110 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



territories 2 reserves were set apart by a land com- 

 mission, one of 8,500 square miles on the Shangani 

 river, and one of :>.(()() square miles on the Guay 

 river. A tnmliiK rircndi arranged with Portugal 

 in regard to tlie boundary in Barotseland has been 

 prolonged to July. 1898. The controversy in re- 

 vpert to the boundary south of the Zambesi was 

 submitted to the arbitration of the Italian jurist 

 Vifcliani. 



Lord Grey, who was one of the founders of the 

 South Africa Company, was appointed to succeed 

 Dr. Jameson as Administrator of Rhodesia. Before 

 entering on his office in the summer of 1896 he dis- 

 posed of all his pecuniary interests, and an ordi- 

 nance was adopted prohibiting any employee of the 

 company from holding shares of stock in the 

 enterprises of the country. The police and mili- 

 tary administration was transferred from the com- 

 pany to imperial officers. Mr. Rhodes, who boast- 

 ed before the Jameson raid took place that his 

 political career in South Africa was just beginning, 

 placed his resignation in the hands of the directors 

 on May ''>. 1896. He went to Rhodesia to aid in 

 suppressing the revolt of the natives, with the in- 

 tention of devoting himself henceforward to devel- 

 oping the country that bears his name. He re- 

 quested the directors, after the Transvaal Govern- 

 ment revealed his connection with the revolutionary 

 plot, to let the resignation wait, as he was going 

 to fight the Matabeles; but they accepted his resig- 

 nation on June 26, and that of Alfred Beit, a Ger- 

 man subject who was as active as Rhodes in the 

 financial enterprises of the company, and in the 

 conspiracy to overthrow Boer rule in Johannesburg. 



In March, 1896, the Zambesian cattle plague ap- 

 peared in Matabeleland and Bechuanaland, decimat- 

 ing the herds so rapidly as to paralyze the whole 

 transport service of the country and destroy the 

 only form of wealth possessed by the natives, which 

 is also their actual circulating medium, and one of 

 their principal sources of food supply. This scourge, 

 supposed to have been originally introduced into 

 northern Africa from Asia, is a malignant type of 

 the rinderpest, a disease that is endemic in northern 

 India, and is due to a vegetable parasite. The pro- 

 portion of deaths is between 80 and 90 per cent. It 

 first appeared in the coast region opposite Aden 

 in 1889, destroyed the herds of the Wasoga and the 

 Masai, and gradually spread eastward through 

 the Soudan, into the" Sahara, and as far as the 

 Niger, and southward through Somaliland and 

 the Lake region to the Zambesi, and thence into 

 Matabeleland. The Transvaal, the Orange Free 

 State, Natal, and Cape Colony took precautions 

 against the importation of cattle from the north, 

 whilst the Chartered Company adopted the stamp- 

 ing-out process, killing all cattle known to have 

 been exposed to infection. At first compensation 

 was given to the natives, though not the full value 

 of the cattle. When the disease became more prev- 

 alent the company revoked the decree, and paid 

 nothing. The epidemic exterminated not only the 

 cattle, but the game animals. 



Matahele Revolt. The Matabeles were not 

 thoroughly subjugated in the war in which the 

 Chartered Company's forces overthrew the empire 

 of Lobengula. Some of the strongest ///,/>/.s- never 

 came inlo action, and after the war hid th ir arms 

 and ammunition. The Chartered Company de- 

 clared that all the cattle In-longed to the Govern- 

 ment, but they were considered to be held in trust 

 for tin- natives. It was madr a penal offense to 

 purchase cattle from the natives without the writ- 

 ten p.Tini-Mon of the district magistrate. Later 

 ll "- ' bal -V> per cent, of the cattle 



Wt-r| - to be retained by the natives, and 45 per cent, 

 handed ovi : i<> the company. A short meally crop 



and a disastrous plague of locusts had already re- 

 duced the people to desperate want when the rin- 

 derpest appeared in the early part of 1896. It was 

 then that the authorities proceeded to carry out 

 the cattle decrees and to kill some of the herds in 

 order to stamp out the pest. Labor was exacted 

 from the natives in return for the cattle received, 

 and the Matabeles, inclined to rebel against being 

 forced to do any manual labor, which they thought 

 only fit for women, were compelled to dig in the 

 gold mines, though they had a special dread of 

 going underground. They believed that all their 

 cattle were to be taken away from them, and that 

 they would be reduced to slavery. The native 

 priests inflamed their discontent. They lost their 

 superstitious dread of Maxim guns, which had 

 created havoc in their ranks in the late war. when 

 they learned that Boer riflemen had beaten a supe- 

 rior British force and compelled it to surrender its 

 Maxims. The native police had obtained some 

 hundreds of Winchester rifles from the company's 

 stores fraudulently, and laid them by for use 

 against their masters. The natives rose in the In- 

 seze and Filibusi districts in the third week in 

 March, murdered 20 whites, and captured cattle. 

 The miners and fanners flocked into Buluwayo. 

 Col. Napier with 75 of the Rhodesian. horse, and a 

 few days later F. C. Selous, whose own cattle were 

 stolen, with a body of volunteers, went out to 

 check the rebels and protect the people still on the 

 farms. In a few days all the settlers in the dis- 

 turbed districts, except 50 or more who had been 

 massacred, were gathered in the towns, which were 

 rapidly fortified. All the cattle were carried off by 

 the Matabeles. The native police, 350 in number, 

 deserted and joined the rebels, taking 700 rifles 

 and a large quantity of ammunition. This force had 

 been recruited from the finest regiments in Loben- 

 gula's army. Aside from their action there was no 

 evidence that the revolt was a concerted movement. 

 It was rather a spontaneous outbreak, produced by 

 the fanatical preaching of the witch doctors, who 

 told the people that all the ills from which they 

 suffered were due to the English. Lord Grey dis- 

 covered that the ill treatment of natives by white 

 settlers was a potent cause of the rebellion. All 

 the Kaffir servants in the towns left to join the re- 

 bellion, which spread until it embraced the whole 

 Matabele nation. The Mashonas of Matabeleland 

 carried the revolt into their own country, and soon 

 all the Mashonas were up in arms against the 

 whites. The white miners and farmers volunteered, 

 and as many as could be provided with horses and 

 arms were enrolled in the volunteer corps. Except 

 the pay of 10s. a day, there was no money to be 

 earned in the country, while food went up to four 

 times the normal price. Detachments of 30 or 40 

 rode out from the towns, but they did not awe the 

 rebels in the least, who looted and burned outlying 

 stores and defeated some of these flying detach- 

 ments, killing 7 men in one encounter. 



The President of the Transvaal telegraphed to 

 Mr. Chamberlain as soon as the trouble broke out 

 that the forces of the Republic were at his disposal 

 to put down the insurrection. The Boers, for 

 whom the Matabeles have a great dread, could have 

 reached the scene within two days ; but Mr. Cham- 

 berlain, unwilling to accept their assistance, replied 

 that the English forces in Africa were competent 

 to deal with the Kaffirs. The first re-enforce- 

 ments to arrive were volunteers brought from Sal- 

 isbury to Gwelo by Cecil Rhodes, 500 Kimberley 

 horse under Col. Plumer, and detachments of Bech- 

 uanaland and Cape mounted police. Ammunition 

 for rifles and Maxims, which was needed greatly, 

 was forwarded as soon as possible. British troops 

 were ordered up from Cape Town and Natal, while 



