BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 317 



families, and one respectable looking coloured man of the 

 name of Moses, who lived in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the missionary, evidently for their better self-preservation 

 in time of danger. The Rev. Mr. Rolland, a very respectable 

 and zealous missionary, received me with great kindness, 

 and showed me his new gardens, as well as his newly 

 finished building, and I must say, they were judiciously 

 built, under present circumstances, to protect his own 

 family and a good many others of his flock from the 

 treacherous attempts made by the thievish Kaffir tribes from 

 the southern shores. 



The houses, or, more properly, straw huts of the Bas- 

 sootas, several hundreds in number, are amphitheatrically 

 erected, on the eastern slope of a considerably high hill. 

 -It had a very impressive effect, as we happened to travel 

 in the dark of the evening, when approaching that station ; 

 we were much surprised by seeing the whole flank of the 

 hill illuminated by many fires, coming from the interior 

 of their huts, as most of the inhabitants were preparing 

 their supper. The buildings of the missionary, as well as 

 those of the Hottentots and the lower part of the Bassoota 

 village, are erected on an eminence at the foot of that 

 hill, and only a short distance from the Caledon River, 

 commanding an interesting view towards the east, over the 

 verdant and extensive dale below, with numerous herds 

 of cattle, horses, and sheep. The Caledon River winds in 

 a serpentine line through it, but its tall willows growing 

 on the edge of low-water mark, could scarcely be seen, on 

 account of a high embankment on both sides of the river. 

 Many subsidiary hills rise immediately at the opposite 

 end of that dale, till they are bound in the rear by much 

 loftier tops of the Wittebergen. Mr. Rolland pointed out 

 ^ me a place, down below, in the valley opposite the 

 Caledon River, and only a short distance from it, where 

 a number of about three hundred and fifty Kaffirs had been 

 killed by the Bassoota people only a year and a half ago. 



