AN

ACCOUNT

OF

TRAVELS

INTO THE

INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA,

IN THE YEARS 1797 AND 1798:

INCLUDING

CURSORY OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE SOUTHERN PART OF THAT CONTINENT;
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SUCH OBJECTS AS OCCURRED IN THE
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, AND MINERAL KINGDOMS;

AND

SKETCHES ON THE PHYSICAL AND MORAL CHARACTERS OF THE VARIOUS
TRIBES OF INHABITANTS SURROUNDING THE SETTLEMENT OF THE

'CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

TO WHICH IS ANNEXED,

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT STATE, POPULATION AND PRODUCE
OF THAT EXTENSIVE COLONY;

WITH

A MAP,

CONSTRUCTED ENTIRELY FROM ACTUAL OBSERVATIONS,

MADE IN THE COURSE OF THE TRAVELS.

BY JOHN BARROW,

Late Secretary to the Earl of Macartney, and Auditor-General of
Public Accounts at the Cape of Good Hope.

THE FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE LONDON QUARTO EDITION.

New-York:

PRINTED AND SOLD BY G. F. HOPKINS, AT WASHINGTON'S

HEAD, NO. 118 PEARL-STREET.

ΤΟ

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

HENRY DUNDAS,

ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE,

UNDER WHOSE AUSPICES, THE EXTENSIVE AND IMPORTANT COLONY OF

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

WAS ACQUIRED AND ANNEXED TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE,

BY WHICH OUR POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL INTERESTS IN THE EAST-INDIES HAVE BEEN SECURED AND PROMOTED;

THESE SKETCHES,

ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

BY

HIS MOST FAITHFUL

AND OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT,

JOHN BARROW.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.

A General View of the Colony of The Cape, and

a more particular Description of the Promon-

tory called The Cape of Good Hope.

CHAP. II. .

Sketches on a journey from The Cape of Good

Hope, across the Karroo, or Arid Desert, to

the Drosdy of Graaff Reynet.

CHAP. III.

Sketches on a journey into the Country of the

PAGE-

1

52

Sketches on a journey from Graaff Reynet along

the sea-coast to the Cape

CHAP. VI.

Sketches on a journey into the Country of the Na-

maaquas.

221

308

336

TRAVELS

INTO THE

INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA,

CHAP. I.

A General View of the Colony of The Cape, and a more particular Description of the Promontory called The Cape of Good Hope.

By the capture of the Cape of Good Hope and of Ceylon, the British language is now heard at the southern extremities of the four great continents or quarters of the globe. Three of these have submitted to the power of its arms; and the spirit of commerce and adventurous industry has directed the attention of its enterprising subjects to the fourth, on the small island of Staaten, at the extreme point of South America, where a kind of settlement has been formed for carrying on the southern whalefishery. Of these extreme points the Cape of Good Hope cannot be considered as the least important, either with regard to its geographical situation, as favourable for carrying on a speedy intercourse with every part of the civilized world; or to its intrinsic value, as capable of supplying many articles of general consumption to the mother-country; or as a port solely for the numerous and valuable fleets of the East-India Company to refresh at; to assemble

B