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Khoikhoi community sometimes clashed with the Xhosa desire to regain their own lost land and to have strategic

r at the time so-called ‘Hottentot’

Hottentot nationalism’ (Ross 1997

Khoikhoi and San and the f ormerly enslaved rose in large numbers from within the Cape Colony in support of the Xhosa

The course of this agonising war has been well traced by several scholars (Ross 2000; Crais 1992; Kirk 1973, 1980; Mostert 1992; Peires 1981, 1989)

Speeches were made in which speakers explained that they had been defrauded of their very pay during the last war and had returned to Ž nd that their cattle, left without keepers, had been sold at public auction: ‘On their return home they found themselves ruined.

he gathered around him a large number of impoverished clients, mostly Xhosa and Mfengu, including 48 men and their families by 1842; Stockenstrom, who claims that Matroos was disliked and feared by local Khoi, reduced his territory in 1836 ( Crais 1992: 162; Stockenstrom 1854: 14). In the 1846 War of the Axe

The issue of corruption arises around this commission in a triple sense. Firstly, the magistrate, Louis Meurant, and others were corrupt, colluding to have as much land as possible f orfeited. Meurant was clearly engaged in shady practices, such as exploiting the i ll iteracy of many Kat River sett lers to f al sif y docume

In early 1851, a colonial force led by Colonel Somerset brutally recaptured the Kat River settlement. Both Mfengu and white members of this force committed atrocities against local inhabitants, including loyalists. Some white settlers paraded through the valley with a red  ag with the word ‘extermination’ on it. For a number of loyalists, the brutalities stretched loyalty to the breaking

(Elbourne 1994; Trapido 1992; Bradlow 1985; Mason 1992: 580-585, NewtonKing 1980 )

The Kat River settlers were conscripted into the colonial f orces in 1835-6 and again in 1846-7.

As these con icts over the meaning of Christianity suggest, the war deeply divided the non-white communities of the colonial Eastern Cape. Although many nuclear families went into the bush together, with children, at the most intimate level the war also split many families apart. This was all the more so given the large number of people beyond the nuclear core who were considered to form part of a Khoikhoi fami

body the conf usions of identity of the Cape Colony: he was the son of a white missionary, James Read Snr, and a Khoikhoi woman, Elizabeth Valentyn. In conj unction with his f ather and t he r adi cal wing of t he L ondon Missi onary Soci ety, he had f ought all his lif e f or Christianity, civilization, and the rule of law, which he believed would save the Khoikhoi f rom degradation and inj ustice. He had been educated in Scotland and Cape Town, and described himself in 1834 as a liberal: he believed in the rights of man. 39 He was also a cynical observer of the brutalities of colonial rule. He sat uneasily between white and African society: he was a missionary, and thus at least theoretically respectable, and yet he was of mixed race. Louis Meurant, son of a slave owner and later to be a magistrate at Kat River, exempliŽ ed the colonial conviction

He published a series of long letters in the South African Commerical A dvertise

The victory of the white settler narrative was expressed in debates over land conŽ scation

1835 devastation of the settlement during war. And so those who wished the return of land were compelled to describe the stat e of their house and grounds, as the com missi oners sought to dem onst rate t he quintessential lack of civilization of erf-holders without glass windows, brick walls, or more than one room. This lack of civilization in turn justiŽ ed the colonial rhetoric of ‘Hottentot’ primitiveness and savage

Most Khoikhoi, i ncl uding Ž eld cornet s, were not actually living like Brit ish Victorian

A second important aspect of the af termath of rebellion is that the Khoikhoi were no longer perceived as useful agents of rule by the British state

There is a letter in the South African library from the last surviving daughter of James Read Jnr to the archivis

Some of the latest and best authorities fix the foundation of Memphis by Menes at 4000 years B. C., and the building of the pyramids at 500 years later; the obelisk of Heliopolis and the tombs of Beni Hassan at 3000, all of which necessarily implies onie or two thousand years of previous consolidation to create an empire capable of such achievements.

