4036 (1696–1697) part one

The first entry in the Daghregister of 1695.

This volume contains papers and letters for the period and 1696 to 1697, as well as 1695, which were received in the year 1697. This is the first of two parts for the period 1696–1697. Part two is covered in volume 4037.
Even though the archive's volume title '4036 1696-1697 [1697]. Eerste deel 1696-1697' mentions only the period 1696–1697, the volume holds a substantial number of documents from 1695.

• Folio 17 has a corner of the page folded over so that a part of the text is unreadable.
• Folios 199 and 200, the rolls of arriving and departing ships, have become torn away from its original position behind folio 198 and were rebound in reverse order behind the front cover of the volume.
• Folios 200–214, the rolls of freemen for 1695, have been partially disarranged and some inverted, requiring a bit of careful puzzling to determine the correct sequence.
• Folios 226–232 and 233–239, the rolls with the inventories of the buijtenposten, do not only contain the numbers of livestock, tools and materials, but also the names of the company servants and slaves posted at those outposts.
• Folios 240–242 and 243–246 are rolls of freemen and families who, at that time, did not have their own home but live with others.
• Folio 512 of the Brieffboek for 1696 is missing and may not have been scanned.
• Folio 700, the Daghregister for 1695, shows several notable incidents that were recorded, amongst others:
  • fol. 705 Because the company's Mom (mum beer) was not selling well enough, a plakkaat is published prohibiting freemen from selling home brewed suijkerbier in future, without the  explicit consent of the Governor and written permission form the Secretary of the Council, which is to be renewed yearly (see also Verloren bieren – Zuid Afrika).
  • fol. 706 After a disastrous year for the grape harvest due to heavy storms, wind, drought and various types of vermin, the remaining harvest was devoured by diverse types of grasshoppers, in such enormous quantities never seen before.
  • fol. 733 The Governor orders the Heemraden at Stellenbosch to send 100 armed and equipped burger militia men, 20 horse and 80 foot, to the Castle for military training. They are to be rotated with fresh men every fortnight for a period of six weeks in total, starting 10 May.
  • fol. 735 New officers are appointed for the Stellenbosch company (burger militia); for the horse – Hans Jurgen Grimp, Pieter van der Bijl and Jan Botma; for the foot – Jacob de Wilde, Ferdinandus Appel and Hendricksz Alberts. As the population of Drakenstein has seen a substantial increase, it was decided to form a new company of foot from the Drakenstein freemen, appointing as officers – Jacob de Savoije, Jacob van der Lijde and Gerrit Cloeten.
  • fol. 738 Denotes the inauguration of the new Kat.
  • fol. 745 Trail and sentence of Jan van Batavia, who as a black, former slave and a heathen, had on many occasions had sexual intercourse with the fourteen-year-old Christian Dutch girl named Adriana van Jaarsveld. She was already about two months pregnant when the relationship started but was only discovered when she started to show.
  • fol. 754 Trail and sentence of Jeane de Seine of Griesons on the Italian border, for blasphemy and sedition amongst the French burgers at the Cape. 
  • fol. 757 Trial and sentence of soldier Pieter van der Lelij of Delft, for absence without leave and subsequently assaulting and seriously wounding a sentry and Rochebaaij (Roggebaai) with his sidearm.
  • fol. 770 A heavy storm causes amongst others, damage to vessels in the bay, most of the hospital's roof tiles were blown off, the gallows blown down, the company's sheep sheds damaged resulting in 36 dead sheep, and heavy damage to the freemen's chimney stacks and houses in general.
  • fol. 772 A posse that was sent out to track down several fugitives, find a company employee, lying dead with his rifle at his side, having been shot in the left chest. His body is transported to the hospital for a post-mortem examination.
  • fol. 773 From the post-mortem examination and circumstantial evidence it is concluded that the soldier found dead two days earlier, had committed suicide. To set an example to others, it is resolved that his body is not to be buried in the churchyard cemetery but under the gallows.
  • fol. 778 The fugitive Jean de Seine who escaped after his sentence, is apprehended at the outpost De Kuijlen and returned to the Fort.
  • fol. 782 Accompanied by the sound of a very loud thunderclap, an earthquake shakes the land and buildings for more than one hundred seconds. No apparent damage was done.
  • fol. 782 A commission investigates the accidental death of the wife of Louis van As, who was found in a water-filled pothole of barely one-and-a-half foot deep. Apparently the accident was due to her epilepsy, of which she suffered.
  • fol. 793 Resolution ordering the Burger Council at the Cape and the Landrost and Heemraden of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein to plant forests of oak and other types of trees. They had been advised to do sixteen years ago but had neglected to take action.
  • fol. 795 Arrival of an English ship named the Armenian Merchant, carrying a parcel with letters and papers from Mauritius which tell of a  hurricane from 9 to 10 February 1695 causing the devastation of most of the island's buildings and infrastructure and the drowning of most of their livestock. Subsequently letters tell that in the early hours of 18 July, four slaves set fire to the lodge, destroying not only the lodge but also the ebony and other wood stores, most of the administration and causing an explosion in the powder store. Their intention was to burn all the company employees alive, then murder all the freemen and subsequently take control of the island. The Opperhoofd had to flee naked from the flames. 
  • fol. 800 Investigators conclude that the Hottentot named Brasman, was shot and murdered by the company employee Jan Caspersen of Kassel. The post-mortem examination shows that the bullet entered in the left buttock and exited on the right-side of the chest. A warrant for the arrest of the fugitive is issued.
  • fol. 803 The long awaited outward-bound fleet of 11 ships arrived from the Fatherland, having lost 228 men during the six-month voyage and bringing with them 678 sick. Many of the sick had to be housed in private homes all over the settlement as the hospital did not have enough beds. To pay for the costs, the company sold many of its horses at a public auction.
  • fol. 813 Johanna Victor, the widow of Johannes Pretorius, is placed under arrest for slander and sedition.

Link to the digital archive:  4036 (1696–1697)