684 GOOD 
which was then the eaftern limit of the colony, abounded 
with villages of Hottentots, out of which the inhabi¬ 
tants came to meet travellers by hundreds in a groupe. 
Some of thefe villages might ftill have been expefted 
to remain in this remote part of the colony ; but not 
one was to be found. There is not now in the whole ex- 
tenfive diftridt of GraafF Reynet a fingle horde of inde¬ 
pendent Hottentots ; and perhaps not a fcore of indi¬ 
viduals who are not adtually in the fervice of the Dutch ; 
fo completely have the natives been fubjugated, or 
driven out. This has been effedted by a difcipline and 
pradlice liighly difgraceful to humanity. Beating and 
cutting them with thongs of the hide of the fea-cow or 
rhinoceros, is a gentle punilhment, though thefe fort 
of whips, which they call Jhamhos, are moft; horrid inftru- 
ments, tough, pliant, and heavy almofi. as lead. Firing 
fmall fliot into the legs and thighs of a Hottentot is a 
punifhment not unknown to fome of the monfters who 
inhabit the neighbourhood of Camtoos river. Inftant 
death is not imfrequently the confequence of puniniing 
thefe poor wretches in a moment of rage. This ap¬ 
pears of little confequence to the Dutch fanner ; for 
thougli they are to all intents and purpofes his Haves, 
yet they are not transferable property. It is this cir- 
cumftance which, in his mind, makes their lives lefs 
valuable, and their treatment more inhuman. For fmall 
offences, the Dutch farmer flogs his Haves, not by any 
given number of laflies, but by time ; and as they have 
no clocks, he has invented an excufe for the indulgence 
of one of his moft favourite fenfualities, by flogging 
them till he has fmoked as many pipes as he may judge 
tile magnitude tlie crime to deferve ! We truft, how¬ 
ever, tiiat the Englilh will fpeedily ameliorate the mi- 
i'erable condition of thefe wretched vidfims. 
After Mr. Barrow had finiHied his obfervations at 
Algoa bay and the adjacent country, he and his party 
piroceeded along the fea-coaft into the country of the 
Gaffers. Having croffed the rivers Bosjefmans and Haf- 
fagai-bofch, they vilited the mouth of the Infante, or 
Great-fifh river; and then proceeded to the refidence 
of the king of the Gaffers, who readily concluded a 
treaty with the rcprefentatives of the Englifh govern¬ 
ment. See the article Gaffraria, vol. iii. p. 595, 
and the correfpondent Engraving. 
The party next proceeded to examine the mouth of 
the river Keifkamma : which is nearly as wide as the 
Thames at Woolwich, and apparently of great depth : 
bcit the entrance is guarded by a Hiore of fand, on 
which the furf breaks with great violence. From the 
Keifkamma, they returned by a new route to Graaft' 
Reynet, which place they reached on the 30th Sep¬ 
tember. They next proceeded northward, acrofs the 
Sneuwberg, in order to obferve the manners of the race 
of favages called Bosjefmans, or men of the buHies, who 
neither cultivate tiie land nor breed cattle, but live by 
depredation^ for an account of whom, fee the article 
Hottentots. The travellers proceeded a confide- 
rable way along the bank of the Sea-cow river, and 
then came to its junfcion with a vaft flream, called the 
Orange river ; which, in fize and bulk of water, more 
than equals all the other rivers of the colony taken col- 
ledfively ; its general breadth at five hundred miles dif- 
tance from its mouth being three Juindred yards, when 
free from inundations ; for, like the Nile, the Orange 
river has its periodical overflowings. 
