“Though here and there you see a garden with a few trees in it, and, as I mentioned, orange-trees and rose-bushes, do not imagine a scene of the least beauty. The town itself, the seat of the government, does not contain a single good building. It is like some little frontier town in America. There is not even a book-shop in it. The country immediately around is flat and devoid of trees, though in the distance are some ranges of hills. The day we reached Pretoria, the mail, a fortnightly one, arrived from Pietermaritzburg with a paper containing English news, very bare items though, up to May 15th. It seems dreadful that we were nearly six weeks in coming here, and the mail came in six days. The mail brings passengers also, but they are allowed hardly any baggage. It goes out again to-day to Pietermaritzburg, so I am writing this letter by the light of my lantern as I recline in my waggon. I think it is now about 6 A.M., but the sun does not rise till after 7. “Gray, the trader, left us at Newcastle, and had left here before we arrived for Bamangwato, _en route_ for Lake Ngami, where our programme was to accompany him.[9] We are not certain whether we shall follow him or alter our plans. I will write again, letting you know what we have decided. If I leave a second letter here, it will go to Pietermaritzburg a fortnight hence, so you will get it in England soon after you get this.” Four days later W. E. Oates writes, also from Pretoria, “We have now been here a week, and are going to start off again to-day for Bamangwato. Buckley and his friend Gilchrist came up on Saturday, and we have decided to keep together. Gray, the trader we talked about, left here for Bamangwato about a fortnight since.... I fear we are now too late to get to the Victoria Falls, as the country is not healthy after September. We have been rather more than six weeks in getting from Maritzburg here, and a more wretched country can hardly be conceived--not a tree to be seen, and half the country burnt black, as, if the grass is set on fire, it burns for weeks. The days are intensely hot (not a drop of rain since we left Maritzburg); the nights very cold, with sharp frosts. Countless herds of antelopes are to be seen every day; wildebeest (gnu), blesbok, springbok, and many others called by Dutch names. There are also hyænas, jackals, crows, and vultures. [Illustration: GAME ON THE HIGH VELDT, TRANSVAAL.]