22 
TRAVELS IN 
that which lies on tlie Cape side of the range of mountains. 
It is bounded on the eastern side by a branch of the same chain, 
much higher, however, than that through which the pass lies, 
yet accessible by waggons. The summits of the mountains 
were buried in snow, and the thermometer at sunrise stood, 
on the plain, at the freezing point. 
The valley of Roode Sand, oi' Waveren, is a fertile tract of 
land, well watered by streamlets falling from the inclosing 
mountains, and produces abundance of corn, some wine, rai- 
sins, and other fruits. Several parts are capable of being 
flooded, and on that account admirably adapted for the culti- 
vation of rice. The Chinese bamboo, a plant not more elegant 
than it is useful, growls herewith great luxuriance, and is em- 
ployed for whipstocks, and for the frame over which the co- 
vers of the waggons are laid. The Cape olive grows wild in 
great abundance, and also the palma Christi. Game of va- 
rious kinds is plentiful, such as bustards, partridges, snipes, 
ducks, and mountain geese. Of antelopes they have the 
duiker, klip-springer, steenbok, griesbok, and reebok. The 
last is an animal that does not yet appear to have been de- 
scribed in any systematic work. Its size is that of the do- 
mestic goat, but it is much more elegantly made. The color 
is a bluish grey, the belly and breast white; horns seven or 
eight inches long, annulatcd about a third part of the length 
from the base. Besides these they have the Cape hare, and 
an animal that burrows in the ground called the yzer varke, 
or iron hog, the flesh of which, when salted and dried, is 
esteemed by the Dutch as a great delicacy. It is the hystrix 
cristaia, or crested porcupine, of Pennant. Several of tlie 
