amuse the reader. For many miles the country was a barren waste, and the heat was such, that every thing, even the stones seemed parched. A range of mountains, the vallies of which are inhabited by several Dutch farmers, bounds this sandy plain, and about fifty miles from Cape Town, near Fransche-Hoek, a settlement of French Hugonots, is the ravine of Fransche-Hoek-Kloof, thus described by our author.

Near the valley is a ravine called the Fransche Hoek Kloof, one of the passes through the mountain barrier, that must be crossed at some point in order to penetrate into the interior of the colony. The road through it is nearly seven miles in length, ascending from the near gorge, that opens into the valley, gradually to the summit, and descending on the other side in the same manner; and in both cases running along the face of one of the steep mountains which form the boundaries of the ravine. This road is itself well worth examining, on account of the difficulty of its execution, and the immense labour bestowed upon it: many parts are cut out of the solid rock, whose high grey crags tower above it; while a parapet wall only separates the travellers from a precipice in whose shadowy depth a stream winds its way far below, through the rocky defile,-so low, that even its roar, when the torrents pour down the steep sides of the ravine, swelling the brown rush of its turbid waters, cannot be heard.

'I have been among higher mountains than those of this wild pass; but under some effects of light and shade, I know not that I ever saw a scene more gloomily impressive.

I have ridden through it when the sun stood high in the heavens, and I looked around in vain for shelter from its tremendous power, when objects seemed to waver before the eyes in the bright and sultry stillness; and my horse, with drooping ears, and feeble step and frequent halt, slowly and painfully toiled up the steep ascent; while all nature, animate and inanimate, seemed to yield to the scorching influence: when the stunted shrubs and geraniums that clothe the face of the mountain were parched, and the various proteas that shoot out from the fissures of the rocks, were twisted and wreathed into strange fantastic forms, and black as from the effects of fire.

I have ridden through it when the sun was declining, and one side of the ravine was in gloom, and threw its broad deep shadow over the hollow; and where it contracted, and the high barriers approached each other, it was strange to mark the mimic resemblance of cliff and pinnacled crags traced in cold grey shade upon the side, whose summits yet shone in the golden light of evening. It was like the dim chillness of age contrasted with the fairy colouring of youth. The only living thing I saw was of a nature to add to the stern, solitary character of the scene-a vulture, which, in turning a projection of rock, I startled from its feast; it rose slowly from the carcase, spreading its broad grey wings, and swept over me with a rushing sound, sailing up the ravine, and disappearing in the deep misty blue of the perspective.

The valley of the Fransche Hoek is a beautiful and cultivated amphi

Kloof, in the country round the Cape, generally means a pass among the hills and mountains: in Albany, a deep wooded hollow, frequently the retreat of savage animals.'

theatre, surrounded by mountains-not of one prevailing form, which is so common, but as various as the clouds that rest upon them: many are clothed at their bases, and half-way up their sides, with richest verdure, which suddenly ceasing, gives place to high grey naked cliffs; others are wholly bare, except in their shadowy recesses, where the forest trees find shelter and nourishment.

The valley has many windings, which, during a week's stay that I made with some friends, it was my amusement to penetrate,-into deep wooded hollows, or low grounds, in winter flooded, but in summer covered with the most luxuriant vegetation, rich bulbous plants, rare heaths, and bright geraniums, through which my horse with difficulty made his way, startling as we went the fairy sugar birds, that appear to derive their brilliant colours from the blossoms they feed on.

Then I would trace some mountain river to its source, having in the attempt, frequently to cross the calm, cool, transparent water, and to break my way through its banks, fringed with high reeds, and shaded with bending willows. In following the course of the stream, I have been much struck with the contrasts exhibited within a distance of a few hundred yards. In one part, the banks are rich with various greens, in glowing orange and yellow tints, in light creepers, which the waters touch as they ripple by, through their leafy and blossomy covert. Go but a short mile, and the scene is changed, and all around bears the stamp of cold decay and death. The barkless trunks of the trees are of a pale grey hue, withered, sunscorched, and lifeless-the skeletons of what they were; and the river, that every where else brings gladness and nourishment, here gloomily wanders through a scene that is beyond its power-a scene over which the fiery breath of desolation seems to have passed, and leaf, and tree, and blossom, to have fallen beneath its blasting influence.'-pp. 17—21.

