256 An Eight Bays 7 Ramble in Gape Colony. 



water and greasy mud, before the familiar sheap ! sfceap I 

 struck on my ear, and I caught sight of one of my pretty 

 friends, having flirted up behind me, skimmering along to- 

 wards the mountains. It was a cross shot and an easy one, so 

 I had the satisfaction of pocketing his snipeship before many 

 seconds had elapsed. Hendrick, who was some distance 

 to my right, soon turned up another bird, and, after two hours, ' 

 we returned to our cart with six couple, having, I believe, 

 found all the birds in the place and killed the lot. The Cape 

 snipe is, I imagine, Gallinago nigripennis* and the species of 

 goose that fell to our guns this day was the Chenalopex JEgyp- 

 tiacus, or mountain goose :f the unfortunate birds were moult- 

 ing, and were destitute of their primary quills at the time of 

 our visit. 



We had a most delightful drive back to Wellington. The 

 sky was cloudless, the air cool and grateful, and the whole 

 country magnificently green and fresh after the heavy rain of 

 the previous days. Flowers, too, of the brightest colours be- 

 spangled the ground in myriads. Some of the fields were 

 literally vast sheets of pink and yellow from the multitudes of 

 oxalis blossoms, and, every here and there, the scarlet corollas 

 of the blood-flowers (Hcemanthus coccineusj or of Watsonia 

 angusta peeped from the green herbage on the road sides. 

 Gazanias of a lustrous orange were wonderfully abundant, the 

 handsome spikes of Satyriun erectum were just bursting into 

 bloom, and several species of protea, with their large and elegant 

 flower heads, almost covered the waste ground. At one part 

 of the drive, the air was laden with a most delicious scent like 

 that of Coumarouna odorata or Tonka Bean. At first we could 

 not imagine where it came from, or what was the cause of it, 

 but a few minutes' search showed us a small vlei perfectly white 

 with the odorous flowers of Aponogeton distachyon : it was 

 situated in the centre of a little verdant glade, round the edges 

 of which were luxuriant copses of wild olive (Olea verrucosa) 

 and other trees, grouped in the most graceful manner. Such 

 a charming spot it was ! Hendrick and I agreed that we had 

 seen nothing more lovely during our tour. 



* Vide Ibis, Ti. 355. 



t Dr. Kirk (Ibis, \i. 336) says " this is the worst of all the Duck kind 

 for the table, being in many cases quite uneatable," but those which we shot at 

 Vogelsvlei were excellent. 



