80 LOSS OF THE HERCULES. 
lows were obliged to sleep in the air. A similar inconve- 
nience had happened so frequently since they reached the 
colonies that they determined to separate. 
On the morning of the 17th they separated, and the captain 
took with him his chief and third mate, together with one 
or two more who were solicitous to accompany him. The 
country, as they advanced, increased in population ; - and the 
farm-houses were, in several places, not more than two miles 
distance from each other. Many of them were beautifully 
situated, and the lands produced grain, oranges, figs, and lem- 
ons in abundance. Their grapes likewise appeared to flou- 
rish, and supplied them with wine and brandies, which they 
vended chiefly at the Cape. Vast herds of deer, and par- 
tridges out of all number, were seen, and immense tracts of 
land covered entirely with aloe-trees. 
From the 17th to the 21st they traveled a mountainous 
country ; but the valleys constantly presented farms and habi- 
tations where the industry of the husbandman was amply re- 
warded. The flocks of sheep were prodigious ; but the cat- 
tle were not so numerous nor in such good condition as those 
seen in the more advanced colonies. 
On the 22d they arrived at Zwellingdam,* and proceeded 
to the landorse-house. The landorsef is the chief man of 
the place, and his settlement consists of about sixteen or eigh- 
teen houses, surrouuded by a delightful country, and pro- 
ducing grain, vegetables for culinary purposes, grapes and 
fruits of almost every description. 
This gentleman gave them a very hospitable reception, and 
the next morning furnished the captain with a horse and guide 
to conduct him to his brother-in-law's ; that nothing might be 
omitted on his part to secure a favorable reception at the 
Cape, the captain's worthy host gave them a very kind letter 
to his friend General Craig, commander in chief, acquainting 
him of the loss of the ship, and the miseries endured by the 
crew in their travels through the desert. He also request- 
ed the general would do them every kindness in his power, 
which he would acknowledge as an obligation conferred up- 
on himself. 
They arrived at the settlement of Johannes Brinch, at Stal- 
len Bush,J on the third or fourth clay, after traveling a coun- 
try highly cultivated, and producing immense forests of the 
* Zwellendam. 
+ Land-drost chief magistrate of a district. 
t Stellenbosch. 
