SOUTHERN AFRICA. 26; 
in quantity sufficient to load several waggons. The putrid 
animal matter, filtering through the rock, contributed, 110 
doubt, to the formation of the nitre. 
The hepatic wells and the native nitre-rocks were in the di- 
vision of Agter Sneuwberg which joins tlie Tarka to the south- 
west. A great part of its surface resembles that of the other 
Sneuwberg ; but the side which adjoms the Fish river is Karroo 
ground, and the plains there are covered with tall bushes of 
the salsola. The soap that the inhabitants make from the 
ashes of this plant, and the fat of sheeps' tails, is no incon- 
siderable article of their revenue. Cattle and sheep are pur- 
chased by the butchers upon the spot ; but soap and butter 
are carried in waggons to the Cape. The corn of this di- 
vision was wholly consumed by the locusts ; and the grass 
and the shrubs were so much devoured that the cattle were 
almost starving. The numerous herds of springboks assisted 
also to bare the ground of its produce. In no part of Africa 
had we seen such prodigious numbers of these animals to- 
gether as in this division. Our party, who were accustomed 
to judge pretty nearly of the number of sheep in a flock, esti- 
mated one troop of the springboks to consist of about five 
thousand ; but if the accounts of these people may be cre- 
dited, more than ten times that number have occasionally 
been seen together. Such enormous herds however only col- 
lect when they are about to migrate to some distant part of 
the country. 
On the fifteenth we made another long excursion into the 
Tarka mountains, near where they unite with the great chain 
M M 2 
