CHAPTER VIII.Port St. Lucia—Zulu Country—Panda—Delagoa Bay—Its Unhealthiness; Causes Examined—Lourenço Marques—Dutch Fort—Tembe and Iniack—British Territory—Fecundity of Boer Females—Products—Transvaal Republic—Mineral Wealth—Future of the Country.
Port St. Lucia—Zulu Country—Panda—Delagoa Bay—Its Unhealthiness; Causes Examined—Lourenço Marques—Dutch Fort—Tembe and Iniack—British Territory—Fecundity of Boer Females—Products—Transvaal Republic—Mineral Wealth—Future of the Country.
After leaving the limits of the Colony of Natal, in proceeding to the northward, the first port which attracts attention is that of Port St. Lucia, in latitude 28° 26′ S., and longitude 32° 26′ E.
This port is admirably adapted for throwing supplies of ammunition, and also useful commodities, into the Zulu country, from which they are carried into the Orange Free State, andthe Transvaal Republic, thereby eluding the custom’s dues payable at the Cape of Good Hope and Natal.
A considerable trade of this description is already established by several mercantile houses at the Cape of Good Hope; and, this fact having become known in London and Liverpool, merchants are naturally inquiring what articles of trade are suitable for a port where no duties whatever are levied, and where the returns of ivory, hides, horns, and hoofs are immediate.[1]
As the colony of the Cape of Good Hope pays annually to the Boers 5,000l.(five thousand pounds sterling) as a compensation for the duties levied on commodities passing through that colony to the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic, it is natural to expect that the revenue of that colony should be protected by obtaining possession of a port at present belonging to no country, and which offers a sore temptation to the Boers, ever on the look-out for an outlet for their productions, without passing through andenriching a country from which theytrecked, in consequence of real or imagined wrongs.
From Port St. Lucia, proceeding northwards, we pass a line of coast, of which we absolutely know nothing, until we arrive at Cape Colatto, in latitude 26° 4′ S., and longitude 33° 1′ E.
The whole of this coast is low, and washed by the gulf stream; and is, for the reasons already given in the previous chapter, well adapted for the growth of cotton. Doubtless, some of the Kaffirs of Natal, seeing the great care devoted to the production of this staple of our manufactures in that thriving and industrious little colony, will communicate the intelligence to their countrymen, and eventually it may be brought to the notice of their chiefs. If Panda, the great chief of the Zulus, was once convinced of the benefits which would arise to his people by the cultivation of this plant, we should hear no more of bloody wars and wholesale massacres in his dominions; for he would soon learn that the increase of his people would be an increase of his own wealth and power.
It would be well to try the experiment bypresenting Panda with a certain number of pounds of cotton-seed, holding out some great inducement for him to return, at the proper season, a proportionate amount of seed-cotton, which might be easily ginned in the colony. A trade of this sort, once established, would tend greatly to the civilization of the whole Zulu Kaffir race, by which they would, under their own chiefs, be turned to agricultural occupations, affording eventually to Natal a large and immediate supply of labour for the soil, which is all that Natal requires to become the great nucleus of civilization in South Eastern Africa.
On Friday, the 10th of July, 1857, the “Hermes” steamed into Delagoa Bay, known in the history of Eastern Africa as one of the most unhealthy parts of that coast. As we propose investigating the causes of this reported unhealthiness, it will be necessary to describe the bay, and then to examine whether the locality or the visitors are to be most blamed for the great fatality which has taken place amongst those who have visited it.
The Bay of Delagoa, formerly called FormosaBay, from the security of the anchorage and beauty of the scenery, is a deep inlet of the Indian Ocean, formed by the stream, known in the Atlantic as the Gulf Stream, constantly setting to the southward along the east coast of Africa.
The abrading influence of this current has been arrested in the south part of the bay by the firmer and loftier formation of the country, assisted by the continual deposits brought down to their mouths by the Mapoota and English rivers, which flow into the south side of the bay.
The current having been deflected thus from the mainland, in its easterly set, while returning to the ocean, has formed for itself a channel, by separating a lofty headland from the main and forming of it the island now called Iniack.
