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VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA. 
Brave with a religious fervour, which would have been creditable to 
a Knight Templar or Puritan, splendid shots with a great knowledge of 
their own methods of fighting, and the country they would fight in and 
for, they must not be despised. 
After a defeat probably they would not rally, but a large force, say 
30,000 men or more, would be needed, as nothing must be left to chance : 
there are too many dark pages in our history of African wars to risk 
adding another. The force must also be very mobile. The main attack, I 
imagine, would be by columns from Kimberley and Mafeking with a 
divertissement against the inevitable Laing’s Nek. But, even if 
successful, how deplorable would such a war be, except to us soldiers. 
For the Dutch in South Africa, and their motto, like ours, is ‘Ubique,’ 
and their name is legion, would be stirred in feelings, if not in action, 
shaking our African possessions to the foundations, and, involving 
almost a civil war. 
An important element of the situation is to be found in this unhealthy 
spot—Delagoa Bay. “ The key-hole of Africa ” it has been termed. 
Rightly or wrongly, there is an idea out there that Portugal will some 
day have to go out o£ South Africa for financial reasons, and the question 
then occurs as to who will get their big territory ? Look at the large 
slices of map colored German and you look in vain for a port. There, in 
the middle of that enormous west coast territory, certainly is Walfisch 
Bay, but it belongs to England. There are many aspirants for Delagoa 
Bay. The Transvaal wants it very much. The Boers have done all they 
can to encourage traffic through that port to the detriment of others. 
They talk of subsidizing a mail shipping service from that port. 
Delagoa Bay is only 400 miles from Johannesburg and has I believe a 
20 per cent, mortality of its unfortunate white population. England, has 
it is stated, the right of pre-emption, but some bold declaration on her 
part would perhaps ultimately calm the political atmosphere. 
To return to the Transvaal—it is very startling after days of veldt 
without sign of man’s handiwork, to suddenly find oneself entering such 
a line of tall chimneys and strange looking buildings as can nowhere 
else be found but on the Rand, and which extend for close on fifty 
miles. Johannesburg is a precocious infant prodigy ; though but nine 
years old, it is to-day a well-built town full of as bustling a population 
as one sees in the city of London. Theatres, music halls, clubs, hotels, 
tramways ; in fact all the concomitants of a great city. Johannesburg 
has all the vices and few of the pleasures of a European town. 
The white population almost entirely consist of Uitlanders. Prices are 
high and the smallest coin in circulation is the ‘ tickey ’ as the three¬ 
penny-piece is termed. 
Once again must I mention scarcity of water. In Johannesburg I had 
difficulty in getting a small bath ; a fire was extinguished in the town 
by Cape claret, water was too scarce. But the water supply is controlled 
by a millionaire. 
Gold mining and gambling are so often synonymous terms, that one 
is not surprised to find that in Johannesburg, lotteries, betting houses, 
etc., and every other form of what may be termed immorals, flourish 
exceedingly. 
The output of gold on the Witwatersrand has improved from year to 
year. Thus in 1888 the return was 208,122 ozs., while in 1896 it 
reached 2,280,983 ozs. An easy and interesting way to realize how the 
average price of shares of the principaDgold mines has fluctuated is to 
