The people in this
neighbourhood are very sanguine; I was told that this may prove a great
discovery for Bechuanaland.
[Illustration: Decorative]
[Illustration: Decorative]
KLERKSDORP.
Having received the same hospitable attention, as elsewhere, at Vryburg,
our wagon party once more resumed its journey. Thirty miles brought us
to the south-western frontier of the Transvaal, from whence we travelled
on, through the most dreary, flat, uninteresting, barren, treeless
plain, for two or three days more, sleeping every night on the veldt,
until we reached Klerksdorp, about 120 miles from Vryburg. The
south-western part of the Transvaal is certainly exceedingly inferior in
appearance to what I saw in Bechuanaland. We remained at Klerksdorp
three days. While there I visited one or two of the gold mines of this
promising district.
At the Nooitgedacht Mine I saw the process performed of pan washing of
the previously crushed quartz. I also went to the stamping house, where
a machine for crushing has been erected of twenty stamps. I inspected
the mine generally, and its various shafts already sunk. The work
appeared to me to be well and systematically conducted.
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