The Conquest of the Desert 



by the seven forty -five train, and in the fresh- 

 ness of the morning were speeding over the 

 quiet battlefields of Magersfontein and the 

 Modder River. Soon after eight we crossed 

 the friendly Orange, fringed with green and flow 

 silt-laden to the sea. At eleven we reached 

 De Aar. Do you know what that word means 

 in the Dutch language ? It is a vein of water. 

 So when you see a long and verdant ridge in a 

 dry and thirsty desert, you may be sure that 

 these trees are following the flow of some under- 

 ground stream, and that there you are almost 

 certain to strike water at no great depth. The 

 veld around De Aar is famed for fat mutton, and 

 here the railway caterer wisely secures most of 

 his supplies. About noon we took the branch 

 line for Prieska. The aspect of the country 

 was dreary and desolate, for it was still in the 

 grip of a withering drought. But an all-wise 

 Providence has planted the grey-green karroo 

 bush here among the ironstone gravel, hot as 

 fire, and those round, black, glittering rocks 

 which seem to smile in sheer malice at the tiny 

 grass struggling to exist in a rainless, sun- 

 scorched land. The vital need of this region is 

 a second Van der Stel who would compel men to 

 plant trees to check the terrific evaporation, to 



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