Part 9 (1/2)
I never addressed aspirit of affection they manifested for the Mother Country In conversation withto hear the sons of settlers referring to the England that they had never seen, as ”hoht I realized as never before,--not even aony and sacrifice of the Somme or the Ancre in France,--one reason why the British E, it carries on It lies in the feeling of imperial kinshi+p far out at the frontiers of civilization The colonial is in many respects a more devoted loyalist than the riculturist--and he constitutes the bulk of the white population,--essentially modern in his methods He rericulturists that I haveway There is a trail of gasoline all over the country Motorcycles have become an ordinary ineers, who fly about over the native paths that are often the ions The lightto be looked upon as a necessary part of the outfit of the fare Rhodesian believed that gold was the salvation of the country Repeated ”booree with the opinion of one of the pioneers, that ”the true wealth of the country lies in the top twelve inches of the soil” Agriculture is surpassing ricultural product is y Until a few years ago the bulk of it was consumed at home
Recently, however, on account of the far surplus for export to the Union of South Africa, the Belgian Congo, and even to Europe
The facts about s, each weighing 200 pounds, are consuhout the world
Heretofore the principal sources of supply have been the Argentine and the United States We have come to the time, however, e absorb practically our whole crop Fors
There is no decrease in corn consumption despite prohibition Hence Rhodesia is bound to looe in the situation Last year she produced s Maize is a crop that revels in sunshi+ne and in Rhodesia the sun shi+nes brilliantly throughout the year practically without variation This enables the product to be sun-dried
Other important crops are tobacco, beans, peanuts (which are invariably called es
Under irrigation, citrus fruits, oats and barley do well
Cattle are a bulwark of Rhodesian prosperity The ie areas are reminiscent of Texas and Montana For a hundred years before the white settlers came, the Matabeles and the Mashonas raised live stock The natives still own about 700,000 head, nearly as many as the whites I was interested to find that the British South Africa Company has imported a number of Texas ranchenerally This is due to a desire to begin a coentine and the United States in chilled and frozen reatest British manufactures of beef extracts owns half a dozen ranches in Rhodesia and it is not unlikely that Aden Armour is said to be keenly interested in the country with the view of expanding the resources of the Chicago packers This is one result of the World War, which has caused the producer of food everywhere to bestir himself and insure future supplies
In connection with Rhodesian far is a situation orthy of emphasis There is no labour problem You find, for example, that miracle of miracles which is embodied in a native at work
It is in sharp contrast with South Africa and the Congo, where, with et help The Rhodesian black still remains outside the leisure class Whether it is due to his fear of the whites or otherwise, he is an active member of the productive order
The native ork for the white h riculturist I heard a typical story about Lewaniki, Chief of the Barotses, who once ruled a large part of what is now Northern Rhodesia Soet his people to raise cotton His ansas:
”What is the use? They cannot eat it”
In Africa the native's world never extends beyond his stoo
The African native is quite a character He is not only a born actor but has a quaint humor In the center of the main street at Bulawayo is a bronze statue of Cecil Rhodes, bareheaded, and with his face turned toward the North Just as soon as it was unveiled the Matabeles expressed considerable astonishure never ht came A native chief went to see the Resident Commissioner and solemnly told him that he was quite certain that there would be no rain ”until they put a hat on Mr Rhodes' head”
The Lewaniki anecdote reram that was produced in Rhodesia Out there food is commonly known as ”skoff,” just as ”chop” is the equivalent in the Congo A former Resident Commissioner, noted for the keenness of his wit, once asked a travelling uest insisted upon holding a religious service at the table In speaking of the perforuest came to 'skoff' and remained to pray”
Whenever you visit a new land you alressiveness that often put the older civilizations to shaland or France today and you touch the really tragic aftermath of the war You see thousands of de for work Many are reduced to the extrenant problem, that is not without its echo over here
Rhodesia, through the British South Africa Co its bit toward solution It has set aside 500,000 acres which are being allotted free of charge to approved soldier and sailor settlers froiven the land but they are provided with expert advice and supervision The former service men who are unable to borrow capital hich to exploit the land, are ed into a scheme by which they serve an apprenticeshi+p for pay on the established farms and ranches until they are able to shi+ft for themselves
The Chartered Company, despite its political machine, has developed Rhodesia ”on its own,” and in rather striking fashi+on It operates dairies, gold mines, citrus estates, nurseries, ranches, tobacco warehouses, abattoirs, cold storage plants and dams, which insures adequate water supply in various sections It is a profitable example of constructive paternalis after the famous Charter has passed into history
No phase of the Company's activities is more important than its construction of the Rhodesian railways They represent a double-barrelled private ownershi+p in that they were built and are operated by the Company There are nearly 2,600 ins down at Vryburg in Bechuanaland, where it connects with the South African Railways, and extends straight northward through Bulawayo and Victoria Falls to the Congo border The other starts at Beira on the Indian Ocean and runs west through Salisbury, the capital, to Bulawayo
These railways have a remarkable statistical distinction in that there is one mile of track for every thirteen white inhabitants No other system in the world can duplicate it The Union of South Africa comes nearest with 143 white inhabitants per mile or just eleven times as many Canada has 27, Australia 247, the United States and New Zealand 400 each, while the United Kingdom has over 200 inhabitants for every hly mineralized Coal occurs in three areas and one of them, wankie,--a vast field,--is extensively operated Gold is found over the greater part of the country Here you not only touch an Aard introduced to readers as the setting of some of his most famous romances We will deal with the practical side first
Rhodes had great hopes of Rhodesia as a gold-producing country He wanted the economic value of the country to rank with the political
Thousands of years ago the natives dug s are still to be seen They never exceed forty or fifty feet in depth Many leading authorities claidom of Saba often referred to in the Bible were the pioneers in the Rhodesian gold fields and sold the output to the Phoenicians Others contended that the Phoenicians themselves delved here Until recently it was also maintained by some scientists and Biblical scholars that modern Southern Rhodesia was the faold and precious stones that decked the persons and palaces of Solomon and David This, however, has been disproved, and Ophir is still the butt of archaeological dispute It has been ”located” in Arabia, Spain, Peru, India and South-East Africa
Rhodes knew all about the old diggings so he engaged John Hays Haineer, to accoh Rhodesia in 1894 and s His report stated that the rock reatest skill inhad been displayed and that scores of millions of pounds worth of the precious metal had been extracted It also proved that practically all this treasure had been exported from the country for no visible traces reo to the Phoenicians or to a potentate like King Solo laws of Rhodesia which are an adaptation of the Aold mines, which are operated by the Chartered Company and by individuals, have never fully realized their promise One reason, so men like Hammond tell me, is that they are over-capitalized and are small and scattered Despite this handicap the country has produced 45,227,791 of gold since 1890 The output in 1919 orth 2,500,000 In 1915 it was nearly 4,000,000