Want of Grassy Turf explairUd, \it\ 



motion, day and night ; nothing therefore in the shape of food 

 escapes them. They never attack any part of a living plant ; 

 but seeds of all sorts are devoured by them on the spot, or car- 

 ried off to their magazines. 



" It is owing, perhaps, to this interruption in their natural 

 progress to maturity and decay, that these grasses almost inva- 

 riably throw out branches from the joints, after the main stalk 

 has failed. These branches succeed each other after each suc- 

 cessive miscarriage, and it is not uncommon even to find second- 

 ary branches issuing from the joints of the primary ones. Thus 

 their existence appears to be protracted beyond the natural pe- 

 riod, in efforts to fulfil the end of their creation. Notwithstand- 

 ing these efforts, however, the greater part of them must have 

 ceased long to exist, were it not that they possess the faculty of 

 propagating themselves by the root ; which they accomplish 

 either by pushing out long creeping shoots^ sometimes over, at 

 others underneath the surface of the soil ; or by forming a re- 

 gular succession of bulbs, which retain the vital principle during 

 the dry season, and shoot up into new plants on the return of 

 the rain. 



" The surrounding mountains are overrun with that singular 

 plant, the Lunaria plumosa, which gives them a hoary aspect, 

 distinguishable at a great distance. They consist of sandstone, 

 the strata of which dip at an angle more or less acute to the 

 eastward. The whole chain, from Hangklip Point, to the ex- 

 tremity of the Karroo, exhibits the same conformation; by 

 which the valley on the east side of the chain are enriched with 

 numberless streams, while the supply on the opposite side is 

 comparatively scanty. The soil in the valley consists of gravel, 

 cemented by an argillaceous earth. In summer it is as hard as 

 stone, but absorbs moisture greedily, and after a copious fall of 

 rain, becomes penetrable to the plough. 



" As this valley is noted for game, we pitched our tent as 

 soon as the cart arrived, having agreed to remain here some 

 days. We had provided ourselves with a canteen, cooking 

 utensils, and hquors. Our sportsmen were to furnish the table 

 with game, and Leroex the produce of his farm and garden. It 

 was soon remarked, however, by one of our party, who had been 

 here some years before, that the farmer made a most enormous 



