578 



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



June, 1836. 



of the mountain : it forms one of the principal roads from 

 the low land of the coast, to the mountains and great plains 

 of the interior. We reached the foot of the mountains on 

 the opposite, or S. E. side of the pass, a little after noon. 

 Here, at the toll-bar, we found comfortable lodgings for the 

 night. The surrounding mountains were destitute of trees, 

 and even of brushwood; but they supported a scattered 

 vegetation of rather a brighter green than usual : the quan- 

 tity, however, of white siliceous sandstone, every where 

 protruding itself uncovered, gave to the country a bleak and 

 desolate aspect. 



6th. — My intention was to return by Sir Lowry Cole's 

 pass, over the same chain of mountains as before, but a 

 httle further to the south. Following unfrequented paths, 

 we crossed an irregular hilly country until we joined the 

 other line of road. During the whole long day, I met 

 scarcely a single person, and saw but few inhabited spots, 

 or any number of cattle. A few roebucks were grazing on 

 the sides of the hills, and some large dirty white vultures, 

 like the condors of America, slowly wheeled over the place 

 where probably some dead animal was lying. There was not 

 even a tree to break the monotonous uniformity of the sand- 

 stone hills : I never saw a much less interesting country. 

 At night we slept at the house of an English farmer ; and 

 at an early hour the next day we descended by Sir Lowry's 

 pass, which, like that of the French Hoeck, has been cut, at 

 a great expense, along the flank of a steep mountain. From 

 the summit, there was a noble view of the whole of False 

 Bay, and of the Table Mountain, and, immediately below, 

 of the cultivated country of Hottentot Holland. The flat, 

 covered with sand-dunes did not appear, when viewed from 

 this height, of the tedious length which we found it before 

 we reached in the evening Cape Town. 



June 18th. — We put to sea, and, on the 29th, crossed 

 the Tropic of Capricorn for the sixth and last time. On the 

 8th of July, we arrived off St. Helena. This island, the for- 

 bidding aspect of which has been so often described, rises 



