226 Progress and present State of Geograpldcat 



The country from the Poxgola to the English River, on 

 the northern shore of which is situated the Portuguese Fort, is 

 low, sandy, and full of swamps ; is covered w ith a stunted de- 

 scription of bush ; and although the atmosphere is healthy for 

 several months in the year, from the latter end of October to 

 April it is most deadly ; the limits of this sickly region west- 

 ward, appears to be marked by a range of mountains of no 

 very considerable height, called Bombo, which, originating in 

 the Ingale, skirt the Pongola River, and run down nearly to 

 the sea in a south-easterly direction, bounding the great valley 

 of the Mapoota and Gold Downs' River from the salubrious 

 country on the south. Throughout this whole range, ai has 

 been ah'eady remarked, water is less plentiful than in the pre- 

 ceding divisions, and is generally sought for in ponds, or wells 

 dug for the purpose. Some very beautiful lakes have been 

 discovered on both sides of the Mapoota, and there is one said 

 to exist near its mouth, of very great extent, and which, very 

 probably, empties itself into Port Melville, a good harbour on 

 the southern side of Delagoa Bay. 



From what has preceded, it will be seen that the progress of 

 Discovery from the Cape of Good Hope, has extended to a very 

 considerable depth into the continent, beyond the colony, and 

 that, especially of late years, it has accelerated its pace in a 

 very extraordinary degree, mainly attributable to trading 

 speculation- With reference to the map, its limits may be de- 

 fined in a general manner by drawing a line from Angra 

 Pequena Bay, on the Atlantic coast, direct north, to lat. 25°, 

 along that parallel to longitude 19°, thence southward to lat. 

 28°, fiom that point eastward to 22°, and thence in a diagonal 

 to where the 26th degree of longitude intersects the tropic of 

 Capricorn ; starting again along the tropical parallel to longi- 

 tude 31°, if the reader will please to protract a line southerly to 

 the mouth of the English River in Delagoa Bay, he will then 

 have traced out the extensive boundary of all the discoveries 

 that have yet been made from the most austral Settlement of 

 Africa. 



Within this verge, however, a space containing about 

 50,000 square miles still appears unexplored ; this embosoms 

 three large sources of the Gariep or Orange River, namely, 

 the Calcdon and Stockenstrom Rivers on the south, and the 

 Donkin on the north, and may be represented as an oval figure 

 having its centre about lat. 28°. 30'. and long. 25° 20', the 

 longest arm of which, stretchinjr from south-west to north east, 

 ■will extend over 240 miles, and the shorter, running from south 

 to north, over 200 mdes. This insulated spot has however been 

 several times encroached upon by the colonial farmers, and espe- 

 cially by one, named Gert Cloete, of the Graaft'-Reinet district. 



