North of the Olifants river, and south of Albasinis, is the mountain range called Matzatzes mountain, 4700 feet above the sea-level. The district is called Splelunken, where sugar and coffee is cultivated, and fine farms occupy a large extent of country. South of this mountain is the district of Batlokoa, also occupied by the Mantatees, who are sometimes called Mahows. In the Bakhalaka district, south of the above, is Marabas Stad, Eersteling Gold Company, and many good farms. The tributaries, Lehtaba the Little, Lehtaba the Great, Letsitee, Sumbane, Salati, all branches of the Olifants river, rise in these two districts, passing through as wild and picturesque a country as an explorer can desire to visit—beautiful isolated hills of every form, particularly down near Pikiones Kop and the Nunkula hills, where copper and gold have been found. Game of every description roam these extensive and splendid forests. Lions, tigers, and wolves, besides a host of tiger-cats and other animals, are plentiful. The country has never been prospected, but there is every indication of extensive gold-fields some day being discovered.
On the north of this last-named district is the district of Baramapulana, which includes Schoemansdal, through which the Sand, Houdl, and Brack flow to the Limpopo. The hills are also of sandstone. To the west of this region is the Bamalitsi district, and to the east Bamapela, all within the Zoutpansberg division, and through nearly the central portion the tropic of Capricorn runs. The Maalaqueen or Nylstroom, an extensive river rising in the mountains round Nylstroom, flows north through Makapans Poort, past Potgieter Rust for eighty miles, and through Blaauwberg, a lofty range, and on through a dense and beautiful forest for nearly 100 miles, entering the Limpopo. The forest is full of game of every kind; the natives live on the river-banks. The tsetse-fly, being so common, prevents the country being occupied by the white man, as no horse or any description of cattle can live where they are.
South of this district is the Waterberg division, in which are situated the rivers Palala, Pongola or sand river, with its many branches, rising in the Waterberg and Hangklip mountains, a hilly and wild country, in which is situated Nylstroom, and the river Matlabatse rises in the Marikele mountains of 3970 feet, and is a continuation of the Makapan mountains from Makapans Poort, running in a west-south-west direction to Wittefontein and Dwaarsberg, crossing the Limpopo and Great Marico into Bechuanaland, and there spreads out into many spurs in that country. Granite is found at the junction of the Limpopo and Great Marico, and down those rivers, sandstone, limestone and slate are found in the last-named mountains.
South of Waterberg is the Rustenberg district, in which is situated the towns of Zeerust and Rustenberg, with many villages. To the north of the latter town is Pilansberg, where one of the upper branches of the Limpopo rises, forming the Elands river. The Great Marico rises in the Rustenberg district, on the central watershed at Doorm Kop, where there is a lovely waterfall of some seventy feet, falling down a steep bank into a deep kloof of most beautiful scenery. A few miles north of this is Bray’s lead-mine, which is very rich in silver, producing over fifty pounds to the ton. The mine is situated about twenty miles to the north-east of Lichtenberg, and about twenty-eight miles south-east of Zeerust. The country is very pretty and picturesque, with many fine fountains, beautiful grass-lands, and richly-wooded hills. Marico district is one of the most valuable portions of the Transvaal, being situated on the main transport roads to the interior from Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Natal; besides being rich in lead, there is copper and gold, and any quantity of iron, oxide of iron, and many-coloured ochres.
The town of Zeerust, which is in the Marico district, is very pleasantly situated on the Little Marico river, on the south side of a pretty range of hills, close to a picturesque poort, through which the Little Marico runs to Great Marico, and where I have had many pleasant days’ sport in fishing and shooting, before Zeerust town was ever built. The first bricks were laid in the erection of an extensive laager by the Boers in 1865, and the town was commenced in 1868. It is now a considerable commercial centre, with many good stores. The rapid increase of the town after British annexation, and the extensive trade carried on by the English traders with the interior, made the town one of great importance to the Transvaal. Since, the retrocession nearly every store is closed, and the town is comparatively deserted. The last lion shot in this district was in the above-named poort in 1869. Eighteen miles to the north-west of Zeerust is the large Kaffir station, Rinokano, and a mission station under the Rev. Mr Jansen, pleasantly situated at the head of the Notuane river, between long ranges of hills that run at the back of Zeerust.
