SALT-PANS. 123 



At 1 P.M. on the following day I inspanned and 

 trekked north to the salt-pan, which we reached in the 

 dark. The general character of the country became 

 richer after crossing the Orange River. The plains 

 were adorned with a more luxuriant coating of grass 

 and in greater profusion ; and the small karroo bushes 

 were replaced by others of fairer gr wth, .nd of a dif- 

 ferent variety. Most of these yielded a strong aromat- 

 ic perfume, but more particularly when the ground had 

 been refreshed by a shower of rain, on which occasions 

 the African wilderness diffuses a perfume so exquisite 

 and balmy, that no person that has not experienced its 

 delights can form an idea of it. Our march lay through 

 an extensive undulating country. We passed several 

 troops of hartebeests and springboks, and saw for the 

 first time one sassayby, a large antelope allied to the 

 hartebeest, and of a purple color. Mountain ranges 

 bounded the view on every side, and I could discover by 

 means of my spy-glass that strips of forests of mimosa 

 stretched along their bases. The salt-pan to which we 

 had come was of an oval shape, and about a quarter 

 of a mile in diameter. 



It was a low basin w'hose sides sloped gently down, 

 but the middle was a dead level of fine sand. Upon 

 this sand, throughout the greater part of the pan, lay 

 a thick layer of good coarse salt, varying from one to 

 four inches in depth. Heavy rains fill the pan or basin 

 wath water, and, the dry season succeeding, the water 

 disappears, and large deposits of salt are found. These 

 pans or salt-licks are met with in several parts of South 

 Africa. Those which mainly supply the colony with 

 good salt are situated between Utenage and Algoa Bay; 

 they are of considerable extent, and yield a surprising 

 quantity. Ostriches and almost every variety of ante- 



