1775- but, as in fummer they have nothing elfetofuftain themfelves September. they content themfelves with browzing on the ihrubs and buihes; and notwithftanding this, do not by any means fare ill. The larger kinds o f cattle^eannot make fo good a ihift with mere ihrubs, but are obliged to feek for reeds and other green vegetables in the rivers; for which reaibn, where the inhabitants of the Carrow live in fuch low iituations, they remove in the fummer up to the ridges of mountains and hills, where they find the uiual fummer climate, with rain at intervals, plenty of grafs, and cool refrefh- ing breezes. In the winter, it is faid both to hail and fnow on divers o f the mountains; on which account the colonifts leave them at that time, in order fo enjoy in the Carrow, or lower iituations, the benefit of a mild winter, accompanied with rain and a delightful verdure, as I have defcribed it above. Allured by the fame advantages, the wild harts or gazells likewife come down into the plains, and are followed by the beafts of prey. To the different forts o f corn the Carrow climate is fo far unfavourable, that in cafe they are fowed in the winter or the rainy feafon, they are (as I have been informed by the inhabitants, who have made many attempts of the kind) apt to be rotted by the too great abundance of water; and if put into the ground in fummer, they cannot fpring up on account of the great drought. Notwithftanding all thefe natural difadvantages, however, to the honour of the forecaft and diligence of man in a ftate of civilization be it fpoken, one very frequently fees, even in the parched and dry Carrow plains, fields of corn, kjtchen-gardens, and vineyards, verdant and flourifhing in the higheft degree; gree; while the wild plants around them die, or languifh „ '77;- . , , - _ . 0 September. ' witn drought. This remarkable appearance proceeds from the water being brought down at pleafure from the neareft mountains, and carried all over their fields and plantations. What are termed by the colonifts the Zuur-velden, or Sour-fields, are fuch as lie fomewhat higher and cooler than the ihore, and thus are better fupplied with rain than the other plains; which, however, abound more in grafs. The different forts o f grafs here are likewife perennial, and poarfer than thofe of the former; at the fame time that their blades have a hairy roughnefs in them, and are broader. The cattle in thefe traéis of country are iome- what given to chew unwholefome fubftances, fuch as thongs of leather, chalk, and bones; and are even accuftomed, in failure o f every thing elfe of the kind, to gnaw each others horns. This circumftance, which feems to denote an acid in the ftomach of the cattle, may, probably, have given oc- cafion to the appellation beftowed on thefe plains. Some o f the Caffre plains are faid likewife to pofiefs this acid quality in fo high a degree, as to occafion the cattle at night, when ihut up in their ftalls, to gnaw each other’s horns, by which means their horns have the appearance o f caryed work; a circumftance which ought, therefore, by no means to be afcribed, as it has been, to the manual operations of the Caffre herdfmen, or to the effeéts o f imagination only. To conclude, with refpeét to the Zuur-velden, it is remarked by the colonifts, that there is lefs milk in proportion, but more as well as better butter than in the Zoet- V q l . I. K k veldm%
27f 72-1
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