CHAPTER XV 



THE EMPTY LAND 



" But how can that Land be cultivated when there is 

 nobody to cultivate it." 



" A dense population, a high development of industry, 

 and a high development of agriculture and horticulture, go 

 hand in hand ; they are inseparable." — Prince Kropotkin. 



In the previous chapters I have dealt with the 



most thinly peopled part of the Union — namely, 



the southern portion of the Kalahari Desert, and 



the surrounding region. And so in this closing 



chapter it may be of interest to speak briefly 



of the more highly civilised or thickly settled 



Provinces. But whether we traverse the great 



karroo, the wind-swept plains of the Free State, 



the bush veld or the low country, it is all the 



same — we see a vast empty land, rich beyond 



the dreams of fancy, waiting only for the sturdy 



colonist to build his home, to subdue the earth, 



and to make the wilderness and the solitary place 



rejoice. 



1 The Union of South Africa comprises the 



1 An address delivered at a meeting of the Royal Colonial 

 Institute on 21st April 1913, Sir Harry Wilson, K.C.M.G., 

 presiding. 



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