15 



the front, and a row of trees to shade them from the street. 

 Behind each dwelling, there is a small kitchen garden and 

 vineyard, which ascend against the side of a pretty high hill, 

 that shelters the village from the westerly winds. 



" Notwithstanding the fatigue of a nocturnal march, curiosity 

 prompted me to walk up to the top of this hill, to which the 

 colonists, struck with some peculiarity in its appearance, have 

 given the name of Paarlberg. The summit is of granite, 

 worn into a hemisphserical form, and furrowed here and there 

 by deep fissures, through which the atmospherical moisture, 

 condensed from the clouds, gushes down in perpetual rills. 

 The sides of the fissures are garnished with those fleshy 

 plants, so abundant in South Africa, the Crassulos, the Cotyle- 

 dons, and the Aloes. On the top of this granitic cupola, a 

 number of detached masses of the same material lie scattered 

 about, some of them apparently so nicely poised, that a slight 

 push might roll them down upon the village. 



" On our arrival at the Paarl, we found the people prodi- 

 giously civil. Every door was thrown open for our reception, 

 and several of the inhabitants carried their kindness so far as 

 to send even to the parade to invite us to their houses. 

 Some of our speculators ascribed this marked hospitality to 

 fear; while others, inclined to judge more favourably of 

 human nature, imputed it to general benevolence of disposition. 

 Those who suspended their opinion on the subject, had the 

 laugh at the expense of both, when, on our departure next 

 morning, the true motive was discovered in the amount of 

 their bills. 



" We marched on the 18th to Waggonmaker's Valley ; 

 and in the course of the day, had occasion, more than once, 

 to cross the Great Bei'g River. In the summer season, this 

 ^river is nothing but a series of deep pools, called the Sea-Cow 

 Holes, connected by a trifling stream ; but in winter its 

 depth and rapidity are such as to intercept the communica- 

 tions between Cape Town and the intei'ior for weeks at a 

 time. The sea-cow, (Hippopotamus amphibius,) formerly so 

 abundant in all the large rivers, is now totally extirpated, or 

 banished beyond the limits of the colony, with the exception 



