Washington sentinel., 1899-09-23
TTIE ~, SENTINEL
The First Colonization OF Natal.

a fte Nte+ te.'HN3
Fair Natal, she Garden Of South
Africa, the land of green and grace
full bushes, OF verdant, rolling,
tumbling hills, of seething streams
and ioaming falls; of gorgeous
multicolored flowers, and OF Jew
eled and bespangled birds and but
terflies, has a momentous history.
The up-to-date visitor from the
murky motherland, strolling IN his
topee and knickerS among the
flaming poinsettias of Durham, or
the rustling gums oil MarltzouTg,
does not see the stains OF blood
with which the soil beneath his
fee. is saturated. He hears no
echo OF the din Of the bYgOne bat
tie; no pho nix cry OF anguish
floats down from the heretofore to
quaver the iestoons Of emblazoned
bougainvilleas, bignonias and iPo
moeas, and startle his nerves into
tremulous turmoils. He is haunted
by no terrifying phantasmas OF the
sport of dusky autocrats; OF whole
sale butcheries, and hideous tor
lures Of helpless people. Over his
shoulder there comes no whisper
Of the dying plant OF dismembered
victim, or sound of the thud OF the
kerrie, the squash OF the stabbing
spear, or the swish OF the disem-
bowelllng blade. 1.-The verdant
valleys and the hummockV hills,
the sinuous streams and the bios
somiul bush, the pregnant planta-
tions, the chequered crops, and the
throbbing towns, all speak to him
of peace and prosperity, OF civiliza-
ton and culture. And yet these
things nad been.
Seventy six years ago a tiny
brig, with many creak and groan
OF her racked old timbers, lifted
heavily 20 the topmost ridge of
mighty roller, stood shivering
there for an instant, and then, stern
downwards, and her bowsprit
pointed up at the screeching sea
birds, surged do vn into the seethe
OF waters behind it. Another roll
ler, mightier than the last, and
painted with marble streaks and
7igures of spume upon its olive
slopes, lowered after her with evil
mien, swashed her decks with a
food Of surf, seized her roughly IN
its resistless embrace, shook her
rudeIy until she quivered from
truck to keelson, carried her along
in impetuous triumph upon IT'S
crest, and then broke IN an inlmen-
sity OF roth and sud, leaying her
dripping and staggering on the
foam, as though she had arisen
with mighty effort from the bot
tom. Then, under topsail, and jib,
the Salisbury drlfted in under the
great rounded Bluff, and anchored
almost within reach OF the big
paImate shining leaves OF the
Ricinuses which covered it. Under
the command OF Lieutenant J. >
King, r. n, and with Lieutenant
f. G. Farewell, r. NJ, as super.
cargo, she had come there from
Cape Town to trade with the ma
tiVes. The young suPercargo was
so impressed with the beauties Of
that lovely bay with its graceful
rounded lines, and its tair fringe Of
woodlands, blotched with great
masses OF purple ipomHas, that he
determined to establish himself
there for good. The Salisbury had
yet to go to St. Lucia and Delagoa
Bays, but on her return to Cape
Town he persuaded a small party
to Join him. They chartered a
couple Of small schooners, the An
telope and the Julia, and in June
the following year the party
pitched their tents upon the site Of
that most beautiful of modern Col
onial towns, Durham. The party
numbered eleven, but nine OF them,
terrified by the great herds OF ele-
plants that roamed all over the
country, and the signs OF the dew
astation OF 'Tchaka's marauders
which everywhere appeared upon
it, in a few weeks repented Of their
enterprise, and returned on board
the Julia, which had remained after
the departure Of the Antelope.
five OF them were Dutchmen.
Farewell and II. F. Fyan alone de-
termined to remain, but three
plucky sailors OF the Julia, John
Cane, Henry Ogle, and Thomas
HOlstead, the latter a lad, cast in
their lot with them.
These five men were the first vol
untary white residents Of Natal
But others had preceded them
against their wills. AS many as
I4o years previously Natal had
had white residents. The fifty ton
ketch Good Hope, on a trading
expedition, was wrecked on the
bar, Nine Of her crew started tor
Mozambique, and were lost for
ever in the mysteries of the Dark
Continent. Five others went south,
and fell in with a party from an
other (Dutch) shipwrecked crew,
whose vessel, the StaVinesse, had
been cast ashore near the Umzim-
kulu. Toge her they returned to
Durham Bay, and rejoined their
comrades who had remained there
and had been joined by yet another
shipwrecked party (the ketch Bona
Ventura) from Lucia Bay. Here
John Kingston, the carpenter, built
a large boat, =hristened the Cen
taurus, and all but FIVE OF the Good
Hopes crew, who had gone inland,
left for Cape Town. The fate Of
these five was never known, but
D. ~ i L.