The Conquest of the Desert 



four provinces of the Cape, the Transvaal, the 

 Free State and Natal with Zululand. It has an 

 area of 473,954 square miles, and is therefore 

 more than nine times the size of England. 



The population of this vast country, according 

 to the latest census, is only 1,276,242 whites, 

 and 4,697,152 coloured people. Broadly speak- 

 ing, we may think of South Africa as a narrow 

 coastal region fringing a vast inland plateau 

 which rises in a series of terraces successively 

 pierced by the brave path-finders, as they 

 trekked ever onward and ever upward till they 

 won the topmost ridge of all where the white 

 waters leap forth to flow to the opposite seas, 

 and the gleaming gold revealed the grandest 

 Eldorado the world has seen. 



A study of statistics discloses several interest- 

 ing lights in connection with the agricultural 

 industry of South Africa. For example we note 

 that while the total produce of the mines in 

 the year 1912 was 49,394,640, the total pro- 

 duce from the land was only 11,163,506. It is 

 significant, however, that the produce from the 

 land has doubled within the past five years. 

 And there is no doubt that it is only a question 

 of time when the output of agricultural produce 

 will surpass, as all desire, the output from the 



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