I early found a friend in a little man with a yellow beard and spectacles, who sat down beside me and remarked on the weather in a strong Scotch accent.

He turned out to be a Mr Wardlaw from Aberdeen, who was going out to be a schoolmaster.

He was a man of good education, who had taken a university degree, and had taught for some years as an under-master in a school in his native town.

But the east winds had damaged his lungs, and he had been glad to take the chance of a poorly paid country school in the veld.

When I asked him where he was going I was amazed to be told, 'Blaauwildebeestefontein.' Mr Wardlaw was a pleasant little man, with a sharp tongue but a cheerful temper.