The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-26

" wNMF ering q distance of $50
cHuRcEH1 miles, deserves some de-
scription. The railway is
completed as far as Vryburg, in Bechuana-
land. 1t is now proposed to carry this
railway on narrower gauge to Mafeking
and to 100 miles north of that place.
Should the Tati gold fields prove as re-
munerative as well informed persons be-
lieve, the line will soon be- extended
thither. From Tati to the Victoria falls
of the Zambesi is q short step of about 500
miles over country offering few en-
cheering difficulties, and 1 doubt not
that the next generation before it grows
old will travel to this great river and to
its unparalleled cascades with the same
ease and comfort as the present genera
ton is able to visit Niagara.
The road from Kimberley to Vryburg
traverses succession of plains wide as the
eye can range, bounded here and there by
low and irregular chains of hills. Scarcely
single tree ever breaks the endless fat of
grass veldt.
Pone me digris ubi nulla campis
Arbor cestiva recreatur aura
The Roman poet must have had Bechu-
analand and the Transvaal in his mind
when he wrote the lines quoted above, for
the two countries perfectly realize his con-
ception. The veldt at the surface has a
somewhat sterile and parched appearance,
and is covered with patchy grass dried by
the sun to the color of hay. Far and wide
1t extends, and the traveller sees no reason
why he should ever emerge from its limits.
Two causes, however, combine to remove
the tedium and monotony of such land
scape. The vastness, the apparent illim-
liability of the surroundings elevate rather
than Cypress the mind, and the genial sun
shine, the cloudless sky and the invigorat-
ing highland air sustain the spirits at
high level. Nor must it be supposed that
these African plains are in any degree
wanting in fertility. The heavy rains of
the summer and autumn produce an
abundance of juicy grass on which are
raised large herds of cattle and focks of
sheep.
Both in Bechuanaland and in the Trans
vaal the amount of live stock is very con-
siderably less than the area and the soil is
capable of sustaining, and it would
scarcely be an exaggeration to assert that
if in the course of centuries all other sup
plies of meat for the human race should
be exhausted the African veldt would pro-
duce sufficient to fill the stomachs of
starving world. Cattle disease, horse sick
ness and the sheep scab at present offer
formidable obstacles to the rapid multiple
cation of live stock. 1t is, however, highly
probable that science and sanitary legisla-
ton will before long remove or mitigate
these scourges of the farmer. Approach
ing Vryburg the railroad runs through the
''Native Reserve" a large district which
has been set aside for the exclusive occu-
patton and cultivation by the Southern
Bechuana. The soil here is we'll watered
and of great fertility. Abundant crops of
mealies (maiZe) can be easily raised. Many
other kinds of grain. potatoes and various
vegetables might be produced in large
quantities, were the natives given to
industry and agriculture. Report, how
ever, speaks but poorly of the Southern
Bechuana; idle and insolent in good years,
helpless and mendicant in bad, it is doubt
full whether he will be long able or per-
mitted to retain his hold upon territory
which is capable of being transformed into
one vast garden.
Vryburg is an urban community in its
infancy, which may some day grow into
large and thriving town. At present it
consists of a number of low buildings of
somewhat mean and squalid appearance,
constructed of the inevitable corrugated
iron, and spreading themselves out irregu-
larry over a considerable extent of ground.
Sir Sidney Shippard, the British admins
traitor, who entertained as most kindly
and Hospitality, occupies a small cottage
which many British mechanic would
despise. 1t is to be hoped, considering the
size and Importance of our Bechuanaland
possessions and the great powers welded
by the administrator, that the British gov
eminent, who insist upon retaining their
hold over Bechuanaland, will provide their
representatives with a more suitable and
honorable residence. Three hotels offer to
the traveller fair, but rough, accommoda-
ton, and in one or more well-tlled stores
the immigrant or the settler can obtain
most of the necessaries of life, and such
articles as are requisite for the commerce
of the interior. From Vryburg branch OFT
many routes north and east and west
Westward into Demaraland, or into the
great Kalahara desert, toward Lake
Ngami, northward to Matabeleland and
the Zambesi, eastward, which route we
ourselves followed, TO the Transvaal and
Johannesburg. Passenger coaches are for
the present confined TO this latter route.
AS we were large party, with some
amount Of baggage we had secured for
our private use two coaches, and we passed
the four days occupied in the journey to
Johannesburg in tolerabie comfort. Afri-
can coaching is an experience which at the
present day can only be tried in Africa.
The coaches themselves are the most curl
Gus productions Of human skill. Intended
to hold twelve passengers inside, half a
dozen outside, besides large quantities of
heavy baggage, they are constructed of the
most solid materials, hung upon thick
springs of leather, and present the most
unwieldy, numbering and old world APP
pearance. They are drawn by ten or
twelve mules or horses harnessed in pairs.
Two men are required to guide the team
the one holding the reins, the other the
long whip, with which he can severely
chastise all but the leading pair. When
driving a team of mules the whip is in
operation every minute. constant logging
alone inducing these stubborn animals 10
do their best. At times one Of the drivers
is compelled 10 descend from the box and
run alongside the team, tiogging them all
with the greatest harshness and impair
TALLY. Ia spite, however, of ali this effort
and apparent harsh treatment an average