4 FORT WILTSHIRE. 



from the Commandant to visit CafTerland, the facility 

 of penetrating at that time beyond the boundaries 

 being entirely dependent on permission from the 

 Colonial authorities. Leaving Graham's Town early 

 one morning, I enjoyed a most delightful ride through 

 a wild and romantic country, passing a spot cele- 

 brated for having once been the scene of a severe 

 conflict between the Caffers and Colonists, in which 

 it may be recollected that the former were signally 

 defeated in their sudden attempt to exterminate, by 

 surprisal, the new settlement. 



The close of the day brought me to Fort Wiltshire, 

 a military outpost on the Keiskamma River, after a 

 journey of about forty-five miles, through a district 

 remarkable for its bold and beautiful scenery. It 

 was impossible, indeed, for an admirer of Nature not 

 to be struck with the grandeur and sublimity of her 

 works presented to his notice on every side ; — stu- 

 pendous mountains, abrupt and frightful chasms, 

 were among the nobler features of the landscape; 

 whilst the various evergreens that clothed the steep 

 declivities, — the darkening forests that adorned each 

 towering eminence, — exhibited a mass of verdant 

 foliage, most refreshing amidst the vast magnificence 

 of the picture. On approaching Fort Wiltshire in 

 the dusk of evening, my attention was attracted by 

 numerous fires, which were dispersed in every 

 quarter ; and imparted an exhilarating effect to the 

 dreariness and solitude of the scenes around. It 



