THE TRANSVAAL. l6l 



paroxysm of rage and humiliation of which even 

 now I do not feel at all ashamed. 



The Transvaal mainly consists of an immense 

 elevated plateau, shelterless, and exposed to 

 terrific cold gales during the winter season, which 

 oblige the stock farmers to migrate to the low 

 bush country by which these vast prairie lands are 

 encircled. Waving crops of coarse sour grass 

 cover this elevated district, which are in a great 

 measure burnt off during the winter in order that 

 the stock returning from the bush veldt on the 

 advent of spring may have the benefit of the young 

 grass then green and succulent When ripe, this 

 grass becomes unpalatable to stock of all kinds, 

 and then, of course, condition rapidly deteriorates, 

 and early in autumn very little milk is to be had, 

 and but very few cattle are fit for butchers' use. 



The pasturage in the low-lying encircling bush 

 veldt is generaly of sweeter and better quality than 

 that of the " high veldt," but in summer much of 

 that country is scarcely healthy enough to attract 

 permanent settlers, and insect pests so annoy live 

 stock that they are not able to graze in the 

 leisurely way essential to animal prosperity. 



Agriculture in the Transvaal is only possible to 



M 



