This rming service it has very kindly been lent to the English for service. herto has been performed by a Wesleyan minister reading the Church of gland Service, afterwards delivering a sermon. A large Government School just been finished, and here, temporarily, the Colonial chaplain lately apinted now performs service, until a Church can be built. A new Wesleyan apel, red brick and Gothic style, has just been opened. The education stowed in the Government School will be of the most liberal character, and e charge about four guineas per annum. The population of Pietermaritzrg now amounts to about 1500, exclusive of the military. A Government azette is published here, also a weekly newspaper, which is very well concted. There is a spacious market-place; but whereas when the Dutch were possession, there were from four to fourteen waggons a day with produce, w there are not that number in a month. We have driven away our good stomers into the wilderness. There is a respectable Court House in the arket-square. WEENEN. This village on the Bushman's River contains about 800 inhabitants, prinally Dutch. It is situated in a valley a little off the main road; but the ighbourhood is fertile, good for culture, cattle and sheep. Coal is in the ighbourhood in extensive beds and near the surface, of fair quality. Some sembles Anthracite and Cannel, and there is some nearly as good as good ewcastle. It is frequently found in layers of sandstone. Although the coal lds are private property, any one may take a waggon-load without charge, that the expense of waggon hire is all that it costs. Wood, however, is the neral fuel of the country, which is very reasonable. It is only wanted for oking, except in high cold situations. The garden ground cannot be surssed in any part of the world. SUMMARY. Without exaggeration the following may be stated amongst the advantages Natal, with its drawbacks. Proximity to England, as seen by the annexed Chart. No Convicts. A climate superior to every other, excepting, perhaps, the Cape Colony and goa Bay, which approximate most to it, but which I do not like so well. though Natal is nearer the Equator, I think it is cooler than those colonies; d much cooler and more healthy than Australia. No disease whatever is evalent. It is not a colony for medical men. The temperature is moderate. ost only known far inland and in the mountains; and Europeans may labor the field or in building without finding the heat to be excessive. Droughts more rare than in any Southern Colony. Rains frequent, much more so than in the Cape Colony. CHART SHEWING DISTANCE IN MILES TO THE SOUTHERN COLONIES. Rivers. Many rivers take their rise in the Great Drakenberg Mountains, which is the Western and North Western boundary of the Colony, supplied also by innumerable tributaries, thus watering the whole country. These rivers are very numerous and are never dry. Good water. Land. Rich virgin soil, capable of producing a great variety of cerial plants; capable also of supporting an infinite quantity of stock, both for consumption and export. Country is generally open; diversified with hill and dale, and rarely rugged or unapproachable. Government price of land 4s. per acre : lands in private hands are commonly cheaper and according to quality. The country is more open, more available, better and cheaper than America, and more healthy. Productions. Wheat, Barley, Oats, Indian Corn and Millet, Beans, and all kinds of vegetables and fruit. Cotton and Indigo alone afford a sufficient base on which to raise this Colony to great wealth. Cotton as good as from America, a longer life, and a better yield. Cattle and Beef and Pork may be extensively grown and exported; also Butter, Cheese, and Tallow. Cattle of a good weight, and Horses far more enduring than English Horses, and doing double the work. Timber and Woods for all purposes in abundance. Stone for building, very good; and good Clay for bricks. Coal exists, but carriage at present high: wood is the common fuel and is cheap. Trade. All the trade with the Zoolu Country goes through Port Natal and is increasing. The trade with the Dutch farmers over the Drakenberg, should all be carried on by Natal. There are about 117 waggon loads of goods from the Cape Colony to these self-expatriated farmers and the natives, each valued in £600-which gives an amount of about.... £70,200 From Natal there are 15 traders, each about £600 9,000 5,000 Missionary Trade.. 