. A naturalist in the Transvaal. recognizedthe unbending, inexorable, and universal application ofnatural laws, appreciated that benevolence is an ac-quired product of the human heart and not of naturallife, and observed that all life exists in an iron-boundenvironment, where strength reigns supreme and thestrong taketh by force—it is only then one under-stands what Herbert Spencer has so well called the survival of the fittest, and what Darwin had enabledhim thus to see by his enunciation of Natural Selec-tion. With these facts before us we can comprehendhow this breed of the persecuted beetl
. A naturalist in the Transvaal. recognizedthe unbending, inexorable, and universal application ofnatural laws, appreciated that benevolence is an ac-quired product of the human heart and not of naturallife, and observed that all life exists in an iron-boundenvironment, where strength reigns supreme and thestrong taketh by force—it is only then one under-stands what Herbert Spencer has so well called the survival of the fittest, and what Darwin had enabledhim thus to see by his enunciation of Natural Selec-tion. With these facts before us we can comprehendhow this breed of the persecuted beetle, ever tendingby the attacks of its enemies—a form of natural selec-tion—to perpetuate its race by its more favoured repre-sentatives who were mistaken for inedible species, inthe course of time reached—in scanty numbers, it maybe—its zenith in simulative appearance and escapedextinction. These mimicking species are the shadow ofa past, when there was a great need and a greatdanger. , V, >*iVj»ffi^--v ^j: ~.£$•. NATIVE IIux, SPELONKEN. CHAPTER VI. ZOUTPANSBERG AND THE MAGWAMBAS. Start for the Spelonken in Zoutpansberg.—Horse-sickness.——A line Convolvulus.—A castellated residence in the Wilds.—Nightin a wagon.—Kafir traders.—Kafirs on the tramp.—Polygamy.—TheMagwambas, their customs ai;d institutions.—An ox feast and Makatese.—The Mavendas and their iron-work.—Birds foodlargely orthopterous.—Good entomological spots.—Zoutspansberg withits natural riches still undeveloped. I HAD for some time intended to undertake a journeythrough the Zoutpansberg district, and Avas engaged inmaking enquiries as to the best mode of conveyanceto be engaged at the termination of the coach service atPietersburg, when I was introduced to Mr. G. D. Gill,a Spelonken trader, who kindly invited me to share hiswagon on his return journey, and to accept his hospi-tality during my stay in his neighbourhood. We startedfor Pietersburg on a
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