130 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



Harrison "450 sporting rifle, while the Kaffir shouldered 

 a mixed weapon, of which one barrel was rifled 

 while the other carried shot. This Kaffir, Igneese, 

 was one of the best native specimens I ever met with ; 

 a good shot, an untiring walker ; and with powers 

 of tracking and finding game unequalled, he lacked 

 the noisy garrulity of some of his brethren. In 

 addition to these good qualities, he was a careful, 

 steady man, and possessed a good flock of goats 

 and some oxen of his own, and was, in fine, quite a 

 model Kaffir. We made an early start, and, 

 descending the hillside on which our farmhouse 

 stood, soon reached a path that led through the 

 grove of thorny mimosa {Acacia horrida) along the 

 bottom of the poort. We followed this path for a 

 couple of miles, until we arrived at a point where 

 two kloofs opened up into the mountains. Choosing 

 the right-hand path, we plunged into a lonely gorge 

 that led for miles into the heart of these rugged hills. 

 The kloof was of surpassing beauty. Above and 

 around us the mountains, clothed here and there 

 with dense bush and scrub, reared themselves on 

 either side to a great height, their dark brown crests 

 showing strikingly against the clear azure of the sky. 

 A tiny stream of pure water flowed by, while flowers 

 innumerable spangled the bottom of the valley. 

 Geraniums and pelargoniums flowered in wild beauty 

 and luxuriance ; many kinds of beautiful heaths and 

 irids pied the ground with brilliant hues ; aloes held 

 aloft their rich red spikes of flower; whilst the 

 Kaffir apple, Hottentot cherry (aasvogels besjes, or 

 vulture berries, as the Boers call it),'wilde pruimen 

 (wild plum), euphorbia, prickly pear, and many 

 another shrub, blossomed on every side. Hundreds 



