King Edward's realm: Story of the making of the EmpireDawe, C. S. (Charles Sherwill)
History
King Edward's realm: Story of the making of the Empire
Dawe, C. S. (Charles Sherwill)
Great Britain -- History
8. Sir George Grey also tried to cure the natives of their belief in
witchcraft, but in this he miserably failed. He did much, however,
to put down the practice of "smelling out" witches. The Kaffirs
believe that diseases and disasters of all kinds are caused by
wizards and witches, and in every tribe there was a professional
witch-finder whose duty it was to go through certain forms, calling
"smelling-out," and then point out the individual, who was supposed
to have caused the mischief. This practice did not commend itself to
the governor's sense of justice, and he did all he possibly could to
put it down.
9. The superstitious belief of the Kaffirs was the cause of a
terrible tragedy during Grey's term of office. Thousands of their
cattle had been carried off by a pestilence, when a Kaffir prophet
consoled the poor natives by assuring them that the Kaffir chiefs,
long dead and gone, were about to return to earth with a new breed of
cattle, which disease could not touch, and that their coming would
result in the triumph of the black men over the white. But all this,
he said, would only happen if all the present cattle and corn were
destroyed. Thousands took the madman at his word and made away with
their corn and cattle. The great day of deliverance was fixed for
February 18th, 1857, and to their amazement the sun rose and set as
usual, leaving the poor dupes face to face with starvation. The
Kaffirs suffered so dreadfully from the scourge of famine, and their
numbers were in consequence so much reduced, that we hear of no more
wars during the next twenty years.
10. During this peaceful time Cape Colony made steady but slow
progress, but, in 1870, an event occurred which awoke the colony to
new life. This was the discovery of a rich diamond-field around
Kimberley. Men and capital began to flow into the country and the
wheels of industry began to turn more rapidly. Farmers obtained a
good market, trade became brisk, railways were speedily laid down.
The diamonds are found in a kind of "blue ground," which is nothing
but a stream of volcanic mud cast up in ages past. So rich is it in
diamonds that the mines have yielded, since 1870, a yearly revenue of
between two and three million pounds.
11. The blacks in 1878 made one more hopeless attempt to oust the
white men. The struggle ended in the British government taking
possession of all the Kaffir lands, except Basutoland, and adding
them to Cape Colony. Basutoland is a native state under the direct
rule of the British Crown. This arrangement was made in response to
the prayer of a Basuto chief: "Let me and my people rest and live
under the large folds of the flag of England."
(13) A GREAT EXTENSION OF BRITISH TERRITORY
(South Africa).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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