in, before which we were carried with great velocity, and in the
afternoon saw the remains of the cross erected by Bartholomeu Dias
at the southern extremity of Angra Pequena. Passing by it we (H.M.S.
_Barracouta_) anchored in the bay, where, although the wind was
directly off shore, yet such was its violence that the whole surface
of the water was one vast sheet of foam. Some officers landed with
Captain Vidal, for the purpose of examining the cross, and obtaining
the latitude and longitude of the point. They found the sand very
painful to the eyes, being swept from the surface of the rocks, and
almost blinding them as they proceeded to the summit of the small
granite eminence on which Bartholomeu Dias erected his cross, as a
memento of his discovery of the place. This is said to have been
standing complete forty years back, but we found that it had been
cast down, evidently by design, as the part of the shaft that had
originally been buried in the rock remained unbroken, which never
could have been the case had it been overturned in any other way than
by lifting it from the foundation. The inducement to this disgraceful
act was probably to search for such coins as might have been buried
beneath the cross; and it is probable that the destroyers, in order
to make some little amende for their desolation, re-erected a portion
of the fragments, as we found a piece of the shaft, including the
part originally placed in the ground, altogether about six feet in
length, propped up by means of large stones, crossed at the top by a
broken fragment, which had originally formed the whole length of the
shaft. This was six feet above ground, and twenty-one inches beneath,
composed of marble rounded on one side, but left square on the other,
evidently for the inscription, which, however, the unsparing hand of
Time, in a lapse of nearly three centuries and a half, had rendered
illegible. In descending by a different and more craggy path, the
party suddenly came upon the cross; this was sixteen inches square,
of the same breadth and thickness as the shaft, and had on the centre
an inscription, but, like the other, almost obliterated.”--_Narrative
of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar,
performed in H.M. Ships Leven and Barracouta under the direction of
Captain W. F. W. Owen, R.N._ Two demi octavo volumes, published in
London in 1833. The extract given above is to be found in Vol. II,
pages 269 and 270. Two fragments of the pillar are now in the museum
in Lisbon, and one is in the South African museum in Capetown.
[9] The probabilities are that they did not, otherwise the information
they carried back would have been regarded as much more important
than it was considered to be by the king and by all the writers of
the time. Ptolemy’s map, on which Africa was made to turn like a horn
and project so far to the eastward as to enclose the Indian ocean,
was still treated with respect, and the discoveries of Dias seemed
at the time as if they tended rather to confirm than to refute this
geographical feature. According to the view of those who regarded
Ptolemy and Edrisi as safe guides, Dias had sailed along the southern
side of the horn, without finding its end, and therefore had not done
much more than Diogo Cam and other previous explorers. To-day, with
our knowledge, his feat is regarded very differently, but neither the
king nor the people considered at the time that it entitled him to any
special reward or mark of favour.
[10] The factory of São Jorge da Mina was established in January 1482
by Diogo d’Azambuja, and was the first permanent Portuguese settlement
on the western coast of Africa, and the centre of the trade in gold.
It was wrested from the Portuguese by the Dutch in 1637, and was
held by them until April 1872, when it was transferred to England in
exchange for some other territory on the coast. It is now known as
Elmina.
[11] Called João Pires, of Covilhão, by Damião de Goes, Pedro de
Covilhão by Castanheda and Barros. Modern Portuguese writers follow
De Goes in the name. See the _Indice Chronologico das Navegações,
Viagens, Descobrimentos, e Conquistas dos Portuguezes nos Paizes
Ultramarinos desde o Principio do Seculo XV._ Lisboa, 1841. João Pires
on page 69. Barros says of him: “The king, seeing how necessary an
acquaintance with the Arabic tongue was for this journey, sent upon
this business one Pedro de Covilhão, a gentleman of his household who
was well acquainted with it, and in his company another named Affonso
de Paiva, and they were sent from Santarem on the 7th of May of the
year 1487.”
