Kathay: A Cruise in the China Seas Part 15

19 Gallons. 10 Gallons. 5 Gallons.

Pontac Constantia, 14 8 5

Frontignac " 10 6 4

White " 9 5 3

Red " 9 5 3

M. Van Renen, whom we found on the premises, after exhibiting the different wines, took us over the place, and showed us a collection of the different aborigines of South Africa, in statuary. There were Kaffirs, Hottentots, Fingoes, Betjouanas, and Boschmen. M. V. deprecated the abolition of slavery as a great injury to the agriculturists and vine-growers of the colony. They can get no one to perform any continuous labor, and whilst at one time his establishment kept eighty able-bodied men at work, would find it difficult to get three now whom they could depend upon. Living in a climate where clothing beyond the demands of decency is scarcely needed, and where the products of labor for two days will support the careless negro for one week, naturally improvident, he takes no heed for the morrow, and becomes lazy, idle, and intemperate; and when he can be persuaded to work, with the prospect of high wages, wherewith to purchase that necessary stimulus which has already nearly deprived him of his capacities, as soon as he can obtain them he rushes to the grog shop, from whence he may not be expected to return until his wants compel him again to his intermittent labor.

The colonists, especially the agricultural part of them, complain bitterly of hasty legislation in depriving them of slave labor. They had offered to submit to a gradual manumission, so that by degrees they might be able to supply the place of the negro operatives, but the English government would set them free at once, and the result has been injurious to the freedman and ruinous to the farmer. Was told that land could be purchased about Constantia at the low rate of _one shilling the acre_, altogether owing to the inability to procure labor to cultivate it; and to bring about this state of things here and elsewhere, some 20,060,000 was expended!

Returning from Constantia, our spanking team of four well proportioned iron grays, attracted considerable attention. It ought to have, for the expense of its hire was two pounds ten shillings. Stopped at the "Crown Inn," upon the road, for refreshments, and on handing a ragged little urchin a shilling for his voluntary service of standing at the door of our barouche, on starting off were saluted by a hiss for our generosity.

A greater _douceur_ was expected from the drivers of such a magnificent turnout.

The road, a greater part of it, was a turnpike, very even and smooth; paid toll, one shilling. Drove through an avenue of large oak trees, their topmost branches meeting overhead, to the extent of one fourth of a mile, forming a fine shade in summer. The seasons, of which there are but two, winter and summer, are reversed in Southern Africa; July being a cool month, and Christmas coming in _midsummer_ at the Cape.

Returned to dinner at the hotel at seven o'clock, and ate some splendid Cape mutton. The caudal arrangements of the sheep at the Cape bear a great similarity to those at Shanghae.

After supper set out for a walk, in which were disappointed by a shower.

It rains only in the winter season here, but heavy dews in the summer make up this deficiency of nature's nourishment, and the colony is carpeted with herbage of the most delicious fragrance, so that the paths of the colonists may then be said to be strewn with flowers.

The winters at the Cape are extremely mild; no snow falls there; and if at night ice is formed, it does not long withstand the rays of the sun.

The season corresponds in its general features with our autumn. In the interior the winters are said to be more severe, and streams are sometimes frozen over.

Although it was the first winter month, in M. Van Renen's orange grove at Constantia, the trees were so laden with the Hesperian fruit, that their limbs were bent to the ground and many broken. Saw there also, pomegranates, liquots, rose apples, and a variety of tropical fruits, some ready to pluck, others in different stages of ripening.

Up betimes the next morning for a walk through Cape Town. Streets wide and clean, princ.i.p.ally paved or macadamized. No banquettes; porches project in front of the houses, covering the _trottoir_, and pedestrians are forced into the middle of the street. That Hibernian must have been an emigrant to Cape Town, who remarked that "the middle of the street was the _best side_ of the way."

