TRAVELS 
IN 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
CHAP. L 
Sketches made on a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope., across the Karroo^ 
or Arid Desert, to the Drosdy of Graaf Reynet, 
O N the 4th of May 1797, the Earl of Macartney arrived 
at the Cape of Good Hope to take charge of the govern- 
ment of this important settlement. To obtain information of 
the state of the country, and the disposition of the Colonists 
under their new masters, were the first objects of his 
lordship's attention ; but the result of his inquiries was un- 
certain, and contradictory. Equally vague, and at variance 
with each other on the most important points, were the nume- 
rous accounts that had been published. By the labours of 
two Swedish travellers, the natural history of the country was 
tolerably well ascertained, but we were still kept in ignorance 
with regard to those subjects that were connected with the 
political importance of the settlement. There was not, for 
instance, a survey of a single bay whose accuracy could be 
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