. Natal province : descriptive guide and official hand-book . beside the line, and quaint sugar-bush trees with fir-like cones, stretch outtheir storm-strained limbs over the blue distance beneath them. The day darkens as thetrain speeds on ; above and below there is bright sunshine—a passing cloud has been pierced—that is all. As the train sweeps through the dense white mist, the red glow from the engine isreflected on the vapour. Then out it rushes into the sunlight again, along one angle afterthe other, each perceptibly higher than the last, until the reversing station has been passed,and w
. Natal province : descriptive guide and official hand-book . beside the line, and quaint sugar-bush trees with fir-like cones, stretch outtheir storm-strained limbs over the blue distance beneath them. The day darkens as thetrain speeds on ; above and below there is bright sunshine—a passing cloud has been pierced—that is all. As the train sweeps through the dense white mist, the red glow from the engine isreflected on the vapour. Then out it rushes into the sunlight again, along one angle afterthe other, each perceptibly higher than the last, until the reversing station has been passed,and with an exultant shriek from the engine the task is complete, and the train, leaving echoesbehind her, whirls along through rarified air over level plains 5,520 feet above the sea. Approaching Van Reenens the road passes through a theatre of scenery which canbe described in all truth as sublime. A few miles to the eastward of the station a prospectis revealed which no human being can regard without a thrill of the most exquisite andreverent delight. 231. The Curve, Van Reenen It was from this magnificent vantage point that the early Boer voortrekkers firstviewed their land of promise, their future refuge and home. Words are but feeble whencalled in requisition to describe the majesty of the scene. Mountain after mountain—hillafter hill—can be traced. Broad and apparently endless vales, forest belts and rivers arecommingled in such a wealth of beauty as to rival many an already famed land. There isno doubt that Piet Retief. the heroic leader of the Boer emigrants, simple farmer thoughhe was. drew from this scene that courage and inspiration which enabled him to face theterrors of hostile barbarism, and to win for himself and his compatriots the glory which hascaused their names to be enshrined for all time in the pages of African history. VAN REENEN station is situated on the western frontier of Natal, andf Altitude 5519feet. ^ leaving it, the Orange Free State is entered
Size: 1944px × 1286px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidnatalprovincedes00tatl
