"How much!" shouted a splendid specimen of a Bechuana woman, in the native language, as she held her naked pickaninny over her head—laughing heartily at the same time—at a place where the train had stopped and where natives and karosses were numerous. Passengers were bartering and haggling with the natives over the price of karosses, and others were ambitious to sell their souvenirs. The black mother had imbibed the "shopping" spirit, when she jocularly offered her babe for sale. "Half a crown!" (60 cents) shouted a passenger. With that offer the semi-barbarous mother quickly brought her pickaninny to her bosom, threw her arms about the little one and gave it such a hug that the baby's eyes bulged, she laughing so heartily the while as if to split her sides.
Still traveling toward the heart of Africa, we reach Mochudi and the Kalahari Desert, the eastern fringe of which we traverse, a distance of 200 miles. The dust had become so thick in this stretch of the journey that the color of the passengers' clothes could not be detected. All the way along from Mafeking I could not keep from my mind the Americanism, "It's a great country, where nobody lives and dogs bark at strangers."
When the train stopped at Mahalapye we entered what is known as Khama's country. The course of the railroad is nearly on the line taken by David Livingstone, the explorer. When Livingstone and his band passed through that section of Africa, the grandfather of the reigning chief offered every hospitality to the explorer, and espoused the Christian religion. Chief Khama, the grandson, is the most important ruler of Bechuanaland, and has spent some time in Europe; he conforms largely to European customs. Besides being a strict disciplinarian, he forbids the sale of liquor to his people. He receives a pension from the English Government. Serowe, Khama's capital, located 30 miles inland from Palapye Road station, is the largest town in Bechuanaland, having a population of 40,000. His subjects pay the smallest head tax of any of the tribes in South Africa.
We were passing through a country about which the wildebeeste, gemsbuck, eland, tiger, lion, and even the giraffe, still roam. Along the railway may be seen the secretary bird, guinea fowl and also handsome cranes. The secretary bird, so named from feathers growing at the back of the head, which look like quill pens, is what is known as "royal game." "Royal game" are beasts or fowl that must not be killed. The reason the secretary bird is protected is because it is a bitter foe to snakes. Snatching a snake in the middle with his bill, he at once begins to fly upward with the reptile, and when at a certain height will let go his prey. The snake, when he strikes the earth, is killed.
White traders are located through these desolate tracts of country, sometimes a hundred miles from a railway. Little cash changes hands between natives and traders in out-of-the-way districts. For his skins and corn, or whatever the native may have to sell, he receives as pay bright-colored calico, Jew's-harps, concertinas, mouth organs, tinware and such things.
Passing out of Khama's country we enter a territory known as the Tati Concessions. Traversing this tract, we crossed the northern boundary of Bechuanaland a few miles south of Plumtree, when we were in Matabeleland, Rhodesia. In this section Lobengula, the Matabele king, held undisputed sway until Cecil Rhodes decided to annex this part of Africa to England's possessions. What Andries Pretorius did to Dingaan at Blood River—broke forever the power of the Zulus—Cecil Rhodes did with the powerful Lobengula in Matabeleland.
We passed within ten miles of the Matopo Hills, on the top of which is buried Cecil John Rhodes, "the Colossus of South Africa," as he was termed. Whatever shortcomings Rhodes may have possessed, or the means he resorted to to attain his ambition, one of his virtues will always remain unquestioned—bravery. He wished his remains to rest where his greatest feat of daring took place. It was during the rebellion of the Matabeles in 1896-97 that Rhodes, unarmed, with a friend accompanying him, walked up the Matopos through the files of the warring hordes of blacks to where their chiefs were stationed. His cool bravery and personal magnetism so impressed the chiefs that the rebellion ceased.
"Here lie the remains of Cecil John Rhodes" is the brief inscription carved on a granite slab that covers his grave, which was chiseled out of a solid rock on the highest of the Matopo Hills. "World's View" is the name Rhodes gave the place where he is buried. It is located 30 miles southeast of Bulawayo.
Bulawayo, meaning in English "the place of killing," is located in the heart of wildest Africa. We find here splendid streets, as wide as those of Salt Lake City, fringed with trees, with monuments erected at convenient places in the center; a good public library, containing 5,000 volumes; hospitals, parks, a botanical garden, zoölogical park, museum and art gallery, schools, churches, business buildings, daily newspapers—all of a high order. Bulawayo, nearly 1,400 miles from Capetown, has a population of 5,000 whites. It is the largest town of Matabeleland, the center of the gold mining industry, and has had railway connection with the Transvaal since 1897. Only four years earlier Lobengula's Kraal occupied the land that Bulawayo is built on. It required the sacrifice of many lives of hardy frontiersman to conquer the Matabeles, and to pave the way for the accession of Matabeleland, Mashonaland, Barotseland and the other sections that comprise Rhodesia.
Industries in Bulawayo are few and small. In this respect, however, it is no different than most African towns. But located in the country away from the metropolis are numerous gold mines, and Bulawayo is headquarters for that industry. The annual output from these mines run from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000.