1779- and produce of the country are much the fame as in the vici- IKovember. r w *— i nity of the Orange River. On the following morning we left the waggon, and dire&ed our courfe north, and after afcending a high hill, we entered a large plain to the northward. It was covered with theM zem- brianthemum Tuberofum. Here we prepared to enjoy the entertainment which had induced our flay on the banks of the Camdinie Rivier. The Antelopes divided themfelves into large flocks of at leaft twenty or thirty thoufand in each flock. We purfued them from eight in the morning till noon, and killed and wounded feveral; and the Hottentots who accompanied us, fhot feveral with their poifoned arrows, in the ufe of which they are expert. In the afternoon we continued our journey to a place, called the Kibifkow, where was a Hottentot’s Kraal. We were here vifited by four captains, or chiefs, who amufed us during the whole night. I made an excurfion, on the twenty-firft, through part of the country in fearch of plants, but difcovered few in flower. I found a fpecies of flint here, which is ufed by the Hottentots in making their harpoons, and efteemed by them as preferable to iron for this purpofe. From this place we returned to the Bokkee Veld, and arrived there after a journey of four days. We thence directed our courfe towards the Windhoek, where we arrived in a few days more. In our way we had heavy fhowers of rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning; and I was neceffarily detained at the Windhoek by the inclemency of the weather. I NJ ” ^ er. did not, however, remain inactive in this fituation, but added ' ■ ' coniiderably to my collect 10ir of plants, as I was fortunate enough to find feveral beautiful evergreens in flower. There is one of this tribe in particular which grows to the height of about twenty feet, the fruit of whieh the peafants ufe as an ingredient for poifoning the Hyenas : and this is indeed the only purpofe for which it is employed. I t is, however, fo generally appropriated to this ufe, that the inhabitants preferve it in a dried flate all over the country. The procefs of preparing the poifon, and applying it to ufe, will be afterwards defcribed in my account of vegetable poifons*. The land in this part of the country is fruitful, and produces Corn and excellent F ru it; but the fouth-eaft winds, which blow from the mountains in the manner they do at the Cape, frequently prove as pernicious to the rifing grain as they do at that place. On the fixth of December I parted with my hofpitable friend, Niuve Houds, and was convoyed by his two fons through the Elephants’ River, which I expeited to find im- paflable. The water was fo deep that it came up to our faddles. The fame day we arrived at the Heer Lodfiement. I then left the waggon, and directed my courfe through a fandy plain, to the houfe of Mrs. Low, fituate in the Long Valley. * See the Appendix,
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