Briefwisseling oor Kaapse sake 1778-1792

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XLII. H. Cloete to Swellengrebel,
1791

I am sending you a sketch map of the whole valley in which my cattle-farm and pleasure-estate is situated at the mouth of the Klein Rivier valley near the Onrust River. The farm Uijlenkraal where Jan Swart lived when you visited the farm, but who has died since, is marked on the map. The route which you took from the Uijlenkraal to the stalactite-cave is also marked, passing a high ridge near the so-called Baviaans Fonteijn, which I have recently acquired as a loan-farm, to provide grazing ground for my oxen.

In January 1790 it was my pleasure to take the minister, Ds. Borger (Borcherts) of Stellenbosch, to the caves where I found a pyramid (stalagmite) 7 feet high which nature had made so beautiful that we were full of admiration and astonishment. I shall send you a sketch when I find a good artist. I was weak enough to ask a farmer, M. Beukes, to remove the pillar and bring it to Constantia, offering him a payment of Rds. 1 000, if it arrived intact - which it did. I also collected some small pieces which have been chiselled into knobs for rattan-canes and knife-handles. These were admired so much that I decided to go for a second time to the grotto, taking a waggon to collect the most beautiful natural specimens to give my friends pleasure. When I got there I found that the servant of Christoffel Brand had removed everything that was to be found. Brand claimed that he had promised to supply such curiosities to an English Lord who was godfather to his son. So I had to content myself with odds and ends that were still there. If anything of beauty can be fashioned from them I shall send you some.

I was so irritated that I decided to search and eventually found a hole in a rock which was closed by masonry, leaving a gap just large enough for one person to crawl through. I opened this up and found a passage two feet high and 3 feet broad, but very uneven. Mr. Wium and my son Dirk and a few slaves, each with a lighted candle in his mouth, crawled on hands and knees. After quarter of an hour they called to me that they had come to a place which was as beautiful as heaven. I called out: ‘That is where I want to be also!’ and began to creep with my heavy knapsack on my back. When I reached the end of the narrow passage, which was about 50 or more feet long, the skin of my elbows and knees was worn away and I had suffered extreme claustrophobia. I never broke more wind than in that narrow passage! But how great are God's wonders! A cavern, 400 feet deep, with wonderful stalagmites of all shapes and sizes, growing upward from the floor, not hanging from the ceiling, and not as

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bright in colour as the ones we saw in the old grotto of stalactites. On the right side is an underground stream on which a small boat could be rowed. The vault I would guess to be about 20 feet high ending in a dome about 8 feet in diameter and about 3 or 4 feet deep. The roof is lovely, but around the edges and lower down, round the whole cave, there are stalagmites of such magnificent shapes in such variety that I cannot describe them to you. I took only a few pieces because I was of opinion that I should first inform the Governor of the existence of these grottoes. Perhaps he will use knowledgeable people to fetch some of the most beautiful rocks for the Prince. I have offered my assistance, because my farm is nearby. It seems, however, that the Governor is not interested. I have, however, arranged with two good artists to take measurements and draw sketches.

Now your Honour is sure to enquire why this grotto was closed? I remember a time when there was a gang of knaves, slaves both men and women, all in possession of guns and ammunition, led by a certain Leander Boegies. They lived in a deep cavern where they had plenty of food and water so that they could not be starved into submission. We judged that it would be best to surprise him when he went fishing and prevent his returning to his cave. But the worthy Leander saw to it that all along the coast he always had a cave handy into which he could retreat, before we could catch him. This cave which I found, must have been such a bolt-hole. The commandos themselves sometimes had to take flight, although they occassionally managed to shoot one or two before they reached the cave. Eventually Leander moved away and what became of him we never heard. I found a Venus' ear (perlemoen) shell in the grotto which he must have left there and I took it away.

(Shall send you these and other natural specimens and also Nouvelles, of which a beginning has been made, but how they will end I cannot yet tell).

The reasons why I cannot foresee what will happen are these: The orders recently received for the Cape from Europe (of which you probably know) are such that some people are considering following the example of the time of the former Governor Van der Stel, of handing in a collection of signatures to a petition.

Remarkable things will happen here, and soon. I cannot believe, as is said, that the Governor will depart in three or four months' time. Yet what is making the Company so forethoughtful and paternal? It was more than time for this; and the Company will never again have to complain of the deterioration of its farms. A rough estimate suggests that a load of wood costs the Company Rds. 25 to 30. On the other hand, private

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persons can buy wood for Rds. 4½, 5 or 5½ per load, according to the season and the condition of the trek-oxen. Moreover, a ‘burgher’ load is twice as heavy.

The burghers in this neighbourhood ought to retain the same privilege as they enjoy now, namely to be able to graze their livestock in the Company's forests - without damage to them. If denied, it would be a great deprivation to the burghers. They have allowed their stock to graze in these forests unhindered, without ever having been prohibited. If this were revoked it could mean the ruination of owners of neighbouring farms. It has been found, moreover, that the few cattle which are essential here do not in the least damage the new young growth, particularly of kreupelhout, which is the main species here, because of its sturdy qualities. (A purchaser should be placed under an obligation to replant all the while, just as I have planted very many silver trees. The Nouvelles are now finished and will be sent separately.)

Meanwhile, unexpectedly, since last September, we must pay the tithes on our grains and wines in cash, although the Company itself does not profit from this. We used to be assessed for the wine-tax on a chit and could then pay it into the Company's cash-office. Now we have to pay cash to the Fiscal's servant (and wig-maker!) who has been installed as agent to collect the tithes at the patrol barrier (where waggons entering the town are searched). It is said that for this he draws 2 per cent and is given the rank of Assistant at 20 gl. per month. Furthermore, the smallest piece of paper money issued by the Company is a 4 schelling note, and thereafter Rds. 1, 2, 3, 4 and more. Silver money is so rare that dubbeltjes (2 stiver pieces) are virtually unobtainable for putting into the poor box.

A farmer, bringing in a load of corn, has to pay this agent 8 stivers; for two loads 16 st. Only if he brings 3 loads can he pay in paper money of 4 schellingen. For four loads he still needs 8 st. in cash and for 5 loads, 16 st. The same thing happens in the case of wine brought in in half-aums. If he cannot provide 3 schelling in silver money for a half-aum, he cannot pass the barrier. I am assured that, although the agent has a cash-box with silver money he will not give a silver stiver as change for a payment in paper money. I can testify that the waggons have to remain there while the slaves scour the town to exchange some paper money for silver, in their master's name, in order to be held up no longer. In my own presence, my son Lourens has advanced silver money to a slave out of pity for the poor oxen. So things go on every day and all day. From one day to the next one discovers beautiful novelties.

On the sale of ‘loan farms’, 2½% goes into the Company's treasury. This I approve of. If a farmer can obtain a loan-farm from the Company

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for Rds. 24 p.a. and uses it to his own advantage till, after some years, he sells it for 10 000 to 20 000 gl. he ought to be pleased to pay his 2½ per cent to the company. That I regard as right ...