CAPE COLONY. 



CATAMARAN. 



115 



after resigning the deputy presidency of the 

 South African Republic, was made President 

 of the new republic. All Zululand was de- 

 clared to be under its protection. Projects for 

 a railroad and a Boer seaport were spoken of. 

 Later in the year, Grant, Umnyamana, and 

 Cetewayo's brothers, who aspired to the 

 throne themselves, were disposed to repudi- 

 ate the rule of Dinizulu, as being too much 

 under the control of the Boers. In the mean 

 time Usibepu was gathering strength to renew 

 the struggle with the TJsutus, and several hun- 

 dred white volunteers from among the English 

 population of Natal enlisted in his cause. 



The South African Republic. The British suze- 

 rainty over the Transvaal was revoked by the 

 convention of 1884. The area of the republic 

 is 110,183 square miles, the white population 

 about 45,000, the native population 775,000. 

 The President is S. J. P. Kriiger, elected in 

 1833 for three years. The Vice-President, 

 Piet Joubert, resigned in October, 1884, on 

 account of differences with respect to the pol- 

 icy in Bechuanaland, and accepted the presi- 

 dency of the new republic in Zululand. His 

 place was filled by J. 0. Bodenstein. 



The delegates who concluded the London 

 Convention visited also Holland and Germany, 

 and received marked attentions from the lead- 

 ing men in those countries. They arranged 

 to launch a loan of 15,000,000 guilders for the 

 construction of a railroad to Delagoa Bay, but, 

 when the subscription lists were opened, not 

 enough stock was taken to warrant beginning 

 the works. The new convention with Great 

 Britain was ratified by the Volksraad, August 

 8th, but a protest was registered against the 

 debt compromise, the veto right on treaties, 

 and the western boundary settlement. The 

 cause of the encroachments in Bechuanaland 

 and Zululand of young Boers is their need of 

 farming-land. The farms in the Transvaal are 

 very large, but the Boers are averse to dividing 

 them. They furnish their sons with live-stock 

 and capital, but oblige them to seek farms in 

 unoccupied land. The race is exceedingly pro- 

 lific, and therefore extends its settlements rap- 

 idly. Gold has been found in promising quan- 

 tities in several places on the eastern side of 

 the Transvaal within the past two or three 

 years. But the Boers are unwilling to utilize 

 this source of wealth, as also in the case of 

 occasional discoveries of diamonds, which are 

 usually kept secret. They dread the influx of 

 a mining population. In 1883 the Volksraad 

 passed an act forbidding the mining of gold 

 and silver. 



Orange River Free State. The independent Re- 

 public of the Orange River has an area of 41,- 

 320 square miles, a white population of 61,022, 

 and a native population of 72,496 souls. Bloein- 

 fontein, the capital, contains 2,567 inhabitants. 

 The exports consist almost entirely of wool. Mi- 

 nor exports are hides and ostrich-plumes. The 

 receipts of the treasury in 1883 were 175,354, 

 the expenditures 209,493. The President is 



Sir John H. Brand, recently knighted by the 

 Queen of England, who was elected in 1879 

 for the fourth term of five years, 



Baralong Troubles. The Baralong territory 

 within the boundaries of the Free State is se- 

 cured as a native reserve by treaty with Great 

 Britain. A quarrel between the brothers Mo- 

 roko and Sepinare, Baralong chiefs, was re- 

 ferred by them to President Brand. Moroko, 

 who was christened Samuel on his conversion 

 to Christianity, was dissatisfied with the award, 

 and went to England to solicit imperial inter- 

 vention, without success. Upon his return he 

 assailed and captured Thaba Nshu, his brother's 

 capital, in July, 1884. Sepinare was murdered 

 after the battle. President Brand, at the head 

 of five hundred burghers, overcame Samuel's 

 forces, took him and his head-men prisoners, 

 and placed them on trial for murder. The 

 annexation of the native territory was pro- 

 claimed. 



CATAMARAN, a boat or vessel that has two or 

 more hulls, affording a high degree of stability 

 without the use of ballast. This form of ves- 

 sel originated among semi - civilized people, 

 whose appliances, skill, and material at hand 

 were not sufficient for the construction of ves- 

 sels having large carrying power and sea- 

 worthiness. The proa is the name given to a 

 boat having hulls of unequal size ; the larger 

 carrying all the rigging mast, sail, etc. and 

 the smaller serving only to give stability. This 

 style of double-hulled boat is used among the 

 East Indies and the South Pacific Islands. The 

 principal hull varies from forty to sixty-five 

 feet in length, and six to seven feet in width, 

 having a framework of bamboo, over which 

 are stretched skins and bark, the seams being 

 paid with pitch. The smaller of the two hulls 

 is generally one to two thirds the length of 

 the larger, usually made of the trunk of a sin- 

 gle tree, or built in the same manner as the 

 larger. Between the two hulls is a rude kind 

 of platform covered with basket-work, upon 

 which may be carried a part of the crew, and 

 the material to be transported. The rig of 

 the proa resembles that in use on the Mediter- 

 ranean, having a short mast amidships, which 

 is stayed to the secondary hull, and carrying 

 one lateen sail, the yard of which is hung in 

 the middle. In tacking, the clew of the sail is 

 sheeted down to the other end of the boat, the 

 yard swinging to adjust itself to the new posi- 

 tion. Therefore each end of the boat becomes 

 bow and stern alternately. The outrigger, or 

 secondary hull, is kept always to windward. 

 The Feejee double war-canoe (shown in the 

 second engraving) is a more elaborate piece of 

 work. It has a deck-house for the principal 

 person on board, and over this a platform where 

 the captain stands. The planks composing the 

 platform have flanges on the under side, and 

 through holes in these runs a cord of sinnet, by 

 which they are tied tightly together. The deck 

 is smoothed with an adze and polished so tha 

 the seams can hardly be seen. The steering tf 



