Where Two Empires meet 



and Nicholson entertained us in a kindly 

 manner. 



Here I took a photograph of a handsome 

 spreading tree growing on a sand-dune. It is 

 called the Kwa Boom, but seems to be the same 

 as the Vaal Kameel Doom found at Kuruman. 

 It thrives best in the desert zone, bears legumes 

 (pod-forming fruits), and is a lime-lover. Thus 

 I was not surprised to find a layer of limestone 

 in an old well dug out in the straate below. 

 Shortly before we left Obobogorop it became 

 intensely hot. At noon William noted the 

 fresh spoor of a snake across our path. We at 

 once followed and killed a healthy, horrid, puff- 

 adder of over four feet in length. It is an 

 unwritten law laid down by the desert dwellers 

 that all deadly snakes must be instantly 

 attacked and killed regardless of risk. At 

 half-past three we outspanned in the Lan Vlei, 

 where we picked up a curious fur-covered, 

 burrowing spider, possibly a rare species. Just 

 as we had begun our afternoon tea I observed 

 my comrade cutting a piece of cake for me with 

 the knife with which he had opened the jaws of 

 the puff-adder. It was a shuddering thought 

 a friend's delicious cake flavoured with the 



43 



