152 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS— SECTION E. 



for trade with the natives, until a few adventurous individuals^, 

 tempted by the profitable nature of the clandestine trade, or 

 driven to it by the hardships they experienced at that time in 

 making a living, began to seek permission to go into the interior 

 for trading purposes. 



The granting of licences in response to these appeals 

 amounted to a reversal of the policy which had led to the institu- 

 tion of the Fort Willshire Fairs, and the adventurers were so 

 successful that licences came in time to be freely granted ioc 

 trading expeditions into Kaffirland proper. But once the itinerant 

 traders moved throughout the country, there was no longer need 

 for the natives to make their way with their goods to the Fort, 

 and in consequence the fairs there came automatically to an end. 



From these small beginnings the great volume of Trans- 

 keian trade has proceeded, for the enterprise of the few isolated 

 and courageous pioneers opened the doors into Kaffraria, an i 

 through the narrow portals of adventurous Frontier life the 

 stream of modern goods and methods passed, and no obstacle was 

 encountered that could stop the steady flow. 



In the correspondence which passed between Earl Grey and 

 Sir Harry Smith anent the state of the Kafiir tribes, we are 

 told that 



" The funds obtained by the sale of licences for trade have been applied 

 by the Board of Roads to the improvement of our inland communications 

 and to other works of general utility. They amount for the present year 

 (1848) to upwards of £1,500." (P. 75, Imperial Blue-book.) 



■' The chief Umhala has received his plough with much delight, and 

 is at work, and other chiefs have made application and will be supplied. 

 As the system continues to progress I shall endeavour so to order matters 

 that the Kaffirs may contribute to the expense of their government ; any 

 measure of the sort, however, must not be precipitated, or it would 

 defeat its present, as well as the ultimate great object, civilisation." 

 (Earl Grey to Sir Harry Smith, 27th March, 1848.) 



These glimpses tell us how the development was proceeding 

 after the restrictions had been removed. As we think of the 

 towns and villages and scattered trading stations in all the wide 

 area of both the Ciskei and the Transkei of to-day, we are 

 reminded of all that has been involved in the building up of the 

 commerce of that great area. In the first report of the Board 

 of Roads for British Kaff^raria (1849) the only places mentioned 

 as having licences were Kingwilliamstown and East London, a 

 mission station or two, and the fon ■ * some forty-three licences 

 in all having been issued. In addition there were four hotel 

 licences and sixty-four working peoples' licences, the whole 

 revenue of the Board for the area amounting to some i2,6oo. 



This, thfen, gives us some idea of the position of affairs as 

 the trade came to take root and be established before the great 

 eastward expansion that opened the door to the Transkei. 



But in those far-ofif days, the main attraction for the white 

 man was the ivory obtained by the natives from the herds of 



* Viz., Forts Grey, Hare. Cox, Murray, Waterloo, White. 



