40 
TRAVELS IN 
at Blauwberg would command all the great roads leading to Cape 
Town from the north and north-eaft ; Saldanha Bay is the key- 
to Zwartland, the principal granary of the colony ; and the 
fecond Kloof, that of Rhode Sand, might fpeedlly be taken pof- 
feflion of from thence ; nothing would then remain for the gar- 
rifon but to difpute thofe pafTes, or to ftarve within their lines. 
To underftand exa6lly what is meant by a kloof, the reader 
may imagine a continued chain of mountains to be cleft, or 
torn afunder, fo that the correfponding parts of the fides of the 
chafm, fome projeding others retiring, if clofed again, would 
fit to each other ; and the palTage is more or lefs fteep inverfely 
as the magnitude of the rent. In the Dutch government the 
one in queftion was fo negle£led as fcarcely to be pafTable by 
waggons ; but fince the colony became Englifh it has undergone 
a thorough repair. To carry into effect this ufeful work, a 
fmall contribution was levied on thofe who derived the greateft 
advantage from the improvement ; but fuch is the uncouth 
temper of the people, and fo adverfe to every thing that tends 
to public benefit, that, rather than' pay the trifling fum of a 
fhilling, many of thofe who came from the diftant parts pre- 
ferred to avoid this kloof by making a circuit of two days 
journey, and paffing that of Rhode Sand which is flill worfe. 
And although the repair has been the means of faving the 
life of many a poor ox, yet, on our return, we obferved two 
carcafes of thefe animals that had recently been left to expire 
among the rocks. If, after cutting and flafhing thefe poor 
creatures with their enormous whips, the phlegm of a Dutch 
boor 