The houses, however, present a fine appearance externally; they are usually about three stories in height, and being stuccoed, are painted in imitation of free-stone. Their tops are flat, to which their occupants repair to spend the remainder of the evening after their late dinners. There is a freshness about the place which is quite reviving after many days at sea, and was particularly pleasant to us, who had seen nothing but filthy Chinese towns for two years and upwards; Hong-Kong having been the nearest approach to a civilized community we had visited during the cruise, and even there the "long-tailed pig-eyed Celestial" predominated.

The parade ground is an extensive oblong s.p.a.ce running along the strand, with a ditch dividing it from Strand-street. It has a border of a double row of fine flowering trees, and must be a delightful place for a stroll on a summer evening.

The Commercial Exchange and Library rooms are upon it, fronting the princ.i.p.al street; and back of the Exchange is a rough brick and mortar pillar to mark the spot where Sir J. Hersch.e.l.l, the astronomer, made his observations.

Near the parade ground, and facing it, are the barracks, _manned_ at that time by women, their husbands, the soldiers, having been shipped off to Kaffir land. By the way; a terrible accident had occurred a few weeks before our arrival, to her Britannic Majesty's steamer Berkenhead, employed in transporting troops up the coast, to the war. She struck upon "Point Danger," and going down almost immediately, four out of five hundred of those on board were drowned.

I was told that only about eighty men had been left to garrison the town, and that a panic had lately been gotten up, from fears of a rising of the colored population. The lazy negroes, whom England, in her mistaken philanthropy, had liberated, not being compelled to work, chose to rob and steal.

The Custom-house, an unpretending building, with the letters and numerals G. IV. R. over its portals, is also on Strand-street, fronting the "Parade."

Early on the last morning ash.o.r.e took a walk to the new market on the outskirts of the town, where the wholesale farmers bring their produce by teams drawn by from ten to fifteen yoke of oxen. These animals are the most suitable beasts for draught I have ever seen. With their long legs they get over the ground nearly as fast as a horse, in a walk, and, when required, go off in a fine, easy, and not ungraceful trot. They bring in immense loads, and come a great distance, over mountainous ways. The wagons they draw resemble those known as the Conestoga, on many of which noticed a projection astern something like a p.o.o.p, serving as a sleeping cabin for the owners and drivers.

In meeting these teams on the road, one at first imagines them to be a drove of beeves, but is soon undeceived by the crack of the lash--"long as the maintop-bowline"--striking against the side of a lagging bullock.

The new market is walled in, with gateways at either side to admit these teams, which, when they enter, and the wagon has been placed in a line with others, are outspanned, that is, detached; and form an immense herd in front of the wagons, the line of which, with the wall of the market place, make a complete _corral_.

The reason why I call these farmers wholesale, is, that all the produce brought by them is disposed of by lot to the highest bidders, according to "rise and fall" by auctioneers, who regularly attend for this purpose.

Met a number of this gentry hurrying to their duties on my return, having been too early to witness the auction. Hucksters receive their supplies in this manner, which they retail to the citizens--an extra tax, I should suppose, upon the honest burghers, from whose pockets must eventually be drawn the amount paid as commission to the auctioneers.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Settlement of Cape Town--Its productions--The Kaffir War --Latest dispatches--Cause of the Rebellion--Description of the Kaffir by the Traveller--Opinion of him by the Resident--Authority of prominent men--Observatory, &c.

Within larger limits I would willingly indulge in a more extended description of Southern Africa, which is set down by geographers as the "Cape Region;" but as each day now diminishes our cruise, so does each chapter deprive me of s.p.a.ce for digression, and I must confine myself to the Cape Colony, or more properly speaking, to Cape Town and its environs.

The town is in lat.i.tude 33 55' 30'' south, and as the Observatory has been decided to be in longitude 18 29', and is distant three miles and a quarter from the town, due east, it would be placed 18 25' 45'' east longitude.

