Yankee Girls in Zulu LandSheldon, Louise Vescelius
History
Yankee Girls in Zulu Land
Sheldon, Louise Vescelius
South Africa -- Description and travel
Just calling in on our kind hostess, Mrs Jenkinson, in Potchefstrom,
and taking a last look at the beautiful orchard-like village, so soon to
become a terrible scene of bloodshed and slaughter, we continued on our
way without incident other than the usual discomforts attendant on a
South African coach ride. At several points in the roads we passed
groups of Kafirs going to the diamond fields, and other groups returning
from them, and it was amusing to note the prosperous appearance of the
latter compared with the half-naked, destitute condition of their
brethren going in the opposite direction. Most of them carried huge
bundles on their heads, and it was funny to see the strange medley of
articles some were carrying home as curiosities. Two of them carried
ragged umbrellas, with scarcely a shred of material on their skeleton
frames. They seemed to fancy bright tin pails and pannikins; and a new
white flannel blanket, with several bright-coloured stripes decorating
the ends, was an indispensable article in the kit of every one of them.
We passed through Clerksdorp and Bloemhof, as on our journey up,
arriving in Kimberley on the fourth morning, travel-stained and weary,
and most heartily sick of Messrs. Cobb and Co's coaches. Apart from the
travelling we had enjoyed our trip very much, having seen the most
interesting country in South Africa. Although the poor Transvaal seems
to be doomed to years of political trouble before it can become truly
prosperous, it is undoubtedly, with its undeveloped mineral wealth, its
rich soil, the game which abounds there for the hunter, and, above all,
with its glorious climate, the country of the future of South Africa.
The farmers seem to want rousing; they lack ambition. Large tracts of
country, capable of producing almost anything, lie dormant, waiting for
employment. The best thing that can happen to the country is the
successful opening up of some paying gold fields. This would bring many
men of the right sort to the country, men with energy and determination,
and above all, some healthy ambition. To the stranger newly arrived in
the country the people seem lazy and listless, but after a year's
residence there this same listlessness gradually begins to steal over
the newcomer. He then greets the latest comer, who is energetic and
indifferent to heat, with the remark: "Wait till you have been out here
as long as I, and see how you will like it then."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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