[Illustration: HARBOUR WORKS, DURBAN.]

The gigantic Harbour Works, commenced and now nearly successfully
completed for the purpose of removing the bar, according to the plans
both of Sir John Coode, and subsequently of his pupil, their late
lamented engineer, Mr. Innes, and under the active personal
superintendence of their distinguished townsman the Chairman of the
Harbour Board, comprise an undertaking of which the citizens of Durban
may well be proud. Nor is less credit due to them, and to their spirited
leaders, for their enterprise in so rapidly pushing on their railway to
the Transvaal border, in the confident expectation that they will be the
first to bring the benefits of that most necessary modern mode of
conveyance, both for passengers and goods, into the heart of the
Transvaal Republic.

The Harbour Works, the Railway, and the Durban Town Hall are all works
of sufficient magnitude to give undoubted evidence of the public spirit
and unconquerable energy of the people of Natal.

The inhabitants of Durban are fortunate in possessing picturesque
surroundings to their pretty town. The "Berea," one of its most
attractive spots, is an elevated suburb where many of the principal
merchants, and others have their residences. It commands a lovely
prospect over the bay, and a beautiful view of the country inland.

During, my stay at Durban I paid visits to two of the most remarkable
places in the neighbourhood. These were the Natal Central Sugar
Company's manufactory at Mount Edgcumbe, and the famous Trappist
establishment at Marionhill. The sugar manufactory is situated on a farm