called by miners white Jilver ore, on account of the large proportion
it has been found to contain o f that metal. It is well
known that all galenas contain more or lefs of fxlver; and it
has been obferved that thofe whofe configuration isleaft diftinit
have the greateft proportion, the heterogeneous metal having
difturbed and obflrudted the natural arrangement of the particles,
which would be that of a mathematical cube if perfedtly
pure. The vein of the ore was about three inches wide and an
inch thick, and it appeared to increafe both in width and thick-
nefs.as it advanced under the ffratum of rock with which it was
covered. The gangue or matrix was quartoze fand-flone o f a
yellowiih tinge, cellular and fibrous, harih to the feel, and eafily
broken.
Some experiments were formerly made, in a rough way, at
the Cape of Good Hope, upon fpecimens of this identical vein
of lead-ore, by Major Van Dhen, an officer in the Dutch fer-
vice, and the refult of thefe proved it to be uncommonly, rich
in filver. According to this gentleman’s ftatement of the affay,
two hundred pounds of the ore contained one hundred pounds
o f pure lead and eight ounces of filver. Should this on a more
accurate trial turn out to be the cafe, it may hereafter prove a
valuable acquifition to the colony. Lead mines, it is true, are
generally very deep below the furface of the ground, and the
working of them is both troublefome and expenfive. But at
this place a vein of rich ore, ihewing itfelf at the furface, gives
reafonable grounds for prefuming that the large body of the
mine is at no great depth, and if fo it might be worked with
great advantage. The furrounding country is particularly
favorfavorable
for the profecution of fuch an undertaking. Wood is
in fuch abundance both for building and for fuel, that it could
not be exhaufted in an age. Two ftreams of water unite in the
bottom of the glen. The country would fupport with cattle
and corn any number of people that might be 'required to carry
on the works; and the i diffance of the mine is only five miles
from the mouth of Van Staaden’s river in Camtoos bay.
Having finiffied our obfervations on Zwart-kop’s bay and the
adjoining country, the next ftep'was to make the beff of our
way to the eaiiward along the fea-coaft where the Kaffers were
faid to have Rationed themfelves in the greatefl numbers. . An
old Hottentot, who on former occafions had ferved as interpreter
between the landroffs of Graaff Reynet and the Kaffer
Chiefs, had, according to appointment, joined us with his fuite,
confiffing of about half a dozen of his countrymen. The land-
rofi, on his joining us, inveffed him with his Raff of office, a
long flick with a brafs head on which was engraven the king’s
arms. By fuch a Raff, in the time of the Dutch government,
a Hottentot was conflituted a captain; and, by the number
they created of thefe captains, the ruin of their hordes was
much facilitated. But they are now no more ; they and their
hordes have entirely difappeared, and our old Captain Haajbeck
commands in Graaff Reynet without a rival.
Twenty years ago, if we may credit the travellers o f that
day, the country beyond Camtoos river, which was then the
eaffern limit of the colony, abounded with kraals or villages of
Hottentots, out of which the inhabitants came to meet them by
hundreds