ZOUTPANSBERG AND THE MAGWAMBAS. 113 



captured the only specimen of Teracolus vesta I found 

 in the Transvaal. 



Zoutpansberg is one of the richest districts of the 

 Transvaal, if not the very richest, so far as fertility of soil 

 is concerned ; its auriferous deposits are highly spoken 

 of; its scenery is in many places superb and in strong 

 contrast to the melancholy monotony of the high veld. 

 To leave Pretoria and in two or three clays reach the 

 natural beauties of Zoutpansberg, after necessarily 

 traversing the pleasant Waterberg district, is like 

 exchanging a wilderness for fairyland. That high 

 tableland of treeless veld, with its everlasting monotony 

 of plain and kopje, is fit abode for the quiet and 

 unimaginative Boer ; its very sameness reminds him, 

 or, rather, appeals to his fancy, of the plains of Palestine, 

 of which he reads so much and understands so little ; 

 solitude not nature appeals to his mind, and Words- 

 worth in these worthy folk would have found a people 

 who had given their hearts away from nature without 

 the excuse of the world being too much with them. 

 But when we descend to the lower lands of Zout- 

 pansberg, with its warmer air, its rich vegetation, 

 and its happy Kafir population, our touch with Nature 

 seems to be once more resumed. However, Zout- 

 pansberg is not alone destined for the dreams of a 

 Rousseau, it may yet prove the gem of the Transvaal. 

 Give a rail connecting it with Pretoria and from thence 

 to the sea, and this fertile land would produce the 

 richest farms on the face of the globe. What incentive 

 is there now to struggle for an agricultural produce 

 that could find no market I this long and costly trans- 

 port would prove the ruin of the farmer who culti- 

 vated this life-giving land. Take maize alone and 

 compare its value in Zoutpansberg with its price 

 in Pretoria, and still the much lower figure is more 

 profitable to the grower than the higher obtainable in 

 the capital, for the cost of carriage would entail a 

 loss, and the time employed for the same would 

 prove the destruction of all fresh goods that demand 

 early consumption. A rail would also develop its 



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