# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Natal

See also Natal (province) and KwaZulu-Natal on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer. See further the article "Natal" in the 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica.
​Natal, a maritime province of the Union of South Africa, situated nearly between 27° and 31° S., 29° and 33° E. It is bounded S.E. by the Indian Ocean, S.W. by the Cape province and Basutoland, N.W. by the Orange Free State province, N. and N.E. by the Transvaal and Portuguese East Africa. It has a coast line of 376 m.; its greatest length N. to S. in a direct line is 247 m.; its greatest breadth E. to W., also in a direct line, 200 m. Natal has an area of 35,371 sq. m., being nearly three-quarters the size of England. (For map see South Africa.) The province consists of two great divisions, namely Natal proper and Zululand (q.v.). Natal proper has a seaboard of 166 m. and an area of 24,910 sq. m., Zululand, in which is included Amatongaland, a seaboard of 210 m. and an area of 10,461 sq. m. It lies north-east of Natal. In this article the description of the physical features, &c. refers only to Natal proper.
Physical Features.—The terrace formation of the land characteristic of other coast regions of South Africa prevails in Natal. The country may be likened to a steep and gigantic staircase leading to a broad and level land lying beyond its borders. The rocky barrier which shuts off this land is part of the Drakensberg range. From the mountain sides flow many rivers which dash in magnificent waterfalls and through deep gorges to the sea. Falling 8000 or more feet in little over 200 m., these streams are unnavigable. The south-eastern sides of the mountains are in part covered with heavy timber, while the semi-tropical luxuriance of the coast belt has earned for Natal the title of “the garden colony.”
The coast trends, in an almost unbroken line, from S.W. to N.E. It extends from the mouth of the Umtamvuna river (31° 4′ S., 30° 12′ E.), which separates Natal from the Cape, to the mouth of the Tugela (19° 15′ S., 31° 30′ E.), which marks the frontier between Natal and Zululand. The only considerable indentation is at Durban, about two-thirds of the distance from the Umtamvuna to the Tugela, where there is a wide and shallow bay, covering with its islands nearly 8 sq. m. The coast, though low and sandy in places, is for the most part rocky and dangerous. The warm Mozambique current sweeps down from the N.E., setting up a back drift close in shore. The southern entrance to Durban harbour is marked by a bold bluff, the Bluff of Natal, which is 250 ft. high and forested to the water’s edge. Opposite the Bluff a low sandy spit called the Point forms the northern entrance to the harbour. North of Durban the coast belt, hitherto very narrow, widens out and becomes more flat. But the greater part of the coast region, which has an average depth of 15 m., is broken and rugged. Ranges of hills lead to the first plateau, which has an average elevation of 2000 ft. and is of ill-defined extent. Here the land loses its semi-tropical character and resembles more the plains of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The second plateau, reached by a steep ascent, has an elevation of from nearly 4000 to fully 5000 ft. It is an undulating plain, grass-covered, but for the most part without trees or bush. It continues to the foot of the Drakensberg range, the mountains rising towards the S.W., with almost perpendicular sides, 6000 to 7000 ft. above the country at their base. Northwest, towards the Transvaal, the mountains are of lower elevation and more rounded contours.
Mountains.—Although the division of the country into terraces separated by ranges of hills is clearly marked in various districts, as for instance between Durban and Colenso, the province is traversed by many secondary chains, as well as by spurs of the Drakensberg. The highest points of that range, and the highest land in Africa south of Kilimanjaro, lie within the borders of Natal. The Drakensberg (q.v.), from Majuba Hill on the N.W. to Bushman’s Nek in the S.W., form the frontier of the province, the crest of the range being generally within Natal. This is the case in the Mont-aux-Sources (11,170 ft.) and Cathkin Peak or Champagne Castle (10,357 ft.); the top of the third great height, Giant’s Castle (9657 ft.), is in Basutoland, but its seaward slopes are in Natal. From Giant’s Castle to Mont-aux-Sources, in which, forsaking their general direction, the Drakensberg run S.E. to N .W., the mountains attain an elevation of 10,000 to 11,000 ft., with few breaks in their face. North of Mont-aux-Sources the mountain ridge sinks to 8000 and less feet, and here are several passes leading into the Orange Free State. Laing’s Nek is a pass into the Transvaal. The chief heights in Natal between Mont-aux-Sources and Laing’s Nek are Tintwa (7500 ft.), Inkwelo (6808 ft.) and the flat-topped Majuba (7000 ft.). Spurs from the Drakensberg, at right angles to the main range, cross the plateaus. The most northern, which runs E. from Majuba to the Lebombo Mountains, coincides roughly with the northern frontier of Natal. It is one of the transverse chains connecting the eastern coast range with the higher terraces and goes under a variety of names, such as Elands Berg and Ingome Mountains. A second range, the Biggarsberg, starts from the Drakensberg near Mount Malani and goes E.S.E. to the junction of Mooi, Buffalo and Tugela rivers. This range contains, in Indumeni (7200 ft.), the highest mountain in Natal outside the main Drakensberg. A third range runs N.E. from Giant’s Castle towards the Biggarsberg. It lies north of the Mooi river, and its most general name is Mooi River Heights. A fourth range also diverges from Giant’s Castle and ramifies in various branches over a large tract of country, one branch running by Pietermaritzburg to the Berea hills overlooking Durban. The chief height in this fourth range is Spion Kop (7037 ft.), about 25 m. S.E. of Giant’s Castle. This is not the Spion Kop rendered famous during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. That Spion Kop, with Vaal Kranz and Pieter’s Hills, are heights on the northern bank of the upper Tugela.
Secondary ranges with heights of 5000 and more feet are numerous, whilst lofty isolated mountains rise from the plateaus. The greatest of these isolated masses is Mahwaqa (6834 ft.), in the south-west part of the country. Of many flat-topped hills the best known is the Table Mountain east of Pietermaritzburg.
Rivers.—All the rivers of Natal not purely coast streams have their origin in the Drakensberg or its secondary ranges. The largest and longest, the Tugela, with the Buffalo, Mooi, Klip and other tributaries is treated separately. The Tugela basin drains the whole country north of a line drawn in a direct line east from Giant’s Castle. The Umkomaas (“gatherer of waters”) rises in Giant’s Castle and flows in a south-easterly course to the sea. Though it makes no large sweeps it has so tortuous a course that its length (some 200 m.) is twice that of the valley through which it flows. Its banks in its upper course are wild and picturesque, with occasional wide deep valleys, with climate and vegetation resembling the coast belt. The Umzimkulu river rises in Bamboo Castle, in the Drakensberg, and, with bolder curves than the Umkomaas, runs in a course generally parallel with that stream S.E. to the sea, its mouth being about 40 m. south of that of the Umkomaas. The Ingwangwane rises in the Drakensberg south of the Umzimkulu, which it joins after a course of some 50 m. Below the junction the Umzimkulu forms for some distance the frontier between Natal and the Griqualand East division of the Cape. The scenery along the river valley (120 m. long) is very striking, in turns rugged and desolate, verdant and smiling, with patches of dense forest and heights wooded to their summit. Port Shepstone is situated at the mouth of the river, which, like that of all others in Natal, is obstructed by a bar. As a ​result of harbour works, however, a channel has been cleared and steamers can ascend the river for 6 m.
The Pongola rises in the Transvaal in high ground N.E. of Wakkerstroom and flows E., forming, for the greater part of its course, the northern frontier of the province. After piercing the Lebombo Mountains, it turns N. and joins the Maputa, a river emptying into Delagoa Bay. The Umgeni, which rises in the Spion Kop hills some 30 m. S.E. of Giant’s Castle, passes through the central part of Natal and reaches the sea 4 m. N. of Durban. It flows alternately through mountainous and pastoral country, and is known for two magnificent waterfalls, both within 12 m. of Pietermaritzburg. The upper fall is close to the village of Howick. Here the Umgeni leaps in a single sheet of water down a precipice over 350 ft. high, more than double the height of Niagara, forming, when the river is swollen by the rains, a spectacle of rare magnificence. Some 12 m. below are the Karkloof or Lower Falls, where in a series of beautiful cascades the water descends to the plain. Other rivers of Natal which rise in the spurs of the Drakensberg or in the higher terraces are the Umvoti, which runs south of the Tugela and gives its name to a county division, the Umlaas (which gives Durban its main water supply, the Illovo, which traverse the country between the Umgeni and Umkomaas, and the Umtamvuna, noteworthy as forming the boundary between Natal and Pondoland. There are also seventeen distinct coast streams in the colony.
[Geology.—The general geological structure of Natal and Zululand is simple. It consists of a series of plateaus formed of sedimentary rocks which mainly belong to three formations of widely separated ages, and which rest on a platform of granitic and metamorphic rocks.
The geological formations represented include:—
| Post-Cretaceous and Recent Cretaceous | Littoral of Zululand. |
| U. Karroo | Plateau Basalts. |
| U. Karroo | Cave Sandstone. |
| U. Karroo | Red Beds. |
| L. Karroo | Stormberg Series. |
| L. Karroo | Beaufort Series. |
| L. Karroo | Ecca Series. |
| L. Karroo | Ecca Glacial Series (Dwyka Conglomerate). |
| Cape System | Table Mountain Sandstone Series. |
| Pre-Cape Rocks | Quartzites, Conglomerates and Shales of Nkandhla, Umfolosi river. |
| Pre-Cape Rocks | Gneisses, Schists, Marbles, Granites (Swaziland Series). |
Pre-Cape Rocks.—The granites and schists occur in close association. The series covers considerable areas in the lowest parts of the valleys and near the coast. The widest areas are in Zululand. In the Umzimkulu river and in the Tugela river below its junction with the Buffalo, metamorphic limestones are associated with schists, gneisses and granites. A group of highly inclined quartzites, altered conglomerates and jasperoid rocks which crop out on the Umhlatuzi river, between Melmoth and Nkandhla and on the White Umfolosi river above Ulundi Plains, is considered by Anderson to represent some portion of the Lower Witwatersrand series. The conglomerates are true “banket” and are auriferous, but the gold has not been met with in payable quantities.
Table Mountain Sandstone Series.—This rests unconformably on the pre-Cape rocks. Traced northwards, the series becomes thinner and finally dies out. As a rule denudation, which has acted on a magnificent scale, has removed all but a few hundred feet of the basement beds. The maximum thickness of 2000 ft. occurs near Melmoth. The beds are usually thin false-bedded sandstones with an almost complete absence of shales. A conglomerate at the base contains traces of gold. Griesbach mentions the occurrence of some small bivalves in the shales of Greytown, but Anderson failed to find any fossils.
Ecca Glacial Series.—A great unconformity separates the Table Mountain and Ecca series. In the Cape this gap is represented by the Witteberg and Bokkeveld series. The Dwyka conglomerate rarely attains any great thickness though forming wide outcrops. It is usually a hard compact rock containing striated stones. The Umgeni quarries, where the rock is used for road-metal, furnish the best exposures.
Ecca Series.—With the Beaufort series this occupies over two-thirds of the western portion of the province and has wide outcrops in Zululand and in the Vryheid districts. The Ecca shales contain some of the best coals of South Africa, but the seams contain much unmarketable coal. Around Dundee and Newcastle the coals are bituminous. In Zululand they are chiefly anthracitic. The fossils include several species of Glossopteris among them: Glossopteris browniana var indica; Bunb. Phyllotheca Zeilleri eth. fil.; Estheria Greyii, Jones, indicating a Permo-Carboniferous age.
Beaufort Series.—The Ecca series graduates upwards into the highly coloured sandstones and shales of the Beaufort series. Fossil reptilian remains, chiefly Dicynodon, are abundant.
Stormberg Series.—This consists of sandstones and shales with thin seams of coal. The chief outcrops occur around Biggarsberg and along the upper slopes of the Drakensberg. The fossil flora—Thinnfeldia odontopteroides, Morr. and a Pterophyllum—indicate a Rhaetic age. No reptilian remains have been found.
Upper Karroo.—The Red beds and Cave sandstones occur along the eastern flanks of the Drakensberg.