The Cape of Good Hope, which is _not_ the extremity of Southern Africa, as some geographers have it--"Lagullas" protruding further into the Indian Ocean--was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz in 1486, who gave it the name of the "Tormenting Cape," as previously stated, which was afterwards changed into its present t.i.tle by the far-seeing Emanuel, and the hopes he then entertained of his navigators reaching the rich sh.o.r.es of the far "Inde," were made good by Vasco de Gama, eleven years after its discovery. The Dutch made their settlement here in 1652, of which they were deprived by the English in 1795, who afterwards restored it to them by treaty at Amiens, in 1802. Eventually it was ceded to Great Britain in 1815. The colony is quite extensive, and would be very productive but for numerous local causes which impede its growth. One of these has been named in the system of labor; but the most important impediment is want of unanimity amongst the settlers themselves. The Dutchman clinging to his ancient customs and habits, which are an abomination in the eyes of the Englishman; and the natives having been once subjected to the tender mercies of the white man, not understanding the use of freedom, or the benefits of self-government, live literally from "hand to mouth," in constant dread of recapture, and being forced, under the eyes of intelligent masters, to properly support themselves.

But even with these drawbacks the colony may be said to be flourishing, and when the Kaffir war is ended, and the Kat River rebellion put down, numerous fertile valleys will be open to the squatter, and contribute from their luxuriant bosoms bountiful supplies of wealth to the colony.

The princ.i.p.al productions of the Cape are grain of all kinds, and the grapes from which the Constantia wines are made. The specimen of wheat which I saw, was certainly superior to any I had ever seen in the United States, and an intelligent merchant there informed me that it is considered the best in the world. From the number of pounds he said it would weigh to a bushel, and its clean large grain, should think it the most profitable to the grower.

When we were at the Cape, the Kaffir war was dragging its slow length along. The troops had been pushed into Kaffraria, and the latest news from the scene of operations appeared in the Government Gazette, published by authority on the 22d April, 1852. Dispatches had been received from camp up to the 4th of that month. Major-General the Hon.

George Cathcart, with the local rank of Lieutenant-General, having superseded Sir Harry G. W. Smith, was in command. The campaign was on the Kei, and Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, 73d regiment, following a spoor of cattle, had captured 1,220 head of Gaika cattle, mostly cows, and fifteen horses.

He had several skirmishes with the enemy, who came forth in considerable numbers to protect their herds. Major Armstrong's pa.s.sage of the Kei, and charge, is spoken of in warm terms of commendation. In this affair the Kaffirs numbered about 500, of whom 100 were mounted. The gallant Major's command, including himself, was 100; with these he crossed the river under a heavy fire, and dispersed five times his number.

A general order had been published at head-quarters, King William's Town, dated 6th April, 1852, in which the Commander-in-Chief congratulates the army on the prospect of a speedy termination of the war, and states that the troops then occupied every stronghold in the Amatolas, and it was impossible the enemy could retain a footing, so closely was he pursued in every direction. Notwithstanding this cheering announcement, I fear this Kaffir war will resemble in its pursuance and general features our Florida campaigns, although the officers engaged in it will receive more credit than our own; and if their duties are arduous in chasing the Hottentots over mountains, and through rugged defiles, yet they have the advantage of a healthy field of operations, and can bivouac on the mountain ridge, or amongst the green valleys, whilst our troops had to seek their damp beds amidst the miasmatic everglades, or more pestiferous marsh. Again, the Kaffirs do occasionally make a stand, and some very severe actions have taken place between them and the British troops.

This war was caused by a rebellion of a portion of the Hottentots of the Kat River settlement, at Fort Beaufort, and the Theopolis Missionary establishment, in Albany. It is supposed to have originated because of the application of stringent vagrant laws, and from apprehensions of being again forced into slavery. It is carried on on the eastern frontier of the country. The above are the surmised causes, but there are thought to have been other motives. A representative from one of the eastern districts, stated in his place in the Legislative Council, that he considered the rebellion to be a _national movement_, that all the doc.u.ments found in the rebel camps were exhortations to stand up in the defence of their nation. "General Orders" had been found which had been scattered over a country 500 miles in extent, and these call upon the colored men to unite and drive the white men into the sea, "of which they are the sc.u.m."

