200 
JOURNAL OF A 
been blessed by God in the hearts of those, that heard his artless 
speeches. Before we set out, a party of women and children came 
down to the river to see us. The children were all stark naked. 
Marcus and Johannes attended the travelling-waggon. Our 
leader was a Hottentot from the farm. As we travelled aionar, 
we were greatly delighted with the variety and beauty of the pro- 
spects, that opened to our view. A dragoon had told us, that 
we should soon come into a country, looking like England, and 
we found his prediction verified. The so-called Galgenbosch, 
has very much the appearance of an extensive range of parks. 
We seemed to be passing from one park to another. The ele- 
gant mimosa is distributed upon the hills, in copses, or stands 
singly. Here and there a thicket fills a dell, or a wood of larger 
trees a wider glen. Clumps of high trees ornament the sides of 
the hills. Distant mountains of singular outline, with a nearer 
range of lower hills, endino; towards the sea, with one of a coni- 
cal form, present a most interesting horizon to the east, and the 
woody, wavy country between them and the road, affords infinite 
gratification to the eye of the traveller. But the habitations of 
man are very thinly scattered over an immense tract of country. 
At two, we reached Klaarefonteyn, the farm of a Mr. Neukirch, 
of German origin, where we were most kindly received, and hos- 
pitably treated. Thick milk, bread of excellent quality, and a 
fried sausage were set before us. The old farm-house was burnt 
by the Caffres during the late invasion, and its ruins exhibited a 
proof of their savage mode of warfare. Mr. Neukirch was im- 
mediately ready to furnish oxen, to bring us to his brother's 
house, on Van Staades Revier, and, meanwhile, to send another 
spann, which should fetch the baggage-waggon from Louri Re- 
vier, and join us in the morning. After about an hour's rest, we 
left this hospitable dwelling, and proceeded through thick woods, 
which opened here and there, affording a peep towards the moun- 
tains to the left, or the coasts of the Indian ocean to the right, of 
the road. Before we descended into the valley, we met two wag- 
