80 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



flows. In this rude and muddy bath, covered with a 

 tent or other screen, the farmer will remain for hours. 



A real night's rest is quite an unknown quantity to 

 the coach-passenger; this journey was, of course, no 

 exception to the rule, and we were aroused at 2.30 A.M. 

 to resume our route. By 7 A.M. we had reached Nyl- 

 stroom, a forlorn spot, where the imposing appearance 

 of a post-office and landdrost's court, unsurrounded by 

 any apparent business life, give it the appearance of a 

 still-born township. But fever has been the retarding 

 cause of Nylstroom's future, and its character for un- 

 healthiness will long survive, though the natural beauty 

 of the surrounding country, and its little-disturbed con- 

 dition, should make it a district beloved of sportsmen. 

 As the traveller leaves this spot it is difficult to believe 

 that one is still in the Transvaal, after an experience 

 only of the country between Pretoria and the Cape and 

 Natal frontiers. Woods, park-like tracts, undulating 

 country, from which views could be obtained of endless 

 and varied landscape, tall, wooded, isolated hills, and 

 ranges of mountains with forest slopes, alternately 

 meet the eye. Scattered Euphorbias quite transformed 

 the appearance of the flora, and broke, as it were, the 

 sameness of the short forest growth. The irritant 

 properties of the milky juice obtained from these plants 

 is well known * ; but the bloom possesses the same 

 attributes, and honey is unfit for use that has been made 

 by bees which have visited the flowers. A resident friend 

 once purchased some honey from Kafirs, and this, when 

 used by himself and companions, caused an intense 

 burning sensation in the throat ; they then made 

 careful enquiries as to its origin, and traced it to a 

 Euphorbian source. New birds were observed in the 

 trees such as never appeared at Pretoria. A hornbill 

 was common, but more abundant still was the pretty 

 Lilac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudata). At intervals 

 on the tops of trees perched Buzzards, that seemed by 

 their numbers to have the whole neighbourhood under 



* Used by some of the tribes of South Africa for poisoning water to 

 obtain game (Parker Gillmore, ' Days and Nights by the Desert/ p. 61). 



