Chapter XXIV: Section XVI: Account of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope

Nothing remarkable occurred to the author of this voyage, while on the way from Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope, except seeing the wreck of the Schonenberg, a ship belonging to the Company, which had been lost a little before.[2] On coming in sight of the Cape, they discovered many French, English, and Dutch ships at anchor in the roads, some outward-bound and some homewards. A little way from the entrance of the bay is a small island, on which there is always a guard composed of a serjeant and a small number of men. As soon as the serjeant sees what number of ships a fleet consists of, he hoists a flag, and fires so many pieces of cannon as there are ships in sight, to give notice to the commandant at the Cape. They are here employed in making train-oil, and in raking oyster-shells to burn into lime. Into this island, malefactors are generally banished from the Cape, and from most parts of India. Here, besides the punishment of being separated from all their friends, they are kept to the hardest labour.

[Footnote 2: This is said to have been on the coast of Africa _at the height of Angola_, whither they were driven by a storm. But this could not possibly have been the case _before_ reaching the Cape of Good Hope.--E.]

Table Bay is very fine and large, of a semi-oval form, entering several leagues into the land, and may be about nine leagues in circuit; but the anchorage is not every where equally good, and there is some danger near the shore. The middle of the bay is commanded by a very strong fort, being a regular pentagon, and each of its fine bastions mounts twenty pieces of heavy cannon. This fort and the town are situated on the edge of a plain about three leagues in extent, lying at the bottom of three very high mountains. The first of these is _Lion Mountain_, having some resemblance to a lion couchant. The second is _Table Mountain_, which is much higher, and has a broad flat top like a table, being so high that it may be seen twenty leagues out at sea in clear weather. The third is called the _Devil's Mountain_, and is not so remarkable as either of the other two. The houses of Cape Town are very neat and commodious, but are only built two stories high, on account of the furious winds at S.E. which sometimes blow here.

About the year 1650, the Dutch East-India Company bought a certain district of this country from the Hottentots, its aboriginal inhabitants, and took care to have it immediately planted and well peopled, for the convenience of their ships, both outward and homeward bound. All the inhabitants of this colony are Europeans, or descended from Europeans. Some of the planters are settled at the distance of three hundred leagues from the Cape; yet all are obliged to appear once a-year at a place called Stellenbosch, where the _Drossart_ or magistrate of the country resides. They have here to pass in review, as all the peasants, as well as the towns-men, are formed into companies under proper officers. After the review is over, they go back to their respective plantations, generally carrying home with them what tools or other European articles they stand in need of. These people cultivate the ground, raising rye, barley, beans, and other grains. They also plant vines, which produce excellent grapes, of which they make very good wine. Some of these peasants are in very easy circumstances, having, besides large and well-cultivated plantations, great flocks of sheep and cattle.

Among other colonists, there is one about eight leagues from Cape Town, at a place called _Drakenstein_, entirely composed of French refugees, who have a large tract of well cultivated ground, and are allowed churches and ministers of their own. Part of the inhabitants of Cape Town are in the service of the Company, and the rest are free burgesses. They have regular magistrates, who decide causes of small importance, and regulate any little disputes that happen among them; but affairs of moment are carried before the governor and council, who determine finally and without appeal. In the interior country, the drossart determines in things of small consequence; but all matters of importance must come before the governor and council, whose sentences, both in civil and criminal cases, are executed without delay. The officer who commands here in chief, has the rank and pay of major, yet does the duty in all respects of a major-general. The officers under him are captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, who take care to keep their companies always complete and well disciplined; and in case of attack, they can draw together five thousand men at least, all well armed and as good as regular troops: Each peasant knows where he has to repair to, in order to range himself under his proper standard.

It is not easy to describe the expertness with which these peasants manage their fire-arms, an exercise in which they are constantly employed, even from their infancy; and it is almost incredible how boldly they attack even the fiercest animals. Many among them disdain to shoot a sleeping lion, because, as they say, it shows neither skill nor courage: When, therefore, they discover a lion asleep, they throw stones to waken him, and do not fire till he is on his feet. A little before the arrival of our author at the Cape, two peasants went out together to hunt. One of them, seeing a lion, fired at and missed him, when the lion rushed upon the man, who threw away his gun, to have more liberty to defend himself. The other peasant, on hearing the report, hastened to the place, and found his companion and the lion closely engaged; on which he snatched up the gun, and slew the lion by a few blows on the head, but broke the gun in pieces. The first peasant, whose property the gun was, complained loudly of its demolition, blamed his companion for coming up uncalled for, and even talked of making him pay for the gun, insisting that he could have slain the lion himself without aid. It was formerly considered a wonderful deed for a man to kill a lion; but now it is so common an occurrence, that they make no more of killing a lion, than we do of shooting a hare.