Cretaceous.—Deposits of this age are confined to the littoral. They are exceedingly prolific in fossils which prove them to be of Upper Cretaceous age. A long list of fossils has been obtained from Umkivelane Hill, Zululand. W.G.*]
Climate.—With a rise in level (not reckoning the mountain tops) of 5500 ft. in a distance of 170 m., Natal possesses several varieties of climate but is nowhere unhealthy. The climate is comparable to that of north Italy. The valleys and coast belt, though practically free from malarial fever, are hot and humid, and fires in dwelling houses are seldom required even in the coolest months; the lower plateaus are cool and the air dry; the uplands are bracing and often very cold, with snow on the ground in winter. The year is divided into two seasons, summer, which begins in October and ends in March, and winter, which fills up the rest of the year. Summer is the rainy season, and May, June and July the driest months of the year. The mean temperature at Durban, records taken at 260 ft. above the sea, is 70° F., varying from 42° in winter to 98° in summer. The average summer humidity is 76%, that of winter 74%. At Pietermaritzburg, 41 m. inland and 2200 ft. above the sea, the temperature is about 64°. In the uplands the heat of summer is often greater than on the coast, but the air is less humid and the nights are generally cool. Both the humidity and the temperature are increased by the great mass of water, the Mozambique current, flowing south from the equatorial regions. At Durban the annual rainfall is about 40 in., at Pietermaritzburg 38. The average for the province is believed to be about 30 in. In 1893, the year of highest recorded rainfall, 70 in. fell on the coast districts. Thunderstorms, averaging nearly one hundred in the year, and violent hailstorms, occur in summer, being most severe in the interior. The storms serve to modify the intense heat, though the lightning and hail cause considerable damage. The prevailing winds on the coast are north-east, warm and humid, and south-west, cool and bracing, though in summer the south-west wind brings rain. Inland, chiefly in early summer, a hot dry wind, often accompanied by a dust storm, blows from the north. These winds, which blow on an average twenty-five days in the year, seldom reach the coast and are generally followed by rain. Inhabitants of Natal are practically exempt from chest diseases.
Flora.—Botanically, Natal is divided into three zones: (1) the coast belt, extending from the sea inland to heights of 1500 ft., and in some cases to 1800 and 2000 ft.; (2) the midland region, which rises to 4000 ft.; (3) the upper regions. In these zones the flora varies from sub-tropical to sub-alpine. The heaths and proteads common at the Cape peninsula, in Basutoland and other parts of South Africa, are rare in Natal, but almost any species of the flora of semi-tropical and temperate countries introduced attains perfection. The trees and plants characteristic of each zone are not always confined to that zone, but in several instances, when common to the coast belt and the midlands, their character alters according to the elevation of the land. The dense bush or jungle of evergreen trees, climbers and flowering shrubs, which up to the middle of the 19th century covered the greater part of the coast belt, has largely disappeared. There are still, however, in the coast belt woods of leguminous evergreens bearing bright-coloured flowers. The trees in these woods are generally from 20 to 50 ft. in height and include the knob-thorn, water-boom, kafir-boom (with brilliant scarlet flowers), the Cape chestnut and milk woods (Mimusops). But the most striking of the coast-belt flora are the tropical forms—the palm, mangrove, wild banana (Strelitzia augusta), tree-ferns, tree euphoria, candelabra spurge and Caput medusae. Of palms there are two varieties, the ilala (Hyphaene crinita), found only by the sea shore and a mile or two inland, and the isundu (Phoenix reclinata), more widespread and found at heights up to 2000 ft. or even higher. The amatungulu or Natal plum, found chiefly near the sea, is one of the few wild plants with edible fruit. Its leaves are of a glossy dark green, its flower white and star-shaped and its fruit resembles the plum. Other wild fruits are the so-called Cape gooseberry (not native to Natal) and the kaw apple or Dingaan apricot, which grows on a species of ebony tree.
The midland region is characterized by grass lands (the Natal grasses are long and coarse) and by considerable areas of flat-topped thorn bush mimosa. The bush is not as a rule dense, nor is it of any great height. A tree peculiar to this zone is the Alberta magna. It has dull pink flowers, succeeded by seed vessels, each of which is crowned by two scarlet-coloured leafy lobes. A grass belt separates the thorn bush from the districts carrying heavy timber, found mainly in the upland zone, along the sides of the mountains exposed to the rains and in kloofs. The indigenous timber trees are ​principally the yellow wood (Podocarpus), sneezewood (Pteroxylon utile), stinkwood (Oreodaphne bullata), black ironwood (Olea laurifolia), white ironwood (Vepris lanceolata), and umtomboti (Exoecaria africana); all are very useful woods, and the yellow wood, sneezewood, stinkwood and ironwood when polished have grain and colour equal to maple, walnut and ebony. The “rooibesje,” red pear and milkwood trees are used for boatbuilding. The Australian Eucalyptus and Casuarina in great variety, and many other imported trees, including syringas, wattles, acacias, willows, pines, cypress, cork and oak all thrive when properly planted and protected from grass fires. The black wattle has been extensively planted and flourishes at elevations of from 1000 to 3000 ft. Its bark forms a valuable article of commerce.
Flowers which bloom in the early spring are abundant, especially on the edges of forests. Among those found throughout the country are the Dierama pendula, the orchid and the “everlasting.” As a rule flowers common to all zones are on the coast smaller and with paler colours than they are in the midlands. Aloes are common; in part of the midland zone they form when in bloom with abundance of orange and scarlet flowers a most picturesque sight. Of Cycadaceae the Stangeria paradoxa is peculiar to Natal. There is but one cactus indigenous to Natal; it is found hanging from perpendicular rocks in the midlands. There are, however, several species of euphorbia of the miscalled cacti. Climbing plants with gorgeous flowers are common, and there are numerous species of Compositae and about a hundred cinchonaceous plants. Bulbous plants are also very numerous. The most common are the Natal lily with pink and white ribbed bells, the fire-lily, with flame-coloured blossoms, ixias, gladiolas, the Ifafa lily, with fuchsia-like clusters, and the arum lily. A conspicuous veld plant is the orange and crimson leonotis, growing 6 ft. high. Geraniums are somewhat scarce. Fern life is abundant; 126 species are indigenous, two being tree-ferns. One of these, Cyathea dregei, found in moist places and open land, has a stem 20 ft. high; the Stem of the other, Hemitelia capensis, sometimes reaches 30 ft. The ferns are most common in the midland zone and in the heavy timber forests. Sixty different species have been identified in one valley not more than 1 m. long and about 100 yds. in breadth. Among fruit trees, besides the wild fruits already mentioned, are the pineapple, mango, papua, guava, grenadilla, rose apple, custard apple, soursop, loquat, naartje, shaddock and citrous fruits.
Fauna.—The larger animals which abounded in Natal in the first half of the 19th century have been exterminated or driven out of the country. This fate has overtaken the elephant, giraffe, the buffalo, quagga, gnu, blesbok, gemsbok and ostrich. If the Vryheid district be excluded, the lion and rhinoceros may be added to this list; and the Vryheid district belongs geographically to Zululand. Hippopotami are still found in the Umgeni river and Crocodiles in several of the coast streams. Leopards and panthers are found in thickly wooded kloofs. Hyenas, jackals, wild pig, polecats and wild dogs (Canis pictus) of different species are still found in or about bush jungles and forest clumps; elands (Antilope oreas) are preserved on some estates, and there are at least ten distinct species of antelope (hartebeest, bushbok, duiker, rietbok, rhebok, rovibok, blauwbok, &c.). In the Vryheid district the kudu, blue wildebeest, waterbuck, reedbuck, impala, steinbok and klipspringer are also found. Several of these species are now preserved. Ant-eaters (Orycteropus capensis), porcupines, weasels, squirrels, rock rabbits, hares and cane rats are common in different localities. Baboons (Cynocephalus porcarius) and monkeys of different kinds frequent the mountains and rocky kloofs and bush and timber lands. The birds of Natal are of many species; some have beautiful plumage, but none of them, with the exception of the canary, are to be considered as songsters Among the larger birds are cranes, herons, the ibis, storks, eagles, vultures, falcons, hawks, kites, owls, the secretary birds, pelicans, flamingoes, wild duck and geese, gulls, and of game birds, the paauw, koraan, pheasant, partridge, guinea fowl and quail. The other birds include parrots, toucans, gaudily coloured cuckoos, lories, swallows, shrikes, sun-birds, kingfishers, Weavers, finches, wild pigeons and crows. The otter is found in some of the rivers, which are also frequented, near their mouths, by turtles. These last are also found in the coast lagoons and sometimes are of great size. Iguanas, 4 and 5 ft. long, are found on the wooded banks of the rivers; small lizards and chameleons are common, and there are several varieties of tortoise.
Of snakes there are about forty distinct species or varieties. The most dreaded by the natives are called “imamba,” of which there are at least eight different kinds; these snakes elevate and throw themselves forward, and have been known to pursue a horseman. One sort of imamba, named by the natives “indhlondhlo,” is crested, and its body is of a bright flame colour. The sluggish puff-adder (Clotho arietans) is common and very dangerous. A hooded snake (Naja haemachates), the imfezi of the natives, is dangerous, and spits or ejects its poison; besides this there are a few other varieties of the cobra species. The largest of the serpent tribe, however, is the python (Hortulia natalensis), called inhlwati by the natives; its usual haunts are by streams amongst rocky boulders and in jungles, and instances are recorded of its strangling and crushing adult natives. It is common in the coast districts, and is sometimes 20 ft. long. Insects abound in great numbers, the most troublesome and destructive being the tick (Ixodes natalensis), which infests the pasturage, and the white ant (Termes mordax). Occasionally vast armies of locusts or caterpillars advance over large tracts of country, devouring all vegetation in their line of march. The fish moth, a steel-grey slimy active fish-shaped insect, is found in every house and is very destructive. Fish of excellent quality and in great quantities abound on the coast. They include shad, rock cod, mackerel, mullet, bream and soles; sharks, stingrays, cuttlefish and the octopus are also common in the waters off the coast of Natal. Prawns, crayfish and oysters are also obtainable, and turtle (Chelonia mydas) are frequently captured. Freshwater scale-fish are mostly full of bones, but fine eels and barbel are plentiful in the rivers. Trout have been introduced into some of the higher reaches of the rivers.
Inhabitants.—At the census of 1904 the population of the province, including Zululand, was 1,108,754. Of this total 8·8%, or 97,109, were Europeans, 9%, or 100,918, Asiatics and the rest natives of South Africa, mainly of Zulu-Kaffir stock. Of the 824,063 natives, 203,373 lived in Zululand. The white and Asiatic population nearly doubled in the thirteen years since the previous census, allowance being made for the Utrecht and Vryheid districts, which in 1891 formed part of the Transvaal. Of the total population 985,167 live in rural areas, the average density for the whole country being 31·34 per sq. m. The white population is divided into 56,758 males and 40,351 females. Of the white inhabitants the great majority are British. Some 12,500 are of Dutch extraction; these live chiefly in the districts of Utrecht and Vryheid. There are also about 4500 Natalians of German extraction, settled mainly in the New Hanover and Umzimkulu districts. The Asiatics at the 1904 census were divided into 63,497 males and 37,421 females. They include a few high caste Indians, Arabs and Chinese, but the great majority are Indian coolies. The Asiatics are mainly congregated in the coast districts between the Umzimkulu and Tugela rivers. In this region (which includes Durban) the Asiatic population was 61,854. In none of the inland districts did the Asiatic inhabitants number 2000. The coolies are employed chiefly on the sugar, coffee, cotton and other plantations, a small proportion being employed in the coal-mines.
The native inhabitants of Natal proper were almost exterminated by the Zulus in the early years of the 19th century. Before that period the natives of what is now Natal proper were estimated to number about 100,000. In 1838 when the Zulu power was first checked the natives had been reduced to about 10,000. The stoppage of intertribal wars by the British, aided by a great influx of refugees from Zululand, led to a rapid increase of the population. With the exception of a few Bushmen, who cling to the slopes of the Drakensberg, all the natives are of Bantu stock. Before the Zulu devastations the natives belonged to the Ama-Xosa branch of the Kaffirs and are said to have been divided into ninety-four different tribes; to-day all the tribes have a large admixture of Zulu blood (see Kaffirs, Zululand and Bantu Languages). The Natal natives have preserved their tribal organization to a considerable extent. Nearly 50% live in special reserves or locations, the area set apart for native occupation being about 4000 sq. m. exclusive of Zululand. Most of the remainder are employed on or live upon farms owned by whites, paying annual rents of from £1 to £5 or more. There were, however, in 1904, 69,746 male natives and 10,232 female natives in domestic service. Of the tribes who were in Natal before the Zulu invasion about 1812, the two largest are the Abatembu (who are in five main divisions and number about 30,000) and the Amakwabe (seven divisions and about 20,000 people). Other large tribes are the Amanyuswa (ten divisions—38,000 people), the Amakunu (three divisions—26,000 people), and the Amabomvu (five divisions—25,000 people). The three last tribes are among those which sought refuge in Natal from Zulu persecution, before the establishment of British rule in 1843. The number of half-castes is remarkably small, at the census of 1904 the number of “mixed and others,” which ​includes Griquas and Hottentots and non-aboriginal negroes, was only 6686.
