magnitude, than the kind, of the appearance, that is to be accounted wonderful. The wall that forms the eastern face of the ridge, is evidently a great stratum of rock, elevated at an angle of 60 degrees. The elevation and direction of this stratum are maintained uniform, for a distance that is no doubt very uncommon. The whole ridge probably consists of strata parallel and similar to the exterior stratum. The great rent opened (as our author calls it) in this mass, is, we apprehend, no other than a softer part of it, or more probably a vein of softer matter crossing it, on which the powers of destruction have operated faster than on the great rampart itself. A breach, of gentler acclivity, has thus been produced, of which the colonists have taken advantage in conducting the road.

The district of Roodezand was that into which our travellers had now advanced; and as their course had been south-east, they had come considerably nearer to the Cape Town. Of this district our author observes, that there are more marks of civilization than in the more distant colonies;-the people are more active and industrious, and more attentive to their own interests, though, we presume, he means rather to say, better judges of their real interests. But both the happiness and the morals of the colonists of this district seem to have been injured not a little by the intrusion of a swarm of Missionaries, and the introduction, by their means, of a great degree of bigotry, which has very much changed the frankness of character, the cheerfulness, and the good will to one another, which were formerly so prevalent in this district. Music and dancing are entirely banished; and under the conduct of his spiritual guides, the African colonist, who has so few sources of enjoyment, has succeeded perfectly in cutting off a great number of them. Their favourite doctrine is, that every man should apply himself solely to the salvation of his own soul, which he is to work out, not by justice or morality, but by faith and self-abasement. Thus we see the same poison extracted from the humane and charitable doctrines of Christianity, and administered in the same dozes over all the world. The solitude of the African colonist must make him of all men most susceptible of injury from its effects; and for this there is certainly no remedy but in the better education of the lower orders of society, for which we do not observe any provision in the Public institutions which our author has mentioned.

What is here said of the Missionaries is agreeably contrasted with the society of the United Brethren or Herrenhuters, which soon after was visited by Lichtenstein and his friends. On the banks of the river Zonder-end (Endless River) at a place

called Bavransklooff, is the establishment of this most meritorious society. The beginning of it goes back as far as 1737; but little seems to have been done till the year 1791, when three of the United Brethren from Holland or Germany settled in these parts. By order of the Dutch East India Company, this spot was granted for the establishment of a little colony; and in a short time they collected together a considerable number of bastards and Hottentots, whom they instructed in the Christian religion, at the same time endeavouring to inspire them with habits of industry.

At first, the jealousy of the colonists seems to have been excited by this most inoffensive and laudable institution, and to have produced excesses highly to be reprobated. Our author admits the truth of this; but contends that Barrow, who has spoken of it in his travels, has very much exaggerated the -bad conduct of the colonists. He says that they had formed a conspiracy to murder the Brethren: the Brethren themselves assured Lichtenstein that they had never heard of such a thing.

The whole description of this establishment will be read with pleasure by those who take delight in the improvement of the species. The instruction of the Hottentots is the object of the institution, and is begun by teaching them some useful handicraft. A house has been appropriated to the manufacture of knives, of which one of the Brethren is the director; and it begins already to be profitable. Four Hottentots are employed in this manufacture. But, says our author, in order to form a just estimate of the worth of the excellent men who conduct this institution, their manner of treating the Hottentots must be seen. The mildness, yet dignity with which they instruct them, and the effect already produced in improving the condition of their uncivilized Brethren, is truly admirable; and the more so, that it has all been accomplished by persuasion and exhortation, without violence, or even harshness. No other punishment is known, but being prohibited from attending divine service, or being banished the Society; and to such severity it has been very rarely necessary to have recourse. The highest reward of industry and good behaviour is, to be baptized, and received into the Society. Though the Dutch government has been very friendly to this institution, its main support is from the Moravian Brethren in Europe. This little establishment, in the eleven years that had elapsed from its foundation, to the time when Lichtenstein visited it, had received no less than twenty-five thousand dollars from Europe;

and the annual expense seemed rather to increase than diminish. So large a sum given for a purpose so salutary, and from motives so disinterested, is rarely to be met with in the world. Of all who have attempted to teach Christianity to barbarous or savage nations, the Moravian Brethren may be fairly placed at the head. The generosity of their efforts has been guided by a degree of judgment and good sense that are wanting in most other missionaries. They begin with civilizing their pupils-educating and instructing them in the useful arts. They live among the people; and their lives manifest a justice and sanctity that must extort respect, and gain affection from the most rude and unenlightened. It is by this kind of practical instruction alone, that those in a certain state of ignorance and barbarism are to be gained over to the truth; and, till a similar course is followed, our Missionary, and our Bible societies may expend thousands and ten thousands to no purpose but to manifest the goodness of their intentions, and their total ignorance of the means which ought to have been pursued.

