The Gold Fields revisited, being further glimpses of the gold fields of South Africa

Front matter

GOLDEN SOUTH AFRICA. ADn-RTTSEMENTS. W.B.WHITTINGHAM _ C» 91. GRAC. CHURCH ST LONDON. EX GOLDEN SOUTH AFRICA, OK The Gold Fidds Revisited ; BEING FURTHER GLIMPSES OF THE GOLD FIELDS OF SOUTH AFRICA, BI EDWARD P. j\IATHERS, F.R.G.S., Author of "A Glimpse of the Gold Fields." LONDON : W. B. WHITTINGHAM & CO., 91, Geacechurch Street. Durban & Maritzburg, Natal : P. Davis & Sons. i888. \AU Rights Reserved.] [advertisement.] Anderson, Anderson & Anderson, is much lighter and cleaner to handle than the ordinary Rubber Garden Hose. \.*r.*.j**r.*.4r.*.sr: sT,.!?c„_roHP%coESO" 37, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET GARDEN HOSE, CONTENTS MAPS. Golden South Africa Facing Title Page. Distnot of Delagoa Bay Page 34 Kaap Fields and Swazieland " 90 Moodie's ' j^2 Witwatersrand and Heidelberg Fields ... ... " " 298 Introduction ... ... ... ... , PAET I. Chapter I. page.

A Trip to Moodie's via Delagoa Bay.— The " Voyage " from Durban ... ... ... ... ... ... 26 Chapter II. Louren'-o Marques. — A Place to Leave 35 Chapter III. Beaching the Komatie Biver.— Pesini. — A Shocking Spectacle. — Bad Water. — A Whited Sepulchre ... 39 Chapter IV. Leaving the Komatie. — Searching for Moodie's. — The Delagoa Bay Boute. — Boughing it. — Mishaps. — Why Umbandine Strangled his Mother 50 Chapter V. The Swazieland Gold Fields. — Tom McLachlan. — Umbandine and the Diggers ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 57 Chapter VI. The Last Stage to Moodie's. — How a Princess was Cured. — Arrival at Moodie's. — The Dispute with the Diggers. — The Committe in Temporary Power. — A Look at the Pioneer Beef. — The Surface Working. — Too Sanguine Impressions. — Gold Dust Currency ... ... ... ... CONTENTS.

VI PAGE. Chapter VII. Moodie's in the Early Days. — A Last Look Bound 75 Chapter VIII. Moodie's to Natal.— Incidents by the Way. — The Kantoor. — The Former Finds 83 PABT II. Chapter I. Durban to Barberton ... ... ... ... ... ... 97 Chapter II. Barberton 100 Chapter III. Moodie's. — After Three Years. — The Properties Described ... 117 Chapter IV. Beaching Eureka City. — The Properties en route ... ... 135 Chapter V. The Golden Quarry 140 Chapter VI. The Sheba Company ... ... ... ... 146 Chapter VII. The Sheba Bange Properties. — The Projected Tramway ... 151 Chapter VIII. The Fig Tree Creek Batteries. — Properties Eastward of Eureka City 165 Chapter IX. The Victoria Mine ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 170 Chapter X. The North Kaap District ... ... ... ... ... ... yj_ Chapter XI. Kaap Alluvial ... ... ... ... ... ... ... jgi CONTENTS.

Preface

. Much of the matter contained in the following chapters has already appeared in print, in the fleeting form of newspaper publication. In response to suggestions from not a few quarters, the compiler's Press jottings, now revised and extended, have been brought together into what may, it is hoped, prove an acceptable handbook. Where details bulk so largely, it is only too probable that discrepancies may be detected. The writer, however, claims to have made a conscientious effort to supply fairly reliable information concerning a part of South Africa which is attracting in an increasing degree the capital and labour of the outside world. He has exercised all due diligence and care in collecting his material from the best available sources. Were any further explanation of unavoidable shortcomings in Golden South Afeica required, it might perhaps be found in the fact that it has been put to press amid the distractions of a busy journalistic life.

