Produced by Charles Klingman
MOST of these stories were written on the veldt; at odd times, in out-of-the-way prospecting camps, in the wilds of the Kalahari Desert, orof that equally little-known borderland between Klein Namaqualand, andGordonia, Cape Colony, and what was at that time known as German South-West Africa.
Four of them appeared a few years back in The State an illustratedmagazine now unhappily defunct; the others, though written about thesame time, have never been published.
And now, time and circumstances have combined to bring the scene inwhich they are laid most prominently before the public.
Through the dangerous and difficult barrier of the desert sandbelt thatextends all along the coast, General Botha and his formidable columnsforced their way to Windhuk; from the remote lower reaches of theOrange River other troops steadily and relentlessly pushed north; andeven to the east the well-nigh unexplored dunes of the southernKalahari proved no safeguard to the Germans, for Union forces invadedthem even there: and all eyes in South Africa are to-day turned towardsthis new addition to the Union and the Empire.
Whilst imagination has naturally played the chief part in these tales,the descriptions given of certain parts of this little-known region areaccurate, and by no means overdrawn; at the same time, though theytreat principally of the dangerous and waterless desert, it must beborne in mind that although the sand dunes form one of Damaraland'smost striking features, yet it is by no means altogether the barren,scorching dust-heap it is popularly believed to be.
For once the sand region bordering the coast is traversed, and thehigher plateau begins, vegetation and water become more abundant, theclimate is magnificent, and cattle, sheep and goats thrive; whilst inthe north much of which remains practically unexplored there is muchfruitful and well-watered country teeming with game, and akin toRhodesia, awaiting the settler.
Mining and stock-raising are the two great possibilities in this newcountry, where water conditions are never likely to allow of extensiveagriculture being carried out successfully