Rejidcnce at Alpken near Conjlantiar till the Author s Trip to Paari. WHEN the winter was paft, and the ihips now preferred anchoring in fable-bay, I went with the re- iident to an eftate of his called Alphen, fituate in the neighbourhood o f Conjlantia, about three miles from it, and nearly half way between 'fable and Simona-bay. Before we could get over the mountainous part o f this road, we obferved a troop of baboons very nimbly clambering up the fteep rocks, and fcouring away as fail as they could to fave themfelves from our hounds, which fet after them in full cry. On the plain before us we faw a large flock o f Jlammingos (phcenicopt. ruber) a fpecies of bird of the crane kind (grallse) feeking their food in pools and puddles that were beginning to dry up. < As they were larger than our cranes, and o f a fnow-white colour, with their wings of a flaming rofy hue, it is eafy to imagine, what an agreeable appearance they made on the green field, clad in fo beautiful a livery. After this our road was over a fandy plain, a place that, during part o f the winter, one is obliged to wade over, as it then lies under water. We then then came to a field overgrown with a great many diffe- a fe rent forts o f heath and other ihrubs and buihes, with fome fmall trees o f the protea kind. Part o f the flowers and herbs that were fcattered among thefe ihrubs, I found later than in Falfe-bay, probably by reafon, that in this latter place they were brought forward partly by the vapours arifing from the fea, and partly by the fun-beams re- fleited upon the mountains. On the other hand, divers ixias, gladiolufes, moreas, hyacinths, cyphias, melantbias, al- bucas, oxalifes, ajperugos, geraniums, monfonias, arSlotifes, -. calendulas, wachendorfias, and the ar c l opus— fome o f them never, fome o f them rarely feen in the Bay, were now found every where by the road-fide in their greateft beauty. The pleafure enjoyed by a botanift, who finds all at once fo rich a colledtion of unknown, rare, and beautiful vernal flowers, in ib unfrequented a part of the world, is eafier to. be conceived than defcribed. I was now quite impatient to get to the end of my journey, however agreeable it was otherwife. At length we arrived at the refident’s country- feat, and I did not delay a moment to procure myfelf a ftill more delightful recreation, viz. that o f walking out to reconnoitre fiich plants as were yet unknown to me. The premifes are very well built, and contiguous to them is a pretty extenfive garden, and a confiderable vineyard, which increafes yearly in iize. But there is hardly an acre of arable land to be found in the whole neighbourhood ; nor did the owners o f the vineyards here think it worth their while to trouble themfelves about the culture of it, but were then, viz. towards the end o f the month o f Auguft, bulled in digging about their vineftocks, I
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