AFRICA. 85 
About the middle of the plain there is a 
muddy lake, from which thofe ftreams that 
reach the Cape flow through the fiffure already- 
mentioned. It is about three or four hundred 
paces in circumference : near it I killed a 
great many fnipes. I could not difcover whe- 
ther this water was produced by a fpring, or 
by the rains and the fogs ; but I found that 
the mountain was interfered by a number of 
fiffures, which, like fo many aquedufts, in 
different places diftribute the water from this 
bafon, and fertilize the plantations fcattered 
here and there at fome diftance near its 
bottom. 
The Table Mountain Is frequented by vul- 
tures of that fpecies cdW^i perchnopteros \ but 
the fouth-eaft wind often obliges them to quit 
the mountain : and it blows fometimes with 
fuch fury, that it throws them down into the 
ftreets at the Cape, where they are killed with 
flicks. Apes of the baboon kind, which the 
Dutch call bawians^ are alfo found here. Every 
one knows that they are great thieves. They 
difperfe themfelves over the different planta- 
tions, and climb the garden walls, in order to 
ileal fruit ; but not with that preparation and 
G 3 fine 
