perhaps original, form. The Jackal is worn by the Bushmen, and
every tribe of the Hottentot race ; but, by many individuals the Tailpiece
is not considered as indispensable. In place of the Jackal, the
Sichuana tribes, hereafter mentioned, adopt a different fashion,
which will be described in a future part of this journal. I Sandals, or
Shoes, are used by a ll; but the difficulty of always procuring the
hide proper for them, obliges the greater part of these people to
reserve them for occasional service, and only when necessity, from
the ruggedness of the ground, requires.
Many of the Klaaraater people are clothed in the mode above
described; but more than half of them imitate the dress of
Europeans.
The river, and its woody banks, attracted all my admiration j
and in so hot a day, the assurance of having an abundance of pure refreshing
water always within reach, mitigated, in idea, the fervid rays
of the sun, smoothed the roughness of our path, and lessened the toil
of our march.
In crossing a small but deep ravine, the pole of my waggon got
by accident between the legs of one of the after-oxen, and nearly
occasioned an overturn ; but we came off with no other misfortune
than the loss of a yoke, broken by the struggling of the ox. As we
always carried with us several supernumerary yokes, this accident
was soon repaired; but the number of these dry ravines which
every where crossed our track, occasioned, to one or other of the
waggons, continual mishaps and stoppages; so that we did not
advance at a faster rate than two miles in the hour.
In the rainy season, the torrent rushing down these hollows in
its way to the river, has laid bare the substratum of rock, and shown
it to be a heterogeneous mass, of more recent formation than the
surrounding mountains. It is composed of small fragments of other
rocks, such as granite, porphyry, sandstone, limestone, and a few
rounded pebbles; all firmly conglutinated together by a cement apparently
formed of pulverized limestone. The parts which have been
long exposed to the weather are of a black hue. Rocks of this
nature are, as far as I have observed, only found in the vicinity of
the Gariep. The mystery of their formation is easily explained, by
remarking that the neighbouring hills and rocks evidently supply the
component fragments, which are brought together by the torrents
into the lower places; and the calcareous nature of. the waters,
together with particles of the limestone rocks collected in their
course, form the mortar, by which, they are combined into a
solid mass.
The heat was so great, that we were unable to proceed; and,
after having travelled only six miles and a half, we unyoked by the
side of the river, at a place called Zout-pan’s Drift (Salt-pan Ford),
where the stream is very broad, and, consequently, shallow. Many
aits, or islets, covered with bushes and rushes, interrupted this
breadth of water, and rendered it more easily fordable.
It is from an extensive, and, as it is said, inexhaustible salt-lake,
situated at about a day’s journey to the southward of this ford, that
the Hottentots of Klaarwater, and the natives of these regions, are
supplied with this necessary article. The fact of ponds or small lakes
of salt-water being found so far inland, at a distance from all communication
with the sea, is one which must strike every person as
remarkable. The cause of it cannot, without absurdity, be supposed
to exist in the climate or the atmosphere; since they are found in
the vicinity of ponds and springs, the waters of which are perfectly
fresh. They afford very good proof of the existence within the earth
of a stratum of rock-salt, which, if not at too great a depth, might
prove, if worked, to be no inconsiderable treasure to the inhabitants,
when civilization shall have taught them its full value, and rendered
it indispensable. These salt-lakes exist in various, and very distant,
situations, far in the interior of this continent, as well as near the
sea-roast. They are often solitary, though sometimes, several are
found within a short distance of each other. The most northern, of
which I have been able to gain any intelligence, is one about the
twenty-seventh degree of latitude, eastward of Litakun.