CHAPTER III. 



PLANTS OF THE KARROO. 



We move up-country — Situation of farm — Strange vegetation of Karroo 

 district — Karroo plant — Fei-bosch — Brack-bosch — Our flowers — 

 Speckboom — Bitter aloes — Thorny plants — Wacht-een-Beetje — 

 Ostriches killed by prickly pear — Finger-poll — Wild tobacco fatal 

 to ostriches — Carelessness of colonists — Euphorbias — Candle-bush. 



Our five months at Walmer passed so pleasantly, that 

 in spite of my longing to be settled on a place of our 

 own, and the impatience I felt to enter on all the 

 duties and pleasures of farm life among the ostriches, 

 I was really sorry when the time of departure came, 

 and in the beo-innino^ of winter — i.e. towards the latter 

 part of May — we left the little house, the first home 

 of our married life, and took our journey up-country. 

 We had no very long distance to travel, for the farm 



in the Karroo district which T had chosen was 



only a day's journey from " The Bay," as Port Eliza- 

 beth, like San Francisco, is familiarly called; and 

 instead of being, like many proprietors of farms, quite 

 out of the world, and obliged to drive for two or even 

 three days to reach the railway, we had our choice of 

 two stations ; the nearest, Klipplaat, being only fifteen 

 miles from us, and the railway journey not more than 

 ei2:ht hours. 



