Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 4/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III.
SOUTH AFRICA.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE ORANGE, LIMPOPO, AND OTHER BASINS.
General Survey.
HE modern era has been ushered in by three great geographical events — the discovery of the highway to the east by the Austral seas, the arrival of the caravels of Columbus in the New World, and the circumnavigation of the globe by Magellan. Of these epoch-making events in the history of our planet, the first in order of time was that which was accomplished when in 1486 Bartholomew Diaz successfully doubled the stormy headland which thenceforth took the name of the Cape of Good Hope. A few years later the "good hope" was fully realised when Vasco de Gama reached the East Indies by this route, when the western and eastern seas were merged in a common oceanic basin, and man learnt to compass the earth, which till then had seemed to him a boundless universe.
But the shores that the first Portuguese ships had skirted in order to pass from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean long remained neglected by geographical explorers. Attracted by the wealth of both Indias, the early navigators scorned to linger on a seaboard which held out no prospects of a rapid fortune by trade or plunder. Over a hundred and fifty years passed away before any Europeans landed on this part of the African continent with the intention of remaining and founding agricultural settlements. At the same time it is useless for certain Portuguese writers to express idle regrets that this region was neglected by their forefathers of the heroic age. These were far too few to embrace the whole world, to simultaneously undertake the conquest of the Indian, Malayan, and American Eldorados, and the slow development of the arable lands in South Africa between the Congo and Zambese.
Nevertheless the settlers in these Austral regions were destined to find much more than they could ever hope to obtain from the mines of Golconda and the spices of the Eastern Archipelago. The land which they occupied is a second
SOUTH AFBICA AND ALGERIA CONTRASTED. 79 Europe, ofPerinj> a climate differing little from that of the mother country, a soil on which they cun cultivate the same plants und graze the same herds, and preserve the same habits and customs in another hemisphere many thousands of miles distant from their native land. No doubt the population of European origin developed very slowly in their new environment ; nevertheless the expan- sion was sufficient to enable them gradually to spread over the land. Aided by a regular stream of immigration, they steadily encroached from all directions on the domain of the aboriginal inhabitants, and they now rule supreme throughout the whole of the Austral regions from the Cape to the Limpopo. As a centre of colonisation and of higher culture, the EurojHan colony of the Cape, with its natural dependencies of ^'atal and the Dutch republics, already exercises an independent influence, apart altogether from the support it derives from its relations with the metropolis. The Cape is the natural centre for the organisation and equipment of expeditions for the exploration of the whole of South Africa. The capital, almost as much as Europe itself, has given the first impulse to the scientitic labours and industrial development of the surrounding regions ; jointly with the neighbouring districts and all the conterminous maritime /one, it forms, as it were, a detached section of Europe gradually enlarging its borders and supplanting northwards the primitive African world. Cape Colony has often been compared to Algeria, which is situate exactly at the other extremity of the continent, and which has also become an outlying portion of Europe in its industries, its social and political life. In many respects the advantage lies with Algeria. Although far less extensive than the complexity of the European States in the Austral hemisphere, it is more thickly peopled, the white element alone being somewhat in excess of the entire South African population of the same stock. It also receives a larger annual contribution of immigrants from Europe, and although possessing neither gold nor diamonds, it has already developed a larger export trade. All this is (-asily explained by its vastly superior geographical position. Algeria is essentially a Mediterranean land, lying over against France, Spain and Italy, and a few hours' passage suffices to reach the south European seaboard from any of its ports. Nevertheless, Algeria labours under the disadvantage of being completely isolated and cut off from the rest of the continent by the almost trackless wastes of the Sahara. The Austral colonies are very differently situated in this respect ; for although they are also conterminous with an extensive wilderness, the Kalahari Desert does not obstruct all communications, while the surrounding populations are able to maintain mutual relations both by land and by water.* On the other hand, the Cape of Good Hope projects southwards into a stonny sea, which merges in th»! • Compiintive ureas and populiition» of Algeria iiuJ the Europt-an Stntei* in South Africn : — Alalia. South Afrioiu Area 192,000 square miles . 450,000 square miles. European population . 600,000 . . 480,000 Native population .... 3,320,000 . 2,650,000 Population to the square mile 16 . . . Sea-borne trade . £22,000,000(1882) . £11,000,000 ('88«> everlasting snows and ice of the Antarctic regions. In order to keep up constant and regular intercourse with the civilised world, the colonists have to traverse thousands of miles of the great oceanic highways in the direction of Great Britain, of India, and Australasia. The nearest continental headland to the Cape is the
MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 81
rapid murine communications than are 3'et possible, they must always fool them*
selves somewhat severed from the rest of the world.
Physical Features of South Africa.
The orography of the Austral regions resembles in its more salient features that
of the whole continent, in which the chief mountain ranges are disposed not in the
interior but round the souboard, usually attaining their greatest elevation in the
vicinity of the east coast. In the same way in the southern section of the main-
land the loftiest chains and eminences are developed parallel with and at no great
distance from the seaboard, everywhere skirting the boundless oj)en or undulating
plains of the interior. Here also the orographic system culmiuutcs on the east side,
where the loftiest crests rise to an altitude of considerably over 1 1,000 feet.
The outer scarps of tlie highlands and plateaux running parallel with the
coast in Great Namaquuland are completely interrupted by the rocky valley of
the Lower Orange River. South of this point the system is continued throughout
the territory of the Little Namaquus, without, however, attaining the same eleva-
tion as in the northern region. The land rises from terrace to terrace towards
the crest of the granitic plateau, over which are scattered irregu'ar mountain
masses, which present an imposing aspect when saen from the west, where the
precipitous slopes come fully into view. But the effect is somewhat insignificant
on the opposite or landward side, where their base is merged in the monotonous
plateau of gneiss formation known as Great Bushmanland. The mean altitude
of the whole range scarcely falls much below 3,500 feet
South of the Namaqua region the m lin range, deeply furrowed by erosion,
breaks into a numlwr of diverging ridges, some of which branch off towards the
eastern highlands, while others are coniinued in parallel chains southwards.
Each rand, or crest, forms a sort of rocky barrier between the plains of the seaboard
and the upland steppes of the interior. South of the Olifant River these ramparts
attain their greatest altitude, the Cedar Mountains culminating in the Sneeuw-Kop
(6,100 feet), while the Olifant range rises in the Winter-hock to a height of 6,900
feet. For a few days during the cold season this peak is visible on the north-east
horizon from Capetown, streaked with white and occasionally even completely
wrapped in a snowy mantle.
The Olifant Range with its southern extension terminates in the Ilang-Klip
headland, which stands over against the Cape of Good Hope. The Capo itself,
which projects more to the west in the form of a sickle, belongs to a coast rangi%
of which only a few fragments survive, and which advances beyond the normal
coast line between St. Helena Ray and False or Simon's Ray. At its northern
extremity this range consists merely of a few disconnected hills; but towards the
south it rises rapidly to a considerable elevation, enclosing Table Ray with a
semicircular rampart of bold rocky summits. Here the impos-iiig "Table" Moun-
tain lifts its huge and often cloud-capj)ed siindstone crtst to a height of 3,500 feet
above its nearly vertical or rapidly sloping walls. The granite base of this mighty
108— At isolated mass is clothed with verdure, while its flanks are scored with deep ravines shaded by the sombre pine and wide-branching oak. The semicircular range of hills terminates eastwards in a sharp point known as the Devil's Peak, and westwards in the long sloping ridge of the "Lion," with his back turned towards Capetown Fig. 25. — Care Aqulhas.
and his magnificent head facing seawards. Beyond Table Mountain the hills fall gradually southwards down to the famous headland of the Cape of Good Hope.
East of the parallel mountain ranges, which run north and south in the vicinity of the Atlantic seaboard, the folds and wrinkles of the land, resembling the gatherings round the hem of a garment, are disposed in the direction from west to east nearly parallel with the shores of the Southern Ocean. Nevertheless it is evident from the lie of the land that all these border ranges run somewhat obliquely to the coast, for they all terminate in the sharp promontories, which follow in succession to the east of Cape Agulhas, or the "Needles," terminal point of the African mainland. They formerly extended continuously from west to east, but are now broken into fragments of varying size by numerous torrents, which rising in the interior have forced their way seawards at the weaker points of the old formations.
