ii?5 TRAVELS IN 
as to reach my waggons ; and I was obligerf^ 
therefore, to remove my camp to a greatef 
diftance towards the plain. Had the rife takerl 
place during the night, my camp might have 
been fwept entirely away; and my own life, 
and the lives of my people, h^ve been expofed 
to the mofl imminent peril. 
At the Cape, I had often heard of the rifk 
which a traveller riins in this part of Africa, 
when he encamps too' near rivers. Refpeding 
thefe dangers the planters had even told me 
wonderful tales, to which I gave little credit, 
confidefrng them only as the exaggerations of 
the narrators ; but experience has fmce con- 
vinced me of their truth. Many a time, when 
encamped during the mod beautiful weather, 
and even after a very great drought, near fmall 
rivers, and at a diftance from their banks, have 
I feen them fo fwell on a fudden, by the burfl:- 
ing of a ftorm, as, in lefs than three hours, to 
rife above the trees on their banks, inundate 
the plains to a confiderable diftance, and fornfi 
around me an immenfe lake. 
It is, therefore, prudent In a traveller never 
to encamp near rivers, except on an eminence 
whichj when at their greateft height, they can- 
not I 
