umping gaily along, we soon left the well-built houses behind,
and after passing the Malay quarter of the town, remarkable by reason of
the quaint houses these blacks make out of paraffin tins, flattened out
and nailed together with wonderful neatness, we emerged on the open
veldt. Of course the road was of the roughest description, and sometimes
we had to hold on with all our might to avoid the concussion of our
heads with the wooden roof. In spite of this, as soon as the Kaffirs
saw an open space before them, the huge whip was cracked, and away went
our team at full gallop, seemingly quite out of control, the driver
leaning back in his seat with a contented grin, while his colleague
manipulated the unwieldy whip. The tract ran parallel to the Rand for
some distance, and we got a splendid view of Johannesburg and the row of
chimney-shafts that so clearly define the reef.

On passing Langlaate village, we were stopped by a party of Boers, who
had off-saddled by the side of the road. As they were fully armed and
their appearance was not prepossessing, we expected to be ordered to
alight while our conveyance was being searched. However, our fears were
unfounded, and they were most polite. The driver muttered something in
Dutch, whereupon the leader came to the door, and said in broken
English: "Peeck neeck--I see all right." I am sorry to say one of the
gentlemen of our party muttered "Brute" in an audible whisper; but,
then, he had undergone a short, but a very unpleasant term of
imprisonment, with no sort of excuse, at the instance of a Boer
_Veldtcornet_, so no wonder he had vowed eternal vengeance. Luckily,
this officer did not hear, or else did not understand, the ejaculation,
so after a civil interchange of good-days we drove on.

After about three hours we reached a shallow ford over a wide stream,
and our driver informed us that this was our destination. Leaving the
carriage, we walked up to some rocks overlooking the stream, which
seemed an inviting place for luncheon; but we were quickly driven away,
as thereon were lying seven or eight carcasses of dead horses and mules.
Curiously enough, the vultures, or "aas-vogels," had left the skins on
these poor beasts, for I remember noticing how their coats glistened in
the sunshine. This sight was not very conducive to a good appetite, and
a little farther on we saw another pathetic spectacle: a very deep
trench, made in the past by some gold-prospector, had been fille