Finally the Turks, under Sultan Selim, conquered Egypt in 1517, and hold it to this day.

wondrou

Its soil was trod by Abraham and Jacob, Joseph and Moses, as well as by Herodotus, Pythagoras and Plato. After the glories of the Pharaohs and the conquests of Cambyses, came those of Alexander. Then followed the Ptolemies, Anthony and Cleopatra, Pompey and Caesar and Augustus.

he Nile,

In the Soudan, negro blood begins to predominate. To these elements must be added 90,000 Circassians, Jews, Syrian s and Armenians, 40,000 Turks and about 100,000 Europeans; and in the deserts, 300,000 Bedouins who are of a type entirely different from all the rest, being nearly all of pure Arab blood

Mohammed Ali was born at Cavalla, in Macedonia, on the Gulf of Salonica, in 176

t Memlooks would soon treat him as they had done all his predecessors, he resolved to suiypress them. Suimmoned to the citadel of Cairo on the 1st of March, 1811, for a state ceremony, they repaired there on horseback, about 800 strong. The ouiter gate, Bab-el-azab, was closed on them, and the first inner gate al

, Mohammed Ali organized his army upon the European model, with the assistance of numerous French officers, and commenced all these reforms in civil as well as military matters which have placed Egypt so far ahead of other Mussulman countries. He died insane in 1849.

Ibrahim-Pasha, his son, exercised a short time the functions of regent, but died before his father. He was a great soldier, and twice-in 1832 and 1839-he would have driven the Sultan out of Constantinople had he not been stopped in the height of victory by the European power

r Mohammed Ali came Abbas-Pasha, a cruel tyrant, who died by violence in 1854; then Said-Pasha, and in 1863 Ismall-Pasha, the son of Ibrahim, who was forced to abdicate a year or two ago.

Ismagl-Pasha, the deposed Khedive, was once the most belauded of men, as he became afterwards the best abused; yet he might say, in the words of the French poet: " Wais je n'ai m6ritO Ni cet excbs d'honneur ni cette indignit6."

" Modern Egypt and its People.

Pompey's pillar, nearly 100 feet total height, the shaft being of a single piece of red Syenite granite, highly polished, 73 feet in length, was erected about the year 300 of our era, in honor of Diocletian, and had no more connection with Pompey the Great than Cleopatra's needles with Cleopat

Egypt should perish of hunger. Ismail's greatest error was in not tendering a compromise of 50 per cent. of his debL, which would have been accepted gladly, and 3 or 4 per cent. interest, instead of 12 and 14 and 20, which he had been paying for years.

His son, the present Khedive, has much less ability than his father, and is a mere figurehead, the consuls and commissioners having virtual control. The ex-Khedive and his sons are well educated for Orientals, and in their habits and mode of living, are quite European except as regards the hareem. They all speak French fluentl

Alexandria, or Iskanderia, as the Arabs call it, is the great seaport of Egypt, founded and named by Alexander 332 B.

The Arab quarters are inhabited by about 200,000 natives, and the European population amount to 60,000 more

Out of a debt of one hundred millions of pounds Egypt never realized over forty-five millions, and the suffering inflicted upon his people by excessive taxation was partly due to his extravagance,

They were originally at Heliopolis, but were brought to Alexandria under Tiberius. They bear the hieroglyphics of Thotmes III. (1500) and Rameses II. (Sesostris the Great), 1400 B.C.

The distance is 130 miles; time, four hours and a half, over a perfectly level country, for Cairo, 12 miles above the apex of the Delta, is only 40 feet above the sea level.

e "'New Hotel

emple, and you would not be astonished if from it issue the Caliph Haroun-al-Rasbid with his faithful Mesrour, or the very same three Calenders whose adventures are recorded in the "Arabian Nights," and I could vow that I have seen the very oil jars in which Ali-Baba's forty thieves were scalded to death. There are the same bazars, with the same little shops, mere recesses in the wall, where the merchant, sitting cross-legged, can reach without rising every shelf in his shop. There he sits all day smoking his chibook and wa

ge English horses and full of lovely, half-veiled, fair Circassian and Georgian women. Two mounted janizaries, with long pistols in their holsters and curved scimetars at their sides, gallop some twenty yards in front. Behind come four syces, in pairs, with cressets full of burDing light-wood, then two more syces with wands. At each side of the carriage rides a mounted eunuch, and a pair of them follow the carriage, and behind them, another couple of mounted janizaries. They pass you at full speed, the flashing of dark eyes mingling with that of diamon

