The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-27 00:00:00

SIR BARTLE FRERE ON SOUTH
AFRICA.

Sir Bartle Frere delivered a lecture on Thinday night to
the members of the Royal Geographidal Society and their
friends, in the theatre of the University of London, which
was densely filled by ladies and gentlemen. The subject of
the lecture was "Temperate South Africa, Considered as a
route to the Central Equatorial Region."

Lord Aberdare occupied the chair, and in intro-
ducing Sir Bartle, remarked that however arduous
and important might have been the public work in
which Sir Bartle had been engaged, he had never for
a moment forgotten that he was a Fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society, and had never lost his
interest in the study and promotion of geography.
(Cheers.)

Sir B. Frere commenced his lecture by giving a
geographical account of South Africa and of the tribes
which are connected by intercourse with our South
African Colonies. He stated the area of the five
Colonies in South Africa at 393,610 square miles,
which is a little less than double the area of
France. The population, he remarked, was esti-
mated at 333,000 men of European extraction, and
1,105,000 men of the coloured races, for the most
part natives of Africa. In the course of his
description of the river basins and the coast out-
line he took the opportunity of suggesting that
the Geographical Society should bring its influence
to bear upon her Majesty's Government to ensure a
thorough survey both of the East and West Coast of
South Africa. It should be accomplished by the joint
operations of a steamer going along the shore and a
surveying party on land. There were few things which
would do more to develop the commerce of the district
than such a survey. In the general territorial survey of
the whole country also there was an ample field for the
extension of geographical knowledge, and if the
Society could bring its influence_to bear on the Govern-
ment to promote it he hoped they would do so. It
should be conducted on the system of triangulation,
proposed by Mr. Gill, of the Astronomical Society at
the Cape. There were agencies which might be
employed still more in collecting geographical in-
formation. Very few had the slightest idea of the
number of missionary agencies in South Africa. There
were no fewer than eighty-four fixed stations of various
Missionary Societies, with more than thatj number of
out-stations, manned by 812 European teachers of
various sects, and all these were beyond the British
frontier (cheers). They were not confined to any one
Church, the missions belonging to tha Church of
England, the Church of Rome, the Dutch Reformed
Church, the Wesleyan Church, and the London
Missionary Society. There was also a Rhenish
Mission. All these were at various distances, some
being within twenty or thirty miles of the frontier,
and some as much as 1,600 miles away from Cape
Town. Each of the missionaries was a cultivated
man, and some had an intimate knowledge of the
native languages. They were in constant communi-
cation with natives of all classes, and it would be
apparent that they formed, if turned to account, an
enormous agency for acquiring geographical and
scientific information. There was a second powerful
agency, if it could also be utilised, for obtaining geo-
graphical knowledge—the traders, who were extend-
ing their operations hundreds of miles beyond the
frontier. One class of these men generally con-
ducted their expeditions by embarkingstheir capital in
a ten or twelve ox-waggon, and employing a small body
of natives to accompany it. The amount of capital
thus einli.urked was very considerable. He had been
assured that one house in Cape Town turned over a
capital annually of 2.300,000 in this kind of trade, which
they carried on in the territories north of the Orange
River and beyond the British border. One of the
members of such a firm had told him that he employed
sixty waggons, to which two Europeans were attached.
For each waggon there were twelve or sixteen oxen;
and one expedition had consisted of sixty natives
armed with guns. A large trade was carried on by
these expeditions with the natives in ostrich feathers
and the most costly skins, and some waggons would
come back laden with four tons of goods. There was
no difficulty about food. The oxen grazed whereever
they travelled, and the party depended for its sub-
sistence on the game they shot, Indian corn and ether
articles, so that as long as the waggon held togethei
and the oxen did not die the trader could travel on
until his object was accomplished, and he was not tied
down to any particular route. But it was generally
difficult to get information from such nien, and they
had not time to write books L travel.

Sir Bartle then described some visits he had paid to
traders' stores, which were filled with all sorbs of valu-
able merchandise. In fact, everything he saw on these
occasions spoke of an extensive commerce carried on
white men. The Transvaal was thus admirably
for the geographical investigation of South Africa,
and there the traveller would find an advanced base
for his operations when about to penetrate the far
interior.

Referring to the belt of unhealthy country lying
along the Zambesi, Sir Bartle said that from the
vague description of the men who had crossed it, he
understood that its narrowest part was in the region
of the Victoria Falls, and if the confidence of the
tribes on the north bank of the river was once gained
a comparative healthy expanse of high land, where
waggons might travel, could be easily reached. Sir
Bartle Frere then added that he would not attempt
to give any sketch of the vast mineral wealth
of the country; but he might add that as re-
gards its climate it was admirably adapted for
being the home of the white men. There was no
difficulty to be encountered in reaching the Zambesi,.
except such as beset the ordinary Transvaal trader.
Within two marches of the river the traveller need
not fear any danger. There were none that any ordi-
nary tourist might not face. Time and temper was
alone required to secure the confidence of the chiefs
along the river, and to obtain their permission to ex-
plore the interior. If the chiefs were convinced that
the traveller was a countryman of Livingstone's the
door was speedily opened. With the example of
Thomson and Stewart before them—of whom they
had heard with so much pleasure at the last meeting
—it was not too much to say that the work so well
commenced by Mungo Park, carried on by Bruce,
• and so perseveringly and courageously continued by
Livingstone will be nobly taken up and completed
by men who were even now among us. (Cheers.)

A short conversation followed, in which Sir H.
Barkly, Mr. Humphry, and Sir T. Fowell Buxton
took part, and a cordial vote of thanks was then ac-
corded to Sir Bartle Frere.