Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-07
Features of the Country De-
scribed by a Traveller.
BoERINsPEoTIoN ON THE FRONTIER

How Baggage Is Examined at the
TransvaaI Custom House-A Mag
nincent Gorge-FfFst GIImpses of
Transyaaiers-Opini on England
and the War-Hatred of Rhodes.
There are five gateways TO the Trans
| wall, though there are but three direct
lines, says the Pretoria correspondent
of the New York Post, writing under
the date of April .. The main railway
line, northward from Cape Town into
Rhodesia, skirts the western border
of the Orange Free State and the
Transvaal and makes only a cross
country connection with the Transvaal
cities by line from De Aar TO Naauw
Poort- AT that point a line is Joined
! which runs northward, through the
| Free State, from Port Elizabeth, on
the coast. At Springfontein there is a
junction of the Port Elizabeth line
with another which has East London
for its port Of entry. Northward from
Sprin2fontein this line traverses the
Free State, through Bloemfontein and
kroOnstadt, and so reaches johannes
burg and Pretoria. From Cape Town
TO Pretoria is Il railway journey OF
1850 miles. From Port Elizabeth to
Pretoria, by rail, it is 80 miles, and
from East London, 700 miles.
But the two direct routes are from
the east coast. From Durham, in Ma
tai, the line runs northwest via PETER
maritZDurg and Ladysmith, crosses the
mountains through tunnel at Laings-
mex and reaches Pretoria, via johann
nesburg, by line $40 miles in length.
The shortest route is that via DeIagoa
Bay. This is but some $50 miles in
length. Just now all routes are block
ed for travel or traffic, except the Del
agoa line and some trouble is encoun-
tered in getting over that. At the pres
ent time the advanced British line at
Bloemfontein is about three fifths of
the way from Cape Town to Pretoria
and about half way between Port Eliz-
abeth or East London and the Trans
vaal capital. On the Durham line they
are, at Ladysmith. about two-fifths of
the way in.
The DelagOa line was begun in 1889
and was opened for traffic in 1895.
About 20 miles of it Is in Portuguese
territory, the balance, 300 miles, in the
Transvaal. For 100 miles or so from
Delagoa Bay the country is fiat and OF
little scenic interest. In point of health
fulness it bears bad character and
probably with reason. Few white peo-
pie live there, and most of those who
do so are in one way or another con-
nected with the railway line. / was
told that station agents were relieved
every II months and that they receiv-
ed premium of Is per month during
their year of service as compensation
for an extra hazardous employment.
At Komatipoort the border is crossed.
Here the TranSVaal has its custom
house. There was no mincing of the
Everything was removed
from the cars and taken to Il building
for examination. The chap who looked
me over, n young BOer, poked and
pried into everything. My fieldglass
case was carefully investigated. Search
was made in the toes of my extra
shoes. My collar case was thought
fully examined. As catable lunches
were not obtainable en- route, l had
guarded against starvation by bringing
n cold chicken, some rolls, etc. The
various viands were wrapped in diff
ferent papers. Each was duly exam
ined for about the tenth time since
starting. and cross mark was chalked
on the toe of my shoe. That appeared
TO constitute receipt in full of all de-
mands, for 1 was called upon for my
papers but three times more before |
the end of my journey.
At Komatipoort there began a change
in the names OF the stations. We had |
and Ressano Garcia. Beyond we ran |
Oorsprong, Kaapminden, kro- |
Nooitgedacht and other |
similar jaw twisters. Here, too, we |
began to get toward the foothills, |
though still but slightly above sea level. |
Ter n time we followed the course of |
the KrOkodil river. leaving that to fol- |
low the course Of the Godwan. By |
about o'clock we were among the low /
hills, running over q very devious trail |
through n country of very little inter |
est. The native kraals were quite plen- |
tiful all along the route. but there is /
little novelty after seeing one or two /
Of them. Such as are found there are /
small and bear strong resemblance TO |
we'll stocked wheat or rye straw. At .
p. m. 11is hours out. we reached Wa |
terfal Onder (below the MATERIALLY, the /
real foot Of the mountains. and there
for the night in n fairly COM
hostelry which kept up the
reputation of an expensive country by |
charging me los. 81. for supper, lodS-
ing and breakfast.
At n. m. we started on 4 second
days journey. The first hour or two
was crammed with interest. The seen
cry of the gorge up which we were
was marvelously fine, though
t was destitute of that richness which
attends n hesvy wood growth. The
hills, sides and tops, were bare of tim
Der save here and there stunted tree
,r scattered shrubbery. But there were