The country about Cape Town is full of vineyards and gardens. Two of these belong to the company, which are perhaps the finest in the world. One is at the distance of two hundred paces from the fort, between the town and Table Mountain, being about 1400 paces in length, by 235 paces broad, and having a fine rivulet from the mountain running through the middle of it. It is divided into quarters, in which they cultivate, with the utmost success, the fruits and flowers of the four quarters of the globe. The other garden is about two leagues distant from the town, in what is called the _New Country_, and is likewise kept in excellent order by slaves belonging to the company, of whom there are seldom less than five hundred. The country hereabout is mountainous and stony; but the vallies are very agreeable, and extremely fertile. The climate is perhaps the best in the world, neither cold nor heat being ever felt here to any intolerable degree. The people accordingly live to great ages, and have hardly any diseases except such as proceed from intemperance of some kind. The mountains, which contribute to the wholesomeness of the country, are supposed to be rich in gold and other valuable metals. Some trials have been made; but as yet no mines have been discovered, or at least none in such situations as would permit their being worked to advantage.

Mynheer van Steel, who was lately governor of this colony, travelled over the country, and examined it with much attention. He caused gardens to be laid out, and pleasure-houses to be built, in several places; but the peasants who were employed in building these houses and cultivating these gardens, sent over a representation and complaint to the company, alleging that these works were prejudicial to their private affairs, and prevented them from being able to maintain their families; upon which that governor was immediately recalled. His discoveries, however, were of great consequence, having made the interior country known to the Dutch, together with the nations or tribes by whom it is inhabited. These, so far as yet discovered, consist of seven different tribes, all comprehended under the general denomination of _Hottentots_. The first of these, and least considerable, who live in the neighbourhood of the Cape, have no chief, and are mostly either in the service of the company, or are employed as servants by the townsmen, or by the peasants and farmers in cultivating the lands, or tending their flocks and herds. The second tribe inhabit the mountains, or, more properly speaking, dwell in the caverns of the mountains, being thieves and robbers by profession, and subsist entirely by plundering the other Hottentots, with whom they are perpetually at war; yet never rob or molest the Christians. The other tribes are called the _Great_ and _Little Maqua_, and the _Great_ and _Little Kriqua_[2], and the _Caffres_. The words _Maqua_ and _Kriqua_ signify king or chief, and these four tribes are continually engaged in war against each other; but when any one nation is in danger of being totally ruined, other tribes immediately take up its cause; and these rude tribes seem to have a notion of maintaining a kind of balance of power.

[Footnote 2: These tribes are known in geography by the names of Namaquas and Briquas, the latter being also called Booshuanas. The second tribe in this account are named Bosjemans by the Dutch.--E.]

Such of the Hottentots as have submitted to the Hollanders are called the Company's Hottentots. The Dutch send every year fifty or sixty persons to trade among the Hottentots, who purchase their cattle, giving them in exchange arrack, tobacco, hemp, and such other things as they have occasion for; by which means a good understanding is kept up. These Hottentots of the Company are often attacked by the other tribes, and, when no longer able to defend themselves, their king or chief comes down to the Cape, attended by a small escort of his subjects, to demand assistance. He goes immediately to the governor, having in his hand the staff of command given him by the Company, decorated with their arms, and holding it in his hand, demands assistance. If the governor does not think proper to grant his request, but endeavours to shift him off with fair words, he throws down his staff saying, in bad Dutch, _Voor my, niet meer Compagnies Hottentot_; that is, "For me, I will no more be the Company's Hottentot." The governor generally sends him home with an escort of troops, as it is the interest of the company to be on good terms with these chiefs, who are always ready to do any service required of them.

The Hottentots are a very stupid and brutal people. They rub their bodies all over with rancid grease, which gives them a very bad smell, so that you may nose them at a considerable distance. Their children are all born perfectly white; but being constantly rubbed with grease, and exposed to the sun, they grow by degrees quite brown, and almost black. When a woman brings forth twins, one of them is immediately condemned to death, and is tied to a tree, where it is left to expire. Some of them have a custom of extirpating one testicle in their male children, as soon as they are able to bear the operation, in hope of preventing them afterwards from begetting twins. They seem to have little or no religion; yet they frequently look with admiration at the heavenly bodies, saying, "He who governs these is certainly a being of infinite power and wisdom." In many respects they are more like beasts than men, being abominably nasty in their persons, and, taking them altogether, they are certainly one of the meanest nations on the face of the earth. They are short and thick-set, with flat noses like a Dutch pug dog, very thick lips, and large mouths, having very white teeth, but very long and ill set, some of them sticking out of their mouths like boar's tusks. Their hair is black, and curled like wool. They are very nimble, and run with incredible speed. They are generally covered with a sheep's skin, each man having a quiver full of arrows on his back, and a bow in his hand. Immediately on coming in sight of an enemy, they set up a dreadful cry, leaping, dancing, and skipping about, and throwing themselves into the most frightful postures.

