146 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



dual to help them, which he did with the donation of a 

 sovereign, a bottle of spirit, and a loaf of bread, with 

 which they started on an aimless tramp. The first day 

 they swallowed the contents of the bottle to prevent 

 as described to me the trouble of carrying it, the 

 sovereign was soon spent, and their condition rapidly 

 became desperate. At this moment they actually 

 walked over an undiscovered gold-bearing reef near one 

 of the mining centres of the country. They repaired 

 to that town with samples of the quartz, borrowed suffi- 

 cient of a financial agent to purchase the claim and 

 secure the ground ; a company was formed, and they 

 returned home with 30,000 between them. I believe 

 this story to be absolutely authentic. 



In a small community like Pretoria the competition 

 for social distinction is naturally very observable, and 

 many seem to travel some thousands of miles from 

 home to plant the arrows of outrageous respectability in 

 African soil. Amongst other peculiarities is the adoption 

 of our high-crowned white hat, which is only worn by 

 doctors and lawyers, and is almost considered the exclu- 

 sive privilege of those two professions. Thus a hat 

 that was once considered to denote a somewhat sporting 

 character in England, now marks the climax of legal 

 and medical respectability in Pretoria. The President 

 also considers it incumbent to wear a high-crowned 

 black hat, but the other inhabitants have practically 

 discarded the abomination. 



I was much surprised to find so few well-kept gardens 

 in a town which possessed so many Dutch inhabitants, 

 and who might have been expected to have brought 

 their flowering bulbs and love of gardening from 

 their old country. I looked in vain for hyacinths or 

 tulips, I scarcely ever saw a crocus, and never observed 

 cultivated narcissi. These plants may possibly be found 

 in the grounds of the richer inhabitants, but I certainly 

 never found them in the gardens belonging to the 

 houses of the more middle-class Dutch residents. The 

 Hollander does not always carry his love of gardening 

 to South Africa. The Briton is more apt to copy the 