The bay thus forms an arc, on the chord of which may be found large shoals, and even islands, formed by the action of this great stream, and the natural deposits of two large rivers, which discharge themselves into the upper or north-westernportion of the bay, called respectively the Magaia or Esperito Santo, and the King George’s or Manakusi.
The anchorage of the bay lies mainly in the mouth of the English River, which there runs due east and west, and it may, therefore, be imagined how secure is this anchorage, land-locked from all winds, and protected from the sea by a number of islands and shoals placed as natural breakwaters.
Nature could not well have formed a bay more admirably adapted for the purpose of holding communication with the interior of the adjoining country.
To seaward, open on all sides to this bay and the Indian Ocean, forming the southern arm of Delagoa Bay, is Iniack Island, which is 240 feet in height, and shows no indication of a sickly climate; but, on the contrary, has been always used by the natives of the adjoining low country of Tembe (which forms the south side of the bay) as a sanitarium.
Inland, on the north bank of the English River, is a lofty cliff, called Point Rubin, graduallydeclining into the interior to the banks of the adjoining rivers. This would be almost as healthy a locality as the former, although, of course, it would not have the advantage of the pure and bracing breezes from the Indian Ocean.
The remainder of the bay may be pronounced a dead flat, extending into the interior for many miles; and, in viewing the bay, the simplest idea of self-preservation, which, we are told, is the first law of nature, would at once suggest that in such a locality there were only the two above named places for the erection of a town. To make this matter plainer, we have only further to observe that the lowness of the surrounding extent of country, the humid atmosphere arising from the surface of a bay wherein the great Gulf Stream constantly circulates, and the malaria which must naturally arise from the mouths of four considerable rivers discharging the drainage of large tracts of country, and, before disemboguing themselves, traversing flat districts where their streams are sluggish and overcharged with masses of decayed and decaying substances, must naturally lead to a state of the atmosphere, in the bay tending togenerate, with the heat of the climate, those virulent forms of fever known under the name of marsh and putrid.
With the above description of this lovely bay, it will only be necessary to state that the most unhealthy spot has been chosen for the erection of a town; which will at once explain the reason of the unhealthiness of the Portuguese settlement of Lourenço Marques.
This town derives its name from a Portuguese, who first established the ivory trade, at this place, with the natives of the country. It is situated on the north bank of the English River, almost at the foot of the high red cliff which forms the south and eastern face of Point Rubin; consequently, all the heat and glare from this cliff is reflected on the unhappily-situated settlement from sunrise until three o’clock in the afternoon. Between the town and the river there is a high sand-bank, which effectually cuts off the sea-breeze. In the rear of the town there is a swamp, or marsh, which is at once the destruction and salvation of the settlement, for, while its pestiferous breath pollutes the atmosphere, andcauses all in its neighbourhood to breathe the air of death, its slimy nature, depth, and treacherous bottom prevent the onslaught of the natives, with which the Portuguese are constantly threatened; for which reason the only two field-pieces which the garrison possesses are pointed towards this, their best friend and worst foe.
The town consists of a miserable square of squalid-looking houses, surrounded by huts containing the natives whom the occupants of the ruinous-looking habitations have enslaved. This miserable place is protected by a structure, to which is applied the name of a fort, having a large flag-staff, displaying the flag of Portugal, and a few honey-combed guns, which cannot be fired.
The town is filthy in every sense; even the Governor’s quarters being so surrounded with filth and dirt of all sorts, that none but Portuguese and Natives, acclimatized by long usage to the pestilential atmosphere of the place, can approach it without being attacked with fits of vomiting. It is impossible for any one to see the town of Lourenço Marques without being struck with the idea how it is possible for human beings to live there.
I suppose, on the Portuguese first settling in Delagoa Bay, they erected a temporary location on the bank of the river, opposite to where their vessels were at anchor; intending at an early date to remove to the adjoining highland, but that those who were left behind, on their vessels sailing to form the new settlements along the coast, were overtaken by the effects of the malaria of the position which they had first chosen, and that many of them must have fallen victims to this want of foresight in the Commander of the expedition; while the survivors found themselves too enfeebled to undertake the formation of another town in a more healthy locality; and getting gradually acclimatized to the atmosphere of the place, they decided upon remaining where they were.
