■775- them. Thefe companions o f ours were moreover very reft- lefs, when any wild beafts were near the fpot. Again, when we had an opportunity of taking a night’s lodging at a peafant’s houfe, we were for the moft part rather worfe lodged. In moft places the houfe eoniifted of two rooms only, with the floor of earth or loam. The interior' one of thefe was ufed for a bed-chamber for the boor hinn* felf, with his wife and children. The outer one eompofed. the kitchen, in a corner o f which they fpread a mat for us on the floor ; and in this generally eoniifted all the conveniencies the good folks could afford us. As for the reft We Were obliged to make our beds of our faddles and great coats, together with a coverlet we brought with us- The-. Hottentots of either fex, young and old, who- were in the- boor’s fervice, always chofe to. fleep in the chimney. This; moftly took up a whole gabel Of the houfe,. and at the; fame time had no other hearth than the floor, on which- eonfequently we all lay pigging together. An hoft of fleas- and other inconyeniencies, to which we-were by this means; fubjected, made us frequently rather chufe to fleep- in the; open air; in cafe the coldnefs o f the air, high winds and1 rainy weather,, did not make it more difagreable to. us., I thought the beft way o f furnifhing my readers with a general idea of the manner in which we were obliged to< pafs moft of our nights during our expedition, would be to- to give them an account of my firft night’s lodging- The next day being the 26th, we got up by day-break,, in order to take our journey over Hottentots Holland’s Mountain;, in the cool of the morning. The way up it was very fteep, flony, winding,, and, in other réfpetìs, very 8. ineeninconvenient. Diredlly to the right o f the road there was SSiika perpendicular precipice, down which, it is faid, that wag- V-yW gons and cattle together have fometimes the misfortune to fall headlong, and are daihed to pieces. It is faid too, that in order to drive up this and other mountains of the kind, even with the ftrongeft team o f oxen, a man muft not only have the knack, as it is called, and a perfedt government of the beafts, but muft alfo at the fame time make ufe o f a whip like that o f the African waggoners. Thefe whips are fifteen feet long, with a thong fomewhat longer, and a lalh three feet in length, made of ftout white leather. This {in a certain fenfe) moft powerful inftrument in getting the waggon forward, the driver holds with both hands, and, fitting on the feat o f the carriage, can reach the fifth pair with it, and at the fame time fmack' his whip, when ne- ceffary, and diftribute his cuts and lathes among the oxen without intermiflion, never failing to touch them on the very fpot he wifhes, fo that the very hairs come away with the whip. By this means he poflefles fuch an afcendency over them, as to oblige them to join their ftrength all at once, and pull the waggon out of deep pits, or lift it over large ftones and precipices that lie in the road. But it requires a great nicety of attention, not to drive them too far at once, nor to reft them too long at a time; as in the former cafe they grow faint, weary, and, in confequencg o f this, reftive; and in the latter cafe, they lofe the fpirit to which they have been previoufly wrought up, and which is neceffary for the getting them o n ; and for want o f which it often happens, that the waggon cannot foe got from the fpot. On going up the fteeper hills, R 2 i there
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