries. Next to Great Britain the countries doing most trade with South Africa are Australia and New Zealand, Germany, the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, Belgium, Holland and France.

Religion

The great majority of the white inhabitants are Protestants. Most of those of Dutch descent are members of the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk), the state church of the early Cape colonists, or of churches formed by dissentient members of the original church such as the Gereformeerde Kerk (the " Dopper " Church), a branch (introduced in 1858) of the Separatist Reformed Church of Holland. These churches are Calvinistic in doctrine and Presbyterian in organization. Until 1843 the Cape synod was controlled by government commissioners; it was then given power to regulate its own internal affairs. There are separate synods with independent authority for the congregations of the Dutch Reformed Churches in the Cape, Orange Free State and Transvaal provinces. The Doppers (" roundheads ") and other dissentient bodies have also separate synods. Besides these churches there are a number of Lutheran congregations among the Dutch speaking population.

The South Africans of British descent are divided, mainly, into Anglicans, Wesleyans and Presbyterians. The Baptists and Congregationalists are smaller bodies. All form independent churches in communion with the mother churches in Great Britain. The oldest established is that of the Presbyterians. The Anglican 1 The total amount rebated in 1908 was £430,017.

Including North-West Rhodesia.

For the six months January to June 1910 the figures were: imports £14,770,000; exports £24,442,000.

organization dates from 1847. Being declared by judicial decision in 1863 a voluntary body, the Anglicans formed " The Church of the Province of South Africa." It is divided into the dioceses of Cape Town, Graham's Town, Maritzburg (Natal), Kaffraria, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Zululand, Mashonaland and Lebombo. The last-named diocese is that part of Portuguese East Africa south of the Sabi river; the Mashonaland diocese includes the Portuguese territory between the Sabi and the Zambezi. German South-West Africa is not included in the Anglican organization. The metropolitan is the archbishop of Cape Town. The constitution of the church was drawn up at a provincial synod in 1870. It accepts the doctrines of the Church of England, but acknowledges none save its own ecclesiastical tribunals, or such other tribunal as may be accepted by the provincial synod - in other words it rejects the authority of the English privy council. Bishop Colenso of Natal and other Anglicans did not accept the authority of the provincial synod, regarding themselves as in all respects members of the Church of England. This was, especially in Natal, the cause of prolonged controversy among the members of the Anglican community. By 1901, however, the majority of the " Church of England party were represented in the provincial synod. Nevertheless the temporalities of this party remained in the hands of curators and not in the possession of the provincial church. In 1910 the practical amalgamation of the two bodies was effected, (see further Natal).

The Roman Catholics are a comparatively small body; the majority of their adherents are found in the Cape and Natal. At the head of their organizations are vicars-apostolic for the Cape (eastern district), the Cape (western district), Natal, Orange River, Kimberley and the Transvaal, and prefects-apostolic for Basutoland and Zambezi (or Rhodesia).

All the churches maintain missions to the natives. The first to enter the field were the Jesuits and Dominicans, who laboured on the south-east coast and among the subjects of the monomotapa (see Portuguese East Africa). Their work lasted from about 1560 to 1760, but it has left little trace. The early modern missions were all Protestant. A Moravian mission to the Hottentots was begun in 1737, continued to 1744 and was re-established - against the wishes of the colonists - in 1792. Before the close of the century the London Missionary Society entered the field. The work of this society's agents has had a greater influence on the history of South Africa than that of any other religious body save the Dutch Reformed Church. Next in order came the Wesleyans and the Glasgow Missionary Society (Presbyterian), the last-named society founding in 1824 the station of Lovedale - now the most important institution in South Africa in connexion with native missions. In 1829 the Paris Evangelical Society (whose agents have laboured chiefly in Basuto and Barotse lands) sent out their first missionaries, who were closely followed by the agents of other societies (see Mlsslons). The Roman Catholics entered the field later on. By the end of the 19th century fully 5% of the total native population professed Christianity.

The Jews form a small but influential community. There are some thousands of Mahommedans in the Cape (chiefly Malays) and larger numbers in Natal, where there is also a large Hindu population. At Lourenco Marques the Chinese colony has its own temple and religious services.

Law.' - The basis of the common law of British South Africa is the Roman-Dutch law as it existed in Holland at the end of the 18th century. This was simply the old Roman jurisprudence embodied in the legislation of Justinian, modified by custom and legislative decrees during the course of the centuries which witnessed the growth of civilization in Europe; and it is to all intents and purposes the jurisprudence which was the foundation of the Code Napoleon. It was in part closely akin to the " modern Roman law " which is practised widely over the continent of Europe, and even in Scotland, at the present day. The authorities upon the common law in South Africa are: the Dutch commentators upon the civil law, the statute law of Holland, the decisions of the Dutch courts, and, failing these, the corpus juris civilis itself.

In the period which has elapsed since the establishment of British rule at the Cape the law has been considerably modified and altered, both by legislation and by judicial decisions, and it is not too much to say that at the present time there exists hardly any material difference in principle over the greater part of the field of jurisprudence between the law of England and the law of South Africa. The law of contracts, the law of torts, the mercantile law, the law relating to shipping and insurance, not to mention other subjects, are practically identical with those of England; and even the criminal law is virtually the 1 For the sections here incorporated on South African law and language we are indebted to the late J. W. Leonard, K.C. (d. 1909), twice attorney-general of Cape Colony.

same, though the greater elasticity of the civil jurisprudence allows fewer opportunities for the escape of malefactors, notably in cases of fraud or falsity in any form, than exist under the law of England. The constitution of the courts is based on the example of the English judiciary, and the rules of evidence and procedure are practically the same in both criminal and civil cases as in England. All serious cases of crime are tried before a judge and jury, with the same formalities and safeguards as in England, while minor offences are dealt with by stipendiary magistrates possessing a limited statutory jurisdiction. In criminal cases it is necessary for the jury to find a unanimous verdict. In civil cases either party may demand a jury, a privilege which is seldom exercised; but in a civil case the verdict of the majority of jurors prevails.

The most marked difference between the English and South African systems of law is, as might be expected, to be found in the law relating to real property. In South Africa there is a rigid and universal application of the principle of registration. The title to land is registered, in all cases; and so, with a few exceptions, is every servitude or easement, mortgage or charge, upon land. With regard to the devolution of property upon death, it may be remarked that the law of intestate succession applies equally to real and personal estate, there being no law of primogeniture. The rules of distribution in intestacy differ, however, very considerably from those established in England. There is absolute freedom of testamentary disposition in the Cape province and in some other parts of South Africa. The effect of marriage upon the property of the spouses is, by the Roman-Dutch law and in the absence of any ante-nuptial contract to the contrary, to bring about a complete community of property, virtually a universal partnership between husband and wife, subject to the sole and absolute control of the husband while the marriage lasts. The courts have, however, the right to interfere for the protection of the wife in case of any flagrant abuse of the power thus vested in the husband. Ante-nuptial agreements may be of any nature the parties may choose. Such agreements must in all cases be publicly registered. Upon the dissolution of a marriage in community of property, or in the event of a judicial separation a communione bonorum, the property of the spouses is divided as upon the liquidation of a partnership. It is not necessary here to refer particularly to certain exceptions to this general rule in cases of divorce.

By the common law gifts between husband and wife during marriage are void as against creditors. This rule cannot be evaded even by ante-nuptial agreement. By the statute law of Natal post-nuptial agreements between spouses are permitted under certain conditions, to which it is not possible now to refer at length. Divorce is granted to either spouse for either adultery or malicious desertion, the distinctions established by the English law between husband and wife in respect of divorce being disregarded.

