150 
JOURNAL OF A 
US ill our way. But the sun dispersed the mists, and about noon 
the atmosphere became remarkably clear. We were extremely 
delighted with the beautiful woods and glens, upon which we soon 
entered, and pronounced the environs of George, flat as its own 
situation appears, to be as interesting and romantic, as any part 
of the country we had yet seen. In about an hour's time, passing 
by the farm to which our oxen belonged, they all on a sudden 
turned short round, preferring to graze at their own quarters, 
rather than to toil through the defiles before us. It was with some 
difficulty that they were made to proceed. 
Our road lay in a line nearly parallel to the high range of moun- 
tains, which here take a direction towards the Indian ocean. Af- 
ter crossing several pleasant and well-wooded vales, we reached 
Kayman's Gat, and found the description given of it by the 
landdrost, by no means exaggerated. The view of the glen is 
both magnificent and terrific. On leaving the waggons to walk 
down the steep, we began to fear for their safety, and our appre- 
hensions were not lessened by listening to stories, told on the road 
by the Hottentots, of misfortunes experienced by travellers, whose 
Avaggons were broken, and their cattle killed in the descent, es- 
pecially in stormy weather. At first, the road slopes down gra- 
dually through a thicket, with larger trees interspersed. A deep 
ravine to the right receives the brook Zvvart Revier, the same 
which passes by the drosty at George, which, rushing over pre- 
cipitous rocks below the road, and out of sight, causes a great 
roaring of hidden waters, and adds much to the grandeur of the 
scene. It is not so much its steepness, which renders the pas- 
sage of Kayman's Gat so dangerous, as the extreme unevenness 
of the road, if road that may be called, where, as yet, art has not 
assisted nature, and the traveller must pass over rocks, in steps of 
from one to two feet perpendicular height, the waggons bouncing 
down, reeling from side to side, and but for the management of Hot- 
tentots accustomed to such service, in continual danger of over- 
setting. They support the waggon, by thongs fastened to each side. 
