An anatomical investigation of jointed cactus (Opuntia aurantiaca, Lindley) with germination tests, and observations on the movements of the stomata
- Authors: Archibald, E E A
- Date: 1936
- Subjects: Cactus -- Anatomy , Opuntia , Stomata , Germination
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4264 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013444
- Description: From Introduction: In 1934 the Government started an active campaign on the eradiction of Jointed Cactus. This plant was causing considerable damage to the farms and commonages of the Eastern Province, and was spreading at an alarming rate. The Officer in Charge of eradication, Mr E. du Toit, was stationed at Grahamstown which is fairly centrally situated in the infested area. In 1935 Dr A. Leemann of the Division of Plant Industry made his headquarters at Rhodes University College.
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- Date Issued: 1936
An investigation into the circumstances relating to the cattle-killing delusion in Kaffraria, 1856-1857
- Authors: Dowsley, Eileen D'Altera
- Date: 1932
- Subjects: Cattle Killing, 1856-1857 , Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History -- 1853-1871 , Xhosa (African people) -- History , Grey, George, Sir, 1812-1898 , Nongqawuse, 1841-1898 , Mhlakaza -- Xhosa seer -- 1800?-1857 , Sarhili -- Xhosa paramount chief -- ca.1814-1892
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2538 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002390
- Description: Introductory: If the relations existing between the Native chiefs and the Colony which Sir George Grey found on his arrival are to be fully understood, a brief consideration of Cathcart’s policy and Frontier settlement is necessary. When Cathcart came out as Governor in 1852, he found the rebel chief Sandile, with associate chieftans’ and large bands of followers, still occupying their locations in the Amatola ranges. From this haunt no force had as yet been able to drive them. During the series of skirmishes known as the Eighth Kaffir War, their first crop of Indian corn was destroyed so early in the season as to allow of a second crop springing up. This unusual phenomenon inspired prophet Umlangeni to claim that he had worked a miracle. Fortunately later reverses and the expulsion of Sanailli from his mountain fastness discredited this thoughtful opportunist. Sandilli, as paramount chief of the Gaikas, might have held and influential position in the councils of the Kaffrarian chiefs, that he did not hold such a position, was due, in Charles Brownlee’s opinion, to his timid and suspicious nature and to the fact that his mental capacity was ‘hardly above mediocrity’. He was unable to fight owing to lameness, and he lacked ‘sufficient’ resciution and strength of mind to resist the evil influence of the bad advisers, nevertheless he could be obstinate and he never, to the end of his life, gave up on the idea of getting back to this old locations in the Amatolas. Macomo with some three thousand followers had likewise evaded all attempts to turn him out of this haunts in the mountain range. He, together with his associate the Tambookie chief Quesha, and diverse rebel Hotttentots, indulged in the frequent marauding forays into the surrounding country. Macomo was the eldest of Gaika’s sons and was “allowed by all to be the greatest politician and best warrior in Kaffraria’. During the minority of Sandilli Macomo had acted as his regent and had attained great influence over the tribe; this he afterwards lost for he moved to the neighbourhood of Fort Beaufort, where in a state of intoxication most of this time was passed. He had in Brownlee’s opinion, done more mischief in the war than any other chief. Great jealously was felt between Macomo and Sandilli, especially on the part of the former; this was shown through the cattle killing period in his efforts to involve Sandilli, while attempting to keep on the right side of the Government himself. Further south, indeed within the Colony itself, such petty chiefs as Seyolo and Botman, lurking in the Fish River bush, and the Keiskamma kloofs, rendered the main road dangerous, and even succeeded, for a time, in completely cutting the ling of communication between Kingwilliamstown and Grahamstown.
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- Date Issued: 1932
East London: its foundation and early development as a port
- Authors: Gordon, B C
- Date: 1932
- Subjects: Smith, Harry George Wakelyn, Sir, 1788-1860 D'Urban, Benjamin, Sir, 1777-1849 Harbors -- South Africa -- East London East London (South Africa) -- History -- 1836-1866
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2606 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012046
- Description: The flourishing city of East London has received but scant attention from historians. Its importance has been overshadowed by that of Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, each with a foundation bordering on the romantic. The introduction to this thesis indicates traces of the existence of primitive man in these parts. The historical survey will commence with notices taken of the region by nautical and land expeditions in search of either shipwrecked sailors, or news of native races. The first serious notice of East London taken by the white people came in the time of Sir Benjamin D'Urban who sought a seaport for his new province of Queen Adelaide. Our port was opened in 1836 under the appellation of Port Rex, but faded into temporary insignificance, almost oblivion, with the reversal of Sir. B. D'Urban's frontier policy by Lord Glenelg and the abandonment of the new province in 1837. It was not destined to remain forgotten, for Sir Harry Smith at the end of 1847, saw in the mouth of the Buffalo River the same possibilities as had struck the advisers of Sir B. D'Urban. To him it was the future London of the East, and the connecting link between British Kaffraria and the world outside. From that time East London has grown steadily, and of recent years very rapidly. It is not proposed to carry this survey much beyond 1866 in which year British Kaffraria was annexed to the Cape Colony.
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- Date Issued: 1932
Crocidolite in the districts of Prieska and Hay
- Authors: Schoeman, H E
- Date: 1930
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6539 , vital:21133
- Description: From Introduction: The belt of hilly country extending from the southern extremity of the Doornbergen, through Prieska, Niekerkshoop, Griquatown and Kuruman, to a point far north or the latter, constitutes a region or great scientific and economic interest. Spoken of generally as the “Blue Asbestos Belt”, it has ramifications stretching in north, and north-westerly directions from Prieska. In the south it is known as the Doornbergen, passing into the “Asbestos Mountains” north of the Orange River, while farther north it becomes the Kuruman Hills. This large area is unique in that enormous deposits of fibrous crocido1ite or "blue asbestos" are known to occur scattered more or less irregularly over the entire belt. The mineral, often accompanied by some or all of its variations and alteration products, has been reported from nearly every farm, excepting only that portion covered by Ongeluk Volcanics, and the UPPER BEDS OF THE LOWER GRIQUATOWN SERIES, which thus form the only interruption to an otherwise unbroken extension of crocidolite bearing strata.
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- Date Issued: 1930
Clays derived from the Lower Dwyka Shales, occurring in the vicinity of Grahamstown
- Authors: Blignaut, J J G
- Date: 1928
- Subjects: Clay -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Clay -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Geology -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Mineralogy -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4935 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005547
- Description: The Lower Dwyka Shales in South Africa oocur south of latitude 32⁰; resting conformably upon the Witteberg quartzites, which extend as coastal mountain rangee along the length of the South Coast. The shales, being less resistant to weathering than the quartzites below, and the Dwyka Tillite immediately above, are consequently found in valleys between these two formations. In one of these valleys Grahamstown is situated; where the Lower Dwyka Shales have been eroded by the various rivulets forming the eource of the Blaauwkrantz River. A geological map of the country round Grahamstown was prepared in eome detail, showing all the various rock formations occurring in the area, the full extent of the Lower Dwyka Shales being mapped with the Dwyka Tillite and the Witteberg Quartzite along its margins. The map includes an area of about six miles by three, with the Cathedral spire occupying an approximately central position, and is prepared on a scale of 5.65 inches to one mile. Traversing was done by means of prismatic compass and pacing.
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- Date Issued: 1928