Read Ebook: The Cape and the Kaffirs: A Diary of Five Years' Residence in Kaffirland by Ward Mrs

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Ebook has 818 lines and 102219 words, and 17 pages

"The country below the rise of the Umzinyati, and for the distance of about twenty miles, is for the most part flat and undulating, with little or no wood, but covered with sweet grass, and from what I can ascertain is considered a good tract for country sheep.

"The river, when I saw it , was about sixty yards wide, it being then full of water; below this, and during its whole course, I understand it runs through a broken and thick bushy country.

"The Draakberg, instead of being considered as one continuous chain of mountains, may be more correctly divided into two, of different geological structure, and having different directions: the one forming the north-western boundary I shall call the Great Draakberg; and the other, forming the western boundary, the Small Draakberg.

"The north-western portion of the Draakberg is of the average altitude of five thousand feet above the sea, and about fifteen hundred feet above the general level of the country at its base.

"The outline is in general round and soft, presenting some remarkable features, and occasionally high table-lands with precipitous sides. These mountains are composed of beds of sandstone, cut through by veins of trap, and diminish in height as they advance to the north-east, until at some distance beyond the source of the Umzinyati they appear to terminate in low hills. They are passable almost at any part by horses and cattle; but there are only three passes in use by the Boers, one near Bezuidenhout's Farm, in latitude 28 degrees 33 minutes South and longitude 28 degrees 44 minutes East; and one at De Beer's, in latitude 28 degrees 20 minutes South and longitude 28 degrees 52 minutes East, and another a little more to the south-west of Bezuidenhout's. The two former are in constant use; the latter rarely.

"Timber abounds in the kloofs on the south-eastern side of the mountain. On the north-west the country is much higher, being a plain of great elevation.

"The Great Draakberg, or that portion of it which forms the western boundary, has a direction N.N.W. and S.S.E. The junction of this with the former, or Small Draakberg, is ten or twelve miles to the S.W. of Bezuidenhout's Pass:--from this part the Utukela rises.

"These mountains are much higher than the others, and are quite impassable, presenting a rugged outline and bold and precipitous escarpments. From a distant view, from the nature of the outline I infer that they are granitic.

"The area of this district, from the ascertained and assumed boundaries will be much greater than has hitherto been supposed. It cannot, I imagine, be less than 13,500 instead of 10,000 square miles. At the same time it must be remembered, that if I find by my future observations, the same amount of error, and in the same direction in the southern portion of the district, of which at present I know nothing, as I have found in the northern, the area will be increased by a great quantity, and may not fall far short of 16,000 square miles, as a small deviation in the assigned direction of the Great Draakberg will easily make that quantity.

"The district is everywhere covered with vegetation, either in the form of luxuriant grass, which grows to a great height, or thorns and low bushes. Timber trees only grow in kloofs on sides of hills, excepting a belt which runs along the sea-coast.

"Water abounds in every part, and flowing streams cross the path at intervals of only a few miles. In the winter some of these become dry, but then water may always be obtained at moderate distances.

"The soil is in all cases well adapted for cultivation, and on the alluvial lands near rivers particularly so, producing much larger crops than are ever grown in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.

"The rocks which occur in the district, as far as I have yet seen, are granite, basalt, and members of the trap family, slate, sandstone, and shale.

"Coal containing but little bituminous matter occurs in in beds in the sandstone. In a kloof near the drift of the Bushman's River, there is a bed nine inches thick. This is the nearest locality I am aware of to Pietermaritzburg; it is distant about sixty-three miles. It is more abundant to the north-west, and I observed it in a small river near Biggar's Berg, in about latitude 28 degrees 7 minutes South, and longitude 29 degrees 25 minutes East, in a bed six feet thick, and of good quality; it is here cut through by a vein of trap."

Note 1. In the Blue Book for 1847, the latest published account, the numbers stand, 71,113 white, and 75,977 coloured; but this leaves more than 21,000 of the total unaccounted for.

INFORMATION FOR EMIGRANTS.

"The Government Emigration Officers in the United Kingdom, are:--London: Lieut. Lean, R.N., Office, 70, Lower Thames-Street. Liverpool: Lieut. Hodder, R.N., Stanley Buildings. Plymouth: Lieut. Carew, R.N. Glasgow and Greenock: Capt. Patey, R.N. Dublin: Lieut. Henry, R.N. Cork: Lieut. Friend, R.N. Belfast: Lieut. Stark, R.N. Limerick: Mr Lynch, R.N. Sligo, Donegal, Ballina etc: Lieut. Shuttleworth, R.N.; Lieut. Moriarty, R.N. Londonderry: Lieut. Ramsay, R.N. Waterford and New Res. Comm. Ellis, R.N.

"These officers act under the immediate directions of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, and the following is a summary of their duties:

"They procure and give gratuitously information as to the sailing of ships, and means of accommodation for emigrants, and whenever applied to for that purpose, they see that any agreements between shipowners, agents or masters, and intending emigrants are duly performed. They also see that the provisions of the Passengers' Act are strictly complied with, viz., that passenger-vessels are sea-worthy, that they have on board a sufficient supply of provisions, water, medicines, etc, and that they sail with proper punctuality.

"They attend personally at their offices on every week-day and afford gratuitously all the assistance in their power to protect intending emigrants against fraud and imposition, and to obtain redress where oppression or injury has been practised on them.

"The Government Immigration Agents at the Cape of Good Hope, are--Cape Town: R. Southey, Esq. Port Elizabeth: D.P. Francis, Esq.

"The duties of these officers are to afford gratuitously to emigrants every assistance in their power by way of advice and information as to the districts where employment can be obtained most readily, and upon the most advantageous terms, and also as to the best modes of reaching such districts.

