practised by the Boer farmers, who, I am informed, use
the leaves of other trees than the C. comprestum for
the purpose; and when the government really takes up
the necessary question of forestry, a most important one
for the country, the preservation and planting of these
trees, upon which will depend the success of a Transvaal
leather manufacturing trade, must be seriously dealt
with*.
At present the Transvaal may almost be described as
timberless, so far as building-operations can be carried
on. Even the wagon-builders have no local material,
or at least none that can be obtained in any quantity,
and it is absolutely cheaper to import wagons from the
British Colonies, where -there is an official Inspector
of Forestry, than to manufacture them in the heart of
the Transvaal. Vast quantities of deals and other
European and American woods are brought up from
Durban with all the incidental cost of rail and ox-
wagon f ; and when at last the railway is allowed to
give to the development of the country its natural and
much-desired impetus, the sleepers for the lines will
have to be imported. At present the great drawback
to all local industries is that articles, despite duties,
and in the face of monopolizing concessions, can be
imported as cheap or cheaper than they can be manufactured
on the spot. The wealth of the Transvaal has
hitherto only been sought beneath the ground; it must
now be cultivated on its surface.
I started just after a period of heavy rains, and as the
coach passed through the Wonderboom Poort, signs of
the recent floods could be observed by the vegetable
* This has been thoroughly done in Australia, and Mr. Maiden, in his
‘Useful Native Plants of Australia,’ has described over thirty species of
“ Wattles” and about half as many Euealypts -which have been tested for
tanning-material. In all eighty-seven Australian species have been under
examination.
Burchell found that the Hottentots used the bark of the Karro-thorn for
tanning sheepskins, and amongst other plants used for the same purpose -were
a kind of Ficus and Mesevibryanthemum coriarium, B. (‘ Travels in Interior
of Southern Africa,’ vol. i. p. 243).
f In October 1890 the following quotations were obtained ¡—Deals, 3x9,
Is. 5d. per foot; flooring, |X 6 , 4d. per foot.
debris left stranded in the tops of trees growing by the
banks of the river; many of the trees were at least
fifteen feet high, and one could thus realize the dangerous
and relentless force of these flooded streams.
After leaving this mountain pass, short scrubby trees
become plentiful, and the soil is loose and sandy. As
the journey is advanced, the country is found to be
much more wooded and is in pleasant and strong contrast
to the monotony of the bare veld which marks the
higher lands. To drive along a narrow road through
thick woods was, indeed, a novel experience, and we
reached the banks of the Pienaars Kiver about 4 p .m .,
and shortly afterwards commenced the longest and
most severe stage of our journey. The “ Waterberg
Flats | occupy a waterless region of some twenty-five
miles in width, where there are no stages, and the
mules have at least a four hours’ stretch; but on this
occasion, owing to the state of the road,’ in which the
wet rutty ground had dried just sufficient to be bad for
the feet of the mules, we were five hours in transit.
During the last hour one could not help sympathizing
with the poor jaded beasts, and the shouts, of the driver
and the crack of the whip were constant sounds. Passengers
and mules will probably soon be spared this
unbroken stage, as an enterprising American was then
sinking a well, already 108 feet deep, through the
rocky ground at his own expense. When he reached
water, and had completed the well, he proposed building
a store and stables, and as the spot is about midway
across the Flats, his enterprise should be repaid. It
was 9 p .m . when we reached the hotel which bears the
name of the Warm Baths. The warm water rises from
a mass' of peat and reeds in the neighbourhood, and is
conveyed to the hotel by pipes. After the dust and
fatigue of the road these baths are most refreshing, and
now that the property is leased and managed by a
small British company in Pretoria, the spot bids fair to
be the retreat and sanitarium of the capital. The Boers
visit this spot and use the waters ; but in their case a
hole is made in the ground, into which the water