200 MR. VICE-SECRETAKY'S ACCOUNT OF THE NAP.AS FRUIT. 



was too short (only two or three days) to enable me to collect 

 many particulars. In my journal I find no allusion to rain ; but 

 as far as my recollection serves me, I believe, from conversations 

 I had with the English residents, that they have no regular 

 periodical rains, and that indeed rain rarely or never falls. They 

 have, however, heavy dews nightly all the year round, and water 

 5 or 6 feet below the surface in most parts of the valley. This 

 water is somewhat brackish. 



" The valley is of limited extent, and is merely the channel of 

 the river Kousip, a river which flows only once in five years, so 

 the natives say : in the intervals between the floods water can 

 only be obtained by digging for it. The channel is bounded by 

 hills of loose sand, utterly destitute of vegetation ; and these hills 

 extend north and south along the coast for hundreds of miles. I 

 sailed along the coast from Angra Pequena to Great Fish Bay, 

 a distance of 700 miles ; and although I landed at many places, 

 the Naras of Walwich Bay was the only edible vegetable I met 

 with. In such a locality it is invaluable ; without it the natives 

 could not remain near the coast. I planted some seeds at Great 

 Fish Bay, but I doubt if the locality is suitable. 



" I think that infinite service might be conferred on the 

 natives and settlers in Australia, by the introduction of the plant 

 into the interior of that country, the peculiarities of the soil and 

 climate being so similar to that of Walwich Bay. It would also 

 be a great boon to the natives of the interior of the Cape, and 

 would no doubt thrive on the banks of the Orange River. 



" Any quantity of the seed might be obtained by applying to 

 the trading settlers, Messrs. Lawton and Dixon, of Walwich 

 Bay, who have regular communication with their agents at 

 St. Helena." 



These seeds have again been raised in the garden, where 

 Mr. Donald, the temporary Superintendent of the Hothouse 

 department, has treated them in the following manner : — 



The seeds were sown in dry sandy loam, in a pit supplied 

 with bottom heat ; some in a pot, others in soil spread over 

 the bottom of the pit. Those in the pot did not germinate, 

 but those in the soil on the bottom of the pit were all above 

 ground in five days, under a temperature of 80°, with a little 

 air but no shading. To supply moisture a pan full of water was 

 placed beside the plants, seven in number. For about a week 

 they appeared very healthy, then they began to lose their green 

 colour, and to die off one by one without producing a single 

 rough leaf. Upon examining their roots they appeared shrivelled 

 up as if the want of moisture had been the cause of the failure. 

 On the 3rd of April a few more seeds were sown in exactly the 

 same way, some in a pot and some on the bottom of the pit : 



