126 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



much more than twelve miles per hour. I was much 

 mistaken in the character of a fellow passenger who 

 joined the train at Lady smith. On asking if he 

 smoked, I received such a determined answer in the 

 negative, with an assurance that he had never done 

 so, that I took him for somewhat of a Puritan. He 

 soon, however, produced a bottle of whiskey, which, 

 by assiduity and perseverance, he quickly emptied 

 and then lay full length and speechless on the seat 

 before me. 



I broke my journey through Natal at Richmond Eoad, 

 and had the pleasure of being entertained at a home of 

 comfort on a model African farm. Here was a well- 

 built residence furnished with taste, containing all the 

 comforts of a home, and a library sufficient to prove 

 that a farmer can be a gentleman and cultivate his 

 mind as well as the soil. What a contrast to the 

 Boer farmers of the Transvaal ! I do not speak dis- 

 paragingly, but comparatively. Men cannot for ever trek 

 on into the wilds and live solitary lives with their 

 families without losing most qualities of domestic 

 refinement, even though acquiring personal inde- 

 pendence. In pursuit of game or on a hunting expe- 

 dition let me be allowed to accompany the Boer and 

 share his wagon ; but the tie snaps when the time 

 comes for the pleasures of personal intercourse and 

 home life. 



In the fine garden attached to this Natal residence I 

 was shown the difficulties attending the labours of the 

 horticulturist owing to the ravages of injurious insects. 

 The roses were literally covered and devastated by a 

 Cantharid beetle (Mylabris transversals) and his apples 

 were being completely eaten by two other beetles 

 belonging to the family Cetoniidse (Plcesiorrhina piano, 

 and Pachnodaflaviventris). His principal enemies which 

 occasioned his heaviest losses were the ticks (AcaridoB\ 

 which attacked his live-stock with the most disastrous 

 results ; clearly there is room for a state-paid economic 

 naturalist in Natal. I was interested to learn that 

 even in this colony, as in the Transvaal, material and 