The deep ravines and transverse gorges thus excavated by the running waters between the parallel coast ranges impart to this region an extremely varied aspect, especially in the neighbourhood of the sea, where the slopes are mostly overgrown with a forest vegetation, Of the mountain barriers thus intersected at various 
{Mints by the coast streams the loftiest is the Groote Zwurtc Bergen ("Great Black Mountains ") which lies farthest inland, and some of whose summits exceed 7,000 feet. Towards its eastern extremity the Cockscomb (Groot Winter-hoek) rises to an altitude of 6,000 feet above the north-west side of Algoa Bay. North of this outer orographic system of parallel chains crowded together along the seaboard, there is developed at a mean distance of over 120 miles from the coast another much loftier range, which also trends in the normal direction from west to east, and whose einuous windings are distinguished by different designa- tions. At its western extremity near the Atlantic Coast Range it takes the name of Koms-berg, which farther on is successively replaced by the Iloggeveld and Nieuweveld, where the term vckl indicates softer outlines and more rounded contours than those of the steeper escarpments denoted by the benj. Still farther east the main range seems almost to merge in the surrounding upland plains ; but it soon rises again to a great height in the Sneeuw-bergen (" Snowy Mountains "), whose loftiest peak, the Compass (9,000 feet), is the culminating point in the Cape region properly so called. Beyond this central nucleus the system bifurcates, the south-eastern branch, which is interrupted by an affluent of the Great Fish River, attaining in the Groot AVinter-berg an altitude of 7,800 feet. This branch terminates at the mouth of the Great Kei River, western limit of Kafirlund, while the second ramification, forming the divide between the Orange and Great Fish River basins, trends first northwards, then towards the east, where it merges in the loft}' range separating Kafirland and Natal from Basutoland. Its eastern extremity, known by the name of the Storm-bergen (" Storm Mountains"), is distinguished in the economic historj' of the Cape for its extensive carboniferous deposits. The thin and some- what schistose coalfields of the Storm-bergen occur chiefly on the northern slopes of the range, and stretch far in the direction of the north; but owing to the cost of extraction and difficulty of transport, the mines are little worked except to supply the wants of the surrounding settlements. Old volcanoes with perfectly distinct craters, which seem to have become extinct since the triassic epoch, are still visible in the Storm-bergen Mountains. The undulating plain dotted over with patches of scrub, which stretches east and west, between the parallel coast ranges and the great northern wuter-parting of the Roggeveld and Nieuweveld, is known by the name of the Great Karroo, a Hottentot word meaning arid land. Farther north in the direction of the Orange River extend other elevated plains interrupted here and there by t-mall mountain masses, which consist for the most part of eruptive rocks, such as trapps and doler- ites, forming natural colonnades often of a monumental aspect. These uplund plains are also karroos, throughout their whole extent presenting everywhere the same geological constitution. They were formerly covered by vast stretches of marshy waters frequented by myriads of vertebrate reptiles, dicynodonts and other varieties, which are unlike any others found on the globe, and which probably Iweame extinct before the close of the triassic period. According to Sir Richard Owen, these huge saurians were herbivorous, and ajpear to have been of amphibious habits. 84 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. In the Great Karroo, as well as in the secondary formations of similar character stretching northwards to the Orange River, are scattered numerous depressions where are lodged the rain waters, which after evaporation leave the ground covered with saline efflorescences. The Drakenberg. Beyond the Storm- Bergen the main range trends round in the direction of the north-east, describing a great bend concentric with that of the oceanic coast- line. Here the Kwathlamba, or Drakenbergen ("Dragon Mountains"), run at a mean distance of about 120 miles from the sea, rising in some of its peaks and summits to an altitude of over 10,000 feet. Although still forming a true water- parting between- the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, these highlands present the aspect of a mountain range only on their east side, where they fall through a series of steps precipitously seawards. On the west side facing inland the chain is merely the scarp of a plateau, which is intersected by other parallel ridges. The intermediate space between the Drakenberg and the Indian Ocean is occupied by three steps or terraces, which, however, present great inequalities in their general relief, and which in several places are obstructed by transverse ridges following the course of the fluvial valleys. The most elevated of these terraces, which stretches along the base of the Drakenberg, has a mean altitude of considerably over 3,000 feet ; the central terrace, forming the middle zone of Kafirland and Natal, varies from 2,000 to 2,400 feet, while the outer or coast step, cut by the beds of innumerable torrents into a multitude of fragments, scarcely rises more than 1,000 feet above the winding seaboard. North of a summit crowned by vertical sandstone formations presenting the aspect of a ruined fortress, whence its name of the Giant's Castle (9,800 feet), the triple system of the Drakenberg gradually falls to a lower level. Here the greatest elevation is maintained by a parallel chain of heights which traverses the Basuto territory under the name of the Blaw Bergen ("Blue Mountains"), or Muluti, that is, "Peaks," in the language of the natives. Farther north the system resumes the name of the Drakenbergen, and here these highlands, although composed of sandstones like the " tables " of most other ranges in South Africa, nevertheless terminate in jagged crests. The Drakenberg is con- nected with the Maluti Mountains by a lateral ridge, whose chief summit, the Champagne Castle, or Cathkin, attains a height of 10,500 feet. On this con- necting link rises a vast plateau- shaped eminence which is covered with pasturage, and which by the Basutos is called the Buta-Buta or Potong, that is, " Antelope Mountain." But it is more commonly known by the name of the " Mountain of Sources," given to it by the Protestant missionaries Arboussct and Daumas, because here have their Gource the main headstreams of the Orange, besides several other rivers flowing in the opposite direction down to the Indian Ocean. It rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding uplands, and according to Stow has an absolute altitude of 10,100 feet. Nevertheless it is overtopped by the chief summits of the lateral chain of the Maluti highlands, on which the snow remains for the four Austral winter months from May to August. This is the true Alpine region of South Africa. One of its peaks, to which the missionary Jacottet has given the name of Mount Hamilton, has an extreme altitude of 11,600 feet, while the gorge through which the Basutos descend from the upper Orange Valley to that of its great affluent, the Senkunyané, is scarcely 200 feet lower.
Farther on in the direction of the north-east, the range known as the Randberg, that is, the "Border Range," but to which is also extended the name of the Drakenberg, as if still forming part of the southern system, assumes the character of an enormous rocky cliff. On the inner side it faces the undulating upland
plain forming part of the continental plateau; on the outer it develops a long line of abrupt escarpments skirting the lower plains, which have been greatly denuded and the débris borne seawards by the torrential coast-streams, Although mainly parallel with the shores of the Indian Ocean, this Border Range has been carved by the running waters into a very irregular rocky barrier. Excavated in the shape of a cirque in one place, it projects elsewhere in the form of headlands, one of which is the Kaap (Cape), famous for its rich auriferous deposits. The work of erosion carried on for ages by the rivers has caused the barrier itself gradually to recede westwards, being continually eaten away by the affluents of the Indian Ocean.
Farther north the slope of the plateau falls imperceptibly in the direction of 86 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. the Limpopo. In this northern section of the Border llunge the last crest which exceeds 7',000 feet is the Mauchberg (7,300), so named from the explorer who discovered the goldfields of this region. Nevertheless the Zoutpansbergen, or " Saline Mountains," at the northern extremity of the whole system, still present an imposing aspect, thanks to the precipitous slope of their escarpments down to the valley of the Limpopo. Towards the south-west some disconnected ranges of hills and scattered heights serve to break the monotony of the upland plains, which descend with a gentle incline towards the less elevated depression of the Kalahari Desert. But these eminences produce little effect, owing to the great relative altitude of the surrounding plateau. They culminate in the Magalies- bergen, near Pretoria, capital of the South- African Republic (Transvaal). Geological Formations. Throughout the whole of Austral Africa, comprising Cape Colony, Kafirland, Natal, the Basuto, Zulu, and Dutch territories, the general geological substratum is constituted by granitic rocks, which underlie all the other formations of this region. By their incessant erosive action the running waters have everywhere exposed the lower granitic foundation and the sedimentary strata deposited on the primitive crystalline rocks. As remarked by Livingstone, the granite back- bone is concealed, but it here and there breaks through the skin. The granite is itself traversed in all directions by veins of a very pure white quartz, which are almost everywhere associated with auriferous deposits. But except in some rare districts these deposits are not sufficiently abundant to render mining operations remunerative. Throughout the whole of the coastlands the underlying granite is covered by crystallised limestones, while in the interior the granite is overlain chiefly by carboniferous series and Devonian formations with their crown of sand- stone rocks. Some geologists point to heaps of displaced and striated boulders, as clear indications of a former glacial period on the eastern slopes of the Drakenberg. Most observers also accept the view that the seaboard is at present undergoing a process of slow upheaval. From the Cape of Good Hope all the way to the coast of Natal may be seen old tracings of raised beaches still covered with banks of marine shells, oysters, and polyps. Near the south frontier of Natal these elevated banks stand nearly fourteen feet above the present level of the highest spring tides.* Rivers— The Orange. The great watercourse of Austral Africa, and one of the most considerable in the whole Continent, if not for its volimie, at least for the length of its course and the extent of its basin, is the Gariep of the Hottentots, the Groote-rivier (" Great River ") of the Boers. In the year 1770 it received from Gordon, an officer in the Dutch service, the name of Orange, more in honour of the royal • Griesbach, Qtiarterly Journal of the Geological Society, May, 1871. house than from the colour of its waters. The Senku, or chief eastern headstream, is regarded as its true upper course, although exceeded in length by the Vaal. It has its source in an upland valley on the southern slope of the Cathkin, and flows at first in a south-westerly direction between the Maluti and Drakenberg highlands. In this part of its course it rolls down a dark stream, whence its local name of the "Black River." After its junction with the Senkunyané, or Little Senku, it is again swollen by the Malitsunyané, which descends from the western uplands, and which at one point plunges from a vertical height of 600 feet into a tremendous mountain gorge.
After escaping from these romantic Maluti highlands, the Orange mingles its waters with the unite] stream of the Caledon and the Kornet-spruit, which nearly double its volume, and both of which flow from the grassy Potong uplands through broad beds of sparkling mica sands. Below the confluence, the Orange, which from this point flows mainly in a north-westerly and westerly course, is joined by a few streams or rather wadys from the Cape highlands, the chief of
which is the Hartebeest, whose upper course rising in the Sneeuw-bergen, is known as the Zak or Zeku. But all these contributions scarcely suffice to repair the loss caused by evaporation.
