upon being a purely nominal sovereignty on the
part of the queen, and an equally nominal protection for the natives--a
clause in the treaty which, from that time to this, no attempt whatever
has been made to enforce. Not only were the natives practically
abandoned to the mercy of the Boers, to be shot down or enslaved at
their will, as in former times, but the English settlers, who had for
months made such a noble defence in every town in the Transvaal, were
abandoned, and the greater portion of them, ruined and plundered, have
long since left the country where, relying upon the empty promises and
vain guarantee of England, they had embarked their fortunes. A more
disgraceful and humiliating chapter in English history than the war in
the Transvaal, and the treaty which concluded it, is not to be found.

After the battle of Majuba Hill Dick and Tom returned to their farms,
resolved to have nothing farther to do with the business; there they
have remained steadily since that time. Mr Humphreys' plantation of
trees now covers a great extent of ground, and promises fully to answer
his expectations of eventual profit. Those first-planted are attaining
large size, and the thinning brings in a considerable annual
income. His waggons are fully employed in taking down fruit to
Pieter-Maritzburg. In another ten years Mr Humphreys expects that he
will be a very wealthy man; he is thinking next year of paying a visit,
with his wife and two sons, to England, where John will be left to
finish his education and pass through college, with a view of eventually
entering the Church. Dick is quite contented with his life; he has
taken no farther part in trading expeditions into the interior, although
the profit realised in the venture under Mr Harvey was considerable,
but there is plenty of work on the farm to occupy his time. A large
number of natives are employed in planting operations, and since the
first year Mr Humphreys has raised all his own trees from seeds. The
breeding of cattle and horses has been abandoned, only a small herd and
a flock of sheep being kept for home requirements, as it is found that
the ever-increasing plantation and the great orchards of fruit-trees are
quite sufficient to occupy their attention.

Mr Jackson too is prospering greatly; influenced by the example of his
neighbour, he too has gone in for planting, although on a much smaller
scale than Mr Humphreys, his means being insufficient to carry out