136 
NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS 
All these barriers were on the Cape Town side of the Liesbeeck excepting 
the line from Reiniersz’ house to the sea ; but it was the farmers living 
beyond the river who stood most in need of protection. Accordingly the 
order went forth that all farms were to be fenced and “all open lands not 
belonging to anyone shall for greater security be fenced... with pega-pegas or 
bitter almond trees 1 .’’ Van Riebeeck had the area of the settlement measured 
off from Kyckuyt around the lands of the Freemen “ to the principal projected 
cavalry watchhouse and over the back of the Bosheurd as far as the Bosbergen 
to the forest of Leendert Cornelisz inclusive.” Round this line a strip one rood 
in breadth was to be ploughed and planted with bitter almond trees and all 
kinds of thorn bushes “ so that it will be in the form of a fence or enclosure, 
just as in Germany. . .some Counts and Lords mark off their jurisdictions 2 ,” 
The Company’s servants and burghers were assisted in their labour of 
bringing the trees from the banks of the mountain streams, where the bitter 
almond still grows, by some wrecked French sailors who, partly to pay for 
their keep but mainly “ for pregnant reasons,” were pressed into the service 3 . 
Van Riebeeck, like other Governors after him, evidently believed that a 
Frenchman was least dangerous when he had most to do. By December, 
1660, the Commander was able to speak of “our present limits which have 
been already planted with bitter almonds as a protecting fence 4 .” 
The hedge proved hardly more effective than other South African 
boundaries : the Europeans insisted on getting out ; indeed while the work 
was progressing, van Riebeeck was riding out “ to see how far that fence 
might be extended 5 ” ; while in spite of strict orders to keep “ behind the 
Bosheurd ” and “ outside the landfence now being planted 6 ,” the Saldanars 
grazed their cattle within the boundary and the Kaapmen, “ camped near the 
Bosheurd, had trodden down the whole plantation 7 .” Van Riebeeck’s attempt 
at segregation was hardly a success. 
No certain answer can be given to the question whether the almond trees 
in the existing hedge were planted in 1660. The trees themselves give no 
definite clue to their age. On the other hand the shoots are in many cases 
more than 20 feet high and at the base thicker than a man’s body. Bush- 
fires from time to time must have swept away all that showed above ground ; 
there are signs that part of the hedge has suffered so recently. The roots are 
certainly much older than the shoots. 
None of the maps available show the hedge and fence as a whole 8 . On 
the other hand the map of 1660 — 1 shows part of it, while the existing hedge 
fits into the detailed measurements given by van Riebeeck himself of the area 
thus surrounded. The entire circumference was 3673 roods ; that is from the 
1 Journal, in. 90 — 1. 2 Ibid. in. ; Letters Despatched in. 140. 3 Journal, in. 136. 
4 Ibid. 198. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 176, 269. 7 Ibid. 307—8. 
8 Nos. 807, 808. Copies in the Cape Archives ; originals in the Royal Archives at the Hague. 
