SOUTHERN AFRICA. 33 



But the monoton}^ of this wearisome journey was not 

 always unbroken by events. We halted the first clay on the 

 borders of what appeared to be a bod}^ of water many miles 

 in circumference — an oasis in the desert^ towards which, 

 after a sultry march of twenty miles, lured by the appear- 

 ance of several wag-g-ons on its brink, both man and beast 

 rushed with impetuosity. We soon perceived, to our disap- 

 pointment, that we had been deceived by a saline deposit of 

 immense extent, at which a party of Boors were eng-ag-ed in 

 obtaining- salt for the use of the colonists : but it was lon^ 

 before the broken-hearted oxen discovered that what they 

 had understood to be water, was a mere mineral efflorescence 

 in the desert. 



The fourth day broug'ht us to the mag-nificent Ornng-elliver 

 — the only stream ^^ ithin many hundred miles that is entitled 

 to the appellation. Emerg'ing- from this desolation and 

 sterility, the first g'limpse that we obtained of it realized 

 those ideas of eleg-ant and classic scenery which exist in 

 the minds of poets. The alluring- fancies of a fairy fiction, 

 or the fascinating- imag-ery of a romance, were here broug-ht 

 into actual existence. The waters of this majestic river, three 

 hundred yards m breadth, flowing* in one unbroken expanse^ 

 resembled a smooth translucent lake ; and as its g-entle 

 waves g"lided past on their way to join the restless ocean, 

 bearing- on their limpid bosom as in a polished mirror, the 

 imag-e of their wood-clothed borders, they seemed to kiss 

 the shore before bidding- it farewell. Drooping- willows, 

 clad in their vest of vernal freshness, leaned over the bank 

 — and dipping" their slender branches into the tide, which 

 g'listened with the last rays of the setting* sun — seemed fain 

 to follow : whilst at intervals, the wrecks of stately trees 

 that had been torn from their roots b}^ the violence of the 

 torrent during* some vast inundation, of which the traces 

 on the shore g-ave evidence — reared their dilapidated heads 



