bour, once you are within it, is perfectly
sheltered.

Durban is a neat and, in some parts, even handsome town, incomparably
superior to Lourenco Marques, with wide and well-kept streets, to which
the use of slender jinrickshas (drawn by active Zulus or Indians)
instead of cabs, as well as the number of white-clad coolies in the
streets, gives a curious Eastern touch, in keeping with the
semi-tropical vegetation. The climate is sultry during three months, but
very agreeable for the rest of the year. Many of the whites,
however,--there are 14,000 of them, and about the same number of Kafirs
and immigrants from India, live on the hill of Berea to the north of the
town, where the sea breeze gives relief even in the hottest weather.
This suburb of Berea is one of the prettiest spots in South Africa. The
name, of which the origin seems to have been forgotten by the citizens
of to-day, comes from a missionary settlement planted here in very early
days, and called after the Berea mentioned in Acts xvii. 10, 11. It has
been skilfully laid out in winding roads, bordered by tasteful villas
which are surrounded by a wealth of trees and flowering shrubs, and
command admirable views of the harbour, of the bold bluff which rises
west of the harbour, and of the ocean. The municipality bought the land,
and by selling or leasing it in lots at increased prices has secured a
revenue which keeps local taxation at a very low figure, and has enabled
many town improvements to be made and many enterprises to be worked for
the benefit of the citizens. Durban has been a pioneer of what is
called, in its extremer forms, municipal socialism; and enjoys the
reputation of being the best managed and most progressive town in all
South Africa. It possesses among other things a fine town-hall with a
lofty tower, built by the exertions of the present mayor, a deservedly
respected Scotch merchant.

East of Durban a low and fertile strip of country stretches along the
coast, most of which is occupied by sugar plantations, tilled by coolies
brought from India, because the native Kafir does not take kindly to
steady labour. North of the town the country rises, and here the patient
industry of other Indians has formed a great mass of gardens, where
sub-tropical and even some tropical fruits are grown in great
quantities, and have now begun to be exported to Europe. Across this
high ground, and through and over the still higher hills which rise
farther inlan