lxxxviii POSTSCRIPT. 



this head I may, for sake of brevity, include the most im- 

 portant discovery of wide regions in which the climate of 

 South Africa is delightful to the senses, and is in a high degree 

 favourable to human life. Had the author laid no other fact 

 but this before us, his great labours would have been well 

 bestowed. 



3. The Animal Kingdom. I here compress together 

 several subjects that should more properly appear under dis- 

 tinct heads of enumeration. (1) The description of the red, 

 white, and black ants. — The experiments on the insects which 

 distil water: though left imperfect they are interesting and 

 suggestive. — The accounts of the destructive Tsetse, and of 

 other noxious animals of a low order. (2) The accounts of 

 the habits and instincts of the Reptiles on the Upper Zam- 

 besi. (3) The descriptions of Birds — Of the ostrich, the 

 honey-guide, and of the red-beaked hornbill ; of the guard-birds 

 of the buffalo and the rhinoceros; of the songs of tropical 

 birds, &c. (4) The graphic descriptions of the habits, in- 

 stincts, and modes of attack and defence, of the larger Mam- 

 mals; with the addition of some new species. All the above 

 subjects are excellently touched on; and the chief thing the 

 reader wants is an Index that may help him to refresh his 

 remembrance of many instructive and delightful pages in the 

 large volume. 



4. Hydrography of South Africa. On this subject the 

 Author has given very important additions to all our previous 

 knowledge — not merely in his personal examination of the 

 course of the Zambesi to the sea ; but in his approximation to 

 the range of its ramifications, as well as of its principal tribu- 

 tary rivers. Nor does his information end here. He has 

 improved the hydrography of Angola ; and has laid down the 

 position of the extreme southern branches of the Congo or 

 Zaire. Combining this knowledge with his account of the 

 physical geography of South Africa, we can explain some great 

 changes which have taken place in the hydrography of the 

 country within a comparatively recent period : and in like 

 manner we can explain the migrations of some of the larger 

 mammals through the continent. If, for example, the hippo- 



