i776- guifhed it by an anchor. Yet, as there is faid to be no river nor fprings in this harbour, it would not he of much ufe to ihips which are in want of water; but, on the other hand, being nearer to the foreft, it is more convenient for fetching wood and timber. The ftrand and the tract o f country between Zwart-kops-rivier, and the rivulet or brook which I have lain down on the northernmoft inlet of Kra- kekamnta, beiides. being flat and without wood, were like- wife found to be low and fandy, but from that part began to be full of rocks and breakers ; .and as it was feen from the land, between fouth and eaft, terminated in a iharp point, with a rock quite detached from i t ; which probably was fome part of what, in the Portuguefe chart, is called Point Padron. The weather now cleared up for a while, fo that I got a good view of Sunday river, and the two illands fituated near i t : all this, however, requires a more accurate inveftigation, and likewife to be delineated on a feparate chart and on a larger fade, than can reafonably be expe&ed in fo general a map as mine; which, therefore, can only ferve, in this refpeft, as a foundation for the farther and more minute refearches of navigators. Government having lately allowed the colonifts to inhabit K ra k e k am m a , a farmer had twelve days before left a number of cattle here in the care o f one Hottentot only. Gn his removal hither, as the farmer was walking out with his hounds after him, a lionefs had killed one of his oxen in the duik of the evening, hut was feared away from its prey by the noife made by people belonging to the farmer with their whips, and by the yelling of the hounds. The following day they looked after the lionefs in vain, but but inftead of her found her three whelps, which did not offer to fly in the leaft, but proudly put themfelves into a pofture o f defence againft the dogs, which were nearly four times their number, and which immediately tore them in pieces: for in faff, thefe hounds were not much fmaller than the wild beafts themfelves, which moreover were obferved to be very rough and rugged, lean, and feemingly half ftarved; fo that the lionefs herfelf was fuppofed to have periilied with hunger, or elfe to be fick, efpecially, as ihe never afterwards made her appearance in thofe parts to take her revenge. On the 1 8th, in the morning, the thermometer was at 67 degrees, fo that probably the temperature of the air near the fea, was here, as it is in general elfewhere, milder than it was farther up the country. On the 1 9th we ihot a hartbeeft. On the 20th we came to a farm newly laid out, and fituated on an eminence, from which, early the next morning, we iaw thoufands of buffaloes in a line one after another, eroding the plains by the fea fide, that were inclofed by a thick wood, out of which thefe animals were then marching, probably with a view to fpread themfelves out in the paftures, and graze at a diftance from each other; after having, perhaps, been obliged to herd together in the night, in order to defend themfelves againft fome lions. In the afternoon we Ihot an old buffalo, and at the fame time arrived at a farm newly laid out, near a little lake, fen, or hollow, filled with freih water to fome ■ depth, where we ihot a few ducks, and I made a drawing of.the live buffalo-calf I mentioned at page 66 of this volume. S s 2 On
27f 72-2
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