BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN SOUTH AFRICA 145 



WITH THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION IX SOUTH AFRICA. 1 



By PROFESSOR ERNEST W. BROWN, 



HAYEK FOKD COLLEGE. 



V. 



TDRETORIA, the capital of the Transvaal, presents the greatest eon- 

 -*- trast to its ambitious neighbor forty-five miles away. Although 

 it is 4,500 feet above sea level, nearly the average of the rest of the 

 colony, the hills which surround it give the impression of a rather low 

 situation, but it loses nothing from the numerous blue gums, willows 

 and other trees which are to be found everywhere in the city. The 

 chief interest to a visitor naturally arises from its past history and its 

 connection with the last president of the South African Republic. The 

 fine Parliament House and Law courts are imposing beside the many 

 one-storied houses which constitute the greater part of the town; near- 

 by are Kruger's house and the church which he attended. In spite of 

 the fact that Pretoria was down on the program only as an excursion 

 from Johannesburg, its residents were not behind those of other towns 

 in making hospitable arrangements for such as were able to take ad- 

 vantage of them; perhaps the most fully appreciated was a cross 

 country ' Trek ' to Mafeking which will presently be described. 



A few miles to the north lies the new Premier Diamond mine, a 

 wonderfully rich pipe of yellow, red and blue ground which a short 

 time ago produced the largest stone ever discovered. It is less than 

 three years since the place was bare rolling veld; now there is a hole 

 over seventy acres in extent and forty to sixty feet deep surrounded by 

 machinery and a high barbed-wire fence. The statistics given to us 

 showed that already more than a million carats of diamonds have been 

 taken out and that test borings down to a thousand feet exhibited 

 ground similar to that near the surface. An invitation from the 

 management to lunch and to an inspection of the mine was accepted 

 by at least a hundred and fifty members. It was amusing to be with 

 and to watch the party, guided by Mr. Cullinan, the original dis- 

 coverer, and his staff, wandering through the diggings and examining 

 the ground, evidently in the hope of discovering another Cullinan 

 diamond; and later crowding round the tables on which the concen- 

 trates were spread for examination — the stage where mechanical treat- 

 ment ends and hand labor begins — and picking out a few small stones. 

 This final process is shortly to be replaced by a mechanical one based 



VOL. LXV1II. — 10. 



