ANNEXATIONS TO CAPE COLONY.
About the middle of the present century Cape Colony comprised all the land between the Orange River on the north, the Indian Ocean on the south, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and British Kaffraria and the rivers Indwe and Tees on the east. During recent years the greater portion of the territory between the Indwe and Kei Rivers on one side, and Natal on the other, has been annexed to Cape Colony; but in some respects it is still regarded as a dependency.
The annexed territory is described as a very beautiful and fertile tract of land. It bears, as we shall see, a resemblance to Natal. The temperature along the coast is not, however, quite so high.
Just below the Drachenberg Mountains lies an elevated tract of country, where the nights are extremely cold, too cold, in fact, for the Bantu tribes; hence, no tribes except the Bushmen have ever resided there permanently until within a short time.
There are fine forests on the lower terraces. Rain is abundant and the drainage perfect, the rivers, on account of their rapid fall, speedily carrying off all superfluous moisture. The climate is on this account exceedingly healthy, though the grass is so rich and other vegetation so luxuriant that, had the land been more nearly level, fever would probably be common.
South Africa abounds in waterfalls, of which the most celebrated are the great falls of the Orange, the Tugela's leap of sixteen hundred feet over the face of the Drachenberg, and the fall of the Nmgeni, a few miles from Maritzburg; but the most imposing of all, perhaps, is in the Tsitsa in the annexed territory.
Ordinarily this stream tumbles over the precipice in three or four rills, but in times of flood a volume of water from four to five hundred feet wide drops nearly four hundred feet into a narrow chasm.
Various sections have from time to time been annexed to Cape Colony. These sections had become involved in native feuds and wars, with such disastrous results that the chiefs gladly placed their lands under the protection of the British rule. Thus, in 1879, eight districts were formally annexed.
Along the coast of Great Namaqualand there are several small rocky islands upon which sea birds congregate in vast flocks; and as there is but little rain in that region, the guano is of considerable value. These islands became dependencies of Cape Colony a good many years ago. The men employed to gather the guano are their only inhabitants.
Farther north on the same coast is Walfish Bay, the only port through which access can be had to Great Namaqualand and Damaraland. The country around it is a dreary waste of sand, and a more uninviting spot can hardly be imagined. It became a dependency of Cape Colony in 1884.
On this little strip of land some six or seven hundred Hottentots of a very degraded type are living. The only other inhabitants are the colonial magistrate, with his staff of police, a missionary family, and a few traders and forwarders of goods into the interior.
Basutoland, which was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, contains at the present time about two hundred and twenty-five thousand Bantu and six hundred Europeans. The white people consist of officials, missionaries, and traders. None other are permitted to settle within its borders, for by the annexation of the territory Cape Colony became responsible for the welfare and good order of the land.