E. P. M. Durban, Natal, December, 1887. advertisements. THE "GLOBE" MILL ORE GROSHER Will pulverise to any degree of fineness Gold Quartz, Silver Ore, Basic Slag, Manganese, Cement or any hard material not fibrous, by wet or dry process. Protected by Letters Patent Foreign Ordert must be accompanied by References or Bank Credit granted to Mr. W. H. against Shipping Documents. Thompson. "GLOBE "MILL COMPANY (Sole Proprietors), BLOMFIELD HOUSE, NEW BROAD STREET, LONDON, E.C.; "REDUCTION WORKS," RIVERSIDE, BERMONDSEY. S.E.

Introduction

. £N INCE I last essayed, between three and four years ago, i^^ to address the public upon the subject of the present <dZ v. ork, the Gold Fields of South Africa have attracted a residential population of twenty thousand persons, and absorbed ten millions of capital. Such a rapid growth of the agencies necessary to develop these Fields is out of all pro portion to the yield of gold which they are yet putting fortb , and this accumulation of labour and capital can only to this day be fairly regarded as an investment still awaiting a hardly earned increment. It can, however with truth be said for this accumulation that it forms complete evidence of an abounding faith in the great future which lies before Golden South Africa, a faith which I most firmly believe will prove not to be misplaced.

The following pages will bear testimony that so far from my supposing that the Gold Fields of South Africa will dis appoint the expectations formed of them by the shrewder section of an ever-growing circle of investors, and by those who are looking to them to give the world a substantial in crease of the precious metal, I am of those who believe that auriferous South Africa is but yet in the infancy of its modern development. For the Gold Fields of South Africa are no discovery of to-day ; they were worked many centuries before there was a literature to record their richness. It is generally agreed that Ophir, whence Solomon is said to have drawn gold to the modern value of £900,000,000, was situated in South-Eastern Africa, and as I am of opinion that there is as good gold in this part of the world as was ever taken out of it, some references to the past in these regions may prove useful before proceeding to consider their present and future.

It does not come within the scope of the present work to fully trace the history of gold in Africa, north or south ; the book but professes to throw some light on the Gold Fields which have drawn the population and attracted the capital I have mentioned. But as, in my notes of A Trip to Moodie's, in 1884, I made a slight attempt at a retrospect which must B

INTRODUCTION.

. always possess interest alike for the general reader and the studious specialist, I shall proceed to embody and amplify what I then wrote. As then, so now ; I must of necessity depend upon the observations of others. But in my collation from a fascinating record, I shall quote only those who may be safely regarded as trustworthy authorities. I have not room to refer further to it here, but Sir Eoderick Murchison, a good many years ago now, delivered an address to the Royal Geographical Society in which he very conspicuously drew his conclusions that the region which feeds the Zambesi and the Limpopo contained ancient Ophir. But for ages the subject has been the fruitful theme of the geographer, the historian, and the romance writer in prose and poetry. In a little work entitled Gleanings from the Gold Fields I find the following : — "Africa has ever had the credit of being a gold producing country.

Our geographies show that almost every part, at least on the east coast, yields the precious metal. The jield has, however, always been collected by natives, and no proper investigations, guided by the skill and labour of whites, has ever been made regarding the extent and productiveness of the ' sunny fountains which run down their golden sand.' " Bruce, who travelled in Abyssinia just one hundred years ago, favoured the idea that the country about Sofala, near which the Limpopo empties itself in the ocean, is ancient Ophir. From ali I could learn from the natives when on the Limpopo, it kept, after making the bend to the northward, an easterly course, and I have therefore very little doubt that it is the river Sabia which disembogues itself near to Sofala. " But to return to Bruce. He took a great deal of trouble to investigate the matter by consulting Portuguese records, and he framed a map which appeared in the book of plates which accompanied the earlier editions of his work, to show that the Meet of Solomon and Hiram would just take the time mentioned in Scripture as the length of the voyage in going to and returning from Sofala.

