SOUTHERN AFRICA. 283 
A number of rare and beautiful birds were seen about the 
forests of the Kakaberg. Among these, one of the most re- 
markable was the Cuculus Persa, or Touraco. This superb 
bird, by its gestures, seems as if conscious of its superior 
beauty. The Upupa, or Hopoe, was very plentiful ; the Nu- 
mida meleagris equally so. A fifth species of bustard was also 
seen here, with brown and white wings, and neck of a cerulean 
blue color; size, that of a pheasant. Along the road were 
numbers of that beautiful little pigeon, called here the Namaa- 
qua dove, not larger than a sparrow. 
On entering one of the narrow vallies, we seemed on a sud- 
den to be overtaken in the midst of a shower of snow, which 
we thought to be the pappus or down of certain plants. On 
closer examination, however, it was found to proceed from 
myriads of white ants, on the wing. The life of the Epheme- 
ris, in its perfect state, is that of a single day ; but the flight 
of the white ant is but a leap into the air for a few moments, 
from whence they tumble to the ground never to rise again. 
The wings are so very fine, and so slightly attached to their 
bodies, that they generally fall off, or are broken with the fall. 
Others immediately roll them off, and afterwards creep into 
the crevices of the ground to end their existence in quiet. It 
would seem they had some presentiment of the doom that 
awaited them, and that they hastened to escape under the 
cover of the earth to avoid being devoured by their own chil- 
dren, which, in numberless myriads, swarm in the roads and 
naked places of the ground, particularly after a shower of 
rain. Heat and moisture, the two great productive powers in 
nature, or those at least that call the vital principle into 
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