harm that would come to the Hottentot, having had former experience
of the ftrength of their ftomachs, yet it was no eafy
matter to convince the reft of i t ; and his abfenee was alfo a very-
ferious inconvenience. In the morning however he made his
appearance. He had fallen afleep, it feemed, about the middle
of the preceding day, and had not awakened till night. Though-
very dark and unacquainted with a /ingle ftep o f our route, he-
had found us by following the traft of the waggon. At this
fort of bufinefs a Hottentot is uncommonly clever. There is
not an animal among the numbers that range, the wilds o f
Africa, i f he be at ail acquainted with it, the print of whofe
feet he cannot diftinguiih. And though the marks by which,
his judgment is diredted be very , nice, they are conftant in animals
ina ftate o f nature, whereas domefticated animals are liable
to many accidental variations. He will diftinguiih the wolf,
for inftance, from the domeftic dog, by the largenefs o f the
ball o f the foot, and the comparative fmallnefs o f the toes.
The print of any o f his companions’ feet he would fingle
out among a thoufand. The peafantry are alfo tolerably expert
in tracing game by the marks of their feet; it is, in fadt, a
part o f their education; An African boor gains a fort of
reputation by being clever op bet /poor, This is the method
by which, on moonlight nights, they hunt down the poor
Bosjefmans.
At the eaftern extremity of the fandy plain, I was fortunate
enough to procure freih oxen, to enable me to pafs the northern
point of the Pkquet berg, a clump o f mountains, probably fo
named from their pofition in front o f the great chain. Grain,
fruit,
Fruit, good tobacco, and a limited number o f cattle, are the produce
of the farms, at the feet of thefe mountains. At one place
they were diftilling an ardent fpirit of no difagreeable flavor,
from water-melons, the largeft I remember to-have ever feen.
The deep fandy plains were fucceeded by ftill deeper fandy
hills, over which the waggon made but very flow progrefs, the
wheels finking to the axes every moment. Thefe hills, or
rather mountains, of fand, extended near thirty miles beyond the
point of the Picquet berg, before they attained their greateft elevation,
where a very curious and grand fpedtacle prefented itfelf.
Along the fummit, which was feveral miles in width, and the
length from north to fouth bounded only by the horizon, rofe
out of the coarfe chryftallized fand and fragments o f landftone,
a multitude o f pyramidal columns, fome of which were feveral
hundred feet in diameter,' and as many in height; thele, viewed
from a diftance, had the regular appearance o f works o f art.
The materials were alfo landftone, bound together by veins o f a
firmer texture, containing a, portion o f iron. The cavernous
appearance o f thefe peaked columns, that had hitherto withftood,
though not entirely efcaped, the corroding tooth o f time, and
the viciflitudes of devouring weather, proclaimed their vaft antiquity
; and the coarie fand in which their bales were buried,
and the fragments of the lame material that were foattered over
the furface, and not yet crumbled away, were fufficiently de-
monftrative that thefe pyramids had once been united, making
at that time one connected mountain, fimilar to the great northern
range. Out of the mouldered remains of thefe mountains
had been formed the inferior hills of fand, while the finer parti-
3 B 2 cles,