THE TRANSVAAL. 163 



industry, but at best the capabilities of the country 

 from an agricultural and pastoral point of view 

 are very limited and are handicapped by an unusual 

 number of adverse contingencies. In the years 

 which intervened between the cessation of British 

 occupation and the opening up of the gold fields 

 the sufferings of the people from poverty were very 

 distressing to witness, although some of them had 

 received considerable sums of money for land sold 

 to English speculators during the occupation, and 

 thus mitigated the severity of the situation. Had 

 the discovery of these gold fields been delayed a 

 flittle longer, actual starvation affecting almost 

 everybody except the clergy and a few trading 

 firms would have made fearful havoc among the 

 poorer Boers, as the herds of game on which they 

 had mainly depended for food and hides had 

 disappeared, the victims of the most wasteful 

 slaughter imaginable. 



As a desirable field for agricultural operations 

 the Transvaal is valueless, generally speaking, 

 although individuals near the gold fields, and other 

 favourable localities, are said to have made con- 

 siderable moneys at times by a species of market 

 gardening incapable of much extension. Stock- 



