on shore to graze; but quickly discovering us, they plunged beneath
the surface, snorting and blowing the water up with their nostn s;
nor did they venture to breathe again till far beyond our reach.
November 1st. I here became acquainted with a new species ot
Mantis, whose presence became afterwards sufficiently familiar to me,
by its never failing, on calm warm evenings, to pay me a visit as i
was writing my journal; and sometimes to interrupt my lucubrations
by putting out the lamp. AH the Mantis tribe are very
remarkable inseets; and this one, whose d u s k y sober coloring well
suits the obscurity of night, is certainly so,-by the late hours it
keeps. It often settled on my book, or on the press where I was
writing, and remained still, as if considering some affair of- importance,
with an appearance of intelligence which had a wonderful
effect in withholding my hand from doing it harm. Although
hundreds have flown within my power, I never took more than five. I
have given to this curious little creature the name of Mantis lucubrans |
and having no doubt that he will introduce himself to every
traveller who comes into this country in the months of November
and December, I beg to recommend him as a harmless little companion,
and entreat that kindness and mercy may be shown to him.
2nd. On the day of our arrival at this station, Willem Berends
had made a proposal to hunt for me, on condition of receiving
half the game for himself, and of being supplied with ammunition.
As he was reputed an excellent marksman, I agreed to employ him,
under a stipulation that Speelman shbuld accompany him. They
had now been absent more than two days, without our having heard
any thing of them; and I was beginning to feel some anxiety, when,
very early this morning, a Hottentot arrived from them, desiring
that the little waggon might be sent to fetch home a Hippopotamus
which they had shot, at the distance of a day’s journey up the
Kyrgariep, in a northerly direction. _
The men instantly unloaded it, and yoked the oxen to. Intending
to go myself, I packed up the requisites for drawing, and the large
tin collecting-box; but took, of course, no more meat than would be
enough for the day; nor did I encumber myself with any other bedding
than my watch-coat. In respect to the latter, I was inclined to
try how the customs of a Bushman would suit me; that is, without any
other bedding than the clothes on my back, or other shelter than
a bush.
Taking Philip as driver, and leaving Gert in charge of the great
waggon, I set out a little after seven in the morning, with the
Hottentot messenger for our guide, and having in company a
wavgon which was going on the same business as mine, a little
way up the river, to Captain Dam, who had shot another Hippopotamus.
The country over which we travelled was a wild trackless
level, here and there broken with a few horizontal-topped hills. To
the south-south-eastward, a little table-mountain, at the distance of a
day and a half’s journey, is remarkable, and may be seen, as I afterwards
remarked, a great way off in different directions. It was said
to be situated not more than eight or nine miles eastward from the
Salt-pan which lies on the eastern side of the Nugariep.
The surface of the land was in general sprinkled over with small
scruhby bushes *; and in many places' grew abundance of Kanna-
bosck (Kanna-bush) f , which I had now learnt to consider as an
indication of a good soil of some depth, though not always free from
a brackish quality. In some parts of the plain the Bushmen had
burnt away the old grass, for the purpose of attracting the game by
the young herbage which subsequently springs up. At this time it
had already begun to sprout, and had given to many extensive
patches the beautiful verdure of a field of wheat. In places which
had not been in this manner cleared by burning, the green blades
were concealed by the old withered grass; a circumstance which
ever gives to the plains of Africa a more pale and arid appearance
than they would present if the wild animals were able to graze off
the yearly crop as closely as the cattle do in the pastures of Europe.
* I added to my herbarium a very singular ligneous species of Aizoon ; a Talinum
and another remarkable plant of the same order.
f Salsola aphylla, L. or Caroxylon Salsola, Th. The ashes of this shrub are much
used by die Colonists, as an alkali, in making soap.