The sight of this suggested to me that there was an opportunity for a
genius like Rhodes to do more for South Africa than can be done by the
discovery and exploitation of gold fields. A company called the United
South African Waterworks might buy land along the principal
watercourses, build a series of stone dams across them, clean out the
sand between them, and so obtain hundreds of reservoirs for the
townships that would certainly be established in their neighbourhood.
Beyond Palachwe (1132 miles) the thorn trees begin to disappear, and
leafier woods, which resemble dwarf oak, take their place, though there
are few trees higher than twenty feet. The soil is good, however,
despite the fact that each dry season the fires destroy the grasses and
the loams which are necessary for their nourishment. Most of the
stations in this part are mere corrugated-iron cottages, or railway
carriages, temporarily lent for the housing of the guards.