SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
63 
range of mountains, like an immenfe wall, (huts out entirely 
from the G?.pe the countries that lie far beyond it ; fo com- 
pletely, indeed, that a few men in poireffion of the palTes would 
always be able to cut off all communication between the fea- 
coaft and the interior. Of thefe pafTes, or kloofs as they are 
called by the colonifts, there are but three that are ever ufed by 
wheel-carriages. Hottentot Holland's Kloof near Falfe Bay, 
which opens a communication with the diftrid; of Swellendam 
and the eaftern parts of the colony along the fea-coaft : Roode 
Sand, or red fand. Kloof, oppofite to Saldanha Bay, leading to 
GraafF Reynet, and the remoteft parts of the colony ; and 
Eland's Kloof, ftill farther north, which opens into a wild and 
almoft uninhabited part of the country. 
Though the mountains be wild and barren, nothing could be 
more beautiful, rich, and well covered, than the vale they 
enclofe, which is well-watered by the numberlefs arms of the 
Berg river, uniting near the middle, and meandering through it 
with a fmooth and almoft imperceptible current. This vale 
contains the divifions, or parifhes,. of Great and Little Draken- 
fteen, Franfche Hoek or French corner, and the Paarl. The 
laft is an affemblage of about thirty houfes, difpofed into two 
ftreight lines, and are fo far detached from each other as to 
form a ftreet about a mile in length- The church ftands near 
the middle. This, as well as moft of the houfes, is neatly co- 
vered with rye-ftraw : a coating of this thatch, if properly laid 
on, will laft from twenty to thirty years. The houfes are 
generally furrounded with plantations of oaks. The common 
fize of thefe is from ten to fifteen feet in circumference, and 
from 