[12] Probably a misprint.
[13] The German Emperor has since caused an exact copy of it to be
erected, substituting granite for marble.
[14] The particulars of this event cannot be ascertained, and it would
even be doubtful whether Mondragon really rounded the Cape of Good
Hope if it were not expressly stated in a summary of the directions
issued by the king for his capture that the robbery of Queimado’s ship
took place “no canal de Moçambique.”
[15] I do not mention Sir John Mandeville in the text, because modern
criticism has proved that what he states concerning India in his
book _The Voiage and trauayle of syr John Maundeuille, knight, which
treateth of the way toward Hierusalem, and of maruayles of Inde, with
other Ilands and Countryes_ was compiled from earlier foreign writers,
though his work was regarded as genuine and trustworthy by Englishmen
until recently. Nothing is known of him from contemporary records, and
it is even regarded as possible that Mandeville was a pseudonym. In
his book he states that he was born at St. Albans, and travelled in
the east as far as China between the years 1322 and 1357. It is now
believed that he really visited Palestine, and his account of that
country is considered as partly based on personal observation, but
the remainder of the volume is spurious. The original was written in
French. See the _Encyclopedia Britannica_, article Mandeville. Of the
numerous copies of the book, in many languages, in the library of the
British Museum, the earliest was printed in 1480.
[16] This sketch is drawn chiefly from Motley’s _Rise of the Dutch
Republic_ and his _History of the United Netherlands to the Twelve
Years’ Truce_--1609, the _Geschiedenis des Vaderlands_, by Mr. W.
Bilderdyk, edited by Professor H. W. Tydeman, seven octavo volumes,
issued at Amsterdam in 1832 to 1853, _History of the People of the
Netherlands_, by Petrus Johannes Blok, Ph.D., four demi octavo volumes
(English edition), published at New York and London, 1898 to 1907,
(another volume still to appear), _Handboek der Geschiedenis van het
Vaderland_, by Mr. G. Groen van Prinsterer, two octavo volumes (second
edition), issued at Amsterdam in 1852, _Histoire de Belgique_, by
Professor H. Pirenne, of the University of Ghent, second edition of
Vol. I published at Brussels in 1902, Vol. II published at the same
place in 1903, and Vol. III in 1907, (other volumes still to appear),
and _The History of Belgium_, by Demetrius C. Boulger, published at
London in 1902. Some other works consulted will be mentioned in notes.
[17] “Belgium ofte Nederland werdt ghemeynelijck verdeelt in
zeventhien Provincien, meer om dat de Princen daer over regierende,
seventhien Tytelen van de selve hebben ghevoert, als om andere
merckelijcke redenen. Want op de ghemeyne vergaderinghen ende
by-een-comsten der Staten van den Lande, en pleghen de selve in
soodanighen ghetalle niet te verschijnen, maer sommighe sorteerden
onder andere, als by exempel: Het Hartoghdom van Limborch met syn
appendentien: item het Marck-Graeffschap des H. Rycx ofte van
Antwerpen stemden ende contribueerden onder Brabandt, ’t Graeffschap
Zutphen maeckte het vierde Quartier van Gelderland: Daer-en-tegens
Doornijck ende het Doornijcksche Landt: Item Rijssel, Douay ende
Orchies (synde andersints Steden ende Leden van Wals-Vlaenderen)
hadden hare stemmen in het bysonder, ende contribueerden apart: Het
selve gheschiede oock met Valencyn, dat nochtans een Stad ende Lidt
van Henegouwen is.” _Atlas of Mercator and Hondius_, edition published
at Amsterdam in 1633. This superb atlas contains a double page map of
all the provinces and no fewer than thirty maps of different sections.
A copy obtained by me in Holland is in the South African Public
Library.
[18] See the superb _Atlas_ of Ortelius, published at Antwerp in 1570.
