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was my lot to be stationed there for six weeks ; and, as Botany 

 was my chief amusement, I had an opportunity of forming a 

 pretty correct idea of its natural productions, especially of the 

 perennial kind. Not a day elapsed during which I did not 

 walk over several miles of its vicinity in search of plants; 

 yet, in all my rambles, I never could discover an individual 

 of those he has named, with the exception of a few obscure 

 Geraniums and Asparagus plants, which were not very likely 

 to arrest the attention of a common traveller. It is true that 

 most of those plants are to be met with as objects of use or 

 curiosity in gardens ; but the only individuals of them that 

 are natives of the country, are the Protea^ the Geranium, (or 

 rather Pelargonium,) the Hcemanthus, or Bloodflower, and the 

 wild Asparagus. 



" That man must always travel pleasantly who possesses 

 the happy art of strewing his path with flowers. Mr. Perceval 

 seems to have been enviably gifted with this faculty. Where- 

 ever he turns, nature, or his prolific pen, scatters around him 

 the rarest productions of the vegetable world. Of him might 

 truly be said what Hudibras says of his mistress — 



' Where'er you tread, your foot shall set 

 The primrose and the violet.' 



" Describing the gardens of the colonists as he passed 

 along, he says that ' Myrtles, Laurels, Laurustinus, Geraniums, 

 Jessamines, Albucas, and Hyacinths form part of their fences, 

 growing spontaneously in most places.' Myrtle hedges are 

 indeed very common, and grow to a much greater height 

 than he seems to have been aware of; but with respect to 

 Laurels and Laurustinus, I believe they are very rare at the 

 Cape, and the Geraniums, Albucas, and Hyacinths have 

 degenerated so much since Mr. Perceval's time, that they 

 would, at this day, make but a sorry fence indeed. 



" Mr. Perceval seems to have been fortune's favourite in 

 his sporting as well as his botanical excursions. Springboks 

 and Lorys start up, or fly overhead, at every turn. Yet is it 

 notorious that the Springbok has rarely been known to 



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