PHASES OF NATURE AROUND PRETORIA. 53 



of the Transvaal. It came down with such force, with 

 a quantity of water so enormous, and so swiftly, that 

 upwards of a hundred oxen that were feeding on the 

 banks of the river were swept away and drowned. 

 Carcasses, which were estimated at about 150, were 

 found when the waters subsided, either washed out on 

 the banks or stuck in trees at the turns of the river, 

 so that the Kafirs and vultures had an opportunity for 

 high banquet. But besides oxen numerous Kafirs, mostly 

 cattle-herds, were swept away by the flood ; bodies were 

 seen floating down the stream, and others were found 

 on the banks. A buck- wagon with a span of eight 

 mules and two horses arrived at the spruit towards 

 evening. No sooner did the wagon reach the middle 

 of the stream than it was completely turned upside 

 down and swept away, and the bodies of the mules and 

 horses were found the following day entangled in the 

 harness. A heavy hailstorm passed along the valley of 

 the river, and the hail floated down in such quantity 

 that large blocks of ice, several feet in thickness, were 

 carried down the stream. 



One day, in the early part of November, I was able 

 to appreciate the sudden rising of these Transvaalian 

 streams. Behind our works, and crossing the veld, was 

 a narrow deeply waterworn river-bed, at the bottom of 

 which usually flowed a shallow streamlet of not more 

 than a few inches deep, and which I easily strode across 

 in the morning. By 3 P.M. this was a roaring rushing 

 current some ten feet deep. This was caused by two 

 very heavy falls of rain, the first one continuing from 

 about 12 to 12.45 P.M., the second and heaviest lasting 

 from about 2 to 3 P.M. The roads were flooded, the 

 water poured down the sides of the hills in streams, and 

 a roaring noise could be heard some distance from what 

 was only a few hours previously a shallow brook. The 

 water, which was of a deep reddish clayey hue, boiled, 

 whirled, and tore down its bed, the many bends of which 

 caused whirlpools and some nasty backwaters. Nowhere 

 wider than 20 feet, and generally narrower, it would 

 have been certain death to have fallen therein. By 



