424 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



Delagoa Bay, and wait for the rising tide and 

 influence of English-speaking miners and men of 

 business, now steadily flooding the Transvaal, the 

 latter will ere long have their way in this matter. 

 Last year (1888), an extension of the railway 

 system from Kimberley to the Vaal River, and 

 from Colesberg to the Orange River, was voted 

 by the Cape Legislature, despite the opposition 

 of Mr. Hofmeyr and the Afrikander Bund. 

 Amatongaland, abutting on Delagoa Bay, has 

 now been practically secured to England by 

 treaty with the Queen Regent, and within these 

 last twelve months we have wisely forestalled 

 German and Transvaal encroachments in the 

 direction of the Matabele and Mashona countries, 

 north and north-east of the Transvaal, by the 

 extension of our sphere of influence over those 

 territories, and have thus secured to ourselves the 

 future of the vast and fabulously rich, regions lying 

 between the Limpopo and Zambesi. In this matter 

 our Colonial Office has moved in time, but there 

 yet remains something which must be done quickly 

 and done well. A hostile line and hostile tariffs from 

 Delagoa Bay must at all cost be prevented, and a 

 communication between the Cape railways and that 

 port, via the Transvaal, will in due course follow. 

 Sir Donald Currie, during his visit to the South 

 African Republic in December, 1887, pointed out to 

 President Kruger the immense advantages accruing 

 to all the South African States and Colonies by such 

 inter-communication, and it was believed that his 

 words had weight with the bluff but acute Boer 

 leader. But recent developments tend to show that 

 Kruger has been playing a very astute game of his 



