The Drakenstein Valley was the traditional grazing ground of
the Cochoqua. When Gabbema visited the valley he described kraals all
along the Berg River. Once the Khoikhoi had lost their economic
independence, they were compelled to move to rural districts and farms
looking for
employment. Within a short period of time, their traditional way of
life had disappeared.
Dan Sleigh has written two books - "Islands" and "Buiteposte" that look at the first interactions between the Khoina and the first European settlers.
The Peninsular Khoikhoi consisted of several groups: the cattle-less Gorinhaikona or "strandlopers", the Gorinhaiqua and the Gorachoqua. Gogosoa, chief of the Gorachoqua, was also recognised as the leader of the alliance of Peninsular Khoikhoi. The individual tribes were relatively small: Goringhaiqua (4,000) and Gorachoqua (8,000) and together they owned about 3,000 cattle and 2,000 sheep c. 1658
The Cochoqua were between 16,000 and 18,000 strong and were divided into two branches under the leadership of two chiefs Odesoa and Gonnema. Odesoa's kraal was west of Paardeberg on the Mosselbank River, and Gonnema's kraal near Riebeeck Kasteel on the Berg River. The Cochoqua were wealthy and grazed their cattle in a vast area that started north of Table Bay, included the Berg River valley and went as far north as the Oliphants River.
The following synopsis is based on a research paper "The assimilation of the Khoikhoi into the rural labour fource of Paarl, Drakenstein District" by Harriet Clift, UCT, 1995. The paper was submited for a BA Hons in Archeology.
Two groups of people lived at the Cape in the mid 1600s: the Khoikhoi (Quena) and the San (Soaqua). The former were pastoralists and the latter hunter-gatherers.
The Khoikhoi in tern can be divided into the Peninsular Khoikhoi and the Khoikhoi of the Western Cape. In the case of the latter, the Chocoqua were the dominant group, living in what is now known as the Boland, Swartland and West Coast area. The Chainouqua and the Hessequa occupied the territory east of the Cochoqua with the Hottentot Holland Mountains as a western boundary. Today the towns of Genadendal and Swellendam would be included in their territory.
The Dutch settlers were under order to provide passing ships with fresh meat. Between 1652 and 1659 the colonists' contact was mostly with the Peninsular Khoikhoi, later they also traded with the Cochoqua and the Chainouqua. For the most part the Dutch exchanged rice, tobacco, alcohol, ceramics, copper, iron and trinkets for cattle, sheep, game, birds, tortoise shell, ostrich feathers and eggs, salt and fish.
The Peninsular Khoikhoi (under the leadership of Doman, who also acted as an interpreter) were the first to experience the effects of colonial expansion. In no time they found themselves hemmed in by the expanding Dutch colony and the territories of their enemies (Cochoqua and Chainouqua). Environmental pressure increased as the colonists expanded their own herds. and the Cochoqua too brought large herds into the territory in order to trade with the Dutch settlers.
In 1659/1660 war broke out between the Peninsular Khoikhoi and the Dutch, after which the Peninsular Khoikhoi lost their pasture altogether. Over time they became more and more empoverished, loosing both their social and tribal cohesion. The Cochoqua became the Dutch settlers' main trading partners, but soon their relationship also deteriorated to the point of open conflict in 1673. The Dutch accused the Cochoqua of attacking their hunting parties, and retaliated with a punitive expedition that left between 10 and 12 Cochoqua dead. The Dutch also looted 800 cattle and 900 sheep. As the conflict escalated, neigbouring Khoikhoi sided with the Dutch, hoping to capitalise on an opportunity to destroy a common enemy. Gonnema, the leader of the Cochoqua eventully capitulated in 1677. Accordiing to the terms of surrender he had to pay the Dutch authorities a tribute of 30 cattle a year.
By the end of the 17th century the colonists had established their own herds and competed and monopolised the same grazing and water resources onced used exclusively by the Khoikhoi. By 1705 the Khoikhoi were so impoverished that there were only two kraals left between the Berg River and present day Klawer. By 1730 there were no self-sufficient kraals south of Piquetberg. By 1778 all the Khoikhoi living within the boundaries of the Cape colony were working as labourers on farms, according to an official report.
The Dutch settlement at the Cape experienced a chronic shortage of labour. According to a VOC (Dutch East India Company) decree, the colonists were forbidden to enslave the indigenous people of the Cape. So slaves - the first were imported in 1658 - provided most of the labour. At the same time the Khoikhoi's growing economic vulnerabilty prompted them to look for work on farms and in rural households. The Khoikhoi gathered firewood and did temporary work on farms in exchange for tobacco, rice, bread and alcohol, but for the most they remained livestock owners and initially had the choice not to do hard manual labour for the colonists.
At first only the men worked on the farms. The women and children were left at home in the kraals. However, by the late 1600s the women and children too moved to the farms - indicative of the gradual decline in the welfare of the kraals. By the 1700s more and more Khoikhoi worked on farms in order to give their dwindling herds access to the grazing and water now controlled by the new settlers..
The Khoikhoi's expert knowledge of animal husbandry meant that they were usually employed to guard herds, or as guides, wagon drivers or to work with the oxen used to plough the fields. As they became more assimilated into the culture of their new masters, they were also sometimes employed to help catch runaway slaves and take part in the commandos (to retrieve stolen cattle, and raid Khoikhoi bands). The Khoikhoi men were also used as couriers. Women were usually employed in the home to do laundry and as maids.
During harvest, migrant groups of Khoikhoi men moved from farm to farm harvesting wheat or grapes. Farmers in the rural districts owned relatively few slaves, so labour would have been a scarce resource. (In 1695 there were only 48 slaves in the whole Drakenstein district.)
