SOUTHERN AFRICA. 137 
at a certain spot, well known to them and to our guide Rens- 
berg, which was a journey of two da^s' distance from the 
Kaffer court. 
On the fourth, therefore, the interpreters proceeded to the 
eastward, and we directed our route towards the mouth of the 
Great Fish river. The country over which we passed was per- 
fectly flat ; and in those parts where the KafFers had not yet 
been, there was abundance of long grass. On approaching 
the sea-coast we observed a long train of fires, and, supposing 
them to have been made by a party of Kafters stationed 
there, we turned a little out of the way towards the quarter 
from whence the smoke proceeded ; but being to leeward of 
it, and the wind encreasing, the waggons w^ere in the midst of 
the fire before we were aware of being so close upon it ; and 
the smoke was so thick and acrid, that it was impossible to 
see the length of the team. The oxen, being burnt in the feet, 
became unmanageable, and galloped off in great confusion, 
the dogs howled, and there was a general uproar. The smoke 
was suffocating ; the flames blazed up on each side of the 
waggons, creating no small degree of alarm, as most of them 
contained a quantity of gunpowder. The oxen, however, ei- 
ther by sagacity, or by chance, had set their heads against 
the wind, and soon galloped through it. The flames ran in 
all directions among the long dry grass and heathy plants 
with incredible celerity. The face of the country for several 
miles was a sheet of fire, and the air was obscured with a 
cloud of smoke. We had yet a considerable extent of coun- 
try to pass among black ashes, beyond which we presently 
reached the mouth of the Great Fish river, where we pitched 
our tents for the night. 
VOL. I. T 
