90 GRAPE*. 



every man of our party was in a few days laid low, except 

 a Bakwain and myself. He managed the oxen, while I 

 attended to the wants of the patients and went out occa- 

 sionally with the Bushmen to get a zebra or buffalo, so as 

 to induce tbem to remain with us. 



Here for the first time I had leisure to follow the instruc- 

 tions of my kind teacher, Mr. Maclear, and calculated seve- 

 ral longitudes from lunar distances. The hearty manner 

 in which that eminent astronomer and frank, friendty man 

 had promised to aid me in calculating and verifying my 

 work conduced more than any thing else to inspire me 

 with perseverance in making astronomical observations 

 throughout the journey. 



We wished to avoid the tsetse of our former path, so 

 kept a course on the magnetic meridan from Lurilopepe. 

 The necessity of making a new path much increased our 

 toil. We were, however, rewarded in lat. 18° with a sight 

 we had not enjoyed the year before, namely, large patches 

 of grape-bearing vines. There they stood before my eyes; 

 but the sight was so entirely unexpected that I stood some 

 time gazing at the clusters of grapes with which they were 

 loaded, with no more thought of plucking than if I had 

 been beholding them in a dream. The Bushmen know 

 and eat them; but they are not well flavored, on account 

 of the great astringency of the seeds, which are in shape 

 and size like split peas. The elephants are fond of the 

 fruit, plant, and root alike. 



The forest, through which we were slowly toiling, daily 

 became more dense, and we were kept almost constantly 

 at work with the axe; there was much more leafiness in 

 the trees here than farther south. The leaves are chiefly 

 of the pinnate and bi-pinnate forms, and are exceedingly 

 beautiful when seen against the sky : a great variety of 

 the papilionaceous family grow in this part of the country. 



Fleming had until this time always assisted to drive his 

 <jwn wagon, but about the end of March he knocked up, as 

 well as his people. As I could not drive two wagons, J 



