Rhodesia, past and present

Preface

The reader has probably seldom met with more heterogeneous elements in one single book. Some portions were written in our waggon, some under a tree, on a stone, near an ant-heap, on the brink of a river, on board ship, on the beach, in an old mine, amidst ancient ruins ; seldom with the pen, mostly with pencil ; sometimes by the glare of a fire, sometimes by the feeble glimmer of a candle in a lantern, mostly with the inconvenience of a traveller in a new country, often in a hurry to avail ourselves of the scanty chances of postal out-stations; mere fleeting impressions, incoherent but fresh, in the shape of letters to friends. On the contrary, other parts were written in my study, in the midst of a library of books on the North, dealing with the old diggings and ruins, and give a rc'stinic of much reading and reflection, coupled with my own investigations and experience.

Well then, we give it, and let the reader take it for what it is worth. We always trouble ourselves only about what we wriie, never about what we have

1128447 vi PREFACE

lorittai. That is for the reader to judge. What is written, is written.

One remark only need be added. When we started for the North, the secretary of the Chartered Company kindly supplied us with letters of introduction to all officials of the Company in Mashonaland and Matabeleland. Not a single one of these letters did we use. We brought them all back. Purposely we avoided coming into contact with the Company's officials as far as possible ; we wanted to see with our own eyes ; to judge impartially and unprejudiced. Whatever deficiencies this book, consequently, may have, of which we are fully conscious, it is written according to our own disinterested observation and honest conviction.

S. J. DU TOIT.

Paarl, Scptcmhcy 7, 1S95.

lACB

CON 1 i: XTS

LIMTKR I lULLOCK-WAGGON VERSUS RAILWAY

How the Dutch Pioneer opened the Country with his Ox- The English follvuinf^ with Telegraph and I' -Praises of the " slow but sure" Ox and Ox-waggon — Still indispensable — Difference between former and present Pioneers — Ox -waggon preceding Railway — Rhodes the present Pioneer— Africa the Laud of the Future — Why so long unknown— High and healthy — No W'atertiays, auailing the Railnay — From Cape to Cairo — Two Signboards — Co-operation of English and Dutch

LKTTKR II

FROM VRYHURG TO MAFEKING

Bechuanaland's Population increasing — The Trade Route — Transvaal exclusive Policy— Means of Transport from Vryburg to Salisbury— '' He is only a Kaffir''— Transvaal Incredulity — Moutsioa — The Friend of Trees— Mafeking, the trim Border Town— The Railway just crossing the Border of Civilisation— The increasing Stream of Mahpo 13

I viii CONTEXTS

LETTER 111 FROM MAFEKING TO PALLA

PAGE

Tlnrc hundred miles per O.x-icaf;<f^on — 11'//// the 'Bus to Btilawayo — Bush Country — Game and Birds — Guineafold Hunting by Night — Pleasures and Sorrows of Hunters— What arc these Trees for? — A Raihvay through the Bush Country— Fire continually Burning — A Fruitful and Habitable Country — Translation of Kaffir Names 21

LETTER IV FROM PALLA TO PALAPYE

Another 105 miles through Bush country — ''Every one goes to Bulawayo" — Through a ''Thirst Land" — The upper end of the Kalahari — Water and " Veldt''' — Christianity and Civilisation amongst the Kaffirs — Kaffirs as ^~" Labourers — A Hint for our Labour Commission . . 28

LETTER V FROM PALAPYE TO TATI

Palapyc as Toivn — Chama as Christian and Ruler — A Smouldering Fire — The Tropic passed — Hidden ]\'ater — More Lions — Opening for Industry . . . • 58

LETTER \T

THE TATI GOLD-ITELDS OF THE PAST

First Gold Discoveries — The " Voortrekkers" here, also the Pioneers — Salkats and Lobcn fear the Gold — First Gold-seekers — The Tati Concession — Why there is no greater Success 47

CONTEXTS ix

LETTER \TI THE TATI GOLD-FIELDS OF THE PRESENT

I'AGE

Reality equal to a Novel — Plan of Novel concerning Solomon s Mining Works here — Amongst Game and Beasts of Prey — Great Mining Works in the far Interior . . 54

LETTER VIII

SALKATS, THE FOUNDER OF THE MATABELE EMPIRE

The Boundaries of Matabeleland — The Descent of Salkats — Salkats and Chaka — Salkats and the Boers — Salkats and the Mashonas, Makalakas, and Baroets — His Death and Successor — The Poor Matabeles — Their Miserable State and Humiliation 63