. Just between the New Hotel and Shepherd's Hotel, in the most frequented part of the European quarter, stands a building whose history brings all the darkness of the Middle Ages in juxtaposition with modern civilization. It is a palace of Arab architecture, surrounded by a palm grove and enclosed within a lofty stone wall. In that palace, less than twenty-five years ago, lived the widowed daughter of Mohammed Ali-the widow of the famous Defterda

She was a beautiful and talented woman, but licentious and cruel

This princess whose power at couirt was very great, was one of the chief actors in the assassination of her nephew, Abbas-Pasha, in 185

. It is a small city in itself, three or four times more extensive than the Tower of London. It contains a vast palace, once inhabited by Mohammed Ali, and his tomb in the mosk, which he built of Oriental alabaster and whose minarets are miracles of architectural bol

! The unequalled moon of Egypt has just risen above the Mokattan range, and its silver light mingles with the fiery glow of departing day. As you now stand nothing lies before you but the tombs of the Caliphs and the Arab cemeteries scattered in dreary ravines of yellow sand

ore. I once had an orderly, a Copt Christian named Girgis, or George, about fifty-five years old. TIe said he had beeni more than twenty-five years in service and, having no friends to apply for his release, he did not know that he would ever be discharged.

Their white cotton uniforms (short tunics, baggy zouave trouisers, and gaiters over their substanitial army shoes) are well suited to the climate and make a very good appearance. They are exceedingly weell drilled upon the French system of tactics. The infantry are armed with the best American Remington rifles. The cavalry are extremely well mounted and equipped. The artillery are well organized and have several batteries of the best Krupp guns. The officers are thoroughly acquainted with the routine of service, but the best of them are utterly ignorant of the higher branches of military science. They, as well as their soldiers, understand perfectly all the details of military life.

In one word, they possess all thebest qualities of soldiers except one-the fighting quality. This probably is due in part to the oppression of centuries, the Egyptian people having beenl ruled bv a foreign conqueror for 2,400 y

The subordinate officers are hardly a shade better than the men, and the high Pashas think only of their ease and personal safety. At the battle of Guy Khoor, in Abyssinia, the Pashas and Colonels, with Prince Hassan at their head, led the flight before the fight had fairly begun, and when my gallant frienid General Dye, severely wounded, tried to stern the tide of the retreating troops, the soldiers said to hi

Egyptian army from a defeat as complete as that of Isandula, for the Abyssinians fight as desperately as the Zulus. It is true that two or three Arab officers of high rank fought bravely and were killed on the field, buit they were the exception. Ratib-Pasha, who commanded the army, saw his extreme right flank-one battalion and a battery, which he had imprudently left isolated about twelve hundred yards off-surrounded by a multitude of Abyssinians, who rushed for that ga

There are also large barracks, military schools, all the bureaus of the War Department, arsenals, vast magazines, workshops and a cannon foundry. Also the famous well of Joseph, 270 feet deep, so called, not from the Joseph of Scripture, but from Saladin, whose name was Yusu

The line-officers, nearly all natives, did not show any dislike to the Christian staff-officers, even if they felt it. When the financial difficulties culminated in 1878, the English and French comptrollers, who had virtually assumed the government, ordered a great reduction of the army and the discharge of all the foreign officers, which resulted in the practical abolition of the staff. There were now left in the army only two elements-the native or fellah, and the Turco-Circassian. The Turks have hitherto occupied nearly all the high positions, civil and military, for they still retain their prestige as the conquerors of Egypt.

The ex-Khedive, IsmaYl-Pasha, was a regular purchaser of twenty or thirty of them every year. It is the highest ambition of a Circassian girl to be sold to the Sultan or some of his chief officers. If she succeeds in becoming a favorite, her brothers hasten to sbare her fortunes by obtaining civil or military appointments. This accounts for there being so many Circassians in high places in Turkey and Egypt. Ratib-Pasha, the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army under Ismail-Pasha, was a Cireassiani. (See Appendix A.) Until the close of the Abyssinian war, the Egyptian army seemed to be absolutely submissive to its Prince.

