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.