South Africa Today (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from South Africa Today<br><br>About the time that Rip Van Winkle began his long nap in Sleepy Hollow, one of his countrymen was busy making a legend for South Africa. It was then the Flying Dutchman started out on the longest voyage in history. This was the period of Dutch enterprise and venture. The sea was dotted with the vessels of the merchants of Amsterdam. Not only were they building a city at the mouth of the Hudson, but they were the most prosperous colonists of India and its islands. At the Cape of Good Hope the Dutch East India Company ruled supreme.<br><br>It took brave hearts to venture on the seas in those clumsy Dutch ships and the sailors told fearful stories of the "Cape of Storms," but Captain van der Decken laughed at their fears, and vowed he would double the Cape in spite of wave and wind. His vessel never came to port; for one whole day he tried to bring his ship to anchor in Table Bay, then at nightfall he swore in his wrath that he would have his will if it took him until the day of judgment. The sea he defied is mocking him still, and if you have the right kind of eyes you may see in the midst of storm and darkness the light of a vessel far out at sea and a shadowy form before the mast.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.