Notices respecting New Books. 37 1 



June 2-1. — The travellers reached Lattakoo, a royal African 

 city. Bv the niap it appears to be situated in long. 25° o'*' E. 

 lat. 26' 20' S. where they remained till the 7th of July. They 

 were treated with hospitality: not a single article was stolea 

 from them during their stay, except two bnttons, for which the 

 culprit was driven out of the public square. The king agreed 

 to receive missionaries for the instruction of his people. They 

 had heard, they suid, that there w^s a Gient Being, but they 

 knew him not, having never seen hlin. On one occasion, about 

 a dozen people sitting a few yards fiom Mr. Campbell's tent were 

 singing one Vv'ord with a little variation, viz. HailylaUay — Hie- 

 laylaltay. After repeating it sis. or eight times in chorus, they 

 paused, and began all at once again. [May not this be a cor- 

 rupted pronunciation of Halle! iijahP which, with some va- 

 rieties in pronunciation, is still in use among all the northern 

 inhabitants of Africa.] 



Aug. 1 1.' — Hardcat,tle is surrounded by mountains of asbestos. 

 It is disposed between rock strata. That which becomes, by 

 a little beating, soft as cotton, is of a prussiau blue colour. I 

 found some of the colour of gold, but not soft or of a cotton 

 texture like the blue ; some I foimd white, brown, green, &c. 

 Cloth of this substance stands the fire. The ancients burnt 

 their dead in such cloth, to obtain their ashes ; and it is remark- 

 able that in the language of the Griquaas it is called handker- 

 chief stone. 



Aui'. 14.— Observed a camel-thorn tree stripped of its leaves 

 bvthe wiiitcr, which was just over; but there were three branches 

 of a different kind of tree, or bush, which had been engrafted into 

 it by a bird; which is a common occurrence in this country: these 

 branches were full of leaves. 



Sept. 10. — A tree was observed having two remarkable nests 

 on it ; one about four yards in circumference ; the other three, 

 and al)out a yard in dcj.»th. They are built of coarse grass, by a 

 small bird resembling our goldfinch. One of the nests had se- 

 venteen holes in the bottom, the other seven, by which the birds 

 enter. At one time I saw about a hundred come out of them. 

 Instead of l)eing the nest of a single pair, they seem to be kraals 

 or towns of birds. 



I was for some time surprised how such multitudes of lizards 

 and mice as inhabit the Desert could live without water: but I 

 observed many .su9culent plants of various kinds loaded with 

 small berries containing water. I poured out of one large berry 

 about three teaspoonfuls of water ; and I witnessed the mice 

 draggiug them to their holes, just as seamen take casks of water 

 into their ships. This is a wonderful provision God has made 

 lo supplv the wants of these little animali. 



A a 2 A stop© 



