side, and whom he, or rather his father when we consider the misery, the who lately died, conquered on more butchery, and the dastardly cruelty than one occasion. Here the timid, which these impis bring along with cringing manner of the inhabitants them, it seems altogether past belief around Fort Victoria is changed for how any one professing advanced and decidedly noble bearing and finer liberal views can stand up for the savphysique. M'toko treated us with age sovereign of Matabeleland, who is scant courtesy, and refused to let us so obviously an anomaly and a thing of encamp in close proximity to his kraal. the past in this age. He visited us with a band of armed followers, and he was the first chief in the country for whom we felt the least respect.

An eye-witness writes to me that not. far from Fort Victoria, a whole village under the chief Setoutse had been wiped out by the last raid, the younger His neighbor Mangwendi is the inhabitants being made slaves of, while same; also Makoni and Chipunza. the older ones were ruthlessly butchHere the kraals are not necessarily ered. I was witness myself of the placed on rocky heights. Three or devastation wrought by these raids in four huts are seen together, scattered the direction of the Sali River- of a over the country, with well-tilled fields whole district depopulated which had around them, and cattle, showing a once possessed many villages, the recondition of peace and prosperity to mains of which could be traced on which the unfortunate inhabitants of every side, of the abject terror of the those parts near the Matabele frontier inhabitants, who fled at our approach are absolute strangers, and there is to the rocks; and yet there are those every prospect that under a good gov- found in England who profess to supernment these tribes to the east of their territory will be infinitely more valuable to the Chartered Company than the others.

Much is said just now about the rights of Lobengula over Mashonaland, and that inasmuch as he only conceded mining rights to the Chartered Company, he is at perfect liberty to exercise his lordship over the Mashonas and exact tribute from them and make them his slaves.

port this state of affairs, and to say that Lobengula has a perfect right to do what he likes with what they call his own.

Mashonaland has several reefs run-ning across it from east to west, right into the heart of the Matabele country, which are all auriferous. Many of them were worked in ancient times, when shafts to the depth of one hundred feet were sunk, and gold was extracted from the quartz by crushing and washing. Many hundreds of these shafts, and crushing-stones and smelting-furnaces, pointing to a very extensive trade, are to be found scattered over the country, and since a systematic prospecting has been gone into numerous virgin reefs have been discovered which the ancients have not touched.

I must say that people who advocate these views, and let us hope they do so through ignorance, are a disgrace to civilization and the age they live in. I should like to know what right anybody has to reduce his fellow-creatures to a condition of slavery? What right has anybody to seize the cattle and goods of those people who refuse to be made slaves of? What right has anybody to One gold belt starting from Umtali exact tribute from a race who get passes through Victoria, and it is connothing in return, and who are now sidered probable that it will connect entirely removed from the jurisdiction with the Tati gold-fields in the westof the man who demands this tribute ? ern portion of Matabeleland, which is Thus, on purely international grounds, at present occupied by Major Goold it is obvious that there is no justifica- Adams and the Bechuanaland Border tion for Lobengula's raids into the Police. The latest news from the Chartered Company's territory, and neighborhood of Fort Salisbury, the

with crossed wings, and is generated, some suppose, in buffalo droppings; at any rate, it is pretty clear that when the buffalo disappears from a district the fly does too. It is certainly a most tiresome little insect, and has cost the Chartered Company many thousands of pounds. Now it is to be hoped that the railway will obviate any further It has always

Mazoe, and Lo Magondas is very satis- | fatal to all quadrupeds which come factory, and new finds were occurring from without. It is a small grey fly, everywhere daily, until the present about the size of an ordinary horse-fly, complications with the Matabele put a stop to all operations; and it is really on its gold-mines that the future of Mashonaland depends; without gold the country is 'not sufficiently rich to warrant colonization. It could doubtless be self-supporting without gold, but as a speculation it would be valueless; hence it is intensely gratifying to those interested in the Company to loss from this cause. hear such good reports of the gold prospects, and every one is eagerly looking forward to the cessation of hostilities for further development in this direction. The railway from Beira will enable plant to be introduced into the country for working the gold, which previously could not be done owing to the prohibitive distance by road from the Cape Colony, and the cost of transport.

remained a puzzle to me why it is that in a district where a foreign horse, ox, donkey, or dog is sure to die from the fly-bite, the zebra, buffalo, quagga, and native dogs never suffer at all.

