The scarcity of fire-wood in Cape Town has forced the poorer
inhabitants to discover a timely resource in these under-ground stems
and roots, which, being in mere loose sand, are dug up with great
ease. But, however convenient this source of fuel may be to individuals,
the destroying of the bushes, root and branch, will at last become
a greater inconvenience to the public, as the Isthmus will then
be reduced to a sand-desert, still more difficult for waggons to travel
over than it is at present. If an opposite system were pursued, and
the growth of shrubs and trees, with sedge and sand-grasses, encouraged,
the trees would protect the soil from the action of strong
winds; while the sedge would not only fix the loose sand, and form
a harder ground, but might, at the same time, afford nourishment for
cattle, which would certainly prefer such pasture to the hard reedlike
stalks of the different kinds of Restio that overspread a great part
of these Flats. Few experiments, in the way of agricultural improvement,
seem of more importance to Cape Town, or better worth trying,
than that of rendering these extensive sands more easily passable,
or of converting them to some use, or to some more productive
purpose.
From the windmill, I strayed south-easterly, nearly three hours,,
towards the Liesbeck river, over level, ground decorated with many
pretty heaths; the sand and wind being here less annoying. The
Isthmus, in most places, is clothed with bushes in great variety, and
hard coarse rushes (Restiones); but grass is rarely to be found. Protea
Levisanus is every where a very common shrub *, and the Hottentot
.fig t grows in many places, spreading over the ground in large patches.
* Noticing at this time the very evident dioecious character of this plant, and having
already observed the same circumstance in several other species of Protea, I was quite convinced
that it was a character separating all the cone-bearing Proteas into a very natural
and distinct genus; and pointed it out to my friend Hesse. I then gave to it the name
of Strobilaria, not being aware that the same division had just then been made in England
by two different writers, both able botanists, who have each assigned to it names; the
one, Chasme, Euryspermum, Protea, and Gissonia; and the other, Leucadendron, (or
Leucodendron,) an old name, originally intended as a Greek version of the Dutch word
Witteboom, the colonial name of the Protea argentea of Linnaeus, or the Silver-tree.
f Mesembryanthemum edule.
It produces plentifully, in all seasons of the year, a fruit of the size
of a small fig, of a very pleasant acid taste, when perfectly ripe. It
must, however, be first divested of the outside pulp or coat; which is
at all times saltish; and even the fruit, when unripe, has a disagreeably
saline and austere taste. Its name was given by the first colonists,
on account of its form bearing some little resemblance to, a fig, and
because it is every where eaten by the Hottentots. I have frequently
seen it in the market; but, by the Dutch, it is used only as a sweetmeat,
in which state it still retains the same agreeable acidity.
On Green Point, and on the Flats in the neighbourhood of
Cape Town, grows a celebrated little plant*, which still preserves its
original Hottentot name, being known by no other than that of
Kukuniakrunki. It has a flower much resembling the common Col-
chicums of our gardens, and has also a bulbous root, close to which is
produced a long, yellow, soft fruit, of the length and size of a lady’s
finger, its top just appearing above ground. The taste of it is somewhat
pleasant, but its smell is delightful, having a perfumed odour of
ripe fruit, for which it is chiefly valued. The children of Cape Town
* Getlvyllis c i l ia r i s the fruit of which, and a longitudinal section, are represented
by the above figures, of one-third of the natural size.