EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 223 



Indeed, the prevalence of " dress " among the young 

 coloured females in the towns is somewhat start- 

 ling as contrasted with the wages they receive as 

 domestic servants, but it is quite possible that 

 experts " in the know " may be able to account for 

 the discrepancy. 



Up to the time of the discovery of diamonds, 

 some thirty years since, the Cape Colony repre- 

 sented a vast Sleepy Hollow with two moderately 

 well-tp-do seaports, a few somnolent villages, and 

 a rural white population composed chiefly of Boers 

 and the minority of the descendants of the English 

 settlers of 1821 inhabiting the best portion of the 

 Eastern Provinces. Here and there, in the desolate 

 and sterile Karroo and in its bordering moun- 

 tain ranges of the Nieufeldt and Sneeberg, a few 

 adventurers were settled as sheep-farmers, and 

 were struggling manfully with the adverse nature, 

 inherent in the African soil and climate everywhere 

 as far as I know, with a measure of success just 

 sufficient generally to keep their pots boiling, but 

 poor enough as representing cash dividends on the 

 capital invested. A restful state of stagnation pre- 

 vailed, and millionaires, misery, and progress were 

 unknown entities. Serious native wars had ceased, 



