EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE HEAT. 101 



miles as the crow flies from the sea, and where there is al- 

 most always a refreshing breeze, the thermometer, at noon, 

 in an airy situation, and in the shade, rises, for many days 

 toofether, to 110 decrees of Fahrenheit ! 



In consequence of the fiery state of the atmosphere, every 

 article of horn or wood shrank and contracted most surpris- 

 ingly. Even the gun-stocks, made of the best English wal- 

 nut, lost an eighth of an inch of their original solidity. The 

 ink dried in the pen almost the instant it left the stand.* 



Our wagons, moreover, which on leaving Scheppmansdorf 

 were in excellent order, were now quite infirm. The spokes 

 and the tires became loose, and the felloes and naves exhib- 

 ited large gaps and fissures. To save them, however, as 

 much as possible, we set about making a shed of reeds and 

 rushes, strongly bound together by cords and light wooden 

 sticks. 



As soon as this was finished, I began my preparations for 

 visiting Galton at Barmen ; and as Mr. Schoneberg was also 

 anxious to make the acquaintance of Mr. Hahn, his intended 

 colleague, it was agreed that we should travel together. On 

 the day appointed we set out, mounted on oxen, and accom- 

 panied by a Hottentot as guide and interpreter. Besides his 

 native tongue, this man spoke Dutch and Damara fluently. 



* Captain Sturt, who in his explorations in Australia seems to have 

 experienced the same heat in even a greater degree, says, 



" The mean of the thermometer for the months of December, Janu- 

 ary-, and February had been 101, 104, and 105 degrees respectively, in 

 the shade. Under its effects, every screw in our boxes had been 

 drawn, and the horn handles of our instruments, as well as our combs, 

 were split into fine laminae. The lead dropped out of our pencils, and 

 our signal rockets were entirely spoiled; our hair, as well as the wool 

 on the sheep, ceased to grow, and our nails had become brittle as glass. 

 The flour lost more than eight per cent, of its original weight, and 

 the other provisions in still greater proportion." In another part of 

 his narrative, this enterprising explorer mentions the quicksilver once 

 to have risen to 132 degrees in the shade, the thermometer being 

 placed in the fork of a tree, five feet from the gi'ound ! 



