SOUTHERN AFRICA. 503 
of Africa. This creeper ran to the very summits of the 
highest Geel-hout trees, and bore a fruit in size and appear- 
ance not unhke the Morclle cherry, seldom more than two 
or three in a cluster, of a very agreeable and delicate subacid 
flavor. The leaves of this vine are shaped like those of the 
ivy, dark green, and smooth on the upper, and rather woolly 
on the under, surface ; not dcciduousj but evergreen. 
From Plettenberg's bay we returned to the westward, cross- 
ing many deep and dangerous rivers. Of these, the Kayman, 
or Crocodiles' river, was . by much the most difficult to pass 
with waggons, the banks on either side being several hun- 
dred feet high, steep, and rtjcky. It is confidently asserted, that 
the animal, whose name the river bears, occasionally appears 
in it,- though none of the people who accompanied me could 
testify to have seen an}"^ other species of that genus- frequent- 
ing the water, except Iguanas from six to ten feet in length. 
Ill the Nile only the crocodile is found in so high a latitude 
as 31° or 32°; but the Trichecus, or Lamantin, frequents both 
coasts of Africa, from the Mediterranean to the Cape point, 
sometimes, though very rarely, entering the mouths of the 
rivers. 
The Kayman's river separates the division of Plettenberg's 
bay from the Autiniequas land, a tract of country which the 
Dutch government kept exclusively for its own use, both on 
account of the grand forests that were here easily accessible, 
and the excellent pasturage it afforded for their cattle at all 
seasons of the year. The mountains here, being near the sea, 
attract the vapors, and cause a greater quantity of rain to 