The seventh nation is named the _Caffres_, who are certainly the _Anthropophagi_ who have made so much noise in the world[3]. The Hottentots are much afraid of them, and take care to keep out of their way as much as possible, for fear of being roasted or boiled if taken prisoners. This abominable nation has never entered into any kind of commerce with the Christians; but, on the contrary, takes all the pains they can to entrap and murder them, in order, as is generally believed, to eat them. It is reported that they have grown somewhat more tractable of late years, and will enter into some sort of trade with such as venture among them. They are a potent and warlike nation, strong and well-made; and though black, and having curled hair like other negroes, they have better faces, and a much more manly appearance.

[Footnote 3: A very different account is now given of the Caffres, or Koussis rather, who are described as a half-civilized race, who cultivate the ground, and live under regular government.--E.]

At the distance of about eighteen leagues from the Cape, there is another port called Saldanha Bay, which is, in all respects, an infinitely better harbour than Table Bay, except in wanting fresh water, which prevents it from being frequented. The animals of this country are many. The lion is common here, and in hard winters often comes very near the habitations of the colonists. He is reputed the king of beasts, because he never eats a man till he has beaten out his breath with his paws. Before attacking a man he roars terribly, and shakes his mane; and if he does not give these signals of rage, there is no danger in passing him. Tigers and leopards are also very common, and do a vast deal of mischief; and it is probable these animals would be much more numerous, were it not for a race of wild dogs, which hunt in packs, and are so bold that they often weary out and worry a lion. They often destroy tigers, leopards, and wolves, and it is said that they will allow a man to take their prey from them when they have killed it. Travellers are never afraid when they fall in with these wild dogs, but rather rejoice, because they are sure that no ferocious animal is in the neighbourhood. There are many elephants in this country, and of as great size, as any in the world, being often from twelve to fifteen feet high or better, their teeth weighing from sixty to an hundred and twenty pounds. The rhinoceros is also often met with. This animal is rather less than the elephant, but stronger. His skin is prodigiously thick, and so hard that scarcely any weapon can pierce it. His snout is like that of a hog, on which grows a solid horn, ten or twelve inches long, which is much valued, because esteemed an excellent medicine in convulsions.

There are two animals peculiar to this country, which therefore deserve notice. One is a species of wild ass, which resembles the common ass in nothing but the length of its ears. It is as large as an ordinary horse, and is the most beautiful animal in the world. His hair is very soft, and from the ridge of the back descends in coloured streaks to the belly, forming so many circles. It is a brisk and lively creature, which runs more swiftly than any horse. It is very difficult to take alive, and when taken cannot be tamed; yet sells at a prodigious price, and is thought a fit present for a sovereign prince, from its rarity and exquisite beauty[4]. The other creature, found in no other country, is called by the Dutch the _Stinkbungsen_, or Stinking-Badger. This is of the size of an ordinary dog, but is shaped like a ferret. When pursued by man or beast, it retreats but slowly, and when its enemy draws near, discharges backwards a so intolerably fetid wind, that dogs tear up the ground and hide their noses in it, to avoid the smell. When killed, it stinks so abominably that there is no approaching the carcass, which is therefore left to consume where it falls.

[Footnote 4: This is a very imperfect account of the Zebra, which exactly resembles the ass, except in colour, and is by no means larger. One died lately in Edinburgh, after being exhibited as a show, which was as quiet and gentle as any lady's donkey.--E.]

It is impossible to describe all the creatures that are seen in the vast forests of Africa, as the inhabitants see new animals every year that are utterly unknown to them. They allege that, in the middle of summer, when the wild animals are almost raging mad with thirst, they resort in vast multitudes to the rivers named Salt, Elephants, and St John's rivers, where the males and females of different species intermixing, produce strange beasts that seem to be new species. The Hottentots in the service of the Company frequently carry the skins of these monsters to the governor; and our author assures us that he saw one of the following description, that had been killed not long before. It was about the size of a calf of six months old, and seemed to have had four eyes. The head resembled that of a lion, but the hair was quite smooth, and of a dark grey colour. It had tusks like a boar. The fore-feet resembled those of that creature; but the hind-feet were like those of a tiger.

