86 
JOURNEY TO BETHELSDORP. [1813. 
The slaves and Hottentots all seemed happy at this 
house ; of course they were well treated. 
We parted from this kind family about four P.M. 
and proceeded on our journey. We passed another 
boor's place about six, and then crossed a river ; at 
eleven, P.M. we descended to a deep hollow, of a 
circular form, surrounded by hills, and near the source 
of Kroom river, which is the boundary of separation 
between the Drosdies of George and Uitenhagen, and 
there we halted during the night. 
I6th, The morning light discovered the beauty and 
loneliness of the place \yhere we had spent the night. 
Our waggon stood as in the centre of a basin, across 
which ran an excellent stream of water, and large 
geraniums, with many other handsome flowers, grew 
around. There was a fog on the hills, which 
formed a canopy only a little higher than the wag- 
gons, but none of us had caught any cold whilst 
asleep, though much exposed to these damps. We 
found many of the plants had a scent similar to sage. 
The valley lower down for about ten miles between 
the mountains is entirely a morass, in which nothing 
but tall rushes and other water plants grow. I ob- 
served plenty of a kind of rushes that grow abundantly 
in Scotland, and have their roots sunk very deep into 
the earth. I noticed a snail crawling along with its 
house on its back, at least four times as large as the 
largest I have seen in England. 
