CHAPTER XXXII. 



DISCOVERY OF THE WITWATERSRAND 

 GOLD FIELDS. 



As I have already pointed out, after the Boer 

 war of 1880-1881, the country was at a standstill, 

 and many people practically ruined. I had tried in 

 various ways to recover, but not being able to make 

 headway, was almost in desperate straits, but deter- 

 mined that something must be done. For many 

 years I had been convinced that the Transvaal was 

 very rich in minerals, and I had already found indi- 

 cations of gold, silver, and other metals in various 

 parts. As a boy, in 1853, I had accompanied Mr. 

 Evans through the Drakensberg ranges in Natal, 

 when he pointed out the occurrence of marine shells 

 at considerable altitudes, giving evidence of the land 

 having risen, and the ocean having receded. This 

 gave me the idea, in 1885, that the conglomerate 

 beds of the Witwatersrand were (in remote geo- 

 logical periods) the southern sea-shore of Africa. 

 That theory has not been disproved as far as I know. 

 When, in 1858, I accompanied Mr. Evans to Zout- 

 pansberg, he pointed out that the ranges north of 

 Makapan's poort were a gold-bearing formation. In 

 1859 I found gold-bearing quartz in Doel Kraal, 

 near what was afterwards the Esterling mine ; but 

 it was of poor quality, and nothing came of it, until 

 years afterwards. 



In 1860 I sent some exceedingly rich specimens 

 of hematite ore to Glasgow, but I was not able to 



Note. Some of this chapter is taken from an article sent in 

 1906 to the "Rand Daily Mail," and from other notes by my 

 father. (Editor.) 



