of discovering a pair at a distance, running across the plain. With
the telescope they could be seen very distinctly; and being the first
I had met with in a wild state, I could not but watch, with the
greatest gratification, this interesting sight. The bushes intercepted
the view of their long legs; but their black bodies were plainly to be
seen; and those beautiful plumes, destined, possibly, hereafter to
decorate the head of some elegant beauty, and wave in the drawingroom,
were now fluttering in the wind, and rudely hurrying over the
desert. Their long necks, and comparatively small heads, reared
high above the shrubs, like two tall stakes, remained the last in
view; but their hasty long strides soon carried them out of sight.
As these birds inhabit only large open plains, and their heads,
elevated above every obstruction, enable them, at a great distance, to
discover man, from whom they escape with the swiftness of a horse,
it is not an easy affair to approach them unperceived, or to hunt
them down; for, as it is well known, they are utterly incapable of
raising their bodies into the air. It is fortunate for the race, that this
difficulty of approach affords some little protection against their
restless enemy, man. The boors have formerly been so indefatigable
in this chace, shooting them at all times of the year, without
regard to the season of breeding and rearing their young, that there
are but few now to be found in the inhabited parts of the colony. If
a law were enacted to prohibit their eggs from being taken or destroyed,
and to prevent the hunting of them during that season,
or at any other time than that in which their plumes are in perfection,
the exportation of their feathers inight become a trade of
much more importance than it is likely ever to be, without some
such regulations.
11 th. By observations of the meridional altitude of the sun,
both this and the preceding day, I computed the latitude of Pieter
Jacobs's to be 33° 24' 2 ' south. Notwithstanding the greatest care,
it is not impossible that, into some of these computations, a mistake
might happen, through inadvertence, to find its way; and therefore,
with the view of giving to others an opportunity of verifying my calculations,
or of correcting my errors, I shall, throughout this journal,
give, as below *, the actual observations on which they are founded.
These observations must be understood as cleared only of the error
of the instrument; and further, divided by 2, on account of the real
angle of altitude being doubled by reflection from the artificial
horizon. The corrections for parallax, refraction, sun’s semidiameter,
&c., are left to be made by the operator. The longitudes
used in correcting the sun’s declination, were nearly the same as those
which are to be found in the “ Itinerary” at the end of the volume;
but these latter are to be preferred, as being the final result of course,
distance, and latitude combined: yet, for the estimation of latitude,
they will scarcely produce any material difference from the numbers
here given.
A woman seated astride on horseback was to me, as yet, an unusual
sight: a female visitor, the wife of one of their neighbours,
rode in this manner up to the door, alighted with masculine agility,
and, after an hour’s visit, mounted her steed and trotted off, without
the least sign of timidity. This, I found, was the customary mode
of sitting, whenever women, in these distant parts of the country,
ride on horseback; which, however, is not very often.
12th. One of the sheep bought at Tulbagh, dropped a lamb this
morning; an increase of stock by no means advantageous to me, as
there was no chance of either surviving the fatigue of travelling. It
was, therefore, exchanged for one of the wethers of Jacobs’s flock.
The missionaries remained behind so much longer than was expected,
that I began to fear some accident had been the cause of
the delay; but in the forenoon their three waggons were dejscried
coming on, and, soon after, they unyoked at the distance of a mile
from the house. Mr. Anderson came immediately to give notice of
his arrival, and informed me that the pole of his waggon had been
broken, and that one of the other waggons had been overturned, but
* l l th July, 1811, at Pieter Jacobs’s, the observed meridional altitude of the sun’s
centre was 34>° 23/ 26".