Feb.] 
CAPE TOWN TO BEAUFORT. 
7 
rendered the wild and singular scenery still more 
interesting at that time was, that, the heavens 
were beautifully illuminated by the setting sun 
at one end of the pass, and the full moon in 
serene aad cloudless majesty was seen rising at 
the other. In three hours and a half we halted 
near the extremity of the defile. 
Resting on the 31st, at Mr. De Vos', near tliQ 
head of Hex-river valley, he remarked that the 
climate and soil of the valley seemed equally 
adapted either for the vineyard or the corn-field. 
Chesnuts, walnuts, peaches, nectarines, apricots, 
mulberries, oranges, apples, pears, quinces, 
lemons, &c. were hanging on the trees in such 
profusion as to weigh down the branches to the 
ground. 
We left the Hex River at five p. m., travelled 
four or five miles up a steep ascent, at the head 
of the valley, over a range of hills, passed through 
a defile, and at midnight halted at the commence- 
ment of the Karroo desert. 
A jackal amused us by its howling at a little 
distance. The field-mouse, upon which it some- 
times preys, generally takes up its abode under 
a bush, and has a hole on each side leading to its 
residence. When pursued by the jackal it flies 
to its hiding-place. The jackal, aware of the 
