Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/277

 camera," which no one will dispute is the genuine American language. Over here, people use the term "You see," a good deal, which is equivalent to our "Don't you know?" An Englishman says, "We can't have the ocean in London, you see," while an American says, "He was the smarter man, and had it all his own way, don't you know?" Mr. Atterbury used the expression "You see" a few times, but otherwise we talked only the Kansas-Missouri-California language. At 1 we left for town, the driver nearly running over everybody on the way.

"The only trouble with this man," Mr. Atterbury said, "is that he runs too fast, and I can do nothing with him."

Was there ever a man who could control his automobile driver? South Africa is the paradise of the lover of flowers. At a recent flower show in Pretoria, one hundred and seventy different varieties of roses were exhibited. But all flowers here are almost without scent, which is true of all countries where flowers are particularly abundant and grown without trouble Grass-seed is not sown broadcast here, but is drilled in, in rows. If well watered, it spreads and covers the ground. The grass-seed most generally used comes from Florida, or of a variety which originated in Florida The "American influence" has been very marked in Johannesburg. Indeed, had it not been for an American, probably the Rand (pronounced "Rond") would be abandoned today, instead of producing a daily profit of nearly $200,000. In 1885 the mines apparently "played out," and it was John Hays Hammond, an American engi