I remember also havin<* seen a sac simile of an ancient Arabian map of Africa showing lakes in the centre of the continent, and it was said that the Arabs had a belief that the ' Garden of Eden ' forms an island in one of those lakes. Perhaps a tradition had descended among the Arabs from Solomon's time, that some very favoured spot lay enshrouded in the centre of Africa. " Bruce states that ' John dos Santos, a Dominican Friar says, that on the coast of Africa, in the kingdom of Sofala the main land opposite Madagascar, there are mines of gold and silver, than which none can be more abundant. They LOOKING FAE BACK. hear the traces of having been wrought from the earliest ages. They were actually open and working when the Portuguese conquered that part of the peninsula, and were probably given up since the discovery of the New World, rather from political than other reasons.' The friar says, ' he landed at Sofala in the year 1586, that he sailed up the great river Ouama as far as the Tete, and from thence he penetrated for above two hundred leagues into the country, and saw the gold mines there working at a mountain called Afura.' " From the friar mentioning Tete, it is probable that the river he sailed up, even though he should have landed at Sofala, which was then the name of the kingdom, was the Zambesi, one of the mouths of which is yet called Cuama.

Tete is a station of the Portuguese on the Zambesi, where they have a fort. It is probable, however, that the Gold Fields about the Limpopo and the Zambesi are of immense extent." Let us take a few lines from the preface to the invaluable work of the late Thomas Baines, The Gold Regions of S.E. Africa. To any one who wishes further valuable information respecting the auriferous wealth of South-Eastern Africa, I cordially recommend a close study of this book :■ — " The region described in the following pages was, until the last few years, when the explorations of Herr Mauch, Erskine, Elton, Chapman, and others, somewhat dispersed the cloud of mystery in which it was enveloped, essentially a mythical one. Its geographical features were generally depicted in the manner described by Swift — So geographers in Afric maps With savage pictures fill their gaps, And o'er unhabitable down- Place elephants instead of towns.

The name of Monomotapa (which means a place from which something valuable is derived), is seldom used except as a mediæval geographical term, found in old school geographies and obsolete atlases. " It was supposed by its Arab aud Portuguese discoverers and conquerors to include all the regions* south of the Zambesi, extending to the country of the Kafirs (Pays de Caffres) or even to the banks of the Orange Eiver, the Vigita Magna of the old geographers, and the large towns supposed to exist in this region (shaken over the old maps as if from a * The country north of the Zambesi is Lower Ethiopia. The land of the lakes was known as the Empire of Monoamugi.

INTRODUCTION.

. pepper castor) are frequently alluded to in the early records of the Cape Colony. " We learn from these records, however, that several exploring parties were sent in search of rich countries during the latter half of the seventeenth century, but none of them succeeded in penetrating so far into the interior. The seaboard or coast region was known under the name it still bears, that of " Sofala," which signifies in Arabic a plain or low country. Sabia lies more inland behind Sofala, and is supposed by some authorities, including Josephus, and no less a personage than the author of the Koran, to be the ancient kingdom of the love-sick queen who visited Solomon when in all his glory, and of whom Mahommedan, Abyssinian, and Jewish writers relate such innumerable traditions. " Several ruins of ancient buildings are found still in this region, which is drained by a river disemboguing on the east coast, still called "Sabia."

The memory of the Queen of Sheba is still preserved amongst the Arabs of Sofala, as well as amongst the Habesh of Gondar in their scandalous chronicles. " The site of the region of Ophir has from time immemorial been a bone of contention amongst archæologists, and vast learning has been uselessly expended to prove its locality,, whether in Arabia Felix, or Arabia Petrea, Socotra, the Persian Gulf, India, the Punjaub, Malacca, or the Moluccas of Spain. Such a weighty authority as Milton, who surely ought to know something on the subject, is in favour of Africa. In Paradise Lost, xi, 399 to 401, he says — ' Mombaza, Quiloa and Melind, And Sofala (thought Ophir) to the realm Of Congo and Angola farthest south. Our own opinion of the situation of Ophir is undoubtedly in favour of South-Eastern Africa.

We have a vision of our own, And why should we undo it ? Old Ogilby, in his ponderous folio on African . geography, principally however translated from Dapper, says, ' Yet divers make Ophir the same with Sofala because it has much gold and ivory, and if all the main land included between the river Magnice and Quama and submitting unto Monomotapa, be all as Barros calls it, Sofala, as well as the rest on the 'sea coast, it can with great reason be judged that this country be none but the Golden Ophir of Solomon, partly because of the houses there to be found near the gold mines, not built after the manner of the country, but seem the work of PORTUGUESE PIONEERS. 5 foreigners, aud partly because of the inscriptions being strange and unknown. " ' Moreover, T. Lopez, in his Voyage to the Indies, affirms that among the inhabitants of this country, there remain books which show that Solomon every three years had his gold thence.

