which they are convertible whenever the grazier takes them to town ;
or they are sometimes negotiated in payment with his neighbours.
Speelman brought home a Steenbok (Stone-buck*) he had shot
on the rocky plain under the mountains. This is a small antelope,
of nearly the same size as the Duyker f , but of a lighter and reddish
color, having the under part of the body white; a white spot under
each eye, and a small mark of the same color on the chin; but there
is not, as in the Duyker, any tuft of hair between the ears.
8th. Early this morning the thermometer was Very few degrees
above the freezing point; and, even at noon, it rose no higher than 52°
(8-8 R .; 1T1 G). The weather, although cold, was invigorating; but
finding it too chilly for sitting in the waggon, I took my seat by the
fire-side, in the house, where the sight of some of my instruments afforded
amusement to the family, and excited considerable curiosity to
know their uses. The Meester, ready on all occasions to communicate
his knowledge, gave them so extraordinary an explanation of-the nature
and properties of the magnetic needle, that I was no less surprised
at it than they were; but my subsequent comments (I was almost
sorry at having made them) on the schoolmaster’s doctrine, very
much reduced their wondering and his vanity ; and, I was happy to
find, without at all hurting his feelings.
In the evening, as a compliment to the Englishman, he displayed
his vocal powers, in singing “ Guclsave the K in g ” and his
pupils, well acquainted with the air, sometimes joined in chorus,
with Dutch words, but of a different import.
9th. Having been shown, at this house, some cubic pyrites of
iron, got from the neighbouring mountains, I took a walk in the afternoon
to the spot, having one of Jacobs’s Hottentots as a guide. The
mountain is composed of a red, compact sand-stone, in which these
cubes are closely embedded. $ They are scattered in the stony
* Antilope rupestris. . f Described at pnge 187.
t As may be seen by the following engraving, which represents a specimen of the
rock, and the separate cubes, of the natural size. The two cubes -on the left show the
dimensions of the largest and of the smallest which I met with; and the two on the right
may give an idea of the compound cubes.
matrix, at various distances, without any order, and, when first taken
out; were of a black hu e ; but after a few days’ exposure to the air,
became covered with a bright-red powdery rust. They burn with a
blue flame, are very light, and within, porous, like slag; and, on
being broken, some of them exhibit a yellow, shining, metallic appearance.
Sometimes the cubes are simple,, and sometimes compounded
of as many as five, growing into each other at various
angles. Their sides are slightly striated; the striae of each face
being parallel to themselves, but opposite in direction to those of all
the adjoining faces.
The mountains, generally, may be considered as the repository
of the more interesting vegetable productions of the colony; and
in this day’s excursion I gathered forty-five species, most of
which were new to me. * The beautiful Erica monsoniana may here
be seen growing to the height of six feet, with long straggling
branches, covered with paper-white flowers. Protea nana, and many
other proteaceous plants, inhabit the mountains; and on the plain
below, in moist places, grow Protea glaucophylla and repens.
The Ostrich, the largest bird known to man, sometimes frequents
this vicinity; and, from the house, I had this morning the pleasure
* These, together with all that had been collected since my departure from Tul-
bagh, were lost; as will be explained in the note appended to the 8d of August following