44

liHODESIA OF TO-DAY

IV

EMIGRATION TO MATABELELAND

Distant and difficult of communication as is Matabeleland, and expensive as is the journey, the rush of adventurers thither commenced even before the war had been brought to a close. Last April the white population of Buluwayo itself numbered about 250 ; but in August there were some 3,000 Europeans in the township and the immediate vicinity. When I was there the community certainly seemed a remarkably orderly one, when it is remembered that this was then but the rough camp of a ‘ new rush ; ’ there were few black sheep, the majority being respectable men, each intent on pushing his own particular business. In fact, at that time the people who were entering the country were mostly of the right stamp; it made one feel proud of one’s race to look at the crowd of