CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 13 
such dreary solitudes it is difficult to conceive. . . . 
We, however, are very comfortable and well. We 
have large supplies with us, more than necessary, I 
think ; but we can sell at Bamangwato what we do 
not want for nearly double what we gave for it at 
Maritzburg. This is the last place where there is a 
regular mail, though traders go from Bamangwato, 
and will take letters. The wao^orons make snuo- 
dwelling-houses. The mattress goes at the top of 
the things, and you have the canvas all round. You 
get in at the front, and let a canvas curtain down. 
There are canvas pockets at the sides, where you put 
what you want handy. 
" We have been exceedingly lucky with our oxen, 
as many people have lost nearly all they had from 
the epidemic which is raging in Natal. One man 
lost his whole span of eighteen. We have only lost 
three ; partly, I think, because we haven't hurried 
them. They have got poor, owing to the wretched 
grass on the high flats. They say, however, they 
fatten immediately they get into the bush veldt. 
" Pretoria is a miserable little place, though the 
capital of the Transvaal. The store- keepers are 
English, or Africanders (as the native whites are 
called). . . . The niggers are idle and insolent. It 
is said the only way to treat them is to thrash them 
well, and though we have never resorted to this, 
I have often felt inclined to do so. We have five 
with us — three Hottentots and two Kafirs. The 
Kafirs who are total savages are much better to get 
on with. ... It seems odd that I have such a little 
