TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



SOUTH AFRICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



NOTE ON POETIONS OF THE CEOSS OR MEMORIAL 

 PILLAR ERECTED BY BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ NEAR 

 ANGRA PEQUENA IN GERMAN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA. 



By W. L. Sclater, 



Director of the South African Museum. 



(Read January 26, 1898.) 



I. — Introduction. 



Soon after taking up my appointment as Director of the Museum I 

 found there a block of stone imbedded in a brick foundation which 

 I was given to understand was a portion of the cross erected near 

 Angra Pequena by Bartholomew Diaz, the first navigator who rounded 

 the Cape of Good Hope. 



Mr. Peringuey kindly made a note for me of all the information he 

 was able to gather about this interesting relic, of which the following 

 is the summary. 



The existence of this cross first became known to the Cape Town 

 public at the time of the discovery of the guano deposits on Ichaboe 

 Island. Some of the crews of whalers or guano-loading vessels had, 

 in a mad freak, broken the cross in two pieces. The interest was 

 renewed at the time of the discovery of copper ore in Namaqualand 

 and Damaraland, and Mr. De Pass and Captain Sinclair, who were 

 at the time greatly interested in the guano islands, were instrumental 

 in having the three pieces of the cross brought to Cape Town. This 

 is confirmed by a note from the Museum records for the year 1856, 

 in which the collections were first placed in the old Museum, to this 

 effect : — 



" To Captain Carrew we are indebted for the remains of the cross 



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