Remembering what I might have had to suffer,—what I might have been suffering at that very moment,—I expressed my opinion that the affair was very cheap. But my young friend indulged in grander financial views than my own. “It will be cheap,” said he, “if, we can sell it at the end of the journey for £150.” That was a contingency which I altogether refused to entertain. It had become cheap to me without any idea of a resale, as soon as I found what was the nature of the mail cart from Newcastle to Pretoria,—and what was the nature of the mail cart horses.
Before leaving the Colony of Natal I must say that at this Newcastle,—as at other Newcastles,—coal is to be found in abundance. I was taken down to the river side where I could see it myself. There can be no doubt but that when the country is opened up coal will be one of its most valuable products. At present it is all but useless. It cannot be carried because the distances are so great and the roads so bad; and it cannot be worked because labour has not been organised.
THE END OF VOL. I.
PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The name was probably taken from some sound in their language which was of frequent occurrence. They seem to have been called “Ottentoos,” “Hotnots,” “Hottentotes,” “Hodmodods,” and “Hadmandods” promiscuously.
[2] The first record we have of the Kafirs refers to the years 1683-84, when we are told the Dutch were attacked by the Kafirs, who, however, quickly ran away before the firearms of the strangers.
[3] A Kafir thief who had stolen an axe was rescued by a band of Kafirs on his way to jail.
[4] This is so far accurate that it certainly does not overstate the coloured population. No doubt the coloured people are more numerous. I have seen 800,000 stated as the black population of the Transvaal. But as the limits of the territory are not settled, any estimate must be vague.
[5] It must at least have seemed so when the Permissive Bill for South African Confederation was passed. The present disturbance will no doubt lead to the annexation of these districts.