woman too, and looked so piteous and forlorn in her neat
toilette, already drenched through, that of course I could do nothing
less than lend her my Scotch shawl, and trust to the driver's friendly
promises of empty corn-bags at some future stage. By the time the bags
came--or rather by the time we got to the bags--I was indeed wet and
cold. The ulster, did its best, and all that could be expected of it,
but no garment manufactured in a London shop could possibly cope with
such wild weather, tropical in the vehemence of its pouring rain,
wintry in its cutting blasts. The wind seemed to blow from every
quarter of the heavens at once, the rain came down in sheets, but
I minded the mud more than either wind or rain: it was more
demoralizing. On the box-seat I got my full share and more, but yet
I was better off there than inside, where twelve people were squeezed
into the places of eight. The horses' feet got balled with the stiff
red clay exactly as though it had been snow, and from time to time as
they galloped along, six fresh ones at every stage, I received a good
lump of clay, as big and nearly as solid as a croquet-ball, full in my
face. It was bitterly cold, and the night was closing in when we drove
up to the door of the best hotel in Maritzburg, at long past eight
instead of six o'clock. It was impossible to get out to our own place
that night, so there was nothing for it but to stay where we were, and
get what food and rest could be coaxed out of an indifferent bill
of fare and a bed of stony hardness, to say nothing of the bites of
numerous mosquitoes. The morning light revealed the melancholy state
of my unhappy white gown in its full horror. All the rivers of Natal
will never make it white again, I fear. Certainly there is much to
be said in favor of railway-traveling, after all, especially in wet
weather.

JANUARY 10.

Surely, I have been doing something else lately besides turning this
first sod? Well, not much. You see, no one can undertake anything in
the way of expeditions or excursions, or even sight-seeing, in
summer, partly on account of the heat, and partly because of the
thunderstorms. We have had a few very severe ones lately, but we hail
them with joy on account of the cool clear atmosphere which succeeds
to a display of electrical vehemence. We walked home from church a few
evenings ago on a very wild and threatening night, and I never shall
forget the weird beauty of the scene. We had started