LETTER IX

LOBENGULA, THE DESTROYER OF THE MATABELE EMPIRE

Contrast between Salkats and Lobengula — The Weaknesses of Lobengula — Lobengula the Victim of English Policy — Downing Street does u'hat Pretoria refused to do — Not the Boer, but the Englishman acquires the North- • — First by Diplomacy, then by Gold Concessions, finally with the Maxim — The Grobler Murder — " Bobejaun " sent to the White Queen — England's Suzerainty acknon'- ledged — ^^ Protection,'" which in Five Years' time annihilated the Empire — His Birthright sold for a Pottage of

CONTEXTS

lAGE

Lentils, or Lobcufiula's Concession Policy — Concession first towards North-cast, then South-west — More and larger Concessions — The Chartered Company tcith Rights on One-eleventh of Africa, or One Million square Miles — Had Rhodes the Right to make War?— The War commenced— Had it been against Salkats ! — Assegai or l^ifc — The Entrance Gates not Guarded — What happened at Manqwe — The Shangani Battle — Two clever Scouts — Wilson idolised, Forbes censured — The Dembezi Battle — iSight and Dazcn in Matahclcland 76

LETTER X

FROM BULAWAYO TO THE QUEEN'S REEF

Further Travelling Plan— The old City of Murder— The Imbezi Military Kraal — Lobeugula's Picked Regiment — Interview with a fen' of these Warriors — Umfasi Matiho — Severe Morality of the Kaffirs — Its Weakening by Civilisation — Old Mining Works — The Ancients icere good Prospectors — Their lead is uoikJ being followed — The Queen's Reef — In the Paarl Camp . . . .92

LETTER XI FROM THE gUEEN'S REEF TO SHANGANI

Burning of the ^^ Veldt,'' and Prospector's Tracks through Matabeleland — With Donkeys and in Grass Huts — The Trader follows the Gold-seeker — Prices in Matabeleland — Dees' heads in Sugar — In a forsaken Orchard — The Subjection of the Matabele — Missions without Success — Lions — On the Road by -which Lobengula fled — Thirteen days without Whites — Eight -without seeing Kaffirs — What -we saw and found along the Shangani — Books and Papers thro-wn a-way — Fishing amongst Crocodiles — Back from the -wrong Road 99

CONTEXTS xi

LETTER XII FROM SHAXGANI TO GWELO

Stuck in the Forest — Open Roads icith eight Tracks ! — Baobab and Mahogany Trees — Post Pole along the Road — One Matabele ivith eight Wives — Hon' the Ancients crushed the Quartz — Ma)iy thousands of Labourers — ' Nightly Visitors — A Sunday Dinner — A Wild Boar — A cheeky Matabele Petty Chief — A Prospector's Camp destroyed by a Dynamite Explosion — Important Information— Gwelo and its Prospects — The Surroundings of

LETTER XIII ANOTHER 350 MILES PER OX-WAGGON

Retrospect — Thirteen hundred Miles per Ox-icaggon — Back by Three Roads — Why we chose the Beira Route — The Selukwe Gold-fields — The Paarl also here icell represented— Beautiful Scenery — Forests of li'ild Loquats — New Roads in a new Land — The Victoria District suitable for Agriculture and Cattle farming — Testimonies of Farmers from the Colony, Free State, the Transvaal, and Natal — Fort Victoria — The Country surrounding Zimbabwe — At the Grave of l]'ilson and his brave Company— " Morgenster," the first Mission Station of the Dutch Reform Church in Rhodesia — Mashona Tonus on Granite Koppics — Hoiv the Mashonas cultivate their lands — Back to Bnlawayo ..... 121 xii COX TK NTS

