SOUTHERN AFRICA. 37 
been speaking of four partridges. I heard one of these hu- 
mane colonists boast of having destroyed with his own hands 
near three hundred of these unfortunate wretches. 
The two graziers having joined us with each a waggon, and 
a numerous family of children, Hottentots, and Kaffers, we 
proceeded, on the twelfth of July, to the north-east, and in 
four hours gained the summit of the lowest part of the moun- 
tains that inclose the valley. The ascent, which rose by steps 
or terraces, might be about fifteen hundred feet in the dis- 
tance of six miles. From the top towards the east there was 
little or no descent. Here the face of the country began to 
wear an entire new aspect. All the great chains of mountains 
on this side appeared only as hills, and as we proceeded they 
gradually vanished, or their tops only were visible, sinking 
into the horizon. A confined prospect of a rugged surface, 
broken into hill and dale, presented itself on every side. The 
eye wandered in vain to seek relief by a diversity of objects. 
No huge rocks confusedly scattered on the plain, or piled into 
mountains, no hills clothed with verdure, no traces of culti- 
vation, nat a tree nor a tall shrub, appeared to break the uni- 
formity of the surface, nor bird nor beast to enliven the dreary 
waste. Vegetation, was thinly scattered over a bed of browur 
ish colored clay, and the low and stunted plants were almost 
wholly confined to the succulent tribe. Of these the most 
common were several species of mesenibrijant/iemicm, of euphor- 
bia, crassula, and cotyledon. The grand family of profeas, and 
of the elegant ei^lca had totally disappeared. The road was 
tolerably good, being carried generall}^ over a bed of sand- 
stone crossed with veins of fat quartz, and a kind of pondc" 
rous iron-stone. 