Chief Towns.—The seat of the provincial government is Pietermaritzburg (q.v.), commonly called Maritzburg (or P.M.B.), with a population (1904) of 31,199. It is 71 m. by rail N.N.W. of Durban (q.v.), the seaport and only large city in Natal, pop. 67,842. Ladysmith (q.v.), pop. 5568, ranks next in size. It is in the north-west of the province, is famous for its investment by the Boers in 1899–1900 and is an important railway junction. North-east of Ladysmith are Dundee (2811) and Newcastle (2950). Dundee is the centre of the coal-mining district. Newcastle is also a mining town, but depends chiefly on its large trade in wool. It is named after the duke of Newcastle who was secretary for the colonies in 1852 and 1859. Vryheid (2287) is in the centre of a highly mineralized district. Utrecht (860) lies between Newcastle and Vryheid, and was one of the first towns founded by the Transvaal Boers. There are coal-mines on the town lands. Greytown (2436), a wool and wattle trading centre, is in central Natal. Verulam (1325), 19 m. along the coast north of Durban, serves as centre for sugar, tobacco and fruit plantations. It was founded by emigrants from St Albans, England–whence the name. Port Shepstone, at the mouth of the Umzimkulu river, is the natural outlet for south-west Natal. Estcourt is a trading centre, 75 m. by rail N.N.W. of Pietermaritzburg and is 29 m. distant from the village of Weenen (“Weeping”), so named by the first Boer settlers in memory of a Zulu raid. Another village, Colenso, on the south bank of the Tugela, 16 m. by rail south of Ladysmith, was the headquarters of Sir Redvers Buller at the battle of Colenso on the 15th of December 1899.
Communications.—Durban (Port Natal) is in regular communication with Europe via Cape Town and via Suez by several lines of steamers, the chief being the boats of the Union-Castle line, which sail from Southampton and follow the west coast route, those of the German East Africa line, which sail from Hamburg and go via the east coast route and those of the Austrian Lloyd from Trieste, also by the east coast route. By the Union-Castle boats there is a weekly mail service to England. There are also two direct lines of steamers between London and Durban (a distance of 6993 nautical miles), average passage about twenty-six days; the mail route taking twenty to twenty-two days. Durban is also in regular and frequent communication by passenger steamers with the other South African ports, as well as Mauritius, Zanzibar, &c., and with India, Australia, the United States and South America. The works which have made Port Natal the finest harbour in South Africa are described under Durban.
The first railway built in South Africa was a 2-m. line from The Point (or harbour) to the town of Durban. It was opened for traffic in 1860 and in 1874 was extended some 4 m. to the Umgeni river. This line was of 4 ft. 81/2 in. gauge and was privately owned, but, when in 1876 the Natal government determined to build and own a railway system which should in time cover the country, the existing line was bought out and the gauge altered to 3 ft. 6 in. On this, the normal South African gauge, all the Natal railways, save a few 2-ft. branch lines, are built. The main line starts from Durban, and passing through Pietermaritzburg (71 m.), Ladysmith (190 m.) and Newcastle (268 m.) pierces the Drakensberg at Laing’s Nek by a tunnel 2213 ft. long, and 3 m. beyond Charlestown reaches the Transvaal frontier at mile 307. Thence the railway is continued to Johannesburg, &c. The distances from Durban to the places mentioned by this route are: Johannesburg, 483 m.; Pretoria 511 m.; Kimberley, 793 m.; Bulawayo, 1508 m.; Delagoa Bay, 860 m.
From Ladysmith a branch line runs north-west into the Orange Free State, crossing the Drakensberg at Van Reenen’s Pass. This line is continued via Harrismith and Bethlehem to Kroonstad (393 m. from Durban) on the main Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg railway and is the shortest route between Durban and Cape Town (1271 m.). It also affords via Bloemfontein the shortest route (622 m.) between Durban and Kimberley. From Glencoe Junction, 42 m. north of Ladysmith on the direct line to Johannesburg, a branch railway goes N.E. to the Dundee coalfields, Vryheid (59 m.) and Hlobane (76 m.). Two lines branch off from Pietermaritzburg. One (62 m. long) goes N.E. to Greytown, serving the east-central part of the province; the other line (108 m. long) goes S.W. to Riverside Station, forming a link in the scheme for direct communication between Natal and East London and Port Elizabeth.
Durban is the starting-point of two coast lines. The south coast line, which runs close to the sea, goes to Port Shepstone (79 m.). A 2-ft. gauge railway (102 m.), which leaves the south coast line at Alexandra Junction (44 m. from Durban), runs N.W. by Stuartstown and joins the Pietermaritzburg-Riverside line. The north coast railway (167 m. long) crosses the Tugela 70 m. from Durban and continued through Zululand to Somkele, the centre of the Santa Lucia coal-fields.
As might be expected in a country possessing the physical features of Natal, the gradients and curves are exceptionally severe. Not less than 43 m. are upon grades of 1 in 30 and 1 in 35, and curves of 300 to 350 ft. radius, while on over 100 m. more there are grades under 1 in 60 and curves of less than 450 ft. radius. The main trunk line reaches an altitude of 3054 ft. at a point 58 m. distant from Durban; after falling 1000 ft. in its farther progress to Pietermaritzburg, it again rises, 12 m. after leaving that city, to a height of 3700 ft. above the sea; at a point 134 m. from Durban it has reached an altitude of 5152 ft., but on reaching Ladysmith, 191 m. from Durban, the altitude has decreased to 3284 ft. The summit of the Biggarsberg chain is crossed at a point 233 m. from the port, at a height of 4800 ft., and at Laing’s Nek the altitude is 5399 ft. The Orange Free State line, after leaving Ladysmith, ascends by steep gradients the whole of its own course in Natal territory, and when it gains the summit at Van Reenen’s Pass it is 5500 ft. above the sea. The mileage open in 1910 was 1173. The cost of construction, to the same year, exceeded £14,000,000, the interest earned per cent since 1895 not being less than £3, 12s. in any one year. In outlying districts post carts and ox wagons are the usual means of conveyance. There are about 5000 m. of high roads kept in repair by the government.
There is a well-organized postal and telegraphic service. Land lines connect Natal with every part of South Africa and with Nyasaland and Ujiji. A submarine cable from Durban goes to Zanzibar and Aden, whence there is communication with every quarter of the globe. The first telegraph line in Natal was opened in 1873; in 1878 communication was established with Cape Town and in the following year with Delagoa Bay.
Agriculture and Allied Industries.—The diversity of soil and climate leads to a great diversity in the agricultural produce. The chief drawback to farming in the midland and upper districts is the considerable proportion of stony ground, and, in some cases, the lack of running water. The area of land under tillage is less than a twentieth of the whole surface, the crop most extensively grown being maize or “mealies.” This is universally grown by the natives and forms their staple food; it is also grown by the Indians, and by the white farmers for export. Besides maize the crops cultivated by the natives are Kaffir corn or amabele (Sorghum caffrorum)—used in the manufacture of utyuala, native beer—imfi (Sorghum saccharatum), tobacco, pumpkins and sweet potatoes. The chief wealth of the natives consists, however, in their large herds of cattle (see infra). While maize thrives in every part of the country, wheat, barley and oats—cultivated by the white farmers—flourish only in the midlands and uplands. More important than the cereal crops are the tropical and sub-tropical products of the coast zone. Besides fruits of nearly all kinds there are cultivated in the low moist regions the sugar-cane, the tea, coffee and tobacco plants, arrowroot, cayenne pepper, cotton, &c. The area under sugar in 1905 was 45,840 acres and the produce 532,067 cwt. (a large quantity of sugar-cane is grown for feeding stock). In the same year the production of tea was 1,633,178 ℔; of coffee, 24,859 ℔; of maize, 2,101,470 bushels; of potatoes, 419,946 bushels; and of sweet potatoes, 181,195 bushels. The tea plant was first introduced in Natal in 1850, but little attention was paid to it until the failure of the coffee plantations about 1875, since when only small quantities of coffee have been produced. In 1877 renewed efforts were made to induce tea cultivation, and by 1881 it had become an established industry. The variety chiefly grown is the Assam indigenous. Most of the tea estates are situated in the coast belt north of Durban. The sugar cane, like tea, was first introduced in 1850, the first canes being brought from Mauritius. The industry is steadily growing, as are the dependent manufactures of molasses and rum. The fruit industry is of considerable importance and by 1905 had reached a turnover of over £100,000 a year.
Extensive areas in the midland and upland districts are devoted to the raising of stock. Horse-breeding is successfully carried on in the upper districts. The higher the altitude the healthier the animals and the greater their immunity from disease. Horse-sickness, a kind of malarial fever, which takes an epidemic form in very wet seasons, causes considerable loss. The Natal horse is small, wiry, and has great powers of endurance. Cattle-breeding is probably the most lucrative branch of stock-farming, the country being pre-eminently adapted for horned cattle. Rinderpest in 1896–1897 swept through South Africa, and probably carried off in Natal from 30 to 40% of the stock of Europeans, while the natives’ losses were even heavier. Serum and bile inoculation were the means of saving a considerable percentage of the herds. The farmers soon began to recover from their losses, but in 1908–1909 another serious loss of stock resulted from the ravages of East Coast fever. The cattle consist chiefly of the Zulu and Africander breeds, but attention has been given to improving the breed by the introduction of Shorthorn, Devon and Holstein (or Friesland) stock. The chief market for cattle is Johannesburg. The principal breed of sheep is the merino, which does well in the higher altitudes. A Scab Act is in force, and is stringently carried out by government inspectors with most satisfactory results. The Angora goat thrives well in certain districts. Ostriches do well in the dry, arid valleys of the Tugela and Mooi rivers. In 1908 Europeans were returned as owning 32,000 horses, 220,000 horned cattle, 765,000 sheep, 68,000 goats, 25,000 pigs, 960 ostriches and 384,000 poultry. Large herds of cattle—over 500,000 in the aggregate—are owned by the natives, who also possess vast flocks of goats and sheep. The dairy industry is well established, and Natal butter commands a ready sale.
​Valuable timber is obtained from the forests. Stinkwood is largely employed in the making of wagons, and is also used for making furniture. Black ironwood is likewise used in building wagons, while sneezewood is largely utilized for supports for piers and other marine structures, being impervious to the attacks of the Teredo navalis. More important is the cultivation of the black wattle (Acacia mollissima), which began in 1886, the bark being exported for tanning purposes, the wood also commanding a ready sale. This wattle thrives well in most localities. but especially in the highlands of central Natal. In 1905 the production of wattle bark was 13,620 tons, and the area planted with the tree over 60,000 acres. Aloes and ramie are cultivated to some extent for their fibre.
The government maintains experimental farms and forestry plantations and a veterinary department to cope with lung sickness, rinderpest, East Coast fever and such like diseases. It also conducts campaigns against locusts and other pests and helps irrigation settlements. By means of an Agricultural Bank it affords assistance to farmers.
Mining.—There are several highly mineralized areas in the country. The existence of coal in the north-east districts on or near the surface of the ground was reported as early as 1839, but it was not until 1880 that steps were taken to examine the coalfields. This was done by F. W. North, who reported in 1881 that in the Klip river (Dundee) district there was an area of 1350 sq. m. that might be depended upon for the supply of coal, which is of all characters from lignite to anthracite. In 1889 the extension of the railway from Ladysmith through the coal area first made coal-mining profitable. In 1896 the total output of coal was 216,106 tons (valued at £108,053 at the pit’s mouth), in 1908 it had increased to 1,669,774 tons (valued at the pit’s mouth at £737,169). There is a considerable trade in bunker and export coal at Durban, the coal bunkered having increased from 118,740 tons in 1900 to 710,777 in 1908. In the last-named year 446,915 tons of coal were exported. Besides the mines in the Newcastle and Dundee district there are extensive coal-fields at Hlobane in the Vryheid district and in Zululand (q.v.) Iron ore is widely distributed and is found in the neighbourhood of all the coal-fields. There are extensive copper and gold-yielding areas, and in some districts these metals are mined. On the lower Umzimkulu, near Port Shepstone, marble is found in great quantities.
Commerce.—The chief exports, not all products of the province, are coal, wool, mohair, hides and skins, wattle bark, tea, sugar, fruits and jams. The import trade is of a most varied character, and a large proportion of the goods brought into the country are in transit to the Transvaal and Orange Free State, Natal affording, next to Delagoa Bay, the shortest route to the Rand. Textiles, largely cotton goods, hardware, mining and agricultural machinery, tobacco and foodstuffs form the bulk of the imports. In 1896 the value of exports was £1,785,000; in 1908 the value was £9,622,000. In 1896 the imports were valued at £5,437,000, in 1908 at £8,330,000 (a decrease of £2,300,000 compared with 1905). The bulk of these exports are to the Transvaal and neighbouring countries, and previously figure as imports, other exports, largely wool and hides, are first imported from the Transvaal. Over three-fifths of the imports are from Great Britain, and about one-seventh of the exports go to Great Britain. The shipping, which in 1874 was 126,000 tons, was in 1884 1,013,000; in 1894, 1,463,000; in 1904 4,263,000; and in 1908, 5,028,000. Over six-sevenths of the shipping is British.
Government and Constitution.—Natal was from 1893 to 1910 a self-governing colony. It is now represented in the Union Parliament by eight senators and seventeen members of the House of Assembly. The qualifications for electors and members of the Assembly are the same, namely men of full age owning houses or land worth £50, or who rent such property of the yearly value of £10; or who, having lived three years in the province, have incomes of not less than £96 a year.
