426 CATTLE AS AN ECONOMIC FACTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



IV. Contact with the Bantu. 



The Eastern Frontier. 



The Northern Frontier. 



Amaxosa incursions. 



Reprisals. 



Devastations. 



Open rebelhon resuhs. 



V. The First British Occupation. 



Barrow's Travels 



Gaika I's. Xdhlambe. 



Treaty of Amiens. 



Wild confusion on frontier. 



VI. Conclusions. 



Introductorv. 



The discovery of the Cape of Good I iope some four Inindred 

 and thirty-two years ago introduced the white races to that great 

 land which now constitutes the Union of South .\frica. ()f all the 

 factors which have operated to develop the great resources of the 

 Union the important part played hy cattle is amongst those least 

 realised. It is the ptirpose of this stttdy to show how the whole 

 character and extent of South African economic development has 

 heen largely dependent upon this factor from the earliest days 

 even to our own times, in the hojje that a realisation f)f the 

 ])rocesses at work and the issues at stake may lead to sucli wise 

 action as may tend to accelerate that development, and to 

 strengthen those honds which unite peoples. There can be no 

 question that the contentinent of the native peooles under our 

 jurisdiction could be greatly enhanced, tlie wealth per head 

 of population appreciably increased, and loyalty to the white 

 man's administration enormously strengthened by action along 

 wise lines in connection with the handling and improvement of 

 stock. For the present, however, the facts of past experience 

 must speak for themselves, and accordingly we proceed to set 

 them down, as from the earliest times. 



I. — The Portucuese Voyagers. 



(a) TfiE men who dared. 



(i) When Bartholomciv Diaz landed at Angra Perpiena in 

 i486 A.D., his first act was to erect a cross as a mark of possession 

 for his King. He then proceeded southwards in search of an 

 ocean route to India until being overtaken 1)y a storm from the 

 north his two small shii)S were driven for thirteen days at the 

 mercy of the wind and wave. Undaunted by the experienc**- they 

 set their course eastward in search of the coastline they had been 

 following, as soon as the weather moderated, and when they did 

 not come upon the exi>ected land they steered north. In a few 

 days the southern shores of .Africa came in sight, the ships 

 arriving at one of the bays . somewhere between Cape Agulhas- 

 and the Knysna river. It is significant of much that the first 

 iglimpse obtained of the aborigines of the land showed them 