Besides, the Septuagint interpreters have translated the words Ophir into the Greek word Sophira, whicli agrees very well with Sofala, and Josephus, the Jewish historian, calleth it Indian Ophir, adding, moreover, it was called the Gold Country.' " Over the signature of " Langham Dale " there appeared in ihe Cape Argus in 1884 two short valuable contributions upon the ancient gold diggings of this part of the world. Here is some of the matter collected by an industrious writer from old records in the South African Public Library, ■Capetown : — " It appears from De Farias Portuguese Asia that Barreto, Governor of India, on his return to Lisbon, was nominated by the King for the government of Monomotapa, with the additional title of Conqueror of the Mines there. The great inducement was the experience of the vast quantity of gold found, particularly at Manika, which my map puts near one of the tributaries of the Sabia Eiver.

Barreto sailed from Lisbon in April, 1592, and having arrived at Mozam bique, proceeded by the advice of Francis de Monclaros, a Jesuit, up the Eiver Cuama (Zambesi), and reached Sena, which is represented to be a town inhabited by Portuguese ; but the expedition was unsuccessful, chiefly through the hostility of the native tribes, although the Emperor of Mono motapa had given Barreto permission to go on to the mines of Butua and Manchika. " Vasco succeeded Barreto, and set out on another expedi tion by way of Sofala, and marched directly towards the mines <jf Manchika, in the kingdom of Chikanga, bordering on that of Quiteyve, the next in power to Monomotapa. From the opposition of the natives and the withdrawal of all provisions from the towns, the Portuguese suffered extreme want until they arrived at Zimbaoe, the court of the King of Quiteyve.

"Vasco burnt this place and marched on to Chikanga's, .believing they would gather gold by handsful ; but seeing that the natives with much difficulty collected only a little in a long time, and that to make anything of it more men and materials were requisite, the Portuguese returned by the way they came, and parted good friends with the King. "Vasco afterwards went north to the silver mines of Maninnas, but he was misled by a stratagem of the natives, who

INTRODUCTION.

. scattered silver ore far enough away from the real mine ; and, after fruitless digging, the expedition was abandoned. _ Vasco being gone, Cordosa (his captain) suffered himself again to be deceived by the Kafirs, who, leading him the way of death rather than that of the mines, killed him and his men ' This, ' says the chronicler, ' was the end of the Government of Mono motapa, scarce begun sooner than ended, and possessed by two governors, who no sooner saw than they lost it ; the first killed by rash words, the second expelled by a prudent, not barbarous, stratagem. However, the peace and trade with the Emperor of Monomotapa continued.' " De Faria says that the Cuama or Zambesi runs through and falls into the sea by four mouths, and that the river is navigable to the town of Sena, ' inhabited by Portuguese,' and to Tete, also a colony of the Portuguese.

The empire of Monomotapa was represented to be bounded on the north and partly on the west by the river Zambesi — Empondo, or Quama ; on the remaining part of the western border and on the south by the country of the Hottentots and certain Kafirs, from which it was separated by the river Magnika, called also that of ' Lorenzo Marques,' and the ' Holy Ghost.' On the east Monomotapa was bounded by the Indian Ocean. " The richest mines were said to be those of Massapa, called Afur or Fura, where has been found a lump of gold worth twelve thousand ducats, and another of the value of four hundred thousand. The mines of Manchika and Butua were reported to be not much inferior. I find no evidence that the Portuguese themselves worked the mines. Throughout the record they are spoken of as ' trading ' for gold, and for this purpose they had a castle or fort at the mouth of the Quama or Zambesi, and at Tete, further up the river, and a hundred and twenty leagues from the sea.

Three fairs or markets, whither they traded for gold, are named Luane, Buento, and Massapa ; at the last station was a Portuguese magistrate, appointed by the commander of Mozambik to settle differences that might arise there. This appointment was made with the consent of the Emperor of Monomotapa, on condition that the officer did not go into the country without special leave. " The gold was exchanged for cloth, glass beads, and silks, brought from Kambaya, and other articles of little value. The trade was carried on right across the continent, if we are to believe the Portuguese author, who says that the blacks of Butua, in the kingdom of Chikanga, carried the gold to Angola. At the trading stations Massapa and Luane were churches of the Dominicans, and De Lesle marks La Victoire, MONOMOTAPA. a convent of the Dominicans, near the Zambesi.

