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kind of "for substance of doctrine " Westminster confession. The fact that these clergymen found it necessary to form a new creed, might, we should think, have led them to consider, that, at a future day, others would find it as difficult to subscribe to the new creed, as it was for them to adopt that of the Westminster divines. Was it possible that those worthy men were so bewildered by party passions, as to imagine that they had arrived at infallible certainty in regard to all the disputed points embraced in the new formed creed? If not, why did they not make provision that good and well-qualified men should not be exposed to exclusion from the professorships, if by inquiry they should happen to dissent from a single article in the formulary of faith? Such blindness may justly be deplored; and we presume it will be deplored by many in less than fifty years, unless some mode of subscribing shall be admitted equivalent to that of "for substance of doctrine."

ART. VII.1. Travels and Researches in Caffraria: describing the Character, Customs, and Moral Condition of the Tribes inhabiting that Portion of Southern Africa; with Historical and Topographical Remarks illustrative of the State and Prospects of the British Settlements in its Borders, the Introduction of Christianity, and the Progress of Civilization. By STEPHEN KAY, Corresponding Member of the South African Institution. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1834. 8vo. pp. 428. 2. South African Commercial Advertiser.

THE writer of the principal publication above named has been for several years employed as a Missionary on the ground indicated by the title of his book, under the direction of the London Wesleyan Society; and having had occasion, in the ordinary course of his calling, during this period, to traverse the English Colony of the Cape, and the neighbouring country, repeatedly, from side to side, he must, with common intelligence, even though he were no "Corresponding Member of the South African Institution of Natural History," have collected a mass of information

respecting what may now be considered, on some accounts, one of the most interesting portions of the globe. More of this information, indeed, relates to the Caffers and other barbarians of South Africa, -the missionaries,-and the history of the intercommunication between these parties, than to the civilized settlements which have been planted near the extremity of the continent. So far, however, is that department from being devoid of interest, that perhaps no experiment of colonization in the world's history, in regard to its effect on the aborigines of the colonized territory, is open to more philosophical or profitable comment than this enterprise of the Dutch, followed up, as it has been, by the present possessors of the soil. We propose to furnish a summary description of the country which is, and is to be, the scene of this vast experiment.

The Dutch, as we have intimated, were the earliest European occupants of the Cape; a fact the more remarkable, since, long before that occupation commenced, the Portuguese,-after wasting nearly a century in vain endeavours to obtain even a sight of the great promontory, and after having been once deterred by the final discovery from the contemplated attempt of making it available to commerce,*— had at length succeeded (under the guidance of the courageous Gama, and the royal auspices of the name which the Cape now bears) in sailing round it, and making that route a part of the regular passage to the rich possessions of that nation in the East. The latter occupied so much of their attention, and the aspect of the Cape territory was, as it still is, to the passing voyager, so uninviting, that the idea of settling that soil perhaps never occurred to them.

The Dutch were more prudent, if not more ardent. Having followed the Portuguese into the Indian seas, and there supplanted them on their own ground, they soon began to calculate the commercial value, if no other, of the southern promontory, as a station of refreshment, and naval resort and repair. They founded Cape Town, with these views, in the year 1650; and this, as it led necessarily to communication with the interior, was the first step in the intercourse which has taken place between Europeans and

* Diaz, who commanded the expedition here referred to, returned, after obtaining a remote view of the promontory, unwilling to brave the stormy seas which beat around it.

the people commonly regarded as the aborigines of the soil. From that time the Dutch held uninterrupted possession of the settlement, with its gradual ramifications in different quarters, till about the commencement of the present century, when the English came in with force and arms. The Colony was restored to the Batavian Government in 1803, but finally occupied, three years afterwards, by the former conquerors, who have ever since retained their hold of the country.

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The limits of what is called the Cape Colony have been, and still are, to some extent undefined, or at least disputable, on the score of claims advanced by the various contending or contracting parties from whom most of its territory has, from time to time, been acquired, either by conquest in war, seizure in peace, or ostensible cession in both cases. An instance of this last kind of conveyance is furnished in the relinquishment, in 1819, by a distinguished chief named Gaika, of a large and fertile territory hitherto occupied by the Caffers, extending from the Great Fish River, the ancient eastern boundary of the Colony, to the Keiskamma. The treaty was negotiated between the English commandant of the frontiers on one side, and this chieftain on the other, without participation or communication of any sort with his fellows in authority, of the different tribes; and all the latter deny his authority so to convey. Still, there appears reason to believe, that the territory, though by the terms of the contract it was to remain neutral ground, has been at least encroached on by the English or Dutch settlers, or both, in the neighbourhood, to a considerable extent. There can be no doubt of its final, if not speedy accretion to the colonial domain. Offences, especially since such causes of provocation already exist, must needs occur between the claimants on either side, as they have been constantly occurring for a century and a half past, and, in such case, it requires no prophecy to decide the result. The Caffer territory will be overrun by English troops, as it was in 1819 (after the attack on Graham's Town by nine thousand of those savages), their villages devastated, and their cattle driven off, as no fewer than thirty thousand were, immediately previous to Gaika's cession just mentioned; and then they, or their chiefs, or some of them, will be ready to sign new treaties, and make