Language

The languages spoken in South Africa by the inhabitants of European descent are English and Dutch, the latter chiefly in the form of a patois colloquially known as the Taal. (German and Portuguese are spoken in the possessions of those countries, but a knowledge of English or Dutch is frequent even in those territories.) The history of the Dutch language in South Africa is intimately bound up with the history of the South African Dutch people. The basis of the language as spoken to-day is that 17th-century Dutch of Holland which the first settlers brought to the country; and although the Dutch of Holland and the Dutch of South Africa differ very widely to-day, Cape Dutch differs less widely from the Dutch language of the 17th century than from the modern Dutch of Holland. The tongue of the vast majority of the Dutch-speaking inhabit ants may thus be said to be a degenerate dialect of the 17th-century Dutch of Holland, with a very limited vocabulary. The limiting of the vocabulary is due to two reasons. In the first place, the early settlers were drawn principally from the peasant class, being chiefly discharged soldiers and sailors; and, further, when once settled, the necessity for making the language intelligible to the natives by whom the settlers were surrounded led to a still further simplification of speech structure and curtailment of the vocabulary. There thus grew up an ungrammatical dialect of Dutch, suited only to the most ordinary requirements of the everyday life of a rural population. It became a language with neither a syntax nor a literature. At the same time it remained in character almost entirely Dutch, no French - in spite of the incorporation into the population of the Huguenot emigrants - and only a few Malay words finding a place in the Taal. But side by side with this language of everyday life a purer form of Dutch has continued to exist and find its uses under certain conditions. It must be borne in mind that the Boers of every grade have always been more or less sedulously instructed in religious subjects, at all events to the extent required to fit them for formal membership of their church, and in all their wanderings they have usually been attended by their pastors. The Dutch Bible and Catechism are written in pure Dutch. The language of the Dutch Bible is as majestic as that of the English version. Moreover, the services of the Church have always been conducted in grammatical though simple Dutch; and the clergy, in their intercourse with the people, have as a general rule abstained from conversing in the ordinary dialect. The Boer thus has but slight difficulty in reading and understanding pure Dutch. Under the influence of Africander nationalism strenuous efforts have been made to teach the language in the schools throughout the greater part of South Africa. In the Transvaal and Orange Free State education was imparted almost exclusively in Dutch. All public business in the government offices and law courts was conducted in the language, and the Transvaal at the time of its annexation by Great Britain was being gradually inundated by officials, railway servants and others introduced from Holland, who spoke modern Dutch. Officially throughout the Union of South Africa both languages are now on a footing of equality.

Throughout South Africa a number of words, mainly Dutch, are in general use by the English-speaking inhabitants and also, to a considerable extent, among the natives. The most common of these words, with their English meanings, are here set forth. When not otherwise stated the words are of Dutch origin: -. Common in place-names.

. to harness.

. (Arabic for unbeliever [in Islam]) a native of Bantu stock; more loosely any native. Karroo any arid district; now the name of definite regions (from the Hottentot).

Kloof. fissure or crevice, hence a ravine or narrow valley.

Kop. (literally head) a hill, generally rounded. Flat-topped hills are usually called tafel (table) or plat (flat) bergs.

Kopje. a little hill; the name given to the isolated pointed hills which are a characteristic feature of the plains of South Africa.

Kraal. an enclosure, hence a native village. Prob - ably from the Portuguese.

Krantz (or Kranz) an overhanging wall of rock, hence a steep cliff, a precipice. A " Taal " word derived from the Dutch krans, a wreath, chaplet or cornice.

Nek. literally neck 1 mountain passes or passes Poort literally gate between mountains.

Rand border, edge, hence a low and usually round range of hills.

Ruggens ridges, applied to undulating slopes or un - irrigated hilly country.

Slim.. cunning, clever, adroit.

Sluit. (Dutch sloot) ditch, gutter, small stream.

(literally shoot, spruiten, to spring up), stream, small river. The name given to intermittent streams liable to sudden freshets.

(literally a step), the name given to the platform or veranda of a house. The stoep is shaded by a roof and is a favourite rendezvous for the household and for visitors. Formerly all South African houses had stoeps, but in the central parts of the larger towns the buildings are now without verandas. (literally, pull, tug, trekken, to draw or pull), to leave a place, to take a journey; also the distance covered in a journey.

field. The name given to open plains and to the grass-covered plateaus of the interior. a hollow filled with water during rainy weather.

Uitspan. to unharness.

Uitlander. outlander, i.e. a foreigner.

Among other Dutch words frequently used in place-names may be instanced: rhenoster (rhinoceros) olifant (elephant), mooi (pretty), modder (mud), klip (cliff), berg (mountain), burg or stad (town), zwart (black), klein (little), groote (great), breede (broad), nieuw (new), zuur (sour), bokke (buck).

A number of Dutch weights and measures are also in general use. They include: muid =3 bushels; morgen = 2 . 11654 acres. A Cape rood equals 12.396 English feet, and a Cape ton contains 2000 lb.

II. - Constitution Of The Union Of South Africa In accordance with the provisions of an act of the British Parliament (South Africa Act 1909) Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal and Orange River colonies were united under one government in a legislative union under the British crown. The Union of South Africa, as the new state is named, was established on the 31st of May 1910. Upon its formation the colonies named became provinces of the Union. In the case of the Orange River colony its title was changed to Orange Free State province. The colonial legislatures were abolished, provincial councils, with strictly subordinate and delegated powers, were set up, and provincial administrators (local men) replaced the various governors. The history of the movement which led to unification is given in the following section. The main provisions of the constitution 1 are as follows: The executive government of the Union is vested in the king and may be exercised by the sovereign in person. It is, however, administered by a governor-general, who holds office during the king's pleasure. The governor-general Executive. can dismiss ministers and dissolve parliament. He is empowered to dissolve both houses of the legislature simultaneously or the House of Assembly alone. He can perform no official act when beyond the territorial limits of the Union, but he can appoint a deputy to act for him during temporary absences. The governorgeneral is paid £10,000 a year out of the consolidated funds of the Union. He is advised by an executive council, whose members he nominates. The council must include the ministers of state; ministers administering departments of state may not exceed ten in number. Ministers cannot hold office for a longer period than three months unless they are or become members of either house of parliament. The control and administration of native affairs (which before the Union was, except at the Cape, largely in the hands of the colonial governors personally) is vested exclusively in the governor in council and to the same authority is entrusted all matters specially or differentially affecting Asiatics throughout the Union. The legislative power is vested in a parliament consisting of the Sovereign, a Senate, and a House of Assembly. The Senate consists of 40 members, 8 representatives from each province, and 8 members nominated by the governor-general in council. Four of the nominated members are selected on the ground mainly of their thorough acquaintance with " the reasonable wants and wishes " of the coloured races in South Africa. The presence of both nominated and elected members in the Senate is a novel provision in the constitution of the upper chambers of British colonial legislatures. The senators chosen in 1910 hold office for ten years. After 1920 the Union parliament may make any alteration it sees The fit in the constitution of the senate. A senator must Legislature. be a British subject of European descent, must be thirty years old, be a parliamentary voter in one of the provinces, have lived for five years in the Union, and if an elected member be possessed of immovable property within the Union of the clear value of £500.

1 For a detailed examination of the constitution and a comparison of it with the federal constitutions of Canada and Australia see " South African Union," by A. Berriedale Keith, in the Journ. Soc. Comp. Legislation for October 1909.

Trek Veld Vlei Assegai .

Boschveld .

Bywoners Daal Dorp. Drift Ervan (sing. erf) Fontein. Hoek. Inspan. Kaffir .

a spear used by the Kaffir tribes; a word adopted from the Portuguese, but of Berber origin.

? a plain or open stretch of country covered with thin wood or bush. Often written bushveld.

(literally witnesses) " poor whites," the name given by the Boers to the landless whites, hangers-on at farms, &c.

valley.

village.

ford (a " Taal " word).

plots of land. fountain, spring. corner, angle, hook.

