on native inhabitants
living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it
is computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750
whites.

If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a state
and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and prosperity would
rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capabilities of this
favoured land are vast and various. Within its borders are to be found
highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like gigantic
sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland, huge tracts of
mountainous country, and even little glades spotted with timber that
remind one of an English park. There is every possible variety of soil
and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical produce, whilst
others are well suited for breeding sheep, cattle and horses. Most
of the districts will produce wheat and all other cereals in greater
perfection and abundance than any of the other South African colonies.
Two crops of cereals may be obtained from the soil every year, and
both the vine and tobacco are cultivated with great success. Coffee,
sugar-cane and cotton have been grown with profit in the northern parts
of the State. Also the undeveloped mineral wealth of the country is very
great. Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, cobalt, iron, coal,
tin and plumbago: copper and iron having long been worked by the
natives. Altogether there is little doubt that the Transvaal is the
richest of all the South African states, and had it remained under
English rule it would, with the aid of English enterprise and capital,
have become a very wealthy and prosperous country. However there is
little chance of that now.

Perhaps the greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which
is among the best in the world, and in all the southern districts very
healthy. During the winter months, that is from April to October, little
or no rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In summer it is
rather warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria
averaging from 65 to 73 degrees, and in the winter from 59 to 56
degrees. The population of the Transvaal is estimated at about 40,000
whites, mostly of Dutch origin, consisting of about thirty vast
families: and one million natives. There are several towns, the largest
of which are Pretoria and Potchefstroom.

Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of