With Mr. Riiodf,s at Kimrerlev. 



y^j 



accoinj^lislied in half that time. The distance 

 betAveen Mafeking- and Vrylnirg Avarf covered in 

 a day. Starting at 3.30 p.m., the rekys and mail 

 teams taking ns along with nnusual rapidity, we 

 reached Vryburg at 8.30 in the evening. Oh ! 

 the comfort and luxury of the railway, after 

 seven months of travellino; in coaches and 

 waggons. \. week was pleasantly passed at 

 Kimberley, where I was the guest of Mr. Rhodes. 

 N^o change could be noted here. The concen- 

 tration of the diamond industry into the hands 

 of a single comj^any has cramped the develop- 

 ment of this town. But there is there a hospi- 

 table and amiable society, and the most comfortable 

 and well-manao'ed club I have ever come across 

 in my numerous travels. Captain Tyson, the 

 secretary of this club, is a perfect jDrovidence to the 

 English visitor; So once more in Capetown, where 

 I whiled away three weeks waiting for Mr. Perkins, 

 the mining expert, to rejoin me from Johannesburg 

 where he had been eno-ao;ed in a second minute 

 examination of the gold-field of Witwatersrand. 

 The rest and the comparative idleness after so 

 many weeks of hard and rough travel, and above 

 all the gracious hospitality extended to me by his 

 Excellency the High Commissioner and Governor, 

 were enjoyable beyond description. Time was 

 now ample for reflection and retrospect, nor were 

 materials for such wanting. The following problem 

 continually presented itself to me : How could the 

 paucity of British population in the Cape Colony, 

 and in South Africa generally, be accounted for ? 



