82 liRITISH SOVril AFRICA AXD Till-: TRAXSVAAL 



themselves Khoikhoin Cnien of men), but had }>eeii named Hotten- 

 tots by the Portuguese, and Caepmans V>y the early Dutch settlers. 

 The Dutch had difficulty in subduing these natives or making them 

 labor, so that in KioS they determined to institute negro slavery, and 

 imported the first cargo of slaves from the Guinea C'oast. 



In 1687 tlie Dutch colonists were joined l)y a number of Hugue- 

 nots, refugees who fled from France during the reign of I^ouis XIV, 

 after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, large numbers of whom 

 sought an asylum in Holland and her colonies. For more than a 

 century these colonists pursued a quiet existence as agriculturists 

 and traders, disturbed only by occasional strife with the natives, until 

 1794, when Holland was overrun l)y the troopsof the French Repub- 

 lic. To prevent the colony from falling into the hands of the French, 

 it was ca|)tured b}' the English in 1795, but was restored to Holland 

 in 1802 b}' the treaty of Amiens. As this peace i)roved to be illusory, 

 war was renewed the following year, and Cape Colony was again caj)- 

 tured by the English in 1806 and has since been in their possession. 



In 1814, after the abdication of Napoleon, it was ceded to England 

 l»y the treaty of Paris, which action was confirmed by the Congress 

 of \'ienna in 181o, and England paid to Holland a large sum of 

 money as indemnit}' for tlie cession of Cape Colony and the territory 

 in St)uth America now known as British Guiana. 



Leaving Table Bay and steaming eastward along tlie coast, moun- 

 tains are in sight nearly all the wa\'- To reach the interior of i^outii 

 Africa from any of the landing places on the east coast, a siiort ex- 

 tent of lowland must be crossed and steep mountains ascended to 

 the level of the great plateau beyond. The east coast presents a 

 fringe of sul)tropical country, where the magnolia and rose bloom 

 and the orange, pineapple, lemon, grape, banana, cotton, and tea- 

 plant flourish. As the elevation increases come the mountain ranges, 

 ifi the valleys of which are growing croi)s of wheat and corn. Finally 

 the high veldt is reached. This consists of vast level plains sparsely 

 covered with short grass, dotted here and there by the karoo bush, a 

 stunted shrul) from a foot to eighteen inches in height, which gives 

 pasturage to thousands of sheep and cattle. 



There are four lines of railroad by which the .South African lie- 

 l»ublic can be reached from the sea. The first extends from Cape 

 Town and Port Elizabeth, with a branch from East London, to Johan- 

 nesburg, and thence to Pretoria, traversing the Orange Free State from 

 south to north. The second line lies more to the west and is wholly 



