ed upon it. One is always
hospitably received; one often finds in the hard-working pioneer or the
youth behind the store counter a cultivated and thoughtful mind; one
has, perhaps, a glimpse of an attractive personality developing itself
under simple yet severe conditions, fitted to bring out the real force
of a man. After half an hour's talk you part as if you were parting with
an old friend, yet knowing that the same roof is not likely ever to
cover both of you again. There are, of course, rough and ill-omened
explorers and settlers in South Africa, as in other new countries: but
having wandered a good deal, in different countries, on the outer edge
of civilization, I was struck by the large proportion of well-mannered
and well-educated men whom one came across in this tropical wilderness.

From the young Englishman's farm we turned in among the hills, following
the course of the brook, and gently rising till we reached a height from
which a superb view to the north unrolled itself. The country was
charming, quite unlike the dull brown downs of yesterday. On each side
were steep hills, sometimes rocky, sometimes covered thick with wood;
between them in the valley a succession of smooth, grassy glades, each
circled round by trees. It was rural scenery--scenery in which one could
wish to build a cottage and dwell therein, or in which a pastoral drama
might be laid. There was nothing to suggest Europe, for the rocks and,
still more, the trees were thoroughly African in character, and the air
even drier and keener than that of Sicily. But the landscape was one
which any lover of Theocritus might have come to love; and some day,
when there are large towns in Matabililand, and plenty of Englishmen
living in them, the charm of these hills will be appreciated. The valley
rises at last to a grassy table-land, where, on a boss of granite rock,
stand the ancient walls of Dhlodhlo, which we had come to see. I have
already described the ruins (see Chapter IX), which are scanty enough,
and interesting, not from any beauty they possess, but because we have
so few data for guessing at their purpose or the race that built them.
The country is now very solitary, and the natives fear to approach the
ruins, especially at night, believing them to be haunted. Having spent
some hours in examining them, we were just starting when a swarm of
locusts passed, the first we had seen. It is a strange sight, beautiful
if you can forget the destructi