was a natural pavement formed of a dark-colored iron-stone rock
remarkably pitted with little hollows.
After having travelled above twenty-two miles, without finding
any water, we arrived by moonlight at a small spring very pleasantly
situated amidst large trees of Karro-thorn. The herdsmen, with the
loose oxen and sheep, had reached the place two hours before the
waggons; and, from the abundance of dead branches that lay strewed
about, had made several blazing fires: so that on our arrival we
found a comfortable home ready prepared. In these regions, after a
very hot day, the night-air, by comparison, frequently feels chilly;
and a fire, while the thermometer is at 70°, is sometimes very acceptable,
especially if any dew be falling.
2,5th. This place bore the name of Spuigslang Fontein
(Spitting-snake Fountain) from a species of snake which is said to
spit out at its pursuer a venomous. liquid, of which, if a particle
enter the eye, blindness may be the consequence, unless it be instantly
washed out. The vicinity of this fountain is inhabited by Bushmen,
whose pits for ensnaring game, were every where to be seen. They
had taken a degree of trouble in preparing the country for this purpose,
which showed that on some occasions, they could be very laborious.
The interval from one to another, was crossed by a line of large
branches and limbs of trees, placed so closely together as not to be
easily passed by any of the antelopes or kwakkas; the game for
which they were intended. The line extended, in this manner, for
a mile or two ; and at every convenient place, an opening was left,
opposite to which was a deep pit so carefully covered over with thin
twigs and grass, that it could not readily be perceived; more especially,
when the mould that had been dug out became grown over
with herbage. The pits were generally about six feet in depth, and
as much in length. They were nearly three feet wide at the surface;
but contracted gradually to the bottom, where they did not measure
much more than one foot. Or, in other words; these holes were so
proportioned to the size of the animal for which they were made,
that they just fitted its body and head when fallen into i t ; while at
the same time they so confined the legs, that it was not possible for
it to make any use of them in extricating itself. Sometimes a stake,
having a very sharp point upwards, is fixed in the bottom, for the
cruel purpose of empaling the poor animal; but this is very rarely
done, and I can recollect but few instances of having ever found
such a stake. Perhaps it is.omitted, in order to avoid those dreadful
accidents which might otherwise happen to their own people; as it
is not easy, even for themselves, as they are running hastily over the
country, to discover them in time to escape falling in. The Hottentots
when speaking in Dutch, call these pit-falls by the mixed name
of *Kysi-gat, or TJcysi-gat, (Kysi-pit); the first part of which is the
aboriginal appellation. *
With the precaution of taking my gun with me, I rambled alone
in the grove; and although in general, no new objects were here to be
found, I met with a new species of Lanius'f, an exceedingly handsome
bird having the under part of the body of the brightest scarlet, and all
the rest of the finest black, excepting a white stripe down each wing,
and a few faint white marks on the back.
Here I saw for the first time, a neat bush of dense foliage like
Box, called Guarri% by the Hottentots ; and which is one of the very
few transgariepine shrubs that afford an eatable fruit possessed of any
good flavor. It bears a round black berry of the. size of a pea, with a
proportionally large stone. In taste, it has a little astringen cy, but
is however, perfectly wholesome. Other species resembling myrtles,
* This word, as I learn from the Hottentots, is the true etymon of the name of a large
river, now forming the eastern boundary of the new English colony beyond Algoa Bay,
and which should therefore be written Kysikamma, or KeisiJcajnma.
f Lanius atro-coccineus, B. Totus niger, exceptis corporis partibus inferioribus, a
gula usque ad crissam, pulchre coccineis; et linea alam percurrente alba. .
It very much resembles- the Lanius barbarus of Gmel. Sys, Nat. (the Gonolek of Buffon,
and of Le Vaillant, Ois. d’Afr. pi, 69.) but from this it is easily distinguished by a
head entirely black, and a white stripe down each wing.
| Euclca ovata, Cat. Geog. 1706. Folia acute ovata rigidia subtus pubescentia,
margine undulata sub-crenulata. Flores in racemulis nutantibus 3—5-floris. Baccae
globosae primum pubescentes, demum glabrae.
Guarri is the Hottentot name of various species o f Ewlea, producing eatable berries.
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