written for a political object, the fairness of the views and reasonings contained in it is not a little suspicious. We are far, however, from accusing the author of intentionally stating any thing differently from what he believed it to be: we only suppose certain prejudices, and views formed before the objects were examined, to have often led him unconsciously into error.

We can imagine Mr Barrow and Dr Lichtenstein, for instance, to have made a visit to the same farm; to have seen precisely the same objects, the same persons, the same actions, and to have experienced the same kind, but coarse, hospitality; yet, on going home, each having looked only at the things which previous inclination made him wish to observe, and having seen, in truth, a very motley picture, the one might burst out into an angry invective against the coarseness, dirtiness, and indolence of his hosts, while the other was high in the praise of their hospitality, their industry, and good humour. The truth lyes between both, but much nearer, we are convinced to the favourable side. Mr Barrow, too, seems to have gcneralized particular instances in a very unwarrantable manner, -one of the great resources of partial and hasty observation. On the subject of the barbarity of the colonists in driving their oxen, and wounding them with their knives in order to push them on, though we cannot doubt the facts which he states as falling under his own observation, we cannot think but that Dr Lichtenstein is right when he denies them to be general, and remarks that some of them involve a contradiction in themselves.

The scenery on this west side of the African promontory, from the fantastic shapes which the progress of decay has given to the sandstone rocks, is singular.

From our first entering into the Berg-Valley, we had been impressed with strong admiration of the very singular nature of the scenery. But we now passed through a ravine, the bold grandeur of which raised our astonishment to the highest pitch. Enormous masses of sandstone were seen towering one above another, till they seemed to touch the sky. They ran nearly in parallel directions from north to south; while here and there their regularity was inter'rupted by broken masses, the clefts of which were overgrown with plants, which almost seemed to rise out of the solid stone. These walls, almost perpendicular on our right and left, though they had braved the ravages of time for thousands of years, seemed every moment to threaten the travellers with falling, and crushing them to atoms. The way through the ravine was a constant ascent; and when we had arrived at the top, and looked back on the narrow pass we had just quitted, it seemed as if the ruins of the former world lay in confusion at our feet. '

The same state of the sandstone rock is described by Barrow, and seems to prevail all along the western shore of Southern Africa. From the destruction of this stone arises the vast accumulation of sand that forms the low ground between the sea and the hills, stretching for an unknown extent toward the north. The castellated and spicular appearance of the ruins of the sandstone, probably arises from the gentler action of the causes of waste in the low, than in the high latitudes, and particularly from the absence of frost. Slender and lofty pillars could not resist the action of so powerful a cause of destruction, as the congellation of the humidity contained in them; and hence these appearances are rare in climates such as ours. An extensive range of rocks of the same kind were observed by BOUGUER, on the eastern declivity of the Andes.

On leaving the Berg-River, they came to the Elephants' River; which, like the former, running at first north and a little west, turns off to the west altogether, and runs into the sea, in lat. 32°. 30'. Where the party crossed this river, it was about two feet deep, and 100 feet broad. It runs a great way at the foot of the Nardow mountains; a range that extends for many miles nearly parallel to the coast. This ridge they found of very difficult ascent, and the road frequently obstructed by large blocks of slate, which appears here to have come in place of the sandstone, and is perhaps a rock that alternates with it. On this subject our author gives us no intelligence; but, from what we learn afterwards, the slate is of secondary formation.

It was among these mountains that the party. having separated from the waggons, lost its way, and for thirty-two hours had nothing to eat or drink;-nothing, during the day, to shelter them from the scorching heat of the sun; and nothing but a boundless and inhospitable wilderness to contemplate. They passed the night on the side of the Doorn River, at a place infested, as they afterwards learnt, with scorpions; from which danger they seem to have escaped by the influence of the cold, which was so considerable as to be within three degrees of frost, according to Reaumur's scale, and probably kept the scorpions in their holes. Our author does not let slip this occasion of doing justice to the behaviour of the ladies, whose constancy and good humour never deserted them; nor appear, either at this or any other time, to have yielded to the vexations, hardships and dangers which, in a tour of many months, through a country in so many places desolate and inaccessible, they could not fail almost daily to encounter.

The most northerly point of their tour was in the Hantam district, on the side of a small river of that name, which runs

westward, and joins the Elephants' River, where it leaves its northern direction, and turns west toward the ocean. The position of this place is considerably south of the parallel of 31°; but of all this we have no information from our author. No doubt, if we had been so fortunate as to be furnished with his map, we should have had less reason to complain of this omission. It is not, however, quite pardonable even with that excuse. The direction and length of the route are essential parts in the narrative of a tour through a wild and almost uninhabited country; and ought no more to be omitted, than the point a ship steers on, or the distance she runs in the journal of a voyage at sea.

There are here a good many springs, and some means are afforded for the cultivation of grain; and the character of the colonists seemed also to improve. The people are more active, move more briskly, and are not so corpulent and unwieldy as in the southern parts, which our author ascribes to the greater temperance of the climate, or the greater moderation of the heat.

