Show missionary LETTER pretoria south africa september esth 1914 THE TOOELE transcript DEAR EDITOR I 1 have many times thought that I 1 would like to contribute t r bute a short article to the pages of the rhe transcript so I 1 hope bope that these lines from sunny south africa will not be out of place the name of africa seems to bring a feeling of terror to the hearts of some people while to others othen it signifies a land of riches where gold and diamonds can be found in abundance still others picture it as a large jungle where all kinds of wild animals are to bs be found and where no human being can exist except a tribe which they call cannibals buth but a few fa fats facts ts from this strange country which seems to paint so many different pictures in the minds of the people will perhaps be of interest and value to the people at home africa is the home of the negro and history tells us that the american negroes are originally from africa although the white man have tried to civilize the natives still at the present time one may see any amount of them in their wild state and many of them still dress in n their native style which consists of a bead girdle or perhaps a buckskin shirt which reaches nearly to the knees many of them wear a blanket pinned over the shoulders but not all those who live in at 01 near the towns are more or less civilized and try to follow after the white mans style of dress and a few of the wealthier class dress and sport about as much as most white people the natives much like the american indians are divided into 4 many different tribes with a chief at the head of each tribe A few of the larger tribes of british south africa are Hotten hottentots tots tut kaffits firs Mana langas swami and zulu the bushman tribe now being extinct on august my companion and myself took a trip out in the country and visited several native villages it was very interesting to see the natives in their wild state it at the kraal we took several pictures and learned a few things about native life gold and diamond mining and ostrich astrich farming are the chief industries ol of south adrice gold being first discovered near the present site of johannesburg in 1854 since that time gold mining has made rapid progress and for the past fifteen years africa has led the world in the output of gold on april ath four of we elders had the privilege of spending the day at the Langla agte deep mine we spent most of the day going through the mill and different Bereut di works and in in the evening we went down the mine where we could see the men digging for the precious ore we were down the mine until nearly midnight the mine contains 13 levels the last level being feet below the surface of mother earth on the level we were given a ride on a motor trolly and rode for over ten miles along alone one tunnel johannesburg is situated in the midst of thi tha gold fields and is the largest city jn in south africa having a population a 0 about it is said that the whole city of johannesburg is undermined there are aie over a hundred mines in and abouna aroun d the city I 1 had the privilege of laboring there fr for some three months and during that time I 1 met many of the miners who as a rule are of the very roughest class of people diamonds comes next to the gold industry in importance I 1 on august 11 1913 while at kim berley beliey to attend conference several of we ive elders went through the works of ithe e diamond mine As most of the people at home have never seen a diamond mine it will perhaps be of interest to explain briefly the process of obtaining these precious stones atones the blue ground which is as hard as rock is taken from the mines the same as all other ores but after it has been obtained it is hauled out on the tables these tables are large level fields from about two to ten acres which are surrounded by high barbwire barb wire fences with electric wires running through them so should any one touch one of these wires it would ring a bell in the guard office the blue ground is spread over these tables about 10 inches thick and there it is left to the exposure of the storms and weather for about 3 18 8 months or two years this is to soften the hard stone it is then gathered and hauled to the crusher where the large stones are ground to small pieces from here it goes to the washing gear where it is thoroughly washed the diamonds being so heavy all sink to the bottom the muddy water is drained off and a fresh supply used it goes through this process until all the mud has been washed away then the diamonds are gathered and sent to the sorting tables tabes where they are sorted and classified clas dined we were not permitted to s e thess tables as the diamonds are all lying on the tables and would be openly exposed to chieft ostrich farming comes third in importance e the industries of the country aae lae largest farms are to found in the eastern provinces of cape colony on these farms one may see from to birds As a rule they are aie running loose in large camps of several thousand acres the ostrich is a very hardy bird and seems to thrive on almost nothing if left to run wild on the but if he is kept in small camps he does not thrive nearly so well even though glien gien the best cf care the feathers are plucked aice once a year and a good bird will yield from 25 to 30 gozs of feathers at a clipping port elizabeth is the chief market in fact it is the largest ostrich feather market in the world and from this port feathers feather s are shipped to all parts of the world the united states receiving most of them agriculture is just in its infancy and the few forms farms worthy of mentions mention are to be found in the western part of cape colony near to cape town the demple here do not seem to take very w well ell to farm life although there seems to be very bright prospects of making agriculture a success in a few years to come when the people wake up to the fact that it is the backbone back bone to the nation the people here heie are still using the old ox teams such as our fathers did in years gone by it is a very common sight to see from eight to thirty oxen and sometimes donkeys hitched to one wagon the leaders being led by a native boy while another boy walks along the side with a long whip the white population of south africa are mostly of dutch and english decent cen t and in order for anyone to get along successfully they should be able to speak both languages although most of the people can talk english but there being so 30 much enmity between 1 the dutch and english since the last boer war that seldom they will try to talk each others language and many times when we call at the home oi of a dutchman man with our tracts he orders oter S us off 08 the place thinking we are arc eng j lish ishmen men but when we tell them we are aie americans they will generally stop and talk to us many of the people are of the very r roughest class such as one would expect to find in mining camps and such people dont want anything to do with religion still the work of the lord is rolling on here although our laborers are few some 7 or 8 month menth ago 7 0 of our elders on landing at cape town were deported by government govern nent officials merely because they were Mormon Mor mons ss I 1 am enjoying my labors very ver F much in uc in this far away land and 1 I wi wish 5 h the good gold people of tooele thoele every success in life sincerely Sin cerly yours LELAND S TATE the seven bibles of ane world are the he koran of the edans the eddas of the scandinavians the try of the buddhists the five I 1 kings of the chinese the three vedas of the Hin doos the Zen davesta and the scriptures of the christabe Chri stabs staIns the koran is the most recent of these seven bibles and not older than the ath century of our era it is a compound of quotations from the old and new testaments ments the talmud and the gospel of st barnaba Baro Bar abu nabu the eddas or the scandinavians were first published in the century the of the buddhists contain sublime morals and pure aspirations and their author lived and died in the ath century BC there is nothing of excellence in these sacred books not found in the bible the sacred writings of the chinese are called the five kings king kine meaning web of cloth or the warp that keeps keep the threads in their place they contain the best sayings of the best sages on the moral political duties of life these sayings cannot be traced to a period higher than the alth century BC the three vedas are the most ancient books of the Hin doos and it is 13 the opinion of max muller riison and johnson that they are not older than the alth century BC the Zen davesta of the persians is the grandest of all the sacred books next to our bible sayings it contains was born in the century BC moses lived and wrote his pentateuch in the century BC and therefore has a clear margin of three annd red years older than the most ancient of the sacred writings |