The first view of the country reminded me of East Central Africa, and I
looked keenly at it to gauge its capabilities. To a new-comer it would
not seem so full of promise as it was to me. It would appear as a
waterless region, and too dry for a man accustomed to green fields and
flowing rivers, but I have seen nothing between the immediate
neighbourhood of the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains to surpass
it, and each mile we travelled in Bechuanaland confirmed that
impression. Every few miles we crossed dry watercourses; but, though
there was no water in sight, it does not derogate from its value as farm
land. The plateau of Persia is a naked desert compared to it, and yet
Persia possesses eight millions of people, and at one time contained
double that number. The prairies of Nebraska, of Colorado, and Kansas
are inferior in appearance, and I have seen them in their uninhabited
state, but to-day they are remarkable for the growth of their many
cities and their magnificent farming estates. All that is wanted to
render Bechuanaland a desirable colony is water, so that every farm
might draw irrigating supplies from reservoirs along these numerous
watercourses. For Nature has so disposed the land that anyone with
observant eyes may see with what little trouble water could be converted
into rich green pastures and fields bearing weighty grain crops. The
track of the railway runs over broad, almost level, valleys, hemmed in
by masses of elevated land which have been broken up by ages of
torrential rains, and whose soil has been swept by the floods over the
valleys, naturally leaving the bases of the mountains higher than the
central depression. If a Persian colonist came here he would say: "How
admirable for my purpose! I shall begin my draining ditches or
_canauts_ from the bases of those hills and train them down towards the
lower parts of these valleys, by which time I shall have as many
constant and regular running streams as I have ditches, and my flocks
and herds and fields shall have abundance of the necessary element." A
thousand of such Persians would create thus a central stream with the
surplus water flowing along the valley, and its borders would become one
continuous grove. As the Persians would do, the English colonists whose
luck it may be to come to this land may also do, and enrich themselves
faster than by labouring at gold mining.
These dry river-beds, now filled with sand, need only to have stone dams
built across, every few hundred yards, to provide any number of
reservoirs. They have been formed by rushing torrents which have
furrowed the lowlands down to the bed rock, and the depth and breadth of
the river courses show us what mighty supplies of water are wasted every
year. As the torrents slackened their flow, they deposited their
sediment, and finally filtered through underneath until no water was
visible, but by digging down about two feet, it is found in liberal
quantities, cool and sweet.
Even the improvident black has discovered what the greenness of the
grass shows, that, though water is not visible, it is not far off. At
one station the guards told me that they could find plenty of water by
an hour's digging, which was a marvel to many of our party. I was told
in Khama's territory that Khama, the chief, owned eight hundred thousand
head of cattle before the rinderpest made its appearance and reduced his
stock by half. If true, and there is no reason to doubt it, it shows
what Bechuanaland might become with trifling improvements.