A VIEW OF CAPE COLONY.
The original colony was settled by the Dutch as early as the middle of
the seventeenth century. Near the beginning of the nineteenth century it
passed into the hands of the British. The laws, customs, and names of
places remained essentially Dutch, and the language spoken is, to a
great extent, that of the first settlers.
The old colony comprised the section that occupies the most southern
part of the continent of Africa, and borders the Atlantic and Indian
Ocean on either side. Griqualand West has been so recently received into
the family of Cape provinces that it is hardly as yet recognized as
being included in the colony.
The physical features of the country are peculiar. Though intersected by
many rivers, yet the Cape is, practically speaking, a dry country. None
of the rivers are navigable, and the rainfall is scant and fitful over a
large part of the colony.
Generally speaking, the climate of the country is temperate. In most of
the hot valleys, however, the temperature is ovenlike in summer. We must
not forget that the summer season at the Cape occurs during our winter.
On the higher grounds the average temperature in the warmest months
equals that of Italy. In winter the temperature often falls below the
freezing point. Then the air is clear, fresh, and invigorating.
Fevers and epidemics--scourges of most of the sections of Africa--are
here unknown. On the east coast and in the extreme south there is an
abundant fall of rain. The province of Natal is especially fortunate in
this respect.
In the interior of the colony there is less rainfall, while in the
vicinity of the Orange River there are only a few light showers. It has
been asserted that towards the mouth of the river there have been
periods when no rain has fallen for many years.
One writer records the curious fact that the westerly winds which
prevail in the winter season, from April to October, bring rain to the
southeast maritime regions, while on the eastern coast the rainy season
is in the summer, from September to April.
The highest mountain ranges are covered with snow for several months. In
the inland sections frequent thunderstorms occur; these bring brief but
copious falls of rain.
If we should start from the southern portion of the Cape and travel
northward, we should find the country rising in a series of terraces.
These finally culminate in what is known as Spitz Kop, or Compass
Mountain. From this elevation, eight thousand five hundred feet above
the sea, the country gradually declines to the Orange River.
These terraces, on their outer edges, resemble mountain ranges. They run
in a direction from east to west, or, as one writer has described them,
"parallel to the coast and to each other."
The outer, or the seaboard slopes of the ridges, constitute the best
parts of the colony. They are for the most part thickly inhabited. The
chief towns and villages are located here, and the fields of grain, the
vineyards and orchards, and the tobacco plantations have given the
country a well-deserved fame and reputation.
The narrow mountain gorges serve as passageways from one terrace to
another. They bear the name of "kloofs." Their sides are the only passes
into the interior. It is believed that the mountain torrents, which flow
during certain seasons of the year, have worn deep valleys in their
sides, and thus occasioned these kloofs, or mountain passes.
Beyond the Zwartebergen, or the Black Mountain, is the great grazing
district of Cape Colony. It consists of vast undulating plains, and is
known as the Great Karroo.
No trees are found upon the Great Karroo, and but very few shrubs. As
soon as the wet season begins, however, this great district is covered
with rich verdure and a profusion of flowers. Then the flocks of sheep
enjoy all the luxuriance of a paradise of herbage, which clothes field,
valley, and hillside alike.
It is at this season that the Great Karroo seems like a beautiful
garden. One can scarcely believe the testimony of those who, having
visited it a few days before the wet season begins, describe it as a
bare, barren, brown waste.
During the summer months this region is dry and dreary in its character.
Little or no running water is to be found, and only after a
thundershower are the pools filled. For a brief season then the beds of
the streams have running water. They soon run dry, and only by digging
deep down in their beds can a scant amount of brackish water be obtained
to supply both man and beast until the rainy season begins.
Snow rarely falls upon the coast of Cape Colony, and when it does, it
remains but a short time.
The most prominent object seen from Cape Town is Table Mountain, which
rises to a height of over thirty-five hundred feet. The summit is
sometimes covered with a sprinkling of white, but almost before the
people at Cape Town have had time to notice its novel dress, it presents
again its wonted aspect.
Cape Colony is by no means the flat, undulating country that many
writers would erroneously lead us to believe. On the contrary, it is a
wildly picturesque region, with mountainous sections, even, to diversify
its character. Interspersed among bold mountain ridges we find light
upland tracts and broad elevated plains. While, coursing through the
rugged mountain gorges, the drainage of the country finds a path to the
Indian or Atlantic Ocean, and even north to the Orange River, and is
eventually discharged on the barren northwestern coast. Cape Colony can
boast, even within the limits of the sections longest settled by the
white man, some of the most picturesque scenery in the world. Hill and
valley, barren plain and rich woodland, alternate to add beauty to the
landscape.
