6 HALTING AT JAN BLOEM’S KRAAL. 26 Feb.
its inhabitants advanced to greet us as we rode by, and one or two of
the men acknowledged us as old acquaintances, having met us before
when we were hunting hippopotami on the banks of the Kygariep.
To avoid a long circuit, which the rivulet now began to take, we
quitted the deep valley and ascended to an elevated level country,
very thickly covered with large trees of the Hookthorn, between
which we were obliged very cautiously to wind our way for about a
mile and a half. After this we descended again into the valley, and
continued, among acacias, to follow the bed of the rivulet, which at
this season was every where dry.
A little farther we came to another spring of water equally
pure and delightful, and our party again felt it necessary to quench
their thirst. This fountain was occupied by a kraal of Mixed-Hot-
tentots, the friends and relations of those who dwelt at the village of
the Kloof. The men and women were at this hour absent, hunting
or to n rlin g their cattle, or in search of wild roots, or collecting firewood
; but several little groups of children ran out from the thickets
which concealed their huts, to view us as we passed. They knew old
Cobus and Ruiter, and were therefore not afraid to creep out of their
hiding-places and run towards us ; but they eyed me with some doubt
and shyness, and seemed half-inclined to run back again.
At a short distance beyond this kraal we found another, consisting
of seven huts and a large proportion of inhabitants, who were also
of the race of Mixed-Hottentots ; their chief was named Jan Bloem.*
With the people of this kraal most of our party were well acquainted,
and, as few amongst us were good swimmers, and nearly all of these
were expert in that art, from having resided so long on the banks of
the Gariep, they were easily persuaded to lend us their assistance in
crossing the river; especially as I promised to reward them for their
services. It was therefore agreed, it being already past sunset, that
we should pass the night at this kraal, that they might put themselves
in readiness to accompany us in the morning.
1812t a HOTTENTOT VILLAGE— WIRE-GRASS. J
The situation of this little village, if such an appellation does not
express too much, was exceedingly sheltered and rural: on one side
embosomed in a grove of tall acacias, overtopped by the surrounding
mountains ; on the other, enclosed by a rocky precipice, under which
stood their mat-houses and the cattle-kraals. Their oxen and goats
appeared to be numerous, and were seen every where around, coming
home from pasture. There was.a small garden fenced round with a
dry hedge, and irrigated by a trench which conducted water from a
spring not far off; and in it were cultivated chiefly tobacco, maize,
pumpkins, and dakka. The lowing of the oxen, the milking of the
cows, and the playfulness of the goats butting against each other, or
familiarly browsing close to the huts, or mingling with the dogs and
cattle, gave a truly pastoral character to the spot; while the abundance
of trees rendered the scene rich and harmonious to the eye, and
solicited the attempts of my pencil.
In verdure and beauty, the wire-grass far excelled every other grass
of the valley; and I doubt not that its qualities, in an agricultural
view of them, would equally prove its superiority in the climate of
the Gariep. At least, analogy with the wire-grass of St. Helena and
the doop-grass of India, induces me to form this opinion, and to recommend
a trial of it to the agriculturists of Africa : and if, indeed,
this be not identically the same species, it so closely resembles it, as
hardly to be distinguished but by a botanist. In this romantic valley
it formed a thicker turf, and appeared of a softer and finer nature,
than any other grasses which have fallen under my notice in these
regions.
A trifling circumstance which happened here, is worth mentioning,'
because it confirms what has been asserted on a former occasion *,
respecting the faculty possessed by these natives, of distinguishing and
recognising their cattle individually. In the team which drew my
waggon, were several oxen, all of an uniformly black color, and ap
* Vol. I. page 175.