BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 189 



the roots of a species of Euphorbia in the Karoo Veldt, in the colony, 

 and also in Namaqualand. The fruit is very good, and is keenly hunted 

 for by Bushmen and wild pigs, jackals, and many other anifnals. I have 

 frequently eaten it in Namaqualand, where it attains the size of a small 

 Orange. Those I send you come from the district of Graaf Reynet. 



Before my return from Namaqualand I was attacked by the fever, 

 which completely prostrated me for more than a month, and my collec- 

 tion of plants was destroyed and lost. I only saw one Fern, a Ceterach. 

 It is a most dreary, desert country, almost entirely destitute of water 

 and vegetation in summer ; a few stunted trees (chiefly Willows, Eucleas, 

 and Tamarisks) grow in the middle of what are called the river-beds, 



not on the banks, as in other countries. But Namaqualand pos- 

 sesses only traditionary streams (except of course the Orange Elver) : 

 few are known to have run more than two or three times in a lifetime : 

 so the trees have only a slight chance of existence even in the middle 

 of the sandy bed. I have seen flowers apparently in full bloom, bright 

 and fresh, yet when I have touched them they have fallen to powder ! 

 These must have had a sun-stroke, and been killed before they had 

 time to fade— a kind of floral apoplexy. Perhaps the sun emerged 

 suddenly from behind a thunder-cloud, and killed them. Many green 

 bushes were in the same dry powdery state. The thermometer rose to 

 140° in one minute on my placing it on the ground. 



of 



London 



We 



has the following sets of plants on sale, from different parts of the 



world, at his residenee given above : 



No. 5 and 6 of Signer Botteri's plants from Dalmatia : about 250, at 



25s. per 100. 



39 plants, various, from Broken Bay and Sydney, Australia, F. 



Strange, collector. 



56 ditto, ditto. 



37 ditto, ditto. 



32 Ferns, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, etc., I. Strange. 



34 ditto, named. 



20 ditto, ditto. m _ . 



,~„ „ , „ *_ r, n: , «*n Nnhil. R. IF. Plant. 



