forests, mountains, and towns recall certain past epochs and well-known stages of settlement. As the various strata of geology throw light upon the history of the earth and suggest the periods in which its outer crust was formed, so the extant nomenclature in geography illustrates the history of the various races of human beings who have come and gone upon its surface. In South Africa it is natural to look first of all for old Bushman and Hottentot names, and such are the Keiskamma, a compound Hottentot or Koranna word, meaning 'sweet water,' also the Qora, a name given to a river known for its 'clay,' from which the native pipes were made. Further east, the Umzimvubu, the Umzimkulu, and Tugela indicate the Kaffir influence which predominated and drove out the Hottentots. The Hottentot or Koranna names begin more towards the west, and are found in the Gamtoos and Gouritz Rivers and in the Zitzikamma Forest. Kamma would appear to be the word Xlammi, meaning 'water". Further north, the Gariep River bears a Hottentot name and means the Yellow River. Karroo, meaning a 'dry hard desert,' and gough, an onomatopoeic word expressing 'disgust,' are also Hottentot words.

(27) The Portuguese have left traces behind them in the Island of St. Croix, so called by Diaz, 1486; in Cape l'Agulhas, or 'The Needles'; Saldanha Bay, originally applied to Table Bay, was so named after Antonio de Saldanha, commander of a ship in Albuquerque's fleet (1503). The Cape of Good Hope received its name from the king of Portugal, being changed from Cabo di totos Tormentos, the Cape of all the Storms, as originally bestowed upon it. The circumnavigation of the Cape, rough though it was, gave 'Good Hope' indeed to the

1 "Transactions of South African Philosophical Society,' vol. i,

Portuguese mariners of the eastern trade. Vasco di Gama, landing in Mossel Bay in December, 1497, called it The Bay of St. Blaize, after the patron saint of Armenia, a name which is still retained and given to the promontory and lighthouse on the western extremity. The name of Mossel Bay was given, in 1602 or 1603, by Paul van Kaarden, a Dutch sailor, whilst on a coast survey, being suggested to him by a vast quantity of sea-shells found in a cave at a considerable height above the sea-level and believed to have been left there by the aborigines of the country. Algoa Bay and Point Padrone, further east, are other vestiges of Portuguese exploration; and St. Helena, the lonely Atlantic island, and St. Helena Bay on the western shores of Cape Colony, and Cape St. Francis on the south, recall that system of naming after saints of the Church which was so much in vogue in the fifteenth and subsequent centuries. For in those days the sailor took with him a saints' calendar as well as a mariner's compass.

(28) The signs of Dutch occupation meet us on all sides in the naming of places, although their nomenclature has sometimes been supplanted by English. Dorp, like ville, is a common suffix, as in Burghersdorp; Olifants River, of which there are many, means 'elephant river'; Brakfontein means 'bitter fountain'; fontein is used very largely everywhere, so is vlei, meaning 'hollow depression' or valley in which water collects'; spruit means 'brook,' as in Cornet's spruit in Basutoland, stadt the 'town' or 'homestead'; kraal is a Portuguese word meaning a ‘compound' or 'inclosure'; drift means a 'ford,' as in Fugitives' Drift; Platz means a 'place' or 'farm,' kopje ‘little head' or ‘hillock'; Tafelberg, of which there are several, means 'table mountain'; Fyn Bosch is 'thick underwood' or 'forest'; Poort signifies a 'gorge' or 'pass,' hoek a 'corner' or 'valley.' Here and there a former Dutch governor

M

is immortalised. Graaf Reinet (1780) was so called after a Dutch governor, Van de Graaf, and his wife, whose maiden name was Reinet. Swellendam, Tulbagh, Plettenberg, Oudtshoorn, recall the former Dutch governors, Swellengreble (1739), Tulbagh (1751), Plettenberg (1771), Van Oudtshoorn (1773).

