WANDERINGS AND ADVENTURES

IN THE

INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA.

PART THE THIRD.

CHAPTER I.

Leave Cape Town for Lattakoo-Stupendous Pass-Miseries of African Travelling-Neuwveld Mountains-Storm-Distressing Story- Klipspringer - Winterveld - Celebrated Lion-hunterPastoral state of the Boors-Beautiful appearance of the Country -Excessive Heat-" Mirage"-Oxen alarmed at Lions—Run off with Waggons-Scarcity of Water-Hottentots prefer Water to Wine-Reach the Banks of the Orange River-Bushmen and Vultures-Flight of Locusts-Cross the River on a Raft-Solitary ride with a Bushman-Surprise a Party of Natives bivouacking on the Plain-Griqua Town.

On the 17th September, 1831, I quitted Cape Town with the intention of making an excursion as far as Lattakoo, in the Bechuana country, in company with a friend who was proceeding to Beaufort. We took our departure on horseback, the travelling waggon having been dispatched by a different route, to the farm of Mr. de Vos, on the Hex River, where we purposed to meet it.

Immediately in the rear of the Paarl village, which

VOL. II.

B

we reached at the end of our first day's ride, is De Toie's Kloof, a steep pass over the first great range of mountains that separates the interior from the Cape. This ridge has been designated by a French naturalist as the "back-bone of the earth;" a name, however, says Mr. Barrow," That is much more appropriate on account of its singular appearance than great extent. The naked summits of these mountains are pointed and jagged, like the vertebræ of the back-bone of an animal: they consist of a number of sandstone strata, placed in a horizontal direction, containing a great deal of iron, being in places perfectly red; and they rest upon beds of granite, clay, and slate."

The sun had been above the horizon for several hours when we began to ascend these heights on the following day. The exhalations from the earth, which usually indicate excessive heat, and which, in the earlier part of the morning, completely obscured the surrounding scenery, had begun to disperse; so that when we reached the summit of the pass, all was bright and serene, a vast extent of cloudless sky spreading its interminable azure over the beautifully varied earth as far as the eye could reach. Before us lay a delightful prospect of mountain, hill, and dale. On one hand towered the lofty promontory of Table Mountain, that ancient landmark of "seatossed men;" and on the other, immediately below, lay stretched along in quiet beauty the hamlets of

waggon-makers, Vlie, Jehoshaphat, the Paarl, and Drakenstein, surrounded by fertile vineyards and orange groves, with the distant village church, the serpentine windings of the Berg or Mountain River, and many other agreeable objects. The eye roamed with delight over this wide expanse of varied beauties, which, sweetly blended, and relieving each other in the landscape, produced a scene of deep and peculiar interest.

The Franch Hoek mountain bounded the view in one direction, at the foot of which lay the scattered village of that name, so called from its having been the spot selected for their retreat by the French Protestants, when they fled from the persecutions consequent upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. To them, it is said, the colony is indebted for the introduction of the vine. The village lies in a deep recess, and seems an eligible place of refuge, formed for contemplation and retirement from the world's confusion. It must have strangely contrasted with the scenes of strife and turmoil from which these persecuted exiles had fled. They discovered, indeed, a retreat which the poet so ardently desired, when he exclaimed

"Oh! for a lodge in some vast wilderness

Some boundless contiguity of shade,

Where rumour of oppression and deceit

Might never reach me more!"

I had lingered long amidst this sublime scenery,

with feelings of extreme delight, but was now to leave it for wilder and more uncultivated regions. Having advanced a short distance through the opening pass, I again turned to take a parting look. The projecting rocks now interrupted my view, and when I had proceeded down the deep and gloomy recess of this stupendous ravine, "wild and lonesome as ever mountain eagle or savage vulture soared above," how changed the prospect from that which had so recently engaged my admiration! Alpine peaks reared on either hand their vast naked masses, that cast a dark and dreary shadow on the abyss below.

"Soon we raise the eye to range

O'er prospects wild, grotesque, and strange;
Sterile mountains, rough and steep,
That bound abrupt the valley deep,

Heaving to the clear blue sky
Their ribs of granite, bare and dry;

And ridges, by the torrents worn,
Thinly streak'd with scraggy thorn,
Which fringes Nature's savage dress,
Yet scarce relieves her nakedness."

An oppressive silence reigned throughout this gloomy glen, broken only by the mountain torrent, as it rushed down some shelving rock, or the faint passing breeze, which seemed to whisper to the heart, "This is Nature's solitude."

Our ride was tedious in the extreme, as we had frequently to dismount and lead our horses over

the loose stones that obstructed our path down the rugged precipices; and as the sun had nearly reached the horizon before we passed the Kloof, the friend who accompanied me began, as well as myself, to despair of reaching any shelter for the night. We were, however, at length gratified by suddenly observing an opening that terminated this gloomy defile; and we shortly afterwards enjoyed the comfort of a night's repose at the hospitable abode of Mr. de Plessie. His farm is situated on the opposite bank of the Breede River, which at the end of a most fatiguing journey we had with no little difficulty succeeded in fording with our wearied horses, having once or twice narrowly escaped the quicksands.

On the next day we proceeded to the Hex River, where we overtook the waggons; and as there was a bright moon, we were enabled to reach the top of the Hex River Mountain the same night. On the 21st we entered upon the Karroo; and after having travelled for the last three days through a succession of mountain passes, we found an agreeable change in the extensive prospect that now opened before us. We uitspanned about midnight, and on the following morning our journey lay over a long plain of red gravelly soil, covered with stunted bushes, bounded by gently undulating hills, and backed by lofty mountains; the great chain of Zwartberg being upon our right, and the cold Bokefeld on our left.