In the conferences that he had with his people about his experiences in London, the Khoe learned that in England brass was but a cheap commodity. Xhore’s deliberations with his people led the Khoe to some key resolutions that would affect trade with the English. An impromptu decision was taken to start increasing the prices for cattle and sheep for barter. The Khoe were no longer interested in smaller prices of copper. ‘They demanded unreasonably for their cattle, which we thought proceeded from Corie (Xhore) who had been in England and, as we supposed, acquainted them with our little esteem of iron and copper, asking pieces as bis as their cloaks…’, John Milward, an English merchant who arrived at the Cape, noted.

Gogosoa reportedly had fifteen huts and at least 1600 cattle and sheep. He had shown these to some Dutch men sent by the commander to trade copper wire in exchange for a calf and a cow. Autshumato served as interpreter in the trade. Later, the Dutch found it difficult to trade their copper and tobacco with Gogosoa, blaming the impasse on Autshumato. Due to this deadlock, there were even thoughts of sending Autshumato and his family to Robben Island, as the Dutch thought this would unlock bartering with Gogosoa people. Subsequent trades became even more difficult, with Autshumato accused of advising Saldanha Khoe to demand more copper for livestock. At the end of November, in Autshumato’s absence, the company bought nineteen sheep from the Khoe from Saldanha in exchange for copper wire and tobacco. A sheep cost about six to seven stuivers.

Louis from Bengal had arrived at the cape from present-day Bangladesh as a teenager. He is estimated to have been about nineteen or twenty years old when he had saved enough money to buy himself out of slavery. The piece of land he received in 1675 at Table Valley is now located in the Gardens Shopping Centre precinct. This specific garden spot was apparently given to him so that he could produce fruits and vegetables. In 1676, Louis was granted an erf in town, in Hout Street, at what is now the corner of the St George’s Mall. On Hout Street, Louis from Bengal bult a house with living accommodation which he let. He had enslaved people staying on that property too.

Black people could buy land at £1 an acre and they could buy farms from white farmers. Many Africans had adopted the plough and advanced methods of cultivation that missionaries wanted to instil. Tini Maqoma, the son of the Xhosa warrior Maqoma, outperformed his white neighbours in cultivation. He produced maize and grain that was in contrast to the ‘white man’s weed’. In 1876, one of the sons of Chief Stokwe bought a farm containing Fort Willshire for £1 800 as part of a strategy to get back the land.

In the late 1860s, many Africans in Natal were in a position to produce agricultural surplus for trade and to withhold their labour.