200 Men, Mines, and Anlmals in South Africa. 



sickness, probably contracted in the low country ; 

 the remainder of the mule team and the six horses, 

 well fed with as many mealies as they could eat, 

 kept fairly well and strong, and two days' rest at 

 Fort Charter com^^letely restored them. About 

 tive miles south of the fort, on the evening of the 

 11th August, I met Mr. Colquhoun, tlie chief civil 

 administrator of Mashonaland, proceeding down 



The camp before Fort Charter. 



country to meet .Mr. Rhodes. ]Mi'. Cok|idiomi was 

 good enough to stay and converse for a short time. 

 He seemed sano-uine as to the future of the 

 country. The gold findings on the Umfuli River, 

 near Hartley Hill, he told me Avere expected to 

 turn out of s'reat excellence, and he had had favour- 

 able reports about the i)rospecting on the Mazoe 

 River. Fort Salisbury, he added, was becoming 

 quite a township, with a regidar street of huts and 



