Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/176

132 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. miles to the west of the main stream, in u valley whose waters flow directly to the sea. A/imtl South, the maritime port of this pastoral region, stands on the wjst side of Mossol Bay, at the root of the rocky headland of Cap3 St. Blaise, by which it is sheltered from the fierce southern winds. Aliwal South does a con- siderable import and export trade, ranking fourlh in this respect amongst the colonial seaports. Farther east along the seaboard follow several little towns, all lying at the foot of the coast range, which Trollope compares to tlie Western Pyrenees, and which, according to this writer, presents the finest sites in the whole of Austral Africa. Here the pleasant little town of George is embowered in. verdure ; Mehille is mirron d in the auriferous waters of the Knysna, which flows from the forest-clad Uteniqua Hills, and reaches the sea through a deep estuary accessible to large vessels ; JIuman»dorp occupies a picturesque position in an amphitheatre of thickly wooded heights. Uniondale and Willowmore, the two chief places in the district, iire both situated in romantic valleys on the northern or inland side of the coast ranges. Farther north, in the arid zone of the Karroo, but still on the slope draining to the Southern Ocean, the two administrative centres are Aberdeen and MurrnijHburg. The basin of the Sunday River, although one of the least extensive, is one of the best cultivated and most productive in the colony. It owes its prosperity to its position in the relatively moist zone facing towards the Indian Ocean, and to the two trade routes traversing it, one in the direction of the Orange River and the Dutch republics, the other towards the territory of the Kafirs. Here Graqf- Reinet, a Dutch settlement, over a hundred years old, is laid out like a chessboard about the headwaters of the river, which here ramifies into several branches flowing through the surrounding fields and gardens. To the contrast presented by this smiling valley with the arid plateaux to the west, Graaf-Reinet is indebted for its title of " Gem of the Desert." As indicated by their names, Jansenville and Uifenha<je, which follow to the south along the road to Port Elizabeth, were founded by the Dutch. But Uiten- hage has completely acquired the aspect of an English settlement since the year 1820, when it received a large number of British colonists. Of late years it has become a favourite place of residence for traders and dealers who have retired from business, and on festive occasions it is visited by a large number of pleasure- seekers, who delight in the shady walks by its running waters. But Uitenhage is also an industrial centre. In the numerous little mills scattered amid the surrounding glens, busy hands, nearly all Kafirs, are employed in cleansing by machinery the enormous quantities of wool brought from the extensive sheep farms in the eastern parts of the colony. Port Elizabeth, which lies 20 miles to the south-east of Uitenhage, on the west side of Algoa Bay, although dating only from the year 1820, has already become the most animated seaport in the whole of South Africa. Within a single genera- tion it outstripped Cape Town in commercial importance, notwithstanding the disadvantages of its open roadstead compared with the more favourable position