THE SPAS OF SOUTH AFRICA
There are numerous mineral-springs in the country, but they remain for the most part but little used, and there is here an excellent opportunity for future development. A few words upon some of the better known of these may be useful.
Caledon, altitude 900 feet, 80 miles from Cape Town, is the best known and most developed watering-place in South Africa. A line of railway, connecting it directly with the Cape main-trunk line, has just been completed. Its reputation dates from the times of the earliest Dutch occupation. It has ferruginous springs, both hot and cold, which offer a most successful treatment for gout, rheumatism, anæmia, and cardiac diseases and renal insufficiency. There is excellent and increasing accommodation in connection with the springs. The climate is very pleasant, and especially to be recommended in summer, as being drier than the coast towns, though within such a short distance of Cape Town. The rains are in the winter.
Brandvlei, near Worcester, 100 miles from Cape Town, has some very hot sulphur-springs which have not yet been much used.
Montagu, altitude 750 feet, near Robertson (140 miles by rail from Cape Town), has some hot mineral-springs which have been used with success in rheumatism and skin diseases, and there is an “établissement des bains” under progressive management.
Aliwal North, 4500 feet, on the Orange River, best reached from East London, may be compared to the Swiss watering-place, Loêche, in the combination of hot sulphur-springs with a great altitude. The baths are excellent for rheumatism and skin diseases, and good accommodation is procurable. The climate is a delightful one, with short summer rains and bright dry winter. The altitude is unfavourable for cardiac affections, but good for phthisis, and this has long been a much commended resort for the latter disease.
Warmbaths, altitude about 5000 feet, a thermal spring, connected by rail with Johannesburg and Pretoria (from the latter of which it is distant 70 miles), is rapidly becoming an important spa. The water issues at a very high temperature. It is ferruginous, sulphurous, and alkaline. Increased accommodation here is very desirable, and will no doubt be rapidly supplied. Rheumatic affections, anæmia, and skin diseases are benefited by this treatment, but heart disorders are aggravated by the high elevation.
It is impossible within the limits assigned to me to go into further details about the magnificent opportunities for the health-seeker which this great country must offer in the near future. To those who have been bred under those kindly skies, and who have left them permanently, an incurable nostalgia often comes, when the burden of this murk-laden atmosphere of London seems indeed intolerable. I hope that these few pages may lead many a sufferer to find new vigour and new courage in that sunnier air. May it prove to them in very fact a land of Good Hope and pleasant memories, whether they remain in the country or whether they make but a fleeting visit.[15]