1 905-1906.] A Field Naturalist' s Rmnble in South Africa. 289 



hand. At Johannesburg we were struck with the magnifi- 

 cence of its buildings and its 800 miles of streets, built while 

 white workmen's wages were about 30s. a-day ! 



From Klerksdorp we trekked to Mafeking in Cape-carts : 

 thence we visited Victoria Falls, and stayed there several 

 days. We returned by Salisbury and Umtati, where we saw 

 some small mediaeval ruins. We met our steamer at Beira, 

 and stopped at several places on the east coast. Finally, we 

 spent three magnificent weeks in Egypt. 



Omitting the most serious of problems, the conflict of races 

 — white, black, and yellow — and the servile problem, in its 

 newer phases, the sociological conclusions to be drawn may be 

 summed up as follows. On account of the aridity of South 

 Africa — the east and south coast belt being excepted, — shown 

 by its flora and fauna, it has been long in developing, and the 

 population must always be scanty. From the scattered popu- 

 lation, markets for produce are few. The richer gold mines of 

 Witwatersrand will be wrought out in a dozen years or so : 

 will Johannesburg then be like Bulawayo now and Zimbabwe 

 later ? Prices are so high that the country has nothing to 

 exchange with other countries, except diamonds, gold, ostrich 

 feathers, and a little wool and hides, — besides, of course, 

 bonds. Almost everything, including food, has to be im- 

 ported. To bring down prices and help to make the country 

 self-supporting, a great financial reconstruction seems sooner 

 or later to be inevitable. 



[The above paper, which is here much abbreviated, was 

 illustrated by about a hundred original lantern views.] 



