THE LEGEND OF JAN PRINSLOO'S KLOOF. 357 



appearance of the place denotes that many years 

 have elapsed since Prinsloo's Kloof was tenanted by 

 human life. 



In many respects the wild kloof gives evidence 

 that the Boer who first tarried there had an eye 

 for good pasturage for his flocks and herds. The 

 spekboom, and many another succulent bush dear 

 to the goat breeder, flourish amid the broken and 

 chaotic rocks with which the hillsides are strewn. 

 A strong fountain of water runs with limpid current 

 from the mountain at the back of the house ; the 

 flat tops of the hills around are clothed with long 

 waving grasses, and the valley is eminently fitted to 

 be the nursery of a horse-breeding establishment. 

 A tributary of the Gamtoos River flows deeply, if 

 fitfully, below the sheer and overhanging cliffs in 

 a chain of pools called zee-koe gats (sea-cow or 

 hippopotamus deeps) the hippopotamus, though his 

 name lingers behind, no longer revels in the flood 

 and the bottom of the valley is in many parts 

 fertile and suited for the growth of grain and fodder 

 crops. 



Broken and uncouth as are many portions 

 of the Witteberg and Zwartberg, the neighbourhood 

 of Prinsloo's Kloof far surpasses them. There the 

 volcanic action of a bygone age has perpetrated 

 the most extraordinary freaks. The mountains are 

 torn into shapes so wild and fantastic, that, viewed 

 in profile against the red glow of the setting sun, 

 all manner of weird objects may be conjured before 

 the imagination. In some places, as the kloof runs 

 into the heart of the hills, the cliffs' sides are so 

 deep, so precipitous, and so narrow, that but little 

 sunlight can penetrate beneath, and even on a hot 



