much more than twelve miles per hour. I was much
mistaken in the character of a fellow passenger who
joined the train at Ladysmith. On asking if he
smoked, I received such a determined answer in the
negative, with an assurance that he had never done
so, that I took him for somewhat of a Puritan. He
soon, however, produced a hottle of whiskey, which,
hy assiduity and perseverance, he quickly emptied
and then lay full length and speechless on the seat
before me.
I broke my journey through Natal at Richmond Road,
and had the pleasure of being entertained at a home of
comfort on a model African farm. Here was a well-
built residence furnished with taste, containing all the
comforts of a home, and a library sufficient to prove
that a farmer can be a gentleman and cultivate his
mind as well as the soil. What a contrast to the
Boer farmers of the Transvaal! I do not speak disparagingly,
but comparatively. Men cannot for ever trek
on into the wilds and live solitary lives with their
families without losing most qualities of domestic
refinement, even though acquiring personal independence.
In pursuit of game or on a hunting expedition
let me he allowed to accompany the Boer and
share his wagon; but the tie snaps when the time
comes for the pleasures of personal intercourse and
home life.
In the fine garden attached to this Natal residence I
was shown the difficulties attending the labours of the
horticulturist owing to the ravages of injurious insects.
The roses were literally covered and devastated by a
Cantharid beetle (Mylabris transversals) and his apples
were being completely eaten by two other beetles
belonging to the family Cetoniidse (Plcesiorrhina plana
and PacTinodaflaviventris). His principal enemies which
occasioned his heaviest losses were the ticks (Acaridce),
which attacked his live-stock with the most disastrous
results; clearly there is room for a state-paid economic
naturalist in Natal. I was interested to learn that
even in this colony, as in the Transvaal, material and
industrial progress had been much retarded by the
presence of the financial agent and company-promoter,
of whom I was assured there were quite a colony
in Maritzhurg, and who my host described as “ Hebrew
Lilies, who toiled not neither did they spin.”
I left his house to catch the night train, driven in a
Mylabris transversalis on Rose.
Cape cart drawn by a pair of spirited horses guided by
a native boy. The night was pitch dark, the roads bad,
with a river to drive through, and yet we went at full