" Holy War,"

The most prominent were Generals Mott, Sibley, Loring, Stone, who held the rank of Pashas (Generals); Reynolds, Dye, Field, Long, Prout, Lockett, Ward, Purdy andl Mason, who ranked as Beys or Colonels

te. Several of my esteemed comrades in those expeditions-Campbell, Losche, Lamnson-left their bones in the deserts of the Soudan, and others returnied with impaired constitutions.

l Obeyad, the capital of Kordofan, after unspeakable sufferings. There I was joined by that talented and accomplished officer, Col. H. G. Prout, to whom I turned over the comnmand. The surgeon anw everybody else gave me up to die, and I thought my days had reached their term. But I began to mend slowly, and after six months I started back for Cairo.

El Obeyad from Suakim on the Red Sea, where I took a steamer for Suez and thence by rail to Cairo. All the Americans except Gen. Stone are now out of the Egyptian army, but I can assert with

They stop every two or three hundred yards while the discordant music strikes up and a hired male dancer goes through some absurd contortions

f Dr. Parsons, the American missionary, and they will never be hanged unless the United States send a squadron to require it. Our Secretary of State in his last report states that the demands of his department on this subject have been evaded.

On my second -expedition to Kordofan, one of the soldiers of my escort, rejoicing in the name of Abou-la-nane, came to me on the eve of our departure from Cairo, and stated that he had married a wife from a village far up the Nile. Would I permit him to take his wife on the boat and leave her at her village with her relatives; otherwise she would starve from misery in Cairo. This was probably a subterfuge, but I consented. Arriving at the village after several days, Abou-la-nane came and said that all his wife's relations were dead, and if she was left there she would starve more certainly than in Cairo. " Would his Excellency the Bey (that was myself) permit him to take her along?" I told him that if he did she would certainly surely die in the desert from the hardships we would

One night at Dongola, on the Upper Nile, after retreat, the whole camp was startled by the wails and moanings of Hafizah, the soldier's wife. He had become jealous of the attentions of the sergeant of artiller

The sentence was irrevocable. Fortunately theire were no witnesses, and he stoutly denied having used the triple formula, only the simple one. So they went before the cadi and got married again, and everything was altogether lovely. I may as well state here that my kitid treatment of Abou-la-nane and his wife was "bread cast on the waters." When in the heart of Kordofan, soldiers and servants were dying or prostrated by fevers, and I was at the point of death, this little weak, puny woman was never sick a day, and did all the coQking and washing at headquarters wheni no one else could be found to do it. When I was transported back to Cairo, Abou-la-nane was detailed as one of my escort, and he returned safely to Cairo with his wife. Another anecdote to illustrate inatrimonial customs: The house in which I dwelt the last four mnonths of my residence in Egypt was in Alexandria, just behind the English chuirc

" His Excellency Belhram Aga, Chief of the Eunuchs," rode past on a magnificent charger, the orders of the Osmanie and Medschidje glittering on his breast, followed by Ahmed Bey and a number of the adjutants of the Sultan. When he arrived at the gate of the palace, lambs were slaughtered before him as a token of welcome.

he Sultan sent across to his new official two symbols of office, a written document and a magnificent silver pastoral staff worked in relief, which is never handled by any but the Agas of the imperial hare

Boston News-Letter,

The plants, herbs, human blood, graveyard dirt, and other substances

Kormantin

some Negro Slaves here of ye Nations of Caramantee & Pappa plotted to destroy all the White[s] in order to obtain their freedo

nine rebels with obvious Akan day names, a young male slave by the name of Dick, owned by Harmanus Burger, performed a vital function during the course of the trials. Having been charged in the coroner's inquest with the murder of Henry Brasier on April 9, 1712, Dick along with Peter Vantilborough's Cuffee received immunity in return for services provided to the British Crown. Serving as an interpreter for the slaves who could not speak English-on several dates including April 11th, 12th, 14th, 16th, and 17th; May 7th and 27th; and June 4th-Dick's skills in that regard were drawn on in at least seven of the nine cases involving slaves with Akan day names. Joost Lynsen's Quacko,

e (Aduru Pa), malevolent medicine (adubone), or poison (aduto).

