Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-09

After struggling for half an hour
through pungent brick fields of arid
clay, cracked by the heat of the sun
into arid assures. lodging shunting
trains and snorting engines on q May
goods siding, the inquisitive visitor to
Johannesburg finds himself on the out
skirts of Tin Town"
Toposraphically the district is Yvede-
dorp, technically it is the "expropria-
tiou area" actually It is the Kaffir
quarters 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 re-
suits only the future can show.
Tin Town Is more than a mile in
length and three-quarters of a. mile IN
breadth. II is laid out with great reg
ularity on the American block system.
One is Immediately cognizant of its
vicinity by the heavy atmosphere of
decaying animal matter and vegetable
refuse.
The streets are unpaved, and the at
tempts at the construction of sidewalks
are pitiful In their primitiveness. The
roadways of red earth-dotted with
crawling Kaffir babies-are marred by
unpleasant undulations and hollows
filled with stagnant rain water, near
which myriads of pugnacious mos
duitos are forever buzzing.
But the crowning feature of "Tln
Town" is its architecture. Never were
houses more strangely built nor the
weird structures of nightmareland more
accurately realized.
Building Material
The principal materials from which
this great living area has been con-
structed are petroleum tins, tin or zinc
Innings 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 is frame
work, are constructed dwelling places
very similar to that made by Peter Pan
and his youthful crew for the protec-
tion of Wendy.
Every man is his own architect and
builder, and the work of erecting these
twelve or fourteen 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 ten feet In height is driven
in. These are strengthened and sup
ported by cross pieces. Then the archi-
tect, his wife and eldest children wan
der abroad in search of tin.
In the colonies one rarely sees petro-
leum in cask. 1t is generally sold in
two, four or six-gallon tins. The con-
sumer purchases a specially manufac-
tured pump and draws off the oil as he
needs it, AS the tins are not return
able, 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 pals, drink
ing troughs for cattle, boilers, cooking
utensils, besides a thousand and one
other familiar objects. Yet, despite
this accommodativeness. many find
their way to the rubbish heaps, and are
eagerly pounced upon by the ''homing'
Kaffir.
The tins are cut open, hammered fiat
and nailed to the upright battens. In
couple of hours-given a, sufficient
supply of material--the citadel walls
are complete, and this sound box of
house only requires the corrugated iron
roof and tin chimney-or, rather,
smoke outlet--to finish it. The luxury
of fire CRATES is unknown AS in the
mud cabins of western Ireland. the fire
may be lighted anywhere, and the
dense volumes of smoke are expected to
ascend skyward in the manner pro-
vided.
Miles of Tin Streets
Those of the $4,000 Kaff1rs in
"Jo'burg' who do not dwell in mining
compounds reside in one of the several
miles of Tin Town" streets Seen
from a distance in the strong glare of
the African sun, the bizarre collection
of human dwellings, looks like some en-
chanted dream city. The tin walls re-
fleet back the suns rays like walls of
silver. and even the dull roofs of cor
rugat ted iron are transmitted into some
thing mystic, wonderful" by the
philosophers stone of the sun. At close
quarters the scales fall from the eyes,
and the awakening is rude indeed.
The Kaffir multiplies prolifically, and
these unsavory roads are always filed
with their naked, copper skinned Off
spring. They crawl about the ant
infested roadway and paddle or founder
in the hollows of foul-smelling water
with evident enjoyment. They are
plump little mites. these children. They
are much more precocious and develop
more rapidly than European infants,