CHAPTER IV

IN NATAL


Estcourt: November 6, 1899.

The reader may remember that we started post haste from Cape Town, and,
having the good fortune to pass along the southern frontier from De Aar
to Stormberg by the last train before the interruption of traffic, had
every hope of reaching Ladysmith while its investment was incomplete. I
had looked forward to writing an account of our voyage from East London
to Durban while on board the vessel; but the weather was so tempestuous,
and the little steamer of scarcely 100 tons burthen so buffeted by the
waves, that I lay prostrate in all the anguish of sea-sickness, and had
no thought for anything else. Moreover, we were delayed some twenty
hours by contrary winds; nor was it until we had passed St. John's that
the gale, as if repenting, veered suddenly to the south-west and added
as much to our speed as it had formerly delayed us. With the change of
the wind the violence of the waves to some degree abated, and, though
unable to then record them on paper, I had an opportunity of gaining
some impressions of the general aspect of the coasts of Pondoland and
Natal. These beautiful countries stretch down to the ocean in smooth
slopes of the richest verdure, broken only at intervals by lofty bluffs
crowned with forests. The many rivulets to which the pasture owes its
life and the land its richness glide to the shore through deep-set
creeks and chines, or plunge over the cliffs in cascades which the
strong winds scatter into clouds of spray.