SOUTHERN AFRICA. 143 
When exposed to the direct rays of the sun the temperature 
was increased only four degrees. The wind was due north 
and remarkably strong ; and the stream of air was so heated 
that it was scarcely possible to bear exposure to it for any 
length of time. At night it blew a hurricane, and obliged us 
to strike the tents. It may be remarked that the meridian 
altitude of the sun on that day was only fifty-one degrees, and 
that the general surface of the country, from which the wind 
blew, was covered with thick shrubbery ; that on the pre- 
ceding night, near the same place, the thermometer was down 
to 52°; and that on the following day, on the same spot, and 
with the same wind, but less strong, it ascended no higher 
than 71°. These circumstances render it very difficult to ac- 
count in any satisfactory manner for so high a degree of 
temperature. 
The following day we passed the Great Fish river, though 
not without some difficulty, the banks being high and steep, 
the stream strong, the bottom rocky, and the water deep. 
Some fine trees of the willow of Babylon, or a variety of that 
species, skirted the river at this place. The opposite side pre- 
sented a very beautiful country, well wooded and watered, and 
plentifully covered with grass, among which was growing in 
great abundance a species of indigo, apparently the same as 
that described by Mr. Masson under the specific name of 
candicans. 
The first night that we passed in the Kaffer country wc 
pitched our tents near a small stream called Kowslia, which 
falls into the Great Fish river. On the following day we 