Coloured persons are not, by name, excluded from the franchise, but no persons “subject to special laws and tribunals,” in which category all natives are included, are entitled to vote. Another law, directed against Indians, excludes from the franchise, natives, or descendants of natives in the male line, of countries not possessing elective representative institutions. Exemption from the scope of these provisions may be granted by the governor-general and under such exemption a few Kaffirs are on the roll of electors.
At the head of the provincial government is an administrator, appointed by the Union Ministry, who holds office for five years. He is assisted by an executive committee of four members elected by the provincial council. This council to which is entrusted the management of affairs purely provincial consists of 25 members, elected by the parliamentary voters and each representing a separate constituency. The council sits for a statutory period of three years. For local government purposes the province is divided into counties or magisterial divisions; Zululand being under special jurisdiction. The chief towns—Durban, Maritzburg, Ladysmith, Newcastle and Dundee—are governed by municipal corporations and minor towns by local boards.
Revenue and Expenditure.—Revenue is derived chiefly from customs and excise, railways, land sales, posts and telegraphs and a capitation tax. The expenditure is largely on reproductive works (railways, harbours, post office, &c.), on the judiciary and police, education and military defence. The majority of these services are, since 1910, managed by the Union Government, but the provincial council has power to levy direct taxation, and (with the consent of the Union Government) to raise loans for purely provincial purposes. Its revenues and powers are those pertaining to local government. Some particulars follow as to the financial position of Natal previous to the establishment of the Union.
In 1846, the first year of Natal’s separate existence, the revenue was £3073 and the expenditure £6905. In 1852 the revenue was £27,158 and the expenditure £24,296, and in 1862 the corresponding figures were £98,799 and £85,928. In 1872 revenue had risen to £180,499 and expenditure to £132,978. Ten years later the figures were, revenue £657,738, expenditure £659,031. The rise of Johannesburg and the opening up of the Dundee coal-fields, as well as the development of agriculture, now caused a rapid increase on both sides of the account. In 1888 the revenue for the first time exceeded a million, the figures for that year being, revenue £1,130,614, expenditure £781,326; in 1898–1899 the figures were £2,081,349 and £1,914,725. The Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) caused both revenue and expenditure to rise abnormally, while the depression in trade which followed the war adversely affected the exchequer. In 1903–1904 there was a slight credit balance, the figures being, revenue £4,160,145, expenditure £4,071,439. For the next four years there were deficits, but in 1908–1909 a surplus was realized, the revenue being £3,569,275 and the expenditure £3,530,576. For 1909–1910, the last year of Natal’s existence as a colony, the revenue, £4,035,000, again exceeded the expenditure. The public debt, £2,101,500 in 1882, had risen at the close of the Boer War in 1902 to £12,519,000, and was in June 1909, £21,420,000.
Defence:—A small garrison of imperial troops is quartered at Maritzburg. The provincial force consists of a militia, fully equipped and armed with modern weapons. It is divided into mounted riflemen, about 1900 strong, four field batteries of 340 men and two infantry battalions, each of over 800 men. There is also an armed and mounted police force of 870 Europeans. Military training is compulsory on all lads over ten attending government schools. The boys are organized in cadet corps. A senior cadet corps is formed of youths between sixteen and twenty. There are also many rifle associations, the members of which are liable to be called out for defence. Durban harbour is defended by batteries with heavy modern guns. The batteries are manned by the naval corps (150 strong) of the Natal militia. Natal makes an annual contribution of £35,000 towards the upkeep of the British navy.
Law and Justice.—The South Africa Act 1909 established a Supreme Court of South Africa, the former supreme court of Natal becoming a provincial division of the new supreme court. The Roman-Dutch law, as accepted and administered by the courts of Cape Colony up to 1845 (the date of the separation of Natal from the Cape), is the law of the land, save as modified by ordinances and laws enacted by the local legislature, mostly founded upon imperial statute law. The law of evidence is the same as that of the courts of England. Natives, however, are not justiceable under the Roman-Dutch law, but by virtue of letters patent passed in 1848 they are judged by native laws and customs, except so far as these may be repugnant to natural equity. The native laws were first codified in 1878, in 1887 a board was appointed for their revision, and the new code came into operation in 1901. Provision is made whereby a native can obtain relief from the operation of native law and be subject to the colonial law (Law No. 28 of 1865). Special laws have been passed for the benefit of the coolie immigrants. The administration of justice is conducted by magistrates’ courts, circuit courts and the provincial division of the supreme court. The magistrates have both civil and criminal jurisdiction in minor cases. Appeals can be made from the magistrates’ decisions to the provincial or circuit court. The provincial court, consisting of a judge president and three puisne judges, sits in Pietermaritzburg and has jurisdiction over all causes whether affecting natives or Europeans. The judges also hold circuit courts at Durban and other places. Appeals from the circuit courts can be made to the provincial court; and from the provincial court appeals lie to the appellate division of the Supreme Court of South Africa, sitting at Bloemfontein. Criminal cases are tried before a single judge and a jury of nine—of whom not fewer than seven determine the verdict. There is a vice-admiralty court, of which the judge-president is judge and ​commissary. In native cases the chiefs have civil jurisdiction in disputes among their own tribesmen and criminal jurisdiction over natives except in capital cases, offences against the person or property of non-natives, pretended witchcraft, cases arising out of marriages by Christian rites, &c. An appeal lies to a magistrates’ court from every judgment of a native chief, and from the magistrates’ judgment on such appeal to a native high court. This native high court consists of a judge-president and two other judges, and sits in full court at Maritzburg not less than three months and at Eshowe not less than once in the year. There is no jury in this tribunal and single judges may hold circuit courts. With certain exceptions reserved for the provincial court (such as insolvency, ownership of immovable property and divorce), the native high court exercises jurisdiction when all parties to the suit are natives; it also has jurisdiction when the complainant is not a native, but all other parties to the suit are natives.
Religion.—The majority of the white inhabitants are Protestants, the bodies with the largest number of adherents being the Anglicans, Dutch Reformed Church, Presbyterians and Wesleyans. The Anglicans are divided into two parties—those belonging to “the Church of the Province of South Africa,” the body in communion with the Church of England, and those who act independently and constitute “the Church of England in Natal.” The schism arose out of the alleged heterodox views of Bishop Colenso (q.v.), who had been created bishop of Natal by letters patent in 1853. In 1863 the metropolitan of Cape Town, as head of the Church of the Province of South Africa, excommunicated Dr Colenso and consecrated a rival bishop for Natal, who took the title of bishop of Pietermaritzburg. Dr Colenso, who obtained a decision of the privy council confirming his claim to be bishop of Natal and possessor of the temporalities attached to the bishopric, died in 1883. After his death those members of the Anglican community who objected to the constitution of the provincial church maintained their organization while the temporalities were placed in the hands of curators. Reunion in spiritual matters has, however, been practically effected. Moreover, an act of the Natal parliament passed in 1909 placed the temporalities into commission in the persons of the bishop and other trustees of the Natal diocese of the Provincial Church; reservations being made in favour of four congregations at that time unwilling to unite with the main body of churchmen. At the census of 1904 the Anglicans numbered 40,880. The Presbyterians numbered 12,184, the Wesleyan Methodists 11,992, the Dutch Reformed Church 11,340, the Lutherans 4852, and the Baptists 2193. The Roman Catholics, at whose head is a vicar-apostolic, numbered 10,419. All these figures are exclusive of natives, of whom the churches named—notably the Anglicans and Wesleyans—have many converts. The Jewish community in 1904 numbered 1496. Of the Asiatics, 87,234 were classed as Hindus and 10,111 as Mahommedans.
Education.—Education other than elementary is controlled by the Union government. Public schools, and private schools aided by provincial grants provide elementary education for white children. Education is neither compulsory nor free; but the fees are low (1s. to 5s. a month) and few children are kept away from school. There are government secondary and art schools at Durban and Maritzburg, and a Technical Institute at Durban. For higher education provision was made by the affiliation of Natal to the Cape of Good Hope University and by exhibitions tenable at English universities. An act of the Natal legislature, passed December 1909, provided for the establishment at Maritzburg of the Natal University College, the course of studies to be such as from time to time prescribed by the Cape University. In 1910 £30,000 was voted for the University College buildings. State aid and inspection is given to private schools for natives. In the native schools—almost all maintained by Christian missions—Zulu and English are taught, the subjects taken being usually reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography and history. The state provides elementary and higher grade schools for Indian children. In 1908 there were 52 government schools and 472 schools under inspection; 304 European, 21 coloured, 168 native and 31 Indian, with an aggregate attendance of 30,598 scholars. There are in addition many private and denominational schools and colleges not receiving state aid. Of these, two of the best known are Hilton College and Hermansberg College, many prominent Natalians having been educated at one or the other of these establishments. To encourage the instruction of children who by reason of distance cannot attend a government or government-aided school, grants-in-aid are made for each pupil attending farm schools.
The Press.—The first newspaper in Natal was the Natalier, a Dutch print published at Maritzburg; it was succeeded by the Patriot. The first English paper was the Natal Witness, started in 1845 and still one of the leading organs of public opinion. In 1851 the Natal Times appeared, and is now continued as the Times of Natal. Another leading paper, the Natal Mercury, dates from 1852. It is a morning newspaper and is issued at Durban. The Natal Advertizer is a Durban evening paper. Sir John Robinson, the first premier of Natal under responsible government, was the editor of the Mercury from 1860 until he became prime minister in 1893. In 1886 a new Dutch paper, De Afrikaner, was started at Maritzburg. The Kaffirs have their own organ, Ipipa lo Hlunga (the paper of grievances), issued at Maritzburg, and the Asiatics, Indian Opinion, a weekly paper started in 1903 and printed in English, Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil. Local papers are published weekly at Ladysmith, Dundee and Greytown. The Agricultural Journal, a government publication issued fortnightly, is of great service in the promotion of agricultural knowledge.
History.
Vasco da Gama on his voyage to India sighted the bluff at the entrance to the bay now forming the harbour of Durban on Christmas Day 1497 and named the country Terra Natalis. Da Gama made no landing here and, like the rest of South Africa, Natal was neglected by the Portuguese, whose nearest settlement was at Delagoa Discovery and early history. Bay. In 1576 Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, commanded by King Sebastian to explore the coast of South Africa and report on suitable harbours, made a rough chart, even then of little use to navigators, which is of value as exhibiting the most that was known of the country by its discoverers before the advent of their Dutch rivals, who established themselves at Cape Town in 1652. Perestrello states that Natal has no ports but otherwise he gives a fairly accurate description of the country—noting particularly the abundance of animals and the density of the population. The first detailed accounts of the country were received from shipwrecked mariners. In 1683 the English ship “Johanna” went ashore near Delagoa Bay and the crew made a remarkable journey overland to Cape Town, passing through Natal, where they were kindly received by the natives. About the same time (in 1684) an English ship put into Port Natal (as the bay came to be known) and purchased ivory from the natives, who, however, refused to deal in slaves. In May 1685 another English ship the “Good Hope” was wrecked in crossing the bar at Port Natal and in February 1686 the “Stavenisse,” a Dutch East Indiaman, was wrecked a little farther south. Survivors of both vessels lived for nearly a year at Port Natal and there built a boat in which they made the voyage to Cape Town in twelve days. They brought with them 3 tons of ivory. This fact and their reports of the immense herds of elephants which roamed the bush led Simon van der Stell, then governor at Cape Town to despatch (1689) the ship “Noord” to Port Natal, with instructions to her commander to open up a trade in ivory and to acquire possession of the bay. From the chief of the Amatuli tribe, who inhabited the adjacent district, the bay was “purchased” for about £50 worth of goods. No settlement was then made and in 1705 the son of the chief repudiated the bargain. In 1721 the Cape government did form a settlement at the bay, but it was soon afterwards abandoned. Thereafter for nearly a hundred years Natal was again neglected by white men. A ship now and again put into the bay, but the dangerous bar at its entrance militated against its frequent use. When in 1824 the next attempt was made by Europeans to form a settlement at the bay, Cape Colony had passed from the Dutch into the possession of Great Britain, while in Natal great changes had come over the land as a result of wars between the natives.
From the records of the 17th and 18th centuries it is apparent that the people then inhabiting Natal were Bantu-negroes of the Kaffir (Ama Xosa) branch. There is no mention of Hottentots, and the few Bushmen who dwelt in the upper regions by the Drakensberg did not come into contact with Europeans. The sailors of the “Stavenisse” reported the most numerous and most powerful tribe to be the Abambo, while that which came most in contact with the whites was the Amatuli, as it occupied a considerable part of the coast-land. These Kaffirs appear to have been more given to agriculture and more peaceful than their neighbours in Kaffraria and Cape Colony. But the quiet of the country was destroyed by the inroads of Chaka, the chief of the Zulus (see Zululand). Chaka between 1818 and 1820 ravaged the whole of what is now known as Natal, and after beating his foes in battle, butchered the women, children and old men, incorporating the young men in his impis. The population was greatly reduced and large areas left without a single ​inhabitant. By right of conquest Chaka became undisputed master of the country.
