8 MATABELE LAND. 



the height above the sea really very accurately as 

 far as I can judge, is still all right, but my sextant 

 suffered so much on board the ' Zulu ' that I have 

 some difficulty, being a novice, in making use of it. 



"In crossing the high veldt the cattle suffer not 

 only from the cold nights but the poverty of the 

 grass, which will get worse and worse till the rainy 

 season, which will be about September. 1 The disease 

 called ' red water,' which is so bad on the coast, 

 and which has caused so many oxen to die and the 

 price to rise so much, does not seem to extend 

 beyond Natal. Out of twenty-eight oxen we lost 

 only three, which is considered a very small per- 

 centage. A few of our oxen got into low condition, 

 and we have got seven new ones coming along the 

 road. We shall try to leave the poor ones at some 

 farm, or exchange them for fat ones. 



"We arrived here (at Pretoria) on the morning 

 of the 23d of June. It is very different from what 

 it was in crossing the Drakensberg. There is scarcely 

 ever ice here, and now (the coldest season) the 

 temperature is perfection — neither hot during the 

 day nor cold at night. There are orange-trees with 

 fruit on them in the gardens, and high hedges of 

 monthly roses in flower ; there are also a few large 

 trees (blue gums), something like poplars in mode of 

 growth, but with dark foliage. These are planted 



1 The accompanying illustration of the high veldt is from a sketch 

 taken early in December, when the grass has grown after the summer 

 rains, the country then presenting a very different appearance from its 

 dried and parched aspect in winter. 



