IN SOUTH AFRICA. 251 
would, I think, have delighted a painter. Yet the conference 
at Block Drift, three days afterwards, presented a scene still 
more interesting than this. 
There were no Caffer women present on this occasion, ex- 
cept the Queen Noneebe and her attendant, who wore 
European dresses. As we were riding back to Fort Peddie, 
these two ladies passed us on horseback, riding astride, 
with their petticoats up to their knees, and trotting along in 
gallant style. 
From Fort Peddie to Block Drift on the Chumie, the 
country is beautifully varied with hill and dale, wood and 
pasture ; and in many parts the broad grassy lawns, dotted 
with trees and clumps of shrubbery, give it quite a park-like 
character. The variety of surface and the richness of the 
verdure, made it very superior to anything I saw within the 
bounds of the colony, and the broad, open, elevated ridge 
along which we travelled, gave us a good commanding view. 
The direction of our journey was, to the westward of N. 
May 2nd.— On the 2nd, after travelling a distance which 
was variously estimated at fifteen, twenty, and twenty-two 
miles, we pitched our tents in a very pretty wooded valley, 
near the deserted post of Fort Willshire, on the Keiskamma. 
Here we passed a miserable night, for a bitter wind blew 
with such fury, that it every minute threatened to overturn 
the tents, and the cold was so intense that it was impossible, 
for me at least, to sleep at all. 
May 3rd.—During the whole of the next day, the wind con- 
tinued to blow with such violence as to rival the terrible vent de 
bise of the South of France, and to make our journey very 
unpleasant, We arrived, early in the afternoon, at the house 
of Mr. Stretch, the political agent or resident of the British 
government, near Block Drift. Here we were very hospi- 
tably entertained, but as there was not room in the house to 
lodge any besides the Governor, I passed the night in one 
of the waggons, where I found myself more comfortable than 
I had been in the tent. 
On the following day, the Governor held a conference with 
