The vast extent of territory between the Fish river on the east, the Atlantic ocean on the west, the great plain bordering the Orange river on the north, and the Indian ocean on the south, under the dominion of Europeans at the time of the fall of the Dutch East India Company, was very unequally occupied. The Karoo, which forms such a large proportion of it, was not then permanently inhabited, except in a few isolated localities where there was a constant supply of water. Graziers roamed over it with their flocks and herds in the rainy season, but as soon as the flowers and plants began to disappear with the heat of the sun they moved away to pastures of grass north, south, and east. They had not yet learned that sheep could thrive all the year through on the withered and stunted bushes, which strike their roots so deep that they contain a little moisture even after the longest drought. Boring for water, which is now proving successful in many localities, had not then been thought of, nor had artificial reservoirs to conserve the rainfall of the winter and thunderstorms been constructed in any number. Land was so easily obtained that no one thought it worth while to attempt to improve it, if a tract did not supply whatever was needed it was abandoned and another and better locality was sought.