22 j EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. IV. 



produce of the gardens and vlnej^ards may vie with 

 those of Europe. Fruits and vegetables of all kinds 

 grow here in abundance and. perfection. I have be- 

 fore said that we entered the village after dark ; on 

 looking out of the window in the morning, we saw 

 the street carpeted with snow, while garden hedges 

 of quince, and a row of lemon-trees on either side, 

 bending beneath a load of ripe fruit, formed deco- 

 rations as beautiful in themselves as they were novel 

 to an Indian eye. 



We considered GraafF Reinet to be the starting 

 point or base of our operations. Our object now 

 was to sweep rapidly over a great extent of country, 

 in order to reach the most distant point that our 

 time and the duration of our supplies would permit 

 us to visit. This method of proceeding not only 

 greatly increased the probability of romantic peril, 

 adventure, and discovery, but also enhanced our 

 prospect of sport. We therefore resolved to reach 

 Kuruman, or New Litakoo, a missionary station of 

 importance, four hundred miles to the northward, 

 with all practicable expedition, and to proceed thence 

 to the country of Moselekatse, king of the Abaka 

 Zooloos, or Matabili, a powerful and despotic mo- 

 narch, whose dominions were known to abound 

 with game, and possessed the additional advantage 

 of having been little traversed by our countrymen. 

 Arriving there, time and circumstances would enable 

 us to form a further programme of our proceedings; 

 but I determined at all events to extend my re- 

 searches to the tropic of Capricorn, and even if 