A copy obtained by me at the Hague is now in the South African Public
Library. This atlas contains a map of the whole provinces and separate
maps of Holland, Zeeland, the Frisian provinces, Flanders, and
Brabant. A comparison of the map of the provinces with one of Holland
and Belgium to-day will show the great changes that have taken place
in the interim.
[19] See Blok’s _History of the People of the Netherlands_, Vol. II,
page 263.
[20] There was in the south the large province of Liege, nominally
a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, under the government of a bishop,
but it was not counted with the others, though enclosed by some of
them. It had been conquered by Charles the Headstrong of Burgundy,
but on his death became independent again, and maintained a perfect
neutrality thereafter, though its borders were not always respected by
contending armies. It remained an independent principality until it
was annexed to France on the 1st of October 1795, and in 1814 for the
first time was joined to the other provinces to form the kingdom of
the Netherlands. When Belgium seceded and secured its independence in
1831 Liege became one of its provinces.
[21] The greatest of the southern dioceses was Liege, whose bishop was
first settled at Tongres, then at Maastricht, and from A.D. 708 at
Liege. In the tenth century the bishops of Liege and Cambrai obtained
rights as counts over extensive domains.--BLOK.
[22] The word “king” is used as a convenient one, though Philippe was
not _king_ of the Netherlands. He was duke of one province, count of
another, lord of the next, and so on, but under these titles he was
sovereign of them all.
[23] Blok gives the number, according to a statement of Requesens, as
six thousand.
[24] This differs slightly in detail from the account given by Motley,
whose authority is so high that it is with reluctance I do not adhere
to it in every particular. In this instance I follow the Life of
Boisot, as given in _Leeven en Daden der Doorlughtige Zee-Helden_, a
quarto volume issued at Amsterdam in 1683.
[25] The treaty contained thirty articles. It is to be found on
pages 83 to 88 of Volume II of _A General Collection of Treatys,
Manifesto’s, Contracts of Marriage, Renunciations, and other Publick
Papers, from the year 1495, to the year 1712_, second edition
published in London in 1732.
[26] See pages 89 to 91 of the volume of _Treaties, etc._, already
referred to.
[27] Page 92, Vol. II of the _Collection of Treaties, etc._, already
referred to.
[28] _General Collection of Treaties, etc._, Vol. II, pages 103 to 119.
[29] _General Collection of Treaties, etc._, Vol. II, pages 120 to 127.
[30] _Collection of Treaties, etc._, Vol. II, pages 128 to 146.
[31] The account of these voyages is taken from _Begin ende Voortgangh
van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost Indische
Compagnie, vervatende de voornaemste Reysen by de Inwoonderen
derselver Provincien derwaerts gedaen_. Two thick volumes, published
at Amsterdam in 1646.
[32] The accounts of the voyages that follow have been taken by me
from the volumes _Begin ende Voortgangh_ already mentioned, and
François Valentijn’s _Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien_, five huge volumes
published at Amsterdam in 1726, checked by the narratives in the first
three volumes of J. K. J. de Jonge’s _De Opkomst van het Nederlandsch
Gezag in Oost Indie_, published at the Hague and Amsterdam in 1862-65.
I also made use of the last volume of Diogo de Couto’s _Da Asia_, in
order to get the Portuguese version of these events, but obtained very
little information in it. His work ends with an account of a Dutch
disaster at Achin before the principal voyages were undertaken. Of
course the Dutch were to him pirates and rebels.
[33] It is attached to the original journals, now in the archives
of the Netherlands. I made a copy of it on tracing linen for the
Cape government, as it differs considerably from the chart in the
printed condensed journal of the voyage. In other respects also the
compilation of the printed journal has been very carelessly executed.
[34] See the last two volumes of De Couto’s _Da Asia_.
[35] The first Buddhist commandment, as given in _The Light of Asia_,
reads:
“Kill not, for pity’s sake, and lest thou slay
The meanest creature on its upward way.”
