ry--the
animal, it need hardly be said, is not a native of South Africa. But in
1852, the Basutos had plenty of ponies, and used them in the short
campaign of that year with extraordinary effect. They are small, seldom
exceeding twelve hands in height, a little larger than the ponies of
Iceland, very hardy, and wonderfully clever on hills, able not only to
mount a slope whose angle is 30 deg. to 35 deg., but to keep their footing when
ridden horizontally along it. A rider new to the country finds it hard
not to slip off over the tail when the animal is ascending, or over the
head when he is descending.

The hollow brought us to a col fully 7500 feet above the sea, from which
we descended some way into a valley behind, and then rode for three or
four miles along the steep sides, gradually mounting, and having below
us on the right a deep glen, covered everywhere with rich grass, and
from the depths of which the murmur of a rushing stream, a sound rare in
South Africa, rose up softly through the still, clear air. At length we
reached the mountain crest, followed it for a space, and then, to avoid
the crags along the crest, guided our horses across the extremely steep
declivities by which it sinks to the east, till we came to a pass
between precipices, with a sharp rock towering up in the middle of the
pass and a glen falling abruptly to the west. Beyond this point--8500
feet or so above sea-level--the slopes were too steep even for the
Basuto horses, and we therefore left them in charge of one of our Kafir
attendants. A more rich and varied alpine flora than that which clothed
the pastures all round I have seldom seen. The flowers had those
brilliant hues that belong to the plants of our high European mountains,
and they grew in marvellous profusion. They were mostly of the same
genera as one finds in the Alps or the Pyrenees, but all or nearly all
of different species; and among those I found several, particularly two
beautiful _Gerania_, which the authorities at Kew have since told me are
new to science. It was interesting to come here upon two kinds of
heath--the first we had seen since quitting the Cape peninsula, for,
rich as that peninsula is in heaths, there are very few to be found in
other parts of South Africa, and those only, I think, upon high
mountains.

After a short rest we started for the final climb, first up a steep
acclivity, covered with low shrubs and stones, and then across a wide
hollow, where sev