The Conquest of the Desert 



not for the indolent, the doubter, or the easily 

 dissuaded, but for the mighty toilers multi- 

 tudes of men poured in along the railroads with 

 constant reinforcements. 



In Christiana are furrows of flowing water, 

 patches of vivid green, a handful of houses, a 

 fringe of tall blue gums ; and beyond the in- 

 finite mirage-streaming, nun-grey, desert. The 

 district of Bloemhof is the driest in the Trans- 

 vaal. But it was not always so. Search out 

 the patient voortrekker, smoke the peace-pipe 

 and listen to his tale. Thirty years ago this was 

 a thickly wooded country, and the rain fell so 

 heavily that two spans of oxen were often needed 

 to haul the waggons across the drifts. Do you 

 see that lone tree on the far horizon ? It is 

 the kameel-doorn (camel-thorn). There were 

 thousands and thousands then, there are none 

 now. It is slow-growing and deep-rooting, 

 seems to pause and spurt in cycles of seven years, 

 burns with intense heat, and makes a first-class 

 lingering fuel. Wherever it grows there you 

 will find good deep loamy soil. Over there on 

 the farms of " Sweet Home," " Just-in-Time," 

 and " Never Mind " were thick forests of camel- 

 thorn. But they were all cut down for the 

 Kimberley mines at 80 per waggon-load. 



72 



