22 BOTANICAL EXCURSIONS 
ran sparkling among mossy rocks, under the shade of large 
trees. Undoubtedly the charms of the scene were heightened 
to me by the contrast with the two disagreeable and fatiguing 
days which had preceded. The weather too was delightful. 
Having ascended one of the underfalls or spurs of the moun- 
tains, I enjoyed an extensive view towards the south, though 
it could by no means be called beautiful. With the ex- 
ception of the rugged mountains bordering the valley of the 
Zonder-einde River, which were conspicuous in the S.W., 
nothing was to be seen but open plains of a uniform dull 
brownish hue. The village, with its white houses and groves 
of trees, looked like an oasis in the desert. 
. March 26-27.—For the two next days we had the Zwellen- 
dam chain of mountains on our left-hand, our route being 
on the whole nearly paralled to it. The 26th, came a hard 
day's journey of ten hours, over an ugly, dreary country, 
strangely cut by deep water-courses, which were very trouble- 
some to cross. Inthe course of the day we forded six differ- 
ent rivers ; the first and largest was the Buffeljagts, a tribu- 
tary of the Breede River, a rapid, clear, dark brown stream, 
showing by its wide bed of huge rolled stones what it must 
be in floods. Its banks are richly ornamented with the white- 
thorned Acacia, which, in its mode of growth and the colour of 
its foliage, much resembles our hawthorn as it appears in 
spring, when first coming into leaf. From hence eastward, this 
handsome shrub is very general along the banks of the 
streams, to which it gives a cheerful appearance that is 
strongly contrasted with the general character of the country ; 
but in Zwellendam and George districts it occurs, as far as I 
observed, in such situations only ; whereas, in the eastern part 
of the colony, and still more in Cafferland, it is universally 
diffused. 
We afterwards crossed in succession the Slange, Duyven- 
hoeks, Krombeks, Vet, and Kafferkuyl rivers, and spent the 
night at Jan Dupré’s farm near the last-mentioned. On the 
hills between these rivers I saw the first Aloes ; thatis to say, 
of the true Aloe kind ; for what is commonly called the Ame- 