e 21 Africans facing criminal charges in connection with the uprising, 9 had Akan day names. Of the slaves accused of being involved in the revolt, 2 were named Cuffee, 4 were named Quacko, 1 was named Quashi, Quasi, and Amba, respectivel

that constitute the powder all contain an innate amount of supernatural forc

Western hemisphere derivatives-Vodun, Santeria, and Condomble-would play a similar role in other regions of the Americas. During the initial phases of the 1791 Santo Domingo slave uprising, for example, an individual known as Boukman Dutty, a Vodun high priest, was the initial leader who masterminded the revolutionary movement. Boukman had considerable influence among slaves, serving as both a religious figure and the headman of a plantation. The plan he

Bookman

The Aja-speaking Yoruba originated in a region of West Africa in which both variants of the Kwa language group (including Akan and Aja) were spoken and in which there was a great deal of cultural and commercial contact between the Akan and the Yoruba city-states. With this degree of cultural interplay and diffusion, it is conceivable that an Akan speaker would be well versed in the spiritual beliefs and practices of the Yorub

, it sets the cattle import trade in the context of commercial relations in general between Natal and Madagascar in the period 1875-1

The aim and object in life [for Africans] seems to be to accumulate cattle, rather than to accumulate money in the form of gold and silver; but in the ultimate analysis we see that cattle .. . takes the place of the banks

ir commercial impact has passed largely unremarked by historians, yet diseases were directly responsible in Natal for a marked stagnation in the cattle stock which, after increasing 24 percent between 1885 and 1889, fell by 8 percent in the following two yea

Cattle were also the primary, if not exclusive, form of capital accumulation for most Africans. Cattle diseases thus not only deprived African farmers of draft oxen to plow fields, supply manure, and transport goods, but also depleted their capital resources. -Kingon commented of the impact of East

involvement by South African cattle merchants in the Malagasy slave trade.

One prevalent cattle disease in the late nineteenth century was Redwater (Babesiosis) which first appeared in Natal in 1870-1871, having been introduced by infected cattle fro

By 1890 it affected all regions of South Africa, although in the highlands of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal the

.7 -Cattle mortality from Redwater was initially high, notable among imported European and Cape cattle, although it would appear that local stock developed a resistance to the disease following its most virulent phase in the summer of 1874

During the 1870s Redwater was joined by "Quarter-evil" or "Sponsick," an allied disease that attacked mainly young cattle of between one and three years of ag

entury.9 Another cattle disease prevalent in late nineteenth century South Africa was Lungsickness or bovine pleuropneumonia. Colenbrander claims that it was introduced in the 1850s

traders of disposing of their cattle in small numbers to Africans as they travelled.10 Anthrax and nagana were also present in th

s.11 In 1889 however, high cattle losses were caused by an outbreak of Fluke disease, known locally as "Slack" and elsewhere variously as Liver Rot, Coathe, Bane, and Sheep

s of Lungsickness and to a persistent drought. The latter had led to the failure of crops in 1888, depleting winter forage and therefore lowering cattle resistance to parasites

oxen in 1902 and 1903 - despite interruptions caused by the French imposition of a quarantine on all ships from Natal following the false rumor of an outbreak of plague at Durban. The influx of Madagascar cattle helped sustain the rapid rise in imports into Natal: in 1901 Africa, excluding South Africa, accounted for over one percent of Natal's total imports for the first time in fourteen years.35 East Coast Fever had the same general impact upon the South African economy as rinderpest, similarly generating a large demand for cattle imports.36 However, whereas Madagascar's geographical isolation saved it from rinderpest, the same was not true of East Coast fever. As Koch noted in his 1903 report : In Beira I was informed some time ago cattle were frequently brought there from German East Africa and Madagascar, and that the latter animals, especially ... from the South of the Island, soon became sick and died, while the cattle from the East African Coast and the Northern districts of Madagascar remained healthy.37 As soon as his findings became public, demand in South Africa for Malagasy cattle fell sharply, their value dropped, and imports plummeted. It would appear that following the spread of East Coast Fever, many cattle imported from Madagascar were ordered to be slaughte

ath of stock - in the 1890 drought 100,000 cattle died in the Transkei alone - and the spread of malnutrition and disease.14 Severe droughts created particularly favorable conditions for th

