432 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



waggons, and the Acacia bushes had rent my linen to shreds, 

 I had not a dry shirt to put on. The 25th of September saw 

 us on the banks of a river, with the name of which I am not 

 acquainted. Flocks of parroquets were in the bushes near 

 the stream, and plenty of fish in the water. For two days 

 we travelled along, the stream being very difficult to ford, 

 when a high hill forbade our farther progress. We saw a 

 pack of wild dogs running near, and a Hottentot shot one ; 

 the moment it fell, the others seized and devoured it. The 

 vicinity of this river seemed unhealthy ; Mr. Zeyher and I 

 felt very unwell, and the cattle looked quite exhausted. We 

 decided, therefore, on going to higher ground, where the air 

 might be purer, and were hardly two miles away from the 

 stream, when one of the oxen suddenly fell, and before we 

 could release the team from the yokes, he was dead. On 

 opening the animal, his liver looked blue, with a hard crust ; 

 but on an incision being made through the indurated surface, 

 the quantity of blood that issued was immense, and the liver 

 remained quite hollow. Rain, and a heavy dew, and close 

 warm atmosphere prevailed for some days, and kept up the 

 feelings of illness in ourselves and the animals ; and after the 

 oxen began to improve, the horses continued very weak. 



Many interesting plants are now in flower. A pretty 

 perennial Cassia is very ornamental, and I have taken up 

 several specimens and planted them in empty powder canis- 

 ters, though without much hope of their thriving, as the root 

 is of a tap kind. Two pretty species of Tpomaa grow here, 

 one a climber, the other runs alone: the ground. On the 

 night of the 7th of October, two lions visited us. We were 

 made aware of their vicinity first by the uneasiness of the 

 cattle, and then a dog which lay by me, scenting them, set 

 up a furious barking, to which a tremendous roar gave 

 response. The guns were discharged and the beasts made 

 off,- it is remarkable, that the firing of a gun immediately 

 tranquillizes the oxen and horses on such occasions. We 

 have lately found two ostriches' nests, one with twenty, and 

 another with ten eggs ; which afforded an agreeable change 



