240 FLEAS. — THE CAMELTHORN OR MOKAALA. 11, 12 June, 
and only to move so short a distance, one of the women convinced 
me of their having very good cause for changing the place, as the 
spot was swarming with Jleas. This is a domestic misfortune very 
common among Hottentots ; and as the active little insect is always 
found to be too powerful, they endure this ejectment, as one of the 
unavoidable evils of life, and quietly retreat, leaving their numerous 
enemies in possession of the field. In warm dry climates these 
insects are every where troublesome, the Dutch colonists, who in 
general are far from being neglectful of domestic cleanliness, are 
in the summer, obliged frequently to sprinkle their floors with 
water ; a method which is found to be effectual for driving them 
away. But the Hottentots, to save themselves this daily trouble, 
prefer that of occasionally removing their huts altogether. 
\2t}i. In many parts of the plain, in the neighbourhood of this 
spring, the surface is thickly strewed with stones of quartz ; among 
which are some having the nature of chalcedony, chert in nodules, 
and some containing thallite. 
Here for the first time, I saw trees of a remarkable species of 
acacia, having thick brown thorns and an oval pod of a solid mealy 
substance within, and which never opens as those of other acacias : 
in this singularity resembling only the Acacia atomiphylla, from 
which, however, it differs in most other respects. The head of this 
tree is thick and spreading, and of a form and appearance which 
distinguish it at a great distance from the other trees of the country. 
It is called Kameel-doorn (Camelthorn), because the camelopardalis 
browses chiefly on it : but its more proper name is MoMala ; and by 
this, it is known to all the Bichuana nations. The general form and 
character of this tree, will be better understood by referring to the 
fifth and sixth plates of this volume. It is one of the largest in these 
regions, greatly exceeding the common Cape acacia, though closely 
resembling it in flower and foliage, but differing in growth, and by 
abounding only in dry plains and sandy deserts ; while the common 
Karro-thorn is found principally on the banks of rivers. Its wood is 
excessively hard and heavy ; of a dark or reddish brown color ; and, 
is used by the Bichuanas for their smaller domestic utensils, such as 
