Ten miles from Magungo the river suddenly narrowed, till it was but two hundred and fifty yards broad. The great level tracks of rush banks gradually disappeared as they entered a channel shut in by high banks on either side. The hills here were heavily timbered.
Even here the current was so sluggish as to indicate no perceptible stream. A heavy fog soon covered theriver. Gradually it lifted. As Baker watched it slowly rise from the water, he noticed the little, floating, green water plants perceptibly moving to the west. Looking more closely, he saw that their progress, though slow, was certainly towards Albert Nyanza.
CROCODILES ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.CROCODILES ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.
They were about eighteen miles from Magungo when they perceived this very slight current in the river. Proceeding on their journey, they found the river gradually narrowing to a width of but one hundred and eighty yards. As they ceased paddling theroar of the water could be distinctly heard. After two hours of hard pulling, during which the velocity of the water was noticeably increasing and the roar of the fall became extremely loud, they reached a few deserted fishing huts. These were situated at a convenient little bend in the river.
At this point crocodiles were noticed in immense numbers. They lay closely packed together, like timber logs in a lumber region. Upon one bank twenty-seven of the ugly reptiles lay basking in the sunlight. Every nook and turn in the bank disclosed crowds of them lurking in the stream, their hideous jaws just showing on the surface of the water.
The banks on either side, which had gradually been growing steeper, now became decidedly bolder and more rugged. The roar of the fall grew more fearful, and as they rounded the corner of the stream a magnificent view burst upon them. On either side of the river beautifully wooded cliffs rose precipitously to a height of some three hundred feet. Here and there picturesque rocks jutted out from among the green foliage. The river, abruptly contracted from its grand proportions into a narrow stream, rushed madly through a gap cleft in the rock before them. Through a gorge scarcely fifty feet in width it poured its waters with a furious rush and roar, as it plunged with one gigantic leap into a dark abyss lying one hundred and twenty feet below.
To quote from Baker's journal: "The fall of the water was snow-white, which had a superb effect as it contrasted with the dark cliffs that walled the river,while the graceful palms of the tropics and wild plantains perfected the beauty of the view. This was the greatest waterfall of the Nile, and in honor of the distinguished president of the Royal Geographical Society, I named it the Murchison Falls, as the most important object throughout the entire course of the river."
The canoes of the little party endeavored to approach the falls, but when about three hundred yards from them the strong current and the terrific whirlpools prevented any nearer view.
At their left a sand bank was literally covered with crocodiles. They seemed to have no fear of the canoe till it approached within twenty yards of them, when they slowly and lazily crept out of the water. A huge hippopotamus charged the canoe, and struck the bottom of it with such tremendous force as nearly to throw the crew out of it. Proud of his achievement, the ugly monster raised his head to look at his strange enemy, then sank rapidly in the stream.
The canoe now drifted rapidly down to a landing at a small deserted fishing village, and the little party bade adieu to the lake and river which had interested them so much in Central Africa.
If we look at the map of Africa, we shall find that the great lakes, which form such an important physical feature of the continent, are located chiefly in the southern and eastern sections of it, but are distributed overall the great drainage systems. Let us take a little review of the lake system.
Both lakes of the Nile basin, the Victoria and Albert Nyanza lakes, are really great fresh-water seas.
If the present estimate of this great extent should ultimately prove to be fairly correct, they are the rivals even of the great American lakes in being the greatest expanse of fresh water on the face of the globe. In 1889, a great lake lying three hundred miles northeast of the Victoria Nyanza was discovered. It has been named Lake Rudolf. It is about one hundred and sixty two miles long and over twenty miles wide.
The principal lakes of the Congo basin are Lake Bangweolo, or Bemba, one hundred and fifty miles long from east to west, and Lake Moero, having a length of sixty miles. There are several lakes of this basin still unvisited. They are said to be of vast extent and to lie two thousand feet above the level of the sea.
Lake Nyassa belongs to the Zambesi basin. It covers an area of nearly nine thousand miles in this great river basin. Lake Shirwa, on the plateau southeast of Lake Nyassa, is enclosed by mountains. It has an elevation of two thousand feet above the sea. Its water is brackish and has no outlet. Lake Tanganyika occupies an area of more than ten thousand square miles. A broad channel unites it with Lake Liemba, in the south. No outlet was for many years discovered for Tanganyika. It is probably a continental lake; for its waters are not perfectly fresh, and its drainage is very small.
