THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.
To the north of the Orange Free State lies a country known as the South
African Republic, or, more familiarly, the Transvaal.
The Transvaal remained undisturbed as a Dutch republic until the year
1877. In that year, however, it was formally annexed to the British
possessions as a crown colony.
The Transvaal was established as early as the year 1841 by Boers, who
had become discontented with English rule. It is doubtful whether
England would have made any effort to annex so undesirable a colony,
with its unsettled, turbulent government, had not an impending war with
the natives threatened to involve her also in the quarrel.
Certain it is that the fate of so unimportant a country as the Transvaal
was a matter of small concern until it became a recognized fact that the
natives on the border of the Transvaal meditated a descent on this
thinly populated country. The ultimate result of such an attack was only
too apparent, and the outlook most unpromising for England.
Self-preservation is one of the recognized laws of nature. Hence, in
self-protection the Transvaal was annexed to England.
In 1880 the Boers took up arms against England. After many little
events, which we need not dwell upon, had taken place, a convention was
concluded in August, 1880, and the South African Republic was again
constituted under the protection of the British crown. Under this new
condition the country became exceedingly prosperous.
The area of the South African Republic, or Transvaal, is not much less
in extent than Great Britain or Ireland.
The white population does not exceed fifty-five or sixty thousand. It
must be remembered, however, that this population is but a small
proportion of the people who inhabit the country; for there are two
hundred and seventy thousand Zulus and other Kaffir tribes, in addition
to the white men.
The white settlers are scattered all over the country. They live in
isolated family groups, each family living in the center of a huge farm
of from six to ten thousand acres. In fact, the family life of the South
African farmer of Dutch descent follows the universal custom which
resembles the patriarchal system as described in the Scriptures.
Recently, gold, both in alluvial deposits and in the reefs of quartz,
has been discovered. These deposits have been worked with profit in
several districts. Silver, lead, copper, cobalt, iron, and coal are all
plentiful.
Generally speaking, the average Boer cares very little for any other
occupation than farming. He has little or no aptitude for commerce, and,
in consequence, in the various commercial settlements with which the
country is dotted there is little that is Dutch except the names of the
towns; for the inhabitants are mostly English merchants, and the
shopkeepers are invariably English.
There are a few Germans in the Transvaal; but, as in the Orange Free
State, the population is essentially Dutch. In the rural districts it is
almost without exception of that nationality.
Compared with the Orange Free State, this country is more favorable for
a large population than one might suppose, for its general features and
climate are to its advantage.
Like the Orange Free State, the Transvaal is an elevated pastoral
plateau, or series of plateaux, broken by low ranges of hills. On the
west it has for its boundary the country which gradually merges into the
Kalahari Desert. Towards the north, along the Limpopo River, the country
has a partially tropical character.
A range of hills, which forms the southern edge of the plateau, is known
as the High Veldt, or Field. It comprises an area of about thirty-five
thousand square miles, composed chiefly of pastoral land, having an
elevation of from three thousand to eight thousand feet above the sea.
This section, necessarily, must possess a bracing climate, and is, for
the most part, well watered in the summer, but dry during the winter
months. We must remember how the seasons are reversed in Africa, hence
winter would extend from March or April to October.
Several detached ranges of hills join with the Drachenberg Mountains on
the northeast to form the region known as the Middle Veldt. This
occupies about twenty-five thousand miles of broken country, intersected
with kloofs, or gullies, and many valleys. It is well suited in some
portions for the cultivation of grain and other crops of the temperate
climates. As a rule, it has not the extent of open country which would
fit it for grazing purposes on a large scale.
The Low Veldt, or Bush country, is the region on the north in the
direction of the Limpopo River. It rarely has an elevation of more than
from two to four thousand feet above the sea.
It is in this section that the usual characteristics of the Transvaal
disappear and the features of the hot lands of the north become
noticeable.
Mimosa groves and thorn thickets become so numerous as to be
disagreeable features in the landscape. The climate, too, changes its
character; hitherto it has been healthy; it now becomes malarial,
particularly during the rainy season, which takes place in the summer
months.
It seems quite probable that, were it not for the nature of the country,
the Transvaal would possess a semi-tropical climate throughout, since
its extension northward places it among countries which, farther to the
east or to the west, are hot and pestilential.
The Vaal and the Limpopo are the chief rivers. Neither of them is
navigable. During the dry season both rivers are interrupted to such an
extent by shallows, rapids, and sand bars as to be useless for purposes
of transport even in small boats.