The only important affluent of the Middle Orange is the Vaal, or "Gray," one of whose upper branches, the Namagari, has its source, like the Caledon, on the Potong plateau. But its farthest headstream takes its rise on the uplands which skirt the seaboard of the Indian Ocean to the south of Lourenço Marques. Were the question to be decided by the length of their several courses, of all these affluents the Vaal would have to be regarded as the true mainstream. But its valley to a great extent traverses arid plains or dried-up lacustrine beds belonging to a former geological epoch; hence it sends down very little water, usually reaching the confluence in an almost exhausted state. But like the other rivers of this basin it is subject to sudden freshets, several of which occur between the end of November and the middle of April, and while they last the Vaal is transformed to a formidable watercourse. Both the Orange, Caledon, and Vaal may generally be forded; but during the floods they can be crossed 88 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. only on rafts, except at the points where modem bridges and viaducts have been constructed. For about three-quarters of its whole course the Orange traverses the granitic plateau at a normal altitude of about 2,600 feet above sea-level. But its channel is suddenly lowered by over 400 feet through a series of cascades and rapids known as tho Aughrabies Cataracts or the " Ilundrod Falls," which occur a short distance bi'low the Ilartebeest confluence. For a space of about 16 miles the stream is here obstructed by innumerable reefs, ledges, islets, and even islands, some with low and smooth rocky surface, others bristling with sharp crags often affecting the form of towers or pinnacles. During the season of low water the stream ramifies into a labyrinth of torrents, lakes, pools, or silvery threads, all of which winding from circuit to circuit ultimately converge in the narrow and deep gorge below the falls. Some of these branches go to swell the volume of the great cascade with which the series terminates, while others develop independent falls of their own, tumbling over some lateral rocky bed in mimic rivalry with the main body of angry waters. " On every ciJe," remarks G. A. Farini, " fresh cascades sprang out as if by magic from the rocks. In fact, whether at high water or at low water, one of the p.culiar charms of the place is the extraordinary number of distinct waterfalls which exist here. At Niagara there are two gigantic cataracts falling side by side at one bound into the head of a gorge seven miles in length. Here there is a succession of cascades and falls — probably a hundred in number — extending along the whole length of a gorge no less than 16 miles long, into which they plunge one after the other, sometimes at a single bound, sometimes in a s.^ries of leaps. During the dry weather many of these cataracts are of great volume, but at wet seasons, when they &,re magnified a hundredfold, their mass must be immense. At Niagara the gorge is nowhere deeper than '200 feet, here the chasm is half as deep again." * This exi)lorer counted an 1 named nearly a, hundred distinct cascades, from which fact he named the whole 8*»ries the " Hundred Falls." To the last of the series he gave the name of the " Diamond Falls," having picked up half a dozen diamonds in some sand between the rocks at the foot of the gorge. Below the Hundred Falls the Orange is joined on its right bank, if not by a running stream, at le ist by a ramifying wady, which in the extent of its basin exceeds the Vaal itself. This is the Hygap, w^hich is formed by the Ub and the Nosob, or tho " Twins," so called because their parallel beds frequently converge in a single channel, by the Molopo, the Kuramen, and other fluvial valleys, which occasionally send it a little water. But although the total area of its drainage probably exceeds 180,000 square miles in extent, scarcely any of its numerous allluents are ever flooded for any length of time. When one is full another is dry, and ordinarily nothing is met except stagnant pools or meres, or just a little moisture, so that to obtain a supply of water travellers are often obliged to dig holes in the sandy depressions. * In any case, owing to the very slight incline of the surface in the Kalahari Desert, this fluvial system has been
- Thmigh the Kalahari Deaert, p. 417. unable to complete the work of erosion required to form normal river beds. Hence after the heavy rains a large quantity of the precipitated water lodges in little reservoirs without any outflow, closed basins which often run dry through evaporation or infiltration before the next downpour. According to the season
these depressions are consequently either shallow lagoons in which the hunter dare not venture, or almost equally dangerous muddy quagmires, or lastly dry and arid plains. Some with porous beds are clothed with vegetation after the fresh water has evaporated, and these are the vleys of the Dutch explorers. Others, with impenetrable argillaceus beds, are more arid in summer than the relatively elevated surrounding plains, and these are known as salt-pans from the white saline efflorescences left on the surface after the rain water has evaporated. 90 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Throughout its lower course the Orange receives no perennial contributions from any direction, the gorges which open in the quartz cliffs to the right and left of its valley being for the most part merely the winding sand-beds of intermittent or altogether dried up affluents. Hence as it approaches the sea it decreases in volume, and although the main stream is over 40 feet deep during the great floods, it may be forded for most of the year at certain points where a transverse passage is presented by the lateral ravines facing each other on both banks. But in the deep rocky gorge by which it pierces the coast range on its seaward course, the Orange is almost inaccessible from either side. At several points the overhanging escarpments of the surrounding plateaux rise several hundred yards above its channel, and the traveller might perish of thirst without finding a single fissure or practicable track leading down to the tantalising stream which he sees flowing at his feet. The river, barred at every turning by projecting rocky ledges, rushes in abrupt meanderings between the enclosing granite cliffs, and at one point even trends sharply to the south, flowing for some distance in this direction before it finds an opening in the last barrier obstructing its course to the sea. Above the bar its waters are collected in an extensive lacustrine basin, above which hover countless flocks of aquatic birds. It frequently happens that this basin becomes completeh cut off from the sea by an intervening strip of sand. During the fluvial inunda- tions the swift current opens a broad channel to the Atlantic ; but even then it is inaccessible to shipping owing to the submarine banks resting on elevated rocky plateaux, where the surf beats incessantly. Hence vessels bound for this part of the coast are obliged to land at the small inlet of Cape Voltas, lying to the south of the Orange estuary. Thus this great river, which has a total course of no less than 1,300 miles, draining an area of over 500,000 square miles, is as useless for navigation as it mostly is for irrigation purposes. The Olifaxt, Breede, Great Fish, and Kei Rivers. None of the rivers reaching the Atlantic between the Orange and the Cape of Good Hope, or for some distance east of that point, have room to develop a long course in the narrow space separating the coast ranges from the sea. Nor do any of them send down a great volume of water, notwithstanding the relatively heavy rain- fall in this region. On the west side the largest is the Olifant, that is "Elephant," Biver, which flows mainly in a north-westerly direction to the sea above St. Helena Bay. On the southern slope the Breede-rivier ("Broad River") collects the surface Avaters from the uplands round about Capetown, and reaches the coast east of Cape Agulhas through a channel accessible to vessels of 150 tons. Notwithstanding its comparatively small size the Breede is the only stream in Cape Colony which has a seaport on its banks. Some miles farther east the Southern Ocean is reached by the Groote-rivier (" Great River "), called also the Gaurits, whose ramifying fluvial system resembles the widespread branches of an oak. The Gamtoa, or Gamtoos, which like the Gaurits rises on the plain of the Great Karoo, and like it also forces the parallel coast ranges through a series of romantic gorges, is often completely exhausted before reaching the ocean at Saint Francis Bay. Beyond it follow Sunday River, falling into Algoa Bay, and Great Fish River, which after an extremely winding course debouches in the Indian Ocean, near
the point where the continental coast-line begins to trend north-eastwards. Here the effects of a different climate already begin to make themselves felt. Although shorter than those on the southern seaboard, these eastern streams roll down a larger volume of water. 92 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. The Kci, that is, the " Great," pleonastically called the " Great Kei," which descends from the Storm-bcrgen and the Kwathlamba highlands, has acquired considerable political importance first as the old limit of the Hottentot domain, and afterwards as for a long time marking the boundary of the British possessions in this direction. Beyond it begins the territory of the Transkei Kafirs (Galecas and others), who were formerly independent of the colonial government. The Kei is a very rapid stream, rushing over magnificent waterfalls and winding through many romantic gorges. But of all the rivers watering the Kafir domain the most picturesque is the St. John, that is, the Um-Zimvulu of the natives. At its mouth it is a broad stream 2,000 feet wide from bank to bunk ; but the channel gradually narrows and becomes hemmed in between steep wooded escarpments dominated by the vertical cliffs of a terrace, which is itself surmounted by other rocky walls terminating in a flat tabular surface. This section of the stream, where both banks rival each other in size and romantic beauty, has received from the English settlers the name of the " Gate " of the St. John. Notwithstanding its great width the entrance is rendered inaccessible to large vessels by a bar, which, however, is easily crossed with the flood tide by smaller craft. For these the river is navigable from its mouth for about twelve miles to the point where the first rapids obstruct all further approach. The Rivers of Natal and Zlluland. The colony of Natal is intersected by several parallel channels, each flooded by a copious stream with its wild gorges, falls, and rapids. The Um-Zimkulu, Ura- Komanzi, Um-Lazi, Um-Geni, and other Uhih, or " watercourses," follow succes- sively as far as the great Tugela river, whose main branch rises, like the Vaal and the Caledon, on the Potong uplands, and which flows thence to the Indian Ocean between Natal and the Zulu territory. Jieyond this point the relief of the seaboard and with it the suliont features of the running waters become modified. Their banks are no longer rocky, the hills recede more inland, leaving between tli( m and the sea a broad level zone, over which the rivers wind mainly in a northerly or north-easterly cour.-e For a space of about 180 miles in a bee line the coast maintains the character of a sandy beach covered with dunes and enclos- ing extensive lagoons and backwaters. The largest of these lagoons, which were formerly marine inlets, but which are now separated from the sea by narrow strips of sand, is the so-called Lake St. Lucia, a sheet of shallow water nearly 60 miles long with a mean breadth of 12 miles. It occupies the southern part of the low-lying coastlands, which terminate northwards in a number of channels and smaller lagoons communicating with the spacious inlet of Lourenco Marques or Delagoa Bay. This section of the seaboard is clearly limited southwards by the narrow passages giving access to Lake St. Lucia, northwards by the arm of the sea which penetrates into Delagoa Bay. At its issue the southern basin of St. Lucia is obstructed by a bar infested by voracious sharks, which often greedily swallow the sounding lines and snap at the boathooks of passing craft. *In 1875, when these waters were surveyed by the Nassau, the channel was completely closed by a tongue of sand, and even during the floods the dangerous entrance offers a very precarious refuge to vessels frequenting this coast. Nevertheless such as it is this haven would have been a
