countries. Yet the approach of daylight in the interior regions of
this continent, is not totally devoid of pleasing effects ; and, though
less glowing and less enlivened by variety of hues and forms, it
offers to an admiring eye a beauty of a more quiet and modest kind.
While watching the cold darkness of night, the eastern sky becomes
less obscure, a faint light gradually increases ; the stars seem to fade
away, though the earth still continues in night; a warm glow is
perceptible, and soon spreads itself over the vault of heaven ; the
trees along the horizon become visible, and, backed by the sky, the
upper branches of those which are nearer, are seen more distinctly ;
the landscape begins to show its outline ; the light has reached the
west ; the forms of objects are visible, but as yet, present a painting
in one color only, a sombre brown, equally strong in the distance
and in the foreground ; the whole atmosphere is illumined, and reflects
its light upon the earth ; the farthest verge of the plain becomes
fainter and recedes, while the various clumps of trees follow to their
place in the picture, and, assuming a just keeping, change their
brown, for the less dubious colors of day ; the azure of the sky is
every where suffused with a warmer light ; Nature is awake ; and,
unattended by cloud or vapor, the sun himself is seen rising above
the horizon in noontide brilliancy.
Whatever wind may blow during the day, in the countries of
the Interior, it most frequently subsides at sunset. This circumstance,
So fortunate for those who sleep in the open air, was more
especially favorable to my astronomical observations, as it admitted of
using the artificial horizon without any kind of covering to protect
the surface of the mercury from agitation by currents of air, òf which
it is exceedingly susceptible.
At this season of the year, the sky, either by night or by day, is
seldom veiled by a cloud ; nor is the slightest dew ever felt but in thè
time of the rains, when, however, it falls very copiously. Though
in the Transgariepine the days in the winter months, of which we were
now in the coldest, are very pleasant, and sometimes even hot ; the
nights are cold ; and our feelings, as well as the thermometer, indicate
that the temperature of the air is near the freezing point. On most
mornings, just before sunrise, the grass is observed to be covered with
hoar-frost: but as there is rarely either vapor, or cloud, to diminish the
heat of the sun, this appearance quickly vanishes.
By taking equal altitudes of the sun before, and after, noon,
with its correspondent bearings by the needle, I found the magnetic
variation to be 27° i W. My instrument for ascertaining these bearings,
was not, indeed, constructed for the smaller subdivisions ; but
this defect was remedied by adopting a more careful process, and
therefore the result may perhaps be depended on, to within an eighth
of a degree, which may be considered accurate enough for a traveller’s
purpose.
One of the dogs which had unfortunately been run over by the
waggon, a few days before, was so much injured that it died at this
place. The body was taken to a short distance from our station, but
the crows and vultures soon discovered it, and, assembling around,
immediately began to tear it to pieces. These birds, so little disturbed
by the presence of man, seem to consider all dead bodies as their
perquisites; and the natives view them without feeling the least
desire to molest them.
And here we cannot but again see and admire that wisdom, and
perfection of plan, which exist in every part of the creation. Vultures
have been ordained evidently to perform very necessary and useful
duties on the globe ; as, indeed, has every other animated being, however
purblind we may be in our views of their utility; and we might
almost venture to declare that these duties are the final cause of their
existence. To those who have had an opportunity of examining
these birds, it need not be remarked how perfectly the formation of a
vulture is adapted to that share in the daily business of the globe,
which has evidently been allotted to it ; that of clearing away putrid
or putrescent animal matter, which might otherwise taint the air and
produce infectious diseases. Many of the vultures are among the
largest of the feathered tribe, and all, even the smaller species, have
great bodily strength in proportion to their size. Their legs are
strong, but as they are not, like the eagles and owls, intended for
seizing and preying on live animals, they have not been furnished with