CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 13 



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 waggons make snug 

 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 Afrikanders (as the native whites are 

 called). . . . The blacks 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, 

 1 have often felt inclined to do so. We have five 

 with us — three Hottentots and two Kaffirs. The 

 Kaffirs who are total savages are much better to get 

 on with. ... It seems odd that I have such a little 

 to tell you about after so long an absence, but one day 



