The Cape Colony is divided into the thirteen districts the Cape, Stellenbosch, Worcester, and Clanwilliam, in western part; Swellendam, George, and Uitenhage, in the south; Albany, in the east; and Beaufort, Graaf Reinet, Colesberg, Cradock, and Somerset, in the interior.
Cape Town, on the southern shore of Table Bay, and about thirty miles to the north of the Cape of Good Hope, is a well-built place, the streets laid out in regular lines, and some are shaded by trees. The houses are mostly of respectable size, and have a kind of terrace before the door. It is spoken of as having a more English appearance than most colonial capitals, the whole being extremely clean, and the public edifices numerous and substantial, including the Government House, the Stadthuis, or Municipality, several handsome churches, an exchange, and an observatory. The population Is nearly 30,000. Immediately behind the town rises the Table Mountain, and to the south is a district in which are found many elegant villas, surrounded by vineyards and thriving plantations.
The town next in importance is Graham’s Town, in the Albany district. This is the capital of the eastern district of the Colony. It has a population of about 7,000, and is 650 miles distant from Cape Town. It was only founded in the year 1810, by Colonel Graham, but it has many good buildings, and its merchants and traders are considered as particularly active and enterprising. Thirty-five miles off, at the mouth of the Kowie River, is the rising settlement of Port Frances.
Of the other towns, it may be sufficient to remark, that Swellendam, Uitenhage, and Graaf Reinet, are Dutch towns, and the latter occupies a most picturesque situation among gardens and orchards. George and Port Elizabeth are more English in appearance; the latter is the port town of Algoa Bay, and its commerce is rapidly increasing. Worcester Beaufort, Cradock, and Somerset, are mere villages.
The importance of the Cape as a naval and military station has been often dwelt on by abler pens than mine. The desirableness of fully occupying the country with a white population is also fully admitted; and as it is certain that the most fertile and valuable districts are those which yet remain to be settled, namely, the eastern ports, it is to be hoped that thousands who now struggle for a precarious existence at home, will annually take up their abode there, and that their well-directed industry will tenfold increase the value of the country of their adoption.
As regards the district of Natal, the following reports, abridged, from Mr Stanger, the Surveyor-General, Mr Shepstone, the Diplomatic Agent, and Lieutenant Gibb, of the Royal Engineers, will suffice to give a very favourable idea of its capabilities. They are dated December 28, 1847.
The Commissioners state that they have divided the territory into the six districts of D’Urban, Pietermaritzburg, Umvoti, Impafane, Upper Tukela, and Umzinyati, (from the native names of the principal rivers running through them), and then proceed to describe each in detail.
D’Urban.—“This division is well adapted to sustain a dense population; it includes the Bay of Natal, and the township of D’Urban, the port of the district. Cotton has been planted in the vicinity of the bay, and yields superior and abundant produce. Sugar-cane and indigo-plants thrive there, as well as elsewhere in the district, and the coffee-tree has lately been introduced and grows well; but what success will attend its cultivation, will require time to show. The soil is rich, and favourable to the growth of barley, oats, etc, as well as beans and most descriptions of vegetables. (Beans form a valuable article of export to the Mauritius.) It is, throughout, well supplied with water; being in its present state unfit for pasture-ground. It appears to us desirable that the land should be laid out in small lots, in order to encourage the settler, as much as possible, to cultivate it. At present only the small Zulu cattle can be kept there, and those not with advantage.
“With the exception of mangrove, scarcely any timber adapted for building purposes is found in this division: in a few localities valuable waggon-wood is obtained.
“A considerable part of this division is occupied by natives, inhabiting the ground apportioned for them in the Umlazi and Inanda locations, and the majority of white colonists will necessarily be north of the Umgeni River, where a few are already located. It is of great and immediate importance that a bridge should be constructed over this river, separating, as it does, the seat of magistracy and the port, not only from the most populous part of the division, but from the whole of that of the Umvoti.”