THE TRANSVAAL. 7 



however, gone slowly, and have been delayed once 

 or twice. We stayed a few days at Lady smith and 

 Newcastle, two towns as they are called here (we 

 should call them small villages) ; we then got into 

 the Transvaal Republic and had a very bad tract of 

 country to cross, the high veldt. This country is 

 very high, about 5000 feet above the sea, and as it 

 was dead of winter when we crossed it the cold at 



.:■;■■■■■ ...',; ' 

 ■ ■ :-r: ■ 



$m - mm 



PRETORIA, TRANSVAAL. 



night was rather severe. One of the coldest nights 

 I think we had, was that of the 8th of June, when 

 the thermometer showed 8 degrees of frost Fahren- 

 heit. This may not seem very much, but the days 

 being hot you feel the cold a good deal, and are glad 

 of a good lot of blankets. In this respect I had 

 taken care that we should be all right. The morning 

 after the night I speak of my hand was numb with 

 the cold, and I dropped and smashed my only ther- 

 mometer. 1 My aneroid barometer, which tells me 



1 This instrument was afterwards kindly replaced by the late 

 Mr. Lys of Pretoria. 



