6 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. , 



the choice locations where there was sufficient water for their stock. 

 It was soon discovered that there were large tracts of land, unsuited 

 to agriculture, which would serve as ranges for cattle and sheep. A 

 little hut of wattle and daub sheltered the family of the pioneer 

 farmer. These settlers were phlegmatic and peaceful by nature. An 

 extraordinary impulse was needed to convert them into adventurers 

 and wanderers in the desert. This impulse was given by the capture 

 of the Cape by the English, by the influx of immigrants from 

 Great Britain, by new and vexing legislation, and by disasters to crops 

 when thousands of farmers were ruined and brought even to the 

 verge of starvation. 



There was a succession of vexations to the old colonists. The 

 substitution of English for Dutch was a great humiliation. But the 

 keenest resentment was excited by the emancipation of the slaves in 

 1833. Alien rule was the grievance which was the impelling cause of 

 the exodus of the Dutch from Cape Colony called the Great Trek. 



This migration of pioneer Boers in large parties, overcoming all 

 mountains and deserts, and fearlessly venturing into the strongholds 

 of the fiercest native tribes, undoubtedly hastened and secured the 

 possession of the marvellous diamond and gold fields of South 

 Africa. 



The history of the Zulu race is familiar to all. By their raids 

 and wars, the whole country from the seaboard of Natal nearly to 

 the junction of the Orange and Vaal rivers, was desolated, and the 

 native tribes inhabiting this region were almost annihilated. The 

 push of the migrating Boers soon brought them in conflict wath 

 Umsilikazi and Dingaan Then their remarkable traits stood out in 

 high relief. In the heart of the wilderness in his venturesome trek 

 over the pathless veld, and in the traverse of mountains and deserts, 

 the Boer showed what scornful eyes had not seen — the self-reliance, 

 the fortitude and the pluck of the true pioneer. Even the women and 

 children were dauntless at the pinch of need. No impediments nor 

 dangers stayed the advance of these pioneers. No Karroo was so 

 forbidding and no stream so swollen as to stop their onward march. 

 Their faith in the literal inspiration of the Bible was unwavering. 

 The clash between the trekking Boers and the impis of Umsilikazi 

 and Dingaan came at last. Umsilikazi w'as beaten back with enor- 

 mous loss, and driven in flight to the wilderness bevond the Limpopo, 

 where he brought together the remnants of his people in the present 

 Matabeleland. 



Hard upon the defeat of Umsilikazi came the greater clash with 

 Dingaan, who had treacherously put to death a party of sixtv Boers 

 who had entered Natal. The battle of Blood River, when six 

 hundred mounted Boers under the command of Andries Pretorius, 

 withstood the attack of manv thousand Zulus, was the turning point 

 in the history of South Africa. Three thousand six hundred Zulus 

 were left dead on the field. It is related in historv that this decisive 

 victory was gained without the loss of a single life to the Boers. 

 Dingaan fled into Swaziland, where he was put to death by one of 

 the Swazi chiefs. 



