SOUTHERN AFRICA. 263 
otiher. Three of them were fully as large as, and one smaller 
than, that near Swart Kop's river ; but there was very little 
water in any of them. The bottoms were covered with a 
crust of salt that in the thickest part did not exceed an inch. 
Immediately under the salt was a thin coating of red sand, and 
below the santl a stratum of soft impalpable blue clay two feet 
deep ; th€ nex-t three feet consisted of a coarse friable yellow- 
ish clay, containing small chrystals of salt ; under this was a 
small quantity of water,, resting upon a covering of rotten pur- 
ple slate half an inch thick; and below this a dry reddish- 
colored soil that did not apparently contain a particle of salt^ 
Close to the margin of the third salt-pan were several springs 
of clear water, having a bitter earthy taste ; and along the rills 
that fell from these into the pan, grew tall reeds, and rushes 
into the very centre among the salt. The others were entirely 
naked, without a bush or shrub on their ba>nks. Th<o sur- 
rounding country was also destitute of plants, and the surface 
was strewed over in many places with thin pellicles of salt. 
The quantity of game on the neighbouring plains, consisting 
chiefly of elands and springboks, was to us a sufficient induce- 
ment to pitch our tents near the salt-pans ; but we were 
disturbed the whole night by the roaring of lions. 
Continuing our route to the eastward, on the tenth we en- 
tered the division of the Tarka, under the point of a lofty 
mountain called the Bambos-berg, which also forms a part of 
the highest ridge that crosses the continent near the southern 
angle of Africa. The Bambos-berg is a double range of moun^ 
tains, and is completely impassable either with Avaggons or 
on horseback. In order to have got beyond them, even with. 
