274 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



fate. It is possible, even probable, that these are 

 views too gloomy, formed and set down as they 

 occur to me under the influence of the disappoint- 

 ment occasioned by the discovery that, as in the 

 Mazoe so in the Hartley Hill district, there are 

 probably no gold reefs of value to be acquired. 

 Manica has yet to be visited, and the chai^acter of 

 that country may altogether change the colour of 

 my expectations. 



On the 25th September I left Hartley Hill 



to return to Fort Salisbury, and thence to 



travel towards Manica. Soon I hoped we should 



be in a position to know, or at any rate to 



form a tolerably accurate judgment, as to whether 



Mashonaland is destined to become a prosperous 



British colony or to remain until the end of 



time a barren and desolate African expanse. 



A curious adventure befell Mr. Henry C. Perkins 



the other day, in which he had a narrow escape 



from serious personal injury. He and his fi'iends 



were examining a reef, along which a trench had 



been cut. At one part of this trench a narrow 



shaft had been sunk some six feet in depth, at the 



bottom of which a small tunnelling had been made. 



Mr. Perkins was on the point of jumping down 



the shaft to examine the reef, when it fortunately 



occurred to him that as the sides were steep he 



might have some difficulty in getting out again. 



It was decided to wait before descending until a 



rope could be procured. AVhile Mr. Perkins and 



his friends were conversino- on the edo;e of the 



shaft a roar and a rush was heard, and out bounded 