valuable acquisition for the Dutch republics, which have hitherto been cut off from all communication with the sea. Hence the eagerness is easily explained with which the Boers of the Transvaal have so far unsuccessfully endeavoured to secure against the opposition of England an outlet at this point of the seaboard. 94 SOUTU AND EAST AFfilCA. Delagoa Bay. Far more important in every respect is the northern inlet of Delagoa Bay, which, opening northwards, presents good anchorage in over 60 feet of water, easily accessible to the largest vessels through a well-sheltered passage running some distance iuland. Hence the British Government for some time disputed the possession of this valuable harbour of refuge with the Portuguese, wlio relied on their long-established claims to its exclusive ownership. England asserted her right especially to occupy the island of Inyak, which forms a northern extension of the peninsula of like name at the entrance of the bay. Nevertheless the President of the French Republic, to whom the question had been referred for arbitration in the year 1875, decided in favour of Portugal, assigning to her the free disposition of all the lands encircling the bay, which cannot fail to become the commercial outlet for the produce of all the inland states. Between the St. Lucia and Delagoa inlets, the form of the sandy coast as well as that of the lagoons disposed in the same direction, together with the course of all the rivers which here trend northwards, all seems to point at the action of a marine current steadily setting in the direction from south to north along this seaboard. Such a current would be opposed to that flowing south- wards from Mozambique, while its action on the sandy coast would be mucli promoted by the heavy seas rolling in from the Indian Ocean under the influeucj of the south-east trade-winds. In this way may have been formed the outer coast-line formed by a long succession of sandy tongues, all skirting the east side of the shallow coast lagoons and running parallel with the true continental shore- line. North of Delagoa Bay the altered conditions must give rise to the opposite phenomenon. Here the marine current sets southwards, while the Manissa River, instead of flowing in a straight line seawards, is deflected along its lower course in a line parallel with the coast itself. It thus flows for a considerable distance towards the south before mingling its waters with those of the bay. Several other rivers converge towards the same basin. From the south comes the Maputa, which is formed by numerous watercourses which have their rise in the interior of the Zulu and Swazi territoiies. From the west descend the Tembi and Um-Bolozi, reaching the estuary in a united stream at the point where is situated the town of Louren90 Marques. Lastly frcm the north ccmes the copious current of the already mentioned Manissa. Thanks to the high tides and ' the natural depth of their channels, all these affluents of the baj' are accessible to shipping for some distance inland. The Manissa, that is, the King George River of the English settlers, was ascended for 130 miles from its mouth by Hilliard, who nowhere found it less than 3J feet deep. Hence this watercourse would afford easy access to the auriferous regions of the inteiior, but for the marshy tracts, which occur at many points along its course, and which render the climate extremely malarious. The Manissa was long supposed to be the lower course of
the Limpopo, which rises towards the west of the Transvaal republic. But its 
basin, which has now been thoroughly explored, is known to receive all ita waters from the eastern or maritime 8lo|)0 of the coast ranges. The Limpopo. The Limpopo, or Crocodile, which is the Oira of the old Portuguese maps, and which is known by many other names, such us Inha-Mpura at its mouth, and Moti, Uri, Hembe, Lenape, Lebempe along different parts of its course, is one of the grout rivars of Austral Africa, ut leust for its length and the extent of its basin, if not for the volume of its waters. Its further heiulstreams have their source on the plateau where the Boers have founded Pretoria, capital of the South African republic, some 320 miles from the Indian Ocean, but at least three times thut distance following all the windings of the fluvial valley. At first it takes a north-westerly direction, as if to full into the depresyion, the bed of which is occupied by Lake Ngami and other saline reservoirs. But after piercing the barrier of the Magalies range and forcing its wa}' through several other rocky gorges, it trends round to the north-east and then to the east, descending the inclined plane of the elevated South African plateau. From this tablclund it escapes through a feries of deep ravines, overcoming the last gmnite barrier of the Zoutpansbergcn by the superb Tolo Azim^ Falls, and at last emerging on the open lowlands through a number of narrow rocky gorges. Here it sweeps round* to the south-east and then to the south as fur as its junction with its chief tributary, the Olifunt (" Elephant ") Biver. Beyond the confluence it is joined by another flnvial valley, a long but mostly waterless wady, which ramifies north- wards through the Portuguese territory. Notwithstanding the number and length of its affluents, the Limpopo is not a copious river. It loses a part of its waters in the swampy tracts skirting both sides of its lower course, and reaches the Indian Ocean through a mouth about 1.000 feet wide, which is obstructed by sandbanks for a long way off the coast. Xevertheless Captain Chaddock was uble to ascend it in a steamer for 100 miles from the estuary. Penetrating through the southern channel, this explorer succeeded in crossing the bar against a current running at the rate of nearly 5 miles an hour. The channel was found to be verj- narrow, but corresjxDndingly deep, in some places no less than 24 or 26 feet. The river also continued to be generally narrow and deep, flowing through a low-lying level country, to within a few miles of Manjoba's kraal, which was the farthest point reached. Here it became hilly and well wooded, and was reported to retain the same character far inland. The trip was made in April, 1884, M-iih the ^aud, which appears to be the first vessel of any sort that had entered and navigated the Limpopo. Climate of South Africa. Lying almost entirely within the south temperate zone, the bamns of the Orange and of the other rivers traversing Cape Colony, Natal, and the Dutch republics have a climate presenting the same contrasts with the returning seasons as that of West Europe, but in the reverse order, the winter of the Cape answering to the summer of the northern hemisphere. Although the Austral African seaboard corresponds in latitude almost exactly with Mauritania, Cyprus, and Syria, it has a much lower average temperature, which is identical with that of European towns lying some hundred miles farther from the equator. In the general distribution of climates the advantage lies with the northern regions, which receive a larger amount of heat, thanks to the unequal distribution of land and water, which causes the warmer aërial and marine currents to set rather in the direction of the northern than of the southern tropical zone.
Another circumstance tends to cool the extremity of Austral Africa compared with the Mediterranean regions under corresponding latitudes. A large section of its seaboard is turned towards the cold Antarctic Ocean, from which numerous icebergs and much drift ice often float with the marine current in the direction of the Cape.[1]
But these marine currents which skirt the South African coasts are by no means of uniform character, and present on either side of the Cape a most CLIMATE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 97 remarkable contrast in their respeitive temperatures. The Antarctic polar current setting from the south parses west of Capetown, and aitvr entering the Atlantic, continues to skirt the west coast beyond the Congo and Ogoway estuaries. On the opiK>8ite side the ^lozambique current, coming from the Indian Ocean, flows by the shores of Natal and Kafirland, penetrates into the southern inlet» of Cape Colony, and at last rounds the extreme continental headlands, whence its local name of the Agulhas Current. In summer, when the cold Antarctic stream is directed by the regular south winds more swiftly towards the north, its temperature is found to be from 50® to 52° F. But in False Bay, immediately east of the Cape, the water brought by the current from the Indian , Ocean is often as high as Gfi*^, rising in the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas even to 78° or 80° F. In consequence of this great contrast in the character of the neighbouring marine waters, Capetown and Simon's Town, although 8(^])arated only by a narrow intervening promontory, have different climates. The latter lies nearer to the South I^ole, but nevertheless enjoys a warmer atmosphere by at least three degrees. The regular winds which prevail on the South African seaboard succeed each other in such a way as to diminish the contrasts between the seasons. Hence the average yearly variations from winter to summer are far less intense in Cape Colony than in the regions possessing a corresponding climate in the northern hemisphere. The cold south-east trade winds prevail chiefly in summer, thereby tempering its excessive heats. The returning bree/es — that is to say, the north- westerly aerial currents — set in, on the contrary, during the winter months, when the whole system of trade winds has been attracted northwards in the wake of the sun. All these normal currents, however, are frequently deflected towards the tablelands of the interior by the continental centres of heat. Thus on the eastern seaboard the trade wind veers at times quite round to the west, wherens in the north it sets southwards and in the Atlantic takes an easterly dirtetiun. In the hot season, when the winds blow from the north after traversing the desert inland plateaux, the atmosphere seems like the blast of a flery furnace, and at such times the heat is most oppressive, especially in the upland regions farthest removed from the moderating influence of the surrounding < eeanic waters. In general as we advance from the coast towards the interior, the climate acquires a more con- tinental or extreme character, becoming not only colder in winter, which might be exjjluined by the greater altitude of the land, but al^o muih warmer in summer.
- Temperatures of various South African towns : —
South latitude. Al itude. Mean Temperature. Me«D ExtremM. Simon's Town . 34=' 12' 50 feet 63 ' F. 'jr and 43' Capettiwn . 33° 56' 40 „ 62" 91° „ 39°-8 Port Elizabeth . 33^ 57' 240 „ 62°-8 95° „ 42°-8 Graham's Town . 33° 20' 1.800 „ 62°- 4 102° „ 34° Graaf Roinet 3-2° 16' 2,.?60 „ 64°4 10r-2„ 33' Bloemfoutein 28"" 66' 4.550 „ 6P-8 93°-6„ 41° Du Toifs Pan 28° 46- 4.000 ,. 62°-6 104° „ 40°-5 Pretoria 25° 46- 4.300 „ 66^-8 95°-4 „ 3'2°o Port Durban 29° 50' 250 „ 67° n Pietar Maritzburg 29° 30' 2,100 „ 62°-7 96° „ 32°-4 104— AT Except at some points of the coast, such as Simon's Town and Pieter Maritzburg, the atmosphere is less humid than in West Europe, being extremely dry, especially on the plateaux. Table Mountain frequently presents in summer a remarkable phenomenon, which is due to the greater dryness of the lower aërial strata. The south-east winds, which strike against the huge sandstone block, rise above its south-eastern slopes, and the moisture becoming condensed in the cold atmosphere of the summit, spread out in a dense whitish cloud over the plateau. This "tablecloth," as it is locally called, does not terminate abruptly at the brink of the precipice, but rolls over down towards the city spread out at its foot. Magnificent cascades of sun-lit mist descend some two or three hundred yards, floating like folds of delicate drapery on the breeze, and gradually dissolving in the lower atmospheric regions. Here all the moisture brought by the trade winds becomes absorbed, and except on the cloud-capped summit of the mountain, the whole country remains bathed in sunshine under the bright azure sky. In winter, when the north-west
winds prevail, the phenomenon is reversed, and then the billowy mists roll down from the plateau on the opposite side towards Simon's Town.
