'77v habitants, that there was a good fandy bottom for an- vL<-y-0 chorage; and that the fmall bend or inlet to the fouth- weft, had depth of water fufficient to contain a ihip. For the purpofe of getting acquainted with the harbour, fuppoling the reader to have acquired a previous knowledge of the latitude, and to have compared it with the fmall portion that I have pricked out on my map, it may likewife be of ufe to him to be informed, that the north, or north-weft ihore, is without any rocks or ftones, being compofed o f verdant hills covered with ihrubs and buihes, excepting juft at each o f the fpots, where Heerte and Kleine Brak rivers empty themfelves; the fand thereabouts having been raifed up to fome height by the fea- wind, fo as to have encroached on the verdure of the pro- fpeft. The fouth-weft ihore, on the contrary, is very ■ftony and mountainous; though juft at the water-iide it is low, one place excepted, which, at a very finall diftance from the water, appears with a rock-head, as it is called, or a rocky hill, flat on the top, which at the fea-fide is perpendicular. It is, probably, not difficult to land here with boats in fair weather; but at this time, the bay was greatly agitated by a wind from the fea; and the height of the water, which continued even in the afternoon, prevented us from catching oyfters, which, we were informed, might otherwife have been met with at this place. Watering muft be Very a tedious and laborious bufinefs, as things are fituated, here at prefent; for there is only one very inconfiderable rill of frelh water here, which runs down into the above- mentioned inlet, where the anchoring-place i s ; but at the diftance diftance of a few ftones throw from the ftrand, is the well- c '775- _ , r r n ~ . September. ipring ltfelf, of fuch a width and depth, as to give one reafon to fuppofe, that one might fill with eafe a couple of hogffieads at a time with freffi, clear, and well-tafted Water. By properly purifying this water, and making a conduit for it, there might poffibly be ftill an alteration made for the better. Indeed, I know many inftances, where by digging a tolerably deep pit near a ihore, particularly i f it were fandy, freffi water has been abforbed into the- pit and filled it. This likewife renders, credible an account that I heard from fame peafants in Houtniquas, that being on a hunting party near the mouth of Brak-rivier, and finding themfelves extremely thirfty, it came into their heads to make an experiment, and ftick a reed to the depth of a foot and a half into the fand near the level of the fea, when, contrary to their expectation, in a ihort time they were enabled to fuck up through their reed a quantity of freffi and well-tafted water. L 1 2 G H A P.
27f 72-1
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