RHODESIA. 215 



Since writing the foregoing remarks on Rhodesia, 

 another serious little war has involved Matabele- 

 land and Mashonaland in a costly and cruel 

 contest. Rinderpest has utterly destroyed all the 

 cattle, and, great as may be the wealth and talent 

 at the command of the Chartered Company, it is 

 difficult to entertain any great hope of its ability 

 to develop the country satisfactorily within any 

 reasonable time, especially as permanent peace 

 appears improbable ; and, indeed, a very un- 

 satisfactory contest is still raging in Mashonaland. 



It suggests itself to my minbl that if these 

 territories are to be successfully colonised, the 

 system of giving out farms to individuals for 

 isolated occupation must be abandoned as un- 

 suitable to the nature of the country and as 

 dangerous to an unwarrantable degree. The 

 prosperity of stock-farming in South Africa depends 

 mainly on the ability to shift live stock from post 

 to post as frequently as may be necessary or 

 expedient. To keep stock in any paying quantity 

 in any circumscribed area in South Africa is to 

 cause the herbage, of which only a very limited 

 percentage is of any value, to become stale, and 

 thus invites disease and intensifies its effects. I 