As to the fitness of the climate for Europeans, opinions differ considerably; certainly, during the rainy season, and when the long coarse grass is rotting in the tropical sun, there is much fever sometimes mild and There are, of course, several points easily warded off by doses of quinine which must seriously impede the prog- and Warburg, and sometimes persistress of colonization in Mashonaland; ent, running into hæmaturia, and withfirst and foremost amongst these is the out proper care resulting in death; but extreme unhealthiness of this country this is generally the case in a new counfor all cattle. Oxen die on the road in try. It was so in Griqualand and the quantities from the fatal lung sickness, Transvaal; but when the drainage of which sometimes clears off whole the towns has been attended to, and teams; from drunk sickness, or stag- proper house accommodation erected, gers; and from numerous other dis- the tendency to fever is much lessened. eases with curious Dutch names. The The report of the senior medical officer rank fodder is in many cases unwhole- of the British South Africa Company, at some, so that the owner of a wagon Salisbury, for 1892, is very satisfactory and a team of oxen is constantly kept on this head. He says: "Good food, at the highest pitch of anxiety concern- good clothing, shelter from inclement ing the health of his beasts. The fatal weather and the sun, an abundant suphorse sickness, too, at present prohibits ply of medicines and invalid necessaall but salted horses from entering the ries, and a mild season, have wrought country. Ignorant of this fact, the an enormous improvement in the genpioneers took up unsalted horses, and eral health of the people, and they all died. At Fort Victoria we saw Mashonaland of 1892 is not recognizone hundred and fifty saddles in a row able as the Mashonaland of 1891.” It in the fort, and no horses to put them is to be hoped that the coming rainy on. Again, salted horses are wretched season, especially if the campaign be things, for a horse not worth a five- not satisfactorily terminated before its pound note in England you have to commencement, may be equally favor give £100 if he is salted; and similarly, able to the health of Europeans. the best horse you could see is not worth the five-pound note up country if he is not salted.

Then there is the belt of tsetse-fly,

the

Salisbury, Victoria, and Umtali will undoubtedly be the chief towns of the new colony. The position of Salisbury is exceedingly dreary, but it is the

healthiest of the three. It is close on the neighborhood.

Three hundred

stands have been located there, and it is connected with Salisbury on the one hand, and on the other with Chimoio, by a good road which Mr. Selous constructed last year.

five thousand feet above the sea level, and enjoys an abundance of that peculiarly exhilarating air which is to be found only in the tropical highlands. It is surrounded by a large plain, and the town is chiefly built on and around There is no doubt about it that in a diminutive tree-clad kopje, which their coming contest with the Matabele rises about two hundred feet out of this the Chartered Company will get no plain. The Chartered Company have assistance from the Mashonas; they spent a considerable sum on draining are abject cowards, and have for genthe immediate neighborhood of this erations lived in terror of the Zulu. town, and last wet season it was prac- During our experience of work at Zimtically free of fever. Eighteen hun-babwe we found that they could only dred stands have already been surveyed be treated with kindness; any repriand mapped out, and certain public mand terrified them, and they ran away buildings, such as offices for the admin- never to return, regardless of their istrator, bank, and police station, etc., have been completed.

Victoria is not nearly so advantageously placed. The ground around it is marshy, and fever is here much more frequent; but possessing, as it does, the key to Providential Pass, and being in close proximity to newly discovered gold reefs, Victoria is bound to proceed rapidly. Already five hundred and seventy-two stands have been sold, and public buildings superior to those of Kimberley or Johannesburg have been erected.

