POTGIETER’S FARM IN THE WATERBERG 395 
Our next stay was at a relation of Grobela’s, Mr. Pot- 
gieter, a gentleman who possessed a fine farm and large herds 
of cattle grazing on the excessively luxuriant vegetation in 
the neighbourhood. Mr. Potgieter complained bitterly of the 
unhealthiness of this district for horses in particular and cattle 
in general. Sheep would not thrive at all on the rank grass 
clothing the slopes of the Waierberg, while cattle were subject 
to red water, a disease that played havoc with newly arrived 
cattle until they became acclimatised. His opinion was that 
the disease was caused by the consumption of some unknown 
plant or root that carried the stricken cattle off in three days 
or less after they became ill. The country was exceptionally 
good for agriculture, but as there was no market it was almost 
useless producing more crops than were required for the 
family. He was very anxious to try tea-growing, and later 
I sent him some seed of this plant from the plantations near 
Durban, which I heard subsequently had thriven well. 
While resting at Potgieter’s farm, I paid a visit to the neigh¬ 
bouring hot sulphur springs near Hattensdorp. These boiling 
springs, of large dimensions, were situated in a marsh at the 
foot of the sloping mountain, and seemed to be extensively 
patronised as baths for invalids by the Boers, who, we were 
informed, flocked here from all parts of the Transvaal in the 
winter months to recruit their health. These baths bore a 
special reputation for the cure of rheumatic complaints, and, 
judging from the numerous little trenches leading from the 
fountains to convenient cavities dug in the road, covered 
over with grass huts, where the sufferers bathed, the place must 
have had a good many visitors at times. It being the wrong 
season of the year, there were no bathers at the spot when we 
visited it. We were told that an unfortunate young giraffe, the 
property of a hunter, who brought it here to sell during the 
winter, being scared by the barking of some dogs at his heels, 
jumped into one of the boiling springs in its fright, and expired 
from the effects of the heated water before it could either make 
its way out or be rescued. 
