Part 22

At the Zoutpansberg they halted while the young men explored the country around, which they considered admirably adapted for stock-breeding and agriculture. They were in ignorance that Moselekatse’s kraals were only four hundred kilometres or two hundred and fifty English miles to the south-west, and of the ferocity of the Matabele they likewise knew nothing, or they would not have been so satisfied with the locality. They were almost at the mouth of a lion’s den, and yet were so utterly careless that in July 1836 the families composing Rensburg’s division, consisting of forty-nine individuals, left the others with the object of proceeding to Delagoa Bay to open up communication and trade with the Portuguese who had recently rebuilt a fort there. From that time nothing definite is known of these people. A report reached Triegard some months afterwards that they had all been murdered by a band of Magwamba robbers, and this was confirmed in later years by the accounts of various blacks, but just when and where it occurred could never be ascertained.

It was commonly believed in the Transvaal Republic a generation later, and the newspapers circulated the statement widely, that in August 1867 a white man and woman, who spoke no language but that of the Eastern Bantu, and whose habits were those of barbarians, were sent to Commandant Coetzer, of Lydenburg, by a Swazi chief who had obtained them from the Magwamba. They could tell nothing of their history except that they believed they had always lived among Bantu; but as they had never seen other whites that they could remember, it was concluded that they were the sole survivors of Rensburg’s party, and that they were very young when their relatives were murdered. For some time they had lived as man and wife, and had two children when they were handed over to Commandant Coetzer. This was the tale generally accepted as correct at the time, but the man and woman believed to be Europeans were in reality albinos of pure Bantu blood.[97]

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

From a journal kept by Triegard, a fragment of which, commencing on the 25th of January 1837 and ending on the 1st of May 1838, has fortunately been preserved, the history of those who were left behind at the Zoutpansberg is known. On the 11th of May 1837 Triegard wrote to the authorities at Lourenço Marques that the party was in great want of clothing and ammunition, and asking if horned cattle, wethers, wool, and hides would be received in barter. They were then seven families of forty-six souls, only nine of whom were males capable of bearing arms. This letter was sent by Gabriel Buys, accompanied by a Knobnose black named Waiwai. Buys was a son of the notorious freebooter Coenraad du Buis, who had fled from the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony many years before, and after carrying on extensive depredations in Southern Betshuanaland, at the head of a band of ruffians, had become afraid that ministers of justice might be sent to apprehend him there, so had moved on to the Zoutpansberg and become the first European resident in the present Transvaal province. As he had done at the Keiskama he did in his new home in the north: he took to himself a harem of Bantu women, by whom he had numerous children. Among these were Gabriel and an elder brother named Doris, who attached themselves temporarily to Triegard’s party, and as they spoke Dutch and Setshuana, were of great service. Doris remained behind as interpreter and general servant when Gabriel proceeded to Delagoa Bay with the letter.

[Sidenote: Life at the Zoutpansberg.]

They had over five hundred head of horned cattle and a flock of sheep and goats, the care of which occupied most of their attention. Game was plentiful, and they obtained some millet and sweet cane from the blacks who were thinly scattered about in their neighbourhood, so that there was no want of plain food, but the women missed greatly such articles as coffee and sugar. The men had accustomed themselves to the use of millet beer, and Triegard was always pleased to receive a calabash filled with it as a present from the head of a Bantu kraal, using the precaution, however, of requiring the donor according to the custom of the barbarians to take the first draught. As they had used all their lead, they cast bullets of copper and of tin, both of which metals were obtainable, though no information is given as to how or through whose means they were procured. Occasionally, though very rarely, they were able to get in barter a piece of calico that had passed through the country from Delagoa Bay, being handed on from one clan to another for sale. It is interesting to read in Triegard’s journal that, rough a life as they were leading, they observed Sunday as well as they could, and that a school was kept for the children. It is to be noted also that even in this little party there was a spirit of disagreement, and that Triegard’s leadership, owing to the feeling of absolute equality among the different heads of families, was hardly even nominal, much less real.

