Chapter XX. 



JAN PRINSLOO'S KLOOF. 



A Legend of Cape Colony. 



FAR away in the gloomiest recesses of a 

 range lying between Zwart Ruggens and the 

 Zwartberg, not far from where the mountains 

 of that wild and secluded district give place to the 

 eastern limits of the plateau of the Great Karroo, 

 there lies hidden, and almost unknown, a kloof or 

 gorge, whose dark and forbidding aspect, united to 

 the wild and horrid legend with which it is invested, 

 prevents any but the chance hunter or wandering 

 traveller from ever invading its fastnesses. This 

 kloof is about seven miles from the rough track that 

 in these regions is dignified by the name of road ; 

 it is approached by a poort or pass through the 

 mountains, and the way is, even for South Africa, 

 a rough and dangerous one, although there are 

 indications that a rude waggon track did formerly 

 exist there. Standing upon the steep side of this 

 kloof are the remains of what must have once been a 

 roomy and substantial Boer farmhouse ; but the four 

 walls are roofless, the windows and doorways naked 

 and destitute of sashes, the euphorbia, the prickly 

 pear, and clambering weeds grow within and without, 

 the lizard and snake abide there, and the whole 



