A JOURNEY TO DURBAN. 117 



having seen the other guest, who may turn in very 

 late, and perhaps not sober, is what 1 once or twice 

 experienced during my stay in the country, but which 

 I gladly relinquished when possible. The Grand 

 National Hotel was built at the time of the greatest 

 prosperity of Johannesburg, and the cashier assured me 

 that the takings then averaged 200 daily ; but at the 

 time of my visit the receipts only amounted to about a 

 fourth of that sum. Some of the smaller hotels were vir- 

 tually closed, and fires had become somewhat frequent. 

 I remember years ago travelling with an American who 

 praised in no half-hearted way his native Chicago. Some 

 considerable conflagrations having recently occurred 

 there, I ventured to remark that fires sometimes took 

 place. That is nothing, replied my companion : " when 

 a business man in Chicago is going to fail, he burns his 

 place down." 



I left Johannesburg at 5 A.M. on a fine Sunday 

 morning for the long coach-drive to Newcastle. The 

 journey was scarcely different to what I had formerly 

 experienced, save that the coach was less crowded and 

 the veld was now green in its summer dress, whereas it 

 was in winter brown when I crossed before. But the 

 sky was now clouded, frequent showers of rain occurred, 

 and one missed the lovely warm umber tints of the veld 

 and hills as seen under the clear winter sky. 



We reached Heidelberg about 10A.M., a small and 

 early established town, but, like the rest, suffering from 

 the present depression. It has a considerable "coolie" 

 or Indian population, and a priest of Islam, who had 

 been travelling through the South-African diocese, 

 joined the coach. He was certainly one of the most 

 handsome men I had ever met. Tall and of graceful 

 stature, he possessed a perfectly formed and chiselled 

 mouth, such as one seldom sees in man, but is found 

 principally in women of the classical type of beauty ; 

 and with an aquiline nose was also combined the dark 

 soft spiritual eyes which mark the true type of the 

 visionary priest of all creeds. This man was evidently 

 of good birth, as proved by the ease, confidence, and 



