THE GOLD FIELDS OF SOUTH AFRICA.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 452, 5 December 1868, Page 3

THE GOLD FIELDS OF SOUTH AFRICA.

A great feature of our ' budget this month is the intelligence we .have received that the gold prospectors have found the southern goldfiold discovered by Mr Mauch as rich as .they hoped it would be. This long-looked for news reached us in a letter from our Potcheistroom covres.pondeujb, dated June 22. It appears that 911 the 18th of June Mr C. Solomon, a trader from Secheli's Town, which is on the road from the Cape colony to Bamaugwato, the residence of the ruling chief, Matjen, brought a letyer from Mr H. Taylor, of the former place, and dated the sth of June, " which places the success of the diggers beyond all doubt. " The substance of this communication was to the effect that in the early part of May, CO to 70 men w.ere successfully at work on .the quartz reef discovered by Mauch, on the north bank of the Tatin. So rich were the deposits of gold on this reef that the diggers confined their attention to it, and were hammering and blasting pieces of quartz, remarkably rich in the precious metal, which is reputed to be present in " its most pure and unalloyed form." The veins are sometimes 'inoje than an inch broad, and some of the small flat pieces of quartz which at present reward the diggers' toil contain, at a rough valuation, from LI .to L 3 worth of gold. The Rev. J. Mackenzie, a 'missionary at Matjen's, had 'sent- off express Kaffirs to the diggings for reports and specimens, and with these, xrhen they came, he intended to start for Potchefstroom. As his appearance was looked for at the latter place within a few days, it will not be long before we in Natal are placed in possession of specimens. Some are said to have already reached Hopetown, a frontier t >wn of the Cape colony. Meanwhile, several other parties have started, or intend to start, from the Transvaal, the Fr,ee State and Natal, while from the neighboring colonies there will probably proceed many gold hunters. Much excitement prevails throughout the colony on the subject, and as soon as the arrival of nuggets puts the doubts of even the most sceptical to flight an exodus of o'ir young and unemcumbered men may be expected. It is interesting jto know that Mr Mauch's statements have been in all respects confirmed. We learn, too, now for the first time, that the reason why he was unable to make a more thorough exploration of the locality, and to procure a larger supply of specimen?, was, that the trader he was travelling with refused to stay in the neighborhood, and left Mr Mauch little more than an hour to collect what he did with the aid of a small hammer. Our Potchefstroom correspondent, whose accuracy we have no reason whatever to doubt, writes that he had the following from Mauch's own lips : — On his last excursion, in company with Mr Hartley, and while on their way up north, the geological features of this spot struck him as being worthy of close investigation, but he had no time allowed for it. When he afterwards found and explored the immense gold district north of Moselekatee, extending for hundreds of miles between the Zambezi and Umbili rivers, the conf jrmity of the surface appearance of the two localities was such that he felt persuaded he had passed over an out-cropping of the same stratum between Tatin and Ramakhuoban. He communicated his conviction to Mr Hartley, and the latter agreed to give him an opportunity for fully exploring the spot on the way home. When they reached the Tatin on their return, Mauch hastened to the reef, and with his hammer obtained in less than an hour's time some of his best specimens. He then returned to the waggons, which were at the time in charge of a stepson of Mr Hartley, all the hunters being away after a troop of elephants, and importuned him to stay on the Tatin, at least until the hunters' return, as he was certain he could secure splendid samples of gold in a few days, the indications being most favorable, and no Kaffirs near to interfere, as they had done on the northern gold fields. But the youth turned a deaf ear to all solicitations, and pushed on to the Serului river, one of the worst places on the whole route, where they were rejoined by the hunters four days later. If it had not been for this foolish obstinacy of a stripling, the problem would have been solved seven months ago. This southern quartz reef is probably unknown to the Portuguese, and the source whence the gold washings of the lower river beds are fed. The natives there are not at all numerous, and Matjen, the dominant chief, is favorable to the pursuits of the diggers whom, being Englishmen, he regards as friends. It is hard to say what a change these events may work upon the immediate future of this colony, and what influence they may not have upon the civilisation of Africa. Judging by the experience of Australia and California, the continued prosecution of gold mining will in a few years transform the social condition of Natal and the surrounding territories. One thing is certain — namely, Natal is the shortest and best high road to the diggings. Capital roads exist the whole way. As far, at any rate, as Rustenburg, a horse trap might be driven. There is plenty of water at all times of the year. The pasturage is the best in South Africa. Provisions of all kinds are cheap and plentiful. Natal produces corn, flour, sugar, tobacco, rum, beer, meat, bacon, live stock, vegetables, fruit and dairy stuff in abundance. Given a more regular and Larger demand, and the supply will soon increase in proportion. Our customs tariff is far lighter than that of the Cape, the duties in some cases being barely more than half what they are there. The climate is healthy the whole way. A splendid lighthouse guides vessels to our port, where a depth of water of 13ft now admits vessels of considerable tonnage to the safe inner and land-locked bay. It is believed that in a few months' time the present works may have secured a greater depth than this permanently on the bar. Kaffir servants can be held here. Waggon transport at this moment is both plentiful and cheap, and our rivers are made passable at all seasons by means of bridges and punts. These are but some of the advantages which visitors to the gold fields will secure by making Durban their port of arrival. Sorely, the imperial authorities will no longer resist the pressure which concurrent events of so signal a character are bringing to bear in favour of an extension of British rule over the territories between the Orange River and Zambesi ? In the Free State we find utter disorganisation and demoralization. The civil courts continue closed, and there is no satisfaction for "the just claims of foreign creditors. The people, both white and black, with a

very few exceptions, long for the resumption of British rule over thotn, as the onjy means of putting an end to the reign of disorder, and of obtaining security fur life and property. In the Transvaal Republic —a Republic only in name —disorder is still more rampant. A paratysod and depraved Government aits as an incubus upon the country. It winks at the system of child enslavement, and its Chief Officer is himself the proprietor of several of the so-called native "apprentices." Its misdoings have excited through tho length and breadth of the land an ardent longing for British interposition and the estab- j lisliment of British rulu. Tho native'! tribes living to the westward and northward of the Republic are anxious to come under British protection, aijcl have made known their desire to become subjects of' the Queen.