to ten feet high, armed at all points with exceedingly strong branched
thorns. It produces little bunches of small white flowers, which
have both the form and the scent of the jasmine, and are succeeded
by berries resembling those of the berberry. The Hottentots call
this shrub Nurn num (or Noomnoom, agreeably to English orthography),
each syllable preceded by a guttural clap of the tongue.
They eat the berries 5 but I always found them very insipid.
At the same place, I first saw the Euphorbia Mauritanica, growing
in bushes, as they might be called, from three to four feet
in height. The milky juice of its branches forms, when inspissated,
a frequent ingredient in the poisonous composition which the Bushmen
(or Bush-Hottentots) apply to their arrows.
The Hex-river Kloof is a winding defile through a range of very
lofty mountains. Through this opening, the Hex-river (Witches’
river) forces a passage, and soon after joins its waters with those of
the Breede river. On each side, the mountains rose in majestic
and bold forms, clothed with numerous plants, among which an
arborescent species of Cotyledon was curious and remarkable. In
growth, it resembled a small tree, having a disproportionately thick
fleshy trunk. It was called the Boterboom (Butter-tree); probably
from the soft fleshy nature of its trunk and branches.
The strata of these mountains seemed to have been thrown into
confiision, and often appeared inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees.
As our road, if it could be called one, followed the course of
the river, we crossed this frequently, and in many places it was three
feet deep, the greatest depth which we could venture to pass without
the risk of wetting the contents of the chests. The way was plentifully
strewed with large stones, which caused the waggon to jolt so
violently that it was not possible to endure riding in i t : I was therefore
forced to follow on foot, excepting when we went through the
river. The huge rounded pieces of rock, rolled down by the mountain
torrents, and the depth of the ravines, were marks sufficient to
inform the traveller that this pass is often visited by heavy floods,
sweeping every thing away before them.
The kloof was, throughout, a very picturesque, wild scene. Its
rocky sides re-echoed back the loud rattling noise of the waggons,
intermingled, every now and then, with the chattering and screaming
of baboons*, the numerous parties of which relieved the deserted
loneliness of the place. The rushing of the stream, or the falling of
the waters, deadened, at times, the boisterous cries with which the
drivers, encouraged or excited their oxen. Erequent large trees of
rich foliage adorned the scene, and softened the rough features of
the frowning rocks, which here projected in enormous masses, and
there retired in deep, solemn, shady recesses.
To have spent several days in exploring these mountains, apparently
so interesting and so enticing, as well to the eye of the geologist
as of the botanist, would have been a delightful employment;
but, orders having been issued for the different voorspans to be ready
on the appointed days, to take my waggons forward, and having with
me at this time no oxen of my own to enable me to proceed without
them, I could not stop so long on the road, without causing much
confusion and unnecessary trouble to those farmers whose duty it
was to furnish the relays. I now discovered that such a mode, or
rather rate, of travelling was quite at variance with the idea I
had formed, of the manner in which a country ought to be explored
and examined. To be thus hurried through the land, by
night as well as by day, would indeed have brought me very expeditiously
to the end of my journey; but it would at the same time
have left me little wiser, as to the true nature of these regions, than
I was at the commencement of it. I therefore determined on the
more reasonable plan, of advancing quietly and steadily with my own
oxen, as soon as we joined them, excepting such places where the
road was particularly laborious and fatiguing. This I considered to
be a more independent, and, therefore, a more agreeable way of
travelling.
As soon as we had got through the kloof, and were clear of the
mountains, the two young farmers, wishing us a pleasant journey,
# Cercopit/iecus ursimts.