218 
A VIEW OVER THE 
16, 17 July, 
hold ourselves on our guard, and keep watch, that the oxen strayed 
not too far from our fires. My little terrier lay every night in the 
waggon, at my feet ; a faithful sentinel, under whose care I slept 
without fear. It was generally midnight before I had finished writ- 
, ing down the various observations, and disposed of the collections of 
the day. 
My health and strength improved daily by the exercise of 
travelling ; and the novelty and interest of the country, and its pro- 
ductions, increasing as we advanced, inspired me with a high degree 
of alacrity, and surprisingly raised the spirits. My mind glowed 
with the sanguine expectation of succeeding in all my plans. I 
began to lose sight of the Cape of Good Hope, and to turn my view 
forward, often imagining myself already arrived at the termination of 
my long and laborious journey. These delightful pictures of fancy, 
which were but dreams by day, frequently became also dreams by 
night ; and the agreeable impressions of objects, on my waking 
senses, continued to play before me in my sleep. 
\1th. Between the Karro Poort and the Hangklip, not a hill in- 
tervenes ; but hence, through the Roggeveld Karro, the road is 
interspersed with elevations and low mountains ; and it is only here 
and there that it wears the appearance of a plain, such as the Bokke- 
veld Karro. Other large divisions of this Karro are, however, as I 
was informed, perfectly level. 
Immediately after breakfast, I set out on foot, about an hour be- 
fore the waggons, to explore the ridge of a rocky hill, over which the 
road passes. Hence the prospect was most extensive ; bounded only 
by the far-distant mountains of the Bokkeveld, softened nearly into 
blue vapor. The Great Km^ro, stretched out before me, presented, at 
this distance, no visible object to break the evenness of the plain, or 
relieve the eye. The rivers and their Thorn-trees, were lost in the 
vast extent, and were not to be distinguished as a feature in the 
landscape. The road we had travelled might be traced for a few 
miles, in an undulating line across the desert, till it gradually lessened 
and vanished away. The Hangklip, in the second distance, consti- 
tuted the only object ; and, by its projecting and overhanging crag, 
* 
