SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD-FIELDS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2027, 5 February 1875, Page 2

SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD-FIELDS.

5 The, following graphic and interesting description of the new El Dorado discovered in the Trana-Vaal Republic, and of the journey to it from the seaboard, is forwarded by a gentleman, formerly a miner and. storekeeper in the Grey Valley and the Iriangab.ua, but, when he wrote, a resident at "Pilgrim's Rest," the peaceful and beautifully suggestive name given the' principal settlement, or "camp," of the new gold-fields. The " bold Roman hand," and the quiet good-natured humor, which are characteristic of the writer, willbe recognised by many old acquaintances in perusing the narrative, while we need scarcely add have the incidents related and the. information given may be taken as thoroughly reliable. The letter is dated ■ Pilgrim's Rest, New Caledonia Gold-fields, 29th _ September 1874, and is as follows : — ; ■ " According to. my promise when I left Greymouth, I will now endeavor to give give you a description, as faithfully as I can, of what manner of place this" iSj and what may happen to a man from New Zealand on the way to it. . „. „..-. I arrived here a fortnight ago, after a five weeks' journey from Pietermaritzburg, by ox waggon to Lydenburgj and on foot from there to here in three days, altogether about 500 miles from DUrban, Port Natal, where we lauded. Sixty-four Australian and New Zealand miners arrived at " The Rest " the same week we did. They came from Sydney and landed at Delagoa : Bay. The distance from Delagoa Bay to Lydenburg is only about 150 miles, but there are great disadvantages existing at present in taking the shorter route, the principal Tjeing the, danger'of catching a fever, so generally fatal in its termination, and terrible in the agonies it inflicts during its continuance, that it is known by the distinctive name of the place where it is generated. The party ?£boy.e mentioned came through all we11,. -the sickly Beason not having yet set in. .. l.^r

"There is no doubt that should the; goldfields prosper and population increasethat is the British population— Delagoa Bay will be the port of access, notwithstanding all its drawbacks. An expedition has just returned' to Pilgrim's Rest, which was equipped partly by the Portugese authorities at Delagoa Bay, or rather Lorenzo Marquez, the name of the chief town of the settlement; and partly by the Government of this State, and by private subsidy. The object was to explore the best route for a road.. from Lorenzo Marquez to this place^ and the expedition was so far successful, that a road, more or less practicable, is now open, and what is of as much importance;; the fact is demonstrated that men and oxen can travel through at certain seasons of the year with impunity; as far as regards the fevers. A few hints, given^by Dr Pearce, the medical officer of the expedition, are worthy the attention of intending ' pilgrims 'to these parts, who i niay-«hoose-Tire~Delagoa route, and I will therefore allude to portions of his report before I conclude. He particularly cautions unacclimatised travellers against the locality of the Matola River, or rather swamp. Here is, to the best of Mr Pearce's belief, the real hotbed of the fever, and therefore travellers should carefully avoid sleeping anywhere in its vicinity. .Lorenzo Marquez is a small place built partly in a swamp and partly on sand, for which latter commodityiit rivals D. Urban, or Durban, as.the.tp^rh at Port Natal is commonly called. Tne white population of Lorenzo-^Mar?-quez consists of about thirty men; and and only-two women, and the; latter may be taken as a favorable sign of social peace and quietness, or the reverse as the case may be. The party of miners from Australia speak well of the ; treatment received by them from the Portuguese Governor at Delagoa; and they are especially loud in " praise of a dignity dinner given them by v His Exceliehcy.'^as 'the hybrid potentate who governs the territory and white population of 32, is titled. Delagoa Bay has been the resbrt'for the last hundred year 9of South Sea whalers for recruiting and refitting purposes, which would seem to indicate 'that the coast itself cannot be unhealthy, while for the last 20 or 30 years the British have possession of an island at the mouth of the Bay, which is used as a sanitarium for troops and sailors. . lam thus par-, ticular in speaking of this place, because it is almost a certainty that should the Trans-vaal Gold-fields realise the great expectations formed of themj Delagoa will be the depot and port of entry, and the future metropolis of South Africa! Its geographical position would ensure i this, to say nothing of its being the best, indeed the only safe and accessible harbor :or thousands of miles of the African coast line ; in fact Port Natal is an open roadstead in comparison to it. Besides the great distance • from Natal to the gold^ fields, which will always entail high freights and expensive travelling, its situation will prevent it ever becoming of any comme.rcial importance, hemmed in as it is with a number of petty, semisavage states, whose governments are aa jealous of any encroachment on their frontiers by their neighbors* as the butchers and bakers wives of Wellington are on the question of social precedence. ; . . : ,-. : . . ■■;,:. .

