Il8 NEW BOOKS. 



IRON ORES OF NYASALAND AND RHODESIA.— 



The latest bulletin of the Imperial Institute contains a short sum- 

 mary of what is known regarding the iron ore deposits of several 

 of the British Crown Colonies and Protectorates. Amongst the 

 African Colonies and Protectorates dealt with are Xyasaland and 

 Rhodesia. Iron ores are disseminated throughout almost the 

 whole Nyasaland Protectorate. From these scattered deposits the 

 natives formerly obtained iron for their spears and implements, 

 and the ruins of their smelting furnaces, as well as their abandoned 

 slag-heaps, are still visible. The Nyasaland ores described com- 

 prise Magnetite and haematite deposits of metamorphic origin, 

 Haematite deposits of Karroo age. Superficial Limonite deposits, 

 and Ferruginous river sands. Many of these ores are stated to be 

 capable of producing good pig-iron, although in some cases the 

 phosphorus present would interfere with the manufacture of steel. 

 Lime for fluxing and coal for fuel likewise occur in the Protectorate, 

 although at a distance from each other and from the iron ore 

 deposits. The report goes on to say that 



" the isolated position of Nyasaland and the conse<[uent transport difficulties 

 preclude the possibility of these iron ores, or of iron and steel made from 

 them being exported to countries outside Africa under present conditions. 

 The local needs of the country are at present scanty, and are more cheaply 

 supplied by iron implements imported from the United Kingdom. In the 

 future, however, there is little doubt that these ores will be largely utilised 

 to supply the requirements of Nj^asaland and the adjoining territories." 



The references to the Rhodesian ores are less detailed. ^lention 

 is made of the iron ores of Lealui and the Matotela country, and of 

 the Magnetite and titaniferous ores of North-Eastern Rhodesia, 

 as well as the ancient slag-heaps near the Victoria Falls. Among 

 the strongly-folded rocks of Southern Rhodesia banded ironstone 

 is met with. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Die DIAMANTl FHRENDEN GeSTEINE SlDAFRIKAS, IHR AbBAU UND IHRE 



AuFBEREiTUNG. P. A. Wagner, Ing.Dr. pp. xviii. and 207. js. 

 Berlin : Gebriider Borntraeger. The record of a personal examination 

 in situ of South African diamondiferous rocks, and of a subsequeiit 

 study thereof in the laboratories of Prof. Rosenbusch in Heidelberg 

 and Prof. Beck in Freiberg. 

 Cyrus Hall McCormick : his life and work. H. N. Casson. lUus. 

 pp. xii. and 264. Chicago: A. C. McChirg <sy Co. As a manufacturer 

 of agricultural machinerj' the name of McCormick has been a familiar 

 one in agriculture all the world over for over three score years. Born 

 just a century ago, in the birth year of Chopin. Mendelssohn, Lincoln, 

 Tennyson and Darwin, McCormick showed a strong inventive genius 

 even at the age of fifteen ; at eighteen, while studying surv^eying, he 

 made his own quadrant, and when only 22 years old he turned out what 

 was the first practical Reaper in the world's history. Twelve thousand 

 patents for Reapers and Mowers have since been issued, but the type 

 of the hrst IMcCormick Reaper, it is declared, not one of them has ever 

 overthrown. In his introduction the biographer aflirms that " no 

 other one man so truly represented the dawn of the industrial era, — the 

 grapple of the pioneer with the crudities of a new country, the replacing 

 of muscle with machinery, and the establishment of better ways and 

 better times in farm and city alike." At Koeberg — the granary of the 

 Cape Colony — and elsewhere in this land, the ^McCormick machines 

 are far from unknown, but, that aspect apart, the pioneer is still to be 

 found in many spots in South Africa, and he — if no other — will read 

 with a sympathetic interest this "epic of the wlieat," this tale of liow 

 wheat-eating races were instructed in the mode of increasing " seven 

 small loaves " so that multitudes should be fed. 



