a had sent various specimens of
the ores. Above these shelves hung admirably-drawn maps to illustrate
the reefs whence they were taken. I had noticed, as I went in, other
specimens of Rhodesian products ranged along the passages--bulky lumps
of coal from the Zambesian coal district, a coal that is said to give
only from 8 per cent, to 12 per cent, of ash; fine red sandstone blocks,
a stone closely resembling that of which most of the houses on Fifth
Avenue, New York, are built; blocks of grey sandstone, to which
substance I had already been attracted, it being so much used for
lintels and doorways of Bulawayan houses; and rough and polished granite
blocks, which reminded me of the famous Aberdeen stone, besides several
limestone briquettes.

PLENTY OF EVIDENCES OF GOLD.

The first exhibits of ores I happened to inspect were from the
Camperdown Reef, in which the virgin gold was conspicuous enough to
satisfy the most unbelieving. The next exhibit consisted of a number of
briquettes of cement manufactured in Bulawayo. The third was a glass
case which contained old gold beads, discovered at Zimbabwe, and
attracted a great deal of attention from the dusky appearance of the
metal which centuries had given it, the rude workmanship, evidently
African, and the puerility of the ornaments. Beyond this the Rhodesia
Ltd. Company had specimens from the Criterion Reef, situate eight miles
from Bulawayo. The rock contained no visible gold, and the Curator who
guided me round had the assurance to say that the quartz where gold was
not visible was more appreciated than that which showed nuggets. This
made me think of the mountains of white quartz I had seen on the Congo,
and to wonder whether the Curator was indulging in unseemly levity.
However, perceiving some doubt in my glance, he said it would be
demonstrated shortly. Adjoining the Criterion ores was a heap from the
Nellie Reef in the Insiza district, fifty miles from Bulawayo. The
Curator said these were "very rich," and taken from old workings; but
despite the Curator and the old workings, I could not see a trace of
gold in the rock, even with a magnifier. Next to the Nellie exhibit was
a pile of rock from the Unit and Unicorn Reef--in the Selukwe district,
Eastern Rhodesia--but I saw no gold in any one of these rocks.

A Successful Crushing of Gold Quartz.

Just at this juncture the Curator told me that one of these apparently
valueless rocks was about to be crushe