we started at eight in the morning for an excursion to the top of
Witsenberg, a mountainous ridge lying eastward of the village, at the
distance of about an hour’s ride. Over this ridge there is a road,
which is frequented by the boors, as it is the only pass from the
Bokkeveld to this side of the country. The ascent is so steep, and
the road so rocky and dangerous, that any person, unused to Cape
travelling, would feel inclined to doubt the possibility of its being
practicable for any sort of vehicle; if the track of wheels did not
attest to him that waggons had in reality passed that way, and that
it was a path in daily use. Huge blocks of hard sand-stone protruded
themselves in the very middle of the road; and it is difficult
to conceive how a waggon could pass over them, without being either
shaken to pieces or overturned. The surface of the Bokkeveld being
much higher than the valley of Roodezand, occasions the ascent on
the eastern side of the Witsenberg Pass to be so inconsiderable, that
farmers with loaded waggons find it practicable to come thence to
Tulbagh; but seldom attempt it in the contrary direction, and are
therefore obliged to travel by another, and more indirect road..
The inhabitants of this country, led by custom to view it as an
ordinary affair, continue, at the hazard of their own lives, and of the
destruction of their waggons and oxen, to make use of a road in this
state, when, by the contribution of a trifling sum, and a few months’
labor, with the assistance of some pounds of gunpowder to blow
up the rocks, it might be rendered quite as safe as the pass at
Hottentot-Holland. The road-makers of this colony seem to have
imagined, that, by carrying their road as directly oyer the mountain
as possible, they are following the best, because the shortest
line: but certainly an oblique, although longer ascent, would, on account
not only of easier draught, but also of expedition, and even of
an ultimate saving of expense, be the wisest mode. In making such
roads, particular care should be taken, that no part of the ascent
should have an elevation exceeding a certain, number of degrees, up
which the usual team of the country is able to draw a loaded waggon.
From the top of this kloof, there is an unbounded prospect
over the western half of the compass: Table Mountain, Paardeberg,
Contreberg, Riebek’s Kasteel, Huningberg, the sea at Saldanha Bay,
Piquetberg, and the district of the Four-andrtwenty-rivers, are seen in
succession on turning the eye from the .south-west round to the
north-west Table Mountain is seen very clearly and distinctly,
though distant seventy miles in a direct line ; and St. Helena Bay,
which is at about an equal distance, is visible when the glitter of the
setting sun is reflected from the water. In the north, the high peaks
of Winterhoek rise up and intercept the view in that quarter. On
the eastern side, a narrow valley, stretching along the foot of Witsen-
berg, is walled in by a second and parallel range of mountains,
called. Schurfdeberg (Scurfy Mountain), on account of its rocky and
rugged appearance. Southward, the view extends over the whole
length of the valley of Roodezand, or Waveren.
On the rocky summit of this mountain, I found a great variety
of plants, a large proportion of which I had not met with before.
The beautiful nodding red flowers of Protea nana immediately
caught my eye ; and a multitude of new and interesting objects
seemed as if soliciting me to admire them. I fancied they were
crowding round me. with complaints against the want of taste, the
cold indifference towards them, and the apathy, which they experienced
from every body who passed their way. Some, I fancied, represented
their having for many years produced blossoms of thé most
charming hues, and shed the softest perfumes, without any person1 having
deigned even to cast an eye upon them. In this modest assembly
of mountaineers were many whose names are well known in Europe* ;
* Hernias gigantea
Lip a ria loevigata
Protesa speciosa
Lip a ria umbellifera
Pirica coniosa
Bupleurum difforme
Dodonea angustfolia
Proteea long fo lia
Leucodendrum plumosum
Lobelia p in fo lia
Dilatris corymbosa
Erica fa stig ia ta
Cliffortia iliefolia
Hermas depauperata
Borbonia crenata
Stoebe ericoìdes
Ba fn ia trifo ra
Stoebe virgata
Arnica inuloides
Othonna tenuissima