62 Report 8. A. A. Advanckment of Scikxce. 



Immlretl tons of ove were transported by bullock waggon to Struben's 

 five-stamp battery, nine miles ott', and gave a return of 105 oz. of gold. 

 Henry Nourse tried a similar amount from his claim, with the same 

 result. These two crushings established the confidence of the doubt- 

 ful ones, and things began to hum. The Ferreira Co. was readily 

 floated, £1 shares going up to £'2o ; the Simmer and Jack was 

 similarlv floated by Barl)er, and with others he was i-esponsible f<)r 

 the Aurora, Kleinfontein, Spes Bona and Jun)per><. 



Having made the fortunes of many people, Mr. Barber has now 

 retired to his farm a few miles out of Grahamstown, Ijut I think we 

 oan assure him that his name will always occupy an honourable place 

 among those of the pioneers of South Africa 



I have left but little space for an account of the discovery of 

 coal, but I must say a few words about this important subject. In 

 the earh'^ days there were great tales of coal in the Cape Peninsula, 

 and the lignite deposits on the Cape Flats have occasioned the forma- 

 tion of syndicates periodically from the time of Van der Stel ; but the 

 first account of a genuine seam in South Africa was in the Drakens- 

 berg. The news was brought by Capper to Dr. Atherstone in 1{S54. 

 This led to the engagement of Andrew AVyley, who went up and 

 reportecl to Government. In 1816 William Cock sank for coal along 

 the banks of the lower Kowie River. The tale is that his son was 

 out liunting, and on rain coming on he had wished to make a fire witJi 

 Mood, but the Kafir boy with him said, •' Xo, there is something 

 better a short way off;" so they went up the kloof and dug out some 

 coal, with which they made a roaring fire. S(jme days later, noticing 

 fire in the bush, William Cock went back to the place, but tlie coal 

 seam had caught fire and been burnt out I Dr. Atherstone \isited 

 the pla(;e in 1846, and inspected the shafts sunk to try and find it 

 again. This occurrence is the reason why old maps of Cape Colo)iy 

 have "coil" written over the district of Lower Albany. Much pros- 

 pecting was done at Bathurst and at the Kowie, where the shafts 

 can still be inspected. Gilfillan was employed boring there in 1871, 

 <ind Dunn was there in 1872. Atherstone, however, argue' J that 

 though there was undoubtedly plenty of carbonaceous shale in Lower 

 Albany, the j-ocks had been too nmch altered to leave any good 

 coal seams so low down in the series : therefore, he said, " Let us look 

 liigher up." He and Mr. Robinson, Deputy Surveyor-General, accor- 

 dingly journeyed to the nearest highest point, Bushmans Hoek, in 

 1870, and they there discovered the coal seams which had originally 

 been opened uj) b}?^ Groves in 18.58, and which Mr. Vice subse(|uently 

 minefl. Dunn was engaged by Goverinnent to survey the coal-fiehls, 

 and with a tented Scotch cart and four bullocks as his travelling home 

 for many months, made a detailed map of the Stormberg area, the first 

 syskMiiatic geological survey ever done in South Africa. 



I must now conclude my address, and must apologise for making 

 it s(j long, but when J appealed to various gentlemen to help me in 

 the task, the mass of invaluable material which was placed at my 

 •<lisposal was overwhelming, and I havr had to pick out o)ily such 



