Part 4
If the reader looks at a map of South Africa he will find that it is divided, into many districts, some of them of immense extent—hundreds of miles apart, and inhabited by peoples under varying rulers, and with varying interests. The Cape, for instance, has little sympathy with Natal, and the great Namaqualand has little in common with the Transvaal. In the latter country, as is well known, we have a community hostile to English rule, while the Orange Free State, on each side hemmed in by English dominions, maintains a precarious independency of its own. A grand South African confederation is a beautiful idea, but there does not seem much chance of carrying it out just now. Meanwhile we go on annexing all the surrounding country, much to the discontent of the natives themselves.
At present the great difficulty is the native population. According to all accounts, they are in an unsettled and agitated state. Of the original Hottentot we do not hear much. Mr. Trollope believes that the bulk of the population of the Western Province of the Cape Colony is Hottentot, who has, however, long given up all idea of independence. The Dutchmen and the Englishmen also, who are to be met with in the East and West alike, are not likely to give much trouble; but as we get further from the Cape, and the white population is sparser, the difficulties increase. It is true there is no chance of a Kaffir scare in that part of Africa bordering on the Atlantic, nor in the Kalakari desert on the North is there any danger to be apprehended; but it is as we get nearer the Indian Ocean, and especially after we have crossed the Kei, and come into Kaffraria proper, that we find ourselves in the presence of a native population, always required to be watched with a careful eye. There dwell the Galekas, who, to the number of 66,000, under Kreli, have only recently been put down. They and the Tembus, and the Pondos, and the Bomvanas, and the Fingos, inhabit all the district till Natal is reached. Amongst some of them a British Resident resides; in all they do pretty much as they like. Of Natal and its 300,000 Kaffirs it is needless to say more here. In the same neighbourhood are the Griquas, but they are bastard races. The Balongas of Thaba ’Ncho, who dwell under the shelter of the Orange Free State, and the Basutos, are a branch of the Becuanas, who inhabit that part of the Kalakari desert bordering on Griqualand and the Transvaal. Of the black African races, the South-Eastern people whom we call Kaffirs and Zulus are, probably, the best. They are not constitutionally cruel; they learn to work readily, and they save property; but even at the Cape, where they will have power at the voting-booth, Mr. Bowker, the late commandant of the Frontier Mounted Police, says—“As a nation, they hate the white man, and look forward to the day when he will be expelled from the country.” Mr. Trollope remarks of the native that he is a good-humoured fellow, whether by nature a hostile Kaffir, or submissive Fingo, or friendly Basuto, but, if occasion should arise, he would probably be a rebel. The two names most familiar to the English readers are the Gaikas and Galekas, who have both given us a good deal of trouble. Sandilli with his Gaikas have long been subjected, though they have never been regarded as peaceable as the Fingos and the Basutos. The total population of the region beyond the Kei is stated to be 500,100, of whom, with the small exception of the Griquas, all are Kaffirs.
Our special friends among the natives are the Fingos, a tribe originally driven from Natal by the warrior Chaka, among the Galekas, by whom they were enslaved and regarded as Kaffir dogs. We English took pity on them, released them from slavery, and settled them somewhere near the coast between the great Fish River and the Keishamma, and their old masters, the Galekas. There they were a perpetual eyesore to their former masters. In the first place, they had for their 50,000 souls 2,000 square miles, while that left for the 66,000 Galekas was not more than 1,600 miles. Again, the Fingos have been a money-making people, possessing oxen and waggons, and gradually rising in the world. For a time, as was to be expected, mischief between the two tribes was brewing, and in 1877 a drunken row precipitated the two into war. We rushed into the war to defend the Fingos, and Kreli, who had no desire for a struggle with the English, was beaten, and his country annexed. The Basutos, who have given up fighting since the days of their great king Moshesh, number about 127,000. In the map they are now included in the Cape Province, but they border the Orange Free State—lying between it and Kaffraria. In 1868 they became, after a wearisome contest with the Dutch, so worried by the latter, that they implored the British to take them as subjects. The Basutos are not Kaffirs, but a branch of the Bechuanas, as are the Balongas, who live so peacefully under the shelter of the Dutch in the Orange Free State. As their land is the very best on the Continent for agricultural purposes, they have bought a great many ploughs, are great growers of corn and wool, and naturally, as is the case with such people, are friends of peace and great lovers of money. At one time they were cannibals. For a long time they were terrible fighters, and that they have become what they are may be quoted as a fine testimony to the civilising influences of the trader. At the same time, it will not be difficult to make enemies of them. One of their chiefs—Morosi—has, taking advantage of the Zulu war, attempted a little _emeute_ on his own hook. We are glad to find, as was to be expected, that he has got the worst of it. In a letter dated March 1, from Alrival North, the writer says:—“I wonder the Government are not more active in their movements, and send a proper force to crush him at once, as it is believed here that if Morosi gets the least advantage the whole of Basutoland will be in a blaze. Sprigg will find that the Disarming Act will cost the colony more than he expected, and the Basutos, who are supposed to be loyal, are not at all inclined to give up their arms, and I am sure will not do so without a struggle.” The Gaikas who inhabit the district around Frankfort and King William’s-town have been British subjects for five-and-twenty years; but it is said that our recent policy has also much alienated them. These are the men on whose future relationship depends the fate of South Africa. Under his own chief in the forest, says Mr. Froude, the Kaffir is at least a man trained and disciplined; under European authority he might become as fine a specimen of manhood as an Irish or English policeman. It is to our shame that we have left him almost entirely to himself, and that even our missionaries have done little more than teach him to sing hymns. Lovedale is, however, an important testimony to the worth of missionary enterprise when it takes an industrious turn. There carpentering, waggon-making, blacksmithing, printing, book-binding, cabinet-making, and farm work are all successfully carried on. At King William’s-town young native men, trained at Lovedale, may be found employed as writers in attorneys’ offices, steadily performing their work, and with satisfaction to their employers. At Edendale the Rev. James Allison commenced a still greater work. He bought a block of land near Maritsburgh, and divided it into sections suitable to humble purchasers. These purchasers were natives; his conditions were payment for these lands by instalments, and the complete surrender of polygamy. The people are described as industrious and prosperous, they subscribe to build their own chapels, and when their numbers increase beyond what the land will fairly support, they swarm out and purchase land elsewhere. 8,000 acres are thus planted, with 2,000 inhabitants. If we are to believe the Rev. Mr. Carlyle, formerly the Presbyterian chaplain at Natal, nowhere has the missionary been more successful than in South Africa.
