A Trip to South Africa - James Salter-Whiter 1892
We arrived safely at Matjesfontein about ten o'clock p.m., after a rather long journey of fourteen hours. Mr. Logan, the proprietor of the hotel here, met us and relieved us of all trouble with our luggage. The train being an hour and a half late, our supper was correspondingly in а " late" state. However, old travellers never stand at trifles, and, being weary and hungry, we turned to with an appetite worthy of a Guildhall banquet.
Matjesfontein is a name - but a village, a city, town, or hamlet it certainly is not. The only buildings to be seen are the railway station, certainly a very fine one for such a spot, consisting of a spacious refreshment room and convenient offices for passengers, with a very beautiful, lofty and commodious dining room for the visitors to the "hotel," and in point of fact this one room is all that really consists of the " hotel, " in the strict sense of the word, for all the visitors are lodged in four bungalows and three detached houses, which, with a general store and a wind and steam mill, make up the rest of the-what shall I call it? -settlement? of Matjesfontein.
No other habitation is visible as far as the eye can reach. In giving this description it must not be thought that, on account of the smallness of the location, home comforts and necessities are wanting. Not a bit of it. Mr. Logan, who came out here some eight years or so ago, is the creator of the place, and fully grasped the conditions requisite to make his venture a success, namely, that every attraction of a city hotel must be imported if he would attract sufficient customers to make his venture pay.
Looking around on this spot, right out in the centre of the great Karoo desert, I cannot help admiring the man for his pluck in starting such a venture, and his master mind in providing such unexpected luxuries for his patrons. The place is lighted by electricity, if you please. This is something to talk about. Whilst our municipalities at home are talking about electric lighting, here, in the midst of a wilderness we find a settlement supplied with this luminant.
A lesson for Bumble. Mr. Logan owns several large farms, whence are obtained all the requisites for the table. He has the sporting rights over some forty or fifty square miles all around, and nothing gives him greater pleasure than to make up a shooting party among his guests for big or small game. There are large quantities of the various species of African antelopes and deer, as well as a splendid lot of partridges and hares.
Unfortunately it is close time here until February, so I shall not have the much wished for chance of shooting my first buck, or participating in a partridge drive. The only disadvantage I can find in Matjesfontein is the absence of any resident medical man. In case of severe illness or accident, one has to telegraph to Cape Town, which means a certain delay of at least thirteen hours, and a probable one of twenty - four hours, as there are only two trains a day arriving here from that city.
The system of management of Mr. Logan's "hotel“ is unique. Visitors are lodged in the bungalows (never more than three or four in any one), or in one of the detached houses, and each two or each party of friends are allowed a private sitting room in the same building, but all meals are taken à la table d'hôte in the large dining-room in the railway station, which is on the opposite side of the road to the above dining room. By this means privacy and home comforts are assured. I far prefer Mr. Logan's system to the bustle of an hotel, where one who is making a lengthened stay is bound more or less to associate with strangers, irrespective of their dissimilarity of tastes and characters. Here a man feels he is, in a certain degree, in his own castle.
We three have a whole bungalow to ourselves, and can do as we like, without interfering with the comfort and idiosyncrasies of other people. Those who care for it can enjoy a splendid canter over the Veldt, as there are four good saddle-horses in the stables belonging to the establishment. I must not omit to mention that the enterprising proprietor has built a splendid swimming-bath for the use of his visitors. Oh! the luxury of a cold tub in the open air, with plenty of room for a stretch upon its cold waters.
In a temperature of about ninety - five degrees in the shade a plunge bath of some sixty feet in length is a treat not to be easily declined. Although in summer not a drop of water is to be seen upon the surface of any part of this higher Karoo, yet it is easily obtainable by digging or boring for twenty or thirty feet in the dry bed of any watercourse. Hence at Matjesfontein we have a splendid supply of aqua pura, beyond reproach in quality, though perhaps rather hard.
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