RHODESIA 239 



Umtali, and elsewhere, where cattle now run day and night in 

 camps, undisturbed and free, with very obvious advantages, 

 as against the primitive custom of herding all day and kraaling 

 at night. The mortality of cattle from casual ailments and 

 accidents is singularly low throughout the country, but particu- 

 larly so where fencing enables the nightly concentration in 

 kraals to be avoided — an effective protection against the ap- 

 pearance and spread of contagious disease — and where the 

 conditions of life are otherwise rendered wholesome, natural, 

 and easy. 



Major R. Gordon writes me from Beira, Portuguese E. Africa, 

 under date 13th October, 1918 :— 



" I have been on special duty since February this year, buy- 

 ing cattle for the Imperial Government in Southern Rhodesia, 

 for export through Beira to German East Africa and Portu- 

 guese E. Africa for the troops in those territories. We send 

 them away alive, not frozen. The cattle have some hundreds 

 of miles to march after disembarking at the coast. Cattle in 

 Rhodesia are worth 40/- to 45/- per 100 lbs. dead weight, and 

 have greatly improved here the last few years. Many breeders 

 are progressing rapidly on sound lines. 



" Liebig's Company has a ranch in Southern Rhodesia of 

 about 1^ million acres (freehold), and they have now about 

 32,500 head of cattle on this ranch. They go in for Sussex and 

 Polled Angus breeds. 



" The B.S.A. Company have a ranch, too, in Southern Rho- 

 desia, and their herd is about 70,000 now. That company go 

 in more for Herefords, but they have some Polled Angus cattle 

 as well as Shorthorns and N. Devons. Most of the famous 

 breeds from home do well in Rhodesia. There is no doubt that 

 Rhodesia will one day be a recognised big cattle producer." 



