ciples of this mode of travelling; as the violent and forced speed of
those who would pass through these regions more for the sake of
saying they had seen them, than of collecting correct information and
of understanding what they saw, would strongly prove, by the great
number of cattle they would wear out,- that hasty travellers should
never seat themselves behind a team of oxen. This valuable animal,
whose natural pace, as I have before remarked, is quite expeditious
enough for the observer, and admirer, of nature, ill deserves, in return
for his daily labors, to be denied the time necessary for grazing and
rest, and to be forced onwards at the caprice of his driver, till at last,
through want of food and strength he sinks under the yoke and,
without remorse, is left to perish. Nothing but the safety of the
whole party, or the urgency of peculiar and inevitable circumstances,
could ever, during my whole journey, induce me to forget the consideration
due to my cattle; always regarded as- faithful friends whose
assistance was indispensable. There may be in the world, men who
possess a nature so hard, as to think these sentiments misapplied;
but I leave them to find, if they can, in the coldness of their own
hearts, a satisfaction equal to that which I have enjoyed in paying a
grateful attention to animals by whose services I have been so much
benefited.
Our course still continued over a level surface, but with many
rocky hills on either hand. The mountains northward o f the Gariep
no longer exhibited that tedious, though singular, uniformity of tabular
summits, which I have noticed as being so common in the Cisgarie-
pine. The soil was a reddish sand, almost every where covered with
the tall corn-like grass, before described; through which, a few
ostriches were seen stalking, fully visible notwithstanding its height,
which would easily have concealed the smaller antelopes, or have
favoured the escape, or approach, of an enemy.
In one part of this days-journey, for the space of a mile and a
half, the whole plain had in the preceding year, been set on fire, and
every bush, as well as the dry grass, consumed or killed; but this
circumstance gave me a favorable opportunity for discovering the
goodness of the soil, presumable from the rapid growth of the Tarchonanthus
the prevailing shrub in these plains. Where they had been
burnt down to the ground, they had in one season thrown up a multitude
of strong shoots not less than five feet long. In most instances
the old charred stems and branches still remained standing, and,
being perfectly black, presented a shrubbery of extraordinary appearance.
The different sorts of Tarchonanthus are called by the
Bachapins, indiscriminately by the name of MohakA ■ and their shoots
and branches are much used for shafts to their hassagays, and for the
outward fences to their houses.
At four we came to a plentiful spring of good water, distinguished
as the Little Kosi Fountain, at which grew an abundance of
tall reeds *, and on one side a thicket of acacias ; but as the great
Kosi Fountain was but little more than three miles farther, we halted
only a few minutes to allow the loose cattle to drink.
As we advanced we found no variation in the country or its productions,
and the same grassy plains brought us just at sunset to the
great Kosi Fountain. Here, to guard against surprise by the Bushmen,
should they really have those hostile intentions which my men
had been taught to believe, I took our station in an open spot, under
the shelter only of some bushes consisting of a species of Asparagus.
But the men, who, notwithstanding their fears, had neither prudence
nor foresight, wished rather to have placed the waggons in the acacia
grove, merely because it was more sheltered and pleasant.
The Kosi Fountain is a constant and plentiful spring rising in an
open valley, through which a small rivulet appears, at certain seasons,
to take its course. This flat, is clothed with grass and rushes, among
* The reeds mentioned in the course of this journal, and from which the Bushmen
make their arrows, are to be understood as a species very closely resembling the common
English reed, or Arundjo Phragmitis) from which, however, it may be botanically distinguished
by its ligulce pilosee, or bearded joints. Besides this character, there seems to be
some difference in the color of the leaves and in the substance of the stalk, which, in the
African variety, are yellower, and harder. Having succeeded in raising this plant from
seed since my return to England, and cultivated it several years, though hitherto without
flowering, I have found these differences constant; and the same having been observed
by Mr. Lambert (the author of the magnificent work on the genus Pinus,) in the plants in
his collection, and considered sufficient to distinguish it from the English reed, I venture
to propose it as a new species under the name of Arundo bavbata.