BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN SOUTH AFRICA 151 



commodation. The present type of car used on the Cape government 

 railways has a very narrow side corridor from which open compart- 

 ments, each containing four berths, two upper and two lower, trans- 

 verse to the length of the car. These berths are rather short for one 

 a little over the average stature, and the lavatory accommodation is 

 somewhat limited. But the dining cars provide excellent meals at two 

 dollars a day and tins in a country into which much of the food is at 

 present imported must be considered very moderate, especially north of 

 De Aar Junction. The new cars on the Natal railways are, however, of 

 a much more roomy and convenient type. It was in special trains made 

 up from these cars that the majority of the members of the association 

 was to spend most of the two weeks following the departure from 

 Johannesburg. The life on board was not uncomfortable, and there 

 was plenty to interest in the views which successively passed before us 

 as we steamed along at fifteen to thirty miles an hour, or in discus- 

 sions on what we had seen and heard. Then at every stopping place, 

 and these were not infrequent for taking water or coal, the zoologists 

 swarmed from the train with nets and snared every insect within a 

 radius of two hundred yards, and the geologists with their hammers 

 gathered in treasured specimens of rocks. The engineer became skilful 

 in solving the problem of gathering up the passengers and not wasting 

 time in waiting for the laggards, by steaming so slowly out of the 

 way side stations that any one not more than a hundred yards from the 

 train when it started could easily get on board. 



VII. 



Bulawayo, the principal town in Bhodesia, exhibits strongly the 

 large ideas of Cecil Rhodes and his confidence in the future. Laid 

 out in blocks, with streets far wider than one finds even in the most 

 modern towns, its principal buildings in the center near an immense 

 market square, Bulawayo is prepared for development to an extent 

 which seems to be out of proportion to its needs for many years to 

 come. At the present time there are many inconveniences in having 

 the town so widely spread out. and the expense of running it is not 

 small. Except in the center, one can drive along roads with name 

 posts at every corner, but not to be traced otherwise than by wheel 

 tracks in the yellow dusty ground. Bhodes's house, presented by him 

 to the government, is situated on a hill three miles from the town and 

 is connected with it by a perfectly straight and broad road planted with 

 a double avenue of trees. A better method could hardly have been de- 

 vised for enhancing the dignity of the approach to his residence or for 

 striking a note in his character — the direct route to his objective and 

 a well-marked way for those who should follow in his footsteps. 



