we find the now noted pioneer expedition
plying its activities in Mashonaland.

Mr. Basil Worsfold, in a most instructive article in the
_Fortnightly Review_, affords an excellent insight into the energy
that characterised the Company's proceedings:--"In the space of
three months, a road 400 miles in length was cut through jungle and
swamp, and a series of forts was erected and garrisoned by the
Company's forces. After the Matabele war, which occupied the closing
months of 1893, the prospecting and mining for gold was commenced in
Matabele, as well as in Mashonaland, and at the present time
Buluwayo, Lobengula's kraal, has become the chief centre of the
industry. These operations were checked by the revolt of the
Matabele and Mashona in 1896, but since that period gold mining has
been steadily progressing. The Buluwayo yield for December 1898
amounted to 6258 oz.: while that of the four last months--September
to December--of the same year was 18,084 oz., of the value of about
L70,000!"

[Illustration: A MATABELE RAID IN MASHONALAND.

Drawn by W. Small, from Sketches by A. R. Colquhoun, First
Administrator of Mashonaland.]

The other fields which yield gold are the Transvaal, Lydenberg, and
De Kaap fields, and the Klerksdorp and Potchefstrom fields. The
output of these fields continues to grow apace, but how much
longer the growth will be maintained is uncertain. The opinion of
Mr. Hamilton Smith, who wrote to the _Times_ on the subject in 1895,
is worth consideration. He says, "In 1894 the value of the Randt
gold bullion was L7,000,000, and this without any increase from the
new deep-level mines; these latter will become fairly productive in
1897, so for that year a produce of fully L10,000,000 can be fairly
expected. Judging from present appearances, the maximum product of
the Randt will be reached about the end of the present century, when
it will probably exceed L12,500,000 per annum."

It is interesting to find that Mr. Smith's maximum figure was
already exceeded in the year 1898, when the total yield of gold was
4,295,602 oz., valued at L15,250,000!

The following table, based on Mr. H. Smith's and Dr. Soetbeer's
estimates, affords us an opportunity for comparing the South African
output with that of other countries, and the world's present supply
with that of former years:--

GOLD OUTPUT FOR 1894. | WORLD'S OUTPUT.
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