SOUTHERN AFRICA. 53 
fectly dried up, and in the evening arrived at the Great Loory 
fontei/n, in which was only a very small quantity 'of water 
standing in holes, and this was muddy, salt, and bitter. As 
there was neither herbaceous nor shrubby plants, and as, since 
our departure from Zwarteberg, the oxen hml scarcely tasted 
vegetable food, for, independent of the little time allowed them 
to browse, the desert olfered only the shrivelled stems of the 
mesembr^anthemum tribe, it was thought adviseable to con- 
tinue our journey, though in the dark, in search of a better 
place for the refreshment of our cattle ; and as there was reason 
to suspect that it would be some time before we should meet 
with water, we filled our casks with the execrable mixture of 
the Great Loory fonteyn. In the middle of the night we 
arrived at a place where once had flowed a rill of water, and 
where still were growing clumps of mimosas, patches of the sal- 
sola, and a few other succulent plants. These, like some ani- 
mals that are said to have the faculty of supplying their own 
nutriment, are capable of existing for a length of time by the 
juices which their own roots throw out. Our oxen devoured 
them with great avidit}' : and the horses made a hearty meal 
on the branches of the mimosa, at the expence of a consider- 
able quantity of blood which the strong sharp thorns drew 
from their mouths. The acrid juices of the succulent plants, 
and the sour herbage of Africa, oblige the cattle to make use of 
various correctives ; and in the choice of these they are not 
very nice. Old rags, pieces of leather, skins with the hair on 
them, dried wood, bones, and even small pebbles and sand, 
are greedily devoured by them. African horses very com- 
monly eat their own dung ; and numbers have been destroyed 
in consequence of taking into the stomach vast quantities of 
flinty sand. 
