s, furniture from native woods, samples
of lime, trachyte blocks, Bulawayo brick, coal blocks from Tuli coal
districts 200 miles south-east of Bulawayo and the Zambesi district 120
north of Bulawayo, and a champagne case full of plumbago lately
discovered at a spot fifty miles from the Zambesi.

For the patient courtesy shown to me while making my notes, and the
instructing and interesting conduct of me round the room, I am under the
warmest obligations to Mr Walter Broad, the Hon. Curator, who, as you
will be interested to know, is a Canadian, and whose first impulse to
seek Africa as a field for his labours was obtained through reading my
"Dark Continent."

A Visit to the Criterion Mine.

After this exhaustive inspection of the ores on exhibition, it remained
for us to see one of these Rhodesian mines in operation to dispel the
last remnant of doubt which eloquent sceptics had inspired me with. We
chose the Criterion Mine, which is by no means the nearest to the town.
It belongs to the Rhodesia Ltd. Company, and is situate eight miles
south from Bulawayo, and as Mr Hirschler, the Engineer of the mine, was
willing to take upon himself the trouble of being our guide, we flung
ourselves gladly upon his generosity. In one hour and a half we made
the distance in a spring cart drawn by four spirited little mules. We
halted at the Engineer's station on a commanding grassy ridge, which
neighbours that once occupied by Mosilikatse's old kraal of Gubulawayo
during the forties, fifties, and sixties of this century. A few spaces
from the spot where we outspanned we came to a series of "old workings"
which ran along the crest of the ridge for about 2000 feet. Where one
of these old workings was untouched by the Engineer, it reminded me of
just such a big hole as might have been made to unearth a boulder, or to
root out a large tree. One of these hollows was chosen by the Engineer
to sink his first shaft. After penetrating through fifty feet of
debris, he came upon the reef which the ancients had abandoned because
of flooding, and time, aided by rain, had filled up. He continued for
about 10 feet more, sampling every 3 feet as he went, to discover the
grade of the ore. Since then he has sunk eight other shafts. The mine
consists of 170 claims, but the development is concentrated on about
twenty-five claims, ten of which are in the centre of the property, and
fifteen towards the eastern boundary. In the centre two shaft