CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
31 
for the sake of society, mounted into one waggon, in which there is 
not comfortable room for more than four. The hind seat, being 
more elevated, and fixed, instead of suspended by leathern braces, 
was so unpleasant, that it was agreed to take an alternate share in the 
evil. My servant, accompanied by General Hall's orderly, who was 
to serve as assistant cook, was placed in the. second waggon with the 
guns, luggage, and a chest of wine, the only article of provision 
which we took with us, excepting an English cheese. The Cape 
wine, though by no means unpleasant, is very apt to disagree with 
strangers, and the cheese is detestable ; we were therefore happy to 
be obliged to Captain Weltden for these two articles. Our road lay 
over the extent of sand which separates the peninsula of Cape 
Town from the Hottentot country; a tract which, I have no 
doubt, was formerly covered by the sea. Nothing could be more 
dreary, nor was it very interesting in a botanical point of view ; we 
nevertheless collected a considerable number of plants. The heaths 
were not in bloom, but the Ixiae, Gladioli, and smaller bulbous Ge- 
raniums were, and we could not have been at the Cape in a better 
season for collecting them. Our horses went very well at about six 
miles an hour : our driver, whose name was September, managed 
his horses with great skill, a qualification for which the slaves in this 
country are remarkable: they drive eight in hand with the utmost 
facility, and will kill a small bird when on the wing, with the lash 
of their long whip. About the middle of the day we stopped to 
feed and rest our horses, and proceeded on foot to seek for plants 
and birds, but with very indifferent success. At four o'clock we ar- 
rived at Cowberg, where we meant to sleep ; and having delivered 
Mr. Kersteen's, letter to Mynheer Andreas Conti, we were politely 