After the above description of Lourenço Marques, the reader will not be surprised at the unhealthiness of the place, and will seek for its cause, not in the climate of this portion of Africa, but in the locality chosen for this Portuguese settlement. There is a slimy mud bank between Waterloo and Southwark Bridges on the Thames; the occupant of a hut built on that mud bank would, in the height of our summer, be nearly asliable to marsh or putrid fever as the inhabitants of Lourenço Marques.
When the Dutch made their appearance on the East Coast of Africa, they built a Fort on English River, opposite to Lourenço Marques; having only one object in view, namely, the wresting of the valuable commerce, then established, from the Portuguese. To place themselves in communication with the natives, and cut them off from Lourenço Marques, their settlement was opposite to that of the Portuguese, and therefore, was like wise unhealthy. The first Dutch Factory was destroyed by the Natives, who were instigated to this by the Portuguese, at a time when the Dutch were disappointed of reinforcements, and demoralized and enfeebled by the pestilential atmosphere of the malaria district, which circumstances somewhat compelled them to choose, in order that they might break up the monopoly of the ivory trade enjoyed by the Portuguese.
The second Factory of the Dutch was built in the same place as the former one; and this they abandoned on the appearance of the English in these waters.
On the Dutch again becoming masters of the Cape of Good Hope, they found that they could not compete with the English, whose superior manufactures, brought by the Banyans from Bombay to Lourenço Marques, had established a trade with which they could not interfere. That trade has been carried on ever since, but has now dwindled down into utter insignificance, in consequence of the difficulties thrown in the way by the Portuguese officials abandoned to the Slave trade. They obtain sufficient American goods for the ivory trade with the Natives; whilst, by excluding the English, they are enabled to carry on the Slave Trade in complicity with the neighbouring chief who may be paramount at the time; and who, being the victor, has more prisoners to supply the odious traffic by which alone the Portuguese Official may hope to make the means of retiring to his own country.
The Portuguese claims to territory on the East Coast of Africa begin at Lourenço Marques, which is the most southern point on the coast where the Portuguese flag is permitted to fly.
Formerly, the authorities of Lourenço Marquesclaimed the whole of Delagoa Bay; but the southern portion of the bay, comprehending Tembe and its dependency, Iniack Island, having been ceded to Captain W. F. Owen, R.N., by King Keppel, in 1823, we have been in possession of a tract of country which affords us access to the Zulu country by way of the British river Mapoota, while the English River gives us access into the interior, even, it is believed (for this country is very little known), to the Transvaal Republic.
The Boer States of the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic have no port, and consequently no outlet for their commerce. Their products have, therefore, to find their way to the ocean by the harbours of the Cape Colony, or that of Port Natal. To avoid the transit dues of import and export, they have turned their attention to Port St. Lucia, as already stated; but this not altogether suiting their purpose, and being on a line of coast in close proximity to Natal, where they may expect to be checkmated by Great Britain extending her authority to Cape Colatto, they have turned their thoughts more directly toDelagoa Bay; which, from its receiving four large navigable rivers, communicating with the interior and their own States, offers every facility for extending their commerce to the richest portion of Africa. These Boers are very prolific, many of the women bearing upwards of twenty children. I am personally acquainted with three such mothers; and, after a careful calculation, I am inclined to believe that the average of the Boer families is sixteen; and, I may almost say, never less than twelve. It may well be imagined that a people who increase so rapidly, and with whom the south part of Africa is known to agree remarkably, require only an outport to become a mighty nation.
While residing at the Cape of Good Hope, I was informed that the Boers contemplated the purchase of Delagoa Bay; and I am now in a position to state that I know, from undoubted authority, that this arrangement was far advanced.
In the execution of what I conceived my duty to my country, I brought this matter under the notice of Her Majesty’s late Government, recallingthe cession of Tembe and Iniack Island, and pointing out the advantages of establishing a Factory for the purposes of trade, and also a Lighthouse for steam-postal communication on the last named place, which, from the salubrity of its climate and central position, would soon become an emporium for trade. And I am glad to think that I have been thus far successful in upholding the rights of my country and frustrating the Portuguese intentions of selling, and those of the Boers of buying, British Territory.
