♦ 
AND GENERAL VIEW OF THE COLONY. " 
of Good Hope Proper, or Cabo Tormentoso, discovered by Bartholo- 
meo Diaz, in the year 1487, and doubled by Vasco de Gama, in 
1497. This Peninsula is connected with the mainland, by a wide, 
flat, sandy isthmus, of about twelve or thirteen English miles in 
breadth, separating False Bay from Table Bay. 
The shape and extent of the colony may be more easily known 
by an inspection of the map, than by description. But, in an agricul- 
tural view, great deductions should be made from its size ; as many 
parts of it are barren and uninhabitable from want of water. Such 
parts are called karro, (a Hottentot word signifying dri/) ; some of 
them are of great extent, being not less than 50 miles across in the 
narrowest part. They are very level, and, though destitute of grass, 
are generally covered with short stunted bushes and succulent plants. 
In the rainy season, however, a more luxuriant vegetation springs 
up ; and at this time the neighbouring boors remove with their 
flocks, and take up a temporary residence in these plains, until 
drought again obliges them to return home. 
The colony, which is intersected in various directions by several 
ranges of high mountains, is divided into elew en districts*, of very 
unequal sizes : these are the districts of the Cape, of Stellenbosch, 
Caledon, Tulbagh, Clawwilliam, Swellendam, George, Uitenhage, 
Graaffreynet, Albany, and the Tarka ; and to give some idea of their 
situation, they are here enumerated in the order of their distance 
from Cape Town, the Tarka being the most distant. Each is 
placed under the superintendance of either a Landdrost or a deputy 
landdrost, who administers the government, in most respects, as the 
representative of the governor ; and it is through him that all laws, 
proclamations, and inferior regulations, are carried into effect. The 
districts of Caledon, Clanwilliam, Albany, and the Tarka, are under 
the deputy-landdrosts of Swellendam,Tulbagh, Uitenhage, and Graaff- 
reynet, respectively. Each district is subdivided into a number of 
* This is the division which existed at the date of these Travels ; but various sub 
divisions into new districts have since been made by the government. 
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