442 
A WALK THROUGH THE TOWN. 
21 July, 
being of a public nature : no care extended beyond private interest ; 
and it may be doubted whether the Chiefs of these nations ever 
exert their authority for the general good of their subjects, by putting 
in requisition the labor of the community, for the accomplishment 
of any work of this kind. 
The intervening ground remained in a state of nature, scattered 
over with bushes and here and there with a tuft of smaller plants or a 
patch of herbage, between which appeared the naked sandy soil of the 
same red color which had been remarked almost every where in the 
Plains of Litakun. The site of the town had formerly been occupied 
by a grove of acacias ; mostly of those species which have hitherto been 
confounded under the name of ' camelthorn.' Among them was a 
new sort called by the inhabitants, mukwi, or mokwi, or moMla-mokwi, 
distinguishable by the unusual thickness of its branches and even of 
its youngest shoots. * 
As I passed through the different clusters of dwellings, the in- 
habitants ran out to view me. The greater number were women and 
girls ; the men being abroad in the plains, either hunting or attend- 
ing their cattle. A white-man must have been a perfectly novel 
sight to the younger children; and, judging from the eager looks 
and surprise of many of the older people, this must have been the 
first time in their lives that they had beheld so extraordinary a 
phenomenon. They did not attempt to follow me, but continued 
standing without the door of their fence, gazing with fixed attention, 
till I had reached some distance from them. We passed a few of the 
houses before they knew that I was in that quarter ; and, my visit being 
quite unexpected, the haste with which they scrambled out to the 
door to have a look at me before I had gone too far from their abode, 
* Acacia rolmsta, B. Catal. Geogr. 2265. Arbor 20 — 30-pedalis, trunco robusto, 
ramis ramulisque robustissimis. Folia bipinnata, pinnis 3 — 4-jugis glandula solitaria inter 
ultimis. Foliola 8 — 1 3-juga glabra, oblon^^^ i. obtusa. Spinae geminae stipulares albae rectse, 
plerumque longae, at soepe aliae breves in eodem ramulo videndae. Flores odorati pallide 
flavi, ex gemmis ramulorum anni prsecedentis (in A. Capensi, ex ramulis anni instantis) 
proveniunt, in capitulis globosis pediinculatis pluribus (usque ad 10). Legumen fuscum 
nudum lato-lineare bivalve rectum, Acacice Capensis duplo majus. Habitus et facies arboris 
est Acacice giraffce, at legumina diversissima. 
