264 FRAGRANT PLANTS. - MURDER OF TWO HOTTENTOTS. 19 June, 
fact of a much more pleasant scent than any other of the Hottentot 
Bukues. I detected, by the dehghtful fragrance which it emitted as 
I walked over it, a small frutescent kind of basil * not less aromatic 
than the garden species. An exceedingly pretty sort of Celastrus f 
with red branches and very small leaves, decorated these rocks and 
occupied the same situations here, as at the Asbestos Mountains. 
Just where the spring flows out of the rock, I observed some 
ochraceous deposition ; but the water was, nevertheless, wholesome 
and of a good taste. This fountain affords a constant supply of 
water throughout the year, and the mountains in the vicinity are said 
therefore to be inhabited by Bushmen. 
Seven years before this, two Hottentots in the service of a mis- 
sionary named Jan Kok who was himself a Half-Hottentot, were re- 
turning home from the Briqua country with their wives and children, 
with a waggon loaded with elephants' tusks, and a large herd of oxen 
belonging to the missionary ; when the temptation of so much booty 
protected only by two men, induced the Bushmen to attack them ; and 
after repeated assaults along the road, one of the Hottentots was 
killed just beyond this spring, and the other not far from Doorn 
river : while at the same time, one of the daughters was inhumanly 
stabbed with a hassagay, and several of the children wounded with 
arrows. The murderers succeeded in carrying off the greater part of 
the cattle, and were on the point of returning to attack the waggon, 
now defended only by women and children, when the most providen- 
* Ocymum fi-uticulosum, B. C. G. 2160. Planta fruticulosa pedalis erecta. Folia 
lanceolata nuda semicoUapsa. Racemi terminales nudi. Flores verticillati breve pedun- 
culati. Verticilli 4 — 6-flori. Herba tota odore gratissimo (Basilici) gaudet. 
f Celastrus saxatilis, B. C. G. 1671. Frutex rigidus spinosus 4-pedalis glaber. 
Ramuli juniores castanei coloris. Spinae saepius nudie rectae patentes. Folia integerrima, 
in ramulis junioribus solitaria ovata, in ramulis anni praecedentis fasciculata elongate- 
obovata. Pedunculi laterales ex fasciculis foliorum, pauciflori. Capsula majuscula coccinea. 
At the Kora Rock- Fountain were also found 
Olea similis, B. Cheilanthus. Aristida. 
Acacia stolaiiifera, B. Justicia. 2 Sp. Rhus. 
Acacia detine?is, B. Pharnaceum. Clematis. 
Acacia Capensis, B. Andropogon. Celastrus. 
Acacia elephantina, B. Tarchonanthus. &c. 
Pteris ? calomelanos. Euclea. 
