CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



403 



Cap* of tbiWS ; but the British government limited the sum 

 Good that could be demanded, in cases of compromise, to 

 200 rix-dollars. 



Although Calvinism is the established religion in 

 , the settlement, there are many Lutherans. The mi- 

 nisters are paid entirely by the government ; and 

 there is no country in which this useful body are 

 more highly respected. They hold the next rank to 

 the president of the court of justice in town, and to 

 the Land-droost in the country. The pors funds 

 accruing from donations at the church door, legacies, 

 and also from a tax upon the emancipation of slaves, 

 are entirely under their management. In 1798, the 

 funds belonging to the established church amounted 

 to jf 22,168 : 8 : 8, and the relief granted to the poor 

 was if 1112, 17s. ; those of the Lutheran church were 

 14,829 : 13:2, and the poor received iff 194- : 9: 2. 

 In the districtof Stellenbosch.at a place called Bavian'g 

 Kloof, is an establishment of Moravian missionaries, 

 who, about ten years ago, had collected into one 

 society more than six hundred Hottentots, whom they 

 not only instructed in the Christian religion, but 

 taught several useful trades. Each family possessed 

 a small hut with a patch of ground for raising vege- 

 tables ; and by the example and persuasion of these 

 good fathers, had become both cleanly and indus- 

 trious. " The deportment of this Hottentot con- 

 gregation during divine service," says Mr Barrow, 

 " was truly devout. The discourse delivered by one 

 of the fathers was short but replete with good sense, 

 pathetic, and well suited to the occasion : tears flow- 

 ed abundantly from the eyes of those to whom it was 

 particularly addressed. The females sung in a stile 

 that was plaintive and affecting ; and their voices were 

 in general sweet and harmonious. Not more than 

 fifty had been admitted as members of the Christian 

 faith by the ceremony of baptism. There appeared 

 to be no violent zeal on the part of the fathers, which 

 is the case with most other missionaries, to swell the 

 catalogue of converts to Christianity, being more so- 

 licitous to teach their trades to such as might chuse 

 to learn them. Adopting the idea of the humane 

 Count Rumford, their first great object seemed to be 

 that of making men happy, that they might afterwards 

 become virtuous, which is certainly much sounder phi- 

 losophy, than the reverse of the proposition." 

 History of In the history of this settlement, there are few 

 the colony, circumstances deserving of very particular attention. 

 Its conquest was accomplished without bloodshed, 

 and its natives have hitherto opposed but very feeble 

 resistance to their European oppressors. The lofty 

 promontory of the Cape was first discovered by Bar- 

 tholomew Diaz, an eminent Portuguese navigator, 

 in 1487, and named by him Cabo TormentOso, or the 

 Stormy Cape, on account of the boisterous weather 

 which he experienced near the coast, and which, with 

 the shattered condition of his ships, and the mutinous 

 disposition of his crew, prevented him from doubling 

 it, or making the land. * His sovereign, John II. 

 however, gave it a name of more propitious import, 

 and called it the Cape of Good Hope, thereby ex- 

 pressing his sanguine expectation, that the long wish- 

 fd for passage to India had now been found. These 

 expectations were indeed completely fulfilled in 1497, 



by Vasco de Gama, who, having touched at the 

 Cape, pawed to the coast of Malabar. The Portu- Ct0od 

 guese, in their subsequent visits to thi country, made ^ 

 several attempts to establish a colony, but they all 

 failed ; and nearly a century and a half was allowed 

 to pass, before any European power had formed a 

 permanent settlement on it< shores. During this pe- 

 riod, the English and Dutch frequently touched at 

 the Cape for refreshments on their way to India ; 

 and it was the general custom to leave dispatches for 

 their respective directors, buried in a certain spot, 

 which were taken up, and carried home by return- 

 ing vessels. The Dutch, however, at last began to 

 discover the advantages which such a position would 

 afford to their India trade, both as a point of com- 

 munication and refreshment ; and upon the favour- 

 able representations which Van Riebeck, then a sur- 

 geon in one of the Dutch ships, gave of the mildness 

 of the climate, and the fertility of the soil, resolved 

 to form a regular establishment. This resolution was 

 carried into effect in 1650, under the direction of 

 Van Riebeck, who, having concluded a treaty with 

 the natives, took possession of the Cape peninsula, and 

 laid the foundation of the present town, by erecting 

 a fort of wood and earth, and some other necessary 

 buildings, which he called Kier de Keu, " a defence 

 against all." This gentleman soon discovered, and 

 took advantage of, the passion which these weak and 

 peaceable Hottentots had for spiritous liquors ; and 

 by giving them a few casks of brandy, a little to- 

 bacco, iron, and some paultry trinkets, obtained from 

 them a part of their country and their flocks. A 

 piece of iron hoop was the price of an ox, and a cask 

 of brandy the purchase of a whole district. A hun- 

 dred male settlers constituted the first colony of the 

 Cape ; but these being afterwards joined by nearly 

 an equal number of females from the houses of in- 

 dustry in Holland, and also by a number of French 

 refugees, who were obliged to leave their country in 

 1685, its population rapidly increased. The princi- 

 pal difficulties which were at first experienced in the 

 extension of the settlement, arose from the wild beasts 

 that swarmed in every part of the country, and which 

 committed their nightly depredations under the very 

 walls of the fort. But these were by degrees almost 

 completely extirpated ; and, unless one ineffectual 

 attempt of the natives to recover their lands, and to 

 expel their oppressors, the Dutch continued without 

 any farther interruptions, either from the Hottentots 

 or Europeans, to extend their encroachments over 

 the richest districts of the country, for nearly 189 

 years. This settlement, however, by the restrictive 

 regulations on its commerce, though its inhabitants 

 and territories were continually increasing, was un- 

 able to support the expence of its own government ; 

 and, except as a port of refreshment for their Indiau 

 ships, it became a burden, instead of a convenience, 

 to the mother country. Soon after the breaking out 

 of the French revolution, the mania for liberty and 

 equality found its way into the settlement, and seri- 

 ous apprehensions were entertained, lest the colonists 

 should declare themselves a free and independent re- 

 public. A convention was established, and proscri- 

 bed lists were made out, of such of the inhabitant^ 



Some historians pretend that Diat did land, but that he was drimi from the country by th uati?e. 