A friend writes to me concerning the present condition of Fort Victoria:

The old fort is abandoned, and only a

few ruined huts are left to mark the place. We are now on a bit of ground between the fort of the Umshagashi and another stream, where was our first outspan after leaving Victoria. This town is now nearly as big as Mafeeking, and about as well built. There is a great square barrack-yard, surrounded by a loopholed brick wall ten feet high. At two corners are towers on which are machine guns, which sweep the country for a long distance around; so that this

place can hardly be taken by the Matabele.

wages. Once we had a quarrel with the chief of the village on the hill; there was a great deal of shouting and bluster and shaking of assegais, but the moment we went for them they fled like monkeys, and laughed at us from their unapproachable eyries. It is the same when they fight with one another r; there is much shouting and gesticulation, but rarely any bloodshed.

The Mashonas are decidedly clever and ingenious, and, when confidence is once established, they may be trained to make themselves very useful workmen. We had no difficulty with them in that respect, and they soon learnt work was decidedly good. They carve how to handle our tools; and their very well, and make very pretty knife handles and pillows, and their ingenuity in turning old meat tins into ornaments is most remarkable.

As for Khama's men, I doubt much whether they will be very efficient allies, if they are called upon to fight against the Matabele in the open; their value will be more in scouting and surprise parties, for the Bamangwato are an essentially pastoral race, with a wholesome dread of the Matabele. :

South Africa there is not a tribe which can stand up to the Zulu, and all the hard fighting will have to be done by the white men.

Umtali is beautifully situated in a basin formed by the Manica Moun- Throughout the length and breadth of tains. It is considerably lower than the other two, but as the fall is good the place is healthy. It will ultimately be on the railway system which is pushing in from Beira. Umtali has every prospect of a successful future, and there are numerous gold reefs in

Will, then, Lobengula be as easily. quelled as the sanguine messages from Mashonaland lead us to hope? This is

a question which only time can answer. A savage tribe fighting for its very existence in a difficult and at times almost impassable country is a very formidable foe. Is it not likely that they will stand in a half circle in the open, to be shot down by the Chartered Company's guns, if ever the heavy artillery can be brought anywhere near them. Again, if there is no open opposition, and the British forces march on and destroy Baluwayo, what will be gained? Before the victorious army is at home again, another capital will be built, and the question will be no more settled than it was before. Nothing but making a clean sweep of the Matabele out of the country and driving them across the Zambesi can settle the matter. Then, if a series of forts is erected to prevent their return, Mashonaland and Matabeleland may hope for a time of peace and prosperity.

J. THEODORE BENT.

From The Cornhill Magazine.
THE CARETAKER.

Quand c'est le cœur qui conduit, il entraîne.

Martha is boundlessly simple and contented. It is fortunate that an external cleanliness is not necessary to her happiness, since it has been her fate to look at Thames Street, breathe Thames Street, and live in Thames Street since she was five-and-twenty. Once she has been into the country. But that was a long time ago; though on the window-sill of her attic there still live miserably some of the cuttings she took from the plants she brought back with her.

Martha waters those forlorn and stunted geraniums with the greatest pride and indiscretion. She imagines that the smutty and despairing musk still smells deliciously, and puts her old nose into it and sniffs with the greatest enjoyment in the world. On sultry days she opens her window and sits at work by her "garden." Her old face is placid and contented. The expres sive language of the costermonger below falls upon her ear. The refreshing scent of decaying vegetables must quite overpower that of the elderly musk. But either Martha has long ceased to expect unalloyed pleasure, or is of such a very simple nature that she can enjoy imperfect happiness perfectly.

MARTHA caretakes a decrepit City warehouse. She cleans, or imagines Martha is very proud of her attic. It that she cleans, the offices of a de- may not, in fact, does not, contain pressed company of tea merchants and much oxygen. But there is a beautiful of a necessitous land surveyor. They picture of the queen smiling blandly damn her hopelessly when they arrive out of a tradesman's almanac of the every morning and behold the thick-year fifty. Martha's circumstances renness of the dust on their ledgers and der it necessary that there should conthe black and smoky nature of their stantly be washing drying in lines fires. And Martha speaks of them across the ceiling. But she takes her tenderly as "my gentlemen," and in- meals quite blithely beneath this canopy quires fondly after their wives and fam- and has no feelings at all about cutting ilies. her cheese-she never seems to eat anything except cheese or drink anything except tea on the patchwork quilt which covers the négligé manuer in which she has made her bed.