Lake Tchad is the greatest lake of the continental system of North Africa. It consists of a shallow lagoon of very variable extent. Numerous islands dot its surface. Its waters are fresh and clear, and the overflow is carried off by the Bahr-el-Gazal to thenortheast. Lake N'gami is in the southern continental system. It corresponds to Lake Tchad of the northern system. It is a shallow, reedy lagoon. Its extent varies according to the seasons. Its surplus water is carried by the Zuga River off to the eastward. Within the areas of continental drainage, salt lakes occur frequently. Assal Lake, in Abyssinia, is the most remarkable of these salt lakes.
No other portion of land on the surface of the globe is so difficult of access as Africa. This is owing to the mountainous character of large portions of its coast line.
"The contrast between the broken European shores and the massive African coasts of the Mediterranean was observed by the earliest geographers; the same continuous, unbroken margin extends along all the sixteen thousand miles of its shore line.
"Guarded by its inhospitable shores, large areas of the interior of the continent are as yet altogether unknown. As a whole, the continent may be regarded as a vast plateau, bordered round by maritime ranges, which form the seaward edges of the interior table-lands."
The ranges of the eastern coast have been so little explored that much has yet to be learned of their character.They extend from the highlands of Abyssinia to the extreme southern point of the continent. The so-called Mountains of the Moon belong to this system. The early explorers erred when they supposed that they stretched across Central Africa from east to west. So great has been the diversity of opinion, that some authors deny the existence of these mountains.
We must consider the interior of Africa as a vast plateau traversed by mountain chains. The only lowland known to lie within the interior is the section about Lake Tchad.
If we look upon the map of Africa, we shall find that the principal mountain systems are known as the Atlas, the reputed Mountains of the Moon, the Snow, Kong, Crystal, Cameroon, and Lupata.
The Atlas Mountains give character to the Barbary States of Morocco and Algeria. The Mountains of the Moon are supposed to run from south to north, parallel to the eastern coast, and to form the southern continuation of the Abyssinian table-land. The Snow Mountains are found in the southern part of the continent, stretching through Cape Colony. The Kong Mountains, though outlined upon the map, according to the celebrated English geographer, Keith Johnston, of the Royal Geographical Society, do not exist. We shall read his descriptions of mountain systems later on. It is well to take more than one view of any subject.
The Crystal and Cameroon Mountains stretch along the western border, though at some distance from the coast line, while the Lupata Mountains are found inthe region of the Zambesi. But let us look more minutely at these mountain systems, as described by Mr. Johnston.
Beginning at the extreme northeastern corner of Africa, the land suddenly rises west of Suez, at the southern end of the ship canal, to a height of twenty-six hundred feet. Following this, an abrupt chain of heights extends along the western shores of the Red Sea, till the high edge of the Abyssinian highland is reached, seven thousand to eight thousand feet above sea level.
Farther to the south, on the margin of the plateau, rise snow-capped Kenia, eighteen thousand feet, and Kilimanjaro, eighteen thousand seven hundred feet, between the Indian Ocean and the Great Lake region.
Still farther south rise the Livingstone Mountains, to the height of eleven thousand feet, walling in Lake Nyassa. Farther south still rise the steep and wall-like Drachenberg Mountains, to face the Indian Ocean and to round to the terraces which form Cape Colony.
"Turning the high Cape of Good Hope to the Atlantic margin, the same terraced ascents from the sea coast to the borders of the interior present themselves, all along the western side of the continent, from Cape Colony to the head of the Bight of Biafra.
"Round the Guinea coast, beyond the low delta of the Niger, as far as Cape Verd, the plateau edge approaches the coast only at intervals, but the supposed Kong Mountains do not exist.
"In Morocco, the bordering maritime heights aretaken up again by the Atlas range, and are continued along the Mediterranean by the plateau of Barbary, by the ranges called the Black Mountains of Tripoli, and by the heights of Barca, farther east, out again to the delta of the Nile."
Within this border, or fringe, of maritime heights thus traced, we may consider all southern Africa as a vast plateau having a general elevation of about three thousand feet above the sea.
The most prominent interior ranges which rise from this section of the plateau are those called the Mushinga Mountains. These "seem to have an east and west direction, separating the wide basins of the Congo and Zambesi Rivers, and the mountains to the westward of Lakes Albert and Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika." The latter "form the western edge of the great plateau of eastern equatorial Africa, the center of which is occupied by Unyamwezi, and slope down towards the broad vale of the central Congo."
