TO PRETORIA. 17 



We left Johannesburg at 3 P.M., and after a five 

 hours' coach journey reached Pretoria and sought the 

 comforts of Lapin's Fountain Hotel. A railway-line is 

 now being constructed between these towns and the 

 days of this coach-line are numbered. 



Pretoria is the seat of government and capital of the 

 Transvaal, and its numerous trees give it a pretty 

 appearance compared with the barren veld on which it 

 stands. It is almost surrounded by high and barren 

 hills and lacks the invigorating climate of the more 

 exposed Johannesburg. The trees which ornament it 

 are not all indigenous and consist principally of a 

 weeping-willow (Sal'tx (/ariepina, Burch.), always a 

 favourite of the Dutch, and here attaining a superb 

 growth ; and stately gum-trees (Eucalyptus), which 

 either form noble avenues or fringe the borders of the 

 roads. Peach-trees are everywhere abundant, not grown 

 as at home trained to walls, but forming a large and 

 sturdy growth resembling apple-trees. Towards the 

 end of August and beginning of September peach- 

 blossom is so universal as to give a pink hue to the 

 general landscape, and is then one of the most effective 

 botanical sights of Pretoria. This tree, as a general 

 rule, is quite uncared for ; it is neither pruned nor 

 manured, though fruit is most abundant but poor in 

 quality: the yellow peach is almost the only kind grown 

 and is moderately hard and flavourless ; it is more 

 adapted for cooking, and the Boer farmers use it for 

 making " Peach-brandy," which they sell to the Kafirs. 

 One may obtain an acquired taste for most " liquors," but 

 anything more abominable to a fresh comer than this 

 decoction is difficult to imagine. The peach here seems 

 to revert back to its uncultivated condition, and is found 

 like this in most parts of the Transvaal *. By the 1st 



* Mr. Wallace remarks that " the peach is unknown in a wild state, 

 unless it is derived from the common almond, on which point there is much 

 difference of opinion among botanists and horticulturists " (' Darwinism,' 

 p. 98). 



According to Hern, this tree " originated in the interior of Asia, beyond 

 even the cherry land, and became known in Italy during the first century of 

 the lloman Empire " (' Wanderings of Plants and Animals from their First 

 Home/ p. 320). 



C 