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W. SPEAIGHT AND SONS, PRINTERS, FETTER LANE, LONDON.
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DR. BARNARDO’S HOMES FOR DESTITUTE CHILDREN.
(_EAST-END JUVENILE MISSION_.)
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URGENT APPEAL.
In the East of London, situated in three parishes, and surrounded by a dense population, are the various Institutions comprehended under the name of the EAST-END JUVENILE MISSION. These include the Refuges for Destitute and Neglected Children usually called after their founder, “Dr. Barnardo’s Homes.”
The East-End Juvenile Mission was for many years under the sole direction of its founder, but during the past few months a Committee has undertaken, in conjunction with him, its financial control and general administration.
As very few who have heard of the Homes can have any adequate idea of the great variety of work comprehended by this Mission, or of its weighty claims upon the contributions of the benevolent, we may be permitted to briefly state its more important branches.
1. The old building known as the HOME FOR WORKING AND DESTITUTE LADS, in Stepney Causeway, contains at present about 260 boys; whilst a new building is being reared in the same locality, and when finished the whole will accommodate 400 otherwise homeless or orphan boys.
2. DESTITUTE ORPHAN OR NEGLECTED GIRLS are also cared for by this Mission, and are trained upon the _family system_, which is, in many respects, preferable to the old method of massing together large numbers of female children in one great Institution. In the VILLAGE HOME at Ilford there are now twenty-four little Cottages, each detached from its neighbours, and superintended by a Christian woman specially selected for the performance of her important duties. These Cottages are intended to contain respectively from fifteen to twenty little orphan or destitute girls, who are being trained therein for domestic service. When the VILLAGE is completed and fully occupied there will be thirty Cottages, calculated to contain about 600 such children.
3. An INFIRMARY FOR SICK CHILDREN, containing thirty beds, has also been opened in Stepney Causeway, and is worked in connection with the other Institutions.
4. A most important and practical Temperance work has also been established and carried on by this Mission. The first COFFEE PALACE in the Metropolis, the “Edinburgh Castle,” was founded by Dr. Barnardo in Limehouse, in February, 1873. The success which attended it and its fellow, the “Dublin Castle,” situated in Mile-end, has, in a large measure, led to the establishment of other Institutions of a similar character.
5. The FREE RAGGED SCHOOLS of the Mission contained every Sunday about 1,700 children, gathered from the poorest streets of Limehouse, whilst two LARGE MISSION HALLS, situated in the midst of the adult population, and seating 2,500 persons, are on Sunday crowded by the working classes, who throng to hear in them earnest evangelical addresses. These varied religious and temperance efforts, among _adults_, as well as the educational and refuge work among _destitute children_, need a considerable sum of money for their support.
During the past year the pressing needs of these Institutions, owing to extraordinary expenses in building, were only met by obtaining from the bankers an advance of £6,000. The Committee are now most anxious to repay that sum, and with this object appeal to the benevolently disposed for assistance to remove from these valuable Institutions the burden of debt under which they are labouring for the first time since their establishment in 1867.
Contributions in response to this appeal may be sent to the Bankers of the Institution, Messrs. Dimsdale, Fowler, and Co., 50, Cornhill; or the London and South-Western Bank, Bow Branch; and will be gratefully acknowledged by the Honorary Director, Dr. Barnardo, at the Office of the Institution, 18, Stepney Causeway, E.
CAIRNS, _President_.
KINNAIRD, _Vice-President_.
W. FOWLER, _Treasurer_.
SAML. GURNEY SHEPPARD, _Chairman of Committee_.
_HOME FOR WORKING & DESTITUTE LADS_, 18 & 20, STEPNEY CAUSEWAY, LONDON, E.