16 



of a few individuals which still harbour in this stream, under 

 the protection of a direct law. We had not long halted at 

 Waggonmaker's Valley, when an express from head-quarters 

 overtook us, announcing the surrender of the colony, and 

 directing Colonel Gibbs to return with his regiment to Cape 

 Town, while we were ordered to continue our route toTulbagh. 

 With this view, we marched on the i9th to Eykeboom; and 

 on the 20th arrived at the end of our journey. 



" Within four miles of Tulbagh, we had to pass through a 

 narrow tortuous defile, called Roodsand Kloof The corres- 

 pondence between the sides and angles of this intricate pass, 

 suggests the idea that it was originally formed by the violent 

 disruption of the mountain mass which it traverses. The 

 precipice, on both sides, is clothed with shrubs, and animated 

 by flocks of large baboons, and the Little Berg River is seen 

 forcing its way among the rocky fragments accumulated at 

 the bottom of the chasm. 



" The village of Tulbagh, the only one in the district of 

 that name, consists of about thirty houses, disposed along one 

 side of a street, through which a stream of water has been 

 conducted, for the purpose of irrigating an equal number of 

 gardens that occupy the other side. It stands near the 

 northern extremity of a valley, twenty miles long, and five or 

 six miles in breadth, inclosed within deep mountainous 

 ridges. This valley is a sort of table -land, being elevated 

 three or four hundred feet above the level of the country, 

 toward the coast. Owing to this elevation, it enjoys a 

 milder temperature, and the constant supply of water from 

 the mountain streams renders it more fertile than most parts 

 of the colony. The landrost, or chief magistrate, resides near 

 Tulbagh, and the court of Hemraaden meets there to discuss 

 the affairs of the district. A small neat church adorns one 

 end of the village, and the parsonage stands unrivalled at 

 the other. 



" The avowed object of our expedition to this remote 

 place, was to administer the oath of allegiance to the landrost 

 and leading men of the district, and, at the same time, to 

 impress on the minds of the boors an exalted idea of the 