Southern Africa. The 1896 locust plague was also a major contributing factor in the rebellion that year in Bechuanaland, which had been particularly badly affected, as the main locust breeding ground was located on the edge of the Kalahari.15

The cattle stock of South Africa was thus considerable enfeebled by 1896 when it was hit by

maliland in 1889. Rinderpest subsequently spread rapidly south, reaching Uganda in 1890 and Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) by late 1892. The river Zambesi was the most effective barrier to its progress south, for the disease did not reach Zimbabwe (Southern

Consequently owners were frequently compelled to sell their cattle at ridiculous prises, rather than to keep them, and run

Accentuated by the effects of the 1897 drought, the rinderpest epidemic of 1896-1897 wrought havoc with the cattle stock of South Africa. In Mafeking 95 percent and in the Transkei an estimated 90 percent of cattle were killed by rinderpest. Overall it has been estimated that rinderpest caused an 85 percent mortality among unprotected cattle. Even in areas where inoculation was adopted, as in most of Cape Colony, 35 percent of cattle perished. Due to a variety of factors, African losses were much higher than those sustain

uth Africa occurred at Komatipoort and Nelspruit in M

00 - the first recorded cases in South Africa occurred at Komatipoort and Nelspruit in May 1902. Its progress south was slower than rinderpest ,but by 1904 it affected most of the Transvaal from where it spread to Natal. In 1910 it crossed into the Transkei and within a few years all of South Africa was affected. The similarity of East Coast Fever to Redwater initially led to it being termed "Rhodesian Redwater," an indication of its supposed origins. As with rinderpest, specialists found the disease difficult to contend with and theories on preventative measures and treatme

19 Thousands

nfected imported cattle to the non-immune stock of the interior and to foreign cattle imports.21 In 1903 an inoculation program was started in Zimbabwe, while the following year the government of Natal voted ?2,000 to assist its farmers in the erection of cattle dipping tanks. Nevertheless by 1905 East Coast Fever had spread throughout all the lowveld districts of South Africa, and incidences of the disease were reported on the highveld at Marico, Germiston, and Boksburg. Although it appeared to vanish quickly, outbreaks reoccurred in 1906 in the Natal districts of Paulpietersburg, Ngotshe, Vryheid, Nongoma, and Mahlabatini. The disruption caused by the Zululand rebellion of that year - a revolt in which cattle losses might well have been a formative cause further facilitated the spread of the disease; by March 1910 it had reached Eastern Griqualand via the Umzimkulu district, and by 1912 had spread through the Transkei (where of 158,884 cattle inoculated against the disease by 1914 only onethird survived) to affect the

The persistence in Natal of disease and natural blights ensured a chronic dearth of cattle and, as the latter constituted such an important element in the local economy, especially in agriculture and transport, imports were encouraged to build up depleted stock, notably in the periods 1875-1882,

s.27 Despite regular veterinary inspections which slowed the process of importation, the profits to be gleaned tempted seven Natal firms to engage in the trade in the perio

Between 1883 and 1897 very few cattle were imported into Natal, Malagasy oxen only being imported in any number during the years 1890/91-1891/92 (a total of 175) when it is possible that only one Natal merchant, Beningfield & Son, was involved. Imports of

the price o

Bay, at the strikingly low price of ?1.6 a head.32 Likewise, Natal merchants looked to Madagascar to replenish their stocks. Oxen from Madagascar proved consistently cheaper than those imported from other sources, the sole exception being in 1902 when 673 oxen were imported from Britain at under ?2.00 a head. It was therefore to Madagascar, despite the history of cattle infections there, that Natal merchants turned. Moreover, the demand came from white and black farmers alike. Although the fortunes of African farmers were sharply reduced by cattle losses, forcing considerable numbers of African males to seek wage

Accentuated by the effects of the 1897 drought, the rinderpest epidemic of 1896-189

t of Natal's total imports for the first time in fourteen years.35 East Coast Fever had the same general impact upon the South African economy as rinderpest, similarly generating a large demand for cattle imports.36 However, whereas Madagascar's geographical isolation saved it from rinderpest, the same was not true of East Coast fever. As Koch noted in his 1903 report : In Beira I was informed some time ago cattle were frequently brought there from German

