SOUTHERN AFRICA. 391 
On reaching our quarters in Lange Kloof w e were agreeably 
surprized to find that the shoes of all our horses had been re- 
moved, and new ones placed on such as wanted them. This 
had been a matter of serious consideration from the first day of 
our expedition ; for, as the horses of the colony are never shod, 
except those in the hands of the English, we could hardly 
flatter ourselves that we should meet with any person in the 
interior of the country, capable of undertaking such an ope- 
ration. A young man, however, born deaf and dumb, with- 
out ever having seen a horse-shoe before, made several new 
ones, and replaced others with as much care and neatness, as 
one that had been brought up to the business of a farrier. 
This ingenious young man, the only one I can safely say that 
I ever met with in the course of my travels in this country, 
supported, by his labor, a worthless, drunken father, and a 
mimber of brothers and sisters. 
Nothing of moment occurred until we reached the borders 
of the Camtoos River, which divides the district of Zwellen- 
dam from that of Graaff Reynet. Being passable only by 
waggons atone ford, we encamped there, as the most eligible 
situation for keeping open a communication between Briga- 
dier General Vandeleur and the Cape. Scarcely, however, 
had we arrived, when an express from the General directed us 
to proceed to Algoa Bay. 
The country between the Camtoos River and this bay is ex- 
tremely rich and beautiful. Like a gentleman's park, or plea- 
sure grounds, in England, the surface is diversified with thick- 
ets and knots of stately trees, planted, however, by the spon- 
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