26 Recollections of Adventures 



can supply herself with really useful mounts, much 

 less export them to India for remounts to the 

 military as in bygone days. 



I remember an Englishman, Mr. Evans, a geolo- 

 gist, in 1854 wanted to examine the Drakensberg 

 formation, and I was told off to escort him round. 

 We had a very interesting time ; he showed me 

 pebbles and shells on the slopes of the "Berg" which 

 he considered as proof that the ocean coast line had, 

 in bygone ages been there. When we (my brother 

 Fred and I, so many years afterwards) discovered 

 the Witwatersrand water-worn pebble beds, or 

 conglomerates ("Banket"), I remembered this and 

 concluded that the high Transvaal water divide was 

 a still older coast line. There were troops of elands 

 then in the Berg I believe there are still a very few 

 left near Champagne Castle and the slopes of the 

 Berg. How I did enjoy those delightful rides among 

 the grand, natural scenery. 



In 1854 our dear mother died and was buried in 

 the cemetry at Ladysmith. I have made many a 

 quiet pilgrimage to her grave on my journeys from 

 Pretoria to Durban, and have always kept it in 

 repair. The family never recovered her loss. After 

 our mother's death, we had really no home. My 

 father married again and the home was not a happy 

 one for us children. My eldest brother Alexander 

 had always been delicate, he entered the Civil 

 Service and became Civil Commissioner for Durban. 

 Sir Theophilus Shepstone and other of my friends 

 tried to pursuade me to join the Civil Service too, 

 but I was more robust than Alex, and preferred a 

 more independent though rougher life, where I 

 would have more scope for my energies, so I went to 

 the Transvaal with my father and worked there. 



