they had feasted more plentifully than usual, as the meat of the
six elands had enabled the Hottentots to give them, almost for the
first time on the journey, as much food as they could eat.
We passed over a country rather flat, and clothed only with
bushes, none of which exceeded a foot in height-. I know not
whether it may be said that the universally diminutive size of the
bushes, which had been so often remarked, since leaving the Karro
Poort, is a feature peculiar to the southern extremity of Africa;
but, certainly, it is one to which nothing in England has the least
resemblance. Although so small, t hoy are completely ligneous
plants, and more resemble trees in miniature, than shrubs. They
seem, in fact, to constitute the character of all the dry hard plains
which partake of the nature of Karro. Nothing deserving the name
of tree, not even an Acacia, is to be seen between the Roggeveld
mountain, and the Gariep,a distance of three hundred and sixty miles.
We had scarcely travelled three miles before the lightning began
to flash, and the most tremendous peals of thunder burst over our
heads. In an instant, without perhaps more than one minute’s notice,
a black cloud which had formed suddenly, emptied its contents upon
us, pouring down like a torrent, and drenching every thing with
water. The parched earth became, in the short time of five minutes,
covered with ponds. The rain ceased as suddenly as it came o n ;
leaving me both startled and surprised, at this specimen of an African
thunder shower. We passed all at once from the deluged, to the
arid and dusty ground; the distance of thirty or forty yards being
all that intervened between these extremes. Mention had often
been made to me while in Cape Town, of the heavy thunder
showers of the interior; but their sudden violence far exceeded all
that I had imagined.
At a little after eight at night, we found ourselves in the midst
of trees much taller than the. waggons; a situation we had not been
in during the last six weeks of the journey. These indicated our
approach to the Gariep. * After driving another half hour further,
* This word, which is the aboriginal name, and signifies literally the river, is pronounced
as two syllables with the accent upon the la st; the ie being a ' diphthong, and
sounding as if written Gareep in English, or Garipe in French.
between trees, and over hillocks of loose whitish sand deposited by
former inundations of the stream, we caught sight of the fires of our
Hottentots; who had arrived here, sometime before us, with the
sheep and loose oxen. The grove, in which they had taken up their
quarters, illuminated all around them, and the busy cheerful look
of all the people, seemed like some enchanted scene, or magic
change. Every circumstance united to create pleasing sensations.
All dangers and difficulties thus far happily surmounted ; arrived at
length at the long-looked-for stream, incomparably the largest in
Southern Africa without the tropic; and our road forward to
Klaarwater, pleasant and unobstructed; all contributed to produce a
feeling of ease, and security, in which, till now, we dared not indulge.
16th. Daylight the next morning exhibited to our view, the
nature of our station, surrounded by thickets, and large trees of
Acacia. Close to the trees, stood a tall scaffolding made of poles
ten feet high, on the top of which was constructed a platform of
sticks. This had formerly been erected by a hunting party, for the
purpose of drying upon it the flesh of their game, out of the reach of
dogs and wild beasts. These marks of human labor, appeared to
me the more interesting, after traversing so great an extent of
country, in which no vestige of art had been seen ; for not a trace
of the kraals and huts of the Bushmen was observable from our
road, as they had been cautiously placed in the most secluded spots,
for the purpose of keeping, as much as possible, their situation unknown
to all but themselves. Travellers may often pass quite through
their country, without seeing a human being; yet it would be
erroneous to suppose, therefore, that it was uninhabited; for there
are few springs of water, in the vicinity of which a Bushman Kraal
may not be found.
Being now arrived within that distance from Klaarwater to
which these Hottentots extend their huntings, our people began to
feel themselves at home; and, in less than two hours, several
temporary huts, or rather tents, constructed in the genuine Hottentot
style, with poles bent semicircularly, and covered with mats,
gave to the spot the appearance of a Kraal. Although our station
was on the very bank of the river, nothing was to be seen of the
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