240 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



their debris nnd opened up, Init little or no vein 

 was to be seen in any except one recently sunk by 

 the present prospector, ^vho had struck a small 

 'stringer' of quartz, of wliicli Mr. Perkins took 

 a sample and found it to l)e of a very low grade. 

 These old workings are of a \'ery singular and per- 

 sistent character throughout the district, con- 

 sisting for the most part of circular shafts varying 

 in depth from t^'enty to eighty feet, and not 

 more than thirty to thirty-six inches in dia- 

 meter, which liave been sunk at all sorts of 

 distances apart, in many cases not more than one 

 foot, and in others as much as fifty or a hundred. 

 No outcrop is api^arent at the surface, and nothing 

 at the bottom of the shafts would seem to suggest 

 a likelier reason for the stoppage of work than 

 the gradual deterioration in the grade and size of 

 the veins. How these rich spots were originally 

 found, and why the shafts were so irregularly dis- 

 posed, are questions of which no one has as yet been 

 able to suggest a satisfactory solution. That they 

 were abandoned in haste is extremely improbable, 

 for throughout the whole of this district only two 

 implements have been found left in the bottom 

 of the shafts, in one case a rude stone chisel, or 

 jDick, in the other an earthen pot, similar in shape, 

 size, and material to those in use by the natives 

 at the present day. Any attempt to judge of their 

 age must be the merest guess-work, as for the 

 most part they might be anything from twenty to 

 one hundi-ed years, and although in a few cases 

 it is true that trees of some size are to be seen 



