124 
ASCENDING THE SNOW-MOUNTAINS. 
21 March, 
foot of Kleine Tafelberg, runs northward inclining to the east, and, 
passing by Plettenberg's Baaken, takes a more easterly course, as I 
was informed, and finally joins the Nugariep. A contrariety in the 
accounts which had been given me, of its course below the Baaken, 
leaves me in doubt whether, in laying it down on the map, I have 
adopted the true direction, or not. 
At about eight miles and a half from Nieukerk's we passed the 
next farm-house, the residence of a colonist of the name of Coenraad 
Herholdt, where a garden with poplars, pine trees, willows, roses, and 
peach trees, presented in these wild highlands, a solitary glimpse of 
cultivation. 
Beyond this, the road begins to ascend more rapidly, and enters 
the cold elevated region of Sneeuwberg proper. As we approached 
it, the air felt very sensibly colder ; the grass became more plentiful 
in the valleys ; and nothing presented itself in the prospect around 
us, but rocky mountains, the summits of which were enveloped in 
misty clouds. The unsettled state of the weather, assisted in strength- 
ening the character of frowning grandeur which belongs to this scene. 
The rude and bold features of the wild landscape, and the sublimity 
of nature, were unmingled with any trace of human works ; and the 
beaten track under our feet, was the only mark which could inform 
the traveller that these rugged valleys had ever been frequented ; or 
that the abode of man was to be found in a region apparently so 
deserted and solitary. I halted, to make some sketches, but my 
fingers were so much benumbed with the coldness of the misty vapor, 
that I succeeded with difficulty. In less than two hours after passing 
Herholdt's, we gained the most elevated point in the road over the 
Snow Mountains. Here the declivities and valleys were covered with 
abundance of thick grass of a growth equally fine with that which 
we call ' sheep's fescue-grass.'* The road continued at this great 
elevation ; and we travelled for more than three quarters of an hour, 
before there was any considerable descent. 
On our left we sometimes caught sight, between the mountains, of 
an immense and lofty peak, the highest point of Sneeuwberg. This is 
* Festuca ovina^ Linn. 
