•7ft- has confiderable inequalities. In the rainy feafon large v^rrv,± pools of water are found upon it, but by no means any lake, as fome pretend. When a cloud covers this range Qf mountains,, and the north-weft wind blows, it ihould feem that this fame wind muft inevitably drive the cloud over the neighbouring plains on the other or ibuth fide of thefe mountains, at the fame time caufing it to rain there but on the contrary, the fact is,, that it never' does rain there; a, circumftance that, without doubt,, like aU other natural phenomena, has its real and certain foundations in nature. The moft probable folution that- occurs to me is this, that the vapours, which are driven up from the fea by the north-weft wind, gather round the mountain in confequence of their being attracted' by it, and there remain as long as they preferve any degree o f rarefaction; but when at length they become more and more denfe. and prefled: together, fo as neceflarily rather to yield to' the greater force of the wind than to the: attractive power of the mountain, they are carried away too quick to fall in rain directly at the foot of the mountain; a; circumftance that does not happen before they reach, the other, fide of Zout Rivier. Having feveral times in my walks been, without any reafon, apprehenfive of being wetted through by the above-mentioned cloud, at length I refolved to afcend the mountain, in order to fee how things were fituated. The weather was at that time fine at the bottom o f the mountain, and the wind pretty ftill; but at the upper edge of. the mountain I met with feveral gufts of wind, which precipitated, as it were, down upon me, moift and cold, and: with with a fenfible violence. The temperature o f the air, '772- with which I was furrounded for about three quarters of an hour, varied according as the weather changed from fine to hazy, and from that to drizzling or downright rain. The barennefs o f the mountain and the coldnefs of its air, together with the finall number o f plants upon it, and thofe ftunted by the climate ; nay, the rainy weather it- felf, all combined to form around me a backward autumn. From this fpot, however, I had an agreeable fummer pro- fpect towards the bottom o f the mountain, viz. the verdant plains lying round about it, enlightened and warmed by the genial rays o f the fun. At the bottom of this range of hills there feemed to ihoot out many roundiih oblong ridges, pretty nearly o f the fame form, and- parallel to each other, and feparated by a like number o f dales, at the bottom o f feveral o f which ran the water previoufly collected by the mountain, and deftined, as it were, to water the plains. A number o f green trees and ihrubs; which had planted themfelves along the fides o f thefe rills, formed a beautiful girdle on the declivity o f the mountain, and on the hillocks projecting at the foot o f it. Several neat compact farms fcattered up and down, the houfes belonging to which were White with black roofs, at the fame time that the grounds Were laid out in a regular and judicious manner with verdant orchards and vineyards, lay diftinctly open to the eye in all their re- fpective ground-plots, forming a moft natural as well as beautiful picture. Next to thefe, a little further on, were feen pale and 'bleak tracts o f heath, among which were ftrewed, as it were, various plots o f fand, together with F a fandy
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