[36] Albert died in 1621 and Isabella on the 30th of November 1623,
and as they left no children, in 1624 Belgium passed again under the
direct government of Spain. By the treaty of Baden on the 7th of
September 1714 it was ceded to the emperor Charles VI, and thereafter
was generally termed the Austrian Netherlands.
[37] Sections III, XLIX, and L of the treaty of Munster, pages 335 to
367 of Vol. II _General Collection of Treaties, &c._
[38] See pages 188 to 202 of Volume II of _A General Collection of
Treaties, &c._
[39] See _A Voyage to East India, &c._ by the Rev. Edward Terry.
London, 1655.
[40] The name of the Welshman is not given in the _Report on
Manuscripts in the Welsh language_ by the Historical Manuscripts
Commission (Vol. I, Part 3), published in London in 1905, from which
this extract is taken.
[41] _A Voyage to East India, wherein some things are taken notice of
in our passage thither, but many more in our abode there, within that
rich and most spacious Empire. Of the Great Mogols, &c., &c. Observed
by Edward Terry (then Chaplain to the Right Honorable Sr. Thomas Row,
Knight, Lord Ambassadour to the great Mogol) now Rector of the Church
at Grunford, in the County of Middlesex._ A foolscap octavo volume
of 545 pages, published in London in 1655. Terry says that he went
to India the year after Sir Thomas Roe in a fleet of six ships--the
_Charles_, of 1,000 tons, the _Unicorn_, almost as big, the _James_, a
large ship also, the _Globe_, the _Swan_, and the _Rose_, which were
smaller. The fleet left the Thames on the 3rd of February 1615 (old
style, 1616 it would be written now that the year commences on the 1st
of January), under command of Captain Benjamin Joseph as commodore,
and it rode at anchor in Table Bay from the 12th to the 28th of June.
His statement concerning the convicts sent out the previous year does
not fully agree with the records in the India Office in London, which
I consulted to obtain information on this subject, and which I follow
as far as they go, though they are defective.
[42] See Valentyn’s great work on India, the last volume of which
contains the history of Ceylon and also of Mauritius. See also the
volume _Vies des Gouverneurs Generaux_, by J. P. I. du Bois. The
account of Pieter Kolbe, in his _Caput Bonæ Spei Hodiernum_, is so
distorted by his bitter animosity towards Simon van der Stel as well
as towards his son Willem Adriaan that no reliance can be placed upon
it. Van der Aa, in his _Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden_,
says that Simon van der Stel, son of Adriaan van der Stel and
Monica da Costa, was born in Amsterdam, but that is a mistake, and
not the only one in the article. See _Biographisch Woordenboek der
Nederlanden_, door A. J. van der Aa, Zeventiende Deel, Tweede Stuk,
Haarlem, 1874. I copied the article on the Van der Stel family in
the above work, and published it in 1911 in the third part of my
_Belangrijke Historische Dokumenten over Zuid Afrika_. It will be
found on pages 11 and 12 of the volume.
In Johan Saar’s _Account of Ceylon 1647-1657_, this event is related
as follows: “To pick a quarrel they (the Hollanders) seized upon four
of the best elephants of the King of Candi. He, as a sensible man,
sent word to the Hollanders that he had no intention to do anything
against them, and he expected them, for their part, to act likewise;
he had called them in as friends to be his allies against the
Portuguese, and he hoped therefore that they would not settle in his
territory. But the Hollanders from the beginning were bent upon war.