On the 7th of August Gabriel Buys and the Knobnose Waiwai returned from Delagoa Bay. No one there could read Triegard’s letter, but the Portuguese officer in command of the fort, understanding that the emigrants wished to visit him, sent two black soldiers to show them the way. Accordingly on the 23rd of that month they broke up their camp, and set out on the journey to the coast, with the intention, however, of returning and settling permanently in the goodly locality they had found. From Gabriel Buys and the men who accompanied him they obtained only a vague idea of the distance they would have to travel or of the obstacles in their way. They were in reality about three hundred and thirty-six kilometres or two hundred and ten English miles in a straight line from Lourenço Marques, which lay almost due south-east, for without knowing it they had gone fully a hundred and ninety kilometres farther north than its latitude. So far they had enjoyed excellent health, as after passing the Stormberg they had been on the high plateau, and travelling from south to north they had not met with any serious obstacles. They were now to have a very different experience.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

They travelled past the mountains, since so famous as the strongholds of the Bapedi, where Sekwati, who was then a very petty chief, was living, and who sent them a kindly greeting. They came next to the great range, which lay between them and the coast terraces, where trouble of no ordinary kind was before them. The black Portuguese soldiers had traversed the range on foot, and had no conception of waggon traffic, so they were absolutely useless as guides. A road had to be made, and they managed to obtain some Bantu labourers by paying them in sheep, but when it was completed it was just passable in most places and so dangerous at one spot that some of the party rather than venture on it preferred to take their waggons to pieces and lower the separate parts down the face of a precipice.

In the mountains their cattle were attacked by the tsetse, an insect a little larger than a common fly, but though they had once before suffered loss from this destructive pest, they did not pay much attention to it at first. They were doubtful of its being the same as that they had formerly seen, but soon their oxen began to pine away and die, when they found themselves in a deplorable condition. Still they pushed on, and by dint of almost superhuman exertions, managed to get through the Lebombo, the last range on their way. The cattle were dying fast, when on the 8th of April 1838, to their great joy, they were met by a messenger from the commandant of the Portuguese fort at Lourenço Marques. This messenger had come up the river Umbelosi in a boat, and had brought a present of provisions, rum, medicines, and even some articles of clothing, which were most acceptable.

[Sidenote: Suffering at Delagoa Bay.]

Triegard now transferred his ivory and other heavy effects to the boat, and with his lightened waggons pushed on to the fort, which he reached on the 15th of April 1838, two hundred and thirty-five days after leaving Makapan’s Poort at the Zoutpansberg. The party then consisted of fifty-seven individuals, namely five married men and their wives, two widowers, one widow, eight lads over sixteen years of age, fourteen lads under sixteen years of age, four girls over sixteen years of age, seven girls under sixteen years of age, four half-caste children of Albacht, and seven Betshuana and Bushman servants.

The Portuguese received them with much kindness, though they were required at first to give up their guns. These, however, were soon restored to them, and whatever could be thought of to make them comfortable was done. Triegard informed the commandant of the fort that he had left the Cape Colony because the frontier had been ruined by the Xosas, the slaves had been set free by the English, and the government desired to make soldiers of the Afrikanders. It was evident that they could not return to the Zoutpansberg, but they had not decided what next to undertake when they were attacked by fever. The first to die was old. Daniel Pfeffer, who expired on the 21st of April, at the age of 78 years. He was followed on the 29th of April by P. J. Hendrik Botha, who was 37 years of age. Next came Louis Triegard’s wife, who died on the 1st of May. When she fell ill the Portuguese commandant had her carried into the best room in the fort, and his own wife tended her day after day with the utmost kindness until she died. With a great cry of anguish over his terrible loss Triegard closed his journal, and no particulars can be ascertained of occurrences during the next fifteen months that the party remained at Lourenço Marques. Months of intense suffering, physical and mental, they must have been, of this there can be no doubt. Actual hunger may have been averted by the kindness of the Portuguese officers, but the resources of these good people were very limited, and such food as was obtainable must have consisted mainly, if not entirely, of millet and other produce of the gardens of the Bantu.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Their number was constantly diminishing by fever, till at length the emigrants who had settled in Natal, hearing where and in what condition they were, chartered the schooner _Mazeppa_ to proceed to Delagoa Bay to their relief, and in July 1839 the remnant of the party, consisting of Mrs. H. Botha and five children, Mrs. G. Scheepers and five children, Mrs. J. Pretorius and two children, three young men, and seven orphan children, were landed at Durban. One young man, son of Louis Triegard, had gone to Mozambique in a Portuguese vessel before the _Mazeppa_ reached the bay, but in the following year he managed to travel overland to his friends in Natal. Thus of the ninety-eight individuals who formed the first party of emigrants all had perished except the twenty-six who reached Natal in a state of utter destitution.

II.

PIETER LAVRAS UYS.

[Sidenote: Progress of Emigration.]

The second party to leave the colony was under the leadership of Andries Hendrik Potgieter, and consisted of farmers whose religious tendencies were towards the separatist--equivalent to the Scottish Covenanter--section of the church. They migrated chiefly from the Tarka. A full account of their wanderings and actions, of their sufferings from the Matabele and their heroic conduct until Moselekatse was compelled to flee northward to the territory now called Rhodesia, together with the adventures of the party from Colesberg under Carel Cilliers that joined them is given in my _History of South Africa_, and it is unnecessary to repeat it here.

