142 
CHAPTEE YI. 
1857. 
THE TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC-MERICO COUNTRY-THE MACCATEESE OR 
BECHUANAS-SECHELE-THE MASARAS — THE BOERS — MOSILIKATSE. 
May 25 th. — After many unforeseen delays, and 
losing our oxen for a week, we at length got away 
from Ladysmith,on our excursion into the far interior, 
with a heavy wagon, sixteen oxen, and seven salted 
horses. This pretty little town derives its name 
from Lady Smith, the wife of Sir Harry Smith, for¬ 
merly governor of the Cape Colony. It stands on 
the Klip river, about 150 miles from Durban, with a 
splendid view of Kelson’s Kop, Job’s Berg, and the 
range of the Drakensberg Mountains, about eighteen 
or twenty miles off, the dividing range between 
Natal and the Orange river Free State and Trans¬ 
vaal Republic. The finest view of the colony of Natal 
is from the ascent of the Drakensberg, from which 
it looks beautiful, well watered and wooded, and like 
a large well-kept garden when compared with the 
country on the other side, to the west, which is 
devoid of a stick of wood, flat, barren, and unprofit- 
