314 FLOWERS— SUNDEW. Chap. XXIV. 



larks, with yellow shoulders, enlivened the mornings with 

 their songs. We also saw the pretty white ardea flying over 

 the spots not yet dried up, and wild ducks occasionally in 

 sufficient numbers to remind us that we were approaching the 

 Zambesi. 



While passing across these interminable plains the eye 

 rested with pleasure on a small flower which exists in such 

 numbers as to give its own hue to the ground. One broad 

 band of yellow stretched across our path, and, on examining 

 the flowers which formed this golden carpet, we saw every 

 variety of tint, from the palest lemon to the richest orange. 

 Crossing a hundred yards of this, we came upon another broad 

 band of the same flower, but now of a blue colour, and this 

 too varied from the lightest tint to dark blue and even purple. 

 I had before observed the same flower possessing different 

 colours in different parts of the country ; but never before 

 did I see such a marked change, as from yellow to blue, exhi- 

 bited repeatedly on the same plain. Another beautiful plant 

 attracted my attention on these plains, which I found to my 

 great delight to be an old home acquaintance, a species of 

 Drosera, closely resembling our own sundew (Drosera Anglica) , 

 the flower-stalk attained a height of two or three inches, and 

 the leaves were covered with reddish hairs, each of which 

 had a drop of clammy fluid at its tip, making the whole appear 

 as if spangled with small diamonds. At first I imagined the 

 appearance was caused by the morning sun shining on drops 

 of dew, but I afterwards found on investigation that the effect 

 was produced by capsules of clear glutinous matter exuded 

 from the tips of the hairs, and not liable to evaporation as 

 dewdrops are. The clammy fluid is intended to entrap 

 insects, which, dying on the leaf, probably yield nutriment to 

 the plant. 



During our second day on this extensive plain I suffered 

 from my twenty-seventh attack of fever, at a spot where no 

 surface water was to be found. We never thought it necessary 

 to carry water with us in this region : and now, when I was 

 quite unable to move on, my men soon found water to allay 

 my burning thirst by digging a few feet beneath the surface. 

 We had thus an opportunity of observing the state of these 

 remarkable plains at different seasons of the year. Next day 



