vi PREFACE. 
done to the memory of the dead by publishing, in a 
form which may fairly challenge the criticism of the 
general reader, a few hasty jottings by the wayside, 
written under circumstances the least favourable to 
literary composition, and a limited number of letters 
home, meant merely for the perusal of the writer's 
nearest and most indulgent friends. On the other 
hand, however, it must be borne in mind that, much 
as must inevitably be lost in editing pages such as 
these for want of the inspiring touch which the 
writer himself could alone have finally given them, 
there will probably be a directness and freshness of 
the expressions which a traveller makes use of on 
the spot, hampered as he then is by no oppressive 
consciousness that he is addressing that imaginary 
"public" — consisting after all but of a number of 
individuals like himself, all with the same human 
heart and interests, — which might be wanting in his 
more matured work. 
Guided, then, by the latter consideration, and by 
the reflection that every day the number of our 
countrymen is increasing who look to South Africa 
with a growing interest — whether as a land for 
colonization, exploration, or scientific research, — I 
venture to add another to the long list of already 
published books upon that country, hoping that the 
reader may find therein matter of some general 
interest, and that, if not, he will look leniently on 
