ds, as almost everywhere there are
believed to be rich auriferous deposits. Its mineral deposits have
been the attraction of the Transvaal, for the coal-fields invited
the attention of some of the first speculators. In fact, the first
railway line of the district ran between Johannesburg and a
colliery.

Besides coal may be found silver, copper, and lead. But the great
attraction, GOLD, has for the last ten years lured all the money
from the pockets of the enterprising. Other metals, such as
cinnabar, iron, and tin are, for the nonce, like Gray's violet,
"born to blush unseen," until some ingenious person discovers in
them a subtle attraction.

To show the financial changes which have come over the country
within the last ten years, Mr. Campbell, late Vice-President of the
Chamber of Mines, Johannesburg, has written a valuable article. In
it he gives us the following agrarian position in the Transvaal of
the present by areas and by values:--

AREAS.

Per cent.
Boers' own land 65
British 35
---
100

But land is valuable not by area merely, but by intrinsic value, and
the Boers have sold much of their best land, and taken British gold
for it, and when we come to the figures in the Government Dues
Office at Pretoria, we have--

VALUE.

Per cent.
Boers' 33
British 67
---
100

The net deductions in the Dues Offices are, that the whole of the
farms and private lands in the Transvaal, under the mere Boer
occupancy, are valued by the outside world at L933,200, whereas
to-day, by the addition of the British buyer and holder, they are
now valued by the world at ten millions sterling! In figures given
above, all land occupied for mining or town sites is excluded.

The current yield of gold is computed at the rate of seventeen and a
half millions sterling per annum. This is the vitalising source of
African trade and African progress. It pays the interest on nearly
all South African Railways, is responsible for a large