even while I was pointing out how they were to dig the channel,
they stood as unmoved as if they had been statues fixed there upon
a pedestal.
I was now convinced of the necessity of having a second waggon,
not only on account of the great quantity of goods to be carried
with us, but also of my own comfort; as, by restricting the Hottentots
to the use of the second for carrying their clothes, and by
placing in that one our provisions and such things as were dirty or
otherwise disagreeable, my own would always remain clean. I resolved,
therefore, to purchase another, as soon as we should arrive
at Tulbagh, where it was proposed to rest a few days.
We quitted Olyvenhout-bosch at three o’clock, and soon arrived
on the left bank of the Groote Berg-rivier (Great Mountain-river) at
the Pont, (or ferry,) where we found people in readiness to convey
us over. *
The river, at this place, was deep and rapid, and might, at this
time, be about seventy yards across. This stream is sometimes very
suddenly and unexpectedly swelled by torrents, which descend from
the mountains of Drakenstein and Fransche Hoek; on which account
it is imprudent for travellers, at any time, to remain at outspan immediately
on its banks. A melancholy accident of this kind had happened
here about a month before, when a boor and his family, not
suspecting danger, halted close to the ferry. The floods coming
down in the night, swept away the waggon, while all in it were asleep,
and three of the party were drowned.
The ferry-boat is of a construction well adapted for conveying
* Plate 3. represents this view. The level country seen on the left in the distance, is
a part of' Wagen-maker*s (Waggon-maker’s) Valley. The mountains are those o f Klein
(Little) Drakenstein. A farm-home, with a few'large orange-trees in front, is seen on thè
bushy plam. A few white poplars stand on the opposite bank, and the foreground is
shaded by a large many-stemmed tree of Karree-hout, some of the branches of which are
loaded with grass and rubbish left there by the waters, attesting the great height to which
this river occasionally swells. All the figures in the foreground, excepting two, were
Hottentots.