CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



135 



nia, was established about tbe 1st of January 

 in Ovamboland, north of Damaraland. The 

 right to the territory was purchased from the 

 native tribes, and land was offered to European 

 settlers free of charge. The district, 300 miles 

 long and 120 miles broad, is situated 200 miles 

 from Walflsch Bay. Many Boers and English- 

 men moved in and began the cultivation of the 

 land, which is adapted for the growth of wool, 

 grain, and wine. The settlers, wbo took pos- 

 session in order to forestall German occupa- 

 tion, requested to be taken under the rule of 

 the Cape Government. 



Pondoland. The Xesibe country, a part of 

 the tribal territory of the Pondos, was, in Sep- 

 tember, 1886, annexed to Cape Colony without 

 the consent of the Pondos. The port of St. 

 John's river was also annexed. The Xesibes, 

 feeling secure under colonial protection, began 

 to make raids into Pondoland. The Pondos, 

 who have always lived heretofore on friendly 

 terms with the British, had done all that they 

 could to secure peace, sending a deputation, in 



1885, to the High Commissioner. The British 

 authorities endeavored to obtain from the Pon- 

 dos a trade and military route through their 

 territory, and opened negotiations in January, 



1886, with the paramount chief, Uruquikela. 

 They obtained a cession from one of the chiefs, 

 but Umquikela refused to recognize its validity, 

 and rejected an offer to buy the right of way 

 through his dominions. But as the party in 

 power at the Cape was desirous of annexation, 

 nothing was done to prevent the troubles, 

 which resulted in the annexation of Xesibe- 

 land, after an incursion of Pondos in retaliation 

 for cattle-thefts. 



Znlnlaod. When Cetewayo, who, after the 

 Zulu war, had been at first imprisoned at Cape 

 Town, and then brought to London, where he 

 became a popular character, was restored to 

 his kingdom, the fertile region next to Natal 

 was reserved for discontented Zulus, who pre- 

 ferred to live under British administration to 

 coming under the rule of their old monarch. 

 The northeast corner of Zululand was ruled 

 by Usibepu, a powerful chief, who refused to 

 acknowledge Cetewayo, and was therefore left 

 independent in the arrangement for Cetewayo's 

 return. In a short time Usibepu and the dis- 

 possessed chiefs drove out Cetewayo, who died 

 a fugitive in the Reserve, poisoned by his ene- 

 mies, as has been since ascertained. Usibepu 

 then attempted to make himself master of the 

 whole country, and to resist him the Usutus 

 called the Boers to their aid. In return for 

 helping the Usutus overthrow Usibepu, the Boer 

 volunteers from the Transvaal obtained from 

 Cetewayo's son, Dinizulu, who was crowned 

 King of the Zulu nation, a grant of 2,600,000 

 acres of land. They founded the Republic of 

 Western Zululand in October, 1885, and laid 

 claim to St. Lucia Bay, where they proceeded 

 to settle ; but this latter action provoked the 

 interference of the British authorities. By Jan- 

 uary, 1886, the Boers in Zululand had appor- 



tioned out 800 farms of 3,600 acres each, situate 

 partly in Western Zululand and partly in the 

 district along the coast skirting St. Lucia Bay, 

 over which the new republic had proclaimed 

 sovereign rights. The quantity of land ceded 

 by Dinizulu to the Boers was nearly five sixths 

 of Zululand outside of the British Reserve, 

 and, according to English computations, left 

 not land enough to support one third of the 

 Zulus. The British authorities warned Lucas 

 Meyer, the President, and the other citizens of 

 the Boer Republic, that they would not recog- 

 nize the survey nor the occupation of the lands 

 as conferring a valid title, or as affecting the 

 British or the Zulu rights previously existing ; 

 also that they would not permit the occupa- 

 tion of St. Lucia Bay, or of the adjacent terri- 

 tory to the north and west of the bay. In 

 April, 1886, Earl Granville offered to the Boers 

 a settlement, recognizing their rights to a part 

 of the land then occupied, but the Boers re- 

 jected the terms offered. In the mean time 

 they began to settle in the neighborhood of 

 the sea-coast, near St. Lucia Bay, which port 

 was desired by the Transvaal people as a ter- 

 minus for a railroad. The British Govern- 

 ment had sought to defeat the railroad project 

 by proclaiming a protectorate over the coast 

 at that point. The Boers, in the allotment of 

 farms, respected the British protectorate by 

 leaving to the British the sandy strip of shore- 

 lands. Some of the natives displaced by them 

 were driven into the Reserve. The Natal 

 colonists who, while they are unable to utilize 

 new lands, are eager to annex fertile districts 

 for the future expansion of the colony, and 

 because they can draw a revenue from them 

 by imposing a hut-tax on the native occupants, 

 proposed by a vote of their Legislative Council 

 to have Zululand annexed to Natal, although 

 they have repeatedly refused responsible gov- 

 ernment on the plea that they can not assume 

 the risks and the expense of managing their 

 present native population, and of guarding 

 their frontier. 



The portion of Zululand that the British 

 Government offered to relinquish to the Boers 

 in the negotiations of March and April com- 

 prised the territory of the new republic that 

 was first settled before its extension toward the 

 sea. In September Sir Arthur Havelock, 

 Governor of Natal, reopened negotiations, on 

 behalf of the Imperial Government, with the 

 Boers of the Zululand Republic. The latter 

 claimed 800 farms under title-deeds already 

 granted, and the suzerainty over the whole of 

 Zululand, except the Reserve. They were 

 willing to abandon the rights of suzerainty, 

 subject to the consent of the Zulus, but would 

 not agree to give up 250 of their farms also, as 

 the Governor demanded. 



An agreement was signed, by Sir Arthur 

 Havelock and the Boer representatives, on Oct. 

 22. The Republic of Western Zululand was 

 recognized by the British Government, The 

 Boer protectorate over the country was abol- 