If we look at the map, "Northern Africa, between the higher southern plateau and the mountains of Barbary on the Mediterranean coast, appears to be generally lower, or at an average elevation of from one thousand to fifteen hundred feet above the sea, though the plateau formation remains the same.
"The prominent lines of height known within it are those which extend from the Marrah Mountains of Dafur, between the Nile basin and that of Lake Tchad, northwestward through the mountain land of Tibesti, in the center of North Africa, to the series of plateausoccupied by the Tuareg tribes south of the plateau of Barbary.
CROSSING THE DESERT.CROSSING THE DESERT.
"A remarkable volcanic belt is traced through the Bight of Biafra in the line of the islands of Annobon, St. Thomas, Princes, and Fernando Po, ten thousand one hundred and ninety feet high, to the high Cameroon Mountains, thirteen thousand seven hundred and sixty feet high, on the coast of the mainland, and thence inland on the same abrupt line to Mounts Alantika and Mendif, midway to Lake Tchad in the interior."
If we could follow the course taken by the early settlers and the missionaries in Africa, we should, in going from the southern coast northward, have to cross three mountain systems and two table lands, before we could reach the great central plateau.
The mountains would present "steep, wall-like faces on the coast side, as if they were raised to prevent all access to the interior; on the other side they descend gradually to the broad, elevated tracts, which retain the name karroos, barren plains, given them by the natives on account of their general appearance and character."
In such a section as Cape Colony, we might expect that the karroos, enclosed by mountains, would become converted into lakes, did we not remember that little rain falls there, and then for only a brief season. "The karroos appear to have been lakes at some very remote period in the history of the earth's surface; for much of the soil is impregnated with salt; shallow salt lakes or marshes are numerous, and beds of sea shells are to be found here and there."
Nature has looked well to the law of cause and effect; for, while the rivers are dry during some portions of the year, after a tempest the waters flow down over the sides of the mountains in torrents. These, in the course of ages, have worn deep cuts, or valley gorges, called kloofs.
The karroos, or elevated tracts, of which we have read, are not like the vast seas of sand of the Sahara. "They consist of shallow beds of rich soil, which want only the fertilizing power of water to render them mostproductive. The soil of the karroos is clay and sand, resting on blue slate rock. As the streams are dry for three-fourths of the year, the ground becomes during that period as hard as brick. After a few days of rain, grasses and other plants with bulbous roots, spring up everywhere from the hard soil in which they have been encased, and soon the land is covered with bright flowers and verdant pasturage."
Probably no part of the globe presents a more beautiful appearance than these karroos when carpeted by the hand of nature. The description of the flowers of Cape Colony by the author of "Life on an Ostrich Farm" gives one a fair idea of their beauty and variety.
In making some of his early explorations Livingstone passed over a country, the firm, compact soil of which was perfectly level. Here he found a little soil covering a limelike tufa deposit. This extended over a tract of several hundred miles. It supported a vegetation of fine, sweet, short grass, and baobab and other trees.
In several parts of this tract he found large salt pans, as they are termed. One was fifteen miles broad and one hundred miles long.
Although these curious spots seemed perfectly level, yet they have a slight slope to the northeast, towardswhich the rain water, which sometimes covers them, gently trickles. The salt dissolved in the water has in this way been gradually transferred to one large pan lying to the northeast. On this may be seen a cake of salt and lime an inch and a half thick. Some of these pans have merely a covering of salty lime; others are covered with a thick deposit of shells.
These shells are identical with those of the mollusk species of Lake N'gami. There appear to be three varieties, spiral, univalve, and bivalve.
Livingstone found that in every salt pan of the country there is a spring of water on one side. The water of the spring is brackish. In one instance he found two springs, one salter than the other.
He was of the opinion that the supply could not come from beds of rock salt; for, where the natives have removed the salt from the pans, no new deposit has ever formed.
He thought it probable that these salt deposits are the remains of the slightly brackish lakes of antiquity. Large portions of these lakes must, in the course of ages, have evaporated to leave a deposit where the waters have receded.
An instance of this kind is Lake N'gami; for the waters of the lake when low become brackish.
The largest quantities of salt have been found in the deepest hollows or in the lowest valleys, where there is no outlet. Livingstone cites an instance of a fountain, the temperature of which was upwards of 100°. This fountain, though strongly impregnated with salt, had no deposit, because situated on a flat portion of the country.
