The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-08-13
LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA.
A VISIT TO CAPE TOWN AND THE
DIAMOND FIELDS.
How che People Livc-The Cost of Liv-
ing-WOreaDlg the Diamond Mines
A Hot Place i'm Summcr.

A Brooklyn IN. W traveller thus de-
tails his experiences during a three years
residence in South Africa; "I landed at
Cape Town." he said. "This is place
of 1000 inhabitants, three -fourths OF
whom are blacks or Malays. The May
lays have seven wives apiece that is the
most interesting and unfortunate thing
that can be said against them. The other
quarter of the population is European.
A small cottage there containing four or
five rooms will cost $45 a month; good
sized dwelling will cost three times that
sum. Coal is $15 n ton; meat from 10
to % cents a pound; whisky is 30 cents
drink; imported ale 81 bottle. AT
the restaurant good meal can be had
for 20 cents, consisting of such things as
roast beef, mutton chops, soup, bread,
butter, coffee, rolls, etc. In October
November and December there are ter
rife gales that sweep over the town. The
drivers of vehicles wear green spectacles
on account of the dust, and the women
at the approach of the hurricane, sit
down promptly for fear of sailing sky
ward like so many balloons.
81 went to South Africa as a trader,
speculator, and spent much of my time
in fact the best part of it-in the back
country. Of course, visited the dia-
mond fields. They are in the hands of
the two companies, English and French,
who have from the government the priv
ilege of working the. mines. They are
not doing much in them at the present
time on account of the prevailing dull
ness in the diamond market. The mines
are worked by blacks, and l suppose
there are about 1000 at work at the pres
ent time, about quarter the number
that could be found there when times
were good. The superintendents and
| better class of workers live in houses
made of sheet-iron; the common delivers
in small brushwood houses. Some of the
houses have three rooms and kitchen ;
some have only sleeping places or bunks
The Zulu Kaffirs live in the meanest kind
of huts. They only work long enough
to earn some money with which to buy
guns; then they go back to the country.
four hundred miles away, and engage in
warfare with some of the branches of
their tribes. There are twenty-one tribes
of Zulu Kaffirs. The workmen have few
chances to steal diamonds themselves,
but they have been known to slip one
of. the valuables into the pocket of some
visitor in the hope of seeing him later
and arranging with him as to its sale,
and the visitor has had the diamond
found on him by some of the officers and
been promptly sent off to the western
coast, there to work from ten to twenty
years ON the breakwater they are build
ing in that section. The workmen were
once paid 81 day; now they do not get
so much. The officers who oversee them
used to get from $25 to $50 a week now
they get from $15 to $50.
81 rode into the back country on q
cart, keeping the west coast and endeav-
oring to trade with the natives for skins,
ostrich feathers, and other goods, which
1 would dispose of to the arriving vessels
at Cape Town. The country is dry and
barren; there are plenty of stones, but
no trees, the tallest bushes are not ovel
four feet high. At the numerous rivers
where they cross the roads, you will now
and then find tree or two standing to-
gether near the banks. You will Otter
meet wild animals, tigers, leop
ards, hyenas, jackals monkeys
and elephants, but they will
not molest you unless you attack them
on the contrary, they are afraid of {
human being, and will, unless ravenously
hungry, run away from you. There ART
plenty of poisonous snakes there six fee
long, which jump at you and bite yor
quickly, if you are not on the lookout
for them. The natives eat the meat o.
the buffalo and the buck, and hunt tn,
wild animals for the sake of their skins
tiger skins tanned being about SO.
1T is very hot there in the summe
season, and in some parts there IS grea
scarcity of water. Within one hundred
miles of Cape Town you will find mic,
country and water enough, but beyond
that it is very dry. In the winter time
when the rains come and swell up tn
rivers like a flash, as you might say, yol
would think you would be drowned
The water comes quickly, and at tn
moment wipes away everything within
its immediate reach; but the countr.
is as dry as ever within few hours
In the hottest season it is 1875 t
l30 Fahrenheit in the shade
that is, such shade as there is-where tn
suns rays strike directly it is from $50 t.
154. The moment the sun rises it
hot; the moment it sets it is cool
People cannot of course, work all da
in such weather; they stay in the hOus
from 10 to 3, but of course the heat doe
not effect them so much as it does
newly arrived foreigner, and after awhile
if he is strong and healthy, can stand
, pretty well.
"The country is sparsely populated
mostly Inv the Dutch and Germans Th
! Dutchmen do not till the soil, but cor
fine their attention to the raising q
sheep, oxen and ostriches, making it
special business.
'If farmer is rich the children &c
their schooling from private tutor b
hires to live on the place. OF cours
I there are no public schools, and tn
: farmers are generally many miles apal
J at distance say of half day or
: days walk"