To a certain extent agriculture is pursued in the Middle Veldt. The
pasturing of vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, and the caring
for droves of pigs and the rearing of horses, constitute the great
occupations of the Transvaal Dutchmen.
The horse disease, a kind of low fever, is a sad pest. In the summer
time it is especially prevalent in localities near standing water.
Hence, during the summer months the horses are removed to the high hills
for safety. Animals which have had the disease and have recovered bring
high prices. The country phrase in speaking of such a horse is that it
has been "salted."
Dogs which are English-bred rarely survive long in the climate of the
Transvaal. In the low-lying regions to the north the bite of the tsetse
fly is fatal to horses and to other domestic animals. Throughout a large
portion of Africa this fly is a terrible scourge to the farmer.
Livingstone thus describes it: "It is not much larger than the common
house fly, and is nearly of the same brown color as the common honeybee;
the after part of the body has three or four yellow bars across it; the
wings project beyond this part considerably, and it is remarkably alert,
avoiding most dexterously all attempts to capture it with the hand at
common temperatures; in the cool of the mornings and evenings it is less
agile.
"Its peculiar buzz when once heard can never be forgotten by the
traveler whose means of locomotion are domestic animals; for it is well
known that the bite of this poisonous insect is certain death to the ox,
horse, and dog.
"A most remarkable feature in the bite of the tsetse is its perfect
harmlessness in man and wild animals."
At one time in the history of the country, lions, elephants, giraffes,
buffaloes, and ostriches were common in every part of it.
In the process of settlement the haunts of these animals have been
disturbed, and the raids of the hunters have driven them northward or
into the more inaccessible parts of the Veldt mountains.
Herds of antelopes, zebras, quaggas, springboks, and other wild beasts
are, however, still to be found, and furnish a large portion of the
farmers' supplies of animal food.
The Bush Veldt is the least settled portion of the country. Still, even
here a few planters find it profitable to grow coffee and the sugar
cane.
A greater number of these planters are settled in the Middle Veldt. They
are engaged in mixed farming, wheat growing, and other pursuits. Stock
keeping is the principal occupation, however.
Various metals are known to exist. Four years after the republic was
established, extensive and rich gold fields were discovered in the
district of Leydenburg, and a little later in the highland that forms
the watershed between the Vaal and the Limpopo rivers. Long before this,
gold mines had been worked in different parts of the country; but the
amount of metal procured was not of sufficient quantity to attract
attention.
People soon began to migrate from all parts of South Africa and from
Europe in search of the hidden treasure. A settlement named Barbertown
was built in the center of the eastern mining district, and for some
months was one of the busiest places in the country. Not long after,
most of the inhabitants removed to the more important fields of the
Witwatersrand. Here the city of Johannesburg arose, as if by magic, and
streets lined with handsome, substantial buildings, with all modern
appliances, added character and beauty to the town.
The South African Republic possesses an abundance of a good quality of
iron. In fact, the supply of iron ore is almost limitless. Silver,
copper, lead, and several other minerals are also found to quite an
extent.
A railway will shortly be completed from Pretoria to Delagoa Bay, with a
branch line to Barbertown. The railroad to Delagoa Bay will open the
republic to many favorable conditions and opportunities. Even at the
present time good carriage roads cannot be said to exist. Those
dignified by the name of roads are mere wagon tracks.
A line of railroad from Pretoria to Vereeniging on the Vaal River,
passing through Johannesburg, is now open. At Vereeniging it is
connected with the Great Trunk line through the Orange Free State,
which branches off to the three chief ports of Cape Colony. From
Krugersdorp there is a railway through Johannesburg to the Springs. This
passes over a great coal mine, which supplies fuel to the city itself
and to the quartz-crushing machinery along a route of fifty-four miles.
With railroads at its command, the South African Republic must needs
have a brilliant future.
It is rather a curious fact in the history of the country, that as soon
as the unbeaten tracks were opened to civilization and cultivation they
became freed from malarial fevers. This was particularly noticeable
along the borders of the forests and the streams in the lowlands. In
course of time vast tracts north of the Vaal became the property of the
emigrant farmers, who had been attracted by the facilities for grazing
and stock-raising.
As the large game, becoming alarmed, fled from the presence of man, who
had invaded their haunts, the dreaded tsetse fly, which had been so
numerous as to threaten the extinction of the herds of cattle, also
disappeared, much to the delight and satisfaction of the farmers. Hence
the republic holds many attractions for the would-be settler, now that
its chief plagues no longer have an existence.