1821.] 



I'oijfioc to the Ctipf i)J Ihr. New St^ll//' 



a 17 



Wehalted this uight atauotlier military 

 post at Bushmau's River, wlierewe re- 

 mainefl till day-break the uext morn- 

 ing. We then proceedcii to Hassagai 

 Bush, where, after halting for a few 

 hours, we re-commenced our journey, 

 and reached a farm belonging to Major 

 Frazer about 11 o'clock, Avhere it was 

 intended we should stay the remainder 

 of the day and the next night ; most of 

 our party took a ramble as far as Theo- 

 polis, a missionary Hottentot school. 

 We were informed that the Caffres had 

 lately stolen all tiieir cattle, but they 

 were still possessed of some thousand 

 head of fine oxen. Several days prior 

 to our visit two Hottentots belonging 

 to the school had set out for the purpose 

 of destroying a large bull buftalo that 

 liad been seen in a neighbouring thicket, 

 after some hours search they discovered 

 and killed it ; the day being very sul- 

 try, they laid down under a large tree, 

 where they had not remained many 

 minuteji before they discovered what 

 they at first conjectured to be another 

 buffelo breaking through a large thicket 

 directly opposite them,but which proved 

 to be two Caffres, who not perceiving 

 the Hottentots, proceeded sans ceremo- 

 nie to help themselves to the choicest 

 morsels of the prize. The Hottentots 

 immediately fixed upon the Caffres, one 

 of whom fell, the other immediately 

 made the best possible use of his legs, 

 and though closely pursued by his ene- 

 mies, all vestige of him was lost on 

 their reaching the edge of the locks on 

 the N. E. side of the mouth of a small 

 «reek ; aware that he could not possibly 

 have escaped to any great distance that 

 way, they were some time before they 

 thought of giving up the search, but 

 continued to examine the recesses of 

 the rocks without success : at length one 

 of the Hottentots imagined he saw some- 

 thing now and then rise to the surface 

 of the water, about 20 yards from them, 

 and as it ultimately proved he was not 

 wrong in his conjecture, for they soon 

 discovered this to be the poor wretch, 

 who was thus endeavouring to elude 

 his pursuers by keeping merely his 

 nostrils above the surface of the wafer; 

 they kept a strict eye upon him, and 

 soon had an opportunity of dispatching 

 him. Similarcircumsfances are by no 

 means uncommon. At this place (Ma- 

 jor Frazer's farm,) there is a fine grove 

 of orange trf^^s, which is all the vestige 

 of a flourishing farm the CafTres left in 

 their last descent, wlien we undei*stood 

 they had murdered all they could 

 MovTHLV MA(i. No. \^-,^. 



lay their hands on ; the proprielor was 

 fortunately from home at the time. 



As we anticipated much difficulty in 

 crossing the Sea Cow River, ]\Ir. All- 

 bright (the missionary.) kindly oft'cred 

 to render us every assistance in his 

 power, and with a number of his Hot- 

 tentots, proceeded with us at day-break 

 the following morning, and we arrived 

 at the edge of the river at about 10 

 A. M. 



Here we were obliged to wait till 

 about 4 in the afternoon for the tide, 

 when, after several attempts with an 

 empty waggon to try if we miglU at- 

 tempt to pass with safety, we made a 

 successful attempt, and all reiiched the 

 opposite shore without accident. But 

 the greatest obstacle remained still to 

 be surmounted, the ascent on tlie side 

 we had just reached being almost per- 

 pendicular for near a quarter of a mile, 

 three spans or teams of oxen were un- 

 successfully tried by many of the wag- 

 gons, and it was not till late the fol- 

 lowing day that we all i-eached the 

 summit. 



Here the country put on quite a dif- 

 ferent appearance, being more open 

 with little wood except in the valleys ; 

 this certainly appeared to us to be by 

 far the most eligible spot we -had seen 

 to settle upon, and we have since had 

 reason to regret our not selecting it ; 

 as, in all probability, had we applied 

 for it at that time, we should have suc- 

 ceded in obtaining it : this spot is now 

 in the possession of — Thornhill, Esq." 

 In this place is a krale of buffalo-hun- 

 ters belonging to T heopolis, where we 

 were enabled to purchase fowls, &c. at; 

 a reasonable rate. 



In the afternoon we re-commenced 

 our march, and proceeded to a beauti- 

 tiful plain about four miles from the 

 month of the cline of Montges ; here we 

 remained till one o'clock the next 

 morning, we then resumed our jour- 

 ney, intending to cross the river at low 

 water, which happened about 2 o'clock 

 in the morning ; fires were lighted at 

 convenient distances to mark the track 

 they were to follow ; this was the last 

 and most miserable pai-t of the journey, 

 the night was excessively dark, an 

 awful silence prevailed, which was now 



* By au extract of a letter from a settler 

 in the Observer, it seems that they havp 

 Bucceeded in g'ettin^ a small vessel into 

 the Cowie ; should this really be the caie, 

 it 'H'ill be a circumstance of iulinite impor- 

 tance to the neig-hbouriii"' locations. 



> R and 



