12G BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



doubtedly sometimes, when heavy showers of rain fall, a goo^l 

 share of moisture, and have besides that, a more rich alluvial 

 soil, retaining moisture. Coveys of guinea-fowls resort to those 

 thickets ; and we had several dressed for our table ; they take 

 instinctively their night's rest on those trees, in order to be 

 protected from their enemies, the Puiorms Zorilla, Ichneumon 

 Caffra, Cynictis Ogilbii, and the common Cape-fox, which are 

 numerous hereabout, but live in holes, underneath the ground, 

 during the daytime. The Proteles typicus, Smith, with the 

 appearance of a striped hyeena and the size of a fox, is not 

 rare, but subsists entirely upon ants. The Viverra tetradac- 

 tyla, (Linn.), is also numerous; it is like a ferret, and eats 

 beetles, and all kinds of insects. We often saw the 

 Sciurus Capensis, or ground squirrel, a gregarious animal, 

 living in troops under ground, and eating bulbs, roots, and 

 seed. 



The country had a very uniform appearance, scarcely 

 deviating from its dry and barren character, with small scat- 

 tered hills, composed of reddish sandstone, on which grew a 

 few species of Rhus, some shrubby Othonnas, Cacalias, Cinera- 

 rias, Stoebe, and a few Graminea, springing up between the large 

 globular masses of stone, in which the Lepus rupestris, a real 

 kind of rabbit, of a rufous-colour, lives, feeding upon these 

 kinds of vegetables. In some course, or channel, of periodical 

 torrents, in a sandy soil, were specimens of Hibiscus cncnr- 

 bitinus, (Burch.), in bloom; it is a plant with the habit of a 

 Cucurbitacea, with depressed branches, and brownish-yellow 

 flowers. This shrub seems to affect dryness, growing in the 

 most barren spots, and keeps its leaf constantly green, 

 without any rain, for a long while ; irritation of the skin is 

 caused by touching this plant. 



We had gradually ascended since the time we left Cradock, 

 and had consequently arrived at a very elevated region, per- 

 haps not less than 4000 feet above the level of the sea. ^ e 

 encountered a few more thunder-showers on our route, so 

 that the country will look better in a few weeks. As we 

 went on, we passed a very remarkably shaped hill, standing 



