To the Islands of the Orange 



of Devon. At the age of one he emigrated 

 to South Africa, and at seventeen entered the 

 Civil Service of the Cape. His eldest brother, 

 Mr Barry May, is the present Imperial Secretary 

 for the Bechuanaland Protectorate ; and so it is 

 of interest to note that the vast territories of 

 the two brothers are separated, not by the thin 

 chalk-line across the kitchen floor, as in Steven- 

 son's story of the quarrelsome sisters, but by 

 the broad dry bed of the Molopo River. 



The district of Gordonia is the largest in the 

 Cape Province. It has an area of 18,499 square 

 miles, more than two-thirds of which is unsur- 

 veyed waterless desert — the southern portion 

 of the great Kalahari Desert. This part of the 

 district is inhabited by roving bands of semi- 

 savage natives who live on the tsamma melon, 

 extracting the water from it for drinking 

 purposes, and grinding the pips to make a sort 

 of coffee. The southern boundary of the dis- 

 trict is the Orange River, on which there is a 

 frontage, as it may be called, of 200 miles. 

 This frontage is occupied by a series of long 

 narrow farms, averaging a breadth of three 

 miles on the river and stretching northwards 

 back from the river for a distance of fifteen to 

 eighteen miles. They were originally laid out, 



13 