Such was the situation when the first British settlement was made in Natal. In 1823 Francis George Farewell, formerly a lieutenant in the British navy, with other merchants of Cape Town, formed a company to trade with the natives of the south-east coast. In the brig “Salisbury,” commanded by James S. King, who had been a midshipman in the navy, Farewell visited Port Natal, St Lucia and Delagoa Bays. The voyage was not successful as a trading venture, but Farewell was so impressed with the possibilities of Natal both for trade and colonization that he resolved to establish himself at the port. He went thither with ten companions, among them Henry Francis Fynn. All the rest save Farewell and Fynn speedily repented of their adventure and returned to the Cape, but the two who remained were joined by three sailors, John Cane, Henry Ogle and Thomas Holstead, a lad. Farewell, Fynn and the others went to the royal kraal of Chaka, and, having cured him of a wound and made him various presents, obtained a document, dated the 7th of August 1824, ceding to “F. G. Farewell & Company entire and full possession in perpetuity” of a tract of land including “the port or harbour of Natal.” On the 27th of the same month Farewell hoisted the The first British settlement. Union Jack at the port and declared the territory he had acquired a British possession. In 1825 he was joined by King, who had meantime visited England and had obtained from the government a letter of recommendation to Lord Charles Somerset, governor of the Cape, granting King permission to settle at Natal. Farewell, King and Fynn made independent settlements at various parts of the bay, where a few Amatuli still lingered. They lived, practically, as Kaffir chiefs, trading with Chaka and gathering round them many refugees from that monarch’s tyranny. Early in 1828 King, accompanied by two of Chaka’s indunas, voyaged in the “Elizabeth and Susan,” a small schooner built by the settlers, to Port Elizabeth. He appears to have been coldly received by the authorities, who were even unable to ascertain the nature of Chaka’s embassy. Soon after his return to Natal King died, and in the same month (September 1828) Chaka was murdered by his brother Dingaan. In the December following Farewell went in the “Elizabeth and Susan” to Port Elizabeth. On this occasion the authorities were more hostile than before to the Natal pioneers, for they confiscated the schooner on the ground that it was unregistered and that it came from a foreign port. Farewell was not daunted, and in September 1829 set out to return overland to Port Natal. He was, however, murdered in Pondoland by a chief who was at enmity with the Zulus. Fynn thus became leader of the whites at the port, who were much at the mercy of Dingaan. In 1831 that chief raided their settlements, the whites all fleeing south of the Umzimkulu; but at Dingaan’s invitation they soon returned. Dingaan declared Fynn his representative and “great chief of the Natal Kaffirs.” In 1834, however, Fynn accepted a post under the Cape government and did not return to Natal for many years. It was in this year that a petition from Cape Town merchants asking for the creation of a British colony at Natal was met by the statement that the Cape finances would not permit the establishment of a new dependency. The merchants, however, despatched an expedition under Dr Andrew Smith to inquire into the possibilities of the country, and the favourable nature of his report induced a party of Dutch farmers under Piet Uys to go thither also. Both Dr Smith and Uys travelled overland through Kaffraria, and were well received by the English living at the bay. The next step was taken by the settlers at the port, who in 1835 resolved to lay out a town, which they named Durban, after Sir Benjamin d’Urban, then governor of Cape Colony. At the same time the settlers, who numbered about 50, sent a memorial to the governor calling attention to the fact that they were acknowledged rulers over a large tract of territory south of the Tugela, and asking that this territory should be proclaimed a British colony under the name of Victoria and that a governor and council be appointed. To all these requests no official answer was returned. The settlers had been joined in the year named (1835) by Captain Gardiner, a naval officer, whose chief object was the evangelization of the natives. With the support of the traders he founded a mission station on the hill overlooking the bay. In 1837 Gardiner was given authority by the British government to exercise jurisdiction over the traders. They, however, refused to acknowledge Gardiner’s authority, and from the Cape government he received no support. It was not until their hand was forced by the occupation of the interior by Dutch farmers that the Cape authorities at length intervened.
The British settlers had, characteristically, reached Natal mainly by way of the sea; the new tide of immigration was by land—the voortrekkers streamed through the passes of the Drakensberg, bringing with them their wives and children and vast herds of cattle. The reasons which caused the exodus from the Cape are discussed elsewhere Arrival of the Dutch voortrekkers. (see South Africa and Cape Colony), here it is only necessary to point out that those emigrants who entered Natal shared with those who settled elsewhere an intense desire to be free from British control. The first emigrant Boers to enter the country were led by Pieter Retief (c. 1780–1838), a man of Huguenot descent and of marked ability, who had formerly lived on the eastern frontier of Cape Colony and had suffered severely in the Kaffir wars. Passing through the almost deserted upper regions Retief arrived at the bay in October 1837. He went thence to Dingaan’s kraal with the object of securing a formal cession of territory to the Dutch farmers. Dingaan consented on condition that the Boers recovered for him certain cattle stolen by another chief; this task Retief accomplished, and with the help of the Rev. F. Owen, a missionary then living at Dingaan’s kraal, a deed of cession was drawn up in English and signed by Dingaan and Retief on the 4th of February 1838. Two days after the signature of the deed Retief and all of his party, 66 whites, besides Hottentot servants, were treacherously murdered by Dingaan’s orders. The Zulu king then commanded his impis to kill all the Boers who had entered Natal. The Zulu forces crossed the Tugela the same day, and the most advanced parties of the Boers were massacred, many at a spot near where the town of Weenen now stands, its name (meaning wailing or weeping) commemorating the event. Other of the farmers hastily laagered and were able to repulse the Zulu attacks; the assailants suffering serious loss at a fight near the Bushman’s river. Nevertheless in one week after the murder of Retief 600 Boers—men, women and children—had been killed by the Zulus. The English settlers at the bay, hearing of the attack on the Boers, determined to make a diversion in their favour, and some 20 men under the command of R. Biggar and with a following of 700 friendly Zulus crossed the Tugela near its mouth. In a desperate fight (April 17) with a strong force of the enemy the English were overwhelmed and only four Europeans escaped to the bay. Pursued by the Zulus, all the surviving inhabitants of Durban were compelled for a time to take refuge on a ship then in harbour. After the Zulus retired, less than a dozen Englishmen returned to live at the port; the missionaries, hunters and other traders returned to the Cape. Meantime the Boers, who had repelled the Zulu attacks on their laagers, had been joined by others from the Drakensberg, and about 400 men under Hendrik Potgieter and Piet Uys advanced to attack Dingaan. On the 11th of April, however, they fell into a trap laid by the Zulus and with difficulty cut their way out. Among those slain were Piet Uys and his son Dirk, aged 15, who rode by his side. The Boer farmers were now in a miserable plight, but towards the end of the year they received reinforcements, and in December 460 men set out under Andries Pretorius to avenge themselves on the Zulus. On Sunday the 16th of December, while laagered near the Umslatos river, they were attacked by over 10,000 Zulus. The Boers had firearms, the Zulus their assegais only, and after a three hours’ fight the Zulus were totally defeated, losing thousands killed, while the farmers’ casualties were under ​a dozen. (This memorable victory is annually commemorated by the Boers as Dingaan’s Day, while the Umslatos, which ran red with the blood of the slain, was renamed Blood river.) Dingaan fled, the victorious Boers entered the royal kraal, gave decent burial to the skeletons of Retief and his party, and regarded themselves as now undisputed masters of Natal. They had recovered from a leather pouch which Retief carried the deed by which Dingaan ceded “to Retief and his countrymen the place called Port Natal together with all the lands annexed . . . as far as the land may be useful and in my possession.” This was the 5th or 6th cession made by Chaka or Dingaan of the same territory to different individuals. In every case the overlordship of the Zulus was assumed.
Returning south, Pretorius and his commando were surprised to learn that Port Natal had been occupied on the 4th of December by a detachment of the 72nd Highlanders sent thither from the Cape. The emigrant farmers had, with the assent of the few remaining Englishmen at Port Natal, in May 1838 issued a proclamation taking possession of the port. This had been followed by an intimation from the governor of the Cape (Major-General Sir George Napier) inviting the emigrants to return to the colony, and stating that whenever he thought it desirable he should take military possession of the port. In sanctioning the occupation of the port the British government of the day had no intention of making Natal a British colony, but wished to prevent the Boers establishing an independent republic upon the coast with a harbour through which access to the interior could be gained. After remaining at the port just over a year the Highlanders were withdrawn, on Christmas Eve 1839. Meantime the Boers had founded Pietermaritzburg and made it the seat of their volksraad. They rendered their power in Natal absolute, for the time, in the following month, when they joined with Panda, Dingaan’s brother, in another attack on the Zulu king. Dingaan was utterly defeated and soon afterwards perished, Panda becoming king in his stead by favour of the Boers.
At this time, had the affairs of the Boer community been managed with prudence and sagacity they might have established an enduring state. But their impatience of control, reflected in the form of government adopted, led to disastrous consequences. Legislative power was vested, nominally, in the volksraad (consisting of twenty-four members), while the president and executive were changed every three months. But whenever any measure of importance was to be decided a meeting was called of het publiek, that is, of all who chose to attend, to sanction or reject it. “The result,” says Theal, “was utter anarchy. Decisions of one day were frequently reversed the next, and every one held himself free to disobey any law that he did not approve of. . . . Public opinion of the hour in each section of the community was the only force in the land” (History of South Africa 1834–1854, chap. xliv.). While such was the domestic state of affairs during the period of self-government, the settlers cherished large territorial views. They were in loose alliance with and in quasi-supremacy over the Boer communities which had left the Cape and settled at Winburg and at Potchefstroom. They had declared themselves a free and independent state under the title of “The Republic of Port Natal and adjacent countries," and sought (September 1840) from Sir George Napier at the Cape an acknowledgment of their independence by Great Britain. Sir George, being without definite instructions from England, could give no decisive answer, but he was friendly disposed to the Natal farmers. This feeling was, however, changed by what Sir George (and many of the Dutch in Natal also) thought a wilful and unjustifiable attack (December 1840) on a tribe of Kaffirs on the southern, or Cape Colony, frontier by a commando under Andries Pretorius, which set out, nominally, to recover stolen cattle. Having at length received an intimation from London that the queen “could not acknowledge the independence of her own subjects, but that the trade of the emigrant farmers would be placed on the same footing as that of any other British settlement, upon their receiving a military force to exclude the interference with or possession of the country by any other European power,” Sir George communicated this decision to the volksraad in September 1841. Under the arrangement proposed the Boers might easily have secured the benefits of self-government, subject to an acknowledgment of British supremacy, together with the advantage of military protection, for the British government was then extremely reluctant to extend its colonial responsibilities. The Boers, however, strongly resented the contention of the British that they could not shake off British nationality though beyond the bounds of any recognized British possession, nor were they prepared to see their only port garrisoned by British troops, and they rejected Napier’s overtures. Napier, therefore, on the 2nd of December 1841, issued a proclamation in which he stated that in consequence of the emigrant farmers refusing to be treated as British subjects and of their attitude towards the Kaffir tribes he intended resuming military occupation of Port Natal. This proclamation was answered in a lengthy minute, dated the 21st of February 1842, drawn up by J. N. Boshof (afterwards president of the Orange Free State), by far the ablest of the Dutch who had settled in Natal. In this minute British and Dutch in conflict.the farmers ascribed all their troubles to one cause, namely, the absence of a representative government, which had been repeatedly asked for by them while still living in Cape Colony and as often denied or delayed, and concluded by a protest against the occupation of any part of their territory by British troops. An incident which happened immediately after these events greatly encouraged the Boers to persist in their opposition to Great Britain. In March 1842 a Dutch vessel sent out by G. G. Ohrig, an Amsterdam merchant who sympathized warmly with the cause of the emigrant farmers, reached. port Natal, and its supercargo, J. A. Smellekamp (a man who subsequently played a part in the early history of the Transvaal and Orange Free State), concluded a treaty with the volksraad assuring them of the protection of Holland. The Natal Boers believed the Netherlands to be one of the great powers of Europe, and were firmly persuaded that its government would aid them in resisting England.
On the 1st of April Captain T. C. Smith with a force of 263 men left his camp at the Umgazi, on the eastern frontier of Cape Colony, and marching overland reached Durban without opposition, and encamped, on the 4th of May, at the base of the Berea hills. The Boers, cut off from their port, called out a commando of some 300 to 400 men under Andries Pretorius and gathered at Congella at the head of the bay. On the night of the 23rd of May Smith made an unsuccessful attack on the Boer camp, losing his guns and fifty men killed and Wounded. On the 26th the Boers captured the harbour and settlement, and on the 31st blockaded the British camp, the women and children being removed, on the suggestion of Pretorius, to a ship in the harbour of which the Boers had taken possession. Meantime, an old Durban resident, Richard (commonly called Dick) King, had undertaken to convey tidings of the perilous position of the British force to the commandant at Graham’s Town. He started on the night of the 24th, and escaping the Boer outposts rode through the dense bush and across the bridgeless rivers of Kaffraria at peril of his life from hostile natives and wild beasts, and in nine days reached his destination—a distance of 360 m. in a direct line, and nearly 600 by the route to be followed. This remarkable ride was accomplished with one change of mount, obtained from a missionary in Pondoland. A comparatively strong force under Colonel A. J. Cloete was at once sent by sea to Port Natal, and on the 26th of June Captain Smith was relieved. The besieged had suffered greatly from lack of food. Within a fortnight Colonel Cloete had received the submission of the volksraad at Pietermaritzburg. The burghers represented that they were under the protection of Holland, but this plea was peremptorily rejected by the commander of the British forces.
