Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1898 — WHERE WATER IS SCARCE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WHERE WATER IS SCARCE.

A Disastrous Drouth Is Devastating South Africa. A most disastrous drought is devastating South Africa, the worst known for many generations. Slock is perishing In sufch vast numbers that farmers are being ruined wholesale. The illustration shows the process of boring for

water. At a little expense the Cape government provides an apparatus for the use of the farming community and drilling operations are in progress in nearly all parts of the country. It is generally believed that there is abundance of water at a depth of from fifty to a hundred feet, but the finds are few and weak. Unlike Australia there are no subterranean rivers to tap. The hope of the farmer lies in the conservation of the rainfall, which, if not stored in dams, quickly runs off Into the “sluits” and “spruits,” and leaves the parched earth but little refreshed. In many places the drinking regularly fall short and the farmers are reduced to the thick, opaque contents of a dam. In the remoter districts the Boers experience this acutely. A Boer recently called at an Englishman’s house while on a journey and asked for a drink. The Englishman had a good supply and gave him a sparkling draught. The Dutchman was greatly surprised and in his kitchen “taal” expressed himself highly delighted with such a Sweet drink, as he observed, “it had neither taste nor smell.”

BORING FOR WATEH.