The Africanders

by Le Roy Hooker

Beyond that of most countries in the world of equal extent the flora of South Africa is rich in both genera and species. The neighborhood of Cape Town and the warm, sub-tropical regions of eastern Cape Colony and Natal are specially affluent in beautiful flowers. In the Karoo district, and northeastward over the plateau into Bechuanaland and the Transvaal, vegetation presents [[270]]but little variety of aspect, owing in part to the general sameness of geological formations and in part to the prevailing dryness of the surface.

In general, South Africa is comparatively bare of forests—a fact for which denudation by man cannot account, for it is yet a country new to civilization. Some primitive forests are to be found on the south coast of Cape Colony and in Natal. These have been put under the care of a Forest Department of the government. In the great Knysna forest wild elephants still roam at large. The trees, however, even in the preserved forests, are small, few of them being more than fifty or sixty feet in height. The yellowwood grows the tallest, but the less lofty sneezewood is the most useful to man. Up the hillsides north of Graham’s Town and King William’s Town are immense tracts of scrub from four to eight feet high, with occasional patches of prickly pear—a formidable invader from America, through which both men and cattle make their passage at the cost of much effort and many irritating wounds from the sharp spines. A large part of this region, being suitable for little else, has been utilized for ostrich farming.

In the Karoo district and northward through [[271]]Cape Colony, western Bechuanaland and the German possessions in Namaqualand and Damaraland—a desert region—there are few trees except small and thorny mimosas. Farther east, where there is a greater rainfall, the trees are more numerous and less thorny. The plain around Kimberley, once well wooded, has been stripped of its trees to furnish props for the diamond mines and fuel.

The lack of forests is one of the principal drawbacks to the development of South Africa. Timber is everywhere costly; the rainfall is less than it would be if the country were well wooded; and when rains do come the moisture is more rapidly dissipated by absorption, evaporation and sudden freshets because of the absence of shade. Of late energetic measures have been taken to supply nature’s lack by artificial forestry. On the great veldt plateau in the vicinity of Kimberley and of Pretoria and in other localities the people have planted the Australian gum tree, the eucalyptus and several varieties of European trees, including the oak, which, besides being useful, is very beautiful. If the practice be continued the country will reap an incalculable benefit, not only in appearance, but also in climatic conditions. [[272]]

The largest political division of South Africa is Cape Colony. The area is about 292,000 square miles and the population, white and native, is 2,011,305. The whites number about 400,000. But little of it is suitable for agriculture, and considerable portions of it are too arid for stock raising. Including the natives the population is only about seven to the square mile. On the lowlands skirting the sea on the south and west are some fruitful regions that give a profitable yield of grapes and corn. On the tableland of the interior there is a rainfall of only from five to fifteen inches in the year. As a consequence the surface is dry and unfriendly to vegetable life. In an area of three hundred miles by one hundred and fifty there is not a stream having a current throughout the year, nor is there any moisture at all in the dry season except some shallow pools which are soon dried up by evaporation. Nevertheless, in this desert, bare of trees and of herbage, there is abundance of prickly shrubs, which are sufficiently succulent when they sprout under the summer rains to afford good browsing for goats and sheep. In the northwestern part of the interior and northward to Kimberley and Mafeking, the country is better watered than the more westerly regions, and [[273]]grazing animals find a generous growth of grass as well as nutritious shrubs. In the southeastern part the rainfall is still heavier. The foothills of the Quathlamba Range toward the sea are covered in places with forests, the grass is more abundant and much of the land can be tilled to profit without artificial irrigation. In 1899 there were about 3,000 miles of railway and nearly 7,000 miles of telegraph open in the colony. The number of vessels entering the ports of Cape Colony in 1897 was 1,093, with a total tonnage of 2,694,370 tons; in addition to this there were 1,278 vessels engaged in the coastwise trade, with a tonnage of 3,725,831 tons. The foreign commerce of Cape Colony is large, including, as it does, the bulk of the import and export trade of all South Africa. The total importation of merchandise for 1897 was $80,127,495, and the exports, including a large proportion of the gold and diamond products of Kimberley and the Transvaal, amounted, in 1898, to $123,213,458.