LETTER XIV

HOW WILSON AND HIS MEN PERISHED A Tragical Episode in the Matabele War

PAGE

First and last Fights at the Shaiigani — Ttiv renowned American Scouts and their Wonderful Deeds of Reconnoitring— Meeting and Interview with Burnham — Chief Adventures of the Expedition which pursued Lobengula — Burnham's Account of that memorable Night and Morning —Close on Lobengula' s Heels — " No European shall cross the Shangani'" — Reconnoitring with Wilson and twelve men across the Shangani — Through thousands of Kaffirs in the Night — The 'whole Matabele Nation and Army with Lobengula — Almost surrounded by Kaffirs — Three Men sent to ask Forbes to cross at once with the ivhole Force, in order to attack Lobengula at Daybreak — Seeking in the Night for three men who had strayed amongst the Kaffirs — Following tracks on a dark and rainy Night — All out in the Night as Spies — The Kaffir impis, being misled, march past to Forbes — Waiting for Forbes — Burrows arrives with Twenty Men, without a Maxim — Hopeless Condition — Consultation : '■'■How best to Die " — Wilson's Tactics, a Bold Move — Directly on the King and his Chief Indunas — Tlie Waggons empty — Attacked and almost surrounded by Kaffirs — Shoot straight and waste no Ammunition — Good Shooting in Danger — Behind a great Ant-heap — Retreating with closed up Ranks — Where does Forbes Tarry? — Burnham, Ingram, and Gooding break through dense 7nasses of Kaffirs towards Forbes — Mislead the Kaffirs by Detours — A Race for Life — The last they heard of Wilson — Sicimming the River with tired Horses — Through the midst of the Enemy to the Laager — Dissatisfied with Forbes's behaviour — Why Raaff took the

CONTEXTS xiii

I'AGE

Command — What the Kaffirs relate — Wilson's heroic Death— A Magician who could not be killed — A Death song in the midst of Death — Did they Shoot themselves ? — The Representation by Forbes and his Distortion of Facts — Burnham well Rewarded ; an energetic Inhabitant of the Country • ^33

LETTER XV FROM BULAWAYO TO SALISBURY

How you obtain Travelling Tickets at Bulawayo — Leaving Thirty Hours behind Time — Passing a Night on the Omnibus between the Baggage — The Twin-Commando Road — How the two Columns formed Laagers — Africanders as Post Contractors — Discomforts on the Journey , 151

LETTER XVI SALISBURY VERSUS BULAWAYO

Self-conceit of the Johannesburgers — What a Digger's Paper dares to say — Full Hotels and Crammed 'Buses — The Contractor gives us his oicn Seat — Already Fifty prosperous Farmers in the District — Amongst them Men from the Paarl, now our Fellow-Travellers — Building, Building, and no " To Lets " — A Town Hall costing £40,000 — Danger and Loss for Church and Nationality— Journalism in Zambesia — The Twin City-— Salisbury and Bulawayo — Two Dogs for one Bone — According to -which Standard to Judge — A big T and a big Pear 162 xiv CONTEXTS

LETTER XVII FROM SALISBURY TO UMTALI

PAGE

/// through Fatigue — A good u;ay through a beautiful ^^ Country — A recently laid-out Farm in a Neiv Country — ^^ Here I could live'' — Laurencedalc — Unifali in a beautiful Valley — Where the Roads divide — A new Highland — Old Viaducts discovered— Were these the Grain Fields of the Ancients? — Are these their Catacombs ?— An interesting Conversation in the evening, during vjhich the Fatigue of the Journey is forgotten .... 173

LETTER XVIII FROM UMTALI TO BEIRA

The Descent from Umtali to the Sea coast — The Height of Salisbury, Umtali, Chimoio and Fontesvilla — Distances and Time per Ox-waggon — Railway and River-boat — - The Omnibus with Oxen wins — We descend the Mountains— Tropical Vegetation — Hozv far is this Country habitable ? — Resembles Loiver Egypt — Africa built in Terraces — Hence no Navigable Rivers, but healthy Highlands— To be opened by Railways — Open Land for superfluous Population of Europe — Raihcay Terminus not Bulawayo, but Cairo — Midnight at Chimoio — £1 for every Five Miles per Ox-zcaggon — This is due to the Tsetse Fly — Down the Mountains by Rail — Beautiful Tree groicth — Stately Palm Trees — Game on the Flats — What the Game teaches us — The Wliiic Rhinoceros not yet extirpated — Protection necessary — List of Game — Fontesvilla a Village on Poles, sometimes a small Venetia — Two Days without Food on the Pungwe — Subsisting on Pisangs (Bananas) — Adventures — Railway versus River-boat . 184

CONTEXTS XV

LETTER XIX THE COMTETING SEAPORTS

rAGE

Bcira and Delagoa the best natural Ports of South Africa — Contrast with Durban and East London — The calumniated Portuguese Government defended — Advantages of the two Portuguese Havens — Deira as Town, Trading Place, and Haven — Sofala, Solomon's Port — German Steam Navigation on the East Coast — Delagoa — False Reports — Durban, including Theatre, ''to lef' — A Model Tram Service — A good Word for the Coolies in Natal — Fruit Export to the Cape Colony — Natal not feared as Competitor in the Trade to the Interior — Beira the Natural Port of Rhodesia, Delagoa of the Transvaal — Eloquent and Stubborn Figures — Geographical P'acts — Comparison of the Distances by Land and Sea — Present Prices of Transport — Future of Eastern, or Suez Sea Route — Advantage of having Rhodes as our Premier lit present 199

I

ILLUSTRATIONS

AmicHt Btiiltlin^, Zimbiibuc

Mahoj^cniy Tree, Palapye .

