Compartments in the railway coaches are heated with what is called foot-warmers—that is, sometimes the compartment will be provided with this device. The foot-warmer is an iron pipe, two feet long, eight inches wide, three inches thick, and filled with hot water. The foot-warmer is all right when there are but two persons in a compartment, or when two foot-warmers are supplied and four persons occupy a compartment, but when six or eight passengers occupy a compartment—well, 16 passengers' feet cannot get on four feet of piping. That is the only means of heating passenger coaches in South Africa.
In some respects accommodation is better on South African trains than in the United States and Europe—every passenger having a place to sleep, for instance. Six persons can sleep in a compartment, but five is generally the maximum number assigned, the extra berth being reserved for hand baggage. Frequently, when travel is light, one has a compartment to himself. The back of the compartment against which one leans while riding is portable, and when pulled out straight is fastened at each end. Above that shelf, or berth, is another. The same applies to the opposite side of the compartment, which, with seats on each side, termed the lower berths, make six in all—three on each side. These berths, or sleeping shelves, are two feet wide and upholstered. Travelers generally carry with them a cushion and blanket, or rug, as it is termed, which is used for sleeping purposes. The bedding furnished by the railway cost 60 cents. If one is traveling two nights in succession the bedding is rolled up by a steward in the morning and put on the top shelf of the compartment, where it remains during the day, and is taken down the second night for use. Sixty cents for two nights—30 cents a night. Meals on the train are very reasonable. Breakfast and luncheon costs 50 cents and dinner 60 cents. So, paying but 60 cents for a bed, as it were, and not more than 60 cents for a meal, one finds a great reduction in traveling expenses in South Africa compared to what is charged for the same service in the United States. Railroad fare is higher, however, than in America, the second class rate being three and four cents a mile, and first-class six cents a mile. A hundred pounds of baggage is allowed a passenger. The schedule is slow compared with that in England and on some roads in America, twenty-five miles an hour being as fast as trains run. Long delays take place at stations, for when a passenger train stops it often seems as if it had been abandoned.
From Durban to Pietermaritzburg, a distance of 70 miles, an elevation of 3,000 feet is ascended. Some cultivated land is seen from the train, but grassy, timberless hills, with smoke and flames from prairie fires showing here and there off the railway, is what a stranger notices continuously.
Pietermaritzburg, the capital of Natal, was first settled by the Dutch. The town hall, postoffice, and government buildings are imposing structures. In addition, one finds a small museum, botanical garden and good city parks, an electric railway system and a good railway station. One is surprised when visiting small cities located so far out of the world, as it seems, to find them so up to date. Locally, the place is called, for short, Maritzburg.
The Voortrekkers' Church is a historical monument to, and a solemn reminder of, the terrible sufferings of the Voortrekkers during the dark days between the massacres by the hordes of Dingaan, the Zulu king, of over 600 men, women and children, in February, 1838, and the eventful overthrowing of Zulu power, at Blood River, in December of the same year. The massacre of Piet Retief, leader of a colony of Boer emigrants, and some of his band by the native despot at the head kraal, and the slaughter of his followers at Weenen, which immediately followed, is closely identified with the erection of the church. Retief and some of his followers had been led to believe that Dingaan wished to make friends of them. While in the king's kraal, they were seized and massacred. Andries Pretorius, with 450 men, some months later, started on an expedition to avenge the massacre. Religious services were held every day during the march of the expedition, and a vow was made by Pretorius' party that, if they came out victorious in battle with the bloodthirsty and perfidious Zulu king, a church to the honor of God would be erected. Pretorius and his burghers met the Zulu forces at a river then unnamed. Fifteen thousand natives were arrayed against 450 Boers. After several hours' fighting the Zulus fled, leaving behind 5,000 dead and wounded. The river was said to be red with the blood that flowed from wounded natives, and that stream has since been known as Blood River. Dingaan's Day, December 16, one of the national holidays in South Africa, is observed in honor of the bravery of Pretorius and his followers and the avenging of the foul massacre of Piet Retief and his band of emigrants. The church promised by Pretorius was built in 1841, three years later.
Maritzburg natives are mostly Basutos, the only tribe in South Africa that white troops have never conquered. Most of Basutoland is situated in the Drakensburg Mountains, some parts of which contain rich land. They have a king, and are said to be wealthy. Europeans cannot travel in Basutoland without permission from the ruler or some high native officer. A large amount of firearms and munitions of war is said to have been smuggled into their country. The Basuto is feared by all in South Africa, and that will explain why Basutoland is for Basutos only.
Now we travel northward to Ladysmith, passing Spion Kop south of the Siege City. Ragged turrets and spires are still to be seen, bearing gaping evidence of the days of suffering, hunger and fear that the brave besieged underwent in the Boer war. Historical Majuba Hill next comes in view, with Mount Prospect opposite. A tunnel has been bored through the land lying between Majuba and Mount Prospect, known as Laing's Nek. We travel over rough territory for a while, then find ourselves on the high veld, having left the Drakensburg mountain range behind. Continuing to Charlestown, on the south bank of the Vaal River, and crossing the river to Voxburg, we passed out of Natal and were in the Transvaal.
"When do we scoff?" asked a passenger, at one stage of the journey. The term being a strange one, "I don't know" was what a stranger would reply. "Luncheon is ready" announced a train steward just then as he passed the compartment. "Let's go and scoff. I'm hungry," said the South African. "Scoff," in South Africa, has the same meaning here as "grub" in the United States.
The River Vaal is the boundary line between the Transvaal Province, Natal Province and the Orange Free State. The meaning of "Transvaal" is, across the Vaal—trans-Vaal.
On we go over the grassy veld, or prairie, seeing very little cultivated ground, but cattle are grazing here and there. They are a brand peculiar to South Africa; their horns grow from two to three feet, their legs in keeping with the long horns, but their bodies are narrow and of light weight. The most productive feature of the veld were ant-hills, ranging in size from a water bucket to a hogshead. Thousands of these, as far as the eye could reach, mar the green landscape as freckles or small-pox mark an unblemished skin.