104 



CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



the Cape Colonists, who got the natives to hinder 

 the Germans in their enterprises. Lewis was 

 prevented from making use of his mining privi- 

 leges by a code of regulations drawn up by the 

 German officials. After he and two Englishmen 

 named Ford and Bam were banished from Da- 

 maraland for political plotting in 1890, the Eng- 

 lish Government intervened diplomatically to 

 urge his claim before the Berlin authorities. The 

 Anglo-German African agreement destroyed the 

 hopes of profitable trading or pastoral operations, 

 and left nothing but the mineral resources of 

 the country for the Germans to fall back upon. 

 The capital of the Colonial Company was ex- 

 hausted, and it was decided to organize a new 

 company, with offices in Hamburg, and appeal 

 to the London market for a part of the capital. 

 The German Reichstag in February, 1891, voted 

 100,000 marks to continue for one year longer a 

 staff of officials and a force of 40 or 50 police in 

 Damaraland. On April 6 the Colonial Depart- 

 ment of the German Foreign Office declared 

 Lewis's general mining concession of Sept. 9, 

 1885, null and void, on the ground that it was 

 obtained with the political object of withdrawing 

 Damaraland from German influence and bring- 

 ing it under the rule of a foreign power, and 

 could not, therefore, be regarded as a private 

 contract or serve as a basis for private rights. 

 Dr. Golding, the Imperial Commissary, retired 

 in April, and was succeeded by Capt. Von Fran- 

 cois, who had previously commanded the police 

 force. The new German company expects to 

 build a railroad across the country. Lewis 

 transferred rights to 50,000,000 acres near Wal- 

 fisch Bay and gold fields on the Orange river to 

 an English company that was organized in Lon- 

 don in February, 1891. 



Ngamiland. The country around Lake 

 Ngami, to which Germany and Great Britain 

 both laid claim, was abandoned to Great Britain 

 by the Anglo-German settlement of 1890. The 

 African and General Exploring Company was 

 organized to investigate the mineral and com- 

 mercial resources of this region South of the 

 lake a large number of quartz reefs have been 

 discovered. The death of Moremi, head chief 

 of the Towana nation, on Nov. 4, 1890, left the 

 country in a disorganized and unsettled con- 

 dition. The next heir is a youth named Sec- 

 home, half-brother of Moremi and nephew of 

 Khama, the Bechuana king, and during his mi- 

 nority an unpopular chief named Dithapo acts 

 as regent. The Towanas are only one of several 

 tribes settled in the country, but under Moremi 

 they held the others in subjection, except the 

 invading Namaquas, who disputed with them 

 the sovereignty over the country. From the 

 latter the Germans obtained their title. 



British Zambesia. The country reserved to 

 Great Britain in the Anglo-German and Anglo- 

 Portuguese agreements of 1890, lying north of 

 Bechuanaland and the South African Republic, 

 is under the administration of the British South 

 Africa Company, which was created by a royal 

 charter signed Oct. 29, 1889. The sphere of the 

 company's activity at present comprises Ma- 

 shonaland, Matabeleland, and Manica. It is em- 

 powered to take over other districts, subject to 

 the approval of the Government, including 

 Northern Bechuanaiand or Khama's country, 



the region between that and the German bound- 

 ary, and, in fact, all parts of South Africa within 

 the sphere of British influence and not hitherto 

 administered by British officers up to or beyond 

 the Zambesi. Lobengula, King of the Mata- 

 beles, a tribe numbering 200,000 souls, has an 

 army of about 15,000 men, armed with modern 

 rifles obtained from the English, and has been 

 accustomed to raid and pillage the country of 

 the Mashonas, the Makalakas, and other sur- 

 rounding tribes. During the first year of its 

 existence the chartered company built an exten- 

 sion of the railroad from the Cape to the dia- 

 mond fields of Griqualand West, continuing it 

 northward from Kimberley to Vryburg, 126 miles. 

 This section, which was opened Dec. 3, 1890, 

 was sold to the Cape Government for 700,000, 

 and the company went to work on a further 

 extension of 98 miles to Mafeking. 



The climate of the plateau of Mashonaland, 

 which is 4,500 or 5,000 feet above the sea. and of 

 Matabeleland, a hilly country of forests, streams, 

 and pastures, is said to be healthful for Euro- 

 peans. The nights are cool in summer, and the 

 long winter is invigorating. There is plenty of 

 good soil easy of cultivation. English enter- 

 prise was attracted to this country by the gold- 

 bearing reefs that were known to exist there 

 more than twenty years ago. The claims raised 

 by Portugal to the valley of the Zambesi im- 

 pelled Cecil Rhodes and his associates to organ- 

 ize the British South Africa Company for the 

 purpose of securing for England all the high 

 and healthful regions and the auriferous lands. 

 Mining concessions had already been granted by 

 the Portuguese authorities to British subjects, 

 but the holders were bought out or given shares 

 in the chartered company. Alluvial gold is 

 found in all the stream beds, but seldom in 

 paying quantities. The quartz in the reefs dis- 

 covered by Thomas Baines in 1870 at the junc- 

 tion of the Umfuli and Simbo rivers assays 3 or 

 4 ounces to the ton. Attempts to work the Tati 

 mines without proper machinery have failed. 

 The Jumbo reef, near Fort Salisbury, has many 

 old shafts. Four gold fields were opened, besides 

 the Manica district, and mining commissioners 

 and claim inspectors were appointed in the early 

 part of 1891. These were the Umfuli and Hart- 

 ley Hill, Lo Magondi, Mazoe, and the Kaiser 

 Wilhelm or Matoko districts. No prospecting 

 has been done in Matabeleland for fear of rous- 

 ing the hostility of Lobengula. As soon as the 

 Chartered Company was formed, a police force of 

 500 men was raised to, take possession of Zam- 

 besia. A telegraph was completed to Palapwe, 

 in Khama's country, 315 miles from Mafeking r 

 in British Bechuanaland, by Oct. 14, 1890. The 

 pioneer expedition of 180 picked men, escorted 

 by a part of the police force, advanced from the 

 Macloutse river, where the rest of the police 

 remained to keep open communications and pro- 

 tect the base. Crossing the river on June 25, 

 1890, they built a road as they marched, and in 

 ten weeks arrived at Mount Hampden, Mashona- 

 land, 300 miles from the Macloutse, with their 

 ox wagons, machine guns, a steam engine, and 

 other material. A fort was erected at the Tuli 

 drift, one at Fort Victoria, on the edge of the 

 Mashona plateau, and later Fort Charter was 

 built, and Fort Salisbury, near Mount Hampden, 



