RUSTENBURG  , a

district and town of the Transvaal, South Africa . The district originally included all the N.W. part of the country, but is now of much smaller dimensions . Its S. border is marked by the Magaliesberg and other hills forming the N. escarpment of the high veld and the watershed between the Vaal and Limpopo . Several of the headstreams of the Limpopo rise within the district on the N. slopes of the Magaliesberg . The climate of the district is sub-tropical and the principal cultivation is that of tobacco, and fruit trees, notably oranges . The opening of the railway to Pretoria in 1906 led to a marked development of trade . In an amphitheatre formed by the hills and 61 m. by rail W. of Pretoria is the town of Rustenburg with a population (1904) of 1815 . The town is one of the oldest in the Transvaal, having been founded in '185o by the Veortrekkers . It was at Rustenburg that the volksraad met in March 1852 to ratify the Sand River Convention granting independence to the Transvaal Boers . At the time it was feared that there would be civil war between Hendrik Potgieter and Andries Pretorius, but they were reconciled in Potgieter's tent . Later Rustenburg became the home of the Kruger family . It was occupied by the British under R .

S .

Baden Powell in June two .