CHAP. VIII. AN AFRICAN CONGREGATION. 197 



kindly, and the next morning I attended public worship in 

 the chapel, a good substantial building. About 500 persons 

 were present, all persons of colour, and many of them Hot- 

 tentots. All were clothed in European dresses, the women 

 wearing either a loose cotton bonnet, or a handkerchief on 

 their heads. This was the first African congregation I had 

 seen, and I was struck with the light colour, and peculiarly 

 angular and Tartar-like physiognomy of the Hottentots. 

 The deportment of the people was attentive and seriou.s, and 

 I was much pleased with the fine voices of many of the singers. 

 Their performance was, perhaps, not always scientifically 

 correct, and sometimes the singing was too high; but the 

 tones of some of the voices, their softness, as well as their 

 compass, were such as are rarely surpassed in ordinary con- 

 gregations. 



On the last day of January we left Zurbraak, and spent the 

 following Sunday at the village of George and the adjacent 

 institution of Pecaltsdorp. Here, as well as at the last 

 station, we had very full conferences with the missionaries 

 and the people respecting the important objects of my visit. 



On the 6th of February we ascended the celebrated 

 Montague Pass, over the blue mountains. It was in the 

 neighbourhood of George that I first saw the beautiful 

 Tritoma uvaria, now designated Belthymea or Kniphofia, 

 rearing its slender upright stalk surmounted by a large cluster 

 of pendant trumpet-shaped flowers, -vvdth yellow centre and 

 scarlet ends. By the sides of the pass I also observed a 

 number of graceful ferns, especially one mass of the very 

 elegantly-growing Gleichenia polypodioides, of which I ga- 

 thered a specimen. This plant spread up the side of the pass 

 for three or four yards from the road, entirely covering the 

 face of the rock. Amongst the bulbs was one bearinof a dark 

 blue flower, which I dug up and placed in the waggon. 

 There were also great numbers of scarlet amaranthine plants 



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