The House of Assembly consists (as originally constituted) of 121 members, elected by single-membered constituencies, each constituency containing as nearly as possible the same number of voters. Of these members the Cape Province returns 51, the Transvaal 36, and Natal and Orange Free State 17 each. As population increases the total number of members may be raised to 150. The seats allotted to each province are determined by its number of European male adults as ascertained by a quinquennial census, the quota for a constituency being obtained by dividing the total number of such adults in the Union as ascertained at the 1904 census by the number of members at the establishment of the Union. The commission charged with the delimitation of constituencies is permitted to vary the quota as much as 15% either way. Members of the House of Assembly must, like senators, be British subjects of European descent, they must be qualified to be registered as voters and have lived for five years within the Union. A general election must take place every five years, and all polls must be taken on the same day. There must be a session of parliament every year, so arranged that twelve months shall not elapse between the last day of one session and the first sitting of the next session.

The qualifications of parliamentary voters are those which existed in the several colonies at the establishment of the Union, save that " no member of His Majesty's regular forces on full pay " can be registered as a voter. As the franchise laws in the several colonies differed the qualifications of voters in the provinces differ also. In the Transvaal and Orange Free State provinces the franchise is restricted to white adult male British subjects. In neither province is there any property qualification, but a six months' residence before registration is required. In Natal (q.v.) there is a low property qualification. In that province coloured persons are not by name debarred from the franchise, but they are in practice excluded. In the Cape province, where there is also a low property qualification, no colour bar exists and there are a large number of Kaffir voters (see Cape Colony: Constitution). Parliament may alter the qualifications for the vote, but no law which would deprive coloured persons in the Cape province of the franchise can be effective " unless the bill be passed by both houses of parliament sitting together and at the third reading be agreed to by not less than two-thirds of the total number of members of both houses." Save as subject, ultimately, to the British parliament the Union parliament is a sovereign body. The provinces have no original authority, possessing only such powers as are delegated to them by the parliament. In certain cases the governor-general must reserve the royal assent to bills, e.g. any bill abolishing the coloured vote in the Cape province. The king is given the power to disallow any law within a year of it having received the assent of the governorgeneral.

With regard to bills the two houses are not in a position of equality. Bills appropriating revenue or moneys, or imposing taxation, must originate in the House of Assembly and may not be amended by the Senate. If a bill passed by the Assembly has been twice rejected by the Senate, provision is made for a joint sitting of both houses, when members vote and decide upon the measure concerned as one body. In the case of a money bill rejected by the Senate a joint sitting to decide its fate may be held in the same session in which the Senate has failed to pass the bill. Every minister of state may sit and speak in either house, but can vote only in the house of which he is a member. Re-election is not necessary on the appointment of a member as a minister of state. Members of parliament are paid £400 a year, f3 being deducted from this allowance for every day's absence during the session.

A Supreme Court of Judicature for South Africa was created at the establishment of the Union. The former Supreme, High and Circuit Courts of the several colonies then became provincial and local divisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa, which consists of two divisions, namely the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division. Appeals from the decisions of the provincial and local divisions of the court and from those of the High Court of southern Rhodesia, must be made to the appellate division of the Supreme Court. Unless special leave of the privy council be obtained there can be no appeal from the decisions of the Appellate Division, save in admiralty cases. This restriction of the power of appeal to the privy council is much greater than are the restrictions upon appeals from the Commonwealth of Australia, where appeals to the privy council lie by right from the several state Supreme Courts. The difference arises from the fact that the Commonwealth is a federation of states; whereas the Union of South Africa is but one state with but one Supreme Court. One result of this unification of the courts of South Africa is that any provincial or local division of the Supreme Court in which an action is begun can order its transference to another division if that course be deemed more convenient. Moreover the judgments of each provincial division can be registered and enforced in any other division. The administration of justice throughout the Union is vested in a minister of state who has all the powers of the attorneygenerals of the several colonies at the time of the Union, save that power as to the prosecution of crimes is vested in each province in an official appointed by the governor-general in council and styled the attorney-general of the province.

Among the general provisions of the constitution the most im portant is that both the English and Dutch languages are official languages of the Union and are treated on a footing of equality; all records of parliament, and all notices of general public importance or interest issued by the government of the Union must be in both languages. (Persons in the public service at the establishment of the Union cannot, however, be dispensed with because of lack of knowledge of either English of Dutch.) Other general provisions enact free trade throughout the Union, but the customs and excise leviable under the laws existing in any of the colonies at the establishment of Union remain in force unless parliament otherwise provides. All persons who had been naturalized in any of the colonies are naturalized throughout the Union. All rights and obligations under conventions and agreements which were binding on any of the colonies have devolved upon the Union.

The harbours of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban are state owned, as are also nearly all the railways in the Union. All revenues derived from these services are paid into a separate fund. The administration of the railways, ports and harbours is entrusted to a board of not more than three commissioners (appointed by the governor-general in council) presided over by a minister of state. Each commissioner holds office for five years and may be reappointed. The board is directed to administer its service on business principles, due regard being had to agricultural and industrial development, &c., within the Union. So far as may be the total earnings are not to be more than are sufficient to meet necessary outlays.

Provincial Adnsinistration

While the Union parliament has full power to make laws for the whole of the Union, to provincial councils have been delegated the immediate control of affairs relating solely to the provinces. The subjects delegated to the councils include direct taxation within the provinces for local revenue pur p oses, the borrowing of money (on the sole credit of the provinces) with the consent of the ministry; agriculture (within the limits defined by parliament) and municipal institutions, divisional councils, and other local institutions. The control of elementary education was also guaranteed to the provincial councils up to 1915, and thereafter until parliament otherwise provides.

The councils consist of not fewer than 25 members and not more than the number of members returned by the province to the House of Assembly. Each councillor represents a separate constituency, these constituencies, as far as possible, to be the same as the parliamentary constituencies. (In the Cape and Transvaal provinces they were the same in 19to; Natal and Orange Free State returning only 17 members to the House of Assembly, the parliamentary constituencies have been rearranged.) The qualifications for electors are the same as for parliament, and any person qualified to vote is qualified to be a member of the council. As in the Cape province coloured persons are qualified to vote, they are thus also qualified to be members of the provincial council. Any member of the provincial council who becomes a member of either House of Parliament thereupon ceases to be a member of such provincial council. Each provincial council continues for three years from the date of its first meeting and is not subject to dissolution save by effluxion of time.

The executive power in each province is invested in an officer appointed by the government and styled provincial administrator. He holds office for five years. The administrator is assisted by an executive committee of four persons elected from among its own members, or otherwise, by the provincial council on the proportional representation principle. The administrator and any other member of the executive committee, not being a member of the council, has the right to take part in the proceedings of the council, but has not the right to vote. The provincial councils have not the right to make laws, but ordinances, which must receive the assent of the governor-general in council before becoming valid. (F. R. C.) III. - History The history of South Africa is, almost entirely, that of its colonization by European races, of their conflicts with, and influence over, its native inhabitants, and of the struggle for supremacy between the British and Dutch settlers. The little that is known concerning the doings of the natives before the appearance of the white man belongs to the domain of ethnology rather than of history. When the Portuguese first reached the southern part of Africa there was but one place in it where a civilized race held sway. This was at Sof ala, the most southerly post of the East African Arabs. From that port the Arabs traded for ivory, slaves and (principally) gold with Bantu peoples of the far interior - the Rhodesia of to-day. These natives, whose earliest existing buildings may go back to the time of the Norman Conquest, were in a higher state of development than the Bushmen and Hottentots living farther south. The part played by the various native races in modifying the character of the European colonization will be best considered as they successively came into contact with the white settlers. At this point it is only necessary to state that at the same time as the Europeans were slowly extending northward from the south-western point of the continent, a conquering race of Bantu negro stock, originating from somewhere beyond the Zambezi, was spreading southward along the western side of the country.

