page_0004

in the Cape Colony. I find I get on very well with the
Johannesburgers, and hear that I am very popular with them.
I think a Scotsman is always more adaptable than an
Englishman - he is more of a humourist. I have been asked to
dinner by most of the great capitalists. The man interests me
entirely & I have become great friends with him. His name
is Schumacher - half-English, half-German - and he is a
powerful partner in Ecksteins. He was at Harrow, and came
out here only 6 years ago. He is about 31, and is worth anything from
1 to 3 millions. He seems to me a genuine financial
genius, and at the same time he is a man of great culture,
and has the best private collection of Napoleon's prints &
relics that I have seen. It was funny to find oneself
talking in this outlandish place about the Mèmorie of
Las Cases, and Taine & M. Thiers. In addition he
fought as a volunteer all through the war, and is a Captain
in the Imperial Light Horse.

I see Macdonell sometimes, who is a barrister &
a Times [underlined] correspondent, & not very prosperous. He
sends his respect to you. One of the Master of Elibank's