Sir Andrew Stockenstrom, from the Kat River settlement, called the rebellion "a Riddle," and the Hon. John Montague, Secretary to Government, ascribes the hostile feelings of the Hottentots, to an idea that they are to be made slaves. One gentleman asks in relation to the subject: "What do we know of the rebellion? Why it was only the other day that an officer of the Government was brought to Cape Town, a prisoner for rebellion!"

A commission, appointed by her Majesty the Queen, consisting of Major Hogge and Mr. Owen, had not then commenced their investigations.

There were some Kaffirs in Cape Town, sent in as witnesses, but did not see them. The following is Barrow's description of this people: "They are tall, robust, and muscular, and distinguished by a peculiar firmness of carriage. Some of them were six feet ten inches, and so elegantly proportioned that they would not have disgraced the pedestal of the Farnese Hercules." Further on, he states: "The natives of Kaffraria, if taken collectively, are perhaps superior, in point of figure, to the inhabitants of any other country on earth; they are indeed exempt from many of those causes which, in civilized society, tend to debilitate and impede the growth of the human body. Their diet is perfectly simple, their exercise conducive to health, and the air they breathe salubrious.

Strangers to the licentious appet.i.tes which frequently proceed from a depraved imagination, they cheerfully receive the bounteous gifts of nature, and when night sways her ebon sceptre o'er the scene,

'Sweetly composed the weary shepherd lies, Though through the woods terrific winds resound, Though rattling thunder shakes the vaulted skies, Or vivid lightning runs along the ground.'"

After that read the opinions held of them in Cape Town. I make the extracts from the published debates of the Legislative Council of the colony, in a.s.sembly there. The Secretary to Government says: "We have before us the most remarkable fact, that hundreds of these people on the frontier, who had lived with the farmers, many of them ten or twelve, and even a greater number of years, suddenly, and without the _smallest provocation_, turned round and murdered them, or turned them out of their houses with hardly a rag upon them, destroyed their property, and walked over to the enemy." Hardly a man who speaks of them, that does not complain of their pilfering propensities; the farmers grievously as regards their sheep.

There were at one time some 800 rebels at Fort Hare; a great number were allowed to depart. Some 3 or 400 were thrown into a regiment and armed; 50 only of the 800 were convicted. This black regiment became so dangerous, after all the confidence bestowed upon them, that their officers would not go out with them, fearing more to be shot by their own men than the enemy. Shortly after they were found sending ammunition in large quant.i.ties to the rebels, and had to be disbanded. One of the members of the Council contended that the Kaffir and the Hottentot (they appeared, indeed, to make little distinction between them) are not to be purchased with favors, or conciliated by const.i.tutional privileges; in his own forcible language, "I feel that no man of experience with regard to the Kaffir and Hottentot, will come to such a conclusion. Like the wild fox, they may, indeed, accept your favors and concessions, but it is only to await a more favorable opportunity of seizing their prey."

Mr. G.o.dlonton, from those provinces, a.s.serted that _idleness_ had been the bane and ruin of the colored cla.s.ses of the colony, and in the eastern provinces has led to rebellion, anarchy, robbery, and murder.

To prove that I have not made my a.s.sertions in a previous page, in regard to the condition of the colored population, and the little benefit conferred upon them by emanc.i.p.ation, hastily and without authority, I quote the opinions of many of the best informed men of the colony, which have the greater weight as coming from persons whose positions placed them above the power of petty prejudices.

A Mr. Stegman gives in evidence that a portion of the Hottentots who went from Cape Town, were in communication with the rebels in the field, and at one time hesitated whether they should use their arms against them, or her Majesty's troops.

Mr. c.o.c.k stated, in debate, that within his own knowledge, there was a general fear of the colored races in the eastern districts of the Cape Colony, and he fears that the seeds of disaffection, if not rebellion, are deeply sown within their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and that, if they saw any probability that her Majesty's troops would be subdued, they would at once go over to the rebels; and after asking what has brought this state of things about--what led to the war on the frontier--the desolation of some of the finest districts--desecration of their homesteads, and the spilling of the best blood of the colonists--attributes it to the want of a firm and efficient government.