BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN SOUTH AFRICA 17 



been postponed in order that the association might have the opportunity 

 of witnessing it. The bride, who is to be Mhlola's chief wife, is a 

 ' commoner,' contrary to the usual custom. It is probably the only 

 occasion that a royal Zulu wedding has been attended by a large party 

 of invited guests of the white race. We watched the official part of 

 the ceremony for some three hours; dances, speechmaking and chant- 

 ing of war-songs not unlike Gregorian chants occupied most of the 

 time. The part of the ceremony which constituted a legal marriage 

 was followed by the presentation of gifts from the bride to her hus- 

 band's principal female relatives and of symbolical presents to the 

 bridegroom consisting of a lamp, a water jug, basin and soap, a chair 

 and an umbrella. The festivities were to last two or three days, but 

 the members of the association had to leave for other scenes, and they 

 preferred the conventional lunch provided by the residents of the city 

 to the oxen roasted over open wood fires and the Kaffir beer in which 

 the natives delight. This attractive program occupying the only full 

 day spent at Maritzburg prevented many of the visitors from joining 

 in the numerous other excursions which the hospitable residents had 

 arranged. Some idea of our activity throughout the trip may be gath- 

 ered from my movements on the previous day. Leaving Durban at 

 8:50 a.m. and reaching Maritzburg at 1:10 p.m., I spent the early 

 afternoon in riding round on the electric cars, seeing the town and 

 visiting the new botanical garden. Then to a garden party at Govern- 

 ment House, and after dinner to a lecture on ' Sleeping Sickness,' by 

 Colonel Bruce ! 



It was a fortunate circumstance that the third volume of the 

 Times' history of the Boer war, containing a full account of the opera- 

 tions round Lady smith, should have been published early in the year. 

 Those who had read it during the outward voyage were able to picture 

 to themselves the various incidents of the struggle as the trains slowly 

 steamed through the area past Estcourt, Frere and Chiveley, to Colenso. 

 An afternoon was spent in climbing the nearer hills of Fort Wylie and 

 Hlangwani, and in viewing the devious course of the Tugela as it 

 threads its sunken bed through the rolling ground lying in front of 

 the round-topped hills which faced the army at Colenso. Stone san- 

 gars, but little damaged, are still to be seen on every hand, but the 

 hunters of curios in the shape of bullets and portions of shells had 

 done their work too well long before our arrival, and few relics were 

 discovered. Here the special trains were side-tracked for the night 

 so that the points of interest along the short distance to Ladysmith 

 could be seen by daylight. The residents of this quiet country town 

 lying in a warm hollow on the Klip Biver had gathered together every 

 available private and public conveyance and drove us to the scene of 

 the most famous incident of the siege, Wagon Hill. This spot, about 



vol. Lxvni.— 2. 



