TO PRETORIA. 13 



contrasts with long railway-trips at home. Thus, 

 though we started at o A.M. and did not reach our 

 sleeping-quarters till 7 P.M., fatigue was in an inverse' 

 ratio to impatience. Little was seen during this day : a 

 number of widely-scattered Guinea-fowl (Numida coro- 

 naia), which generally frequent more 'wooded country 

 " Bushveld " were passed on the open veld ; and 

 occasional Vultures, soaring beneath a cloudless sky, 

 emphasized what has been well called the " Trade-mark 

 of Africa," in the shape of skeletons or carcasses of oxen 

 and horses which had perished by the way and now 

 ornamented at intervals the margins of the road by 

 which we travelled. 



We did not start till 6 A.M. on the last day of our 

 route ; but the charm of the journey is broken, for we 

 are leaving South- African solitude and approaching the 

 domain of the merchant, the miner, the company 

 promoter, and the speculator; and this combination 

 reaches its apotheosis in Johannesburg, the Chicago 

 of the Transvaal. Long before we reach it clouds of 

 thick brown dust meet and cover us, for a high wind 

 has arisen, and soon the town itself is in view. There 

 is no reason why Johannesburg should not be one of 

 the healthiest spots in the world, its natural position 

 and climate should render it such; defective sani- 

 tation a short time back made it a veritable plague- 

 spot, and typhoid fever, often attended with pneu- 

 monia that usually attacked both lungs, carried off 

 too many victims, and those who sought gold too 

 often found death. It is the most English town of the 

 Transvaal, and will eventually prove the real capital. 

 In enterprise and business it bears the same relation to 

 Pretoria as the City of London does to Westminster, 

 though both the last and Pretoria are the seats of Par- 

 liament. Johannesburg is now * in sackcloth and 

 ashes, the occupation of the company promoter is gone, 

 mining companies close almost daily, mining scrip is 

 nearly valueless, and a settled apathy denotes the 

 shareholder. Numbers leave the town, rents fall, the 



* This applies to the year 1890. 



