the most beautiful plumes, were quietly feeding, without having
noticed our approach. Speelman crept very near to them ; but
missing his shot, the birds took the alarm, and, moving off with
a stately gait, were soon out of sight, though their pace appeared to
be but little more than that of walking.
At a little before noon, we halted for three hours at Gattikamma,
or Wittewater. The spring yielded now much less water than at the
end of September; but was frequented by the same plovers, who
may be considered as the only permanent inhabitants of the spot.
Two of these I ate for my dinner, and found them of a delicate
taste, arid the more acceptable, after having been without meat
for two days, as all our salted mutton was soon spoiled by the
heat of the weather.
Between the Asbestos Mountains and Gattikamma, even at the
third time of passing over the same ground, thirty-six numbers
were added to my botanical catalogue. *
Amongst them were, —
Uropetahm glaucum, B. Cat. Geog.
2066. Bulbus subglobosus. Folia
glauca, erecta, lanceolata, basi latiora
et sub cuculiata, scapo multò breviora.
Scapus erectus 2 A 3-pedalis. Flores
virides, in tus ochracei, ilutantes, alterni.
Pedunculi longissimi patentes.
Corolla semisexfida. Lacinise 3 exteriores
refi exas, externé ad apicem
auctse appendice caudiforme ; 3 interiores
approximatae apicibus simpli-
cibus. Germen stylans. Capsula brevis
trisulcata trilocularis. Semina plura,
horizontalia discoidea nitida atra.
Nomen ab oògà, cauda, et -gtstoiXov,
petalum, ob appendicem caudiformem
ad ápices petalorum. Genus est
propè Lachenaliam, cujus species
L . viridis huic adjicienda.
Oxygonum alatum, 'B. Cat. Geog. 2074;.
Pianta annua monoica. Folia lanceolata,'
incisa, et integra. Flores spicati
pediniculati ; plures in spicse ar-
ticulis. Flores , masculi incarnati
quadrifidi, laciniis patentibus, obovatis
petaloideis. Filamenta elongata octó.
Antheras ovatae. Fructus oblongus,
angulis 3 menibranaceo-alatis.
; Nomen ab òj-fvi acutus, et yaivia angulas,
ob fructum acutè angulatum ; et
verbum Polygono consonum. Genus
ex ordine Polygonearum.
Sisymbrium Gariepinum. B. Cat. Geog.
2080..
Cyperus ùsitatus, B. ct Boschman’s uyent-
. Je?”
Cleome diandra, B. Cat. Geog. 2103.
Caulis bipedalis, brevissime spinulosus.
Folíola septena filiformia. Stamina
8, quorum duo elongata fertilia, sex
brevissima sterilin.
■Barleria
Physalis
Tetragonia
Justicia
On our road this afternoon, we met a party of men, women,
■and children, with their huts and all their goods, removing from Klaar-
water to the Asbestos mountains. The whole family, with mats,
sticks, utensils, and skins, packed all together on the backs of
'the oxen, and moving along with a steady pace, presented a curious
group, which might have been fancied to bear some resemblance to
the iourneyings of the people of patriarchal days, notwithstanding
the dignity, and splendid robes, with which modern painters have
thought proper to invest them. At least, their bringing to recollection,
a party of Gypsies in England, removing from one county to
another, is an idea less fanciful and speculative. We stopped a few
minutes to answer each other’s questions as to the whence, the
whither, the when, and the wherefore, of our journeys; nor did I
forget to ask the men if they would like a trip to Graaffreynet
It was past nine at night, before we arrived at Klaarwater;
where nothing remarkable had occurred during our absence, except
that the eight oxen we had left at Groote-doorn were all missing.
19th. The next day, Philip and Muchunka were sent to take
the team to Groote-doorn, and make search after the others. They
were absent the whole of the following day, and I was rendered
exceedingly uneasy by the circumstance of the two dogs, which they
took with them, returning in the evening alone. On the next
morning, I sent off Speelman and Gert to follow the track of the
lost oxen. In the meantime; Philip returned, after having sought in
every direction ; and while doing this, the other team strayed away,
and were at last found about half way towards Groote Fontein, a
distance of above forty miles.
Antliericum. 2 sp.
Rottböllia
Lappago
Chloris
Selago
Bryonia
Leptochloa, Pal.
Uropetahtm.
Lactuca
Desmochaeta
Unióla
Aptosimum
Pappophorum
Indigofera ?
Cyperus
Aristida, L. 2 sp.