SOUTHERN AFRICA. 229 



horse started off^ and before I could extricate myself, had 

 kicked me severely on the knee and ankle, besides drag'g'ing- 

 me a sufficient distance over the loose stones, to remove the 

 whole of my clothes, and a larg-e portion of the skin from 

 my back. 



Merciless and repeated applications of the whip-cord and 

 double thong', enabled us, with the loss of another ox, to 

 achieve twentj^-five miles more by four o'clock in the after- 

 noon. The blue mountain rang-e, now on our left, had 

 g-radually assumed a deeper and deeper tint, and as we 

 advanced over the broad bosom of the trackless plain, like 

 a ship throug'h the ocean, was fast developing" its rug-g'ed 

 character. At leng-th, lifting- up our eyes, we beheld before 

 us afar off, a long- dark streak of bushes, stretching* parallel 

 to the horizon, and marking* the course of the stream of 

 which we were in search. Shouts of exultation burst from 

 the mouths of the Hottentots, as they sprang- from the 

 wag-g-on boxes from which they had been g-azing", and cracked 

 their long- whips with increased energ-y. The patient oxen 

 broke into a trot — the object upon which all eyes were 

 riveted became better and better defined, our friendly pilot 

 stream rapidly increased in breadth, and as the sun dis- 

 appeared below the horizon, we were standing- on the banks 

 of the river Vaal. 



This remote arm of the Gareep, or Great Orang-e E-iver, 

 forms the southern limit of the territory to which Moselekatse 

 lays claim. Rising- nearly opposite to Delag-oa Bay, about 

 three deg-rees to the westward of that port, and joining- the 

 parent stream some two hundred and fifty g-eog-raphical miles 

 below the confluence of the Chonapas, it traverses the 

 South African continent from east to west, like a g-reat 

 artery, and after a course of one thousand miles discharg-es 

 its waters into the Atlantic Ocean. At the spot where we 

 reached it, the breadth did not exceed one hundred and 



