120 Biography of the late Captain Dugald Carmichael. 



tie species of bog-rush (Juncus serratus), that spreads and in- 

 terlaces its creeping stem over the surface, forming a strong 

 elastic network, upon which a man may walk without the least 

 risk of sinking. The leaves of this plant bear a strong resem- 

 blance in figure and disposition to those of the smaller species of 

 Pandanus. The sterns^ stripped of the foliage, are used by the 

 wine-farmers as padding to fix the leggers against the sides of 

 the waggons, when they send their wine to the market. After 

 serving this purpose, they are flung out on the streets, and be- 

 ing of a black colour, very heavy, and mucli of the same size, 

 gave rise to the ludicrous mistake of a certain English traveller, 

 who has informed the public that the streets of Capetown are 

 paved with bullocks' tails. 



" Though the surface of the ground here, as well as in most 

 other parts of the Colony, appears at a distance abundantly ver- 

 dant, the produce is mostly of an useless, if not noxious quality, 

 such as cattle invariably reject. A few straggling tufts of 

 Aristida, Holcus, Ehrhurta, and Anthistirea, spring up here 

 and there among a profusion of bulbous-rooted plants, and Syn- 

 genesious shrubs. In the vicinity of the farm-houses, you meet 

 with patches of Agrostis linearis, a sweet grass, always cropped 

 close to the ground ; but no where with a grassy turf of any ex- 

 tent. This is a remarkable circumstance in a country so much 

 favoured in point of climate ; and where the variety of indige- 

 nous grasses is as great as in any other portion of the world of 

 equal extent. Several causes it is probable, contribute to pro- 

 duce this uncommon sterility. The high winds, so prevalent 

 for the greater part of the year, but more especially about the 

 period when the grasses are in flower, either damage the whole 

 plant, prevent the fecundation of the germ, or shake out the 

 grain before it arrives at maturity. At this season, likewise, the 

 periodical rains cease ; and such of the seeds as had escaped the 

 -effects of the wind, fall on a parched soil, where they must re- 

 main in a torpid state until the next rainy season sets in, after 

 a lapse of six or seven months. They He, in the mean time, ex- 

 posed to the depredations of an infinite variety of birds and in- 

 sects, particularly the ants and termites, with which the surface of 

 the ground is absolutely animated. These destructive insects 

 retain their activity throughout the year, and are constantly in 



