1812. ' THE COLONIAL BOUNDARY. 185 
and indeed the best that could be had, of the open, and generally 
level, nature of the intervening country. 
6th. The only stranger who came near us, was a Hottentot 
shepherd belonging to some boor, whose place, he said, was not far 
off. This man was therefore the last person whom we saw belonging 
to the colony. 
After travellincp about ten miles from Elands Fountain, we con- 
sidered that we had crossed the boundary of the Colony, a line very 
ill-defined, especially along the northern border, and marked by no 
appearance which can inform the traveller precisely when he has 
quitted the settlement, or when he enters the wild country of the 
Bushmen ; both being equally wild, and, excepting immediately 
around the boors' dwellings, equally destitute of every trace of culti- 
vation or human labor. 
VOL. II. 
B B 
