SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
321 
man in his political and social capacities ; and, at 
the same time, his intimate acquaintance with thd 
different kingdoms of nature, enable him to exhi- 
bit a complete view of all the relations under which 
any region can be considered. He was assisted by 
all the means of information which government 
could supply ; so that, with regard to the tract 
over which he travelled, his information may be 
considered as superseding all prior narratives, and 
forming the basis of those which are to succeed, 
Mr Barrow begins by giving a view of the ex- 
tent of the colony, as fixed by official survey in the 
course of the journey which he narrates. The 
greatest length, from Cape Point to Caffreland, is 
580 miles ; its smallest length, from the river Kous- 
sie to Zuureberg, is 520. The greatest breadth, 
from the river Koussie to Cape Point, is 315 miles ; 
its least breadth, from the Nieuweldt mountains 
to Plettenberg bay, is 160; These measurements 
give a medium length of 550 miles, and a medium 
breadth of 233. This immense tract is occupied, 
exclusive of Cape Town, by not more than 15,000 
white inhabitants, so that each individual may be 
considered the proprietor of 8§ square miles of 
ground. A very great portion of this space, how- 
ever, seems doomed by nature to perpetual sterili- 
ty. It is traversed by chains of vast mountains, 
rising one behind another ; and, except one, which 
runs northward along the Atlantic ocean, extend^ 
VOL. II, x 
