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are presented in chronological order so that their development may be traced from year to year, or from day to day, as the case may be; and also because, in South African history especially, it is important to know not only when a particular event happened, but what was happening elsewhere in the countries round about at the same time. These two requirements, it is hoped, are met by the "Diary" arrangement; while, on the other hand, there should be no great difficulty in working out the continuous story of any particular branch of the subject with the help alike of the Index and of the frequent references, in brackets, to the next stage of development of the matters referred to. The Index itself has been drawn up, not according to the pages, but according to the dates—also arranged chronologically-under which the details will be found. Where a date alone is required it will, in most cases, be obtained at once from the Index; while in regard to such subjects as the Jameson Raid, the Franchise Laws, the Boer Intrigues for Expanded Boundaries, the action of Germany in South Africa, the leading events of the present campaign, or the histories of the Transvaal, Cape Colony, Natal, Basutoland, Swaziland, or Zululand, the entire story can be taken in at a glance, together with the date at which each development occurred, further facts being obtained from the Diary at any particular point, as desired.

The details given as to the way in which, step by

step, the Boers sought to expand the boundaries to which they had pledged themselves by the Pretoria and London Conventions to keep, are especially deserving of study even by those who are already more or less familiar with the subject. Another point made, it is hoped, abundantly clear, is the long-continued difference of view between British Ministers unwilling to increase our responsibilities in South Africa, and British representatives there who, with greater knowledge and better foresight, recognised the fact that our growing responsibilities could not be repudiated with impunity; while over and over again—in Natal, in St. Lucia Bay, in Bechuanaland, in Zululand, in Zambaan and Umbegesa's territory, and elsewhereMinisters reluctant to annex were forced by the tactics of the Boers themselves into eventually taking over territories they did not want and which, in most cases, they might have had with far less trouble years and years before.

There is no need to refer here to all the other matters which have been brought together; but readers who are interested in the personal character of Mr. Kruger, and already have their doubts whether he is such a "patriot" as some people would have us believe, may like to have their attention directed to the correspondence which will be found under date May 20, 1878, giving the actual facts in connexion with his dismissal from the post he had accepted under the British Government after the annexation. In the light of

present events there was something almost prophetic (as regards one, at least, of the persons concerned) in the declaration then made by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, respecting Kruger and Joubert, when he wrote to the former: "No two men in the Transvaal have done more to make the general ruin you deprecate possible than you have, and upon no shoulders will the responsibility of averting it press so heavily as upon yours."

LONDON, March 30, 1900

EDWIN A. PRATT

LEADING POINTS IN

SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY

1486. The Cape discovered. Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese navigator Bartholomew Diaz.

1497. The Cape doubled.-Vasco da Gama doubles the Cape with a fleet of four vessels of 125 tons each, and discovers the Natal coast, which he so names because he sees it first on Christmas Day.

1503. Table Bay and Table Mountain.-Antonio Saldanha, a Portuguese, lands in Table Bay, and is the first European to ascend Table Mountain.

1580. What Sir Francis Drake thought of the Cape. Sir Francis Drake doubles the Cape, which he describes as "the most stately thing and fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the world."

1591. English ships in Table Bay.-First visit of English ships to Table Bay.

1595. Dutch ships in Table Bay.-First visit of the Dutch to Table Bay.

1600. English East India Company.-English East India Company formed.

B

1602. Dutch East India Company.-Dutch East India Company formed.

1620. A port of call.—Table Bay becomes an ordinary port of call for ships proceeding east.

- JULY 3. A premature announcement.- British sovereignty proclaimed over South Africa by Shilling and Fitz Herbert, two English East India Company captains, who raise the British flag on Signal Hill. [No settlement, however, was attempted, the annexation being repudiated by James I.]

1648. A wreck that led to great results.-Dutch East India Company's ship Haarlem is wrecked in Table Bay. [The crew remained ashore several months before being rescued. On their return home they gave a glowing account of the country, and recommended the establishment of a station there. It was resolved to act on their advice.]

1652. APRIL 7. The Dutch take possession.— A Dutch East India Company's expedition, commanded by Jan van Riebeck, a surgeon in the Company's service, takes possession of Table Bay, under a charter granted by the Dutch States General. [There was then no idea of establishing a colony. All that was aimed at was the securing of a halfway house to India, where ships could call for fresh meat and vegetables. No white man had yet gone so far as 10 miles inland.]

1657. The first settlers.-Nine soldiers and sailors, discharged from the Dutch East India Company's service, have small farms allotted to them at Rondebosch.

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