The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-03-03

plateau, where the air is dry and brac-
1ng-a climate suggestive Of Colorado in
its virtue for those whose lungs are
weak. Geographically, it is admirably
situated as the prospective center of a
railway net destined to bind Delagoa bay
with the African west coast and Cairo
with the Cape:
South Africa is fortunate in having
towns very diferent one from the other
each offering points of picturesque inter-
est to the traveller. Cape Town has the
noble Table mountain towering majesti-
cally like a massive, drowsy lion at the
gateway of the dark continent Under
It's shadows are the ancestral avenues
planted by Dutch East Indiamen two
hundred years ago. At East London, by
contrast, says Poultney Bigelow in the
New York Herald, we find a wide awake,
essentially modern English town, with
much that might recall Brighton or Har-
Wien; and very little to make one realize
that this is all some six thousand miles
from home. At Durham we seem to be
IN a totally new world-part India, part
savage Africa. Banana trees, bungalows,
punkahs, palms, Zuzul-these arrest the
| eye OF the newly arrived and distract his
attention from the excellent municipal
administration and the many evidences of
modern progress at this essentially up to
| dete port.
Only few miles further is a splendid
Portuguese failure. Lourenzo Marques, in
Delagoa bay-picturesque from distance,
but full of foul smell and saddening PROS
pect when one approaches to within hail
ing distance. This Portuguese pest hole
reminded me Of certain Turkish towns
| OF the lower Danube, which seemed like
DTS OF romance from the Arabian nights,
Tor at a distance one preceived only the
mlnarets shining in gorgeous sunlight,
the battlements Of the medieval walls
or the domes of sacred buildings. But
| to preserve our illusions in such countries
we 2should never go ashore-paddle past
them far away under the opposite bank,
and read Byron rather than contemporary
| history.
| Bloenifontein prepares one for Pretoria
| as San Antonio in Texas suggests the
| typical Mexican city, Bloemfontein and
| Pretoria both bear the stamp of their
| bucolic origin in the vast open place at
| the center where long oxtrains can find
rest and the farmers dispose Of their pro-
| duce or find quarters during the periods
! of religious congregation. The great
| squares in the midst of Boer- towns have
| their counterpart in those of Mexico and
wherever the cattle interest predominates.
| Pretoria is not to-day so pretty town
as -Bloemfontein, but that is for reasons
which may be obvious. Bloemfontein
gives the impression of good taste, Of
| general comfort, of harm onious develop
ment. At Pretoria, on the contrary we
find Boer cabins with mud floors ranged
alongside of pretentious government
buildings built obviously to impress the
beholder by their size. The Boer govern
| ment in 1881 was practically without
! f0y ftn Syo1f Ia
The gold mines suddenly threw into the
| empty treasury of this 'cowboy'' admin
| 1strat1on so much money that it was
| rather embarrassing to know what to do
with 1t. When Yankee cowboy returns
! to civilization with a pocket full Of
money we all know what he is apt. to
do. OF course, the first thing is to make
a round Of the barrooms, treat every
| one, then buy some gaudy jewelry, q
| Few hashy garments, go driving about
town On the handsomest carriage procur-
| able, and when the money is all gone,
think Of investing.
The Boer legistors, who had probably
never seen a f5-pound note until the
Out1anders opened the mines at johann
nesburg, commenced their career Of po-
| ltt1cal independence much in the same
way. Instead of working slowly and
spending the money for the future good OF
the country by establishing good schools
|
| calculated to increase comfort, they
acted on the assumption that intercourse
| with their neighbors was a bad thing
and that to be strong they must remain
peculiar and isolated people. The
money which should have gone to the
into the building Of huge forts. Instead
Of welcoming Afrikanders to assist ir
their administration they preferred t.
| import clerks directly from Holland and
Germany, as though these might prove
more loyal than even their own kinsmen
reared at the Cape or Natal. The pri-
vate residences at Pretoria are over
topped by naonstrous government offices
where much money has been spent fol
show and little Tor beauty.
Pretoria IL in its way g. reflection Of
Paul Kruger. That noble cattle herder
has no political creed beyond hatred OF
the Outlander and loyalty to what he
carnation Of primitive democracy, vet
outwardly he decks himself with tawdry
decorations, loaned to him by European
| monarchs, and apes semi-royal ponp
! when he drives abroad. We lose sight of
krugers dignity, courage and political
virtues when we see him driving about
Pretoria with all the nonsensical parade
| of a South African dictator So are we
apt to lose sight of tho beauties Of the
town itself, because at present there is
so much that is homogeneous vio-
| lent contrasts between the normal resi-.
dence OF Boer patriarch and the mann.
moth public buildings in which he IL
called upon to legislate. a-- = -
fretor1a has an excellent supply Of de.
iclous water, which runs in refreshing
abundance before the very doors Of the
}iinab1tants. This is an fnestimable bless.
ing IN South Africa, where the one lack
ing tn1ng Is alter. On the occasion of nv
visit TO johannesburg water was so costly
tnat at the club men were frequently drty.
en- TO wash their hands in soda water.
aad the Kruger government spent on r..
| rgaIon the money devoted to artillery
! ana 1ort1hcs tons. I doubt If the present
war would have been so popular.
ine streets of Pretoria are broad ava.
nues' laid out originally rather with ref
erence 70 the great OK trains than to the
PROBABILITY Of normal traffic likely to
prove croWd1ng. At present the streets
are are in .l TOO wide for the population, and
| Tue expense OF maintaining them and Law.
ing the dust is, Of course, heavy.
In my minds eye I have a vision NJ pro.
toria ten years hence. It will he q citv
where all Afrikanders unite under an
Afr1kander flag to do for. that great oo,,,,-
try what Canadians are doing at Ottawa
ana Yankees at Washington. Even in tIe
year OF the Jameson raid 1S96) Boers
ana British mixed socially at the Pretoria
clup, and while there was much diver
eence OF opinion on many matters. there