DESCRIPTION OF CRADOCK. 63 



ing, and had been burning all the time, and nevertheless 

 only two thirds were consumed. The immense time 

 which these dunghills require to burn is very singular. 

 It is quite a common occurrence for one of them to 

 burn for three or four years ; and I have been informed 

 by several respectable farmers of Lower Albany, on 

 whose veracity I could rely, that in that district one of 

 these " middens," as they are termed in Scotland, burn- 

 ed for seven years before it was consumed. The heavi- 

 est and most protracted rains seem to affect them but 

 little, rarely, if ever, extinguishing them. 



Cradook is a pretty little village, situated on the 

 eastern bank of the Great Fish River, by which it is 

 supplied with water and the gardens irrigated. It is 

 inhabited by Dutch and English, and a goodly sprink- 

 ling of Hottentots, Mozambiques, and Fingoes. The 

 principal street is wide, and adorned with shady trees 

 on every side, among which I observed lots of peach- 

 trees covered with green fruit. The houses are largo 

 and well built, generally of brick, some in the old Dutch 

 and some in the English style. Each house has got a 

 considerable garden attached to it : these are tastefully 

 laid out, and contain all the vegetables most used in 

 an English kitchen. Apples, pears, oranges, quinces, 

 nectarines, and grapes abound. The vision is bounded 

 on every side by barren, arid, rocky hills and mount- 

 ains. I marched right through the town, and out- 

 spanned about a quarter of a mile beyond it, and after 

 breakfast I re-entered the village on foot to purchase 

 necessaries for myself and servants. Numbers of Dutch 

 Boers, with their wives and families, were assembling 

 to hold their Nachmahl or sacrament. 



About 11 A.M. we inspanned, and continued our 

 journey about five miles, crossing the Great Fish River 



