A SECRET OF THE ORANGE RIVER. 179 



"We hailed," said Mowbray, "the passage of 

 the mountains next morning with something akin to 

 delight ; anything to banish the monotony of these 

 last two days of burning toil. We were up as the 

 morning star flashed above the earth-line. We 

 drank the remaining water, which afforded barely 

 half-a-pint each to the men, none for the oxen and 

 horses. With difficulty the poor oxen, already, in 

 this short space, gaunt and enfeebled from the heat, 

 and for lack of food and drink, were forced up into 

 their yokes. Klaas, as the only one of us who knew 

 the country, directed our movements, and with 

 hoarse shouts, and re-echoing cracks from the 

 mighty waggon-whip, slowly our caravan was set 

 in motion. Our entrance to the mountains was 

 effected through a narrow and extremely difficult 

 poort (pass), strewn with huge boulders, and over- 

 grown with brush and underwood that often barred 

 the way, and rendered stoppages frequent. After 

 about a mile, the kloof into which this poort 

 debouched suddenly narrowed and turned left- 

 handed at right angles to our course. Accompanied 

 by Klaas, I walked down it, and was soon convinced 

 by the little Bushman that our passage that way 

 was ended. As Klaas had warned me, our only 

 way through and out of the mountains now lay in 

 taking, with our waggon, to the steep and broken 

 hillsides, a proceeding not only perilous, but 

 apparently all but impossible. Yet the thing had 

 to be done, and we at once set the spent oxen 

 in motion, and faced the ascent obliquely. After 

 consultation with Klaas, I got out some ropes which 

 I had fastened to the uppermost side of the waggon, 

 while some stout long poles which I had had 



