n, or men of any
colour, endure such hardships in South Africa. There are portions
of Bechuanaland where, in my opinion, a body of some hundreds of
agricultural emigrants would, like the Scottish settlers in
Baviaan's river, some sixty years ago, take root from the first,
and make for themselves homes. If they came in considerable
numbers, and accompanied by a minister of religion, and possibly a
schoolmaster, the children would not be losers by the change, while
the church and school-house would form that centre in South
Africa, with which all are familiar in Scotland, and give the
people from the first a feeling of home. I would not suggest that
such men should be merely agriculturists, but that like most
farmers in South Africa they should follow both branches of
farming. They would begin with some sheep, or angora goats, and a
few cows. In the first instance they would have a freehold in the
village, with right of pasturage, and they would also have their
farm itself in the neighbourhood, the size of which would depend
upon its locality and capabilities. But with the milk of his stock
and the produce of his land in maize, millet and pumpkins, the
farmer and his family would be, from the first, beyond the reach of
want."
For two days more we travelled through the same kind of country, a fine,
bold, and very extensive plain (a promising district for cattle
farming), with rolling and undulating hills in the distance, till we
reached Vryburg, about a hundred and forty-five miles--in four
days--from Kimberley. This is the capital of British Bechuanaland, and
the head-quarters of Sir Sidney Shippard, the Administrator. The town
itself contains about 500 inhabitants, chiefly Europeans. Here we spent
four days. On one of these I was taken by Mr. M---- to visit his fine
Bechuanaland farm of 6,000 morgen--12,000 acres--which he has named
"Lochnagar." We left Vryburg at 7.30 a.m., and drove about twelve miles
in the direction of Kuruman, reaching Lochnagar Farm about 10 o'clock.
While breakfast was preparing, Mr. M---- took me round the nearest part
of this excellent and valuable farm. He has had it about three years,
and he has already shown the wonderful capabilities for development
which an enterprising proprietor, possessed of some capital, can evolve
from farms in Bechuanaland. He first took me into his fruit garden,
whic
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