34 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



" when I cast an eye about this spot, I cannot but 

 acknowledge the hand of the Supreme Being who rules 

 the Universe. The wailing that was once so lamentable 

 here, is now changed into sounds of joy and gladness. 

 From the earliest days the Ruler of the Universe has 

 guided and guarded us. He has protected us from the 

 rude attacks of barbarians when this land saw but few 

 white people attacks which, if not providentially 

 averted, would have extinguished us. Who does not 

 remember in years gone by the moaning even of women 

 and children when attacked by the savage Kafir hordes 1 

 Who can forget when their husbands were fighting for 

 their very lives, their wives brought branches of trees to 

 make a fortification round their wagons and tents ? 

 Who, I say, can forget the torture to which some of the 

 voortrekkers of this country were exposed 1 " * Of course 

 the Kafirs would take quite another view of these 

 matters ; but like the successful man of business, so it 

 is the victorious people who most often trace the hand 

 of Providence. It seems easy, all the world over, to be 

 thankful for great blessings, and much more difficult to 

 appreciate those more frequent and untoward events 

 which by some have been styled " blessings in dis- 

 guise." 



I have remarked that the President has a slight 

 weakness for adulation, and the following remarks were 

 dished up in the Government Journal on the occasion 

 of his last birthday (1890) : " While he has accom- 

 plished much that in other countries would immortalize 

 his name in song and idealize him, as it were, to future 

 generations .... a section led by unscrupulous speculators 

 and mean and degraded journalists, whose name it is 

 not necessary to mention, will probably take no notice 

 of the day at all." 



Many of the Boer farmers are now wealthy men 

 not only in land but in cash owing to the large sums 

 paid them by mining companies and syndicates for their 

 auriferous farms. Frequently this cash is kept in some 



* As reported in the < Press ' of Pretoria, Sept. 20, 1890. 



