Dia> -j of a Journey to t'is Am aquas. 197 



us, was sent, together with one of our Hottentots, by His 

 Honor the Commander to see if he could find his comrades 

 who had fled, and if so to bring them to us. We gave him 

 some tobacco, in order to present it to them as a token of 

 friendship. A short time after his departure we saw three 

 fires on the other side of the river, upon which our Hotten- 

 tots immediately took up their bows, ariows, and assagays, 

 and proceeded to examine who were there. The moment that 

 they ascended the hill, the people that were at the fires, 

 namely, five of the said Sonquas, took to flight, but by calling 

 out "that no harm should be done to them," they at last 

 stopt, and resolved upon coming to us. In the meanwhile 

 those we had sent out returned, bringing with them the rest 

 of the Sonquas. They were all of them very lean, and of a 

 slender make, which is the consequence of the great hunger 

 and hardships they suffer. They have no food, except the 

 bulbs of plants which they call uyentjes, tortoises, a sort of 

 large caterpillars, and locusts, which are found here in great 

 numbers. His Honor the Commander ordered a sheep to be 

 killed and cooked, with which, in addition to rice and bread, 

 they were feasted, and which they consumed so greedily that 

 it seemed as if they would never have been satiated. He then 

 presented them with some brandy, with which they made 

 themselves merry, and danced, sung, and shouted in a strange 

 manner, so as to resemble a herd of calves which were let 

 loose for the first time from their place of confinement. It 

 was without doubt, and according to their own acknowledge- 

 ment, that this had been the only merry day they had had in 

 their life time. Our latitude was 29? 49', longitude 37° 51'. 



Wednesday, 3d. — In the morning we left our resting place, 

 which we called Keertweeder (turn back), because former 

 travellers had here commenced their return; first, as the 

 mountains which we saw before us could not be travelled over, 

 and secondly, because they were ignorant of the route, as 

 the tribes would not point it out. 



We directed our course N.W. by W. for one-fifth of a mile 

 through a kloof between high rocky mountains, part of which 

 we rounded, and then ascended for half a mile a high and 

 very rocky hill; the valleys between the mountains being 

 nothing but swamps where wagons and carts sunk to the 

 axletrees. 



After arriving at the ridge of the mountain, we travelled 

 in a N. direction for one-eighth of a mile, and N.W. by N. 

 one-tenth of a mile, and then descended to a valley which 

 was also somewhat swampy. We were obliged to stop here 

 as there 1 was good water and tolerable grass, and because it 

 was already four o'clock p.m. 



Those mountains which we had marched over, produce here 

 and tliere aloe-trees, and according to the information from 