In 1713 the Khoikhoi population was decimated by an outbreak of smallpox. The traveller Thurnberg wrote in his journal "their bodies lay in the fields and on the highways unburied".
Due to the chronic shortage of labour farmers wanted to be allowed to apprentice the children of Khoikhoi women and slaves. In 1775 a law was passed that indentured these children from the age of 18 months until they were 25 years old. Farmers in turn gave them food and lodging, but were not obliged to pay them any wages (cash or in kind eg cattle).
Colonel Dalrymple (c. 1795) wrote "They are called free because the master cannot sell them ... cannot go from one master to another ... seldom get anything from their masters but Bread, Milk, Root and Vegetables."
The farmers in the western Cape were generally less dependent on Khoikhoi labour and owned more slaves. (According to 1818 statistics the Khoikhoi formed 8,3% of the Cape population, and 43,4% of that of the eastern frontier.)
In 1799 the Khoikhoi in the eastern Cape rebelled (Khoikhoi Rebellion 1799-1803). Once the rebellion was crushed, new legislation was intoduced to control and restricted the mobility of the Khoikhoi within the colony to prevent a similar uprising. The Khoikhoi could no longer enter the colony without a proof of gainful employment. All travelling Khoikhoi servants had to carry a pass signed by his master.
Oceanic slave trade was abolished in 1808. At the time 40% of the farmers in the Drakenstein and Stellenbosch districts relied exclusively on slave labour, and only 6% employed only Khoikhoi. The balance, about 518 farmers used a mix of slaves and Khoikhoi. Unable to import more slaves, and given the low birth rate amongst slaves, farmers turned to the Khoikhoi as a source of labour.
In 1809 legislation was passed to give Khoikhoi labourers and their descendents some legal protection; but in 1812 the "Hottentot Proclamation" was amended to indenture all Khoikhoi children from the age of 8 until they were 18 years old.
In 1840 labour legislation changed (after the emancipation of the slaves) and labourers were now divided into two categories: permanent and seasonal. During this period many former slaves and Khoikhoi servants moved to mission stations where they could maintain a degree of self-sufficiency by grazing cattle and tend vegetable gardens, and by providing seasonal work on farms
The Drakenstein Valley was the traditional grazing ground of the Cochoqua. When Gabbema visited the valley he described kraals all along the Berg River. Once the Khoikhoi had lost their economic independence, they were compelled to move to rural districts and farms looking for employment. Within a short period of time, their traditional way of life had disappeared. The rate at which this cultural assimilation took place is best illustrated by two travellers' visit to Genadendal.
Lady Anne Barnard visited the mission station Genadendal in 1790. She recorded several traditional round "matjies" huts and described the interior as unfurnished, with kindling for a fire, skins, calabashes, an iron pot and wooden spoons.
Thirty years later, when Burchell visited Genadendal, all the round huts had been replaced by square structures. The huts contained a table, chairs and a chest. Both wen and women wore European clothing. (Note that the process of acculturation would be faster at mission stations due to a predisposition to "reform" the indigenous people).
Slaves and Khoikhoi lived and worked together on the farms. Children born of "free" Khoikhoi women and slaves developed a common identity and material culture that was different to that of their parents.
According to the Procalmation of 1812 all "Hottentots", Free Blacks and "Bastaard Hottentots" had to be registered. These registers of 1812 to 1818 provide a wealth of information on the colony's "free" labour force. The registers for Paarl show that a few Free Blacks were from Batavia, Begale, Boegies, Mozambique and the Congo. Most of the laour was from the Drakenstein valley itself: Paarl (54.5%), Drakenstein (4,5%) and Klein Drakenstein (6,3%). Less than 2% were from mission stations like Baviaanskloof (Genadendal) and Groenekloof (Mamre).
In 1817 the register mentions 13 individuals from Goudini: Cobus Jordaan, Tys Pieter, Aspanjer Pretorius, Piet Lambert, Oranje Witbooi, Koos Dakotie, Phillip Roosebloem Vytje (a woman) and the children of Andries Mollet (Lena, Katryn, Betje, Pieter and Mietje).
Registers also give an indication of where the Khoikhoi and Khoikhoi descendants of mixed parentage lived. Sometimes they lived on the property of a colonist or on unoccupied government land. They lived in rented rooms and houses, "buite kamers", in dwellings on shared erven, and sometimes in a hut on the property of a fellow "free labourer".
In Paarl some lived at "Nieuwe Drift" and "Sanddrift" according to the registers. The former was a farm situated on the western banks of the Berg River between Wellington and Paarl, and was used as an outspan. "Sanddrift" was in Noorde Paarl and included the SAPS college is today and stretched as far as "Ou Tuin". Many lived a transient life, and more than half of the independent households were matriarchal.
For instance: Betje Talmalgus was probably born in Paarl and had four children and lived in Paarl. The names of two of the girls are known: Amiele and Amiena. In 1814 they lived in a rented house owned by the Widow Horm or Storm. She did not work for the widow, because the latter only employed two women: Jannetjie (60) and Doortje (20). From 1815 to 1823 Betje and her family rented a room on an erf called Desasity owned by Jan Meyer. In 1818 she worked for Lybrand de Beer (at the time her children were still under the age of 14). In 1823 she was registed under the name of Marthunus Jacobus Muller.
Auction rolls of the mid 1800s suggest that some Khoikhoi or people of mixed Khoikhoi descent still managed to accummulate livestock. Lena Kaffer for instance owned a mare, foal, young heifer and a calf. Willem August owned 2 heifers, bull calf, 9 cows, two calves, 2 young bulls, 2 oxen, 2 horses and draught equpment. Piet Kees owned 6 oxen.