38 TRAVELS IN 
Having travelled about seven hours, in which time the oxen 
had not proceeded about fifteen miles, we entered a long nar- 
row pass between two hills, the faces of which being nearly 
perpendicular and straight, conveyed tp the eye a long natu- 
ral perspective like that of a street, a name which in fact w^is 
given to the place 't Straat. The farther extremity of the 
pass opened into a level plain, inclosed by small hills, all de- 
tached from each other, and having every appearance of a vol- 
canic origin, except that the sand-stone strata, which shewed 
themselves on their sides, Avere regular and undisturbed. The 
inclination of these strata in a considerable angle to the hori- 
zon, and the cone-shaped form of the hills, made it appear, 
from certain points of view, as if a spiral line of stone twisted, 
itself round their sides like the ridge that encircles some of the 
volute shells. Farenheit's thermometer stood at 33° at sun- 
rise ; at noon, exposed to the sun, at 80% in the shade 55" i 
and at seven in the evening it was down at the freezing point. 
The next day's journey was about five-and-twenty miles, to 
a place called Coiutaaple, so named after a Bastaard Hotten- 
tot who had been tempted by a small spring of water to erect 
a hut and plant a few ti'ees. The drought, however, had soon 
obliged him to quit this retreat. Two spreading oaks still 
remained to shade a spring of excellent water, which, how- 
ever, soon lost itself in the sandy surface of the ground. Here 
the thermometer at noon rose to 80° in the sun, and at night 
was down to the freezing point. 
On the fourteenth we travelled only twelve miles. The 
road, in some places, was rocky and uneven, and in otheis 
deep sand. Our oxen were now beginning to droop for want 