A. From the Discovery of the Cape to the Great Trek. - What led tp the discovery of America led also to the discovery, exploitation and colonization of South Africa. In the 15th century the great Eastern trade with Europe was carried on by the Venetian Republic - Venice was the gate from West to East, and her fleets, richly laden with goods brought down to the shores of the Mediterranean in caravans, supplied Europe with the luxuries of the Orient. It was in that century that Portugal rose to prominence as a maritime power; and being anxious to enjoy at first hand some of the commerce which had brought such prosperity to Venice, Portugal determined to seek out an ocean pathway to the Indies. It was with this intention that Bartholomew Diaz, sailing southwards, discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.1 Nine years after the discovery of the Cape by Diaz another Portuguese expedition was fitted out under Vasco da Gama. Da Gama entered Table Bay, but did not land. Thence he pushed on round the coast, landed in Mossel Bay, then sailing up the south-east coast he sighted land again on the 25th of December 1497, and named it in honour of the day, Natal. Still proceeding northwards he entered the Quilimane River and eventually reached India.

For many years subsequent to this date South Africa represented merely an inconvenient promontory to be rounded on the voyage to the Indies. Ships stopped at different ports, or rather at such few natural harbours as the inhospitable coast offered, from time to time, but no attempt was made by the Portuguese to colonize the southern end of the continent. On the west coast their southernmost settlement for a long period was Benguella, and the history of Angola had not until the last quarter of the 19th century any close connexion with that, of South Africa. On the east coast the Portuguese were masters of Sofala by 1506, and a trading-post was first established in Delagoa Bay in 1545. Here alone Portugal obtained an important foothold in South Africa. But between Benguella on the west and Lourenco Marques on the east the Portuguese made no attempt to form permanent settlements or trading stations along the coast. It was too barren a shore to prove attractive when the riches of East Africa and India were available.

The first Europeans to follow in the wake of the Portuguese voyagers were the English. In 1601 the English East India Company fitted out a fleet of five vessels, which sailed from Torbay. After four months at sea they dropped their anchors in Table Bay, where they remained for seven weeks before proceeding eastwards. From that time forward Table Bay was used as an occasional port of call for British ships, and in 1620 two English captains formally took possession of the Cape in the name of James I. This patriotic act was not, however, sufficiently appreciated by either King James I. or the English East India Company to evoke any official confirmation on their part. Meanwhile the Dutch East India Company had been formed in Holland, and the Dutch had entered keenly into the competition for the glittering prizes of Eastern commerce. In 1648 one of their ships was stranded in Table Bay, and the shipwrecked crew were left to forage for themselves on shore for several months. They were so pleased with the resources of the country that on.their return to Holland they represented to the directors of the company the great advantages that would accrue to the Dutch Eastern trade from a properly provided and fortified station of call at the Cape. The result was that in 1652 a fort and vegetable 1 The Gate usually assigned (1486), on the authority of De Barros, has been shown to be incorrect (see DIAz) .

gardens were laid out at Table Bay by a Dutch expedition sent for the purpose under a surgeon named Jan van Riebeek. In 1657 a few soldiers and sailors, discharged by the Dutch East India Company, had farms allotted them, and these men constituted the first so-called " free burghers." By this step the station became a plantation or settlement. More settlers were landed from time to time, including a number of orphan girls from Amsterdam, and during1688-1689the colony was greatly strengthened by the arrival of some three hundred Huguenots (men, women and children), who were located at Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Frenchhoek and Paarl. In process of time the French settlers were absorbed in the Dutch population, but they have had an enduring influence on the character of the people. The little settlement gradually spread eastwards, and in 1754 the country as far as Algoa Bay was included in the colony. At this time the white colonists numbered eight to ten thousand. They possessed numerous slaves, grew wheat in sufficient quantity to make it an article of export, and were famed for the good quality of their wines. But their chief wealth was in cattle. Such prosperity as they enjoyed was in despite of the system of government prevailing. All through the latter half of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century troubles arose from time to time between the colonists and the government. The administration of the Dutch East India Company was of an extremely despotic character. The most complete account of the company's tenure and government of the Cape was written in 1857 by E. B. Watermeyer, a Cape colonist of Dutch descent residing in Cape Town. He points out that it was after failing to find a route by the north-east to China and Japan that the Dutch turned their eyes to the Cape route. The Cape of Good Hope subsequently " became not a colony of the Republic of the United Provinces, but a dependency of the ` Netherlands Chartered General East India Company ' for mercantile purposes; and to this fact principally can be traced the slow progress, in all but extension of territory, of a country which was settled by Europeans within thirty years of the time when the Pilgrim Fathers, the founders of a mighty empire, landed at Plymouth to plant democratic institutions and European civilization in the West." On the settlement under van Riebeek, and the position in it which the so-called " free burghers " enjoyed, this candid Dutch writer throws an interesting light.

" The people," he says, " who came here with Riebeek himself were not colonists intending permanently to settle at the Cape.. .. The proposition that any freemen or burghers not in the pay of the company should be encouraged to cultivate the ground was first made about three years after Riebeek's arrival. Accordingly, some discharged sailors and soldiers, who received on certain conditions plots of ground extending from the Fresh River to the Liesbeek, were the first free burghers of the colony.. Here it is sufficient to say that, generally, the term free burgher' was a complete misnomer. The first burghers were, in truth, a mere change from paid to unpaid servants of the company. They thought, in obtaining their discharge, that they had much improved their condition, but they soon discovered the reverse to be the fact. And henceforward, to the end of the last [18th] century. we find the constantly repeated and well-founded complaint, that the company and its officers possessed every advantage, while the freemen were not allowed even the fruit of their own toil.. .. The natural effect of this narrow and tyrannous rule was discontent, amounting often to disaffection. After a time every endeavour was made to escape beyond the immediate control of the authorities. Thus the ` trekking ' system, with its attendant evils, the bane of South Africa, was born. By their illiberal spirit, which sought but temporary commercial advantage in connexion with the Eastern trade, the Dutch authorities themselves, although generally humanely disposed towards the natives, created the system which caused their oppression and extermination." When it is borne in mind that the Dutch at the Cape were for one hundred and forty-three years under the rule of the Dutch East India Company, the importance of a correct appreciation of the nature of that rule to any student of South African history is obvious. No modern writer approaches Watermeyer either in the completeness of his facts or the severity of his indictment. Referring to the policy of the company, Watermeyer says: - The Dutch colonial system as exemplified at the Cape of Good Hope, or rather the system of the Dutch East India Company (for the nation should not wholly suffer under the condemnation j ustly incurred by a trading association that sought only pecuniary profit), was almost without one redeeming feature, and was a dishonour to the Netherlands' national name. In all things political it was purely despotic; in all things commercial, it was purely monopolist. The Dutch East India Company cared nought for the progress of the colony - provided only that they had a refreshment station for their richly laden fleets, and that the English, French, Danes and Portuguese had not. Whatever tended to infringe in the slightest degree on their darling monopoly was visited with the severest penalties, whether the culprit chanced to be high in rank or low. An instance of this, ludicrous while grossly tyrannical, is preserved in the records. Commander van Quaelbergen, the third of the Dutch governors of the colony, was dismissed from the government in 1667, and expelled the service of the company, because he had interchanged civilities with a French governor bound eastwards, the United Provinces being then at peace with France.' Of this nature was the foreign policy of the Dutch company at the Cape of Good Hope; modified, indeed, in some degree from time to time, but governed by principles of jealous, stringent monopoly until the surrender of the colony by Commissioner Sluysken in 1 795. The internal government of the colonists for the entire duration of the East India Company's rule was always tyrannical, often oppressive in the extreme. With proclamations, placaats and statutes abundantly filling huge tomes, the caprice of the governor was in truth the law. A mockery of popular institutions, under the name of a burgher council, indeed existed; but this was a mere delusion, and must not be confounded with the system of local government by means of district burgher councils which that most able man, Commissioner de Mist, sought to establish during the brief government of the Batavian Republic from 1803 to 1806, when the Dutch nation, convinced and ashamed of the false policy by which they had permitted a mere money-making association to disgrace the Batavian name, and to entail degradation on what might have been a free and prosperous colony, sought to redeem their error by making this country a national colonial possession, instead of a slavish property, to be neglected, oppressed or ruined, as the caprice or avarice of its merchant owners might dictate.

