VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA. I69 
and now, but for his dexterous turnings and doublings, would have 
been taken, had he not reached a wood, and thus narrowly escaped. 
It was very amusing to us to see the chace, and the disappointed 
looks of the returning huntsmen. The fur of the bluebock is re- 
markably fine; brown, changing with a blueish grey. It was quite 
dark before we arrived at a farm, the possessor of which, after some 
hesitation, permitted us to pitch our tent and unyoke our oxen in the 
field before his house. We kindled a fire, and after a supper, con- 
sisting of coffee, bread and honey, lay down to rest. We were, 
however, prevented going to sleep, till near two o'clock in the morn- 
ing, by a drunken Hottentot, whom neither the exhortations of 
Brother Schmitt, nor the more forcible means used by Brother 
Stein, who thrust him out of a Hottentot house, where, in quarrel- 
ing and fighting with a wom,an, he had bitten a piece out of her 
arm, could bring to reason. 
24th. During the night, black clouds had over-spread the heavens, 
but providentially dispersed at sunrise, and the morning proved 
fine. Had it turned to rain, we durst not have ventured to proceed, 
and to encounter the passage across the mountains. The farmer 
seemed last night not much disposed to^issist us; but Sister Schmitt 
had this morning got into favour both with him and his wife, and 
procured a supply of bread, milk, and cabbages. After breakfast 
we set out, and soon entered upon roads, not easily described, so as 
to give to Englishmen an adequate idea of them. How those 
African waggons can bear such thumping, bouncing, twisting, and 
screwing betw een rocks, and large masses of broken stones, irregu- 
larly piled upon each other, is almost beyond belief. But the 
Creator has mercifully provided for the wants of men in all coun- 
tries. Here grows that valuable wood called Eysterhout, or iron- 
wood, so hard, and likewise so tough, that an axle-tree made of it 
will bear more than an iron one of twice its thickness. 
The views from the heights are most singular. I wish I were 
able to paint them, so as to present a true picture to my reader's 
imagination. Along the horizon to the east and south-cast, runs 
z 
