Along the bank I found a poppy * four feet in height, with
a showy bright-red flower like that of our common English corn-
poppy; an interesting and unexpected discoyery,in these southern
latitudes, of a genus so decidedly northern.
Birds in great variety inhabit these groves, and the sound of
their various notes dispels' every feeling of loneliness. Amidst this
concert the ear is soothed with the cooing of doves. j- The only
birds which I could procure, were a little noisy Barbel %, which the
Hottentots called Hout Kapper (Wood-cutter), from the noise it
makes with its beak against the branches of trees in search of
insects: the beautiful Groene Spreeuw (Green Thrush) §, with another
species U, and a small bird f , called Namaquas duif, (Namaqua
Dove) a name which is also given to the Columba Capensis.
The Hottentots, glad to shelter from the scorching sun, had
thrown aside their karosses, and lay nearly naked in little groups in
the shade: others were enjoying a bathe, of whom some swam
fearlessly into the middle of the stream. Men and women with their
calabashes, were continually ascending and descending the steep
pathway to the river, and the dogs, driven by the sultry heat, often
came to quench their thirst, while the cattle at the same time, protected
from the sun, picked up abundance of fresh grass which grew
here and there between the trees.
* Papaver Gariepinum,C. G- 1633. Planta biennis spinoso-hispida, 4-pedalis,
Folia inferiora elongata lobato-pinnatifida dentata. Flores coccineo-aurantiaci biunciales.
Petala immaculata.
At this station a new and distinct species of Lycium was added to the Catalogue,
also a Sinapis tripinnala, C. G. 1640.
Bryonia Planta facie Sisymbrii Sophia:, tota
L ep id nm pubescens erecta. Folia tripin-
Nemesia natifida, laciniis inasqualibus ob-
Senecio tusis. Flores minuti flavi in race-
Gnaphalium and mis terminalibus. Siliqua? glabræ.
f Columba risoria,
J Pogonias Illig .11 Bucco, niger, Gm. Sys. Nat. L e Barbu à gorge noir. — Le
Vaili. Ois. de Paradis, fyc. tom. 2. pl. 29 & 30.
§ T u r dus nitens. Linn. Syst. N a t.------Lamprotomis, Temm.
Il T u r d u s Varieté de Grivrou. Le V. Ois. d’Afr. pl. 100., where it is considered
to be a variety o f Turdus olivaceus, Sys. Nat. ; but it is certainly a distinct species,
f Columba L a Tourterelle maillée, Le Y. Ois. d’Afr. pl. 270.
I made several drawings of this enchanting scenery; and
afterwards, by an observation for the latitude; found we were in
29° 40' 52" S. *
I ascertained trigonometrically, by a base of four hundred and
fifty feet along the shore, and having the trunk of a willow on the
opposite side close to the water as an object, that the breadth of the
river was nine hundred and thirty feet. This spot, as I afterwards
observed, was one of the narrowest places, and the average breadth
of the Gariep in this part of its course, may, perhaps, be more correctly
stated at three hundred and fifty yards, during its lowest state;
but when overflowing the banks, it may then probably be from a
quarter of a mile, to a mile wide, a state in which, in point of fact
I never saw it, but venture this supposition as founded on the indubitable
traces of it noticed on the adjoining country.
The banks of this beautiful river are clothed with wood from
its mouth upwards as far as it has been explored. This line of trees
is sometimes a quarter of a mile in breadth, but is frequently
interrupted by short intervals : it would furnish timber sufficient for
all the purposes of colonization on its banks, and I cannot but
believe that at some future period settlers will be tempted, by the
advantages of a large river, to form a lengthened colony along its
course. Although its frequent falls and rapids would, especially in
that part of the year when its waters are low, prevent a continued
navigation down to the ocean, yet it still remains to be proved that,
at the time of its greatest annual floods, boats or rafts might not with
safety convey the produce of the interior down to the sea-shore,
without any interruption more than two or three “ carrying-places.”
The main stem of the Gariep is without any constant branch,
for at least five hundred miles upwards. It. then receives the waters;
of three great rivers, the Ky Gariep or Yellow Iiiver, coming from
the north-eastward ; the Maap or Muddy River, whose course and
source is unknown; and the Nu Gariep or Black River, some branches
* 16th Sept. at the Gariep Station, the observed meridional altitude of the Sun’s
upper limb was 57° 39' 37".