The rainfall is very unequally distributed on the seaboard and in the interior of South Africa; but on the whole the actual quantity of moisture precipitated is relatively slight, and certainly far less than that of West Europe. Copious rains occur only in a small number of privileged localities, such as the slopes of Table Mountain, where the relief of the land compels the clouds to discharge their contents more freely, Hence in these southern latitudes the year is not divided, as in the equatorial zone, into two well-marked seasons, one rainy, the other completely dry. On the contrary, showers occur everywhere, even on the inland plateaux, throughout the whole year, although usually distributed with a certain regularity from month to month. On the Atlantic side moisture is brought by the returning winds, and consequently abounds mostly in winter from May to August, and especially in the month of July. On the rest of the seaboard between False Bay and CLIMATE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 98 Zululund the humidity is duo nmiuly to the wjuth-eust windu, und uh these prevail ill summer, here the ruiufuU is heuvicnt between the muiithH of December and February. Mo8t of the moisture being hupplii-d by the Indian Ocean, the inland pluteuux, the Karroo, and the Dutch republics also receive their fur too scanty rains in the same season, during the prevalence of the easterly trade winds.* On the Natal coast the fierce gales ore occasionally accompanied by ** marine rains," which are almost entirely confined to the neighlmurhood of the seu, whereas the ordinary rains are for the most part torrential downpours, occurring on the slopes of the mountains. The regions which receive the least quantity of moisture are the plain of the Great Karroo, the basin of the Ixiwer Orange, and the Kalahari Desert. Here the rains are irregular, but when they do fall they burst like a sudden deluge over the plains. In this Dorst-veld, or "Thirsty land," vast stretches are covered with sands, which are disposed in dunes rolling away beyond the horizon like the ocean waves, and often clothed in vegetation. Springs are rare, in some districts occurring only at long intervals of fifty or sixty miles ; but the Bushmen understand how best to utilize the moist bottom lands in order to procure sufficient water for themselves and their cattle. They bore holes to u depth of about three feet and let down a reed with a sponge attached to its lower end, und in this way are able to suck up enough to fill their calabashes. The wants are thus supplied of the animals, which in the Kalahari are accustomeil through necessity to drink little, and which are watered by the Bcchuana herds- men only every two or three days. The gouts pass months together without quenching their thirst, and certain species of South African antelopes are said never to seek the springs.t The remark has often been made that Austral Africa is passing through a procej^s of desiccation. ]Most travellers are of accord in stating that the territory' of the Bechuanas and neighbouring tribes between the Orange and Lake Nganii has already lost its regular streams, and that tillage has consequently had to with- draw more and more towards the mountains.^ Nor can there be any doubt that during the present geological epoch the quantity of moisture has gradually diminished throughout the region of South Africa, as abundantly attested by the ancient lakes transformed to salines, by the river-beds changed to drj* barren ravines. " The land is dead ! He on high has killed the land I " frequently exclaim the Bechuanas. At the same time the observations made in these regions by the resident • Dintribution of rainfall in South Africa : — Simon's Town . .27 inchew Bloemfontein . .24 inchea. Capetown . 27 ,, Du Toil's Pan .... 16 „ Port Eli/aheth . . 24 ,. Pretoria 24 „ firahani'K Town .29 „ Port Durban . . . 44 „ Gntuf Keinet . 26 „ Pietor Maritzburg . . . 31 „ t Mackenzie. Ten Year* Xorlh of the Orange Rirer. X Livin^Htone. Latt Journal ; Anderwon, Lake Sgami ; Chapman, TrartU ; JuDM Fox Wilaun.- Jtmrnal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1865. missionaries and by passing travellers are not sufficiently accurate, nor do they cover enough ground to decide the question whether during the present century there has been really a falling off in the supply of moisture in South Africa, or whether the distribution of the rainfall has merely become more irregular, so that long periods of drought and of rains alternate with more or less regular recurrence. The latter would seem to be the more probable view of the case. The destruction of the forests which has taken place in all the districts where colonists have settled, us well as the conflagrations which have been kindled by the cattle grazers, must have had the result of rendering the running waters much more irregular in their flow, and even changing many of them into mere spruits, or wadys. The tranquil
streams winding along well-defined channels have been largely replaced by the "wild waters" rushing suddenly in impetuous freshets down to the plains, and as suddenly leaving the fluvial beds again dry or swampy. The ground, swept of its grassy carpet and hardened by the sun, no longer absorbs the rain waters, which pass rapidly away without being of much avail for irrigation purposes. But during the half-century since regular observations have been taken at the Cape and at a few other meteorological stations in Austral Africa, no facts have been recorded at all pointing to any actual diminution of the rainfall, at least throughout the coastlands. On the contrary, many farmsteads formerly suffered from an insufficient supply on the upland plateaux, where at present, thanks to a careful PT/)RA OP SOUTH AFRICA. 101 husbanding of the resources, whole towns find at all times a su{>orubuiidjut quantity of good water. Cape Colony and the conterminous lands are one of the most salubrious regions on the globe, not only for the natives, but also for immigranta from Europe. Hence acclimatisation is effected without any difficulty, aud often even with bene- ficial results. Even in the inland districts, where the summer heats are at times almost oppressive, Europeans are able to work l)ctween sunrise and sunset as in their native land. Epidemics seldom prevail, nor have they ever been so virulent as in Europe or many parts of the United States. The Cape has never yet been visited either by cholera or yellow fever ; affections of the chest are also very rare, and the most ordinary complaints appear to be rheumatism and neuralgia. Before the opening of the Suez Canal, most of the functionaries and officers returning from India broke their journey at the Cape, where they spent some time to recover their health; now, however, the easy and much shorter overland route enables them to proceed straight to P^ngland. The few invalids who at present seek in the climate of Austntl Africa a remedy, or at least a temporary relief, from their maladies, come directly from Great Britain, and take up their residence chiefly in Capetown, Graham's Town, and 'Bloemfont^in. But while the pure atmosphere of these regions is efficacious for some ailments, its virtue is even more conspicuously felt by the whole race, which here acquires greater vigour and physical beauty. Both in the British colouit;s and the I)utch republics, European families thrive well, so that even without any fresh stream of immigration, the white population would increase by the natural excess of births over the death-rate. The vital statistics show that in not a few rural dis- tricts the birth-rate is three times higher than the mortality, a proportion unknown in the most favoured Euro])ean lands. , Flora of SfUTH Africa. The flora which has been developed under the favourable climatic conditions of Austral Africa, is one of the richest in the world. It would almost seem as if all the vegetable forms adapted for the temperate /one, right round the southern hemisphere, had been concentrated and crowded together by the continuous tapering of the African continent towards its southern extremity. According to Amiitage, the region of the Cape compriises at least about twelve thousand sixcies, that is to say, two or three times more than all the combined vegetable zones of Europe. On a single mountain in the ncighbourh<KKl of Paarl, to the north-east of Capetown, Drege counted in spring no less than seven hundred flowering vascular plants, so distributed over the sIojk's that each vertical space of about 1,000 feet constituted a perfectly distinct vegetable area. The typical 8]>ecies present a marked general rest niblance to those of Aus- tralia ; but although the latter continent is five times more extensive, penetrating northwards far into the torrid zone, its whole floral world is scarcely more diversified than that of the relatively contracted region of South Africa. Of 102 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. the imraen83 variety of forms here concentrated, the endemic genera altogether peculiar to the floral domain of the Cape number very nearly four hundred and fifty. The botanical region which begins with the plains of Clanwilliam and Olifant on the Atlantic seaboard, and which embraces the extreme south-west continental coast ranges, constitutes an area of a very limited extent, distinguished, like the Mediterranean region, by its thickets of shrubs and lesser growths. Nearly everywhere it presents numerous woody plants from four to eight feet high, with a dull green or bluish foliage. These are the so-called bosckj'es or bonchjesvelds of the Dutch settlers, the bush ioiintnj of the English, inhabited chiefly by scattered wild tribes thence known as Bushmen. Although during the early period of colonisation these thick-set tracts presented great obstacles to free intercommuni- cation, the immigrants always found it possible to clear the route for their long teams of oxen, whereas they would have been iinable to traverse true forests except on foot or on horseback. Large forest vegetation is rare in the Cape region, where it is confined chiefly to the southern slopes of highlands which skirt the seaboard between Mossel and St. Francis Bays. Most indigenous trees seek shelter' in the gorges, and even here rarely exceed twenty- eight or thirty feet in height. Sub-tropical forms are here still represented on the shores of the Southern Ocean by a dwarf date, some cycadeuj and aloes. On the Cedar Mountains, in the south-western part of the country, there formerly flourished some species of so-called " cedars " with a girth of over thirty feet at the base.* One of the most characteristic fonns in the Cape zone is the silver tree {Leucadendronargeiitoum), which owes its name to the silvery metallic lustre of its stem, boughs, and foliage. These plants, with their finely chased ramifying branches, when glittering in the bright sunshine, look almost like the work of some skilful silversmith, like those jewelled trees placed by the great Moghuls in their imperial gardens. The heaths, of which over four hundred species a»*e found in the South African bush, predominate amongst the woody plants. With the rhenoster, or rhino- ceros-wood {EhjtropappuH rhhwcerotis), a plant from one to two feet high and in appearance somewhat resembling the heather, they form the most characteristic feature in the local flora. During the flowering season the mountains clothed with heath often present, from base to summit, one uniform mass of pink bloom. Plants of the iris, geranium, and pelargonium groups are also very common in the Cape region ; whereas the rubiacea), an order represented in other parts of the world by such a large numbsi* of species, constitute in Austral Africa less than a hundredth part of the indigenous flora. The beds of the rivers and watercourses are often choked with reeds and flags (Acorus pahnites or prionhim), plants with deep roots and close-packed stems, whose tufted terminal foliage spreads out on the surface so as completely to conceal the water, even to travellers fording the stream. Thus sheltered from the solar rays, ., * Alexander, An Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa. FLORA OF SOUTH AFRICA. 10« the current loses little by evaporation, and often holds out till the middle of summer. The water is also frequently dammed up and thus retained in its bod for several weeks and even months together by the thousand little barriers formed by the den^e masses of s<:>dge growing at certain points along the banks of the stream. The discharge is thus regulated by the aquatic vegetation so / effectually that these river valle^s are entirely free from the sudden freshets, which in a few hours often convert the wild mountain torrents of Abyssinia into liquid avalanches. Although flourishing in a temperate climate corresponding to that of West Europe, the flora of the Cape presents u remarkable contrast to the analogous forms of the northern hemisphere. Its jwricxl of repose coincides, not with the cold but with the hot season, so that the expression "to hibernate" is here quite inapplicable. The deciduous plants lose their foliage in the dry |jeriod extending from March to May, but when rain begins to fall the temperature is still suffi- ciently high, even during the cold season, for the vegetation to revive, put forth its leaves and blossom. Even the plants introduced from other countries have acquired th'- same habits. According to M. Bolus, they comprise altogether about one hundred and sixtv species, and are mostly of European origin, but also include some from America and India. These exotics are seldom met at any great distance from the high- ways and European settlements. In the interior they are scarcely ever seen, and on the whole they cannot be said to have hitherto exercised any marked influence on the South African vegetable world. The indigenous species have sf> far success- fully resisted the foreign intruders, and, it left to themselves, would probably in course of time recover all their lost ground. Two plants alone of the northern latitudes have found in Austral Africa a perfectly congenial climate and suitable soil. These are the liarbarv fig, which is spreading over the less fertile tracts, and the Pin us pinea, which is gradually encroaching on many rocky slopes. The species introduced int« the Cape from Europe are nearly all ornamental |,'lants; they are reckoned by the hundred, and they form the pride of the conservatories adaptt^d for the cultiution of sjM?ciniens belonging to the temperate zones of the earth. Miiny of the towns in the south- western districts are already encircled by fine avenues of oak-trees. At the end of the last and beginning of the present century the indigenous species were held most in favour, and fashion had enthroned them the queens of every garden. As early as the middle of the seventeenth century, that is, before the country was colonised, passing seafarers had already brought specimens from the Cape of Gocd Hope to the Dutch florists. In the direction of Algoa Hay the character of the vegetation becon;es gradu- ally modified along the seaboard districts. Here the varieties peculiar to the Capo disappear and become replaced by those belonging to the East African coastlands. Only a few ferns still straggle on, and the geraniums almost cease to le represented, for here begins the mariiiir.e /one of the Indian (keiin. where the climate is at once warmer and more humid than on the shores of the Atlantic. A few tnpical 104 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. groups, such as that of the cyperucea), are seen as far inland as the slopes of the hills in the basins of the Great Kei and Great Fish Rivers, and the country becomes more and more verdant as we follow the coastline in the north east direction towards