Return to Gajie Toion. i\i^ 



point extend along the entire coast line, on which the wax- 

 berry shrub, as already mentioned, grows wild in vast quanti- 

 ties, and visibly prevents the further encroachments of the 

 moving sand. The Eerst Rivier (First River) may be regarded 

 as the limit of demarcation between the sand-dunes and the 

 soil adapted for vegetation. 



The same evening the naturalists of the Expedition left 

 hospitable Zandvliet, though not till after they had been 

 presented by Herr Cloete with a splendid collection of fruits 

 indigenous to Port Natal. Having been everywhere received 

 with distinction, and enjoyed every sort of assistance in our 

 researches, we set out on our return so richly freighted with 

 objects of natural history, that the waggon, as we drove 

 through the wide streets of Cape Town, presented such a 

 various and substantial assortment of each as spoke volumes 

 for the success of our journey. Every available corner was 

 called into requisition to dispose of our prizes — even between 

 the open windows hung suspended the bottle-shaped nests of 

 the finch, and the slender sticks that supported the tilt were 

 entwined with gigantic festoons of flowers. In a word, the 

 whole waggon, with its variegated contents, resembled a holi- 

 day-van on its return from a country excursion, so gaily and 

 cheerfully was it decorated. 



During our residence in the Cape colony, severe depression 

 existed amonjT the aofricultural inhabitants of the Western 

 and Eastern districts, in consequence of an epidemic which, 

 within two years, had carried off 64,850 horses (draught horses, 