When these salt deposits occur in a flat country with a tufa layer covering the soil, a chemical change takes place in the soil; the tufa is dissolved and the ground kept in a state unfavorable to the growth of plants.
Livingstone discovered one large salt pan with a deposit of salt an inch and a half in thickness. This deposit contained bitter salt in addition, probably the nitrate of lime. In order to make the deposit wholesome and palatable, the natives mix the salt with the juice of a gummy plant. They then place the mixture in the sand and build a fire over it to bake it. The action of the fire renders the lime insoluble and tasteless.
The natives in the vicinity of this salt pan keep large flocks of sheep and goats at various points on the outskirts of the desert. These flocks thrive wonderfully wherever salt and bushes are to be found.
The milk of goats does not coagulate readily, like that of cows, on account of its rich quality. The natives have discovered that by mixing a tea made from the fruit of a special plant with the milk of goats they can cause it to coagulate quickly.
It is the custom among some of the natives to put the milk into sacks of untanned hide from which the hair has been removed. When these sacks are hung in the sun the milk soon thickens. The whey is then drawn off by a plug at the bottom of the sack. Fresh milk is then added, until a thick sour curd fills the sack. When one becomes accustomed to this, its taste is delicious.
The richer natives mix this milk with the porridge they make from their meal. It is considered verynutritious and strengthening, and takes the place of our roast beef for nutriment.
The natives, in speaking scornfully of those who are poor or weak, use the expression, "They are water-porridge men;" since they cannot afford to mix their porridge in the approved way, and hence cannot expect to gain strength.
Speaking of other sections of the country, Livingstone tells us that he found some portions capped by a conglomerate rock mixed with iron. In many places the iron looked as if it had been melted; for the rounded masses resembled slag in an iron foundry, and the under surface was smooth and even.
Probably this deposit was of an aqueous origin; for it contained water-worn pebbles of various kinds. These were generally small in size.
Below the conglomerate lay a mass of pale red, hardened sandstone, and beneath that a layer of what are called trap rocks. Lowest of all lay a coarse-grained sandstone, which contained a few pebbles. Occasionally a white rock of lime formation was found, and also banks of loose, round pebbles of quartz.
The land slopes contained bogs surrounded by clumps of straight, lofty evergreen trees, which looked extremely graceful on a ground of yellowish grass. Many of these bogs pour forth a solution of iron. These exhibit the prismatic colors upon their surface.
It would be of interest to note the curious conditions and formations of the soil in other sections, but we must pass on to other views.
Those of you who are interested in the life of Livingstonewill find many features of the soil described in the journals this explorer bequeathed to the world.
For many years the knowledge of Africa was so indefinite that it was difficult to determine how rich the continent might be in minerals.
Gold and silver had been found, but the former was believed to be more abundant than the latter, judging from the amounts brought down in the sands of the great rivers which flow through the central portions of the continent. Gold had also been found upon the coast of Guinea and in Southeast Africa.
Precious stones have been found in most of the tropical countries of the globe; but in Africa they were of rare occurrence until the discovery of diamonds in the vicinity of the Cape awakened much interest. The attention of the whole world was then called to the possible resources of the country.
Just as the discovery of gold in California drew to the gold mines many men who were anxious to acquire wealth, so the Kimberley diamond mines attracted hundreds, who, in the pursuit of fortune, forgot fatigue and hardship, lured on by visions of the future.
The largest diamond in the world, the "Excelsior," was found June, 1894, in the mines of Jagersfontein in Cape Colony, by the inspector of the mine.
Experts have pronounced it a gem of the purest water, and its worth to be about a million sterling.
The greatest precautions were taken to have it conveyed from the mine to the coast. A squadron of the Sixteenth Lancers guarded the carriage to Cape Town; from there it was conveyed to London in the gunboatAntelope, and was deposited for safe keeping in one of the vaults of the Bank of England.
The stone is described as fully three inches in height and nearly three inches in breadth. Its weight is estimated at nine hundred and seventy-one carats, or about seven ounces Troy. Its color is white, with a very slightly bluish tint, and its luster is matchless. In the center of the stone is a very small black spot, but experts consider that it can easily be removed in the cutting.
It has been reported that the British Government has offered half a million pounds sterling for this diamond. The owners, however, have refused this offer. It has also been reported that the German Emperor will be the probable purchaser of the gem.