At liiilauuiyo ....

On the Shaugitiii

Forest near the Shaiij^aiii .

Store. Hartley Hills

Native Huts, Ziiiibabii'e

Ziiubabice .....

Hut Building. Selukice

Granite Wall, Zimbabice

Ruins at Zimbabice .

At Zimbabwe ....

• 3^3

IU4

1 68

Letter I Bullock-waggon Versus Railway

How the Dutch Pioneer opened the Country with Jiis Ox-waggon — The English following with Telegraph and Railway — Praises of the "slow but sure'' Ox and Ox-waggon — Still indispensable — Difference between former and present Pioneers — Ox-waggon preceding Railway — Rhodes the present Pioneer — Africa the Land of the Future — Why so long unknown — High and healthy — No Waterways, awaiting the Railway — From Cape to Cairo — Tivo Signboards — Co-operation of English and Dutch,

Ramoutsa, July 20, 1894.

Dear Friends, — Sketches of our travels once more.

On a former occasion we took you first through.

England, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy ;

from there to Egypt and Palestine ; thence through

Turkey, Austria, France and Belgium, and then via

England back to our beloved fatherland. Afterwards

we gave you an extensive description of our " Travels

through Bible Lands." And on a later occasion we

related our experiences as a member of the Transvaal

Deputation to England, Holland, France, Belgium,

A

Portugal and Germany, whereby we were enabled to introduce you to the courts of these various States.

This time we describe oiir own country. Latterly tlic opening up of the Northern regions drew so much attention, especially those regions between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, that we decided to go and see for ourselves and give you a true description of our own experiences and observations.

Our journey goes in the first place to Bulawayo via Vryburg and Mafeking. Naturally the first half is done by rail, as far as Vryburg, the extension to Mafeking being still under construction. Our light, but strongly built spring-waggon, with tent affixed, was forwarded a few days in advance, together with a good supply of tinned and other provisions, and Thursday evening, July 5, Mr. G. J. Malherbe and myself left the Paarl station by rail for Vryburg, where we arrived on Saturday evening.

Monday afternoon we left Vryburg for Mafeking, a distance by rail of 102 miles, but with the winding waggon road about 125 miles. Thus travelling with the slow ox-waggon, after leaving the train, and alongside the construction train — spending four days on the distance traversed by the train in a few hours — we immediate!}' had time for observation, reflection, and conversation, of which we give 3'ou a glimpse.

What a contrast when you exchange the train for the bullock-waggon ! The boiling locomotive is so much faster than the slow ox. From the Paarl to

BULLOCK-WAGGOX J'ERSUS RAILWAY 3

Vryburg — a distance of 774 miles — it took us 46 hours. We get so accustomed to speed. But it does not need a very strong memory to recollect the time when it required good travelling to cover the distance between the Paarl and the Orange River in a month.

But we should be guilty of the usual superficialness of our time (so often condemned by us), if we were satisfied with this general observation, as if the ox-waggon were now completely superseded by the train in South Africa.

The old Dutch pioneer opened up the country with his ox-waggon, the English now do it with telegraph and railway. We live in a time of transition from the ox-waggon to the railway. What can be more suitable than to reflect for a moment what the ox-waggon and the railway have respectively done for the opening of the country and the development of its resources ; in how far they reciprocally require each other ; and in how far the Dutch farmer and the Englishman ought, under the same guidance of providence, to labour harmoniously together for the development of our great and good countr}', this land of the future.

Where is the African poet, who will worthily sing what the ox and ox-waggon have done for the opening up and development of our country ? Poets have extolled in song the merits of the good-tempered camel, that ship of the desert ; poets have painted, in beautiful images, the virtues of the fleet and noble horse ; the usefulness of the locomotive has often been extolled as high as the heavens, in song ; and far be it from me to deny their virtues and usefulness. But who will contradict me when I venture to state, that for the opening and development of South Africa the " slow but sure " ox-waggon has done more than camel, horse, and railway combined ?

