sight of this suggested to me that there was an opportunity for a
genius like Rhodes to do more for South Africa than can be done by the
discovery and exploitation of gold fields. A company called the United
South African Waterworks might buy land along the principal
watercourses, build a series of stone dams across them, clean out the
sand between them, and so obtain hundreds of reservoirs for the
townships that would certainly be established in their neighbourhood.

Beyond Palachwe (1132 miles) the thorn trees begin to disappear, and
leafier woods, which resemble dwarf oak, take their place, though there
are few trees higher than twenty feet. The soil is good, however,
despite the fact that each dry season the fires destroy the grasses and
the loams which are necessary for their nourishment. Most of the
stations in this part are mere corrugated-iron cottages, or railway
carriages, temporarily lent for the housing of the guards.

PAUPERISING THE NATIVE.

At each halting place since arriving in Bechuanaland, we have been made
aware how quickly the Englishman's generous disposition serves to teach
natives to become beggars. Italy, Switzerland, Egypt, have thus
suffered great harm. From Taungs to Palachwe, crowds of stalwart and
able-bodied natives of both sexes have flocked around the kitchen-car to
beg for bread, meat, and kitchen refuse. It is a novel and amusing
sight at present, but in the course of time I fancy this practice of
patronising beggars will make a callous and offensive breed that will
not easily be put off with words.

At Shashi River, 5 p.m., the three special trains lay close together,
because of the difficult gradient leading out of the bed of the river.
While the engines assisted the trains up the steep, I came across an
impromptu presentation of an address by the Mayor of Cape Town to Mr
Logan, the caterer of the excursion parties. According to what was
said, we were all made to believe that we could not have been better
served had the first European caterer undertaken the provisioning, to
which no one could make objection, and a duly signed testimonial to that
effect was presented to that gentleman. The scene, however, seemed odd
at unknown Shashi, and strongly illustrated a racial characteristic for
speech-making and presentation of testimonials.

NEARING BULAWAYO.

On the morning of November 4 we saw as we looked out of the carriage
that the country was a continuation of that of the