The Tembe country abounds in Orchella weeds, which were first discovered by a British subject, not more than three years ago.
It may be recollected that, when at Natal, I stated that Mr. G. W. Duncan handed me a letter relative to slaving transactions going on at Delagoa Bay. During the visit of Mr. Duncan to this place, he discovered that the Orchella weed was to be had in enormous quantities on the South, or British, side of the bay. He persuaded the natives to collect some for him, so as to take it down to Natal as a specimen. On his return to Delagoa Bay, wishing to obtain a cargo of this valuableweed from the Zulus living on the British side of the bay, he commenced operations for that purpose; but the Portuguese Governor, Muchado, of the small settlement of Lourenço Marques, built on the opposite side of English River, informed him that such traffic with the natives was forbidden. In the meanwhile, during his stay at Lourenço Marques, a large vessel was filled up with Orchella weeds and ivory, obtained from the Zulus of Tembe. This vessel had been sent for to Mozambique, by Governor Muchado, when informed of the discovery made by the enterprising Englishman from Natal.
Mr. Duncan had the mortification to see his discovery not only seized upon by the Portuguese, but, at the same time that Governor Muchado forbade him to trade with Tembe, he saw a vessel under the Portuguese flag obtaining the weed which he had discovered in British territory. Truth is stranger than fiction. What Mr. Duncan did at Delagoa Bay on a small scale, Dr. Livingstone has done on a grand scale in the interior; both endeavoring to make discoveries for the benefit of the natives of Africa, and the commerceof their own much-loved country, and—mark the sequel—both with the same results.
Dr. Livingstone has opened the Luavo mouths of the Zambesi to commerce. These mouths were known to the Portuguese before, but they were always reported to be impassable; the object of this being that, while the Portuguese Officials kept our Cruisers at anchor off the Killimane mouth of the river, the Slavers might come in and go out by the Luavo mouths. As soon as Dr. Livingstone had pointed out that these mouths were navigable, and proved it by entering the river by one of those mouths, the Portuguese Government immediately decided upon establishing Customhouses on the river. Thus are we prevented from trading with the natives of the country, and from benefiting by the enterprise of our countrymen.
This digression was somewhat necessary, to show how our valuable possession of Tembe has been trifled with by the Portuguese in Delagoa Bay.
The Orchella weed is gathered in bags, and a number of these are placed together under a screw press (with which all vessels in this trade are provided), and formed into bales.
As many of my readers are, doubtless, unacquainted with the properties of this valuable weed, the following brief account of it and its habitat may not be unacceptable:—
Dyer’s Orchella Weed.—This is one of the most valuable of the vegetable products of Eastern Africa, and may be found, in greater or less quantity, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Red Sea.
There are several species or varieties of this lichen; and it has been used, from the most ancient times, for the purpose of supplying a colouring matter.
Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny mention a plant which grew near the ground on the rocks of Crete, and was used for dying purple; the last named of these three ancient writers calls this plantphycos thalassion; while Dioscorides says that some persons imagine that the paint used by women was made from this plant; but he adds that it was a root bearing this name.
Thephycos thalassionof the ancients has been usually assumed to be theRocilla tinctoria; and Bory de St. Vincent even thinks that the ancientsmade their celebrated purple dye, brought from the isles of Elishah, with theR. tinctoria, which he therefore callsR. purpura antiquorum.
In the fourteenth century, a nobleman, named Ferro, or Fredrigo, of German extraction, while travelling in the Levant, discovered that the colour might be extracted from this plant by the action of urine: in the Levant, this plant was calledrespioorrespo, and in Spain,orciglia. Proceeding to Florence, where his family were settled, he made known his discovery, and it was applied to the dyeing of wool. His family was ennobled for this discovery, under the name of Oricellarii, altered to Rucellai, and became greatly enriched in consequence of the monopoly of the importation of this weed, which they had for some generations. From the name Rucellai, the generic term Rocella is supposed to be derived.
All species and varieties of Rocella found in commerce bear the general appellation of Orchella weed; but they are distinguished by the name of the country from which they are exported.
The commercial kinds of Orchella weed may be conveniently arranged in two divisions.
