324 THE CAMEL 



employed. And with the usual energy and determina- 

 tion that they infuse into everything they take in hand 

 they will, I have no doubt, pay the serious attention to 

 the question of which it is deserving. 

 Also of As to South Africa, I have no hesitation in saying 



South J 



Africa that, from what I have seen of it, the whole country is 



eminently suitable. When I landed at Cape Town four 



years ago this was the first thought that struck me 



as I passed through the Karoo especially on my 



First wa y to Kimberley. The same idea prevailed when I 



impres drove in a Cape cart from the latter town up to 



sions 



Macloutsie, a distance of over 800 miles (1,500 from 

 Cape Town), and also when I subsequently rode up 

 from Macloutsie to Salisbury close on 500 miles and 

 on to Umtali, another 190 miles further on. After a 

 residence of a year in the British South Africa Com- 

 pany's territory, and when I had traversed the veldt 

 in every direction, and become acquainted with its 

 botanical, climatic, and geological conditions, my first 

 Confirmed impressions were confirmed, and I spoke on the subject 

 residence to Dr. Jameson, the Administrator of Mashonaland. 

 At his instigation I wrote to Mr. Ehodes, proposing a 

 scheme for introducing camels into the country ; but, 

 whatever his reasons, he did not take it up. At the 

 same time I suggested to him the importation of Syrian 

 donkey stallions for the improvement of mule breeding ; 

 also the utility of attempting to tame and employ 

 the African elephant as a means of transport, &c. A 

 reversion to the old order of things purely and simply, 

 for Schweinfurth tells us in his c Heart of Africa ' that 

 there is evidence beyond doubt to show that the African 

 elephant was once employed as a domestic animal. 



