126 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



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 bottle of whiskey, which, 

 by 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 dis- 

 paragingly, 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 inde- 

 pendence. In pursuit of game or on a hunting expe- 

 dition let me be 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 (Myhtlris transversalis) and his apples 

 w r ere being completely eaten by two other beetles 

 belonging to the family Cetoniidse (Plcesiorrhina plana 

 and Pachnodaflamventris). 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 