The great sources of the world's supply of gold have been the United States, Russia, Australia, and South Africa, together with that portion of West Africa, known as Ashantee, bordering on the Gold Coast of Guinea.
There is a curious belief among the natives of the entire Gold Coast, and Ashantee as well. The Great Spirit, it is believed, created three each of white men and women, and as many black, and placed before them a large calabash and a sealed paper. To the black men he gavethe first choice. They chose the calabash. This contained gold, iron, and the choicest products of the earth; but the black race remained ignorant of their use and value. The white man became possessor of the paper, which instructed him in all things, made him the favorite of the Great Spirit, and gave him superior advantages over the black man.
The great bend in the coast of Africa, which makes room for the Gulf of Guinea, is one of the singular land formations that strikes the eye and excites the fancy.
The glowing pictures of the beautiful Gold Coast and the wonders of land and sea under the equator serve to create a taste for travel and a desire to enjoy the strange and wonderful sights to be met.
An English explorer, Alvan Millson, has recently written much to give an added interest to this coast section and to call attention to one of the many freaks of nature.
A little description will be of interest. For a distance of about five hundred miles along the Bight of Benin there is an intricate chain of waterways, which lies just at the edge of the sea.
"In many places these narrow and brimming channels are separated from the onslaught of the Atlantic rollers by no more than five or six level yards of shifting sand. The spray from the ocean drifts over them, and the roar of the surf is heard by the native as he glides over their calm surface in his fragile canoe.
"There are hundreds of miles of similar lagoons bordering the Gulf of Guinea farther to the west. Manyrapid rivers pour into them from uplands behind, bringing down vast quantities of sand and mud.
"At the same time, the 'Guinea Current,' which resembles our Gulf Stream, brings another endless supply of sand, worn from the headlands toward the west, and this sand, heaped up at the ocean's edge, arrests the rivers just where they are about to empty into the sea, and spreads them out into a great system of deltas.
"The resistless strength of the narrow sand barriers is attributed principally to the vast quantities of papyrus and water grass brought down in huge floating islands by the rivers, which take root and flourish in the sand. Only at rare intervals can a passageway be found through the sand. And so, on this singular coast, the ocean and the rivers unite to build up and perpetuate a barrier between them."
No doubt in the Gold Coast section of the Gulf of Guinea there is this same constant carrying down of sand by the rivers. Whenever these rivers pass through gold-bearing regions, the sand carries with it vast quantities of gold grains, or scales, which have to be panned, or separated from it by washing.
We have in our reading gained some little idea of the struggles of the Dutch to obtain possession of the soil of such sections as Natal, Cape Colony, and what has been known until within a few years as the Transvaal Republic.
The Witwatersrand may be considered the great gold-mining district of Africa. It is rapidly pushing its way to the front in the list of sources for the supplyof the precious metal. This region, locally called the Rand, gives Africa the fourth place in the list of the sources of the earth's supply.
The Rand is situated in what has been known as the Transvaal Republic. It is the home of the Dutch settlers, or Boers, but is under the rule of the British power to a great extent.
The great metropolis of the republic and of the Rand is Johannesburg. It is a regular mining center, or what is known by the miners as a "boom" town. From a small settlement it has, in the course of a few years, grown to a city of nearly twenty thousand inhabitants, while around it clusters a mining camp of thirty thousand more.
The Boers are naturally a contented people, caring little for display, but fond of comfort and plenty.
They have had little ambition to dig for such treasures as the earth might hold in its depths, but have been content to till the soil and to gather the harvest or fruits of their labor, or to engage in sheep farming for the purpose of raising wool for exportation.
No doubt, too, they deemed it better policy not to attract strangers to "prospect" for treasure beneath a soil which they preferred to call their own, rather than to see it laid out in "claims" by those eager to mine for its stores.
Now that the miners have rushed into the Rand in such numbers, the Boers must feel that their own claim to the land is but a name, particularly as the largest and most profitable mines are owned by London companies.
At the close of the year 1893, the mines in the Rand were producing at the average rate of two million five hundred thousand dollars value of bullion each month.
In 1892, the output of the Rand was about twenty-one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in value; in 1893, it rose to nearly twenty-six million.
Naturally the question arises how long the deposits will last. The best authorities, however, see no signs of early exhaustion.