The birds of this country are in a manner infinite in numbers and sorts; and though they have not been observed often to intermingle species, yet hybrids are sometimes remarked among them. The largest and strongest birds are to be found in Africa, among which is the ostrich, the largest of all, being commonly seven feet high. The beak is short and pointed, but the neck is very long. The feathers of the male are white and black only, while those of the female are mixed white, black, and grey. Those of the former are most esteemed, as their large feathers are better spread, and their down much softer. This bird is prodigiously swift of foot, and is hunted down by hounds. Their wings do not serve them to fly, but assist them in running, especially when they have the wind with them. The common opinion of their being able to digest iron is totally false. They swallow pieces of iron indeed, but then it is only to bruise the food in their gizzards, just as other birds swallow stones for the same purpose. They are also said to leave their eggs uncovered on the sand, and to take no care of their young. But those of the Cape country hide their eggs in the sand, and are so tender of their young, that, though naturally timorous, if one of them is missing, they become quite furious, so that it is not safe to go near them. There are abundance of eagles of all sorts at the Cape, which are very bold, and frequently do a great deal of mischief. They are not very large, yet are incredibly strong, so that they often kill and devour cattle when returning home from work, when they come in great flocks. of fifty or an hundred at once, single out a beast as it feeds among the flock, and falling upon it all at once, kill and devour it.

Some years before our author was at the Cape, there was seen on Table Mountain a bird as large in the body as a horse, having grey and black plumage. His beak and talons were like those of an eagle, but of a most dreadful size. He sat and hovered about that mountain for a long time, and the people were persuaded it was a griffin. It frequently carried off sheep and calves, and at length began to destroy the cows, on which orders were given to destroy it, and it was accordingly shot, its skin stuffed, and sent home as a curiosity to the Company. No such bird, has been seen since, and the oldest people of the colony do not remember to have heard of any such before.[5]

[Footnote 5: This was probably a stray Condor, and its size an ordinary exaggeration, in the passage of the story, like that of _the three black crows_.--E.]

Africa has been long famous for serpents, and there are such vast numbers of them in the neighbourhood of the Cape, that many of them have no names. Most of them are extremely venomous, and the colonists would suffer much more than they do from them, were it not that they have a specific remedy for their bites, not known in Europe. This remedy is the _serpent-stone_, allowed to be factitious, and is brought from India, where they are made by the bramins who have the secret of composing them, which they so carefully conceal, that no Europeans have hitherto been able to discover how they are made. The serpent-stone is about the size of a bean, white in the middle, but of a fine sky-blue on the outside. When a person is bitten by a serpent, this stone is applied to the wound, to which it soon sticks fast of itself, without the aid of any bandage or plaister. The part bitten begins immediately to swell and becomes inflamed. The stone also swells till it becomes full of the venom, and then drops off. It is then put into warm milk, where it soon purges itself from the venom, and resumes its natural colour, after which it is again applied to the wound, where it sticks as before, till a second time full, and so on till all the venom is extracted and the cure perfected.

All the mountains of this vast country are full of minerals and crystal, with many things of great value, if they could be got at; but the natives are so fearful of being made slaves in the mines, that they take all imaginable pains to conceal them. There is particularly a mountain, about 500 leagues from the Cape, called _Copper-mountain_, which is supposed to contain great quantities of metals. Large quantities of copper have been found here, which is said to contain a mixture of gold. Some Europeans endeavoured to follow the natives, who were suspected of going to that mountain to gather gold, but were all massacred. The Company is so tender of the colonists, and so unwilling to risk a revolt, that they have even neglected a gold-mine much nearer the Cape, the marcasites of which gave great hopes of its containing abundance of gold. Perhaps the Company may have another reason for acting in this manner, lest, if a gold-mine was discovered at the Cape, it might tempt the French or English to undertake something to their prejudice. Under its present management, the Dutch colony at the Cape is a general advantage to other nations, as well as to the Dutch. A few years ago a cavern was discovered in a mountain very near Cape-Town, in which the Hottentots find the venom in which they dip their poisoned arrows. There have likewise been found about twenty leagues from the Cape, some hot springs impregnated with steel, which have been found to cure many diseases, by using as a bath.

Considerable improvements may certainly be made on this colony, for the advantage both of the inhabitants and the company, which latter make no great gains by this establishment besides the convenience it affords in giving refreshments to their ships going to and returning from India. The Company would be glad of any means that might increase the value of the settlement, consistent with their maxims of government, and with that indulgence they find it necessary to shew the Hottentots, who are perhaps more tenacious of their liberty than any people on earth, and the most desperate in resenting any attempts to its prejudice.