Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-11-06
AFRICA'S CITY OF GOLD.
johannesburg the Mecca of Modern
Fortune Seekers

Fortune Seekers
Englishmen are a good deal inter-
ested just now in Johannesburg,
mining settlement in South Africa, in.
land from Kimberly. it is the chief
town in the gold fields of the southern
continent, say the New York Press.
The discovery of gold in and near
johannesburg caused stampede
from the Kimberly diamond mines
about ten years ago, and a settlement
that rivaled notorious Dead Gulch
sprang into existence within fort
night. Johannesburg became as fa-
nous as California did during the early
gold excitement there. Then for four
years the South African gold camp
slumbered. There was plenty of gold
there, but the cost Of mining it was too
great for individuals. Within year
an English company, whose Objects to
work the mines on big scale, has been
formed, and Englishmen and English
women at home are frantically buying
the shares of the new company. Any
kind OF a mining enterprise seems to
appeal to Englshmen just now, for the
craze for wild speculation was never
greater. Mining stocks fetch fabulous
prices in London, and the Shares of a
few South African corporations recent
ly launched are being doomed almost
out of sight by eager buyers with ap-
parently an endless supply of money.
All this is fine for johannesburg,
which has profited immensely by the
English craze. A lively little city has
grown up to replace the shanties of
ten years ago. The buildings of this
latest Eldorado are far from being
modern structures, however. A visitor
to Johannesburg describes them as
bungalows. Each boasts, he says, a
veranda and small plot of ground,
and seems to tell tale of simple salts
faction, lending charm which lasts
about week, for the dullest person
does not take long to find out that al.
most every building in the town is
Jerry" built.
Windows are not made to exclude
the air, nor doors to reach their lintels,
the walls do nothing toward deadening
sound, and the ceilings, though occa
sionally of polished wooden panels, are
not 80 frequently impervious to rain;
in fact, umbrellas and mackintoshes
have on accasions been used, even in
bed, as a protection from intruding
raindrops.
The homes of the middle classes con.
sist of three or four bedrooms, a sit.
ting room, kitchen and small larder,
with compound yard and small
garden attached, and cost in to- from
about twenty to fifty pounds, and
within tin minutes radius from the
town, about twelve or fifteen pounds a
month.
To move from one house to another
several times in year is not an unus
ual occurrence, nor is it attended by
much difficulty, for the household
goods are few, and the residents are
averse to increasing the number of
their possessions from lack of space in
which to place them. "Art" muslin,
packing cases and paraffine oil tins
form large limit, for, with little
dexterity, they can be converted from
dressing table to divan, from linen press
to larder, and 80 on, while empty oil
tins refilled with the rich, red, virgin
soil, which will grow almost everything
and make, when planted with flowers
and placed along the veranda, attrac
tive flower boxes.
The servant girl" problem disturbs
the housewives of Johannesburg quite
as much as it does the New York
mother of family. Kitchen boys,
who receive as much as three pounds,
or fifteen dollars, month, are hard to
| get, and are an endless source of an
| noyance. Some of them are raw Kaf-
firs from "up country" who enter SER
vice knowing nothing of civilization,
and have to be taught their duties
from beginning to end; but even those
are better than the civilized" servants,
who, according to the visitor already
quoted, are usually more or less dis.
honest and given to drink. Servants
sleep in an clubhouse built in the com.
pound, eat mealy meal AN inferior
Indian corn or scraps and leavings, at
which they are now beginning to pro-
test.
These boys" as they are called,
spend about ten years of their lives
| from about II to 27) in service, and
many of them contrive to save money.
When not mulcted of it by white men
they return, after their term Of service,
to their kraals, buy cattle and wives
and luxuriate in utter idleness, while
their womenfolk tend the cattle and
cook the scoff food
| Karl's Clover Root Tea
/ |. L.. Il 4. 4