Mr Grey Rat tray. 271 



those who are acquainted with the persons and scenes in 

 South Africa described by Couper. 



While at Johannesburg, I met on different occasions a 

 nice young fellow, a Mr Astley, who is a son of Sir John, 

 and who was in the Barnato office. I was sorry to see 

 him there ; for I thought he was as much out of place, as 

 his father had been among the Hurst Park financiers, who, 

 after utilising his name to the utmost, ' shunted ' their bene- 

 factor. A man of whom I saw a great deal and liked, was 

 Mr Grey Rattray, who, though a kind-hearted and honest 

 fellow, has the strange fancy of wishing people to consider 

 him unscrupulously sharp. He is a bold speculator, and 

 is singularly clear-headed, even for a Scotchman. Speak- 

 ing to him one day about the high cost of living at Johan- 

 nesburg, I foolishly remarked that it was monstrous that 

 eggs should cost there sixpence apiece. ' If/ replied he, 

 ' I learned that there was a country in which eggs sold for 

 a guinea each, I'd pack up, my portmanteau and go there 

 straight away.' From this accurate view of life taken by 

 him, I learned to estimate at their true value the advan- 

 tages offered to capable men by South Africa, in the up- 

 country parts of which the coin of least value is a three- 

 penny bit ; and the lowest price paid, and paid willingly, by 

 the poorest working man for a shave, is sixpence. 



There is a large number of bookmakers, chiefly Jews, at 

 Johannesburg. They are a pleasant lot of fellows out of 

 whom a good deal of fun, if not money, can be extracted. 

 One of these gentlemen, probably, as a delicate compliment 

 to Lady Loch, who is a sister of the late Lord Lytton, called 

 himself by that name, under the idea that it was the English 

 equivalent of his own, Lichtenstadt (Light town). Dave 

 Moss, another of the Randt fraternity, was a man for whom 

 I had much sympathy. Instead of spending his spare time 

 in the Beaufort or Albert (he never aspired quite so high 

 as the Victoria), he was eating his heart out on the Gold 

 Fields, and all on account of not having been able to keep 



