Mohave County miner., 1906-09-22
Miles of Tin Streets in South Africa.

into a thousand Assures, lodging | shunting trains and snorting engines on a may goods siding, the inquisi- tive visitor to johannesburg finds him. | self on the outskirts of "Tin Town"
 Geographically, the district Is Yvededorp: technically, it is the Sex propriation area" actually, it is the Kaffir quarter of the "Golden City" Here the black man foregathers with wife and family, and here the fiery cross of revolt is being raised, with what results only the future can show. writes a correspondent of the London Express. "rin Town is more than a mile in length and Jhree-quarters of a mile in breadth. It is laid out with great regularity on the American block system.
 The street are unpaved, and the at tempts at the construction of sidewalks are pitiful in their primitiveness. The roadways of the red earth-dotted with crawling Kaffir badies-are mar red by unpleasant undulations and hollows filled with stagnant rain wa ter, near which myriads of pugnaciouS mosquitoes are forever buzZing.
 The crowning feature of "Tin Town" is its architecture. Never were houses more strangely built nor the weird structures of nightmareland more ac- curately realized.
 The principal materials from which this great living area has been con- structed are petroleum tins, the tin or zinc Things of imported packing cases and large quantities of the lead used in the tea trade. From these limited means, with battens of wood for use as framework, are constructed dwelling places very similar to that made by Peter Pan and his youthful crew for the protection of Wendy.
 Every man is his own architect and builder, but the work of erecting these F or I4 feet high sites is simplicity itself. First the ground is marked out, generally exactly square, and at each of the four corners sturdy stake, some 10 feet in height, is driven in. These are strengthened and supported by cross pieces. Then the architect, his wife and eldest children wander abroad in search of tin.
 In the colonies one seldom sees pe- troleum in a cask. It is generally sold in two, four or six gallon tins. The consumer purchases a specially manu- factured pump and draws off the oil as he needs it. AS the tins are not re- turnable, they are pressed into all sorts of strange services. Filled with earth, they are used for building walls: painted green they are turned into flower boxes; they are in common use as pails, drinking troughs for cat tie, boilers, cooking utensils, besides a thousand and one other familiar objects Yet, despite this accommO- dativeness, many find their way to the rubbish heaps, and are eagerly pounc. ed upon by the ''homing" Kaffirs.
 The tins are cut open, hammered fiat and nailed to the upright battens. In a couple of hours-given a suffici' ent supply of material-the citadel walls are complete, and the sound box of a house only requires the corru' gated iron roof and a tin chimney-Or rather, smoke outlet-tO finish it. The luxury of fire grates is unknown. The fire may be lighted anywhere, and the dence volumes of smoke are expected to ascend skyward in the manner pro vided.
 Those of the SO,OOO Kaffirs in ''Jo' burg who do not dwell in mining compounds reside in one of the sev' eral miles of "Tln Town streets Seen from a distance in the strong glare of the African sun, the bizarre collection of human dwellings look like some enchanted dream city. The tin walls reflect back the suns ray: like walls of silver, and even the dul roofs of corrugated iron are transmit ted into something mystic, wonderful by the philosophers stone of the sun At close quarters the scales fall iron the eyes, and the awakening is rud, indeed.
 The Kaffir multiplies politically and these unsavory roads are alway filled with their naked, copper-skinneC offspring. They crawl about the an