204 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



preferred to brandy and "vvine the water of this 

 natural refervoir, of vvhich they drank in a 

 fomewhat whimfical manner. Stooping their 

 head to within feven or eight decimeters of the 

 furface of the water, with their hand they threw 

 fome feven or eight times fiicceilively towards 

 their face, at each time opening their mouth 

 wide to receive what reached it ; thus they foon 

 quenched their thirft. It may be eafily conceived 

 that the moH: dexterous of thefe drinkers could 

 not fail to wet a great part of their body. As they 

 difturbed our water, we begged them to drink a 

 little lower down, whicli they immediately did. 



Some of them came up to the moft robuft 

 of us, and felt the mufcular parts of our arms 

 and thighs, exclaiming Kapareck ! with an 

 air of admiration, and even fomething more, 

 which was not very pleafant to our feelings; 

 they however gave us no caufe of complaint. 



In thcfe places I remarked a variety of 

 plants belonging to the fame genera as thofe of 

 a great number of others which I had before 

 colledlcd in New Holland, although the dif- 

 tance that fcparates the two countries is very 

 considerable. 



At a third of the way up the mountain, we faw 

 with furprife little walls raifed one above ano- 

 ther by the natives, to prevent the foil from 

 falling down in the lands which tliey cultivate. 



I hav 