The old chief Moelo lived here for many years, and at his death, his son Moelo and his nephew Copane disputed the chieftainship. The people divided, and eventually it was settled by the British Government, in 1879, that one should rule at the station, and the other should form a kraal and rule more to the north. Forty years ago the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, and other large game were plentiful all over these hills and plains; now a few bush-buck, springbok, and other small game are found, but it is a hard day’s work to shoot one now. The beautiful springs that flow through this part of the country are utilised to some extent in irrigation, and for turning small mills for grinding the corn.
There are many extensive and valuable farms in the Marico district. Oranges, lemons, pomegranates, and all English fruit grow to perfection. Peaches are so plentiful that I have frequently fed the pigs with them. I am writing of the country twenty years ago, when not one-fourth of the population lived in the country that are now occupying the land. There was no town then; Zeerust, Jacobsdale, Lichtenberg, were not thought of. There were five Boers who possessed all the land round the country, and some of these farms contained 460,000 acres or 30,000 morgen; they were five of the Boers who fled from the Orange River sovereignty after Boomplaat’s affair, treked as far as Marico, where they divided the country between them, and which they or their descendants still hold. In this district are the ancient stone kraals mentioned in an early chapter; but it requires a fuller description to show that these extensive kraals must have been erected by a white race who understood building in stone and at right angles, with door-posts, lintels and sills, and it required more than Kaffir skill to erect the stone huts, with stone circular roofs, beautifully formed, and most substantially erected; strong enough, if not disturbed, to last 1000 years, as the walls and roofs of the huts were two feet in thickness, built of partly hewn stone. The divisional walls and outer wall were five and six feet in thickness, and at the present time five feet in height at places, the upper stones having fallen; and now large trees are growing through the walls. But in no case have I discovered any trace of mortar or any implements. Plenty of broken crockery is found in the ground when it is turned up, but none on the surface. Kaffirs have never been known to build their huts with stone, or make fences at right angles, everything with them is round; they will have stone walls round their huts, but nothing more.
There are extensive remains of ancient diggings to be found all over the country, which proves that at one time all this part of Africa has been prospected, and what favours this view is, that where there is a smooth natural rock exposed above the ground, extensive carvings of animals are cut deep into it, which nothing but a hard cold-chisel could make any impression on this igneous rock, that is as hard as steel, and which, I believe, were executed by the people who built those stone huts. There are also small furnaces still remaining in some of the remote nooks, out of the way of being destroyed by the people or oxen; but for what purpose they were made cannot be discovered, all we know is that large quantities of lead and copper are found in the neighbourhood; and close to them is a lofty hill in which are found thousands of perfect cubes, from an eighth of an inch to an inch square, which when broken show a bright colour between brass and gold, which, I conclude, is iron pyrites: they have a rich brown colour on the surface. Gold I have found in this locality when prospecting, which I well remember, as in consequence of a fall from a quartz reef I smashed a watch. I had occasion to go frequently to Marico, as there were many roads branching off in all directions—one called the river road to Mongwato, three to the Bechuana chief, others to Kuruman, the Colony, also to Pretoria and Potchefstroom.
Zeerust is about ninety miles to the west of Rustenberg; the latter is a small town surrounded by hills, and where some fifty of our troops were in a laager or small fort during the whole of the Boer rebellion. It is situated on the Hex river, a tributary of the Limpopo. About twenty miles south of Rustenberg, on the road to Potchefstroom, at Blaawabank, are gold-diggings, but it is not a paying affair. The country is wild and picturesque. Old remains of copper-mines are to be seen a little south of the town.