262 
JOURN AL OF A 
mountains ; but, besides rehbocks and a few buslibocks, very little 
game is seen in the plain. 
The rain, which still continued to fall now and then in drizzling 
showers, made the roads so slippery, that the oxen could scarcely 
drag the waggons up any ascent, and we were thankful that this 
weather had not overtaken us, while we were yet in the kloof. 
After a ride of three hours, through a dull and naked country, we 
descended into a glen called Hunykliff Kloof. On an eminence 
to the left, lies a farm, belonging to a German of the name of 
Krieg. He received us kindly, and insisted on our partaking 
of his dinner, which was just ready to be served up. Never have I 
relished a dish of bean-soup more, than in this forlorn place. To 
me it was quite new. This man had travelled through a great 
part of the north of Europe, and was at length persuaded, by 
some crimps at Hamburg, to enter into the Dutch East India 
Company's service. He described the situation of their sailors 
to have been most deplorable, and the attention paid to their 
health and comfort so deficient, that no less than one hundred 
and forty men had died on board the ship he served in, during 
the voyage. He was thankful to be released, by being left at the 
Cape in the sick-house, and by degrees recovering, his industry 
put him in possession of this erf, a name given to a small lot of 
ground, not being a complete farm. I purchased of him a hat, 
made by one of his slaves, of a water-plant called palmite, which 
was an excellent piece of workmanship. We left this hospitable 
cottage, about two o'clock, and continued our route through the 
glen, to the Gowritz river. Brother Schmitt, Stein, and I, walked 
to the farm-house, about a musket shot from the road, and found 
a friendly family at dinner, who immediately invited us to partake 
of their humble meal, but we had dined. They seemed to be 
poor people, and the object of our visit was not attained. We 
could purchase neither butter, fowls, eggs, nor a spann of oxen. 
The latter were dearer by five dollars per head than in Uitenha- 
gen district. On reaching the banks of the river, we overtook 