The British government was still undecided as to its policy towards Natal. In April 1842 Lord Stanley (afterwards 14th earl of Derby), then secretary for the colonies in the second Peel Administration, wrote to Sir George Napier that the establishment of a colony in Natal would be attended with little prospect of ​advantage, but at the same time stated that the pretensions of the emigrants to be regarded as an independent community could not be admitted. Various measures were proposed which would but have aggravated the situation. Finally, in deference to the strongly urged views of Sir George Napier, Lord Stanley, in a despatch of the 13th of December, received in Cape Town on the 23rd of April 1843, consented to Natal becoming a British colony. The institutions adopted were to be as far as possible in accordance with the wishes of the people, but it was a fundamental condition “that there should not be in the eye of the law any distinction or disqualification whatever, founded on mere difference of colour, origin, language or creed.” Sir George then appointed Mr Henry Cloete (a brother of Colonel Cloete) a special commissioner to explain to the Natal volksraad the decision of the government. There was a considerable party of Natal Boers still strongly opposed to the British, and they were reinforced by numerous bands of Boers who came over the Drakensberg from Winburg and Potchefstroom. Commandant Jan Mocke of Winburg (who had helped to besiege Captain Smith at Durban) and others of the “war party” attempted to induce the volksraad not to submit, and a plan was formed to murder Pretorius, Boshof and other leaders, who were now convinced that the only chance of ending the state of complete anarchy into which the country had fallen was by accepting British sovereignty. In these circumstances the task of Mr Henry Cloete was one of great difficulty and delicacy. He behaved with the utmost tact and got rid of the Winburg and Potchefstroom burghers by declaring that he should recommend the Drakensberg as the northern limit of Natal. On the 8th of August 1843 Natal annexed by Great Britain.the Natal volksraad unanimously agreed to the terms proposed by Lord Stanley. Many of the Boers who would not acknowledge British rule trekked once more over the mountains into what are now the Orange Free State and Transvaal provinces. At the end of 1843 there were not more than 500 Dutch families left in Natal. Cloete, before returning to the Cape, visited Panda and obtained from him a valuable concession. Hitherto the Tugela from source to mouth had been the recognized frontier between Natal and Zululand. Panda gave up to Natal all the territory between the Buffalo and Tugela rivers, now forming Klip River county.
Although proclaimed a British colony in 1843, and in 1844 declared a part of Cape Colony, it was not until the end of 1845 that an effective administration was installed with Mr Martin West as lieutenant-governor, and the power of the volksraad finally came to an end. In that year the external trade of Natal, almost entirely with Cape Colony, was of the total value of £42,000—of which £32,000 represented imported goods.
The new administration found it hard to please the Dutch farmers, who among other grievances resented what they considered the undue favour shown to the Kaffirs, whose numbers had been greatly augmented by the flight of refugees from Panda. In 1843, for instance, no fewer than 50,000 Zulus crossed the Tugela seeking the protection of the white man. The natives were settled in 1846 in specially selected locations and placed under the general supervision of Sir (then Mr) Theophilus Shepstone (q.v.). Sir Harry Smith, newly appointed governor of the Cape, met, on the banks of the upper Tugela, a body of farmers preparing to recross the Drakensberg, and by remedying their grievances induced many of them to remain in Natal. Andries Pretorius and others, however, declined to remain, and from this time Pretorius (q.v.) ceased his connexion with Natal. Although by this migration the white population was again considerably reduced, those who remained were contented and loyal, and through the arrival of 4500 emigrants from England in the years 1848–1851 and by subsequent immigration from oversea the colony became overwhelmingly British in character. From the time of the coming of the first considerable body of British settlers dates the development of trade and agriculture in the colony, followed somewhat later by the exploitation of the mineral resources of the country. At the same time schools were established and various churches began or increased their work in the colony. Dr Colenso, appointed bishop of Natal, arrived in 1854. In 1856 the dependence of the country on Cape Colony was put to an end and Natal constituted a distinct colony with a legislative council of sixteen members, twelve elected by the inhabitants and four nominated by the crown. At the time the white population exceeded 8000. While dependent on the Cape, ordinances had been passed establishing Roman-Dutch law as the law of Natal, and save where modified by legislation it remained in force.
The British settlers soon realized that the coast lands were suited to the cultivation of tropical or semi-tropical products, and from 1852 onward sugar, coffee, cotton and arrow-root were introduced, tea being afterwards substituted for coffee. The sugar industry soon became of importance, and the planters were compelled to seek for large numbers Indian coolies introduced. of labourers. The natives, at ease in their locations, did not volunteer in sufficient numbers, and recourse was had to coolie labour from India. The first coolies reached Natal in 1860. They came under indentures, but at the expiration of their contract were allowed to settle in the colony. This proved one of the most momentous steps taken in the history of South Africa, for the Indian population rapidly increased, the “free” Indians becoming market gardeners, farmers, hawkers, traders, and in time serious competitors with the whites. But in 1860 and for many years afterwards these consequences were not foreseen, and alone among the South Africa states Natal offered a welcome to Asiatics.
In 1866 the borders of the colony were extended on the south-west by the annexation of part of Kaffraria that had formerly been under the sway of the Pondo chief Faku, who found himself unable to maintain his authority in a region occupied by many diverse tribes. The newly acquired territory was named Alfred county in memory The Keate awards. of a visit paid to Natal by Prince Alfred (afterwards duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha). In 1867 R. W. Keate (1814–1873) became lieutenant-governor, a post which he filled until 1872. His administration is notable, not so much for internal affairs but from the fact that he twice acted as arbitrator in disputes in which the Boer states were involved. In a dispute between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State he decided (February 1870) that the Klip river and not the upper Vaal was the frontier stream. A more famous decision, that known as the Keate Award, was given in October 1871. It concerned the south-western frontiers of the Transvaal, and the award, which was against the Transvaal pretensions, had important effects on the history of South Africa (see Transvaal and South Africa).
During all this time little was done to alter the condition of the natives. There was scarcely an attempt to copy the policy, deliberately adopted in Cape Colony, of educating and civilizing the black man. Neither was Natal faced with the Cape problem of a large half-caste population. The Natal natives were left very much in the state in which they were before the advent of the white men. While this opportunity of educating and training a docile people was in the main neglected, savage abuse of power by their chiefs was prevented. Under the superintendence of Shepstone the original refugees were quiet and contented, enjoying security from injustice and considerable freedom. This ideal lot, from the native point of view, drew such numbers of immigrants from disturbed districts that with the natural increase of population in thirty years the native inhabitants increased from about 100,000 to fully 350,000. New generations grew up almost as ignorant as their fathers, but not with the same sense of dependence upon the white men. In this way was sown the seed of future trouble between the two races. The first serious collision between the natives and the government occurred in 1873. The Amahlubi, one of the highest in rank of the Bantu tribes of South Africa, fleeing from the cruelties of ​Panda, had been located by the Natal government under their chief Langalibalele (i.e. the great sun which shines and burns) in 1848 at the foot of the Drakensberg with the object of preventing the Bushmen who dwelt in the mountains plundering the upland farmers. Here the Amahlubi prospered, and after the diamond fields had been discovered many of the young men who had been to Kimberley brought back firearms. These Langalibalele refused to register, and entered into negotiations with several tribes with the object of organizing a general revolt. Langali-balele’s rebellion. Prompt action by Sir Benjamin Pine, then lieutenant-governor of the colony, together with help from the Cape and Basutoland, prevented the success of Langalibalele’s plan, and his own tribe, numbering some 10,000 persons, was the only one which rebelled. The chief was captured, and exiled to Cape Colony (August 1874). Permitted to return to Natal in 1886, he died in 1889.
This rebellion drew the attention of the home government to the native question in Natal. The colonists, if mistaken in their general policy of leaving the natives in a condition of mitigated barbarism, had behaved towards them with uniform kindness and justice. They showed indeed in their dealings both with the natives within their borders and with the Zulus beyond the Tugela a disposition to favour the natives at the expense of their white neighbours in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, and their action against Langalibalele was fully justified and the danger of a widespread native revolt real. But there were those, including Bishop Colenso, who thought the treatment of the Amahlubi wrong, and their agitation induced the British government to recall Sir Benjamin Pine, Sir Garnet Wolseley being sent out as temporary governor. Sir Garnet reported the natives as “happy and prosperous—well off in every sense.” As a result of consultations with Shepstone certain modifications were made in native policy, chiefly in the direction of more European supervision.
Meantime the colony had weathered a severe commercial crisis brought on in 1865 through over-speculation and the neglect of agriculture, save along the coast belt. But the trade over berg largely developed on the discovery of the Kimberley diamond mines, and the progress of the country was greatly promoted by the The Colenso affair. substitution of the railway for the ox wagon as a means of transport. There already existed a short line from the Point at Durban to the Umgeni, and on the 1st of January 1876 Sir Henry Bulwer, who had succeeded Wolseley as governor, turned the first sod of a new state-owned railway which was completed as far as Maritzburg in 1880. At this date the white inhabitants numbered about 20,000. But besides a commercial crisis the colony had been the scene of an ecclesiastical dispute which attracted widespread attention. Bishop Colenso (q.v.), condemned in 1863 on a charge of heresy, ignored the authority of the court of South African bishops and was maintained in his position by decision of the Privy Council in England. This led to a division among the Anglican community in the colony and the consecration in 1869 of a rival bishop, who took the title of bishop of Maritzburg. Colenso’s bold advocacy of the cause of the natives—which he maintained with vigour until his death (in 1883)—attracted almost equal attention. His native name was Usobantu (father of the people).
For some years Natal, in common with the other countries of South Africa, had suffered from the absence of anything resembling a strong government among the Boers of the Transvaal, neighbours of Natal on the north. The annexation of the Transvaal to Great Britain, effected by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in April 1877, would, it was hoped, put a period to the disorders in that country. But the new administration at Pretoria inherited many disputes with the Zulus, disputes which were in large measure the cause of the war of 1879. For years the Zulus had lived at amity with the Natalians, from whom they received substantial favours, and in 1872 Cetywayo (q.v.), on succeeding his father Panda, had given assurances of good behaviour. These promises were not kept for long, and by 1878 his attitude had become so hostile towards both the Natal and Transvaal governments that Sir Bartle Frere, then High Commissioner for South Africa, determined on his reduction. During the war (see Zululand) Natal was used as the British base, and the Natal volunteers rendered valuable service in the campaign, which, after opening with disasters to the British forces, ended in the breaking of the Zulu power. (F. R. C.)
Scarcely had the colony recovered from the shock of the Zulu War than it was involved in the revolt of the Transvaal Boers (1880–1881), an event which overshadowed all domestic concerns. The Natalians were intensely British in sentiment, and resented deeply the policy adopted by the Gladstone administration. At Ingogo, Natal and the war of 1880–81. Majuba and Laing’s Nek, all of them situated within the colony, British forces had been defeated by the Boers. And the treaty of retrocession was never regarded in Natal as anything but a surrender. It was clearly understood that the Boers would aim to establish a republican government over the whole of South Africa, and that the terms of peace simply meant greater bloodshed at no distant date. The protest made by the Natalians against the settlement was in vain. The Transvaal Republic was established, but the prediction of the colonists, ignored at the time, was afterwards fulfilled to the letter. In justice, however, to the colonists of Natal it must be recorded that, finding their protest with regard to the Transvaal settlement useless, they made up their minds to shape their policy in conformity with that settlement. But it was not long before their worst fears with regard to the Boers began to be realized, and their patience was once more severely taxed. The Zulu power, as has been recorded, was broken in 1879. After the war quarrels arose among the petty chiefs set up by Sir Garnet Wolseley, and in 1883 some Transvaal Boers intervened, and subsequently, as a reward for the assistance they had rendered to one of the combatants, demanded and annexed 8000 sq. m. of country, which they styled the “New Republic.” As the London Convention had stipulated that there should be no trespassing on the part of the Boers over their specified boundaries, and as Natal had been the basis for those operations against the Zulus on the part of the British in 1879, which alone made such an annexation of territory possible, a strong feeling was once more aroused in Natal. The “New Republic,” reduced in area, however, to less than 2000 sq. m., was nevertheless recognized by the British government in 1886, and in 1888 its consent was given to the territory (the Vryheid district) being incorporated with the Transvaal. Meantime, in 1887, the remainder of Zululand had been annexed to Great Britain (see Zululand).
