Converted to any use or profit. Enough has been shown in the preceding
account, and which my own knowledge of the prime-cost of
ivory fully corroborates, to prove that the gains in such a trade,
whether on a large, or on a small, scale, would be unusually great;
for, as sheep in any number may be purchased in the grazing districts
of the Colony, for two rix-dollars * each, it may easily be calculated,
after deducting all the necessary expenses, how large a share of profit
would remain, even supposing that in future the prime-cost should
be doubled, or that beads or other goods of European manufacture
should, instead of sheep, become the medium of purchase. But there
is little doubt that farther in the Interior, or among tribes hitherto
unvisited by traders, the quantity to be obtained would be greater,
and the price, less. The establishment of an authorized body of
traders, or a joint-stock company, would more effectually obviate
those irregularities among the natives, which might possibly ensue
from a competition of speculators having separate interests. Such
traders would constantly bear in mind that fair-dealing with the
natives, would be the only means of ensuring to their speculation, a
continuance of success. By forming themselves into an annual
caravan of eight or ten waggons with the necessary complement of
men, under the direction of a person of discretion, they would be
fully equal to their own protection; and by making the port at
Algoa bay the point of commencement and termination of their
journey, the expenses and duration of the expedition, would be rendered
considerably less than if it should be undertaken directly from
Cape Town. And besides which, the route from that bay would be
much more pleasant and convenient both for the traveller and for his
cattle, as it would follow the course of large rivers for the greatest
part of the way, and would pass through no country so deficient in
water, as the Karro and several other parts of my former track to
Klaarwater and Litakun. The arrangements should be so made that
* A Cape rix-dollar, as I have before stated, is equal nominally to four shillings currency,
the real value of which varies, according to the rate of exchange, and is at this
time (182S) less than two shillings sterling.
the traders would not arrive among the Bichuana nations during the
months when their corn is standing on the ground, as no business of
this nature could, agreeably to their customs, be transacted at that
season. A glance at the map will at once point out the most
advisable road: from Uitenhage the caravan should take the direct
road to Graaffreynet; thence, over the Snow Mountains, and along
the Seacow river, in which district the required number of sheep may
be purchased at the cheapest rate, should the natives still continue to
prefer these to beads: the caravan should then cross to the right
bank of the Nugariep, along which it should continue to travel till it
reached the Kygariep; and afterwards following the course of this
river upwards till it fell in with the Hart river, it should keep company
with this latter stream as far as the Kora Kraal of that name;
and from this point, proceeding northward, it would arrive in the
heart of the elephant-country, without communicating with the
inhabitants either of Klaarwater or Litakun, whose jealousy, possibly,
might operate in throwing obstacles in the way of persons whom they
might consider as interfering in a market which they might wish to
render exclusively their own.
The length of the journey here proposed, appears, indeed, to
present some obstacle to an undertaking of this nature; but it may,
with respect to time, be rendered less formidable by stationing a relay
of draught-oxen at one of the farms near to, but not immediately on,
the Colonial boundary: an arrangement which would be equally
beneficial to the caravan either outward or homeward-bound. With
respect to the expense attendant upon so long a journey, it would
seem that the profits of a trade of this kind, would well counterbalance
it; and offer sufficient inducement to put the speculation to the test
of at least one journey.
The history of geographic knowledge shows us that mercantile
enterprises have, more frequently than any other single cause, opened
the way to a better acquaintance with foreign nations and countries.
They bring men in contact for their mutual advantage, and bind them
in friendship, by the benefits which each derives from the other; they
make nations known to each other, whom no motive besides self