-is uncommonly beautiful with its tall waving fpike of ftriped
flowers, and has alfo a fragrant fmell *. That fpecies of a deep
crimfon is ftill more elegant. O f thofe genera which botanifts
have diftinguiihed by the name of the liliaceous clafs, many are
exceedingly grand and beautiful, particularly the Amaryllis, of
which there are feveral fpecies. The fides of the hills are finely
fcented with the family of Geraniums ; the different fpecies of
which, exhibiting fuch variety of foliage, once ftarted an idea
that this tribe of plants alone might imitate in their leaves every
genus of the vegetable world.
The frUtefcent, or ihrubby plants, that grow in wild luxuriance,
fome on the hills, others in the deep chafms of the
mountains, and others on the fandy ifthmus, furniih an endlefs
variety for the labors of the botanift. O f the numbers of this
elafs of naturalifts, who have vifited the Cape, none have
returned to Europe without having added to his colleftion
plants that were not defcribed nor known. The eye of a
ftranger is immediately caught by the extenfive plantations of
the Protea Argentea, whofe filver colored leaves, of the foft
texture of fattin, gives it a diftinguiihed appearance among
the deep foliage of the oak, and ftill deeper hue of the ftone
pine. It is fingular enough that though the numerous fpecies of
Protea be indifcriminately produced on almoft every hill of the
colony, the filver tree ihould be confined to the feet o f the
* A fmall yellow Iris furnilhes a root for the table, in fize and tafte not
unlike a chefnut. Thefe fmall roots are called Uyntjis by the colonifts, and
that o f the Apomgeton diflacbion, which is alfq eaten, water uyntjis.
Table
S O U T H E R N A F R I C A . 27
Table Mountain alone, a circumftance that led to the fuppofition
of its not being indigenous to the Cape : it has never yet, how-
ever, been difcovered in any other part of the world. The
tribe of heaths are uncommonly elegant and beautiful: they are
met with equally numerous and flourilhing on the ftoney hills
and fandy plains ; yet, unlefs raifed from feed, are with difficulty
tranfplanted into gardens. Little inferior to the heaths
are the feveral fpecies of the genera to which botanifts have
given the names of Polygala, Brunia, Diofma, Borbonia, Cliffor-
tia, and Afparagus; to which might be added a vaft variety of
others, to be enumerated only in a work profeffedly written on
the fubjed.
The peninfula o f the Cape affords but a narrow field for the
inquiries of the Zoologift. The wooded kloofs or clefts in the
mountains ftill give ihelter to the few remaining troops of
wolves and hyenas that not many years ago were very trouble-
fome to the town. The latter, indeed, generally ihuns the habitations
of men ; but the former, even yet, fometimes extends
his nightly prowl to the very ikirts of the town, enticed by the
dead cattle and offals from flaughter-houfes that are ihamefully
fuffered to be left or thrown even at the fides o f the public
roads. In the caverns of the Table Mountain, and indeed in
almoft every mountain of the colony, is found in confiderable
number a fmall duiky-colored animal about the fize of a rabbit,
with ihort ears and no tail, called here the Das, and defcribed
in the Syjlema Natures of Linneeus under the name of
Hyrax Capenjis, and by Pennant under that of Cape Cavy. The
fleih is ufed for the table, but is black, dry, and of an indifferent
E 2 flavour.