114 EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



here. The first colonists, who were for the most part farmers, 

 were their own discharged servants whose term of service had 

 expired. Towards the end of the 17th century they had handed 

 over to the farmers all agricultural pursuits and looked to them 

 to supply their needs. 



The farmers were required now to produce not only for their 

 own livelihood, but for a market as well. This necessitated more 

 ground. Land was plentiful, but for those who carried on stock 

 farming it was necessar}^ to seek fresh pastures in times of 

 drought or when the land had become barren. This meant a 

 constant moving from one spot to another. The corn and the wine 

 farmers were more settled, but the other type moved at first 

 towards the north-west and after the first quarter of the 18th 

 century towards the south-east, along the coastal belt. Immigra- 

 tion had stopped shortly after the first decade of the centuiy, and 

 up to this period it might be looked vipon as the period of settle- 

 ment, after which came the period of dispersion. This expansion 

 was not at all what the authorities desired. They were anxious 

 to keep the colonists in close touch with headquarters at Cape- 

 town ; they did not desire them to get in too close contact with 

 the natives for fear that their own trade with them would be lost. 

 But, try as they would, they could not hold back the onward 

 movement. Precautions were taken by military outposts, which 

 served not only to keep the colonists within bounds, but also to 

 aid them in case they were attacked by the natives. The people 

 moved on and the Government followed. 



The system of land tenure was, perhaps, a contributory cause 

 of this expansion. Except in the more settled parts of the colony, 

 as the Western Province, where many farms were granted in free- 

 hold, each farmer held his land on " loan." He chose a suitable 

 area and applied for permission to remain there. This was 

 granted, but every year he had to renew this permission. If he 

 found the place unsuitable he moved further afield and went 

 through the same process. Sometimes he had several " loan 

 places. His legal right to the ground was nil, for it belonged to 

 the Company, which could resvune occupation at the end of the 

 lease. In this case the farmer was compensated for any buildings 

 he had erected, and these were the only assets he could sell or 

 transmit to his heirs. By the end of the Company's rule in 1795 

 they had expanded to the Great Fish River, which for many genera- 

 tions was the colonial boundary. From this stock of colonists, 

 who had lived more or less a nomadic life, sprang the Voortrekkers, 

 who more than eighty years ago moved out of 'the Colony and 

 founded the Transvaal and Orange Free State Republics. They 

 had the spirit of their forefathers to move forward and penetrate 

 into unknown country inhabited by hostile natives and infested 

 with wild beasts. 



While the stock-breeder was pushing his way through 

 unknown and uncultivated country, enduring hardships from the 

 depredations of the Hottentots and the Bushmen, some attention 

 was given to other branches of farming. The corn and wine 

 farmer was producing for the market of the Company. The 



