day, became already a most irksome task, yet one which was absolutely
indispensable. *
By an observation at noon, the latitude of the Bushman Rock
Fountain j* was ascertained to be 31° O' 38". J
I was descending alone to view the spring, the value of which I
had heard our people so much extol, as affording the traveller a
never-failing supply, when one of the Hottentots called out, advising
me to take my gun, lest, seeing me unarmed, some evil-
disposed native might be tempted to attack or rob me. He remarked
very prudently, and, I believed, properly, that it is safe always to
suspect that such men are lurking behind every bush or crag of rock,
ready to let fly a poisoned arrow on the unsuspecting passenger.
I returned for my gun, resolving to keep his advice in memory; and
1 now impart it, with serious recommendation, to all who may hereafter
find themselves in similar circumstances.
The water lay in a large rocky basin, or reservoir, at the head
of a ravine walled on either side by a precipice of sandstone rocks,
the upper end forming a romantic natural amphitheatre, out of the
sides of which, and from the clefts of the stone, grew a few green
shrubs to decorate this singular scene. At the head of this ravine, a
strong stream, in the rainy season, pours down the precipice into the
basin, and, overflowing the reservoir, runs through the interstices of
large blocks of stone, down into the valley below. In approaching
the spot, I heard a number of voices, the sound of which, reverberating
from the walls, discovered to me two Bushmen and three women:
the latter had their children at their backs. They proved to be of a
* At K lip Fontein, grow —
Pteris ? calomelanos. Sp. PI. ed. Willd.
Ehrharta.
And species of—
Bromus Hermannia Mahemia
Za/gophyllum Buchnera Lachenalia, &c.
f This is called the Rock Fountain of the Bushmen, to distinguish it from another
spring of the same name, afterwards met with in the country, of the Koraquas,
X 9th Sept, at K lip Fontein, the observed meridional altitude of the sun’s upper
limb was 53° 39' 35".