Maritzburg, May 10, 1876.

No: I will not begin about the weather this time. It is a great temptation to do so, because this is the commencement of the winter, and it is on the strength of these coming four months that the reputation of Natal, as possessing the finest climate in the world, is built. Before I came here meteorologists used to tell me that the “average” temperature of Maritzburg was so and so, mentioning something very equable and pleasant; but then you see there is this little difference between weather theories, however scientifically correct they may be, and the practice of the weather itself: it is sadly apt to rush into extremes, and degrees of heat and cold are very different in theory when dotted up, and neatly spread over many weeks, to the experience of the same thing. Then you don't catch cold on paper, nor live in doubt whether to have a fire or open windows and doors. To keep at all on a level with the thermometer here one needs to dress three or four times a day, and it is quite on the cards that a muslin gown and a sealskin jacket may both be pleasant wear on the same day.

It is certainly cooler—at times quite cold, but the sudden spasms of fierce hot winds and the blazing sun during the mid-day hours appear the more withering and scorching for the contrast with the lower temperature of morning and evening.