BUXTON FOUNTAIN SCORPIONS. 1Q5 



moreover, had been very unwell during the day, and when 

 we arrived at the end of the stage, which was not until 

 seven o'clock at night, he was even more fatigued and ex- 

 hausted than on the preceding evening. 



We bivouacked by the side of " Buxton Fountain," so 

 called in honor of the late Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, from 

 whom and his family, if I am rightly informed, Mrs. Hahn 

 had experienced much kindness. It is a hot spring, and the 

 water, which flows out of a granite rock, is nearly of a boil- 

 ing temperature, and has a brackish and disagreeable taste. 



The soil, moreover, all round this fountain is impregnated 

 with saline substances. A considerable number of wild ani- 

 mals congregate here nightly in order to quench their thirst. 

 Lions, also, are at times numerous, but on this occasion 

 they did not molest us. 



Having partaken of some supper, I w^as about to resign my 

 weary limbs to repose, when suddenly there issued from a 

 small hole, close to my head, a swarm of scorpions. Their 

 appearance brought me to my feet in an instant ; for, though 

 not a particularly nervous man, I am free to confess to a 

 great horror of all crawling things. 



During the hot months these animals lie dormant, but 

 on the approach of the rainy season they come forth in great 

 numbers. On removing stones, decayed pieces of wood, &c., 

 it is necessary to be very cautious. The instant the scorpion 

 feels himself in contact with any part of the body of a man 

 or beast, he lifts his tail, and with his horny sting inflicts 

 a wound which, though rarely fatal, is still of a very painful 

 nature.* 



Like the snake, the scorpion is fond of warmth, and it is 

 not uncommon, on awakening in the morning, to find one or 



* "The black, or rock scorpion," savs Lieutenant Patterson, "is 

 nearly as venomous as any of the serpent tribe. A farmer, who re- 

 sided at a place called the Paarle, near the Cape, was stung by one in 

 the foot during my stay in the country, and died in a few hours." 



E 2 



