--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Hewlett, Frank J. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 6 published: 1914-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Frank J. Hewlett, "A Jaunt in South Africa," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 6 (April 1914): 508–512.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera176unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera176unse start_page: 508 end_page: 512 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera176unse publication_year: 1914 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Jaunt in South Africa FAMOUS 41-GUN USED DURING THE SIEGE OF KIMBERLET Latter-day Saint missionaries gathered about it proved themselves heroes, and peaceable civilians kept watch and ward with the best of Colonel Kekewich's regulars. The greatest achievement of Kimberley during the war was the improvisation of a 41-gun and ammunition. The improvisor, Mr. Labrum, was killed by a shell, but the gun rendered splendid service, and is now part of a monument to the fallen brave, which has been erected in the town. The De Beer Diamond mines are star attractions of Kimberley, and are well worth a visit. One has the pleasure of being escorted through the mines and mills by courteous American guides who explain the different processes of mining. The diamond city of Kimberley has a population of 41,800, consisting of white 15,300, the rest mixed. From Kimberley most visitors take the mail train for Buluwayo, in Rhodesia, then continue their journey to the old famous Victoria Falls. Tourists delight in discussing whether Niagara or the Victoria Falls are the grandest in the world, but a comparison with the famous American Falls will be the quickest way of gaining an idea of the magnitude of the falls of the Zambesi. The Victoria cataract is over a mile in length and 347 feet in height, that is to say, it is twice as long and more than double the height of Niagara. At a distance of two miles, the roar of the water is distinctly heard above the steaming of the locomotive. Our next stop will be Bloemfontein, distant from Kimberley 105 miles. The S. A. R. train takes us over a nearly level plain, mostly barren, with a few Dutch farms scattered here and there like tiny oases in the desert, with fields of green and trees. Lord A JAUNT IN SOUTH AFRICA 509 Roberts occupied it in March, 1900. Bloemfontein was the capital of a prosperous Republic, the Orange Free State, but owing to the pastoral habits of the sturdy Dutch people, it never attained to more than a quiet and pleasant rural center. The town is well laid out and the houses are often surrounded by luxuriant gardens, and shaded by willow, gum and other trees. Six stone bridges span the Sprunt, or gigantic stone-side-and-bottom canal which winds through the town to carry off the floods of water that rush through it during the rainy season. Most of the buildings are happy combinations of red brick and a peculiarly finegrained white stone, quarried in the neighborhood. Since the war several thousand British soldiers have been stationed in well built A KAFFIR FUNERAL, BLOEMFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA barracks near the edge of the town. The Kaffirs have two settlements or, as they are called here, "locations," about a mile from the city. The natives are kept under strict control by the municipal government, and no white persons are allowed to enter the location after nine o'clock at night and vice versa. The municipal baths are the finest in South Africa. This little tale may now properly be told. There is a thriving branch of the Latter-day Saints in Bloemfontein. Some baptisms had taken place there, by permission of the attendants. It came to the ears of some busy-bodies who entered a formal complaint to the managing board of directors against the baths being used, as they termed it, for an unholy purpose. The matter was taken up in executive session by the board, the complaint carefully considered, and a verdict rendered by almost unanimous vote. Next day were chalked in bold letters on the official blackboard the words, " 'Mormons' are allowed the use of the baths for baptisms." THE CITY OF BLOEMFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA The population of Bloemfontein is 30,000 divided as follows : whites, 15,000, natives, in their location, 12,000, and three thousand militia. The people of the typical Dutch city of Bloemfontein are noted for their hospitality to strangers. As the train draws near Orange river, what memories the names conjure up ! Places of historical interest, Matjesfontein, Spiors Kop, Belmont, and the rest, for the railway is really the core to the battlefields and the numerous monuments. Many lonely graves, covered for protection by large stones, are seen alongside the tracks, and are testimonies to the grim struggle at these points. Every important bridge is still guarded by a stone block-house, built for protection to the S. A. R., but all are deserted now save for birds and wild animals. We are nearing De Aar Junction, an important railway point, where the change is made for Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage. De Aar has a population of 3,271 of which 1,094 are whites. There are large railroad shops, and everywhere signs of the late war. For miles on either side are acres of cacti, many of these ten to twelve feet high. The large plants are sprinkled with a fruit, if it may be so called, about the size of an apple which is eaten with relish by the natives. Here is a vast field for discovery for our great American horticulturist, Luther Burbank — to remove the millions of thorns so that the entire plant may be useful food for the numerous goats and cattle. Crossing the Karoo The Karoo is the Sahara of United South Africa. The day is a scorcher for us Americans. We have no ice, and are A JAUNT IN SOUTH AFRICA 511 back numbers in that we are not prepared with canvas waterbags to cool the fluid here called drinking water which we drew some ways back from a patent filter tank. An African traveler fills the waterbag in the daytime, and at night hangs it out of the coach window to cool, thereby supplying himself with a cool drink for his parched throat the next day. Every home, large or small, had its water tank at the side of the house, carefully covered, for it seldom rains on the Karoo, and when it does, every drop of the precious water is treasured up for culinary purposes. On the Karoo, nearly everything one sees is made of iron. Telegraph poles, fence posts with barbed-wire, section houses, railway stations, water tanks, all iron, and all well- MUNICIPAL BATHS, BLOEMFONTEIN covered with coats of mineral paint. The pests of the Karoo are the ants. They devour everything made of wood. For hundreds of miles you can see ant heaps resembling immense, cement beehives. (The natives ofttimes wet these heaps and use some of the material for floors in their round huts.) But Africa is not all desert. The Hex mountains loom in the distance, and compare favorably with our own Rockies. Soon the traveler is breathing the pure mountain air as he climbs the lofty, perilous-looking slopes. We revel in the grand view, and enjoy the thrill of the rush along the mountain's face. We peer into the depths below, and see the Hex river winding here and there like an immense, shining serpent, the whole resembling the Truckee, in the majestic Sierras. For a few moments we stop at De Dooms Orchard Siding 512 IMPROVEMENT ERA and the pretty village of Hex River. At the prosperous town of Wellington, the view is unique. The burning Karoo is but a shadow of the past. For two hours we steam by large vineyards located along the mountain slopes, and through fertile valleys with many picturesque white farms in view. Worcester, a city of homes and churches, wide streets, and running water, we pass, and soon arrive at Paarl, one of the wide-awake cities of South Africa. Railroad shops, distilleries, fruit canneries meet our gaze. The next stop is the thriving town of Huguenot, where French colonists have made a portion of the veldt blossom as the rose. We are now approaching the Cape, catching a glimpse of fertile farms, fringed by Nature's charming scenery, and soon we reach the horse-shoe-shaped valley in which Cape Town is situated. To the left we see the Devil's Peak which rises to an elevation DUTOITS-PAN ROAD, KIMBERLEY of 3,500 feet, and which was known to early navigators as the "Mountain of the Winds." Crowding near it, like a broad, sturdy brother, is the famous Table Mountain and, whether in sunlight or shadow, whether showing a clear edge against the turquoise sky, or spreading a fleecy table cloth of the whitest clouds about it summit, Table Mountain ranks second only to Fujiyama, the peerless mountain of Japan. The mountain to the left is Lion's Head, about 2,400 feet in height, which is connected by a lesser elevation known as Signal Hill, where the wireless telegraph stations are located. The city of Cape Town nestles at the foot of these historic mountains, with the blue water of Table Bay, shining like a gigantic mirror, to reflect its pristine beauty.