From time to time servants in the direct employment of the company were endowed with the right of " freeburghers," but the company retained the power to compel them The Trek to return into its service whenever they deemed it 3' necessary. This right to enforce into servitude those who might incur the displeasure of the governor or other high officers was not only exercised with reference to the individuals themselves who had received this conditional freedom; it was, adds Watermeyer, claimed by the government to be applicable likewise to the children of all such. The effect of this tyranny was inevitable: it drove men to desperation. They fled from oppression; and thus trekking began, not in 1835, as is generally stated, but before 1700. From 1720 to 1780 trekking had gone steadily forwards. In 1780 van Plettenberg, the governor, proclaimed the Sneeuwbergen the northern boundary of the colony, expressing " the anxious hope that no more extension should take 'place, and with heavy penalties forbidding the rambling peasants to wander beyond." In 1789 so strong had feeling amongst the burghers become that delegates were sent from the Cape to interview the authorities at Amsterdam. After this deputation some nominal reforms were granted; but in 1795 a number of burghers settled in the Swellendam and Graaf Reinet districts drove out the officials of the company and established independent governments. The rebellion was accompanied by an assertion of rights on the part of the burghers or freemen, which contained the following clause, the spirit of which animated many of the Trek Boers: That every Bushman or Hottentot, male or female, whether made prisoner by commanders or caught by individuals, as well in time past as in future, shall for life be the lawful property of such burghers as may possess them, and serve in bondage from generation to generation. And if such Hottentots should escape, the owner shall be entitled to follow them up and to punish them, according to their merits in his discretion.

' It was not until the time of Ryk Tulbagh (governor of the colony, 1751-1771) that the Chamber of Seventeen permitted foreign ships to provision at Table Bay. Tulbagh was the most popular of the governors under the East India Company. During his governorship no new taxes were levied on the burghers. He was succeeded by van Plettenberg.

And as to the ordinary Hottentot, already in service, brought up at the places of Christians, the children of these shall be compelled to serve until their twenty-fifth year, and may not go into the service of any other save with their master's consent; that no Hottentot, in future deserting his service shall be entitled to refuge or protection in any part of the colony, but that the authorities throughout the country shall immediately, whatever be the alleged cause of desertion, send back the fugitive to his master.

After one hundred and forty-three years the rule of the Dutch East India Company came to an end at the Cape. What its principles were we already have seen. Watermeyer recapitulates its effects as follows: The effects of this pseudo-colonization were that the Dutch, as a commercial nation, destroyed commerce. The most industrious race of Europe, they repressed industry. One of the freest states in the world, they encouraged a despotic misrule in which falsely-called free citizens were enslaved. These men, in their turn, became tyrants. Utter anarchy was the result. Some national feeling may have lingered, but, substantially, every man in the country, of every hue, was benefited when the incubus of the tyranny of the Dutch East India Company was removed.

To this one further note must be added. The Trek Boers of the 19th century were the lineal descendants of the Trek Boers of the 18th. What they had learnt of government from the Dutch East India Company they carried into the wilderness with them. The end of the 19th century saw a revival of this same tyrannical monopolist policy in the Transvaal. If Watermeyer's formula, " In all things political, purely despotic; in all things commercial, purely monopolist," was true of the government of the Dutch East India Company in the 18th century, it was equally true of Kruger's government in the latter part of the 19th.

The rule of the Dutch East India Company was extinguished (September 1795) by the occupation of the colony by the British, who acted on behalf of the prince of Orange, Holland having fallen under the control of the revolutionary government of France. Following the peace of Amiens the colony was handed over (February 1803) by Great Britain to a commissioner of the Batavian Republic. During the eight years the British held the Cape notable reforms in the government were effected, but the country remained essentially Dutch, and few British settlers were attracted to it. Its cost to the British exchequer during this period was f 16,000,000. The Batavian Republic entertained very liberal views as to the administration of the country, but they had little opportunity for giving them effect. In less than three years (January 1806) the Cape was reconquered by the British, who were at war both with France and Holland. The occupation was at first of a provisional character, but by the third additional article to the convention with the Netherlands of the 13th of August 1814 the country was definitely ceded to Great Britain. In consideration of retaining the Cape and the Dutch settlements now constituting British Guiana, Great Britain paid 6 000 000. The British p title to Cape Colony is thus based upon conquest, treaty and purchase. The wishes of the inhabitants were not consulted, and among them resentment was felt at the way in which their future was thus disposed of. The Europeans at the Cape at that time numbered about 27,000.

Before tracing the history of South Africa during the 19th century, the early relations of the white settlers with the natives may be briefly reviewed. The natives first encountered at the Cape were the Hottentots (q.v.). They at that time occupied the Cape peninsula and sur- the Native rounding country, and in the early days of the settlement caused the colonists a considerable amount of trouble. An extract from the diary of van Riebeek in 1659 will best illustrate the nature of the relations existing between colonists and natives at that time:, 3rd June. - Wet weather as before, to the prevention of our operations. Our people who are out against the plundering Hottentots, can effect nothing, neither can they effect anything against us; thus during the whole week they have been vainly trying to get at our cattle, and we have been trying vainly to get at their persons; but we will hope that we may once fall in with them in fine weather, and that the Lord God will be with us.

Next to the Hottentots the white settlers encountered the Bushmen (q.v.). When first known to the early colonists they were inveterate stock thieves, and were treated as wild animals, to be shot whenever an opportunity occurred.' Such opposition as Hottentots and Bushmen were able to offer to European colonization was not difficult to overcome (see Cape Colony: History). The expansion of the colony was little retarded by native opposition until the Dutch encountered the Bantu negro tribes. As already stated, the Bantus, like the Europeans, were invaders of South Africa, and the meeting of these rival invaders was the cause of many bloody conflicts. At first the Cape government endeavoured to come to an amicable arrangement with the new power threatening its eastern border, and in 1780 it was agreed that the Great Fish River should be the permanent boundary between the colonial and Bantu territories. The Bantus or Kaffirs (q.v.), as they were universally called, then held all the coast-lands between Delagoa Bay and the Great Fish River, and for many years they were strong enough to bar the further progress eastward of the white races. But the agreement of 1780 was impossible of fulfilment. The peace was broken in 1789 by an invasion of the colonial territory by the Kaffirs, and this conflict proved to be but the first of a series of Kaffir wars which lasted for a century. In 1811 it was deemed necessary to expel the Kaffirs from the Zuurveld, and the British headquarters in that campaign became the site of Graham's Town. In1817-1819the Kaffirs returned and laid waste a large area. They were driven back and the country up to the Keiskama River annexed to the colony; but the disaster which nearly overwhelmed the eastern province convinced Lord Charles Somerset, then governor of the colony, of the necessity for a line of frontier forts and a more numerous settlement of Settlers colonists. Representations on the matter in England, coupled with assurances from Somerset as to the fertility of the district, induced the British government to vote £50,000 for the purpose of sending out a number of emigrants, Applications were called for, and no fewer than 90,000 were received. Of these, only 4000 were selected and shipped to South Africa. They were landed in 1820, in Algoa Bay, where they founded Port Elizabeth and the Albany settlement. Among these settlers were a number of married men with families. They were recruited from England, Ireland and Scotland, and came from all grades of society. Among them were cadets of old families, retired officers, professional men, farmers, tradesmen, mechanics and labourers. They encountered many difficulties and some suffering in their early days, but on the whole they throve and prospered. Their descendants, the Atherstones, Bowkers, Barbers, Woods, Whites, Turveys, and a number of other well-known frontier families, are to-day the backbone of the eastern district of the Cape, and furnish the largest portion of the progressive element in that province. Among them was a gifted Scotsman named Thomas Pringle (1789-1834). His poems, including " Afar in the desert I love to ride," depict the scenes of those early days in glowing lines. The vast spaces of the veld, the silence of the solitudes, the marvellous, varied and abundant animal life, the savage, half-weird character of the natives and the wild adventure of the early colonists have been caught with a true spirit of genius. Since his day no one, unless it be Olive Schreiner in The Story of an African Farm, has so vividly painted the life and the atmosphere of that vast continent lying to the south of the Zambezi.

