84 W H I T E ’ S JO U RN A L OF A
1787. to my companions;.» if I might .judge from ‘ the avidity with
)£tober. ^ which they drank out o f the little pools, lying- on the
ground at full-length, that.being the pnly pofture-in which'
it was to be. obtained. ^
- The regularity of the Afreets of the town, which interfe£|!
each other; at' right .angles,} the buildings, 'garden-s^caftle,
and forts with;;twentysthreeiihips them at ancho? i-n^th©
h a y ; a ll which appeared diredly underneath us ; was-^a
' fight beautiful and pleafipgheyondhefcription., Ther perpendicular
height of this land, is i85.7;fpet from, the furfagc
of the water. On_the, top ,6f it. we gathered 7fe,we/al fpjecies.of
heath, fome wild celery, a few ffirubs,, and fomejnon-defcript
plants ; iwe found alfo. fome little Hones of a fine poliffi a-nd
fingular whitenefs. ■,
In ourf defcent, which proved nearly as; difficult and trou-
blefome as;going up, we faw fome runaway negroes, round
a fire, on the elift. of. a ftupendous rook, where/it \yas .pn-
, tirely-out' p f the power of-thesir owners to get at them:| To
look at their fituation, one would think it, beyond the ,u£moft |
.ftretch of .human ingenuity to devife a way to, reach it.
4Here they remain all day in perfect., fecurity, and during the
- night make frequent •. excurfions to the town and the parts
; adjacent,
VOYAGE T 0 N EW SOUTH WA LES.
adjacént, 'committing1 great depredations'bn the inhabitants.
Thejv^böle fiffififtenceiof' fhefe, fugitives depend? on this
precarious/method,;, and even, .|his -method would prove in-i
iiifficient, were it not for the affiftanee they receive fr'orp-
thofe.y^hó were ©nee their 'fellow flaves. Norsji^ife always
that they fuepepd in the depredatory trips,- which-neceffity
thus urges them | to-,take?they8afe^o^ten betrayed -,*by their
quondam friends ■,} and when this, happens-hfas'; the Dutch
.are" not - famed- <for. their, lenity, in ^punilhing .crimes,■ they
are made horrid examples,pf. But neither thé fear of pu-
niffiment,'nor hunpri thirftj -.coid^/a'hd wretchednefsy fto
which they arê.' often; iuAaVailably expofetj, i can deter them
.from, making Table,Land their’ plapp; df refuge from,what
.they-coijfider to,, be * greater evils., ^Spar.cêly a., day-pafiês.- but
.a fmoke , may he; feen- from feme of -the-fd inacceffi.ble ref-
ireats.
In the mild or.fummer.ffeafon, which.'eOmmencesin'Sep-
.tember, and continuesftill 'March, the Table- Land is fome-
times Suddenly'capped with a white elopdf h y fome called
the fpreading of -the f£able\ clet-ih, -When; this- cloud fee ms to
roll .down thetfteep face of; the mountain* it is an .-unerring
indication' of an approaching gale, of,.wind from the feutheaft;