IN SOUTH AFRICA. 17 
March 23.—The next morning we started at half-past six, 
and crossed the mountains by “ Sir Lowry’s Pass,” an ex- 
cellent road constructed over this formidable barrier by 
Major Michell, while Sir Lowry Cole was Governor of the 
colony. A thick mist came suddenly over the heights 
just as we began the ascent, so that I saw nothing of the 
Pass at this time, but I had a good view of it when re- 
turning to Cape Town in June. The mountains are so 
tremendously steep that one wonders how a road up them 
could ever have been formed, and still more, that it cost only 
£3000. The road is narrow, but good, and its inclination so 
gentle, that a carriage may be driven down it at full trot with 
perfect safety; on one side (the right-hand as you ascend,) it 
overlooks a sheer precipitous descent of great height, and the 
parapet bordering this gulf is lower than would be at all agree- 
able to a nervous person. Before the construction of this road, 
the Hottentot Holland Pass or Kloof (note A) was one of the 
worst mountain-defiles in the colony, which is saying a great 
deal. Mr. Burchell and other travellers give a formidable 
description of its steepness and ruggedness. And as this is the 
only direct way from Cape Town to all the Caledon and 
Zwellendam country, and indeed to the southern part of the 
colony generally, Sir Lowry's Pass has been of very great 
benefit to the inhabitants. One of the Boers (farmers) of the 
interior told a friend of mine that this new road saved him a 
waggon per year. It is said that twice as much grain as 
formerly is now sown in the districts adjoining Sir Lowry’s 
Pass, and twice as many waggons cross the mountain ; and 
the toll levied here now amounts to £365 a year, being 
12 per cent on the cost* of this most useful undertaking. 
The Hottentot Holland mountains,like the generality of 
those in the Cape colony, are huge scarped masses of strati- - 
fied sandstone, with very scanty vegetation (note B), but 
their outlines are remarkably fine. At the top of the pass, 
* See a paper by Major Michell in the Journal of the Geograph. Soc. vol. 6. : 
Part 2, VE | M e deeem. 
VOL. IL 6 
