The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-10-10

JOIASSESBERG,
South AFRICAN REPCBLIC,
August 18th, 1889
CONTINUED from Last issue.l
| There is nothing green, and ap-
parently The country is as level
as a floor, very different from
the Cape Colony but there il a
gradual invisible incline as the
town il two thousand feet above
the altitude Of Kin berley, max
ing it six thousand feet above
sea level. The Dutch farm
houses on the road are from
seven to fjfteen miles apart, with
nothing intervening that would
make one think that the coun-
try was inhabited. We saw no
animals during the trip except
ing a few deer and jackals, and
it IS said that carniverons ami
mails have never troubled any
one unless they are wounded.
Donkeys are extensively used
here in place Of horses, and Ii
ons are very fond Of eating don
keys, and lion often takes a
donkey out of a mans team
without showing any desire to
trouble the man. | have just
seen a newspaper account of a
man travelling through this
country with four donkeys
hitched to his wagon, and while
III camp one night lion bound
ed upon one of his donkeys and
was carrying him away, when
the man, in intense excitement,
grabbed the donkey by the tail
for the pulp ose of rescuing him
from the lion, and the man was
found dead next morning, from
fright, the lion having made a
meal off the donkey and left the
man untouched, and the paper
stated that the man still retain
ed his grip ON the donkey's tail,
which even death did not
sever"
Johannesburg, as well as / re
member, without consulting
map, is about thirty miles sonth
Of Pretoria, the latter being an
old town and the former, as you
term it, a mushroom" town, as
two years ago there were only a
few houses, but the discovery
of the gold mines has made it a
place of thirty thousand people,
and still they come by every
coach. | had some difficulty in
getting a place to sleep when l
arrived here, but finally | pro-
cured a room with another man
in hotel, for which | have to
pay 1915 per diem, including
meals, and still they think here
that | should feel very grateful
for such fine accommodation for
so little money. / can recon-
mend the salt and pepper here,
but you Will have to get out a
search warrant TO get anything
to eat. 1t is q nightly occur
renee for strangers arriving here
to be compelled to sleep on the
floor, or any where they can find
a place to lie down, as the
houses a"e insufficient to shell
ter the number Of strangers now
arriving. My roommate tells
me that he slept on a billiard
table for three nights when he
first came here, for which he
was charged 1915 per day, in
Gliding meals. Many large ho-
tells are in course of erection,
and many are completed, but
still there is not enough. This
town is almost encircled with
gold mines, there being more
than one hundred in .his imme-
date vicinity, and a great many
people have made vast fortunes,
while others have lost all they
possessed, and Johannesburg, for
gambling, is second Monte
Carlo. Everything is most aw-
fully expensive here, and it al
most breaks my heart to pay
the prices, and you may be sure
that nothing but necessity
temps me to make purchases.
a cigar costs 81 cents, { dent
like cigars); a glass Of beer so
cents, II don't drink beer) and
every thing else in proporti on.
/ sent out four shirts and other
articles to be washed, which
have not come back yet, but /
have calculated the cost of the
lot, so | will know whether it is
cheaper to pay the washwoman
or to forfeit the articles.
There are some large snakes
on exhibition hare, which were
caught in the Transvaal, one of
them is thirty feet long and Cal,
break every bone in a sheep and
swallow it with the greatest
ease. They are Of TIE "BOa'
species and crawl abont in the
pen where they are kept, dart
ing out their black forked
tongues like flash Of tighten
ing, and made me feel like I
was having nightmare"
Everything pertaining to the
government here is written in
the Dutch language and 1 am
often puzzled to understand
things, as | do not understand
Dutch, but most all the inhaoi
tants of Johannesburg are Eng