The account which Mr. Rose gives of the traffic carried on by the boors and native Africans, is interesting. The waggons that come from distant inland parts of the country, are laden with provisions, lion skins, and those of the tiger, the leopard, the wolf, red lynx, and other animals; with buffalo horns, ostrich feathers, and carpets made of the skins of the springbok. The waggons of the border traffickers contain elephants' and hippopotamus' tusks, rich for mantles of the bechuanas and coriguas; necklaces, from which hang the teeth of the wolf and the claws of the tiger; pieces of charmed wood or clay, copper bracelets, ivory armlets, and female caps made of blue buck-skin, and beads. A part of the merchandize is, however, of a different description; javelins with iron barbs, fashioned in an ingenious manner for giving the most deadly wounds; war hatchets, with handles formed of the rhinoceros's horn; the bows and arrows of the Bushmen, than which, it is said, nothing can be more insignificant in appearance, or more deadly in the effect. The bow is about two feet six inches long, and the arrow about eighteen. The latter is a thin reed, into which is stuck a small sharp bone, but so slightly, that it may be easily forced out. This is barbed by an iron hook placed on one side, and supposed to be poisoned, which renders it a certain minister of death. The following will give some idea of the cha

P 2

racter of the natives, who leave their wilds for the European settlements:

The missionary waggon from Kafferland, followed by its dark train of natives, who have left their own land to look upon that which the white men have taken from them; tall stately forms that gaze upon every thing with wonder in their wandering eyes, and who are brought, that an impression may be made upon their simple minds of the power of the stranger, form no uninteresting object. Shortly after my arrival, two chiefs of high rank, Duchany and his brother, reached Graham's Town with a missionary; and in coming within sight of the town, Duchany's courage failed, and he told his conductor that it was known he had some years before led an attack against it; that his name had been proclaimed by the English, and a reward offered for his apprehension; and there was some difficulty in calming his fears and making him believe that all was now forgotten. He looked down upon its straggling streets from the hill that commands it, for some time, in silence; and then observed, " that the kraal was now too large to be attempted."

The Chiefs, on entering the town, had rough European clothing given to them, and went about with an interpreter begging presents. Beggary is divested of its meanness when the petitioner can by no exertion of his own obtain that which he asks for; and therefore the importunity of the Kaffer amuses rather than disgusts, though it must be allowed that to satisfy him is impossible.

I was much entertained by observing a group of them in a shop which contained, among other things, hatchets, tinder boxes, and tin and iron pots, which a friend of mine was liberally supplying them with. During a pause in their requests, the shopman said to the purchaser, "Now, Sir, notwithstanding all they have received, were you to ask for the most trifling ornament which they wear, you would not get it--a Kaffer never gives;" and to prove his assertion, he said to Duchany, "The Landdrost has given you all these things, will you not give him that ear-bead in return?" but the Chief did not appear to hear him: the question was repeated, and he then calmly replied, "If the Landdrost were to ask me for it himself, I should believe he wanted it; but I have left my own country not to give, but to receive presents."

'One of their followers, a tall young man, followed me to my house, and made it perfectly intelligible by signs, that he stood much in need of a pair of trowsers; they were given to him, and were on in a moment, the Russia duck contrasting strangely with his black skin; a pair of braces was the next want, and one not so easily supplied, but he quickly found a substitute for them in a strip that he cut from his carosse, (mantle,) which had been thrown on the floor. The young savage now surveyed himself with evident signs of satisfaction, and then looked at his former garment with contempt: he then raised it from the ground, and, as if shrinking from the touch with disgust, dropt it again, from all which it was quite clear that the carosse was a very unfit habiliment to be worn with white trowsers. There was no choice; he received an old jacket and foraging cap, and never did I make a creature so happy; he bent again and again to kiss my hand, while his wild eyes were drunk with joy.

Many months after I met him in Kafferland, and he came bounding up to me, holding out his hand, then ran off, and returned quickly with

the cap, the only part of the present that remained; and made his keeping it so well a plea for another gift. It would have been difficult to prove to him that his large black mantle, varied necklace, girdle of brass wire, blue beaded anklet, and brass bracelet, formed a far more graceful costume, than that which he admired.

Sometimes, too, animals are brought down from distant parts of the interior, and pass through on their way to Cape Town; the giraffe, with its small beautifully formed head, and mild eye; the gnu, uniting the antelope, the horse, and the ox; the zebra, in whose regularly striped skin art rather than nature appears to have been at work; for all around is the region of savage animals, and many are the strange stories connected with them that would raise the incredulous brow in England: but here,

"Men talk as familiarly of roaring lions,

As maids of thirteen do of puppy dogs,"

and parties are formed to hunt them, among the distant settlers and boors, as you make up a pic-nic.'-pp. 54-59.

