Aprih I* would not be amifs to make mention in this place of a third fpecies o f viverra, which is found in thefe parts, though I did not get a fight of it till after my return from the South-Sea; this Was the viverra putorius, which an acquaintance of mine caught on Mr. D r e ije r ’s farm at Ron- debofch, fituated nearer to the Cape than to Alpben. This animal is not known to be found any where but here and in North America 5 in one word, in the northern parts of the new world, and the fouthernmoft promontory o f the old, which is directly contrary to what M. B u f fo n fays he is morally certain of. The fureft ftep this great and maf- terly natural hiftorian could have taken, would have been to hate contented himfelf with the contemplation of nature, which is never without its ufe, without endeavouring to lay down univerfal laws for h e r ; as i f no other animal could be common to the old and new world, than „ thofe which could eafily pafs by land from Afia to America. In one o f my excurfions between Alpben and Rondebofch, near a marihy place in a dale, I came unawares upon an animal with Which I was totally unacquainted; but not- withftanding it was within 70 or 80 paces o f me, 1 could not get a perfedt view o f it, on account of the intervention o f the bullies, and the creature’s running away immediately. It did not feem however above three feet and a half high, but from its alh-grey colour, and remarkably heavy gait in running, I was induced to think it could be nothing elfe than a young hippopotamus, or, as it was here called, a s e a -cow. Creatures o f this kind are, indeed, never feen in this part of the country; but they are ufed to wander far, fo that perhaps this had the night before chanced to ftray ftray from Zeekoe-valley, near Falfe-bay, a place to which jg g - they frequently refort. Were it fo, I am not at all forry that I did not get a nearer view o f a creature otherwife fo very dangerous, as, according to my ufual cuftom, I had no other weapon about me than my knife and infedt-fciifars. The reader will fcarcely imagine, that the fauna and flora Capenfls would this fummer leave me any time for the hyp or vapours; I muft, however, confefs, that fome foli- tary and idle hours, combined with other circumftances, now and then gave room and occafion for-envy and dif- guft. The days at the Cape, by reafon o f the greater vicinity of that place to the equator, are ihorter in fummer than with us. Urged by an ardent zeal and inclination for natural hiftory, I could not help repining, that in a place where I had the beft opportunities for this purpofe, I found my hands tied, in fome meafure, by other bufinefs in the day-time, and in the long evenings was in want of books and many other neceflary helps; but I more particularly felt the want of friends, and o f fociety with iome one, who fet a proper value upon ftudy, particularly on the ftudy and inveftigation of nature, of which here follows an inftance. A Cape phyfician, who had ftudied fome time in Holland, paid me a vifit at the villa where I refided, and aiked, I do not know upon what occafion, to lee my herbal. I, for my part, was in tire higheft degree defirous to give myfelf, as well as him,- this pleafure, as I could not but hope to learn the' virtues of divers plants in medicine. But in thefe hopes I foon found myfelf deceived; the African zEfculapius knowing fcarcely the names, much lefs the ufe, of any one plant. On this fubjedt the country.
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