THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN IN NATAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 55

THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN IN NATAL.

_„. The first Englishmen who are recorded as having set foot in Natal were the shipwrecked crew of the Johanna, which Md Tseeacast away, near Dalagoa Bay in the year 1683. . Ib is on record that these mer), oearirSg'thd most valuable part of their cargo, (•efc oat to ~walk to Capetown, and that they received great kindness from the Kafirs of Natal, wTio-, in " retnrn for some tiifling presents, not only carried their baggage, but fed and guided them on their -southward jr-tuxey, which they duly accomplished. In 1684, an English ship, The Francis, visited Natal in quest of slaves, which could not, however, be prccnred there, for an ancient chronicler qaaintly informs ns that the natives of the country would part with neither their parents nor their children. It is more than likely that this writer was financially interested in ihe venture, for he writes in a somewhat aggrieved tone. In 1686, a large Dutch East, Jndiaman, the Scavenis&e, with a cargo of pepper, went ashore near the mouth of the Umzimkulu. Fourteen of the crsw ware drowned, aod 60 gained the shore.

It does not- require the pen of a romancer to set forth the terrible plight of these unfortunates. With a lonely sea to the eastward of them, an unexplored land to tbe west, north, and southward, with hostile natives, greedy and covetous, about them everywhere, and sick and wounded amongst themselves, it can beiaasgined bow they must have looked, and looked id vain, to the brazen »ky forard. Captain Kajff, yielding to the entreaties of- the sailors*, left the surgeon and the sick men in a tent which had been constructed from the wreckage, and set off with the remainder to walk to the Cape. la a very short time he and nine of the sailors found themselves unequal to the march, and returned to the tent.. Meanwhile Ihe remaining 47 men marched onward. Those at tbe tent set to work to build a boat from tbe materials of the wreck, and in 14 days completed it- 3?b'is constituted the first keel laid in" Natal. Unfortunately, in launching it through the surf it became wrecked, and their hopes shattered.

During all tbia time the natives had been clustering about thßm curiously, but; so far had behaved with civility. The superstitious fears which they had firss entertained of the strange White men passed away, and taking possession of the remains of the wreck, they set to work to burn out the copper bolts for themselves. The Euppliea of food, which hitherto had been obtained by *he barter of these bolts, were now cut cfE, and the shipwrecked mariners stood face to face with death. At this most opportune moment, when they had abandoned themselves to despair, two English sailors providentially made their appearance. It transpiredthat they were part of the crew of the Good Hope, which had been wrecked a year previously at Port Natal. Thes.e two men with three others had remained at the bay when the captain and Eine-of the crew sailed to M.-z?.mbiqa3 in a decked boat which they had built from the -wreckage of their vessel. The Good Hope sailors reported that they had plenty of beads and copper rings to trada witb, and that the natives round the bay were friendly and hospitable. Having heard of the wreck of the Stavenisse, they had come down in the hope of picking up something useful to themselves. With true primitive hospitality they made the Sfcaveniese men welcome to a ' share of all they had. This was gratefully accepted, and the 11 men of the Stavenisse — for the surgeon bad died, and the boatswain had been trampled to death by an elephant — marched back to the bay witb the Englishmen. Thus in the very first stags of Natal's history, when tha colony that was yet to be was still an unmarked portion of the great loneland, we find the English and Dutch standing shoulder to shoulder, aiding and encouraging each other in the endeavour to preserve life and lay the foundation of a new State. Out of the ironwork ot^he wrecked Indiiman they had abundance of nails and bolts and some few tools. Native timber was available in the neighbourhood, and so, for the second time, the 3ay of Natal echoed the axis blows as they built the craft, which might be regarded as a symbol of the future ship of State which was yet to be fashioned and launched by the daring colonists who were destined to adopt the then primeval wild as their home and country. With the aid of the newcomers, wtiose number had been augmented by the arrival of nine English seaman whose vessel had been wrecked at St. Lucia Bay, the craft was soon finished and named the Centaur, aud so the day of launching approached. One can imagine tha palpitating hearts of the sun - browned mariners as they stood round their finished handiwork, the vessel that to them was a 'veritable ark-; the one connecting link -between themselves and home and friends saad the far-off land from which they had fcesa so forcibly exiled.

Brave hearts were those vrho set out on that i7th day of 1687. Having neither chart nor compass, the adventureis were obliged to Tceep in sight of land all the way to Capetown, at -winch place they iarrived 12 daye after leaving Nata'. As the boat made her way into Table Bay considerable attention was aroused. The unkempt appearance of the men ami their roughliewa ship was a cine djiys' wonder,

