292 
ENTRANCE INTO BICHUANIA. 
28 June, 
This pass might be described as a winding defile between the 
mountains, and which had no perceptible ascent nor descent. The 
breadth of the Kamhanni range may easily be imagined, from the 
circumstance that, the passage of it occupied three hours and a half 
at our usual rate of travelling. 
On clearing the mountains, we entered upon a grassy plain per- 
fectly level, extending before us as far as the eye could discern, and 
presenting, on the north-east and east, a boundless expanse of country. 
On our left, the mountains continued, as it were, to accompany us 
at the distance of a few miles. 
This I could not but feel to be an interesting point of my 
travels : I had now entered their territory, and was about to behold a 
totally different and superior race of men, a nation among whom I 
was to find some traces of industry and art, and who, by living in 
fixed abodes and in large communities and by following agriculture, 
had advanced the first steps in civilization. These considerations 
excited reflections of the most pleasing kind, the power of which 
chased from my mind every vexatious sentiment, and banished every 
thought of those troubles and difficulties which naturally attend 
a traveller venturing into these countries under circumstances such 
as mine. Having set my foot in a new region, I prepared for ex- 
amining with attention all its features, and for enjoying the feast of 
novelty and instruction, which lay spread before me in every quarter. 
Here, the new and interesting forms of some scattered trees of 
Camel-thorn, or Mokaala, gave a most picturesque and remarkable 
character to the landscape ; more especially as no other large tree of 
any kind, nor scarcely a bush, was any where to be seen. 
Muchunka was also in high spirits, on entering his native 
country, and communicated to the less lively Hottentots, some por- 
tion of his own vivacity, by extolling its pastures, its water, and 
its abundance of game ; and by giving an animated description of 
the town to which we were advancing, and of the friendly dispo- 
sition of his countrymen. It was evident that the circumstance 
of having quitted the district in which they had been so much in 
dread of the Bushmen, contributed not a little to quiet the minds of 
my men, and to restore ease and cheerfulness to our party ; although 
