During our
conversation, which was carried on by my speaking in English, translated
into Dutch by the Chief Justice, I referred to the fact of my having
been introduced to him in England some years ago. I went on to speak of
my having come from England to South Africa to learn. That I had already
learned much, and that I was much pleased with all I had seen,
especially in the Transvaal, which seemed to me a country teeming with
riches and great natural resources. That I was a great friend to
railroads, and that I was never in a country which I thought required
railroads so much as the Transvaal. I expressed a hope, therefore, to
see the day when the country would be penetrated by them in every
direction--east, and south, and west. The President smiled at my
strongly expressed aspiration, but did not give me any other reply.
Like every other town in the Transvaal, Pretoria shows signs of
rapidly-growing prosperity. Public buildings and private dwelling-houses
are springing up in every direction. The Post Office, recently finished,
is capacious and commodious; and the new Government buildings for the
accommodation of the Volksraad and the Courts of Justice, already
commenced, but, as yet, only a few feet from the ground, and which cover
a very large space, promise to be very fine and imposing.
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