vegetables were exceedingly cheap. The price of meat was equally
low ; that of beef being no more than two stuivers a pound*, and of
muttm, one schelling f for five pounds. But house-rent was even
higher than at Cape Town, f In the immediate vicinity of Graaff-
reynet, but little timber can at present be found suitable for the
purposes of building. All planks and the larger beams are fetched
from a considerable distance south-eastward, where they are cut in
the forests about Baviaans river, and on the Boschberg. §
The banks of the river were thickly covered with willows and
Acacias ; many of which were clothed with a species of Clematis
climbing upon their highest branches, while others were decorated
with festoons of an elegant species of Periploca, the beautiful shining
dark-green foliage of which, was interspersed with a profusion of
fragrant white flowers: this plant often grew so luxuriantly that
it quite concealed the tree upon which it entwined itself. The
branches of these Acacias were sometimes ornamented with a handsome
Loranthus, and two or three kinds of Missletoe. Another remarkable
plant found on these banks, is a climbing sorrel, which
often mounts by the aid of other shrubs, to the height of fifteen feet. |j
* One penny English currency, or, at this time, less than three fcthlngs sterling,
t Six pence English currency, or four pence sterling.
X A further account of Graaflreynet and its natural history, belongs more properly
to a later period of my journal; for which it is therefore reserved.
§ In the forests on this mountain, I found, at a subsequent period of. my travels, a
beautififl flowering tree, remarkable, not only for rivalling our Laburnum in prolusion
of bunches of fine yellow flowers, but as an instance of what I have formerly stated
respecting the features of Cape Botany (Vol. I. p. 182.), as this tree bears a close resemblance
to one which is peculiar to Japan, Sqpiora Japmica. It sometimes attains
the height of thirty feet, but produces flowers at a much smaller size, and even in the
deepest shade of the forest. It is the
Sophora sylvatica, B. Catal. Geogr. 3188. Arbor pulcherrima sub-tnginhpedalis
(s^epe frutex) glabra. Ramuli virides. Folia pinnata sub-sexjuga cum impari. Foliola
opposita ovalia, vel obovata, apice rotundata. Racemi vix foliis longiores muldflori.
Flores flavi conferti longius pedunculati. Vexillum obcordatum subreflexum; alse
patentes. Legumen membranaceum compressum polyspermum (semina circlter 12.)
per suturam superiorem alatum, vel margine tenui auctum.
|| Rumex (Acetosa) scandens, B. Catal. Geogr. 2890. Radix tuberosa. Caules
ramosi scandentes. Folia petiolata sagiltata acuminata. Panicula terminalis divaricate
These mountains are the native soil of an extraordinary plant
called Hottentots Brood (Hottentot’s Bread).* Its bulb stands
entirely above ground, and grows to an enormous size, frequently
three feet in height and diameter. It is closely studded with angular
ligneous protuberances, which give it some resemblance to the shell
of a tortoise. The inside is a fleshy substance which may be compared
to a turnip, both in consistence and color. From the top
of this bulb arise several annual stems, the branches of which have
a disposition to twine round any shrub within reach. The Hottentots
informed me, that, in former times, they ate this inner substance,
which is considered not unwholesome, when cut in pieces and baked
in the embers. It will easily be believed that this food may not
be very unlike the yam of the East Indies, since the plant belongs,
if not to the same, at least to a very closely allied, genus t ; as the
membranaceous capsules, with which it was at this time covered,
clearly proved.
supradecomposita. Pedunculi filiformes. Valvulas nudae orbiculafce integerrimi», basi
cordatae. An R . sagittatus, Th. FI. Cap. 2. p. 348. ?
At this place I met with a shrub which occurs in various parts of the country ; it is
not the only species of the genus Ekretia which I have found in Southern Africa.
Ehretia Hottentotica, B. Catal. Geogr. 2117. Frutex sub-5-pedalis. Ramuli albidi.
Folia petiolata obovata integerrima laevia, margine scabro. Cymae pauciflorae extra-
axillares. Flores purpurei. Laciniae corollae ovatae obtusae, marginibus vix conspicuè
tomentosis. Calyx profonde 5-fidus, divisionibus acutis subtomentosis. Bacca globosa
flava tetrapyrena.
* A representation of this plant, in the proportion of one fifth of its natural size, is
given at the end of the present chapter.
f Testudinaria, Salisb.
By the liberality of my friend, Mr. R . A. Salisbury, I am enabled to anticipate a portion
of his long-expected work on a general arrangement of plants according to their
natural affinities. In that work, which will soon be given to the public, the present genus
stands, along with six others, in his 3d section of the order Dioscorideee, or among those
having a membranaceous pericarp, all the lobes of which are fertile; The name of
Testudinaria is peculiarly appropriate, and is meant to express the resemblance which the
bulb, or tuber, has to a tortoise. The following generic character is copied from that work.
“ Testudinaria. Petala in cyathum coalita, dein reclinata, oblonga, interiora parum
latiora. Filamenta 6, longiuscula in hoc ordine. Antherse oblongae emarginulatae.
Styli coaliti. Stigmata recurva, obtusa. Semina apice alata. ■ -r* Herbas in Promontorio
Bonae Spei, 7—12-pedales. Radix in tuber grande areolatum supra terrain emineus.
Caulis superne volubilis, teres, rigidus at quotannis periens. Folia alterna, reniformia, in
U 2