FIRST JOURNEY. 
On the twenty-fccond, I adventured into the woods with a 
young man of the houfe where I lodged : we took with us 
fome dogs, expeding to meet Tigers. The woods are very 
thick, and produce fome of the talleft trees I ever beheld ; at 
the very tops of which were a variety of party-coloured birds, 
particularly the Tarakoo, and many other fmall ones of equal 
beauty. The mountains are extremely fteep, and many of 
the mod {lately trees grow out of the naked flrata of the 
rocks. I found in this wood, as in all others of that coun- 
try, great abundance of the Piper Cordifolia, and the trees 
mofi: of them new. Thefe woods have their beginning to the 
north of MofTel Bay, and extend about one hundred and 
twenty miles to the eafi:, ending at a place called the Sitfi- 
camma. Between the woods and the Indian ocean, lies an 
extenfive plain well inhabited by Europeans, who traffic moftly 
in wood which they bring in planks to the Cape. Though 
this plain is covered with grafs, yet it is fo unwholefome for 
cattle that very few can be kept. It produces corn and wine, 
though of a very inferior fort. 
As the covmtry from this to the Cape is well known and 
defcribed in both Mr. Mafon's and Dr. Sparrman's narratives, 
any farther account of it would be only repeating what has 
already been publifhed by thefe two gentlemen. I returned 
to the Cape the fame road that I travelled with Captain Gor- 
don, and arrived on the thirteenth of January, one thoufand 
feven hundred and eighty-eight, at the Cape Town. 