Various Protestant missions had sent agents among the natives during the closing years of the 18th century, and after the definite acquisition of the Cape by Great Britain the number of missionaries in the country greatly increased. Many became pioneers, settling in regions beyond the limits of British jurisdiction. Others remained within Cape Colony, while several were stationed among the Kaffirs along the colonial border. The missionaries from the first often found themselves at variance 1 It appears that the first persons to treat the Bushmen other than as animals to be destroyed were two missionaries, Messrs J. J. Kicherer and Edwards, who in the early years of the 19th century devoted themselves to ameliorating the lot of these aborigines.

with the Dutch and also the British settlers, whose methods of dealing with the natives often deserved condemnation. At this period Dr John Philip, of the London Missionary Society, was the most prominent of the missionaries in the colony, and his influence was powerful with the home government. The publication in 1828 of his book Researches in South Africa had an important effect on the future of the country. The British government adopted his negrophil attitude and made its agents at the Cape conform to it. The equality of all free Hottentots and other free persons of colour with the white colonists was decreed in that year (1820). Philip's action lacked discrimination, and his faith in the natives was excessive. His charges greatly embittered the Boers, who were further aggrieved by the emancipation of the slaves. The Slave Emancipation Act, freeing all slaves throughout the British Empire, came into force in December 1834.2 The slaves in Cape Colony, who consisted of negroes from Mozambique, natives of Madagascar, and of Hottentots and Malays were estimated at the time at 36,000. The Cape governments - both Dutch and British - had been consistently averse from the importation of slaves in large numbers, and the great majority of the slaves were therefore Hottentots. The sum voted by the British government to slave-owners in Cape Colony, out of a total compensation paid of £20,oOo,000, was 1,250,000 (the official estimate of their value being £3,000,000). This money was only made payable in London, and the farmers were compelled to sell their claims for compensation to agents, who frequently paid a merely nominal price for them. In many instances farmers were unable to obtain native labour for a considerable time after the emancipation, and in several cases ruin was the result. A very bitter feeling was thus created among the Dutch colonists.

The championship of the natives by the missionaries led to attacks, in part justified, upon the policy of the missions not only by the Dutch, but by the British colonists. The zeal of the missionaries frequently outran their discretion. This was especially the case in early days. They not only endeavoured to protect and guide the natives beyond the colonial border, but among the Hottentots within the colony they instilled notions of antipathy to the white farmers, and withdrew large numbers of them from agricultural pursuits. Their general attitude may be explained as a reaction against the abuses which they saw going on around them, and to a misconception of the character of the Hottentot and Bantu races. A longer experience of all the African negroid races has led to a considerable modification in the views originally held in regard to them. The black man is not simply a morally and intellectually undeveloped European, and education, except in rare instances, does not put him on an equality with the European. But, admitting all that may be justly urged against the extreme attitude of some of the missionaries, no unprejudiced man will deny that their work on the whole has been a good one. The fair fame of Great Britain has more than once been upheld in South Africa at the instigation and by the conduct of these intrepid pioneers. Robert Moffat and David Livingstone among the Bechuanas, E. Cassalis among the Basutos, Francois Coillard among the Barotse, James Stewart in Cape Colony, to name but a few of the great missionaries, have all had an excellent influence upon the natives. They have (besides their purely spiritual work) opposed the sale of alcohol, denounced inhumanity from the farmers, encouraged the natives to labour and taught them mechanical arts. Technical education, begun about 1840, now occupies a position little, if at all, inferior to that of doctrinal teaching, and the effect is an excellent one. Strong testimony to the beneficial result of their labours was borne by a thoroughly impartial commission, presided over by Sir Godfrey Lagden, which in1903-1905investigated the status and condition of the natives of South Africa.

To return to the period of Dr Philip's activity. 3 Largely upon 2 The slaves, after passing four years in a species of apprenticeship, were finally freed on the 1st of December 1838.

At this time (c. 1815-1840) numbers of persons brought discredit on the missionary cause by their illiteracy, narrow-minded prejudices his advice it was decided to create a band of native states on the northern and eastern frontiers of the colony. These treaty states, as they were called, were intended to serve Treat States double purpose; they would be a barrier protecting the colony from the inroads of hostile tribes, and they would enable native civilized nations to grow up (under the tutelage of the missionaries) strong enough to protect themselves from the encroachments of the whites. In fact, neither of these results followed. With one exception, that of Moshesh, the chief of the Basutos, none of the chiefs with whom treaties were made were men powerful enough to found kingdoms, nor had they, in most cases, any better right than their neighbours to the territory recognized as theirs by the British government. Moreover, to treat these men as independent or semi-independent princes was a complete mistake; the failure of the treaty state system is now seen to have been inevitable. The first treaty of this kind was concluded on the filth of December 1834 with a Griqua chief named Andries Waterboer. This chieftain lived north of the Orange river in the district now known as Griqualand West, and ruled over some 4000 people, a bastard race sprung from the intercourse between Boers and native women. In 1843 two more of these treaty states were established, one under Adam Kok (the third of that name) and the other under Moshesh. Adam Kok had under him a small number of Griquas, who dwelt in the country east of that occupied by Waterboer (see Griqualand). And east of this country, again, was a tract of territory occupied by Basutos under Moshesh. In the same way Pondoland was established as a treaty state in 1844. The distinction between these states must be remembered to understand aright subsequent developments. Moshesh ruled over a region largely mountainous and over a people numerous and virile; Pondoland was somewhat remote and was densely inhabited by warlike Kaffirs; the two Griqua states were, however, missionary creations; they were thinly inhabited and occupied open plains easy of access - hence their ultimate collapse.

The year which witnessed the emancipation of the slaves and the creation of the first treaty state also saw the beginning of another disastrous Kaffir war. Fighting began in December 1834, and lasted nearly a year. The Kaffirs wrought great havoc, and Sir Benjamin D'Urban, the governor, in order to secure peace, extended the boundary of the colony to the Kei river. The Kaffirs had suffered much injustice, especially from the commando-reprisal system, but they had also committed many injustices, and for the disturbed state of the border the vacillating policy of the Cape government was largely to blame. Sir Benjamin's policy - which had the cordial approval both of the Dutch and the British colonists - was one of close settlement by whites in certain districts and military control of the Kaffirs in other regions, and it would have done much to ensure peace. Lord Glenelg, secretary for the colonies in Lord Melbourne's second administration, held that the Kaffirs were in the right in the quarrel, and he compelled D'Urban to abandon the conquered territory, a mistaken decision adopted largely on the advice of Dr Philip and his supporters. Thus at this time (1836) a critical state had arisen in South Africa. The colonists had lost their slaves, the eastern frontier was in a state of insecurity, native interests appeared to be preferred to those of the whites.

The British immigrants of 1820 were still struggling against heavy odds; the Dutch colonists were in a state of great indignation. In these circumstances what is known as the Great Trek occurred. It lasted from 1836 to 1840. During that period no fewer than 7000 Boers (including women and children), impatient of British rule, emigrated from Cape Colony into the great plains beyond the Orange river, and across them again into Natal and into the fastnesses of the Zoutspanberg, in the northern part of the Transvaal.