The third party was under the leadership of Gerrit Marthinus Maritz, and went from the neighbourhood of Graaff-Reinet. It was much larger than the one under Potgieter. On the 2nd of December 1836 these parties, who were then in the neighbourhood of Thaba Ntshu, attempted to establish a government and elected a court of justice, with Maritz as landdrost or president. Various small parties and even single families now arrived, and joined either Potgieter or Maritz according to the section of the church that they preferred.

The next large party was headed by Pieter Retief, and went from the Winterberg. On the 17th of April 1837 a meeting of the emigrants was held in the camp of Maritz,[98] when Pieter Retief was elected administrative head, but he was not then installed in office, as the section under Potgieter took no part in the proceedings, and the others hoped that they might be induced to join in course of time. Potgieter and Maritz had quarrelled, and from this time forward harmony among the emigrants was rarely seen.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

On the 6th of June 1837 Mr. Retief was formally installed in office as governor and commandant-general, a volksraad of six members was elected and entrusted with full legislative power, and a provisional constitution of nine articles was adopted. Whether these proceedings were not premature may be open to doubt. The number of emigrants north of the Orange was then not very great, many more were known to be on their way, and for these few to exercise the power of modelling the future government and appointing the chief executive officer seemed unjustifiable to most of those who arrived afterwards. There was no question as to the ability of Pieter Retief and his fitness for the highest office, but that he should be appointed to it by a section of the community and the others be required simply to concur was regarded as a grievance.

Mr. Retief’s first proceeding proved him to be a man of tact. He actually succeeded in inducing Hendrik Potgieter, the representative of the separatist or Covenanter section of the church, to meet in a friendly manner Gerrit Maritz, the representative of the larger section of the church,[99] a man accused by his opponents of ambitious views and not very conciliatory in demeanour. It is true that these men had once fought side by side, when Maritz generously assisted the other to recover the spoil taken by the Matabele in August 1836 in their murderous onslaughts on the camps north of the Vaal, but the constitution of mind of the Covenanter seems to differ from that of other men so much as to make concord difficult except under unusual circumstances. It need not be asked whether his views are more or less praiseworthy than those of his neighbours, but it must be admitted that as a rule he looks upon most matters from a different standpoint. And so the good feeling between the two leaders brought about by Mr. Retief was only temporary, and from the first Potgieter resolutely declined to give in his adherence to the political faction led by Maritz.

[Sidenote: Progress of Emigration.]

The fifth large party arrived at Thaba Ntshu at this time. It was under the leadership of Mr. Pieter Jacobs, and went from the district of Beaufort West, being composed largely of families connected with the Slachter’s Nek insurrection. These people joined the adherents of Retief and Maritz, though they continued to form a separate camp.

Next to cross the Orange was a large party from Oliphants Hoek, under the leadership of Pieter Lavras Uys, though his father, Jacobus Johannes Uys, was nominally its head. The old man was nearly seventy years of age, and the party was entirely composed of his immediate descendants and connections by marriage. It is of Pieter Lavras Uys, and the part he took in the emigration, that the remainder of this paper will deal, the information being largely drawn from the documents contained in the D’Urban collection.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

He was descended from Cornelis Uys, who with his wife and three children migrated from Leyden in Holland as colonists at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Dutch East India Company was sending to the Cape settlement as many industrious families accustomed to agriculture as it could obtain. Dirk, one of the three children of Cornelis, was born at Leyden, but grew up in South Africa, and in 1722 married Dina le Roux, daughter of a Huguenot refugee from Provence. The fifth child of this marriage, Cornelis Janse by name, in 1766 married Alida Maria Swart, and from this union eleven children were born, the second of whom, Jacobus Johannes by name, in 1793 married Susanna Margaretha Moolman. When grown up, this Jacobus Johannes Uys went to reside in Oliphants Hoek in what became later the district of Uitenhage, and there in 1797 his third child, Pieter Lavras, was born.[100]

Any one who will take the trouble to watch the career of South African students at European universities, say at Leyden or Edinburgh, will find that they occupy prominent places in their classes. The sons of men whose ancestors for many generations had received very little education from books on their farms are found intellectually able to compete in study with the sons of Europeans who have long enjoyed the greatest facilities for acquiring knowledge. This is a most hopeful sign for the future of South Africa. If with vastly increased knowledge our young men only adhere to the sterling virtues and strong confidence in God that characterised their ancestors, there need be no fear for this country in the time to come.

