188 Recollections of Adventurer 



his face what I thought was right, but that as I had 

 again refused to help him, he would have nothing 

 more to do with me. 



Another time I had a long talk with him about 

 building a reservoir in the Crocodile River Poort in 

 the Magaliesberg, to irrigate the rich loamy lands 

 below, but he feared that there were too many 

 riparian owners, and other difficulties, and nothing 

 came of it. This dam would supply the Rand Mining 

 area, besides irrigating miles of rich soil down the 

 Crocodile valley. The catchment area above the 

 poort is large and many permanent streams converge 

 at this point. The river is subject to high floods, and 

 one took away the bridge at Schoeman's, and carried 

 away trees, grasslands, etc., and formed a dam in 

 Vliegepoort, making a lake over thirty miles long. 

 I remember Mr. Kruger asking me what I thought of 

 the Transvaal, entering into a treaty with Germany. 

 I answered that there was no room in South Africa 

 for two European powers, that the British rule was 

 established, and apart from that, the Boers would be 

 less satisfied with German military rule, and official 

 methods, than they had been with the milder and 

 more liberal British administration. He said that 

 I was always afraid of Hollander and German 

 intrigue, and was prejudiced. I admitted my fear 

 that any foreign interference in South African affairs 

 would lead to friction and possibly bloodshed. I 

 pointed out that Lord Carnarvon's proposed Federal 

 Union scheme in 1875 had not found favour, that it 

 was safer to keep clear of European complications 

 and that it was only self-interest that dictated the 

 superficial friendly attitude of Holland and Germany, 

 not any special love for the Afrikander Boers. 



On July 3rd 1903, Paul Mare in Cape Town 

 told me that General Hendrick Schoeman, openly 



