Part 9 (2/2)

S quantities have also been found in Rhodesia

In exchange for having subscribed heavily to the first issue of British South Africa Company stock, the DeBeers which Rhodes formed received a monopoly on the diaid enforce Act This law, ured in many South African novels, provided drastic punish in the stones

More than one South African s of his fortune to evasion of this law

Just about the time that Rhodes made the Rhodesian dia you a handful of rough diaet?”

”Fifteen years,” was the ready retort He was never at a loss for an answer

We can now turn to the really romantic side of the Rhodesian es of the tourist is to the Zimbabwe ruins, located about seventeen miles from Victoria in Southern Rhodesia They are the remains of an ancient city and e populations There seems little doubt that Ziotten people

Over it hangs a mantle of mystery which the fictionist has ee In this vicinity were the ”King Soloard wrote about in what is perhaps his most popular book Here came ”Allan Quarter hill at Zimbabwe provided the residence of ”She,” the lovely and disappearing lady who had to be obeyed The ruins in the valley are supposed to be those of ”the Dead City” in the sa feature of all this is that ”She” and ”King Solohties when coard, with that instinct which souides the ro before he had ever heard of its actual existence Thus iination ard books are surpassed by the actual wonder represented by Victoria Falls Everybody has heard of this stupendous spectacle in Rhodesia but few people see it because it is so far away I beheld it on o Like the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, it baffles description

The first white stone, who named it in honor of his Queen This was in 1855 For untold years the natives of the region had trea_, which means ”Smoke That Sounds” When you see the falls you can readily understand why they got this name The mist is visible tenwaters can be heard even farther

The fact that the casual traveller can see Victoria Falls froination of Cecil Rhodes He knew the publicity value that the cataract would have for Rhodesia and he combined the utilitarian with his love of the ro the Rhodesian railroad, therefore, he insisted that the bridge across the gorge of the Zahty waters flow after their fall, must be sufficiently near to enable the spray to wet the railway carriages The experts said it was impossible but Rhodes had his way, just as Harriineers in the construction of the bridge across Great Salt Lake

The bridge across the Zambesi is a fit hest in the world for it rises 400 feet above the loater level Its th is 650 feet Although its construction was fraught with contrast hazard it only cost two lives, despite the fact that seven hundred white men and two thousand natives were ee which was erous, more than fifty men were killed

I first saw the Falls in the earlywhen the brilliant African sun was turned full on this sight of sights It was at the end of the wet season and the floas at reat that at first I could scarcely see the Falls Slowly but defiantly the foaives you a thrill but this toppling avalanche awes you into absolute silence

The Victoria Falls are exactly twice as broad and two and one-half tiara Falls This means that they are over a h The tremendous flow has only one small outlet about 100 yards wide The roar and turmoil of this world of water as it crashes into the chas Pot” Fro h a narrow and deep gorge, extending with s for forty miles

In the presence of this h cost of living, prohibition,--all ”that unrest which nificance Life itself see You are face to face with a force of Nature that is titanic, terrifying, and irresistible

[Illustration: THE GRAVE OF CECIL RHODES]

IV

Since we bid farewell to Cecil Rhodes in this chapter after having almost continuously touched his career from the moment we reached Capetown, let us make a final measure of his human side,--and he was intensely human--particularly with reference to Rhodesia, which is so inseparably associated with him His passion for the country that bore his nas He liked the open life of the veldt where he travelled in a sort of gypsy wagon and caht wherever the ratify his fondness for riding and shooting

He was always accompanied by a reuese strain predoht his master's clothes, paid his bills, and was a court of last resort ”below stairs” Rhodes declared that his man could produce a satisfactory meal almost out of thin air

Rhodes and Tony were inseparable Upon one occasion Tony accoe at Sandringhaet breakfast, whereupon the servant replied:

”Royalty does not breakfast, sir, but you can have it in the dining-roo

Throughout Rhodesia I found many of Rhodes' old associates who affectionately referred to him as ”The Old Man” I was able to collect what seemed to be some new Rhodes stories A few have already been related Here is another which shows his quickness in capitalizing a situation

In the days i the first Matabele war Rhodes had es, the Boers, or the Portuguese Nearly every free-lance in the territory produced soed mark was affixed and offered it to Rhodes at an excessive price

One of these gentry fraula was to return to Matabeleland, claienerally The whole idea was to start an uprising and derange the machinery of the British South Africa Company The name of the son was N'jube and at the tier in the diaence that he maintained, Rhodes learned of the frame-up, the whereabouts of the boy, and furtheroes were a sort of bastard slave people Marriage into the tribe was a despised thing, and by a native of royal blood, ation of all his claims to the succession

Rhodes sent for N'jube and asked hiirl When he replied that he did, the great et 50 and ive you a job for life and build you a house”