In tlic route from GraafF Reynet back to the Cape, 
Mr. Barrow crofted a chain of mountains ;.and encoun¬ 
tered the point of the paffage called the Devil's head: 
here the road is dreadfully Ifeep and ftoney, formed by 
fteps, over fome of wiiich it was neceft'ary to lift tlie 
waggons by main ftrength. Juft as they reached the 
funimit, the weather, which had been remarkably plea- 
fant, the thermometer ftanding at 74O, began inftantly 
to be overcaft, the wind blew frefh, and an immenfe fheet 
of black vapour was obferved to approach, borne iipion 
2 
HOPE. 
the fouth-eaft wind from the fea. Afcending rapidly 
in rolling volumes, it completely immerfed the tra¬ 
vellers upon the fummit of the mountain. The tem¬ 
perature of the air was at once decreafed to 39° of Fah¬ 
renheit. Before the waggon had got over the higheft 
peak, the w'eather began to clear up, and it was curious 
to obferve, that part of the country between the moun¬ 
tain and the fea was involved in denfe clouds, and tie- 
luged with rain, whilft the northern fide of the fame 
mountains enjoyed a funftiine unfullied by a fingle 
cloud. Having next croffed the Grocodile river, the 
Gauritz river, the fudden and copious rife of which is 
fo extraordinary, as to have once deftroyed a houfe 
nearly an hundred feet above the level of its channel, 
and various other ftreams, the travellers reached Gape 
Town on the iSthof January 1788, after a tour of feven 
months’ duration. A journey was then undertaken to 
explore the country of the Namaaquas, which the reader 
will find detailed under the article Hottentots. 
Thefe journeys enabled Mr. Barrow to form a chart 
of the fettlement of Good Hope, conftrudted entirely 
from aftual obfervations of latitude and of bearings, 
from the eftimation of diftances, and from frequent an¬ 
gular interfetlions of remarkable objedls, by which it 
appears that the extent and dimenfions of the territory 
compofing the whole colony as now permanently fixed, 
are as follow ; 
Length from weft to eaft. 
Gape Point to Gaffer Land 
River Kouflie to Zuureberg - . - 
Breadth from fouth to north. 
River Kouflie to Gape Point 
Nieuwveldt Mountains to Plettenberg’s Bay - i6o 
Mouth of Tufli-river to Plettenberg’s baaken - 225 
This gives a parallelogram whofe mean length is 550, 
and mean breadth 233, EngliHi miles, comprehendino- 
an areaof 120,100 fquare miles. This great extent of 
country, deducting the population of Cape Town, is 
peopled by about fifteen thoufand white inhabitants ; 
the refidue, making a population of one hundred and 
fixty thoufand, are blacks. A very great portion, how'- 
ever, of this territory, may be confidered as an unpro¬ 
fitable wafte, unfit for culture, or even to be employed 
as pafture for the fupport of cattle. Level plains, con¬ 
fiding of a hard impenetrable furface of clay, tltinly 
fprinkled over with cryftallized Land, condemned to 
perpetual drought, and producing only a few ftraggling 
tufts of fucculent plants, and chains of vaft mountains 
that are either totally naked, or clothed in parts with 
four grades, compofe nearly one half of the colony. 
The wihole territory is divided into four diftridts, viz. 
I. The Cape-Town diftridt. 2. Stellenbofch and Dra- 
genftein. 3. Zwellendam diftridt. 4. Graaff Reynet. 
Over each diftridl prefides a landroft, who, with a coun¬ 
cil of fix country burghers, regulates the police, fu- 
perintends the government, and determines petty caufes; 
but his decifions are fubjedl to an appeal to the court 
of judicature in Cape Town. 
Timber of all kinds for building is very fcarce in 
the vicinity of Cape Town ; yet little pains have been 
taken to cultivate it. In parts of the country not far 
diftant, however, plantations of oak trees, of the white 
poplar, and of the ftone pine, are to be found, and they 
thrive rapidly. The article of fuel was fo fcarce at 
Cape Town, that a fmall cart load comppfed of the 
branches of the filver tree, of the larger heaths, &c. 
I'old from twenty to eight-and-twenty ftiillings. To 
remedy this evil, lord Macartney ordered a fearch to be 
made for foflil coal ; and the miners had the good luck 
to difeover a vein. 
Though this fettlement is annoyed by wild ^nd fero¬ 
cious animals, and poifonous reptiles, it is neverthelefs 
compenfated by plenty of antelopes, red deer, and 
other venifon, numerous oxen, and large flocLs of 
fheep ; 
Miles. 
■ 580 
520 