In contrast to imports into Natal from Africa (excluding South African territories), Madagascar was a marginal consumer of Natal's exports to Africa - of which it generally accounted for less than 10 percent except in the decade 18781888, when it fell below 10 percent in 1884 and 1886-1887 due largely to the economic effects of the Franco-Merina War of 1882-1885.42 Madagascar's greatest share of Natal's exports was in 1878 (35 percent) and 1881-1883 (25, 22, and 29 percent respectively). Conditions in Natal also affected the region's export performance, particularly during the South African War of 1889-1902 when, in marked contrast to its imports from Africa (which rose appreciably), its exports to Africa declined. Indeed, conditions of trade for the entire period 1898-1904 were considered abnormal, the customs collector in 19

ered an average 20 percent loss in cattle en route compared to an average of ten days' sail from the southwest to Durban and a 9 percent cattle mortality en route.45 Second, by sailing to independent reaches of Madagascar, Natal merchants avoided middlemen costs imposed by the Merina. Taxes raised by local chiefs in the southwest of Madagascar varied in amount and value but, as Stanwood, the US consular agent in Morondava, noted in 1880, "Duties in Sakalava ports are paid per ship a fixed amount in and out, no two ports are alike in this respect, Tullia [Toliara] being the highest and Maintirano the lowest, but none come up to the 10 of the Hovas [ie. Merina]."46

gascar. Rum constituted the greater part of such imports until the French takeover

ottons, the staple export from Natal to Madagascar in the 1877-1894 period, were not only consumed as clothing, but also constituted the main commodity currency outside the main Merina-controlled commercial centers.47 The Malagasy market was of considerable importance to Natal, consuming never less than 23 percent of its cotton exports between 1887 and 1889, with a high point of over 60 percent from 1885 to 1888. This was particularly marked in plain and in printed and dyed piece goods; Madagascar accounted for over 75 percent of Natal's exports of plain cotton exports in 1878, 1883, and 1885-1888, and of its printed and dyed piece goods in 1882 and 1885-1889. All cotton pieces were re-exports from Britain or India. Ready-made clothing was also a considerable export to the island, almost rivaling cotton

nd 1879 (to 16 and 19 percent respectively). Another significant export from Natal to Madagascar was arms, notably muskets and rifles, bullets/balls and gunpowder. In 1878 for instance, McCubbin, the largest importer of Malagasy oxen into Natal, sought a gunpowder export license from the Natal government for his Madagascar trade. The request was refused but export licenses for arms were granted during the 1880s Franco-Merina conflict. For example, in 1882 A.C. Sears, captain of the American bark the Sic

,

Cottons and arms imported into west Madagascar played a significant role in the Malagasy slave trade. First, arms were used by Malagasy slavers to procure slaves in the interior of the island. Second, arms and cottons formed the chief means of payment for slaves. For instance, 81 percent of the price paid for slaves in Toliara in the mid-1880s comprised gunpowder and arms, and approximately ?9,995 in arms and ?1,419 in cotton piece goods was imported annually into St. Augustin Bay to pay for slave exports.50 It is probable that the majority of the cottons and some of the arms were supplied from Natal, and the Natal merchants became involved in the slave trade. Madagascar played

slave trade. Maintirano was the focal point for this trade, possibly 30 percent of all slave imports into Madagascar, and a good percentage of slave exports from the island, passing through the

oned on Nosy Ve, which in 1887 was described as "nothing but a slaving station" serving R6union.54 Thus most of the Natal merchant houses involved in importing Malagasy oxen were involved directly or indirectly in the Malagasy slave trade. In this context it is highly interesting to note that both Beningfield and Snell were heavily involved in shipping workers and goods between Natal and Delagoa Bay and Inhambane, and were therefore quite possibly directly involved in the trans-Mozambique Channel slave traffic.55 However, the opportunity cost of establishing direct contact with the supplier could prove great, for the absence of an established group of commercial intermediaries created an unstable context for trade. After negotiating a passage through the reef that characterized the southwest coast, foreign traders contact