Personal Impressions of the Transvaal. 31 



angle, and so causes an astonishing variety of climate from 

 tropical to quite cool in the neighbourhood of Langs Nek, about 

 5,500 feet above sea level. Pietermaritzburg is the prettiest 

 town in South Africa, and the railway which connects it with 

 Johannesburg is a great feat of engineering skill, having been 

 brought round mountains and alongside precipices with wonder- 

 ful engineering skill in negotiating the several thousand feet 

 between the sea coast and Johannesburg. Travelling, apart 

 from railways, is rather rough and attended with considerable 

 danger. There are few bridges across rivers and streams, and 

 these have therefore to be crossed by drifts or fords, which is 

 a difficult matter in time of rain, Ladysmith, when I visited 

 it, was a very small place with very miserable hotel accommo- 

 dation. It stood on a plain, surrounded by hills on two sides. 



Crossing into the Transvaal we may glance at its past history, 

 and the causes that led up to the present war. The Boers who 

 ruled it had formerly peopled Cape Co'ony, had gone north 

 rather than live under the flag of the most liberty-loving 

 nation in the world. In 1877 the Transvaal was annexed by 

 the British in order to save it from extinction by the natives, 

 but throu-^h the weakness of the Government then in power, 

 when the Boers rebelled in 188 1, it was again allowed its 

 independence. Conventions were entered into between the 

 Imperial Government and the Transvaal in 188 1 and 1884. 

 Almost everv provision of each of these conventions has been 

 systematically and deliberately broken by the Boer government 

 since they were signed. The result has been the present war. 

 The Transvaal has a very fine climate which is almost perfect 

 for consumptives, being dry and bracing. All the land 

 is covered with grass and there is plenty of water^ 

 and so it is most suitable for stock farming. Rolling 

 grassy plains with blue gum trees here and there round 

 the farms and distant hills are the characteristic features 

 of the Transvaal landscape Johannesburg is about 5,000 

 feet above sea level and in the winter is quite cold. The 

 mineral resources of the country are not yet fully known, but 



