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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 85

South African Colonies. — Cape Colony

South African Colonies.

Cape Colony.

General Remarks.—Cape Colony was taken from the Dutch in 1806, and governed as a "Dependency" till 1853, when a "Colonial Constitution" was granted it. Owing to its two distinct races of English and Dutch, troubles have arisen, the children of the mother country have not heartily recognised it as a home, and the progress made has been slow in comparison with that of the other Colonies.

Size and Population.—It has an area nearly four times that of England, and a population not quite a third of London, of whom page break map of South Africa page 52 Kaffirs, Hottentots, Bushmen or Bosjesmans, and Malays form more than one-half.

Productions.—At the commencement of the century, the industrial products were only Grain, Cattle, and Wine, and the total exports reached but £15,000.

The exports now include Wool, Mohair, Ostrich Feathers, Diamonds, Wine, Copper, Gold, Tobacco, Horn, Ivory, Hides, Aloes, and their value in 1884 nearly reached £7,000,000. Notice the exhibits of each of these, especially the Diamonds, Ostrich Feathers, Wool, and Mohair.

In 1885 the exports of wool were valued at £1,426,000; of mohair, or angora hair, at £200,000. Hides, £128,000.

Do not allow the Cape leather to pass unnoticed.

Ostrich Feathers.—The ostriches are reared on farms, many of which are over 1,000 acres. A good bird will yield feathers to the value of £r 5 a year. See Ostrich Hatching Machines.

Wine.—In 1885 there were 70 millions of vines in the Colony.

In no other country in the world can there be obtained from the same area ah amount of wine equal to that obtained at the Cape.

Diamonds.—The principal diamond mines are at Kimberley and Bloemfontein. See models of the Bloemfontein and the Kimberley Mines, and watch the process of diamond cutting and polishing.

Diamonds are found on the banks of the Vaal River, but back from the river the dry diggings are pits sunk until the trefaccous limestone and clay are reached, and in this are the diamonds found.

The First Diamond, found in 1867 by a bushman boy, was valued at £500.

The value of diamonds exported in 1884 was nearly £3,000,000.

Botanical Wealth.—Since the time of its first settlement the Cape has been a constant source of pleasure and delight to botanists and gardeners. Amongst the most famous plants are heaths, orchids, bulbous plants, and plants of the cactus tribe. Look in the Conservatory, also at the water-colour drawings of Cape wild flowers, and the stall for the sale of everlasting flowers. See also specimens of vegetable wax, made from berries of a myrtle-like plant.

Cape Scenery.—See paintings of Colonial Scenery by Baines.

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Models, &c.—Harbour Works in Tabic Bay. The Colony has no natural harbours. Kaffir Kraal and Bushman's Hut in the grounds near the Malay houses.

The Lovedale Stand, with its exhibits of native work, shows how missionary work promotes civilization.

Notice the Hunting Trophies. South Africa is "The Sportsman's Paradise." See the Traders' Waggons, the Collection of Curiosities, and just beyond the Queen's Gate entrance, a fine show of Wool and Angora Hair. Look behind it.

The Traders' Waggons.—"The departure of a great trader with his train of half-a-dozen waggons, is a great event in some Cape towns. As the drivers "clap" their long whips, and the teams (eight pair of oxen at each wain) move away, all eyes are upon them, with the look which is given to ships when they leave port. But the return, when every waggon is full of precious wares, excites more attention. Not unfrequently the wares are sold by auction on a morning market, and the tusks, teeth, skins, horns, and feathers are spread out on the ground as if they were no better than field stuff or garden produce. It is no uncommon thing to see waggon cargoes worth £10,000 exhibited for sale in this unceremonious way, amidst a crowd of onlookers, some of whom are as wild as the animals which produced the barbaric spoil, and as black as coal."

Natives typical of the different South African races have been brought over by the Commissioners, viz., Zulus, a Malay family, a Kaffir family, a Hottentot Bushman with his wife and baby.