Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/59

Rh are in a majority in the east; and, in smaller proportions, of Germans, descendants of French emigrants, and Portuguese. English, which is the language of the legislation, is used in the seaports and eastern border towns, but Dutch is still commonly used in many parts of the western and midland provinces. Of thirty newspapers published in the colony twenty-five are English. The major part of the population of the colony, how ever, consists of Hottentots, Malays, Negroes, and Kaffres. The aborigines with whom the first settlers at the Cape came in contact had originally the generic name of Quaequae, and received the name of Hottentots from the Dutch. Owing to intermarriages with Malays, Negroes, and others, and illicit intercourse with the whites during the period of slavery, the race has lost much of its dis tinctive character. In 1865 the number of people distin guished as Hottentots was 82,000, nearly two-thirds of whom were found in the western division. The Malays were introduced by the Dutch as slaves; their descendants still retain the Mahometan religion, and most of the dis tinctive habits and customs of their race. We have no means of ascertaining their number, but it cannot be large. They are found chiefly resident in the seaports. The negroes are mostly from the eastern coasts of Africa. Griquaa or Baastards are a mixed race sprung from the intercourse of the Dutch boers or farmers with their Hottentot slaves. A great number of them migrated from the colony in the early part of this century with the boers, and settled between the Orange River and the Vaal under the chiefs Waterboer and Adam Kok, in part of the territory now known as Griqua Land West. In 1852 Kok s people (about 15,000 in number) separated from the others, and migrated to the district called Nomansland south of Natal, which had been depopulated by the strifes of the Amapondo and Amabaca Kaffres, forming there the settle ment called Griqua Land East or New Griqua Land. The line of division between the native Hottentot (or Bushman) and Kaffre races of South Africa passes south through the Cape Colony in about 26 E. long. The Kaffres now resident within the colony proper are chiefly of the tribe of the Arnaxosa, with whom the colonists first cante in contact at the line of the Great Fish River in 1778, and the FingoeS; who originally came from Natal and its vici nity; driven thence early in the present century by Chaka, a warlike chief of the Zulu Kaffres, they took refuge with the tribes on the border of Cape Colony. There they were reduced to a state of serfdom, from which they were liberated by Sir Benjamin D Urban after the third Kaffre war of 1835, when a body of 16,000 of them came into the colony and settled in what is now the division of Peddie. From this, again, the greater part of the Fingoes have moved to the district now called Fingo Land, east of the River Kei, recently joined to the colony. In 1865 the number of Kaffres within the limits of the colony was not less than 164,500. The Kaffres of the native districts which have come under British rule during the last three years are—

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Prior to 1827 there existed in the several districts of the colony an institution established by the Dutch called the Board of Landrost and Heemraaden. The landrost was the chief magistrate of the district, appointed and paid by the Government. The heemraaden was a council to assist him, composed of respectable inhabitants appointed by tie governor, on the recommendation of the landrost. These boards not only had the administration of the local affairs usually entrusted to municipal bodies, but they also possessed extensive judicial authority. In consequence of abuses, more especially in the exercise of the latter func tions, these institutions were abolished in 1827. Prior to 1837 the whole authority of the general Govern ment was vested in the governor, assisted by a small council of officials. In that year a legislative council was established, consisting of certain Government officials, and five persons nominated by the Crown. An executive council was also established to assist the governor in executive matters, consisting of certain high officers of Government. Such was the form of government till 1853, when the legislative council as thus established was abolished, and a new constitution introduced. Under this the legislature consists of the governor, appointed by the colonial office for a term of six years, and two chambers, called the legislative council and the house of assembly, both elected by the people. The former body was latterly composed of eleven members for the western and ten for the eastern province, chosen by the whole body of electors. But in 1873 a bill was introduced for dividing the country into seven electoral provinces, to give a more equable distri bution of political influence, and to do away with the separa tion of the colony into two parts; and by this arrangement each of the new divisions is to return three members to the upper chamber. This bill became law in 1874, but does not come into execution until the dissolution of the existing council by expiration of the time of its session To qualify a man to be elected for this chamber, he must possess property in land worth 2000, clear of charges, or 4000 in landed and personal property together ; he must be thirty years of age, and must have been invited to become a candidate by written requisition, signed by not less than twenty-five electors. The voting in this election is cumu lative, chat is, any elector may give all his votes (as many as there are members to be chosen) to one candidate, or he may distribute them among the candidates as he pleases. The council is elected for ten years, but so that half its number, as near as may be, go out every five years. The legislative assembly is chosen bj the electors of the towns and other electoral districts into which the colony is divided. The candidates have to be proposed and seconded at the hustings. There is no property qualification required of the candidates. The assembly consists of sixty-eight members, and is elected for five years. The qualification of electors of both houses is the same, namely, the occupation of fixed property worth 25, or the 