i86 
TRAVELS IN 
admit of fecurlty for their fhipping within the bar, they built a 
fort upon the left bank, and kept there a fmall eftablifhment for 
a fhort time ; till the difcovery of Rio de la Goa, farther to the 
north- eaft, promifing more folid advantages, made them aban- 
don Rio Infante. The banks defcended with a fine fmooth 
flope from the elevated plains on each fide, and were covered 
with grafs to the water's edge. That on the Kaffer fide was 
beautifully fkirted with thick woods. Towards the evening a 
vaft number of Hippopotami^ or fea-cows as they are called by 
the Dutch, were feen with their heads above the furface ; but 
keeping clofe to the oppofite fhore, they were too far to be 
eafily hit with a mufquet ball. Several of the paths of thefe 
animals led from various parts of the river to a fpring of frefh 
water about a mile diftant. To this fpring they go in the 
night-time to drink, the water of the river, for a confiderable 
diftance from the mouth, being fait. They alfo graze during 
the night, and browfe among the fhrubbery. Short-fighted 
man would be apt to fay that the Providence of Nature fhould 
feem to have flept, or that fhe had committed a miftake, when 
flie placed this unwieldy misfhapen animal in an element where 
it cannot exift, and in which are not to be found the means of 
its fuftenance, for it eats nothing that the rivers or waters 
afford. 
The latitude of the mouth of the Great Fiih river we found 
to be 33° 25' fouth, and longitude 27° 37' eaft. The diftance 
from the Cape, as before mentioned, is about fix hundred 
miles. 
The 