In this old chronicle of Barreto's expedition in 1569, mention is made of the ruins of stately buildings, supposed to be palaces and castles, at Mount Afur or Fura, near Massapa ; sp that the ' ancient structures, of great labour and singular architecture, built with stone, lime and timber, the like whereof are not to be seen in all the provinces adjoining ' were antecedent to the period of Portuguese trade. "The inhabitants of the Empire of Monomotapa are described as black in colour, and in number infinite ; very courageous in war, of a middle stature, and swift of foot. It would be amusing to quote the description of the Emperor's palace, officers of state, the festivals and other local institutions, but as this part of the history throws no light on the gold-working, I have passed it over."

A brief extract from an article which appeared some years back in the Westminster Bevieic, on ' Gold Fields, Ancient and Modern,' may be given : — " When we read the accounts of travellers, from Herodotus downwards, it seems strange that the Gold Fields of Africa have remained so long undeveloped — it can scarcely be said unworked — for a certain amount of gold has always been drawn from the Gold Coast, and also, as we have seen, from Nubia, Abyssinia, and South-Eastern Africa (Monomotapa) in ancient times, whilst the Portuguese drew a considerable amount from the same part of the country ; and it is certain that of late a goodly portion of the precious metal has found its way into the markets from the same source. " Nevertheless, gold mining in Africa as an industry has been entirely neglected by Europeans, although an abortive attempt was made in 1868 to work the mines in Matabili Land, but the machinery sent out could not be got farther than Natal, and ' the working parties being unprovided with funds sufficient for the long and laborious process of mining till they reached the gold, and then requiring to provide machinery, sold out or abandoned their claims.' " Yet these were the mines of which Mauch had said ' The extent and beauty of the Gold Fields are such that I stood as as it were transfixed, and for a few minutes was unable to use the hammer.

Thousands of persons might work on this extensive gold field without interfering with one another.' These are described as being eighty miles in length by two or three in breadth. Many causes have combined to prevent that rush for gold to the African continent which has followed the discovery of the precious metal in other parts of the world. " In the first place, the great numerical strength and

INTRODUCTION.

. vitality of the black races on that continent would prevent that process of extermination which has usually followed tho appropriation of soil by the white man. Secondly, the un healthiness of those parts wherein gold was formerly known to exist had been so fatal to the great majority of explorers that people hesitated to expose themselves to the deadly maladies, which would be still more certainly fatal to miners. If the writer of this article were to pen anything on the subject now, he would have occasion to show that gold is known to exist in South-Eastern Africa over vast tracts of country of an exceptionally salubrious character. Of those who have helped to form the literature of the Gold Fields of South Africa, few have disseminated more authentic and more practical information concerning them than Mr. Wm. Henry Penning, late of H.M. Geological Survey of England, and now of Pretoria.

Four years ago this gentleman wrote a reliable geological description of the fields as known at that time, and as opportunity has offered he has supplemented the particulars contained in his guide by publicly contributing further from his wide knowledge of the subject. In 1884 he read a paper on the fields before the Society of Arts, and I am indebted to the ■ Mining Journal for a summary of his views as then expressed. " The author stated that the paper was ' written with a purpose,' to bring prominently before the public certain facts relating to these fields, which are, or ought to be, quite beyond question, and to remove if possible some widespread false impressions in regard to them. The false impressions he finds to be numerous, but not always adverse ; those however, that are favourable should, he considers, be modified in accordance with the truth quite as much as those which are unfavourable, and which sometimes amount even to prejudice.

