93. A fractured diamond.
94. This gentleman’s forte was Roman Dutch law. During his residence on the Diamond Fields he acquired the soubriquet of “Emphytensis” in consequence of his efforts to establish the practical identity of a certain Roman leasehold tenure of that name, and the quit-tenure of the Cape Colony, thus attempting to establish the rights of the Crown to all diamond and precious stones. His endeavors were, however, without avail, and he was laughed at for his pains.
95. A noted hostelry near the court-house.
96. This is exemplified in the names by which white people of any importance are known among them. For instance, a pompous friend of mine, now an important government official in Natal, was known by the natives as “Totovian” (Intotoviane) after a most offensively odoriferous grasshopper with which he waged incessant war. But the most biting example of native sarcasm, I think, consisted in the name applied by them to a florin (2s. piece) that of “Scotchman.” This conveyed, in one word, their appreciation of the Scotch cheese-paring tendency; as they were shrewd enough to observe, that in cases where an Englishman would give half a crown, his Highland neighbor would give only two shillings.
97. Shakespere.—Henry VI., Part ii., Act iv., Scene 2.
98. This class of scoundrel gave Christiana the fictitious appearance of a population, but this is more fully explained in the chapter on Diamond Legislation.
99. I.e., thirty-six miles, for so are distances reckoned in South Africa.
100. These I describe in the account of another journey to the Transvaal.
101. This beautiful building has since been completed.
102. Literally, a dram of liquor—meaning a trifle.
103. In pondering over the state of matters then existing it was impossible for me not to picture in my mind the change time had wrought! A few short years before, I had seen and listened to Thomas Francois Burgers, full of eager anticipation of the future before him, speak most hopefully of the Transvaal, at a banquet given in his honor at Kimberley, as he passed through to assume the “dictatorship” of that republic. And when, in touching upon some observation I had made in proposing the toast of “the press,” he had emphasized the fact that “the pen was mightier than the sword.” And now, his expectations unrealized, his fond hopes withered, his ambition blighted, broken-down in health and spirits, it was not to be wondered at that he made no strenuous opposition to the advent of British rule.
104. Sir Theophilus Shepstone arrived in Pretoria with his twenty-five policemen in January, 1877. He announced to President Burgers that unless he could make arrangements that would be satisfactory to the Imperial government with regard to the government of the Transvaal he was authorized to annex it as a portion of Her Majesty’s dominions. President Burgers called a special session of the Volksraad, and proposed a new constitution, but that did not meet with the approval of the British Commissioner, and on the 12th of April, 1877, as I have mentioned before, the country was proclaimed British territory, and Sir T. Shepstone assumed the administration of affairs. He continued to hold that position until the 18th of December, 1878, when he left for Zululand in consequence of the threatening aspect of native affairs there. The government was administered for a time by the senior military officer before the arrival of Colonel Lanyon. Sir T. Shepstone never returned.
105. Mr. Christian Maasdorp, now nominated to a seat on the Eastern District’s bench, but who then held the commission as Attorney General, resigned “when he found it impossible (vide Transvaal Advertiser, November 20th, 1885) to countenance the chicane and tyranny of the Lanyon administration.”
106. Sir Garnet Wolseley was assisted by an executive council consisting of Colonel Lanyon, administrator, Colonel Harrison, commanding H. M. troops, Mr. Melmoth Osborne, Colonial Secretary, Mr. C. G. Maasdorp, Attorney General, and Mr. H. C. Shepstone, Secretary for native affairs. There were also three non-official members, viz., Messrs. J. Marais, J. C. Holtshausen, and J. S. Joubert, who with the members of the government composed the Executive Council under the Constitution promulgated on November 8th, 1879. A legislative assembly was at the same time called into being by the Wolseley constitution, and the under-mentioned gentlemen were nominated: viz., Messrs. J. R. White, O. W. A. Forsman, J. A. Esterhuizen, A. H. Stander and J. H. Nel. The last session of the legislative assembly concluded very shortly before the war broke out, which put an end to the constitution and British authority at one fell swoop.
107. “To our homes.”
108. Convention of Pretoria, Article 23: If not released before the taking effect of this Convention, Sekukuni, and those of his followers who have been imprisoned with him, will be forthwith released, and the boundaries of his location will be defined by the Native Location Commission in the manner indicated in the last preceding article.
109. The first Sekukuni war broke out in October, 1876, the treaty of peace being signed February 5th, 1877. The second Sekukuni war, begun under the Shepstone administration in March, 1878, resulted in the complete destruction (under Sir G. Wolseley) of the tribe, and the capture of the chief, who was held a prisoner of war, as I have mentioned, until the convention of Pretoria was signed in August, 1881. The Mapoch (Niabel) and Mampoer war commenced near the end of 1882 and was about ten months in duration. Mapoch surrendered 12th of July, 1883, to General Joubert, who had conducted the operations against both chiefs.
110. The Government is wakening to this fact and is beginning to take active measures.
111. I regret to learn that this gentleman, who was much esteemed in Barberton, is recently dead.
112. One of the latest analyses gives Welsh coal 81.0 carbon, 6.40 ash; Transvaal 77.20 carbon, 7.20 ash.
113. The truth of my prognostications has, I am sorry to say, become to a certain extent verified even before my ink is dry.
114. In the appointment of a British Resident care will have to be exercised that no one interested in the gold speculations of the country be nominated.
115. The census returns of the entire population in 1864, twenty-three years ago, was 1098.
116. In the concession granted in 1873 to Moodie for a railway from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria, a grant also was made him of 850 farms of 6,000 acres each, in case he should be successful. Curiously enough these were the very farms on which the present Kaap gold fields are situated.
117. This was brought forward very prominently in the report of the select committee on Railway to Delagoa Bay, appointed by resolution of the House of Assembly, 5th of April, 1880, C. K. White, chairman.
118. Cape Brandy.
119. Chief detective officer at the South African Diamond Fields.