l around us rose great bush-clad hills, opening
away in every direction towards gorgeous-coloured valleys. The scene was
so grand and solemn that I do not think it lies in the power of words to
describe it.

Here we had to dismount to descend a most fearful precipitous path
consisting of boulders piled together in the wildest confusion, from
one to another of which we had to jump, driving the horses before us.
Half-way down we off-saddled to rest ourselves, and as we did so we
noticed that the gall was running from one of the horses' noses. We knew
too well what was the matter, and so left him there to die during the
night. This horse was by far the finest we had with us, and his owner
used to boast that the poor beast had often carried him, a heavy man,
from his house to Pretoria, a distance of nearly ninety miles, in
one day. He was also a "salted" horse. It is a curious thing that the
sickness generally kills the best horses first.

After a short rest we started on again, and at the end of another hour
reached the bottom of the pass. From thence we rode along a gulley, that
alternately narrowed and widened, till at length it brought us right on
to Secocoeni's beautiful, fever-stricken home.

All three of us had seen a good deal of scenery in different parts
of the world, and one of the party was intimately acquainted with the
finest spots in South Africa, but we were forced to admit that we had
never seen anything half so lovely as Secocoeni's valley. We had seen
grander views, indeed the scene from the top of the pass was grander,
but never anything that so nearly approached perfection in detail.
Beautiful it was, beautiful beyond measure, but it was the sort of
beauty under whose veil are hidden fever and death. And so we pushed on,
through the still hot eventide, till at length we came to the gates
of the town, where we found "Makurupiji," Secocoeni's "mouth" or prime
minister, who had evidently been informed of our coming by his spies
waiting to receive us.[*]

[*] Makurupiji committed suicide after the town had been stormed,
preferring death to imprisonment.

Conducted by this grandee, we went on past the Chief's kraals, down to
the town, whence flocked men, women, and children, to look on the white
lords; all in a primitive state of dress, consisting of a strip of skin
tied round the middle, and the women with their hair powdered with some
preparation of iron, which gave it a metallic blue tinge.

At len