1812. 
THE KOSI FOUNTAIN. 
271 
chonanihus the prevailing shrub in these plains. Where they had been 
burnt down to the ground, they had in one season thrown up a mul- 
titude of strong shoots not less than five feet long. In most instances 
the old charred stems and branches still remained standing, and, 
being perfectly black, presented a shrubbery of extraordinary ap- 
pearance. The different sorts of Tarchonanthus are called by the 
Bachapins, indiscriminately by the name of Mohdkd ; and their shoots 
and branches are much used for shafts to their hassagays, and for the 
outward fences to their houses. 
At four we came to a plentiful spring of good water, distin- 
guished as the Little Kosi Fountain, at which grew an abundance of 
tall reeds *, and on one side a thicket of acacias ; but as the great 
Kosi Fountain was but little more than three miles farther, we halted 
only a few minutes to allow the loose cattle to drink. 
As we advanced we found no variation in the country or its pro- 
ductions, and the same grassy plains brought us just at sunset to the 
great Kosi Fountain. Here, to guard against surprise by the Bush- 
men, should they really have those hostile intentions which my men 
had been taught to believe, I took our station in an open spot, under 
the shelter only of some bushes consisting of a species of Asjjaragus. 
But the men, who, notwithstanding their fears, had neither prudence 
nor foresight, wished rather to have placed the waggons in the acacia 
grove, merely because it was more sheltered and pleasant. 
The Kosi Fountain is a constant and plentiful spring rising in an 
open valley, through which a small rivulet appears, at certain seasons, 
to take its course. This flat, is clothed with grass and rushes, among 
* The reeds mentioned in the course of this journal, and from which the Bushmen 
make their arrows, are to be understood as a species very closely resembling the common 
English reed, or Arundo Phragmitis from which, however, it may be botanically distin- 
guished by its ligulce pilosce, or bearded joints. Besides this character, there seems to be 
some difference in the color of the leaves and in the substance of the stalk, which, in the 
African variety, are yellower, and harder. Having succeeded in raising this plant from 
seed since my return to England, and cultivated it several years, though hitherto without 
flowering, I have found these differences constant ; and the same having been observed 
by Mr. Lambert (the author of the magnificent work on the genus Pinus,) in the plants in 
his collection, and considered sufficient to distinguish it from the English reed, I venture 
to propose it as a new species under the name of Arundo barbata. 
