December. warmth ° f Wbfe climate and our own convenience; neither was there any danger of its leiTening us in the eyes of our own Hottentots, or o f thofe we might expeit to meet with in the defert. As for my woollen dockings, I wore them principally with a view to keep off the flies, as well as to pre- ferve my legs from the bites of ferpents, and from being torn by the branches of trees. Mr. Im m e lm a n thought that boots were more convenient, and would anfwer this purpofe better. Being an African by birth, he was not afraid of being fun-burned ; on which account likewife, in order to keep his hair out of his eyes, he generally rode in his night-cap. On the 27 th at feven in the morning the thermometer flood at 60 degrees, the preceding night having appeared to us extremely cool. At noon the thermometer was at 9 5 - At five in the afternoon it had fallen to 83', when there came a ihower of rain with thunder and lightning. At nine in the evening the thermometer was at 7 9 degrees. On the 29th I forded over Great Vifch-rivier, and examined feveral fea-cows fculls that lay on the other fide of it, and found them perfectly accord with the defcription and delineation given of thefe parts by M. d e B u f f o n . I now began to be incommoded by a flight pain and fwel- ling in the fore part of the breaft, juft at the edge of the fternum, which gave me great uneafinefs; but it went oft' in the fpace o f a few days, and in all probability was only a fore-runner of the gout, the fymptoms of which had already begun to appear in a flight pain and fenfation of ■burning in the foies o f my feet. This diforder, which fell particularly heavy on a botanift, and one who was travelling ling through extenfive deferts, I had probably brought up- DeIc^ib‘er_ on myfelf, by having undergone too great fatigue. At leaft one of our horfes was afflidled from this very caufe with a kind of gout or tendernefs in the feet, together with a fwelling in the paftern-joints, as foon as it got home to the Cape. The day before we had eaten our laft bifcuit, our patience, in confequence of waiting fo long to fee the hippopotamus, was almoit as near being exhaufted as our bread; we, therefore, the next day came to a refolution to go again into a land inhabited by Chriftians. On the 29th we were conduced by our Boihies-men from Great to Little Vifch-rivier. This trail o f country was thinly covered, with thorn-trees (mimofa nilotica,) which ihaded the ground and kept it cool; fo that being in fome meafure covered with grafs, it exhibited an agreeable verdure, and at the fame time harboured a confiderable number of fpringers, quaggas, and hartbeefts, of which latter we ihot a young female. The mufcles and fibres of this creature retained a conviilfive motion and twitching, even for feveral minutes after the animal had been cut in pieces. I muft confefs, that I never, either before or fince, have obferved any thing of the kind in the hartbeeil, or any other animal. T 2 C H A P .
27f 72-2
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