298 



ORANGE RIVER. 



[1828. 



more than fifty thousand bullocks, besides the other valuable articles 

 common to that section of the country. 



This important discovery I laid before my owners, on my return to 

 New- York from this present voyage ; but they thought me enthusiastic, 

 the project chimerical, and refused to listen to it. I did not urge the 

 subject, as I had a desire to seek for discoveries in another quarter ; 

 which, as the sequel will show, proved to be a losing speculation for 

 all concerned ; to me in particular, as I not only lost my property, but 

 also my friends — a very natural consequence. Had I been permitted 

 to return to Africa, the Antarctic would by this time have become as 

 famous 



" As Jason's Argo, which conveyed to Greece 

 The wealthy purchase of the golden fleece f 



nor should I have been fated to sustain an unequal combat with the 

 giants of prejudice and the hydras of malice and jealousy. 



September ISth. — After taking on board a sufficient quantity of wood 

 in four hours, we left Cape Voltas, on Thursday, the 18th, and steered 

 to the north, with a fine breeze from the south, and fair weather. At 

 3, P. M., we reached the entrance of Gariep or Orange River, between 

 which and Voltas Bay, on the seacoast, the land is very low, sandy, 

 barren, and desolate. It retains this appearance for some distance 

 from the shore ; but after running back six or eight miles, it begins to 

 swell into hills, and still farther back it rises into lofty mountains, 

 which stand each side of the river, on the banks of which are a few 

 Hottentot villages. The wealth of the inhabitants consists of herds of 

 cattle and flocks of sheep. 



Orange River, though quite extensive in its course, is, in the latter 

 part of the dry season, nearly closed at its entrance, and the water 

 continues shallow four or five miles westward of the river's mouth. 

 On this shoal the sea breaks every full and change of the moon, as 

 there is a heavy swell setting in from the west at that time. There 

 are many valuable minerals and precious stones found in and about 

 this river, and I have found a few grains of gold-dust at the river's 

 mouth. Copper and lead ore have been found here, and I have no doubt 

 that there are many valuable mines in this part of the country. Not, 

 withstanding the steril aspect of the seaboard, twenty-five miles up 

 the river the soil is good, and the country well wooded. A few miles 

 farther east are extensive plains, on which I have seen more than 

 three thousand head of cattle, equal to any in the world. Here the 

 soil is rich, and would produce any thing that might be put into the 

 ground. Some of the forests are of very handsome growth, and the 

 different varieties of plants are very numerous. I have bought bullocks 

 here for one pound of powder each, and ostrich feathers at a propor- 

 tionably low price. 



Persons wishing to have communication with this river must land at 

 Voltas Bay, and walk to the banks of Orange, as there is no landing 

 at or near its mouth, any season of the year, on account of the con- 

 tinual heavy surf that is always rolling in upon this coast from the 

 westward. This river rises far in the interior, and may be said 