It is true that there are in South Africa many poor white people, some of whom seem to have lost both the power and the inclination to raise themselves in the social scale. But with education, industrial training, and opportunities to acquire property, the great majority of these would undoubtedly rise again, and the residue are at least more capable of improvement than the unemployables in a European city. In all countries of the world there are weak-minded people of different degrees of imbecility, but in South Africa the number of these is very small, and white men and women with criminal instincts are almost unknown. If an average be taken the old colonists need not fear a comparison of intellect with the inhabitants of any country in Europe.

[Sidenote: Character of Pieter Uys.]

Pieter Uys was of the best stamp of man to be found in South Africa. He had not the advantage of a university training or even of a good school education, but he had the capacity of drawing information from every source within his reach, and putting it to the best use. He could write a letter or draw up a document in clear and concise Cape Dutch, and he was acquainted with what was going on over the sea. His upright conduct, his religious convictions, and his kindly disposition caused him to be held in general esteem, not only by his Dutch-speaking neighbours, but by the English settlers of Albany, with whom he was brought into close contact during the Kaffir war of 1835.

When the farmers were temporarily released from duty in the field in order to get crops in the ground, he found himself so thwarted by the unruly conduct of the apprentices, late slaves and Betshuana refugees alike, that he addressed a memorial to the authorities, representing the insufficiency of the existing laws for their correction, and praying for the interference and protection of the government.[101] It was impossible for Sir Benjamin D’Urban to give him any relief, but even if it had been otherwise, he would probably have left the colony, for he had been charmed with the appearance of Natal, the almost uninhabited territory that he had visited in the preceding year.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

It is impossible to give even approximately the number of those who had left the Cape Colony before this time. The government called for returns from the civil commissioners of the different districts, and in July 1837 these officials reported that one thousand and sixty-seven persons had left and two hundred and sixty others were about to follow. But these numbers are certainly much too low, though the estimate of Mr. Uys given in his letter of the 7th of August is probably too large.

It was the intention of the party under Uys to proceed to Natal, but not to attempt to go through Kaffraria. He had found such difficulties in travelling there in 1834 that he thought a better road might be found by moving northward over the Orange river, and then seeking a pass through the Drakensbergen that would lead him to the beautiful land below. This was the route that he followed, and at the beginning of August 1837 he and his party were on the northern bank of the Great river, without having met with any accident on the way. On the 7th of that month he addressed a letter to Sir Benjamin D’Urban, of which a literal translation made for the governor’s use and preserved among his papers is given here _in extenso_:

RIGHT “Orange River, 7th August 1837.

“SIR,--I beg to submit to your Excellency a statement of what I have observed since I left Capetown and set out on my journey beyond the Orange river. I there met more than three thousand persons, lately inhabitants of the Colony, who have left their country and gone to a foreign land, even to a desert. I have spoken to many old men amongst them, with the view of ascertaining their reasons for leaving their native country, and they give the following as the principal causes:

“1. The laws made for this colony by Parliament, however inapplicable to the people and their condition, must be implicitly obeyed.

[Sidenote: Causes of the Emigration.]

“2. We were put to great expense for the measurement, of our farms prior to their grant, and for a small farm must pay an annual rent of from forty to two hundred rixdollars. (£3 to £15.)

“3. All power of domestic coercion of our apprentices in our houses and on our farms has been taken away from us, which has brought the apprentices into such a state of insubordination as to expose us to the risk of the loss of property and even life. Neither have we the right to defend ourselves against these people who live at our expense, and if they think proper go to a magistrate and make a false oath, without witnesses, upon which we are seized by black and white constables, in the same manner as murderers, and brought before the court, to the great injury of our reputation; whilst if they lose their cause, then the costs are paid from the government chest, to which we must pay heavy taxes annually; and if we are condemned, we must then pay a fine out of our own pockets or be sent to prison. On this point your Excellency is aware how I myself was treated in the late Kaffir war and whilst I was in presence of the enemy and my property left unprotected;[102] which vexatious treatment has also had great influence on many of the inhabitants.

“4. The, slaves who were our property, who cost us much money, and for whom we paid every government due, have been taken from us upon an appraisement made by order of Parliament, and have become free for a third part of the money at which they were valued, and our power of maintaining order and discipline having been taken away, the masters and mistresses are scandalously treated.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

“5. The last Kaffir invasion is also one of the causes. The Kaffirs have for many years murdered and plundered the inhabitants, and government has always held out hopes of improvement in this respect, if we would remain at peace with them; and now, to crown the whole, we are accused of being the cause of the war, and must lose all our cattle, as well as put up with our other losses.