Kafirland and Natal. The trees increase in size and the spread of their branches, while most of them nssuine a greater wealth of foliage and more brilliant blossom. In Natal no season of the year is destitute of plants in flower. The thickets of leafy trees are here and there interspersed with two species of palm, the Phoenix reclinata, and another whos«i roots are as polished as vegetable ivory. Here also the superb if«/ww cijcndifolio raises its gracefully curved fronds resembling the plumage of an ostrich. Although still lying far to the south of the tropical line, the flora of this region is no longer that of the temperate zone. Beyond the coast ranges, where begin the arid plateaux rarely watered by the life-giving rains, the aspect of the vegetable world suddenly changes. Here we enter the botanic region of the Karroos, which is sharply limited towards the south and south-east, but le>s clearly detined on the west and north-west in the direction of the Namaqua plateau, and on the north towards the deserts traversed by the Orange River. The zone of the Karroos is destitute of trees, and even of shrubs, with the exception of the doniboom or " thorn-iree " of the Dutch settlers, a species of acacia [Acacia hoynda) which fringes the banks of the wadys. Neither the heiths nor many other families characteristic of the Cape flora have penetrated iu'o the Karroos, where leguminous plants are also extremely rare. But the Bar- bary fig, after overrunning the plains of the Cape, is now encroaching on the northern upland plateaux, notwithstanding the efforts to extirpate it round about the farmsteads. This arid region abounds especially in thorny species, to all of which might well be applied the term " wait-a-bit," given to one variety of acacia (Acacia deienens), because the unguarded wayfarer often finds himself suddenly arrested by its sharp spines. About one-third of the whole flora comprises such plants belonging to the Cape region as have succeeded in adapting themselves to the dry climate of the Karroo by means of their succulent roots, stems, atid foliage. The l>lains and the heights dominating them are usually of a uniform grey colour, but after the rains Nature suddenly assumes a festive garb. The stunted plants burst into blossom in all directions, and the ground becomes draped in an endlessly diversiherl mantle of yellow, blue, and purple bloom. But this bright array is of short duration, and the vegetation soon resumes its sombre ashy aspect. Here are numerous monocotyledonous species, which never blossom for years together, lacking the favourable conditions of light, moisture, and heat needed to stimulate their florescence. North of the highlands which border the Karroo, and which are remarkably rich in compound species, stretches the zone of steppes and deserts, to which is generally applied the term Kalahari, although it really begins south of the Orange River below the region so named. In its more fertile districts, the Kalahari presents the aspect of a savannah of tall grasses growing in isolated tufts and interspersed with a few stun'ed shrubs. In the northern districts it is occupied by open forests J FAUNA OF SOUTH AFRICA. 106 ooii<«i8tiii^ ulinost fxcluHively of acacias furniHh(><l with a formidublo thorny armour. In tho nudni of tho Hunds grow a few uliraeiitury pluiits which oiiublc travellers to risk tho dangers of tho desert. Such is the " HuHhmun's |)otiito," a tuber of some- what bitter flavour, bat leaving a pleasant aftertuste, and whose broad green leaves flecked with brown are all charged with water. A species of onion with white flower, which supplies their chief food to the monkeys of the Kalahari, is also hij^hly appreciated by the natives. Hut the great resource for men and animals is the nura or sania {Acanthoiicyw /lorn'da), calknl also the " wild melon," a cucurbitacc<>u«< plant not unlike our culti- vated melons, which contains both a savoury meat and a refreHhing drink. This fruit may be preserved in the sand:) for months together; it grows also in the Namaqua country and on the plateaux inhabited by the Ilereros. The Kalahari flora is connected by insensible transitions with those of Angola in the north-west, of the plains of the Upi)er Zambese in the north, and of the Upper Limjx>po basin in the east. Tho Magulies Mountains alxive Pretoria may be regarded as the botanical parting-line between the floras of the Kalahari region and of the slopes draining eastwards to the Pacific Ocean. Fauna of Soirn Africa. Hy a singular and almost inexplicable contrast, the Cape region, so rich in indigenous vegetable forms, possesses scarcely any animals j)eculiar to itself. So far as regards its fauna. Austral Africa is merely a southern continuation of the tropical portion of the continent. No such striking contrast occurs elsewhere, except in Tibet, which has scarcely developed any endemic plants, but which has, nevertheless, given birth to so many distinct animal species. But if South Africa is poor in aboriginal animal types, it was till recently, and north of the Orange River still is, 8ui-])risingly ri.h in individual members of groups coming from the northern regions of the continent. So recently as the beginning of the present century the districts farthest removed from the Cape settlements still deserved the title of the " huntin;;-ground of the earth." Nowhere else could be found such prodigious multitudes of large mammals, and the herds, especially of antelopes, could at that time be compared with clouds of locusts. A large part of the literature bearing on the South African colonies has reference to the subject of hunting. Hut with the steady progress of colonisation the ancient inhabitants, both men and animals, have been continually driven farther north. The hippopotamus, who-<t^ remains have been found in the alluvial deposits of the Caledon Valley, has l)een extinct from time immemorial in the UpjMjr Orange basin. The elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, monkey, antelope, and ostiich have, at the same time, retreated in company with the Bushmen from all the coastlands. For nearly two centuries none of these animals have been seen in the wild state in the Cape Town district, and most of them have already withdrawn l)eyond the mountains, or even beyond the Orange River. The baboon, however, as well as the 106 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. hyspna, jackal, and wild dog still linger amid the haunts of men, prowling about the farmsteads and sbeepfolds of the less settled distiicts. The squatters apply the general name of '* wolf " to all these predatory beasts. The domestic watch-dogs are said to be fully conscious of their blood relationship with the wild species, avoiding or fearing to attack them even when urged and encouraged to the combat. A few leopards, although continually stalked by the hunters, still have their lairs here and there in the dense thickets of the ravines. They are found even in the neighbourhood of Capetown, and are the most dreaded of all rapacious beasts in Austral Africa, being feared even more than the lion. This feline was formerly so numerous in the vicinity of the Cape, that, according to the statements of the old chroniclers, the early Dutch settlers con- stantly expected them to combine for a night attack on the fort itself. Now they have disappeared altogether from the settled districts, but they are still met by explorers on the upland plains of the Bushman country south of the Orange River. But here the lion is no longer a " king of the wilderness," striking terror into the hearts of men and animals by his voice of thunder. Having become more timid and more wary, he seeks rather to fall unawares on his victims than to alarm them by his mighty roar. Sportsmen are unanimous in asserting that, in the neighbourhood of the highways and human habitations, the lion has become a mute animal. While this beast of prey has withdrawn to the verge of the desert, the elephant and buffalo, who have left in the geographical names of the colony so many proofs of their former range, have found a last refuge on the coastlands in the dense Knysna woodlands skirting Plettenburg Ba}-, and in a few thickets near the Sneeuw-bergen. In these retreats they are protected by the game laws. In the island of Ceylon, where the elephant finds an abundance of food and water, a very small number onlj' are provided with tusks ; but in Austral Africa all possess these organs, which they employ to clear away the dry sands of the river beds down to the underground reservoirs, and to slice from the stems of acacias and other trees strips of bark which they slowh* masticate.* South of the Orange River not a single member is now to be found of the rhinoceros family, of which there formerly existed, and possibly still survive, as many as four distinct species in Austral Africa. The hippopotamus has succeeded better in escaping from the attacks of man, and some of these amphibians are still met in the waters cf the Lower Orange, as well as in the rivers of Kafirland and Zululand, here in association with the crocodile. Down to the middle of the present century a few still frequented the Great Fish River. The giraffe, the zebra, quagga, buffalo, gnu, and most of the twenty-seven species of antelopes which formerly inhabited the now settled districts of Austral Africa, have retired farther north to the regions of the Kalahari Desert, to Xamaqualand and Transvaal. The graceful kama (dorcas), most beautiful of all antelopes, the kudu (sfrepsiceros), the black antelope, and most of their congeners, • Alexander, An Erpeditioti of Diseorery into the Interior of Africa. INHABITANTS OF SOUTU AFUICA. 107 have all retreated l)oyond the Oninj^o. liut the ostrich Is still found in the wild Ktato iu a few remote dixtricts of the colony and in the Kalahari. According to Anderson, there exist two distinct siwcics of thin bird in South Africa, both differ- ing from the Mauritanian variety, * Amongst the other characteristic birds of the Cape region specially noteworthy are the republican or philhetteroH^ whose colonies build enormous nesti* protected by a sort of roof, and the secretary {Serpentarim repfi/ioorus), which seizes snakes and kills them with blows of the wing, or else bears them aloft and breaks their vertebra) by dropi)iug them from great heights on the hard ground. It is for- bidden to kill or hunt this useful bird. The reptile world is rej)re8ented by numerous species, amongst which are several venomous serpents and snakes, such as the cobra, the garter snake, and the much dreaded puff-adder, which fortunately for the wayfarer is of somewhat sluggish motion. The inlets along the seaboard are also infe^^ted by several species of electric fishes, and by others rendered dangerous by their venomous darts or poisonous flesh. Inhabitants of South Afrka. More than half of the native inhabitants of Austral Africa, south of the Cunene and Zambese rivers, belong to the widespread Bantu family. It may be sjiid in a general way that a line drawn from Algoa Bay in the extreme south northwards to the latitude of Lake Ngami will form the western limit of the Bantu peoples, separating them from the Bushmen and Hottentot domain stretching thence to the Atlantic. The eastern slopes of the mountains, the valleys of the I'pper Orange, the colony of Natal, and the whole of the Limpopo basin, form part of this vast ethnical region of the Bantus, that is " Men " iu a pre-eminent sense, a region which further comprises the whole of the south torrid zone, and even extends beyond the equator us far as the Kameroon highlands. Like the vege- table species of the equatorial regions, which have gradually invaded the seaboard, attracted, so to say, by the warm marine currents carrying their seeds from shore to shore ; like the northern animals which have spread along the coast of the Indian Ocean to the southern extremity of the continent ; the victorious Bantu tribes, also from the north, have in the sixnie way carried tluir conquering arms from river basin to river basin, at last reaching the shores of the Southern Ocean, which stretches away to the everlasting snows and ice of the Antarctic waters. The Buntus of the British and Dutch possessions are roughly designated by the general name of Katirs, extended to them by the Tortuguese at the time of the discovery. But the word itself is of Arabic origin, meaning " unbeliever," and is in this sense freely applied by the followers of the Prophet to all heathen or non-Mohammedan populations, and especially to such as have formally rejected the teachings of the Koran. Hence there are Kafirs in Asia — the 8iah-Posh of Katiristan — as well as in Africa. But in the latter continent this generic term has 108 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. gradually acquired a more restricted sense, being now mainly limited to the Bantus of Austral Africa, and more particularly to the various native tribes occupying the region between Cape Colony and Natal. These tribes are themselves closely related to those settled farther ncfrth in the Tugela basin and thence to the confines of the Portuguese possessions, who, since the beginning of the present century, have been better known by the collective name of Zulus. "West of the Zulu-Kafirs dwell the kindred Basutos (Ba-Suto), on the hilly plateau where rise the Orange and Caledon Rivers. Still farther west and beyond the Vaal stretches the territory of the Bechuanas (Be-Chuana), while the Ba-Kalahari nomads roam over the forests, steppes, and sandy wastes of the wil- derness from which they have taken their name. Other less extensive tribal groups, but which also require to be studied apart, inhabit the various states or provinces of the eastern territory. All these peoples difPer considerably in their customs, political systems, and degrees of culture ; but all are connected by their various idioms belonging to the common Bantu linguistic stock, so harmonious and in structure so strictly logical and consistent, that young and old alike speak it with unerring accuracy. The Bushmen. The western section of Cape Colony, as far east as Algoa Bay, belonged origi- nally to the San race, the few fragmentary surviving remnants of which are known to Europeans by the collective name of Bosjesmannen or Bushmer (in the Boer pnfois, Boesmans). But the word has acquired rather the meaning of inferior beings, half human in form, but of bestial nature; and it is noteworthy that in the Basuto language the word Bashiman has the sense of " uncircumcised, vile, or abject."* It is applied in a general way not only to the Bushmen proper, but also to all vagabond peoples, fugitives or marauders, whether of San, Hottentot, or even Kafir origin. The true Sans, who however have no common ethnical designation, nor even any consciousness of their racial unity, are a people of small and even dwarfish stature, but with a relatively light yellowish brown complexion, at least in the southern parts of their domain. They bear a general resemblance to all the other "pygmies " of Central Africa, such as the Akkas, Ba-Twas, A-Kwas, and A-Bongos, dispersed in scattered or broken tribes amongst the surrounding Negro and Bantu populations as far north as the Nile basin. According to many anthro- pologists, these fragmentary groups are the lineal descendants of the first inhabi- tants of the continent, who have been gradually exterminated, or driven to the forests, deserts, and mountain gorges by later intruders, the ancestors of the present dominant populations. It is, however, to be noted that these primitive dwarfish peoples, often collectively grouped as Negrillos, or Negritos, present far greater physical differences among themselves than is commonly supposed. Thus
- Eugene CassUs, Le* Btusoutos. THE liUSUMEN. 1()9
Bushmen encampment.
