1S12. 
THE SIKL — SQUIRRELS. 
241 
spoons, and liandles of knives. There are some other imdescribed 
species which resemble it in form and growth, and, though botanically 
distinct, are b}' the Hottentots, confounded with it under one name ; 
but the pod alone is sufficient to make this particular sort easily 
known from the rest. The technical name, therefore, of Acacia 
giraffes is adopted for this, although equally applicable to other 
species. 
The principal shrubs about Ongeluks Fountain, are the Tar- 
chonanthus, the Hookthorn, the Karrothorn, and a dwarf Acacia* 
called Siki by the Bichuanas. This last, which is about two or three 
feet high, is remarkable from the circumstance of its trunk or stem 
running just beneath the surface of the earth, and from which arise 
a multitude of shoots or branches. The spring affords an abundant 
supply of water at all seasons, f 
In the vicinity, a number of Meerkats have their burrows : these 
are a species of squirrel X of about the size of our common squirrel. 
It has no outward ears, and its body is very thinly covered with short 
coarse hair, which is brittle and may easily be rubbed off; but the 
tail, which is longer than the body, is furnished with long spreading 
hairs as in the European kind. It was seen to live chiefly on the 
roots of plants, which it scratched up with its fore feet. It is 
common in some parts of the Colony, and being a pretty little 
animal, is sometimes domesticated. 
The mountains which form the range called Larigberg (Long- 
Mountain,) are in view from this place, notwithstanding they were, 
according to the report of the Hottentots, above thirty miles distant. 
During the last days of our stay here, they were not visible, on account 
of the great depth of hazy vapour arising from the intervening plains. 
* Acacia stolotiifera, B. Catal. Geogr. 2138. Caules subterranei stoloniferi. Ramuli, 
folia, et etiam spinas, pubescentia. Folia bipinnata. Pinnae 3 — 7-jugae. Foliola oblongo- 
lanceolata 7 — 15-juga. Spinje geminae stipulares albidae patentes, apicibus fuscis sub- 
recurvis. Flores flavi in capitulis axillaribus pluribus (2 — 6) globosis pedunculatis. 
Legumina recta, flava, oblique striata, cava. 
f Mentha Capensis, was found growing by the side of the spring, even at this dis- 
tance in the Interior : and in the water I discovered a species of Zanichellia, which 
corresponded with the description of Z. dentata. 
1^ Sciiirus Capensis. 
VOL. II. 1 I 
