Page 59 - Bulletin 14 2010

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Lazarus Cornelissen who was trampled to death by elephants! Finally, she married Matthys
Michiels. In 1682, this incredible woman abandoned the ‘safety’ of the Liesbeek, and was

allowed to use 20 ha of land at the foot of the Steenberg mountains by Governor Simon van der
Stel, who was very taken with her.

At the time this spot was extremely remote and well outside the protection of van Riebeeck's
almond hedge. It was the first farm established in the Constantia Valley and proved to be a good

location as it was reasonably protected from the wind and was served by two rivers. She named
the farm “Zwaanewijde” – swans’ meadow – the original name of the Steenberg farm. In 1685

the Commissioner of the DEIC, Baron van Rheede tot Drakenstein, paid a visit to the farm and
was somewhat shocked by his hostess who “rode bareback like an Indian” while one of her

children resembled a “gypsy fortune-teller” and the rest looked like “Brazilian cannibals - all

growing up wild and uneducated.”

 1685-88: Diggings to find silver operated in the Fish Hoek Valley.

The DEIC was always seeking additional sources of profit and was keen to find precious metals

and minerals at the Cape. Jose Burman set out the “The Myth of the Silvermine” in his book The
Cape of Good Intent. In 1686 Master Miner Frederick van Werlinghof returned to the Cape after

discovering copper in Namaqualand. He then worked a shaft in the Witteboomen Mountain to
find silver. He was annoyed when he found the shaft filled with water at 30 m so, to avoid having

to dig another, he jammed boards across the shaft above the water and covered them with soil and

rocks to falsify a solid bottom to the diggings. Unfortunately, his idle miners got drunk and the
word got out - another Master Miner, Gabriel Muller was sent down the shaft to investigate and

van Werlinghof was arrested and transferred to Sumatra. Muller was appointed in his place and

opened new mines in the Silvermine Valley, but it seems that he was no improvement.

Malcolm Cobern, in his book The Story of the Fish Hoek Valley, found a quotation in the
Archives relating to these mines: “We have heard stories of how the miners melted silver coins

into shot and then fired these against the face of the rock walls. A bit of salting but it pleased the