KLOOF AND KARROO. 



pleasant, a blessed relief after our dusty and baking 

 trek. The night was still and marvellously clear — 



" The moon 

 O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, 

 When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, 

 And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene. 

 Around her throne the vivid planets roll. 

 And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole, 

 O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed 

 And tip with silver every mountain's head." 



Around us lay the silent mountains. Far below us 

 rolled, under the silvery light of the moon, into dim 

 distance the vast mysterious-looking sea of dense 

 bush veldt, wherein to this day the fierce Cape 

 buffalo and the mighty elephant find secure retreat. 

 In this primeval shelter, wherein old " Buffel," as 

 the Dutch call him, has couched his lowering front 

 from time immemorial, he is likely for many decades 

 to come to linger almost undisturbed. This region 

 is rich in Cape history. All this wild jungle country 

 was in bygone days the favourite lurking place of the 

 Kaffirs in their battles and forays with the Boers and 

 British. Amidst these bushy fastnesses the Hot- 

 tentot and Kaffir rising against the Dutch farmers 

 began in 1798, at the time when the rebellious Boers, 

 under Van Jaarsveld, were in arms against the 

 British, then lately possessed of the Colony. Bands 

 of these two native races — usually implacable foes, 

 and seldom allied in arms — sacked, burned, and 

 devastated the frontier farms even as far as Lange 

 Kloof, the Knysna, and the eastern edge of the Great 

 Karroo. In much later years the Kaffirs have found 

 sanctuary in the unknown recesses of this bush 

 country during the numerous petty wars that have 

 vexed the eastern frontier of the Colony. Happily, 