Professor Flower has sho^rn that the Akkus have an anatomical constitution diverpinj;^ prreatly from that of the HuHhnion, with whom they are uf>uully gnm|)e<l uh In-loiiging to a common phvHiful tyiH).* Anyhow, the invading races recognise the claims of the Sans to priority in ])uint of time. On the rare occasions that they condo^cend to join with them in the chase, they always yirld to them a larger share of the capturwl game than that awarded to their own chiefs, paying this act of homage to the original owners of the land. The Hushmcn have even been regarded as the survivors of some race altogether anterior to the present human inhabitants of the earth. IJut liowcvcr tliis be, niost authors who have spoken of the Sans have certainly allowed their judgment to l)e somewhat warped by racial and social prejudices, describing these jxjrsecuted children of the soil as Ixjings far more removed from ordinary humanity than is really the case. Some of their most deadly enemies, such as the Dutch Boers, have even gone the length of denying them the posses- sion of articulate S])eech. The measurements taken by some anthropologists are not yet sufficiently numerous to enable us to determine the average stature of the IJushmen. In any case, the individuals examined have nearly all come from the south-western districts, that is to say, the region where the foreign settlers are most numerous, and where these aborigines consequently lead the most wretched exislence, often treated as wild beasts and stalked or hounded down like lawful game. The question therefore arises, whether in this region their manner of life, exiK^sure to the inclemency of the weather, lack of sufficient nutriment, and oppression may not have had the effect of somewhat reducing the normal stature of the Sans. In the Kalahari Desert, on the borders of the Bechuana territory, near Lake Ngami and surrounding saline basins, in the Zambese valley ; lastly, on the plateaux of the NanKUjuaa and Ilereros, where many Bushman tribes, here called Ba-Roas. live in the same social conditions as those of other races, observers have not noticed such a great disparity in stature as farther stnith. In some districts these Ba-Roas are even taller as well as superior in strength and activity to the neighbouring peoples. The finest men seen anywhere in South Africa by the missionary Mackenzie were the Ma-Denassanas, who live east of Lake Ngami. These natives, however, who are described as Bushmen in their features, language, manners, and customs, would seem according to Ilolub really to be Bechuanas crossed with Negroes from beyond the Zambese. But however this be, the stunted growth of the southern Bushmen may still t'» some extent be explained by the life of hardships and misery which they have voluntarily accepted in order to remain freemen. Those who were able to com- bine a relative degree of comfort with jxjrsonal independence, as well as those who were fain to become serfs in the Kafir or Hottentot communities, enjoyed a fair share of nourishment, and their descendants have consequently preserved the normal proportions. The Namaquas are regarded by Galton as degraded Bush- • Meeting of the Anthropological Institute, February Uth. 1888. 110 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. men ; yet they are the tallest of all the nations classed as Hottentots. At the same time the southern Bushmen, some wretched representatives of whom are still met south of the Orange River, are certainly one of the smallest people in the whole world. The greatest mean height, as deduced from six measurements taken by Fritsch, is slightly over 4 feet 9 inches ; while Burchell and Lichstenstein found the average scarcely more than 4 feet 1 inch. Thus, even accepting the more favourable results, these Sans would still be from 2 to 3 inches shorter than the Lapps. Their yellowish complexion, especially in the southern regions farthest removed from the equator, has been compared to that of Europeans suffering from jaundice, or of Mongolians in a healthy state.* In many other respects the Bushmen resemble these Asiatics of the Central plateaux. Like them they are distinguished by the small size of their bright eyes, by the breadth and prominence of their cheekbones, the form of mouth and chin, the whiteness and regularity of their teeth, the extreme delicacy of their joints. The depression between the frontal bone and root of the nose is always broad and deep, so that the general profile presents rather a concave than a convex contour. The forehead, instead of retreating as with the Mongolians, bulges out ; while the skull, covered with little tufts like " grains of pepper," is very long or narrow, with index Xo. 7303. In this respect the Bushman resembles the true JVegro, whose head is also long, and differs from the Mongolian and the Akka, whose heads are normally round. The cranial capacity is relatively low, although the general expression is far from indicating any lack of intelligence. On the contrary, the physiognomy implies a remarkable degree of sagacity ; and assuredly the Sans need to be constantly on the alert in order to contend successfully with the hardships, the elements, and the enemies by which they are beset in their inhospitable environment. One of the distinctive characters of the southern Bushmen, conspicuous even in the young, is the multiplicity of wrinkles covering the whole person. The skin of the face and of the body, fitting too loosely, as it were, to their lean figures, becomes marked with a thousand furrows, but also rapidly distends under the influence of a more generous diet than falls normally to their lot. Like the Hottentots, the Bushmen, and especially the women, also show a decided tendency, even from their tender years, towards steatopygia. The Bushman speech does not form an independent linguistic group, as has been supposed, but is connected with that of the Hottentots. Both evidently ,belong to a common stock, although differing greatly in their structure and syntax. The nominal roots are identical, and both express all relational ideas by means of agglutinated suffixes. The Bushman dictionary left unfinished by Bleek was to contain no less than eleven thousand words. This great wealth of diction, taken in connection with the common origin of the San and Hottentot languages, seems to confirm the view held by many anthropologists, that the
- Leon Mechnikov, Manuscript Notes ; Adolph Bastian, Ethuologische Forschungen, THE BUSHMEN. Ill
HuKliineii i*eprt'»eiit u debusetl or dogenenito people beloug^ing to tlie same 8tock an their neighbours, and are not an independent race, much le<M) a distinct branch of inunkind. Like the Hottentots and the s >uth eastern Katirs, the BuMhmen have in their phonetic system a group of peculiar consonants, the so-called " clicks," which are all but unpronounceable by Kumpeann, but which are also found in a somewhat mo<litio<l form in some other languages. Certain San trilx's are said to have as many as eight of these sounds ; but all s<>em reducible to four fundamental dicks : the dental, resembling the smuck of a nurse's kiss ; the palatfi/, like the tap of a woo<lpecker on the stem of a tree ; the crirhrfi/, analogous to the pop of a cork drawn from a bottle; the lateral, which, according to M. Hahn, resembles nothing so much as the quack of a duck. At the same time these clicks would ^^eem to be ultnost inherent in the soil, for they are found not only in the Hushman and Hottentot languages, but also in all those of the southern Kafirs, except the Se-Tlapi (language of the Ba-Tlapis) and the Se-Rjlong (language of the Ba- Rolongs). They have even invaded the local Dutch dialect, the Boers adding these eccentric sounds to certain words of their jxitoix. In the alphabets introduced by the missionaries, the various clicks are represented by ]>oints of exclamation crosses, and such like orthographic devices. Like the Indo- Chinese, the Bushman and Hottentot are toned languages, the woids acquiring different meanings according to the more or less elevated tone with which they are uttered. Owing to their nomad and fugitive existence, the Suns have developed scarcely any local industries. In the districts where they have not yet acquired a know- ledge of firearms, their weapons still are the bow and arrow tipped with poisoned iron points, or even sharpened stones, glu.ss, and chipped flints. They wear little clothing, even the rich restricting themselves to the knross or .'*hrepskin. But all are fond of decorating the head and body with bone necklaces, arrows, and ostrich plumes, to which the Kalahari tribes add little bits of wood inserted in the cartilage of the nostrils. Very few have learnt to build huts, most of the tribes dwelling in caves or the dens of wild beasts, pa8>iiig the night round the smouldering embers of a fire, and sheltering themselves from the wind by mats suspended on stakes. But their life of hardships and adventures has developed in these aborigines a surprising degree of sagacity, and those who are captured in their youth and brought up in the domestic state readily learn everything they are taught. They become skilful fishers, and as shepherds are most highly valued. But the impulse is at times irresistible to forsake the abodes of civili8e<l men, where they had at least sufficient nutriment, and again resume their sa-age indej)endence, their nomad ways, and life of endless hardships. But, however wretched their existence, they still possess a greater flow of spirits and vitality than their neighbours, expending it in the dance, songs, and extempore recitals. They are also artists, and on the rocky walls of their caves have in many places been discovered life-like represent!! tions in red ochre, and even ptdychromo pictures of 112 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. « animals, hunting scenes, and combats with the hated Boers. Thus a certain ideal element has been developed in the lives of these lowly aborigines, whom the surrounding peoples — Kafirs, Hottentots, Dutch, and English — thought themselves till recently fully justified in hunting down like wild beasts. Their oral treasuree of fables, tales, and myths, never fail by their wealth and variety lo excite the wonder of all explorers in this interesting field of inquiry. Although distributed in scattered groups, without national cohesion of any sort, the Bushmen manifest much sympathy for each other, cheerfully co-operating together on all opportune occasions. After hunting in common, the division of the prey is unattended by any wrangling, although no tribal chief presides over the distribution. In fact, there is neither tribe nor chief in the strict sense of these terms, the Bushmen possessing no political or social organisation of any kind ; and although the family group is not regularly constituted, the sentiments of natural aficction are none the less highly developed. Formerly a man provided himself with a temporary mate by the simple device of capturing the child, whose mother never failed to come and share the lot of her offspring. To judge from tlic fate of those belonging to the colony south of the Orange River, the Bushmen would seem to be destined soon to disappear ; for in this region they have been hunted like wild beasts, and most of those who ha e escaped extermination have taken refuge in the northern solitudes. Sparrmann relates how the squatters lay in ambush, attracting them by the bait of an animal's carcass left in the bush, and sparing neither man, woman, nor child, except perhaps such as might serve to increase the number of their slaves. Whenever they caught sight of a Bushman, they fired at once, following up the chase with their horses and dogs, pursuing him like any ordinary quarry. The very courage of the Sans often proved fatal to them, for there is scarcely an instance recorded of their forsaking their wounded and dead, preferring in all cases to remain and be killed by their side. North of the Orange River, on the frontiers of the Dutch republics and of Bechuanaland, the Bushmen were hunted down in the same way ; but in the Kalahari Desert, and farther north in the direction of the Zarabese, several San communities have maintained their independence, and these do not appear to be diminishing in number. In the Ilerero and Namaqua territories there are from four thousand to five thousand of these aborigines, and in the whole of Austral Africa probably about fifty thousand altogether. The IIottentots. The Hottentots, who, on the arrival of the Europeans, occupied nearly all the western part of the region now known as Cape Colony, are here still numerous, constituting, without the half-castes, alwut one-seventh of the whole population. Their popular name appears to be merely a terra of contempt, meaning " stammerers," or, as we should say, " jabberers," imposed on them by the early Dutch and Frisian settlers, no doubt in consequence of their strange and imintelligible jargon. In the current language of the colony, this appellation has been further reduced to the final syllable, "Tots." They have themselves no general name for the whole race; but the term Khoïn ("Men"), which occurs in several of the tribal denominations, has been extended to all of them collectively, and the Hottentots now commonly call themselves, or are called by scientific writers, Khoï-khoïn, that is, "Men of men," or "men" in a preeminent sense.
