358 TRAVELS IN 
upon the Roggeveld mountain, make it a disagreeable, un« 
interesting, and tedious route for one who travels with no 
other view than that of gratifj^ing curiosity. Crows, kites, and 
vultures, are almost the only kinds of birds that are met with. 
Of the last, I broke the wing of one of that species called 
by Ornithologists the Condor, of an amazingly large size. The 
spread of its wings was ten feet and one inch. It kept 
three dogs for some time completely at bay, and having 
at length seized one of them with its claws, and torn away a 
large piece of flesh from its thigh, they all immediately re- 
treated. 
Having proceeded for twelve days along the summit of the 
Roggeveld, till I fell in nearly with the track that had carried 
iTie on a former journey to Graaff Reynet, I descended to the 
Karroo plains, which, in this part, employed me three days 
in crossing. These plains are every where of the same na- 
ture, presenting to the traveller " a scene of dreadful uni- 
" formity ; where a barren level is bounded only by the 
« horizon ; where no change of prospect, or variety of images, 
" relieves the traveller from a sense of toil and danger; 
" of whirlwinds, which, in a moment, may bury him in the 
« sand; and of thirst, which the wealthy have given half 
-** their possessions to allay.'' 
Bordering these arid plains, on the west side, are several 
clumps of high mountains, enclosing meadows and vallies, 
covered with good grass, that are also called the Bokkeveld, 
but distinguished from the other by the n^mes of Little 
Bokkeveld and Cold Bokkeveld. These are ramifications of 
