BOONARTIE. 7 
tinued our progress without intermission until we 
reached that romantic spot, the Dweekie or Rhino- 
ceros River. On the 26th we crossed the Gamka 
or Lion River, and on the 27th arrived at the Beau- 
fort. In consequence of the heavy rains the appear- 
ance of the country was much more favourable than 
it had been for some years past. 
We left Beaufort on the 30th; and, amidst violent 
storms of hail and rain, we crossed the great chain 
of the Neufeld Mountains, the tops of which were 
covered with snow, while the thermometer stood at 
noon at 47°. We were detained by the weather for 
three or four days at the farm of a Boor named 
Boonartie, for whose son, a lad of fourteen, I could not 
help feeling some commiseration, as he was obliged 
to keep watch at night under a straw-built hovel, 
during this tempestuous weather, for the purpose of 
protecting his father’s sheep from beasts of prey, 
which are generally more on the alert in such 
stormy seasons. On the previous night some jack- 
als had attacked and bitten off the tails of several 
lambs: three had died of cold; and on the preceding 
day others had been destroyed by the Lemer-vanger, 
or bearded vulture. 
Boonartie and his wife appeared to be hospitable 
people ; but their house was the picture of misery, the 
thatch of one room having completely disappeared, 
while the wind and rain penetrated through the shat- 
tered and dilapidated roof of the other to such a 