The rivers of Cape Colony vary as to their extent. The Orange River,
though the largest, is so broken up by the various cataracts as to be
unsuitable for navigation. This is true of many of the other rivers. A
very few of them can be sailed on for a short distance for pleasure,
but so short as to be impractical for navigation or transit.
The general appearance of Cape Colony, like that of the whole of the
South African region, is dry. During the rainy season the orchids and
different bulbous plants give to the ground the appearance of a gayly
flowered carpet. The many varieties of heath, for which the Cape is
noted, lend a most beautiful character to small patches of territory.
The objects which are most striking to the traveler are, however, the
thorny shrubs. These not only manifest themselves to his sight, but to
his sense of feeling, as they come in contact with his skin. Mingled
with these shrubs are various cactuslike plants. These are quite
characteristic of a country where the vegetation must store up moisture
during the abundance of the rainy season for the drought of the dry
season.
Wheat is grown in the richer sections, together with maize, oats,
barley, millet, and Kaffir corn. Rye is raised in some sections, and
rice grows well in some of the best undulated districts. Tobacco is
grown in many sections, and cotton has been introduced as an experiment.
The Cape still continues to be, to some extent, a hunting ground. In the
early days of the colony vast herds of many varieties of the antelope
family, lions, giraffes, rhinoceroses, leopards, hyenas, and jackals,
roamed over it. Now the hunter must seek his game far to the north of
the Orange River.
Ostriches were once common, but are now few. Most of the feathers of
these birds are obtained from beyond the borders of the colony, or from
tame ones kept on farms and reared from eggs heated artificially. The
rearing of ostriches has now become a recognized industry in the Cape.
Many species of venomous snakes are common. Troublesome insects are not
so common here as in other parts of Africa.
The chief industry of the colony is wool raising. It has been estimated
that there are fifteen million sheep throughout the colony. Many of them
are of the Merino breed. These are rapidly displacing the big-tailed
sheep raised by the early Dutch settlers. The Angora goat is kept quite
extensively for the sake of its long silky hair. Cattle of the finest
description are found in every part of the country, the better varieties
having displaced those owned by the natives and early settlers.
Among the commonest sights at the colony are the long lines of wagons,
which lumber slowly over the roads. These are drawn by six, eight, or
even ten yokes of oxen, which subsist upon such scanty herbage as they
can find along the road. Coaches are common, and the many railways now
form a network across the colony. The latter, valuable as they are for
the utility of the country, can never rival the picturesqueness of the
typical Cape wagon, which, doubtless, for many years will continue to be
the most characteristic mode of South African travel.
The history of Cape Colony is one of many vicissitudes. The various
Kaffir wars, nine in all, together with the five seasons of warfare
with the Basuto tribes, were enough to paralyze and cripple the energies
of any government. The peculiar characteristics of the Dutch settlers
were not always pleasing to Great Britain, and she had occasion many
times to exercise her power in sections to which she could lay any
possible claim. Now, however, that the management of their own affairs
has passed into the hands of the Dutch settlers, Cape Colony has made
great progress towards good government and prosperity.
The chief industries still continue to be pastoral and agricultural. In
the vicinity of the Great Karroo grazing plains, agriculture can be
carried on only where there is running water. Consequently, much labor
has been expended in making reservoirs, the waters of which irrigate the
gardens and orchards. The sinking of artesian wells has recently been
attempted, and has proved a successful experiment.
In the districts which adjoin the eastern border, and on the first and
second terraces from the southern coast, where the rainfall is
sufficient for all purposes of agriculture and cattle raising, both
pursuits are followed. While wheat and maize form the principal crops,
oats are raised extensively for horses, and almost every variety of
vegetable and fruit is grown in abundance.
In this portion of the colony, namely the southwestern corner, which was
founded as early as the seventeenth century, the vine, as well as wheat,
is largely cultivated.
In the middle of the present century, rich copper mines were opened in
that portion called Namaqualand. This part of the colony had long been
regarded as the least valuable of any of the provinces.
To quote from Theal's _South Africa_, in the _The Story of the Nations_
series: "It is impossible to give the value of the purely colonial
products, but the quantity from the whole of South Africa exported in
the year that ended on the 30th of June, 1893, was valued at a little
over thirteen and a half million pounds sterling, of which twelve and a
quarter million passed through the ports of Cape Colony, and one million
and a quarter through Durban, Natal."
