and Simbo hills having been discovered by Baines in 1870. About 100 miles in a north-easterly direction from Hartley Hills are the Mazoe gold-fields, said to be large and promising, and alluvial gold may be traced in almost all the rivers of the Mashonaland plateau. The Company's mining laws are just and liberal. The size of claims are, for alluvial, 150 feet square, and for quartz reefs 150 feet by 400 feet. Every licensed prospector has the right to one alluvial claim and ten claims upon a reef in block. On flotation the Company receives half the vendors' scrip, whether the Company float the block themselves or the claim-holders obtain better terms from the outside public.

(21) The prospects, therefore, of what has been termed 'a south central nation rising from the darkness of heathendom, and stretching out its arms to a better life— a life of civilisation' are good. Close to a rich mining centre lie rich agricultural and pastoral areas, all situated on high and well-watered plateaux. Native labourers, who are comparatively cheap, will probably flock thither and Mashonaland become, after Kimberley and Johannesburg, a third great civilising agency in South Africa, the extent of which in Equatorial Africa can hardly be overestimated. In the wake of British occupation will follow law and order as a matter of course. Railways and bridges will be constructed, telegraphs will be laid, and quick communication be held with the outside world through an eastern port. The dark shadows are those which may come from conflict with Lobengula or Gungunhama and their armies. But the kraals of both these chiefs are far distant from the scene of operations in Mashonaland, and it is not probable that either of them will be the aggressor. Lobengula, indeed, is personally interested in the development of the mines, is in receipt of a subsidy, and has proved himself able to restrain his

followers. The English resident, Mr. Moffatt, has great influence with him, and to the various English travellers and sportsmen who have penetrated to the Matoppo mountains Lobengula has shown himself well disposed. The chief Gungunhama, who is the paramount chief of all Gazaland, of which Manica is a small portion, is certainly lord of a great territory which fringes the Indian Ocean for 600 miles, skirts the Zambesi for 300 miles, and extends westwards to the borders of Mashonaland. Gungunhama himself, the son of Umzila, is descended from one of the great Chaka's fighting generals, is master of an armed force of 30,000 men, and collects tribute from countless races. He is, if anything, more powerful than Lobengula. Over this chief the Portuguese have no power at all. The paltry coloured garrisons and Goanese on the coast excite the contempt of this savage king. But Gungunhama has learned to respect the British power, and it is certain that the envoys of Gungunhama, who have recently visited England, will carry back a vivid impression of England's strength.

(22) The task before England of reconciling all interests in this part of South Africa is of no ordinary. character. The area of that native administration, which is the one supreme problem of our South African Empire, has been indefinitely widened. What England has succeeded in effecting in Basutoland, and especially in Bechuanaland, where, under British guidance and control, Khama rules as a wise and able chief, she may effect elsewhere. If nothing is made of the hosts of Lobengula and Gungunhama for the present, the influences of Christianity and civilisation may at any rate be brought to bear upon the persecuted and industrious Mashonas, and thus a new and successful chapter be added to the annals of British colonisation in South Africa. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign

Parts has come forward and granted a sum of £7,000 for mission work in Mashonaland. This mission has been carried on for some considerable time, before the South Africa Company had its birth, but with the additional security of life and property guaranteed by a powerful company, together with increased facilities of travel and communication, the efficacy of Mission Centres must be greatly enhanced, and missionaries, magistrates, and merchants will be enabled to go forward together, strengthened by the example of what has been already done in South Africa. Thus, in due course of time a new and savage region may be won and kept under the allprotecting folds of the British flag.

APPENDICES.

1. On the Distribution of Population in Rural and Urban

Areas (p. 110).

2. Protestants and Roman Catholics at the Cape (p. 113).

3.

Cultivated Areas in the Midland and other Provinces (p. 132).

4. The German Legion (p. 148).

The Native Franchise (p. 170).

5.

9.

Mr. Hofmeyr's Scheme for Imperial Defence (p. 220).

10. New Diamond Fields (p. 224).

11. Imports of Cereals (p. 231).

12. Cape Wool (p. 234).

13. Ostrich Feathers (p. 235).

14. The Cape Revenue (p. 236).

15. The Debt of the Cape Colony (p. 239).

16. Recent Railway Extensions (p. 241).

17. The Submarine Cables (p. 242).

18. Trade and the Flag (p. 247).

19. Natal Shipping Statistics (p. 257).

20. Natal Census Summaries, 1891 (p. 258).

21. The Natal Constitution (p. 260).

22. Distribution of Population (p. 261).

23. Natal Trade, 1889-1890 (p. 263).

24. Present Military Establishment (p. 267).

25. Natal Industries (p. 268). 26. Transvaal Finance (p. 277). 27. Delagoa Bay (p. 279).

28. Boer Government (p. 284).

29. The Hottentots at the Cape (p. 287).

30. The Climate of Mashonaland (p. 308).

31. The Anglo-Portuguese Convention (p. 309).
32. The Charter of the B. S. A. Company (p. 319).

It will be noticed that nearly all the aboriginal (Bantû) population live in the Rural areas, but that nearly half the Europeans dwell in the Urban areas. Of the 376,812 Europeans 195,867 are males and 180,945 are females. Of the 847,542 aborigines 419,568 are males and 427,974 are females; of 301,385 'all other coloured persons,' 151,163 are males and 150,222 are females. See Preliminary Report of the Director of the Census, 1891, p. xiv.