dragging the waggons through the muddy plain ; but, on quitting it,
the land was hard and dry, and plentifully strewed with stones of
common white quartz. Low shrubs abounded every where; the
soil itself was quite red, but covered with fine grass/ green only at
bottom, while their withered stalks remaining, showed them to be
chiefly a kind of Poa.
At the distance of about nine miles from the mud-plain, we
came to the range of mountains : their formation was quite different
from all that had been seen since entering the Roggeveld: their upper
outline no longer presented summits with that uniformly horizontal
surface which invariably distinguished those we had hitherto passed ;
it more resembled that of the mountains near the Cape. In the
pass, more particularly, their forms were grand and picturesque. As
we wound through the defile, which was called Modder-gat Poort, and
which occupied us three quarters of an hour, their height appeared to
be from six to eight hundred fe e t; they were composed of a blackish-
brown rock, among which I noticed some that seemed, at the distance
at which I viewed them, to have very much of a volcanic character.*
After clearing the mountains, darkness soon overtook us, and,
having missed the right tract, the whole caravan got into confusion
and separated. I kept with two of the Hottentot waggons, whose
drivers I believed to be the best acquainted with the country; but
they led me through such close thickets of thorny bushes, and which
seemed ready every minute to tear away the canvas from the tilts,
and our clothes from off our backs, that I had given up all hopes of
finding our way out of them till the morning. My guides, however,
were resolved to persevere in spite of all the thorns, and, after
encountering them for an hour, and getting terribly scratched, and
* In this pass, nine new plants were added
Galenia .
Lycium
Aptosimum abictinum. C.G. 1615. Fru-
ticulus prostratus, dense tectus foliis
acerosis rigidis.
to my Catalogue: —
Justicia
Barleria
Gnaphalium
Achyranthes hatnosa. C. G. 1621-2.
winding about between them in every direction, we at last discovered
a track which conducted us to the place of rendezvous at half past
ten, where, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, I could distinguish
the most delightful object we had beheld for several days:
a large pond in which there was abundance of clear and excellent
water.H
ere we.found the hunters, who, being on horseback, had
arrived some time before dark ; they had started early in the morning,
and had been very successful in their chase, having shot four
Elands (Antilope Oreas) which they had left in the middle of the
plain, until the waggons could be sent to fetch them away.
In an hour afterwards, the rest of the waggons, and the loose
cattle, arrived. All fears for want of water were now at an end, and
past difficulties no longer occupied our thoughts: nothing remained
of our troubles, but great exhaustion from continued travelling
day and night, under such distressing circumstances.
The name of this pool is Zand Valley (Sand Pool); and from
a double altitude of the sun, I computed it to be in latitude
29° 48' 4". *
14th. The land here is strewed with stones of a siliceous kind,
amongst which were frequently seen white stones of a calcareous
nature. The largest shrubs were about five feet high, a plant quite
new to me, but well known to the Klaarwater people, by the name
of Haakedoom (Hookthorn), and is the same thorny bush which
gave us so much annoyance the night before, where it was above seven
feet high. I was preparing to cut some specimens of i t ; which the
Hottentots observing, warned me to be very careful in doing sol
otherwise I should certainly be caught fast in its branches. In
consequence of this advice, I proceeded with the utmost caution, but,
with all my care, a small twig caught hold of one sleeve. While
* 15th Sept. at Zand Valley, a t Ohr. 17 min. 0 sec. P. M. by the watch, the observed
altitude of the sun’s upper limb, was 57° 6'24"; and at 1 hr. 19 min. Osec. itwas 53° 6f 52".