The 'thatch' is made from the stems of Spekboom trees, Portulacaria afra. The dried stems are beaten with stones to flatten them, and are then packed on top of each other to form the thatch. There is no grassy thatching material in this dry Fish River area. No wonder the Spekboom is been destroyed so quickly.
Close-up of the thatching of a Native laborer's hut. The stems and branches of the Spekboom have been flattened by pulping and then stacked one on top of the other.
Partly overgrown with bush & with recent burn on grass & adjacent bush. An outspan for waggoners and herders taking goods & stock to the Port Elizabeth markets.
Photo taken after heavy rains, hence standing water. The dank vegetation across mid-picture is wattle encroachment. Up to the 1920's / 30's the flats to Witteklip were open fynbosveld almost in its prime.
Grave of Maria Petronella Pohl, aged 17 (d.23.3.1843). Overgrown with a Gwarri (left) and a European Myrtle (right), the latter brought from Europe and planted by her fiance soon after her death.
With Carl's Rust farmstead and outbuildings at base. The outline of the so-called AFRICA BUSH is to the left of the mountainside. Protea cynaroides once grew here before extermination by burning to bring grazing to sheep.