5,000 Natal, with enterprise, as the nearest market, should possess the whole of this; besides her English, Mauritius, and Cape trade. The trade of Natal, in four years, should be £250,000 at the least. Mauritius takes cattle, mules, beans, butter, &c. Water power for mills, considerable in all parts; ought to export flour. Situation. About half the distance from England, to the other Southern Colonies. One week to Algoa Bay; two weeks to Cape Town and Mauritius. Harbor is like a dock; the safest in the whole Cape Colony, and may be a good whaling station. The only good place in the Colony for repairing vessels. Land at entrance of port visible for vessels at a distance. Native labor is abundant. They are refugees, not natives of the soil. They have mostly been deprived of their cattle, and then fled for their lives. Wages about 5s. a month, with food, which consists of mealies, grown by themselves, milk, and occasionally meat, beef, buck, buffalo, or sea-cow. Aborigines. None. Natal having been depopulated by the chiefs of the former possessors of the soil, was afterwards ordered to be evacuated. So that our possession commits no injury upon any aborigines. On the contrary, we confer a benefit, introduce civilization, and spread religion. Capacity. When the whole is surveyed it will probably be found to contain thirty-five millions of acres; and, according to Sir Harry Smith, it will support two millions of people; and, according to Earl Grey, it is the focus from which the regeneration of the interior will be accomplished. Government altogether separate from the Cape of Good Hope; with power to make its own laws; the governor of the last named Colony having no control, except when he may happen to be on the spot. Lastly, Plenty of sport; no Poor, and no Poor Rates or Taxes. DISADVANTAGES OF NATAL RECAPITULATED. I have not omitted a single passage in any letter mentioning any disadvantages under which Natal labors, nor do I know where to find them stated. There are however three disadvantages, which I will recapitulate. The principal is the Tick, mentioned in the Rev. A. Grout's letter. There can be no doubt that they are sometimes distressing to cattle, but on the sea coast only. I am told, also to man on arrival in the Colony. That however is only temporary. And as regards cattle, the natives pick them off, or cut them with a pair of scissors. Lightning in summer is sometimes severe; and occasionally it is hot, but rarely oppressive. Rust in wheat occasionally visits crops on the sea coast, but not all kinds of wheat. Other crops are better suited for the coast, and are not subject to it. Locusts. I had, from the rarity of their visits, almost forgotten them; they visit the Colony in some seasons, but it is rarely a serious loss. Vermin. Wolves are the principal, but yet they are few. They will all be killed in five years. Lions, buffalos, sea cows, rhinoceros, wild cats, deer of all kinds, only afford sport. They do no damage. Snakes there are, but they are by no means so numerous as I expected. I saw but one in the country, and my companion jumped off his horse and killed it. I saw another at the public dinner table, round an Irishman's waist; it was eleven feet long, a Boa Constrictor. So much for Snakes. Should a person happen to be bit, take a decoction of tobacco, and a little exercise. There are Alligators in some of the rivers: catch them with shark hooks. Dysentery is rare: a decoction of pomegranate rind cures it. I NATAL HORSES. The horses are active, clever, docile, hardy, and of great powers of endurance, even when only grass fed; though, of course, they will work better when stabled, properly fed, &c. They are singularly free from the diseases which we are accustomed to in horses at home; and I have hardly seen an unsound horse, (except from accidental causes,) since I have been in this country. They work well on very indifferent treatment. In travelling, they generally pass the night, after their daily work, (which is sometimes severe, as in hunting excursions,) at grass, or tied to a bush, or wagon-wheel, without suffering, excepting more or less in their condition. The " Horse-sickness,' a disease sometimes prevalent during the summer months, although in some seasons comparatively unknown, and which is generally fatal in its attack, may, I think, be almost always avoided by judicious treatment. It seems to be a violent form of pleurisy, in which the inflammation runs high rapidly. Horses allowed to run at grass during the night, (except in high sour localities,) to eat grass wet with dew, or changed from pasturage in elevated to low situations, are most liable to this disease.