258 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



The whole of the country which lies between 

 Fort Salisbury and Hartley Hill consists of wide 

 undulating plains, dotted here and there with 

 ko]3Jes and intersected by groves and by lono- belts 

 of thick bush. In many parts the veldt is covered 

 with a quantity of green plants of many varieties, 

 and with a profusion of wild flowers in full bloom. 

 The petunia grows wild all over this veldt. In 

 the frequent hollo's vs of the plains water is always 

 to be found, and swampy, marshy ground em- 

 barrasses and delays your waggon. On the evening 

 of the 6th we encamped on the banks of the Saroe 

 ri^'er. Here Lee observed some comparatively 

 recent traces of hippopotami, and early the next 

 morning he and I set off up the ri\'er in search of 

 these creatures. But we were unsuccessful, and 

 saw no hippo. This morning I came across a wild 

 fig tree, with much ripe fruit. This fruit is of a 

 soft rose colour, much smaller tlian the ijarden fio- 

 at home, quite as sweet, with the seeds inside small 

 and dry. These are often much infested by ants, 

 so that one has to be careful in eatino- these fios. 

 This curious tree seems to have a habit of j^ro- 

 ducing ripe fruit at any season of the year. The 

 only other incident of the day's ride was the a]?- 

 pearance of an immense quantity of baboons, the 

 first that I had happened to see since I had landed 

 in Africa. These were very wild, and fled long 

 before we got at all near them. In the afternoon 

 we trekked fourteen miles to the Zimboe river. 

 Here I found outspanned a small party of three 

 men with donkeys, who were in a great state of 



