CATTLE AS AN ECONOMIC FACTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 435 



great importance. The Cape settlement had been established to 

 supply fresh meat to the passing- East Indiamen, and for four 

 years the supplies had been cut off by this war, an experience 

 which might easily be repeated at any time. If the settlemen' 

 was to fulfil its main function it must be independent of th 

 erratic Hottentots, and therefore European cattle-breeders must 

 be found; and these were found by settling suitable persons, 

 adequately protected, at Hout Bay, Rondebosch, Wynberg, 

 Stellenbosch, and Drakenstein. Thus the second Hottentot war 

 had very far-reaching results for the whole future of the colony, 

 not only in so important a matter as the establishment of the 

 cattle-breeding industry, but also in paving the way for the wel- 

 come and 'facilities given to the French Huguenots, an event the 

 value of which can never be truly estimated in the economic 

 history of South Africa. 



Before concluding our enquiries regarding the Hottentots one 

 further matter falls to be recorded even though it is not perhaps 

 so directly related to our main study as the incidents already 

 related. In 1755 a homeward-bound fleet infected the settlers 

 with smallpox. Ordinarily the Hottentots might well have 

 escaped this dread scourge altogether, but in their bartering the 

 germs were carried home to their retreats, and laying hold of the 

 people, assisted by their filthy habits, the disease wrought havoc, 

 carrying- oft' large numbers. Of all the many Hottentot tribes 

 only one, the Korana, was left untouched, and those which were 

 aft'ected were almost utterly destroyed. Henceforth the quaint 

 names of the many tribes are lost to the pages of our history 

 books, and even among themselves the survivors are simply 

 classed together as Hottentots. Yea, more, the scourge passing 

 from tribe to tribe was communicated to the Bantu peoples in the 

 far East, through the Damaqua and Gonaqua tribes then assimila- 

 ting. Tembu tradition says that the country between the Kei 

 and the Bashee was almost de-peopled, a fact which probably 

 accounts for the small population of natives originally dwelling 

 ;r that region when the white man penetrated that length. How 

 many died beyond the Bashee we cannot tell with any certainty. 



Thus was the Hottentot power coiiipletely and effectively 

 broken, leaving a clear issue for the coming days as between the 

 B.uropean and the Bantu, the Bushman trouble in the North being 

 ot much less consequence, even though troublesome in the 

 extreme, and constituting a great hindrance to the progress of 

 the whole district. 



During all this time the work of exploration had not been 

 pushed, though several small parties had been sent out at different 

 times and in different directions. One of these striking eastwards 

 and carrying with it goods with which to purchase cattle, pene- 

 trated in 1667 as far as Mossel Bay. 



But Governor Van der Stel was not content with this policy 

 of drift. He insisted upon the necessity of exploration, especially 

 in the northerly direction, whence came strange tales of mineral 



