MARCH.] 
JOURNEY TO BETHELSDORP. 
75 
no cliff or precipice. We had now a still higher 
mountain to get over, whose top we had not yet seen, 
it being covered with clouds. Though the sun had 
nearly finished his race, to lessen the labour of the 
next day, we determined to ascend part of it. We 
scrambled up about a quarter of a mile, and there halted 
for the night. The night being cool, and our clothes 
damp in consequence of the rain, every one assisted to 
collect materials for making a fire, and we soon had a 
large one. 1 was afraid we should not procure water 
on such high ground, but our Hottentot women soon 
found some that was very good — indeed they find 
water with facility where an European would perish 
with thirst. 
11th. We got out of the waggon before sun-rise; 
the morning was pleasant, the sky serene. While the 
people were collecting and putting in the oxen, we 
made a great fire, and had some coffee. We began 
to climb the mountain about half after five in the 
morning, and reached the summit about nine. The 
oxen of the two waggons were obliged to be yoked for 
sometime to our luggage waggon. At one turn in the 
hill we spent an hour and a half in getting round it, 
owing to the. great length to which twenty-six oxen 
reach, and the sharpness of this turn ; when they all 
pulled, it was nearly impossible to prevent the waggon 
being turned over the precipice, which must have 
dashed it to atoms. The remains of two waggons 
were lying at the bottom of this cliff as a warning to 
us to beware of the danger. The fore wheel at one 
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