244 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



were very hospitably ^ecei^'ecl, ;ind passed the 

 night. The folloAving day a ride of thirty miles 

 brought us to another eamp of this syndicate, 

 where the same kind reception awaited us ; but, 

 unfortunately, no realization of the somewhat 

 irlowinii' accounts we liad I'eceived as to the 

 valuable prospects of this property. A mass of 

 old workings surround the camp, and two shafts 

 have been sunk some considerable depth, but at 

 present without cutting the \ein at all, so nothing; 

 remained for us but to depart the next morning 

 on our long but l^eautiful ride homewards. During 

 the journey we crossed many bright, clear little 

 rivers ; but in the opinion of Mr. Perkins there is 

 not sufficient fall nor enough Avater in them to 

 justify their employment for anything requiring 

 the generation of much power. The general 

 aspect of the countr}' is the same here as was 

 described above, but the timber is small, and of 

 a soft quality, unsuitable generally for large 

 lumber. There is, however, plenty for hrewood, 

 small mining props, and so Ibrth. From August 

 26th to the 28tli we examined the property of the 

 Exploration Company Syndicate, which is large 

 and scattered. The reefs throughout presented 

 the same character, and so far as we have seen 

 appear uniformly superficial, extending longitu- 

 dinally for considerable distances, but ' pinching ' 

 out and losing their gold as depth is attained. 

 The shafts which the i)rospectors have sunk are 

 principally Acrtical, and as little drifting work 

 has been done a very small portion of the 