Although much taller than the southern Bushmen, and differing from them in their relatively higher degree of social culture, the Hottentots still resemble them in many respects. They have the same dirty yellowish complexion and the same elongated shape of the head, while the women show the same, or rather a
more decided, tendency towards steatopygia, or the accumulation of fat in the lower parts of the body. Till recently they used the same bows and the same poisoned arrows in the chase and tribal warfare. They have even the same musical instruments, delight in smearing the body with the same colours and decorating it with the same ornaments. Lastly, the language still current amongst those who have not already laid it aside for English or Dutch is undoubtedly derived from the same stock as that of the Bushmen. It is, however, much richer, more pliant, and less encumbered with harsh sounds and uncouth forms of expression. It possesses three fully inflected numbers and grammatical genders, and by agglutinating its monosyllabic roots is even able to express abstract conceptions, as well as many delicate shades of sentiment and thought. In the Bantu tongues words are strung together in the sentence chiefly by means of prefixed pronominal elements, whereas in Hottentot the same formative particles are invariably attached to the end of the roots, so that this is essentially a "suffixed-pronominal" language. It is divided into a considerable number of dialects, which are all 114 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. closely relat<}d, notwithstanding the vi le ureii over which are scatteied the various branches of this ethnical family. Those spoken by the Namaqnas appear to bo most free from foreign influences. In the districts where the Hottentots have become assimilated in speech and social usages to the Piuropean proletariate classes, they dwell in the so-called an, or hamlet, which the Dutch colonists call kraal from the Portuguese carral, that is, a fold, jwn, or cattle enclosure. These kraals are mere collections of spherical or semicircular huts, which from a distance present the appearance of huge mush- rooms clustering in circular groups on the grassy plain. They are constructed compactly enough to keep out the rain, but serve no purpose except as a shelter against the wea'ther. Their occupants cannot even stand upright in them, the ordinary elevation of the roof not exceeding four feet four inches. The Hottentot costume consists mainly of a leathern apron, somewhat larger and more ornamental for the women than for the men, and a sheepskin cloak worn with the woolly side in or out according to the season. Amongst the rich this kaross, as it is called, is embellished round the neck and shoulders with embroidery and fur trimmings. The ordinary diet consists for the most part of milk and butter, meat being eaten only on special occasions. But when they decide on a feast of this sort they gorge themselves to repletion, and then to aid digestion roll on the ground and go through a process of " massage." On their hunting or foraging expeditions they provide themselves with wallets filled with meat, first dried and then powdered. They are passionately fond of tobacco or hemp (dak/ia), the smoke of which is swallowed. But it sometimes happens that either to punish themselves for some fault or to render the fates propitious to their supplications, they condemn themselves to abstain from these narcotics for a certain period. The flesh of the . hare, pig, and fowl is regarded by them as unclean. Till recently very little time or attention was paid by the Hottentots to the supernatural world, hence observers free from all prejudice on this subject could frankly assert that these aborigines had no religion at all. Nevertheless, they are endowed with an extremely excitable nervous temperament, thanks to which the Wesleyan missionaries have often succeeded in throwing them into a frenzy of religious excitement. According to Bleek, the still uticonverted pagan Hottentots recognise at least two supreme or higher beings, one of whom is perhaps a per- sonification of the moon, for he dies and revives periodically. Charms, amulets, and fetishes, although rare, nevertheless do exist, and are associated for the most part with the worship of the dead. The Hottentots attribute to their ancestry great power for good or for evil, invoking them on all serious occasions. The term Tsu-Goab, adopted by the missionaries as the nearest equivalent of the Christian " God," is probably the name of some hero of the olden time handed down by tradition. Burials are per- formed with much solemnity, and cairns, or heaps of stones, are raised above the tomb of the dead, who is usually deposited either in a cave or by preference in a porcupine's lair. Thanks to these lofty cairns and to the prepared stone imple- ments used by the Hottentots, explorers have been able to follow their migrations or their sojourn in various parts of the eastern provinces, which are at present occupied by Bantu immigrants from the north.
Each Hottentot tribe has its chief, at least beyond the limits of the British possessions and Dutch republics. At the same time these chiefs enjoy very little power, and all weighty matters are debated in a general council of the whole community. In these discussions even the young men take part, and their voice often decides the point at issue. But in the European settlement all political
organisation of the Hottentots has been completely abolished, and in the territory of Cape Colony the last native chief was deposed in 1810 by the-British administration and replaced by a European magistrate. But even before that event all the aborigines subject to the direct action of the whites were no better than slaves. They were subject to compulsory registration and forcibly employed either in the wars waged against their own kindred, or in constructing roads, bridges, and other public works. Respect for their rights as freemen was not officially 116 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. claimed by the British Government till the year 128, and even this act of tardy justice was as a stumbling-block to a large section of the colonists, including all the Boers, who regarded the emancipation of the despised Hottentots as an infringe- ment of their own hereditary privileges, and a step fraught with danger to the colony. Many even preferred to quit the country rather than continue to dwell by the side of their former serfs now officially declared their equals. But during their one hundred and fifty years' contact with the whites previous to this proclamation how many Hottentot tribes had already been exterminated, more even by the gun than by small- pox ! What has become of the Koranas, WHO had their camping grounds on the shores of Table Bgy when the first Euro- pean colonists settled in the countrj% and of the Gri-kwas (Griquas), who encamped farther north near St. Helena Bay i' Many other tribal groups, such as the Gauri, San, Atta, Haisse, Sussi, Dama, Dun, and Shirigri, have also disappeared, leaving no memory behind them except the names given by them to their rivers and mountains. And their murderers meantime assumed the role of agents of destiny, almost as instruments of the Divine Will, declaring that these inferior races were foredoomed to destruction, leaving their inheritance to " the chosen j)eople ! " Even now the opinion prevails that, under a wise dispensation of Providence, the Khoi-khoius are rapidly diminishing in numbers. But the wish is here *' father to the thought," for the assumption is amply refuted by the official returns. Doubtless the aborigines seem to decrease, but only through the effect of an optical illusion caused by the fact of the relatively far more rapid growth of the white element. It should also be remembered that the change of social habits gradually weans the natives from their rude ways, drawing them within the circle of more refining influence, assimilating them in garb and speech to their Euro- pean masters, to whose sentiments, religious views, and usages they daily more adapt themselves. Moreover, a large number of these aborigines, still refractory to the ever- spreading English culture, have withdrawn northwards, thus retracing the steps of their forefathers when they descended seawards from the inland regions, borne along, says the national legend, " in a great pannier." In Namaqualand, and as far north as the Herero territory, these Oerlams, or Hottentots from Cape Colony, have often gained the political predominance. They have even followed in the wake of the stream of Boer immigration to the neighbourhood of Humpata beyond the Cunene. At present organised tribal groups, such as those of the Haw-Khoins and Nama- quas, Griquas, and Koranas, are found only in the region north of the Orange River. Those residing in the- settled European districts, althojigh henceforth inter- mingled with the general population, are nevertheless still classed apart in the census returns. In 1798 the four districts of the Cape, Stellenbosch, Swellendam, and Graaf-Reinet, which at that time constituted the whole of the colony, had only l'i,000 Hottentots in a total population of 32,000. But in 1865 this element had increased to 81,600 in the territory of Cape Colony, and ten years later it num- bered no less than 98,560. Doubtless most of these, although reckoned as true
- ↑ Comparative mean temperatures of corresponding latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres: — Cape Town (38° 56' S. lat.), 61° F.; Beyrut (33° 53° N. lat.), 69° F.; Durban (29° 50° S lat), 68° F.; Cairo (80° N. let.), 71° F. Equal temperatures under different latitudes in both Cape Town (35° 56'S. lat.), 61° F.; Constantinople (11° N. lat.), 60° 8°F.; Durban (29° 20' S. lat.), 68° F. Tunis (36° 48° N. lat.), 67° 9° F.