184 
TRAVELS IN 
the banks of the Kareelna. To drive them over at that thne 
by an armed force, to be sent from the Cape expressly for 
that purpose, was deemed an unadvisable measm'e ; but fresh 
disturbances among the foolish people of Graaff Rejnet hav- 
ing since rendered it indispensably necessary to throw troops 
into that district, and the Kaffers having been instigated by 
promises and presents from the boors to enter into hostilities 
against the British troops, coercive measures were found to 
be unavoidable in order to endeavour to drive these people 
out of the colony, and to break the connection that subsisted 
between them and the peasantry. 
In our way to the Drosdy we passed over the fertile divi- 
sion of Bruyntjes Hoogte, notorious for the turbulent spirit 
of its inhabitants ; a set of adventurers, chiefly soldiers or 
sailors, who had either deserted or were discharged from the 
Dutch army and the Company's shipping. These men hav- 
ing, at this great distance from the seat of government, found 
a country that with little or no labor would supply most of 
their wants, thought themselves independent and superior to 
all authority. They attempted even to dictate to the Govern- 
ment, which indeed was weak and timid enough to suffer 
their excesses to be committed with impunity. 
From Bruyntjes Hoogte we descended to the Karoo plains 
of Camdeboo. These plains are intersected by the Bly river, 
the Vogel river, the Platte river, and the Melk river, in their 
passage from the Sneuwberg into the Sondag river. Naked 
as the surface appeared to be, game of every sort was very 
plentiful, particularly springboks and the larger kinds of 
