The country occupied was along the Sabi river. His
report of the agricultural possibilities of this country is
exceedingly favourable. Cultivation, thanks to the facilities
for irrigation, can be carried on both in winter and
summer. All European cereals have been grown with
.good results. Mr. Moodie has also conducted very interesting
experiments with tobacco; and though there is
doubtless much to learn and to do in the way of importing
the best plants suitable to the soil, even at present the
tobacco of Mashonaland is largely smoked in the country,
and is found greatly preferable to the products of other
parts of South Africa. Two crops a year can be grown.
As a pastoral country this part of Mashonaland is similarly
attractive. Cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry are
thriving exceedingly. A good deal of attention has been
given to the leather trade. Barks suitable for tanning
have been found on the spot, and there is no doubt that
this industry has a future before it. The same may be
said of lumbering: the district is full of excellent timber,
and with the starting of sawmills all the requirements of
Mashonaland can be supplied, while it would be possible,
Mr. Moodie thinks, even to institute a profitable export
trade.
But what, it may be asked, is the use of all this
information? Is it not now entirely irrelevant? Have
not, first, the recent native rising, and secondly,-the rinderpest,
put an end to every kind of work, whether mining
or agricultural? It must be acknowledged that this is to a
great extent true. The loss during the native rising was
ruinous. Mr. Selous in his latest book has quoted a
number of claims for damages made up to the 15th
August, 1896. These refer to Matabeleland alone, and
perhaps, on the whole, Mashonaland has not suffered so
severely. Nevertheless, they are worth summarizing as
an example of the wholesale losses which the white
settlers have undergone. Nearly 1500 acres of growing
crops were destroyed, and more than 21,000 trees, with 150
210
homesteads, besides 7788 agricultural and other implements
stolen or destroyed. The head of stock carried
off or killed amounted to nearly 30,000, without counting
poultry. The sum paid in compensation up to the
15th August was £ 1 1 1,439. There were 371 claims in
course of settlement, while for Matabeleland the total
filed was over 800. But disastrous as the rebellion has
proved, the rinderpest has been even more so. It has
made the development of the country impossible for the
present, as the destruction of draught oxen has sent
rates of transport up so high that the cost of living is
practically prohibitive. Stock farming and dairy farming
have of course disappeared, while the destruction of the
oxen has similarly made ploughing and the transport of
agricultural produce almost impossible. The country
must now stand still for a while in military occupation,
until railways come up from Mafeking and Beira.
Yet after all, the results attained in Mashonaland and
Matabeleland, which I have briefly summarized, are still
relevant and of the greatest importance. Thé first
requisite in settling any territory in South Africa is to
know of what industrial developments it is capable.
This has been shown in the case of Rhodesia. No
candid consideration can fail to lead to the conclusion
that these countries are among the most valuable in
South Africa.
Although much of the work already done — at any
rate in the way of agriculture — has been wasted so
far as its immediate results are concerned, the experience
gained will serve as a most valuable guide for that reconsideration
of the country which must now be entered
upon. After all, Mashonaland and Matabeleland are
to-day as rich as ever they were. Much capital may
have been lost, but the fine land is still there, the
minerals are still there, the temperate climate is still
there, the white man is still there. When the railways
are there also, the reconstruction and repopulation of