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Rhodesia
leadership of the famous Mosilikatze up through the Transvaal, whence they were driven by the Boers. Mosilikatze died in 1868, and his son Lobengula, after a fight with a brother, assumed sway in 1870. His people were divided into three main sections: the Abezansi (who were the aristocrats), the Abenhla and the Amaholi. The Amaholi or Holi were the inhabitants of the land at the time of the invasion and thereafter were practically in the position of bondsmen and rarely allowed to possess cattle. The great spirit of the Holis was the Mlimo, who was practically the spirit of the nation. Among the Holi tribes are the Abashangwe, the Abanyai, the Batonke (near the Zambezi), the Abananzwa of the Wankie district, the Ababiro of the Tuli district, and the Abasili, a nomadic tribe chiefly subsisting on game. There is a small tribe in the Belingwe district called the Abalemba, which would appear to have been in touch with the Arabs in early times. Their customs include circumcision and the rejection of pork as food.
The natives in Southern Rhodesia number about 700,000, and of these 10,000 work on the mines and 20,000 are engaged in farm, railway and household work under Europeans.
Chief Towns.—Salisbury, which lies 4880 ft. above the sea, is the capital of Southern Rhodesia, being the seat of government, and is situated in the eastern province (Mashonaland). There are about 1700 white inhabitants and 3000 natives. It is the commercial centre for an extensive mining and farming district. The principal buildings include churches, public library, hospital, schools, banks, post office and numerous hotels. There are a considerable number of government offices, and the administrator and resident commissioner live here. The only industries are a brewery and a tobacco factory for grading and packing the tobaccos of the local growers.
Bulawayo (q.v.), situated 4469 ft. above the sea, is the largest town and is in the western province, Matabeleland. It is 301 m. by rail S.W. of Salisbury, and 1362 m. N.E. of Cape Town. The population is some 4000 Europeans and about the same number of natives. The town has the advantage of a good pipe water supply and a service of electric light. It was the ancient capital of the Matabele king, Lobengula. There is a Government house which is occasionally occupied, and was the residence of Cecil Rhodes. It is from Bulawayo that the World’s View, the burial-place of Rhodes in the Matopo Hills, is usually visited.
The other towns are Umtali, on the eastern border, pop. 800 whites, railway works, centre for numerous large and small gold mines; Gwelo, the central town, about midway between Salisbury and Bulawayo, 370 whites; Victoria and Melsetter in the south, centres of farming districts. Victoria, near which are the famous Zimbabwe ruins, is reached by mail cart (80 m.) from Selukwe, and Melsetter by mail cart (93 m.) from Umtali. There are also small townships at Hartley, Selukwe, Enkeldoorn and Gwanda. Bulawayo and Salisbury are managed by town councils, the other towns have sanitary boards.
Communications.—The Rhodesian railway system connects the chief towns and mining centres with one another and all the other South African countries. The main line is a continuation of the railway from Cape Town through Kimberley and Mafeking. It runs from Mafeking in a general N.E. direction to Bulawayo, whence it goes N.W. to the Zambezi, which is crossed a little below the Victoria Falls. The bridging of the river was completed in April 1905. Thence the railway is continued N.E. (92 m.) to Kalomo, Barotseland, and onward to the Katanga district of Belgian Congo. The section from Kalomo to Broken Hill (261 m.) was completed in 1907, and the extension to the frontier of Belgian Congo (126 m.) in 1909. This main line forms the southern link in the Cape to Cairo railway and steamboat service. From Bulawayo a line goes N.E. by Gwelo to Salisbury and thence S.E. to the Portuguese port of Beira. From Bulawayo another line (120 m. long) runs S.E. to the West Nicholson Mine. From Gwelo a railway (40 m.) goes S.E. to Yankee Doodle, and from this there branches a line (50 m. long) in an easterly direction to Blinkwater. From Salisbury a line runs N.W. to Lomagundi (84 m.). The last-named has a 2 ft. gauge. The other railways are of the standard gauge of South Africa—3 ft. 6 in. The distances from Bulawayo to the following places are:—Gwelo, 113 m.; Salisbury, 301 m.; Umtali, 471 m.; Beira, 675 m.; Mafeking, 490 m.; Kimberley, 713 m.; Cape Town, 1362 m.; Port Elizabeth, 1199 m.; East London, 1260 m.; Bloemfontein, 800 m.; Johannesburg, 931 m.; Pretoria, 977 m.; Lourenço Marques, 1307 m.; Durban, 1238 m. (the last four places all via Fourteen Streams, a junction 48 m. N. of Kimberley), and Victoria Falls, 282 m.
