e Western States and were far from superfluous in
Australia. Trains are not stopped and robbed; coaches are not "held up."
Nothing surprised me more, next to the apparent submissiveness of the
native Kafirs, than the order which appeared to prevail among the
whites. A little reflection shows that in this northerly part of the
country, where travelling is either very slow or very costly and
difficult, malefactors would have few chances of escape. But I do not
think this is the chief cause of the orderly and law-abiding habits of
the people. There have never been any traditions of violence, still less
of crime, in South Africa, except as against the natives. The Dutch
Boers were steady, solid people, little given to thieving or to killing
one another. The English have carried with them their respect for law
and authority. In some respects their ethical standard is not that of
the mother country. But towards one another and towards those set in
authority over them, their attitude is generally correct.

The night we spent at Gwelo gave a curious instance of the variability
of this climate. The evening had been warm, but about midnight the S.E.
wind rose, bringing a thin drizzle of rain, and next morning the cold
was that of Boston or Edinburgh in a bitter north-easter. Having
fortunately brought warm cloaks and overcoats, we put on all we had and
fastened the canvas curtains round the vehicle. Nevertheless, we
shivered all day long, the low thick clouds raining at intervals, and
the malign blast chilling one's bones. Gwelo, of course, declared that
such weather was quite exceptional; but those can have travelled little
indeed who have not remarked how often they encounter "exceptional
weather," and Gwelo, having existed for eighteen months only, had at
best a small experience to fall back upon. The moral for travellers is:
"Do not forget to take your furs and your ulsters to tropical South
Africa."

Some forty miles beyond Gwelo there is a mountain called Iron Mine Hill,
where the Mashonas have for generations been wont to find and work iron.
All or nearly all the Kafir tribes do this, but the Mashonas are more
skilful at it than were their conquerors the Matabili. Here a track
turns off to the south-east to Fort Victoria, the first military post
established by the Company in its territories, and for a time the most
important. It has fallen into the background lately, partly because the
gold-reefs have not realized the hop