Martha's appearance has, it must be confessed, a worn and dingy air, not unlike the house she lives in. She is invariably attired in an ancient shawl and a frowsy black bonnet. People Martha has a table, indeed, but it is are apt to forget that the wrinkled old quite covered with the accumulated face beneath it is very kind and tender. treasures of a lifetime. There is a reThe blackness of Martha's aprons and ligious work presented to her by a Bible the streaky nature of her house-clean-Christian minister angling for a coning cause them to lose sight of the gregation, which Martha values no fact that London griminess has never doubt the more because she cannot reached Martha's soul. read it. There is a creature which

may or may not represent a parrot, | dreadful, stout, stolid, apple-cheeked, with boot buttons for eyes and a body plebeian baby. But she took possession of many-colored wools. Martha blows of Martha's lonely old heart. Martha the dust from the glass case which in- carried back to London a cheap photocloses it, with an infinite affection and graph of Tilly in her best frock, and a reverence. She made the parrot her- deep-seated resolution concerning Tilly self a long, long time ago, and is ten- in her foolish old soul. When Tilly is derly proud of it still. By its side is a old enough she is to come up to LonTestament scored by a hand long dead, don to live, at Martha's expense, with and with Martha's homely name writ- Martha, and be 'prenticed to what ten in the fly leaf. There are two Martha speaks of reverentially in the china shepherdesses, with pink sashes abstract as "the dressmaking." Marand squints, on the mantelpiece, and tha, like a true Cockney, loves and an In Memoriam card of Martha's dead despises the country, and is convinced nephew. that London is the only place in which to get on. And the dressmaking is such a genteel employment.

By the window there is a bird in a cage, to whom Martha chirrups cheerfully, and whom she addresses as 'Enery. The bird never chirrups to Martha — old age and the stifling air of Thames Street having long silenced him forever. But Martha's placid optimism has caused her to believe persistently for many years that if she only chirrups long and cheerfully enough, 'Enery will reply to her at last.

"He's wonderful for company," she says, "and eats next to nothing." Which to Martha's mind is the greatest recommendation a friend can have.

To 'prentice Tilly to a very good house, to be able to clothe Tilly as her high position will require, to be able to support Tilly what Martha calls "elegant," Martha instituted the moneybox, and puts into it weekly much more than she can afford. She works for Tilly with the dogged persistence of the woman of one idea. The stout, earthy child whom she has not seen for a dozen years or more has been beautified, perhaps beyond recognition, in her fond and foolish imagination. Martha is indeed well paid for her Or she thinks that large, red cheeks, caretaking. When one considers the and a stolid gaze-admirably caught sketchy nature of her cleaning she ap- by the cheap photograph are incapears to be ridiculously overpaid. pable of improvement. Tilly's picture Martha's money is not spent on her- is assigned an honorable place by the self. She eats very little and cheese side of a terrible, but beloved portrait and tea may be bought incredibly cheap of the Prince of Wales. Though Marand nasty in Thames Street. She in- tha is devotedly attached to the royal dulges in no vanities of dress. The family, there have been days on which frowsy shawl and bonnet are of imme- the prince's countenance has been left morial antiquity. Her employers sur- thick in dust. But Martha always mise uncharitably that she does not makes a point of cleaning Tilly reverwaste her substance on soap. Martha, entially with a corner of her shawl. in fact, wastes nothing. She has a She gazes at the picture when she has money-box secreted in a drawer amid performed this operation with an adan awful confusion of other treasures.miration and tenderness in her dim old She is a miser. She has saved and stinted herself for years and years. She has denied herself not luxuries, for luxuries have never even suggested themselves to her, but what other people would call necessaries.

On that far-off visit to the country Martha found and loved a great-niece. Tilly was, it must be confessed, a

eyes which are quite ridiculous and pathetic. Two or three times a week she breathes on the glass which protects Tilly, and rubs it vigorously with a piece of a cloth which is used indiscriminately as a duster or a handkerchief.

For Tilly's sake she refuses to join a party of lady friends who are going by