238 
SNYMAN'8 HABITATION. 
2i July, 
escaped either out at the door, or through the ih-thatched roof. 
Every part of the hut within, was stained hke ebony, of a glossy jet- 
black, the effect of long-continued wood-smoke. At a little distance 
from the building, or on the werf, as the space immediately surround- 
ing a colonist's dwelling, is termed, was a very large sheep-fold, 
hedged round with branches of Karro-thorn. Not a tree was visible, 
excepting a line of Acacias, marking the meandering course of a 
rivulet, which ran close by the house, and at this time formed a plen- 
tiful rill of excellent water.* 
The appearance of its inhabitants accorded with that of the 
place ; none could harmonize more perfectly with the kitchen, than 
the squalid Hottentots who were sitting round the fire. The veld- 
cornet himself was better dressed ; but the style of his clothing, as 
well as the dwelling, bespoke his moderate ambition. 
As soon as he found I was awake, he came to the waggon, to 
welcome me to his house ; where his wife, a woman whose cleanly 
* The above Engraving is a view of Sni/man's habitation, looking southward. It 
will give a just idea of the dwellings of the boors in the Karro, and also in the Roggeveld, 
few being there much larger or more convenient. The mountains are a continuation to the 
eastward of the same ridge, of which the Wind-heuvel forms a part, and is situated at 
a little distance to the right, out of the picture. The scene here represented, is that of 
the flocks going out to pasture early in the morning. The shepherds, who are seldom of 
any other race than Hottentots, are always armed with a gun, as a defence against either 
the wild beasts, or the Bushmen, who, frequently concealing themselves behind the rocks 
or the bushes, suddenly attack the shepherd, and carry off the flock. 
