I 
178 CROSSING THE BERG RIVER. 23, 24- June, 
even while I was pointing out how they were to dig the channel, 
they stood as unmoved as if they had been statues fixed there upon 
a pedestal. 
I was now convinced of the necessity of having a second wag- 
gon, not only on account of the great quantity of goods to be carried 
with us, but also of my own comfort ; as, by restricting the Hotten- 
tots to the use of the second for carrying their clothes, and by 
placing in that one our provisions and such things as were dirty or 
otherwise disagreeable, my own would always remain clean. I re- 
solved, therefore, to purchase another, as soon as we should arrive 
at Tulbagh, where it was proposed to rest a few days. 
We quitted Olyvenhout-bosch at three o'clock, and soon arrived 
on the left bank of the Groote Berg-rivier (Great Mountain-river) at 
the Pont, (or ferry,) where we found people in readiness to convey 
us over. * 
The river, at this place, was deep and rapid, and might, at this 
time, be about seventy yards across. This stream is sometimes very 
suddenly and unexpectedly swelled by torrents, which descend from 
the mountains of Drakenstein and Fransche Hoek; on which account 
. it is imprudent for travellers, at any time, to remain at outspan im- 
mediately on its banks. A melancholy accident of this kind had hap- 
pened here about a month before, when a boor and his family, not 
suspecting danger, halted close to the ferry. The floods coming 
down in the night, swept away the waggon, while all in it were asleep, 
and three of the party were drowned. 
The ferry-boat is of a construction well adapted for conveying 
* Plate 3. represents this view. The level country seen on the left in the distance, is 
a part of Wageii-maker'' s (Waggon-maker's) Vallei). The mountains are those of Klein 
(Little) 'Drakenstein. A fainn-house, with a few large orange-trees in front, is seen on the 
bushy plam. A few white poplars stand on the opposite bank, and the foreground is 
shaded by a large many-stemmed tree of Kairee-hoiit, some of the branches of which are 
loaded with grass and rubbish left there by the waters, attesting the great height to which 
this river occasionally swells. All the figures in the foreground, excepting two, were 
Hottentots. 