This same writer tells us: "Of the items that made up this amount gold
was first, being valued at four millions and a half, and diamonds came
next, being valued at nearly four millions. The copper ore exported was
worth over a quarter of a million, and the coal over fifty thousand
pounds.
"These figures, representing nearly two-thirds of the total exports,
show the importance of the mining industry of South Africa, and it must
be remembered that this industry is only in its infancy."
Among the other exports may be mentioned wool, Angora hair, hides,
skins, horns, and ostrich feathers. These have been increased in value
about tenfold since 1850.
Nearly everything in the way of agricultural products is required for
home use. Some fruits and grains are, however, sent out of the country.
Among the agricultural products that find a foreign market may be named
aloes, bark for tanning purposes from Natal, and dried flowers from Cape
Colony. The fisheries, too, not only supply enormous quantities of food
for home consumption, but also export largely to Mauritius. Natal
furnishes also great quantities of sugar.
It is interesting to learn that the supply of fish which the harbor of
Cape Town affords is apparently inexhaustible. Not only is there a great
variety of species, but there are several that are very wholesome and of
a fine flavor.
The Cape salmon, in size and appearance somewhat resembling that of
Britain, and the snook, a voracious marine pike, are both very abundant.
After an excursion of a few hours, boats often return laden with these
fish, which are sold very cheap, and form the principal food of the
colored population. At the west end of Cape Town, fish may be seen
suspended on long lines, as clothes are with us, that they may be dried;
and vast quantities are salted for exportation, Mauritius being the
principal market.
Fishing for snook is a source of amusement. They may be caught while the
boat is in motion, by trailing a leaded hook astern, with some white
streamers of rag attached, or when at anchor, by alternately throwing
the bait to a distance and drawing it quickly back. Penguins, Cape
pigeons, albatross, and some kinds of sea gull, surround the boat, while
flocks of gannets and cormorants fly around the fishermen.
The Cape pigeons are an interesting feature about Cape Colony. They seem
to welcome the arrival of each ship in the harbor, and to take delight
in the sight of mankind about them. After a storm, and when the wind has
subsided so that the surface of the ocean becomes calm, these Cape
pigeons settle upon the water and swim gayly about, like ducks in a
pond, and with as little fear, apparently, of any danger.
It is no uncommon thing for the sailors on board ship to bait their
hooks and catch these pigeons as they would fish. It seems a cruel
sport, yet the rest of the crew will line the side of the ship and find
amusement in watching what they call "the fun" with the poor creatures.
If caught and placed in a hen coop till morning, they will, on being
released, stagger awkwardly about over the slippery deck; for they are
unable to take to the wing unless they can have some good starting
point, as the edge of a ship's railing or the crest of a heaving wave.
In captivity, if kept alone, they are peaceable; but if not in solitary
confinement they are very quarrelsome, and fight continually.
Their powers of flight are somewhat remarkable. When a ship is going at
the rate of two hundred miles a day, the Cape pigeon will hover around
it, sheer off or approach it, and soar aloft or descend, as if the
vessel were absolutely stationary. They really fly without much effort.
It is interesting to watch their flight; for it seems to consist of a
series of maneuvers, as they fly, now against the wind, when they always
ascend, thus taking advantage of its force; now before the wind, when
they descend, that little exertion may be needed to keep them above
water; then, whirling rapidly, like a hawk, to exhaust their speed when
wishing to check their rapid flight.
Very different in character is the albatross, one of the most
conspicuous of the birds which follow the ships that plow the ocean.
When on the wing his appearance is very striking. In solemn, even flight
he soars along with outstretched pinions measuring from fifteen to
eighteen feet between the tips. Scarcely seeming to stir, he appears
rather to float along in his course.
Now and then, with a slow flapping of his wings, he mounts higher into
the air; but he seems to scorn the swift motion and animated flutter
that characterize the movements of other birds.
Like a specter, he sails silently along almost close to you. His still,
motionless form would seem devoid of life were it not that his keen,
piercing eye and an occasional quick turn of the head, which gives him a
sharp, prying expression, betray him.
But, if you wish to see a complete transformation scene, throw a piece
of rusty pork overboard, and the long, curiously crooked beak employs
its enormous strength in a manner very suggestive of life and energy.
Now and then the black petrel, with its piercing eye, darts across the
ship's stern, while the stormy petrel flutters just overhead, yet beyond
the reach of a gun. Truly, the entrance to Cape Colony is as novel as it
is interesting, and is filled with pleasant pictures.