In 1884 the discovery of gold in De Kaap Valley, and on Mr Moodie’s farm in the Transvaal, caused a considerable rush of colonists from Natal to that country. Railways were still far from the Transvaal border, and Natal not only sent her own colonists to the new fields, but also offered the nearest route for prospectors from Cape Colony or from Europe. Durban was soon thronged; and Pietermaritzburg, which was then practically the terminus of the Natal railway, was the base from which nearly all the expeditions to the goldfields were fitted out. The journey to De Kaap by bullock-waggon occupied about six weeks. “Kurveying” (the conducting of transport by bullock-waggon) in itself constituted a great industry. Two years later, in 1886, the Rand goldfields were proclaimed, and Growth of industries.the tide of trade which had already set in with the Transvaal steadily increased. Natal colonists were not merely the first in the field with the transport traffic to the new goldfields; they became some of the earliest proprietors of mines, and for several years many of the largest mining companies had their chief offices at Pietermaritzburg or Durban. In this year (1886) the railway reached Ladysmith, and in 1891 it was completed to the Transvaal frontier at Charlestown, the section from Ladysmith northward opening up the Dundee and Newcastle coalfields. Thus a new industry was added to the resources of the colony.
The demand which the growing trade made upon the one port of Natal, Durban, encouraged the colonists to redouble their efforts to improve their harbour. The question of a fairway ​from ocean to harbour has been a difficult one at nearly every port on the African coast. A heavy sea from the Indian Ocean is always breaking on the shore, even in the finest weather, and at the mouth of every natural harbour a bar occurs. To deepen the channel over the bar at Durban so that steamers might enter the harbour was the cause of labour and expenditure for many years. Harbour works were begun in 1857, piers and jetties were constructed, dredgers imported, and controversy raged over the various schemes for harbour improvement. In 1881 a harbour board was formed under the chairmanship of Mr Harry Escombe. It controlled the operations for improving the sea entrance until 1893, when on the establishment of responsible government it was abolished. The work of improving the harbour was however continued with vigour, and finally, in 1904, such success was achieved that vessels of the largest class were enabled to enter port (see Durban). At the same time the railway system was continually developing.
For many years there had been an agitation among the colonists for self-government. In 1882 the colony was offered self-government coupled with the obligations of self-defence. The offer was declined, but in 1883 the legislative council was remodelled so as to consist of 23 elected and 7 nominated members. In 1890 Self-government granted. the elections to the council led to the return of a majority in favour of accepting self-government, and in 1893 a bill in favour of the proposed change was passed and received the sanction of the Imperial government. At the time the white inhabitants numbered about 50,000. The electoral law was framed to prevent more than a very few natives obtaining the franchise. Restrictions in this direction dated as far back as 1865, while in 1896 an act was passed aimed at the exclusion of Indians from the suffrage. The leader of the party which sought responsible government was Sir John Robinson (1839–1903) who had gone to Natal in 1850, was a leading journalist in the colony, had been a member of the legislative council since 1863, and had filled various official positions. He now became the first premier and colonial secretary with Mr Harry Escombe (q.v.) as attorney-general and Mr F. R. Moor as secretary for Native Affairs. The year that witnessed this change in the constitution was also notable for the death of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Natal’s most prominent citizen. In the same year Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson became governor. His immediate predecessors had been Sir Charles Mitchell (1889–1893) and Sir Arthur Havelock (1886–1889). Sir John Robinson remained premier until 1897, a year marked by the annexation of Zululand to Natal. In the following year Natal entered the Customs Union already existing between Cape Colony and the Orange Free State. Sir John Robinson had been succeeded as premier by Mr Harry Escombe (February–October 1897) and Escombe by Sir Henry Binns, on whose death in June 1899 Lieut.-Colonel (afterwards Sir) Albert Hime formed a ministry which remained in office until after the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War. Meantime (in 1901) Sir Henry McCallum had succeeded Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson as governor.
For some years Natal had watched with anxiety the attitude of increasing hostility towards the British adopted by the Pretoria administration, and, with bitter remembrance of the events of 1881, gauged with accuracy the intentions of the Boers. So suspicious had the ministry become of the nature of the military preparations that were being made by the Boers, that in May 1899 they communicated their apprehensions to the High Commissioner, Sir Alfred Milner, who telegraphed on the 25th of May to Mr Chamberlain, informing him that Natal was uneasy. The governor expressed his views to the prime minister that the Natal government ought to give the British government every support, and Colonel Hime replied that their support The war of 1899–1902.would be given, but at the same time he feared the consequences to Natal if, after all, the British government should draw back. In July the Natal ministry learnt that it was not the intention of the Imperial government to endeavour to hold the frontier in case hostilities arose, but that a line of defence considerably south of the frontier would be taken up. This led to a request on their part that if the Imperial government had any reason to anticipate the breakdown of negotiations, “such steps may be at once taken as may be necessary for the effectual defence of the whole colony.” Sir William Penn Symons, the general commanding the British forces in Natal in September, decided to hold Glencoe. On the arrival of Lieut.-General Sir George White from India, he informed the governor that he considered it dangerous to attempt to hold Glencoe, and urged the advisability of withdrawing the troops to Ladysmith. The governor was strongly opposed to this step, as he was anxious to protect the coal supply, and also feared the moral effect of a withdrawal. Eventually Sir Archibald Hunter, then chief of staff to Sir Redvers Buller, was consulted, and stated that in his opinion, Glencoe being already occupied, “it was a case of balancing drawbacks, and advised that, under the circumstances, the troops be retained at Glencoe.” This course was then adopted.
On the 11th of October 1899 war broke out. The first act was the seizure by the Boers of a Natal train on the Free State border. On the 12th Laing’s Nek was occupied by the Boer forces, who were moved in considerable force over the Natal border. Newcastle was next occupied by the Boers unopposed, and on the 20th of October occurred the battle of Talana Hill outside Dundee. In this engagement the advanced body of British troops, 3000 strong, under Symons, held a camp called Craigside which lay between Glencoe and Dundee, and from this position General Symons hoped to be able to hold the northern portion of Natal. There is no doubt that this policy strongly commended itself to the governor and ministers of Natal, and that they exercised considerable pressure to have it adopted. But from a military point of view it was not at all cordially approved by Sir George White, and it was afterwards condemned by Lord Roberts. Fortunately Symons was able to win a complete victory over one of the Boer columns at Talana Hill. He himself received a mortal wound in the action. Brigadier-General Yule then took command, and an overwhelming force of Boers rendering the further occupation of Dundee dangerous, he decided to retire his force to Ladysmith. On the 21st of October General Sir George White and General (Sir John) French defeated at Elandslaagte a strong force of Boers, who threatened to cut off General Yule’s retreat. He again attacked the Boer forces at Rietfontein on the 24th of October, and on the 26th General Yule reached Ladysmith in safety. Ladysmith now became for a time the centre of military interest. The Boers gradually surrounded the town and cut off the communications from the south. Various engagements were fought in the attempt to prevent this movement, including the actions of Farquhar’s Farm and Nicholson’s Nek on the 30th (see Transvaal). The investment of Ladysmith continued till the 28th of February 1900, when, after various attempts to relieve the beleaguered garrison, Sir Redvers Buller’s forces at last entered the town. During the six weeks previous to the relief, 200 deaths had occurred from disease alone, and altogether as many as 8424 were reported to have passed through the hospitals. The relief of Ladysmith soon led to the evacuation of Natal by the Boer forces, who trekked northwards.
During the Boer invasion the government and the loyal colonists, constituting the great majority of the inhabitants of the colony, rendered the Imperial forces every assistance. A comparatively small number of the Dutch colonists joined the enemy, but there was no general rebellion among them. As the war progressed the Natal volunteers and other Natal forces took a prominent part. The Imperial Light Horse and other irregular corps were recruited in Natal, although the bulk of the men in the forces were Uitlanders from Johannesburg. As the nearest colony to the Transvaal, Natal was resorted to by a large number of men, women and children, who were compelled to leave the Transvaal on the outbreak of the war. Refugee and Uitlander committees were formed both at Durban and Maritzburg, and, in conjunction with the colonists, they did all in their power to assist in recruiting irregular corps, and also in furnishing relief to the sick and needy.
​As one result of the war, an addition was made to the territory comprised in Natal, consisting of a portion of what had previously been included in the Transvaal. The Natal government originally made two proposals for annexing new territory:—
1. It was proposed that the following districts should be transferred to Natal, viz. the district of Vryheid, the district of Utrecht and such portion of the district of Wakkerstroom as was comprised by a line drawn from the north-eastern corner of Natal, east by Volksrust in a northerly direction to the summit of the Drakensberg Range, along that range, passing just north of the town of Wakkerstroom, to the head waters of the Pongola river, and thence following the Pongola river to the border of the Utrecht district. In consideration of the advantage to Natal from this addition of territory, Natal should take over £700,000 of the Transvaal debt.
2. It was proposed to include in Natal such portions of the Harrismith and Vrede districts as were comprised by a line following the Elands river north from its source on the Basutoland border to its junction with the Wilge river, and thence drawn straight to the point where the boundaries of Natal, the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony meet on the Annexations to the northern territories. Drakensberg. In consideration of this addition to her territory, Natal should take over a portion of the Orange River Colony debt, to be raised at the end of the war, to the amount of £200,000.
The Imperial government decided to sanction only the first of these two proposals. For this course there were many reasons, the Transvaal territory annexed, or the greater part of it (the Vryheid district), having been only separated from the rest of Zululand in 1883 by a raid of armed Boers. “In handing over this district to the administration which controls the rest of Zululand, His Majesty’s government,” wrote Mr Chamberlain, under date March 1902, “feel that they are reuniting what ought never to have been separated.”
With regard, however, to the proposed transfer of territory from the Orange River Colony, the circumstances were different. “There is,” said Mr Chamberlain, “no such historical reason as exists in the case of Vryheid for making the transfer. On the contrary, the districts in question have invariably formed part of the state from which it is now proposed to sever them, and they are separated from Natal by mountains which form a well-defined natural boundary. In these circumstances, His Majesty’s government have decided to confine the territory to be transferred to the districts in the Transvaal.”
The districts added to Natal contained about 6000 white inhabitants (mostly Dutch), and some 92,000 natives, and had an area of nearly 7000 sq. m., so that this annexation meant an addition to the white population of Natal of about one-tenth, to her native population of about one-tenth also, and to her territory of about one-fourth. An act authorizing the annexation was passed during 1902 and the territories were formally transferred to Natal in January 1903.  (A. P. H.; F. R. C.)