The ox-waggon I It was not only the means of transport, but also the habitation, the travelling tent, the altar, the fort of the emigrant. That waggon contained his furniture, some provisions and ammunition, and on the top of that his wife and children found a seat; in the box-seat was his Bible, and in the tent of the waggon his gun hung suspended, and with that he entered the unknown interior ! If the lion threatens him, the gun is ready to hand. If the Kaffirs attack him., the waggons are quickly drawn close together in a circle, the openings are firmly closed up with thornbushes and the wheels fastened together with the iron chains belonging to each waggon (which are used instead of "breaks") and his impregnable "fort" is ready. When Sunday or a festive day comes round, the Bible is brought out and the head of the family is at once prophet and priest, in a thorough patriarchal manner. So, you see, to him his waggon is everything.

In or alongside that waggon many a promise of marriage was blushingly given, quite as honestly meant and as sweet as those given in the most courthke halls ; in or alongside that waggon many a lU'LLoCK-WAGGOX J'ERSrs kAIlAV.W 5

honeymoon was spent quite as pleasant and sweet as any spent in large hotels and cities. In that waggon many children first saw daylight, and in that waggon many a dearly beloved drew the last breath.

Even the first omnibus traflic between the Transvaal and Mashonaland and now again between Mafcking and Bulawayo is carried on with oxen. And how shall our pioneers occupy Matabeleland, Mashonaland and the region of the lakes, without the ox-waggon ? And what would the railway do without the <»x-waggon, which has to transport produce and goods to and from the nearest station? P'or proof of this statement just look at the teams of ox-waggons loading or unloading the trucks of the train.

This proves that tiie ox is " slow and sure," but also that he is not too slow. See, in four days we have travelled about 125 miles from Wyburg to Mafeking, and in three and a half days — S3 miles — from Mafeking to Ramoutsa, from which place we write this.

So you see, reader, that there is at present no urgent necessity to close up our waggon-manufactories. He must be very superficial and ungrateful, who thinks that we have already exchanged the ox-waggon for the train.

For that waggon, the tame, patient, and strong ox was the only possible animal. The noble horse could not in that rough and unexplored interior keep up its reputation, deprived of suitable stable and forage ; and to crown all it had often to succumb to the very mucli feared " horse-sickness ; " and the same applies to the mule. The ox and the ox alone has scaled those mountains, traversed those valleys and opened the first roads. Without the ox the opening up of the interior regions — Natal, the Free State, the Transvaal^ was an impossibility.

Even now we simply can't do without the ox.* He remains the true pioneer in the opening up of new regions. After the ox comes the horse, and after the horse the train ; this is the order, at least in our countr}'. However, the man who sticks to his ox-waggon alone and will have nothing to do with telegraph and railway is just as onesided as he who forgets its merits.

How should we manage to-day with the ox-waggon alone, if we had not the train to Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, and Pretoria? How could the diamond fields and the gold-fields have been developed without railways ; and what would the development of South Africa have been without the diamond and gold fields ?

Consequently our conclusion is : both are to us indispensable— the ox-waggon precedes and the railway follows. Yes, the painter who wishes to depict the development of South Africa will have to conmiit the

* What a commentary on these reflections does the rinderpest now furnish, the transport rates, with mules and donkeys, having risen from £i to ^"5 los. between Mafeking and Bulawayo !

BULLOCK-WAGGOX J'EA'Si'S RAILWAY 7

seeming folly of letting the ox-waggon precede the railway I

But even in this order some change has come. The emigrant and pioneer opened up Natal, the Free State, and the Transvaal with the ox-waggon ; but Rhodes opens up Zambesia with the telegraph and railway. How much quicker everything is done now' ! The development of the country now makes greater strides in a few mouths than it formerly did in as many years, during the time of the first "trek." Oh, how the poor pioneer had to contend with unopened roads and impassable rivers ; and now j-ou are carried along on smooth rails and across iron bridges. Formerly they had a continual fight with lions and savages ; now you no longer hear the lion's roar, and the power of the last great heathen empire is broken. Then it took months to convey any tidings — now this sketch will travel the 1000 miles to the Paarl in five days.

And what has caused this difference ? Then the Englishman was the strong opponent of emigration ("trek) and noii.\ in the person of Mr. Rhodes, he takes the initiative and assists. Then the pioneer's supply of ammunition was hindered — if not stopped — and the Kaffirs (sometimes on the sly and often openly) assisted in their fight against these noble pioneers of civilisation ; now Rhodes first breaks the tyranny, he places police everywhere for protection, he has wells dug all along the route and then invites the " Boer " to come in and live in these new regions. Then the poor farmer had no market for his produce ; he could only breed cattle and exchange or sell them to traders ; now the railway opens the gold mines and the gold mines introduce the train, and both combined give the farmer a market for his produce. The road is read}' and the market waits.

