a hundred and eighty-five feet narrower than it was found to be at
the first Gariep station. * This difference is occasioned by the great
volume of water which the Nu-Gariep rolls into its channel.
At this time, the river was at its natural and usual- height, the
water of the stream washing its green banks: but when seen on the
16th September, it did not, at that place, cover the whole of the
pebbly bed ; a fact which proved how much it had risen since then,
and from which, it may be concluded, that in that month the river is
at its lowest level, From this remark travellers may take the hint to
make their arrangements so as to ford the Gariep about that season
of the year. When I forded it in the month of May in the following
year, it was with imminent danger, and even at the hazard
of the lives of all my party. In the month of January also, that
river was found too deep to be passed, except by means of rafts and
swimming.
The water within a few. days had gradually rispn eighteen
inches ; but on the day on which we left this station, and just when
some heavy rains had fallen, it began to sink again. It is not meant
that the falling of the water was connected with these rains; but the
fact is noticed merely to show the probability, that the extraordinary
floods and inundations of the Gariep are not occasioned by the
showers which fall over the countries lying between this part of it,
and its mouth, the greatest portion of the rain-waters, being, in
ordinary cases, absorbed by the thirsty soil: and that it can be only
when the earth is saturated with moisture, that the supply from
showers in the adjoining country contributes its full effect in swelling
the stream.
That this does sometimes take place, although perhaps not annually,.
the ravines, which, in many places, furrow the surface and
intersect the banks, plainly bear witness. But the chief cause is more
distant, and must be sought in the country at the head of the Black-
river. This being, by indisputable reasoning, the highest part of the
* Seepage 319.
southernmost quarter of Africa, one may, judging from effects, surmise
that it is also a cold, rugged, mountainous region, attracting
and condensing the vapors of the atmosphere; cherishing in its
deep valleys the innumerable springs which supply the first rivulets
of this beautiful river; and that it is for the greatest part of the year
visited by abundant rains.
There is, it must be acknowledged, some presumption in thus
pronouncing the nature of a country never yet visited by any traveller
; but as we are living in the age for hypotheses in geography
and natural philosophy, the presumption will appear the less remarkable
; nor indeed do I much care whether this hypothesis-be hereafter
proved or disproved, if it do but excite the curiosity of some
properly qualified traveller to explore that region.
12th. We were visited by a party of fpurteen Bushmen, who
remained with us till the following morning. They were nearly all
strangers ; and, although we discovered that many of them belonged
to the gang of robbers who a few months ago had carried off from
Klaarwater a herd of cattle belonging to the missionaries, we
thought it prudent to treat them friendly, and with the same hospitality
with which the other Bushmen had been entertained. So
little discredit do they attach to transactions of this kind, that they
openly avowed to us their having been participators in the theft.
As it was difficult to discover their real sentiments, we could
not comprehend why they thus shamelessly owned an act which
could not be deemed, even by themselves, any other than an act of
unprovoked enmity. For, with respect to the injustice and immorality
of it in their eyes, there may be some doubt whether robbery
of this nature may not be considered by them in the same glorious
light as that in which the great civilized nations of Europe view the
capture or destruction of a convoy of enemy’s merchant-ships. But,
these savages have one forcible argument in their favor; that , they are
urged to it by a pressing want of the first necessaries of life.
It cannot be said that these men were quite averse to getting,
in an honest way, what they wished to possess; for, having heard
3 L 2