fi72 KARROO PLAINS. 



theraums and gorteriae, and the young green of the plant* 

 is almost hidden by the glowing colours of their full-blown 

 flowers, while the w^hole air is perfumed with the most 

 fragrant odour. The odour is more particularly delightful, 

 when, after a calm day, the sun decUnes, and the warm 

 breath of the flowers rests quietly on the plain. At this 

 time the whole dreary desert is transformed into one con- 

 tinued garden of flowers. The colonist, with his herds 

 and his flocks, leaves the Snowy Mountains, and, descending 

 into the plain, there finds a plentiful and wholesome supply 

 of food for the animals ; while troops of the tall ostrich 

 and the wandering antelope, driven also from the heights, 

 share the repast, and enliven the scene. But how soon is 

 the country again deprived of all its glory ! It scarcely 

 •continues more than one month, unless late rains, which 

 must not often be expected, call forth the plants again into 

 new life. As the days begin to lengthen, the increasing 

 power of the midday ray checks once more the lately awa- 

 kened powers of vegetation. The flowers soon fade and 

 fall, the stems and leaves dry, and the hard coat of soil 

 locks up the germs until the rains return ; the succulent 

 plants alone still furnish food for the herds and flocks. The 

 streams soon begin to drj', the springs almost cease to flow, 

 till at length the universal drought compels the colonists to 

 return to the mountains ; yet even then they quit the plain 

 •with reluctance, and the flocks, accustomed to endure thirst, 

 still linger behind, feeding on the succulent plants, which 

 aflbrd at once food and drink, and are particularly salutary 

 to those that bear wool. Every day, however, the Karroo 

 becomes more and more solitary, and by the end of Sep- 

 tember it is wholly deserted. The hardened clay bursts 

 into a thousand cracks, which evince to the traveller the 

 great power of an African sun. Every trace of verdure is 

 vanished, and the hard red soil is covered over with a brown 

 dust, formed from the ashes of the dried and withered 

 plants. Yet among these ashes is the seed nourished that 

 is to produce future generations, and the relics of one year's 

 vegetation furnishes manure that is to cherish the germs till 

 the next year's rain again brings them forth." 



Lichtenstein thus describes his first view of the Great 

 Karroo : — " The space between the mountain-ranges is the 

 Great Karrooi as it is calltj a parched and arid plain. 



