i. The Drofdy, or refidcnee of the Landroft, is a frrvah tillage
; in the centre of the diflriit, and rather more than 500
miles from Cape Town. It confifts in about a dozen mud*
houies covered with thatch- That of. the Landroft M- of 'the
fame defcription, to which is annexed a garden and vineyajd j
but the grapes here feidom come to perfection, on account of
the cold blaftg from the Snowy Mountains, at the feet of which;
the village isfituated. The land is red Karroo, and uncom-^
motdy fertile where the Sunday River cap be brought to flood
ip . I obRrved here feventy diftindt ftems from ope fingle,
grain of corn.
.. Under the idea o f civilizing the rude boors of this diftriit,
Lord Macartney made fuitable provifion for a clergyman, and
the foundation was laid for a large church. Long, however,
before the outer walls were built, .they thought fit to e.vpel. the
clergyman that had been feat down to them 3 and the building
was only juft finilhed when the Englifii evacuated the
place.
2. Voor, Middle, and Agter Sneuwberg,, the fore, middle, and
pofterior Snowy mountains may be confidered as the grand
nurfery of Iheep and horned cattle, particularly of the former.
Of thefe many families are in pofleflion pf flocks from two to
five thoufand. Between the people of thefe divifions and the
Bosjefman Hottentots there is a perpetual warfare, which is imprudently
fomented by the former making prifoners for life o f
the children they take from the .latter.
In
In no part of the colony are fuch immenfe flocks of the
fpringbok as in the divifions of the Snowy Mountains. Five
thoufand. in one group are. confidered only as a moderate quantity,
ten, twelve, or fifteen thoufand being fometimes found
aflembled together, efpecially when they are about to migrate
to fome other part of the country. The bontebok, the eland, the
hartdeejl, and the geni/bok are alfo plentiful, and fmall game in
vail numbers- On the banks of the Fiih River are two wells
of hepatized water, of the temperature of 88° of Fahrenheit’s
fcale. They are confidered to be efficacious in healing fprains
and bruifes, and favourable to rheumatic complaints, to which
the great changeableneis of the. climate renders the inhabitants
fubjedb In fpveral of the mountains of this divifion are alfo
found, adhering to the fandftone rocks, large plates of native
nitre, from half an inch to an inch in thicknefs, but not in quantities
fufficient to make it an objeft of attention as-an article of
Commerce.
3. Swaagers Hoecb is a fmall divifion within the mountains
at the head of Bruyntjes Hoogte, tolerably well watered and
fertile in grain, which, however, is very fparingly cultivated.
4. Bruyntjes Hoogte lies upon the banks of the Great Fiih
River, and is confidered as the bell divifion in the whole diftridt
for horfes and horned cattle, and equally fuitable for the cultivation
of grain and fruits; but the enormous diflance from any
market holds out no encouragement to the farmer to fow more
grain than is neceflary for family ufe, and many of them take
> 1 not