of the Transvaal. It came down with such force, with
a quantity of water so enormous, and so swiftly, that
upwards of a hundred oxen that were feeding on the
banks of the river were swept away and drowned.
Carcasses, which were estimated at about 150, were
found when the waters subsided, either washed out on
the banks or stuck in trees at the turns of the river,
so that the Kafirs and vultures had an opportunity for
high banquet. But besides oxen numerous Kafirs, mostly
cattle-herds, were swept away by the flood; bodies were
seen floating down the stream, and others were found
on the banks. A buck-wagon with a span of eight
mules and two horses arrived at the spruit towards
evening. No sooner did the wagon reach the middle
of the stream than it was completely turned upside
down and swept away, and the bodies of the mules and
horses were found the following day entangled in the
harness. A heavy hailstorm passed along the valley of
the river, and the hail floated down in such quantity
that large blocks of ice, several feet in thickness, were
carried down the stream.
One day, in the early part of November, I was able
to appreciate the sudden rising of these Transvaalian
streams. Behind our works, and crossing the veld, was
a narrow deeply waterworn river-bed, at the bottom of
which usually flowed a shallow streamlet of not more
than a few inches deep, and which I easily strode across
in the morning. By 3 p .m. this was a roaring rushing
current some ten feet deep. This was caused by two
very heavy falls of rain, the first one continuing from
about 12 to 12.45 p .m ., the second and heaviest lasting
from about 2 to 3 p .m . The roads were flooded, the
water poured down the sides of the hills in streams, and
a roaring noise could be heard some distance from what
was only a few hours previously a shallow brook. The
water, which was of a deep reddish clayey hue, boiled,
whirled, and tore down its bed, the many bends of which
caused whirlpools and some nasty backwaters. Nowhere
wider than 2 0 feet, and generally narrower, it would
have been certain death to have fallen therein. By