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Austral Africa; Losing it Or Ruling it (1887)
Austral Africa Losing it Or Ruling it - 1887 Author:John Mackenzie Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV SIE CHAELES WARREN AND PRESIDENT KRUGER AT FOURTEEN STREAMS Baekly West is a small frontier Colonial town, built on the northern bank o... more »f the Vaal Eiver. On the opposite side stands the site of Peniel, one of the earliest diamond- mining towns, at the time when Barkly West was known by its earlier name of Klipdrift. Diamonds are still found at Peniel, and also occasionally in Barkly West itself. The " river stones," as they are called, are usually more valuable than those found in " dry diggings " or mines. The banks of the Vaal Eiver, which are well wooded in this neighbourhood, have many picturesque spots formed by the frequent windings of the river. In the course of years these beautiful river-banks will probably be occupied by residences of men of business from Kimberley, when once the railway makes the intervening 2 5 miles of journey to occupy less time than at present. As the old name implies, there is a stony "drift" or ford near the town where waggons used to cross when the river was not in flood. A pont or floating-bridge was added when traffic increased, which enabled people to cross at all times, whether there was much or little water in the river. The next improvement was the erection by a company of a very fine bridge across the Vaal Eiver near Barkly West, so that the old stony ford and the floating-bridge are equally disused, and the new bridge on its rocky piers is alone in use. It is well known that Mr. John Paddon, of the enterprising firm of Hill and Paddon, of Barkly West, has shown singular energy and public spirit in the erection ofthis bridge, which, I am informed, is so strongly constructed as to be capable of bearing the weight of railway traffic, should the northward railway line cross the aal at this point. The river scene, with...« less