ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO. 131 



first to brave the terrors of the Stormy Cape, as they called it. In 

 i486 Bartholomew Diaz doubled the Cape, and pushed his way 

 beyond the present site of Port Elizabeth. 



In 1497 that great sailor, Vasco da Gama, passed the Cape, 

 and penetrated by sea as far to the eastward as the Mozambique 

 coast. Although the early navigators occasionally touched at the 

 Cape on their way to the Indies, there seems to have been no regular 

 settlement there until well into the seventeenth century. In 1591 

 Captain James Lancaster, with an English squadron, visited Table 

 Bay. 



In 1595 four Dutch vessels, the first fleet to cast anchor in 

 these waters, touched at Mossel Bay, a little to the east of the Cape. 

 From this time fleets of the various nations were in the habit of call- 

 ing at the Cape of Good Hope for rest and refreshment, obtaining 

 oxen and sheep from the Hottentot aboriginals, and picking up 

 wild fowl, fish and green herbage. 



THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY TAKES POSSESSION. 



In 1652 the Dutch East India Company finally took possession 

 of the Cape, and founded a settlement there. Jan Van Riebeck 

 landed with a number of colonists, and at once set vigorously to 

 work to establish the foundations of Dutch supremacy in this 

 quarter of the globe. 



In 1672 the Dutch East India Company purchased from the 

 Hottentot chiefs, who claimed to be lords of the soil, the whole 

 vast tract of country stretching from Saldanha Bay to the Cape 

 peninsula. 



Between 1685 and 1688 came a most important accession oi 

 strength to the Dutch settlers. Thanks to the revocation of the 

 Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., large numbers of Huguenots were 

 driven from France. By arrangement with the authorities in Hol- 

 land, it came to pass that some of these French Protestants, to the 

 number of between two and three hundred, were taken to the Cape. 

 They were granted free passages and as much land as they could 

 bring under cultivation, and were assisted with money to buy imple- 

 ments, seed and other necessities, ©n condition of thereafter repay- 



