ously been done, for the stream of
returning visitors was setting strongly toward Maritzburg, and
we might be detained for a week longer if we did not go at once.
Accordingly, we presented ourselves at the D'Urban post-office a few
minutes before noon and took our places in the post-cart. My seat was
on the box, and as I flattered myself that I was well wrapped up, I
did not feel at all alarmed at the prospect of a cold, wet drive. Who
would believe that twenty-four hours ago one could hardly endure a
white muslin dressing-gown? Who would believe that twenty-four hours
ago a lace shawl was an oppressive wrap, and that the serious object
of my envy and admiration all these hot days on the Berea has been a
fat Abyssinian baby, as black as a coal, and the strongest and
biggest child one ever saw. That sleek and grinning infant's toilette
consisted of a string of blue beads round its neck, and in this cool
and airy costume it used to pervade the house, walking about on all
fours exactly like a monkey, for of course it could not stand. Yet,
how cold that baby must be to-day! But if it is, its mother has
probably tied it behind her in an old shawl, and it is nestling close
to her fat broad back fast asleep.

But the baby is certainly a most unwarrantable digression, and we
must return to our post-cart. The discouraging part of it was that
the vehicle itself had been in all the storm and rain of yesterday. Of
course no one had dreamed of washing or wiping it out in any fashion,
so we had to sit upon wet cushions and put our feet into a pool of red
mud and water. Now, if I must confess the truth, I, an old traveler,
had done a very stupid thing. I had been lured by the deceitful beauty
of the weather when we started into leaving behind me everything
except the thinnest and coolest garments I possessed, and I therefore
had to set out on this journey in the teeth of a cold wind and driving
rain clad in a white gown. It is true, I had my beloved and most
useful ulster, but it was a light waterproof one, and just about
half enough in the way of warmth. Still, as I had another wrap, a big
Scotch plaid, I should have got along very well if it had not been for
the still greater stupidity of the only other female fellow-passenger,
who calmly took her place in the open post-cart behind me in a brown
holland gown, without scarf or wrap or anything whatever to shelter
her from the weather, except a white calico sunshade. She was a
French