1811. DISADVANTAGE OF EXPEDITIOUS TRAVELLING. I93 
rocky sides re-echoed back the loud ratthng noise of the waggons, 
intermingled, every now and then, with the chattering and scream- 
ing of baboons *, the nmnerous parties of which relieved the deserted 
loneliness of the place. The rushing of the stream, or the falling of 
the waters, deadened, at times, the boisterous cries with which the 
drivers encouraged or excited their oxen. Frequent large trees of 
rich foliage adorned the scene, and softened the rough features of 
the frowning rocks, which here projected in enormous masses, and 
there retired in deep, solemn, shady recesses. 
To have spent several days in exploring these mountains, appa- 
rently so interesting and so enticing, as well to the eye of the geolo- 
gist as of the botanist, would have been a delightful employment ; 
but, orders having been issued for the different voorspans to be ready 
on the appointed days, to take my waggons forward, and having with 
me at this time no oxen of my own to enable me to proceed without 
them, I could not stop so long on the road, without causing much 
confusion and unnecessary trouble to those farmers whose duty it 
was to furnish the relays. I now discovered that such a mode, or 
rather rate, of travelling was quite at variance with the idea I 
had formed, of the manner in which a country ought to be ex- 
plored and examined. To be thus hurried through the land, by 
night as well as by day, would indeed have brought me very ex- 
peditiously to the end of my journey ; but it would at the same time 
have left me little wiser, as to the true nature of these regions, than 
I was at the commencement of it. I therefore determined on the 
more reasonable plan, of advancing quietly and steadily with my own 
oxen, as soon as we joined them, excepting such places where the 
road was particularly laborious and fatiguing. This I considered to 
be a more independent, and, therefore, a more agreeable way of 
travelling. 
As soon as we had got through the kloof, and were clear of the 
mountains, the two young farmers, wishing us a pleasant journey. 
* Cercopitheciis ursinus. 
C C 