For what is essential at this juncture is a just understanding and a true appreciation of the wealth of the Transvaal, from which alone can a reliable opinion be formed as to its future. In this future Europeans cannot fail to play an important part ; they may be misled by too glowing reports, and in search of wealth find poverty and disappointment,- or through apathy and ignorance of the true state of affairs may fail to realise the wealth which undoubtedly lies before them in the Transvaal. "Firmly believing that the true state of the case has only to be known to render these the busiest Gold Fields, as they are, naturally, the richest yet known in the world, Mr. Penning has exaggerated nothing. On the other hand^ MR. PENNING'S VIEWS. 9 although well aware of the difficulties of the political situation, of laws (or the want of them), and of the antipathy of the Dutch to the Englishman, he has ' set nought down in malice.' In a paper of this kind he would keep clear of all political discussion, but could not refrain from drawing attention to two significant facts — a great number (possibly half) of the more intelligent Boers would prefer the British Government to their own — and at this moment it seems not unlikely that the last vestige of protection to the British residents and British interests in the country will be withdrawn.

" In regard to the first, the Boers, especially those upon the diggings, are fast losing faith in the justice and integrity of their own Government, especially since the indiscriminate granting of concessions, and the denying of the diggers' claims to compensation. The Boers may sell their birthright if they choose, but surely they should respect the rights of private property. Then, as to the second, the suzerainty may be the most shallow of all pretences, nevertheless it is something — and something upon which a reality may be built ; but if once withdrawn what can be done, and what position will the British subject hold here in future ? It may be added that before an alteration can be made both parties should, up to date, fully comply with the terms of the Convention. " The Gold Fields, or rather the auriferous region, of the Transvaal, will probably be found to cover nearly all the northern and eastern districts of the State ; for the geological formation throughout is similar to that of the known Gold Fields, and it may reasonably be expected to be auriferous over all the area north and east of an elevated district called the High Veldt — that is, beyond a more or less irregular line passing near the following points : — From New Scotland the hne runs across the heads of the Komatie Eiver, by the Zuikerbosch Kop between Lydenburg and Middleburg, then in a south-western direction towards and far beyond the south of Pretoria.

The northern and eastern area, bounded by this line, covers much more than half the Transvaal, and the gold regions extend beyond the Limpopo Eiver, its northern boundary. In proof of this the Gold Fields at the Tati and at Hartley Hill may be mentioned. " The northern part of the Transvaal is proved to be gold-bearing, at least in some parts ; for instance, coining from tbe Tati in a southerly direction along the Nylstroom Eiver, we have on our left the large district of Zoutpansberg, in which, as well as on the Spelongkeng and on the great

INTRODUCTION.

Letaba Eiver, gold is known to occur. Passing by Marabastadt , also a gold district, we come to Eersteling, where there are some mines, worked for gold a few years since by a company, but which, during the Sekukuni war, were abandoned. Thence by the village of Nylstroom, near which the Buffel's Poort Company about the same time proposed to mine for the gold known to occur there, and so on to Pretoria, within a few miles of which town Mr. Penning has himself examined and reported upon payable Gold Fields. Crossing this northern area again in a north-eastern direction, we hear of gold in the Murchison range of mountains, and, a few miles south, as recorded on Jeppe's map of the Transvaal, it was discovered by Carl Mauch on the Olifant's Eiver in 1868. The intermediate district of the Salati is also asserted to be auriferous.

" Turning now to the south, and leaving the regions in which the occurrence of payable gold is almost certain but not fully known, we come to the well-established Gold Fields at Waterfall, Pilgrim's Eest, MacMac and Spitzkop, and, continuing in the same direction, to the new fields at De Kaap. " Some few miles westward of this last line, gold reefs are now being found, for instance, near Lydenburg, and towards the heads of the Krokodil Eiver ; and to the eastward, in the Kaap Valley, at least 20 miles. This is a very large area — extending, in the Transvaal alone, through at least 3i degrees latitude and 2i degrees longitude — winch, as a matter of course, would not be goldbearing throughout, but in many parts of which (with a possible exception), prospecting for gold may be carried on with fair chances of success.

The exception is, that in the northern region there may be one or more coal fields, similar to that of the High Veldt, to which reference has been made, and recently described in a paper sent to the Geological Society. In that case the coal-bearing formation would mask that in which gold veins occur ; but the beds of which it consists are chiefly sandstone, readily distinguished, and in which it would be useless to search for gold. It will thus be seen that the ' belt,' along which only reef gold was supposed to occur, and about which we were wont to hear so much, has so great an extent as really to form no belt at all. " It is only a short time since speculators would not enter tain the idea of buying farms anywhere outside of the sup posed belt, which was considered to run from the older Gold Fields towards the Kaap.