About 4000 m. of roads have been built and are maintained by government. The telegraph and telephone system is very complete, there being for the whole of Rhodesia about 8000 m. of wires. This total includes the police telephone wires and part of the African Transcontinental system, and is served by about ninety telegraph offices. In Southern Rhodesia there are about eighty post offices. A post office savings bank was brought into operation on the 1st of January 1305. Over 2,500,000 letters, post-cards and parcels are despatched annually.
Agriculture.—The country is well adapted for agriculture. Chief attention has been paid by farmers to the growing of maize, the annual produce being about half a million bushels. It is a very easily grown cereal, especially in such a fertile country as Rhodesia, and is extensively grown by natives, but the improved methods of the whites easily secure a yield of from twice to eight times that of the native. The average yield by European farmers is about eight bags of 200 lb per acre, but ten to fifteen bags is quite a common crop. Wheat, barley and oats are grown with success under irrigation in the winter time, but the moisture with attendant rust is too excessive for these crops in summer. Tobacco promises to be a great source of wealth to the territory. Both the Turkish and Virginian tobaccos have been raised and cured and put on the market, where they were easily disposed of. They are of better quality than those grown elsewhere in South Africa. In 1908 only about 500 acres were under cultivation, but there are large tracts of land suitable for this industry.
Fruits of very extensive variety thrive in Rhodesia; they include plums, bananas, grapes, guavas, paupaus, figs, loquats, pine-apples, Cape gooseberries, mulberries, tree tomatoes, rosellas, granadillas, all kinds of citrus fruits. The most flourishing are the citrus fruits and the Japanese plums, but in the higher altitudes pears and apples are also very successful. Vegetables of nearly all kinds can be grown, especially potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, sweet potatoes, yams, &c. Coffee produces as much as 4 lb of beans to the shrub in certain parts.
Cattle thrive well in Rhodesia, and stock-raising promises to be the chief agricultural industry of the future. During the early period of European occupation rinderpest and at a later date East Coast fever decimated the country, but the prevention of these diseases is now thoroughly understood and, since the rinderpest of 1896 swept away large herds, cattle have been increasing rapidly in number. There is hardly any portion of the territory which is not suitable for cattle, and the rapid natural increase indicates a speedy prosperity in cattle ranching. Goats and woolless sheep number about 800,000 in the territory. Donkeys and mules thrive, but horses are very liable to horse-sickness towards the end of the rainy season.
Mining.—When Rhodesia was first opened up to European occupation, attention was immediately called to the large number of gold workings made by unknown former inhabitants of the country. These workings were only carried on to a limited extent, being stopped probably by the presence of water and the lack of suitable machinery. European enterprise has resulted in the discovery of a large number of mines situated in widely scattered areas. The chief mines are the Globe and Phoenix, the Selukwe and the Wanderer in the Gwelo district; the Giant in the Hartley district; the Jumbo in the Mazoe district; the Ayrshire in the Lomagundi district; the Penhalonga and the Rezende in the Umtali district, while there are numerous smaller mines in the Gwanda, Insiza, Gwelo, Hartley and Umtali districts. The output of gold increased in value from £308,000 in 1900 to £2,623,000 in 1909, about one-third of this being produced by small workers whose individual output is not over 1500 oz. a month. As efforts have been restricted mainly to extracting the ore indicated by ancient workings, it is probable that many gold reefs still await discovery. The mineral wealth of Rhodesia is very varied and includes silver, of which 262,000 oz. were produced in 1909; coal, 170,000 tons (1909), and lead, 965 tons. Extensive discoveries of chrome iron have been made in the Selukwe district. There is a steady export of this metal, of which the output in 1909 was over 25,000 tons. Besides these, small quantities of copper, wolframite and diamonds have been exported, while scheelite and asbestos have been discovered in payable quantities.
Commerce.—Taking the average for a series of years ending 1908, the total imports amounted to about £1,500,000 per annum, 55% of which were manufactured articles, including £250,000 textile goods and wearing apparel, and £120,000 machinery. Imports of food and drink amounted to £330,000. In 1909 the imports amounted to £2,214,000, the chief items being food and drink (£122,000), machinery, animals and cotton goods. Exports consist almost entirely of minerals. In 1909 they were valued at £3,178,000. Included in the total is £342,000 goods imported and re-exported.
Administration.—The administration of Rhodesia is carried on by the British South Africa Company under an order in council of 1898, amended by orders in council of 1903 and 1905. The company is called upon to appoint for Southern Rhodesia an administrator or administrators. The company also appoints an executive council of not fewer than four members to advise the administrator upon all matters of importance in administration. An order in council of 1903 provided for a
