8 MATABELE LAND. 
the height above the sea really very accurately as 
far as I can judge, is still all right, but my sextant 
suffered so much on board the ' Zulu ' that I have 
some difficulty, being a novice, in making use of it. 
"In crossing the high veldt the cattle suffer not 
only from the cold nights but the poverty of the 
grass, which will get worse and worse till the rainy 
season, which will be about September.^ The disease 
called ' red water/ which is so bad on the coast, 
and which has caused so many oxen to die and the 
price to rise so much, does not seem to extend 
beyond Natal. Out of twenty-eight oxen we lost 
only three, which is considered a very small per- 
centage. A few of our oxen got into low condition, 
and we have got seven new ones coming along the 
road. We shall try to leave the poor ones at some 
farm, or exchange them for fat ones. 
" We arrived here (at Pretoria) on the morning 
of the 23d of June. It is very different from what 
it was in crossing the Drakensberg. There is 
scarcely ever ice here, and now (the coldest season) 
the temperature is perfection — neither hot during 
the day nor cold at night. There are orange-trees 
with fruit on them in the gardens, and high hedges 
of monthly roses in flower ; there are also a few large 
trees (blue gums), something like poplars in mode of 
growth, but with dark foliage. These are planted 
^ The accompanying illustration of the high veldt is from a sketch 
taken early in December, when the grass has grown after the summer 
rains, the country then presenting a very different appearance from its 
dried and parched aspect in winter. 