" The difficulty about making Dela»oa Bay the chief port, is the fact thatit°is doubtful whether the Portuguese or British Governments can lay the best claim to it. The matter of ownership has been some time in dispute between the two nations, and the question was eventually submitted to M.' Thiers the President of the French Republic,' for arbitration. When he resigned the dispute was remitted to Marshal MacMahon, whose award is no doubt by this time given. Both aides make but a good case. If, as your gold-fields regulations say, 'priority of occupation confer priority of right,', then the Portugese are the ' men in possession,' for they have for ages had a small fort and settlement at Lorenzo Marquez on the northern part of the bay; but then it was always understood that the northern shores of Delagoa Bay formed the extreme southern boundary of the Portugese, territories in in this region of Africa. In all treaties made in the slave trading times, between England and Portugal, Lorezo Marquez is mentioned as the most southern point to which Portugese jurisdiction extended. The British claim is based chiefly .upon the right of subsequent exploration and cession of territory by the native King,

for it is alleged that more than twenty years ago a British man-of-war, carrying an Admiralty survey party, anchored in Delagoa Bay, and that a river running into the Bay was explored for fifty miles of its upward course. This river (the Mapooto) the Portuguese now claim as their own, but the English assert that on the. occasion in question the native chief or King (Keppel), by a formal act of cession, made over the territory to Great Britain. It is a very pretty quarrel as it stands, but it is to be hoped the Imperial Government will obtain the Bay as a British possession, whatever the ultimate results may be. What these results would be if the British Government would only take my advice, tendered Micawber-like, as disinterestedly as possible, are as follows :— lf Delagoa Bay became a British port and the Government acquired the territory southward to the frontier of Natal, and then annexed the Transvaal and Orange River Republics, these, after absorbing the territory of Natal in the new State, could be erected into a separate Colony, with a town on Delagoa Bay- as the capital, which would be a magnificent new Queensland in Southern Africa. Moreton Bay, and pelagoa Bay, are situated in similar latitudes, and a site could be selected on the southern shores of the latter, in every respect resembling that of Brisbane, so far as regards climatic considerations. "Before giving you a description of the journey from Durban,, or rather now Pietermaritzburg, our last point of depar/^ture, or saying anything about these gold-fields and the motley crowd among which my lot had fallen, I will dismiss the Delagoa Bay subject by giving a few practical hints which, if followed, I am assured by those who had used such precautions, will do away with a good deal of the risks ot the Delagoa route, and the

preference of intending immigrants must be given to that route, because it is said that when the new road is made, the distance from the Port to these gold-fields will be considerably under 100 miles. In the first place, it is necessary to carefully avoid sleeping on or near the ground, a hammock can always be slung between the trees, it is the most portable and convenient sleeping accommodation, and a cotton sheet suspended by a cord over the hammock, will protect the sleeper from the dangerous dews. Take a moderate allowance of good French brandy, ( once or twice a day ' is the formula, but West Coasters generally could , bear a little more without seriously damaging or endangering their well-seasoned constitutions. Take a little opening: medicine regularly, and be especially careful 'not to get drunk at Lorenz Marquez,' the latter admonition being given as of paramount importance by an old shellback, who anchored there in the pre-auriferous age. With due regard to these simple precautions, it is given on good authority, that the trip from Delagoa Bay to Pilgrim's Rest may be made with little or no risk all the year round." [to be continued.]

The comteru plated vist of the Governor to Dunedin has already created a flutter iv certain circles, the tefpsichorean devoteess especially. A fancy dress ball in talked of.