the second, and we saw no other between that and Graaff Reynet, which is ten miles farther, and where we arrived late in the evening of the sixteenth day from entering the desert. Our journey from the Cape had occupied thirty days, twenty-five of which had been passed in travelling, and five in repose.

The division of Graaff Reynet, properly so called, extends about ten miles on every side of . the village. On the north and east it is terminated by the Sneuw bergen, or Snow mountains; on the south and west by a branch of the Camdebo. The village, which is called the Drosdy, from its being the residence of the landrost, and the seat of his government, is situated in a plain of not more than two square miles, surrounded by mountains 2,000 feet in height. These lofty walls of rock render the heat of summer intense; and the winds of winter, rushing through a chasm, not only make the cold intolerable, but raise eddies of red earth and sand that confine the inhabitants to their houses. The Sondag, or Sunday river, in its passage from the Sneuwberg, enters through this chasm in the mountains, winds round the plain, and furnishes the village with a copious supply of water. The division contained only twenty-six families; twelve inhabiting the village, and fourteen scattered over a country little better than the Karroo.

The houses of the village were constructed with mud, and placed in two lines, so as to form a street. 'The house of the governor was also of mud, and stood at the upper end. The walls of all the buildings were excavated, and the floors undermined, by a species of white ant; and the bats, which lodged

in the thatch, came forth at night in such numbers as to extinguish the candles. No milk, no butter, no cheese, no vegetables, no wine, no beer, could be had, on any terms, at Graaff Reynet.

The village of Graaff Reynet is in latitude 32o 11′ south, and longitude 26° east. The distance from the Cape is 500 miles. In summer the thermometer is from 80 to 84 in the middle of the day.

CHAPTER IX.

SNEUWBERG. BOSJESMANS.

FROM Graaff Reynet I travelled to the northward, in search of the Bosjesmans, who dwell among, and behind, the Snow mountains. These people neither cultivate the ground, nor breed cattle; but subsist on the natural produce of the country, and on what they can seize from others more provident than themselves. In its eagerness to subdue this people, the Dutch government gave the colonists power to attack them at whatever times, and in whatever manner they pleased, and decreed that his should be the spoil who took it. The spoil belonging to the Bosjesmans was their persons, for goods or possessions they had none; therefore every party that hunted the Bosjesmans, and took them alive, divided them among themselves as slaves. Such as have been taken very young, and well treated, have turned out most excellent servants, and have shewn great capacity, activity, and fidelity: but it has been observed that the servants of the Dutch farmers are not always

well treated. The Hottentot bears brutality with patience, or sinks under it; the Bosjesman escapes to his countrymen, and, if he can, carries with him a musquet, powder, and ball; he excites them to revenge the cruel usage he has received, and points out the way.

Armed with musquets and poisoned arrows, a party of these people had the boldness to approach within four or five miles of the Drosdy, a few days before my arrival, and carry off several hundred sheep. They were followed into one of the recesses of the Sneuwberg, where they laughed at their pursuers, and invited them to taste their own mutton; and a musquet ball grazing the hat of one of the farmers, the whole body made a precipitate

retreat.

At the distance of ten miles, in a north-westerly direction, we reached the foot of the mountains, from whence a narrow defile of five miles in length, and a steep ascent of three, brought us out on the extensive plains, and among the scattered mountains that compose the Sneuwberg.

The haunts of the Bosjesmans were easily discoverable, but not easy of access. Torrents of water, rushing down the steep sides of the chasms, frequently leave a succession of caverns: of these the Bosjesman chooses the highest, as the most remote from danger, and giving him the most extensive view of the country.

In one of these caverns we saw recent traces of the Bosjesmans. Their fires were scarcely extinguished, and the grass on which they had slept was not withered. On the smooth sides of the cavern were drawings of zebras, qua-kas, baboons, ostriches, and different kinds of antelopes, made

with charcoal, pipe-clay, and ochre. For correctness, worse drawings have passed through the hands of the engraver. Some of these were known to be new; but many of them have been remembered from the first settlement of this part of the colony.

At the house of the commandant of the Sneuwberg, I saw one of these wild men, who, with his two wives and a little child, had fallen to the lot of this officer, out of forty that had been taken, The man was only four feet five inches high; one of the women four feet three, and the other four feet two. This man represented the condition of his countrymen as deplorable. He said that for several months in the year, when the frost and snow prevented them from making their inroads upon the farmers, they frequently saw their wives and children perishing with hunger, without being able to afford them any relief; that the good season brought its misery, as they knew that every nation around them was planning their destruction, and not a leaf stirred, or a bird screamed, that did not announce to them the approach of an enemy. Hunted like wild beasts in their own country, and ill-treated in the service of the farmers, he said they were driven to desperation, and the burden of their song was vengeance against the Dutch.

On the following evening we encamped at the foot of the Compass berg, which is about 6,500 feet above the level of the sea. It is separated from the surrounding mountains on four sides, by as many large level meadows. On the south-east is the source of the Sondag; and on all the others are springs, which, uniting at no great distance,

flow directly to the north, and form the Sea-cow river. The country on the northern side of the mountain is at least 1,500 feet above the source of the Sondag.

The rills of water that ran through the meadows were covered with reeds, and these were frequented by vast flocks of birds, particularly by the grenadier, which in spring and summer is of a bright crimson, with a breast of glossy black, and in winter wears the garb of the female, which is at all times of a greyish brown. Another remarkable bird was the long-tailed finch, whose body is five, and whose tail is fifteen inches in length, and whose long feathers last no longer than the grey plumage of the other. The nests of the long-tailed finch are composed of grass, neatly plaited into a round ball, and knotted fast between the stems of two reeds. The entrance is a tube, whose orifice is next to the water.

The termination of the Sneuwberg is about twelve miles to the north-eastward of the Compass berg, where a pass opens to a level plain, extending to the northward farther than the eye can reach.

The elevated parts of the Snow mountains produced tufts of a long grass, mingled with small heathy shrubs; the plains were beautifully adorned with flowers; but the whole country was destitute of wood. The fuel used by the inhabitants was the dung of their cattle, and there were many of them who had never seen a tree.

The farmers of the Sneuwberg can neither plough nor sow without their arms, lest they should be surprised by the Bosjesmans. If a man go into his garden to gather a few greens, he takes his