92 TRAVELS IN 
tinge, cellular and fibrous, harsh to the feel, and easily bro- 
ken. 
Some experiments were formerly made, in a rough way, at 
the Cape of Good Hope, upon specimens of this identical vein 
of lead-ore, by Major Van Dhen, an officer in the Dutch ser- 
vice, and the result of these proved it to be uncommonly rich 
in silver. According to this gentleman's statement of the assay, 
two hundred pounds of the ore contain one hundred pounds 
of pure lead and eight ounces of silver. Should this on a more 
accurate trial turn out to be the case, it may hereafter prove a 
valuable acquisition to the colony. Lead mines, it is true, are 
generally very deep below the surface of the ground, and the 
working of them is both troublesome and expensive. But here 
a vein of rich ore, shewing itself at the surface, gives reason- 
able grounds for presuming that the large body of the mine 
may not lie at any great depth, and if so it would be worked 
advantageously. The surrounding country is particularly fa- 
vorable for the prosecution of such an undertaking. Wood 
is in such abundance both for building and for fuel, that it 
would not be exhausted in an age. Two streams of water 
unite in the bottom of the glen. The country would support 
with cattle and corn any number of people that might be re- 
quired to carry on the works ; and the distance of the mine 
is only five miles from the mouth of Van Staaden's river in 
Camtoos bay. 
Having finished our observations on Zwart-kop's bay and the 
adjoining country, the next step was to make the best of our 
way to the eastward along the sea-coast where the Kaffers 
were said to have stationed themselves in the greatest num- 
