IN SOUTH AFRICA. 27 
their fertilizing influence extend so little way. An indus- 
trious and enterprizing people would have turned them to 
good account in irrigating the land. As it is, I travelled 
through the Long Kloof at two different seasons, and both 
times it appeared equally barren. Yet, in a modern work on 
the British Colonies,* this is termed a delightful valley! Le 
Vaillant, on the other hand, seems to have been as little de- 
lighted with it as I was, for he calls it a “ valley of desolation.” 
It must be owned, however, that it possesses an advantage of 
which not every part of the colony can boast; namely excel- 
lent water. 
The streams of the Long Kloof flow northward, and fall 
either into the Kammanassie or the Kouga, with one excep- 
tion, the Keurbooms River, which finds its way to the South 
through a narrow break in the mountain chain, and dis- 
charges its waters into Plattenbergs Bay. It divides the 
Long Kloof in a manner into two parts, of which the 
eastern is the more elevated. The Keurbooms is but a 
small stream where we crossed it, but the ascent from it to 
the higher ground is tremendously steep and rugged; it is 
astonishing how any horses can drag a waggon over such 
places, and how any combination of wood and iron can stand 
such jolts. The lower part of this hill was covered with 
beautiful Proteas, in full bloom, at the time I speak of, and 
higher up I saw abundance of large Aloes. - 
April 1.—The Sunday we spent at Rademeyer’s was in- 
tensely hot, yet I employed myself some hours in botanizing, 
though with very poor success. A large part of the surface of 
the hills had been ravaged by fire, so that nothing remained 
but charred leafless vaal; and where this was not the case, 
there were very few plants in flower. Those which I observed 
were principally of the fleshy or succulent tribes, which de- 
light in the most parched, barren, and rocky situations. Here 
also I saw an Antelope of that very pretty and graceful _ 
species known by the name of Steenbok, which lives "y «T 
the rocks and stones on these barren hills. E 
* History of the British Colonies, by Mr. Montgomery Martin: ` 
