Development of Rhodesia BY D. E. BRODIE, Secretary British South Africa Company T HE various stages by which Rhode sia has emerged from barbarity to civilization during the short period of its occupation since 1890, would be sufficient to fill many pages of this magazine. The most sanguine prophets, however confident in the assurances of their leader, Cecil Rhodes, through whose foresight and persistence this great province was acquired for the British Empire, could hardly have hoped for greater rapidity in the country's development than that which, in spite of numerous obstacles, has been achieved. It will be enough, however, to mention some of the signs of commercial improvement and development as we find them to-day, and leave to the imagination of our readers the enterprise and confidence of the settlers in the country of their adoption which has led to such satisfactory results. The gold mining industry, which at present is the most important, furnishes us with some interesting figures. From 1890 to August, 1898, the output of gold, chiefly won from pannings by prospectors, amounted to 6,533 ounces. In September, 1898, the first crushing began, and in the four months to the end of that year 16,378 ounces was declared. In 1899 the year's output was 56,742 ounces, and the output has steadily increased to 407,050 ounces in 1905. March, this year, a new monthly record of nearly 45,000 ounces was obtained, and it is fairly safe to assume that the year's output for 1906 will be well over half a million ounces. In Besides gold, a considerable quantity of silver, lead and coal is declared each month, and 1161 carats of diamonds were declared for the first time last March. There are now nearly 2,000 miles of railroad in the country which tap all the principal districts and centers, connecting Cape Town with the Portuguese port of Beira, and extending from Bulawayo to the north to a distance of 500 miles. This Northern Extension is being pushed on, and will be open to the Broken Hill mine 374 miles north of the Zambesi river this year, when quantities of high grade zinc and lead ore, now only awaiting the arrival of the railway, will form an important part of the traffic, whilst later on it will be found possible to tap the rich copper fields to the northwest. The Victoria Falls below which the railway crosses the Zambesi river, are already becoming well known to tourists who are anxious to see the most beautiful and most magnificent work of nature which has so far been discovered on earth. Surrounded by luxuriant tropical vegetation, under a canopy of richest turquoise blue, this gigantic cataract of more than a mile in extent hurls itself into an abyss 400 feet deep, whilst the rainbow effects of sun and rain-the condensed spray from the fall are beyond any description, and must be seen to be believed. Without detracting from the beauty. of the Victoria Falls or their surroundings, some of the enormous horse-power now running to waste will shortly be utilized for commercial purposes, and a proposal, the largest of its kind yet contemplated, is now well on its way towards realization. Turning to the agricultural possibilities of the country, it may truly be said that they are legion. Tobacco growing is now recognized as one of the most profitable industries of Rhodesia. Bright leaf of the Carolina types, Turkish, cigar and pipe leaf, have all been produced in different districts of the country with success. The Turkish leaf is perhaps the most profitable at present, and cigarettes made from this tobacco find a ready sale in London and Canada, as well as in South Africa, and are pronounced by tobacco experts and smokers alike to be excellent. The duty of two cents a pound on raw tobacco imported into South Africa is a great advantage to the Rhodesian farmers, who thus have a large market at their door, apart from the export trade. Cotton grows wild in many districts of Rhodesia, and will in time form one of its chief exports. A fair quantity lately sent to Liverpool from Northern Rhodesia realized 8d to 811⁄2d a pound, and the natives in many parts of the country. are acquainted with its cultivation, and are prepared to grow it for sale. Fruits both European and tropical of endless varieties, grow abundantly, the ground nut and the castor oil bean are practically indigenous, and are now being cultivated, numerous valuable fibre bearing plants exist in profusion all over the country, and rubber of commercial value grows wild in many localities. The country also produces cereals of all kinds, including maize, the staple crop of South Africa. There is seldom as much as two degrees of frost, and this only in the lowlying and exposed places, and only in the early morning and evening. The winter climate is delightful, and the summer is never oppressively hot. Several people who have found the Canadian winter too severe are turning their attention to Rhodesia. Rhodesia is the finest stock raising country in South Africa, and in the higher parts of the country sheep thrive and yield good wool. A few weeks ago Rhodesian wool fetched 11d a pound on the London Wool Exchange. It is not possible in a short article of this kind. to deal with the great prospects of the country from a settler's point of view, but it might be said before closing that the country affords splendid chances of success for the man with a little capital and grit. The climate is most delightful, the society is congenial, and if a man is prepared to work, he will soon bless the day he became a Rhodesian. N its dreams, man's ambition embraces vast limits, but it is rarely given us to achieve great things, and even then, a quick and sure success always rests on a groundwork of patient preparation. Fidelity in small things is at the base of every great achievement. We too often forget this, and yet no truth needs more to be kept in mind, particularly in the troubled eras of history and in the crisis of individual life. In shipwreck a splintered beam, an oar, any scrap of wreckage saves us. On the tumbled waves of life, when everything seems shattered to fragments, let us not forget that a single one of these poor bits may become our plank of safety. To despise the remnants is demoralization. You are a ruined man, or you are stricken by a great bereavement, or again, you see the fruit of toilsome years perish before your eyes. You cannot rebuild your fortune, raise the dead, recover your lost toil, and in the face of the inevitable, your arms drop. This is pardonable, and how easy to understand! But it is exceedingly dangerous. To fold one's hands and let things take their course, is to |