3i8 TRAVELS IN 
of the following December, at which time, in his book, he is 
conducting his readers to the northward, as far as the tropic. 
The inventive faculties of the Abbe Philippeaux, who is the 
real author of the work, supplied what he conceived to be 
wanting in the traveller's remarks, and in the two above- 
mentioned publications. 
From the house of Slabert we crossed over to Saldanha baj, 
and made a few observations on this commodious inlet of the 
sea, which will hereafter be noticed. 
The general surface of the country, between the Berg river 
and Saldanha bay, is flat and sandy, covered, however, with 
a continued forest of shrubbery ; but thinly inhabited, on ac- 
count of the scarcity of fresh water. The soil, though sandy, 
is uncommonly fertile ,; the usual returns on wheat being from 
fifteen to twenty fold. Barley yields from thirty to forty. 
They use no manure, and in some places the soil is so loose 
and sandy, that even the operation of ploughing is unneces- 
'Sary. Garden plants of all kinds thrive remarkably well. 
It is curious enough to see pumpkins, melons, cauliflowers, 
and other vegetables, growing luxuriantly in sheer sand. At 
one place they were rooting out sugar canes, that had over- 
spread a garden, to give place for a plantation of tobacco. 
The greasy appearance, and the adhesive quality, of the 
sandy soil that covers the surface of this part of the country, 
arise probably from loamy or marly particles that render it 
so particularly favorable to vegetation. From the chalky 
masses of stone that lie at certain depths under, and some- 
times appear above, the sandy surface, may also perhaps he 
