Page:Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa.djvu/14

viii Chapters XI., XII., and XIII. deal with accounts of journeys beyond the Zambesi to the countries of the Mashukulumbwi and Barotsi tribes. My experiences amongst the former people were eminently unpleasant at the time, but have supplied me with the materials for two chapters that may be of interest to those of my readers who appreciate tales of adventure.

All the remaining chapters, with the exception of the last two, which are devoted to a narration of hunting reminiscences, some of which date back to many years ago, deal with the past history and present condition of Mashunaland. The gold industry of Mashunaland is still in its infancy, but that the gold is there is, I think, no longer doubted in the best-informed circles of the London financial world. Before this work is through the press the first section of the railway from the east coast to Mashunaland will be completed through the district infested by the deadly "tse-tse" fly, and will, it is to be hoped, be carried on from there into the heart of the country without delay. Mining machinery will then be poured into the gold-producing districts, and it is not too much to hope and expect that before the end of this century large mining towns will have sprung up in each of the gold-bearing districts. Each of these mining centres will support a large farming population, so that as the mining towns grow so will the land be occupied and cultivated, till at no distant date the homesteads of British and South African settlers will be scattered throughout the length and breadth of the breezy downs of Mashunaland. That England owes the acquisition of this rich country—this new land of such great promise