"The rate of passage in private ships to the Cape of Good Hope and Natal is:

"At the Cape of Good Hope, persons of the following classes, if of good character and ability in their callings, are stated to be in demand; viz. agricultural labourers, shepherds, female domestic and farm servants, and a few country mechanics, such as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, and masons."

Of the rates of wages the Commissioners give the following Tables from the latest official returns in their possession:

As very many persons who would be most useful in the Colonies have no means of their own for proceeding thither, various provisions have been made to assist them. Thus the Emigration Commissioners "grant passages to those Colonies which provide the necessary funds for the purpose. These funds, which in the Australian Colonies are derived from sales or rents of crown lands, are intended not for the purposes of relief to persons in this country, but to supply the colonists with the particular description of labour of which they stand most in need. New South Wales, South Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope, are at present the only Colonies which supply the means for emigration."

The Poor Law Commissioners, too, are enabled to assist in emigration, and the guardians of the poor in parishes are by them allowed to raise sums of money for the purpose, of which they "may expend a sum not exceeding 3 pence a mile in conveying each emigrant above seven years of age to the port of embarkation, and a sum not exceeding 1.5 pence a mile in conveying each child under seven years of age.

"The guardians may give to each emigrant proceeding to the Cape of Good Hope, clothing to the value of 2 pounds, and may expend a sum not exceeding 1 pound for each person above fourteen, and 10 shillings for every child above one and under fourteen years of age, and in cases of free emigration, 2 pounds for every single man above eighteen years of age, in the purchase of bedding and utensils for the voyage."

The following are the regulations and conditions under which emigrants are selected by the Emigration Commissioners for passages to the Cape of Good Hope:

"1. The emigrants must consist principally of married couples, not above forty years of age. All the adults must be capable of labour, and must be going out to work for wages. The candidates most acceptable are young married couples without children.

"2. The separation of husbands from wives, and of parents from children under sixteen will in no case be allowed.

"3. Except in special cases, single women under eighteen are not eligible, unless they are emigrating with their parents, or under the immediate care of some near married relatives.

"4. Young men under eighteen, not accompanying their parents, are admissible only on payment of the sum in third class of the scale.

"5. No emigrants, whether adults or children can be accepted unless they have been vaccinated, or have had the smallpox.

"6. Persons intending to buy land in the colony, or to invest capital in trade there, are not eligible for a passage.

"7. Persons in the habitual receipt of parish relief cannot be taken. Temporary inmates of workhouses, or persons not in the habitual receipt of parish relief, will be charged under the third class.

"8. No applicant will be accepted without decisive certificates of good character, and of proficiency in his professed trade or calling.

"These rules will also apply generally to emigrants to Natal in case they be proposed for a passage by purchasers of land, or in case funds should be provided for carrying on emigration at the public expense. The persons eligible for passages to Natal would be agricultural labourers, mechanics, skilled labourers, and small farmers accustomed to some manual labour, and intending to work for their subsistence. Deposits to the credit of the Commissioners do not exempt the depositors from the payment of survey fees.

"9. Applications must be made in a form to be obtained at the office of the Commissioners, which must be duly filled up and attested, as explained in the form itself, and then forwarded to this office, with certificates of birth and marriage of the applicants. It must, however, be distinctly understood, that the filling up of the form confers no claim to a passage; and that the Commissioners do not pledge themselves to accept any candidates, though apparently within the regulations, unless they are deemed desirable for the colony, and can be accepted consistently with the Board's arrangements at the time the application is under consideration.

"10. If approved of, the emigrants will receive a passage as soon as the arrangements of the Commissioners will admit. But no preparations must on any account be made by the applicants, either by withdrawing from employment or otherwise, until the decision of the Board has been communicated to them. Those who fail to attend to this warning will do so at their own risk, and will have no claim whatever on the Commissioners.

"Before an embarkation order is issued, the following payments will be required from all persons of fourteen years and upwards.

"All children under fourteen will pay 10 shillings each; and if any family contains, at the time of embarkation, more than two children under fourteen years of age, for each such child 5 shillings additional must be paid.

"Wives to pay the same sums as their husbands, in the several classes.

"Out of the above payments, bedding and mess utensils for the use of the emigrants during the voyage, will be provided by the Commissioners.

"The mode of making these payments to the Commissioners will be pointed out in the deposit circular. The Commissioners' selecting agents are not employed by the Commissioners to receive money."

Any attempted fraud with regard to the signatures of the requisite certificates, or misrepresentation as to trade, number in family, will be held to disqualify the party for a passage. The emigrants must repair to the appointed port at their own expense, and if they fail to do so at the proper time, they will lose their passage and be liable to a forfeiture of 2 pounds for each adult, and 1 pound for each child, unless they give to the Commissioners timely notice, and a satisfactory explanation of their inability to proceed.

"Clothing.--The lowest quantity that can be admitted for emigrants to the Cape is as follows:--"

"For use on the voyage, shoes or slippers are much more convenient than boots. The following is a cheap and excellent composition for preserving leather from the bad effects of sea-water; linseed oil, one gill; spirit of turpentine, one ounce; bees'-wax, one ounce; Burgundy pitch, half ounce; to be well melted together, and kept covered in a gallipot; lay it on boots or or shoes, rubbing it in well, and set them in a hot sun, or before the fire.

"The usual length of the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope is about seventy days.

"The whole quantity of baggage for each adult emigrant must not measure more than twenty cubic or solid feet, nor exceed half a ton in weight. It must be divided into two or three boxes, the contents of which must be closely packed, so as to save space in the ship. Large packages and extra baggage will not be taken unless paid for, and then only in case there be room in the ship.

"Each family will be allowed to take only its own luggage. Any violation of this rule will subject the party to a forfeiture of his passage.

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