200 Voyage of the Novara. 



traodon Honkenyi\ which exists in shoals, and may easily be 

 caught with a line. One of the harbour regulations consists 

 of a special paragraph warning seamen against using this 

 poisonous *' sea-devil." Foreign sailors who have eaten of it 

 have died a few minutes after. 



On leaving this fishing station the road, leaving the coast, 

 proceeds in a straight line over the plain which unites the Cape 

 with the continent. The mountains recede, and the eye of 

 the traveller gazes, charmed and surprised, on the mountain 

 range of the peninsula, the celebrated Table and Devil's Moun- 

 tains. The plain, which, during the dry season, is nothing 

 but an arid desert, was now seen in its fullest beauty, like a 

 flowery carpet, on which innumerable blossoms of varied 

 hues and forms were interwoven. On the left lie the renowned 

 vineyards of Constantia, and to the right stands what is called 

 Halfway-house, the property of a native of Wiirtemberg who, 

 some twenty years before, came to the Cape a poor emigrant, 

 and is now a wealthy and respected man, known far and 

 wide, holding several official appointments, and showing him- 

 self a warm patron of his German countrymen. Being a 

 zealous sportsman, and intimately acquainted with the locality, 

 Mr. Rathfelder was of great service to our zoologists, who 

 took up their residence at this place. 



From the Halfway-house to Cape Town the character of 

 the landscape completely changes. The road leads through a 

 park-like country; charming wood plantations, pines and oaks, 

 stretch on either hand to the extreme limits of an undulating 