When the king saw that it could not be avoided, he collected by one of
his generals (a Saude, or what we should call a Count) about 60,000
men, chiefly natives, besides a few Portuguese whom he had formerly
made captives, and who had entered his service. He would no longer
trust the Hollanders.... In the following year (Anno Christi 1646)
in the month of May, Mr. van der Stält (Van der Stel) received fresh
orders to march with 150 men (picked soldiers), plenty of ammunition,
powder, lead, and other materials of war, and also two field guns. He
met with the heathen Saude in a small clearing, but as the latter had
no orders to fight, because the king was still disinclined to go to
war, he withdrew into the forest. The Hollanders opened a heavy fire
from their field-guns and fire-arms, so that 400 were killed, and many
were wounded. As the Hollanders had taken the offensive, the Saude did
not care to act only on the defensive. He therefore came out of the
forest, and closing round our people, attacked them with such energy
that he cut off the head of Mr. Van der Stel, who had been carried
in a palanquin or litter, clad in red scarlet. Of our men, who had
numbered 150, they got 103 heads. The rest fled into the jungle and
hid themselves as best they could. When the King, who had been near,
heard of the onslaught he hurried to the spot, and although he was
told that his men had been forced to fight, he showed displeasure. At
once he ordered drums to be beaten and proclamation to be made that
none of the Hollanders who had fled into the jungle were to be killed,
but they were to be brought alive before him; that he would treat them
well; and that he would swear by his God that he was innocent of the
bloodshed. He then gave directions to have the head of Mr. Van der
Stel put into a silver bowl, and covered it with white cloth, and sent
it by one of the prisoners to their Captain in the great camp, to say
that this was the head of Mr. Van der Stel, and that the King would
see his body as well as the other 103 bodies decently buried.”
[44] The instructions and orders of the lord of Mydrecht were copied
by me from the original document in the Cape archives, and were
published in 1896 in Deel I _Belangrijke Historische Dokumenten_. They
occupy pages 1 to 48 of that pamphlet.
[45] “Wij cunnen geensints verstaen dat den Commandeur en die van
zijnen Raden voortaen haer eygen thuynen en bestiael sullen hebben
of houden, meer als hij off sij tot hun eygen gesin sullen van noden
hebben maer gehouden wesen haer daer van t’ ontledigen.” Despatch
dated at Amsterdam on the 26th of April 1668, and signed by all of the
seventeen directors. In the Cape archives, and copy in those at the
Hague.
[46] See the Resolutions of the Assembly of Seventeen, copied by me
from the original volumes in the Archives at the Hague, and published
in Deel III _Belangrijke Historische Dokumenten over Zuid Afrika_, an
octavo volume of 435 pages, printed for the Union Government in 1911.
[47] In secluded parts of South Africa, where it would not be possible
to have one made in time after death, this precaution is still taken,
but elsewhere the custom has died out. I have known instances of it in
Canada also.
[48] Two fragments of a journal kept by Adam Tas have been preserved:
one from the 13th of June to the 14th of August 1705, in the archives
at the Hague, the other, from the 7th of December 1705 to the 27th of
February 1706, in the South African public library in Capetown, and
they give a graphic picture of life in the country districts at the
time. Whenever a friend came to his house or he went to a friend’s,
they at once sat down to chat and drink wine and smoke tobacco, when
if the party was large and included wives and daughters, playing cards
was resorted to as a pastime. The quantity of coffee and tea consumed
was very large. The vicious custom of returning incorrect numbers of
cattle and sheep for taxation purposes was already prevalent, and Tas,
who was certainly not a dishonest man in other matters, was unable to
see that this was a crime deserving punishment. Professor Leo Fouché,
of Pretoria, has copied these interesting fragments, and informs me
that he intends to publish them.
[49] It was only natural that the Huguenot refugees should be warmly
attached to their native country, and long to be able to return to it.
It was noticed in England as well as in Holland and Prussia that the
French exiles had no hesitation in declaring that if Louis XIV would
only restore the edict of Henri IV and pledge himself to observe it
faithfully, they would return to the land of their birth and be his
most faithful subjects. It was believed that they would not return
and profess adherence to the state church while in their hearts
remaining Calvinists and secretly practising the Calvinistic form of
worship, as many of those who remained behind were doing, but the
governments of the countries in which they had taken refuge were at
this time suspicious of their attachment under all circumstances. In
South Africa the Dutch section of the population--or at least some of
them--believed that the Huguenots would not assist to repel a French
invasion. It was only when the children born in the lands of refuge
grew up that the strong attachment of the Huguenots to France died out.
