A X I k K 1 1 A I I u X SETTLKM K NT. 33 I 



thruiiiih the river in a trcm-li in rock, without concrete settinji;, being 

 nu-rely packed over uitli stones. Tlie furrow on the ishnul lias been 

 finished for about four miles, and is still in course of construction. 'The 

 furrow is mostly in line so\\. but the surface of the land in the island Ls 

 very uneven, and a numbi r of hollows have to be crossed by simi)Ie 

 earthen Iianks, the drystone wallint? method being impossil)le, as tlierc is 

 no hard I)ottom. '!"he fall of the furrow on the island has been flattened 

 to I in 3.000, on account of the lineness of the soil. A vertical fall of 

 four feet has been constructed at a little short of three miles from the 

 syplion. 



Produce. — I1ie chief cvo\)s raised at Kakanias include 

 wheat, hicenie, fruit. In 1915 about 50,000 bushel.'^ were har- 

 ve.s;ted ; one to two milhon pounds of lucerne hay ; while there has 

 been an enormous development in citrus culture. The Trades 

 Commissioner. Mr. C. Chiapi)ini. told the settlers that some of 

 their land was, from the point of view of citrus culture, worth 

 up to £500 per morg-en. A certain number of ostriches are kept 

 on the lucerne lands, while a beginning has been made with shee]) 

 under the same conditions. 



History. — The history of this settlement dates definitely 

 from the year 1897, when the Cape Parliament granted the 

 original two farms, which, it may be mentioned in ])assing. 

 Avere not worth more at the time to the Cape Exche(|uer than 

 perhaps £20 per annum. The general question of poor whitism 

 had been discussed long before that. As long ago as the year 

 i8(S6, the Dutch Reformed Synod had its attention drawn to 

 the matter. At its meeting in 1894 a committee was appointed 

 to suggest remedies, and to carry out the idea of a labour 

 colony or, more properly, a land settlement for poor white 

 families. The Rev. Mr. Schr5der, a missionary of the Dutch 

 Reformed Chuixh at Upington, and one of the founders of 

 that township, as already noted, was asked to give his services 

 in \iew of a settlement on the Orange River at Kakamas. He 

 and I visited the spot in 1898, and we came to the conclusion 

 that the project was feasible, and that a furrow could ])e taken 

 out at the Neus Falls. At the same time, I ac(|uired from 

 private owners four farms on the north side of the river im- 

 mediately op)X)site Kakamas and Soetap on the southern bank. 

 The property to-day belonging to the settlement includes about 

 113.000 morgen, of which, as already .stated, about 2,500 are 

 under irrigation. 



The object of the settlement being to reclaiiu poor white 

 families, certain regulations were framed as fundaiuental to its 

 attainment. The rule laid down that no settler would be ad- 

 mitted who did not take his share of work in the building^ of 

 the canal was rigidly adhered to, with the result that the whole 

 of the southern furrow was carried out by white labour. The 

 future colonist had to matriculate in hard work before he could 

 enter on the tenure of an allotment. These allotments vary 

 from five to eight morgen in size, the general average being 

 six. Then there are regulations binding the settler to culti- 

 vate his allotment, keep it free of weecls. eliminate brack as 