(29) The memory also of the Huguenot immigration is kept alive in Franche Hoek, and of the German immigration to Kaffraria in the towns and villages of Potsdam, Berlin, Stutterheim, and many others. Herschel is an abiding witness to the sojourn of the great astronomer beneath the clear skies of the Cape, who not only was distinguished as an astronomer at the Cape, but as an educationist, who helped largely to lay the foundation of the present wide system of education in the Colony, and inspired others to pursue the work. The Victorian epoch is loyally commemorated in the divisions of Queenstown, Victoria East, and Victoria West, and Prince Albert. Port Alfred and the Alfred Docks at Capetown are both of them reminders of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to the colony in August, 1861. The divisions of Worcester, Somerset East and West, and Beaufort West recall the memory of a former governor, Lord Charles Henry Somerset (1822), Wodehouse recalls the genial rule of Sir Philip Wodehouse (1861), and Barkly that of Sir Henry Barkly (1870). Kimberley and Bathurst are named after two well-known Downing Street officials in their day. Port Elizabeth was so named after Lady Elizabeth Donkin, wife of Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin (1820). Ladygrey and Ladyfrere are so named after the wives of two distinguished governors. Carnarvon perpetuates the memory of the late Lord Carnarvon, a most esteemed and popular statesman; and Warrenton in Griqualand West recalls the name of Sir Charles Warren, whose successful expedition to

Bechuanaland may be regarded as an epoch in Cape

history.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Cape Constitution. Local Government and Divisional Councils. Religion. The University and Public Schools.

(1) The government of the Cape Colony is of the fully responsible character in accordance with which the executive are removable at the will of the electors. The Governor of the Colony is the representative of the Crown and keeps aloof from parties. He holds, however, a peculiar office and function at the Cape, known as the High Commissionership of South Africa, according to the terms of which he has the oversight of the natives within and without the borders of the Colony, and controls the relations of the Cape Colony with the neighbouring Republics. The terms of this Commissionership have increased from time to time with the expansion of South Africa northwards, until the sphere of the Governor's influence has reached, according to the latest developments, to the valley of the Zambesi and Mashonaland, a distance of more than 1500 miles from south to north.

(2) The circumstances of the Cape have been very different from those of other colonies, excepting perhaps New Zealand, where the native question existed at first as a serious bar to progress. But the New Zealanders are dying out, and the political problem is vanishing as far as the Maoris are concerned. In the Cape the Kaffirs are increasing under British protection and present a growing problem. The attitude of the Boers, also, has always been a standing difficulty. Sometimes on the

subject of slavery and slave compensation, sometimes on a question of trekking beyond the control of the State, and sometimes on matters of aimless lawlessness and the setting up of mock Republics, the Governor of the Cape, as representative of England's paramount position in South Africa, has been brought into conflict with the Boers. It was absolutely necessary that the ordinary powers of a constitutional Governor should be supplemented by the extraordinary powers of a High Commissioner. Yet the dual burden is vexing and vexatious. The position of a Constitutional Governor in Canada or Australia is simplicity itself compared with the almost anomalous status of the official who is at once the Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner of South Africa. A generation ago, when mere border difficulties with the Kaffirs were the main ones, the situation was comparatively clear, but the growth of empire and of collateral responsibilities has increased the cares of Her Majesty's vicegerent at Capetown.

It was in 1878 that a very wide Commission was given to the late Sir Bartle Frere, in virtue of which he held control over the territories of South Africa adjacent to the Cape Colony, or with which it might be expedient that Her Majesty should have relations, and which are not included within the territory of either of the Republics or of any foreign power. As High Commissioner he was enjoined to take all measures and to do all that could lawfully and discreetly be done for preventing the recurrence of any irruption into Her Majesty's possessions by hostile tribes, and for maintaining the said possessions in peace and safety. The Commission issued to Sir Henry Loch, the present Governor, is, if anything, wider in its scope, and includes a far larger area of administration. In 1878 little was heard of any foreign power creating complications for England in South