PRETORIA. II 
and rose-bushes, do not imagine a scene of the least 
beauty. The town itself, the seat of the govern- 
ment, does not contain a single good building. It 
is like some little frontier town in America. There 
is not even a book-shop in it. The country imme- 
diately around is fiat and devoid of trees, though in 
the distance are some ranges of hills. The day we 
reached Pretoria, the mail, a fortnightly one, arrived 
from Pietermaritzburg with a paper containing 
English news, very bare items though, up to May 
15th. It seems dreadful that we were nearly six 
weeks in coming here, and the mail came in six days. 
The mail brings passengers also, but they are 
allowed hardly any baggage. It goes out again to- 
day to Pietermaritzburg, so I am writing this letter 
by the light of my lantern as I recline in my waggon. 
I think it is now about 6 a.m., but the sun does not 
rise till after 7. 
" Gray, the trader, left us at Newcastle, and had 
left here before we arrived for Bamangwato, en route 
for Lake Ngami, where our programme was to accom- 
pany him.^ We are not certain whether we shall fol- 
low him or alter our plans. I will write again, letting 
you know what we have decided. If I leave a 
second letter here, it will go to Pietermaritzburg a 
fortnight hence, so you will get it in England soon 
after you get this." 
' Strictly speakings, Bamangwato is the name applied to the district 
north of the Transvaal inhabited by that branch of the liasuto race, 
and Shoshong the name of the king's town or residence ; but the 
latter also is more frequently spoken of, in common parlance, as 
Bamang\vato or Mungvvato. 
