180 Recollections of Adventure* 



Britain fourteen million pounds sterling. As the 

 settlement (owing to Mr. Gladstone refusing to accept 

 the responsibility of administrating Zululand), was 

 a fiasco, Boer speculators were allowed to annex the 

 best part of it as an independent Republic, which was 

 subsequently incorporated with the Transvaal. After 

 the Retrocession of the Transvaal in 1881, conces- 

 sions were freely granted to foreigners, Hollanders, 

 Germans, Frenchmen, for making gunpowder, for 

 distilling spirits, for the public salt pan, for iron 

 smelting, for making jam and soap, a bank and mint, 

 for railways, etc., etc. The country was run for the 

 benefit of "continentals," Mr. Kruger's one idea 

 being to keep the British out at any cost as partici- 

 pants in these concessions, but to allow them to 

 contribute the bulk of the revenue. One remembers 

 the closing of the " Drifts " and- the special taxation 

 without representation and other matters which 

 eventually culminated in the Jameson Raid, and 

 ultimately in the war of 1900. 



At the time of the discovery of the diamond 

 fields in 1870, the whole of South Africa was 

 practically bankrupt. The Transvaal was hopelessly 

 insolvent. A British 1 sterling was almost un- 

 obtainable, and in cases where it was absolutely 

 necessary, it cost about 4 or 5 to get it. It was a 

 bitter struggle to bring up a family respectably and 

 keep out of debt in those days. There were no rail- 

 ways or markets. The Boers were really hunters 

 not farmers, growing only enough for their own 

 wants. Their only extravagances were " salted " 

 shooting horses, rifles and ammunition, but they 

 managed to live somehow, and were as happy as 

 they are now. The opening of the Diamond Fields, 

 and subsequently in 1873 of the Lydenberg Gold 

 Fields followed in 1884 by the discovery of the 