Natal, beyond any other part of South Africa, is favored by natural advantages. It lies on the seaward slope of the Quathlamba Mountains, and its scenery is charmingly diversified by some of the lesser peaks and the foothills of that range. It is well watered by perennial streams [[274]]fed by the snows and springs of the mountains. While the higher altitudes to the west are bare, there is abundance of grass lower down and toward the coast there is plenty of wood. The climate in general is much warmer than that of Cape Colony; in the low strip bordering the sea it is almost tropical. This high temperature is not caused so much by latitude as by the current in the Mozambique Channel, which brings from the tropical regions of the Indian Ocean a vast stream of warm water, which acts on the climate of Natal as does the Gulf Stream on that of Georgia and the Carolinas. Nearly the whole of Natal may be counted temperate; the soil is rich, the scenery is beautiful, and, with the exception of certain malarious districts at the north, the climate is healthful. Foreigners from Europe and America may reasonably hope to enjoy long life and prosperity in it. The principal crop for export is sugar, but cereals of all kinds, coffee, indigo, arrowroot, ginger, tobacco, rice, pepper, cotton and tea are grown to profit. The coal fields of the colony are large, the output in 1897 being 244,000 tons. There are 487 miles of railway, built and operated by the government. The imports in 1897 amounted to nearly $30,000,000. Pop. 828,500; whites, 61,000. [[275]]

The Orange Free State, in its entire area of 48,000 square miles, is on the great interior plateau at an altitude of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea level. The surface is mostly level, but there are occasional hills—some of them rising to a height of 6,000 feet. The land is, for the most part, bare of trees, but affords good grazing for two-thirds of the year. The air is remarkably pure and bracing. There are no blizzards to encounter. There are, however, occasional violent thunderstorms, which precipitate enormous hailstones—large enough to kill the smaller animals, and even men. Notwithstanding the generally parched appearance of the country, the larger streams do not dry up in winter. The southeastern part of the Free State, particularly the valley of the Caledon River, is one of the best corn-growing regions in Africa. In the main, however, with the exception of the river valleys, the land is more suitable for pasture than for tillage. The grazing farms are large and require the services of but few men; as a consequence the population increases slowly. The Free State, corresponding in size to the State of New York, has only about 80,000 white inhabitants and 130,000 natives. The chief industry is agriculture and stock-raising. A railway, [[276]]constructed by the Cape Colony government, connects Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, with the ports of Cape Colony and Natal, and with Pretoria, the capital of the South African Republic.

The South African Republic, commonly called the Transvaal, is 119,139 square miles in area. The white population, numbering 345,397, is largely concentrated in the Witwatersrand mining district. The native inhabitants number 748,759. All the Transvaal territory belongs to the interior plateau, with the exception of a strip of lower land on the eastern and northern borders. This lower section is malarious. It is thought, however, that drainage and cultivation will correct this, as they have done in other fever districts. Like the Free State, the Transvaal is principally a grazing country. The few trees that exist in the more sheltered parts are of little value, except those in the lower valleys. The winters are severely cold, and the burning sun of summer soon dries up the moisture and bakes the soil, causing the grass to be stunted and yellow during most of the year. Until about sixteen years ago there was little in the surface appearance and known resources of the Transvaal to attract settlers, and nothing to make it a desirable [[277]]possession to any other people than its Africander inhabitants. In 1884 discoveries of gold were made, the first of which that excited the world being some rich auriferous veins on the Sterkfontein farm. In a little time it became known that probably the richest deposit of gold in the world was in the Witwatersrand district of the Transvaal. Later, in 1897, diamonds were discovered in the Transvaal, the first stone having been picked up at Reitfontein, near the Vaal River, in August of that year. Since then the precious crystals have been found in the Pretoria district, in Roodeplaats on the Pienaars River, at Kameelfontein and at Buffelsduff. The output of gold in 1898 was $68,154,000, and of diamonds $212,812.01. The total output of gold since it was first discovered amounts to over $300,000,000, with $3,500,000,000 “in sight,” as valued by experts. The commerce of the South African Republic, while necessarily great because of the large number of people employed by the mining industries, cannot be as accurately stated as that of states whose imports are all received through a given port or ports. Foreign goods reach it through several ports in Cape Colony, Natal, Portuguese East Africa, and in smaller quantities from other ports on the coast. [[278]]The total imports for 1897 are estimated at $107,575,000.

Griqualand West, a British possession bordering on Cape Colony on the south and on the Free State on the east, owes its chief importance to the Kimberley diamond mines, near the western boundary of the Free State and 600 miles from Cape Town. These mines were opened in 1868 and 1869. It is estimated that since that time $350,000,000 worth of diamonds in the rough—worth double that sum after cutting—have been taken out. This enormous production would have been greatly exceeded had not the owners of the various mines in the group formed an agreement by which the annual output was limited to a small excess over the annual demand in the world’s diamond markets. So plentiful is the supply, and so inexpensive, comparatively, is the cost of mining that other diamond-producing works have almost entirely withdrawn from the industry since the South African mines were opened. It has been estimated that ninety-eight per cent of the diamonds of commerce are now supplied by these mines.

The British protectorate of Bechuanaland, lying to the north of Cape Colony and Griqualand and to the west of the Transvaal, has an [[279]]area of about 213,000 square miles, with a population of 200,000—mostly natives. A railway and telegraph line connect it with Cape Colony on the south and Rhodesia on the north.