There is a strong belief that gold in vast quantities exists in Matabele-land. Should this prove true, South Africa is likely to become even more important than it is to-day, as one of the great sources of the world's supply of gold.
Directly south of the Kalahari Desert lies a region familiarly termed the Diamond Fields. This region, which, properly, should be known as Griqualand West, was formerly a separate colony. Now, however, it is included among the Cape of Good Hope colonies, which comprise Cape Colony.
This region consists of extensive grazing tracts, some few valleys suitable for agricultural purposes, and sections rich in deposits of copper, lead, and iron.
The chief interest at the present time in the Diamond Fields centers about the precious stones which havebeen found there. From time to time these gems had been picked up, but the finders did not realize their value.
It is related that a gentleman noticed one of the children of a Dutch farmer playing with a peculiar-looking stone, and offered to buy it. The farmer laughed at the thought of selling a stone, and offered to give it to him. It subsequently proved to be a diamond that weighed almost an ounce. Later, it was sold to the governor of Cape Colony, who paid some five hundred English pounds for it. This stone was found at Hopetown, and search was immediately made for more of the gems, with the result that the diamond fields in that neighborhood and about Kimberley in Griqualand West became famous. It was in 1867 that this stone was found, by accident as it were.
The largest stone from this region is named the "Star of South Africa." It was in the possession of a Kaffir witch doctor, and was bought by a gentleman who afterwards sold it for eleven thousand two hundred English pounds. This stone is about the size of an English walnut. Its weight is three ounces and a half.
In 1871 the first diamonds in the region called Kimberley were discovered under the root of an old thorn-tree, in the now famous mound from which the region is named. Since that time the mountain has been tunnelled in every direction, till the excavations give its interior much the appearance of a gigantic honeycomb.
INTERIOR OF A DIAMOND MINE.INTERIOR OF A DIAMOND MINE.
Not only in the heart of the mountain, but in the neighboring plains and along the banks of the Vaal River, these gems of "purest ray serene" are sought for. The water of the river is used to wash the precious stones from the clay soil, in which they are often imbedded like plums in a pudding.
Back from the river are what are termed "dry diggings." These consist of pits sunk through decomposed rocks of volcanic origin until a layer of tufa, limestone, and clay is reached. In this layer the gems are imbedded.
Masses of this "stuff," as it is called, are carried to the banks of the river and there washed. The more common custom, however, is to dry the mixture and to sift it by the aid of the workmen, who belong to the Kaffir tribes. These workmen have, however, learned the value of the gems, and need to be carefully watched lest they steal more than they deliver into the hands of their employers.
The most rigid watch is kept over the workmen, who often display the greatest ingenuity and cunning in hiding away the precious stones. Notwithstanding their lack of clothing these workmen manage to hide the stones about them; often secreting them in the hair, the folds of the skin, in the ears, under the tongue, under the nails of the toes, while instances have been known where they have even swallowed the precious gems to secure them from the white man.
Unlicensed dealing in diamonds or the purchasing of them from the natives is considered an offense of the most serious nature in Griqualand West. In spite of all precautions, much of this illegal trading is carried on; for, if the risk is great, the profit to those engaged in the trade is even greater.
It has been estimated on good authority that fully twenty million pounds' worth of diamonds has been exported from these fields since the first discoveries. As a pound in English money is equal to very nearly five dollars of our money, we can estimate what the revenue of these mines has been.
It is believed that gems of many million pounds' value lie yet undiscovered in the unexplored portions of the diamond region. Statistics show that about two million pounds' worth of the gems is unearthed annually.
Naturally, the great mineral wealth of this region has attracted thousands to the neighborhood of Kimberley. Formerly, the country was roamed over by Griqua Kaffirs, numbering but a few thousands. Now, the region has become peopled "in spots." Many of the settlements have assumed the importance of towns of considerable size. It is estimated that not only some thirteen thousand whites, but upwards of thirty-three thousand blacks, from all sections of South Africa, have flocked to found such settlements as Kimberley, Bult-fontein, and Du Toit's Pan.
Griqualand West is about one-half as large as Scotland. The country has nothing attractive in its physical features. Indeed, it would be difficult to conceive of a dryer, uglier, drearier, more depressing region than the Diamond Fields. These conditions are intensified when no rain has fallen for months and the thermometer notes a steady increase of temperature day after day, till it reaches 90° in the shade.
