26o 
TRAVELS IN 
with such au assemblage of rare plants as were growino- on 
the sides of the Zuure-berg. The number and variety of 
the geranium family, especially of that genus which, by a 
late botanical arrangement, has been named pelargonium, 
were truly astonishing. The xerantlienmm fulgidum with its 
brilliant yellovv flowers, and the still more shewy speciosissi- 
mum, were equally numerous ; not less so many species of the 
everlasting gnaphalium. Two species of that very singular 
and beautiful plant the disa, found also on Table mountain, 
decorated the margins of the springs upon the Zuure-berg. 
At the feet of the mountain we procured one of the most 
beautiful, and also one of the most disgusting, quadrupeds 
that are perhaps to be found in the whole creation. The 
first, it would almost be unnecessary to add, was the zebra, 
which we shot in the midst of a troop consisting of six ; and 
the latter was the bosch-varke, or v/ild hog of Africa, de- 
scribed in the Sy sterna Nafurts under the name of sus Ethio- 
picus. This creature is not more ugly than it is vicious and 
cunning. The long ivory fangs that, like horns, project from 
its mouth, and bend upwards, make it dangerous to be ap- 
proached, whilst its little eyes, placed near the top of its 
square forehead, and the ileshy bags hanging from each cheek 
like an additional pair of ears, give it a very hideous and 
frightful appearance. A great variety of Jizards were ob- 
served, and one in particular, in the agonies of death, 
reflected transient shades of colors that were remarkably 
beautiful. The permanent tints were cerulean blue and 
green, with a line down the back of dark-blue and yellow 
spots ; tail marked with waved lines orange and ferruginous ; 
body muricated, eight inches long. Another species, about a 
