Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/240

 194 SOUTH AND KVST AFEICA. "ovcr-berg," that is, to tho Boer repubUcs beyonl the mountains. Enough remainod to distil 2,200,000 gallons of rum on these plantations, which are the favourite resort of a harmless species of python that never attacks man, but preys on such noxious vermin as rats and field mice. The breeding of horned cattle, which was the only industry in Natal during the first years of the Boer occupation, has diminished in relative importance since 1855, when a destructive plague swept away 96 per cent, of all the animals attacked. But the herds have been restored by the practice of inoculation, by the introduction of fresh stock, and an improved sanitary system. In 1884 the live stock comprised over 575,000 head of cattle, an enormous proportion, inas- much as it far exceeded the number of inhabitants. There were also over 43,000 horses and 522,000 sheep belonging to colonists and natives. But the Natal pasture-lands are at times visited by millions of sheep belonging to the Boer grazers of tho Orange Free State and Transvaal, who move from place to place with the seasons. In summer they drive their flocks to the upland valleys of the western slopes; in winter they cross the dividing range and descend to the warmer camping-grounds of Natal. The wool yielded by their flocks is also forwarded through the port of the British colony. The stock-breeders have introduced the Angora goat ; but they have paid little attention to ostrich farming, being doubtless deterred by the partial failure of their neighbours in Cape Colony. Natal contains some deposits of copper, gold, and graphite, but not in sufficient abundance to render mining operations remunerative. The chief mineral resources of the country are iron and coal, which occur in the northern districts, especially on both slopes of the Biggarsberg Range. Here the chief centre of population has received the name of Newcastle, as if it were destined one day to rival the great centre of the coalfields in the north of England. The carboniferous district exceeds 1,400 square miles in extent, and some of the seams are over ten feet thick. Including the horizontal strata alone that lie near the surface and that have hitherto been surveyed on the British slope of the Drakenberg, the engineer North has estimated the quantity of good coal here stored up for future use at over two billion tons. Till recently this vast .accumulation of excellent fuel lay almost untouched except by the few native blacksmiths of the district. But since the railway has penetrated from Durban into the Upper Tugela Valley, it is also used for the locomotives. Coal mining cannot fail to become an important local industry with the development of the railway system, and the establishment of sugar refineries, smelting furnaces, and factories in the colony. The Natal railways, all of which belong to the Government, had a total length of over 200 miles in the year 1887. But only one important line had been com- pleted, that running from Port Natal through Pieter Maritzburg north-westwards to its present terminus at Ladysmith, and which is intended ultimately to cross the Drakenberg and ejffect a junction with the railway system of the Dutch republics. These works are at the same time carried out with the utmost economy consistent with safety. The steepest gradients exceed one inch in forty ; the sharpest curves have a radius of little over 300 feet, and all the engineering operations have been