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new cessions, while the civilized party will of course be abundantly able to maintain the validity of the conveyance by arms or argument, proclamation or "commando," as the circumstances happen to require.

The eastern or southern shore of the Colony may be understood to extend from Table Mountain to the Keiskamma, a distance, we believe, of something over six hundred miles, but without dispute to the Great Fish River, five hundred and eighty miles. Its western or northern extent is to the Koussie, between three and four hundred. limits comprise a surface of about 125,000 square miles.

These

This being a territory equal to twice that of New England, and considerably exceeding that of New and Old England together, might seem, at first sight, a more valuable domain, for the purposes of colonization or commerce, than it has proved, or is likely to prove itself for some time to come. Though explored and settled more or less for nearly two centuries, the population in 1798, according to Barrow, amounted to only 62,000, of which 26,000 were slaves and 14,000 Hottentots, leaving but 22,000 whites. Since the English dynasty has commenced operations, indeed, this snail's-pace has been accelerated, at least sufficiently to show how much the Colony must depend, for its progress and prosperity, on the vigor of the government to which it is subject. In 1820 the total population was reported to be 100,000; and it has increased considerably, no doubt, since that time, several thousand emigrants having been, subsequently to the date of this estimate, introduced into the country under the immediate patronage of the British Government. The population of Cape Town in 1827 was nearly 19,000, of which much more than one half were slaves, and perhaps a moiety of the residue Hottentots, and half-castes of various mixtures.

Thus it appears that the entire Colony is peopled in the proportion only of one inhabitant to every square mile; a sparseness which, considering its age, and the extraordinary compliments lavished by late English writers on the inducement it holds out to emigrants, may be thought to demand explanation. The truth is, that as a territorial acquisition, the Cape is among the most insignificant possessions of the British Government. Thompson, who is one of our most recent and most intelligent authorities, estimates the quantity of

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the sterile and worthless soil, if soil it can be called, -as at least two thirds of the whole. A writer in the London Quarterly Review of 1820, deducts one half of the whole for the Karoo plains and naked ranges of mountains, and half the residue as " of little or no value;" leaving 30,000 square miles, according to his estimate, of productive land; of which only 10,000 are supposed to be arable, or ever likely to feel the ploughshare; the other 20,000 being however counted on as exceedingly well adapted to sheep, and also for the grazing, or rather the browsing, of cattle."

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The principles which have modified, for the most part, the cultivation and population of the Colony, may be quite reasonably deduced from the facts we have stated, and have been founded in a great degree upon the character of the soil. Water and pasturage are, of course, articles of the first importance to the grazier. Of these, the latter is generally so scanty as scarcely to clothe the surface, and the former so scarce that none too much for the supply of one family and their herds will usually be found within the compass of a number of square miles. The streams, as such, cannot be at all relied on, as the absorption of a dry soil, or the evaporation of a hot climate, may at any time reduce them to a bare channel. What is called a "river" in the Colony, from the relative dignity attached to what is rare, would cause a smile, as Mr. Kay thinks, and he is by means apparently disposed to indulge in gratuitous mirthfulness, in any European. Perhaps he will find it a miserable little rivulet gurgling over pebbles, and perchance only a few buckets of water here and there standing in pools."

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It is owing to these circumstances that the settlement of the interior has been of the most detached kind, of which any specimen can be furnished, probably, by the civilized world. The farms, occupied by the old boors and their descendants, generally consist of about 6,000 acres. They were distributed originally by the Dutch East India Company to the graziers, in perpetual leasehold, for a meagre rent of some five pounds per annum. The volunteer settler, in this case, had only to find an unoccupied territory among or beyond the mountains, and erect a landmark, from which, as a centre, all the land that fell within the periphery of the circle whose radius was half an hour's

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