o Harrismith, Bethlehem,

AND KROONSTAD-

The Orange Free State Line

CHAPTER XI

HE line to Kroonstad is 215 miles long. The first 36 miles are in Natal, the remainder in the Orange Free State. The Natal portion of the line is incomparably steeper as it passes over the Drakensberg Mountains, rising over 2,000 feet between the Junction and the border station. The scenery in Natal is on a grand scale, and no tourist should omit this journey from his itinerary. The H arrismith-Kroonstad line takes leave of the main line at the Orange Free State Junction, one mile north of Ladysmith. In the vicinity are many notable positions held by both British and Boers during the siege, this being about midway between the opposing forces. After clearing the Junction the line passes through an open country westward to the stopping places Smith's Crossing and Walker's Hoek, the latter point being ten miles distant. The Klip River being crossed, the Drakensberg is revealed in all its majesty.

" Huge as despair, as if in weariness The melancholy mountains yawn."

At the base of the mountains are many large stock farms, and thousands of sheep pasture on the spreading plains.

BESTE RS is the first station on the branch, and is situated in the middle' of a large grazing district. At this point the first shots in the Natal Campaign were fired, in a brush between the Natal volunteers and the enemy, on the 18th October, 1899. Passing towards Brakwal the intermediate halt of COLWORTH occurs.

Altitude Distance

4005 feet. 205 miles.