In one of the excursions which Mr. Rose made into Kafferland, he passed the Great Fish River, the Keiskamma, the Chilumni, the Buffalo, the Wamagua, the Acoon, the Goonovi, the Gualaka, and the Kei, which all flow into the sea. Excepting the Kei, the banks of these streams are all steep, but not high, and are shaded by the thick dark foliage of the wild fig tree and the plum tree, which are intermixed with willows, the assegai and iron-wood, the Kaffer Coffee, and abundance of tall, light, and feathery-blossomed reeds. Flowering shrubs cover the high lands, which rise in the neighbourhood of these rivers, and vast grassy plains succeed. Kafferland, it is observed, is strikingly deficient in animals for the chase, which, it appears from Mr. Rose's account, have been nearly destroyed or driven away by the constant pursuit of the natives. The only quadrupeds which he saw were herds of cattle, but the absence of the objects which the hunters would have been glad to discover on their route, was made amends for by the variety of other interesting sights, among which their path led them. The party consisted of a Landdrost, who led the expedition, three young men, the sons of settlers, and distinguished for their activity and skill as marksmen, two Hottentot soldiers, drivers, servants, Kaffer attendants, and interpreters; sixteen riding horses, a waggon containing a tent, and whatever could minister either to the comfort or pleasure of the travellers; sixteen oxen for drawing this store carriage, and a flock of sheep. In proceeding on their journey, the horsemen generally rode some miles in advance, following their own inclinations; the Kaffer guide remained with the heavy labouring waggon, before which he strode with a free, bold pace; and after all, came the sheep, the soldiers, and servants. In the heat of the day, the party usually halted for about an hour; and at sunset, if they were so fortunate as to have reached a river, they pitched their tent, lighted their fires, and settled themselves for the night. Mr. Rose has described the situations in which they made

their bivouacs, as singularly beautiful. One of them was in a green valley, by the side of a river, and which was so closely environed by the thick jungle, that it seemed to have been formed by art; shrubs of delicious smell, jasmine, mimosa, and others of the same kind, partly composed the thicket, above which the smoke of the travellers' night-fires rose with strange and picturesque effect. The tent having been pitched, the oxen were unyoked, fuel collected, the sheep put into a sort of fold, and a party having been sent out in search of water-fowl, others, in the mean time, prepared the dinner.

Nothing can be more pleasant than the descriptions which Mr. Rose has given of scenes such as this. While the travellers were busy in making preparations for their meal, a missionary waggon passed through the solitude, and they were told that the station which they had chosen was liable to be infested by hippopotami. But they passed the night without disturbance, and early in the morning crossed the river to proceed to Wesleyville, the first missionary establishment in Kafferland.

'The station is situated on a gentle hill that rises above a branch of the Chilumni, and the small white-washed cottages, perched on the green slope, have a pleasing air of quiet neatness. The scene we witnessed on our arrival was highly animated; for a number of the neighbouring tribe, hearing of our approach, had assembled; while the chief (Pato) and two of his brothers, Conguar and Kaama, were in full dress to receive us ; and, in truth, it was not a little strange to see the three figures, one habited as a quarter-master-general, another as a field officer of artillery, and the third as a lancer, standing amidst the dark and stately forms of their followers, while the comparison proved by no means favourable to military foppery.

The situation was to me so new and amusing, that I remained among them the greater part of the day, watching the new comers, that were collecting from the kraals for miles around, as their dusky forms appeared and disappeared among the bright mimosas.

It was strange to have got beyond the empire of gold and silver, and to find their power usurped by beads and buttons! and, still more strange, to find myself surrounded by men and women as simple and as easily pleased as laughing, happy children. Great was the curiosity of the men, with regard to our guns, and their delight at seeing the practice, when an object was placed on a distant ant-hill, and the balls threw up the dust around it; while the women were not behindhand in their vocation,coquetry and admiration of finery. I should greatly like to know whether any people have yet been discovered so rude, that the females cannot coquet; if so, they must be many grades below the Kaffer, among whom the art,-if it is not nature,-is by no means in a low state. There are parts of their system which, wishing to leave a favourable impression of my sable friends, I will not mention; but in the use of their black eyes, the most dangerous of weapons, they have little to learn: they are proud too of the tattooing on the breast and shoulders, and exhibit this difigurement very liberally.

The manner in which the girls distinguished the incos (chiefs) of our