The great novelist, Anthony Trollope, visited theDiamond Fields when not a blade of grass could be seen growing on the thirsty ground, and when, as he expressed it, he "seemed to breathe dust rather than air."
His impressions of the Diamond Fields may be judged best from his description: "An atmosphere composed of flies and dust cannot be pleasant,—of dust so thick that the sufferer fears to remove it lest the raising of it may aggravate the evil, and of flies so numerous that one hardly dares to slaughter them by the ordinary means lest their dead bodies should be noisome.
"When a gust of wind would bring the dust in a cloud, hiding everything,—a cloud so thick that it seemed that the solid surface of the earth had risen diluted into the air,—and when flies had rendered occupation altogether impossible, I could be told, when complaining, that I ought to be there in December or February—at some other time of the year than that then present—if I really wanted to see what flies and dust could do. I sometimes thought that the people of Kimberley were proud of their flies and their dust."
Bare and uninviting as this portion of Griqualand West is known to be, there are exceptional tracts along the banks of the Vaal and Orange Rivers, for they are well wooded and not lacking in picturesque beauty of scenery.
Diamond fields have been discovered not only on both sides of the Vaal River, but also in the Orange Free State. At several places in this state the "dry diggings," as they are called, have been very productive; for they may be said to be literally sown with the precious stones.
The early scenes about the diamond diggings cannot have been unsimilar to those witnessed during the mining fever in California, when the hope of securing fabulous amounts of gold drew all sorts and conditions of men to the grounds.
Houses were more easily constructed from canvas than from wood, and whole towns, as if by magic, sprang into existence. It must have been a curious sight to look upon one of those canvas towns.
In the red letter days of diamond digging, it was no uncommon thing for sixty thousand or more people to gather round the dry river diggings. When the great rush was over, and men settled down to steady labor in the mining districts, the population naturally decreased to a great extent, as the mere fortune hunters left the field of labor to the real workers.
The New Rush Mine of Kimberley has been described as the center of interest. A town has been built around it, and there are churches, clubs, hotels, halls, and even a fine market place, as attractions.
The mine is said to have the appearance of a hollow. This has a circumference of three-fourths of a mile. The mine had naturally a slight elevation above the plain in which it is situated. Since mining operations began, it has been scooped out to quite a depth, the lowest point being estimated as lying more than two hundred feet below the surface.
The greater part of the work in the mines can, of course, be done by the natives. They labor with pick and spade, load the buckets, which are constantly being pulled up and let down by means of ropes and pulleys,and carry them off to the sorting ground. Here they throw the "stuff" into sieves, where it is carefully sifted, then examined with the closest scrutiny, after having been spread on tables in the open air for the purpose.
WASHING SAND FOR DIAMONDS.WASHING SAND FOR DIAMONDS.
Just as in the early gold-mining days in America, "claims" were set off by the diamond diggers in South Africa. The owner of a claim then set to work to examine the soil, which he collected in a heap by theaid of his pick and shovel. This done, he removed the loose stones, and separated the sand by means of fine sieves. The remaining earth and stones he then carried to the washing place on the river bank.
The washing was done in a curious kind of "cradle," as it was called. It really consisted of a double sieve. The upper sieve had holes in it about half an inch in diameter, while the lower one had holes so small as to prevent a diamond of one-half carat from slipping through. When the washing process was once accomplished, it was followed by that of sorting.
The diamond sections have been the scenes of the most intense excitement. It was no uncommon thing for one man to pay another a fabulous price for his claim. One case is cited where half a claim, which measured only thirty by sixteen feet, and which had been dug out to a depth of fifty feet, brought the immense sum of twenty-four thousand English pounds.
Not infrequently these half-worked claims were worth the money and time expended, and many a lucky "find" gladdened the hearts of the fortunate purchaser.
A case is mentioned of the finding of a diamond, after a few hours' search, which brought the fortunate possessor three thousand pounds. Another stone picked up on a deserted claim was described as one of a hundred and fifteen carats' weight.
In those early days life was hard and the barest necessities for existence difficult to obtain. Meat was not only dear, but of poor quality; butter was even worse, and vegetables so scarce as to be veritable luxuries.
It must be remembered that everything for Kimberleyhad to be brought up either from the coast, five hundred miles from the Orange Free State, or from some of the more accessible parts of Cape Colony.
All goods had to be brought with ox teams. This was a very slow and sure mode of transportation, and an extremely costly one.