Thus the opening of the interior is done more rapidly. And still we do not see the end — ah ! who can tell where it will end ? At first the Berg River was the boundary of civilisation, afterwards the Orange River, then the Vaal River, then the Limpopo, then the Zambesi — but where will it end ? Shall it be at Uganda or Cairo ? . . . . We must here refer the reader to what we wrote in "Africa, the Land of the Future," written in 1890, from which we cull a few excerpts :

For long ages our southern hemisphere remained totally unknown. Only four centuries ago America and South Africa were discovered, and as regards Africa only during the last four years ha.s this vast continent drawn the attention of the civilised world.

Not long ago we visited the " Stanley and African Exhibition " in London. There were exhibited the maps of Africa of all centuries, and looking at them you could scarcely withhold a laugh. Yes, this was first an nnknown, then a dark continent. Even the most fantastic forms were given to this land. And of that vast hinterland, what fancy dictated was marked down : and for the rest all was marked as — a desert !

But now the daylight begins to dawn over this dark continent, thanks to those intrepid explorers — a Livingstone and De Chaillu, a Mauch and Holub, a Stanley, an Emin, a Peters — but where will it end ? Exploring is still in its infancy.

BULLOCK-WAGGON VERSCS RAILWAY 9

Tliis long unknown and unsought for Africa is now drawing attention everywhere; it fills the columns of dailies and periodicals; it opens up a new and strange world to the novelist, and a new field of exploit to the trader and

speculator

Even the Powers of Europe are busily engaged dividing this immense continent between themselves. It is really remarkable to note how now most of Europe's great Powers vie with each other to secure the largest share of Africa's 11,000,000 square miles of area. About 5,000,000 of it are already appropriated, and about 3,000,000 are still put down as desert. Thus only 2,500,000 remain, and only 1,000,000 of that is still available.

Germany has appropriated to itself 600,000 square miles in East, and 300,000 in West Africa ; France has assumed 500,000 square miles ; the Congo Free State has gradually absorbed 1,000,000 square miles, and Italy is grasping at

2,000,000

More than once we have questioned ourselves why European nations and States thus vie with each other to secure the greatest possible share at the apportionment of Africa. Does this competition arise from an "ahnung" or presentiment that Africa is the land of the future, the field for their over-population and over-production ?

But here the query arises : Why did this country, now so eagerly sought after, remain for such a long time unknown and closed to Europe ? The simple answer is because the whole hinterland of this vast continent forms one plateau of 3000 to 5000 feet elevation. This is a great disadvantage, because for this reason Africa's interior has got no watemays, our rivers not being navigable, as they rush down seawards over steep declines and rocky cataracts. For that reason the hinterland remained closed to civilisation, and wherever it tried to penetrate, it was hampered and obstructed in its development.

On the other hand, the high elevation is a great advantage, lo RHODESIA

which thus far has only heen too much overlooked. Now this elevated plateau is extraordinarily healthy, situated as it is on both sides of the equator. Now Africa has got all the advantages of a tropical and sub-tropical climate, coupled with a fertile soil, and healthy, comparatively temperate atmosphere. Now we can boast of unv Mountains of the Moon, with eternal snows on their summits, and eternal springs on their slopes. If Africa were a level country, we would have had our navigable rivers as waterways, but of what use would they be in an unhealthy, uninhabitable country ?

Now we have got a vast, fertile, and healthy continent, only waiting to be opened up — by railways. Yes, the iron way and the locomotive Africa requires more than any country in the world for its opening up and development, for the very reason of its high elevation. And already beginnings are made ; from north, south, east, and west railways are piercing deeper

and deeper into the interior

But however useful these different lines from the different coasts may be, the trunk line is still wanting, and as yet nobody seems to think about it. A short time ago, being in the city of London, and entering No. 5 Throgmorton Avenue, our attention was drawn to two brazen signboards on two doors adjoining each other. On the one was engraven, " Consulate of the South African Republic," and on the other, " Trans-African Railway Company." On investigation we '"ound that the railway was only a short Portuguese line on the west coast, and, as we all know, " the South African Republic " covers only a very small patch. But are both titles not prophetic ? A railway or trunk line right across Africa, from the Cape to Cairo, and a vast South African Republic — are they the dreams of a heated imagination, or the realities of the future ? Time will show.