The period following the war was succeeded by commercial depression, though in Natal it was not so severely felt as in other states of South Africa. The government met the crisis by renewed energy in harbour works, railway constructions and the development of the natural resources of the country. A railway to the Zululand coalfields Commercial depression and native rebellion. was completed in 1903, and in the same year a line was opened to Vryheid in the newly annexed territories. Natal further built several railway lines in the eastern half of the Orange River Colony, thus opening up new markets for her produce and facilitating her transit trade. Mr Chamberlain on his visit to South Africa came first to Natal, where he landed in the last days of 1902, and conferred with the leading colonists. In August 1903 the Hime ministry resigned and was succeeded by a cabinet under the premiership of Mr (afterwards Sir) George Sutton, the founder of the wattle industry in Natal and one of the pioneers in the coal-mining industry. In May 1905 Sir George Sutton was replaced by a coalition ministry under Mr C. J. Smythe, who had been colonial secretary under Sir Albert Hime. These somewhat frequent changes of ministry, characteristic of a country new to responsible government, reflected, chiefly, differences concerning the treatment of commercial questions and the policy to be adopted towards the natives. Towards those Dutch colonists who had joined the enemy during the war leniency was shown, all rebels being pardoned. The attitude of the natives both in Natal proper and in Zululand caused much disquiet. As early as July 1903 rumours were current that Dinizulu (a son of Cetywayo) was disaffected and the power he exercised as representative of the former royal house rendered his attitude a matter of great moment. Dinizulu, however, remained at the time quiescent, though the Zulus were in a state of excitement over incidents connected with the war, when they had been subject to raids by Boer commandoes, and on one occasion at least had retaliated in characteristic Zulu fashion. Unrest was also manifested among the natives west of the Tugela, but it was not at first cause for alarm. The chief concern of the Natal government was to remodel their native policy where it proved inadequate, especially in view of the growth of the movement for the federation of the South African colonies. During 1903–1904 a Native Affairs’ Commission, representative of all the states, obtained much evidence on the status and conditions of the natives. Its investigations pointed to the loosening of tribal ties and to the corresponding growth of a spirit of individual independence. Among its recommendations was the direct political representation of natives in the colonial legislatures on the New Zealand model, and the imposition of direct taxation upon natives, which should not be less than £1 a year payable by every adult male. The commission also called attention to the numerical insufficiency of magistrates and native commissioners in certain parts of Natal. With some of the recommendations the Natal commissioners disagreed; in 1905, however, an act was passed by the Natal legislature imposing a, poll-tax of £1 on all males over 18 in the colony, except indentured Indians and natives paying hut-tax (which was 14s. a year). Every European was bound to pay the tax. In 1906 a serious rebellion broke out in the colony, attributable ostensibly to the poll-tax, and spread to Zululand. It was suppressed by the colonial forces under Colonel (afterwards Sir) Duncan McKenzie, aided by a detachment of Transvaal volunteers. An incident which marked the beginning of this rebellion brought the Natal ministry into sharp conflict with the Imperial government (the Campbell-Bannerman administration). Early in the year a farmer who had insisted that the Kaffirs on his farm should pay the poll-tax was murdered, and on the 8th of February some forty natives in the Richmond district forcibly resisted the collection of the tax and killed a sub-inspector of police and a trooper at Byrnetown. Two of the natives implicated were court-martialled and shot (February 15); others were subsequently arrested and tried by court martial. Nineteen were sentenced to death, but in the case of seven of the prisoners the sentence was commuted. On the day before that Conflict with the home government. fixed for the execution Lord Elgin, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, intervened and directed the governor to postpone the execution of the sentence. Thereupon the Natal ministry resigned, giving as their reason the importance of maintaining the authority of the colonial administration at a critical period, and the constitutional question involved in the interference by the imperial authorities in the domestic affairs of a self-governing colony. The action of the British cabinet caused both astonishment and indignation throughout South Africa and in the other self-governing states of the empire. After a day’s delay, during which Sir Henry McCallum reiterated his concurrence, already made known in London, in the justice of the sentence passed on the natives, Lord Elgin gave way (March 30). The Natal ministry thereupon remained in office. The guilty natives were shot on the 2nd of April. It was at this time that Bambaata, a chief in the Greytown district who had been deposed for misconduct, kidnapped the regent appointed in his stead. He was pursued and escaped to Zululand, where he received considerable help. He was killed in battle in June, and by the close of July the rebellion was at an end. As has been stated, it was ostensibly attributable to the poll-tax, but the causes were more deep-seated. Though somewhat obscure they may be found in the ​growing sense of power and solidarity among all the Kaffir tribes of South Africa—a sense which gave force to the “Ethiopian movement,” which, ecclesiastical in origin, was political in its development. There were moreover special local causes such as undoubted defects in the Natal administration. Those Africans whose “nationalism” was greatest looked to Dinizulu as their leader, and he was accused by many colonists of having incited the rebellion. Dinizulu protested his loyalty to the British, nor was it likely that he viewed with approval the action of Bambaata, a comparatively unimportant and meddlesome chief. As time went on, however, the Natal government, alarmed at a series of murders of whites in Zululand and at the evidences of continued unrest among the natives, became convinced that Dinizulu was implicated in the rebellious movement. When a young man, in 1889, he had been convicted of high treason and had been exiled, but afterwards (in 1897) allowed to return. Now a force under Sir Duncan McKenzie entered Zululand. Thereupon Dinizulu surrendered (December 1907) without opposition, and was removed to Maritzburg. His trial was delayed until November 1908, and it was not until March 1909 that judgment was given, the court finding him guilty only on the minor charge of harbouring rebels. Meantime, in February 1908, the governor—Sir Matthew Nathan, who had succeeded Sir Henry McCallum in August 1907—had made a tour in Zululand, on which occasion some 1500 of the prisoners taken in the rebellion of 1906 were released.
The intercolonial commission had dealt with the native question as it affected South Africa as a whole; it was felt that a more local investigation was needed, and in August 1906 a strong commission was appointed to inquire into the condition of the Natal natives. The general election which was held in the following month turned Native Affairs’ Commission. on native policy and on the measures necessary to meet the commercial depression. The election, which witnessed the return of four Labour members, resulted in a ministerial majority of a somewhat heterogeneous character, and in November 1906 Mr Smythe resigned, being succeeded by Mr F. R. Moor, who in his election campaign had criticized the Smythe ministry for their financial proposals and for the “theatrical” manner in which they had conducted their conflict with the home government. Mr Moor remained premier until the office was abolished by the establishment of the Union of South Africa. In August 1907 the report of the Native Affairs’ Commission was published. The commission declared that the chasm between the native and white races had been broadening for years and that the efforts of the administration—especially since the grant of responsible government—to reconcile the Kaffirs to the changed conditions of rule and policy and to convert them into an element of strength had been ineffective. It was not sufficient to secure them, as the government had done, peace and ample means of livelihood. The commission among other proposals for a more liberal and sympathetic native policy urged the creation of a native advisory Board entrusted with very wide powers. “Personal rule,” they declared, “supplies the keynote of successful native control”—a statement amply borne out by the influence over the natives exercised by Sir T. Shepstone. The unrest in Zululand delayed action being taken on the commission’s report. But in 1909 an act was passed which placed native affairs in the hands of four district commissioners, gave to the minister for native affairs direct executive authority and created a council for native affairs on which non-official members had seats. While the district commissioners were intended to keep in close touch with the natives, the council was to act as a “deliberative, consultative and advisory body.”
Concurrently with the efforts made to reorganize their native policy the colony also endeavoured to deal with the Asiatic question. The rapid growth of the Indian population from about 1890 caused much disquiet among the majority of the white inhabitants, who viewed with especial anxiety the activities of the “free,” i.e. unindentured Indians. An act of 1895, which did not become effective until 1901, imposed an annual tax of £3 Restrictions on Indians. on time-expired Indians who remained in the colony and did not reindenture. In 1897 an Indian Immigration Restriction Act was passed with the object of protecting European traders; in 1903 another Immigration Restriction Act among other things, permitted the exclusion of all would-be immigrants unable to write in the characters of some European language. Under this act thousands of Asiatics were refused permission to land. In 1906 municipal disabilities were imposed upon Asiatics, and in 1907 a Dealers’ Licences Act was passed with the object, and effect, of restricting the trading operations of Indians. In 1908 the government introduced a bill to provide for the cessation of Indian emigration at the end of three years; it was not proceeded with, but a strong commission was appointed to inquire into the whole subject. This commission reported in 1909, its general conclusion being that in the interests of Natal the importation of indentured Indian labour should not be discontinued. For sugar, tea and wattle growing, farming, coal-mining and other industries indentured Indian labour appeared to be essential. But the evidence was practically unanimous that the Indian was undesirable in Natal other than as a labourer and the commission recommended compulsory repatriation. While desirous that steps should be taken to prevent an increase in the number of free Asiatic colonists, the commission pointed out that there were in Natal over 60,000 “free” Indians whose rights could not be interfered with by legislation dealing with the further importation of coolies. But these Indians by reindenturing might come under the operation of the repatriation proposal. Nothing further was done in Natal up to the establishment of the Union of South Africa, when all questions specially or differentially affecting Asiatics were withdrawn from the competence of the provincial authorities.
Not long after the conclusion of the war of 1899–1902 the close commercial relations between the Transvaal and Natal led to suggestions for a union of the two colonies, but these suggestions were not seriously entertained. The divergent interests of the various colonies threatened indeed a tariff and railway war when the Customs The movement for union. Convention (provisionally renewed in March 1906) should expire in 1908. But at the close of 1906 the Cape ministry formally reopened the question of federation, and at a railway conference held in Pretoria in May 1908 the Natal delegates agreed to a motion affirming the desirability of the early union of the self-governing colonies. The movement for union rapidly gained strength, and a National Convention to consider the matter met in Durban in October 1908. In Natal, especially among the older colonists, who feared that in a united South Africa Natal interests would be overborne, the proposals for union were met with suspicion and opposition, and the Natal ministry felt bound to submit the question to the people. A referendum act was passed in April 1909, and in June following the electors by 11,121 votes to 3701 decided to join the Union. (See South Africa.)
Natal was concerned not only with the political aspects of union, and with its natives and Indian problems, but had to safeguard its commercial interests and to deal with a revenue insufficient for its needs. In 1908 an Income Tax and a Land Tax Act was passed; the land tax being a halfpenny in the £ “on the aggregate unimproved value”—it brought in £30,000 in 1908–1909. Meantime it was agreed by the Cape, Transvaal and Natal governments that, subject to Natal entering the Union, its share of the Rand import trade should be 25% before and 30% after the establishment of the Union. Previously Natal had only 221/2% of the traffic, and this agreement led to a revival in trade. Moreover, the development of its coal-mines and agriculture was vigorously prosecuted, and in 1910 it was found possible to abolish both the Income Tax and Land Tax and yet have a surplus in revenue. The closing months of Natal’s existence as a separate colony thus found her peaceful and prosperous. The governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, had ​returned to England in December 1909, and Lord Methuen was governor from that time until the 31st of May 1910. On that date the Union of South Africa was established, Natal becoming one of the original provinces of the Union.
Bibliography.—R. Russell, The Garden Colony. The Story of Natal and its Neighbours (London, 1910 ed.), a good general account; H. Brooks (edited by R. J. Mann), Natal, a History and Description of the Colony, &c. (London, 1876); J. F. Ingram, Natalia, a Condensed History of the Exploration and Colonization of Natal and Zululand (London, 1897); C. P. Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies, vol. iv. “South and East Africa” (Oxford, 1897), also general surveys. Twentieth-Century Impressions of Natal (London, 1906) deals with the peoples, commerce, industries and resources of the colony; the Census of the Colony of Natal, April 1904 (Maritzburg, 1905) contains a large amount of authoritative information; The Natal Almanac is a directory and yearly register published at Maritzburg. See also the official Statistical Year Book. For the native inhabitants, besides the works quoted under Kaffirs, valuable information will be found in Native Customs, H.C. 292 (1881), the Report of the Native Affairs’ Commission, 1906–1907, Cd. 3889 (1908); the Report of the South African Native Affairs’ Commission, 1903–1905, Cd. 2399 (1905); and other parliamentary papers (consult The Colonial Office List, London, yearly).
For detailed historical study consult G. M. Theal, History of South Africa, 1834–1854 (London, 1893), with notes on early books on Natal. Among these the most valuable are: N. Isaacs, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa . . . with a Sketch of Natal (2 vols., London, 1836); H. Cloete, Emigration of the Dutch Farmers from the Cape and their Settlement in Natal . . . (Cape Town, 1856), reprinted as The History of the Great Boer Trek (London, 1899), an authoritative record; J. C. Chase, Natal, a Reprint of all Authentic Notices, &c. (Grahamstown, 1843); W. C. Holden, History of the Colony of Natal (London, 1855); J. Bird, The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845 (2 vols., Maritzburg, 1888), a work of permanent value, consisting of official records, &c.; Shepstone, Historic Sketch of Natal (1864). See also South Africa Handbooks, useful reprints from the paper South Africa (London, N.D. [1900 et seq.]); Martineau’s Life of Sir Bartle Frere, the Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith, and Sir J. Robinson’s A Lifetime in South Africa (London, 1901); George Linton, or the First Years of an English Colony (London, 1876). Bishop A. H. Baynes’s Handbooks of English Church Expansion. South Africa (London, N.D. [1908]) gives the story of the Colenso controversy and its results.
For further historical works and for information on flora, fauna, climate, law, church, &c. see the bibliography under South Africa. (See also Zululand: Bibliography.)  (F. R. C.)
* ↑ See C. L. Griesbach, “On the Geology of Natal in South Africa,” Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxvii. pp. 53–72 (1871); P. C. Sutherland, “Notes on an Ancient Boulder Clay of Natal,” Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxvi. pp. 514–517 (1870); W. Anderson. Reports, Geol. Survey, Natal and Zululand (Pietermaritzburg, 1901; London 1904); and “Science in South Africa,” Handbook, Brit. Assoc. pp. 260–272 (Cape Town, 1905).
* ↑ See R. B. and J. D. Woodward, Natal Birds (Maritzburg, 1899).
* ↑ The following is the official estimate of the population on the 31st of December 1908: Europeans 91,443 natives, 998,264 (including 7386 “mixed and others”), Asiatics 116,679; total 1,206,386.
* ↑ Act No. 2 (of the Natal Legislature) of 1883.
* ↑ Act No. 8 of 1896. The Indians whose names were “rightly contained” in the voters’ rolls at the date of the act retain the franchise.
* ↑ For a summary of the Natal church controversy see The Guardian (London, March 11, 1910).
* ↑ Captain Allen Francis Gardiner (1794–1851) left Natal in 1838, subsequently devoting himself to missionary work in South America, being known as the missionary to Patagonia. He died of starvation in Tierra del Fuego.
* ↑ Commonly called the Republic of Natalia or Natal.
* ↑ Between 1860 and 1866 some 5000 Indians entered the colony. Immigration then ceased, and was not resumed until 1874. By that year the natives from Portuguese territory and elsewhere who had found employment in Natal had been attracted to the Kimberley diamond mines, and the Natal natives not coming forward (save under compulsion), the importation of Indian coolies was again permitted (see the Natal Blue Book, Report of the Indian Immigration Commission, 1909).
* ↑ Subsequently three other natives, after trial by the supreme court, were condemned and executed for their share in the Byrnetown murders.
* ↑ The causes, both local and general, are set forth in a despatch by the governor of the 21st of June 1906 and printed in the Blue Book, Cd. 3247.