28 Mr. John Brown — 



might be saved, but the size of such dams necessarily would limit 

 their application when we consider that besides the water used 

 a depth of four to seven feet is wasted by evaporation in the hot 

 season. It is estimated that it takes a square mile of catchment 

 area to provide water for one acre in the drier districts. A large 

 dam in Rhodesia, begun by Mr. Rhodes, has been too recently 

 finished to obtain results as yet. Irrigation works are also being 

 carried out in Natal. Considering the enormous increase in the 

 value of land produced by irrigation, it seems likely that when the 

 country has settled down after the disturbance caused by the war 

 more works of this kind would be undertaken in suitable districts 

 either by private enterprise or Government funds. 



Buluwayo is a place of magnificent distances — acres of streets, 

 or where streets might be, with here and there a building, some 

 pretentious, others mean. Among the finer are the offices of 

 the mining companies. 



I gathered that Rhodesia has not yet been at all thoroughly 

 prospected. Except the newly-started Banket reef, of which 

 much was expected, the gold hitherto discovered is not paying 

 to large mines, but small reefs are found which would pay a 

 small capital outlay. I gathered also that the former management 

 of the Chartered Company was much open to criticism. 



The Buluwayo Museum was opened by our President. It 

 already contained many interesting geological, ethnological, and 

 antiquarian specimens. A lecture was delivered in Buluwayo by 

 Mr. M'lver on Rhodesian ruins, his view being that they were of 

 much later date than formerly supposed, a view meantime not 

 shared by some other antiquarians. 



An excursion to the Matopo Mountains, where Cecil Rhodes 

 is buried, was very enjoyable. The rock is granite, and the 

 formation said to be due to water denudation. I imagine ice had 

 something to do with it, but this is a moot point. The view from 

 Rhodes' grave is charming. I should not go so far as to call it 

 " the world's view." North of Buluwayo the country is of the 

 same arid type of wilderness. The line being recently made, big 



