NATAL,

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

A

GRAZING, AGRICULTURAL, AND COTTON-GROWING

COUNTRY.

COMPRISING

DESCRIPTIONS OF THIS WELL-ENDOWED COLONY,

FROM THE YEAR 1575 TO THE PRESENT TIME,

BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND TRAVELLERS.

WITH

A MAP OF THE COLONY, AND ENGRAVINGS.

BY J. S. CHRISTOPHER,

OF NATAL.

WITH AN APPENDIX,

AND A

VOCABULARY OF THE NATAL OR ZULU LANGUAGE.

"THE happy prosperity to be enjoyed at the Cape, which has encouraged me in my task, is a subject
of distrust to many, from the fears of such a Colony obtaining early independence. The fallacy is
plain. God has created this beautiful earth to be inhabited by the noblest of his creatures, and his
first command was, MULTIPLY. In obedience to this precept, the most ancient races sent forth
Colonies; from them we have sprung; and our Colonies will, by the same process, become Nations like
ourselves. We may prevent this for a time, but nature triumphs at last.-THE LATE BARON VAN
HOGERDOP.

He that tilleth his land, shall be satisfied with bread.

In 1626, the whole State and City of New York, was purchased for £6 sterling. In 1849, it
contained 2,174,517 intelligent inhabitants. Such is Colonization.

LONDON:

EFFINGHAM WILSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE; HATCHARD & SON, PICCADILLY;
AND TRELAWNY SAUNDERS, 6, CHARING CROSS.

1850.

DEAN AND SON, PRINTERS, THREADNEEDLE-STREET.

This

EMIGRATION is the means of England's national salvation. supposes, all national vanity aside, that she is now in a perilous condition. It is admitted; and it is proved by the extent and depth of a wide-spread poverty, and by the number of incarcerated convicts. Wealth is become centralized in England; it is held by the few, not by the many. And the greater the poverty, the more firmly will it be held.

In the Cape colony there are neither poor nor poor laws: but from one of their papers the poverty of England is established. "In the quarter ending at Lady Day 1847, the number of persons relieved under the poor-law in England and Wales was 1,471,133: the cases of out-door relief amounted to 1,244,554. The total expenditure for the year ending at the same period was £4,674,569; the cost of outdoor relief, £2,970,180." This, be it remembered, is exclusive of Ireland and Scotland, and also exclusive of those private charities for which the English nation is so justly famous, amounting perhaps to as much more.

All the causes of this deep distress it is not my design to attempt to trace here. We know it is a great fact; we know the fact is magnifying every year, and that with all the efforts of honest industry, that more are taken into the vortex. But while we are able to track the course of a comet, surely we ought to be able to trace and describe one mighty cause of this evil: that one alone I will mention : The area of England is too little! population is the mighty heart of a nation: and that population now wants more room to beat in.

O England! model of thy inward greatness,

Like little body with a mighty heart,

What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural !

-

But it is useless to bewail that kindness and nature do not beat so heartily as of old, and that selfishness is more and more dominant in every man. Necessity has no law, and pinching poverty, even among those who wear good broad cloth, forbids the hope that it can be otherwise. In convict settlements respectable settlers are careful of companions for themselves and families; in England, if a man is convicted of poverty, is he not shunned? Is there not an astringent on the merciful bowels of society? In short, are not the necessities

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