Third Journey (MS 107/2)
28th September 1778
transcription
[page 11]
[28th September 1778]
28
vertrokken n t o sneewberg op. myn vorige cours. onder by de beer was barometer [blank]
termometer stond met son 56 gr half berg om half tien 74
reden en marcheerden over enige steile plaatsen, gemakkelyk in drie uren boven, en quamen na een half uur by van der merwen, de term: op den middag 65, schoon weer, z:o: koelte, de wagens quamen na 5 uren rydens by ons, vertrokken naar barometer. by van der merwen d 25, t 7;
vertrokken n:n:o: na het riviertje, de plaats van de weduwe venter daar wy met sons ondergang uitspanden. stelde drie mylen n n o iets n: onse coers. de termometer son ondergang 61. zal my aan myn vorig journaal houden, alleen seggen dat er gene de minste blyk van volcanen in dit land is. zynde de bergen alles cos van bleeke blaauwe en graauwe couleur.
meest plat op spits in dit hooge land, regelmatige stratas, horisontaal, dog de swarte en de andere ketens na de caap confuus, dog meest paralel aan malkanderen, in de laagtens en vlaktens meest regt op en neer als gesonken.
[annotated in margin:] dog na de tafelbergs kant na zee de stratas regulier horisontaal ik vind omtrent die bergen derde part hoogte, cos met quartsagtig gemengde ronde koppen en veel schistus of ley vergruiselt op veele plaatsen
somtyds 10 voet dia: so als aan zee in baay fals.
translation
[page 11]
[28th September 1778]
28
Left north by east on my previous route towards the Sneeuberg. Below at De Beer’s the barometer was [blank].
Thermometer stood at 56 degrees at sunrise. Half-way up the mountain at about half past ten it was 74 degrees
We rode and tramped over several steep places, easily to the top in three hours, and after half an hour came to Van der Merwe's.
The thermometer at midday, 65. Fine weather. South-east breeze.
The wagons reached us after travelling for five hours.
Barometer at Van der Merwe 25 inches and 7 tenths.
Departed north-north-east to “Het Riviertje”, the farm of the widow Venter, where we outspanned at sunset. Plotted our course three miles north-north-east somewhat north
The thermometer 61 degrees at sunset.
I keep to what I wrote in my ealier journal, saying only that there is not the slightest trace of volcanoes in this country, the mountains all being of sandstone [Cos], a pale blue and grey colour. The peaks are usually flat in this high land with horizontal regular strata, though mixed in the Swartberg and other ranges of the Cape, though mostly parallel to one another. In the low and flat places they are mostly straight up and down rather than sunken; but towards the side of Table Mountain, towards the sea, the strata are regularly horizontal. About a third of the way up these mountains I find round koppies of Cos mingled with quartzlike material sometimes 10 foot in diameter, just as at the sea in False Bay; and much schistus or slate, ground gravelly in many places.