1st. Orchella weeds having a cylindrical tapering thallus—Rocella tinctoria.
Found in the Canary Islands; Western Islands; Cape de Verde Islands; some parts of the coast of Barbary; South America, and the Cape of Good Hope.
2nd. Orchella weeds having a flat (plane) or compressed thallus. These consist ofR. fuciformis, and perhapsR. Montagnei.
Found in Angola (Portuguese Province on the West Coast of Africa); Madagascar; the Portuguese Province of Mozambique, from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay, on the East Coast of Africa; South America; and Pondicherry in India.
There is certainly a third description in commerce, known as mixed Orchella weeds, and consisting of varieties of the foregoing, mixed irregularly.
The second division of these Orchella weeds,R. fuciformis, is the more valuable, and is known in commerce, in its various forms, under the denomination of the country, as already stated, from which it is imported.
Angola Orchella weed;R. fuciformis.Thallusvery flat, seldom exceeding an inch and a-half, or two inches, in length; in breadth (except at the fork or division) rarely more than one-sixth of an inch; colour greenish, or yellowish grey. As a dye stuff, it is the most valuable of all the Orchella weeds.
The above is Dr. Pereira’s description of the Angola Orchella weed, and the Mozambique Orchella weed is exactly the same; the Madagascar being smaller, but in other respects similar to the Angola and Mozambique.
Although the Portuguese have had possessions of immense territorial extent, both on the West and East Coasts of Africa, for more than three centuries, in regions where this weed of the most superior quality abounds, it is only within the last twenty or thirty years that they have brought it into the European market; and, from what I could learn at Mozambique, it is only since the Slave Trade was partially checked in that Province, that the Mozambique people began to export this valuable commodity, viz., subsequent to 1850. It abounds in such quantities along the whole of this coast, that literally fleets may be loaded with it.
As this work is written for practical purposes, I offer no apology for inserting what may hereafter be useful in developing the Resources of Eastern Africa.
Mode of extracting the colorific principles for transport. Dr. Stenhouse suggests the following method:—
Cut the lichens into small pieces, macerate them, in wooden vats, with milk of lime, and saturate the solution either with hydrochloric or acetic acid. The gelatinous precipitate is then to be collected on cloths, and dried by a gentle heat. In this way almost the whole colorific matter can be easily extracted, and the dried extract transported, at a small expense, from the most distant inland localities, such as the Andes or Himalayas. Lime along the whole East Coast of Africa may be made from shells and coral.
The Angola, Mozambique, and Madagascar Orchella weeds, being all of the same variety,R. fuciformis, are found growing on both trees and rocks; while in other places they are found only on trees, or on rocks.
The country surrounding the magnificent Bay of Delagoa abounds in cattle. In the waters of the bay the sperm whale is to be found; and here American whalers generally call, not only for the purpose of fishing the whale, but also of obtaining some of the far famed ivory which finds an outlet from the interior by means of this bay. The rivers abound with hypopotami; and the natives kill them, either by means of pits, which they dig on the banks of the rivers, or by means of large stakes of wood attached to the branches of trees. These stakes are sometimes pointed with the barb of a large iron arrow, or the head of an assigay; and to make them heavy, so as to penetrate the skin of the hypopotamus, the stakes are loaded with stones, which are attached to them. One of the numerous creeping or climbing plants, found in abundance, are used to suspend the stake thus prepared, while the end of the cord or plant is led across the path where the hypopotamus is expected to pass. The natives are aware that the animal does not lift his feet off the ground, and therefore avail themselves of this peculiarity to make him his own executioner.The foot of the beast coming in contact with the cord or creeper, laid across his path, disconnects the loaded stake with its poisoned barb; it enters the back of the hypopotamus, and his fate is sealed.
