The valley at last reached, we halted for a few minutes (till the pack-horses and mules in rear scrambled down after us) near a solitary farm-house, a burnt and blackened ruin, with a fine garden full of vines, bananas, orange, lemon, citron, pomegranate, fig, peach, and almond trees, their blossom scenting the morning air. A drizzling rain came on, and we continued our march up the beautifully wooded valley, which was shut in by high mountains, half covered by the fleecy clouds resting on their bush-covered heights, the broad path, cut through a perfect grove of flowering bushes, followed the course of a winding rocky burn up the centre of the glen. As we advanced, the mountains were varied by grey crags, fine belts of lichen-covered forest, and soft smooth slopes of the greenest grass; the rain gradually ceased, and the clouds slowly lifted, revealing lofty krantzes of basaltic rock rising perpendicularly from the dark bush that clothed the higher ridges; the large forest trees on the summit appearing against the clear blue sky like a fringe of small shrubs. The sun at length broke through the clouds, and the bush, sparkling with dew drops, scented the air with its fragrance. Parts of the road were so strikingly like a park at home that one almost expected at each turn to come in sight of the house. Along each side of the path, and close to the bush, we found, as we proceeded, the dead bodies of many of the enemy killed in the engagement of the 14th; clouds of flies rose with a startling buzz from the corpses, which lay literally broiling in the hot sun, some on their faces in the long grass, others with their swollen features exposed, and legs drawn up, while a few lay half-reclining under the trees, as though they had died there of their wounds; most were partially eaten by jackals and hyænas, whose spoor was traceable all round; eighteen lay in this way along our path, and the horrible stench in many places told that others were concealed by the dense underwood; among others, was an enormous "Bastaard" Hottentot, who must have been nearly six feet three.