BUSHMAN PAINTINGS IN SOUTHERN RHODESTA. 85 



Bushman Paintings in Southern Rhodesia — 



Jn the June issue of the Geographical Journal, pp. 592-596, Mr. 

 R. N. Hall describes briefly several caves with Bushman paint- 

 ings in the Ma-Dobo range (incorrectly known as the Matopos), 

 where he had recently discovered them during a six weeks' tour. 

 Only six caves with paintings had been previously known, 

 including the famous " World's View " cave. Of these six, only 

 three had been even partially described. Mr. Hall has, he states, 

 discovered thirty additional caves, together with fully one hun- 

 dred sets of paintings on isolated rocks in the open. He declares 

 that by these new discoveries the " World's View " paintings are 

 far excelled, in number of objects portrayed, in their variety, in 

 their size as heroic pictures, in the number of different colours 

 introduced in depicting one object, and in the higher conception, 

 greater skill, freedom, and artistic taste in the majority of cases. 

 The animals include elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, lions, ante- 

 lopes, and snakes, some of which are eight to ten feet long, 

 some of them in five colours. The trees include knobby thorns, 

 baobabs, umbrella trees, palms, tree-ferns, euphorbias, Kaffir 

 orange, aloes, wind blown trees, and monkey ropes, as well as 

 aerial and exposed roots. The human form is seen in every 

 attitude and all forms of action. In four cases there were 

 representations of the Victoria Falls, one of them being six by 

 four feet. 



TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa. — 

 Saturday, August 17th: W. R. Dowling, M.I.M.M., President, in the 

 chair. — " Minor improvements in cyanide practice " : P. T. Morrisby. 

 The author described a variety of improved appliances and small devices 

 for overcoming minor difficulties introduced in the working of the Wit- 

 watersrand Mine. — "Investigation of magnetically separated iron from 

 mill pulp " : A. McA. Johnston. Attention was called to the various ways 

 in which iron in the tube mill circuit affected working disadvantageous^ 

 and lessened efficiency, interfering with amalgamation and with recrushing 

 in the tube mills. Magnetic separators had been installed and the iron 

 withdrawn by them examined, the author stating that, when removed from 

 the pulp, this product may be easily oxidised by exposure to the atmos- 

 phere, wetting and turning over, and that, failing any better means of 

 disposal, this oxidised product, if fed into the circuit, will yield 

 an average percentage of its gold to amalgamation and cyaniding. 



Geological Society of South Africa. — Monday, August 19th : Dr. E. 

 T. Mellor, F.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair. — " A contribution to the 

 structural geology of the East Rand": H. L. Krause. The author 

 broadly indicated the direction of strike and angle of dip of the Wit- 

 watersrand strata exposed on the East Rand, and then proceeded to discuss 

 the main theories that had been put forward with regard to the strati- 

 graphical position of the Rietfontein Beds. — " The volcanic rocks of the 

 Pilandsberg " : Dr. W. A. Humphrey. The rocks forming the Pilands- 

 berg are the denuded remnants of what was once a stupendous volcano, 

 comparable in size with the greatest of present-day active volcanoes. The 

 height of the peak was probably about 16.400 feet above its base. The 

 rocks forming the mountain group may be divided into two main classes : 