On other occasions, the Natives in their canoes approach the hypopotamus, and lance their poisoned arrows and assigays at the monster, while sporting in the river. The river horses, feeling themselves wounded, dive to the deepest holes in the river; but they are not lost to the eye of the vigilant savage. To the arrow or lance, firmly imbedded in the body of the monster, a long line is attached, which has on the end of it an inflated bladder, this buoys the spot where the hypopotamus is breathing his last; and in twenty-four hours, or less, according to the potency of the poison used, and the vulnerability of the place struck, the huge carcase floats; when the Natives tow it to the shore, and enjoy the rich repast which their industry and ingenuity has provided for them. The teeth of these monsters are very good ivory. I endeavoured to obtain both here, and also at Killimane, the skeleton of one, pointingout to the Portuguese that the ants would soon clean the bones, if they would pack them up, and send them to me at Mozambique. I even offered a handsome amount for a fœtus, which might often be obtained from the females which they kill, intending to forward it to my friend, Professor Owen. But the truth is, the Portuguese all laughed at the idea of troubling themselves with any specimens in natural history beneath the dignity of man. Of man in all his varieties, male and female, and of all ages, from lisping infancy to decrepid age, I could have had any number at my own price; frequently for two dollars per specimen, and sometimes even for half that price.
Rice, Indian corn, or mealies, milho (small grain for the use of the slaves), simsim seed, yams, cassava, &c., and nearly all the European vegetables, will grow well and abundantly, if sown in a shady place, under lofty trees, and well watered. Potatoes, when a foot above the ground, ought to have the plant broken, not off, but so that it will lie on the ground; this will promote the growth of the bulb; otherwise the plant wouldgrow to a great height at the expense of the root. English and Mapoota Rivers are both said to take their rise in the Transvaal Republic, the following brief notice of which may not be unacceptable to the reader anxious to obtain an insight into the riches of a hitherto unknown country.
The Transvaal Republic is divided into six principal divisions, viz.:—
1. Potchefstroom, or Mooi River Drop, which is the capital of the Transvaal Republic, said to be a village of some extent, but as yet thinly built upon. It is watered by the Mooi River, a narrow and rapid stream, said to take its rise about fifteen miles above the town, and to flow into the Vaal River, about twenty miles after passing the town. This district is not reported as being very inviting to emigrants.
2. Pretoria Philadelphica, situated on the south side of the Magaliesberg, or Eushan Mountains, contains only seven houses, and yet is said to have as numerous a population as any other district in the Republic. It is spoken of as the most salubrious, picturesque, and productive of the Transvaal districts.
3. Rustenberg is situated on the north of the Magaliesberg, and lies about seventy miles west by north from Pretoria Philadelphica. This is a most fruitful district, but like most of those situated to the northward of the Magaliesberg Mountains, it is excessively hot in the summer season; very trying to adults, and although not fatal to children, yet during the hot season there is much sickness among them.
4. Zoutpansberg is the northern boundary of the Transvaal country. The southern side of the mountain has a climate similar to that of Rustenberg, but to the northward of the mountain the climate is said to be bad. Persons crossing it, in the summer months, have been frequently attacked with fever of a very pernicious character; and, it is said, have brought yellow fever into the small village of Schoemansdel, which lies under the mountain. In consequence of this a law has been passed that no one shall cross the mountain between the months of October and May. This district seems principally inhabited by ivory hunters, who have not as yet been compelled to turn their attention to the soil.
5. Waterberg is situated between Pretoria and Zoutpansberg, at a distance of about seventy miles from the former, in a northerly direction. It is said to be very beautiful, more especially the more mountainous portions of it. The climate is similar to that of Rustenberg.
In this district, horse sickness, which is at times so destructive at the Cape and Natal, appears to be very prevalent. To the Boers, who may be said to be always in the saddle, this is very distressing, and a great drawback to the other advantages of the district. Even horses which have had the sickness at Natal, and are therefore considered proof against it, and are termed “salted horses,” here suffer as if they had not been seasoned. But those which have been “salted” in the neighbouring Orange Free State are said to be proof against the horse sickness in this district.
A horse, which at Natal might be purchased for from ten to twelve pounds sterling, will consequently bring from sixty to eighty pounds if properly salted.
6. Zuiker Bosch Rand is a hilly district, lyingabout twenty miles north of the Vaal River. It is said to be the highest land in the Transvaal country, and therefore one will not be surprised to hear that it is the most healthy. Sheep do here remarkably well, and some quantity of wool is produced; while horses are as healthy on the highest portions of the district as at Natal.
