104 BEAUFORT. 



amount it is often filled by families from the surround- 

 ing neighbourhood, many of whom come from a con- 

 siderable distance to hear their esteemed minister. 



The inhabitants frequently suffer severely from 

 long-continued droughts, the soil presenting the same 

 appearance as that of the Karroo, by which it is 

 skirted ; and from the circumstance of this village 

 being nearly encompassed by mountains, the heat 

 during the summer months is extremely oppressive. 



Sessions for the trial of prisoners are held here 

 twice a year, when one of the judges from Cape 

 Town usually presides ; and here, from frequent 

 communication with the interior, is generally known 

 what is passing among the Bushmen, and other 

 tribes who inhabit the border-lands. 



The farmers residing in the Nieuw-veld whom I 

 met at this place complained of being great sufferers 

 from the attacks of the Bushmen : one, named Vi- 

 joon, stated that he never quitted home, without feel- 

 ings of apprehension lest his family should be mur- 

 dered by them in his absence. A Bushman, named 

 Avonteur, who had been brought up in this farmer's 

 family, having absconded from his service, had 

 joined a tribe notorious for their depredations, and 

 become a leader of the party. This renegade had 

 conveyed a message by some Hottentots to the 

 farmer's wife, stating that he should avail himself of 

 an opportunity during her husband's absence to pay 

 her a visit, when, according to his own expression, 