Soon after our arrival, several families of the neighbourhood made their appearance, some in waggons, some on horseback, attracted by curiosity to see a magistrate high in office once in their lives. Every one brought with him some present of game, or other things for the table, which were not more thankfully received, than they were courteously given. We could not help being once more surprised to see so much natural good breeding and civility, so much propriety in the modes of expressing themselves under such simple garments, and among people living at the distance of sixty miles from the capital, in a dry and solitary country, fit only for the feeding of cattle, and half encircled with some of the wildest savages in this part of the world. ?

We had often the opportunity of remarking, that we never heard from the mouth of a colonist, an unseemly word, an overstrained expression, an oath, or an imprecation of any kind. The religious turn of the colonists amounting almost to bigotry, is per haps a principal cause of this self-command. It may also be in some measure the result of their living so extremely secluded from the world.'

But what pleased us above all things in the good people of the Hantam district, was the amenity of disposition which appeared in them towards one another. This was the first place where our active chief had not been called on to decide differences among the inhabitants,' &c.

One cannot reflect without regret, that these innocent and quiet people have changed their masters since the time which this narrative refers to, and that their peaceful and remote habitations have been assailed by the tumult and uproar by which the nations of Europe seem emulous of rendering civilization

a curse, both to those that possess it, and to those that do not. They belong, indeed, now to a government more free and generous than their own, but it is that of a stranger and a conqueror; and the simple colonist of Hantam may find a minister arise who knew not Joseph. In the midst of the exultation of victory, it is lawful to think of the evils and sufferings by which it is purchased; and there is certainly no Englishman who can refuse his sympathy to those on whom he forces the melancholy and humiliating reflection, which he himself could so ill brook, that they must never more expect to have their own countrymen for their rulers.

Our author, as we have already remarked, gives us but very scanty information concerning the mineralogy of the countries through which he travels. In Hantam, however, he tells us that on the side of a small periodical river, he found, in the slate from which a spring rose, the impressions of a vast multitude of fish.

We perceived (says he) this extraordinary appearance first upon the surface; but the impressions were larger, more distinct, and finer in proportion, as we broke deeper and deeper into the stone. The form of the fish resembled that of the eel; and the length of the largest was about three feet. The more I made myself acquainted with this country by my subsequent travels, the more remarkable did this phenomenon appear to me, as being the only remains of a former world, which I found throughout Southern Africa. '

Whether this slate is an argillaceous or calcareous schistus, we are not informed: the number and size, and we believe the kind of fossil here mentioned are somewhat uncommon; but the general fact of impressions of fish in slate, of either of the kinds just mentioned, has been very often met with This west side of the African promontory, is evidently a secondary country, consisting of horizontal strata, and therefore, likely to contain animal remains. On going to the eastward, in which direction our author's journey lay from this point, the rock soon becomes primitive; and seems to consist (at least far to the eastwardy of Gneiss or Mica slate, lying on the great central chain of granite, of which the extremity is seen at the Cape-town and its vicinity. In such situations as this last, animal remains are not likely to occur.*

When they quitted the district of Hantam, they bent their course south-east, toward the * Roggeveld mountains, an elevated tract, where a considerable degree of cold often prevails.

*The name is given from a species of grass that grows among the rocks, similar to rye (roggen) which the colonists call wild rye. There are three districts of this name.

The farm where they halted, Hartebeest Fontein, is described as a fertile spot, abounding in food for cattle. The colonist's stock consists of 200 horses, 3000 sheep, 400 goats, and a great number of horned cattle: A very neat, nice young wife, and five stout healthy children complete his domestic happiness; while his cheerful contented spirit, and frank integrity of mind, render him worthy of all they can bestow. Indeed, our author frequently describes, in glowing colours, the affluence, ease, and domestic comfort of the shepherds who inhabit the Dutch Arcadia.

The cold in this district was pretty severe at night, though the thermometer rose to 20° of Reaumur, or 77° of Fahrenheit in the day. In the winter months, deep snows sometimes fall; and it is so cold, that, in order to preserve their cattle, they remove them to the neighbouring Karroo, a great valley on the south side of the mountains, and on a much lower level. The climate of this mountainous district has within some years undergone a considerable change. Old people remember, that about fifty years ago, the superabundance of water, even in the middle of summer, was such that the nearest neighbours could not get to one another, on account of the rivers being out, and having entirely flooded the valleys. There seldom at that time passed a week, even in the hottest months, that violent thunder storms did not bring with them a profusion of rain. Of late years, whole summers have passed away without the in tervention of a storm. Changes of this kind are said to have happened in some other parts of the world, (Guiana, for example), and have been ascribed to the draining of the grounds, and cutting down of the woods. In the present instance they cannot be ascribed to either of these causes,

Their road eastward carried them into Middle Roggeveld, a high and rugged country, without trees, and having nothing but the extensive pastures scattered through it to render it at all interesting. The habitations are described as mean, and with little convenience, from the entire want of wood, and the enormous expense at which it would be necessary to procure timber from a distance. They found, however, great neatness and attention to cleanliness; hardly any bread, but plenty of animal food. The ordinary extent of a farm was an hour long, as it is called, by as much broad; containing, according to our author's estimate, the vast extent of 36,000 acres.

We know not what acres are here understood; if they were English acres, the area of the farm would be 56 square miles ; and if square, its side would be 7 miles and a half.

In Roggeveld, as they were sitting in the house of one of the