36 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



elevates with mucli success flocks of many thousands 

 of sheep and ]ierds of many lumdreds of cattle. 

 The Karroo is far more liospitable and noiu'ishino- 

 for live stock than the nninstructed tourist M^oiild 

 inmoiiie. Tlie climate is })erfect, the aii- iiui^uorat- 

 iiio- hke thiit of Scothind, and the only som'ce ol' 

 anxiety to the farmer is foiiiid in the somcAvhat 

 insuthcient rainfall. Sport is to ])c ol)tained in 

 plenty bv the sportsipnii Avho docs not fear hard 

 v\^ork. The (piail, the iiamntp.ia pMrtrid<i'e, the 

 koran, the pauw, a s})ecies of Ijustard, all at different 

 times and seasons fill the frame-ljafr, wliile often the ^ 

 spriiig-h<)k and sometimes the leopard ^vl\\ fall to 

 the well-aimed rifle. I iinairiiic tliat mauva \omiu' 

 English farmer with a £rood trainiiii:, an active dis- 

 position, and a small capital, might find in the 

 Karroo both a home and a I'ortune. No rent, 

 scarcely any taxes, and perfect freedom are con- 

 stituents of happiness which to the ordinary English 

 farmer would appear almost as an unrealizable 

 dream. y An earl)' start the next morning, a journey 

 of twenty-four hours across the monotonous and 

 apparently limit less exp anse, of the Karroo brought 

 _Ji^to KimberleyJ Nothing in the external appear- 

 ance of Kiml^erley suggests either its fame or its 

 wealth. A straggling, haphazard connection of 

 small, lo^v dwellings, constructed almost entirely 

 of corrugated iron or of wood, laid out with hardly 

 any attempt at regidarity, and without the slightest 

 trace of municipal magnificence, is the home of 

 the diamond industry. It seems that when the 

 diamonds were first discovered some twenty years 



