Mr. Barrow’s quarto, I perfectly agree with Professor Lichtenstein, * tnat it
is so defective that it can seldom be found of any use. That which is given
in Lichtenstein’s work, is certainly the best general map of the Colony that
has hitherto appeared, and is, as if is stated, indebted for its superiority to the
use of a manuscript map, made under the late Dutch Government. This, I
conclude to be the same as one made by order of the Dutch Governor,
VandegraafL of which I have seen a copy, the title purporting that the sea-
coast and soundings from Algoa bay to St. Helena bay, were surveyed by
Captain Duminy, and the maritime districts, 01* a narrow tract of land
along the same length of coast, by Lieutenants Frederici and Jones ; excepting
however, the country from Simon’s bay to Zwellendam, which was
a blank. From this source combined with some others, and' the sketches
above mentioned, I have drawn materials for filling up the parts lying at a
distance from my own track.
I have taken a few names out of those published by Arrowsmith, and
have made some use of one compiled by De la Rochette, probably from the
observations of the Abbé de la Caille. But in this, great caution was required,
as it contains some extraordinary inaccuracies. From Lichtenstein’s map
I have adopted some names in the Great Karro, and in like manner, about
thirteen, chiefly the names of boors, along the Sunday River, southward
of Graaffreynet, from a small manuscript copy of a military sketch by
Colonel Arbuthnot, in which however, the variation of the compass had
not bben attended to. Along the coast I have inserted, out of different
sea-charts, various names not in use among the inhabitants ; these are enclosed
by crochets. Neither from Sparrman’s map, or Paterson’s, which is
only a copy of it, nor from Le Vaillant’s, could I venture to appropriate
any thing more than the mere names.
But here it must be owned, that with respect to the situations of
places, I did not rely upon any one map, even the best. The positions I
have assigned to these names, are the mean result of all the maps and
journals combined ; and which have occasioned me the most troublesome
part of my labor, and are a sufficient excuse for mistakes, should any be
found in this part of my work.
Many places at a considerable distance out of my track, have been
beasts; here you will see the Buffalo, the Hyena, and the wonderful Secretary-bird f , with his
pen stuck behind his ear.”
* “ Travels in Southern Africa.’’ Engl. ed. vol. 1. p. 36.— Dutch ed. deel 1. bl. 70.
f Barrow’s Travels, page 139.
laid down on my own responsibility, either from the reported bearings and
distances giveti me by the natives, such as all the country beyond the Gariep,
or by the Hottentots or the boors, for a number of places within the Colony ;
others from a distant view of them, such as mountains or the sea-coast,
particularly that extending from the Great Fish River to Gdurits River.
It will easily be comprehended how I have been able to convert
faulty and inaccurate materials to my use, so as to produce a more correct
map than the originals from which they were taken, if it be considered that
my own observations being first laid down, I had the frame-work of an
entirely new construction ; to which I fitted and forced into shape, this
heterogeneous collection of pieces. I believe, therefore, it will not be
found to be claiming too much for this map, if it should be asserted that,
in addition to a large and entirely new contribution to the geography of the
southernmost part of Africa, it contains the sum of all that was previously
laid before the public, or, at least, that could be thought useful or authentic;
while, at the same time, the blank spaces exhibit to view the large proportion
of unexplored country, still left within its limits.
The whole of the western coast, northward from St. Helena bay, may
be regarded as a mere sketch ; and the course of the Gariep, from the
twenty-third degree of longitude to its mouth, is laid down on the ai^hority
only of the Klaarwater Hottentots; from whose report, also, I have obtained
a confirmation of the existence of Le Vaillant’s Fish River. But
of the country of the Great Namaquas and Dammaras, I have not been
able to gain any geographical particulars which could be deemed sufficiently
defined for the purposes of a map. Of the names in the country of the
Little Namaquas, the greater number have been adopted from the journals
of Paterson and Le Vaillant; while the former, with Thunberg and Lichtenstein,
have been consulted for the Further Bokkeveld, the Hantam, and
the Further Roggeveld. The course along the Karro, from Verkeerde Valley
to Sneeuwberg, is obtained from the journals of Lichtenstein, Le Vaillant,
and Paterson ; and Kannaland and Kamnasiland, from Thunberg and Sparr-
man. From the strange confusion and contradictions which are to be found
in the pretended maps of that part of the Colony northward of Zwartland,
I will not be answerable for the entire correctness* of that district. For a
sketch of the country eastward of the Great Fish River, there does not at
present exist any materials which can be depended on.
The . names of the different Colonial districts have been omitted, not
only because their boundaries are ill defined and little known, even to the
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