* Stabled horses, or those not injudiciously exposed, are seldom or never attacked. Except in the summer months, there is little or no risk in exposure. The general appearance of the Cape horse would hardly indicate his capabilities, and I think a good useful horse inay always be purchased at from £10 to £20 Highly-bred horses are more expensive. If not urged to immoderate speed, they will perform journeys wonderful both for distance and continuance. In short, I may say, after seven years' experience of them, under every variety of circumstance, that I have never ceased to be struck with the usefulness and the capability of the horses of this colony. [This note was given me by an officer continually using horses in the service, and in hunting for weeks together. I have myself ridden a Natal horse forty miles a day, excepting Sundays, for a month together. I have ridden one hundred and two miles on one horse, in twenty-six hours, and that is very frequently exceeded.] * Let me add, this complaint may be foreseen by a great heaviness and sleepiness in the animal. He should at once be bled freely. Indeed, the safe plan is to bleed every spring, and prevent it altogether. DISEASES OF CATTLE, AND REMEDIES. (I am indebted for the following to an experienced Cattle Farmer.) There are but few diseases to which Cattle are liable. The most prevalent are the Stop-sick, the Clow-sick, and the Tonge-sick. The Stop-sick, which is the most fatal of them, may generally be attributed to change of grass, by bringing Cattle from the more inland parts of the country towards the sea coast. Cattle are seldom attacked by it, provided they remain in the place where they were bred. The remedies are the bark of the yellow wood tree boiled into a strong liquor; whale oil; or strong soap and water. The former is preferred. The Clow or Hoof-sick is a swelling of the parts around the hoof, and which causes a complete lameness for a time, but is seldom or ever destructive to the animal. The remedy for this disease is tarring the parts affected, and by driving them into the salt water, if you reside near the sea coast. This malady is much increased by keeping the Cattle in dirty wet kraals, as the dirt in long droughts clots the hoof, whereby the disease is created. Remedy,cleanliness. The Tonge-sick is a swelling and soreness of the tongue and throat, by which the animal is prevented from chewing the cud. It is like the former, seldom or ever fatal, if attended to. Remedy. By rubbing the tongue and inside of the mouth with salt, or salt and vinegar, in most cases a speedy cure is performed. Calves. There are also three diseases prevalent amongst Calves; viz., the Melt-sick, the Quarter-evil, commonly designated by Colonists Spon-sick, and the Dysentery. The Quarter-evil or Spon-sick is a certain and fatal disease, and no cure has yet been discovered when once the animal is attacked with it. But there is an infallible remedy provided it be attended to while the animal is young, it is termed Roweling. The process is performed in the following manner:Select a small stick about six inches long, and cut a notch or head at each end of it; cut a hole in the dewlap, which may be done with a gun-punch, and insert the stick into it,—which, with the motion of the Calf, will act as an issue. Let it remain 'till the shoulders begin to swell, and then take it out. This has been tried by many, and has always proved a certain preventative against Spon-sick. The Melt sick is as dangerous as the former. It is an overflowing of the gall, and the only preventative is keeping in low condition, never letting them feed until the dew is off the grass, and kraalling them an hour before sunset. The Dysentery or bloody-flux, is, in nine cases out of ten, caused by letting the Calf have too much milk when young. It is cured by the bark of the mimosa boiled to a strong liquor, or if the Calf be very young, three or four raw eggs will frequently cure it. In the more inland parts these diseases in Calves are very rare. The young shoots from burnt land and the stalks of burnt grass, equally purge the Cattle, and, until it is well grown up, other land should be reserved for Oxen, Cows, and Calves. Bleeding is very rarely to be resorted to for any complaints in cattle, the preceding remedies being much more effectual. THE FARMERS' AND GARDENERS' MANUAL FOR THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND NATAL. BY Mr. B. HADLEY. [The seasons at Natal are about fourteen days in advance of these observations, but in other repects they are very suitable to Natal, only that there is more water.] JANUARY.-A moderate quantity of rain may be expected to fall this month, especially if the south and south-east winds prevail. KITCHEN GARDEN.-Sow turnips, but not for the main crop; make frequent sowings of small salading, radishes and lettuce, the latter for autumn and winter crops. Parsley may now be sown for winter and spring use; spinage in the first and second week for a main winter crop; carrots throughout this and the next month; onions must be set out for seed. Sow York Cabbage ; French beans any time this month in moist weather, and peas the last week. Transplant as in last month, and include leeks and perennial herbs. Propagate by slips and cuttings where necessary. Water copiously, where required, in the evening. French or kidney beans may still be sown to advantage on good moist |