The government, foreseeing the rapid disappearance of the game, has passed a law forbidding any one to waste the flesh of any wild animal, under a penalty ranging from three to fifteen pounds for each offence, according to the size of the animal. It is hoped that this will check the indiscriminate slaughter carried on to obtain the skins of the animals.
Immediately to the north of the Transvaal country, the elephant is found in plenty. During the summer months, Tetse fly and yellow fever take up their abode in the northern side of the Zoutpansberg; but about the middle of May, when the fever has disappeared, the hunters of the Transvaal set out on foot, accompanied by Kaffirs to carry their guns, ammunition, and provisions, and to bring in the ivory and rhinoceros’ horns.
Boers, from the age of fourteen to that of even seventy, may be seen engaged in the hunt; and it is said that one William Fitzgerald, an Englishman, carries off the palm as being the most fearless hunter in the Transvaal country. It is stated that last year he remained in the veldt without cover for nearly three months, during which time he was accompanied by two half-castes in his employ. These three are said to have killed, during that period, seventy elephants, the tusks of which weighed upwards of 3,000 lbs. This man has, during twelve years as a hunter, encountered as marvellous adventures as Gordon Cumming, which some day he may communicate to the world.
In the Transvaal, wheat and other cereals thrive well. Tobacco is produced in large quantities. All the fruits of the temperate zone are said to be abundant; while, in the Magaliesberg district, oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, peaches, apples, pears, apricots, with musk and water melons, may be had in any quantity.
A Boer, of the name of Roos, has been growing the sugar-cane to the north of the Magaliesberg, and has succeeded in making sugar.
The country is reported to be almost as well watered as Natal; and that, we know, has a stream about every four miles.
The much-disputed source of the Limpopo is now said to be in the Web Water Rond, a range of hills running parallel to Magaliesberg; Elephant River is stated to run into the Maputa, or English River, both of which discharge themselves on the south side of Delagoa Bay.
Apies River and Pienaars River are reported as running into the Limpopo, near the boundary of the district of Rustenberg, on the confines of the Transvaal; while the Limpopo is thought to be the Manakusi, or King George’s River, running into the north part of Delagoa Bay.
The country of the Transvaal is rich in mineral productions. The rocks are primary, with but here and there a superstratum of lime-stone. A German miner, Dr. Dousterswivel (?), has succeeded in persuading the Government that he can make a lead mine pay, and is working it for the benefit of the state. Copper and plumbago are to be found there in great quantity, and also in close proximity to Delagoa Bay. Already the Transvaal republic supplies the Orange Free State, and also Natal, with grain; and, when well governed, its destiny, whether as an independent state, or one of the future federated South African states, under British protection and rule, must be great.