[50] “Op het rapport van de heeren commissarissen ingevolge van
de resolutie commissorial van den 16 deses, geëxamineerd hebbende
het wensch van de colonie van de Caap de Bonne Esperance, en het
senden van vrije luijden derwaarts breeder in voorn. resolutie ter
nedergestelt, is in conformite van ’t geadviseerde goetgevonden en
geresolveert de respectieve kameren te authoriseeren omme eenige vrije
luijden soo mannen vrouwen als kinderen vrij van kost en transport
gelt derwaarts te senden, mitsgaders zorg dragende en lettende dat
het soo veel doenlijk is mogen zijn Nederlanders of onderdaanen van
dese Staat of van Hoogduijtsch natien geen trafieq ter zee doende,
mitsgaders van de gereformeerde of Luyterse godsdienst, hun op de
lantbouw of culture der wijnen verstaende, dogh geen franschen, de
selve om redenen in voorn. als anders in ’t geheel excuserende.”
Résolution of the Assembly of Seventeen adopted on the 22nd of June
1700, copied by me from the original records at the Hague, and
published in 1911 on page 2 of _Belangrijke Historische Dokumenten
over Zuid Afrika_, Deel III.
[51] See resolution of that date on page 6 of the volume already
mentioned.
[52] These instructions are given in the original on page 192.
[53] See the original records of the council of policy in the Cape
archives, or my _Abstract of the Debates and Resolutions of the
Council of Policy at the Cape from 1651 to 1687_, an octavo volume of
233 pages, published at Capetown in 1881.
[54] “daerop hebben wij naegesien ’t geene wij bij onsen brieff van
den 14 Julij 1695 soo raeckende den Landtbouw als het bestiael beijde
van de Comp: hebben geschreven, en gemeijnt dat soo wel de voors:
Lantbouw, als het aenhouden van het bestiael, geensints een werck is,
de Comp: convenierende off dat die haer daermede behoort te bemoeijen,
maer dat deselve in tegendeel dat aen de vrijeluijen dient over te
laeten soo om die daer door te beter te doen subsisteren ... met
uijtsluytinge van Comps: dienaren die soo wel in den politicquen raed,
als in den raedt van justitie compareren, en Sessie in deselve hebben,
aen dewelcke wij verstaen, dat alle leverantie aen de Comp: sal werden
benomen, off haer ontseijt.”--Despatch to the governor and council of
policy at the Cape, dated at Amsterdam on the 27th of June 1699, and
signed by fifteen of the directors.
[55] This clergyman was of French descent, was educated for the
ministry of the Roman catholic church, and had been a monk in the
abbey of Boneffe in Belgium. After becoming a Protestant he wrote a
book entitled _Dwalingen van het Pausdom_. He could converse in many
languages, and was unquestionably a man of high ability and learning,
but he was of irascible disposition and wherever he went was engaged
in strife. After he left South Africa he became a doctor of laws,
and died at a very advanced age at Batavia in 1748, after having
been during the preceding nineteen years minister of the Protestant
Portuguese congregation at that place.
[56] See the report of the commissioners Pieter de Vos and Hendrik
Bekker, signed at Batavia on the 18th of September 1706. Copy in the
Cape archives.
[57] As he was an ordinary councillor of India and admiral of the
return fleet he was higher in rank than the governor. His commission
from the Indian authorities directed him to see that the laws were
properly carried out, but he had no power given to him to make any
new laws, and of course none to annul or suspend any order of the
directors, which even the high Indian authorities could not do.
[58] The first was a grant of the farm now occupied by the English
archbishop of Capetown to Commander Jan van Riebeek, before the order
of 1668 was issued, the second was the grant of Constantia already
mentioned.