The Transvaal country has been long celebrated for abundance of game; but here, as in the other portions of South Africa, it is rapidly disappearing, and, before the end of this century, will probably be one of those things which have been.
In the more southerly or cooler districts, that is to say, in Potchefstroom, or Mooi River Drop, and Zuiker Bosch Rand, the white-tailed gnu, blesbok, sprigbok, hartebeest, are still numerous; whilst toward the source of the Vaal River elands and the common quagga are met with.
North of the Magaliesberg the roybok or pallah, the brindled gnu, springboks, zebras, giraffes, rynosters, hartebeest, bastard hartebeest, khooder, waterbuck, gemsbuck, the harris, or zwart wit-pens buck, the striped eland, discovered by Livingstone on the Shesheke, the buffalo and theelephant, are still to be found within the Transvaal territory.
The government, foreseeing the rapid disappearance of the game, has passed a law forbidding any one to waste the flesh of any wild animal, under a penalty ranging from three to fifteen pounds for each offence, according to the size of the animal. It is hoped that this will check the indiscriminate slaughter carried on to obtain the skins of the animals.
Immediately to the north of the Transvaal country, the elephant is found in plenty. During the summer months, Tetse fly and yellow fever take up their abode in the northern side of the Zoutpansberg; but about the middle of May, when the fever has disappeared, the hunters of the Transvaal set out on foot, accompanied by Kaffirs to carry their guns, ammunition, and provisions, and to bring in the ivory and rhinoceros’ horns.
Boers, from the age of fourteen to that of even seventy, may be seen engaged in the hunt; and it is said that one William Fitzgerald, an Englishman, carries off the palm as being the most fearlesshunter in the Transvaal country. It is stated that last year he remained in the veldt without cover for nearly three months, during which time he was accompanied by two half-castes in his employ. These three are said to have killed, during that period, seventy elephants, the tusks of which weighed upwards of 3,000 lbs. This man has, during twelve years as a hunter, encountered as marvellous adventures as Gordon Cumming, which some day he may communicate to the world.
In the Transvaal, wheat and other cereals thrive well. Tobacco is produced in large quantities. All the fruits of the temperate zone are said to be abundant; while, in the Magaliesberg district, oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, peaches, apples, pears, apricots, with musk and water melons, may be had in any quantity.
A Boer, of the name of Roos, has been growing the sugar-cane to the north of the Magaliesberg, and has succeeded in making sugar.
The country is reported to be almost as well watered as Natal; and that, we know, has a stream about every four miles.
The much-disputed source of the Limpopo is now said to be in the Web Water Rond, a range of hills running parallel to Magaliesberg; Elephant River is stated to run into the Maputa, or English River, both of which discharge themselves on the south side of Delagoa Bay.
Apies River and Pienaars River are reported as running into the Limpopo, near the boundary of the district of Rustenberg, on the confines of the Transvaal; while the Limpopo is thought to be the Manakusi, or King George’s River, running into the north part of Delagoa Bay.
The country of the Transvaal is rich in mineral productions. The rocks are primary, with but here and there a superstratum of lime-stone. A German miner, Dr. Dousterswivel (?), has succeeded in persuading the Government that he can make a lead mine pay, and is working it for the benefit of the state. Copper and plumbago are to be found there in great quantity, and also in close proximity to Delagoa Bay. Already the Transvaal republic supplies the Orange Free State, and also Natal, with grain; and, when wellgoverned, its destiny, whether as an independent state, or one of the future federated South African states, under British protection and rule, must be great.
The recent expedition of the British cutter, “Herald,” up the Manakusi river, has shown its capabilities for navigation and commercial intercourse with the interior; and, if it should be proved that this is the outlet of the Limpopo, it is not the miserable hybrids at the Portuguese factory of Lourenço Marques who will prevent British traders establishing themselves on some healthy elevation in Delagoa Bay.
The value of the exports of these industrious Boers, in a few years, when they have settled themselves, and turned their attention to the riches of the soil, both on the surface and below it, may be estimated from the fact that, last year, in the short space of three months, the ivory obtained by the Boers, in Zoutpansberg alone, was computed at 60,000 pounds weight Dutch, or nearly thirty tons.