great credit to the enterprise of the people.

Railways have made an enormous difference, not to travel only, but to
trade and to politics; for before the construction of the great
trunk-line (which was not opened to Pretoria till 1892) the only means
of conveyance was the ox-waggon. The ox-waggon needs a few words of
description, for it is the most characteristic feature of South African
travel. It is a long low structure, drawn by seven, eight, nine, or even
ten yoke of oxen, and is surmounted (when intended to carry travellers)
by a convex wooden frame and canvas roof. The animals are harnessed by a
strong and heavy chain attached to the yoke which holds each pair
together. The oxen usually accomplish about twelve miles a day, but can
be made to do sixteen, or with pressure a little more. They walk very
slowly, and they are allowed to rest and feed more hours than those
during which they travel. The rest-time is usually the forenoon and
till about four P.M. with another rest for part of the night. It was in
these waggons that the Boers carried with them their wives and children
and household goods in the great exodus of 1836. It was in such waggons
that nearly all the explorations of South Africa have been made, such as
those by the missionaries, and particularly by Robert Moffat and by
Livingstone (in his earlier journeys), and such as those of the hunting
pioneers, men like Anderson, Gordon-Cumming, and Selous. And to this day
it is on the waggon that whoever traverses any unfrequented region must
rely. Horses, and even mules, soon break down; and as the traveller must
carry his food and other necessaries of camp life with him, he always
needs the waggon as a basis of operations, even if he has a seasoned
horse which he can use for two or three days when speed is required.
Waggons have, moreover, another value for a large party; they can be
readily formed into a laager, or camp, by being drawn into a circle,
with the oxen placed inside and so kept safe from the attacks of wild
beasts. And where there are hostile Kafirs to be feared, such a laager
is an efficient fortress, from within which a few determined marksmen
have often successfully resisted the onslaught of hordes of natives. An
immense trade has been carried on by means of ox-waggons between the
points where the railways end and the new settlements in Matabililand
and Mashonaland. When I passed from Mafeking to Bulawayo in October,
1895, thousands of oxen