Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1897-01-15
FROM BLACK HILLS TO THE RANDI
Walter II. Heal Writes Interestingly of His
Trip to the Trnnsvaal.
Contin,led from lust weekO

A walk down the community of Is
lam; few minutes with the staunch
followers of Mahomet might serve to
interest some. The Coolies, as they
are called, are prosperous and con-
tented people who adhere strictly to
the sharply marked peculiarities and
traits of their own civilization. Among
them you find the artisan, tailor, read
er and what not. Every morning they
can be seen striking out with large
baskets upon their heads, loaded with
various commodities, mostly fruit.
There are over 500 Coolie peddlers,
controlling GO per cent of the fruit
trade. Then there's the merchant in
white linen tight legged pantaloons,
fancy embroidered variagated jackets,
some of the zouave cut, others long,
with Il turban or embroidered cap
stuck on his head.
Now for that sturdy race of farmers,
the race that governs this little repub-
lie; the race that has suppressed Brit
ish aggression ut the point of bayon-
cites. To look at them from II modern
standpoint they lack many of those ac-
cessories dccmedrequisite in a modern
civilized nation. But a Bocrn never pre-
tends to he other than he is and these,
as 81 class, stand at about the same
point, intellectually and politically, as
their ancestors stood when they left
their native land Holland. This must
be considered misfortune. They are
essentially of the type to which Gin
cinnatus and Cromwell in their days
belonged and have won the credit
which belongs to Il nation that has
justly and effectively withstood op-
pressing forces.
The resources of the Transyaal are
few and the future of the place depends
entirely upon the life of the gold beds;
Should they become unworkable and
proiitless johannesburg loses it's pillar
of support. What would be the result
of such catastrophe? They, like
many of the ancient cities that char
acterize Africa, would lay i'll ruins
from desertion and negligence and
serve only as a memento of this now
thrifty industry. But at present no
fears are entertained as to such a re-
suit, although the longest lived mine
will not exceed fifty years from pres
ent indication.
The Reefs are located in four series,
the most important of which is known
as the Main Reef series. This uniformly
consists of seven reefs and run parallel
with each other with an incline OF
about 45 degrees The gold deposits
of the Randi are not alluvial although
alluvial indications exist at Barberton
distance of about 300 miles. The
Randi, unlike other gold mining dis
tricts, is flat formation and is easily
prospected, the gold indications crop
ping out at tho surface. 1t is not by
any means poor mans country as j,
takes vast capital to develop them into
paying concerns. Blanket, Il Dutcl
word, is the name familiarity used fol
the gold bearing rock. 1t is a conglom
Grafton of cement and little white peb
bles and not much unlike the pudding
rock found in the Hills.
The Kafiirs. under a superintendent
perform all the unskilled labor. Th,
scale of wages for them average from
Is shillings to 81 and board. Thei
food consists of mealies or cornmea
and during their contract they ar
practically prisoners.
A great many of the Hills peopl
here have been sending glowing ac
counts of the booming place, of tn
enormous salaries paid, of the oppor
tunities for the energetic: of how the
are boarding the riches away and fas
becoming wealthy. Believe me, dea
readers. those would-be riches are i'm
aginary; those eNorbitant salaries eNis
only on paper. We are not by an
means ignorant of the fact that th
q scale of wages is higher here than an
where else we know of, but when 70,
take into consideration the fact tina
everything from your hotel bill t
your newspaper is absurdly dear, ism
it natural that wages should be at sucl
a high standard in order to allow tn
worker to meet his obligation. Th
following are the figures of the curren
weekly wages: Miners from "a to &c
carpenters 5 to E6: blacksmiths from
to CT; bricklayers from 6to CT; AM
most of the other trades in deman,
; are paid at about the same rate. Blu
amid these high wages distress appears
Hundreds of young fellows, after pawn
ing their all. have been obliged to re
sort to the repugnant means of gaininl
q livelihood by begging. This, o
course, is owing to the labor marke
being flooded and it is only matter o
q short period that the heavy influx o