19 
was my lot to be stationed there for six weeks; and, as Botany 
was my chief amusement, I had an opportunity of forming a 
pretty correct idea of its natural productions, especially of the 
perennial kind. Nota day elapsed during which I did not 
walk over several miles of its vicinity in search of plants; 
yet, in all my rambles, I never could discover an individual 
of those he has named, with the exception of a few obscure 
Geraniums and Asparagus plants, which were not very likely 
to arrest the attention of a common traveller. It is true that 
most of those plants are to be met with as objects of use or 
curiosity in gardens; but the only individuals of them that 
are natives of the country, are the Protea, the Geranium, (or 
rather Pelargonium,) the Hemanthus, or Bloodflower, and the 
wild Asparagus. 
* That man must always travel pleasantly who possesses 
the happy art of strewing his path with flowers. Mr. Perceval 
seems to have been ied g gifted with this faculty. Where- 
ever he turns, nature, or his prolific pen, scatters around him 
the rarest productions of the vegetable world. Of him might 
truly be said what Hudibras says of his mistress— 
* Where'er you tread, your foot shall so 
The primrose and the violet.’ 
* Describing the gardens of the colonists as he passed 
along, he says that * Myrtles, Laurels, Laurustinus, Geraniums, 
Jessamines, Albucas, and Hyacinths form part of their fences, 
growing spontaneously in most places.’ Myrtle hedges are 
indeed very common, and grow to a much greater height 
than he seems to have been aware of; but with respect to 
Laurels and Laurustinus, I believe they are very rare at the 
Cape, and the Geraniums, Albucas, and Hyacinths have 
degenerated so much since Mr, Perceval's time, that iid 
would, at this day, make but a sorry fence indeed. j 
* Mr. Perceval seems to have been fortune's favourite | in 
his sporting as well as his botanical excursions. Springboks 
and Lorys start up, or fly overhead, at every turn. Yet is it 
notorious that the Springbok has rarely been known to 
c2 