In view of the vast consequences ensuing from this exodus of Dutch families from the Cape a somewhat detailed consideration and in some cases lax sexual morality. These persons " assumed to themselves the important office of teachers in the missionary schools within the colony." See H. Cloete's The Great Boer Trek, lecture II.

of its causes is necessary. Material for forming a judgment will be found chiefly in the correspondence of Sir Benjamin D'Urban with the Colonial Office, in the statements made by the voortrekkers, and in a series of lectures delivered in Pietermaritzburg in1852-1855by the Hon. Henry Cloete, whose statements as to the causes of the trek were founded on intimate knowledge and are impartially set forth. Piet Retief, the ablest of the leaders of the exodus, on the eve of leaving the colony published a declaration at Graham's Town, dated January 22nd 1837, in which he declared the chief reasons animating the emigrants to be: I. We despair of saving the colony from those evils which threaten it by the turbulent and dishonest conduct of vagrants, who are allowed to infest the country in every part; nor do we see any prospect of peace or happiness for our children in a country thus distracted by internal commotions.

2. We complain of the severe losses which we have been forced to sustain by the emancipation of our slaves, and the vexatious laws which have been enacted respecting them.

3. We complain of the continual system of plunder which we have ever endured from the Kafirs and other colored classes, and particularly by the last invasion of the colony, which has desolated the frontier districts and ruined most of the inhabitants.

4. We complain of the unjustifiable odium which has been cast upon us by interested and dishonest persons, under the cloak of religion, whose testimony is believed in England to the exclusion of all evidence in our favour; and we can foresee, as the result of this prejudice, nothing but the total ruin of the country.' These four points correspond to the " three great grievances " under which the farmers suffered, enumerated by Cloete as (1) The Hottentot Question (i.e. the first and fourth points of Retief's manifesto combined); (2) The Slave Question; (3) The Kaffir Question. Enough has already been said as to the relations between the missionaries, the Boer farmers and the Hottentots; this grievance, however, " proved quite secondary to the intensity of feeling with which the colonists saw the steps taken by the government to deprive them of that labour (slave labour) over which they claimed an unquestionable right of property." 2 Then came the Kaffir War of 1834-1835, the reversal by the home government of the statesmanlike settlement of Sir Benjamin D'Urban, and the refusal of any compensation to the sufferers from the war, whose losses amounted to some £500,000. These, then, were the direct causes of the voluntary expatriation of the majority of the first trekkers, who included some of the best families in the colony, but they fail to explain the profound hostility to Great Britain which thereafter animated many, but not all, of the emigrants, nor do they account for the easy abandonment of their homes by numbers of the trekkers. The underlying fact which made the trek possible is that the Dutchdescended colonists in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the colony were not cultivators of the soil, but of purely pastoral and nomad habits, ever ready to seek new pastures for their flocks and herds, and possessing no special affection for any particular locality. In the next place these people, thinly scattered over a wide extent of territory, had lived for long under little restraint from the laws, and when in 1815, by the institution of " Commissions of Circuit," justice was brought nearer to their homes, various offences were brought to light, the remedying of which caused much resentment. An effort to bring a man named Frederick Bezuidenhout to justice led to armed resistance and finally to the hanging of five men Slachter's Nek in circumstances that made an indelible impression throughout the frontier (see Cape Colony: History). It intensified in the minds of many Boers the feeling of hostility towards the British already existing; some of the trekkers in1836-1840had taken part in and others had passively aided the rebellion of 1815 - " the most insane attempt ever made by a set of men to wage war against their sovereign " (Cloete, op. cit. p. 28). What, however, was probably the most powerful motive of the Great Trek was the equality established by the British between the black and white races. In the eyes of the Boers the possibility of equality between the whites and_the natives was not 1 See F. R. Cana, South Africa from the Great Trek to the Union (London, 1909), pp. 2 952 97 for the full text of Retief's manifesto.

2 See H. Cloete, The History of the Great Boer Trek (London, 18 99), P. 44.

admitted. This sentiment, which found formal recognition later on in the constitution of the South African Republic, was held in fullest force by the voortrekkers. Summing up, it may be said that the exasperation caused by just grievances unremedied was no stronger a motive with the trekkers than the desire to be free from the restraints imposed on British subjects and the wish to be able to deal with the natives after their own fashion.

The departure of so large a number of persons caused serious misgiving both to the Cape and the home governments. The trekkers had been told by the lieutenant-governor of the eastern province (Sir Andries Stockenstrom) that he was not aware of any law which prevented any British subject from settling in another country, and in the words of Piet Retief's declaration they quitted the colony "under the full assurance that the English government has nothing more to require of us, and will allow us to govern ourselves without its interference in future." The British government thought otherwise; they held that the trekkers could not divest themselves of their allegiance to the Crown. Moreover, though the farmers might leave British territory they were still held to be liable to the jurisdiction of British courts. An act passed in 1836 (the Cape of Good Hope Punishment Act) empowered the colonial courts to deal with offences committed by British subjects in any part of South Africa up to the 25th degree of south latitude. Intended by its authors to protect the native tribes from aggression on the part of white men and to check the exploration by Europeans of the lands of the Kaffirs, Bechuanas, &c., the act led in fact to the assertion of British authority in regions beyond the Cape frontier.

B. From the Foundation of the Republics to Majuba. - While the home government was seeking to prevent the expansion of the white races the first steps had been taken by a body of Englishmen to found a new colony at Natal. Since 1824 a few traders had been settled at Port Natal, and in 1834 formal petition was made that their settlement should be recognized as a British colony. The request was refused, and not long afterwards (1837) some of the Dutch emigrant farmers under Retief entered the country by way of the Drakensberg. Retief, like his English predecessors at Port Natal (known also since 1835 as Durban), sought a formal grant of territory from the chief of the Zulu nation, the Zulus being the acknowledged overlords of the tribes living in Natal. Retief and his party were, however, treacherously murdered by Dingaan, the Zulu king (February 1838). Other trekkers followed in the wake of Retief, and attacking Dingaan avenged the massacre.

The Boers then established a republican government at Maritzburg. Though most anxious to avoid any extension of responsibility in South Africa, Great Britain recognized the potential danger arising from the creation of an independent state on the coast. The Boers at first rejected offers of accommodation. Troops were then sent to the country, and finally a settlement was made by Henry Cloete, the British commissioner, with the Boer leaders, and Natal constituted a British colony in 1843. Many Boers, dissatisfied with this arrangement, withdrew beyond the Drakensberg. Natal shortly afterwards received a considerable number of emigrants from England, and the white inhabitants have since been predominantly British. At first Natal was dependent on Cape Colony. In 1856 it was constituted a separate colony, but it did not possess self-government until 1893. A notable departure from the labour policy of the other states was made by Natal in 1860, when Indian coolies were introduced. At the time the matter attracted little attention, but the Asiatic inhabitants speedily increased, and forty years later they outnumbered the whites (see Natal).

It had taken the British government nearly ten years to decide on the annexation of Natal; its policy towards the Boers settled north of the Orange was marked by the same hesitation (see Orange Free State). By 1847, when Sir Harry Smith became high commissioner, the failure of the treaty state policy was evident. Sir Harry, deeming no other course open to him, proclaimed (February 1848) the country between the Orange and Vaal rivers British territory, under the name of the Orange River Sovereignty. Sir Harry had, in the previous December, extended the northern frontier of Cape Colony to the Orange, and had reoccupied the territory on the Kaffir border which D'Urban had been forced to abandon.' The extension of British rule north of the Orange was opposed by Andries Pretorius, who, being defeated at Boomplaats, withdrew north of the Vaal, where, though not interfered with by the British, the Boers split up into several rival parties. In the Sovereignty difficulties arose in defining the reserves of the native chiefs, and with the Basutos there were armed conflicts. The home government (the first Russell administration), which had reluctantly consented to confirm Sir Harry Smith's annexation of the Orange River territory., on learning of these difficulties, and also that many of the burghers remained dissatisfied, changed their policy, and in 1851 the governor was informed that the ultimate abandonment of the Sovereignty was a settled point.2 In fulfilment of their settled policy to keep the British South African dominions within the smallest possible limits, the cabinet decided to recognize the independence of the Boers living beyond the Vaal. This recognition, the necessary preliminary to the abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty; was made in the Sand River Convention on the 17th of January 1852. The Transvaal thus became an independent of the state, or rather it formed a number of mutually jealous communities, and it was not until 1864 that they were all united. Despite their distracted condition the Transvaal Boers had no sooner obtained their independence than they began to make claims to authority in Bechuanaland. But the championship of the Bechuanas by Moffat, Livingstone and other missionaries, and their determination that the road to the interior should not be closed by the Boers, had its effect, and the Boers did not succeed in making themselves masters of the country (see Transvaal: History, and Bechuanaland). The British government meantime pursued its policy of abandonment, and in February 1854, by the Bloemfontein Convention, forced independence upon the people of the Sovereignty, which now became the Orange Free State. A clause was inserted in the Bloemfontein Convention stating that Great Britain had no alliance with any native chiefs or tribes to the north of the Orange, with the exception of the Griqua chief Adam Kok. Numerous protests were made by many of the inhabitants of the Orange River Sovereignty against the abandonment of it by the British government, but the duke of Newcastle, who was then colonial secretary in Lord Aberdeen's administration, replied that the decision was in- evitable (see [[Orange Free State]]).

The abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty marked the close of the eventful period in South African history which began eighteen years before with the Great Trek. At the beginning of that time there was but one civilized government in South Africa - Cape Colony; at its close there were five separate states or provinces, three, the Cape, Natal and British Kaffraria, owning allegiance to Great Britain, and two forming Boer republics - the Transvaal and Orange Free State. While vast additional territories had been occupied by British 'a ' or Boers the unity of administration, which had Policy of marked the previous stages in the expansion of the white races in South Africa, had been lost. Whether or not a wiser policy on the part of Great Britain would have secured the continued allegiance of all the Boers it is impossible to say; the fact that numbers of Boers remained in Natal under British rule, and that the majority of the Boers who settled between the Orange and the Vaal desired to remain British subjects, points to that conclusion. With justice the Boers complained of the course actually adopted by the British authorities. They might at the outset either have let the trek Boers go, and given them their blessing and liberty, or they might have controlled the trek and ' Part of the territory thus reannexed was added to Cape Colony while the region between the Keiskamma and Kei was created a separate territory under the name of British Kaffraria.

2 Despatch of Earl Grey, dated October 21st, 1851, printed in Correspondence Relative to the State of the Kaffir Tribes (C. Feb. 1853).

made effective their contention that the trekkers were still British subjects. As has been demonstrated the action taken was one of vacillation between these two courses, and was complicated by a native policy which, though well intentioned and intelligible, needlessly irritated the white colonists (British and Dutch) and did not prevent bloodshed. In the words of Mr Paul Botha, a Boer writer, England first blew hot and then blew cold. But in 1854 a definite standpoint appeared to have been reached - Great Britain would confine her energies to the Cape and Natal, leaving the republics to work out their own destinies undisturbed. It was at this juncture that Sir George Grey was sent to the Cape as governor. A gifted addressed himself with energy and diligence to the great problems awaiting him. His first care was to ameliorate the condition of Cape Colony. He resolved that in dealing with the natives on the eastern frontier an attempt should be made to civilize them and thus do away with the necessity of periodical warfare. Grey's efforts to promote good government in Kaffraria received unexpected help in consequence of the extraordinary delusion among the Ama-Xosa in 1856, which resulted in the death of many thousands of natives (see Cape Colony: History). Land left derelict was occupied by colonial farmers, and over 2000 German immigrants were introduced by Sir George and settled along the frontier (1858-1859). By this time the colonists of British descent predominated in the eastern provinces - a circumstance which had important bearings on the future of the colony.

Sir George Grey found it impossible to maintain a policy of total abstention from the affairs of the republics. The party in the Free State which had objected to independence being forced upon it was still strong and made overtures for union with the Cape; attempts were also made to unite the Free State and the Transvaal. In the conflicts between the Free Staters and the Basutos Grey's intervention was sought. All the evidence before Sir George, and the study he made of the Boer character, convinced him that the barriers separating the various white communities were largely artificial. He sought to remedy the mistake which had been made, and in 1858 he submitted a scheme of federation between the various South African states. In a memorable despatch to Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, then colonial secretary in the second Derby administration, he wrote (November 19, 1858): When the policy was adopted of dividing South Africa into many states, bound together by no ties of union, it was thought that the mother country derived no real benefit from the possession of this part of the African continent, except in holding the seaport of Simon's Bay.... It was further thought that the occupation by Great Britain of the country beyond the Orange River had been a bubble and a farce, in which the Cape colonists were all interested; for that it was to them a great gaming table and out of the reach of the police.... Although these European countries lying beyond our colonies are treated as separate nations, their inhabitants bear the same family names as the inhabitants of this colony, and maintain with them ties of the closest intimacy and relationship.... I think there can be no doubt that in any great public, or popular, or national question and movement the mere fact of calling these people different nations would not make them so, nor would the fact of a mere fordable stream running between them sever their sympathies or prevent them from acting in unison.... Experience has shown that the views which led to the dismemberment of South Africa were mistaken ones.... What therefore I would recommend would be that ... measures should be taken which would permit of the several states and legislatures of this country forming among themselves a federal union.

When he penned this despatch Grey was well aware of the distraught condition of the Free State and the agitation for a change in its government. He held that the federation of that state with Cape Colony was preferable to its union or federation with the Transvaal, and it was with considerable satisfaction that he learned that on the 7th of December of the same year (1858) the Volksraad of the Free State had passed a resolution in favour of " a union or alliance with the Cape Colony " and sought to ascertain the views of the Cape legislature on the subject. In bringing the matter before the Cape parliament in March 1859 Grey stated that in his opinion it would confer a lasting benefit upon Great Britain and upon the inhabitants of South Africa if it could succeed in devising a form of federal union. Unfortunately, Grey's views did not meet with the - approval of the British government.' Had they been supported it is highly probable that federation would have been effected. But the golden opportunity was lost. When Grey attempted to persevere with his scheme he was recalled. He left Cape Town in August 1859, but on his arrival in England he found that there had been a change of ministry.. The new colonial secretary, the duke of Newcastle, reinstated him, but with instructions not again to raise the federation issue. The first project for reunion thus came to naught, but from that time forward it was recognized in South Africa that federation would afford the best solution of most of the difficulties that beset the country. The Transvaal was perhaps the greatest sufferer through Grey's failure, that country continuing for years in a distracted condition. The Free State, under the guidance of Sir John Brand, who became president in 1864, attained a considerable measure of prosperity. Its difficulties with the Basutos were at last composed, and Moshesh and his people were in 1868 definitely taken under British protection. The policy of non-interference proclaimed in 1854 had proved impracticable, and the annexation of Basutoland was an open confession of the fact. In 1871 the country was annexed to Cape Colony, but its pacification proved a task of great difficulty.

Up to the year 1870 the Dutch considerably outnumbered the British inhabitants; indeed, save in Natal, in the eastern province and in Cape Town, the British inhabitants were cornparatively few. The industries were almost entirely - pastoral, and remained chiefly in the hands of the Dutch. The continual feuds with the Kaffirs, and also the continual desire to trek into new countries, all tended to keep back farming, and the country in the years 1867 to 1870 was in a generally very depressed condition. But in 1870 the era of commercial expansion began. In that year, following smaller finds of diamonds on the banks of the Vaal and Orange rivers, the diamond mines of Du Toits Pan and Bultfontein were opened up. In. 1869 gold had been found in the Lydenburg and Zoutpansberg districts in the Transvaal, and diggers had resorted there from different parts of the world; moreover, in the far interior, in the territories of Mashonaland, Thomas Baines had reported discoveries of gold. Among the purely pastoral population ostrichfarming became a new industry and added a considerable asset to the wealth of Cape Colony. The revenue derived from the export of ostrich feathers in 1899 was recorded at half a million. It was, however, the discoveries of diamonds and gold that chiefly determined the development of the country. A large population grew up, first at Kimberley, afterwards at Barberton, and finally at Johannesburg - a population modern in its ideas, energetic, educated, cosmopolita