The Commissary-General and his party continuing their route south-east toward the coast, passed through Zwellendam, a little town in the midst of this great pastoral country, and the seat of a Landdroost. There are a good many artizans here, such as smiths and carpenters; and some degree of opulence prevails, as the place is on the road from the Cape-town to the eastern parts of the colony. It is pleasantly situated, and well watered ; a circumstance not to be omitted in speaking of a situation in Africa, where this advantage is so seldom enjoyed. The land is very fertile, except when the crop suffers from want of rain, as often happens over the whole of Southern Africa. When the supply of rain is sufficient, wheat will yield 70 or 80 fold, and barley 90 or 100; in dry years, the seed is little more than returned.

They had, in this part of their journey, a remarkable instance of the Mirage, which presented them with a view of the sea and the sea-coast, when they were distant from the latter by six German miles. They were at that time on the top of a hill; a place where the mirage, we believe, does not usually appear. It was between 9 and 10 in the morning; the sun about 50 degrees above the horizon, and seen through a cloud. The heat was 66 of Fahrenheit; it was almost a calm, with an appearance of rain, and none of the sky to be seen. In these circumstances, they saw what they imagined to be the sea, but what, after a great deal of doubt, was pronounced not to be so, from the unevenness of the horizon. Dr Lichtenstein supposes, that

this was an appearance produced by the reflection of the seacoast, and of the sea itself, from some clouds hanging over them. We confess, that this explanation does not seem to us very satisfactory, nor very consistent with the elevated situation of the observers. The supposition, of a great mass of haze or fog lying along the sides of the distant hills, and rising near to their tops, would seem to us to afford a more easy solution. But as this obvious idea must have occurred to the gentlemen themselves, and have been rejected; and as a judgement formed of such fleeting and airy appearances, on the spot, should have much more weight than a conclusion drawn at a distance, we will not venture to dispute the preceding explanation; though, for any thing in the description, we should think it doubtful whether the phenomenon had any thing to do with the Mirage.

The part of the coast on which they soon after arrived, is known by the name of Mossel Bay, the same to which VASCO DE GAMA gave the name of the Bay of ST BLAISE, when he landed there in December 1497. Near a Cape which still retains the name of St Blaise, is a cave in a high cliff, the foot of which is washed by the sea, which though 400 feet above the high water mark, is entirely overspread with a thick layer of muscle shells. Dr L. visited it, and makes the breadth about 20 paces, the depth half as much, and the height about 50. The mouth of the cave fronts the north-east. In another cave, about 50 feet higher, there are no shells. It is certainly a curious question, how these shells came into the place where they are now found. Barrow supposes that they were brought by the birds; Lichtenstein, that they were brought by the Hottentots, who are supposed to have formerly resorted much to this place, and to have lived much on shell-fish-this is also the common opinion in the neighbourhood. The shells are none of them fresh, and are half buried in sand and earth. This phenomenon, it seems, is very common on that coast. Barrow says that many thousand waggon loads may be met with in various places along the eastern coast, in situations which are several hundred feet above the level of the sea.

If the travellers just named had informed us of the nature of the rock, of the kind of excavations which the sea has made in it, how high the obvious marks of the washings of the sea extend, to what height gravel and other substances are ever thrown up by the wind or waves, we would have had some data for deciding whether the sea itself, without any other agent, can be supposed to have deposited the shells where they are now found.

As the matter stands, the supposition of Lichtenstein may be accounted the most probable. What Barrow asserts, that in Lowenberg, near the Cape town, wherever like caves have been discovered, abundance of live shell fish are always found, is denied by Lichtenstein, after having, as he tells us, examined many of those caves very particularly, in order to satisfy himself of the truth.

They proceeded from this to the Great fish river, which divides the colony from the country of the Caffres. The various tribes of this great nation are very distinct in form and external appearance from those by which they are surrounded. They are taller, stronger, and better proportioned; their colour brown; their hair black and woolly. They have the high forehead and prominent nose of the European; the thick lips of the negroe; and the high cheek bones of the Hottentot. Their beards are black, and much fuller than those of the Hottentots. They have a greater resemblance to Europeans than either to Negroes or Hottentots; and this is particularly to be remarked in the form of the bones of the face, and in the shape of the skull. They are at the same time distinguishable at first glance from the European, by their colour and their woolly hair.

The men of the Koossa tribe, which Lichtenstein describes from his own knowledge, are tall, from five feet six, to five feet nine inches high; and some, as their king GEIKA, are considerably taller. The skull of the Caffre is highly arched; his eye lively; his nose sufficiently prominent; and his teeth of the most brilliant whiteness. He holds himself exceeding upright; his step is quick and firm; and his whole exterior denotes strength and spirit. The women are very handsome, but much smaller than the men. A very smooth soft skin, beau'tiful teeth, pleasing features, expressive of cheerfulness and good nature, and a slender form, make them exceedingly attractive even in the eyes of a European.

The Caffres believe in an invisible being; but they have no name for him, and pay him no worship. They have, however, the strongest belief in sorcery, enchantment, and soothsaying; indeed there are among them persons who employ themselves entirely in these arts, and who hold in some degree the rank of priests. All the missionaries, accordingly, who have come into the country, have been considered as magicians and diviners. One of them, Vander Kemp, a man of uncommon austerity and self-denial, who still lives in the eastern part of the colony, was among the first who tried to preach the doctrines of Christianity to the Caffres. Once, when a great drought prevailed,