but even that couid not have been as deep as the feelings that stirred the hearts of the mariners themselves when they stood once more among men of their own colour. After reporfcirg themselves to Commander Van der Stell at Cape Castle, and giving a description of tbe country in which they had been, these extremely early Natalians indulged in a period of rest. Afterwards all but two of them sailed back to the Homeland. The two Britishers who remained entered the company's service, and returned in the Centaur to search along the coast of Natal for the missing 45 men, some of whom wererescusd. From the narratives of the men cf the Good Hope and others Commander Van der Stell was enabled to construct an approximately accurate chart of the coast between Algoa and Dalagoa Bays. He went even further, and drawing on the reports of Portuguese traders, made a general map, in which he showed the interior of Africa as a vast lake region, from whose high-level surfaces flowed the Cougo, the Nile, and the Z*mbe&i. Although errors have crept into this map, which is still to be seen at Capetown, it has much in it which puts to shame many more pretentious and modern productions. " Terra de Natal " was laid -down south of a river named St. Luzia, while Dslagoa Bay, then called the Rio de Spirito Sancto, was laid down with wonderful correctness, considering the sources from which the commander drew his information. The country having now been traversed by English and Dutch seamen, the native tribes were reported on, and records show that the country from St. Lucia Bay to the Buffalo was occupied by a tribe cf natives closely resembling the Hottentot?. Southward of this were tribes named Abambo, Mapontemcusse or Amapondomusi, Abatembu, and Amaxosa, the latter occupying the territory k.Down as Tembuland. The effect of these reports was to rid the map of the fabled treasure cities with their armies of Amazons, tbeir miraculous rivers, and impossible monsters. So closed tbe seventeenth century.

The beginnicg of the fifteenth century must be regarded »s the dawn of science, arr, •and literature in 15 arope, and the beginning of the eighteenth century may well take its place in the annsls of South Africa, for then, and then only, with a map purged ot absurdities, the actual history of Natal may be said to date. From information collected and noted dowa by the pioneers of thai, period, it would appear that the peaceful kioofp, krantzes, and plains of Natal formed the battle ground* of South Africa, and were time and again turned into a shambles by hostile armies of barbarians. That diminutive but vicious race of humanity, tbe Bushman, or pigaiies, seem to have been in greatnumbers in the mountain fastnesses of the country. They Bppear to have had their hands agaicst all men, and, from what information can be gathered of tb.sm. to have possessed only one redeeming feature — namely, their love of art. The Hottentots overran the country south of NptaJ, while the Abantu branch of the Kafir tribes secured dominion by cobquest over Natal. Successive waves of population from tbe north had thus driven one tribe after the other southward, until they were stopped by the advancing line of white colonists. Afc the beginning of this century, and up to 1812, Natal possessed a population of abou*; a million of natives, divided into Di tribes. The cduntry was divided into a like numbsr of territories, each territory taking the name of the tribe occupying it. The ! most powerful of these tribes was tbe [ Abambo, which was divided into several ; sections of sub-tribes, the most important of j which was the Arnahlubi. The natives lived | in the midst of plenty, and are eveiywhere ; reported to have been a happy and pros- ' perous people; Oa the Black and White Umfolosi Rivers, in the territory now known as Zululand, there dwelt a tribe called Umtetwa. Amongst its tributary clans wa3 one | named the Amazulo, in number about 2000. Seczagakono was. the chief of the Amazulu.

Towards the close of the year 1812 the primeval peace which had hitherto been enjoyed by these people was broken, owing to dissension in the family of the Umtetwana paramount chief, Jobe. This old native king had two sons, Tana and G-odongwana. Tne former was nominated as the heir, and dwelt with his brother in one of the royal kraals. Impatient to grasp hiss inheritance, he and his brother plotted the murder of the old king, their father. The conspiracy was found out, and the hut in which the brothers and their attendants slept was surrounded. All the inmates, saving Godocgwana, were slain. He escaped with a barbed assegai buried in his back, and concealed himself until the morning, when his sister found him. She dressed his wounds, and assisted him to escape detection. For 1 0 of 15 years nothing more was heard of him, when strange stories bßgan to find their way to the tribe. ' It was rumoured that a young chief was comingfrom the south seated on a Strange animal. By the time he arrived at the Umtetwa territory he was recognised as the missing (Jodongwana. When he became identified by the scar on his back he was hailed as their rightful king, and assumed the name of Dingiswayo, the wanderer. During the years of exile he had doubtlessly lived in the Cape Colony, where he had observed .the discipline of tha troops. He very soon had the Umtetwa people moulded into a strong military forae, and amongst them trained the Amazulus. Seczagakono, the Zulu chief, had a son named Chaka, who, having quarrelled with, his family, tools ser-

vice under Dingiswayo, and speedily rose to a position of command. Chaka's father died in 1810, and through ths influence of his patron, Dingiswayo, he was caosen chief of the Amazulua. As a tributary chieftan, this warrior took part in tbe stirring events of the nest few years, and with the armies of bis patron made war on many other tribes. The Amahlubi tribe, cf which JLaDgilabeJele was subsequently the chief, was the first one to be displaced by the great invading wave from tbe north. It fled across tbe Buffalo and settled nnder the Drakensberg, near the' Tugeli Falls, where a portion of ib remained far many years. About 1818 Dlngiswayc lell a victim to the vengeance of a woman. Oa one of his forays into the Undwande country, Tombaza, the mother of tbe chief who had made him prisoner, induced her son not only to take his life, but to invade the territory of the Umtetwa people. In the resulting wars the Umtetwas were defeated, and though retaining their tribal name, became tributaries to the Amazalu tribe under Chaka. By this secession to their numbers, the Zulus under Chaka became not only.a powerful nation, but a veritable scourge to South Africa. Combining his forces, be subdued the Usdwandwe tribe, all the young men cf which he incorporated with his nation. — Times of Natal.