SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
great ranges of the Zwarte Berg and Nieuweldt, 
both of which were then covered with snow. 
The latter range, so far as could be judged, ap- 
peared not less than ten thousand feet in height. 
On the Sion river, they found, in an opening of 
the Zwarte Berg a farm-house, with a few habi- 
tations, which formed a species of oasis. Here 
having stopped to refresh themselves^ they again 
launched into the desert, and, in seven days more, 
arrived at the village of Graaf Reynet, which 
borders immediately on KafFreland. 
Graaf Reynet is 500 miles from the Cape. It 
is an assemblage of mud huts, and exhibits an ap- 
pearance more miserable than the poorest village 
in England. The walls and floors are in a great 
measure undermined by the termites. There is a 
jail, but so little tenable, that an English desert- 
er being confined in it, went out the first night 
through the thatch. Although the country is fer- 
tile, the indolence of the inhabitants is such, that 
the most common necessaries can scarcely be pro- 
cured. There is neither milk, butter, nor cheese ; 
neither butcher, chandler, grocer, nor baker. 
The whole district, with the neighbouring one of 
Bruntjeshoogte, breathed then nothing but war 
against the Kaffres. This last people seemed, in^ 
deed, to have passed their limits ; but the real 
motive, it was supposed, of this eager desire to 
repel the encroachment, was the hope of plun- 
