March lsi. We remained at this station till half-past eight in
the morning, in the hope that Ruiter would join u s; but as we knew
that he and the Bushman could easily overtake us, we were glad to depart
from this miserable lodging. Our good-fortune conducted us by a
solitary BufFalo-thorn (Buffel doom *) where we found a small pond
of fresh water.
Having halted a few minutes to quench our thirst, and allow
the oxen to drink, we rode forward by the guidance of the compass
in a southerly direction over a sandy plain of fourteen miles; in
which the river twice crossed our course. In some places I observed
swallows circling in the air, a cheering sight to the thirsty traveller,
and a sure indication of water being near.
In our way over the plain, we fell in with an ostnch s nest; if
so one may call a bare concavity scratched in the sand, six feet in
diameter, surrounded by a trench equally shallow, and without the
smallest trace of any materials, such as grass, leaves, or sticks, to give
it a resemblance to the nests of other birds. The ostriches to
which it belonged, must have been at that time feeding at a great
distance, or we should have seen them on so open a plain. The
poor birds at their return would find that robbers had visited their
home in their absence ; for we carried off all their eggs. Within this
hollow, and quite exposed, lay twenty-five of these gigantic eggs,
and in the trench nine more, intended, as the Hottentots observe,
as the first food of the twenty-five young ones. Those in the
hollow, being designed for incubation, may often prove useless to
the traveller, but the others on the outside will always be found
fit for eating. In the present instance the whole number were
equally good.
The expedient resorted to by Speelman on a former occasion,
was now adopted to a certain extent: after filling all our bags, the
sleeves of their watch-coats, and their second pair of trowsers were
crammed full of eggs. It was considered as an auspicious omen
* Zizyphus bubalintis.
that at the commencement of our journey, so valuable a prize had
been placed in our way. Our faithful dogs were not forgotten in
the division of the spoil; and their share, which we immediately
broke into a bowl, was eaten up on the spot.
Meeting again with the river, we halted and unpacked our oxen,
that they might graze for an hour or two ; though little benefit was
to be derived from the situation, as the pool at this place was quite
salt, and not less unfit for use, than the alkaline water at the First
Station. The quality of the ponds in the lower part of this river,
is probably not at all seasons equally objectionable, and while the
stream continues to flow along its bed, the water will every where
be serviceable, because the saline solution from the soil, is then constantly
weakened and carried off by the accession of fresh water
from the higher part of its course. At other times, when the stream
ceases to run, the pools remain, at first tolerably drinkable; but in
proportion as the quantity of water is lessened by evaporation,
this solution becomes more concentrated. It should not be supposed
that occasional showers in the immediate vicinity of these
brackish ponds, would tend to improve them, because those showers
must wash down more of the same salts from the surtace of the soil,
which, at the part where we had now halted, was covered principally
with such shrubs and plants as afford alkali.- these were the Kanna-
bush, and another whose name of Brak-boschjes * (Brackish Bushes)
indicates that their nature has been well observed by the inhabitants.
We made our dinner from the ostrich-eggs; each of the Hottentots
eating a whole one, although containing, as already mentioned,
as much food as twenty-four eggs of the domestic hen. It is therefore
not surprising that I found myself unable to accomplish my share
of the meal; even with the aid of all the hunger which a long morning’s
ride had given me. The mode in which they were cooked, was
* A shrubby species of Atriplexy probably the A. catidicans. Yet the name of Brak-
boschjes does not exclusively belong to this plant.
A sort of Statice was found growing in abundance on spots of the saline nature here
described. (Compare with p. 454-. of Vol. I.)