Many changes have taken place in the neighborhood of the mines and dry diggings. Some of the mines have become exhausted, but new ones have constantly been discovered each year. The population has become more settled. The queer "shanties" of canvas and wood have disappeared, and whole towns of substantial brick and stone houses have replaced them.
An air of comfort and thrift pervades the settlements, and the energy and activity of the scene are enhanced by the steam railway, which forms the connecting link between the various mining sections. Improved methods of irrigation tend to relieve the country from the discomfort of dust and flies, and Griqualand West of the present time is as great a contrast to that of the past as can well be imagined.
Probably no section of the continent is more interesting in its history than South Africa. The books which have been written upon the subject would make quite a library in themselves.
Its coast was first visited in the latter part of the fifteenth century, by Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese, in search of a passage to India. He sailed along the western coast till he came to an inlet with a group of islets at its mouth. Here he cast anchor, and landed with his crew.
The neighboring country was a dreary waste of sand. Not a trace of human beings was to be found, nor could any food other than sea birds' eggs be obtained there. Little wonder then that, after planting a cross as a sign of possession, the Portuguese commander sailed away.
Early in the sixteenth century some white men, landing on the South African coast, found that on one side rose a great mass of rock, over three thousand feet in height, with its top marking a level line more than a mile in length on the sky.
This grand mountain was flanked at either end with peaks less lofty, which were supported by buttresses projecting towards the shore.
The recess was a capacious valley, down the center of which flowed a stream of clear sweet water. The valley seemed to be without people, but after a while some Hottentots made their appearance; and from them a cow and two sheep were purchased.
The commander of the white men climbed to the top of the rock to which he gave the name of Table Mountain.
The bay in which he had anchored his little fleet is the so-called Table Bay.
The general conformation of the country is such that there are no navigable rivers. The streams, even thevery largest of them, are all of the nature of mountain torrents, obstructed with rapids and falls, and varying in volume with rain and drought.
There is an utter absence of secure harbors on the coast, except in positions where they could be of little service in the early days of exploration. In addition to all this, a very large portion of the land along the eastern seaboard, as well as of the interior plains, is so dry that it could be traversed only by degrees, as its slender resources became known.
Though the Portuguese fleets to and from India doubled the Cape each year, yet they seldom put in at any point south of Sofala, so unenviable a reputation did the natives of South Africa bear.
In the course of time English, Dutch, and French ships followed in the wake of the Portuguese fleets; but it was not till near the close of the sixteenth century that the English flag was displayed for the first time on South African soil.
Early in the seventeenth century, Table Bay became a port for the purchase of cattle and provisions from the natives.
Just about the time the English flag was floating over South Africa,—near the close of the sixteenth century,—the people of the northern Netherland provinces were struggling bravely against Spanish rule. These same people were destined to found the first European settlement upon the South African coast.
The northern Netherland provinces soon became united as a free republic, and ranked among the greatest commercial powers of the world.
Two great companies, the English East India and the Dutch East India, were instrumental in locating stations along the South African coast.
In 1620, two English sea captains made an inspection of Table Bay, and proclaimed the adjoining country to be under the rule of King James; but this proclamation was never ratified. It is true that English ships called at Table Bay, but the island of St. Helena was the usual port.
The Dutch fleets were in the habit of putting into Table Bay for fresh water, to give the crews an opportunity to go on shore, to catch fish, and to obtain news from the places to which they were bound. It was the custom to bury letters on the shore and to mark the places of deposit by conspicuous stones. One can imagine that Captain Kidd's treasure was never more eagerly sought for than these buried letters.
Parties of Dutch seal hunters and whale fishers often occupied Table Valley.
Near the middle of the seventeenth century, the shipHaarlemof the East India Company was wrecked off the Blueberg coast. The crew succeeded in saving themselves, their own effects, and the ship's cargo. After everything was secured against the elements, a guard was left in charge of the stores, while the sailors removed to Table Valley.
Somewhere near the center of the present Cape Town they built huts in the vicinity of a stream of fresh water, and threw up an embankment of earth around them.
As the rainy season was now close at hand, theyplanted some seeds they had saved, and soon had a garden which furnished an abundance of fresh vegetables. Intercourse with the natives was most friendly, and meat was often obtained in barter from them. Taken all in all, the experience of this shipwrecked crew gave the impression that South Africa was a productive and fruitful land. Six months later, a returning fleet rescued the sailors and took them back to England.