94 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
how they were defamed, or their best efforts 
mis-represented, and though war or blight strip- 
ped them of their property, still they would 
begin over again. And with the true deter- 
mination of those from the highlands of North 
Britain, and the hardihood and endurance of 
her best sons, they still continued to work ; of 
which exertions, Albany, as it now stands, is 
the lasting memorial. 
The soil of this district does not materially 
differ from that in the other divisions. In Lower 
Albany the pursuits of the inhabitants are in 
agriculture; while, in Upper Albany, they are 
in grazing — sheep being generally kept. 
The chief town in the Eastern Province, is 
Graham's Town, which is situated in the centre 
of this division. The approach to this from the 
Colony is very picturesque, passing through 
what is called "Howison's Poort." This is a 
long narrow defile of about ten miles in length, 
which appears to have been formed, by some 
violent disrupture of the earth. The rocks 
overhang the sides of the road, throughout the 
ravine, and their faces and fissures are clothed 
in the most diversified canopies of aloes, li- 
chens, ferns, orchidacae, and florae. By the 
side of the road a little gurgling rill of the 
clearest water runs, completing the wild, and 
almost fairy, beauty of this lovely spot. 
