Ward - The Cape and the Kaffirs - A Diary of Five Years' Residence in Kaffirland

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.”

Pietermaritzburg .—“This division includes the seat of government, and head-quarters of the military.

“It is a good grazing and a superior agricultural division; it is abundantly watered, and capable of irrigation to almost any extent. Vegetation is very rapid in this, as in all the other districts, and consequently the grass grows rank and strong, so as generally only to admit of the larger description of stock, such as cattle and horses, being depastured upon it with advantage in summer. Valuable timber, adapted for building purposes and furniture, grows in several parts of this division.

“At present, Her Majesty’s troops stationed at Pietermaritzburg procure all their supplies of corn and meal from Cape Town, at a great cost to the military chest. This evil may be remedied by the industrious cultivation of the neighbouring farms (which have hitherto been very generally neglected), and the lands that appear to us to be available for this purpose around Pietermaritzburg, which might, at some future period, be marked off in lots of from 50 to 500 acres, and disposed of to practical agriculturists.

“Pietermaritzburg being the seat of government, it is of paramount importance that bridges or other certain means of passage should be constructed over the Umgeni river, so as to secure free communication as well to the northern and north-western divisions of the district, as to that part of this division that lies beyond the Umgeni.

“This portion of country includes the native location of the Zwartkop, as also the one contemplated on the banks of the Unkomanzi.”

Umvoti .—“This division comprises some of the finest land in this part of South Africa, either for grazing or agricultural purposes; the capabilities of the south-eastern portion of it are similar to those of D’Urban, but cattle thrive better, and the upper portion of it is considered much more favourable to the grazier than the division of Pietermaritzburg; it is abundantly supplied with water, and some good timber is found in it. The laying out and making a shorter road to the mouth of the Tukela from the township, is a matter of importance, seeing it is the high-road from the capital of the district to the Zulu country.

“The site proposed for the township (the Umvoti Waggon Drift, high-road from Pietermaritzburg to the Zulu country, viâ the mouth of the Tukela,) is an eligible position at which to station a military force, to serve at once as a protection to that portion of the district, a rallying-point for the colonists and native subjects, and to impart confidence, in the event of any hostile demonstration by the Zulu nation.

“The native location of the Umvoti is comprised in this division; and natives, in considerable numbers, reside along its northern boundary, whose location we have not as yet been enabled to report upon.”

Impafane .—“This tract of country contains land which has been the most thickly populated portion of the country by the Boers, before they quitted the district, and crossed the Kahlamba; and has always been regarded by them as healthier for cattle than either of the three former divisions. Sheep have also thrived well in some parts of it; and, although not generally so well watered, and, therefore, perhaps not so capable of maintaining over its whole surface so dense a population as the other three divisions, yet it is equally able to do so in localities, and at the village of Weenen, and along the banks of the Mooi River, and particularly Bushman’s River. Wheat and oats have been grown largely, and with success. The soil at the village of Weenen is especially fertile, excellent garden land, the vine, fruit trees, vegetables, etc, thriving well; but the place being situated in a basin, and the approach to it on all sides being by miserable roads, that will require considerable outlay and work to make good, and being situated off the main road, have retarded the prosperity of the village, and will be likely to do so. Small quantities of coal, of inferior quality, have been found along the banks of the Bushman’s River, near the surface. Some building timber is obtained at the base of the Kahlamba mountains.

“The site recommended for a township on the Bushman’s River is well adapted for the station of a military party, and to form the head-quarters of the upper portion of the district; it is sixty-three miles distant from Pietermaritzburg. There is not, however, much available government land about it.

“An objection has been raised to this site, that the Little Bushman’s River, from which the water would be led for the supply of the town, fails in very dry seasons; and another spot has been proposed in its stead, a few miles lower down the river. We are not sufficiently acquainted with this site to be able to report on the eligibility at present.