SOUTHERN AFRICA. 291 
a, kind of swamp was discovered, containing, in places, a 
little muddy and fetid water. Bad as it was, both Hotten- 
tots and cattle swallowed it with great avidity. For our 
own part, a bottle of chalybeate, and another of hepatic 
water, that had been taken and kept for experiment, were 
found very acceptable and refreshing. 
On the fifteenth, after travelling about five hours, and after 
having been four days without fresh water, we came to a 
clear limpid stream called the Keur fonteyn^ or Precious 
Spring ; and never certainly did any stream of water ap- 
pear to be more truly valuable and delightful. It was with 
the greatest difficulty that either the cattle or the Hotten- 
tots, who with the former are equally void of thought or 
reflection, were restrained from drinking to excess after so 
long an abstinence. 
The great scarcity of water on those plains of Africa, 
known by the name of Karroo, rendering it sometimes ha- 
zardous, and almost always harassing, for cattle to pass, 
should seem to point out the camel or the dromedary as the 
kind of animals best suited for the transport of goods and 
passengers in the colony of the Cape. The camel is more 
patient of hunger than most quadrupeds, and is able to en- 
dure thirst for a much longer space of time ; and the harsh 
thorny shrubs, or the succulent plants, one or the other of 
which are to be met with on the most dreary of the deserts, 
would furnish for it abundance of food. It will carry with 
ease half a ton weight, which is more than twice the quantity 
that is ever drawn by an African ox. 
