might, perhaps, be intended for the Boojhuanas, whom the
two above-mentioned gentlemen vifited two years ago ; inftead,
however, of the Pigmy Hottentots, which the firft are repre-
fented to be, the latter were found to be'a tall athletic race of
Kaffers. Thefe gentlemen, on comparing Monjieur Le Vail-
lant's hook with the country, and the natives beyond the
Orange River, were decidedly of opinion that, fo far from advancing
to the Tropic, he had never crofted the faid river, But
enough of Monjieur Le Vaillant. As to a work lately publiihed
under the name of Dambergher, it would be an infult to the
underftanding of the public, to fuppofe that fo grofs. and clumfy
an impofition could for a moment pafs detection..
Having thus noticed fome of the defeCts and omiflions in
the works of the molt elteemed authors who have written on
the Cape, 1 Ihall beg leave to fay a word with relpeCt to the
manner in which the chart, prefixed to the former volume of
this work, was conftruCted.
The geographical knowledge of the colony being fo very im-
perfeCt, and only two partial maps in exiitence that could at all
be depended on; one, that of De la Rocbette already noticed;
the other, a furvey on a very large fcale, having all the farms
marked down from Zwellendam to Algoa Bay, and from the
firft chain of mountains to the fea-coaft, comprehending, however,
only a fmall portion of Zwellendam, Lord Macartney,
in the inftruCtions I had the honour to receive from him, enjoined
me to pay a particular attention to this important fub-
je£t. I furnilhed myfelf, .accordingly, with a fextant of fix inches
ches radius, by Ramfden ; an artificial horizon ; a good pocket
chronometer; a pocket compafs; and a meafuring chain. Having
been able, in the courfe of a few days, to afcertain pretty
nearly the ufual rate of travelling with waggons drawn by oxen,
I carefully noted down the time employed from one halting
place to another, with the direction o f the road, as pointed out
by the compafs.
The uniform pace of the oxen, the level furface of the great
Karroo or defert, and the ftraightnefs of the road, were data
that might alone have fupplied a iketch of tolerable exaCtnefs;
but, in order to afcertain any little deviation that might have
been made, either to the northward or the fouthward, a meridional
altitude of the Sun was regularly taken every day, the
conftant clearnefs of the weather being favourable for fuchob-
fervations. A feries of latitudes thus obtained, at intervals of
about twenty miles of diftance, fupplied a correction by which
the route might be reduced to a great degree of certainty.
The ftations or refting-places of each day being verified by
thefe means, I then took the bearings, and made interfeCtions,
of any remarkable point in the diftant mountains, as long as it
could be feen, for the purpofe of determining its pofition upon
the chart. The uninterrupted lines, in which the chains of
mountains generally run on the fouth part of the continent of
Africa, are particularly favourable for laying down a iketch
of the country, without going through the detail of a regular
furvey.
Having