84 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



to Boer tobacco, but the taste once acquired, 

 there is nothing to grumble at. Occasionally, from 

 the Bay (Port Elizabeth), we get, as an especial 

 luxury, a supply of American cake tobacco, which 

 costs from two shillings to three shillings per pound 

 for the very best quality. The window of this room, 

 which commands a magnificent view of the pass 

 straight in front, and of the tall mountains that 

 environ us, opens — as, too, does the principal bed- 

 room — on to the stoep, or terraced verandah, the 

 lounging and smoking place of every African farm- 

 house. From the stoep, a flight of steps run down 

 to the mountain-side, hereabouts, and elsewhere 

 round the house, cleared a little of the stones and 

 boulders that litter the slope. 



In the sideboard, and a cupboard of our host's 

 bedroom, are contained the few bottles of whiskey 

 and " French " (every Afrikander knows real Cognac 

 as "French" in contradistinction to Boer brandy), 

 which may be required for medicinal purposes, or 

 an occasional luxury. One more confession of this 

 spiritual kind. In the one large cupboard, which 

 is fixed into an angle of the wall of our dining-room, 

 and which I have omitted to mention previously, 

 stands a small cask of the best Cango, from which 

 we draw our very moderate supply of evening 

 grog. Cango, I may explain, is the best kind of 

 colonial-made brandy ; it is of a rich yellow colour, 

 is produced in the Oudtshoorn district, and when 

 matured, is really a very reasonable substitute for 

 the more expensive foreign liquors. The ordinary 

 Boer brandy a colourless, and, usually, frightfully 

 raw spirit, is a very different stuff, and has a most 

 peculiar and indescribable flavour of its own. It is 



