The sun., 1912-07-23
VISITORS DESCRIBE
RAODES|A'S WONDERS
South African Boomers Tell of
Resources Of Their
Country.

When two men entered the lmperial
and wrote after their names on the rcg cgis-
ter. Salisbury. Rhodesia." George. the
| clerk. was puzzled. There wasn't any
Rhodesia on the map when George ouit
school and this was the first time in his
recollection that the name had been
registered here. For Salisbury. according
10 David Gillespie. one Of the travellers,
ia about the furthest outpost Of civiliza-
tion. MIR. Gillespie and d. Short. both
in the British civil service. are making
trip around the world.
III ono wants to locate Salisbury ex-
acty MIR Gillespie has the distance on
his tongues end. The town is the me-
tropolis Of southern Rhodesia, 1,ee3 miles
north Of Cape Town. on the Cape to Cairo
railway. and the nearest seaport il Beira
Portuguese East Africa. some $40 miles
TO the eastward. Mr. Gillespie has been
there since 1897. MIR. Short arrived n
few years ahead Of him and got mixed up
in the rrbellions that used to help make the
time pass.
The first pioneers reached Salisbury
in $780," said Mr.. Gillespie yesterday.
They planted IA flag on the 18th II Sep
tember in what is now known as Cecil
Square. called after the late Cecil
Rhodes. The real colonization did not
begin until 1898. Then there were two
rebellions. When l went into the country
there weren't over $500 whites in the
whole Of the $4,000 square miles the
country comprises. As for the size OF
Salisbury. the town is a great deal bigger
hav tt,.a, ,1ns, 4
rant.
You can walk miles and miles getting
around il on the outside. for everybody
has grounds about his house. but actually
the population is only 1850. But il is
modern. You see. the country is only
twenty-five years old. The farmers
cannot get labor. but the soil will grow
anything. The natives won't work. They
have to pay head tax OF g. year and
Of course they have to go to work to raise
that. But that is the last they do The
next year they send their boys or even
their women to do the work for them.
when | went To Salisbury the first
time II took seven and a half DAYS
to make the journey from Buiuwayo,"
MIR. Gillespie continued. The first part
was made with mules and the latter with
oxen Now you can cover the distance
by rail in eighteen hours. Game? Well,
there ia plenty OF II. but Ii is backing away
a. the land is taken up. We have some
big farms in Rhodesia Afriend OF mine
has 1000 acres. and he has the biggest
field Of what you call corn over mere
that | have ever seen. The climate
is not what you might expect within
20 degrees Of the equator. because the !
temperature ranges usually from 85
degrees 10 IS degrees. ] have never seen
IL get above 05.
I'VE are just 200 miles south Of Victoria
Falls. went up to see them last Christ
mas, because knew ] was going To see !
Niagara, and wanted TO be able To COM
pare the two. After seeing Niagara have !
found il difficult to make a comparison. !
Your falls are about three times as high |
and about three times the width, but |
there is not anything like the volume of
water going over as at Victoria Falls. |
That was a most interesting trip. and | |
will venture to say saw something Col |
Roosevelt did not witness while in East |
Africa. We went up the Zambesi River |
in n steam launch. A. we passed point |
we'll up no fewer than six hippopotami |
raised their heads our Of the water and
Our guide. who knew the country we'll, |
"a id he had never before seen more than !
three of these animals together.
"Of course the population Of southern |
Rhodesia is increasing. The last census
gave us 23,UU. We haven't trolley cars
Set but i'm the last two years we have
been getting automobiles. For amuse- |
ment we have to rely great deal on |
moving picture shows. though occasion
aily we do get q theatrical company.
IAN kinds OF mining are being done |
near Salisbury. gold silver and diamonds |
being produced, No large companies /
are operating there. the operatives being !
small workers, men who perhaps own a |
couple or 40 Of stamps. You can live |
chcaply there for new country. II costs
only $40 to $50 a month and you can get |
board and room at the lending hotel
for SIS
Afrca, said Mr., Gillespie with emphasis. |
sour people don want to enter that union |
until they find out more about how II IL |
going to work out. Most of US are native |
Britishers and our government IL run |
under a charter from tho Crown. The |
Mayor Of Salisbury il a Canadian. NJ. T.. |
Cleveland. and very popular chap he |
IL too.
1T hasn't been so long since nobody |
in Salisbury ever had anything to eat |
heyond corned beef and rice but that's |
ali changed now and we hatter ourselves |
We have most Of the modern dishes as
well M convenienccs. There used Ia he /!
n lot Of fever In the place but sanitation |
has about killed this on, The hospitals |
,n,u-iu,aiiy got ,aso of black wai-,
from the outlying districts, but az for
Salisbury itself. II IL the finest and healthi |
"S' spot ON earth and ! wouldn't lv"
"Nor L." echoed MIR. Short. as they went
out to soc some more of New York.